Latest news with #Let'sGoCrazy
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
EKKSTACY Gets Candid About Substance Abuse, His New Relationship & Going for a ‘Full Band' Sound on ‘FOREVER' Album
'Forever,' Prince famously declared in the pastor-like open to his carpe diem chart-topper 'Let's Go Crazy' – 'that's a mighty long time.' 'Live now,' the Purple One urged us in song, 'before the Grim Reaper comes knocking on your door.' FOREVER is also the name of the fourth project and third studio album from EKKSTACY, the Canadian alt/indie musician who knows a little something about getting crazy and living like there's no tomorrow. Yet on the new LP, out Friday (May 16), he's entered a new chapter: fundamentally changing his recording process, embracing a new band-centric sound and turning out his most energized and confident work to date. More from Billboard Andy Bell Confirms His Place in Reunited Oasis Lineup Snoop Dogg Drops 'Iz It a Crime' Album Featuring Sexyy Red, Wiz Khalifa & Pharrell: Stream It Now The Lemonheads Preview First Original Album in 19 Years With New Single, 'Deep End' 'I wish I could have stayed there longer,' EKKSTACY – born Khyree Zienty, but known to friends and fans as Stacy – says over Zoom from Vancouver. He's talking about Mexico, where he and his girlfriend have just spent a long weekend to celebrate his 23rd birthday and recharge for what should be a big year ahead. Now he's back home, about to go to Los Angeles to shoot a fifth music video from the LP, and ready to talk about a record that he had 'so much fun' making, with a lot of the credit going to his new producer, Andrew Wells. 'I love that fool,' Stacy says of Wells, whose impressive writing and production CV includes Fall Out Boy, ROSÉ, Meghan Trainor, 5SOS and Halsey. 'We just clicked. Our first session we did two songs, full songs, first day we met. I was like, 'Alright we just gotta do it with him.'' The two met before EKKSTACY and his band went out on a two-month tour last fall, Stacy having written and recorded acoustic demos for most of the songs. FOREVER was done when he returned from tour, in short order. 'With Wells, it was so easy,' he recalls. 'Andrew is just so good at producing. We'd be finishing the songs in like an hour, hour and 20 minutes. It would be done.' That hit-it-and-quit-it energy is felt throughout FOREVER, and it is in marked contrast to the way EKKSTACY used to craft records. Through his come-up — including the 2021 aura-defining EP NEGATIVE and its breakout single, 'I walk this earth all by myself,' followed by his debut album, 2022's misery — Stacy's music mirrored that of some of his early influences. 'I used to listen to a lot of Current Joys and programmed, like Linn drums and lo-fi guitars, sh-t like that.' Comparisons to bedroom pop acts with a surf bent, like Surf Curse, Current Joys and The Drums, were inevitable; Stacy even collaborated with The Drums' Jonny Pierce on a 2021 single. 'But then I got into a lot of emo,' he says. 'I got into Remo Drive, and blink, and then a lot of Nirvana. I got to the point where I was, 'Okay, I can't make this anymore. I have to do something else.' I was tired of the computer-indie sound, you know? I wanted to go full band.' Stacy says he'd already reached the point of burnout on his old sound by the time he made his last record, 2024's self-titled EKKSTACY. While it arguably won him more mainstream attention than ever, due in part to features from The Kid LAROI and Trippie Redd, he recalls that album as going through the motions. 'By then I was inspired by other stuff. And I just didn't think I had the tools to just do what I wanted really, so I just stuck to what I knew, and I was tired of that. It was kind of just beating a dead horse. I had really done everything I could do in that space, but I just had to make a whole 'nother f–king album of it. And I was just like, 'This f–king sucks, dude. F–k this.'' He doesn't mince words. I talk to a lot of young artists who, perhaps understandably in this age, are guarded in conversation. Not so Stacy, who lets it rip with very little filter, on everything from music to drinking and drugs to girls to – you name it. He has no qualms telling me, a decades-long New Yorker, that he 'hates' our city, having spent some time here last year, before quickly adding, 'It's just not for me, I'm not built for it.' He dismisses his first full-band recording, last year's one-off single 'Mr. Mole,' with, 'Sh-t's ass, I f–king despise that song.' And when I point out that he's never done the most high-profile tracks from