Latest news with #Bling
News24
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- News24
‘I was bullied for being on TV'- Nandi Madida reflects on child star journey
Most people know Nandi Madida as a talented singer and vocalist who delivered hits like 'Good Times' and the chart-topping collaboration 'Skhanda Love' with K.O. However, what many don't realise is that the media personality actually began her entertainment career as a child star. Nandi was just 15 years old when she appeared on the children's TV show 'Bling.' Looking back on her media journey, she shared a video of herself on a TV show, revealing that she was bullied during her teenage years simply for being on television. 'I began my journey on a children's TV show at just 15 years old a young girl from Durban with big dreams. Still in high school, but already certain that if I stayed the course, those dreams would one day become reality,' she shared. Read more | Thebe Lenyora celebrates 30 years of Kwaito with The Legend Tour: 'It's a celebration of how far we've come' 'At the time, I was often bullied for being on TV and for being a high achiever. But none of that deterred me. In fact, it prepared me for the real world.' Her words of encouragement to the younger are that 'Nothing is handed to you.' Twenty-two years later, the award-winning media personality has achieved far beyond what her younger self could have imagined. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nandi_Madida 🇿🇦 (@nandi_madida)
GMA Network
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
GMA Gala: GMA News Online's picks for best-dressed stars in the last 3 years
Over the past three years, the GMA Gala has become more than just a celebration of GMA Network's anniversary. It has evolved into a glamorous fundraising affair in support of the GMA Kapuso Foundation, and a red carpet spectacle where Kapuso stars and celebrities deliver standout fashion moments. As we count down to the GMA Gala 2025 happening on Saturday, the lifestyle team of GMA News Online takes a stylish stroll down memory lane with our top picks for the most iconic stars from the previous galas. GMA Gala 2022: Old Hollywood GMA Gala 2023: Elegant Formal GMA Gala 2024: Bling —MGP, GMA Integrated News
Los Angeles Times
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Vampires, reggaeton, Hollywood glamour: Get to know Isabella Lovestory
The esoteric inspiration for Isabella Lovestory's latest record, 'Vanity,' comes from an unlikely source: the folkloric vampire. 'I feel like I am the vampire,' she said between bites of tajadas, or fried plantains, inside the Rincon Hondureño restaurant in Los Angeles. 'And I'm chasing a beautiful woman, which is me.' Legend has it that vampires can't see themselves in the mirror, so they remain unaware of their own image; as a result of that constraint, they spend their entire lives in pursuit of beauty. This 'fantastical, mythical' creature is something of an obsession for the Honduran experimental pop artist, and this trope is subliminally captured throughout the 13 tracks on 'Vanity,' which drops June 27. 'Vanity' is Isabella's second full-length record in three years, following her grimy, neoperreo debut, 'Amor Hardcore.' But that record operated with textures best found in dark basements and sweaty alleyways; this one is brighter, crafted from a mood board of mid-2000s club hits and John Waters movies. Four-on-the-floor 808 beats give way to booming tresillo rhythms, and at times, on songs like 'Bling,' Isabella poses the question: What if 'The Fame'-era Lady Gaga was Latina? It's equal parts electroclash and reggaeton, a post-genre blend that sounds beamed in from a dystopian future. 'It's like a poisonous lollipop,' she said. 'I'm always interested in contrast and tension, and I never want to be just one thing. I always wanna have that contrast.' It's also deeply descriptive, with a fitting focus on the self's visage. On the title track, Isabella likens herself to 'una botella de perfume / un objeto hecho de espuma,' that is also a 'fantasía que no puedo controlar.' Other songs, like the phonk music-adjacent 'Perfecta' and 'Gorgeous,' speak of being perfect like a mannequin and 'elegante como una esmeralda andante.' The lyrics are ripped out of a dream journal, conjured from evocative memories of love and lust. By all accounts, Isabella Lovestory, born Isabella Rodríguez Rivera, is her own self-sustaining pop star. Born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, she immigrated to