10 July 2019 Spanish-language songs make up half of YouTube’s Top 10 for the year so far, led by Daddy Yankee’s Con Calma
The site reaches more than 1.9 billion people every month, more than any other music steaming service, and most of those users are listening to Latin Pop. Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings is the only entry sung entirely in English, with K-pop and Bollywood completing the chart. Catalonian singer Rosalía, who came fifth in the BBC’s Sound of 2019 list, had the highest-viewed video by a female artist, with Con Altura – a reggaeton track that samples dialogue from a Dominican TV show. The song topped YouTube’s music chart for 12 weeks after its release in March, at one point presiding over a top 10 that was 80% Spanish. “This is the new order of things in the increasingly diverse, genre-melding, multilingual world of pop,” wrote New York Times’ pop correspondent Joe Coscarelli in an article dissecting Rosalía’s breakout single. “Language is no longer a barrier, world rhythms mix and cohere, cross-cultural collaboration is common and hip-hop influence seeps in from all sides.” South Korea is also an increasingly dominant voice in global pop, with girl group Blackpink racking up 468m views for the arresting, colourful video for Kill This Love [the title is the only English line in the song]. Their boyband counterpart, BTS, have the eighth most-watched video of the year for their track Boy With Luv. Johnny Kitagawa, one of the most influential figures in Japan’s entertainment industry, has died at the age of 87
For more than 50 years the agency he founded, Johnny & Associates, made numerous boy bands household names, including SMAP, Arashi and KAT-TUN. Many of the artists he propelled to fame also became stars of TV shows. Kitagawa died at a hospital in Tokyo on Tuesday after suffering a stroke, Kyodo News reported. He had collapsed and was admitted to hospital on 18 June, the Japan Times said, but the incident was kept secret. Kitagawa was responsible for 232 number one singles between 1974 and 2010. He was recognised three times by Guinness World Records – for the most number one singles, the most number one artists and the most concerts produced by an individual.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is out for revenge in the Sacred Games 2 trailer
The series revolves around Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan),a troubled police officer in Mumbai, who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who tells him to save the city within 25 days; the series chronicles the events that follow. In the trailer, we see some old faces whilst coming across new character as this year, actors Ranvir Shorey and Kalki Koechlin join the cast also. The second season will feature Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi as part of an ensemble cast just like its first season. Sacred Games is an Indian web television thriller series based on Vikram Chandra’s 2006 novel of the same name produced on Netflix. It was the first ever Netflix original series produced in India. ———————————————————————————————————————— 9 July 2019 A sleazy boss embodies the evil of workplace harassment in new TV drama Dar Khuda Say
Will a star-studded cast and a terrific topic (sexual harassment in the workplace) be enough to save Dar Khuda Say ? It’s still too early to say. The show starts with the story of two very distinct and different families. First, we see Afreen (Sana Javed) sitting on-stage at her engagement, which is abruptly called off. Fast forward a year later, and we see Afreen dodging a bunch of tumultuous situations both at home and at work. The main villain of the show is the ultra sleazy Shahvaiz (Imran Abbas).This drama could take a bold stand against harassment… or it could end up justifying abuse. Which will it be? It’s time we see how sexual harassment affects common folks like young girls working desk jobs or as housemaids. What does sexual harassment at the workplace look like? And what exactly constitutes a workplace? These are the questions I hope the show writers will answer with proper care.
Victoria Beckham reveals why she passed on the Spice Girls Reunion
However, Victoria Beckham chose to turn down the opportunity and she recently revealed why. In a recent interview with Vogue, Beckham explained how the decision was tougher than joining the group in the first place as she said: “It took me a lot of courage not to go on tour with the Spice Girls again, but to be the one who says, You know, I’m not doing it because things feel different now than they used to. I’d rather concentrate on my family and my company.” She explained that her priorities have changed and she has to give time to personal commitments, adding: “I’d rather concentrate on my family and my company. I’m 45 now and very happy to be the woman I am.” She also mentioned: “I’m not trying to change, I want to be the best version of myself. Before I turned 40, I wasn’t that confident. I learned to listen to my gut feeling.” Martin Charnin, the writer who adapted the comic strip character Little Orphan Annie for the stage, has died at the age of 84
Charnin wrote the lyrics for the hit musical’s best-known songs including Tomorrow and It’s The Hard Knock Life. The news was first reported by his daughter Sasha, who said he had “lived a very full life”. Born in New York, he began his career as an actor in the original production of West Side Story on Broadway.The first musical for which he wrote the lyrics was 1963’s Hot Spot starring Judy Holliday. Charnin also wrote lyrics for Richard Rodgers’ Two by Two (1970), which starred Danny Kaye and ran on Broadway for 10 months. After an Emmy Award-winning stint writing for US television in the early 1970s, he made his Broadway directing debut in 1973 with the revue Nash at Nine, based on the works of poet Ogden Nash.
