Cynthia Erivo is still on a high. It’s five days after a performance at the Hollywood Bowl when we speak, and the sense of occasion of singing at such a famous, “bucket list” venue, coupled with the emotion of seeing thousands of people coming together to hear live music – her music – after so much time away, means she will never forget it.
“I don’t know if I could even find the words to really, truly describe what I experienced,” she says. “Having 7,000 people being brave enough to come out and listen… being in front of that amount of people, seeing people react the way they did. I still can’t believe it happened.”
Now, the actress and singer is “looking forward to continuing that, getting back to audiences and performing live, because it’s definitely the lifeblood for me”.
At 34, British star Erivo is already an Emmy winner, a Grammy winner and a Tony winner, achieving all three in 2016 and 2017 for her starring role in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. The treble means she is *just* an Oscar away from the rare EGOT status of having all four; and she’s halfway there, receiving a nomination for best actress, for her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet, in 2019.
Most recently, Erivo has played her musical hero, Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest vocalists of all time, in the Genius: Aretha series chronicling five decades of the Queen of Soul’s life. It is a role that could see her add to her trophy cabinet at the upcoming 2021 Emmy Awards.
Advertisement
So hers is already an impressive CV, and she is about to add to it with the release of her debut album. After years of performing in character it is her chance, she tells Sky News, to connect with people “directly as me”.
“It will always feel different when you’re not playing someone else,” she says. “It allows me to show a different part of who I am. The more I can connect honestly, the better, I think.”
More on Cynthia Erivo
Titled Ch 1 Vs 1, it’s clear that Erivo sees this as just the beginning of her story. “My life isn’t over yet,” she says. “There’s lots to come, there’s lots to learn, there’s lots to write. This felt like a new beginning for me when it came to music so I wanted to mark that.”
The record is described as a 12-track journey into the star’s mental and emotional landscape – one marked by heartbreak and sadness, but also triumph and growth.
Erivo says she wants people to know she is a “fully rounded person who has thoughts and feelings just like everybody else”. That she has loved and lost. She doesn’t elaborate, but says: “Life isn’t always black and white, there are definitely grey areas, and there are things I’ve dealt with and have had to come through just like everyone else.”
Is that something people forget when it comes to celebrity?
“I think sometimes they do,” she says. “But that’s not necessarily just for me, I think that’s across the board. I think that celebrity or fame – for me, those words are so strange because I still don’t really associate them with myself. It makes me feel really weird to refer to myself as a celebrity because it’s not what I did this for. I think people often forget that behind all of the glitz and whatnot, is a human who deals with stuff, it’s just that often that stuff is out in the open.”
The star says when it comes to writing songs, there is nothing wrong with letting your emotions show. “I’m not afraid to be as truthful as I can be, you know. It doesn’t scare me. I guess I kind of am thrilled by being able to be vulnerable in front of people. I think the more I can do it, hopefully other people will be encouraged to be just as vulnerable.”
Erivo’s first single, The Good, was inspired by a conversation with a friend in mourning. “The phrase she said was that she just wanted to remember ‘the good’. I realised that it could be attached to both the loss of someone or a relationship or anything that forces you to think of the best of the worst of times.”
In the video, Erivo portrays a woman remembering the positive memories of a relationship with another woman that has come to an end.
“I wanted to pay homage to Black love, but often we see Black love – and most love – heterosexually,” she says. “I wanted to see something that felt normal, that showed two women in a relationship… and it wasn’t voyeuristic and it wasn’t fetishistic. It was just a normal relationship going through the ups and downs that relationships go through.“
Born and raised in London, Erivo now lives in the US, where her profile is bigger, but still has family and friends back here.
As a star of stage and screen, and soon the charts, I ask how she feels about the government’s treatment of the arts and entertainment industry in the UK during the pandemic. The promise of £1.57bn in funding came four months into the crisis, which many argued was too late, while confirmation of a £750m insurance scheme for festivals only came earlier this month – again, too late for many events for the second year running.
Then there is the plan requiring people to prove double vaccination status when entering nightclubs and other “crowded venues” from the end of September – bizarrely announced just as restrictions were lifted in July – which has been condemned as an “absolute shambles” by industry figures.
“I think there seems to be this terrible battle that keeps going on in the UK when it comes to the arts and I don’t know why it’s difficult for the government to see that the arts are worth taking care of,” Erivo says. “Because people gain so much, everybody gains from it, even commerce gains from it. If there’s art, there’s a reason for people to visit, there’s a reason for people to see it, that means people are spending money to come and see these shows, to see the plays, the films.
“For me personally, I don’t know that anyone should be forced to have a vaccine, everyone is individual and it’s up to them.
