music

Thousands of cheering fans surround the ice at the Honda Center. The arena is loud, packed with fans in Anaheim Ducks jerseys. As the puck drops and the action starts, players zoom back and forth until — boom! A shot, and the Ducks score. But when the music hits for the first goal of the game, it’s not the typical “We Will Rock You” by Queen. It’s “Come Out and Play” by local heroes, and one of Orange County’s most influential punk bands, the Offspring.

To celebrate the third annual Come Out and Play Night, the Ducks have once again collaborated with the band for an evening of hockey, music and special exclusive merchandise for fans. The event will take place Tuesday at the Honda Center against the Vancouver Canucks. The collaborative effort began in 2024, but at the time, no one knew if it would last, including the Offspring’s guitarist, Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, who told The Times in a phone interview from Canada while on tour with Bad Religion that he and the band hoped it would be more than a one-time event. “This was the first time we’d ever teamed up with an organized sports team, and the fact that it’s an Orange County team, where we grew up, made it feel right,” Noodles said. “It’s been really fun, but we had no idea how long it would last. Now it’s three years later.”

Merrit Tully, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Ducks said that the concept for the collaboration between the club and the Offspring came organically as part of an evolution the organization was going through.

“We started putting a lot more emphasis on the in-arena experience a little over three years ago. That gave us the opportunity to rethink music, not just as something played between periods, but as something that could really elevate the experience for fans and players alike,” Tully said. “As this was happening, we approached our 30th season, and we were really leaning into our Orange County roots. We looked at collaborating with the Offspring, since they grew up just a few miles from here, and their rise happened at the same time our franchise was starting. This just felt authentically Orange County in a way that was hard to ignore.”

Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal and Noodles hold albums by the Offspring.

(Jordan Bathe)

For Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal, who was recently named NHL Third Star of the Week, having a collaboration with a band like the Offspring has special sentimental meaning. “I remember growing up hearing rock music a lot back in my home country, the Czech Republic,” Dostal said. “My parents would play punk rock and metal when they were driving me to the rink for practice, so hearing the Offspring now kind of brings me back to that.”

Dostal said that he loves many rock and alternative bands he remembers hearing back in his home country, such as Linkin Park. He also said that, as an athlete, music is part of his daily regimen, and it is the same with the Ducks. “We listen to music every day, before practice, before games. It’s a big part of how we get ready,” he said. “I grew up listening to this kind of music, so whenever I hear these songs, it just pumps me up.”

For fans who attended the two previous Come Out and Play Nights, people should expect lots of enthusiasm and high energy, mixing the intensity of a concert and a hockey game. “Those nights definitely had a different vibe. You can feel it from the ice,” Dostal said. “The fans are excited, the music is louder, and it just feels like something special for everyone in the building.”

Noodles said he agreed with Dostal and added that he thinks the collaboration makes sense because there are a lot of parallels between punk rock and sports like surfing, skating and ice hockey. “With surfing and skating, there’s always been that mix of flow and violence. You’re carving, you’re gliding, and then sometimes you take a wave on the head,” he said. “Hockey has that same thing. It can be really violent, but then there are moments where it’s all speed and movement.”

With a band having a successful career for over three decades, Noodles said there have been instances of being approached by professional athletes who are fans of the Offspring. “Over the years, we’ve had professional athletes come up to us as fans for sure. One time, Dennis Rodman came out onstage with us and did ‘Come Out and Play,’” he said. “Our producer, Bob Rock, is a huge hockey fan and really got us into going to the Ducks and Kings games.”

Members of the band the Offspring pose for a photo during a pre-game puck ceremony of the game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 27, 2025, at Honda Center.

(Debora Robinson / NHLI via Getty Images)

Noodles said he appreciates that a band like the Offspring has generations of fans and values how much the OC music scene is still thriving. “We’ve always had late teens and early 20s kids in the front row, but now we’re seeing younger kids and their parents, too. There’s a really wide age range at our shows now, and that’s been pretty cool to see,” he said. “The Orange County scene is still really alive. You see a mix of people from the old bands, but there are also a lot of younger bands coming up. I actually love going to see younger bands because nobody cares who I am. I can just stand in the pit and watch the show.”

This idea of generations of fans is also seen in the NHL, and Dostal agrees it can be seen with fans of the Ducks. He said this is one of the reasons he loves working with an OC band. “The Offspring are local, the Ducks represent Orange County, and I’m really happy I can be part of something that connects the two,” he said. Dostal also said that a custom collaborative design on a mask will be revealed at the Come Out and Play Night against the Canucks. “I worked with the guys in the Offspring, we threw around ideas together, and I told them they could basically do whatever they wanted. I’m really excited for fans to see it,” Dostal said.

Fans of the Ducks and the Offspring can expect a night to remember. It’s all about connection, and giving fans of the music and the team a chance to bring the worlds of sports and punk together for one special night. “Beyond ticket sales, we look at how fans respond in the building,” Tully said. “When we score and the arena reacts together to an Offspring song, that tells us the connection is real.”

Dostal agreed with the sentiment and said he is humbled by the collaborative event, which he said is fan emphasized. “The Offspring is a huge band all over the world, so being able to work with them and represent that on the ice is something I really appreciate.”

History was made in more than one way at Sunday night’s 68th Grammy Awards.

Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” won album of the year — the first Spanish-language LP to take the Recording Academy’s highest honor. Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” was named record of the year, making Lamar the winningest rapper in Grammy history (and just the fourth artist to go back-to-back for the record prize). Then there were Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, who took song of the year with “Wildflower”; they’re now the only songwriters with three wins in that prestigious category.

To go by demographics, the ceremony clearly embodied the diversity gains the academy has been saying proudly are happening among its 15,000 voting members. But if new kinds of faces are becoming Grammy darlings, the music they’re being recognized for still upholds many of the academy’s old values. A night for making history was also a night for reveling in it.

Take “Luther,” a soulful hip-hop slow jam built on a prominent sample of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 rendition of a love song Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell recorded in the late 1960s — an intricate piece of lineage-making meant to bridge multiple generations.

Olivia Dean performs.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“First and foremost, let’s give a shout-out to the late, great Luther Vandross,” the producer Sounwave said as he, Lamar, SZA and the song’s other creators accepted their award at Crypto.com Arena. (Before they made it onstage, Cher misread the card identifying “Luther” as record of the year and said that Vandross himself had won.) Lamar added, “This is what music is about,” and expressed his gratitude for being allowed “the privilege” to use Vandross’ music as long as he and SZA promised the singer’s estate not to curse on their record.

You can hear a similar reverence for those who came before in Olivia Dean, the 26-year-old British singer named best new artist on the strength of her hit “The Art of Loving” LP, which looks back to the gleaming pop-soul of Diana Ross and Whitney Houston.

