Hassaan

Fascinating stats, thank you for those. Given the domination of streaming, even the fact there were 15 million paid for single sales last year looks particularly big, albeit dwarfed by the numbers achieved in the early 2010s.

#26 last week. I'm really digging this. I didn't think I would, I wouldn't have considered it to be the sort of thing I'd like but I can't get it out of my head.

If the judge doesn't consider him to be an out-and-out danger, there's not much anyone can do. An extra 5 years in prison probably wouldn't actually make much of a difference to someone whose reputation and livelihood is already completely damaged.

I'd like them to try a Christmas song. I don't know if a Las Vegas residency is where their audience is. A residency at Wembley, certainly. Having an Oscar nominated song is very much a lottery though. New albums yeah but it's complicated. People aren't buying albums like they used to, hence people like Take That put more into touring than releasing stuff.

Olly Murs' Heart Skips a Beat?

I'm watching weekly. Did anyone catch it tonight? I didn't expect them to go full villain with Dean. I guess the signs were there but still. I think Steve planned the whole thing, personally.

The "lalala" bit reminds me of something, but I can't place it.

So do I, but it has only been two months.

Glad that they're still handing out those sentences: https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-09-0...t-over-uk-riots

I've liked Olly ever since he did X Factor but I wouldn't have put him & Caroline on the main show in 2015. It worked on Xtra Factor when they could be a bit more loose but I don't think they were necessarily experienced enough. I do think with the advent of streaming, it seems there's a cut-off point and once you reach a certain age, the industry considers you a legacy act. Granted Olly was in his late 20s when he was having his biggest successes (the #1s) but maybe it's the trends too as someone alluded to above. His style is basically a mix of pop, ska and reggae - sort of happy, summery pop is what I think people associate him with the most. You'd think there would still be a market for it. As for public image, I think The Voice helped him a bit. He's said in interviews that the X Factor gaffe put him off doing any telly for a while.

I did feel like the album campaign was a bit low key compared to normal, bar what I thought was controversy that he didn't deserve or ask for. Not just that song, but the signing video he did for one of the other ones. He got the flack for it even though he was just trying to do a good thing, but was just advised badly. I know there's less money in album sales these days but why bother making them at all then? I do think there's still potential for one of his older tracks to get some traction again if used in the right place. It's a shame You Don't Know Love didn't do better (though top 20 isn't bad by any means, especially as streaming was in full swing).

It's a shame that his last album of new material, though it charted at #1, didn't really do very well in terms of the singles really making an impact, but I guess that's not unusual for an act like him who really took off in the "iTunes age" back in the early 2010s.

Today marks 20 years of X Factor!

I wasn't too sure either, but he wrote this in an Instagram post when he released it:

I'm hoping this makes sense, but sometimes you can tell an artist has written a song purely for them, as a sort of passion project, but it finds wider success anyway. It might not have been pushed as a single but it catches on anyway. I guess Ed Sheeran is in a position where he can do that, but he put out "Afterglow" with no intention of it being a single ahead of an album or anything - just a song he liked - and it got to #2 in the UK.

Also, after Liz Truss' recent comments about the state trying to bring her down or whatever, I don't think she can be taken remotely seriously.

Better than nothing. :D I think apart from anything it scuppers the social element. Hard to really chat with a friend when you don't like being around it, and they go for a smoke every 15 minutes or whatever.

I'm only on Instagram (and Reddit) presently but Threads seems okay. I say that, it might have the same problem as Twitter.

I should say that they did ask (mid-way through) and I said yes, tentatively so admittedly. I had very little concept of boundaries back then to the point I was even afraid of voicing things like that to friends. Thankfully that wouldn't happen now.

Fingers crossed for the UK next...

I'm with Lindsey on this one. I was afraid of properly saying it because I thought I'd get lynched but I hate being around people who are smoking. I had a friend who was a smoker and it wasn't something I felt comfortable with, but how do you politely tell someone that you don't want them to roll a cigarette in your car...

Have you even given him a chance? He's been in power for longer than Liz Truss and still hasn't made the mess that she has.

This isn't the only thing he's going after.

Anything he does will be unpopular with someone. I don't know if "nobody" is applicable here. I don't smoke nor go to pubs so have no strong opinions on the matter, but I can see it from both sides.

How much change could we have feasibly expected by now? August is a bit of a dead month for politics anyway.