Image source, PA

Sadly, no peer of the realm is on hand to pin a medal on us for our efforts, like they did today on the Godfather of Grime, Wiley and Soft Cell's Marc Almond.

Congrats gents.

We'll just be happy if you scroll back down for all the good stuff from the Producers Guild and Global awards, including The Big Moon, Mabel, Imogen Heap, Stormzy and Craig David.

Plus film remake news, a possible Pussycat Dolls reunion, and news music from The Kills, MNEK and The Vaccines.

And of course, the 5 Things We've Learned This Week.

Have fun in the / be careful of / completely avoid the snow this weekend and we'll see you Monday.

They're everybody's new favourite gap year band and you can check out their self-titled debut album as of today.

Earlier this week, we told you all about the international eight piece's "non-stop pop production house" and the mystery of the broken oven.

Now, here they are covering 90s indie kids Pavement for US radio and it's S.O* good.

*SuperOrganism... geddit?

Image source, PA

Little Mix have attacked people who criticise their image, saying: "We are women, we will dress how we want to dress."

Speaking on stage at the Global Awards, external, singer Jade Thirlwall said: "As a girl band, and as women, we do face a lot of scrutiny, whether it's for the way we look, how much thigh we get out, how we dance, what we sing about.

"And we just want to say that, although one day we hope that does stop, right now we're really not arsed what people think."

The band were the big winners at the first ever Global Awards.

The 2011 X Factor winners took home three prizes - best group, best artist and best song, for Power, their collaboration with Stormzy.

Read more, including how the grime star got a little mixed up himself about which commercial radio station he was meant to thank.

Last week, R&B singer Mabel joined forces with RAYE and Stefflon Don to release a joint single, Cigarette (below).

It arrived a day after Dua Lipa enlisted Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, Alma and MO for her Live Lounge performance of IDGAF.

Mabel, whose mum is 80s legend Neneh Cherry, says it's great to see female artists coming together.

"It's so important to support each other," she told us at the Global Awards.

"It’s more common that men jump on each other’s tracks and they big each other up – whereas women are expected to compete.

"So it’s nice to send the message that, you know, we’re all friends and we love each other.

"And we’re all so different, so how could it be a competition?"

BBC Radio 2

The One D star's debut solo track Sign of the Times was covered by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure in the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

Apparently Harry is one of Midge's "guilty pleasures, external".

Listen above and see if you like it more than Alex below.

Mark Savage
Music reporter, BBC News

Image source, Polydor

Reigning The Voice UK champion Mo Jamil releases his debut single today - a week before he hands over his crown to the 2018 winner.

That Feeling, external is an string-drenched of modern soul, written with Swedish producer David Kjellstrand.

"The song’s about the journey from coming off the show and entering this big industry," Mo told us.

"It was very daunting for me and there were a lot of changes - like being spotted in the street.

"I had to get used to being away from my friends and not seeing them so much."

The singer has spent the last 12 months flying around the world to work on his debut album, Evolve, with the likes of Mr Hudson (Kanye West), Maths Times Joy (Bebe Rexha, Mary J Blige) and Artery Music (RAYE, Dua Lipa).

But he made sure to stay in touch with home. "Me and my friends FaceTime a lot and when I go home, we have nights in, we play FIFA, we go to the pub.

"I still go to the bar I used to work in, as well, so we all congregate there."

Image source, Getty Images

Thanks for those of your who have dropped in this week. For anyone who has just joined us, here is a handful of things we have learned over the past seven days in music.

Like the eternally young (pictured above) Rolling Stones announcing their first UK tour in 12 years, or this week's Newbie Tuesday's Haus who say being 'macho' is not important.

Check out our top five below...

Image source, Getty Images

1) Ed Sheeran's documentary is really just one for the fans

"'Banal adventures of a bland superstar"

"...a big fat missed opportunity".

"...the rare feat of making Sheeran appear even more boring in person than he is on record."

Wow.

The reviews for the new Ed Sheeran documentary, Songwriter, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend, were not kind.

Directed by Ed's cousin Murray Cummings, the film looks at the unlikely success of the burnished balladeer.

Critic Stephen Dalton called it "a flaccid, ingratiating, fly-on-the-wall travelogue" adding:.

"He seems a pleasant enough young man, although you might choose to make polite excuses rather than rush to spend time in his company," writes Jonathan Romney in The Guardian, who calls Songwriter an "uncritical and stylistically meat-and-potatoes study".

And these are the guy who liked it.

Read more.

2) 50 Cent doesn't actually have two Bitcoins to rub together

The world's collective jaw dropped when 50 Cent - who filed for bankruptcy last year - suddenly remembered he had around $7m worth of Bitcoin sitting around.

Now, his leaked bankruptcy court papers reveal he has never in his life owned a Bitcoin.

The documents, obtained by US website The Blast, say: "Recent media reports have falsely stated he failed to disclose his haul of Bitcoins to court, but in reality he has never owned, and does not own, a bitcoin account."

Apparently, he was indeed paid with the crypto-currency for his 2014 album Animal Ambition but it was converted to US dollars before it ever reached him.

Fiddy said he was happy to go along with the reports (even tweeting about them) as long as the story "is not irreparably damaging to my image or brand".

Read more.

Image source, Getty Images

3) Shakira may want to hire new accountants

The Colombian superstar paid a hefty £18m to Spanish authorities who accused her of dodging taxes for three years.

The Catalan newspaper, El Periodico, reported the Grammy-winner paid the money "to settle part of the debt".

Shakira has two children with her partner FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique and officially transferred her residency to the Catalan city in 2015.

Until then, it was in the Bahamas. But authorities claimed it didn't "match reality, with the children in school in Barcelona and her partner here".

Her spokesman insisted she didn't live more than six months a year in Spain which exempted her from paying.

Oopsie.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

4) SZA was 'mad as hell' after her Grammys snub

And who could really blame her? After all, the R&B singer's, album CTRL made the top five of most music critics' end of year lists and was nominated in five categories at the awards in January.

She did not pick up a single award however - the most contentious being the Grammy for best new artist - which went to Alessia Cara, whose debut album was released in 2015.

"I never looked at the Internet [after the Grammys]. I never looked at anything anyone ever said after that online - not once," she told GQ, external.

"The only time I ever heard about it was in person, when someone walked up to me and was like, 'You were robbed' or whatever... I was like, 'I feel you.'"

She did add she is a big fan of the Canadian pop singer, saying "her voice is like water, it’s like milk, I think it’s gorgeous."

Some voices are apparently more gorgeous than others.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

5) Oh Sees' John Dwyer is 'a pig for control'

The US west coast psych rockers have braved the UK snow this week to play two mini-festivals with their Castle Face Records mates like Flat Worms and Male Gaze.

Its a label which is owned by the Oh Sees singer, whose band have churned out 19 albums in 20 years and change their name for practically every one.

They also send music to prison inmates. No, really.

"[Creative control] is really important, that’s why I have my own label," he told Music News LIVE.

"If there’s one thing I can say about myself, it’s that I pretty much do what I want in terms of art and releases.

"I’m just a pig for control, especially when it comes to my art and more specifically I wanted to own everything for the band."

Pigs are apparently very smart animals.

Read more.

BBC Radio 2

Grammy-winners Little Big Town, who are to headline next weekend's Country 2 Country festival have been explaining the origin of one of their more unusual covers.

They told BBC host Bob Harris: "We like to see if we can interpret things in a unique way and Wonderwall was one we did on a TV show.

"We slowed it down - we love vibey feelgood music like Sade and thought, 'What if we changed that Oasis song into a more southern, slinky, sexy thing?"

Listen above to see if you can handle the southern slinkiness...

Have you managed to keep your new year resolutions? Did dry January turn into a booze-sodden February?

