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The Lead: Perry's Raw Return to Center Stage Linda Perry, the iconic singer-songwriter behind 4 Non Blondes and hitmaker for stars like Christina Aguilera and Pink, is stepping back into the spotlight after years working behind the scenes. Her new documentary "Linda Perry: Let It Die Here" and accompanying album capture her journey through breast cancer, the death of her abusive mother, and her complex emotional landscape as she reclaims her artistic identity. The Event Details: Cancer, Loss, and Creative Resilience The documentary, directed by Don Hardy who had been filming Perry at work, captures her just over a week after a double mastectomy, walking gingerly into her studio while carrying surgical drains she calls "blood grenades." As Perry recovered from surgery, her elderly mother—who had physically and mentally abused her as a child—became ill and died three months later. Perry took her mother into her home for her final months, setting up a bed next to hers, reflecting that "the best gift my mom gave me was a peaceful death." The Creative Process: From Personal Pain to Artistic Expression Perry's new solo album, her first in 27 years, is a visceral, propulsive work about her mother's death and the complex feelings it unearthed. Songs include "I Am Daughter," "Now That She's Gone," "Liberation," and "What Lies With You," in which she calls her mother "the villain and the muse." The documentary shows Perry's songwriting prowess in action as she jams with Dolly Parton and Kate Hudson, while also capturing her hosting an event at South By Southwest for EqualizeHer, an organization she co-founded to promote gender equality in the music industry. The Industry Impact: A Voice for Gender Equality Perry has long been an advocate for gender equity in music. Early in her career, she was famously denied a producer credit on "What's Up," the track that sent 4 Non Blondes stratospheric. She let it go at the time but vowed it would never happen again. Through EqualizeHer and her own experiences, Perry continues to challenge the industry's gender disparities. The documentary also captures her re-formed 4 Non Blondes performing at the BottleRock festival, where she insisted on performing new material rather than just their old hits, stating "I want to play something new." The Personal Journey: Confronting Trauma and Finding Strength The documentary offers intimate glimpses into Perry's personal struggles, including a scene where she's captured dancing goofily in her closet to Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home," which triggers deep emotional release. Another powerful moment shows her ripping open her shirt during a photoshoot in the desert to reveal her surgical scars, describing it as "ad-lib, a kind of a 'fuck-it' moment" that felt powerful afterward. Perry admits she's a workaholic who finds safety in creating: "Like most people who are in trauma, I am afraid to be left alone. Creating, working and music is where I feel safe." The Future Outlook: New Music and Continued Advocacy Perry's re-formed 4 Non Blondes are working on a new album due out early next year, based on material she wrote specifically for festival performances. She continues to collaborate with other artists, including Paris Jackson and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers. While the documentary was difficult for Perry to watch—"It was like watching a horror movie"—she recognizes its therapeutic value: "I think maybe the film helped me process and see something I didn't know I was doing." As she walks into the distance at the end of the documentary, Perry reflects: "Everything I've just experienced is going to change my life drastically. Life and death happened just now, so let's see what happens from here."

The Rise of Frances Chang's Unique Sound Frances Chang, a Brooklyn-based musician, is gaining attention for her distinctive songwriting style, which is both magnetic and uncanny. Her music is often compared to artists like Cate Le Bon, Astrid Sonne, and Julia Holter. Exploring Chang's Musical Style Chang's songs are characterized by their internal logic, evoking a sense of uncanny domesticity. Her music features casual piano refrains, rainy percussion, and softly flaring synths. Her new single, 'No Avatar,' showcases her conversational and serene vocals. This Week's Best New Tracks Lambchop – Weakened: A simple yet beautiful ballad featuring Kurt Wagner's vocals, backed by guitar, choir, and Justin Vernon on banjo. Silvana Estrada and PabloPablo – Antes de Ti: A elegant song featuring Estrada's cuatro and a liquid, orchestral pivot. Josh da Costa – Proving Me Right: A new wave anthem with a chorus reminiscent of Sparks. Martin Brugger – Knees, Hands, Shoulders, Teeth: Ambient music with softly clanking, mournful sounds and traces of Kentucky post-rock. Bedouine – On My Own: A ballad with classic piano-driven MOR and affecting vocals. Resonant Bodies – Failed Hornpipe for Jacken: A refined and hopeful song featuring nyckelharpa and hammered dulcimer. Liz Lawrence – Exploded Into Flowers: A powerful tribute to her sister, with a robust repeating melody. Discover More New Music Subscribe to the Guardian's rolling Add to Playlist selections on Spotify or transfer it to Apple, Tidal, or other services to explore more new music.

