Table of contents for No. 1405 in Music Week

Scan through the No.1 albums so far this year and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s all business as usual. Returning pop superstars? Check. Singer-songwriters and indie bands? Yarp. Rappers? Of course. But within this typical constellation, one name firmly stood out on the chart summit in April. Those Damn Crows: the Welsh hard rock band, who took many by surprise by scoring their first UK No.1 with fourth outing, God Shaped Hole. Tempting as it might be to view this result as an individual outlier, however, it’s perhaps the wrong way of looking at it. A lot of people I’ve been speaking to recently are starting to speculate that the mainstream is once again warming to alternative-leaning, altogether louder music. At the time of going to press, Swedish…

THE BIG ROLES Apple Music has appointed Ole Obermann and Rachel Newman as co-heads. Newman, who was previously Apple Music global head of content and editorial, and Obermann will report to Oliver Schusser, VP of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Sports and Beats. Obermann left his role as global head of music at TikTok in February, following five years at the Bytedance-owned company. Fellow co-head of Apple Music, Rachel Newman, is a veteran of the tech giant and its music services, having first joined in 2009. THE BIG TRIBUTES Music manager and label marketing executive Nigel Templeman (pictured) passed away suddenly last month, aged 65. His management partner at Sound Advice, Hugh Phillimore, said: “I’m utterly devastated by the passing of my dear friend and business partner Nigel Templeman… Everyone always…

“Every artist you love has had moments where they doubted themselves -hearing that can be powerful” Kieron Banerji THIS MONTH THE HARDEST PART Host: Kieron Banerji (founder & creative director, Palm Tree Island) Contact: kieron@palmtreeisland.co.uk Through storytelling and behind-the-scenes insight, The Hardest Part offers a unique look at the art of songwriting. Here, host Kieron Banerji explains why he wants to shed a light on the people behind the music – their challenges, inspirations and more… In an era where social media gives fans instant access to artists, how do you think The Hardest Part offers something different? “This podcast came out of years of being in studios and realising that the most interesting part of the session wasn’t always the final take – it was the conversation that happened in…

@adaenechi Usher bringing out Craig David [on his Past Present Future tour] has healed my inner child. ( Ada Enechi, Buzzfeed UK via X ) Saturday, April 5 @andrewmale.bsky.social Old message from my friend Simon: “Promised you a list of names of poisonous British mushrooms. I realise now that it reads like a list of rejected Cocteau Twins song titles.” (Andrew Male, journalist via Bluesky) Monday, April 21 @Sheniececharway I put too much trust into the Elizabeth Line. There’s not been a day that it hasn’t come to shame me. Anyways, Happy Sunday. (Sheniece Charway, YouTube via X ) Sunday, April 13 @lovelimmy I hope my neighbour is OK. Mate, it’s the start of the Bank Holiday weekend, why are you blasting willowy Coldplay ballads? Maybe I need to do a…

MAY 16 Billy Nomates Metalhorse Invada Bury Tomorrow Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience Music For Nations Cautious Clay The Hours: Morning Concord Damiano David Funny Little Fears Arista Dave Hause Nurses TreatYourself Ezra Furman Goodbye Small Head Bella Union Matt Maltese Hers The Orchard Miso Extra Earcandy Transgressive Morgan Wallen I’m The Problem Mercury Peter Doherty Felt Better Alive Strap Originals Reuben James Big People Music Rufio Sleep Theory Afterglow Epitaph Tune-Yards Better Dreaming 4AD Turin Brakes Spacehopper Cooking Vinyl MAY 23 Dirty Nice Planet Weekend Chiverin Jawbone Jawbone II 5DB Lavender We’re Having A Barn Dance Night Time Stories Louise Confessions Lil Lou Orbital Orbital 2 (The Brown Album – Reissue) London Sedona Getting Into Heaven Kiss This Skunk Anansie The Painful Truth FLG These New…

