Latest news with #DrLuke
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Katy Perry shakes off social media hate at triumphant opening Aus show
Australia gets Katy Perry because Katy Perry gets Australia. The pop superstar shook off the social media pile-ons of recent months to take a quintessential tall poppy potshot at herself at her opening Lifetimes concert in Sydney on Wednesday. When complaining of jetlagged tiredness, exacerbated by her daughter Daisy Dove waking her at 5am on the morning of her first Australian gig, Perry said she had come prepared for the challenge. 'You can't tell I'm tired because I got fresh Botox for Australia!' she declared to huge cheers from the audience. And the scream-o-meter, the true gauge of a concert's success, remained pushing into the red for the entirety of her two-hour neon pop dream at Qudos Bank Arena. They laughed again with her when she shared an on-stage wardrobe emergency, calling for an assistant to unzip her costume 'because I've been eating too many Tim Tams.' The last time Perry was down under last September, she roared at the MCG for a generally well-received AFL grand final performance worth a reported $5 million pay cheque. Her culture stocks in Australia proved to be buoyant when she announced her Lifetimes tour, with more than 170,000 tickets to 15 concerts in five capital cities selling out instantly. Since then she has been the subject of savage social media pile-ons for missteps, from working with controversial producer Dr Luke on her 143 record, and its lacklustre chart performance, to that Blue Origin celebrity space flight folly. But put Perry on a stage, in front of a sold-out crowd of true believers, the day after an epically suburban stop at a western Sydney shopping mall during rehearsals, and it is abundantly apparent the oversized outrage hasn't downsized the devotion of her fans. Their ranks have been bolstered by a sizeable contingent of tweens and teens who lapped up Perry's high-flying, fluoro-lit spectacle which was humanised by a generosity of spirit. The fans dressed to impress their idol in the costumes of her various eras, and squealed with delight when she launched into the dance breaks and light-sabre battles which were mocked online as cringey and awkward when the tour opened in Mexico in April, but make perfect sense within the context of the Lifetimes show. After all, she's playing a half-human, half-robot character in this video game-inspired concert, battling villainous machines on her mission to restore girl power and all the lovey-dovey stuff to counter the nasty world order. One of the highlights of the show happened during the Choose Your Own Adventure segment - which appears to be more pre-determined than granting the sign requests held up by fans in the front rows - when she brought fans on stage to perform Thinking of You from her 2008 album One of the Boys. The 18-year-old Left Shark superfan Elliott, who brought his two younger sisters and cousin to the show, was declared an MVP for his pop stewardship of his family, as the cute group from western Sydney joined her to play chicken egg-shakers during the song. It was a suitably heart-warming moment in a show that, by its hi-tech nature, is tightly choreographed. The Lifetimes show's intention is pure pop escapism soundtracked by a career-spanning collection of hits which have spun more than 25 billion streams and counting - albeit with a little too many of the misses from the 143 record. The Dark Horse pop queen may not possess the vocal chops and choreography skills of Beyonce, or the edgy dark pop drama of Billie Eilish, but this seasoned entertainer knows how to put on a great pop show. And she's got 14 more of them to perform in Australia before this leg of her world tour wraps at the end of the month.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kesha announces new platform for music creators
Kesha hopes to revolutionise the music industry with a new platform for creators. On Thursday, the Tik Tok hitmaker announced the arrival of SMASH - an innovative community platform where artists can "connect, collaborate and hire each other on their own terms". With the concept, musicians will be able to retain the rights to whatever they create. "My goal is to shift the power structure of the music making business in favour of the creators," the 38-year-old said in a statement. "I signed a predatory deal when I was 18 and then spent more than a decade fighting to regain rights to my voice and image. When I finally gained my freedom, I realised the fight wasn't over. I want to make sure what happened to me never happens to anyone else again." Last year, Kesha announced the launch of her self-titled label, Kesha Records, after settling a long-running legal dispute with Dr. Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, in June 2023. Kesha is to serve as chief executive officer of SMASH. In addition, her older brother Lagan Sebert and technology executive Alan Cannistraro will be involved in the running of the initiative, alongside a team of music industry and tech veterans. "By connecting a safe and supportive community of the very best songwriters, artists, producers, instrumentalists, singers, and sound engineers, SMASH takes the power out of the hands of the traditional music business gatekeepers and places it into the hands of those who create the music," a press release reads. To mark the launch of SMASH, Kesha has invited creators to take part in a remix challenge of her new single Boy Crazy. The popstar will then select the best version and release it via Kesha Records later this year. Kesha is set to drop her sixth studio album, Period, on 4 July.