The Resilience of a Living LegendAt 84, Paul Simon has returned to the stage not with the triumphant victory lap of his past farewell tours, but with a profound sense of humility. His latest endeavor, 'A Quiet Celebration,' is a stark departure from the euphoric spectacles of his youth. Despite chronic hearing loss and a voice that has lost its power and range, Simon has reinvented his performance style to prioritize intimacy and vulnerability over technical perfection. The result is a performance that feels less like a concert and more like a private conversation with history.A Quiet Celebration: Redefining the Farewell TourThe event marks a significant technical and artistic shift in how Simon approaches his legacy. Gone are the full-scale productions; in their place is a hushed, introspective atmosphere that demands silence and understanding from the audience. The tour, which kicked off at the Liverpool Arena, features a unique setlist structure that blends his new work with deep cuts from his extensive catalogue.Seven Psalms: A complete performance of his 2023 song cycle, which originated from dreams and explores themes of life, love, and death.Deep Cuts: Rarely performed tracks like 'The Late Great Johnny Ace' and reworked classics such as 'Slip Slidin' Away' and 'Homeward Bound'.Graceland Revival: A nod to his seminal album, featuring the last surviving member of the African musicians from that era.The Strategic Shift in Setlist CompositionThe data of the performance reveals a calculated pivot toward emotional resonance over sonic grandeur. By stripping back the instrumentation—using brushes on drums rather than sticks—and focusing on the raw quality of his voice, Simon has created a new metric for success: audience connection. The setlist is not a greatest-hits compilation but a curated journey through his personal and spiritual evolution.Key moments, such as the delivery of 'The Sound of Silence' and the extended 'The Boxer,' demonstrate how Simon uses his physical limitations to his advantage. The loss of vocal power has been replaced by an authority born of experience, allowing him to deliver lines like 'I am leaving, but the fighter still remains' with a weight that younger artists might struggle to replicate.The Art of Intimacy Over EuphoriaThis tour is reshaping the industry's understanding of how aging artists can maintain relevance. It challenges the notion that a farewell tour must be a spectacle of lights and sound. Instead, Simon proves that the most powerful performances can be quiet, relying on the strength of the material and the emotional bond between artist and audience.The 'A Quiet Celebration' is a response to the changing landscape of live entertainment, where authenticity is increasingly valued over production value. By embracing his frailty, Simon has turned a potential weakness into his greatest strength, creating a shared space of reflection and gratitude.A Legacy Defined by VulnerabilityLooking ahead, this tour sets a precedent for how musical icons will approach their final chapters. It suggests that the future of farewell tours lies in authenticity and emotional depth rather than technical prowess. As Simon continues to tour the UK and Ireland until May 20, his legacy is being rewritten not as the end of a career, but as the evolution of an artist who refuses to be silenced by time or circumstance.

The Psychic: A Return to Supernatural TheatreSheila Gold, supposedly Britain's most accurate psychic, wants to be taken seriously by her new clients. "This is not theatre," she warns them, as she lights seven candles for a seance. This is an insider joke, as theatre is exactly what it is—a carefully constructed illusion designed to make audiences question what they believe to be true.The Creative Minds Behind the Spiritual IllusionThe Psychic marks the return of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman after the spooky stage and screen success of Ghost Stories. Now the writer-directors are unnerving audiences again with grinding sound effects and sudden lighting bursts, toying with us to believe and yet not believe in voices from beyond the grave. Where Ghost Stories was an all-male affair, this one is a female-centred tale in which 18-year-old Tara tries to inherit Sheila's fairground wisdom, while matriarch Rosa does all she can to undermine the daughter she schooled.Performances That Bridge Belief and DoubtIn the lead role, Eileen Walsh does an excellent job switching from glitzy entertainer in sparkling pink jacket and matching heels to hard-bitten operator, building on the received wisdom of 10 generations of fortune tellers. The script is littered with the language of showmen, from the jossers whose fortunes they read to the oojas who mentor them, adding to the impression of ancient knowledge being passed down. This creates a rich tapestry of performance that balances skepticism with genuine supernatural possibility.A Tale of Two Halves: Strengths and ShortcomingsDyson and Nyman request that the audience keep the plot twists secret. This is reasonable in the first half where nothing is what it seems. But in the second, the ideas dry up. With little to surprise us beyond the odd jarring sound effect, the play drifts towards Victorian melodrama: too much expository dialogue, too little tension and an ending that is uncharacteristically predictable. The Psychic ultimately delivers medium-strength storytelling that entertains but doesn't fully satisfy.The Place of Spiritual Theatre in Contemporary CultureIn an age of increasing scientific skepticism, plays like The Psychic serve an important cultural function by exploring the human desire to connect with something beyond the material world. The Psychic's exploration of spiritual fraud versus genuine supernatural possibility taps into timeless questions about belief, deception, and the power of suggestion. While this particular production may not achieve the heights of Ghost Stories, it continues a tradition of theatrical supernatural storytelling that continues to captivate audiences.

