IT’S the year’s most unlikely pairing but Pink and Rag’N’Bone Man’s collaboration is a very exciting one.
I can reveal the singers have teamed up for a new track taken from his upcoming album.
The pair first met in 2017 but cooked up the plan at last year’s Brit Awards and the result is single Anywhere Away From Here, which is released next month.
I’ve had a first listen and it’s brilliant, with Rag’N’Bone Man pouring his emotions out in it.
He sings: “When the lights go up, I don’t think I told you that I feel out of place.
“Pull me underground. Don’t know if you notice, sometimes I close my eyes and dream of somewhere else.”
I’m also told the pair have recently shot a video for it as well.
Pink told Bizarre: “I first encountered Rag’N’Bone Man in Europe in 2017 not long after hearing his song Human. By then I had already fallen in love with his voice, and when we met in person, I quickly learned he has a beautiful soul, too.
“Since then, I knew I wanted to work with him one day. Anywhere Away From Here couldn’t be a better song for us to sing together. I’m so honoured to be a part of this collaboration.”
His second album Life By Misadventure is due out on May 7 and is the follow-up to his award-winning record Human in 2017.
Rag, real name Rory Graham, said: “This song is an honest reflection of wanting to disappear from uncomfortable situations — about the vulnerabilities that we all face.
“It’s an honour to have Pink on this record and I’m so glad she is able to be a part of it.”
As well as the album release, Rag is due to play a number of dates in London in June, when lockdown restrictions will hopefully be lifted, and across the UK in October and November.
He may just be the artist of 2021.
When Drake called Maya Jama a “sweet one”, there was a combination of eyebrows raised as well as scratching of heads.
The pair had never met but there were theories that it was the Canadian rapper taking aim at her ex Stormzy.
But it had a big effect on Maya herself, who says she became “anxious” when she was informed about the song, Only You Freestyle, with Headie One, which was released last year.
Asked how she feels about rappers mentioning her in songs, she said: “If I’m being really honest, it makes me really anxious sometimes.
“Tiffany Calver [Radio 1 host] was the one who told me when the Drake song happened and I just remember being shook like, ‘Is it bad?’.
“I don’t know – you just get a bit worried.
“So thank God everything’s been nice, but whatever someone says about you is going to have a massive reach, and because I’m not a rapper, I’m just a presenter, I can’t really respond to that. If they dissed me, what would I do, have to make a diss track?”
Maya has been single since her break-up from Stormzy in 2019 but she isn’t short of offers.
She told the Straight Up podcast: “It’s always musicians over footballers.
“Do you know what’s f***ed up as well is that I love music, so I’ll post songs and tag the artist, because I just want to be an innocent fan.
“But then sometimes they’ll be all like, ‘Hey babe,’ and I have to be like, ‘No. I just wanted to shout out your music.
“Don’t ruin it for me. I’m going to have to leave you unread’.”
Names please, Maya.
For most of us, the most serious issue we are likely to encounter when organising Zoom events is patchy wifi.
Not so for Dua Lipa, who was secretly targeted in a coordinated cyber attack aimed at bringing down the biggest virtual gig of the pandemic.
Techies working on the star’s hit Studio 2054 concert, which saw her appear alongside Kylie Minogue, Sir Elton John and Miley Cyrus, had to fend off hackers who struck minutes after a record-breaking global audience of five million tuned in.
Revealing how close the November event came to disaster, James Sutcliffe of organisers LiveNow said: “We were the victims of a cyber attack at the start of the show.
“The years of experience our tech team had streaming live sports events meant they were ready to deal with that. The stream didn’t go down, users didn’t notice anything and we delivered a huge show to a huge audience. ”
Let that be a lesson to nasty basement-dwellers – it isn’t going to be easy to put Dua on mute . . .
Mollie King may be all smiles at the thought of a Saturdays reunion but if her pals saw this fashion faux pas I doubt they’d be quite so keen.
The singer donned double denim, a massive no-no that even I know not to wear, as she made her way to work at Radio 1 in central London.
Mollie recently hinted that she and the girls will get back together for the first time since 2014.
Asked about a reunion, she said: “I always say never say never. We are all enjoying doing different things . . . I would definitely think about it.”
Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones almost ruined his singing career – by leaving his keys in the front door.
He yelled an F-word so loudly he damaged a vocal cord.
Kelly said: “They called it a one-off trauma polyp, which could have been done by a bad cough or shouting.
“I was going to the gym and I’d been trying to get to the gym all week because there were a lot of kids in the house. I eventually got out of the door, and I was driving there, and as I got to the gym I remembered I’d left my keys in the front door, and I let out this massive, ‘f***!’.
“I remember it kind of hurting a bit, and I don’t know if that was the moment.”
After an op, he had to learn how to sing again and hired a vocal coach. He added: “It was scary, the idea of losing something I’d been basing my life around since I was about 12.”
Rapper Dave has teased new music after his 2019 Mercury Prize-winning record Psychodrama.
He dropped a clip of him singing part of a song while out in LA with pals.
Dave announced his return to the music scene by saying: “Just came back from a long hiatus.”
He goes on to reference Marvel character Black Panther and the fictional metal from the movie.
He raps: “You get hit with this stick Black Panther you’re gonna need vibranium. I’ve got stainless steel, I’ve got platinum, I’ve got gold and I’ve got titanium. Tyson Fury in a party I make shoulders fling.”
The South London grime artist goes on to say he has bought a new place in the countryside.
Dave says: “I got a house in the sticks – it’s awkward, I know my neighbours are voting Tory.”
Not everyone agrees with pop guru Simon Cowell’s methods but one musician took it too far.
Ordinary Boys drummer Charlie Stanley once threw his instruments at The X Factor boss when they played for him.
Lead singer Samuel Preston said: “We went up to play for Simon in the Ritz studios in Putney and he came with a bunch of men in suits and stuff, came to watch us, and we played a gig to them and it was just – you can imagine how soulless and horrible that is.
“Chuck picks up his cymbal stand, his high-hat stand and throws it at Simon Cowell and runs off.”
He told the Do You Know How Many Bands There Are podcast?: “I apologised and then it sort of . . . it wasn’t very punk after that.”
HOT
Paloma Faith bravely opened up about her life in her BBC documentary.
AJ Pritchard’s girlfriend Abbie Quinnen has spoken of her horrific burns.
The hilarious Jack Whitehall is making a welcome return to the Brit Awards.
NOT
Amir Khan’s wife Faryal for constantly forgiving the boxer’s cheating ways.
Boris Johnson’s idea of vaccine passports for the pub is ridiculous.
Orlando Bloom’s regime shows how he’s changed since growing up in Kent.
GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk
