HE’S a happily married dad of two but Olly Murs is still a lad at heart and he wanted his new album to reflect that fun part of his personality.
And by laddish, the upbeat singer means a good old-fashioned knees up — the title of his eighth record.
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Olly Murs has been influenced by Madness and The SpecialsCredit: Matt HolyoakOlly on stage at Wembley before the Women’s FA Cup Final this yearCredit: Getty
“There’s always a moment to be a lad, right?” he laughs. “And that’s what this album is about — I’m going back to my roots.
“This was probably the kind of album that I wanted to launch my career with, but I didn’t.
“For a long time, I was making records for other people, my fans and what I thought they wanted to hear.
“He’s such a good baby and he sleeps, which is important because I need sleep.
“If sleeping was an Olympic sport, I’d be there.
“Maybe he takes after me.
“We’ve been blessed so far after ten weeks.
“He’s giggling, he doesn’t really cry.
“He had his vaccines this week which were horrible.
“I had to cancel work yesterday because [his wife] Amelia did it with [daughter] Madi and I never did, so I wanted to be there.
“Bless him, he wasn’t in a good place, he was proper aggy.
“So, I cancelled a bit of work, which is unlike me, but family comes first.”
For years, Murs put his career first and everything — and everyone — else came a distant second.
“Now life is very different,” he tells me.
“Now Amelia and the kids are everything and my career is still there, but I have a different way of looking at life — and I love it.”
He has no expectations for the new album, which makes the prospect of putting it out even more exciting.
He says: “I’m out here doing my thing, and if people like it, great. If you don’t, it is what it is.
“I’m just happy doing my thing.
“I’ve got to a point where I want to try different things and musically this isn’t too far away from what I’ve done before – it feels authentic to me, and I’m enjoying it.
“I’ve got to tell myself that more, because there is the other side of me that’s the ego.
“I want a number one, I want that trophy.
“I want that plaque on the wall. And I’ve got to keep that desire, otherwise, what’s the point?
“I want things to matter. Of course, I do.
“My thing is that I don’t sit in one place.
“My unique selling point is that I can jump on radio or TV and present a show, and at the same time, I can release music and have success and also tour the country.
Caroline was a good friend and she took her own life. The documentary has come out this week so it’s been difficult. It has brought things back.
Olly on Caroline Flack
“There is a uniqueness with me that I am proud of.”
Knees Up draws heavily on the ska and pop influences of Madness and The Specials, the bands Murs adored as a kid.
He says: “When I first started, I was asked to list all the songs I liked if I was to make the best album ever.
“It was The Specials, Madness, a bit of Stevie Wonder, The Kooks who were my favourite band at the time, Robbie Williams and Paolo Nutini.
“Save Me, the first song on the album is very Madness and that spearheaded which direction the music went in.
“This could be an album Heart Skips A Beat fits on.”
There’s plenty of fun moments on the album.
Still Getting Used To The Ring is a mischievous song about settling into marriage.
“That song is definitely the cheeky side of me,” laughs Murs.
“It came from a lyric I wrote on my phone.
“Sometimes when I’m writing songs, I will say to co-writers Ed Drewett and James New, ‘If I sing that the Mrs won’t be happy’, but then we’ll write it in a sense that I’m still getting used to being a husband, I’m still getting used to being dad.
“So, I forget to do the little things and I might not be perfect, but I’m still getting used to the ring.”
When it comes to choosing a favourite from Knees Up, Murs says Honest is the one he keeps coming back to.
Olly says his new album is the one he’s always wanted to make, creating it for himself rather than doing what he thought people wanted to hearThe star has revealed he needs a little ‘me time’ so won’t be performing many gigs for a while after he headlines Kentish Town Forum on December 8Credit: Getty
“Honest for me is every bloke’s nightmare,” he explains.
“It’s about when they walk in from a day at work and they just know that there’s a cloud upon the house.
“There’s been times when I’ve got home and I just know that Amelia is annoyed about something I’ve done — but I don’t know what that is.
“The song is about not knowing what you have done wrong.
“That song was fun to write.”
Cut To The Chase, which Murs jokingly calls “my sexy song”, sees him tapping into a flirtier, more confident vibe.
He says: “It is about how sometimes in life we are busy and with kids we don’t get any intimacy or moments together.
“It’s about the cut to the chase which really resonated with me as we are always crossing paths.
“It is also a fun song to sing and when I played it to Amelia she loved it.
“She also thinks my fans will love that one, because it’s ‘big bandy’.
“It’s got the brass and is very old school London with ukulele and banjo in it.
“Like music from an old gentlemen’s club, or a cool bar with fancy tables.
“It’s got a very classic feel to it.
“Classic AND classy — you’d never know it was about sex.”
I’ve done a lot of tours in the last three years and I’ve got married. I’m now on Heart radio station every Saturday with Wrighty [Mark Wright], I’ve written an album and I just think I need a bit of time for me.
Olly on why he might not be doing many gigs for a while
Chin Up, the song that closes the album, carries a more serious tone.
Murs says: “That’s about mental health and to do with what I went through with some friends in the last year.
“It’s been a tough year for a lot of my friends who have reached out to me to chat and that song came from that.
‘Her feelgood vibe’
“That song is about encouraging men to speak out and talk. And when we were writing it, we felt it was important to keep your chin up and everything is going to be fine.
“I went to a charity dads’ club recently for a TV show — it was a Sunday club at a school where all the dads can turn up with their kids once a month and they play games and have a couple of hours together.
“It’s important, because a lot of dads go to work in the week as of course woman do too, but it’s important for dads to come along and meet other dads and feel like they’ve got a group.
“One guy was telling me about the positives but also that they’d lost one guy to suicide.
“A dad had taken his own life. And it really hit me.
“So I’m glad I’ve written that song and hopefully it can help someone.”
The subject is clearly a personal one for Murs, and it leads him to think about a loss closer to home, that of TV presenter Caroline Flack, who died in 2020.
The documentary Search For The Truth by her mum Christine premiered on Disney+ this week.
“Caroline was a good friend and she took her own life. The documentary has come out this week so it’s been difficult,” he says, the emotion clear.
“It has brought things back.
“I try and always remember the positive things with Caz.
“I don’t try and think too much about the negative stuff, because if I do, I go down a rabbit hole of emotions, and unfortunately, it’s not going to bring her back.
“I just remember her laugh, her jokes and her feelgood vibe.
“I wish she was still here, of course, and it hurts to watch her old shows.”
A different loss felt by Murs is that of his estranged twin brother Ben, who cut himself off from Murs and his parents when the singer missed Ben’s wedding in 2009 to perform in the live semi-finals of The X Factor.
‘Always on the go’
Murs says: “I’m proud of Ben.
“I don’t see him, but I’m proud of him.
“There isn’t any bitterness or anger there.
“I’m just really proud of where my career is, and from what I hear, Ben’s doing great too, and that’s all I care about.
“We’re older men now, we’re in our 40s, so I’m sure at some point we’ll figure it out.”
Next month Murs plays a London show to celebrate the new album and he is excited about what might be his only gig in a while.
He says: “The truth is I don’t even know what I’m doing next year.
“I don’t even know if I’m ever going to tour this album properly.
Olly Murs says family now comes first, with his career fitting around life at homeCredit: Getty
“I’m doing this show at Kentish Town Forum and it might even be the only one I do for this album.
“I’ve done a lot of tours in the last three years and I’ve got married.
“I’m now on Heart radio station every Saturday with Wrighty [Mark Wright], I’ve written an album and I just think I need a bit of time for me.”
“But then I’m always on the go and I like that.
“I don’t know what I’m doing next — I’ve got plans and ideas but I’m just going to see what happens.
We are being ruled by the “Epstein class,” and voters deserve to know the details of that particular scandal, and to be able to expect better of their leaders in the larger sense.
