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The Coral have released a “cursed carol” to mark the start of December – listen to ‘She Died On Christmas Day’ below. It is the Merseyside band’s first ever Christmas song, and it is being released on a limited edition 7” single alongside the spoken-word track ‘Christmas On Coral Island’, featuring the voice of frontman James Skelly’s late grandfather Ian, who is credited as The Great Muriarty. ‘She Died On Christmas Day’ is haunted by an eerie, menacing festive spirit, with organ lines and chugging guitar chords that seem to point backwards to Halloween as much as forwards to Christmas. Listen to ‘She Died On Christmas Day’ and check out the single artwork here: The 7” single is available now via Run On Records and you can buy your copy here. Keyboardist Nick Power has said: “We love fifties and early sixties rock n’ roll, especially the British stuff. To us, it’s the sound of where we grew up: New Brighton and the fair, the lost piers, the thrill and danger of towns at the end of existence. If there’s an opening where we get to explore that side of us, we’re always up for it.” This is The Coral’s first new music since their 11th studio album ‘Sea Of Mirrors’ in 2023. That record included appearances from Cillian Murphy and John Simm, as well as from their former member Bill Ryder-Jones. In September, however, the band did release an 8-bit retro video game version of their self-titled debut album, dubbed ‘The Coral Caves Of Illusion – Debut Album Celebration’. They also oversaw the new documentary Dreaming Of You, which was directed by James Slater and told the story of the band’s formation and the recording of that debut album. It premiered at the Sheffield Doc Fest in June before enjoying a wider release. Next August, they will be on the bill as part of Courteeners’ huge outdoor show at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park, with The Vaccines, Getdown Services and Girl In The Year Above all also playing. Find more information here and buy any remaining tickets here. The post The Coral release “cursed carol” dark festive single ‘She Died On Christmas Day’ appeared first on NME.

Fans have been calling out Metro Boomin over his claims that he chooses to stay “completely neutral” – highlighting his past feud with Drake. READ MORE: Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud: the full timeline It comes as the rapper made a recent appearance on Posted On The Corner, and shed light on how he tries to stay out of the drama when it comes to his peers. When asked about what “peace has taught him”, he explained how he tries to be neutral when it comes to disagreements, and chooses to “keep the peace” rather than get too involved in debate. “I’m not going to say everything’s easier, but it’s a lot smoother to keep the peace. Even in the city, everybody knows I’m like Switzerland. I’m completely neutral,” he explained. “Even a lot of stuff that done gone on in the past […] I’ve been able to comfortably move how I move and wherever I move around whoever. Everybody understands and respects the fact that I’m like Switzerland and don’t expect me to take a side or do this or do that… I find peace in keeping the peace.” He added: “I wish everybody the best, I pray for people I don’t know, I don’t want no problems with nobody, I just want to make music. Which is what I love. I’d do it for free, and love my family, and just keep growing.” Since the interview was shared, fans have come forward to highlight how this stance seems to contradict his longtime feud with Drake. Last year, Metro Boomin and Future enlisted Kendrick Lamar on their song ‘Like That’ – a diss track which reignited the years-long feud between Drake and Lamar. He also took part in an interview around that time and said how he and the Canadian rapper “had a personal issue”, and fell out with him as the disagreement “really hurt me and disappointed me”. He also released ‘BBL Drizzy’, a diss track aimed at Drake, which was a nod to the meme started by Rick Ross to mock Drake’s alleged use of plastic surgery. “At least have the balls to stand on everything you said. The elimination plot failed, and now they’re trying to act like it never happened,” one person wrote on X/Twitter, not convinced by the comments made in the recent interview. Another shared a screenshot of ‘BBL Drizzy’ and wrote: “cmon bruh he definitely took a side here”. “He released a song called ‘BBL Drizzy’ during the beef and no more working with Gunna over a case that has nothing to do with him , funny how he’s saying he don’t take no sides when he clearly do,” a third person shared. Find more fan reactions below. These people are such cowards. It's disgusting. At least have the balls to stand on everything you said. The elimination plot failed, and now they're trying to act like it never