Music News

Nicki Minaj's new album was inspired by people who have let her down in her career.
The rapper and singer, who has released her new single 'Pills N Potions' from her third studio album 'The Pink Print', looked back on experiences where people have taken her for granted when writing the album.
She said: "I was just reflecting on people in my life who [have] come and gone, just thinking, what the hell does it all mean?"
"God bless 'em, I'm talking about lots of people, not anybody in particular, but I have come across a lot of people that I've given amazing opportunities to [who have let me down]."
The 31-year-old star, who is reportedly being sued for $30million by her former wig designer Terrence Davidson, who is accusing her of selling wigs based on his designs without permission, insists she's always nice to people and is often shocked when they turn against her.
She said: "I always give people enough rope to hang themselves with. In general, I just live my life and try and be super fair to everyone, so when you cross me, it's like, 'Really? Okay'."
Meanwhile, the brunette beauty has ditched her outrageous outfits and crazy wigs in favour of a more natural look and claims she always planned to go back to her old appearance.
She explained: "The album was more personal, so I think the look being stripped down goes really well with the third album. I always thought in my head, 'For my third album I wanna go back to my real hair'."
Talking to presenters on 'The Breakfast Club' on radio station Power 105, she added: "You can tell on 'Pills N Potions' that I'm just creating moments, it's important to me to keep it truthful and honest.
"Sometimes you're gonna feel like it's hardcore and sometimes it's going to feel like it's not but as long as it's good music, then that's all that matters to me at this point."

Quincy Jones has blasted the new Michael Jackson album 'Xscape'.
The legendary producer - who masterminded some of the late singer's biggest hits - thinks the posthumous recording was only released to "make money".
He said: "It's about money. They're trying to make money. And I understand it. Everybody's after money, the estate, the lawyers. It's about money.
Quincy admitted it "bothers" him to see so much of the 'Thriller' star's previously-unreleased music being made public but has learned to accept it has nothing to do with him.
Asked if he was bothered by the recordings, he told Jian Ghomeshi's 'Q' talk show on CBC Radio: "Yeah, but it's not my business anymore. They're not our business."
Quincy's comments come months after he launched a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit in relation to the recordings released after the 'Billie Jean' stars death in June 2009.
He alleged master recordings he had worked on were wrongfully edited and remixed so as to deprive him of back-end profit participation.
He also claimed he had been denied credit for his work and that MJJ Productions and Sony Music have entered into deals taking profits that should have been included in the calculation of royalties.

Alana Haim is "not afraid" to admit she was a huge fan of the Spice Girls.
The 22-year-old musician, who is in girl rock band Haim with sisters Este and Danielle, is known as Baby Haim because she loved Emma Bunton from the 90s pop group and is the youngest in her family.
She said: "The reason why I'm Baby Haim is because I was the biggest Spice Girls fan growing up. I always wanted to be Baby Spice growing up, but I didn't have blonde hair. When I was 16, one of my friends was like, 'You're Baby Haim, you're the baby of the family!' and I was like, 'Oh my God, dream come true, I can be like Baby Spice'. They were the first band I was a fanatic [for].
"It was Spice Girls and Destiny's Child, my two go-to bands. I had all the dolls, all the weird lollipops, all the movies. I was a f***ing huge Spice Girls fan, and I am not afraid to say it."
The Spice Girls - also made up of Mel C, Mel B, Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell - were known for their choreographed dance routines, and Haim have decided to show off their moves in the video for their track 'If I Could Change Your Mind'.
Alana added to TIME magazine: "[Veteran choreographer] Fatima [Robinson] definitely f**king whipped our asses into shape for sure. "We only had three days to choreograph it and perform.
"We really wanted to be actual dancers. I mean, we're not actual dancers ... we quickly realised that after day one."

Rita Ora wanted to name her album Hymen.
The 23-year-old singer - who is set to release her second studio album in September this year - was planning to name it after a mythical goddess of love and even considered 'Hymen', the Greek god of weddings and wedding songs, for the title.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "I looked at calling it Hymen, that's a good one but probably not the best. It will be named after a love goddess but not Aphrodite or Venus, you'll have to wait and see."
Rita - who duets with DJ Mustard, Diplo, Mackelmore and the legendary Prince on the new album - admitted she was in awe of the 'Purple Rain' singer when they worked on a "sexy" track together, named 'Champagne Kisses'.
She said: "He's amazing, he's almost mythical. He's one of the very few legends we have left.
"He has made amazing sex anthems in the past. But our track is not obviously sexy, it's more like, 'What could that really mean?'"
She added: "I feel like he was born to send people amazing sounds. I'm all good now I've worked with him."
While Rita's lead single 'I Will Never Let You Down' has already topped the UK singles chart, she revealed she is yet to put the finishing touches to the album's final cut.
She said: "It's not finished yet. I keep going back and forth. I started it around Glastonbury last year. I find I have to go in there and rumble through the dirt before I find the gold, so I'll just keep going.
"It won't be finished until I have to send it off to the factory."

