daughter

SHE’S been branded arrogant, entitled and irritating by people who’ve watched her growing up on The Kardashians.

And as I braced myself to listen to North West’s debut EP N0rth4evr, I was expecting to absolutely hate it. But in all honesty, I love it.

The six-track record proves that the 12-year-old daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian does actually have talent.

She mixes heavy-metal guitar riffs with rage-rap and a flavour of the Japanese culture she loves so much.

Critics will argue that having two of the most famous people on the planet as parents would mean she couldn’t produce something that’s utterly rubbish.

But I’d argue North has a flair of originality and authenticity on all the tracks.

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She samples Mumford & Sons’ 2009 track Little Lion Man on punchy and pacy Th!s t!me, and the final 28 seconds of W0ah crunching has an electric guitar solo.

For a child who has grown up knowing only fame and privilege, North carries the expectations on her shoulders in her lyrics.

No doubt she’s had a big helping hand, working with American rock siblings Meg and Dia Frampton, but it opens your eyes to what life might really be like as a kid everyone thinks they know.

On How I Feel, North sings: “In the back of the Lamb’, it get lonely, they be all up in my comments like they know me.

“If they approach me no phones please, lot of eyes on me that I don’t need.”

While on Th!s t!me, she raps: “They hear the name, they don’t hear what I’m sayin’.

“They want the fame, but you know I ain’t playin’.”

North4evr links to Kanye’s 2018 track Violent Crimes, where he rapped about protecting daughter North from danger.

On it, she sings: “So much people ’round me, but I know they all fake, so much goin’ in my head that I can’t say.

“Know my minds in a place that is not safe.”

She balances the pitfalls with plenty of not-so- humble brags though, and on D!e boasts about her influence on fashion and culture.

The track, which contains some influences of Post Malone, has her rapping: “How am I younger than you, but I’m who you look up to?

“Once they on trend, I’m already off it.

“I’m a rock star, you could tell by my closet. Once they on trend, I’m already off it.”

The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, clearly.

But North West, she’s definitely on to something.

Beyonce rocks

BEYONCE’s next era is just around the corner – and she’s dropped yet another hint that her new rock-inspired album is waiting.

The singer removed all the country- inspired Cowboy Carter merchandise from her website last night as she prepares to start promoting the record.

Bey also dropped another big clue about the direction she is heading by posting a video on her website of Destiny‘s Child hanging out with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks on the set of their Bootylicious video from 2001.

As I told you last week, Beyonce is planning to reveal all about her new record around the Met Gala in New York on Monday.

The album, believed to be called Betty Black, is the third in a trilogy of records following on from 2022’s Renaissance and Cowboy Carter in 2024.

We first revealed in July that Beyonce was working on a rock-themed album.

She hinted the record could be called Betty Black in a reclaiming of the African-American work song Black Betty which was remade in 1977 by rock group Ram Jam.

ZAYN MALIK has cancelled shows in Glasgow and Birmingham after telling fans he was ill.

He has also rescheduled the Manchester AO Arena gig to May 24.

His concert at London’s O2 Arena is still planned to take place on May 23.

Zayn said he was recovering and wanted to come back “stronger”.

Roses taxman tussle

THE STONE ROSES have been locked in a secret 13-year battle with the taxman involving their failed touring company.

HMRC has been fighting the indie rockers – who made £26million from two huge reunion tours – over an unpaid £127,000 corporation tax bill from BMSW Ltd.

Over the years, the figure has risen to £158,000. The touring firm collapsed and went into liquidation.

Documents filed at Companies House reveal the Roses tried to close down BMSW Ltd in July 2013 after the end of the first tour, with £10million being distributed to the band after paying a £3.1million tax bill.

But there was a change in HMRC policy, which meant liquidators asked the group – late bassist Gary Mounfield, singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan Wren – for £32,000 each.

That was received badly by the lads, below, who felt “extremely aggrieved” after signing an indemnity protecting them from such a liability.

It meant the firm moved from a member’s voluntary liquidation into a creditor’s voluntary liquidation in 2022 . . .  and the battle is still going on.

Graham: Traitors turn-off

GRAHAM NORTON has ruled himself out of Celebrity Traitors – because he fancies the gossip, not the graft.

The chat show host said he would happily take a seat at the famous round table, where contestants accuse each other of back-stabbing.

Graham revealed: “I would say yes to the round table. That looks fabulous.”

