
Justin Bieber returns with 'Swag,' a polished and confident seventh album
One reason behind this surprise release likely lies in the agreement Bieber reached with his former manager and producer Scooter Braun – the same Braun who sold the rights to Taylor Swift's first six albums, sparking a lengthy legal battle and Swift's re-recording of her early records. The deal now allows Bieber to have artistic control over his music. He makes full use of this new freedom on a 21-track album, marking a deliberate break from his early pop and embracing a polished, assertive R&B sound.

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LeMonde
20 hours ago
- LeMonde
Eva Victor, director of 'Sorry, Baby': Cinema as a path to healing
After gaining recognition at the end of the 2010s with short funny videos posted on X, Eva Victor – who identifies as non-binary – embarked on a second career at 31 as an actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. A successful career shift: Their first feature film Sorry, Baby won an award at the Sundance Film Festival and was selected in May for the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. "I don't think I want to continue making something, putting it out that day and then hearing people's opinions on it," Victor said on a Friday in July during a Zoom interview. "I think I was really craving doing something that was a longer form piece that could say a lot of things in it." Agnes, their character – a restless woman trying to overcome trauma – owes much to Victor's own life experience, a subject they are reluctant to discuss in detail. Having been sexually assaulted several years ago, Victor said they found a form of healing in making Sorry, Baby: "As a director, directing myself as an actor, I chose where my body went at every point. I felt very safe." Above all, they wanted "people to come in feeling like the film's going to take care of them." They hoped to forge a sense of community among viewers: "I think laughing and crying, they're in a circle, and they touch on something essential."

LeMonde
5 days ago
- LeMonde
In 'Sorry, Baby,' actor and director Eva Victor puts herself center stage with a fragmented portrait of a young woman grappling with trauma
Le Monde's verdict – Must See Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor's first feature-length film, is told in fragments, with Victor also in the lead role. The pivotal scene unfolds at the heart of the second half, with Agnes entering a house during the day, framed in a wide shot. The viewer, however, remains at the door as hours pass on screen until night falls. The literature student finally emerges, slightly disoriented, as the camera follows her from behind across the campus. Haggard, she returns to her car. We follow her entire drive face-on, with Agnes's panicked face partially obscured in the shadows. Something happened in that house, though the film neither shows nor names it explicitly; instead, it delves deeply into the repercussions. By the time Sorry, Baby begins, this traumatic event has already occurred years before. Addressing the complex subject of trauma, the film moves through a chronology divided into sections, where past, present and future appear out of order. How does one depict an upheaval that alters the most intimate parts of oneself beneath the surface? Victor chooses to stick closely to her character's perceptions and sensations. For Agnes, everything becomes both near and far at once; some scenes stretch out, while others end abruptly with sharp ellipses. In places, the film takes on a circular quality, playing with echoes, as if trauma intensified the sense of repetition.


Fashion Network
5 days ago
- Fashion Network
Topshop to launch Cara Delevingne collab, names key French, Danish stores as relaunch stockists
Topshop has been gradually releasing information linked to its full-scale comeback this year and the latest news this week is that two major European names will stock the now-online-only label in their physical stores. Reports said both France's Printemps and Denmark's Magasin du Nord (which used to be owned by Debenhams) will carry the relaunched brand. And in Ireland, department store McElhinneys will also be a stockist. On Tuesday, the retailer's Instagram page also showed a picture of supermodel-turned-actress Cara Delevingne with the words: 'Introducing Cara Delevingne. A bold new era begins. Sign up at to be the first to know about the launch.' That was the first hint of the fact that the brand is in mid-August launching a curated 30-piece edit in a collab with Delevingne in to kick off its high-profile comeback. It's a fitting link-up given her first appearance in a Topshop campaign was in 2010 with the model later being the solo face of the brand's AW14 campaign. Delevingne said: 'As a London girl, Topshop was the place where fashion felt fun, fearless, and full of possibilities. Coming back to Topshop now is more than a return – it's about starting something new. This collection is about owning your style, your story, and feeling empowered to express that every day.' As for the stockist news, it's known that it will be available in other European locations as well as stores beyond the continent but their names haven't yet been revealed, although the brand is already available at Nordstrom in the US through an earlier deal. There's also expected to be a single wholesale partner for the UK that will see the label available in UK physical locations in its home market again. Topshop and sibling brand Topman were part of the failed Arcadia Group and were bought by e-tail giant ASOS post-pandemic in early 2021 when Arcadia was broken up. ASOS took them online-only and later relaunched them. But ASOS's own problems got in the way of a full-on comeback and this year control of the business was acquired by Heartland. The holding company of the family behind Denmark's Bestseller deepened its close links with ASOS (it already has a major stake in the company) buying 75% of Topshop/Topman for £135 million, with ASOS retaining the minority stake and distribution rights. The plan is for a big relaunch of the two labels with teasers building up to this including a one-day London pop-up in May, a gamified teaser campaign and 'coming soon' holding pages for a new webstore. There will also be a major Topshop/Topman runway show for AW25 in London next month.