NEW YORK: It’ll be hard for Taylor Swift top this as a birthday gift: A birthday serenade from none other than the Queen of Soul.
Aretha Franklin arguably had the best performance of the afternoon as the legend gave an impromptu performance of “Happy Birthday” to Taylor Swift, Billboard’s new “Woman of the Year,” at their annual Women in Music event on Friday. Swift swooned as Franklin sang and the pair embraced afterward and she was given a birthday cake.
Technically Swift didn’t turn 25 until Saturday but she was able to celebrate early with the honor; she was one of several women celebrated at the event, which featured some of the biggest names in music, including a surprise appearance by Beyonce.
Billboard’s Women in Music awards honors the top women in the industry, from executives to artists like Franklin, who received the appropriately named “Icon” award.
Swift was named the top woman in music after her record-breaking year, in which her “1989” album debuted at No. 1 and sold more than 1 million copies — her third straight album to accomplish such a feat, setting a record. She also had chart-toppers with “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” and recently saw the former song get nominated for record of the year at the Grammys.
Swift used her acceptance speech to underscore her decision this fall to remove all her music from the streaming site Spotify on the grounds that it doesn’t equitably reimburse artists for the use of its material.
” I really believe we in the music industry can work together to find a way to bond technology with integrity and just really hope we can teach the younger generation the value of investment in music rather than the ephemeral consumption of it,” Swift said.
Most of the other honorees spoke about the honor in a more personal nature. Idina Menzel, whose voice powered the “Frozen” soundtrack into the top-selling album of the year, spoke about reaching the apex of her career after some lean years, despite early success on Broadway.
Aretha serenades Swift as Billboard honors both
Aretha serenades Swift as Billboard honors both
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
