It feels like every summer we are faced with a seeming abundance of festivals, but the reality is, it is harder than ever before to organise a festival. For as new festivals open, a number of older ones close forever. 

Music is a powerful art form. It has the ability to connect us to other people, surpass language barriers, resurface emotions, and impact upon brain waves. So, why do we take away its power by feeling the need to judge others for their music taste?

So many celebrity deaths seem to arise from years of alcohol and drug battles. Some indirectly, some more absolute. For many fame is the flame that lights the fire, for others a safehouse for the dysfunction of addiction.

The word imposter has some rather duplicitous connotations. On one hand, it conjures images of caricature villains from cheesy pantomimes, TV shows and films, revealed in a hyper exaggerated manner. You know the kind of thing: "I'd have got away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids", et cetera. The other side of the coin is a mental health issue that has only entered the public consciousness in recent memory.

I have been a fan of Madonna for years, since 1985 and Crazy for You hit the charts. I wanted to be Madonna, she was trendy, fearless and beautiful. I would wear lace gloves with tens of bangles, mini skirts and lace leggings, anything that my young teenage hands could grab a hold of. I still love the 80’s now, I think many of us do. It was a fun decade for many of us growing up then.

At a festival, you’re almost guaranteed to have something outrageous happen either to you, your friend, or your friend’s friend. When you combine a myriad of different, excitable people from around the country (or world!) who may or may not be on drugs, what else do you expect?

An audiophile; an individual that is deeply passionate, exacting, and even obsessed with high fidelity audio. These notoriously pedantic creatures can often be found snuffling for truffles in the darkest corners of record shops the world over, uttering phrases such as "oh that's a first pressing" and "Led Zeppelin 1! Oh, but it's not got the original purple label".

If your room was covered wall to wall in pull out posters from the latest issue of Kerrang!, this one’s for you.

I’m sure we’ve all heard someone say “music saved my life” at some point, and whilst it might sound like something of a cliché it is actually true. Music has several positive effects on our mental wellbeing; helping to alleviate stress, enhance memory, stimulate emotion and soothe the soul.

When I fell in love with my spouse over ten years ago, despite already knowing I was polyamourous, I didn’t expect to fall in love that hard again.

I won’t bore you with the gory details of my ‘un-love’ life, suffice it to say that the pattern of falling for boys, uniformed or otherwise, continued into my teens…I had unrequited love down like a pro and could have written a book or vlogged about it if the internet had been invented.

The ever expanding world of music genres can be, to the uninitiated, a baffling experience. Over recent years, the trend amongst journalists seems to be to create increasingly ridiculous genres (and sub genres) for new artists, rather than attempt to define them within the existing musical spectrum. Is it simply lazy journalism? Well no, not necessarily.

Nostalgia is a part of life. And so is music, especially if you are an arts and music lover like myself. Have you ever thought back to a time when one specific album changed your life in ways you never would have expected?

I sometimes find myself at a gig thinking...jeez, who told them they sounded good!? And this is why I wouldn’t make a very good critic. The trouble is, I have too many opinions and not all of them are kind. I think to be a critic it’s good to be neutral to a degree, take an overview and be objective. But I love music so much; so I’m passionate, opinionated and subjective.

What is the point of spending £50 on a limited edition vinyl when that artist will only be charging £12.99 for that same album in MP3 format? Is it just trendy to reject the mainstream? Is Vinyl a fad, or is this the second coming of The Record?

A night at the theatre, a recorded live album from one of America’s best-loved soul bands, a dive into cultural surroundings and musical differences, and some plastic tapes. For one person, they all add up to a musical awakening.

Trigger Warning - this article openly discusses suicide and suicidial ideation

Suicidal ideation isn’t really openly discussed in any social setting that I’m aware of. I’ve talked about it briefly with my mental health friends, but it rarely gets past the point of acknowledging that we both aren’t that adverse to dying, and then swiftly moving on. Let’s face it, talking about suicide and suicidal ideation is rarely an enjoyable or comfortable conversation, so why bring it up (outside of therapy) at all?

Attacking an independent store merely because they want to target a wider demographic is unjustified. If Demi truly wanted to attack diet culture, she should have called out the large corporations who produce these items rather than small local businesses who have had enough economic losses due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cringe itself is a clash of two things: self perception and the perception of others. There is more than one type of this clash though. Melissa Dahl talks about this duality in Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, where she explores compassionate cringe and contemptuous cringe.