Chicken Kiev, AI-generated press releases, and the annoyance of fan selfies during their performance: the Pet Shop Boys had a lot on their minds as the iconic British duo prepared to release a new album.
Their 15th studio album, “Netheless,” arrives Friday, 40 years (and 50 million records sold) after Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe rose to fame with the single “West End Girls. “asked the cliché question, “How can you stay relevant?”For them, it’s about never seeking to be cool.
“It’s anything that a lot of people try to do, to be interesting in some way, so it’s surely not cool, because it’s looking too much,” Tennant recently told The Associated Press. “So we just follow our own instincts. “
“We’ll be applicable in our world,” Lowe added with a laugh.
A testament to this relevance? Pet Shop Boys’ old hits were used as plot themes in two cult films last year: a karaoke scene in “Saltburn” with “Rent” and a key Christmas scene in “All of Us Strangers” with the “Always on My Mind” soundtrack. “.
“However” is still positive despite the fact that it was written in the UK about the coronavirus pandemic, when most people were stuck at home.
“Well, the weather is nice, isn’t it?” Lowe’s jokes.
“It’s been a very productive time,” Tennant adds, noting that the cancellation of his excursion has eased the pressure.
“I think that’s why it’s optimistic, because life was different. It was another life, without any pressure, other than not trying to catch the virus,” he says.
The first single, “Loneliness,” addresses the social isolation of the pandemic, but it was written as a positive message. Another song with the theme of the lockdown, “Why Am I Dancing?”Tennant wondered, “Why do you enjoy this situation of being alone so much?”Do you know how to dance?”
“And at the same time I cook,” he hastens to add.
“Cooking and dancing, that’s a little idea for a podcast, right?” jokes Lowe.
And while Lowe says he’d put a ready-made cake in the oven, Tennant would make dal, brown rice, and veggies or Kiev bird.
“You’ve been given a clever story for that,” Tennant told his bandmate.
“I wrote to (British supermarket) Marks
Despite major changes in the way they consume music, the band remains philosophical. Despite the news about how to listen to and find music, “music is music. “
And when it comes to Spotify, though Lowe says it helped him notice a lot of new music, he either hates the app’s recommendations.
“With us Pet Shop Boys, the formula will say, ‘If you like this, you might like Duran Duran,’ so they think you’re all from the ’80s,” Tennant says. “And if it’s us, you’re like, ‘Maybe like the electronic pop music of Years and Years or Kraftwerk before us. ‘”
The Pet Shop Boys will give five special performances at London’s Royal Opera House in July, but don’t run to the level and turn your back to take a selfie.
“I’m intentionally going off the railroad. I’m sorry to be a spoiler, but I find it very rude,” Tennant says.
However, not all mobile phone users are bad for business.
“Now you know when it’s working because all the phones are coming out,” Tennant says.
“They swap lighters for phones for a walk. It’s beautiful, it’s very moving,” he adds.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the industry, but the band has no plans to use it anytime soon, at least in their music.
When their publicist asked for a quote from the album for a press release, they turned to ChatGPT, which described the album as “a birthday party of the unique and varied feelings that make us human. “
“It’s a wonderful date,” Tennant admits. We regularly make flippant comments, whereas ChatGPT has given us this very serious and accurate description.
A South Korean music executive credited with creating the popular K-pop organization NewJeans has denied accusations that she is seeking to separate her label from HYBE, the home of global sensation BTS, sending shares of the K-pop giant tumbling on Friday.
The internal clash at HYBE, South Korea’s largest music company, has wiped more than 12% off its percentage value since going public and lowered expectations of a resumption of new NewJeans releases, as well as the return of some members of the BTS from mandatory military service.
HYBE shares fell more than 5% on Friday morning, while benchmark KOSPI index rose more than 1% in early trading.
On Thursday, Min Hee-jin, CEO of HYBE’s majority-owned label ADOR, said at a live-streamed event watched by millions of K-pop enthusiasts that she has no plans to collaborate with the company, denying HYBE’s claims that they are proper freelancers.
