Raye was signed to Polydor Records as a teenager, she wrote songs for Beyoncé and Little Mix, sang on top 10 hits by David Guetta and Jax Jones, but her label refused to release her debut album. After she extricated herself from Polydor and struck out as an independent artist, she had the biggest-selling single in the UK within 18 months - 'Escapism', a hard-hitting account of abusing drink, drugs and meaningless sex to get over a break-up. Her long-awaited debut album, '21st Century Blues', is out this Friday, with hard-hitting stories of sexual abuse, self-doubt, misogyny...

"This movement has been bubbling on YouTube and TikTok for years, but is now more prevalent than ever. Its exponents are musicians, many but not all of them quite young, who have jazz educations and aren’t afraid to show them off, but sense something faintly ridiculous in their own virtuosity. They love pop and bebop equally; they roll their eyes at the mere mention of the lick; they regard Thundercat as an elder statesman and the meme-fluent jazz YouTuber Adam Neely as a wisecracking uncle. They have managed to once again make jazz, or something like it, seem cool to their fellow kids" - Pitchfork introduces the new weird jazz movement/genre. Some of the weird jazzers are DOMi and JD Beck, Spilly Cave, MonoNeon, and Louis Cole.

Guardian shares an important piece about a rap group P38-La Gang, that touches on the essential issue of freedom of speech. The Bologna-based band who go by the stage names Astore, Jimmy Pentothal, Dimitri and Yung Stalin, are between 25 and 33. They describe the idea behind the group as “very simple: creating a far-left and communist form of trap,” a counter-narrative to the “individualistic, gangsta-mafia and misogynistic” themes of Italian trap. On 25 November, the band members were identified by police and had their homes searched. They are currently under investigation by the Turin prosecutor’s office, accused of instigation to commit a crime, with an aggravating circumstance for terrorism. Their concerts are routinely cancelled, with venue managers fearing police reprisals. The band denies they're terrorists: "While the Italian music scene is overrun by very explicit references to rape, the trafficking of large-scale narcotics and mafia crimes in lyrics sung by the most listened-to artists, we are the ones being investigated because we refer to the Years of Lead.” (Social turmoil during the 1970s and 1980s when Red Brigades, the far-left terrorist group, shocked Italy with kidnappings, kneecappings and more than 80 political assassinations).

Ozzy Osbourne has announced on social media that he is retiring from touring due to declining health. The 74-year-old Black Sabbath singer was due to embark on a tour of the UK and Europe later this year, but has “come to the realisation that I’m not physically capable … as I know I couldn’t deal with the travel required.” Osbourne is looking into “ideas for where I will be able to perform without having to travel from city to city and country to country”.

An Iranian couple in their 20s have been given jail sentences totalling 10 years after posting a video of themselves dancing in the street in Tehran. Astiazh Haqiqi, 21, and her fiance Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, were arrested after they posted the video to their Instagram accounts, which have a combined following of nearly two million. Haqiqi and Ahmadi are said to be convicted of "promoting corruption and prostitution, colluding against national security, and propaganda against the establishment". They were also handed a two-year ban on using social media and leaving the country. Dancing in public is illegal for women in Iran, as is men and women embracing, and women leaving their hair uncovered.

Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour is the highest-grossing concert tour of all time - it has grossed $817.9 million across 278 shows so far, more than any other tour in Billboard Boxscore history (Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour made $776.4 million). Billboard has another fascinating statistic - dating back to reports for Elton John’s Ice on Fire Tour (1986), and including his share of co-headline runs with Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Tina Turner, and Billy Joel, John has grossed $1.863 billion and sold 19.9 million tickets over 1,573 reported shows. That’s the highest career gross and attendance for a solo artist in Billboard Boxscore history, having passed Bruce Springsteen and Madonna while on this tour.

Spotify’s number of premium subscribers increased to 205 million as of December 31st, the company announced in this week's earnings release, representing a 14 percent increase year-on-year. That helped increase its monthly active users to 489 million, a 20 percent rise. On the other hand, Spotify posted €3.17 billion in revenue, up 18% from the year-earlier period, and a net loss of €270 million, Variety reports. Spotify is widely considered to be the largest music streaming service in the world, and the first one to reach 200 million subscribers.

"The glacial post-punk that first launched the band to greatness remains, but this time it’s augmented by a host of different aspects. These fresh angles have pulled the band out of the increasingly overdone genre and have seen them start to carve out a space that they can truly call their own" - Far Out magazine reviews the second album by the Dublin quintet. Guardian argues in a five-star review that it "extends their post-punk palette brilliantly beyond the monochrome grief and pain of their 2019 debut. Piercing the gothic gloom are new textures that broaden and deepen their sound", whereas Louder Than War hears duality in its lyrics - "self-discovery full of uplifting highs clash with moments where self-doubt threatens to crucify an uncertain and wavering mind. Gigi is a metaphor for one of us or all of us."