The Lead The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, a short story by Hilary Mantel, has been adapted into a provocative theatre production. The play explores power and powerlessness in the era of IRA hunger strikers and horrendous levels of unemployment. The Event Details The play, adapted by Alexandra Wood, is rooted in the era of IRA hunger strikers, the sinking of the Belgrano, and horrendous levels of unemployment. It is about power and powerlessness, and the sort of direct action that is too much. The production features a talented cast, including Robbie O'Neill and Anita Reynolds. The Impact Analysis The play's exploration of power and powerlessness is timely and thought-provoking. The adaptation of Mantel's story is a bold and exciting piece of theatre that challenges the audience to think about the ramifications of violence and direct action. The Prediction The production is set to run at the Everyman theatre in Liverpool until May 23rd. It is likely to continue to spark important conversations about power, powerlessness, and the impact of violence on individuals and society.

The Bleakest Office Party: A New Critique of Financial PowerBullyache's new piece, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, opens with a scene that feels like the aftermath of the bleakest office party imaginable. The stage is dominated by a giant boardroom table, featuring a naked man on the floor, another with trousers around his ankles, and someone urinating into a whisky glass. This visceral imagery sets the tone for a production that uses dance theatre to deconstruct the toxic masculinity and arrogance of the financial elite.The show is not merely a performance; it is a commentary on the 2008 global economic crisis. The set design, featuring a wall of broken glass, symbolizes the shattered economy and the people who drove the truck through it. The narrative follows these 'wasted cretins' as they face a surreal, less glossy version of the TV show Industry, turning their fate into a menacing game of power and domination.From Bohemian Club Rituals to Gameshow DominationWhile the opening is chaotic, the piece takes a sharp narrative turn halfway through, transforming into a gameshow that explicitly identifies the characters as the bankers responsible for the financial meltdown. The creative duo, Courtney Deyn and Jacob Samuel, draw inspiration from the secretive Bohemian Club, a gathering of rich and powerful men known for rituals like the 'cremation of care,' which the show interprets as an absolution of guilt.Setting: Sadler's Wells East, London (until 9 May)Music: Original scores by Bullyache, featuring Shostakovich's chamber symphony in C minorThemes: Power, domination, and the 'cremation of care'The Atmosphere of Guilt and LonelinessThe atmosphere-making in the production is described as masterful, if depressing. The soundscapes are cranium-shaking, blending classical leaps with Latin American swivel and punchy folk dance. The inclusion of quasi-religious imagery and a cleaner singing Ave Maria amidst the body fluids adds a layer of dark irony and spiritual desolation.However, the review notes that the piece is reaching for something bigger. While the critique of the 'banking bro' archetype is clear, the show lacks specific personal stories. The political message is somewhat generic ('big bankers bad') and would benefit from more concrete details about the characters' lives and the long-term ramifications of their actions.Future of Political Dance TheatreBullyache has demonstrated brilliant ambition with this production, successfully creating a world that is unpredictable and intense. However, the lack of specific narrative depth suggests that for this genre of political dance theatre to truly resonate, creators must move beyond archetypes and provide the 'sting' necessary to make the audience feel the consequences of the financial crisis on a human level.

The Story Behind 'Hen' If oppressive regimes inadvertently give rise to striking artistic works of resistance, then Hen might just be a parting gift from Viktor Orbán's far-right regime. This compelling, original film, told from the perspective of a hen, was only made because Hungarian film-maker György Pálfi could no longer create anything in his home country. The Event Details Orbán's 16 years of cronyism banished any chance of funding a film in Budapest, so Pálfi – who has directed eight wildly original films – was driven into exile. Searching for a universal story he could tell even when filming in a culture or country he didn’t fully understand, he and co-writer and partner Zsófia Ruttkay settled on a biopic of a factory-farmed chicken. The Data Analysis The film begins very deliberately, by simply following the heroine hen’s birth and escape from factory-farming shackles. To tell this story, Pálfi had to mobilise eight identical leading ladies. Each was trained for two months before the shoot, to become “human friendly”. An animal trainer handled them during filming, and although Pálfi struggled to tell them apart, they soon realised that each chicken possessed a special power. The Impact Analysis Hen serves as an innocent eyewitness, through which we see the foibles of human behaviour with new clarity. At times, it almost feels as if her beady gaze is casting moral judgment. The film’s revealing scenes of factory farming – and the quiet desperation we imagine Hen feels when her eggs are repeatedly snatched – may turn audiences vegetarian, or at least away from factory-farmed chicken. The Prediction With no financial support available for independent film-making in Hungary, Pálfi headed first to Mexico, gradually developing the idea of making his star a powerless chicken, through whose adventures would be woven a human story. The film will likely inspire a new perspective on the lives of both chickens and humans, and the consequences of our actions.