———————————————————————————————————————— 8 July 2019 Dua Lipa says her new album is “coming soon” – and it “feels like a dancercise class”
The pop star was speaking on the red carpet of the Nordoff Robins’ Silver Clef Awards, where she won best female. “It’s been a long time coming so I’m super-happy,” she told the BBC. “I’m nervous. It feels like it’s happening all over again.” The star has been recording with stars like Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, Diplo and Swedish pop singer Tove Lo. She said that, since releasing her debut album in 2017, she had a clearer idea of what she wanted to say with her music. The star has become increasingly vocal about LGBT rights and female equality, standing up for fans who were removed from her concert in Shanghai for waving gay rights flags, and calling out institutional sexism at the Grammy Awards . Ready Steady No is a romcom based on real-life events, says director
Huddled together in front of the cinema screen at the trailer launch of their debut film Ready, Steady, No! (RSN) a few months ago, the director and cast reminded me of the children’s storybook The Little Engine That Could. In that story, a little blue engine hauls the cargo of a far bigger broken down engine across the mountain, while propping up its own confidence by saying: I think I can, I think I can. It’s not hard to imagine the cast and crew of RSN chanting the same lines. RSN is a rom-com about a young couple who elope. “The concept of a boy and a girl eloping may sound romantic, but in reality it is not, and that’s the story we aim to tell,” Munawwar tells me on the phone from Lahore.“The reason the couple run away is because they belong to different zaats [castes],” Munawwar says. “The reality of life is that, no matter how far we think we’ve progressed, issues of zaats till prevail in Pakistan. When I sat down to write the film, something similar was happening with someone I knew. “The message is a part of the story, but it is not the story,” Munawwar explains. Kevin Spacey was questioned in the US by the Metropolitan Police over sex assault allegations in the UK
Variety said Scotland Yard detectives travelled to the US in May to interview the Oscar-winner under caution. He faces six allegations of sexual assault in the UK between 1996 and 2013. Police said he was voluntarily interviewed – he was not arrested. Spacey faces a number of sexual assault allegations, which he denies. While the Metropolitan Police did not name Spacey, a spokeswoman said: “In May 2019, a man was voluntarily interviewed under caution in America, by officers from the Met’s Complex Case Team. “He was not arrested. Inquiries are ongoing.” Spacey, 59, was artistic director at London’s The Old Vic theatre between 2004 and 2015.
———————————————————————————————————————— 5 July 2019 Disney has cast singer Halle Bailey in the starring role of Ariel in a live action remake of The Little Mermaid
“Halle possesses a rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence and substance, plus a glorious singing voice,” director Rob Marshall said. Halle, 19, half of R&B sister duo Chloe x Halle, “ said it was a “dream come true” . The film, which will start shooting in 2020, will feature new songs written by Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda. While the majority of tweets were positive, Halle’s casting proved controversial for some social media users, with one saying he “ain’t racist for not wanting a black actress playing Ariel… Ariel is a redhead as was played in our childhood movie. Rami Malek made it clear he wouldn’t play a religious terrorist in Bond 25
In an interview with The Mirror, the Oscar winner stated, “That was one thing that I discussed with [director] Cary Fukunaga. I said, ‘We cannot identify him with any act of terrorism reflecting an ideology or a religion. That’s not something I would entertain, so if that is why I am your choice then you can count me out’. But that was clearly not his vision. So he’s a very different kind of terrorist.” The actor is known to have quite a deep sense of his Egyptian roots, In an interview with GQ Magazine he said, “There’s no first-generation, or second-generation removed. I am Egyptian. I grew up listening to Egyptian music. I loved Umm Kulthum. I loved Omar Sharif. These are my people. I feel so gorgeously tied to the culture and the human beings that exist there. I acknowledge that I have a different experience, but I am so enamored and intertwined with Egyptian culture. It is the fabric of who I am.”