the United States as a teen, attending high school in Virginia before relocating to Montreal at 17. It gives her music a worldly quality, reflected in multilingual tracks like 'Eurotrash,' which Rivera sings in English, Spanish and French. This, along with her practice-based arts education, injects a punk ethos into her artistry and makes her — in her words — 'scrappy as hell.' When I asked Rivera what she is responsible for in her camp, she laughed and said, 'Everything.' That includes all image-related facets of her artistry, from making her album artwork to editing her videos. And in that lies another interesting tension: the idea of self-sustaining pop celebrity, straddling these two worlds of DIY inventiveness and image-heavy exposure. It's something she likens, at multiple points, to performance art, this idea of projecting forward someone you're not. 'Isabella Lovestory is a very complex persona,' Rivera said. 'I think it's more like an expression of my inner world … like I have a little projector and Isabella Lovestory's a hologram of what goes on inside my heart.' This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The storytelling on your albums is immersive. How do you feel like 'Vanity' is expanding the Isabella Lovestory cinematic universe? For this one, I'm showing a more vulnerable side and a softer side that I haven't shown before. The last record, 'Amor Hardcore,' was more reggaeton, and I was experimenting with what I could do with that sound. It had a more old-school vibe, I was like a rebellious-teenager-badass-b—. And this one, I'm still a badass b—. [Laughs] But I think I'm showing more of my sweeter side, my more vulnerable, dreamier side. It's more of a very deep look into the mirror. Is that the thesis statement for the record?I think so. It's kinda like 'Alice in Wonderland' in that way. Where you fall into a rabbit hole, and you enter a mirror, and there's no way out. It's psychedelic. You have different layers and different sounds, but it's all part of one tunnel. Is that what you're trying to say about the concept of vanity? That it's a rabbit hole? Exactly. I think it's a never-ending evil cycle, but it's also very beautiful. Sins are part of our experience as people in this world. I'm ridiculing it in a way, where I let it take over me, but I also take it over. Being a pop star is so new to me, you know? I became a public person, and having my face be my tool and my money maker is crazy to me. It's me dealing with that: the darkness of beauty and the darkness of a saturated world of images that we have to constantly deal with. What's on the mood board for 'Vanity'? What were you listening to and thinking about? I was also watching a lot of Fellini, John Waters and Old Hollywood movies. I love absurd humor and the absurdity in gluttony and beauty, making fun of the stereotypes that we live in. This is what I'm doing with my project. I'm really into fairy tales, but twisted ones, like [in the movie] 'Donkey Skin.' It's absurd, very dark, but it looks so shiny and colorful and so childlike. I felt the fairy tale in 'Fresa Metal.' That song starts with this thunderstorm soundscape, and then you have a 'Dracula'-esque synthesizer come in. It feels like you're setting up a damsel-in-distress narrative. 'Fresa Metal' was inspired by this dream I had, where there was this record label building. And this pop star that was working at the label. But the building was built on an underground basement where vampires lived, and then they capture the pop star, and they kidnap her and make her work underground. I'm not a very logical person, I always failed [at] math, so I just think in images all the time. My ultimate goal is to be a director. When I started making music, it was so exciting to me because I could make my cover art, I could direct my own videos. I could do all my costumes. Ultimately, I want to make a movie, and then do the score, and then star in it. Do you feel like you were treading new sonic ground on 'Vanity' or just expanding upon what you were doing on 'Amor Hardcore'?It's definitely going into new territories. I was scared to show softer sides, because people love aggression; it's what's popping right now. Like Charli [XCX] or Nettspend, it's just really, really loud. So I was scared of doing something that's different. But at the same time, it challenged me to go deeper. I love it to be really colorful in anything I do, and also for it to feel like a roller coaster, which is what I love about K-pop. Something I find interesting about your projects is that they all have intro tracks. What is the importance of an intro track to you? It's an ode to that tradition in old-school reggaeton. The intro track is pure experimentation, because you can have freedom in doing something that stands alone and is not necessarily a track. You can just give the album that cherry on top. When I listen to old-school reggaeton albums, they had so much fun because it was such a new genre back then. Especially in the early 2000s. They had that rawness of doing something for fun, and a lot of curiosity. They didn't have rules on how to make something. I can see that. 