Rina Sawayama Talks New Album ‘Hold the Girl,’ Acting in ‘John Wick 4’ and Being BFFs With Elton John

Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral took place today after she died at Balmoral on September 8 at the age of 96. Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis, 63, paid her respects to the late Queen on Instagram, however, she has come under fire as she branded the Queen an "influencer", a term used heavily in the social media world.Jamie shared a picture that included a paper shot of the Queen surrounded by flowers, along with a Union Jack flag.She captioned the post in view of her 4.4 million Instagram followers: "INFLUENCER Queen Elizabeth II.

Sir Elton John, 75, gave a rare insight into his relationship with the late Queen Elizabeth II in view of his 4.2 million Instagram followers today.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor When YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl announced late last month that he’ll be leaving the company after 12 years in the job, many observers quickly moved him to the front of the line to replace outgoing Warner Music CEO Steve Cooper, who’d announced just two months earlier that he’ll be stepping down after 11 years in the job. After all, Kyncl knows the music industry  — YouTube is both the world’s largest video-streaming platform and the largest music-streaming platform, and he played a huge role in its negotiations with labels and publishers and generally received high marks (remarkably, considering the often-contentious relations between the two sides). He’s also pioneering force in the streaming business: Before he was chief business officer of YouTube, he led Netflix from DVDs to digital, a transition that was much more complex and fraught with potential failure than he and the company made it seem.

Rina Sawayama has shared a brand new video for her latest single ‘Hurricanes’ – check it out below.The British-Japanese artist released her second album ‘Hold The Girl’ on Friday (September 16) via Dirty Hit, and shared the new video on the same day.Following visuals for the new album’s title track and ‘This Hell’, the ‘Hurricanes’ video sees Sawayama giving a stormy, energetic performance of the track inside a barn.In the track, Sawayama sings: “April showers finally making way for warmer weather / But yet I still feel the same / Doing yoga just to feel untethered / But my mind keeps running away.”Watch her ‘Hurricanes’ video below.In a five-star album review, NME called ‘Hold The Girl’ “the best British pop album of the year,” writing: “Genres may come and go, but Sawayama’s second album is defined by her ability to fashion each of these sounds into big, brilliant pop songs.”On Friday, the day of the album’s release, Sawayama appeared on the cover of NME for a new Big Read feature about ‘Hold The Girl’, her role in John Wick: Chapter 4 and more.During the interview, the singer revealed that Elton John has offered her some “great advice” regarding some as-yet-unreleased music.Rina collaborated with the legendary musician on a reworking of her song ‘Chosen Family’ last year, which came after the pair struck up a friendship, with John having praised Sawayama’s debut studio record on his Rocket Hour radio show in 2020.

Buckingham Palace confirmed.Following her death, the Queen’s coffin has been lying in state in Westminster Hall, with a whole host of celebrities joining the miles-long queue to pay their respects.Speculation is rife around which celebs will attend the funeral, with Bear Grylls already pictured outside Westminster Abbey in London, as one of the first confirmed celebs in attendance.The TV personality is there as chief scout and he will represent Scouts at the state funeral and pay his final respects to the Queen, who was a patron.Another confirmed attendee is Killing Eve actress Sandra Oh, who will attend the funeral as part of the Canadian delegation.The star will take part in a procession of national honours as part of the service, joining fellow Canadians musician Gregory Charles and Olympic swimmer Mark Tewkesbury.Also spotted was Peep Show’s Sophie Winkleman, who holds the title of Lady Frederick Windsor as she is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael of Kent – a cousin of the Queen.Over the past week, the likes of David Beckham, Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield, and Tilda Swinton were among those viewing the Queen’s coffin.Footballing legend Beckham has been a vocal supporter of the Queen over the years, and received an OBE in 2013 for his services to the sport.He was recently praised by fellow royal fans for queueing for 13 hours with members of the public before becoming tearful as he bowed his head to Her Majesty’s coffin in respect inside the Hall.Head to Metro.co.uk'sQueen Elizabeth II tag page for the latest updates, and sign Metro.co.uk's book of condolence to Her Majesty here.Actress Tilda also cut a sombre figure as she viewed the coffin after joining the queue when it was five

Elton John will perform at the White House next week for an event, A Night When Hope and History Rhyme.”

Rina Sawayama confirmed her status as a pop auteur with her 2020 debut Sawayama, No. 14 on our Best Albums of 2020 list.

New Music Friday! It's every audiophile's favorite day of the week, and some of our favorite artists from all different genres have blessed us with new tunes.K-pop superstars BLACKPINK followed up their historic VMAs performance with their highly anticipated second studio album,  Marcus Mumford shared his debut solo album,, Kelsea Ballerini released a new track for her ride-or-dies, titled «IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOIN' DOWN TOO),»and Jack Harlow joined EST Gee on his new single, «Backstage Passes.»Plus, new music from Rina Sawayama, Charlie Puth, Becky G, Bazzi, Noah Kahan, THE DRIVER ERA and more!Also this week, stars like Hailee Steinfeld, Rachel Lindsay, Mike Johnson, JoJo, Angus Cloud and more turned out to the Pair of Thieves event at the Kendrick Lamar concert at L.A.'s Crypto.Com Arena.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Though she’s just 22, Noah Cyrus has seen some stuff. As Miley’s younger sister, her music and acting careers launched early — at 16 and 2 (!), respectively — and she released several pop-leaning singles and EPs during her teens, opened an arena tour for Katy Perry in 2017 and was even nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 2021. On the less positive side, there was substance abuse, a bad relationship and lockdown isolation — but she overcame all of it, and that battle informs nearly every song on “The Hardest Part,” her long-percolating debut album, which sees her truly finding her voice in a way that her previous recordings only hinted at. Surprisingly or no, the Nashville native did it by returning home, musically speaking. Although her main collaborators here are Northern Irish producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, the 1975) and Australian songwriter PJ Harding (Chromeo, Ruel), the sound is country-leaning, heavy on harmonies, organic instrumentation and Music Row-friendly melodies; its big, stacked harmonies recall everything from the Chicks to Boygenius.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor What a long, strange trip the long-lost Creedence Clearwater Revival Royal Albert Hall concert album and film has taken in the half century since it happened. The show and the on-the-road footage were recorded by the BBC during the group’s first European tour in April of 1970, but never broadcast. The recording presumably got hung up in the notorious legal battles between the group and its original label, Fantasy Records, although footage from the concert popped up at various times over the decades (even in a TV commercial for a budget Creedence greatest-hits album in the ‘80s). Even more confusingly, Fantasy released a very similar live album titled “The Royal Albert Hall Concert” before realizing that the tapes had been mistakenly labeled and the album was actually recorded ten weeks earlier and 5,000 miles away at the band’s triumphant Oakland Coliseum homecoming concert (the album was quickly retitled “The Concert”).

