Category Archives: Music

Ed Sheeran Performs His New Album In Full For The First Time on Apple Music Live

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Ed Sheeran’s performance officially kicks off Season Two of Apple Music Live – the live performance series that gives the biggest stars in music a stage to connect with audiences around the world.

The star-studded inaugural season of Apple Music Live kicked off in May 2022 with an exclusive livestream of Harry Styles’s One Night Only in New York performance to celebrate the release of his acclaimed album Harry’s House.

Additional standouts included Billie Eilish’s Live at the O2 performance, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Film; Alicia Keys’s first-ever Holiday Masquerade Ball; and riveting performances from chart-topping artists Lil Durk, Mary J. Blige, Luke Combs, and Wizkid.

Explore the full lineup of past performances in the Apple Music Live archive.   

Ahead of his Apple Music Live performance, during an interview with Matt Wilkinson to preview the set, Sheeran shared: “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be a really beautiful night. I think it’ll probably be one of the best shows I’ve ever played for so many reasons.”

The full interview is available to watch HERE.    

Sheeran is one of the top performing artists of all time on Apple Music, with more than 9.5 billion plays globally and 240 million Shazam tags. His smash 2017 single “Shape of You” is the most streamed song of all time on Apple Music, with more than 930 million plays worldwide. More than 45 of Sheeran’s songs have reached No. 1 on the Daily Top 100. His new album, –, (pronounced Subtract) became the most pre-added album on Apple Music of all time, with lead single “Eyes Closed” reaching the Daily Top 100 in 87 countries — his 21st song to reach the top 25 on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100: Global chart.

Watch a trailer HERE

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Heart FM Adds AI-Generated Presenter to Line-Up

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In a first for South Africa, Western Cape radio station Heart FM will be adding a new personality to its line-up tomorrow, an entirely Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated radio presenter.

Jay I, is Cape Town’s first AI on-air personality and will be presenting the country’s first fully AI-generated radio show which include an AI-generated playlist, content and features. The show will broadcast in the early hours of Saturday morning the 8th of April 2023 between 01h00 and 04h00.  His intellect, personality and opinions are entirely artificially generated.

Jay I is also capable of evolving according to listener preferences, feedback, and other inputs. His voice is a representation of several professional voices tuned to deliver a great voice for radio.

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“We Will Rock You” Comes to South Africa

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The brand-new production and major world tour of Queen and Ben Elton’s multi award-winning rock musical We Will Rock You, featuring an all-South African cast, crew and band began in Manila, The Philippines in October 2022.  After touring Asia, this hit musical opened in South Africa at Montecasino’s Teatro on Friday, 10 March 2023 to critical acclaim and rave reviews.

After the Teatro season closes on 16 April, We Will Rock You moves to the Cape for a four-week season at the Artscape Theatre Centre from Friday, 05 May to Sunday, 04 June 2023.  Thereafter the We Will Rock You World Tour continues in various territories abroad. Tickets for the South African seasons remain at pre-COVID prices. Purchase today at www.showtime.co.za or Ticketmaster https://bit.ly/RockYouSA2023

We Will Rock You is not a tribute show, nor does it tell the story of Queen or the legendary Freddie Mercury. Instead, We Will Rock You is a large full scale new vision musical theatre production with its own storyline set to the music of 24 of Queen’s most popular hits, including Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Killer Queen, and the worldwide favourites We are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody and of course, We Will Rock You. The show is about a group of bohemians in a dystopian future without musical instruments. A handful of rock rebels, the Bohemians together with society misfits Scaramouche and Galileo, embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and the rebirth of the age of rock. 

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Boyz II Men – South African Tour

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Leading event organiser G21 Entertainment, together with Vertex Events, has announced South African show dates for the legendary super group Boyz II Men, happening later this year.

 The tour will kick off in Cape Town on Tuesday, the 31st of October 2023 at the Grand Arena, GrandWest followed by Pretoria at the SunBet Arena, Time Square on Thursday, 2nd of November, concluding in North West at the Superbowl in Sun City on Saturday, the 4th November 2023.

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Tyla Stuns in Front Row at Dolce & Gabbana

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Images Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana and Lucas Possiede

Milan based Fashion heritage brand, DOLCE AND GABBANA’S SPRING/SUMMER 2023 show was a stunning affair that left attendees in awe of the brand’s innovative and unique approach to fashion. The runway show featured over 75 stunning looks, each one more impressive than the last. But it wasn’t just the fashion that impressed the audience, it was also the star-studded guest list that included some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. So, it goes without saying that having TYLA sitting front row was an incredible moment! It was TYLA’s first-ever fashion debut, and she did it big! DOLCE AND GABBANA seated South African rising pop star TYLA front row right next to global icons Kim Kardashian and J Balvin. She attended the show wearing a vintage archived look from the early 90s. 