Even Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper and singer who became a superstar at the bleeding edge of reggaeton and Latin trap, achieved his Grammy breakthrough with something of a throwback move: “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” is an exactingly arranged tribute to his native island, with elements of Puerto Rican folk styles such as bomba and plena and more hand-played instrumentation than he utilized for 2022’s sleek “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which scored a Grammy nomination for album of the year but lost to “Harry’s House” by Harry Styles (who, as it happens, presented the album prize Sunday).

Part of Bad Bunny’s success this year can be attributed to the fact that he’s a far bigger celebrity than he was three years ago; indeed, his Grammy triumph impressively sets up the halftime performance he’ll give this coming weekend at Super Bowl LX. But not unlike Beyoncé’s rootsy “Cowboy Carter,” which finally brought her a win for album of the year in 2025 after a number of outrage-inducing defeats, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” is also primo Grammy bait: a work steeped in tradition from a natural innovator.

SZA backstage.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

For years, the Grammys’ rearview gaze used to bum me out — and, to be honest, as lovely as Eilish’s “Wildflower” is, her song of the year win with the tender acoustic ballad felt like a failure of imagination among voters I wish had recognized the hurtling exuberance of “Golden,” from Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters.” (“Golden” did take the prize for song written for visual media, which made it the first K-pop tune to win a Grammy.)

Yet something about Sunday’s ceremony made it hard to get too worked up about all the historicizing. Perhaps it was how plainly yet passionately many artists used their time onstage to speak about the issues pressing on us right now. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out,” Bad Bunny told the crowd as he accepted an award for música urbana album. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”

Lady Gaga on the red carpet.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Eilish said, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” Dean pointed out that she’s the granddaughter of an immigrant and that “those people deserve to be celebrated.”

I was also moved by how personal so much of the music felt — a cry of imperfection like Lola Young’s “Messy,” for instance, which she performed by herself on piano and which won pop solo performance in an upset over the likes of Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter. “I don’t know what I’m gonna say because I don’t have any speech prepared,” she yelled into the microphone as she received her trophy. “Obviously, I don’t — it’s messy, do you know what I mean?”

Weirdly for a show with yesterday so heavily on its mind, a tribute to the late R&B trailblazers Roberta Flack and D’Angelo was a disappointment, with Lauryn Hill as bandleader moving way too quickly (in way too short an allotted time) through songs that require real space to unfurl.

That’s what Justin Bieber had for the evening’s most striking performance: a slow and radically stripped-down rendition of his song “Yukon” that he sang wearing only boxer shorts and socks, accompanying himself with a scratchy electric guitar riff he fed through a looping station.

“Yukon” is from Bieber’s impressive “Swag” album, which he released last year after a lengthy stretch in the pop-star wilderness; it’s an LP, kind of like “Messy,” about learning to forgive yourself for your flaws, and here he sang “Yukon” like a guy who’d figured out — maybe a guy figuring out — how to build a life outside the punishing expectations of celebrity. The music had the past in it, of course, but didn’t feel constrained by it.

Justin Bieber performs.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

In speech after speech, this year’s Grammy-winning artists returned to one message—ICE is a menace that must be stopped.

After dramatic, violent escalations in federal raids on immigrant communities and their supporters in Minneapolis and across the country, Americans have been shocked into despair and action. Many artists up for top Grammys have been vocal about their opposition to these raids, but at Sunday’s Grammys, the topic was front and center for many winners in their speeches.

“I want to dedicate this to all the people who had to leave their home, their country, to follow their dreams,” Bad Bunny said in his mostly-Spanish acceptance speech for the Grammys top prize, Album of the Year.

Earlier in the night, he joked with host Trevor Noah about Puerto Rico not being a great place for Noah should flee to, the island still being an American territory and all. But Bad Bunny made his point clearly even before taking home his biggest prize yet. “Ice out,” he said. “If we fight, we have to do it with love.”

With a Super Bowl halftime show coming next week, he’ll take the stage as the most important musician on earth right now, an urgent message brought to the heart of the most aggressively American live event.

As musicians around the country and the globe use their platforms to organize and speak out against the ICE raids, many acts wore pins on the red carpet Sunday—from Joni Mitchell and Carole King to Olivia Rodrigo, Brandi Carlile and Justin and Hailey Bieber.

Yet it was striking just how many artists used the acceptance speeches to decry the agency’s actions under President Trump.

Billie Eilish, an upset winner with brother Finneas for song for “Wildflower,” was even more direct. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” she said. “It’s hard to know what to say and what to do, but we need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting. Our voices really do matter.” Then came a long, bleeped moment on the CBS broadcast—presumably something urgently profane directed at a similar target.

That sentiment spanned genres and cultures. New artist winner, the U.K. R&B singer Olivia Dean, acknowledged the gifts of being “the granddaughter of an immigrant. I’m a product of bravery and I think these people deserve to be celebrated.”

“Immigrants built this country, literally,” said country star Shaboozey, a descendant of Nigerian immigrant parents, winning for country duo/group performance. “This is also for those who came to this country in search of better opportunity to be part of a nation that promised freedom for all and equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it. Thank you for bringing your culture your music, your stories and your traditions here.”

Kehlani, a winner for R&B song and performance, said that “Together, we’re stronger in numbers to speak out against all the injustice going on in the world right now. I hope everyone is inspired to come together as a community of artists ad speak out against what’s going on.”

” F— Ice,” Kehlani added, walking off the stage.

Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. also used his speech to underscore the “uncertainty and real trauma,” of the environment in America now. “It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, even helpless in challenging times. But music never stands still,” he said. “When we’re exhausted, music restores us. When were grieving, music sits with us.”

Alongside the night’s words of warning and rage, singer SZA offered what amounted to reassurance in her speech after winning record for “Luther,” her Hot 100-dominating collaboration with Kendrick Lamar.

“Please don’t fall into despair,” she said. “I know algorithms tell us it’s so scary and all is lost. But we can go on, we need each other. We’re not governed by the government, we’re governed by God.”

As it turns out, ‘80s pop star Kate Bush and fictional girl group Huntr/x from “KPop Demon Hunters” have a lot in common.

Over the last several years, Netflix has positioned itself as one of the few video streaming services focused on making an impact in the music industry.

From the surprise revival of older songs like Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” in shows like “Stranger Things,” to streaming the most originally produced music documentaries, there’s no doubt Netflix’s audience is musically in tune.

Last summer Netflix hit another level with the overwhelming success of “KPop Demon Hunters.” The animated movie, featuring fictional K-pop idols who fight the forces of evil, has become the most streamed Netflix movie with more than 480 million views since its release in June. But its success wasn’t limited to the viewership.

The soundtrack, full of punchy K-pop melodies and inescapable earworms, is the first to top the Billboard charts since 2022, when Disney’s “Encanto” created a similar frenzy. Huntr/x is also up for five Grammys at the awards ceremony Sunday.