Janelle Monáe is "devastated" she has had to cancel her Australian tour due to illness.
The 'Electric Lady' singer, who was set to perform a number of dates on her Australian and New Zealand leg of her 'Golden Electric Tour', had been advised by doctors to scrap the gigs and rest.
According to Billboard, a statement issued by promoters, Live Nation Australasia, said: "It has been confirmed that the remainder of the Golden Electric tour has been cancelled and there will be no rescheduled performances.
"Ms Monáe is devastated at not being able to perform for her fans and has vowed to return to our shores in the not-too-distant future.
"Ticket holders will be contacted by the relevant ticketing outlet to advise of the process for obtaining a refund."
On Saturday (17.05.14), Janelle cancelled her Melbourne show after support act Kimbra's opening performance, even though her band was already set up.
The singer then cancelled Monday night's show in Sydney and has now pulled the plug on the remaining dates.
Kimbra took to Twitter to wish Janelle well, posting: "So disappointed that we can't continue the #goldenelectrictour - we wish @JanelleMonae the speediest of recoveries. We will be back. X (sic)"

Sam Smith and Disclosure have teamed up with Beats by Dr Dre to create a new film.
The stars - who released the Top 20 song 'Latch' - have worked on a short film to tell the story of how the track was written and became a chart hit, propelling the artists to international fame.
In the video, Disclosure gush about Sam's vocal range and joke: "I was still fully expecting Sam to be a Samantha and he was like a big female singer. He has a voice of an angel."
The 22-year-old singer-songwriter said he comes from a "whole different world of music" and admits he had no idea what electronic music was before he started working with artists like Disclosure - made up of brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence.
He explained: "I grew up listening to these classic [love] songs and they've been lost from the radio for so long, I feel like we're bringing it back."
The promo, which has already had more than 54,000 views on YouTube, is the second part of the Beat by Beat series which was launched with dance act Rudimental earlier this year, which goes behind the beat and demonstrates how some of the world's biggest artists create their tracks.
Meanwhile, Sam has embarked on a north American tour this month, playing at venues in Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and more.
To view the video search 'Beats by Dre' and 'Sam Smith' on YouTube.

Roger Taylor has formed his own Queen tribute band.
The Queen drummer admits he was so fed up of seeing below average tribute acts that he decided to host auditions for his own, with fans being given the opportunity to vote for their favourites on the Internet.
He said: "The terrible ones [tributes] are cheesy and panto-like, more about dressing up in a Brian May wig and a Freddie Mercury moustache and what they're missing out on is the fact that the music is quite complicated and actually not easy to perform."
Taylor's search for a lead singer led him to a French Canadian man named Marc Martel, whose vocal similarities to late frontman Freddie Mercury won him nearly 9 million likes on YouTube.
Once the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hitmaker found his lead singer he built the rest of the act, named "The Queen Extravaganza", around him.
Taylor told the Daily Express newspaper: "I spent some weeks with them in Canada rehearsing but they've found out what works and what they're good at. They've got some brilliant arrangements of a lot of our old stuff and I've sort of let them get on with it now.
"It's great - I just go and see them occasionally and they're wonderful."

The Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney thinks Jack White is an "a**hole".
The musician has defended his band mate Dan Auerbach, who was slammed in private emails between Jack and his ex-wife Karen Ellis, in which he begged her to take his kids out of the same class as Dan's daughter in Nashville and also accused the band of ripping him off.
Patrick said: "I actually feel embarrassed for him. I don't hold grudges, man. I really don't. We've all said fucked-up shit in private, and divorce is hard.
"
Those e-mails that Jack White wrote that got leaked, as f***ed up as that sh*t is, that was a private conversation, and it doesn't register to me.
"You know how horrifying it would be if all of our private sh*t was aired? And people go sniffing around looking for this shit. And ultimately it's no one's business." 

Dan, who also resides in Nashville, and rose to fame in a similar way to the 'Lazeretto' singer, didn't want to discuss the situation in depth and simply told Rolling Stone magazine: "I don't know him, so it's extra-unexpected".
Jack's email had read: "My conce[r]n with Auerbach is because I don't want the kids involved in any of that crap.
"That's a possible 12 fucking years I'm going to have to be sitting in kids chairs next to that a**hole with other people trying to lump us in together.
"He gets yet another free reign to follow me around and copy me and push himself into my world."

Roy Orbison's sons have used new technology to record a song by their late father.
The 'Oh, Pretty Woman' hitmaker, who died in 1988, recorded a track called 'The Way is Love' on a boombox and his sons Alex, Roy Jr and Wesley have been able to work on the song together, which will now feature on a 25th anniversary re-issue of Roy's last album 'Mystery Girl' from 1989.
Alex told BANG Showbiz: "My mom felt very strongly about the song and she tried to do something with it forever.
"We found the [original] tape in a giant pile we were going through and it's such a beautiful song with a strong message.
"It really did feel like we were recording with my dad, which I never got to do before he died. We made sure everything was perfect and layered all of the tracks.
"Looking at the finished product, I think he'd definitely be proud of what we've done."
Alex, who thinks there could be more tracks they want to work on in the future, claims being in the studio with his brothers brought them closer together.
He said: "My dad had brothers himself and he had said, 'Sometimes you don't get along but at the end of the day you have to hug and love each other'. We came together as brothers over this."
A documentary entitled 'Mystery Girl: Unraveled', executive produced by Alex, Roy and Wesley and directed by Alex, also features new interviews with Billy Burnette, John Carter Cash, Mike Campbell, Steve Cropper and more, along with never-before-seen interviews with Bono and the late Barbara Orbison.
Alex said: "We feel like one of the goals of the documentary was to show the recording process was like but also what my dad was like.
"You get to see a bit of his personality and his sense of humour. His laugh and things that are so endearing to us. We had great archive footage and it was a goal for us to show the man behind the sunglasses.
"He had such a dark ominous look at times, the songs were so heart-breaking and people assumed he was somber and morose, but he was such an upbeat, kind and gentle soul."
Roy Orbison's re-release of 'Mystery Girl' is out now.