But the thought of lugging barrels, climbing hills and wading through muddy missions was clearly a step too far.

He added: “I don’t want to carry s**t up a hill. So for that reason, I’m out.”
Fair play.

Betrayal is glamorous, cardio is not.

Ash African wounds all heeled

ASHLEY ROBERTS has a spring back in her step, after fearing she’d get a whack during the mad I’m A Celebrity live final.

The Pussycat Dolls singer headed home in shades and killer heels after hosting the Heart Breakfast Show in London.

Following her stint in the All Stars version of I’m A Celeb, Ash is getting ready to start rehearsals for the upcoming PCD tour.

She will hit the road with Nicole Scherzinger and Kimberly Wyatt next month, kicking off the North America tour in California.

The group will head back to the UK in September, playing nine shows.

Clues to Tay Story film tune

TAYLOR SWIFT could be heading to infinity . . .  and beyond.

The singer appears to have got a track on Toy Story 5, if you follow the trail of clues that have been dropped.

Her website was running a countdown set against the franchise’s famous cloud wallpaper, while the film’s initials just so happen to match her own.

If that wasn’t enough, she was snapped this week dressed head to toe in the classic Toy Story colours of blue, yellow and red. Subtle, Tay.

The timing is just as telling. The movie is due out on June 19, exactly 20 years after she released her first single.

It would also make sense given her close ties with Disney, after striking a deal to stream her Eras Tour film.

Fans will hear the track for the first time today.

False teeth for Harry Potter

DANIEL RADCLIFFE has revealed there was more wizardry behind the scenes of Harry Potter than fans ever clocked – as the young stars had fake teeth.

Movie bosses hired a specialist dentist for him, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint after realising their baby gnashers would start falling out.

Daniel, who was 11 when he was cast, said: “We had a prosthetic dentist who would basically knock up a fake tooth in a day and put it in.

“We could keep filming without missing anything.”

He added: “There’s various points in the first two movies where me, Rupert and Emma all have little fake teeth.”

Cameras could keep rolling without any awkward gaps appearing in the smiles.

Forget spells and potions, the real hero of Hogwarts was clearly the tooth fairy.

Jacqueline Falk, daughter of the late “Columbo” star Peter Falk, died Monday by suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. She was 60.

Jackie Falk died at her Los Angeles residence, the department’s website said. The case is still listed as open.

The Times was unable to obtain further information about Jackie Falk’s death Wednesday as the medical examiner’s public information office was closed because of staffing issues.

Peter Falk was 83 when he died at his Beverly Hills home in June 2011.

He and first wife Alyce Mayo married in 1960 and later adopted sisters Jackie and Catherine. The college sweethearts divorced in 1976, but according to Catherine — who was around 5 when her parents split — they remained “best friends.”

“I remember watching my mom and dad laugh and tell stories about their college years,” she told Closer magazine in 2023. “It was nice as a teenager to experience that.”

Peter Falk would bring both her and her older sister Jackie to movie premieres and set visits, and loved to take them ice skating, Catherine Falk said.

In 1977, he married actor Shera Danese, who he met while making the 1976 movie “Mikey and Nicky.”

“He saw me walking down the street, and that was it,” Danese told The Times in 1991. She said with a giggle that at 15 years or so into their marriage, “I tell him what to do.” Danese has not acted in film or TV since the year before Peter Falk’s death, according to IMDb.

The family story grew complicated when Catherine Falk alleged that Danese hindered access to their father.

After what she said was an expensive legal battle to gain visitation late in her father’s life, Catherine Falk has a website dedicated to the passage of laws to guarantee a new spouse can’t prevent children from a previous marriage from visiting an incapacitated parent. She said on the site that her dad maintained a 30-year loving relationship with her and Jackie despite alleged interference from his new wife.

In 2009, after petitioning the court to have her ailing father placed under a conservatorship, Catherine was permitted to visit Peter Falk, who was suffering from dementia. Danese was named the “Columbo” actor’s conservator. Jackie, who did not join the court fight to have access to her father, was not able to visit him during the three years before his death, the Catherine Falk Foundation website said.

The women found out about their father’s death via media accounts, the website said.

Sophia Wilson scored in stoppage time for her first goal of the season and the Portland Thorns defeated Angel City 2-1 on Sunday.

