Kings Of Leon’s Caleb Followill on ‘scary’ AI, sponsoring a darts player, and taking on Taylor Swift

Published

4 months ago

May 17, 2024

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“When you first start out, it’s you versus the world,” says Kings Of Leon’s frontman, Caleb Followill, speaking from his home in Nashville, Tennessee.

He remembers the comparisons – “the Southern Strokes, I think someone called us Y’all 2, like U2, which was funny” – and how each one added to the fire in their bellies to make their own name.

Now, with the release of their ninth album, Can We Please Have Fun (not a question), 25 years after the band was formed by Caleb and his brothers, Nathan and Jared, and cousin Matthew, Kings Of Leon have definitely done that.

“I feel like at this point, the thing we’re trying to do is something that inspires the next generation,” says Followill. “It’s kind of hard because people don’t really look to the grown-ups for answers. So we listen to the kids, we get inspired by what they’re doing.”

Earlier this week, according to the Official Charts, things were looking good for Can We Please Have Fun to become the band’s seventh UK number one album, with only one teeny thing standing in their way – Taylor Swift, another artist who cut her teeth in Nashville. After topping the charts, The Tortured Poets Society is currently sitting at number two; but this is Taylor Swift, and she’s been known to climb back before.

Followill laughs. “At this point, I think everyone’s just trying to go for number two. Which, you know, that’s great too. But I love Taylor. I’m so happy for her and her success.”

Topping the charts once again would be a “kind of validation”, he says. “That’s also kind of a notch on the belt that you can show your family one day – hey, we had a number one.” Or several number ones, even. “But we don’t make records so they’ll be number one. We’ve been beat out by a lot of music that didn’t necessarily last as long as our music has.”

‘It hasn’t been the most fun the last handful of years’

It’s been 21 years since their debut, Youth And Young Manhood, and hits including Molly’s Chambers and California Waiting, which saw them embraced by the UK way before their homeland took notice.

The band have previously talked about the tolls and pressures of fame, of sibling fights, and going through the motions. Now, Followill says there is “renewed passion and this kind of fire in us that we haven’t had necessarily, in the last handful of years”.

Can We Please Have Fun, both in title and content, definitely feels like a Kings Of Leon with a new lease of life. There were other options for its name – Actual Daydream, Moving Spectacle, Suicide Machine among them, says Followill, flicking through a notebook to remind himself – but they would all have painted a different picture.

“It hasn’t been the most fun the last handful of years”, he says. “Not being in this band necessarily, just life has been kind of heavy. There’s been a lot of seriousness. I feel like maybe it’s always been that way. It just feels much more nowadays because it’s in our face with our phones and our computers.”

Their last album, 2021’s When You See Yourself, saw the band moving into the world of NFTs, a form of cryptocurrency used to hold assets such as art and music, which exploded that year. They were billed as the first music artists ever to release an album in this way; for a band rooted in good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, it seemed a surprise move.

‘It doesn’t take AI to sound like us’

Followill admits they “never truly” understood it. “Apparently it was something that was happening and maybe is still happening, I don’t know. I know it got us into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was cool. We were the first band to ever sell our music as an NFT, might be the only one, I don’t know.

“But we weren’t trying to push some new type of technology on people… it was just something that looked like that was kind of where things were headed. So, you know, why not be on the forefront of it?”

Since then, AI has become a huge issue affecting the music industry, with stars including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj recently calling for more protection. Followill describes himself as “kind of an old man” when it comes to his knowledge. “I am scared of it though, I think, maybe, a little bit,” he says. “I’ve seen some stuff that makes makes me a little nervous.”

He grins. “As far as music, it doesn’t take AI to sound like us, my god. We’re still learning how to play, so our skill level is still very much achievable by just human beings. It’s not going to take aliens or artificial intelligence.”

After When You See Yourself, they parted ways with their long-term record label. Rather than being a negative experience, “we felt like we were free for the first time since the very beginning”, says Followill.

