Newsychick's World

Mavado asks for justice

2012-01-24T21:18:00.000Z

In hip hop and dancehall scenes, you'd be forgiven for thinking that no matter what the crime, no-one would want to help police with their enquiries. However, dancehall star Mavado (and his management obviously) today issued a heartfelt and anxious statement pleading for justice following the death of Mavado's close friend, Conroy 'Connie' Edwards. Connie died after being shot at a

Ed Sheeran + raving kitten = quality video

2012-01-23T21:44:00.000Z

OMG I totally love Ed Sheeran's video for Drunk. Following on from Ed's excellent Lego House video with Ron Weasley AKA Rupert Grint, this is another creative offering featuring a cat who plays games consoles, the guitar, checks out 'fit' girls and parties hard. The fan video for this song, released beforehand featured One Direction's Harry Styles and a whole load of Ed's fans at his

iPod pull ups for Connor Maynard, Kaleem Taylor & Josh Kumra

2012-01-22T00:06:00.000Z

Maybe I'm getting on a bit or something, but in addition to the inappropriate dancehall I always listen to, I'm totally loving some of the music from UK male soul singers at the moment. Some of them are totally relaxing me lately so I thought I'd highlight some of my current favs. I've blogged quite a bit about Daley before so I won't go on about him again, but some of the other voices I'm

UPDATED: New Jay-Z track featuring baby Blue + official statement

2012-01-09T20:24:00.000Z

No official statement from Beyonce or Jay-Z's people yet about the arrival of their new baby, apparently called Blue Ivy Carter, yet a track has found it's way online, seemingly by Jay-Z and featuring the cry of the newborn. "Baby I paint the sky blue. My greatest creation was you" Premiering on Jay-Z's Life + Times site, with just a caption saying 'Life just got REALLY good', the

RIP Stephen Lawrence

2012-01-03T20:08:00.002Z

Today two of the pieces of scum responsible for the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence have finally been convicted, 18 years after the teenager was stabbed to death in south London. Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by a unanimous verdict and will be sentenced tomorrow. I was so pleased at first when I heard the verdict today, especially for Stephen's parents. The thing is

Top 5 Tips for 2012

2012-01-03T14:00:00.000Z

I wasn't going to do a Ones To Watch for 2012 post, but after looking back at last year's top 5 selection, I think I kinda enjoy the personal prediction gamble. To be fair, there are so many artist names in my head, it's quite difficult to cut it down to 5. To make things a bit easier, I'll stick to UK acts only. In no particular order... Emeli Sande She's been working hard for a few years but

Were my 2011 predictions any good?

2012-01-02T20:44:00.005Z

Another New Year, and as usual there are loads of lists of 'ones to watch in 2012'. I've been a bit slack on the blogging front so haven't added my 2pence worth, but I did have a look back at my tips for 2011 and am pleased to say, I wasn't far off: Jessie J & Wretch 32 had an absolutely amazing 2011 and Labrinth released what turned out to be my absolute favourite single of the year.

Did Rihanna & Chris Brown tweet love messages to each other??

2011-12-29T22:44:00.000Z

Earlier this afternoon, Chris Brown & Rihanna posted a couple of love tweets which some people think may have been subliminally directed at each other. So if these tweets were declarations of love for each other, does it mean they may get back together? Does that mean Rihanna has totally forgiven Chris for the beating she received? Does it even matter? Some of the really negative online

Tanya Lacey kills it with this cinemagraph

2011-12-23T13:37:00.000Z

OK, so I love a creative photo/video and have blogged about cinemagraphs a while back, but this new offering from singer Tanya Lacey is like a cinemagraph on steroids - I love it! It is 160 metres long and was shot on Stokes Croft in Tanya's native Bristol (big up the West Country massive) and featuring her track ‘Born To Fly'. Big up whoever actually made this

Childish Gambino [Flickr]

2011-12-21T14:07:21-08:00

Karen AKA Newsy Chick posted a photo:

The way he's standing reminds me of old skool passport photo poses

Ed Sheeran, Wretch 32, P Money & More - Live Lounge

2011-12-21T21:14:00.001Z

Ed Sheeran brought Devlin, P Money, Wretch 32 and Mikill Pane down to London's Maida Vale to record a special Live Lounge for 1Xtra. They performed six tracks, and as per usual, I was blown away. I'm a big Sheeran fan so I've already watched all of the videos a couple of times and was reminded what a good songwriter he is. Even when dealing with a dark subject (eg. Little Lady/A Team), you

Childish Gambino

2011-12-20T21:30:00.000Z

I've been bumping Childish Gambino's album 'Camp' on my iPod recently and today I met him so had to tell him I was feeling the album (instead of my usual nod, smile and move on routine). I also took the photo above (see more pics). I was probably a bit late on his music and was a bit disturbed after I first saw the video to Bonfire (it's a bit dark), so it was nice to see that in person he

Childish Gambino edit [Flickr]

2011-12-20T16:02:07-08:00

Karen AKA Newsy Chick posted a photo:

Just had a play with lighting & black and white tweaks in Photoshop

Childish Gambino [Flickr]

2011-12-20T15:12:32-08:00

Karen AKA Newsy Chick posted a photo:

Cleo Sol signs to Island Universal

2011-12-20T15:44:00.001Z

Love a bit of good news at the end of the year. Cleo Sol has signed to Island / Universal Records. She's been around for quite a while but this year she's definitely been putting in the work, performing live and getting more airplay of radio all over the place. Anyone remember her joining Tinie Tempah way back in 2008 on the track Tears? More recently though, she released a

X Factor USA's Astro signed by Roc Nation?

