Latest news with #BetterDays
RTÉ News
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Behind the music - Nathan O'Regan
Irish singer-songwriter Nathan O'Regan has released his new single, Better Days. We asked him the BIG questions . . . It's the second track to be lifted from his forthcoming debut album Olive Branch, set for release 19 September on Belfast label Zenith Cafe Records. Having just completed a support tour with Lucy Spraggan, Nathan will be performing at festivals over the summer before embarking on the Olive Branch tour in September and October, including a date at The Workmans Cellar, Dublin on 8 October and other Irish shows including Mullingar, Castlebar, Limerick and Belfast. He wrote Better Day for his partner when she was pregnant with their first son. "It was written just before we had Arthur, and we were living in this tiny little house just outside of Belfast. It felt like we were boxed in," he says. "You couldn't step in a straight line, you were climbing over things to get anywhere, and we just didn't know where a baby was even going to fit. I just wanted to tell her everything was going to be ok eventually and to keep the faith." Tell us three things about yourself . . . I was born in Cork but moved to Belfast when I left school. I'm the proud Dad of two little boys, Arthur, who's three and Oscar, who's five months old. I love cooking and think if I didn't work in music I would have wanted to work in a kitchen of some sort. How would you describe your music? I'm so incredibly bad at answering this question but I'll try: I try as much as I can to keep my lyrics conversational. If I can't imagine myself saying it, then I normally won't sing it either. Style wise, people have told me I sound a bit like James Morrison, Gregory Porter, Springsteen. Most of the stuff that I think has informed the music I like making are probably from my Dad's record collection. Marc Cohn, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel all have left big impressions on me. Storytelling at its finest with the lyric front and centre at all times. More recently, I'm obsessed with Lake Street Dive, Leif Vollebekk, Stephen Wilson Jr, to name a few. What was the first gig you ever went to? Eric Clapton Live At The Marquee in Cork. I think I was about 14 or 15. I remember the day of the gig, I had the flu or something similar working on me and my Mum thought I shouldn't go but I was adamant that I wasn't going to miss it. We went really early to get near the front and about 20 mins into Clapton's set, it was so hot in there that I fainted. I remember waking up being carried by a paramedic who was screaming "WHAT DID YOU TAKE?" at me. Their instincts were correct so I replied honestly, "two Lemsips." What was the first record you ever bought? American Idiot by Green Day, followed quickly by everything else they'd released. I used to sit for hours with them on repeat and try and work out the guitar parts. I was obsessed What's your favourite song right now? This is going to sound super specific, but right now its a song called Dela by Johnny Clegg. We've been letting our son Arthur watch some movies and he's obsessed with George Of The Jungle and there's a scene at the end where that song plays and he absolutely loves it. It's the first non-nursery rhyme song that he genuinely loves and it brings me a lot of joy watching him dance around and sing it. I'm not sure if I love the song or if I just love that we're not being asked to play Baby Shark all day long anymore, but in any case, it's a banger! Favourite lyric of all time? I have too many to pick just one, but the first one that comes to mind is from a song called Elegy by Leif Vollebekk where he sings, "Gonna find a way to climb out of this basement / Gonna find out what that smile on your face meant." More just from a place of being a fan of songwriting than what that specifically means, but I've never heard someone rhyme "basement" with "face meant" before and it completely blew me away! It's pretty elite stuff I thought.
Daily Record
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Mae Muller joins the bill for Scotland's biggest free music festival in Dumfries
The Better Days singer will appear at Youth Beatz along with Jax Jones, Liberty X and DJ Sammy. The final act has been announced for Scotland's biggest free music festival. Mae Muller has joined Jax Jones, Liberty X and DJ Sammy on the bill for this year's Youth Beatz festival in Dumfries. The English singer came to prominence with the sing Better Days with NEIKED and Polo G and represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. Youth Beatz will take place at Park Farm in Dumfries on June 28 and 29, with 20,000 people expected to attend each day. The final bill was announced at a special event at Stranraer Academy on Monday. Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council's education, skills and community wellbeing committee, Councillor Maureen Johnstone, said: 'Our council is delighted to continue to support for this fantastic community event. 'Youth Beatz provides young people from across Dumfries and Galloway with a fantastic festival experience in their local area.' The festival – which receives financial support from The National Lottery Young Start Fund, Alcohol and Drug Partnership Awards for All Scotland and the council – also features a hard-hitting drama production looking at real life issues called The Toon. It gives young people information and advice and this year will feature a scene on cardiac health and using a defibrillator in an emergency situation. The group have been working with the DH9 Foundation to learn about cardiac health and develop the scene. Volunteers have also been busy working behind the scenes to write their scripts, design sets and collectively volunteer more than 1,000 hours a week. The Toon is led by the Youth Enquiry Service and aims to provide information to young people aged 14 to 25. The young performers and stage crew recently completed an intensive two-week Toon Camp to plan the production during the Easter holidays. Eighteen-year-old peer educator in The Toon, Dayle Smith, said: 'Being part of The Toon has helped me to build on my confidence and supported me to learn new skills in terms of drama, script writing and set design. 'The issue-based workshops delivered by partner services, helped all of us involved learn about situations that happen within our local community and what support is available for young people. The Toon is a great way to raise awareness to other young people, giving them information through real-life examples.'
ABC News
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Following Taylor Swift's re-recording project, musicians are reclaiming their work
Pete Murray would prefer it if you didn't stream one of his biggest hits. The Australian musician has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and his hit single Better Days is one of his most recognisable songs. But recently, he announced that he'd prefer fans not to play the original song, because he has a new version available. In April, Murray announced on social media that he was releasing a new version of Better Days (Pete's Version), and that he was now an independent artist, rather than signed to a label. "You might not be aware that I don't actually own a lot of my older, classic songs," he wrote. "I believe it's important for all artists to own their own recordings, and so this is the first of a series of 'Pete's Versions' of some of my biggest songs that I'll be releasing in the coming years." Sound familiar? Musicians re-recording and releasing new versions of their work isn't new. Taylor Swift's re-recording project is one of the most well-known examples of this. And many musicians have been emboldened to follow her lead. "Taylor did it and I was thinking, 'Wow, that's how you do it,'" Murray says. In 2019, Swift's former label, Big Machine Records, announced that the company had been acquired by businessman Scooter Braun's Ithica Holdings. This deal sparked years of discourse about the rights of musicians when it comes to owning their work. Swift, one of the world's biggest pop stars, was quick to express her anger over the move as it meant her original masters were sold to Braun. "Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it," she wrote in a lengthy statement on Tumblr. Swift left Big Machine Records in 2018 and signed to Republic Records, owned by Universal Music, in a joint deal with Taylor Swift Productions. Following the public battle with Braun, Swift began releasing re-recorded versions of her six previous albums. These new albums were identified as 'Taylor's Version', so fans could support Swift and the purpose of her re-recording project. It's a move that music journalist Nic Kelly says empowered Swift's fans to protest on her behalf. Musicians re-recording their work in a bid to claim ownership back feels modern, but Swift wasn't the first. The Everly Brothers were superstars in the 1950s, and the duo had two studio albums with Cadence Records. But when their contract expired in 1960, they left and were signed to Warner Brothers Records. The deal, worth US$1 million, was the biggest record deal in music history at the time. Under Warner, the Everly Brothers released a studio album in 1964, The Very Best of The Everly Brothers, which included not only their hits recorded under Warner, but re-recorded versions of their earlier hits originally released with Cadence. Legally, there was no restriction on them re-recording. And it meant the re-recorded versions of their hit songs were competing with their first two records owned by Cadence. The label struggled to compete and eventually closed in 1964. Thanks to this, the risk of artists re-recording their old songs was identified, and soon clauses were added to contracts to avoid this happening in the future. So how can musicians today, like Swift and Murray, re-record their previous work if they don't own the masters? Joshua Yuvaraj, a senior law lecturer at the University of Auckland, says it's complicated. For artists like Swift and Murray, who write their own music, it can come down to who owns the master recording of the original work, and who owns the copyright to the song. "There are two different copyrights … One is when the artist writes the song, there is a copyright applied to that. "But there's also a copyright in the recording when the song is made in the studio with the artist, the producers and so on," Yuvaraj says. The master is often owned by the recording label, while the composition (melody and lyrics) is copyrighted separately. Murray knows this law all too well, and he was forced to wait five years after his contract ended before he could start re-recording and re-releasing his earlier songs. The deal Murray signed nearly 20 years ago meant his record label owns his masters. It meant the masters recording was paid for by the label, and it put Murray into debt with the record company that took his entire contract to pay back. He realised that in order to earn enough money to cover those costs, he would need to keep touring. "I was at a point where I'd have to call my agent and say 'I need more money, book me more shows'. "I thought, 'If I don't change this soon, I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life'," he says. He does receive small royalties from those masters today, but he still doesn't own them. "That was the hard thing to accept … I just thought 'It's not really a fair deal'." Journalist Nick Kelly says the publicity around artists taking a stand has prompted change. "We are seeing a massive shift towards artists retaining their independence, retaining ownership of an autonomy over the way they're perceived, and the way that they are marketed. He says that historically many recording contracts included large profit cuts for the label and not the musician. "A lot of it [the cut] can be 85 per cent … and it doesn't feel like the record label does 85 per cent of the work. "The cut these record labels take from some of these deals is enormous and doesn't feel justifiable," he says. In recent years, more well-known musicians have come forward with their record label horror stories. When Chappell Roan won her first-ever Grammy award for best new artist earlier this year, she took the opportunity to campaign for better working conditions for emerging musicians. "I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and health care, especially to developing artists," she said. Joshua Yuvaraj says while there are clearly systemic issues within the industry, he believes healthy dialogue is crucial. "Without demonising these record companies and streaming companies that do play vital roles in the creative ecosystem, we also need to acknowledge that artists need to be taken care of," he says. With more high-profile cases of re-recording occurring in recent years, some record companies have responded. It was reported in 2023 that major labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group were overhauling their contracts for new artists. These updates to contracts allegedly included longer periods before re-recording would be allowed, with some timeframes reportedly up to 30 years. Kelly isn't surprised. "It shows that they're definitely feeling the impacts of these re-recordings and loss of income." He says it reflects the deeper wounds between some artists and record labels. "It raises the bigger question for me of, 'Why do artists want to re-record in the first place?' and that onus comes down to the communication between artist teams and record labels. "The label does need to make money, so they can re-invest into developing new talent. "I think that's a good ecosystem, but it should be fair for everyone." Murray believes there's room for improvement across the music industry. "How many artists have tried to sue the record label over years of trying to get out of deals because the deals have been terrible?" he says. He wishes he could have given his younger self some advice. "I believe that you should own your master … because you control it and you own it. "No one can take it from you." He says if labels prioritise fairer deals, the long-term results will be beneficial.
