A Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully most of you are still basking in some much-deserved time off; for me and many of my culture desk colleagues at The Independent it's back to the grind. And don't be fooled into thinking that this is a quiet time for the music industry, oh no. I'm at my first music festival of 2026 in a couple of weeks, then we've got the Grammys, the Super Bowl halftime show, the Brit Awards, live tours, album releases... Oh, and some new Good Vibrations episodes to film! *Cracks knuckles* let's do this. The first Saturday Interview of 2026 is by yours truly and it stars the Beirut-born pop star MIKA, who's back with his first English-language album in six years, Hyperlove. Our meeting got off to a rocky start thanks to London's stellar transport system (I got stuck on a train underground with no signal for 30 minutes), but thankfully MIKA turned out (unsurprisingly) to be a wonderful, understanding kind of chap who went out of his way to meet me somewhere else, and made for brilliant conversation to boot. We spoke about the lasting influence of his late mum, the weird obsession over his sexuality from the media back in the late Noughties, and the themes behind his new record. The interview's out tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled. A few other features you might have missed amid the hubbub of Christmas: the brilliant Hannah Ewens wrote this fascinating piece about the art of song co-writing, speaking to some of the people who help artists create their most personal music. And Louis Chilton shared this feature on why 2026 looks set to be the Year of Geese (rightfully unperturbed by the giddy Strokes comparisons flying around). What's everyone looking forward to in music for the next 12 months? At the moment, I'm very excited about Charli XCX's soundtrack to the new Wuthering Heights film (I have a feeling I'll love it much more than the film itself), and a new album and tour from RAYE. Lily Allen will be kicking off her theatre shows in support of West End Girl, while Olivia Dean will continue to assert herself as one of the biggest new stars of British music with her run of arena shows from April. I am almost too excited to see Rosalía again live, now performing music from her 2025 masterpiece, Lux. Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys, and there are, as usual, plenty of fantastic music festivals taking place, even if you're missing Glastonbury. Let's leave it there for now, have a wonderful weekend and I shall catch up with you next Friday! Roisin x |
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| Written by Roisin O'Connor |
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My mum's one resistance was colour and expressing herself – she said that was freedom |
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Bowie seemed creatively unstoppable |
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With Lily Allen, we blacked out and made an album |
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Subscribe to the official Now Hear This playlist on Apple Music and stay up to date with all the best new releases 1. "girl, get up" Doechii ft SZA 2. "Horses" - Winona Oak 3. "Change the Man" - Abbey Cone Stream over 100 million songs with no ads. Get one month free of Apple Music*
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Spotlight on... Tessa Rose Jackson |
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| Hello! Tell me about yourself |
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| My name is Tessa Rose Jackson. I'm an indie artist, singer-songwriter, record producer and film composer. I split my time between living in London and living in Amsterdam, and draw inspiration from both places. |
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| What are the inspirations and influences behind your music? |
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| As a film composer, I am very visually inclined and I think that always trickles down into my music. A sense of cinema, of fairy-dust in the air will always be a part of my work. Another thing I tend to channel always is a sense of optimism. This stems from my own coping mechanisms in my life, and seeing as my music is always quite autobiographical (intentionally, or un-intentionally so) this outlook on life always finds a way into the songs as well.
When I sing, it is often with a sense of intimacy, of empathy towards the other. Trying to unpick the things that link us, our shared truths and troubles. It's a very cathartic thing to come together over struggles that felt unique to you, and to realise how many of us deal with similar things. It helps soften them. Musically, I draw huge inspiration from artists like Nick Drake, Feist and Laura Marling, keeping the singer-songwriter at the core and letting simplicity and tasteful production elevate the music into it's own unique and slightly magical world. |
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| What do you have lined up for the rest of the year and beyond? |
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| My new album "The Lighthouse" comes out on January 23rd, which I'm unbelievably excited about. I've poured so much of myself into this one and the idea of it being out in the world is quite incredible. It's an album about death, but with that undercurrent of optimism I mentioned.
I was raised by two mothers and lost one of them as a teenager, and this record is in part an homage to her, as well as an exploration of my feelings about womanhood and growing older. In March the band and I are going on tour through Europe and the UK, which I already know is going to be the highlight of my year. And then.. it will be a case of seeing where the year takes us. With open arms. |
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"At The Independent, we've always believed journalism should do more than describe the world – it should try to improve it.
This Christmas, we're asking for your help again as we launch our new campaign with the charity Missing People – the SafeCall appeal.
Every year, more than 70,000 children in the UK are reported missing. The misery that follows – for the child, for the family, for the community – is often hidden. Too many of these young people have nowhere to turn when they need help most. SafeCall will change that. Our goal is to raise £165,000 to help Missing People launch this new, free service – designed with the input of young people themselves – offering round-the-clock support, advice and a route to safety."
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| Tune into my fortnightly podcast, Roisin O'Connor's Good Vibrations, to hear in-depth conversations with your favourite musicians. Listen wherever you get your podcasts! |
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