One person who has managed to honour his own pledge is celebrated concert pianist James Rhodes, who has managed to kick his 30+ year smoking habit.

And he wanted to share the benefits with the below tweet.

"Not panicking at concert halls about where I can smoke before/after a gig," has to be a pretty important one.

We should warn his many reasons do contain a mildly-offensive word

Mark Savage
Music reporter, BBC News

Craig David was on the red (well, blue) carpet at last night's Global Awards, so we asked him which he prefers: Playing with a band, or MC-ing at his TS5 club nights.

"There’s a different energy," he says. "The band vibe respects the classics and I like that. But TS5 empowers me because it means I can flex; and I can change the playlist on a dime.

"For me, TS5 is like programming a radio station. I know when I need to go into an instrumental, or when I need to give you Seven Days. I love working the crowd like that."

A Craig David radio station? Now there's an idea... Especially as Craig says he's given up clubbing.

"I don’t go clubbing like I used to because there’s a finite amount of energy you have in the day, and I want to make sure I give 110% on stage.

"When I’m on stage, that’s my club."

The Vaccines have shared a new music video - which looks eerily reminiscent of one of our favourite tracks and videos, external of the early noughties - from their forthcoming album Combat Sports.

"They tried to tell me you were cold and impossible to hurt / Now I've heard that said about the both of us / They should put it on a t-shirt" sings frontman Justin Hayward-Young.

Check it out above. The band kick off a UK tour in Bristol in April.

Paul Glynn
Music News LIVE reporter

Australian producer Catherine Marks was stunned last night after being named as the country's best producer at the MPG Awards, for her work on music by The Amazons, Manchester Orchestra and the Mercury-nominated Big Moon album Love in the Fourth Dimension.

The Moonies - as absolutely no-one calls them - were on hand to deliver the award to their pal, who was feeling a mixture of pride, joy, confusion and betrayal.

The band, who found out about the accolade a month ago, somehow managed to keep shtum.

Catherine previously won the breakthrough producer of the year award in 2016 and spoke to us alongside Fern, Juliette and Celia from the band, just minutes after picking up her award.

"Oh my God," she said.

"I'm super-impressed by these girls keeping it a secret!

"We have a Whatsapp group going and I'm pretty sure in-between the time of the nomination and when the judging happened, we've been in communication.

Listen above for more.

No word yet on whether Catherine will be invited to produce The Big Moon's 'difficult' second album - as it's still being written - but essentially she's up for it.

Although she may decide it's time to sneak up on somebody else entirely.

Mark Savage
Music reporter, BBC News

Michael Dapaah is still surfing a wave of success courtesy of his comedy alter-ego, Big Shaq, whose Man's Not Hot was one of the breakout hits of last year.

But the star says he doesn't feel any pressure to follow up that success.

"For me, it’s the same formula. I just enjoy what I do," he told us at the Global Awards.

"With Man’s Not Hot, with everything to do with that character, I just enjoy it."

The comedian is currently finishing off the second series of his web-based show, SWIL.

"I’m in my little dungeon creating all the time, so it’s no pressure for me," he said.

"Once you stop enjoying creating, it becomes like a job. And it’s never like a job for me."

BBC Radio 5 live

Kimberly Wyatt has said she is doing what she can to get the band back together this year.

"It's now or never," she said.

The dancer was guest presenting on BBC Radio 5 live and told Nihal Arthanayake: "I would love to throw down with those beautiful, talented women again."

Well let's see...

Nicole Scherzinger is a solo star, actress and X Factor judge.

Then there's Carmit, who is in an electro/pop duo, Ashley was a guest judge on Let it Shine on BBC One, Jessica released a solo album last year which reached 61 on Brazil's iTunes chart, Melody appeared in series 2 of the British E4 show Celebs Go Dating.

Wonder whose holding up the reunion? Hmmm.

Variety

American actor Tony Cavalero, who played the role of Dewy Finn in the School of Rock TV series has been cast as the Birmingham rocker in Netflix’s new Mötley Crüe biopic.