happened. Smh. — Jesse (@jniz4president) November 29, 2025 cmon bruh he definitely took a side here pic.twitter.com/AgumxAXArg — Spectre (@spectre0799) November 29, 2025 He released a song called BBL drizzy during the beef and no more working with Gunna over a case that has nothing to do with him , funny how he’s saying he don’t take no sides when he clearly do — Deechairman (@_dchairman) November 29, 2025 Maybe he means starting now — ladidai (@ladidaix) see linkinbyeo (@ladidaix) November 29, 2025 pic.twitter.com/Z4MfdqjTsU — Joey (@gothamhiphop) November 29, 2025 you sure you ain't picked side between drake and all them rappers beef??? future, kendrick, mustard, e.t.c or should i keep going?? you took advantage of the moment and dropped multiple mixtapes, – we dont trust, – we still don't trust you yoooo you think we forgot??? bfr — milan (@0xfmilan) November 29, 2025 Wasn’t the slogan for the last album metro created “stay on that side” ??? Back peddle gang lmao — SmurfsUp (@carsonslambo) November 30, 2025 It is worth noting that while Drake and Metro Boomin have been feuding on and off for a long time now, the latter did dismiss claims in 2024 that his two albums with Future – ‘We Don’t Trust You’ and ‘We Still Don’t Trust You’ – were designed as a jab at the fellow rapper. “People really think we sat for two…

Bella Ramsey and Celeste joined Matt Maltese at a recent show at London’s Roundhouse – watch footage of the moment below. READ MORE: Matt Maltese on new album ‘Hers’: “The wallowing is disrupted by the comedy” As part of his ‘Tour For You My Whole Life’ trek, the British-Canadian singer-songwriter played the biggest hometown show of his career on Friday night (November 28) and brought out two special guests to mark the occasion. The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, who has been making music with Maltese over the past year under their new moniker ‘Bello’, joined him for a new version of ‘Cure For Emptiness’, while Celeste – who he has has co-written with for many years – took to the stage to perform the title track of her new album ‘Woman of Faces’, a track they’d penned together. The Roundhouse show concluded the UK leg of his tour, which is set to wrap next month after a series of shows across Europe – you can check out a full list of remaining dates below, and find tickets here. Matt Maltese performing with Bella #Bello pic.twitter.com/v5LAgGz012 — juneglooom (@cxoxocabello) November 29, 2025 View this post on Instagram View this post on Instagram @tonightmatthew Thank you Roundhouse #celeste #roundhouse ♬ original sound – Matt Maltese Matt Maltese’s remaining ‘Tour For You My Whole Life’ 2025 tour dates are: DECEMBER 1 – La Cigale, Paris 3 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels 4 – Tivoli Vrendenburg, Utrecht 6 – Kantine, Cologne 7 – Metropol, Berlin 9 – WUK, Vienna 11 – Legend Club, Milan 13 – Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona Earlier this year, Maltese sat down with NME ahead of sharing his new album ‘Hers’, and touched on him writing for other artists, including Celeste and Tom Misch, and most recently, has seen him get a songwriting credit on Rosalia’s new album ‘Lux’’. “The best songs that we look back on as a human race are still going to be the ones where the verse was really good and the chorus was really good,” he told us of the songwriting process. “Maybe there’s more of an emphasis on vibe than there was before, but I also think that’s just an expression of how much music is out there, and it’s now incredibly important stylistically that the music is recognisable and unique in its own way.” As for how his goals have shifted since putting out debut track ‘Even If It’s A Lie’, he added: “My North Star has changed a bit in the sense that maybe at the beginning, I went through the thing most artists go through, which is just being incredibly obsessed with validation from peers and press outlets. “I felt fortunate enough that, with the first record, I achieved some of those things, and then I felt a bit lost, too. It was a bit like, ‘Oh, that four-star review didn’t make me feel complete’ or ‘That musician posting about me on their Instagram Story didn’t actually make me have a good day; it gave me 15 minutes of joy’. There was a lot for me at that age of reckoning with why I was doing it and what I was doing it for.” In other news, Maltese established his own indie label called Last Recordings On Earth back in 2023, signing NME Radar artist Searows as his first artist. After that, he also shared a covers album called ‘Songs That Aren’t Mine’ and made his theatre songwriting debut – composing all original music and lyrics for The Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production of Twelfth Night. The post Watch Bella Ramsey and Celeste join Matt Maltese at London Roundhouse show appeared first on NME.