BandLab is a music creation platform that offers a suite of tools for creators to “make music, share their music with fans, earn a living, and even top the charts”. It now boasts over 60 million registered creators on its service, which are now responsible for creating approximately 16-17 million songs on the platform each month, or around 500,000 songs per day. That’s around 200 million new songs a year, double the number of total tracks currently available on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. MBW reports on the astonishing numbers.

Drayk.it is a funny little AI tool that allows users to create Drake songs inspired by customized or random subjects. The music generator created by Mayk.it allows users to select a topic of their choice, which its GPT-3 will create a song about in the style of the rap star’s own hits. Each generated song will be performed in the voice of Drake and will span one-minute in length.

The low barriers to entry for podcasting made it harder for exclusive premium podcasts to stand out over free alternatives that are ad-supported and widely distributed" - Dan Runcie argues in his latest memo about why the exclusive audio strategies have struggled in the past. However, all is not lost - "as local language music continues to rise in the streaming era, we may see more wins from digital streaming providers that aren’t based in the western world. In podcasting, paid products have found value in the right circles. Ben Thompson’s Stratechery has evolved into a paid podcast network, which was tied to his subscription-based media business".

Warner Music Group has announced Rhythm City - “a first-of-its-kind music-themed social roleplay experience” on kids gaming platform Roblox. The experience lets users choose from a variety of roles including music producer, DJ, dancer, and many more “to explore, dance, and bond with friends while enjoying the world’s hidden gems and competing in mini-music challenges”. It will be available on the Roblox platform on February 4, 2023, across Android, iOS, Mac, Windows PC, and Xbox One.

Singer and songwriter Jaafar Jackson is to portray his uncle Michael Jackson in the upcoming biopic 'Michael,' directed by Antoine Fuqua, Deadline reports. Lionsgate movie is expected to depict the complicated legacy of King of Pop, “including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.” The film is being made with the cooperation of the Michael Jackson estate. 'Michael' will be the first major film role for the 26-year-old Jaafar Jackson, the second-youngest son to songwriter, producer, and Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson's brother. John Logan, who wrote 'Gladiator,' 'Skyfall' and 'Spectre,' is penning the screenplay.

"When did you become a Hallmark card hippie? Joy, love, peace. Puke! Where’s the rage, anger, hatred?" - a fan named Ermine asked Nick Cave. He responded on his Red Hand Files blog - "things changed after my first son died. I changed... Sitting around in my own mess, pissed off at the world... contemptuous of beauty, contemptuous of joy, contemptuous of happiness in others, well, this whole attitude just felt, I don’t know, in the end, sort of dumb... I felt a sudden, urgent need to, at the very least, extend a hand in some way to assist it – this terrible, beautiful world – instead of merely vilifying it, and sitting in judgement of it".

SZA’s SOS racks up a seventh consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 111,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 26, Billboard reports. 'SOS' is also the first R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or R&B album by any act, to spend its first seven weeks at No. 1 since Whitney Houston’s 'Whitney' in 1987. The last album by a woman with seven weeks at No. 1 was Taylor Swift’s 'Folklore', more than two years ago.

Barrett Strong, singer-songwriter, and a pivotal figure in the history of Motown, has died at the age of 81, the Associated Press reports. He sang the label's first major hit, 'Money (That's What I Want)', in 1959. Peaking at No 2 on the R&B singles chart and No 23 on the Hot 100, 'Money' came to define the early years of Motown, and was later recorded by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Strong went on to co-write classic songs like 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', 'War' and 'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone'. Those hits were "revolutionary in sound and captured the spirit of the times", Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a written tribute to the musician.

A woman named as Jane Doe in court papers has accused Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor, in a new lawsuit filed Monday in the Nassau County Supreme Court on Long Island, New York. The woman, alleges in the suit that when she was 16, she was invited onto Manson's tour bus after a 1995 show, where he "performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon Plaintiff", Rolling Stone reports.

Virtual girl group MAVE debuted on metaverse with a video for their song 'Pandora’s Box', taken from an EP of thew same name. The four members of the K-pop group — MARTY, TYRA, ZENA, and SIU — were unveiled at the beginning of the year. The group has an eccentric fictional storyline that centers around the members coming from the future and crash landing on Earth, trying to find the freedom of emotions.

This week’s special edition of Music Journalism Insider is bringing interviews with nominees for the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes. MJI talked with four nominees - Gareth Murphy, who earned his nomination for the notes to the important Irish album 'Andy Irvine Paul Brady'; Fernando Gonzalez who is nominated for the notes to 'Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings' about the tango master; Bob Mehr, the liner notes author for the important Wilco album 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'; Ted Olson who wrote liner notes for 'Doc’s World: Traditional Plus'.

Consequence has rounded up a list of "20 of the most bleak, grim, melancholic albums out there for the most efficient commiserating", because "sad songs are so cathartic". The interesting list starts with Greet Death’s 'New Hell', at No. 20, to reach the catharsis with Mount Eerie's 'A Crow Looked at Me' at No. 1. Check out the full list.

