The annual Brit Awards are with us again. The ceremony will take place at London’s Earls Court on February 16, but the nominations have now been revealed in order to allow time for the winners to be voted for by you, the great British public.

Lady Gaga, JLS, Lily Allen, Pixie Lott, and Florence & The Machine have all been nominated for three or more awards. Lady Gaga is up in every category she is eligible for, those being the international awards.
Robbie Williams will be honored for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’, while two new awards have been added as a …read more

Everyone who is in the public eye or who has any dealings with the public is sometimes going to come face-to-face with haters. Just ask any traffic warden, policeman, or humble blogger such as myself. The difference is how you handle it; some people clearly can’t.

Take Dappy from N-Dubz, the one who always wears the stupid hats. Who, it has emerged, sent a non-fan a death threat after she criticized him and N-Dubz when they appeared on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio 1.

Glastonbury provides the pinnacle of the UK festival season every year for most people. Glastonbury has been running for years, and has changed a great deal in that time, becoming a much more focused, well-organized (and consequently expensive) event. Glastonbury 2010 is starting to shape up nicely.

U2 have already been confirmed as the first of the three headline acts. They’re not my cup of tea, and are only now gracing the festival with their presence a little after they peaked, yet they’re still a big name likely to draw a huge crowd.

Speech Debelle won the Mercury Music Prize in September. Her victory over Glasvegas and Florence and The Machine was a surprise, probably even to her. The problem is that the win seems to have gone to her head a little. Thankfully, Take That fans are determined to keep her grounded.

Speech Debelle seemed to come out of nowhere to win the 2009 Mercury Music Prize. I readily admit I’d never heard of her until she was nominated. She won the award and then seemed to set about trying to flaunt her new-found success like Charlie Big Potatoes.

Even before it was released Susan Boyle’s debut album was breaking sales records. Now, not only is I Dreamed A Dream on course to be the fastest-selling debut album of all time in the U.K., it’s also expected to beat Eminem’s Relapse to become the biggest album of 2009 in the United States. Not bad for a Scottish virgin.

In May, Eminem’s controversial comeback album Relapse managed to shift 608,000 copies in the States during its first week on release. But Susan Boyle is all set to truly dream her dream by beating the hip-hop star and shifting more copies of …read more

You may not have yet heard of Speech Debelle. I certainly hadn’t until she went and won the 2009 Mercury Music Prize in September, beating the likes Glasvegas, La Roux, and Florence and The Machine in the process. But she’s big on the British hip-hop scene and was due to take herself and her music over to the States for a tour this month.

Unfortunately, Debelle has had to cancel the gigs due to what NME calls “Visa problems.” Debelle isn’t the first artist to encounter such problems, with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen also succumbing in recent years. Anyone would …read more

Although a lot of people may hate N-Dubz and think their music is rubbish, their reputation is growing and their rise to the top doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon. After a string of hits, a bestselling album, and a couple of MOBO awards, the London hip-hop, grime outfit are set to spread their wings a little.

Whether you like them or not you have to give N-Dubz credit for what they’ve achieved. And they’re set to achieve a lot more in the future, especially with other big name artists queuing up to collaborate with them.

The Mobo (Music Of Black Origin) Awards are a strange one because they only recognize music that has its roots in one culture. Unlike every other big awards ceremony in the UK which celebrate music in all its forms no matter where it derived from. Having said that, it could be argued that all music has black roots so the Mobo Awards actually don’t exclude anyone.

This year’s Mobo Awards were held at the SECC in Glasgow. The night saw some deserving winners but some sadly overlooked artists missing out, especially Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder, both of whom have had …read more

Except she doesn’t really now, does she. But the title of the video uploaded to YouTube a few days ago is Amy Winehouse Out-Raps Kanye West for Zalon LOL!!!!! so it seemed an appropriate title for this post as well.

This video does show a number of important things though. 1. Amy Winehouse can’t rap. 2. She looks like she’s off her face again. 3. She is at least (and at last) working on new material. 4. If this is the sort of material she’s working on then God only knows what the album is going to end up sounding like.
Stick …read more

Well that was a shocker. I know the Mercury Prize has always focused on emerging acts, artists who haven’t yet gone mainstream in a big way, but I have at least usually heard of the act that wins. This year, I hadn’t, and I’m the first to admit I’m playing catch-up in learning about Speech Debelle.

The Klaxons won the Mercury Prize in 2007, with Elbow following in their footsteps last year. Both of whom I knew of, had heard their latest albums, and instantly knew were worthy winners. This year, the Mercury Prize has been given to an artist unknown …read more