Noah Cyrus Truly Finds Her Voice on ‘The Hardest Part’: Album Review

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu is adding some new voices to its upcoming animated comedy Koala Man.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Two decades ago, as the turn-of-the-century NYC indie-rock scene burst out of its East Village and Williamsburg incubators, few probably expected that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would end up having the most wide-ranging career of the bunch. After all, a trio consisting of a wiz-kid guitarist, powerhouse drummer and a fireball lead singer might have made for explosive shows and a scrappy, deceptively diverse debut EP, but with no shade intended to the Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio and all the others, the multiple musical directions the band would go did not seem to be in the cards. The Yeahs had the first hit single of the pack (2003’s “Maps”) and varied their approach with each successive album, peaking with 2009’s unexpectedly electronic-heavy “It’s Blitz.” That album represented the end of that particular thread: The group released one more, rockier album “Mosquito” in 2013 (which, significantly, fulfilled their major-label contract) and then basically went on hiatus. In the years since, singer Karen O released a stellar collaboration with Danger Mouse, “Lux Prima” and co-composed the score for the animated film “Where Is Anne Frank?,” guitarist Nick Zinner also scored films and worked with Phoebe Bridgers and Songhoy Blues, and drummer Brian Chase started his own label. Such hiatuses are often permanent, but the group reunited for a tour in 2017, and five years and a pandemic later, there’s finally a reunion album — and it continues the group’s evolution with a powerful, more seasoned take on their earlier sounds.

Selome Hailu Hannah Gadsby has entered a multi-title deal at Netflix, under which they will tape their a new stand-up special for the streamer, in addition to hosting and producing another multi-comic special featuring gender-diverse comedians. Gadsby’s new hour-long special will premiere in 2023 and comes from the Australian leg of their most recently world tour, titled “Body of Work.” Taped at the Sydney Opera House with assistance from the Sydney Opera House trust, it will be Gadsby’s third piece of stand-up comedy for Netflix, following on the specials “Nanette” — which became a phenomenon in 2018 — and “Douglas” from 2020. The multi-comic special will be taped next year, with premiere timing yet to be announced. Along with spotlighting performers of various gender identities, the cast will also be chosen from several countries.

Hannah Gadsby is returning to the Netflix fold – nearly twelve months after slamming Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and calling the streamer an “amoral algorithm cult”.

When filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson was growing up in Northern Ireland in the late 1980s, she says the whole of the island – the North and the Republic – desperately needed transformation.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor There’s been no shortage of neo-R&B albums over the past few years, but so many of them are led by breathy female singers who feel like they’re singing in your ear — very few have had full-voiced singers at the forefront. And although Muni Long isn’t a belter and does put on the bedroom voice on a couple of tracks, her first full-length album is a blast of vintage ‘90s R&B that isn’t trying to be cute: It’s filled with frank lyrics about of love and sex from an artist who’s been around for more than a minute. Working under the name of Priscilla Renea, Muni has long been a songwriter whose soul and pop smarts helped forge hits such as Ariana Grande’s “Imagine,” Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It,” Rihanna’s “California King Bed,” along with tracks for Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Miranda Lambert, Selena Gomez and more.She released strong albums under that name too — 2009’s “Jukebox” and 2018’s “Coloured” — but neither of those records had the sparkle, innovation and warmth that her songwriting catalog contained. A change of name, an independently-released EP featuring the haunting, quirky hit “Hrs and Hrs,” and suddenly, Muni Long is a new artist with a remarkably seasoned and strong debut album.

Noah Cyrus has teamed up with her famous father, Billy Ray Cyrus, for a new, emotional duet version of her song «Noah (Stand Still).»The heartfelt and resonant tune — the solo version of which serves as the first track on her recently released debut album — marks her first collaboration with her dad.The tune details advice Noah got from her dad amid her secret battle with Xanax addiction, which she only recently opened up about earlier this year.“Death upon my doorstep, if I took just one more step/ There’d be nothin’ left of me except these songs," Noah sings in the powerful track. «And my father told me, ‘Noah/ When you don’t know where you’re goin’/ Just stand still/ Soon enough you will.'»Billy Ray croons the second verse, before the duo harmonize for the remainder of the song, recalling the powerful guidance her father shared with her amid he battle with addiction and her recovery journey. -- a 10-track album — dropped earlier this month, and Cyrus' North American headlining tour kicks off Oct.

Marta Balaga “The Woodcutter Story,” a Finnish drama with a surreal touch, has been sold to Australia (Palace Films), Baltics (Estinfilm), Sweden (Njuta), Germany (Eksystent) and France (Urban), Paris-based Totem Films shared exclusively with Variety. Directed by Mikko Myllylahti, it sees a good man who runs into bad luck: he loses his job and his wife leaves, but Pepe (Jarkko Lahti) is trying to keep his head high. Even when strange things start to happen in his sleepy village. The film, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics Week, screens Wednesday at the Helsinki Film Festival – Love & Anarchy. It will have its North American premiere at Chicago Film Festival and its U.K. premiere at the London Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Truly Original, the production company behind Ink Master and a number of The Real Housewives shows, is stepping up its presence on the west coast.

By this time, don’t we know just about everything there is to know about Alfred Hitchcock? Few, if any, other filmmakers have had their lives and careers examined, explored and analyzed as much as has the vaunted master of suspense. So unless incontrovertible evidence were to be suddenly found that the director secretly fathered a dozen illegitimate children by as many women and personally supplied Churchill with an untraceable poison powder to drop into Stalin’s tea in Yalta, only to see the prime minister chicken out, it’s quite unlikely that much new will ever be added to his life story that we don’t already know.

Conor McGregor has admitted he "can't believe" he's being paid to film a Hollywood remake of Road House. McGregor, 34, is currently in the Dominican Republic completing his filming duties for his role in the remake of the 1989 action film, which featured blockbuster stars such as Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott.

Loud and clear. Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause clarified that she still wants to have kids and revealed she even plans to adopt a child.

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

Noah Cyrus was "stripped of [her] identity" as a child. The 22-year-old singer admitted growing up in the shadow of her famous older sister Miley Cyrus took a toll on her, but writing her latest album 'The Hardest Part' has finally helped her to "heal". She told the i newspaper: “Something that really hurt me as a child was that I was stripped of my identity.

Noah Cyrus speaks candidly about her Xanax addiction in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1.

The National Rugby League Women’s Premiership has struck Newcastle player Caitlin Moran with the ban hammer because she criticized the late queen.

Jáde Osiberu, the co-writer and director of Gangs of Lagos, has signed an overall deal with Prime Video, the studio behind the upcoming feature drama.