HYBE launched an investigation earlier this week and accused Min of breach of trust.
“I’m sorry to have worried fans, artists, and staff about what happened in the process of updating the multi-label (system),” HYBE CEO Park Ji-won said in a statement.
Min and other senior executives hold a 20% stake in ADOR, while HYBE owns an 80% stake. This clash is the latest to hit South Korea’s lucrative K-pop industry.
Last year, South Korean social media giant Kakao’s acquisition of SM Entertainment sparked an internal war for management, and Fifty Fifty, a female organization from TikTok’s hit “Cupid,” also saw its career sink following a legal war with its agency. Attract in 2023.
Even in the midst of war, Ukraine is the time of the Eurovision Song Contest, bright and full of pop. Perhaps even more than ever.
The Ukrainian participants in the pan-continental music festival, the all-female duo of rapper Alyona Alyona and singer Jerry Heil, left Kyiv on Thursday to attend the contest. In wartime, that means a long adventure of exercises to Poland, from where they will travel to next month’s festival. in Malmö, Sweden.
“We want to be visual to everybody,” Heil told The Associated Press at the Kyiv exercise station before his departure. “We want to show that even now, the war, our culture is emerging and that Ukrainian music is everything you expect. for the world to discover. “
“We want to spread it, share it and show other people how strong (Ukrainian) women and men are in our country,” added Aliona, who spells her call in lowercase letters.
Ukraine has long used Eurovision as a form of cultural diplomacy, a way to show the world the country’s unique sound and style. This project became more pressing after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Ukraine existed as a separate country and other people before Soviet times.
Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016, two years after Russia illegally seized the Crimean peninsula, with a song about Stalin’s expulsion of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea in 1944. Rap folk organization Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision title in 2022 with “Stefania. “The mother of the leader who has a hymn to the war-torn homeland, with a haunting chorus of a classic Ukrainian wind instrument.
Alyona and Heil will perform “Teresa
Heil said the message is, “We all make mistakes, but it’s your moves that shape you. “
Aliona added, “With energy, you can win the war, you can replace the world. “
The song combines Alyona’s hard-hitting rap taste with Heil’s dizzying melody and distinctly Ukrainian vocal taste.
“Alyona is a wonderful rapper, she has a tough energy,” Heil said. “And I’m softer. “
“But melodies,” Aliona added. “Then she creates all the melodies and I go through it. “
Ukraine has been at the forefront of transforming Eurovision from a contest ruled by English-language pop songs to a more varied and multilingual event. Jamala sang part of her song in the Crimean Tatar language, while the Kalush Orchestra sang and rapped in Ukrainian.
Ukraine’s Eurovision 2022 victory gave the country the right to host the following year, but due to the war, the 2023 pageant was held in the English town of Liverpool, which was decked out in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags for the instance – a Ukrainian birthday party. spirit and culture.
Thirty-seven countries from Europe and beyond, including Israel and Australia, will compete in Malmö in two Eurovision semi-finals on 7 and 9 May, followed by a final on 11 May. Ukraine has been among the bookmakers’ top five favourites lately, along with Switzerland. singer Nemo and Croatian singer-songwriter Bathrough Lasagna.
Russia, a long-time Eurovision contestant, excluded from the contest due to the invasion.
The Ukrainian duo embarked on an exercise after holding a press conference in which they announced a fundraiser for destruction by a Russian strike.
The duo is partnering with charity fundraising platform United 24 to raise 10 million hryvnia (about $250,000) to rebuild a school in the southern Ukrainian village of Velyka Kostromka, which was destroyed by a Russian rocket in October 2022. The school’s 250 students haven’t been able to since then, relying on online learning.
Teacher Liudmyla Taranovych, whose children and grandchildren went to school, said her destruction had emotions of “pain, despair, hopelessness. “
“My grandchildren hugged me and asked, ‘Grandma, are you going to rebuild our school?Will it be as beautiful, as flourishing, and as flourishing as before?'” she said.
From the rubble, another teacher managed to salvage one of the school’s most prized possessions: a giant wooden key traditionally given to first-graders to symbolize that education is the key to their future. He has a sign of hope for the school.