2011-12-02T22:05:00.001Z

Earlier on I watched Astro get voted out of X Factor USA and now I'm hearing rumours that he's been signed by Roc Nation. If true, that'd definitely be good news for the teenage Brooklyn rapper. Word is Jay-Z was really impressed by his confidence and lyrical ability on the show.

1Xtra Live Tour - Days 3 & 4

2011-12-02T11:25:00.001Z

As I suspected, I got super busy and tired so didn't get to do individual day 3 and day 4 diaries, sorry. Thankfully though the 1Xtra website looks great and the Facebook and twitter accounts were popping off with 1Xtra Live chit chat. So, condensed version: 1Xtra Live Day 3 - Bristol Really different crowd to Manchester, as I'm guessing it was predominantly drum and bass heads. On the

1Xtra Live Tour: Day 2 diary

2011-11-30T10:54:00.001Z

There’s something a bit rock and roll about travelling down the motorway on the tour bus with 9 other people. Definitely the best tour bus ever in my opinion. It’s also the place where the interview sections of the red button coverage are broadcast. The Birmingham leg of 1Xtra Live was pretty strong. I think Nero pleased the crowd and deserved headline status on this line up, but

1xtra Live Tour - Day 1 diary

2011-11-29T01:25:00.001Z

Me on the tour bus already looking mashed after just one night I’ve decided to see if I can do a few blog posts during the 1Xtra Live tour this week seeing as this is likely to be the last time I work on the event (worked on them all since 2008). The likelihood is though I’ll get super busy and won’t manage a post each day. Anyway, here goes… (Read in Jordie Big Brother accent) Day 1

Florence + The Machine cover Take Care by Drake & Rihanna

2011-11-26T11:00:00.000Z

Wow! As much as I'm a fan of Drake & Rihanna I doubt if there will be a live performance of this track that is actually better than this. However, there is always the chance that they could all perform this together with some amazing archive footage of Gil Scott-Heron or something on screens behind them at an award ceremony. That would be pretty amazing. Sometimes I love Florence, and

Label lust

2011-11-21T22:59:00.001Z

I've decided that pretty much everything is my wardrobe needs replacing and so whilst wiped out after a weekend of partying, I went on an online clothing store surfing spree (please note I said surfing NOT shopping. I'm broke so my wardrobe overhaul is happening in my mind only). Anyhooo, I came across the Aqua by Aqua site and have decided that this is now my current favourite. Who needs

Top Boy - Negative? Real? My thoughts

2011-11-01T22:02:00.002Z

Last night, I went to the premiere drinks and part 1 screening of the Channel 4 drama Top Boy. Along with several cast members and other industry-type bods like myself, I sipped on a couple cocktails, ate a few nibbles and then settled in to watch the first episode (You can get an idea of what it was like at this party in SBTV's video below). So before I settle down to watch part two,

Thoughts on Rebecca Ferguson, Dot Rotten & more

2011-10-25T14:15:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit slack lately with regards to actually listening to the long list of tracks that get sent to me (also having to download tunes just to see if I even wanna keep them irritates me). Anyhoo, my initial thoughts on a few of the tunes I've listened to recently: Tanya Lacey - Born To Fly: Not bad 6/10. Her voice is nice although I think the Roni Size remix is more up my street.

The Help - worth watching?

2011-10-24T23:10:00.000+01:00

<!--[if gte mso 9]>

Labrinth & Tinie Tempah Live Lounge (video)

2011-10-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

One of the UK's hottest producers was joined by one of our hottest artists right now in Radio 1's Live Lounge at Maida Vale yesterday and it was pretty special. Labrinth & Tinie Tempah were backed up by a band, small string section & choir and definitely impressed most people. Lab's cover of Chris Brown's Beautiful People was also a winner.

Oi Ron Weasley, why you singing Ed Sheeran's song?

2011-10-20T16:49:00.001+01:00

New video for Ed Sheeran's track Lego House came out today and it stars none other than Rupert Grint AKA Ron Weasley from Harry Potter. After about 40 secs I was a little bit creeped out by young Weasley singing Ed's tune but as I watched it, the whole video gets increasingly dark and creepy. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it before, but do watch it all the way through. I reckon

Rihanna WINS with this video - We Found Love

2011-10-19T22:45:00.002+01:00

Flippin 'ell Rihanna's new video for We Found Love with Calvin Harris is pretty damn good. Sorry Mr Welsh farmer. I know you thought her state of undress in your field was inappropriate, but the resulting video is quality!

BIG! Labrinth ft Tinie Tempah - Earthquake (video)

2011-10-11T22:00:00.000+01:00

This track was instant for me. Lab's production is so strong, and now the video's out. It's so slick and modern - I love it!

Jamie Irie

2011-08-31T15:03:11-07:00

Karen AKA Newsy Chick posted a photo:

Jamie Irie

2011-08-31T15:02:25-07:00

Karen AKA Newsy Chick posted a photo: