Pop genius JADE has burst into 2025 with all guns blazing, dropping her sizzling new single ‘IT girl’ – a glittering electro-pop banger that we’ve been waiting for since she teased it last year.

The track, which she’s cheekily dubbed “the c**nty little sister” to last year’s ‘Angel of My Dreams’, sees her teaming up with production powerhouses Cirkut and Lostboy for a no-holds-barred exploration of fame’s funhouse mirror. Written alongside Lauren Aquilina and J Hart, ‘IT girl’ showcases JADE in her natural habitat – serving up unfiltered reality with a side of melodrama that would make even the most seasoned pop stars blush.

The track arrives as her first offering of 2025, suggesting we’re in for a year of JADE brilliance. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” she declares, and mate, we wouldn’t want you to.

Sports Team already have their own unsettling experiences of American gun culture, so their razor-sharp new single ‘Bang Bang Bang’ hits differently following the band’s harrowing armed robbery incident in San Francisco last December.

Guitarist Rob Knaggs explains how the song emerged from seeing AR-15 logos plastered across tourist tat and enduring awkward conversations in small-town bars, before reality caught up with art in the most unwelcome way when the band found themselves facing down a pistol while queuing for coffee.

The track marks the latest preview of Sports Team’s third album ‘Boys These Days’, joining previous singles ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’ and ‘Condensation’ in building anticipation for the full record’s arrival on 23rd May.

TikTok has announced it’s ready to pack up its viral dances and leave the US entirely. The social media giant says it’ll shut down operations on January 19th unless the Supreme Court steps in to block or delay its impending ban.

The whole drama stems from a political kerfuffle about TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, with the US government demanding they sell up or ship out. The platform’s got until today (January 10th) to make its case to the Supreme Court, though with former-and-also-future President Trump (who used to hate TikTok but now apparently loves it) asking for a delay, this soap opera might have a few more episodes left.

The potential ban could shake up the music industry, given that most of 2024’s campaign ideas board start and end with ‘TikTok trends?’ – though we’re sure someone will figure out another way to make songs go viral. They always do.

The UK government has announced plans to put a price cap on ticket resales and tackle those pesky ‘dynamic pricing’ practices. The new consultation, launched today, aims to protect music fans from getting absolutely rinsed by touts, who’ve apparently been costing us an extra £145 million per year. The consultation will run for 12 weeks until April 4th, with potential new rules coming into play by 2026.

Among the proposals are limits on how many tickets one person can buy (bye-bye, ticket-hoarding bots), proper caps on resale prices, and a good hard look at that whole ‘dynamic pricing’ situation that made everyone lose their minds during the Oasis ticket sales. If you’ve got strong feelings about any of this, you can share your thoughts with the government as part of the consultation process.

In a proper bit of good news for the UK music scene, Newport’s legendary Le Pub has been snapped up by Music Venue Trust’s #OwnOurVenues scheme, making it the newest member of what we’re calling the “National Trust but for sweaty gigs” club.

The venue, which has been serving up new talent since 1992 and hosted everyone from Skindred to Kids in Glass Houses, is now properly protected under MVP’s cultural lease scheme – meaning its future as a grassroots music spot is secured. The celebrations are kicking off tonight (January 10) with a proper party featuring local heroes Murder Club and a special appearance from Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.’s Sam Duckworth.

Le Pub’s already been cracking on with improvements since joining the pilot scheme two years back, sorting out a practice room and studio in the basement, with plans to jazz up the upper floors next. The venue joins The Snug in Atherton, Preston’s The Ferret, and Swansea’s The Bunkhouse in MVP’s growing family of protected venues.