Jackass director Jeff Tremaine is working on the project based on the band's notorious 2001 autobiography.

The film will also star British actors Douglas Booth and Iwan Rheon (from Game of Thrones) as well as rapper Machine Gun Kelly.

Image source, Getty Images

Ozzy played a big part in the Crue's early success when they supported him in 1984.

Read more, external.

Tony could certainly pull this off in terms of resemblance, here is Ozzy around that time (below) for comparison.

But will he perfect the Brummie accent?

Image source, MPG Awards

The English singer/producer was recognised by her peers at last night's MPG Awards, for her incredible career of inventive songwriting and Grammy Award-winning engineering.

Imogen is equally at home on the stage or in the studio but rarely seems to give interviews.

Luckily, we were able to grab a word about her "pretty amazing" accolade and how it feels to be officially described as an 'inspiration'.

She said:

When asked who she would've given the inspiration award to, the 40-year-old hesitated, then plumped for her daughter, who has "completely turned my world upside down."

"Is it cheesy to say my daughter at the moment?!

"What it [motherhood] has done to my brain and the way I see things has shifted.

"She is a true inspiration."

Image source, Getty Images

Another inspirational young lady Ariana Grande invited Imogen, as one of her favourite artists, to join her onstage at the One Love Manchester gig last summer, in memory of the victims of the tragic Arena attack.

Imogen described the night as "the most incredibly moving event" and paid tribute to the 24-year-old, who has covered her work, including versions of Hide and Seek and Just For Now.

"I'm just incredibly proud to know her. Knowing how hard it is to put a gig together, everyone put so much in, it was amazing. Nobody signed contracts.

"I felt really warmed to be asked because I'm not the most famous person out there!

"I think a lot of people listened and got to the bit [in Hide and Seek] with the Jason Derulo sample of Whatcha Say and went; 'Oh right, that's interesting what this lady has done with that song!'"

She added: "I was terribly nervous thinking what are they gonna think of this woman getting up on a piano, not rocking out - a completely different vibe.

Ariana has also been an early advocate of Imogen's own Mi.Mu Glove technology.

Check out Imogen's demonstration of the futuristic music kit below, which Ariana used on her last tour and which aims to break down the barriers between musicians and machines.

"The more we don't think about technology the better it becomes.

"When technology becomes invisible, second nature or more human that's when it really wins.

"With me and the gloves it feels like I'm trying to pull the machine closer to the human rather than the other way around."

It will certainly come in 'handy' on her next project; whatever it is.

Image source, Clayton Cubitt

Like Blossoms below, The Kills also return today with their first music since 2016.

The UK/US rock duo have recorded a reworking of hip hop star Saul Williams 2004 track List of Demands.

SInger Alison Mosshart, who finds herself in chains, being interrogated in the powerful new video below, said: "It’s a song of strength and empowerment, rooted in the idea of rising above.

"It was one of those songs you’re almost scared to cover, because it carries so much respect. It wasn’t a straight up love song or a drug song. It was defined, serious, and perfect already.

"With certain songs, you feel like an intruder trying to sing them, but this one felt like my own."

Remember kids, whatever you see in this video below, smoking is bad for you.

Saul Williams seems pretty chuffed with the new version too.

He said: “I always felt envious of the way the 60's generation shared songs and ideologies. Jimi singing Dylan. Rotary Connection singing Otis Redding. The Stones singing the blues. This is all part of the beauty and power of music and it reverberates deeply in me.

"All this to say, I'm honored. I liked The Kills before they chose to cover ‘LOD.’ If they can feel themselves in that song, it's because they are as much a part of it as I am.”

Check out the original on Youtube, external.

Image source, Rex Shutterstock

For the last five weeks, Drake's single God's Plan has been the biggest-selling record in the UK - much to the frustration of Rudimental, who've been stuck at number two while the Canadian star dominates the charts.

