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Lovie Simone Talks Inclusivity at Essence Festival 2025
Denise HewittDenise Hewitt While each product featured is independently selected by our editors, we may include paid promotion. If you buy something through our links, we may earn commission. Read more about our Product Review Guidelines here. As someone who’s maintained my hair in its natural state all my life, I’ve always admired the Black female figures that embrace their curls on the big screens and stages. I’m talking Tracee Ellis Ross, Solange Knowles, Yara Shahidi, and, a new favorite of mine, actress Lovie Simone. The born-and-raised New Yorker has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame since her character Keisha Clark in Mara Brock Akil’s “Forever” elevated society’s understanding of…
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Essence Festival Celebrity Outfits | PS Fashion
While each product featured is independently selected by our editors, we may include paid promotion. If you buy something through our links, we may earn commission. Read more about our Product Review Guidelines here. Every year, Essence Festival brings out some of the biggest names in entertainment to the great city of New Orleans for a weekend celebrating Black music, culture, and revelry. Hosted near the July 4 holiday, the landmark event boasts nightly concerts at the Superdome — including Prince in 2014, Janet Jackson in 2022, and Usher in 2024 — as well as a packed schedule of events during the day like a Disney Parks brunch and a…
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Yours and Owls Festival Day 2 – Backseat Mafia
Day two of Yours and Owls, and the weather has flipped the script. Yesterday’s blazing sun has given way to thick clouds and gusts of wind, a relief for some—but the unmistakable glow of sunburns on festival-goers betrays who braved the heat on day one. Over on the main stage, The Courteeners keep things effortlessly cool, their set a slow-burn dream as the crowd sways in hypnotic admiration. I sprint across to the Ocean Stage to catch Miss Kaninna, who masterfully weaves urgent political messages into infectious grooves. It’s heavy. It’s feel-good. It’s exactly what festival sets should be. Babe Rainbow live up to their name, unfurling a swirling, sun-kissed…
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DICE Announce UK/EU Tour Following Aus Festival Showcases and New Single ‘Chasing Hearts’ – Backseat Mafia
DICE, the dynamic quartet from Boorloo/Perth, has recently unleashed ‘Chasing Hearts,’ their first track since their ARIA-charting 2024 debut album ‘Midnight Zoo’. ‘Chasing Hearts’ hits with a sparkling kick! Channelling that restless, adrenaline-fueled moment between hesitation and action. The band calls it a dive into spontaneity, with the kind of feeling that shifts your whole perspective in an instant. The Brit-rock-inspired hit continues to build on the introspection they introduced us to in ‘Midnight Zoo’. The past year has been a whirlwind for DICE. ‘Midnight Zoo’ propelled them onto the global stage, leading to sold-out shows in major cities like New York, Toronto, London, and Bristol. “We find our love…
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Little Simz Announced as Curator for 30th Edition of Meltdown Festival – Backseat Mafia
The Southbank Centre has revealed that Little Simz will curate the 30th edition of Meltdown, the UK’s longest-running artist-led music festival. Taking place from Thursday 12 June to Sunday 22 June 2025, the event will see the Mercury Prize-winning rapper, musician, and actor craft an innovative and genre-defying lineup, alongside her own headline performance. Simz joins an esteemed list of past curators, including David Bowie, Grace Jones, Robert Smith, Nile Rodgers, Patti Smith, and Christine and the Queens, and is set to bring her unique creative vision to the Southbank Centre. The festival will also feature two weekends of free participatory programming, celebrating grassroots collectives, local organisations, and special one-off…
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New Bloom Festival Returns in 2025 With a Stacked Lineup & Drain Headline Sideshows! – Backseat Mafia
After a wildly successful debut in 2024, selling out in Naarm/Melbourne, New Bloom Festival is back for round two in 2025, bringing a fresh wave of alt-rock, post-hardcore, grunge, and punk acts to Meanjin/Brisbane, Eora/Sydney, and Naarm/Melbourne this March. Tickets are available here. New Bloom has quickly become hallowed ground for the next generation of heavy music, spotlighting rising talent while keeping the raw energy of DIY hardcore alive. This year’s edition is no exception, with a lineup that features a huge mix of international and local acts already making waves in the scene. Returning to Australia for the first time in years, Basement and Balance and Composure lead the…
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Meadow 2025 Drops Final Line Up For Last-Ever Bambra Hill Festival! Feat. Hiatus Kaiyote, Pond and More – Backseat Mafia
Australia’s festival scene has been on one lately. From the tree-lined magic of Strawberry Fields to the community spirit of Meredith and the chaos of Beyond the Valley, it seems like every month has another reason to pack your tent, charge your phone, and road trip into the great unknown. If you’ve been lurking on Instagram stories and quietly questioning your life choices, Meadow 2025 is here to tip you over the edge. Set in the rolling Bambra hills on Gulidjan, Gadubanud, and Wadawurrung land, Meadow has quietly built a reputation for delivering one of the best boutique festival experiences in the country. But this year, the stakes are higher…
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The Rockaway Beach Festival – Bognor Regis 03.01.2025 to 05.01.2025 – Backseat Mafia
Never underestimate the power of chaos theory. Okay, so a butterfly never fluttered it’s wings – in this weather, are you kidding?! No, the universe turned when, minutes after Rockaway Beach 2025 opened, a random bloke called Doug bought Backseat Mafia a couple of beers. It’s the…barfly effect. On such random acts of kindness, festivals are built. This winter warmer brings the love to a chilly Butlins every January. So, New Year fireworks or a damp squib? Just how was Rockaway Beach 2025? Friday After ten glorious years, Rockaway has sussed the admin, and the pass collection process is seamlessly smooth. This Butlin’s bash can feel like a New Year…
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NYC Duo Fcukers Announce Intimate Side Shows Following Laneway Festival Debut – Backseat Mafia
NYC duo Fcukers are set to make their highly anticipated return to Australia this February, bringing their 2025-ready, club-driven sound to the Laneway Festival lineup. Alongside their festival sets, they’ll deliver two intimate side shows in Eora/Sydney and Naarm/Melbourne. Renowned for their bold, genre-blurring style that reinvents ’90s dance, the duo have earned a reputation for turning every performance into a party. Helmed by Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis, Fcukers exploded onto the scene with their debut EP Baggy$$. The release is a heady mix of old-school house, breakbeat, and electronica—music that feels like it’s been mopped up from the sticky floors of a sweaty club. This isn’t nostalgia…
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Korn Headlines a Heavyweight Lineup at Good Things Festival Sydney 7.12.2024 – Backseat Mafia
It’s a bleak, overcast morning as the crowd snakes its way into Centennial Park, but Good Things Festival 2024 is anything but dreary. The energy is electric, fever-pitched, and unrelentingly communal. Metalheads—often intimidating in spiked vests and tattoo sleeves—reveal their soft-hearted core, the kind of people who’ll pull over mid-mosh to help someone out of a sticky situation. Case in point: a wheelchair-bound fan stuck in the mud quickly finds himself surrounded by a battalion of good samaritans, lifting him free and escorting him across the street with a casual, unspoken camaraderie. Armed with a mix of sunscreen (somewhat optimistically given the gloomy skies) and frothy beers, fans funnel into…