the EKKSTACY LP on tour – 'alright' (with LAROI), 'problems' (with Trippie), and the uncommonly sunny, buoyant 'bella' – he bluntly replies: 'Yeah, and they never will be. I don't like those songs. They're just so – cringe-y, to me.' Fair enough. But back to what Stacy does like and is proud of. FOREVER offers the most thrilling one-two punch opening of any EKKSTACYrecord: the power-pop explosiveness of opener 'if I had a gun' reminds me of a sped-up take on the old INXS chestnut 'Don't Change,' and its energy would no doubt be approved by the Paulson brothers of Stacy faves Remo Drive. It's followed by 'forever,' on which another of his heroes, blood-pumping Canadian countrymen Japandroids' influence can be heard in a rousing, shouted, 'Hey! Hey!' Later, the album's standout rawker 'she will be missed' offers a frenetic stop-start feel that isn't far afield from blink-182, who EKKSTACY opened for last summer, a career moment. But there's more than just one flavor to FOREVER. There are gentle acoustics on 'messages' and 'one day I'll wake up from this.' 'wonder' serves up gauzy Beach House feels (Stacy is an unabashed fan of '00s and '10s indie) while 'shoulders' — a C86-styled track that opens, 'It's summertime / You made it out / Soon I'll be ashes / In the ground' — might earn a Morrissey thumbs up. There are two forays into shoegaze-adjecency: the dreamier 'head in the clouds' and 'stain,' maybe EKKSTACY's heaviest track to date. 'Yeah, I really love My Bloody Valentine,' he explains. 'I was just listening to them a lot when I was in Poland. I've always loved that sound and so I just wanted to see what I could do with it.' Other benchmarks for Stacy on the new LP include more guitar playing than ever. He shares guitar credit on some tracks with his bandmate and right-hand man in live shows, Erez Potok-Holmes, but he has sole guitar credit on most songs. He's also using his voice like never before. While he is blessed (and cursed, maybe) with a sweet, melodic timbre that will never allow him to be truly screamo, on songs like 'she will be missed,' he pushed himself with Wells' help. 'I wanted to really sing,' he says. 'On my older records I'm not singing as hard as I can, and I'm really maxing my sh-t on this album. I'm at the top of my range a lot, but in a good place, where I'm really projecting.' What hasn't changed throughout EKKSTACY's musical eras has been the angst. He was a SoundCloud rap-era teen, an acolyte of XXXTentacion and Lil Peep; the faded emo trap of his early single, 2020's 'Uncomparable,' wouldn't sound out of place next to Juice WRLD. When Stacy turned a sonic corner and leaned into lo-fi indie, then came the real gloom with titles like 'it only gets worse I promise' and 'christian death' (a fan favorite). His brand was equal parts self-deprecation ('I just wanna hide my face'), melancholy and worse ('wish I was dead' 'I want to sleep for 1000 years' and 'I want to die in your arms'). If angst was your thing, and for millions it is, EKKSTACY was your man. The disaffection is tempered a bit on the new album, but still presents throughout: 'What's wrong with my head / How long can I take it' he wonders on 'what's wrong with me'; 'I'm so sick /I'm so tired of everything' on 'one day I'll wake up from this'; and 'can't put the bottle down' on 'stain.' On the wiry, propulsive post-punk of 'sadness,' Stacy's entire lyric is a recitation of generally not-good things: 'Drinks, pills, nicotine chills, death, sadness and fear.' 'I was just kind of describing my thoughts, and everything that's around me,' he says of the compact song. Stacy's candor about his drinking and drug use is refreshing. I am no expert on addiction, but I believe I am safe in saying that, in general, honesty is the best policy, and the artist makes no bones about his penchant for hard partying, mostly with alcohol but with no shortage of pills and powder. 'My thing is – I'm an alcoholic,' he admits. 'It's just straight-up, I am. I am an alcoholic and I'm functioning. Sometimes it gets really bad and there's been times when it's like, I can't function, and I go into psychosis, and I start doing really crazy sh-t. And then sometimes it's like I'm fine, and I just drink every f–king day, but…if I could shake that? If I could snap my fingers and not drink anymore, I would. But – I don't know – the thing about drinking for me is that I just have so much time on my hands. And I have nothing to do really, so it just creeps up every day. I'm like, 'Well, sh-t, I guess I'm gonna drink this bottle of vodka that's on my f–king counter! [laughs] I don't have sh-t to do tomorrow!'' And, of course, there's the road, which has tested the most disciplined of sober souls. Time and again it has roped Stacy back into wild living, nowhere more so than in Germany, where he enjoys an outsize popularity and has toured extensively. 