Hassaan

I have previously described Subtract and Autumn Variations as a passion project, but I think it's fair to say Subtract was not. It was just a lower key release given the subject matter, he quite clearly wasn't going for big pop or anything.

It appears to be out in territories such as New Zealand (and that part of the world).

I just completed the series today, watching at weekly pace. It was a definite step up on the previous one for me. That one felt too heavy on villains, if anything. I think they handled the Libby & Jared stuff as well as they could have. I will miss Amy though if she's not back. I'm glad they have given Donte a bit more to do as well. Nicky didn't feature much but her & Debs scrapping got old. I'm liking Neil a lot more too.

It's a tricky one because if I was him, I wouldn't drastically change his sound. You don't want to alienate the massive number of people who are already your fans to cater to those who are not. I think anyone over 25 at least will have grown up with him - they'll have been teenagers when he was breaking out.

Basically anyone born after 2010.

I think you're sadly quite right with regards to TikTok working against him, but I'm optimistic that he's got a strong enough fanbase to weather all of that. Even if he can't get a #1 with this, he had #1 singles that spanned a period of 9 years (2014 to 2023) and that's a pretty good innings.

I can't see it not being #1, but sales wise, I dunno. It could be on the top end of what we've seen this year so far though.

Re: the bit about Simon Cowell only signing the winner, it did remain the case. For that series anyway - the other acts were signed to "offshoot" labels such as Epic Records and RCA. I can't say I'm too surprised that they're focusing on touring over new material. To add to what I said above, when I went to see them in 2023, the fans went crazy for most of their stuff but they weren't feeling Eternal Love at all (in comparison anyway).

Most (if not all) of those lawsuits didn't come from the original artists though. It was the Marvin Gaye estate. That one (Thinking Out Loud) was thrown out because Ed managed to make the point that you can't copyright a chord sequence.

The world doesn't revolve around Taylor Swift. Where did I even mention her?

There is a distinct difference between the promotion campaign of Subtract and Equals than Autumn Variations. He did very much put it out with little fanfare. Meanwhile with Subtract at least Eyes Closed got a push.

He didn't really push Autumn Variations at all though.

Yeah he's probably not counting side projects and only those within the "main series". So Plus, Multiply, Divide, Equals and Subtract is five. Play plus the other four takes you to ten.

I'm hesitant to use his 2023 albums as a marker. They seem like they were passion projects for him. He didn't push them as hard as Equals either. His fanbase may not be heavy on "stans" but I think that's a good thing. He still has a significant amount of people streaming his stuff.

Sort of? Since 2022, he just has a single series that runs from September to February. He used to have a series that ran from April to June but not anymore.

Norton isn't back until September, unfortunately.

He's not had a single that has really been pushed since then either, to be fair.

It is indeed a new tour.

I don't think it's necessarily the case that the artists are getting paid anyway. From what I gather in the industry, the money now comes from touring, not record sales. Not particularly surprising given streaming but it hasn't been a secret how little Spotify pays per stream.

I'm thinking a tour. It could be a new release but I think it's difficult for an act like them to get their fans interested in the new stuff.

James Blunt - Love Me Better ("saw you standing outside a bar, would have said you're beautiful but I used that line before" Ed Sheeran - Castle on the Hill ("singing to Tiny Dancer")

Yeah the last time they were a four was 2014, before Abz decided to leave. I think they had technically been a four between 2006 and 2014.

I liked the two golden buzzers. I hope with the watermelons there wasn't actually any danger, but Simon definitely put himself through it because he knew it going wrong would make for good TV (and he was right).

There are four more games I intend to play on my Switch (before the Switch 2 comes about). I've completed 23 so far (and that doesn't include my ongoing play of Mario Kart). Those are Yoshi's Crafted World, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Epic Mickey: Rebrushed.

Also, trained West End stars tend to do well at Eurovision (Jade Ewen, Lucie Jones), certainly compared to the years either side of it anyway.