Alyona and Heil also followed the key as a symbol, dressed in T-shirts covered with small steel keys.
“It’s a symbol of everything that some Ukrainians possibly wouldn’t have, because so many other people have lost their homes,” Heil said. “But they have those keys in their wallet and they keep the hope. “
“Barbenheimer” is a tough act to follow. But as Hollywood enters a new summer movie season, armed with fewer superheroes and a landscape largely altered by strikes, it’s worth remembering William Goldman’s old quote about what works: “Nobody knows anything. “
Four decades later, that’s arguably still true. Still, one thing Hollywood has learned from posting videos about the pandemic and its measures is how to pivot quickly.
The summer of 2023 brought new excitement for cinema, with serendipitous counterprogramming of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” and wonder hits like “Sound of Freedom,” which helped push the season’s box office over $4 billion for the first time since 2019. But before the industry can achieve victory, another crisis looms with the two Hollywood strikes, which paralyze maximum productions for months.
MOVIES FIND A WAY AFTER THE STRIKE As a consequence, theaters have lost big titles of the summer like “Mission: Impossible 8,” “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts” 2025. But they did win a gem in “The Bikeriders” (June 21), about a Midwestern motorcycle club in the 1960s, as studios moved the videos to the summer chessboard. Deadpool
“I love being there, in the middle of summer,” said director Shawn Levy. “It’s a juicy moment. “
Opening weekend feels more like an original movie about another kind of superhero. “The Fall Guy,” starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, has a romantic comedy component, an action comedy component and a love letter component to the stuntmen that make the movies spectacular. It’s a genuine thrill for audiences, who can relive a season that, in some ways, feels like a throwback, with full-throttle showings (“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Twisters”), comedies (“Babes”), IMAX movies (“The Blue Angels”) and even a Kevin Costner western.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has experienced the ups and downs of summer over the decades, with blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
This season, it has three other offerings in the pipeline, two of which are fourth installments of popular franchises — “Beverly Hills Cop” (July 3, Netflix) and “Bad Boys” (June 7, theaters — and one planned for streaming. but it has been so well tested that it will now be released in theaters (“The Young Woman and the Sea,” May 31).
“People just need to be entertained,” Bruckheimer said. It’s up to us to make the right movies that they need to see. “
A summer in Hollywood lasts 123 days, from the first Friday in May to Labor Day Monday in September. Before the pandemic, a general summer season cost $4 billion, and theaters could count on 37 to 42 movies to release. More than 2,000 screens. The outlier of 2017, with only 35 films appearing on more than 2,000 screens and grossing $3. 8 billion. That makes last summer’s $4 billion collection with 32 large-scale outflows (45% of the $9 billion domestic gross) even higher. impressive.
This summer is also expected to see 32 large-scale releases and more than 40 films that will be released in more than 500 theaters. Notably, two of them are Marvel videos (Sony’s “Deadpool” and “Kraven the Hunter”) and are superhero videos on the calendar until the “Joker” sequel in the fall.
“People are going to see movies, not box office, and it’s shaping up to be a summer forged from the cinephile’s perspective,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Speeding up for the originals “The Bikeriders” was the one that planned the launch of an awards season, with a special twist from star critics at the Telluride Film Festival praising Austin Butler and Jodie Comer’s stellar towers. But as the premiere date approached, it became clear that the moves weren’t going to be made in time for a press tour.
“It’s like walking on frozen glass for 3 months,” Nichols said. “I’m on a field trip doing press and I’m looking to create that power on my own. Let me tell you, it’s not the same as Austin Butler.
Later in June, after a stellar debut at Cannes, Kevin Costner will begin presenting his two-part Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga,” which is set during the Civil War. And as always, many Sundance releases are peppered with summer, from Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Didi” to “Thelma” and “Good One. “
PRICE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Family videos switch to hyperdrive mode in the summer, taking advantage of the long days away from school. This year, there are many, such as “The Garfield Movie” and “Despicable Me 4,” reissues of Studio Classics from Ghibli and streaming features (“Thelma the Unicorn”). But perhaps none generates more anticipation than “Inside Out 2” (June 14, in theaters), which meets Riley as she enters her teens as a new set of feelings descends. at Joy’s party, adding anxiety, envy, boredom, and embarrassment.
