AS well as working on his next record, Ed Sheeran says he plans to spend the rest of the year helping roll out a music scheme for young people.
Ed has already built a recording studio at his former school, Thomas Mills High in Framlington, Suffolk, and spend hundreds on instruments for its pupils after his old music teacher contacted him in 2018 about funding cuts.
Now he wants to go a step further.
He said: “I started doing that in the county I’m from, and we’ve just now changed to doing it nationwide.
“I’m now visiting more high schools that really need music funding and you can see what a difference it makes.
“I’m not an academic person – in the real world I would be viewed as stupid.
“But I excelled at music and therefore people think I’m good at something.
“I found it massively helpful to be at a state-funded school that really encouraged that.
“They’ve basically cut funding for that in England so I’m doing what I can to get funding for it.
“The new government will be better at it, I think.”
Here’s hoping, Ed. I don’t hold out much hope, though.
Doja gets a leg up
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WITH moves like this, I’m surprised the BBC haven’t tapped up Doja Cat for a turn on Strictly.
The Say So singer showed how flexible she is by lying on the floor and putting her leg up by her head as she performed at the Roskilde music festival in Denmark.
Doja is currently working her way across Europe playing a series of summer gigs. She performed at Longitude in Ireland at the start of the week and Parklife, Manchester, last month.
Once she’s finished her latest run of gigs, the star is keen to start new projects – including getting into film. She said: “I want to explore acting. I would love to do movies that I believe in. I would have to stop the music for a minute.
“I want to learn martial arts and be in a film like John Wick.”
Move over Keanu Reeves!
WILL TRIES HAND AT COMEDY
WE could all do with a laugh at the moment, and Will Young is taking things into his own hands to make sure that happens.
The singer is going into screenwriting and is busy penning a comedy.
Will, who didn’t reveal whether it is for a movie or TV show, said: “I have just been commissioned to write a comedy, so that’s a little bit more pressure to see if I can do it. I love making people laugh. I think an audience laughing is one of the most incredible feelings.”
That’s not the only way he is spreading joy, as today he has released his new single Light It Up.
Other new tunes out now include SIigala’s It’s A Feeling, with Trevor Daniel and 24KGoldn.
Sock it to ‘em, Jade
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LESS is more for Jade Thirlwall as she finally launches her solo career.
The former Little Mix singer matched a see-through dress with white ankle socks and Coco Chanel clogs as she posed for Beat mag ahead of releasing debut single Angel Of My Dreams on July 19.
She said of the tune: “I wanted Angel Of My Dreams to feel like a relentless, huge, fat pop punch in your face.
“I was in LA and feeling a bit lonely. And then someone called to say that the head of my label, the man who signed me, was leaving.
“I spiralled hard. I went to the studio thinking about how fickle the music industry is, and thinking about how much I love this job but also how much I hate it, too.
“Originally, it was supposed to sound more like a loving relationship that was toxic, but then I thought, ‘No, let’s let them have it’.”
CHARLI: TUNE AID IS A MUST
CHARLI XCX is one of our favourite British pop stars and with good reason: she speaks the truth.
In a revealing new interview Charli, who is promoting sixth studio album Brat, admitted she is too lazy to sing without autotune – a confession not many stars would happily make.
“On my early work I could sing in tune,” Charli told the Tape Notes podcast.
“Now I think I’ve got so lazy because I sing with autotune all the time, like, I’m never not singing with autotune. Unless I’m doing karaoke, which I actively don’t do for this reason.”
After hearing the efforts of me and my team on our most recent work night out at the Lucky Voice karaoke bar, Soho, I wish they’d had autotune.
We sure needed it.
Rita’s V sore head
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IT was game, set and smashed for Rita Ora and Taika Waititi after they left tennis ace Maria Sharapova‘s party.
The couple were in high spirits after leaving The Twenty Two in London after helping the ex-tennis champ celebrate the 20th anniversary of her first Wimbledon title win.
They were seen climbing into a car, with Taika making a V sign as they left.
Given how bad the pair’s hangovers might have been, I bet they wish they’d stayed home.