The charity single has been released to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust, with all proceeds from vinyl sales and an undisclosed portion of digital downloads going towards the charity.

In a press statement for the new single, Townshend said, “The pandemic years were terrible for charities; the Teenage Cancer Trust was created in order to take the money from a series of concerts at the Albert Hall every year and various other things and that had all dropped out.”

He continued, “So, the idea of doing this, which is it’s something that has sprung out of Lockdown about mental illness, but also for this particular charity. If you’ve got a scenario in which somebody in your family or a teenager has got cancer, they’re being treated, Lockdown hits, and you’re not allowed to go and visit them. There’s a poignancy to the whole thing about the song.”

The track was composed and produced by Townshend’s partner, Rachel Fuller.

Speaking on how the track came to be created, Fuller said, “We’d just moved house and Pete was as happy as Larry up in his studio, working every day, and I put my back out, I was just climbing the walls, I couldn’t do any creative work and obviously, we couldn’t go anywhere, and I really started to think about how unbelievably difficult this period of time was going to be for so many people. I wrote lyrics and then I sat at the piano and wrote the music, and then I thought, ‘Oh, I really would like to record it, because it’s really not a bad song at all’ — and my singing days are long over. So, I asked Pete to record the demo.”

On working with his partner Rachel, Townshend said, “I’ve helped Rachel make the demos for several of her theatrical projects. She’s a really a fast worker. It’s not that you say to me, ‘Let’s go into the studio for two weeks and work on this project.’ We do it two hours later, or an hour later, it’s done — so it’s easy to work with her.”

“Can’t Outrun the Truth” was recorded in Townshend’s home studio in September 2021. Townshend sings on the track as well as playing violin and lap steel guitar on it for his first solo effort in almost 30 years.

Read more about Teenage Cancer Trust’s incredible fundraising efforts here.

Stream “Can’t Outrun the Truth” here.

Du Blonde announced the collaboration over social-media and described the single as being “about breaking up, regretting it and getting back together. It’s about realising that sometimes being in love doesn’t have to be all fireworks and excitement and that having someone you can fart next to is precious.” The track can be pre-saved via all streaming platforms here.

When describing the track’s sound, Du Blonde stated on social media that “it’s our take on a 60s girl group/glam rock explosion.” The Newcastle upon Tyne artist has been known for the punk-glamour genre that has featured in all of the previous records they have released. Ezra has been known for much the same in the States and when regarding their collaboration, Du Blonde continued with “I feel like Ezra and I have been travelling towards a duet for years and we finally got our shit together.”

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Du Blonde and Ezra have worked together in the past, in 2018 Du Blonde released a music video for Ezra’s single Suck The Blood From My Wound. The music video was directed and animated by Du Blonde the artist has a significant career in videography and photography under the real name Beth Jeans Houghton.  In 2019 Du Blonde once again directed and animated Ezra’s music videos for the tracks Twelve Nudes and Calm Down AKA I Should Not Be Alone.

Along with sharing collaboration over many music videos in the past and now this new single I’m Glad That We Broke Up, both artists are advocates and members of the transgender and nonbinary communities.  Ezra took to Instagram to announce excitement over the collaboration, saying that she will be featuring on Du Blonde’s track as a vocalist. “As a siiiiiiiinger More information on Wednesday (and the actual track) but I’m just psyched to let you know this so I’m telling you now. Also Du Blonde is great, a true inspiration to me, go buy all his music and maybe his artwork too.” 

I’m Glad That We Broke Up will be available to all streaming platforms on Wednesday. Du Blonde’s upcoming album Homecoming will be released in April and is available to pre-order now. 

 

 

 

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Future Nostalgia is the latest Dua Lipa album, released in March earlier this year. Last month Dua Lipa hosted a livestream concert called Studio 2054 which featured many artists, including Kylie, and was the first and only time Dua Lipa has performed her latest music to an audience. Future Nostalgia has been met which critical acclaim in 2020, earning prestigious Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Her biggest single Don’t Start Now skyrocketed to the top of the charts worldwide and brought Dua Lipa do a different level of success than she had seen in the previous years of her career.

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The collaboration with Dua Lipa is coveted now that she dominated the chart-topping throne, but it is no surprise that Kylie managed to work with the pop star considering Kylie’s latest album Disco has received just as much critical acclaim in the year 2020. Acting as a comeback for the sensational pop icon, many tracks in the latest record have become comfortable in the UK top 100 hits, including her tracks Say Something and Magic.

2020 has not seen either pop star touring worldwide or even in the UK because of safety concerns surrounding the year-long Covid-19 pandemic struggle. However, Dua Lipa will begin her Future Nostalgia tour in September 2021, after releasing new tour-dates just a few weeks ago. Kylie has not announced any tour dates for 2021 as of yet, however, she is hosting a livestream concert today on New Years Eve.