“I do hope that we’ll finally get to a place where people deem the arts a necessary thing, because it is, and it’s often how a lot of people survive. And right now, there are people I know for sure in London who are only just getting back to work, only just getting back to shows and rehearsals. And they’ve desperately needed to be back at work and haven’t really been taken care of, and that saddens me. A lot. So I hope that that gets fixed.”
Before our time is up, I ask Erivo about another professional accomplishment that cements her status as a true multi-hyphenate in the industry. She is soon to become a published author, with her debut children’s book, Remember to Dream, Ebere, to be published in a few weeks. It tells the story of a mother and child who is encouraged to dream big.
“I am telling that story for anybody who has a dream, who thinks that things are impossible, who needs to be encouraged to keep dreaming – adults or children,” Erivo says. “I wrote it because it was the thing that I can relate to the most, the idea that the biggest dream is never too big. I feel like I’m living proof of that. I have definitely been able to live within the dreams that I’ve wanted for myself and I guess I wanted to share it with everybody else. I wanted other people to feel like they have that possibility, too.”
Cynthia Erivo’s debut album, Ch 1 Vs 1, will be released on 17 September.
A new ‘leaked’ song thought to be by Drake is causing confusion among fans, with some questioning whether it is him or an AI clone.
The new song appeared on the internet over the weekend, supposedy after being leaked.
In it, the Canadian rapper seems to hit out at other musicians including Kendrick Lamar and Metro Boomin.
However, fans aren’t sure if it is actually him.
“This is clearly AI,” posted one user on X.
The song hasn’t been officially released and some listeners say they can hear small glitches in his vocal track that suggest it could have been generated by artificial intelligence.
It racked up more than 230,000 plays on YouTube, with more than 625,000 plays on Spotify, according to industry news website Music Business Worldwide, before it was removed from streaming platforms.
At the time, Universal Music Group, which publishes both artists through Republic Records, said songs like Heart On My Sleeve “represent both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law”.
Drake isn’t helping the current confusion.
He hasn’t claimed the track but has been posting about it on Instagram.
He even posted an AI deepfake of rap producer Metro Boomin in a clip from the 2002 film Drumline, which appears to be a reference to one of the lines in the song, “Metro, shut your h*e ass up and make some drums”.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Metallica frontman James Hetfield has shared details of his latest tattoo – featuring the ashes of the late Motorhead rocker Lemmy.
Hetfield posted a picture on Metallica‘s Instagram account, showing a new Aces Of Spades inking on his right middle finger in reference to Motorhead’s biggest hit.
The singer and guitarist told the band’s 11 million followers the tattoo is “a salute to my friend and inspiration Mr Lemmy Kilmister”, adding: “Without him, there would be NO Metallica.”
He went on to say: “Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now, he is still able to fly the bird at the world.”
Lemmy, whose real name was Ian Kilmister, was the founder and frontman of British rock band Motorhead. Formed in the 1970s, the band went on to release more than 20 albums, with hits including Overkill, Iron Fist and Ace Of Spades.
He died in December 2015, just days after being diagnosed with cancer.
Hetfield formed American rock act Metallica with drummer Lars Ulrich in the early 1980s, and the band released their 11th album, 72 Seasons, last year.
They are best known for hits including Enter Sandman, Master Of Puppets, Nothing Else Matters and Until It Sleeps.
‘The most badass tribute’
Advertisement
Hetfield has previously spoken about Motorhead’s influence on Metallica, and in 2022 called for Motorhead to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
“It’s just a nod, a tip of the cap. What does it really mean to be in there? I don’t know. But to some of these bands it might mean the world,” he said in a radio interview.
“With the passing of Lemmy, it’s really, really important for me to see Motorhead acknowledged in that – because there’s no more rock’n’roll person on this planet than Lemmy.”
Many fans commented on his tattoo photo, with one calling the inking “the most badass tribute possible”.
Another said: “RIP Lemmy. This is a wonderful gift!”
Olly Murs has announced the birth of his first child with his wife Amelia.
The 39-year-old singer published a photo on Instagram of the couple walking down the corridor of a hospital holding hands, with the singer carrying their newborn in a car seat.
He captioned the picture: “Our mini murs has arrived. Madison we love you so much already x.”
The couple announced in December that they were expecting their first child.
The singer married 31-year-old Amelia, a bodybuilder, in a star-studded wedding – featuring a festival called Murs Fest – in July 2023 on Osea Island in Essex.
Murs proposed to Amelia on a south coast clifftop during the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday in 2022.
The singer shot to fame on The X Factor in 2009 and has since released seven albums, achieving four number-one singles in the UK.
Murs returned to present The X Factor in 2015 after hosting its spin-off show The Xtra Factor for two years. He was also a coach on The Voice UK from 2018 to 2023.