'Vanity Intro' has this sonic palette where you're setting up a classic pop record, and then a reggaeton beat comes into the back half, directly smacking things you hear [sound effects like] a perfume bottle. You hear a car screeching. It allows you to have a little mini-movie in your head, which is something super important to me in all the songs: for everybody to create their own little dreamscape of what's happening. In 'Eurotrash,' you use multiple voices and singing styles. How do you approach your vocals? On this song in particular, there's both this seductive whisper and this exaggerated, bimbo breathiness. What I love about old-school reggaeton, again, is they always had these duos: [one with] the raspier, more masculine voice, and [the other with] the high-pitched singing voice. I love to create different characters in a song, and I love contrast in every single way. You've crafted a unique place for yourself in both pop and Latin music. Do you feel like you have contemporaries or imitators?The curse of doing something for the first time, or doing something you don't see happening, is that people will take those very authentic aspects of the underground and curate them with a creative team to make them mainstream years later. Especially as a Honduran immigrant, I feel like there's a lot of erasure. There's not a lot of Honduran people doing stuff, because it's a f— corrupt government in Honduras, and people suffer, the art suffers. There's beautiful talent, there's beautiful music, it's a beautiful country. But I think in moving around so much, I never really had a place where I felt supported by a community in that way. I created my own community myself through the internet, or becoming friends with the outcasts and the underground. It's like a blessing and a curse, you know? But it is my life, and I think I'll always be the underground, quirked-up shawty for sure.
Scottish Sun
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I was looking at Eric Bristow's flat when he died and his demise hit me hard, says ex-BBC darts host Bobby George
'MY MATE' I was looking at Eric Bristow's flat when he died and his demise hit me hard, says ex-BBC darts host Bobby George Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BOBBY GEORGE says the sudden death of long-time drinking and darts pal Eric Bristow seven years ago 'hit me hard'. And his new book details the duo's many escapades. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Darts great Eric Bristow passed away seven years ago Credit: REX 4 The former world champion passed away aged 60 Credit: GETTY 4 Long-time pal Bobby George has opened up on the passing of the beloved Bristow Credit: GETTY They first met in the 1970s and became oche rivals — they contested the 1980 World Darts Championship final — but also 'very good friends'. According to George, the five-time world champion would be 'good as gold until about 10 or 10.30pm — then he'd become a complete a***hole once he had drunk too much'. The King of Bling, claimed Hackney-born Bristow would be 'rude, arrogant, leery and happy to pick a fight with anyone . . . I didn't like him when he was like that, no one did'. Yet the Crafty Cockney never wavered in his strong loyalty towards George, 11 years the senior man, whom he called Bo. Bristow — one of the sport's greatest throwers — died on April 5, 2018 from a heart attack before a Premier League event in Liverpool. He was 60. Writing in Still Here! The King of Bling, George, 79, said: 'Eric Bristow's death hit me hard. 'He was only 60 for f***'s sake. That's no age these days, is it? I had known him since he was a teenager — and he never changed. 'He could be a pain in the a*** and we had some right ding-dongs over the years. List of all-time Darts World Champions BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year. The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions. That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once - Barney also won four BDO titles - and none of Eric Bristow's five BDO titles are included. 