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Mashd N Kutcher founder Matt James has been diagnosed with cancer, an “unexpected” blow that will require extensive treatment in the months ahead.
The APRA Music Award-winning Australian dance music artist revealed his condition on Friday, Aug. 11, and has vowed to fight.
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“I have been diagnosed with cancer – specifically Multiple Myeloma, which forms in blood cells inside the bone marrow,” he writes in a social post, accompanying a picture of the artist horizontal on a hospital bed.
“This was unexpected as I was otherwise healthy, however it has spread throughout my body causing multiple breaks in my arms ribs and more. Over the immediate months we will hit this from every angle with chemotherapy and extensive treatment ahead.”
Based in Brisbane, James created the MNK project back in 2012 with “the goal of making exciting music and showcasing talented bandmates through the live shows,” he explains, “thankfully this can continue.”
For the time being, he’ll step aside from social media and touring, but will continue to reserve “energy and focus” for writing and producing recordings, and curating and programming the music and visuals for MNK live shows, which its members will “perform as they always have.”
Weaving styles and generations of dance music with its collective of DJs and multi-instrumentalists, MNK has notched over 1,500 performances around the globe, and collected three ARIA gold-certifications in Australia.
The act signed with Universal Music Group in 2017, and landed a global publishing deal with BMG in the same year.
James last year penned Get on the Beers: A Christmas Story, a book that continued the theme of the lockdown anthem “Get on the Beers,” a goodtime number filled with positivity and hope.
“Get On The Beers,” which featured vocals from Victorian premier Dan Andrews, won the 2022 APRA Award for most performed dance/electronic work and landed at No. 12 on triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.
“In summary,” James continues in his latest post, “the road ahead is challenging but I’m very fortunate to have an amazing support network of family, close friends and colleagues, right now I’m physically weak but mentally strong, and I’ll be giving this everything I’ve got. Love you all”.
In James’ absence, MNK will perform headline shows in Asia in the weeks ahead, before returning to Australia for dates in September. “Music wise I’m returning to the roots of of the project,” he continues. “If you enjoyed ‘Sunshine’ or ‘On My Mind’ you’ll love the next releases.”
Doja Cat nabs another top 10 spot on Australia’s singles chart, while Billie Eilish enters a second week at No. 1 with “What Was I Made For?” (via Interscope/Universal), one of several major hits from the Barbie soundtrack.
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Eilish, the Californian pop phenomenon, has chalked up 15 ARIA top 10 singles across her young career, including a leader with 2019’s “Bad Guy.” Like her Barbie number, “Bad Guy” also reigned over the chart for two weeks.
A slew of tracks from the soundtrack, Barbie: The Album, make an impact on the latest ARIA Singles Chart, published Aug. 11. Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night” lifts 4-3, its peak position; “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua switches positions, dipping 3-4; and Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive” motors 24-22 (all via Atlantic/Warner).
Doja Cat is on the prowl. The U.S. rapper, singer and songwriter bows at No. 10 with “Paint The Town Red” (RCA/Sony), for the week’s highest debut and only new release in the top 40.
It’s her sixth top 10 hit in the land Down Under, a list that’s led by “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA, which hit No. 2 back in 2021.
Troye Sivan’s “Rush” is on the move, lifting 38-32 in its second week on the ARIA Chart. The Perth, Australia-raised pop artist is just one of two homegrown artists impacting this week’s tally. The other, Vance Joy, with his 16-times platinum certified hit from 2013 “Riptide,” up 43-30.
Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Travis Scott’s Utopia (Epic/Sony) locks up top spot for a second successive week, ahead of the Barbie soundtrack (up 3-2 via Atlantic/Warner) and a trio of Taylor Swift titles, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Midnights and 1989 (all via Universal), respectively.
The top debut belongs to Fanny Lumsden, with Hey Dawn (Cooking Vinyl Australia/Orchard), her fourth studio album. The ARIA and AIR Award-winning Australian country artist, a performer at Glastonbury Festival in late June, drops in at No. 10 on the national tally. Hey Dawn is the followup to 2020’s Fallow, which also peaked at No. 10 on the ARIA Chart, and won the ARIA Award that year for best country album.
V brings a little sunshine to ARMY with his “Rainy Days.”
The BTS superstar turns on the waterworks with this latest single, a ballad, arriving at the stroke of midnight.