On Can We Please Have Fun, they worked with producer mastermind Kid Harpoon, renowned for his collaborations with artists including Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris and Florence + The Machine. Despite being industry veterans, Kings Of Leon were keen to impress.

“We had to record a little bit and then he would duck away for a couple of weeks to do some stuff he already had scheduled. But that was a pretty eye-opening experience because he would go away and then it was like, all right, let’s get a bunch of stuff that’s going to make him impressed when he gets back.”

Strip clubs to stadiums

Last week, they performed at a ranch in Nashville to mark the album’s release – “a real barn, no air conditioning, there was a peacock in the rafters screaming the whole time, a dog in the room”, is how Followill describes it.

It’s not the strangest setting they’ve ever found themselves in. That title would probably go to their first ever UK gig, in High Wycombe, at a pub that also doubled up as a lap-dancing venue.

“I remember we were backstage for soundcheck and we kept commenting on the potent smell of lotion,” Followill recalls. “It smelled like floral lotion everywhere.” After drawing small crowds in the US, that first UK show “was insanity, with probably only 100 people, but we had been playing in America to five people. So it was this crazy thing”.

The band went on to fill arenas and stadiums, headlining Glastonbury in 2008. They play London’s Hyde Park – “which always feels like a homecoming” – once again this summer. Last year, they played at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground; a stage that at one time might also have been added to their unlikely venues list, but following its Hollywood takeover is now a huge celebrity draw.

It felt like the whole town was there to see them, Followill says. “We were playing the show… but I feel like it was almost they were supporting just whatever was going to be happening at the club that night.

“The kind of fairytale story of Wrexham and what’s happened, it’s worldwide. Americans don’t necessarily know what it means with the different leagues and how you can get relegated and all that stuff. But we do know what an underdog story is and how special it is when you see someone work their way up.”

With celebrity football buy-outs becoming all the rage – Will Ferrell being among the latest, investing in Leeds – would Kings Of Leon ever consider it?

“We don’t have that kind of money,” says Followill. “Maybe darts. Can you sponsor a darts player?”

They can add darts to the list of ambitions Kings Of Leon still have to tick off. Followill says there are “a lot of big lofty things I probably won’t say” because at one point they felt “ridiculous”; now, so many years in and still going, maybe less so.

The singer says he doesn’t look back on what the band has achieved “as much as I could or should, at times”. He sees reflection as something that comes when there is no longer “a lot left in the tank… and I feel like I still have a lot”.

But the reminders are all around. “My daughter came downstairs in a Kings Of Leon T-shirt… and it’s an old T-shirt too. It’s like, wow.” These moments, he says, are “like a splash of water in the face… it definitely has surpassed anything we ever dreamed of”.

And seeing crowds singing his songs back at him never gets old.

“It’s more than just singing. Sometimes you look at people and they’re not just singing the song… it means so much to them, it’s like they are screaming it back at you. Whenever that happens, that is always just confirmation that you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing.”

Kings Of Leon’s Can We Please Have Fun is out now. The band play BST Hyde Park on 30 June

Entertainment

Artist behind ‘disturbing’ sculpture says it’s not intended to cause upset

Published

7 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Artist behind 'disturbing' sculpture says it's not intended to cause upset

The artist who created a sculpture which has been called “disturbing” and “shocking” says he’s been “surprised” at the backlash but welcomes difficult conversations it might inspire.

Jason deCaires Taylor told Sky News: “I don’t strive of my artwork to divide people or cause upset. But I do try to talk about issues that are pertinent and relevant to our current times.”

The 50-year-old artist has a history of producing political work but says this one contained “no political intentions at all” and is based on the painting which inspired Shakespeare‘s tragic heroine Ophelia.

The Alluvia – which is made from recycled glass and steel and features LEDs which light up at night – was installed in the River Stour, in Taylor’s hometown of Canterbury in Kent around a week ago.