The Theatricality of the Oval OfficeComedian Munya Chawawa’s new documentary, Wrestling With Trump, offers a startling new psychological framework for understanding the former president’s meteoric rise. Rather than viewing Trump’s behavior through traditional political lenses, Chawawa posits that his political style has been cribbed entirely from the world of WWE SmackDown. This theory, which Chawawa dubs the 'theory of knocking everyone unconscious,' suggests that the American political stage has been transformed into a wrestling ring where the suspension of disbelief is the ultimate weapon.Deconstructing Trump's WWE PlaybookThe documentary dissects the specific mechanics of Trump’s performance, identifying three core elements borrowed from professional wrestling that have reshaped modern politics:Hyperbole: The fact-allergic triumphalism where reality is bent to fit a narrative, exemplified by the claim that 'Michael Jordan said I’m better at basketball.'Smack Talk: Strategic rudeness and crowd-bullying, seen in nicknames like 'crooked Hillary' and 'sleepy Joe,' designed to belittle opponents while energizing a base.Kayfabe: The willingness to suspend disbelief. This concept is central to the analysis, suggesting that the audience’s belief in the 'reality' of the performance is more important than the truth itself.The Business of Politics and WrestlingThe documentary highlights the symbiotic relationship between the wrestling industry and Trump’s political career. Key moments include Trump’s infamous appearance at WrestleMania 23, the 'Battle of the Billionaires,' where he physically pushed promoter Vince McMahon. The film also notes the crossover of wrestling personalities into the political sphere, such as Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt open at the Republican National Convention in 2024. Perhaps most striking is the appointment of Linda McMahon, former wrestling executive, as the US Secretary of Education, blurring the lines between entertainment and governance.The Erosion of Reality in Public DiscourseChawawa explores the 'Attitude Era' of the early 2000s, characterized by controversy and stereotypes, as a precursor to Trump’s rhetoric. The film interviews former wrestlers who played villainous roles, such as an Italian-American who played a 'villainous Arab' and Dan Richards, who played a character called 'Progressive Liberal' beaten to pulp by crowds. This analysis extends to Chawawa’s own visit to a 'Magathering' (a Trump supporters' night), where he encounters supporters who believe they have personally investigated the '30,000 lies' Trump told in his first term—a twist that underscores the dangerous power of the 'kayfabe' narrative.The Future of Political PerformanceUltimately, Chawawa suggests that we are all now living within a script. By comparing his own experience to Louis Theroux’s forays into the manosphere, Chawawa argues that cultural and political scripts are ubiquitous. The danger lies not in the performance itself, but in forgetting that it is a performance. As the line between the theatre of wrestling and the reality of politics continues to dissolve, the challenge for the public becomes maintaining the awareness that the show is on, even when the audience believes the drama is real.

The Master Photographer's Lens Steven Meisel, a name synonymous with high-fashion photography, has unveiled a stunning collection of portraits in London, featuring some of the most iconic figures of our time. Faces of Fashion and Art The exhibition showcases Meisel's incredible skill in capturing the unique essence of his subjects, including supermodel Twiggy and designer Bella Freud. His photographs are not just images; they are narratives that speak volumes about the people and the era they represent. A Photographic Legacy Meisel's work is a testament to his enduring influence on photography and fashion. His ability to convey the personality and story of each subject through his lens has made him a legend in his field. This exhibition is a must-see for anyone who appreciates the art of photography and the culture it represents. The Intersection of Art and Fashion This collection in London is a celebration of the intersection between art, fashion, and photography. It invites viewers to explore the spaces where these worlds collide and to appreciate the beauty and significance of Meisel's work. A Lasting Impact As visitors leave the exhibition, they carry with them not just memories of the images they saw, but also a deeper understanding of the power of photography to capture the human experience. Steven Meisel's portraits are more than just pictures; they are a window into the souls of the people who have shaped our culture.