“Rainy Days” will splash on the K-pop singer’s debut solo album, Layover, a six-pack set to drop on Sept. 8, and includes the first release “Love Me Again,” which appeared Wednesday with an official music video.
It’s a stripped back number, framed around V’s vocals, a snapping snare and an eccentric piano refrain. Big Hit Entertainment describes the fresh cut as an “alternative pop R&B track,” a statement reads, a “perfect mix of vintage percussion and modern drum sounds gives off a unique vibe.”
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The music video for “Rainy Days” follows V as he gets about an ordinary day, waking up, prepping food, working, resting.
On it, he sings: “Rainy Days, I’m thinking ‘bout you/What to say/Wish I knew how to/Find the way/Right back to you.”
As previously reported, V worked with NewJeans creative director/ADOR president Hee Jin Min on the forthcoming LP, with BigHit revealing that Min oversaw the entire production of the collection, including music, choreography, design and promotion.
For “Rainy Days,” she says, “I wanted to focus on V’s inner self instead of his outwardly glamor. I had specific styles of music that I wanted to suggest to V, considering his vocal tone and style. As soon as he heard the tracklist I made for him, we instantly agreed on the direction.”
The new tune, she continues, “acts as an intro for the album, and V’s serene vocals and visuals stand out.”
Big Hit announced Tuesday that Layover will include a total of six tracks: “Rainy Days,” “Blue,” “Love Me Again,” “Slow Dancing,” “For Us” and a bonus track piano version of “Slow Dancing.”
And the tracklist comes with a suggestion, that ARMY listen to the album’s tracks in order, from 1-5, noting that “Slow Dancing” is the focus track of the collection, describing it as a “1970s romantic soul style track [that] exudes a laid-back and free-spirited feeling.”
V’s solo efforts come after releases from his fellow BTS members: Jung Kook released “Seven” featuring Latto — which crowned the Billboard Hot 100 — last month, while Suga’s D-Day arrived in April and Jimin’s FACE (including the Hot 100 No. 1 “Like Crazy”) in March.
His earlier releases include “Stigma,” “Singularity,” “Winter Bear” and “Inner Child”; more recent original solo songs are 2021’s “Christmas Tree,” which was on the soundtrack of the Netflix K-drama Our Beloved Summer and last year’s version of the holiday classic “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”
Watch “Rainy Days” below.
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With the launch of a music publishing venture, Simon Cowell returns to the business where he honed his own talents in pop.
Unveiled this week, SYCO Publishing, a collaboration between Syco Entertainment and Universal Music Publishing Group, will sign and develop songwriters and catalogs that will be administered and supported exclusively through UMPG globally, reps say.
At launch, SYCO Publishing is home to Lucy Spraggan and John Samuel Gerhart, as well as song catalog from Camila Cabello, James Arthur, Grace VanderWaal, Fifth Harmony and others.
The record executive, TV personality and current judge on America’s Got Talent got his break in publishing.
“There is nothing more important than a great song. I started my career in music publishing,” comments Cowell on the unveiling of his new venture. Paying tribute to Mike McCormack, managing director of UMPG U.K., and the music publishing giant, Cowell says he’s been given “the chance to build a music publishing company. They are a brilliant company and share my wish to work with amazing songwriters.”
SYCO Publishing will also create new opportunities for its writers to work across Cowell’s network of media formats and projects, reads a statement.
“Simon has been a good friend for decades and I’m thrilled he has finally decided to launch a publishing business with UMPG,” adds McCormack. “His track record is incredible – he’s always had great instincts and passion for outstanding songs, and brings incredible value to every songwriter, producer and catalog he works with.”
It’s the second songwriting-focused project in the past year that has brought together Cowell’s entertainment venture and Universal Music Group. In 2022, both companies got behind StemDrop, a creative platform for musical collaboration, curation and artist discovery, which launched exclusively with TikTok and Samsung, by providing users with access to music “stems,” the isolated components of a song, from an exclusive track, which creators could then use to record and share their own versions.
Syco Entertainment is the independent company which created and owns TV formats such as “Got Talent” and “The X Factor”.
Surprise! Taylor Swift’s 1989 is the next “Version”.
Swift let fly with the news that many had been waiting for, that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was “on its way,” with a release date of Oct. 27, she confirms on her social accounts.
Initially issued in 2014, 1989 is the album that “changed my life in countless ways,” continues Swift, adding that “it fills me with such excitement to announce” her latest “Version.”
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And there’s an added incentive, as if Swifties needed any more hype. “To be perfectly honest,” TayTay writes, “this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”
1989 (Taylor’s Version) will be Swift’s fourth “Version,” since announcing her re-recording project in 2019. The previous three all logged time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) with two weeks in 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) with one week in 2021, and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with two weeks in 2023.
With 21 total “From The Vault” songs across those three Version albums, Swift has scored multiple top 10 hits on the Hot 100, earned traction at pop radio, and even scored a No. 1, with the 10-minute version of “All Too Well”.
The original recording of 1989 spent a whopping 11 weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 following its release.
1989 had been a hot pick for Version No. 4, seeing as Swift has already shared a small handful of tracks from it, including “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version),” following the song’s viral turn on TikTok, in November 2021, then “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” which turned up in the trailer for the Amazon Prime series The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Swift seems to set and smash records with relative ease. This year, the pop superstar collected her 12th No. 1 with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), surpassing Barbra Streisand for the most among women, while she also becoming the first living artist in nearly 60 years with four concurrent albums in the top 10, and nailing 11 albums on the entire 200-position chart for the first time.
As the on-sale for her blockbuster The Eras Tour established new marks in Australia, she swamped the ARIA Albums Chart, securing the top 5 positions in a single frame, an all-time record. She then replaced herself at No. 1 on the tally, becoming the first artist to do so since the ARIA Charts began in 1983.
Confirmation of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) early Thursday ET coincided with the conclusion of Swift’s last night at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, where she’s played a total of six nights, concluding the first U.S. leg of the Eras Tour.
Beginning Aug. 24, she’ll take the trek global with a slew of international dates in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe before returning to the states in 2024 for a second lap of North America.
When the knives come out for Barbie, Mark Ronson is up for a fight.
The Oscar, Grammy and Brit Award-winning record producer and artist oversaw Barbie: The Album, which, like the feature film it’s paired with, is a global smash hit.
So when the acerbic comedian and TV host Bill Maher gave the film a verbal kicking, describing it as “preachy, man-hating and a #ZombieLie,” Ronson wasn’t having any of it.
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“We come to this place for magic,” Ronson begins a tweet, aping the opener in Nicole Kidman’s memorable commercial. “We come to AMC theaters to laugh, to cry, to care… and to furiously google ‘mattel board configuration’ while others are trying to enjoy a f***ing magnificent comedy.”
Ronson knows his stuff. He won the Brit Award in 2008 for best male artist, he collected an Oscar in 2019 for best original song (“Shallow”), and his trophy cabinet to-date includes a Golden Globe and seven Grammys.
The U.S.-based, London-born music man is the executive producer for Barbie: The Album, which includes the popular cuts “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice with Aqua; Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken”; and Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night,” which he co-produced with Andrew Wyatt and the Picard Brothers.
His return of serve follows Maher’s damning assessment of the pop-culture smash. “OK, ‘Barbie’: I was hoping it wouldn’t be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three,” Maher wrote, joining the likes of Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro, who’ve given the film a thumbs down.
“What is a Zombie Lie?,” Maher continues. “Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it’s still true. ‘Barbie’ is this kind of #ZombieLie.”
Ronson has also used his Twitter account to tease Shapiro, all in the name of Barbie.
Whether Barbie is a hit or miss with Maher, won’t make much difference to the filmmakers, Warner Bros. and Mattel. The film has racked up more than $459 million in North America and passed $1 billion globally. In doing so, Barbie becomes the first live-action film in history that’s directed by a woman solo to join the global box-office billion dollar club, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tory Lanez has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. Billboard’s R&B Hip-Hop Power Players & Live event took place Tuesday night and we’re giving you an exclusive look at everything you may have missed. Your favorite celebs were showing off their fire ‘fits […]
Billie Eilish’s Barbie soundtrack contribution “What Was I Made For?” rises to No. 1 for the first time on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart dated Aug. 12. “What Was I Made For?” reigns in its fourth week on the survey. It concurrently leads Hot Alternative Songs for a third week in a row. […]
Luther Vandross’ soulful, luxurious tenor wrapped its way around a string of R&B and pop hits in the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s. So it’s only fitting that the Luther Vandross Estate and Primary Wave Music would collaborate with esteemed Irish luxury brand Waterford to launch an exclusive crystal collection.
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Paying homage to the eight-time Grammy winner’s 1981 platinum single “Never Too Much,” the limited-edition Luther 81 X collection will become available on Aug. 10.
Each piece in the Luther Vandross X Waterford collection of cocktail and barware features a karo cut design that underscores a key line in the song’s refrain: “A thousand kisses from you is never too much.” Each crystal piece is also emblazoned with a single hand-cut karo kiss on its base.
Waterford x Luther Vandross
Courtesy of Waterford
In an additional salute to the music and legacy of Vandross, who died in 2005, the House of Waterford has designed a unique crystal art piece commemorating the artist’s double-platinum debut album, also titled Never Too Much. The 12-inch wall-mounted crystal disc, set against a steel and brass backdrop, sports 81 polished precision-cut track grooves and a hand-etched center label featuring Vandross’ signature. It took more than 19 hours and four Master Craftsmen to forge the crystal album, using five specialized techniques: mouth blowing, cutting, sculpting, satin finishing and assembling. It will be available for purchase on the Waterford website for $15,000.
“Luther Vandross’ genuine affinity for crystal always mirrored the crystal-clear quality of his voice and spirit,” said Lisa Fruggiero, vp of brand partnerships at Primary Wave Music, in a release announcing the news. “Our collaboration with Waterford beautifully symbolizes this, adding a level of sincerity and elegance that embodies Luther’s legacy in a unique, tangible way.”
Courtesy Photo
David Gottlieb, manager of the Luther Vandross Estate, stated, “This unique collection honors Luther Vandross’ timeless legacy, beautifully capturing the spirit of his music in each crystal piece. It’s more than just barware — it’s a testament to Luther’s profound influence on music and his ever-present essence in our lives.”
With support from Waterford, Primary Wave Music and The Luther Vandross Estate, the Luther Vandross Foundation honored the singer’s dedication to helping students and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Held at Philadelphia’s historic Belmont Mansion earlier this year, the event showcased a custom-cut crystal decanter that prefaced the Luther 81 X line’s upcoming August launch.
Waterford x Luther Vandross
Courtesy of Waterford
“Music is an emotional thread that will be integral to our new brand narrative at Waterford,” said Waterford creative director Alice Bastin. “Luther’s music has inspired and bonded generations and his legacy lives on through the important work the Luther Vandross Foundation does. It’s incredibly important to me that Waterford supports the work of the Luther Vandross Foundation and promotes cultural conversations around diversity and inclusivity. It’s an honor for Waterford to be able to contribute to the important work of the Luther Vandross Foundation and to give talented students attending HBCUs the financial aid to further their passions in education.”
The Luther Vandross X Waterford collection will be available on waterford.com. It will also be available exclusively at Bloomingdale’s in the U.S., David Jones in Australia, House of Waterford in Ireland, and Harrods in the U.K. For more information, visit https://www.waterford.com/en-us/collections/collaborations/luther-vandross.
First appearances can be deceiving. Take Wesley Plumber, the mild-mannered computer guy who auditioned on America’s Got Talent.
The 36-year-old doesn’t look like the type to seek out the bright lights of showbiz. Revealing a touch of nerves, the AGT hopeful remarked that his plan was to play piano, and sing. No jazz hands, not histrionics. Just do his thing, in front of the nation.
By day, our guy handles tech for a small hotel chain. On Tuesday night (Aug. 9), the big reveal.
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What would he do with the million dollar winner’s check? “I would quit my job, even though I like it, and do music full-time,” was his response.
There was nothing super, however, when he started his performance with ABBA’s “Take a Chance On Me,” a rendition flatter than a pancake squished under a steamroller.
Then, a call from the audience, “give him another chance.” And, well, a flashmob. Our “techie” playing his part in a guerilla audition, a spectacle of silly — complete with marching band.
Pulling back the curtain, Plumber, an actual composer and music director by the name of Eric Gersen, introduced his team at Improv Everywhere, a comedic performance art group based in New York City.
Sofia Vergara thought the performance was “fun” and the band “fantastic,” but there was no element of surprise. “Unfortunately I knew something was coming because of the acting.”
Simon Cowell actually “was surprised. I just love how it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I loved the song choice. I really liked this audition.”
It was a yes from Cowell and Heidi Klum, a no from Vergara. Howie Mandel had the final surprise. A great, big no. And just like that, the flashmob dissipated.
Watch below.
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