28/03/2026

LYFE SATURDAY | MAR 28, 2026

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Shakira to wrap up world tour with Madrid residency POP superstar Shakira will wrap up her record-breaking world tour with a concert residency in Madrid at a custom-built venue, promoter Live Nation recently said. The six-night residency runs Sept 18–20 and Sept 25–27, with more dates possibly added depending on ticket demand. The shows will be held at a temporary venue to be built in southern Madrid dubbed the “Shakira Stadium” with a capacity for roughly 50,000 people, Live Nation Spain president Pino Sagliocco told a news conference. Shakira’s Madrid concerts will be a “celebration of life” and Latin culture, he added. “Spain is where we’re really going all out. The show’s going to be something people have never seen before. I’m really excited,” Shakira said in an interview published in daily Spanish newspaper El Pais . The concerts will mark her first performances in Spain in eight years and her first since reaching a 2023 settlement with Spanish prosecutors to settle a tax fraud case. As part of the deal, Shakira, 49, paid a fine of over €7.3 million (RM33.7 million), after previously settling €17.45 million with the Spanish tax agency. The case centred on the period when the Colombian singer lived in Barcelona with Spanish football player Gerard Pique. The couple, who have two sons, broke up in 2022. The residency will mark the final dates of Shakira’s “Women Don’t Cry Anymore” world tour, which has become the highest-grossing tour ever by a Latin artiste. Shakira kicked off the tour last year in Brazil, where she is set to perform a free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana beach in May, following in the footsteps of Madonna and Lady Gaga. – AFP

The music video for the title track of Chou’s new album shows him battling a vampire in a church.

Jay Chou drops new album T AIWANESE Mandopop star Jay Chou released his first album in nearly four years this week, unveiling earlier this week its lead single accompanied by o Mandopop star returns with Children of the Sun His new album Children of the Sun is his 16th studio release and features 13 tracks. The digital version arrived on Wednesday, with a physical edition to follow in April. The video for the title track, almost seven minutes long and filmed in Taipei and Paris, shows him battling a vampire in a church, whom he ultimately kills by driving a giant cross through its heart, reported Reuters.

Chou has a devoted, at times obsessive, following across Asia.

a music video in which he battles a vampire. Chou’s signature fusion of Western R&B and hip-hop with distinctly Taiwanese and Chinese influences has earned him a devoted, at times obsessive, following across Asia – particularly in China – since his 2000 debut Jay .

Chou told fans and reporters in Taipei that he hoped to send “positive energy” with the lead single, recalling earlier occasions of stage fright before concerts. “There is a dark side in everyone’s heart – how to control it, live in peace with it or to destroy it,” he said.

While Taiwan has only 23 million people, its music scene has an outsized influence in the Chinese-speaking world, in part due to a creative environment unconstrained by censorship. Raised in suburban Taipei by his mother, Chou failed his college entrance exam and once considered becoming a piano teacher. He was discovered by a TV host at a singing competition, though he started his career by writing songs for other performers. Unusually in the Mandopop industry, he writes much of his own material. Chou is also an actor, appearing in Chinese language films as well as the 2010 Hollywood movie version of The Green Hornet in which he played Kato, sidekick to the vigilante crime fighter played by comedian Seth Rogen.

Chou speaks during a press conference for the release of his new album Children of the Sun in Taipei. – P I C S F ROM A FP

Mongolian rock band The Hu releases double tracks, fuses tradition with metal D R OPPI N G not just one new track but two, Hunnu Rock pioneers The Hu have released The Men and Warrior Chant , along with the music video for the former as a double dose of its iconic folk and electric instruments and throat singing. strength and generosity, so this song tries to encapsulate that ancient wisdom and share it with the rest of humanity,” said The Hu’s Gala.

Then, there is Warrior Chant that lives up to the title with a hard charging chorus and tight metallic soundscape. Between the horse head fiddle and recognisable delivery, it immediately amplifies everything that fans have fallen in love with about the band in the first place. According to Gala, the second new song has The Hu’s signature rhythm. He also revealed the upcoming third album will “have a bit of everything”. The new tracks come after The Hu’s appearance on Pray to the Sun with Declan de Barra, a song from the latest season of Netflix’s One Piece live-action adaptation.

From left: Enkush, Jaya, Gala and Temka are The Hu.

On The Men , traditional Mongolian strings swell and give way to gritty, gruff groove-laden riffs topped off with hypnotic vocals. Its hybrid of indigenous and modern instrumentations carves out yet another essential anthem from The Hu. “The song is written based on the Mongolian philosophy of ‘man’s inner spirit’ and the importance of inner strength and kindness of a man to the world. The energy of men should always be reinforced with positivity,