Taylor Swift’s latest offering, The Tortured Poets Department, has become the first album in Spotify history to reach more than 300 million streams in a single day. Swift, 34, also became the most-streamed artist in a single day on the platform when her record was released on April 19, according to the streaming service. The company wrote on X: “History made! On April 19, 2024, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the first album in Spotify history to have over 300M streams in a single day.” On April 19th, 2024, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT became Spotify's most-streamed album i ..read more

ARIA award winning jazz trio, Elixir, comprises Australian music treasure, Katie Noonan, alongside her husband Zac Hurren on piano and soprano sax, and Benjamin Hauptmann on acoustic guitars. Ahead of the talented trio’s performance at Tallagandra Hill Winery, Gundaroo on Saturday 9 March, we caught up with Katie Noonan to talk musical memories and journeys, and collaborating with national living treasure, Michael Leunig. What’s your earliest memory of being musical? I  was actually in utero when my mum was performing Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes in early 1977 at the Sydney Opera ..read more

Lightning and rain was not enough to dampen the spirits of 80,000 Taylor Swift fans on night one of her Sydney tour, with the second show kicking off in a matter of hours. Swift mania is taking over the city after her first show at Accor Stadium on Friday night which included a weather hiccup when heavy rain and lightning hit the city forcing fans to be evacuated briefly. The popstar’s arrival on stage was only delayed by 20 minutes but the opening act Sabrina Carpenter was cancelled due to the tumultuous weather. But in good news for Carpenter fans, she was brought on during Swift’s set with ..read more

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is set to perform the first of her Australian Eras Tour concerts in front of what’s expected to be the biggest audiences of her entire career. With her first concert on Friday night, crowds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground are tipped to reach a total of 260,000 people across her three dates at the stadium. That will be followed by another four sold-out concerts from the 14-time Grammy winner at Accor Stadium in Sydney from next Friday. The Eras tour takes in every phase of Taylor Swift’s career in a concert that runs more than three hours, from her Speak Now album to ..read more

Forget her “Reputation”. Taylor Swift has a brand new album coming out. Accepting the Grammy for best pop vocal album, Taylor said she had been keeping a secret for two years. “My brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage,” she announced. And so she did. On her social media, Swift posted a black-and-white image of her reclining across pillows. The top half of her face and lower half of her legs are cut off in the low-contrast image. All’s fair in love and poetry… New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMEN ..read more

“Music’s biggest night” the Grammy Awards are underway in Los Angeles and the excitement started early withKylie Minogue winning her second ever Grammy. Minogue won best pop dance recording for Padam Padam – her first Grammy win in 18 years. Billie Eilish and Finneas arrived early to collect their trophy for best song written for visual media, awarded to the brother-sister duo for their “Barbie” ballad What Was I Made For. “This is shocking to me,” Eilish said. “I was expecting to turn right back around and leave.” “I want to thank our parents, our dad, who worked as a construction worker at M ..read more

Major tours, strong demand and government support all bode well for the nation’s live music scene continuing its post-pandemic recovery in 2024. But an industry leader says while big concerts are popular, music lovers should not forget to support budding local artists as live shows continue to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. International names such as Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Blink-182 and Pink are set to fill stadiums this year, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. The influx of major acts heading to Australia in 2024 includes former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson, Raye, Pa ..read more

Australians have said what they said, voting American rapper and singer Doja Cat’s song Paint The Town Red into top spot in Triple J’s Hottest 100. With Saturday’s win, Doja Cat becomes the first female rapper and woman of colour to take top honours in the countdown. The wildly popular song, from the artist’s fourth studio album Scarlet, has topped music charts in more than a dozen countries including Australia. Triple J music director Nick Findlay said he had little doubt Paint The Town Red would appear in the countdown when he first heard it in August. “Over an iconic sample of Dionne Warwic ..read more

One unanticipated high spot of the Canberra musical year has turned out to be the appearance of The LGT Young Soloists at the Snow Concert Hall on Saturday evening, 25 November. The name “young soloists” is apt, for though the group appears and plays as a string orchestra, it is an ensemble of young virtuosi, aged from 14 to 23, with members drawn from 20 nations. It was founded in 2013 by Alexander Gilman, now a professor of violin at London’s Royal College of Music, who led Saturday night’s performances. The program – opening and closing with substantial works but with shorter pieces between ..read more

Earth and Sky, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 season, will be “an exciting program of orchestral concerts, chamber music matinees, and evenings dedicated to Australian voices and stories that explore our understanding of Earth and the universe,” CEO Rachel Thomas announced at the season launch today.   Rachel Thomas, CEO of the CSO. Photo: Martin Ollman The season will include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, his exploration of childhood and innocence, with its famous sleigh bells; Sibelius’ wild and uplifting Second Symphony, “a confession of the soul” and seen by many as a symbol of Fi ..read more