“This era provides us with everything we want and everything we love for a Pixar movie,” said director Kelsey Mann. “It’s full of drama, it has the potential for a lot of heart, and maybe it’s funny, too. “
John Krasinski also dives into the inner world of young people with his ambitious live-action hybrid “IF” (May 17, in theaters) about imaginary friends who remain and two humans (Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) who can still see them.
Audiences who enjoy the adrenaline rush of horrors and thrillers are spoilt for choice, adding “MaXXXine,” the conclusion to Ti West’s accidental Mia Goth trilogy (“X” and “Pearl”) that begins around July 4.
The aspiring goth actress traveled to Hollywood, where a killer haunts Hollywood stars during the home video boom of the 1980s.
“We’ve recreated the seedy look of Hollywood in a way that we hope will be charming,” West said. “It’s a pretty crazy night at the movies. A wonderful and fun rock movie.
On June 26, audiences will also be able to immerse themselves in the debut of “A Quiet Place” with a prequel set in “Day One” starring Luptia Nyong’o and “Stranger Things” Joseph Quinn. Director Michael Sarnoski said they were looking to explore the “scope and promise” of a Quiet Place movie in New York City. Later, Fede Alvarez brings his sense of horror to “Alien: Romulus” (Aug. 16), which ranks in the top two.
M. Night Shyamalan is also back with a pop concert-set mystery (“Trap,” Aug. 9) and his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, makes her directorial debut with the Irish film “The Watchers” (June 14) starring Dakota. Fanning.
“It’s very unexpected and suspenseful,” IShana said. And it’s designed for the experience of being in a theater. “
TO THE DELIGHT OF MOVIE THEATER OWNERS, THE GREAT MOVIES OF THE SUMMER HAVE ALSO BEEN AROUND FOR YEARS ON THE BIG SCREEN. And streamers have movie and entertainment stars with Jerry Seinfeld’s star favorite “Hit Man,” Anne Hathaway’s romance “The Idea of You. “the pop-pie film “Unfrosted” and the Mark Wahlberg/Halle Berry action comedy “The Union. “
They also have franchises: “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” (July 3), a film that had been in progress since the mid-1990s but was given a new lease of life when Paramount cleared the rights to Netflix.
“We raised our hands to make sure we had the right candor and maintain the integrity and laughter of the original,” Bruckheimer said.
This episode adds an emotional component in which Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley reunites with his ex-daughter (Taylour Paige). It also sees the return of Justice Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot and adds Kevin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
On August 9, Apple TV will also offer “The Instigators,” a new action-comedy starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck as guys attempting a heist. “Midnight Run”, one of his touchstones.
“The script was a lot of fun and I tried to accept that,” said Doug Liman, the director.
But besides, nobody knows anything: I don’t think anything can happen with summer movies.
We can say we knew “Barbie” would be the biggest movie of the year, but we would have bet that an R-rated drama about the father of the atomic bomb would have grossed nearly 3 times as much as Harrison Ford’s newest film. Or that a $14 million crowdfunding film from a new study on child trafficking and almost no promotion would generate more than $250 million?
“Nobody knows something’s right,” said Kevin Walsh, producer of “The Instigators. “”The film industry is so unpredictable. You never know what’s going to work and what’s going to work. But you have your tastes. And what follows your tastes and instincts in this race is paramount.
When Jon Bon Jovi agreed to be approached by director Gotham Chopra with a documentary camera to delve deeper into the history of his band, Bon Jovi, he didn’t expect it to surprise him at a very low point in his career.
The band embarks on a tour, and despite everything he can do to be vocally ready, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer struggled to sing the songs and failed to hit the notes like he used to.
Critics noticed and talked about it. A review by the Pioneer Press in St. John’s, Minn. , said, “It’s as if I’ve forgotten how to sing. “
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Bon Jovi said the reaction at the time was “heartbreaking. “After exhausting holistic options, she consulted a doctor who told her that one of her vocal cords was atrophying.
“It’s unique. It is not a nodule. The strong (vocal cord) pushes the weak, and all of a sudden, my disabilities were exacerbated,” Bon Jovi said. He underwent primary surgery and is still recovering.
“Every day is like looping weights and getting them the same length and working together. “
This year has been a turning point. In February, he led in front of an audience for the first time since surgery at the MusiCares Person of the Year gala to gain advantages, where he was also named Person of the Year. The band’s next album, “Forever,” hits theaters on June 7. and their debut single “Legendary” is out now. The four-part show, “Thank You, Good Night: The Story of Bon Jovi,” debuts Friday on Hulu.
In a Q&A, Bon Jovi talks about her voice, her hair, the music industry, and her pictorial ethics.
Responses have been edited for brevity.
AP: The paintings you do behind the scenes are like a quarterback between two football games. Do you rehearse with this intensity and how are you now?
BON JOVI: I’m fine. The album was simple to make. The procedure has been constant. Would I like it to be a smooth transfer?I said to the doctor, “I need to turn the transfer and get this over with. That’s just not how it works. As an athlete recovering from an ACL tear or whatever, it takes time. The treatment is extensive and even so I am convinced that it will improve little by little.
AP: In the docuseries we are informed that your father was a barber. You’ve been known for having beautiful hair, especially in the 1980s. Does it come from your father?
BON JOVI: Not to the point where he sat down and said, “I have this idea. “Actually, I’m a byproduct of the 80’s. I love to laugh at them. Now I can at least jokingly say, “After a 40-year career, I still have all my hair. That’s a smart thing to do. Genetics work in my favor. “
AP: Are you already thinking about coming back?
BON JOVI: Yes, occasionally. Then my day-to-day paintings get in my way. Truth be told, I’ve been given a great record to release and I’m hoping to hit the road, so I don’t have time for that. And I respect the craft. It’s too much to think that I’m going to walk on a set, orient myself and call it acting.
AP: Your pictorial ethos is highlighted in “Thank You, Good Night. “We can see that at first we slept in the music studio. Where does it come from?
BON JOVI: If you’re not going to be great, the guy who comes in at night will be better. It’s not a career you deserve to take lightly. There are a million other young people waiting to take your place. And there are no promises in this business. . . You have to win hearts to win other people’s hard-earned money. If you ask them to stay with you for 4 decades, that’s a task. You’d better be one of the greats, in a different way smart luck.
AP: Richie Sambora is interviewed on the show. Fans love to see it. Do you think we’ll ever play in combination again?
BON JOVI: We’ve never had a big argument. He gave up 10 years ago. It’s not that we don’t have contact or anything like that, however, he has chosen, as a single father, to raise his son. The door is open if you need to come in and sing a song. I mean, there’s a lot of them that we’ve co-written together. It’s an important component of any of our lives. There is no animosity here.
AP: A lot of musicians have their own music catalog.
BON JOVI: For some, it makes sense because they want it. For others, it makes sense because they want to. I think it’s my baby, and I don’t want to think about it at this point in my life. life.
AP: You’re one of New Jersey’s favorite sons, like Bruce Springsteen. Is it a source of pride for New Jerseyans to have moved to Florida from there?
BON JOVI: Part-time! My license is still the New Jersey license. I vote in New Jersey.
AP: The music industry is now an exclusive market for singles. Have you ever thought about releasing some new songs and a full album?
BON JOVI: You see, I’m just the opposite. I can only release one album. I do everything I know how to do. I have to tell the whole story. There has to be a beginning, a middle, and an end, because that’s who we are.
AP: How would you describe the new album?
BON JOVI: What stands out is the joy. My goal with this record is to capture the joy that has been complicated over the past few years, whether it’s the dark cloud of COVID the world has experienced or my own personal journey. With this record, I think we captured the joy.