Metro
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Fans only just discovering Benny Blanco is secretly behind 16 UK number ones
If you listened to the charts at all in the past 15 years, you are probably a fan of Benny Blanco without even realising it. The 37-year-old hitmaker has been thrown into a newfound spotlight thanks to his very well known, fiancée Selena Gomez. The pair are incredibly loved-up, constantly posting together on social media, but it's caused fans to wonder who actually is this seemingly random man. Turns out, Benny has secretly been the genius behind basically every hit song in the 2010s and beyond. Moves Like Jagger, Payphone, TiK ToK, 2002, California Gurls, Love Yourself, Shape of You — the list is truly endless. He's just as surprised as we are. Benny once humbly told the Sydney Herald: 'I just sit there and I twiddle my thumbs. I'm still confused as to why I have a job.' Born in Virginia on March 8, 1988, Benny is best known as a prolific and successful producer and songwriter. He released his own album in 2018, with the track Eastside featuring Halsey and Khalid becoming a breakout hit and charting. Most people became aware of Benny when Selena hard-launched their relationship, and boy, did fans have opinions on him. However, the couple have actually been friends for years, first collaborating in 2015 to create her songs Same Old Love and Kill Em With Kindness. Benny, real name Benjamin Joseph Levin, got his start as a teenager after experiments with beats and recording himself singing caught the attention of executives at Columbia Records. He earned an apprenticeship with producer Disco D, and by 19 years old, he was working alongside Dr Luke with some of the biggest artists in the world. Over the past two decades, he has received eleven Grammy Award nominations, although he is yet to win. While there's no Grammy in his home, Benny has won the 2017 iHeartRadio Producer of the Year Award and was the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. During his period with Dr Luke he helped write and produce Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, Kesha's TiK ToK, and Taio Cruz' Dynamite. By 2008, Benny was included on Britney Spears' Circus album and is credited with co-writing the titular track, which is recognised as one of the top 10 best-selling songs of 2009. From here, his discography continued to amass hit songs, including in 2011 when he wrote without Dr Luke for the first time — and made Moves Like Jagger. He told YouTuber Daniel Wall the song came about because Adam Levine had featured on a demo and wanted the song for Maroon 5, but instead Benny promised a different track. 'I said, 'Let me give you another song, I have an idea' … I had no idea,' he revealed. 'I'm like in a hotel room going back and forth trying to make it happen.' The idea ended up being Moves Like Jagger, but the radio stations weren't convinced at the time — with Maroon 5 already having Never Going To Leave This Bed ready to launch. So the band's manager sneakily swapped the tracks on the launch show for The Voice, creating an instant hit. 'We wake up the next morning, it's number one in 83 countries,' Benny laughed. 'Never looked back, that started such a great journey with me and Maroon 5.' While Moves Like Jagger remains one of Benny's biggest hits, it is by no means the only one he has written. Until now, Benny's been a name for people in the know, big music fans and industry heavyweights. He told the Sydney Herald in 2022, 'When we made TiK ToK or when we made Dynamite, I had no idea they'd stand the test of time the way they did. I was just making songs.' On fame, he added: 'I spent most of my life behind the scenes, and I had the best job in the world: I was known enough to get into nice restaurants, but not known enough to get stopped on the street. 'Once I became an artist and that changed, I definitely had so much more respect for being an artist and a celebrity and stuff. I didn't really get it until I was put in that position.' His recent album and relationship with Selena pushed him to the forefront for the first time since his own hit Eastside in 2018. Speaking about his career on Daniel's channel, Benny shared: 'I started out, I thought I was going to be the biggest rapper in the world. I wasn't the biggest rapper in the world, but you know what, I ended up in a pretty cool job. 'Don't be so precious, you can reinvent yourself a million times,' he advised. 'Do something that sounds like you, just be original.' Over the course of his career so far, Benny is credited with writing or producing almost 30 number one hits globally. More Trending Here are all the number ones he's landed in the UK: Love Yourself – Justin Bieber (written with Ed Sheeran) (written with Ed Sheeran) Perfect – Ed Sheeran Cold Water – Major Lazer Diamonds – Rihanna Payphone – Maroon 5 Dynamite – Taio Cruz TiK ToK – Kesha California Gurls – Katy Perry Freaky Friday – Lil Dicky ft Chris Brown I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry Me and My Broken Heart – Rixton We R Who We R – Kesha Eastside – Benny Blanco with Halsey and Khalid Señorita – Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Shape of You – Ed Sheeran Teenage Dream – Katy Perry Other top 10 UK hits: Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 (peaked at 2) (peaked at 2) Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 2) (peaked at 2) 2002 – Anne-Marie (peaked at 3 – written with Ed Sheeran) (peaked at 3 – written with Ed Sheeran) Lonely Together – Avicii and Rita Ora (peaked at 3) (peaked at 3) Hot n Cold – Katy Perry (peaked at 4) (peaked at 4) Don't Wanna Know – Maroon 5 and Kendrick Lamar (peaked at 5) (peaked at 5) Happier – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 6) (peaked at 6) Die Young – Ke$ha (peaked at 7) (peaked at 7) Don't – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 8) (peaked at 8) Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 8) (peaked at 8) Eenie Meenie – Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber (peaked at 9) (peaked at 9) Issues – Julia Michaels (peaked at 10) This article was first published on April 16, 2025. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Sheryl Crow reveals terrifying break-in after rallying against Elon Musk's Tesla MORE: Macy Gray says her naked Glastonbury stage crashers are still a career highlight MORE: Glastonbury headliner takes swipe at Elon Musk with savage lyrics in new song