1994 - Dennis Priestley 1995 - Phil Taylor 1996 - Phil Taylor (2) 1997 - Phil Taylor (3) 1998 - Phil Taylor (4) 1999 - Phil Taylor (5) 2000 - Phil Taylor (6) 2001 - Phil Taylor (7) 2002 - Phil Taylor (8) 2003 - John Part 2004 - Phil Taylor (9) 2005 - Phil Taylor (10) 2006 - Phil Taylor (11) 2007 - Raymond van Barneveld 2008 - John Part (2) 2009 - Phil Taylor (12) 2010 - Phil Taylor (13) 2011 - Adrian Lewis 2012 - Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 - Phil Taylor (14) 2014 - Michael van Gerwen 2015 - Gary Anderson 2016 - Gary Anderson (2) 2017 - Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 - Rob Cross 2019 - Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 - Peter Wright 2021 - Gerwyn Price 2022 - Peter Wright (2) 2023 - Michael Smith 2024 - Luke Humphries 2025 - Luke Littler Most World Titles 14 - Phil Taylor 3 - Michael van Gerwen 2 - John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright 1 - Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler 'But for most of the time, he was my mate and we had some great times together.' On the night Bristow died, George was on Merseyside, working at Shooters Bar and Diner. The pair had 'a little catch-up and I got him a Guinness'. 'One of the best things I've ever seen' - Frank Lampard stunned as Coventry star hits 180 with first-ever three darts That night, George stayed in a Stoke pub run by Barry Birch, Bristow's former driver. And he was even looking at 'Eric's flat' less than 200 yards away when he learned the tragic news. George said: 'I couldn't believe the suddenness of his passing. 'Nor could I take in the fact that I could see his flat — the same flat he'd have left just a few hours earlier — as I was trying to take in the tragic news. 'What were the odds of it? Me being with him, saying goodbye, going to Stoke and looking out of a window at his flat whilst stood alongside his former driver? 'We both needed a stiff drink that night. They reckon Eric's heart must have stopped before he hit the ground as there was no blood. 'In his diary, apparently, he'd written he had got bad chest pains. "Bloody hell, if that was the case, why didn't he go to the doctors or hospital and get it sorted? 'Knowing Eric, he probably thought, 'I'll put loads of Guinness down my neck, that'll get rid of the pain'. 'Anyone who knew him was aware that he didn't exactly lead a healthy lifestyle. I had known him since he was a teenager — and he never changed." Bobby George on Eric Bristow 'For as long as I'd known him, he was a heavy smoker, always rolling his own. 'And he would think nothing of getting through 15 or 16 pints of Guinness in a day, rounding it all off with a curry. Nobody's body can handle that day in, day out. 'Always on the go, working and travelling, meant he was always pushing it. "Although it wasn't work to him, just a chance to get on the p*** every day. 'I like a drink and a smoke but there are extremes and Eric pushed them to the limit. 'I'd say, 'You smoke and you drink too much'. He said, 'I know all about that, Bob. But put it this way, no one is going to be pushing me around in a wheelchair. When I go, I'll go like that. Bang'. And he f***ing did as well, bang.' George first encountered the 'mouthy so-and-so' while playing in a BDO event at Margate in Kent. 4 Bobby George knew the late Eric Bristow when he was a teenager Credit: GETTY He said: 'After that we became good mates and he would do anything for me, anything.' As they toured the country, they 'would share prize money', but there were times when George thought 'we're going to get our heads kicked in' due to Bristow's OTT antics. On a US tour in 1978, the first time George went on a plane, Bristow enraged locals by pretending 'to wipe his a***' with the American Stars and Stripes flag 'before chucking it on the floor'. George said: 'The atmosphere had turned really toxic and I was worried that someone was going to do something really stupid, like pull a gun out on him. ''Watch yourself, Eric,' I whispered in his ear. 'These guys aren't messing about and they have guns over here!' 'I'd like to say that was an isolated incident but it wasn't. 'That's how he was, always getting into trouble. But somehow always managing to get himself out of it.' Still Here! The King of Bling, published by Pitch Publishing, is out now, £25.