That’s the message we’ll be hearing a lot in the coming weeks and months now that Democrats have successfully moved forward their effort to release the full investigation into former President Trump buddy Jeffrey Epstein.
“When you take a step back, you have a country where an elite governing class has gotten away with impunity, and shafted the working class in this country, shafted factory towns, shafted rural communities,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) told me Wednesday.
He represents parts of Silicon Valley and is one of the authors of the House push to release the full government investigation into Epstein. But in the Epstein case, he also sees an opportunity to reach voters with a larger promise of change.
“What Epstein is about is saying, ‘we reject the Epstein class governing America today,’” Khanna said.
How appropriately strange for these days would it be if Epstein, who faced sex trafficking charges at the time of his death, provided the uniting message Democrats have been searching for?
“Epstein and economics” sounds like a stretch on the surface, but it is increasingly clear that Americans of all political stripes are tired of the rich getting richer, and bolder. The Epstein files are the bipartisan embodiment of that discontent.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), left, and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) have led Democrats’ push for release of the Epstein files.
(Sue Ogrocki and J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
Our collective frustration with what can appear only as a cover-up to benefit the wealthy and powerful is an unexpected bit of glue that binds regular Americans, because the corruption and hubris of our oligarchy is increasingly undeniable and galling.
But where each of those examples becomes buried and dismissed in partisan politics, sex trafficking girls turns out to be frowned upon by people from all walks of life.
“It’s universal,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and another Californian. “This is clearly a White House and a president that is the most corrupt person we’ve ever had in office serving as a chief executive, and this is just another piece of that corruption.”
Khanna, along with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, built the unlikely but unstoppable effort that brought together once-loyal Trumpers including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene with Democrats.
Those staunch right-wingers are tied in to their voters, and probably understood just how unpopular sex trafficking is with a base that grew into maturity on QAnon-inspired fear mongering about kidnapped children.
“It’s the only thing since Trump walked down the escalator that’s been a truly bipartisan effort to expose corruption and where there’s been a break in his coalition,” Khanna said.
And by “exposing rich and powerful people who abuse the system and calling them out clearly, we start to rebuild trust with the American people,” Khanna argues, the trust required to make folks believe Democrats aren’t so terrible.
Long before he was a linchpin in the Epstein saga, Khanna built a name as a force on the progressive left for a positive and inclusive economic platform that resembles the New Deal, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to rebuild democracy in another era of hardship and discontent.
It’s all about real payoffs for average Americans — trade schools and affordable child care and jobs that actually pay the bills. That’s the message that he hopes will be the top line as Democrats push forward.
On Wednesday, the buildup of resentment that might make that possible came into full focus in Washington, as Congress opened up to anything but business as usual. Democrats, led by Garcia, released emails raising questions about Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Trump “spent hours at my house” and “knew about the girls,” Epstein wrote, even as Trump’s press secretary argued this was all a “fake narrative to smear” her boss.
Republicans countered the emails with a massive information dump probably meant to obscure and confuse. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, out of excuses, finally swore in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who promptly provided the final signature on the discharge petition to call a House vote on releasing the entire Epstein files.
That happened just hours after Boebert, one of the key Republican backers of that effort, was called to the White House in a last-minute, heavy-handed bid to pressure her into dropping her name from the demand. She did not.
Enough to make your head spin, honestly. About 10 more dastardly, intriguing and unexpected things happened, but you get the gist: President Trump really, really does not want us to read the Epstein files. House Democrats are ready to fight the long fight.
Garcia said House Democrats aren’t caving, because the cover-up keeps growing.
“There’s a lot of folks now that are obsessed with hiding the truth from the public, and the American public needs to know,” he said. “The Oversight Committee is committed to fighting our way to the truth.”
But it will be a long fight, and one with only a slim chance of winning the release of the files. Any effort would have to clear the Republican-held Senate (and after the shutdown collapse, who knows if Senate Democrats have the stomach for resistance), then be signed by Trump.