"He’s had enough number ones, come on now," Rudimental's Amir Amor told us at last night's Global Awards. "Five weeks is too much."

"It’s all healthy competition," added his bandmate Kesi Dryden. "We love Drake. He’s just annoying the hell out of me right now"

The band walked down the blue carpet with their former vocalist and touring partner Anne-Marie, who's just announced her debut album, Speak Your Mind.

The record's been in the works for almost two years - so the singer's relieved she can finally talk about it.

"Journalists have been asking about it for ages," she said. "I knew what the title was, I knew what songs were going to be on it, and I had to be like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know!'

"I was really impatient about it coming out, and now it’s finally here I’m like, ‘woah’"

"I’m a bit scared" added the former karate world champion.

In last week's MNL we brought you a short documentary entitled Where Are Blossoms?, which was a fair question as we'd heard nothing from the Stockport lads - musically speaking - since their 2016 self-titled debut album.

It seemed the band had fallen out and various members were now working in an ice cream van, tea factory and in one instance, as the furry club mascot for local football side Stockport County.

Thankfully that film turned out to be rather more mockumentary than documentary.

The lads are fine and back with a new track I Can't Stand It, which was Annie Mac's Hottest Record last night and you can check it out above.

Singer Tom Odgen revealed for the first time that it will feature on a new album entitled Cool Like You, admitting that he felt the pressure of following up their number one debut record.

Speaking to our reporter Mark Savage about the new record, at last night's Global Awards in London, the singer added: "It’s been a natural evolution of the band. Synths still feature very prominently.

"Like, when we got to writing songs like Charlemagne, we followed down that route. A lot of the new album’s more upbeat; and I Can’t Stand It is a good example of what the rest of the album’s like. It’s a synth-heavy, 80's pop-driven track.

"We were listening to a lot of synth-pop stuff from the 80's. The Stranger Things Soundtrack – the synths on that were a benchmark."

Read more: Blossoms - 'We've gone up a level' with new music (and hotels)

Paul Glynn
Music News LIVE reporter

Image source, Music Producers Guild Awards

The grime MC gave a "one time for [producer] Fraser T Smith" in the opening verses of his latest single Blinded By Your Grace Pt 2.

Last night, it was the turn of another of his crew to share the spotlight as Manon Grandjean won recording engineer of the year at the 10th annual Music Producers Guild Awards, external.

Stormzy, who had a busy night having fled across London from the Global Music Awards (more on that later) to make it in time to present the award, was full of praise for one of the stars behind his number one debut album Gang Signs and Prayer.

"She was the spine of the album," he told Music News LIVE.

"Nothing moves without Captain Manon!

"The Manonator - the G - the legend, the myth."

• Stormzy's producer Fraser T Smith shares his best stories from the studio

Before disappearing quickly into the night, the big man gave a thumbs up to the response from fans after he encouraged them to sign a petition, external lobbying the government to create greater trust in the Grenfell enquiry.

This followed his incredible musical lament at the Brit Awards.

"It was all good, big up everyone."

We'll bring you more from the awards at The Grosvenor Hotel throughout today, so stay tuned.

Image source, Getty Images

MPG Award winners for 2018 in full:

UK Producer Of The Year: Catherine Marks

Outstanding Contribution To UK Music: Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley

Recording Engineer Of The Year: Manon Grandjean

Mix Engineer Of The Year: Mark ‘Spike’ Stent

Mastering Engineer Of The Year: Matt Colton

UK Album Of The Year: Glass Animals - How To Be A Human

UK Single Song Release Of The Year: Royal Blood - Lights Out

Re-mixer Of The Year: UNKLE

Breakthrough Producer Of The Year: Jolyon Thomas

Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year: Marta Salogni

International Producer Of The Year: Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee

Self Producing Artist Of The Year: Dave Bayley (Glass Animals)

Studio Of The Year: Abbey Road

The A&R Award: Jane Third

Special Recognition Award: Colin Sanders

Award For Inspiration: Imogen Heap