One of the country’s leading artist residency programs, MacDowell, presented Yoko Ono with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The groundbreaking artist, filmmaker and musician was awarded this year’s Edward MacDowell Medal, an honor bestowed in the past to Stephen Sondheim and Toni Morrison, among others. other.
“There has never been anyone like her; there’s never been a task like hers,” MacDowell Board Chair Nell Painter said Sunday. “For seven decades, she has rewarded looks, sparked reflection, encouraged feminists, and advocated for immigrants through her paintings. of wonderful imagination. Always new and relevant, his paintings, specifically hard, speak of our time, which desperately needs its leitmotif: peace.
Ono’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, said in a statement that the medal was “an incredible honor. “
“The history and the list of winners is truly remarkable. I’m so proud to see their art appreciated and celebrated in this way,” she said.
Ono, 91, has made few public appearances in recent years and is not expected to attend the awards rite in July at the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, N. H. , New Hampshire. Ono’s musical director, David Newgarden, will settle for the award on her behalf. .
Ono first rose to fame within the avant-garde Fluxus movement of the 1960s and then rose to foreign fame after meeting John Lennon, whom she married from 1969 until his death in 1980.
Their numerous collaborations included the songs “Give Peace a Chance”, “Imagine” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”, the basis for “War Is Over”. Inspired by John’s music.
For more than 40 years, Ono has had a storied career as a visual artist and recording artist, adding the albums “Season of Glass,” “Starpeace” and “Take Me to the Land of Hell. “at the Tate Modern in London.
The Saudi government has unveiled a package of incentive schemes for the sustainability of the film sector, including relief in monetary costs for permanent and transitional cinema operating licences, as part of a measure that increases the economic contribution of companies and stimulates greater access. in the private sector in the entertainment sector.
From the opening of the Kingdom’s first cinema in April 2018 to March 2024, Saudi cinema earned revenue of around SAR 3. 7 billion ($986 million), while more than 61 million tickets were sold, recent figures from the General Media Authority revealed. .
Abdullah Al-Qahtani, executive director of the Saudi Film Commission, highlighted ongoing efforts to breathe life into the film industry by encouraging private sector corporations that operate cinemas to offer discounts and promotions to the public in a bid to promote film culture.
He explained that the reduction in the monetary costs of film licenses and ticket prices is in line with the foreign average and aims to support film companies in the sustainability and expansion of the sector.
Experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Film Commission’s resolution points to the role of the private sector and improving its sustainability, which would help reduce ticket costs and attract more moviegoers.
Al-Waleed Al-Baltan, former head of the National Entertainment Committee of the Federation of Saudi Chambers and an investor in the entertainment sector, said the move would inspire corporations to enter the Saudi market and load more movie screens, given the high demand from the public.
The measure supports the functions of the personal sector and allows it to be offering competitive costs in movie tickets and promotions, which complements the economic contribution of these companies, he said.
The CEO and CEO of the Abdul Mohsen Al Hokair company, Majed Al Hokair, explained that companies operating in the cinema sector will offer cheap ticket prices.
Since its status quo in 2020, the Saudi Film Commission has been running to advertise the film sector in the Kingdom, crafting the applicable infrastructure and regulatory framework, encouraging funding and investment, making sure the sector is targeted at local talent, boosting local production, and attracting foreign actors.
The fourth edition of the Gulf Film Festival (GCF), organized through the Film Commission (FC), concluded in Riyadh with the patronage of the Minister of Culture, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the FC, Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud.
Speaking at the final of the event, FC Executive Director Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Qahtani said it is a testament to the GCC film sector’s commitment to supporting the arts and building bridges for film cooperation among member countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
Al-Qahtani paid tribute to the Saudi government and GCC film industry leaders for their participation in the festival, urging Gulf filmmakers to continue this and help transpose society’s narratives into films that convey the truth of the Gulf Arab countries to the world.
The five-day festival, which attracted prominent artistic and film figures, is part of the FC’s efforts to expand the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create cinematic works. It highlights the Kingdom’s position as a global film hub, nurturing talent, managing, selling and distributing films worthy of the prestige of Saudi and Arabian Gulf cinema.