Southeast London’s Henrie Kwushue is a powerhouse in the UK music scene. An acclaimed DJ, presenter and broadcaster, she is best known for her weekday show at 4pm on KISS Xtra, whilst also having made her name on the KISS FM early weekend breakfast show, Spotify’s Who We Be Talks podcast and No Signal radio. Kwushue’s ascent in the public eye has been rapid as she has carved out her own lane in DJing, playing stages for brands like Puma, Adidas, Nike, Nandos and the NFL. But it doesn’t stop there. She also runs HTK Productions and has produced two programmes: Is Your Area Changing?, a YouTube docu-series tackling gentrification in London, and Untold Stories, a web series where guests share personal accounts of their journeys and go deep on…

“We don’t often hear about people rooting for each other in the music business, but everyone has done their bit to help us” DREW HILL, PROPER MUSIC The last three-and-a-bit years have been such a roller coaster for Drew Hill, it’s a wonder Alton Towers haven’t come calling. This particular white-knuckle ride began in early 2022 when Proper Music Group – the physical specialist helmed lovingly by Hill for the best part of two decades – was snapped up by Swiss fintech company Utopia Music. The union was part of an acquisition spree that saw names such as Absolute Label Services, Musimap, Lyric Financial, ROSTR, Sentric Music Group and Cinram Novum come under the Utopia umbrella within a matter of months. But as Hill recalls, it wasn’t too long before the…

We spend a lot of time talking about why grassroots music venues are struggling: rents, noise complaints, business rates and soaring costs driving them to closure and depriving our towns and cities of their vibrancy. But venues are not the only part of the grassroots sector that is suffering. There is something else that is happening, something that’s slipping almost unnoticed under the radar. And it’s just as dangerous. That is the question of: Where are all the promoters? The next generation of risk-takers, the ones who put on their first gig in the back room of a pub with a £50 float and a handful of flyers, the ones who shape entire music scenes, who find the artists first, who get in before the industry even knows what’s happening.…

UNITED KINGDOM Ed Sheeran Azizam Video Creations: 28,500 Ed Sheeran’s Azizam marks a huge return for the star as a cross-cultural celebration that’s exploded on TikTok. Drawing on Persian instrumentation, language and backing vocals from Iranian pop icons Arash and Andy, the track has struck a deep chord with the global Iranian community. TikTok has been at the centre of that momentum, with thousands of creators using the song in content ranging from Nowruz celebrations to family tributes. The word Azizam – meaning “my dear” in Farsi – has taken on new life on TikTok, with the global community exploring its meaning and sound. A full Farsi version has also been released and is proving hugely popular. The emotion behind the song has sparked creator trends rooted in identity, nostalgia…

Your essential primer for the month ahead RCA Records leaders in the UK and US are predicting a “global breakthrough” for Sleep Token. The mysterious UK metal act signed to the Sony Music label in the US ahead of their fourth album, Even In Arcadia (out May 9). It follows the Top 3 result in the UK for 2023 LP Take Me Back To Eden (Spinefarm), which has sales to date of 127,940 (Official Charts Company). With the masked act having amassed more than eight million monthly listeners on Spotify, RCA UK co-president Glyn Aikins identified Sleep Token’s “complex and layered” sound as key to their growing global reach. “The music itself is more innovative than just a hard rock label would [suggest] actually, that’s what I think is most…

Two days ago, Alex Warren had a moment of disbelief. “I was thinking, this song is on over 200 million streams now… is this actually real? Do people actually know it?!” he laughs, as he settles into a conversation with Music Week from Birmingham, where in a couple of hours he will be taking centre stage at the O2 Academy. “Or is it just three people in a different country playing it over and over and over to make me feel good about it?” The song he’s referring to is, of course, Ordinary, a heartfelt and uplifting chamber pop anthem dedicated to Warren’s wife, Kouvr Annon. Released in February this year, the track went viral on TikTok before scoring the California-born singer his first ever UK No.1. At the time…