The photos of her seated next to Kim Kardashian were shared widely on social media, further cementing her status as a rising pop star. Tyla broke the internet with her jaw-dropping avant-garde look for the show which garnered attention from new fans worldwide. She had everyone stunned by her beauty with many asking on TikTok “Who is that girl next to Kim?” 

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ULTRA South Africa 2023

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The final countdown to Ultra South Africa 2023 has officially begun! In just over four weeks, on 10 and 11 March in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the iconic Ultra stages will be set up, the Ultra Angels warmed up and choreographed, and the biggest names in dance music brought together for the continent’s biggest electronic music festival, Ultra South Africa! 

Recently added to the already stellar Main Stage lineup is returning future house superstar, Oliver Heldens, homegrown heroes Goldfish, and very recent Grammy winner and additional homegrown legend, Zakes Bantwini!  

They will join none other than global icon Alesso, Australian firecracker, Fisher and of course, the dynamic Timmy Trumpet for the first time on SA soil. Local heroes set to wow the fans are Sun-El Musician, Kyle Cassim, Timo ODV, Max Hurrell and New Hero. 

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Rihanna’s Teaser for Super Bowl Halftime Show 

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Rihanna recently released an official trailer, teasing her highly anticipated return to music as the headliner for the first ever Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, taking place on Sunday, 12 February 2023. 

Watch it HERE

With the Halftime Show just a few short days away, fans can get “Rih”-acquainted with all things Rihanna on Apple Music HERE and with the new Apple Music Sing fans can now sing their favorite Rihanna songs with adjustable vocals and real-time lyrics with multiple lyric views to help fans take the lead, perform duets, sing backup, and more.

The multi-year partnership between The NFL and Apple Music brings together the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the most-watched musical performance of the year, with Apple Music, which celebrates musicians, songwriters, producers and fans, and offers the world’s best music listening experience with a catalog of over 100 million songs, and immersive sound powered by Spatial Audio.

Apple revolutionized the music experience with iPod and iTunes, and continues the award-winning tradition with Apple Music.

QWEST TV Launches on DSTV

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With exclusive access to high-end music, great concerts, documentaries and never-seen archived interviews, the global music streaming platform, QWEST TV, officially launched on DStv channel 330 recently.
 
Music lovers will now be able to access QWEST TV via the DStv bouquet (channel 330) as well as on the Showmax platform. The Channel will be included in all the DStv packages in 44 countries across the continent.
 
Available exclusively to DStv customers, the channels offering includes:

  • Exclusive concerts from legendary artists as well as Rising Stars from across the globe
  • Premium music documentaries
  • Archived artist footage
  • Unreleased interviews with music icons including Erykah Badu, Questlove, Salif Keita, Gregory Porter, Marcus Miller, Seun Kuti, Kamasi Washington and Fatoumata Diawara

 
Founded in 2017 by musical genius, the legendary Quincy Jones, alongside TV and music producer and programmer Reza Ackbaraly,  Qwest TV plans to bring genre-agnostic musical content to the African continent.

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Cotton Fest Line-Up Confirmed for Johannesburg

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Following the successful Cape Town edition, the highly anticipated Cotton Fest returns to Johannesburg and has a confirmed line-up.

Taking place in the inner city on Saturday, the 4th of February, the festival will once again merge both established and young emerging local talents performing live across three energy packed stages.

Founded to showcase the diversities in various popular music genres with the aim of fusing the gaps within the different local movements, the event platform also celebrates fashion and sport.

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Ndlovu Youth Choir “AGT All-Stars” Performance

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AMERICA’S GOT TALENT: ALL-STARS – “VTR” Episode – (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)

I’ve had the privilege of seeing the Ndlovu Youth Choir live on at least 3 separate occasions at corporate gigs, and each time they blew the audience away with their energy, audience interaction and sheer talent!

Image by Mishkah Roman-Cassiem

From humble beginnings, in the Moutse Valley, in rural Mpumalanga to performances at the 94th Academy Awards (Oscars) and across the globe, South Africa’s ever popular and most loved choir, Ndlovu Youth Choir were recently invited to perform at the America’s Got Talent All-Stars competition in Los Angeles earlier this month. The Choir’s exemplary performance was broadcast on NBC Eastern time in the USA on Monday, 23 January 2023.  Local fans can catch the Ndlovu Youth Choir’s performance tomorrow, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 after the NBC broadcast.  Tune in to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday morning after the broadcast.  Website: https://www.youtube.com/@AGT 

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