Kayne withdrew his run for presidency on 4th November by taking to twitter to make his announcement as NME recorded, “by posting an image of a map of the United States with its states shaded in according to those that have thus far been won by fellow candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The caption accompanying the image simply said “WELP”.” Although admitting defeat, it seems Kayne is open to the idea for running for presidency again in 2024.

KANYE 2024 pic.twitter.com/Zm2pKcn12t

— ye (@kanyewest) November 4, 2020

Earlier this year, Kayne stated that he wanted to buy Universal Music Group for £25 billion. This news came after open discussions on twitter about artists and their rights to music and it’s ownership. NME noted, “West recently suggested new guidelines for recording and publishing deals in the future of the music industry, discussing contracts, masters and rights issues in the music industry on Twitter and advocating for fairer treatment for all artists.” He then revealed he is given all his artists signed to his G.O.O.D label a 50% share in profits and their master copies returned to them.

Placed at number 2 in the UK google search for artists was Sarah Harding who shared that she was diagnosed with breast cancer over the Summer. Last week in an update to NME she said she was “fighting as hard as I possibly can”. In 3rd place was Russel Watson after his ‘I’m a Celebrity’ appearance and Bugzy Malone (real name Aron Davis) snapped up 4th Place after his role in Guy Richie’s film ‘The Gentlemen,’ and his injury in a quad bike accident earlier this year. Grimes was 5th in the UK search list after giving birth with her first child with Elton Musk this year.

A google trends expert, Kirstin Wright said to Music Week, “The 2020 Year in Search lists not only reveal the most popular trends from the past 12 months, but also give insight into the biggest events in the news, politics, sports, entertainment and popular lockdown trends. As people continue to look for information in new and different ways, Google Search keeps evolving to make the world’s information accessible and useful to all.”

ICYMI: @kanyewest, Sarah Harding, @russellthevoice and @TheBugzyMalone top @Google Search results for artists in 2020 https://t.co/EqX34eL89d #Google pic.twitter.com/1fv8LYUIr3

— Music Week (@MusicWeek) December 9, 2020

Google’s Top 10 Music Artist Search

1 Kanye West
2 Sarah Harding
3 Russell Watson
4 Bugzy Malone
5 Grimes
6 Duffy
7 Meghan Trainor
8 Wiley
9 Nicola Roberts
10 Hrvy

Oh wow – it’s album time again. All those hours, days, weeks, months. All that writing, singing, recording, performing and mixing. It’s finally OUT !!!!! It always feels scary. I really hope you like it. https://t.co/wulalhC0eo pic.twitter.com/Krrcfu1QNA

— Gary Barlow (@GaryBarlow) November 27, 2020

Music News has commented on Gary approaching universal with the idea for his album saying, “I went to Universal, the record company, and I said, ‘Listen, I have got this idea but can I just record three songs? I don’t mean demos, I want to put the orchestra on, I want to mix it, I want to get right down the road with three songs’. And so I did: Big string sections, brass sections, the whole thing. I really wanted to know that it was right. Then I played it to them and they just said, ‘Listen, just go and finish the bloody thing. It’s fantastic.'”

David Joseph, boss at Universal Music UK has praised Barlow’s songwriting and the quality of his latest release to Music Week saying, “He’s got an extremely high quality threshold and he clearly knew what record he wanted to make. But it’s one thing knowing what record you want to make and how you want it to feel, the other thing is actually writing and recording a record that lives up to those expectations.”

The album which is made up of 14 songs and features artists such as Michael Bublé, Beverly Knight, Alesha Dixon and James Cordon amongst others. Luckily, The recording for the album the album was finished two weeks before lockdown after the pandemic hit. On explaining how the album came together, The Glasgow Times wrote, “And then it kind of took on another life then and I realised, actually, it’s not just an orchestral record, it’s a record celebrating musicians, that’s what it is.”

He continued to say “And their art, and the way they play together, and I don’t know if you’ve ever had the privilege of being stood near an orchestra, but to stand in the middle while they are playing my music, I mean it’s just thrilling on every level.”

As written in a previous article earlier this month in mxdwn UK, Barlow has already announced a UK Arena Tour for 2021. There is no doubt the tour will be hugely popular after the long awaited return of live music, as Gary will be performing songs from his new album with an orchestra plus special guest Beverly Knight. More information and ticket sales can be found here.

Album List

1. Who’s Driving This Thing
2. Incredible
3. Elita (ft Michael Bublé & Sebastían Yatra)
4. The Big Bass Drum
5. This Is My Time
6. Enough Is Enough (ft Beverley Knight)
7. Bad Libran
8. Eleven (ft Ibrahim Maalouf)
9. Before We Get Too Old (ft Avishai Cohen)
10. Supernatural
11. Oh What A Day (ft Chilly Gonzales)
12. What Leaving’s All About (ft Alesha Dixon)
13. The Kind Of Friend I Need (ft James Corden)
14. I Didn’t See That Coming

Deluxe edition:
15. Let’s Get Drunk
16. The Day The World Stopped Turning
17. You Make The Sun Shine (ft Barry Manilow)
18. Incredible (Live)
19. Incredible (F9 Charleston Remix)

The song has made a massive global impact, having entered the US hot 100 earlier this month and number 20 on Billboard’s global 200 chart. It has also charted high in other countries such as Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Croatia and Australia.

MusicWeek has reported Sony/ATV UK president and co-MD David Ventura to of said, “I remember our first meeting when they played us some incredible songs, and it was evident that they have the absolute ‘full set’ as writers, topliners, producers and singers. Collaborations and opportunities for them are limitless and they have incredible music coming as both artists and songwriters. We couldn’t be happier and there is a true feeling of euphoria to welcome them at Sony/ATV!”

Newley appointed head of A&R for Sony/ATV UK commented on the duo in an interview with MusicWeek, “Dan and Johnny have an endless supply of creative energy and their hard work and versatility has deservedly paid off with Head & Heart. This is just the beginning and I am excited we are a part of their next chapter and beyond.”

. @sonyatvpubuk signs @KOLIDESCOPES to global dealhttps://t.co/rEuSe0EIai pic.twitter.com/qyhNcBCZoH

— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 24, 2020

Courtidis, from Melbourne Australia, had his first hit with the single with ‘Can’t Get Better Than This.’ The song made Number 1 in nine countries, with more than 50 million streams which earnt him platinum sales. Dan Dare from London has also had success as a song writer, having collaborated with artists such as Charlie XCX, Marina & The Diamonds and Giggs amongst others.

The duo have recently released their much anticipated debut single ‘Torn,’ in the UK under the major label Atlantic Records. They spoke to Variance Magazine about the making of the video saying, “We wanted the music video to feel really British, inspired by the movies ‘Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We shot the video the week when everyone was able to come out of lockdown and so we got together a load of our friends to take part. The story plays on the idea of love lost and being ‘Torn’ between two different lives. We hope our fans will enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed shooting it.”

The powerhouse team have recently collaborated with artists such as Sigala, MNEK and Raye. There is no doubt that following the success of their latest hit, many more will be cueing up to work with them. They said to Music Week on their signing to Sony/ATV, “We are beyond excited to begin this new chapter with David, Daniel, Sarah and the entire team at Sony/ATV. They are the kind of music publisher every songwriter would be proud to have in their corner and we can’t wait to see what we accomplish together.”