“For a long time, I was known as ‘the female organist’ – that’s a lot of pressure” Anna Lapwood You recorded the new album at Norway’s Nidaros Cathedral in a series of overnight sessions. What led to that approach? “There aren’t organs in studios, so you have to go to these weird venues. Sometimes it’s concert halls, sometimes churches. Often, if you need uninterrupted time and quiet, that ends up being overnight. We started recording at 11pm each evening and finished at six the next morning. I thought I was going to be too tired to get through, but I was so energised that when we finished recording, I stayed on the organ for another two hours for fun. It was such an incredible space.” The title track is a new…

SHALLIPOPI Since breaking out in 2023 with his viral hit Elon Musk, Lagos-based star Shallipopi has been unstoppable. Here, he dives into his new track Laho, his roots in Benin City and why being an artist will never be easy… ‘Laho’ means ‘please don’t let me fall’ in the Edo language. What does that refer to and how did the song come to life? “I was playing around with beats and instrumentals in the studio and I just came up with it. The whole ‘Laho’ idea is linked to my backstory, to where I’m from, Benin City. ‘Please don’t let me fall’ is about the daily struggles we go through in this country, this nation. It’s about when you’re needing help from others and you’re seeing desperation from people around…

ALBUMS (WHAT’S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? (1995) 5,364,178 DEFINITELY MAYBE (1994) 2,844,111 TIME FLIES – 1994-2009 (2010) 2,114,381 BE HERE NOW (1997) 2,058,169 STOP THE CLOCKS (2006) 1,410,396 HEATHEN CHEMISTRY (2002) 1,207,063 DON’T BELIEVE THE TRUTH (2005) 1,033,010 THE MASTERPLAN (1998) 1,020,535 STANDING ON THE SHOULDER OF GIANTS (2000) 788,558 DIG OUT YOUR SOUL (2008) 670,487 FAMILIAR TO MILLIONS (2000) 368,742 KNEBWORTH 1996 (2021) 107,205 SINGLES WONDERWALL (1995) 4,970,538 DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (1996) 3,846,612 LIVE FOREVER (1994) 2,086,039 CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA (1996) 1,900,630 SUPERSONIC (1994) 1,415,265 STOP CRYING YOUR HEART OUT (2002) 1,397,217 HALF THE WORLD AWAY (1994) 1,393,040 SHE’S ELECTRIC (1995) 1,306,693 ROLL WITH IT (1995) 1,219,653 SOME MIGHT SAY (1995) 1,152,965 STAND BY ME (1997) 1,143,787 WHATEVER (1994) 1,071,326 CIGARETTES & ALCOHOL (1994) 1,058,223 D’YOU KNOW WHAT…

“I’m at the start of a new journey, and I feel reinvigorated… Lionbear can fill a massive gap” RICH CASTILLO, LIONBEAR MUSIC GROUP The walls of Rich Castillo’s home office in Windsor – his self-styled “man cave” – are adorned with plaques from his 20-plus-years in the industry. Music Week Awards sit side-by-side with a bucket load of other gongs and No.1 trophies (the latest of which, commemorating Chase & Status’ chart-topper with Stormzy on Backbone, arrives on the morning of our interview). But if his workplace decor sounds standard for a music exec, there is something of a twist in this tale. “These are my scars,” Castillo explains. “These are not fucking awards, these are memories of very painful moments that just happened to pan out. As much as they…

CHRYSTAL SONG: THE DAYS When Chrystal wrote The Days in 2015, she never imagined it would hit the Top 5 in the UK 10 years later, let alone amass hundreds of millions of streams via a DJ Notion remix. What started as a forgotten demo somehow became her breakout hit, launching the Bolton-based songwriter/producer into the spotlight. Here, she reflects on nearly quitting music and the surprise drive-through meet-up that changed it all… It was never my plan to be an artist again, and this year has been quite overwhelming. But it’s also been amazing. In 2014, the year before I did The Days, I was studying production and songwriting at university. I just wanted to be a producer and songwriter, but I’d written songs for some house producers with…

Marketing manager, ADA UK @daniel__mb Can you tell us about the key moments that have defined your music industry journey so far? “I worked at a community radio station between 2016 and 2018, where I built connections, and also at Vevo. That was before moving to Ditto as a label services manager, which really kicked off my career. It was there I signed and worked with SR, Darkoo, Wewantwraiths, Shaé Universe and more. I then moved to Polydor to experience how the frontline machine works – credit to [legendary club promoter] Shaun Roberts, who sadly isn’t with us anymore, who recommended me. There, I led development for Clavish, securing a Top 5 mixtape, whilst handling a US roster including GloRilla, Willow and 6lack. At ADA, it’s the best of both,…

RELEASE: Ordinary LABEL: Atlantic Records UK MANAGEMENT: Brian Sokolik, Odd Projects WHAT THE TEAM SAYS: Briony Turner, co-president, Atlantic Records UK: “Alex is such a unique artist and the songs he is writing are exceptional. We’re really excited by the momentum he’s been gaining here in the UK. He’s been doing shows here and his eccentricity, humour and talent are a truly unusual and captivating combination. This coupled with his heartfelt and genuine connection means he is no doubt on his way to becoming one of WMG’s next global superstars.”…

LORDE What Was That (Island EMI) In the video for What Was That, Lorde can be seen striding and cycling through New York City, before running into Washington Square Park to perform her club-ready new single for a mass of excitable fans. These climactic scenes were filmed IRL last month, after the New Zealander extended an invite via her text line. The event was shut down due to overcrowding, and that energy pulses through the song itself, which Lorde co-wrote with Jim-E Stack and co-produced with Stack and Daniel Nigro. As ever, Lorde’s lyrics merit close attention, rose-tinted flashbacks (‘MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up/We kissed for hours straight, well, baby, what was that?’) evoking the pain of heartbreak. Better still is the music: an exhilarating rush…

The great wait is over,” read the seismic tweet from Oasis’ official account on August 27 last year. Pandemonium ensued as the iconic band – after weeks of speculation – finally confirmed that they would be reuniting to tour for the first time since 2009. Suffice to say, Live ’25 is one of the most hyped and anticipated tours of all time. With the subsequent addition of extra dates, the run now stands at a whopping 41 extravagantly sold-out shows around the UK, Europe, North and South America, Japan and Australia. Nineteen of those shows will take place in the UK & Ireland, where the Oasis comeback is set to be the defining music story of the summer. In contrast to what their initial tweet said, it may also be…

Nearly 20 years into her career, Kate Nash has spent the last six months protesting the prohibitively expensive costs of touring in a uniquely cheeky and conversation-starting way: by joining OnlyFans and selling pictures of her bum. Launched in November 2024, the Butts For Tour Buses campaign has given Nash an elevated platform to discuss not just artists’ struggles in the live music sector, but across the board. She’s spoken on programmes ranging from BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to Lorraine on ITV, while a clip from an interview with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 6 Music breaking down the finances of playing live has been liked and shared tens of thousands of times. In February, Nash signed up as a new patron of the Music Venue Trust, while earlier…

Underdog or top dog? The independent music publishing world can lay claim to being a bit of both. According to the IMPF’s latest Global Market View report, based on the last full year of data available, the sector combined maintained its status as the biggest music publishing entity in the world in 2023. Its market share of 26.3% was down marginally from 26.7% the previous year and 27.1% in 2021, but its total value of €2.57 billion was up 5.7% year-on-year and a whopping 105.6% since 2018. “Collectively, the indie publishers control a larger market share than the biggest major,” affirms Ben Marlow, director of Y Royalties, which offers services in royalties data, rights management, audit and transaction services. “Whilst the combined indie publishing revenues are growing year-on-year, their market…

The career of Golnar Khosrowshahi has been littered with milestones, from heading up Reservoir Media, America’s first female-founded and led publicly traded music company, to winning big at the Music Week Women In Music Awards and beyond. Here, the Iranian-Canadian exec opens up about the secrets of publishing, going to Joni Mitchell’s house and visiting Nasdaq with Offset… The reason artists trust us with their catalogues is… “It’s a feeling that they get that they are talking to a group of people who understand music, who have a track record and have been working together for a long time. We have clients who have renewed with us year after year and that record speaks for itself. Then there’s a general familial sense, and that is important because we work in…