Future Nostalgia Tour-Dates 2021 (Dua Lipa)

10/09/2021 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool
11/09 – The SSE Hydro – Glasgow
13/09 – Utilita Arena – Newcastle
15/09 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff
16/09 – AO Arena – Manchester
21/09 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
24/09 – The O2 – London
25/09 – The O2 – London
27/09 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
28/09 – Utilita Arena – Birmingham

The newly announced collaboration has come with several social-media posts and an official music video for the track. The video features Chris and the lead singer of Indochine, Nicola Sirkis.

The music video was directed by Colin Solal Cardo. Both of the French singers were able to capture electropop genre that Christine and the Queens is known for, while maintaining the signature sound of the highly acclaimed Indochine.

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Christine and the Queens recently released their newest music in the form of the EP, La Vita Nuova. The EP was dropped in the Spring of this year, 2020. Chris has not released a full-length album since the self-titled 2018 release of Chris.

While the artist is French, in 2016 they were still able to procure a spot on the BBC’s Top 100 Women of 2016 due to her immense popularity in the UK. In 2019 she released the song Gone with Charli XCX that skyrocketed in the charts.

That same year the pop-star appeared on the eleventh season of Rupaul’s Drag Race. Chris is popular in the LGBTQ+ community due to her announcement in 2015 that she is pansexual and genderqueer.

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The artist is not currently on tour. Christine and the Queens do not have an upcoming 2021 show-date list as of yet due to safety concerns surrounding the ongoing global pandemic, Covid-19 otherwise known as Coronavirus.

2020 is nevertheless a new chapter in the musician’s career, her latest EP feeling more modern then ever. It has received widespread critical praise despite the lack of a single reaching the UK top charts. More than that, it seems that the UK is becoming more interested in French-speaking music with the rise of Dua Lipa’s newest single Fever which features a French-speaking singer.

It is unclear when the next full length album will be released by Christine and the Queens however, the EP La Vita Nuova is available for streaming now, and the original album 3 is as well. The new remix of 3SEX with Indochine is available on all platforms today.

In addition to ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, Bridgers and Parks produced a beautiful performance of ‘Kyoto’, one of the lead singles from Punisher, which was released earlier this year. It has become a firm fan favourite, and Bridgers is cultivating something of a cult following.

Bridgers predominantly leads the vocals in these two covers, while Parks accompanies on the piano, but the occasional harmonisation of their two voices is completely ethereal. The collaboration has been described as everything from “tender” to “fragile”. Parks herself tweeted that she had loved working with Bridgers and that she was in awe of her “angel voice”. The church venue only contributes to the incredible atmosphere that the two create, with nothing more than two voices, a piano and a skeleton onesie.

In fact, Parks and Bridgers have been running in the same circles for a while now; just recently, Parks covered ‘Moon Song’ from Punisher for her ‘Lo-Fi Lounge’ Series. You can watch her rendition below. A further circularity: this is not even Parks’ first high-profile Radiohead cover. She recorded and released ‘Creep’ for the soundtrack of the film Shy Radicals, which will screen at film festivals later this year. Although she doesn’t sing much of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, her unique, beautiful voice completely reinvigorates ‘Creep’, the one Radiohead song that you might have thought you’d heard every variation of by now!

Parks talked about choosing ‘Creep’, calling the song “a simultaneously delicate and brutal exploration of inner turmoil and human relationships. This song has acted as a refuge for me, during times of self-reflection and low mood, for many years and Radiohead as a band has deeply influenced my music.”

She talks about all of her work with the same invaluable insight. Describing her latest single, ‘Hurt’, she told NME: “‘Hurt’ surrounds the possibility of healing from pain and the temporary nature of suffering … it is supposed to uplift and comfort those going through hard times.”

Generally, Arlo Parks has had a busy summer. When ‘Hurt’ was released last month, it premiered as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record.  Earlier today she shared a post online about how grateful she was for the enthusiastic reception of it; this came in the wake of it being named Greg James’ song of the week this week, as well as occupying a spot on the 6 Music B-list.

The reaction to Hurt has been so completely uplifting and honestly made me feel so special – I’m excited to announce that it is king @gregjames‘s tune of the week PLUS on the B list @BBC6Music – thank u to everyone for believing in me and my work. pic.twitter.com/97IoZ5BRAu

— Arlo Parks (@arloparks) September 7, 2020

These two special covers, ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ and ‘Kyoto’ feel somehow hopeful, after a summer of postponed album releases and digital festivals. Although we’re all desperate for those things to get back to normal, Parks and Bridgers, amongst others, have spent this time showing us a different way to enjoy music, through covers and collaborations and live streams. As listeners and fans, it feels like there is no greater pleasure than having the music world dominated by artists who are so in love with their jobs that they talk this eloquently and produce music of this quality and completely refresh the songs we love most.