The breakout single, “Golden,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, is nominated for song of the year, the first time a Netflix production has been nominated in one of the Grammys’ big four categories.

Music and movies always have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Think of classic tunes like “Over the Rainbow” in “The Wizard of Oz” and “My Heart Will Go On” in “Titanic” that became generational hits.

Now, Netflix and other global streaming platforms have taken the synergy to another level, creating new opportunities for recording artists to showcase their music.

“All of a sudden, people are discovering music they didn’t know before,” said Ian Eisendrath, the “KPop Demon Hunters” music supervisor. “I think that people got hooked on the film, which hooked them on the soundtrack, which led to the discovery of other music.”

Eisendrath said the movie, produced by Culver City-based Sony Pictures Animation, was not expected to be “a slam dunk commercial success. It was a risk.”

Though geared toward children, the movie drew a vast audience of all ages.

“It hit all kinds of angles, the music, the story, the characters, the visuals — [Netflix] was very interested in a film that would have wide-ranging appeal to all the quadrants of movie watchers,” Eisendrath said.

In the streaming era, music supervisors like Eisendrath play an increasingly important role in the success of projects like “KPop Demon Hunters,” said Robert Fink, the chair of music industry programs at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music.

He said over the last 10 years, the role has become about more than just finding a song to match a scene.

“They nurture artists in the way that record labels used to do,” Fink said. “They have artists that nobody knows about, or can get some people to write songs for [the project], which might then become a way that those artists and those songs become successful in the industry.”

The singing voices behind Huntr/x aren’t those of the lead actors. They belong to rising musicians Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. Ejae has written songs for major K-pop groups like Twice, Le Sserafim and Red Velvet, while Nuna and Ami have experience as solo artists.

Though they weren’t a group before the film, they have since performed together on the “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Saturday Night Live” and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The soundtrack earned global appeal, with more than two thirds of its streams originating from outside the U.S., according to data from entertainment industry analytics firm Luminate. “Golden” scored a record 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global charts. The popularity of the movie and its music helped boost music consumption on a global scale.

“KPop Demon Hunters” already is faring well this awards season: It won two Golden Globes and received two Oscar nominations for best animated feature and original song.

Justin Kamps, the music supervisor on “Bridgerton,” noticed a similar trend when new seasons of the Regency-era romance series drop. The period piece is famous for playing quaint orchestral covers of contemporary pop artists such as Billie Eilish, Pitbull and BTS. Its latest season is set to feature covers of Third Eye Blind, Coldplay and Usher.

According to Spotify, both the Vitamin String Quartet, the group behind the covers, and the original artists’ songs, like Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” and BTS’ “Dynamite,” experienced spikes in listening after the show’s release.

“Music and streaming has grown together. It’s great for artists, because the moment that a song is featured in a project, it could be an incredible boost to their streaming numbers and get them discovered,” Kamps said.

Perhaps one of the most memorable examples of this dynamic happened in 2022, when “Stranger Things” featured Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” Overnight, everything changed for both Bush and Netflix.

Nora Felder, the show’s music supervisor, called the moment “the perfect storm.”

“It exploded through the stratosphere. We didn’t expect that. We were focused on looking for something that told the narrative. It felt like it had been bigger than ever before,” Felder said.

“Running Up That Hill” received roughly 22,000 daily streams on average before it was featured in the show, according to Luminate. Following its star turn, the song it peaked at 5.1 million streams in a single day — nearly 40 years after its release. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time and hit 1 billion streams in 2022. The track then spawned viral trends on TikTok and pulled the ‘80s star into contemporary pop culture.

Throughout its five-season rollout, “Stranger Things” continued to influence what viewers were listening to. Felder said the draw of its soundtrack is a mix of nostalgia for older viewers who might have grown up in the ‘80s (the era in which the show is set) and an introduction to a new sonic world for younger listeners. According to Luminate, 28% of Gen Z discovers music through series that are exclusive to streaming.

When Felder works with other studios, she said music can feel like a “last consideration” or like “there wasn’t enough money being put in the music budget.” But with Netflix, music seems to be a priority, as she’s been able to license tracks from David Bowie and Fleetwood Mac and two Prince songs (which played in the “Stranger Things” series finale).

“Netflix is very careful, and for some projects, music is more of a main character than others,” Felder said. “I do feel like Netflix especially has been very careful to try and apply the budget accordingly and take a look at projects and [realize] that music could really be an added force.”

Netflix’s musicality will be put to the test during Sunday’s Grammys broadcast, as the girls of Huntr/x face off with Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, as well as Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars and Rosé. The Grammys will air live from the Crypto.com Arena on CBS and Paramount+.

This time 36 years ago, Fabrice Morvan was preparing for his first Grammy Awards. It had been a wild few years for the 23-year-old Parisian and his best friend Robert Pilatus from Germany. The duo known as Milli Vanilli had rocketed to fame, going from obscure dancers in Munich to dominate the pop music scene. Not only were they nominated for best new artist, but they were expected to perform live. Underneath it all, the pair were quickly reaching their breaking point.

Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” was nominated for both song and record of the year. Indeed, for the tens of millions of Milli Vanilli fans who bought their records, the 1990 Grammy ceremony marked an end of innocence of sorts. To this day, Milli Vanilli are the only artists in the history of the Grammys to have their award revoked.

L-R: The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.

(Ingrid Segeith/Ingrid Segeith/Paramount+)

“Rob and Fab,” as they were known, never sang — live or in studio — on any of the smash hit singles from their 6x platinum debut North American album, “Girl You Know It’s True.” Their Grammy performance was them lip-synching to a playback.

The real singing was done by paid session vocalists John Davis, Brad Howell and Charles Shaw while Rob and Fab captivated with their charisma, athletic dance moves and eye for style. In the wake of the fallout, Milli Vanilli remained steadfast that what they did was wrong. There was, in fact, plenty of blame to go around even if Rob and Fab suffered the brunt of it.

“They removed the platinum records from the wall at Arista,” says Morvan, now 59. He is perched on the edge of a poolside lounge chair from a boutique hotel in the heart of Hollywood. It’s a sunny December day, but he’s dressed all in black with glasses to match, slim fingers adorned with a custom silver skull ring. He loves the sunshine, but offers for my sake to move somewhere in the shade. Able to pass for decades younger, he now basks in life on the other side of infamy.

“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true,” Morvan said. “So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface.”

(Stephen Shadrach)

Now, in a redemption as astounding as his rise, Morvan is back in the running for the 2026 Grammys as the only person in Recording Academy history nominated after a prior revocation.

This time, the voice is unmistakably his. Nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category for his memoir “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli,” Morvan’s lilting French dialect and soft tone are hypnotizing and he has a natural knack for storytelling. The recording was performed alone in his home studio.

“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true. So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface,” he contends. “And people, they get it, they understand that.”