However, comments posted on Canterbury City Council’s official Facebook page have included accusations that the work is “tone-deaf” and “offensive”.

One wrote: “I can’t be the only person who finds this deeply offensive. She looks like a drowned woman. How did the council not see the link to women as victims of crime or the sad fact so many drown off the Kent coast as refugees.”

Another said: “I find this sculpture absolutely appalling. It’s not just offensive, it’s downright disturbing. The imagery of a submerged figure, reminiscent of a drowning victim, is both morbid and utterly tone-deaf given the tragic drownings that occur along our coastlines. What on earth were the council thinking?”

Others stood up for the work, with one commenting: “More people seem to be “disturbed”, “offended” and “shocked” by this than they do by images of actual drownings which are happening daily along our coasts. Rather than wasting your hate on an artwork that is designed to provoke, why not put some of that energy into something constructive?”

Another wrote: “It’s a beautiful piece of art and nowhere near as disturbing as the previous sculptures that it has replaced. What kind of world do we live in when anything that offends or “triggers” someone, must be removed??”

The sculpture had replaced two similar female forms, also created by Taylor, which had been in the water since 2008 but which had been damaged due to dredging.

‘If it fosters care and sympathy, that’s good’

Taylor told Sky News: “I was surprised… 99.9% of all the feedback that I’ve received has been very positive… But at the same time, I appreciate everybody takes something different from everything they see.”

While he says there is “no connection” between the work and the ongoing migrant crisis taking place further along the Kent coast, he hopes it could inspire empathy for what’s happening out in the Channel.

He said: “It’s an extremely tragic situation, and I don’t think ignoring it is the solution. If [this work] can foster any kind of care and sympathy for that situation, then I think that’s a good thing.”

More than 21,000 people arrived in the UK in small boats between January and September, according to government figures, with at least 45 people dying in Channel crossings this year.

Taylor also said the fact the subject is a young woman is because it draws reference from Sir John Everett Millais’s celebrated painting, on display at Tate Britain.

‘Art without questions is pointless’

Some of Taylor’s past sculptures have raised issues around the climate crisis, Brexit and the plight of those risking their lives on the perilous migration route from West Africa to Spain.

Taylor says: “Art should ask questions. They should make people think about things that should elicit emotions, that’s really critical.

“If things were ignored and if you tried to please everybody with all your artwork, I think you’d make something very benign and quite frankly, pretty pointless.”

He also feels our age of information overload could be part of the reason for the negative feedback.

“We’re so inundated with images and media, with having our phones interrupting us and screens everywhere we look that people look for divisiveness and things that cause clickbait. I think there is an element of people sort of seeking out controversy.”

Taylor said the majority of negative comments online had come from people who had not been to Canterbury and seen the work in real life, with one call for the statue’s removal coming all the way from Orkney.

Responding directly to calls for his work to be taken out of the river, he said: “People are perfectly in their rights to have [an] opinion. But I would urge them to go and see it first.”

‘A dead body doesn’t light up at night’

Chair of Canterbury Commemoration Society Stewart Ross, the charity that commissioned the work, told Sky News: “Some people find it offensive and shocking, we have no objection to that. All public art is open to discussion”.

Comparing calls for the work to be removed to the destruction of art during the Reformation, he said: “I feel strongly about this [call for censorship]. It’s what the Taliban do. If you don’t like it, don’t look.”

Mr Ross said the “confected anger” around the sculpture was “unnecessary” and that the charity was simply “trying to do its best,” adding: “People have been comparing it to a dead body, but I have yet to meet a dead body that lights up in the night”.

Taylor, who has been working as an artist for over 25 years, has sculptures in marine locations around the world including Australia, Mexico, Grenada and Norway. Prices for his sculptures start at around £1,300.

He first donated the two original Alluvia figures to the city of Canterbury in 2008.