Scottish Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Former UK Eurovision star SLAMS song contest in savage swipe, ranting ‘I was fed to the lions'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A FORMER UK Eurovision star has slammed the song contest in a fiery rant on social media. The singer claimed they were 'fed to the lions' during their performance which led to a humiliating defeat. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 5 A former Eurovision star has slammed the song contest in a fiery rant on social media Credit: Splash 5 Mae Muller claimed they were 'fed to the lions' during their performance Credit: AP Mae Muller was the UK's 2023 Eurovision entry and her song I Wrote A Song, bagged her a Top Ten single. Ahead of this year's Eurovision final (May 17), the singer took to X to speak on her experience. Mae penned: 'Sorry but they put me up there to sing a song which is meant to be sung with heavy auto tune (just the vibe of the song) with no proper background vocals, and i was nervous as hell which didn't help but like they fed me to the LIONSSSS omfg.' After performing last and closing off the show, her performance scored just 24 points once the jury and public votes were tallied together. This meant that Mae placed second to last with only Germany's Lord of the Lost scoring less. Fans took to the comments underneath the post to agree with the singer, one user said: 'In hindsight, maybe a song that's meant to be sung with autotune was probably not the best choice for a contest that doesn't allow it.' To which, Mae said she completely agreed. Another said: 'Mae, at least you got up & done it! & smiled the whole god damn time! give yourself credit fs!' 'I remember at the time thinking the sound was off & the visuals were swamping song was awesome & I still play it regularly,' chimed a third. Born Holly Mae Muller in London, Mae is a singer and songwriter. Eurovision fans spot huge technical blunders in UK entry Remember Monday's performance ahead of final She has enjoyed chart success both here and across the Atlantic and worked with some of the biggest stars in UK music including Little Mix, Aitch and Sigala. Mae's 2021 single Better Days, which featured Neiked and Polo G, peaked at No. 32 in the UK charts and No 23. Mae's big break came in 2007 when she was just nine-years-old and landed a leading role in the music video for Mika's No1 single Grace Kelly. Eurovision 2025 is well underway with the song contest returning to Switzerland, where the very first of its competitions was held way back in 1956. The contest's grand final will kick off tomorrow night. This year Girlband Remember Monday are flying the flag for the UK with their song, What The Hell Just Happened? The country-pop trio are made up of members Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele are hoping to take home the Eurovision trophy. 5 Mae Muller was the UK's 2023 Eurovision entry Credit: AP 5 Mae placed second to last with only Germany scoring less Credit: Splash
The Irish Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Former UK Eurovision star SLAMS song contest in savage swipe, ranting ‘I was fed to the lions'
A FORMER UK Eurovision star has slammed the song contest in a fiery rant on social media. The singer claimed they were 'fed to the lions' during their performance which led to a humiliating defeat. Advertisement 5 A former Eurovision star has slammed the song contest in a fiery rant on social media Credit: Splash 5 Mae Muller claimed they were 'fed to the lions' during their performance Credit: AP Ahead of this year's Eurovision final (May 17), the singer took to X to speak on her experience. Mae penned: 'Sorry but they put me up there to sing a song which is meant to be sung with heavy auto tune (just the vibe of the song) with no proper background vocals, and i was nervous as hell which didn't help but like they fed me to the LIONSSSS omfg.' After performing last and closing off the show, her performance Advertisement READ MORE ON EUROVISION This meant that Mae placed second to last with only Germany's Lord of the Lost scoring less. Fans took to the comments underneath the post to agree with the singer, one user said: 'In hindsight, maybe a song that's meant to be sung with autotune was probably not the best choice for a contest that doesn't allow it.' To which, Mae said she completely agreed. Another said: 'Mae, at least you got up & done it! & smiled the whole god damn time! give yourself credit fs!' Advertisement Most read in Showbiz 'I remember at the time thinking the sound was off & the visuals were swamping song was awesome & I still play it regularly,' chimed a third. Born Holly Mae Muller in London, Mae is a singer and songwriter. Eurovision fans spot huge technical blunders in UK entry Remember Monday's performance ahead of final She has enjoyed chart success both here and across the Atlantic and worked with some of the biggest stars in UK music including Little Mix, Mae's 2021 single Better Days, which featured Neiked and Polo G, peaked at No. 32 in the UK charts and No 23. Advertisement Mae's big break came in 2007 when she was just nine-years-old and landed a leading role in the music video for Eurovision 2025 is well underway with the song contest returning to Switzerland, where the very first of its competitions was held way back in 1956. The contest's grand final will kick off tomorrow night. This year Girlband Remember Monday are flying the flag for the UK with their song, Advertisement The country-pop trio are made up of members Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele are hoping to take home the Eurovision trophy. 5 Mae Muller was the UK's 2023 Eurovision entry Credit: AP 5 Mae placed second to last with only Germany scoring less Credit: Splash 5 Her performance scored just 24 points once the jury and public votes were tallied together Credit: Reuters Advertisement