'I can't explain it, but I love it there!' he says. 'I feel like a god there [laughs] – I mean, no, I'm just f–king around, but I just love it.' Godlike treatment often means getting offered a lot of things that can be hard to turn down. 'I did [coke] hardcore for like a week in Germany,' he recalls. 'And for me, coke is like – I liked it, but I didn't love it as much as people say they do. I'm a really anxious dude. Like really bad, I've always been like super anxious. So I would wake up and just be almost on the verge of psychosis, every morning. So once I ran out of Xanax, I really couldn't do coke.' (We commiserate on the wonders of Xanax, and why it's the wildly popular – and widely abused – drug that it is.) But Stacy's most recent visit to Deutschland may have been a breaking point. 'I was just doing a lot of drugs and partying really hard,' he says. 'And when I got home from it, it kind of transferred to me in Vancouver, like I was doing drugs at the club and sh-t, and I was just like, 'Dude, I can't do this.' I remember I woke up one morning after doing a lot of coke, and I was just sweating and f–king freaking out in my bed. I opened all the windows in my house and laid in front of the window for like two hours, and I was having such a bad panic attack. 'Cause I was on a bender for like a month.' Stacy offers even more detail on his use of the anti-seizure medication Klonopin, along with a ton of alcohol ('I was going f–king mental. For like, a good month.') before getting around to how he moved past this dark period. It happened during his Vancouver panic attack. 'I called the girl I'm dating now,' he remembers. 'I'd talked to her for like year, before we even met. I called her that morning, when I was losing my sh-t. I had really liked her for a long time, but I had never met her, 'cause she was hesitant to come meet me. She's pretty shy, and she's just smart.' During our talk, he mentions a Russian girl he used to crush on, who inspired him to get the Cyrillic любовь ('lyubov' or 'love') tattoo splayed across his chest – just one piece in a mural of ink that covers much of his body. Another woman, a fellow musician he declines to name, was dating Stacy in the early days of FOREVER, and helped him find his songwriting mojo. 'She's an incredible writer,' he explains. 'And at the beginning of the record, I was kind of like, 'F–k, like what the f–k do I write?' Watching her write, it blew my mind. And helped me write a lot of songs. She would talk to me about writing. She'd say, 'You take it so serious! You just gotta write.'' But no one has impacted his personal trajectory quite like his current girlfriend. 'I called her that morning and I talked to her on the phone for hours and hours, and I was just like, 'I need to meet this person, dude.' So I don't know, I just kind of threw the drugs away that morning. I still had some problems with pills for like a few months after that, but the hard sh-t I stopped.' It's been a wild ride. Is it any wonder that at times on FOREVER, Stacy longs for a less complicated time? On 'seventeen' he looks back six years to a more carefree point in his life, singing, 'I'm not who I used to be / And I hardly know this new me…I kinda miss being 17.' He echoes the sentiment on thoughtful closer 'keep my head down': 'I was young once / I miss it so much / Where did that go?' Simpler days. 'Everyone was just happier,' he explains. 'No one had jobs, and we were just kids, doing everything for the first time. The best day ever back then was all of us sleeping at one of our homies' houses and getting hammered. And that was literally just peak life. And going skating.' At only 23, he says he doesn't feel 'old' as much as just 'jaded,' and weary of the nonstop bacchanal. 'I've just seen – so much has happened – I don't even know what else I can feel,' he says. 'I feel like I've just done enough partying, bro. Like, I feel like I'm ready to just be with one person. And this person I met is honestly like the most incredible person I've ever met.' As for the year ahead, FOREVER feels like a record built to give EKKSTACY his most high-powered live show to date. Joining Stacy and Potok-Holmes on his upcoming summer tour will be two new band members, bassist and fellow Vancouverite Hannah Kruse, and drummer Sean Friday (Dead Sara), though he says they just may be 'temporary.' And just possibly, Stacy won some new fans last year when he joined $UICIDEBOY$' annual Grey Day arena tour, sharing a bill with the New Orleans punk-rap mainstays, as well as the acclaimed hip-hop adventurer Denzel Curry and others. It was a good look for an artist hoping to expand his audience, even if he had to warm to the experience. 