Sadly, Rob Pilatus isn’t here to see it. Unable to handle the fallout and struggling in addiction, he died in 1998. In one of the more moving parts of his memoir, Morvan speaks to his former partner, laying bare for the first time some of the more unhealthy aspects of their relationship but in a way that makes clear his love for Pilatus runs deep.

After Pilatus’ death, Morvan tried his best to move on. He taught French at a Berlitz school for a while when not performing at small venues. “I’m not even looking at becoming big,” he told Times journalist Carla Rivera in a 1997 profile. He even had a stint on radio hosting “Fabrice’s Fabulous Flashbacks” for KIIS-FM. But he always returned to making music.

“Music was always there with me,” he says, his excitement building. So when it came to moving forward in life, and, I said, ‘OK, what am I going to do?’ Music kind of popped up and said, ‘Hey, show me how much you love me.’ And then I worked on that, and I learned how to play guitar, and I learned how to produce, and I learned how to write … it allowed me to take the pain away, to remove it.”

But after 20 years in Los Angeles, Morvan felt it was time to leave “Hotel California,” as he calls it, for opportunities in Europe. In a follow-up Zoom call from his home in Amsterdam, he confides that he almost felt like giving up, but figured maybe a change of scenery was what he needed.

“I was very disillusioned,” he says, headphones crowning his dreadlocked updo. “I found a producer that I could work with and build something with, but due to certain circumstances, it didn’t come together. So I met some Dutch people that wanted to launch a fashion line. And I heard that Holland was a place where dance music was evolving.”

Becoming a DJ, he played festivals and kept Milli Vanilli’s legacy alive, performing with a live band.

Morvan with his wife Tessa van der steen and their four children

While preparing for a project about 15 years ago, Morvan met his current partner, Tessa van der Steen, who is Dutch and works as a health and fitness coach and alternative medicine practitioner. Together, they have four children: a 12-year-old boy, 9-year-old girl, and a set of 4-year-old twin boys.

During Milli Vanilli’s heyday, powerful male (mostly white) figures held the cards, but in this phase of his life it’s women who play big roles. Not mentioned in his book is Kim Marlowe, who Morvan says, in the 1997 Times article was his manager and best friend. They at one point married; Marlowe quietly filed for divorce in L.A. in 2024.

Van der Steen, however, is the love of his life. She had no idea who he was when they first met, he was simply “Fabrice.” And according to Morvan, she is fiercely protective. “Fab is the most loving partner and father I could ever imagine,” Van der Steen writes over email. “We are soulmates. We have been together for more than 15 years. We understand each other, and it happens often that we are thinking of the same things, without saying a word.” She champions his efforts to release original music and continue performing.

In recent years, changes in culture, technology and the music industry have opened up conversations casting Rob and Fab in a more sympathetic light. Morvan himself took part in the well-received 2023 Paramount+ documentary “Milli Vanilli.” That same year, “Girl You Know It’s True,” a well-made biopic directed by Simon Verhoeven, came out.

And Morvan was caught off guard when Ryan Murphy featured Milli Vanilli prominently in his 2024 series on the Menendez brothers, a move introducing the group to new generations unfamiliar with the story. Motivated by the renewed interest, he recorded a stripped down, acoustic version of the Diane Warren-penned hit “Blame It on the Rain.”

As recently as November, Milli Vanilli came up in the zeitgeist, sparked by a comment on X by veteran producer Jermaine Dupri commenting on AI “artists” charting on Billboard.

Of course there are still detractors, but in an era in which public cancellations abound and apologies are scrutinized for any whiff of inauthenticity, Milli Vanilli’s wrongdoings can now seem quaint.

Benjamin Matheson, assistant professor at the University of Bern’s Institute on Philosophy, studies collective shame and writes on celebrity apology. He offers the startling thought that certain fans might be more willing to forgive a moral wrong, even an egregious one like unlawful intercourse with a minor in the example of director Roman Polanski, as opposed to artistic deception because it can be seen as more authentic.

“I think that perhaps,” Matheson writes over email, “Milli Vanilli suffered because they were an early ‘created’ pop band, and the public hadn’t been acclimatized to this kind of music. Whereas now I think people are much more comfortable with autotuning, AI music, and so on — though I’d love it if there was a bit more push back on this kind of thing.”

Morvan has plenty of thoughts on the state of the music industry past and present. He welcomes the change in perspective, and while he doesn’t live in regret, looking back, he would give his younger self a little advice.

“Keep working on your craft now. No matter what, and don’t ever start drugs. And don’t let your buddy Rob start with that. With those two, things would have been different.”

The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Rob Pilatus(left) and Fab Morvan are the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.

(Paul Cox/Paramount+/Paul Cox/Paramount+)

When the Los Angeles Tribune editorial staff selected “Girl You Know It’s True” as its movie of the year, Morvan met Parisa Rose, his co-writer and executive producer for the recording of the memoir. Rose, a first-time author and mother of two, first met Morvan when she interviewed him for the quirky paper — now in its fourth revival. She is now chief operating officer of the Tribune, which has expanded to include a publishing house.

Rose, who grew up in Pasadena, helped Morvan reckon with parts of his background he had long buried. One of the most compelling parts of the memoir is when he breaks the fourth wall, narrating letters to individuals from his past.

“You need to say everything you have never said before to them that you’ve always wanted to say,” she says of the exercise they conducted for the interludes. “You need to know that this is the last conversation you will ever have with them. And you need to imagine they are sitting across from you now.” Reached over the phone, Rose said she also helped with research, uncovering details on the seaside sanatorium in France where Morvan spent much of his early childhood.

A great part of Morvan’s motivation for the memoir was to leave a legacy for his kids. His oldest son is getting into music and recently found an old Milli Vanilli vinyl and plays it along with Daft Punk and Michael Jackson. Remaining “zen” about the idea of winning, he’s enjoying the moment. And the big dreams never die. He plans to tour in the next year and come back to perform in America. And who knows? Maybe one day he can play Coachella.

He’s particularly thrilled over his Grammy outfit, a collaboration with Spanish designer Helen López, whom he previously worked with on a Milli Vanilli-inspired line. “When you’ll see what I’m wearing … you’ll see that I don’t play,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “No matter what the outcome in life, you have to just be, be in the moment. Enjoy the moment. Whatever happens will lead you to something else. I have no expectations.”

For Ty Dolla Sign, the perfect Sunday begins in the sky, traveling back to Los Angeles from wherever his career has last taken him. The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist lives in constant motion — our interview had a few interruptions because he was getting ready to fly to Las Vegas, where he would be performing at a club later that night.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

“I’m about to be at the airport in like 17 minutes,” he said, his signal cutting in and out. “Do you want me to hit you back?”

Born Tyrone Griffin Jr., Ty Dolla Sign is known for his gruff sandpaper vocals and memorable hooks. Last fall, he released his fourth studio album, “Tycoon,” with features from YG, ASAP Rocky, Chlöe, Lil Wayne and Leon Thomas and more. Then he kicked off 2026 by dropping a mash-up version of the record on the streaming platform Hotcue.fm.