Simple Plan have announced a UK and European arena tour for 2026. Find all the details below. The Canadian rock band will return to these shores next autumn with their ‘Bigger Than You Think!’ trek, continuing their 25th anniversary celebrations. “We had so much fun this fall in Europe & the UK, we just couldn’t wait to come back!” they wrote on social media today (Monday December 1). The forthcoming run of shows is scheduled to kick off at the O2 Apollo in Manchester on Friday October 2, ahead of a performance at the OVO Arena Wembley in London the following night (Saturday October 2). From there, Simple Plan will head out to Europe for gigs in Brussels, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Munich and other cities throughout the rest of the month. They’ll be joined on the dates by special guest openers Neck Deep (Europe only, not in the UK). Tickets go on general sale at 9am GMT this Friday (December 5) – you’ll be able to buy yours here. Alternatively, fans can access an artist pre-sale at the same time on Wednesday (3). View this post on Instagram “We couldn’t be more excited to bring our very own ‘Bigger Than You Think!’ tour all across the continent, playing full headline shows and extending our 25th anniversary celebrations,” Simple Plan said in a statement. “This means we will be performing all of our biggest hits along with fan favourites we rarely play live, spanning our entire discography. And we’re also bringing our friends Neck Deep with us, so these are going to be really special shows!” The group then took a moment to “reflect on the past few years”, saying that they felt “so grateful and amazed at how awesome it’s been to play in Europe and the UK and receive such incredible support” from fans. “It’s been so cool to see our old-school fans still there with us and a whole new generation joining them,” they went on. “The shows keep getting bigger and bigger and we can’t believe we will be playing such iconic, massive venues like Wembley Arena in London and the Accor Arena in Paris.” Simple Plan concluded: “This is a dream come true for us and we owe it all to you. Thank you so much and can’t wait to see you at the shows!” Simple Plan’s ‘Bigger Than You Think!’ UK and European tour dates are: OCTOBER 02 – Manchester, O2 Apollo 03 – London, OVO Arena Wembley 05 – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique 08 – Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle 09 – Amsterdam, AFAS 10 – Hamburg, Sporthalle 12 – Copenhagen, Den Grå Hal 13 – Oslo, Sentrum Scene 14 – Stockholm, Fållen 16 – Berlin, UFO 17 – Warsaw, Expo XXI 18 – Prague, O2 Universum 20 – Vienna, Gasometer 23 – Munich, Zenith 24 – Milan, Alcatraz 26 – Barcelona, Sant Jordi Club 27 – Madrid, Palacio Vistalegre 29 – Zurich, Halle 622 31 – Paris, Accor Arena Simple Plan wrapped up a UK and Ireland arena tour just last month. They played a show at The O2 in London as part of the run, before rounding things off with a date at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. In October, they performed at both editions of When We Were Young 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their sixth and most recent studio album, ‘Harder Than It Looks’, arrived in 2022. This May, they joined forces with Avril Lavigne on a collaborative single called ‘Young & Dumb’ –which Lavigne described as “a full-circle moment”. The post Simple Plan announce ‘Bigger Than You Think!’ 2026 UK and European arena tour appeared first on NME.

“In this county, the seventeenth century coexists with the twentieth century; similarly, education, refinement, and generosity dwell alongside pettiness, selfishness and a total lack of civic sense.”Bani Basu’s debut novel Janmabhoomi Mātribhoomi was originally published in 1987, in the Bengali periodical Anandalok’s Durga Poojo issue. It was brought as a book the next year. Debali Mookerjea-Leonard’s translation of the novel, titled The Continents Between, was published in 2024, with the publisher’s blurb introducing it as “reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake”, which it is and isn’t.Sudeep and Kamalika Mukherjee are two well-educated, well-off, fairly privileged Calcutta Bengalis living in the US in the 1980s. Their son, Swadesh, is an Indian, while their daughter, Aratrika, who was born in the US, is an American citizen. The children bred and brought up abroad are more Bengali than their counterparts in Calcutta – they speak the language, are culturally refined, and proud of their heritage. Neither has allowed their American friends to shorten their names or christen them with English nicknames. When Aratrika moves to Calcutta with her family, she’s appalled when her Bengali classmates insist on calling her Trixie and Trinca.While Sudeep exists in a haze of permanent nostalgia for the city he has left behind, Kamalika is glad for her freedom....Read more