'At first I felt like I was such an outsider, that it was like, 'What the f–k am I doing? No one f–king wants me here?'' he recalls. 'But then we slowly started socializing with everyone, and it was sick, it felt like a little f–king society in there. And it was fun, after I started meeting fools, it was really nice. I made some really good friends.' All that talk of psychoses, blackouts, anxiety and booze-and-drug benders has led more than a few observers in the past to worry about EKKSTACY's health and future. But he's quick to point out that he's always been knee-deep in sad songs. As open as he is about his stresses and the potential pitfalls of self-medication, he's equally quick to tamp down reading too much into depressive lyrics, and put off by the idea of commodifying mental health as a talking point. Not every tortured musical poet is necessarily going through it 24/7, nor considering self-harm – even an artist who once recorded 'wish i was dead.' 'I'm just like – bruh, I was just a kid, talking like that,' he says. 'I was just a kid, 18, 19. My brother is 19 now and I look at that fool like he's a child. I just want people to f–king feel me. I want them to know that I'm just hanging out, and that I'm just normal. That I get f–ked up and hang out with my friends, and skateboard, and live normal as f–k. And I still stress about the same sh-t that everyone else stresses about.' That said, FOREVER does feel like a marginally more hopeful record than Stacy's past work. Even if some of the new record lingers on the past, its very title – also the name of Stacy's upcoming tour — seems to anticipate many days to come. It's certainly more forward-looking than NEGATIVE or misery. On the moving final track, 'keep my head down,' he offers, 'I won't stop saying that things will be better soon / Put my head out the window I don't have time to be blue.' When I observe that the lyrics suggest he may be in a better place, Stacy, true to his no-BS self, quickly retorts: 'I don't think I am in a better place. I think I am calmer, but I'm still f–king scared. But I'm definitely more mature, and just chilled out, than I have been in the past. But I'm still nervous.' Nervous, but apparently in a great creative place – he says he is eager to work on another album – and in a relationship unilke any he's been in. He's even contemplating becoming a dad. 'It's on my mind,' he admits. 'I want to get married and have a kid.' So yeah, Prince, 'forever' is a mighty long time. Maybe, like EKKSTACY, we just take forever day by day. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
BBC News
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Who won Dancing on Ice 2025?
The latest season of Dancing on Ice has come to an exciting end, and we have a new weeks of skating, Coronation Street actor Sam Aston and his partner Molly Lanaghan were crowned as the Strachan, the BBC Springwatch presenter, and her skating partner Mark Hanretty were the footballer Anton Ferdinand and his partner Annette Dytrt came third and were the first to be eliminated in the final after a public vote. In the final show, all the contestants performed dazzling routines. Anton and Annette skated to Let's Go Crazy by famous musician Prince, earning a perfect score of 40 from the judges. Speaking to his skating partner, Anton told Annette that he'd "enjoyed this journey" with and Mark skated to Don't Rain On My Parade, with judge Oti Mabuse saying their performance had "really touched' her and was "absolutely beautiful."And Sam and Molly performed to the Pink Panther theme, as Christopher Dean, one of the judges, told Sam, "I'm really proud of you." After Anton lost the public vote, Sam and Michaela skated to the Bolero, a routine which was made famous by skating judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean at the 1984 Winter Olympics. Jane was clearly impressed with Sam's performance, saying it was "brilliant!""I mean tonight, everything came together," Christopher said. "Your skating skills are always on show, but you had to have timing and acting,"The Coronation Street star said his time on the competition had been "such a journey".