Entertainment

Punjabi music sees huge rise in streams – but not all fans are happy

Published

19 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Punjabi music sees huge rise in streams - but not all fans are happy

Streams of Punjabi music have seen a massive rise, but some fans aren’t pleased with the direction the genre is heading in.

The 2002-hit Mundian To Bach Ke by UK-based producer Panjabi MC is what put the music on the map for the very first time.

Since then, the music has changed, and many more people are listening.

Data from Spotify shared exclusively with Sky News reveals that UK streams have risen by 286% over the past five years and a massive 2077% globally.

“The signs are there that Punjabi music is only going to continue to grow in influence around the world,” said Safiya Lambie Knight, head of music, UK & Ireland at Spotify.

The blend with hip-hop alongside collaborations with mainstream artists such as Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran has captivated listeners, regardless of their spoken language.

With billions of views and streams, one of the top-performing artists in the genre right now is Karan Aujla.

Originally from a village called Ghurala in India, the 27-year-old’s quick-witted bars and innovative melodies helped him make history earlier this year as the first Punjabi artist to win a Juno Award.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News after his show at London’s O2 arena, Aujla said: “I’m just a kid that came from nothing, from a small village so if you told me 10 years before I’ll be performing at the O2 London and selling out the whole arena, I wouldn’t know if that’d be possible, but we did it today.

“So if anybody out there is watching me, just know that it’s all possible.

Aujla’s ability to fuse genres such as hip-hop and R&B with Punjabi folk music has earned him a fanbase of non-Punjabis too.

“I feel like music itself has no language, and it’s just so lovely how somebody that doesn’t know your language could still vibe to your music. And I’ve seen that with my own eyes at my shows and in my DMs, or like on Facebook or wherever, when people send me videos of jamming to my songs, but they’re from a whole different country.”

He added: “I feel like Punjabi music will be one of the biggest things in this whole world in the next few years, and I believe in that.”

But as the genre has grown over the last few years, some of the top singers have come under increased scrutiny for promoting and glorifying drugs, violence and gun culture through their lyrics and music videos.

It was this trend that forced one of the genre’s biggest radio stations – Panjab Radio, based in London – to ban some singers from their airwaves.

The station’s managing director, Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE, who made the decision three years ago, said: “My personal belief is that lots of youngsters went from Punjab to Western countries, especially Canada and America, where there’s a big drug scene there, there’s a big gun culture there, and I think it all stemmed from there.

“It makes me feel sad because that is not our culture. Guns and drugs is not Punjabi culture.”

Mr Ghuman said that when the station started broadcasting in 2000: “We didn’t need to listen to the whole song, but now with the new music, we have to listen to every single song before it goes onto the system because there’s lots of swear words.

“I think it’s all about the views now. It doesn’t matter what the message is you’re giving to the youngsters or the community, it is to do with earning money.”

But Mr Ghuman is hopeful “positive changes are coming” and that singers will “start to focus their songs on the rich Punjabi culture rather than violence”.

However, while there’s hope, the controversies don’t seem to be fading.

Just last month, singer AP Dhillon, who’s signed to the same record label as Taylor Swift, released a song called Old Money, which contains violent scenes throughout its music video, so much so that it required a warning at the start.

This month, Dhillon’s home in Canada was shot at several times and vehicles were set alight. Nobody is believed to have been injured in the attack.

Preliminary investigation suggests that this was a targeted event according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are still investigating the suspects in the attack to establish a motive.

Sky News asked AP Dhillon’s team for a comment.

For now, the UK stands as a quieter but important player in the world of Punjabi music – a place where the focus remains on cultural celebration rather than controversy.

While controversies have accompanied its rise, the genre’s ability to evolve and resonate with diverse audiences suggests a bright future ahead.

Entertainment

Lily Allen says she had her children for ‘all the wrong reasons’

Published

1 day ago

September 21, 2024

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Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.

The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.

By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.

Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.

“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”

The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?

“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.

When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”

The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.

“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.

“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.

“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”

The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents

Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.

She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.

She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.

Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.