Joss Stone deported from Iran on the last stop of her world tour
The 32-year-old posted a video from Kish Island in which she said: “We got detained and then we got deported.” She said that she knew Iran did not allow women to perform solo concerts. “However, it seems the authorities don’t believe we wouldn’t be playing a public show, so they have popped us on what they call the ‘blacklist’.” “After long discussions with the most friendly, charming and welcoming immigration people, the decision was made to detain us for the night and to deport us in the morning,” she added. “Of course I was gutted. So close yet so far.” Kish Island, which is in the Gulf off the southern Iranian coast, is the only place in Iran that foreigners can visit without needing a visa. She said immigration officials at the island’s airport had encouraged her to go to the Iranian embassy in the UK to “sort it all out and come back”. Iran’s state broadcaster, Irib, cited a police statement as saying that Stone did not have the required documentation to enter the country when she arrived on a flight from Oman on 29 June.
———————————————————————————————————————— 4 July 2019 Pakistani poet, Nisar Nasik, who wrote the lyrics of ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ passed away at 85
According to reports, the lyricist succumbed to physical illness earlier in the morning at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi. Son Khayal Aqdas revealed that his father was dealing with a number of health concerns including amnesia, diabetes, and high blood pressure and his health had been deteriorating since the past few years. ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ became the iconic track we know, and celebrate today when Vital Signs turned it into one of their big hits. Footballer Hajra Khan gets a Guinness World Records hat-trick
Hajra Khan, the captain of the Pakistani football team, is a rising star as she has managed to achieve 3 football-related Guinness world records in the past year. Last year, Hajra Khan managed to set the world record for playing in a football match at the lowest altitude in the history of the game at the Dead Sea in Jordan. This was not the end to Hajra’s success story though as she went on to set two more world records this year in Lyon, France. Earlier this time around, she participated in the world’s longest football match that lasted for three and a half hours consecutively where she managed to score 4 goals by herself. This wasn’t it for Hajra though as she also managed to play in an inclusive match which involved over 51 nationalities whilst the previous world record was held by a match that involved 30 nationalities. That makes it 3 Guinness world records for this Pakistani powerhouse. Chris Evans and Daniel Craig are stuck in a murder mystery in new movie
The trailer for his upcoming movie Knives Out has dropped and we’re kinda getting hyped up… and not just because this is pretty much a Captain America and 007 crossover. Daniel Craig stars as a detective out to solve a murder that occured with a very eccentric family. “ Knives Out was my attempt to take everything I love about an Agatha Christie who-done-it, jam it into an all-star cast, give it a Hitchcock thriller, genre twist and set it in modern-day America,” director Rian Johnson had said at CinemaCon.
———————————————————————————————————————— 3 July 2019 Pakistani women are calling out pregnancy shaming for its hypocrisy
Following a couple’s marriage, the first question they’re asked is “*Aur khushkhabri kab suna rahe ho?” (When will you tell us the good news?), completely ignoring a couples financial standing or personal choice. But interestingly enough, once a woman is pregnant, she shouldn’t really talk about it. And how dare she show her baby bump! Case in point, Aroosa Siddiqui at Fashion Week Pakistan 2018, where the young woman walked the ramp pregnant and received spiteful comments about showing off her baby bump, something which needs to be hidden. Writer Zeina Toric-Azad has had enough of it and took to Twitter to ask why pregnancy shaming exists in a country obsessed with having children. Dwayne Johnson is taking things to the ‘next level’ in the Jumanji sequel trailer
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is back in the Jumanji world but not the way you think. The sequel for the 2017 movie – based on the Robin Williams-starrer – just got it’s first trailer and we see Danny Devito and Danny Glover in action too. Spencer (Alex Wolff) has been sucked in the Jumanji video game once more and our teens must rejoin the game to save him. Upon meeting The Rock as Spencer’s avatar, we find out that it is his grandfather (Devito) who has taken on the character. Hilarity ensues as teens join grandfathers to rescue Spencer. Tom Holland, Letitia Wright, Adele and Lady Gaga join The Academy
That’s the group of people who decide who win Oscars each year. And after criticism of its lack of diversity, the new additions are 50% women and 29% are people of colour. You might remember #OscarsSoWhite being used in 2015 and 2016 in protest at the lack of actors of colour being nominated for top acting awards. The new additions are more inclusive and representative of the movie industry following this criticism. Overall female membership is now 32% – up from 25% in 2015. People of colour make up 16% of the Academy’s membership now – double what it was four years ago.