After a scoreless first half at BMO Stadium, Pietra Tordin’s header opened up the scoring for the Thorns (4-1-1) in the 76th minute. In her professional soccer debut, rookie defender Carolyn Calzada provided the assist.

Wilson doubled the lead in stoppage time with a left-footed blast into the side netting. It was her first goal of the season after taking all of last year off for the birth of her daughter. Her last goal for the Thorns came on Nov. 1, 2024.

Second-half substitute, forward Prisca Chilufya trimmed the lead in half in the final minute of stoppage time for Angel City.

Japan International Jun Endo made her return from injury as a substitute in the 62nd minute for Angel City (3-2-0).

Eddie Murphy is celebrating not just his lifetime achievement award, but also the arrival of his third granddaughter, perhaps the funniest baby alive.

Murphy’s son Eric and Martin Lawrence’s daughter Jasmin have welcomed their first child together, baby Ari Skye.

On Saturday, Murphy was honored with the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award at a gala in Hollywood and told reporters that he had recently celebrated back-to-back milestones.

“I just had my first grandson two months ago, and I had my third granddaughter two weeks ago. And I turned 65 a month ago,” he told “Entertainment Tonight” ahead of the gala. “It’s raining blessings on me.”

The ceremony celebrated his storied career across comedy and film, and featured tributes from fellow funnyman Dave Chappelle and “Shrek” co-star Mike Myers. The special will premiere May 31 on Netflix.

The “Dr. Dolittle” star also gushed about his new grandbaby to E! News, and told the outlet that being honored for his work was “a wonderful thing” but that his legacy wasn’t his work.

“My legacy to me is my children,” he said.

Asked whether he or Lawrence offered their kids any parenting advice as they prepared to welcome Ari Skye, Murphy said he’s more of a lead-by-example kind of dad.

“You don’t give advice like that,” he told the outlet. “Your kids don’t go by your advice. Your kids go by the example you set. They watch you. Stuff you be saying, they don’t even pay that no mind. They watch and see what you do.”

In March, Jasmin and Eric posted photos from their lavish baby shower on social media. The shindig included a three-tiered pink cake, pink cocktails garnished with meringue that looked like clouds and balloons galore. “The most beautiful and special celebration for our baby girl,” the couple captioned the post. “Thank you to our parents and everyone that made this day so magical! Ari Skye Murphy, you are SO loved already!!”

Excitement around Ari Skye’s arrival had been brewing in the media long before the couple even announced they were expecting. Murphy joked about a potential grandbaby when Jasmin and Eric were dating back in 2024, during an interview with Gayle King.

“They’re both beautiful,” he said. “They look amazing together. And it’s funny — everybody’s like, ‘That baby gonna be funny!’ Like our gene pool is just going to make this funny baby.”

Murphy agreed, saying: “If they ever get married and have a child, I’m expecting the child to be funny.”

This year’s festival will take place Saturday and Sunday at the USC campus, and it’s packed with a mind-boggling array of great participants and exhibitors. You can peruse the complete schedule, download the book festival app, and book your parking and panel reservations here.

I have warm fuzzy feelings about the festival, attending as a budding writer in the early aughts. As someone who aspired to “go long” but had no clue how to go about doing it, the event was an inspiration: all these hot-shot authors talking about their craft, and free admission no less.

Of course the event wasn’t the sprawling, magnificent behemoth it is now, with cooking demonstrations from the world’s greatest chefs, and bestselling children’s authors reading to tiny budding bibliophiles. The first festival in 1996 drew 75,000 book fans; last year, more than twice as many people showed up.

As the festival grew, so did the excitement. In 2007, I waited in line along with hundreds of other fans for the privilege of hearing Gore Vidal talk about his craft in UCLA’s Royce Hall. Gay Talese, one of my journalism heroes and a veteran of some of the very first festivals in the late ’90s, was always a pleasure. His stories about breaking into the New York Times conjured up a lost world that seems positively antediluvian now. “If you show up in a three-piece suit and a hat, and you look like you might have taken a bath recently, they don’t kick you out as fast,” Talese told a packed crowd in 2008.

By that time, much to my astonishment, I knew Talese personally. In 2004, I was working on a book about the New Journalism movement that he spearheaded. That year, he asked me to join him at the book festival as a guest. It was my first time in the “green room,” the backstage area where authors socialize over food and drinks. After ogling all the A-list talent in the room, I was asked by Talese to join him for lunch at a table along with novelists Jane Smiley and John Kaye, historian Doug Brinkley and social critic Naomi Wolf, all of whom were appearing at the festival. Reader, my mind was suitably blown. I just kept my mouth shut and listened.