Judging from his near-desperate social media posting about the whole thing being a “hoax,” it’s hard to imagine him putting his scrawl on that law.
But unlike the shutdown, the longer this goes, the more Democrats have to gain. People aren’t going to suddenly start liking pedophiles. And the more Trump pushes to hide whatever the truth is, the more Democrats have the high ground, to message on corruption, oligarchs and even a vision for a better way.
“Epstein and economics” — linking the concrete with the esoteric, the problem with the solution.
The bipartisan message Democrats didn’t know they needed, from the strangest of sources.
Allison Mack is addressing “the bad things she’s done” as a high-profile member of the “sex cult” NXIVM in a new podcast.
Released Monday, “Allison After NXIVM” is a seven-episode series that features the former “Smallville” star detailing her time as a young actor and how she became involved in the purported self-improvement group, as well as her role in manipulating women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and the eventual criminal fallout.
“I don’t see myself as innocent,” Mack says in an early episode as she acknowledges using her success as an actor as “a power tool … to get people to do what I wanted” and that she was “very effective in moving Keith’s vision forward.”
In a later episode, she accepts claims that she was a “harsh monster” during her time at NXIVM.
“I was not kind and I was aggressive and I was abusive,” Mack says. “I was harsh and I was callous and I was aggressive and forceful in ways that were painful for people. [I] did make people feel like they had no choice and was incredibly abusive to people, traumatic for people.”
In 2019, Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to her role in NXIVM and its subgroup DOS, a so-called “secret society” of women who were branded with Raniere’s initials and forced to have sex with him. Mack was among one of the “masters” in the group, a lieutenant tasked by Raniere with recruiting and coercing other women. She was sentenced to three years in federal prison in 2021 and was released in 2023. (Raniere is currently serving a 120-year sentence after being convicted of sex-trafficking and other charges.)
But while she acknowledges that “100% all those allegations are true,” she also contends that she is “someone who cares deeply and wanted very much to grow and wanted very much for everybody that I was involved with to grow. … [B]oth of those things are true about me.
“I definitely recognize and admit that I was abusing my power,” Mack says. “But I also can’t negate the fact that there was a part of me that was altruistic and was desperate to help people. [I] wanted to be better, and I was willing to do anything to be better in myself and to help other people be better.”
The podcast series also touches on what Mack has been up to since being released from prison. She is pursuing a master’s in social work and looking into PhD programs in expressive arts therapy. She is also working at a nonprofit to help bring creative arts such as music, theater and poetry to prisons.
Over the summer, Mack got married to Frank Meeink, a prominent former neo-Nazi who now speaks out in support of racial diversity and acceptance. The couple met in a dog park not long after Mack’s release from prison in 2023. According to the podcast’s host, Natalie Robehmed, Mack now goes by Allison Meeink.
Robehmed also mentions that “Allison After NXIVM,” which is the latest installment of the true crime podcast “Uncover,” came to be after Mack reached out to journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis following her release from prison, hoping to tell her own story for the first time. Grigoriadis, who serves as an executive producer on the series, had interviewed Mack before her arrest.
NEW YORK — With the Pentagon’s press room largely cleared of mainstream reporters, conservative activist and presidential ally Laura Loomer says she has been granted a credential to work there.
Loomer has an influential social media presence and the ear of President Trump, frequently campaigning for the firings of government officials she deems insufficiently loyal to his administration. Some targets have been in the field of national security, including Dan Driscoll, secretary of the Army.
Pentagon officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday. The Washington Post first reported the news of her attaining credentials.
Virtually all Pentagon reporters for legacy media outlets walked out last month rather than agree to a new policy they say would restrict their ability to report news not given approval for release by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Several right-wing outlets have taken their place, although the banned journalists are continuing to work on stories related to the Pentagon.
“I’m excited to announce that after a year of breaking the most impactful stories that pertain to our national security and rooting out deceptive and disloyal bad actors” from the Defense Department, she was ready to join the press corps, Loomer said on X, formerly Twitter. She did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Earlier this year, she criticized Driscoll for publicly honoring a Medal of Honor recipient who had previously spoken at a Democratic National Convention. Separately, Driscoll rescinded the appointment of a former Biden administration official to teach at West Point after Loomer attacked him for it.