———————————————————————————————————————— 2 July 2019 Raveena Tandon criticises Zaira Wasim’s decision to leave Bollywood
The veteran actress took to Twitter to criticise 18-year-old, Dangal starlet Zaira Wasim who announced yesterday that she was bidding adieu to the film industry because it was interfering with her faith. Tandon took the low road by slamming Zaira as a ‘two-films old’ and her decision to quit the field as ‘ungrateful’. She shared how she could leave but did not have to be so vocal about her ‘regressive views’. She wrote, “Doesn’t matter if two film olds are ungrateful to the industry that have given them all. Just wish they’d exit gracefully and keep their regressive views to themselves.” Sonam Kapoor says Fawad Khan joined Khoobsurat because no one wanted to work with her
In an interview with Filmfare, Kapoor spoke about her career in Bollywood, revealing that her preference of female-centric movies led to male actors refusing to work with her. “I can’t explain how difficult it was to make Aisha . Do you know how much effort it took to make Khoobsurat ? No hero wanted to work with me because it was called Khoobsurat . I had to get Fawad Khan from Pakistan. And look what happened. Fawad became a huge star. He had the confidence.” Can we just say kudos to Fawad Khan for not being hesitant towards a movie with a female lead? That was just very khoobsurat of him. Jake Gyllenhaal finally admits to the whitewashing around his casting in 2010’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Even though the original video game is set in historic Persia, an actor of Iranian-descent was not approached for the lead role by Disney. Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, Gyllenhaal claimed, “I think I learned a lot from that movie in that I spend a lot of time trying to be very thoughtful about the roles that I pick and why I’m picking them”. He added, “And you’re bound to slip up and be like, ‘That wasn’t right for me,’ or ‘That didn’t fit perfectly.’ There have been a number of roles like that. And then a number of roles that do.” Hollywood has recently embraced a culture of celebrities and production houses revisiting past projects, and mistakes. While Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t outright mention the whitewashing involved in him being cast as Dastan, we appreciate him owning up to being wrong for the role.
———————————————————————————————————————— 1 July 2019 The English Literary Society held the launch of a fiction book, Encounters, by Akif Rashid at Alhamra Adbi Baithak
The chief guests were Amjad Tufail, Asim Butt, Syed Noor and Shahzad Rafique. The writers who spoke on the occasion included Prof Anwarul Haq, Rubia Jilani, Raza Naeem, Atoofa Najeeb, Javaid Aftab and Tahir Bin Shahzad. The speakers lauded the presentation of self-expression in the book written in narrative style, terming it adventurous and experimental. Commending the book, they said, very few stories revealed internal conflicts, extraordinary complicated sentences and writer’s unfulfilled desires and aspirations. Prince William and Kate Middleton are headed to Pakistan
Kensington Palace announced via social media (what a time to be alive!) that Prince William and Kate Middleton “will undertake an official visit to Pakistan this autumn, at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office”. This mark’s the couple first visit to our country though other members of the royal family have been here before; on their Instagram, they continued that “Her Majesty The Queen visited Pakistan in 1961 and 1997, and The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited in 2006. Taylor Swift writes angry post about Scooter Braun who now owns all her music
In a scathing Tumblr post Sunday, the pop superstar writes she is sad and grossed out that her music catalog now belongs to Braun, whom she accuses of subjecting her to years of incessant and manipulative bullying, referencing clashes with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. “This is my worst case scenario,” Swift writes. Braun’s Ithaca Holdings announced Sunday that it is acquiring Big Machine Label Group, which released all of Swift’s studio albums and owns her masters. Swift says she learned of the sale Sunday. Swift left Big Machine and signed with Universal Music Group in November because she says she knew that re-signing with the group that had managed her since she was 15 would only result in her not owning her future work.
———————————————————————————————————————— 28 June 2019 Riz Ahmed says that It’s super scary to be a Muslim right now