I will be moderating a panel Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Ray Stark Family Theatre (plug) and I can’t wait. There is nothing like this festival; it is The Times’ annual gift to the Southland, and we should all be grateful we get to enjoy it.

Here are some of this weekend‘s festival highlights. All panels are an hour in duration.

📚 Ultimate Festival Guide

Saturday

Drawn to Life: A Conversation on Graphic Novels

Graphic novelists Henry Barajas, Eagle Valiant Brosi, Anders Brekhus Nilsen, Mimi Pond and Angie Wang discuss their latest graphic novels, each of which is based on true events or popular myths.

Where: Albert and Dana Broccoli Theatre
When: 10:30 a.m.

Robert Kirsch Award Winner Amy Tan in Conversation with Thomas Curwen

Acclaimed author Amy Tan is the recipient of the 2025 Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, which recognizes a writer with a substantial connection to the American West. Tan’s expansive body of work, including essays, memoirs and bestselling novels “The Joy Luck Club,” “The Kitchen God’s Wife” and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” is widely celebrated for its profound exploration of the immigrant experience, family bonds and the quest for individual identity. Join us for a conversation with Amy Tan and award-winning former Los Angeles Times writer Thomas Curwen.

Where: Bovard Auditorium
When: 10:30 am

Modern Family: Humor, Chaos, and the Absurdity of Contemporary Life in Fiction

Novelists Jade Chang, Kevin Wilson and Sarah Levin discuss their new novels, which are fresh examinations of family in contemporary life: the ones we’re born with, the ones we make, and the ways we reach out for connection in an increasingly isolated, chaotic, and lonely world.

Where: Hoffman Hall, Edison Auditorium
When: 11 a.m.

The Mirror Effect: When The Writer Becomes The Story

Lana Lin, Melissa Febos, Susan Orlean and Amanda Uhle have produced literary and artistic work that has shaped conversations, influenced culture and established them as leaders in their fields. Now, they turn the pen inward and become the story. Exploring their careers, relationships, sexuality and more, these writers offer a rare and intimate look at the vulnerability, creativity and humanity behind their work

Where: Town and Gown
When: 1:30 p.m.

Democracy, Fascism and America Today

Join California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, Steven J. Ross, Omer Aziz, Erwin Chemerinsky and Los Angeles Times reporter Seema Mehta for a conversation about the state of our freedoms today and what our current political atmosphere could mean for the future of our democracy.

Where: Hancock Foundation, Newman Recital Hall
When: 1:30 p.m.

Sunday

Raising Gen Alpha: Parenting Today

How do we raise children in an age of rapid technological change, political polarization and global uncertainty? Drawing from their new books and their experience as parents, Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley will explore how to have honest, age-appropriate conversations with kids about complex and challenging topics, while psychologist Darby Saxbe shares groundbreaking research on the science of fatherhood.

Where: Wallis Annenberg Hall
When: 10:30 a.m.

The Mosaic of Us: Individual Memoirs and the Collective Truth of Black Life in America

Join Austin Channing Brown, Tre Johnson, Tamika D. Mallory and Carvell Wallace as they reflect on the moments that shaped their lives, work and perspectives. Through individual stories of resilience, love, purpose and self-discovery, their experiences weave together like a mosaic to form a deeper collective portrait of Black life and identity in America today.

Where: Hancock Foundation, Newman Recital Hall
When: 10:30 a.m.

Poetry, Power & Sovereignty

Panelists Matthew Cuban Hernandez, Karla Cordero, Sonia Guiñansaca and Yesika Salgado will dive into what it means to be autonomous, to be your own supreme authority, to belong to yourself, the land(s) and people you choose.

Where: De Los Stage
When: 12:50 p.m.

Lionel Ritchie in conversation with Mikel Wood

The legendary performer will discuss his new book “Truly” with the Times’ pop music critic.

Where: Bovard Auditorium
When: 2:30 p.m.

Looking Deeper: The Asian American Experience in Historical Fiction

Christine Bollow, Karen Tei Yamashita and Naomi Hirahara dive deep into the myriad Asian American experiences at turning points in American history, shedding light on untold stories and essential characters in our shared history.

Where: Hoffman Hall, Edison Auditorium
When: 3:30 p.m.