Noughties favourite Newton Faulkner feels like a brand new artists since he ditched his infamous dreadlocks. The singer/songwriter is not only free from hair but free from the constraints of being an acoustic singer/songwriter too!
Newton Faulkner credits shaving off his trademark dreadlocks with giving him a creative reset. The Dreams Catch Me hitmaker says ditching his signature look opened him up to explore a completely new sound.
He told Daily Star: “It carried its own baggage, there was a lot of life that happened with the hair, and so it was just actually drawing a line in the sand and being like ‘we are moving on to a different period of time’. And that has been really freeing musically, which I would not have anticipated before.
“It’s that thing of not feeling exactly the same, like my shadow confuses me every time I am like ‘who’s that?’ But yeah the music has changed more than it has in the past, this album feels like the furthest step away from where I have been.”
In the past Newton has felt obligated to remain the artist who had huge success in the early noughties which has led to a feeling of disconnect with his music.
He added: “There was always points of me being like ‘right, why people are talking about that shall we have another go at that and see if we can make that happen again’, and every time we’ve done it doesn’t work because its a totally different time, I am a different person and it’s less genuine.”
Newton’s next album Octopus lands in September and his new single Gravitational sees him step away from acoustics and embrace his production “toys”, as he calls them.
The singer/songwriter’s LP has the approval of his kids – As does his hair which was a worry for him.
He laughed: “I was worried about shaving off my hair with a two-year-old, I thought he might not talk to me for a week because that’s what my sister did to my dad when he shaved off his beard when she was about 5 or 6.”
Drake praised Londoners as best rappers in world
Drake had an extensive list of surprise performers at Wireless festival over the weekend.
Fans were originally left slightly baffled when it was announced that the Canadian would be headlining all three nights of the Finsbury Park festival.
However, Drake’s vision came together with each day paying homage to a different era of his career – Friday night was all about R&B with surprise appearances from the likes of Lauryn Hill whilst Saturday celebrated rap/grime, and Sunday his global success.
And Saturday was a great night of music for us Brits as he surprised the crowd by bringing out local talent such as Dave, J Hus and Central Cee.
Drake even told the crowd that “London rappers are the best lyricists in the world”
He added: “No disrespect to America but nobody in the world can outrap London rappers. This is the highest level, this is what I aspire to.”
Caught Live: Stevie Wonder
STEVIE WONDER / BST Hyde Park, London ****
The word legend gets banded around too much, but when witnessing Stevland Hardaway Morris you are overwhelmed by a wave of genuine awe and Wonder.
Hitting the stage early to maximise his time, Stevie delivered a moving address about the state of world while wearing a shirt embroidered with the faces of fellow peace advocates Marvin Gaye and John Lennon: “The planet is too angry.”
In fact a cover of Lennon’s Imagine seemed almost too much for Stevie who could barely sing as tears ran down his face in emotion.
He soon changed tact, snapping into a cavalcade of ageless hits under the setting sun – Master Blaster, Higher Ground, Overjoyed and a gorgeous You And !.
He’s lost none of his cheek either, relentlessly poking fun at the London accent and insisting on the crowd getting key for the impossible high notes.
The band were immense, at least two of everything, while the backing vocalists all accepted their moments to shine solo as did two of Stevie’s nine kids. Four were in London, while his 13-year-old daughter Zaiah Morris received a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. A monumental finale of Superstition was superseded by hopeful anthem Another Star, a fitting closer but hard to imagine ever finding one that shines as bright as Stevie.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
