Known for her wild ‘Imogenation’, Heap has always reworked pop with tech, but her new data-mining project is her boldest yet. She explains why ‘you can’t stop progress’ It’s a very Imogen Heap way to say hello: “I’ve got to show you this thing – it’s going to change your life!” She beams at me, showing off a mysterious black device. The musician and technologist is an electric, eccentric presence even on video call, talking passionately and changing thoughts like a rally driver turns corners. She whirls me from her kitchen floor to her living room in her family home in Havering near London, familiar to thousands of fans (AKA Heapsters) who tune in to watch her improvise, via livestream, on a grand piano. She points to a glamorous white tent on the edge of a well-kept lawn: “That’s my tent I’ve been sleeping in, by the way,” she laughs, enjoying the surprise. Continue reading...

The series’ return was heralded by a Tears for Fears song – an unexpected tone for its chainsaw-guns and gore. We revisit how a splintering marriage gave birth to gaming’s saddest shooter At the Xbox Games Showcase this June, Microsoft debuted a trailer for the eighth game in the violent, grandiose and unexpectedly maudlin Gears of War series: a prequel. The sight of series heroes Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago as younger men is “an emotional homecoming like no other”, as Microsoft’s Xbox blog put it. But the real tug at the heartstrings comes with the first notes of a slow, instrumental rendition of Tears for Fears’ Mad World. “As a 41-year-old man, that piano got me tearing up,” wrote one YouTube commenter. It’s a throwback to the original, iconic Gears of War trailer from 2006, in which a lonesome Fenix picks through his ruined world to Gary Jules’ plaintive cover of the same song. And you can’t blame Microsoft for leaning on nostalgia. As Mad Men’s Don Draper once said, it’s delicate, but potent. Eighteen years on, that Gears of War trailer is still some of the most effective video game marketing ever. It really spoke to the melancholy heart that beats within this superficially macho game. Continue reading...

Artist Butterbro accused of walking fine line between parody and discrimination and helping make racial slur mainstream A song about immigrants whose music, vocals and artwork were entirely generated using artificial intelligence has made the Top 50 most listened to songs in Germany, in what may be a first for a leading music market. Verknallt in einen Talahon is a parody song that weaves modern lyrics – many of them based around racial stereotypes about immigrants – with 60s schlager pop. Continue reading...

The Gold Coast trio’s frontwoman shares her list of clips – including Creed, dogs, and multiple TikTok trends she wants to try with her bandmates * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email I have such a love-hate relationship with the internet and TikTok. I honestly find myself doomscrolling way more than I’d like to admit, but I am a true sucker for a funny video. When you find something that makes you laugh so much it brings you to tears, it makes the hours of scrolling through unboxing and Temu haul videos worth it. Continue reading...