Awards season has been just as active. Ty Dolla Sign is up for his seventh Grammy nomination, this time for melodic rap performance for his collaboration with JID. EZMNY (Easy Money), the record label that Ty Dolla Sign co-founded with A&R executive Shawn Barron in 2021, also earned 10 additional nominations through its roster, including six for Leon Thomas and four for Bizzy Crook.

“We’re the greatest squad,” the L.A. native said of his team. “We just want to keep being the greatest and doing the best we can to change music for the better and keep the standard high.”

The 2026 Grammy Awards will take place Sunday — the same day as his daughter’s 21st birthday, so naturally she’ll be joining him for the special occasion. He’ll also be doing a pre-show performance before the ceremony.

Just before his plane took off, Ty Dolla Sign shared what a perfect Sunday in L.A. would look like: hitting up his favorite smoothie bar, cooking up new music at his compound and enjoying a low-key Italian dinner.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

5 a.m.: Wake up on a plane

A perfect Sunday for me would start with landing on a plane early in L.A. Since I’ll already be up, I can handle my calls super early, which is convenient.

11 a.m.: Hit the weights with my PT

Then I’d go straight home and my trainer would get to my place around 11 a.m. or noon. We’d work out after that in my home gym. I’ve been working with my trainer since before Ty Dolla Sign. We’ve been training together on and off for about 15 to 20 years. I’m the type of guy to where it’s like, yeah, having a six pack is cool and all that, but eating great food is also one of my loves. If a girl wants to deal with me, she’s going to have to know certain times, I’m going to be the super workout fitness guy and sometimes, I want to eat for three years and I might get a little chunky. If you love me, you love me. If you don’t, get away. [laughs]

2 p.m.: Grab a healthy smoothie from Body Energy Club

Afterward, I’d shower up and if I have to do any more calls or answer emails, I’d handle that. Then I’d go to this spot called Body Energy Club, which has these fire a— smoothie and acai bowls. They have the most natural ingredients. The Green Goodness is great. It has avocado, spinach, banana and some other sweet stuff. It doesn’t taste nasty at all, but it’s super healthy. Then there’s the Blueberry Crumble that I love, which kind of tastes like French Toast Crunch with blueberries in it. It’s fire but also healthy. Then last but not least, I like the Turmeric Mango. That’s the one I get when I need to heal up and I’ve been wildin’. [laughs]

3 p.m.: Hit up the studio

After that, I would head over to my compound and probably just do some music. I might throw on a football game while I’m working.

10 p.m.: A low-key Italian dinner

Depending on when I leave the studio, I’d either order in or go out for dinner. There’s a few restaurants that I love. If we’re talking Italian, I’d go to Giorgio Baldi in the Palisades. If it was getting late, I’d go to Nice Guy. They also have Italian food. I’m only going to places that give me the private room and don’t try to “rap guy” me, meaning they don’t try to charge me extra high because they know I’m an artist.

At Giorgio Baldi, I like the ravioli that has corn in it, which is what they’re famous for. They have so many good things, so I order a whole bunch of things and then I just taste a little bit of each thing and that’s how I like it cause that’s how I eat. Everywhere I go, I like to order steak, fish and chicken and veggies just like how I cook at home. I don’t have to eat everything, but it’s better if I bring a lot of people so we can all share. That’s like when I’m on my diet s— and trying to stay slim. If it wasn’t then my favorite food is a burger. As for Nice Guy, they have this chicken Parmesan but I’m a weirdo, I eat the chicken Parmesan without the Parmesan. I found one other person who’s like me and it’s YG because we’re both on some “No cheese.” It was funny to find out that he was the same way. After that, I would call it a night.

As is always the case, the Grammys this year will be dominated by pop, rap, country and rock. But the best races often lie in the less mainstream genres. Take best jazz vocal album, where Samara Joy, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap, Michael Mayo, Terri Lyne Carrington and Christie Dashiell and Nicole Zuraitis are competing for the honor.

The highly impressive group reflects the current state of jazz, where both young guns and veterans are combining to bring the music to a new swell of fans. To talk about the present state of jazz, The Times brought together 26-year-old Joy and 75-year-old Bridgewater. What followed is an incredible conversation on politics, race, equality and mutual fandom.

You both have had Grammy success. But is it still just as thrilling to be nominated?

Dee Dee Bridgewater: I can speak on that because I haven’t been nominated in years. And yeah, it’s a thrill when you’re nominated and you haven’t been and you’ve done something that your peers think is Grammy worthy. I don’t know about Samara, but for me, I don’t do any of my recorded projects with the intention of getting a Grammy nomination, which seems to be the goal of a lot of younger artists. So that me doing something that I just was trying to chronicle and because of this work that Bill and I have been doing off and on for the last few years, it’s like the icing on the cake. It’s wonderful.

Samara Joy: Agreed, when I say I’m just grateful to be here, like in this space, being able to talk about this in this way, I mean it. It wasn’t the intention behind making the music that I love to make with the people I love to make it with. And when kids come up to me and they say, “Because of you, now my goal is to be a Grammy winner.” I’m like, “You’ve already strayed way off course. We need to come back.” And realize that the accolades and the awards and the acknowledgment is beautiful because it’s coming from your peers and we’re celebrating each other. It’s amazing, it’s exciting, it’s wonderful. I’m grateful for it. But at the same time, the other 364 days of the year, we’re working and we’re touring and we’re performing because we love it. And it’s with the intention of seeing what else we can learn and express and finding new ways to do that. I’m grateful to be in the conversation, but also I’m using it even more as an opportunity to thank the people who support us and who listen to the music and who come to the concerts to say that that’s what I love. So, the fact that people have connected with it enough to acknowledge it on such a high level is amazing, but the love of it never goes away.

Bridgewater: Yes, I agree with that, Samara. When I do my work, because I like to call myself an artist who flies under the radar, I’m basically out there trying to bring joy to people. With the music that I do, I try to change up the projects depending on what is going on in the world or depending on what I’m thinking about and feeling about society and just trying to make a connection with people and be a conduit for the people and speak through the songs, things that I think will bring them joy or get them to think about some things that they are not wanting to say out loud. So, that’s what I’m doing right now. Then with my music, what I’m trying to do is bring more attention to women in jazz. For the last few years, aside from my occasional concerts with Bill [Charlap], I have been working with women. I have created a band. I call it We Exist! We are doing socially conscious music, some protest songs, and that is what I’m taking around the world. Generally, people come up to me and say, “Thank you so much for saying these things for us. We need to hear this.” My concern at my older age, now that I’m in my golden years, is the state of society and the world and this political crisis that we are in. So, I’m trying to speak about this in a way that people can hear it without getting on some kind of political bandstand and speaking in that way. I think that the world is in danger politically and I think our democracy is in danger. That’s my concern and that’s what I’m trying to do through my music. Also, I want people to see more women in the jazz space, and I think as an elder it’s almost an obligation of mine to lead that front and present this and present this image. I get many women that come up and say, “Thank you so much for doing this for women.” So, that’s where my head is right now.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

(Hernan Rodriguez)

How exciting is it to see that, of the jazz vocal nominees, four of the five are women?