Although Trump later downplayed Loomer’s influence, the president last spring fired a handful of National Security Council officials after she had presented him with evidence of their supposed disloyalty.
Still, she’s been a polarizing force among some in the administration, wary of her influence, which has included riding on Air Force One with Trump. Although granted space in the Pentagon press room, Loomer has not received reporting credentials at the White House. Loomer has also been criticized for entertaining conspiracy theories and making anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim posts.
“There is no denying that my investigative reporting has had a massive impact on the landscape of personnel decisions within the Executive Branch, our intelligence agencies and the Pentagon,” Loomer wrote on X. “I look forward to covering the Pentagon and breaking more stories that impact our country and our national security.”
In her social media post, she also reached out to people to alert her to news through “the Loomered Tip Line, the most influential Tip Line in all of DC.”
Phil Stewart, a national security reporter for Reuters, noted on a social media post Tuesday that Hegseth’s new media policy would make reporters subject to having their access revoked for seeking out information from Defense Department personnel that had not been authorized for release.
However, Loomer’s appeal for tips did not explicitly target people who work at the Defense Department.
Netflix fans do not have long left to wait for a brand new season of Squid Game: The Challenge.
456 players will take part in Squid Game: The Challenge season two competing for a huge £4.56 million prize. (Image: NETFLIX)
Squid Game fans have just two days left until a brand new season of a high stakes reality game returns to Netflix screens.
Once again, 456 players will take on a series of brutal games in the hopes of winning a staggering $4.56 million cash prize for season two of Squid Game: The Challenge.
The hit Netflix reality show, based on the popular Korean thriller Squid Game, was a huge success when it first hit screens back in 2023. Another series was announced earlier this year, with it now being just days away.
Unlike the original phenomenon where players are killed if they lose, there will still be devastating impacts as contestant will miss out on winning the life-changing amount of money. Despite the full cast remaining under wraps, Netflix has already announced some huge names, including familiar faces from Selling Sunset and Big Brother.
Episode release schedule explained
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 will return to screens on November 4. However, not all episodes will be released straight away.
Instead, fans will have to wait a week for different instalments for the three week run.
On November 4, fans will be treated to four episodes as a group of brand new players are introduced to the game.
November 11 will then see the next three episodes aired.
But fans will have to wait until November 18 for the remaining episodes in the huge season finale.
Squid Game The Challenge games
With subtle nods to various games, executive producer Nicola Brown told Tudum: “Those little Easter eggs are important for both the viewers at home and the players.
“The first thing they do when they walk into the dorm is look at the walls and try to figure out what the new games might be.”
Here are some games fans can look forward to:
The count – a brand new game that will determine how the competition continues
Six-Legged Pentathlon – teams race head to head, with legs tied together with mini games thrown in
Catch – a brand new game which games designer Ben Norman teases is not as simple as it sounds
Mingle – players on a carousel must gather in groups consisting of a number called out and walk into an adjoining room
Marbles – with the same rules as season 1 players again partner up and given a bag of marbles and 30 minutes
Slides and Ladders – a new game that turns the familiar board game into something high stakes and “oversized”
Circle of Trust – blindfolded at desks in a circle, the player who received a gift box must guess who gave it to them
Finale game – Remains a mystery for now
Is there a season 3?
With season 2 just days away, Netflix has already geared up for another season of the hit reality show. Anyone wishing to take part can apply online for a chance to compete.
However, according to Tudum, there is another way to get on the show. Tudum hints: “Player recruitment for Season 3 is also now taking place through Squid Game: The Experience inboth New York and London.
“Winners at the immersive, IRL experience will receive priority in the casting process, though this does not guarantee they will be selected to take part in Season 3.”
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 premieres Tuesday, November 4 on Netflix.