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Anton Ferdinand awarded full marks from judges during Dancing On Ice final
Dancing On Ice finalist Anton Ferdinand and his skating partner Annette Dytrt have been awarded full marks from the judges following their showcase number to Let's Go Crazy by Prince And The Revolution. The former West Ham United defender, 40, is battling it out against soap star Sam Aston and Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan during Sunday's grand final. Judge Ashley Banjo said: 'I'm so proud of you, man, because what's always set you aside, for me, is your care, your commitment and the heart that you put in, not only to the performance, but into the process.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by West Ham United (@westham) Former Olympic figure skater Christopher Dean, who got up to give him a hug, said: 'His progress from master class to final has just been amazing. And this week, working with Anton and really getting to know him, it's been my pleasure.' Ferdinand's brother, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, could be seen in the audience. West Ham wished Ferdinand luck in an Instagram post that said: 'Wishing good luck to Anton and his skating partner Annette in the Dancing On Ice final this evening.' Last weekend, reality star Dan Edgar and his partner Vanessa James were sent home after a unanimous decision from the judges. The show, presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern, is judged by a panel comprised of dancer and Diversity star Banjo, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, and retired Olympic figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Dean. Last year, soap star Ryan Thomas and his ice skating partner Amani Fancy were crowned the winners of series 16.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dancing On Ice finalists to battle it out in bid to be crowned winner
The finalists of Dancing On Ice will battle it out on Sunday in a bid to be crowned the winner of this year's series. The three remaining skaters are former footballer Anton Ferdinand, Coronation Street actor Sam Aston and wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan. Last weekend, reality star Dan Edgar and his partner Vanessa James were sent home after a unanimous decision from the judges. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dancing on Ice (@dancingonice) In the final Ferdinand, 40, and his skating partner Annette Dytrt will perform a showcase number to Let's Go Crazy by Prince And The Revolution, while soap star Aston, 31, and Molly Lanaghan will skate to The Pink Panther Theme. Springwatch presenter Strachan, 58, and her partner Mark Hanretty will skate to Don't Rain On My Parade, as performed by Barbra Streisand in the musical film Funny Girl. Ahead of Sunday's show, Strachan reflected on the experience and said in a post to Instagram: 'Can you believe it! Tomorrow is the @dancingonice Final! The last time I will get to skate with my truly wonderful ice skating partner @markhanretty 'Remember, the final is entirely down to the public vote! And you can vote from the beginning of the show.' She added: 'It's Mark's last year on DOI and he's been in the final 3 times but never got to skate the Bolero. I would absolutely love to change that for him.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michaela Strachan (@ The finalists revealed their showcase dances in a video shared to the Dancing On Ice Instagram page where they read out letters from their skating partners. Ferdinand became emotional when he read out his letter from Dytrt, which said: 'I will miss you and your lovely family.' The show, presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern, is judged by a panel comprised of dancer and Diversity star Ashley Banjo, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, and retired Olympic skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Last year, soap star Ryan Thomas and his ice skating partner Amani Fancy were crowned the winners of series 16. The final of Dancing On Ice will air at 6.30pm on ITV1.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Netflix Cancels Controversial Prince Documentary Release
A controversial Prince documentary has officially been shelved. Director Ezra Edelman has been developing the six-hour film over the last four years but the project has now been halted, freeing 'the vault' to be used in other ways. 'The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince's archive,' Netflix said in a statement shared with Variety on Thursday (Feb. 6). 'As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.' The official X account for Prince confirmed the news as well, posting a clip with the caption: 'The Vault Has Been Freed #FREE.' The video included a message that read, 'Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people. The truth is, you are either here to enlighten or discourage. Although the highly anticipated release has been in the works for quite some time, the decision to block it may not come as a surprise to many. Reps for the Purple Rain artist's estate previously shared concerns last summer about 'dramatic' factual inaccuracies in the first cut of the film. They also stated sources close to the situation thought certain renderings of events were 'sensationalized' on the screen. Edelman, best known for creating the O.J.: Made in America documentary, was 'given extensive access to Prince's archives, with the first drafts for the deal,' according to Variety. He reportedly delivered nine hours of footage, which was three hours greater than the contracted agreement, so the violation of the agreement 'presumably enabled the estate to withhold music rights.' According to a September 2024 article in the New York Times titled 'The Prince We Never Knew,' the doc includes an incident about a fight Prince had with his ex-girlfriend Jill Jones, where she slapped him and he 'punched her in the face over and over.' The writer describes the film as a work that evoked 'amazement, pity, disgust, tenderness,' as it also included portions about his genius music ability, career-defining moments, him leaving his young wife Mayte Garcia after the couple lost their child, and accounts of his own abusive childhood. More from Tyka Nelson, Prince's Sister, Dead At 64 Halle Berry Reveals Prince Once Asked Her Out In The Sweetest Way Prince Fans Question John Legend's "Let's Go Crazy" Rendition At Democratic National Convention