Bridgewater: Yeah, and isn’t that wonderful? But I can say this, for vocal jazz, it usually is women. This has been the place where we have been allowed to shine as vocalists. It’s been for many, many years, the only place where we’re allowed to shine. So, when you get female instrumentalists besides Terri Lyne [Carrington] because Terri Lyne broke through in a period of when there were not a lot of jazz drummers, so that she worked with Herbie [Hancock] and she worked with Wayne [Shorter]. They gave her a platform that most women are not granted. Of course, also, one has to be extremely talented. And Terri Lyne can stand beside any man and hold her own and outdo many men. That’s not the point. The point is that she had that opportunity. They gave her that opportunity and then she’s been able to pay it forward. But to see instrumentalists like Lakecia Benjamin who has really come to the forefront as an alto saxophonist and to see her get Grammy nominations, that’s something that, for me, is huge.

Samara, talk about what you’re seeing in the scene today in terms of gender disparity and overall vibe.

Joy: I’ve had the opportunity to play with some amazing ones. I went to the Vanguard a few weeks ago and sat in with [Christian] McBride and Savannah Harris was on drums. I played with Alexandra Ridout, who is an incredible trumpet player as well. Although I understand the disparity in the current time and throughout history, I also understand that I might be living through a privileged time where I just kind of see women around me everywhere. So, I don’t understand what it’s like to be without it on the scene. I can read about the fact that maybe at a time saxophone was taking precedence over jazz vocals or with each era, there’s a new focus. But I guess on the scene now I’m proud to be able to see all of these wonderful women composers and instrumentalists stepping to the forefront.

Both of you have made music that is very uplifting as well. In these difficult times, music is something that can lift the spirits and bring people together. For each of you talk about making music that uplifts because there are so many great jazz standards that have the point of lifting up the world.

Bridgewater: I’m here in town at Birdland with Bill Charlap and we are doing songs from the American Songbook primarily and Duke Ellington. It has nothing to do with anything that’s going on today, politically speaking. Last night was our first show and the audience just loved it. So, there is that side that one can take. And I’ve been very apolitical. It’s just since the two Trump administrations and the Gaza war that happened and some other things that I’ve seen going on outside of the United States that have really incensed me that I felt the need to speak out in the way that I am, you know. But it is wonderful to go to a show and have people come to see a show and be able to completely lose themselves and be outside of what is going on for that span of time that they are with the artists. For the other side, when I do these socially conscious songs, people come and say, “Oh my God, thank you. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear someone.” Because my point at the end of my show is I say, “We the people have the power, we can’t forget that. We are the people that can motivate the change and protect our democracy because we see democracy being chipped away around the world.” I grew up in an era where there was a distinct difference between Black and white and I was not able to be served when I would go to sit at a lunch counter as a little Black girl. So, I’ve experienced both sides. My awareness is different than Samara’s and I feel the alarms. The alarm bells are just ringing for me. But when I come back and I do a show with Bill, sometimes it’s difficult for me to get into these sweet, innocent songs because they don’t have the gravitas that I’m experiencing doing a Nina Simone song like “Mississippi Goddam.” For me, artistically speaking, it’s been interesting to find a balance. Samara, you do these beautiful songs with that stunning voice of yours. Your take is totally different. And you’ve grown up in another era.

Joy: This is the first time in my life that I have not only been aware of what’s happening in the world but also feel compelled. Like, I have a responsibility to do something about it because I’ve never been so aware of what is happening around me as I am right now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing but I just feel like, ”OK, I’m an adult and this is the world that I live in and I have a responsibility as one of the people living in this world to not only do something about it right now but do something for the next generation of people who are going to have to live in the world that results in what we do right now.” It’s scary. I don’t know how people do it, especially because it’s not as difficult right now. It’s not as difficult for me to say something that might have been for an Abbey Lincoln or Nina Simone or whoever. I’m also living in a sort of luxury in that way that I don’t have to speak out and be the only one who is doing so and then be proven right later. In that way, I’m like, “I have to because of all these women who have gone before me, who made that difference and who stood and didn’t get appreciated or thanked for it in the moment, have made it so that the world that I live in now, as crazy as it is, I’m able to have a platform in the first place and be able to lead some sort of charge — or at least spread some sort of message so that the world that we’re building for the ones who come later. It’s not just about me right now, it’s all interconnected.” It feels a little heavy, a little scary. I’m still trying to figure out where my voice fits.

Bridgewater: You know what, honey, I get that. When I was your age, I honestly was not at all concerned about politics and what was going on. I was concerned about my Blackness because I’ve experienced our people being named four different times. When I was a little girl, I was colored, then I was Negro, and when they said Black, I was incensed because your hair is black. Our skin is brown. But I understand where you’re coming from because you are coming up in a different time. And you are just beginning to navigate all of the politics, so you’re going to probably go through a similar kind of thing that I went through when I was young, and I concentrated on just writing my music and things that spoke to me. You’re fine where you are and you’re going to learn to navigate all of this in time and what I would hope for you is that you don’t feel a weight. We’re all going to feel this heaviness because of the situation that we’re in but as an artist, I want you to feel free to discover and do the things that you feel in your spirit and not feel led to do something because it’s what’s going on around you. You’ve got to continue to stay true to yourself, which you’ve been doing, which is wonderful. I’m at a different stage in my life. I’m in the last quarter of my life. I’m 75 and I’ve been through all of this stuff. I feel like I’m at a place where if I want to say something instead of not like I’ve done in the past, I’m going to speak my mind. I want to say this to Samara and I’ve said this to her before. But I am so proud of you and what you are doing. And you have a voice that the gods have blessed you with, Samara. At my age to be in the same space with you for the Grammys, I am so tickled. I love you so dearly. I truly do, and you know that. The times that we’ve been on stage together, it’s been wonderful for me. I want you to know that there are people who are your elders who, besides loving you like we do, we depend on you, Samara. You have been able to enter the space and bring jazz to the world in a way that we were not.

Joy: I love you too. I’m sitting here thinking about one of the first times I got the chance to see you perform at Blue Note. I was there with my professor at the time. I was so nervous, but I’m so honored to know you. I’m so honored to have loved you from afar and now get the chance to love you up close and honor you and appreciate you and shower you just as you have showered me.

If you were going to do one song together at the Grammys, what would you want to do?

Joy: “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free,” [Nina Simone].

Bridgewater: That’s in my repertoire. I do that. That would be a great one, Samara. I’m on board. We would tear it up.

BEFORE making his most ambitious album Cosmic Opera Act I, Labrinth reached a crossroads: Was he chasing fame or authenticity?

He says: “Am I on a journey to be famous or am I on another journey where creative fulfilment doesn’t always mean being super-successful?”

The album, he explains, came from choosing the latter — and finally being at peace with that decision.

Labrinth has had hits and won major awards since being discovered and signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco label in 2010.

I thought it was weird that I wasn’t obsessed with awards and accolades, and I questioned if I was in the right industry

Labrinth

These include MOBO and Brit Awards for collaborations with Tinie Tempah, an Ivor Novello, an Emmy for his Euphoria soundtrack, alongside Grammy nominations for work with The Weeknd, Beyonce and Billie Eilish.

Chatting on a video call from a studio in LA, the singer and producer says: “There were moments in my career where I found myself more focused on novelty and gold.

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“There are artists who want to be at the Grammys in three years — that’s their focus. They want to be successful and famous within a certain time and organise all of that in their head.

“For me, I was more focused on the music than the fame. I’d be obsessed with a guitar sounding like a Chuck Berry record and I started to question if I was in the right place. Should I be chasing success?

“I thought it was weird that I wasn’t obsessed with awards and accolades, and I questioned if I was in the right industry.”

On his recent single, the hip-hop confessional Implosion, Labrinth says: “I was losing my mind. It was ripping away from my ego.

“When you taste success, it’s an addictive drug, and you don’t know you’re obsessed. It’s chasing dopamine. You don’t know you’re addicted until you try to pull away.

“If you need success to be validated or to be fulfilled, then there’s something wrong. And that’s where the implosion for me was. I needed to evolve beyond these urges and needs. Then I got an ADHD diagnosis and everything made sense.”

That was two years ago, when the artist born Timothy McKenzie finally got an answer that explained his behaviour.

He says: “I was lucky and went to see a doctor in the US.

“It can take months, even years, to get answers. I went to see Dr Amen, who is a celebrity doctor, and he did a scan of my brain.

“He could literally point things out like where I’d hit my head when I was ten. He did a real deep dive into how my brain works. And after that, it allowed me to be a lot more forgiving with myself.”

The idea for Cosmic Opera Act I came from the inner turmoil Labrinth had experienced with his mental health in the entertainment business while trying to define his own success plus his love for films like Star Wars.

“I still haven’t been to an opera — I know that sounds insane,” he says with a laugh.

“The opera is connected to drama and deep emotion.

“Then the cosmic part was after reading an article which said there are as many connections in our brain as there are stars in our universe.

“So that was the perspective of the title — with mental health the subject.

“I’ve always been a fan of opera from a distance, and I’ve always enjoyed the idea of exploring it.

“Also, I grew up with films from the Eighties like Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Those film scores stuck in my mind and I wanted to make an album that incorporated and explored their sound.

“Of course, me working in film and TV pushed me further into that direction.”

I wrote that song to show how I had evolved from the pain and confusion about my dad. I looked at myself as being a mini Luke Skywalker coming out of his demons

Labrinth

Labrinth’s love of Star Wars was also the inspiration behind one of the many standout songs on the album, S.W.M.F. (Star Wars Motherf***er), the singer feeling at peace with his demons.

It was a battle that helped him agree to soundtracking the Christmas John Lewis advert, a remake of 1990 rave classic Where Love Lives with original vocalist Alison Limerick.

“The John Lewis song was the finish line of dealing with demons for me — which was my relationship with my father.

“The John Lewis storyline was about a father and son’s relationship, so me doing the ad was like me saying, ‘Hey, Dad, I get it’.”

He adds: “Our relationship wasn’t great. My dad, who has passed, was violent and not present. He’d had a horrible childhood with an extremely violent stepfather, and that affected the way he was a father to me.

“I saw him occasionally. He was a bit of a ladies’ man, and I don’t think he knew how to be present enough for me as a kid. He didn’t do stuff like taking me to the park or giving me advice.

“Also, he was violent with me, trying to knock me for six when I was very young.

“So I had to face those demons and it made me think about my own anger or frustration. But when I look back, I feel pity for him, because he didn’t have the tools that I have today.

“It was the same with ADHD — I wanted to understand my brain and the way it works, so that I could be the best father I can be to my three young kids. And, in that journey, it made me think of my dad compared to my relationship with my kids and the moments they needed me — because I never had that.

“So I wrote that song to show how I had evolved from the pain and confusion about my dad. I looked at myself as being a mini Luke Skywalker coming out of his demons.”

God Spoke is a special gospel-influenced track inspired by Labrinth’s struggles with religion.

He says: “I grew up very religious. My grandad is a reverend and my mum is a devout Christian. She came over for Christmas to be with her grandkids, and we had loads of talks about religion.

I had a really bad temper. I would be kicked out of class all the time and I’d end up in the music room

Labrinth

“I’m spiritual, but I don’t follow a practice. I have all the respect for those who do follow a religion but I see God as unlimited and infinite and in a lot more places than a room or a structure — that’s why, to me, it’s bigger than one religion or one place.

“So God Spoke is like a homage to my grandad. When I was a kid, a lot of people would come to church for redemption. So I wrote that I’m at the end of being the old me, and I’m ready to grow and morph into the new me.”

Burn out

Labrinth says music was his saviour as a child and he would spend hours making music after being excluded.

“I got in a lot of trouble at school,” he says.

“I had a really bad temper. I would be kicked out of class all the time and I’d end up in the music room.

“Eventually it got to the point where I would get in trouble purposely, just so I could go there, because it was the easiest place for me to be, and the most peaceful.”

Labrinth says there is still not enough help with artists and their mental health in the entertainment industry.

He says: “RSD — Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria — is associated with ADHD and there are many artists in the music industry with this.

“Artists don’t learn how to manage their careers or their mental health. When they get a deal, they can burn out because they don’t have the tools to support the way their brain works.

“A lot of artists can end up in drug abuse, because they don’t have the skills to deal with a song not working.

“There isn’t a support system in the music industry — and it’s needed.”

In April Labrinth will take Cosmic Opera Act I to Coachella festival in California.

He says: “I am still working on how that looks, because it’s not cheap to do what is on the record. But I have big ideas and big visions for how I want to present the music and what I want to explore sonically.”

The Hackney-born star last played the festival in 2023 and was the talk of the weekend, with surprise guests Billie Eilish and Zendaya — in her first live show in over seven years, performing I’m Tired and All For Us from Euphoria on the second weekend.

“Zendaya was not planned at all,” says Labrinth. “Billie was the first week but Zendaya, who was on a film set, said she couldn’t make it.

“Then she called me to say she was going to Vegas to watch Usher and would be passing by. So it was literally last minute.”