Scottish Sun
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Darts legend Bobby George who broke his back celebrating on live TV reveals he keeps amputated toe in a bottle of vodka
King of Bling faced agonising ordeal and says he was fortunate not to be paralysed THE TOE MUST GO ON THE TOE MUST GO ON Darts legend Bobby George who broke his back celebrating on live TV reveals he keeps amputated toe in a bottle of vodka BOBBY GEORGE has revealed he keeps one of his four amputated TOES in a bottle of vodka behind the bar of his 18-bedroom Essex mansion. Eccentric ex-darts star George — one of the sport's most recognisable figures — had four operations to remove four toes, two on each foot, due to a painful genetic deformity. Advertisement 6 Bobby George was one of sport's most flamboyant stars Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 6 The King of Bling faced extraordinary pain from his toes Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Three of them had to be discarded but he was allowed to keep the first one chopped off 26 years ago — and stores it at his self-built home George Hall. Writing in a new book — Still Here! The King of Bling — George, 79, declared: 'Nobody believes me, or at least they don't, until they see me without my socks on. 'Or if they come to my bar in George Hall and see the evidence for themselves. 'There's some sort of gene in my body that has caused the toes to pop out of their socket and cross over. Advertisement 'It got so bad that I couldn't get my shoes on. 'I couldn't walk without checking my balance each step. 'It was so painful on some days that if I'd had a sharp enough knife I would have chopped them off myself. 'There was nothing that the medical profession could do, so it became 'Operation Toot-Toot-Tootsie Bye-Bye'. Advertisement 6 Geroge's new book details an amazing journey in life and darts BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK 'The first one was cut off in 1999 and it was actually a great relief when it was all over. 'I knew the surgeon, a bloke called Phil, and he talked me through the procedure — something called a tulip operation. Advertisement Luke Littler narrowly avoids being hit by object thrown onto O2 stage during Premier League Darts finals 'It's done under local anaesthetic, so I was able to watch him cut it off. 'It didn't hurt and once the deed was done, Phil showed it to me and I asked him if I could keep it. 'Phil presented it to me in a little jar but said that he couldn't give me the proper stuff — formaldehyde, maybe? — as it was poisonous. 'But if I used vodka instead, that would preserve it beautifully. So I took it home and popped it in some vodka and now it has a permanent home behind the bar in George Hall. Advertisement 'Whenever anyone comes to the house for a drink, I whip it out and ask them if they want a cocktail or a cocktoe? 'It's also meant that, over the years, if I've been away from home for any length of time and my wife, Marie, is missing me, she can always suck my toe! 'Removing one tootsie wasn't enough, though, and eventually the procedure had to be repeated another three times, so I'm missing two toes on each foot. "Unfortunately, none of the other surgeons have been as obliging as Phil and they wouldn't let me take the sawn-off digits away with me. Advertisement 'Losing four toes hasn't been as bad as it may sound, although when I go barefoot I do look like an alien.' 6 He spent much of a £16k runners-up cheque on surgery Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 6 Darts has few more colourful characters than George Credit: Times Media Ltd George — who lost in two BDO World Darts Championship finals, in 1980 and 1994 — says he pops '16 tablets a day for pain relief'. Advertisement That is because he has 'shocking arthritis in my hips' and BROKE his back on the famous Lakeside stage 31 years ago. During a 4-2 win over Kevin Kenny in the quarters at Frimley Green, George leapt in the air in celebration and 'felt a sharp pain in my back'. He was in 'constant excruciating pain for the remainder of the match', which was broadcast on TV. Following X-rays the next day, a doctor told him: 'You can't play darts. Advertisement 'You shouldn't even be able to walk. You've broken your back, Mr George.' The King of Bling — who used to come on to stage holding a candelabra to the Queen song 'We Are the Champions' — reached the final where he was thumped 6-0 by Canadian John Part. George said: 'I was fortunate not to have been paralysed but I still required immediate surgery, which my £16,000 runners-up cheque helped to finance. 'Eight titanium screws, each around two inches long, were inserted into the base of my spine to help me on the long road to recovery.' Advertisement STILL HERE! The King of Bling, published by Pitch Publishing, is out today.