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Considering their short lifespan and relatively slim discography, the Velvet Underground may be the most thoroughly excavated and documented rock band of their era: Nearly every studio and concert recording, acetate and demo has been scrutinized, digitized and optimized for the many awesome boxed sets that have been released since the world caught up with the group’s brilliance in the 1980s, a dozen-odd years after they split up. The foundation of that brilliance, of course, is Lou Reed’s songwriting, which combines a novelist’s gritty realism with equally confrontational rock music, but also includes soft, vulnerable songs like “Pale Blue Eyes” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” — songs that are all the more poignant because you can sense, somehow, that the sensitive soul who wrote them isalso kind of an asshole.

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

Rina Sawayama has revealed that Elton John has offered her some “great advice” regarding some as-yet-unreleased music.The British-Japanese artist, who released her second album ‘Hold The Girl’ today (September 16), collaborated with the legendary musician on a reworking of her song ‘Chosen Family’ last year.It came after the pair struck up a friendship, with John having praised Sawayama’s debut studio record on his Rocket Hour radio show in 2020. He’s since been avid fan and supporter of her work.Speaking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover feature, Sawayama spoke further about John assisting her with clearing a guitar riff on her single ‘This Hell’, which bears similarities to the ABBA‘s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’.“I was stressed as fuck because I was like: ‘this is our first single, this is our lead single, and I can’t use the guitar riff that I want’,” she recalled, adding that John ended up putting her in contact with the Swedish pop icons.ABBA’s Benny Andersson subsequently gave Sawayama his blessing to keep the original part in the finished track.“Elton is always willing to help.

Thania Garcia AEG Presents has joined the #iVoted Early Sweepstakes with election night (Nov. 8) tickets to concerts from Rina Sawayama, Soccer Mommy, Santigold, Tegan and Sara, Surf Curse, Travis and more. The partnership aims to increase voter turnout for the 2022 midterm elections. Fans can enter the #iVoted Early Sweepstakes starting Sept. 26 by submitting a selfie from outside their nearest polling place or at home with a blank and unmarked ballot. All entries are automatically RSVP’d for #iVoted Festival’s election night webcast featuring over 400 artists including Run the Jewels (Holy Calamavote TV concert rebroadcast), Lake Street Dive, CNCO, Rise Against, Carl Craig, Umphrey’s McGee and more.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Harry Styles has announced that he is partnering with non-partisan voter-engagement organization HeadCount in an effort to inspire his U.S fans to check their voter registration status and vote in this year’s midterm elections — and he’s throwing in a free trip to his legendary “Harryween” Halloween concert as an incentive.

Rina Sawayama has shared the final preview of her imminent second album, ‘Hold The Girl’ – a soaring pop-rock anthem titled ‘Hurricanes’.At face value, ‘Hurricanes’ is one of Sawayama’s most upbeat tracks, powering ahead with sharp drum fills, glittery atmospherics and driving electric guitars, over which the artist herself sings with an emphatic, energised gusto.Its lyrics paint a more melancholic picture, though, as Sawayama sings in the first verse: “April showers finally making way for warmer weather / But yet I still feel the same / Doing yoga just to feel untethered / But my mind keeps running away.”Have a listen to ‘Hurricanes’ below:‘Hurricanes’ is the fifth single to come from ‘Hold The Girl’, following the May release of ‘This Hell’, June’s ‘Catch Me In The Air’, the title track in July and ‘Phantom’ last month. The album itself – said to be inspired by the “fake stories” on Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ – will be out this Friday (September 16) via Dirty Hit.Sawayama will tour ‘Hold The Girl’ in October, starting with a run of shows across the UK and Ireland.

Elton John has been on a farewell tour now for approximately the last 653 years (including a break to enjoy the pandemic, of course). If you wanted to see him perform one last time but didn’t manage to get tickets for any shows happening in your part of the world, well, worry not, because Disney+ has announced plans to livestream his last ever ever ever ever ever ever live show in the USA later this year.On 20 Nov, John will conclude a three night run at LA’s Dodger Stadium, ending the US leg of the farewell tour, with dates then remaining in Australia, New Zealand and Europe – the UK shows happening in April.

Disney have announced that Elton John’s last-ever performance in the US this November – a third consecutive show at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium – will be streamed live on Disney+.The show will take place at the 56,000-capacity stadium on Sunday November 20, rounding out the North American leg of John’s ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour. For its streaming release – announced over the weekend at this year’s D23 conference – the show will be titled Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.

During Disney Branded Television’s presentation at D23 Expo, the division’s president Ayo Davis announced that Disney+ will exclusively livestream the live concert Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium on Nov. 20.