Labrinth is looking forward to working on the score for Euphoria season three because Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer has joined the show’s production team.

He says: “The show is special because it speaks to the language of this era. That’s what inspired me.

“And this time, having Hans Zimmer involved — an experienced genius — makes a difference. I’ve always wanted to work with him, so this is my chance to do so.

If I could work with anyone next I’d say David Attenborough

Labrinth

“Gladiator was the film that got me on to Hans, and True Romance is another I love.

“He and Beyonce picked my song [Spirit] for Lion King so then I was like, ‘Well, I need to meet this guy’. It seems like life is trying to pull us together.”

Labrinth has learned a lot from working with superstars.

He says: “Beyonce has been a fan for a long time, because she’s checked out a lot of my records. She’s very kind, and treats people with respect, and is a real professional.

“Abel [The Weeknd] was like an animal in the studio. He knows what he wants and then it goes crazy when he releases something.

“If I could work with anyone next I’d say David Attenborough. I know he’s not a musician, but I love his voice and I’ve always wanted to put him on a record. Morgan Freeman and him — their voices are musical instruments to me.

“But next I’m in London working with Skepta. The UK has some special artists and I’m dying to get over there to perform.”

LABRINTH Cosmic Opera Act I

★★★★☆

A HUGE new food, drink and music venue is coming to Leeds – after success in another major city.

Freight Island has announced it’s opening a new site in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre and will welcome new food stalls and lots of entertainment.

The new venue is part of a £15million expansion at the Trinity Kitchen food court in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

It will be huge too as the space will more than double in size from 30,000 square feet to 63,000.

Inside will be street-style food stalls, independent bars, and live entertainment.

The plans also include a new outdoor terrace which will look over City Square.

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Construction is set to start in late spring 2026 – and Trinity Kitchen will remain open throughout the entire time.

Dan Morris, Managing Director of Freight Island, said: “Trinity Kitchen is an iconic Leeds destination with a decade-long reputation for championing independent food traders and creating a genuinely social dining experience.”

He added: “Food will remain at the heart of the venue, with menus driven by independent chefs and operators, alongside a programme of DJs, sports, performances, cultural and family events, all with a strong focus on showcasing and supporting local Leeds talent.”

There are three other cities with Freight Islands already in the UK.

The first to open its doors was in Manchester – it opened in July 2020 as part of the Depot Mayfield development.

There are bars, restaurants, food trucks, shops and even a bike park.

There’s also a New York inspired-roller disco, and a karaoke spot called Queen Samantha’s where visitors can sing their hearts out.

Throughout the year it holds free entertainment too like screenings of the Six Nations Bingo and Drink, Dance, Dine sessions.

Freight Brixton has a tequila-led bar called Casa Amigos and another called Hotel Milano which is inspired by Northern Italy.

Freight Island Newcastle will open in Eldon Square in late 2026.

The 60,000 square foot venue is being developed in the former Debenhams shop.

This site is said to have taken inspiration from Coney Island in New York and Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

Along with having street food it will have high energy DJs and live music performances in the evenings.

For more on entertainment, check out this huge new riverfront music and food attraction to open in UK capital, as part of £4billion redevelopment.

Plus, this popular London borough to get huge £10billion makeover with parks, restaurants and ‘flower amphitheatre’.

Last year, Spotify paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry, bringing the company’s total payouts since launch to nearly $70 billion.

The milestone year reflected the “largest annual payment to music from any retailer in history,” the company announced on Wednesday in a post. In 2025, Spotify’s payout amount grew by over 10%, making the Sweden-based streamer one of the industry’s main revenue drivers.

“Big, industry-wide numbers can feel abstract, but that growth is showing up in tangible ways,” wrote Charlie Hellman, the company’s new head of music. “Despite rampant misinformation about how streaming is working today, the reality is that this is an era full of more success stories and promise than at any point in history.”

When music streaming was first introduced, there was some controversy about how much artists earn from streams. According to Spotify, independent artists and labels accounted for half of all royalties. Additionally, the company said there are currently more artists earning over $100,000 a year from Spotify alone than were getting stocked on shelves at the height of the compact disc era.

Founded in 2006, the company, with a large presence in L.A.’s Arts District, has become the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. The platform offers access to over 100 million tracks, podcasts and audiobooks in over 180 markets.

At the top of the year, founder Daniel Ek moved from his CEO position to become executive chairman. Spotify named two co-CEOs, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, in his place.

This month, Spotify raised prices for its premium subscribers in the U.S., bringing the costto $12.99 per month. Hellman disclosed that as Spotify’s audience continues to grow, the higher prices are designed to help with the company’s ongoing expansion. According to the post, Spotify makes up roughly 30% of recorded music revenue and pays out two-thirds of all music revenue to the industry. The other third gets invested back into the company to maintain an “unrivaled listening experience.”

Recently, the streamer has been focused on growing its podcasting division by opening a new recording studio in Hollywood, premiering several shows in partnership with Netflix and expanding its creator monetization program.

Separately, Spotify said it is hoping to counter new developments in AI by reinforcing a human connection between artists and fans. This includes an emphasis on more artist-powered videos, continuing to promote artists’ live shows on the platform and expanding the role of the company’s music curators. The streamer also has plans to crack down on AI-driven artists on the platform.

“AI is being exploited by bad actors to flood streaming services with low-quality slop to game the system and attempt to divert royalties away from authentic artists,” said Hellman. “We’re going to introduce changes to the systems for artist verification, song credits, and protecting artist identity. It’s critical to ensuring listeners and rightsholders can trust who made the music they’re hearing.”

Hey, Greenland — feeling a little low after President Trump’s ongoing attempts to buy or otherwise acquire the land under your feet? Neil Young can fix that framework!

Just keep “Rockin’ in the Free World.” For free. Forever.

The 80-year-old “hippie at heart” on Tuesday granted “our friends in Greenland” a year of free access to his music catalog, hoping that its contents “ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government.”

(Of course, all U.S. administrations, even Trump’s, are effectively temporary, given the whole “elections every four years” thing. That should ease some stress right there.)

“It is my sincere wish for you to be able to enjoy all of my music in your beautiful Greenland home, in its highest quality,” Young wrote on his blog. “This is an offer of Peace and Love. All the music i have made during the last 62 years is yours to hear.” It’s unclear whether he’s giving away the middle-tier “Rust” subscription, which is just a penny under $45 a year, or the top-notch “Patron” subscription, which adds unspecified extras and a promise of priority treatment for $99.99 annually. The basic level subscription, at $24.99 a year, doesn’t provide the “highest quality” sound or the “music films” his message promises.

Greenlanders who take him up on his offer can renew for free annually as long as they stay put on the island. Young’s team will need cellphone numbers with the Greenland country code: 299.

Young said he hoped other “organizations” would follow in his footsteps.

He does have a “Heart of Gold,” after all.