UK rapper slowthai has shared his new single 'Selfish', and has announced his third studio album, UGLY (an acronym for “U Gotta Love Yourself”), set for release in March. The chaotic, propulsive 'Selfish' features strong drums and guitar. To promote the new track, Slowthai has live-streamed himself hanging out in a custom-built room fitted with floor-to-ceiling two-way mirrors. Watch the video of the track below.

Singer, songwriter, and guitar player for influential New York band Television, Tom Verlaine has died aged 73 after a "brief illness", the New York Times reports. Verlaine shaped the sound of rock and punk music in the 1970s and beyond, applying a poetic flair and serious musicianship to the rougher edges of the wider movement. After Television broke up in 1978, Verlaine embarked on an extensive solo career that saw him release ten albums across the ensuing decades, exploring a variety of musical themes that generally get tossed together under the label “post-punk. Television's first album 'Marquee Moon', released in 1977, is one of the most critically heralded punk/post-punk albums of all time.

Belgian Tomorrowland has been voted world’s No. 1 festival in the DJ Mag Top 100 Festivals poll 2022, with over 100,000 verified votes counted. "Since launching in 2005, Belgium's Tomorrowland festival has pushed the boundaries of production, imagination and curation", DJ Mag argues, adding "the flagship event expanded from two to three weekends in July 2022 for 'The Reflection of Love', welcoming 600,000 visitors from 200 countries, and hosted its Winter edition in L'Alpe d'Huez in France".

The top 10 festivals on DJ Mag's list are:

1. Tomorrowland, Belgium
2. Ultra Music Festival, USA
3. EDC Las Vegas, USA
4. Creamfields North, UK
5. Exit, Serbia
6. Glastonbury, UK
7. Awakenings, Netherlands
8. Coachella, USA
9. Untold, Romania
10. Sunburn, India

"I think art is the best medium for this awareness. Art comes from the heart, the pain and the suffering. I know that’s the case for me and other artists doing amazing work right now. The truth of my work is what is happening in Iran right now. I am just mirroring it" - Iranian rapper Säye Skye says in a Mix Mag interview about using revolutionary rap in the current protests in Iran. "The regime takes these mediums, and deals with them, very seriously. They know that having a podium and speaking the truth of the people can resonate with society, it can unite communities and that’s what they are afraid of. For the past 40 years the regime has been trying to diminish the power and value of art."

Thomas Bangalter, known for being one half of Daft Punk, has announced his first full-length record since the duo split in 2021. The album titled ‘Mythologies’ was originally made for the ballet of the same name choreographed by Angelin Preljocaj and premiered at the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Set for release April 7, the album includes 23 tracks which “embrace the history of orchestral ballet music”. The announcement states that over the last thirty years Bangalter has "explored the world of technology" with electronic music and sees him now exploring “humankind” in this album with him quoting ancient and modern myths.

Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney has released her debut solo music as part of an Icelandic grassroots arts compilation ‘DRULLUMALL 4’. The compilation is made up of tracks from Icelandic artists, with Björk's daughter sharing a soulful track ‘bergmál’.

The second season of 'BMF', a television drama series inspired by the true story of a drug-dealing family and a record label, has premiered, following the story of taking the business nationwide. Season one introduced brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, who were dealing cocaine together in high school in the 1980s, and eventually went on to run the Black Mafia Family, one of the largest drug empires in the USA. In 2005 the authorities eventually caught up with the pair and arrested them. By the early 2000s Demetrius had also founded BMF Entertainment – a hip-hop music titan that included a record label, promotion agency and magazine. It represented Bleu Da Vinci and associated themselves with artists including Diddy, T.I., and Jay-Z. Complex presents the characters from season two.

Music critic and publicist Simon Reynolds gave ChatGPT an assignment - to write an essay in the style of music critic Simon Reynolds that expresses skeptical views about A.I. taking over the role of the music critic. It was done in seconds, Reynolds writes impressed. "The argument itself struck me as averagely intelligent, making entry-level points about how A.I.-generated prose is necessarily deficient in empathy and nuance, and how it would lack the unique and personal perspective of a human critic". The style, or the "voice" of the A.I. was "earnest, plodding, attuned to bland generalities rather than arresting specifics, and irritatingly fair-minded. Not promising attributes for a critic!"

Kali Malone’s new album 'Does Spring Hide Its Joy' lasts three hours consisting solely of Malone on sine-wave oscillators, Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O))) on guitar and Lucy Railton on cello. The critics insist the album is powerful and demands total surrender. Pitchfork connects it to the pandemic and the future: "There’s something utopian about music driven by an attention to understanding those around you, music that pushes listeners to expand their understanding of how time is experienced and demarcated. In a period of upheaval, letting go of expectations of how things should be, beginning with how music should move or present itself, can be a powerful step toward reimagining the future."

First Floor takes a closer look at the current hype around Latin sounds and rhythms within the wider electronic music world. It examines how these flare-ups of interest have historically been not only fleeting, but shallow, playing into stereotypes and misinformed notions of what constitutes “authentic” Latin culture while also doing little to concretely benefit artists and scenes located in Latin America.