Manchester pop princess Lucy Deakin dropped her first single of 2021 today – and it has an important message.
The new track, titled “acting like you’re famous”, draws attention to the negative effects of social media, living a false online life and how people are so easily fixated on the number of followers and likes. Things were all probably too guilty of falling into the trap of.
On the release, Lucy said: “We wrote this track back in January and we had so much fun writing this song, it just had to be my first single back. I tried to not take myself too seriously, injecting a bit of personality into the track. It calls out people with a big ego and makes light of reality show culture, like who do you think you are?”
Lucy Deakin
Lucy and her producer, Karl Ziegler, are currently on a mission to create waves in the pop scene. And with their bedroom production studio set up, they’ve caught the attention of industry top dogs.
Releasing on the Manchester indie label Scruff of the Neck, Lucy had an incredible 2020. And that was before she was tipped in the NME 100 back in January.
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With more than 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify – and close to one million total streams – she’s on her way to becoming the UK’s next big thing in pop music.
Her bold and unapologetic 90s aesthetic has amassed a cool 8K following on Instagram and she’s caught the attention of her idol and ultimate pop princess Miley Cyrus before now.
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Earlier this month, the singer also announced a six-track EP“in your head, i’m probably crying” which is due for release on 17 September. But fresh off the back of her last EP “i got bored” last year, Lucy has gone for a bit more of an indie edge in this one.
Now with Lucy on board too, Scruff of the Neck has gone from strength to strength in recent years, winning awards like Best Small Label at the Independent Music Awards in 2019, as well as signing countless deals with new bands and artists.
It’s an exciting time for the label and this track has shown their adaptability and versatility across genres. This is just taster of what’s to come from the SOTN team this year.
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The single is out today – listen on our new Manchester music releases Spotify playlist here.
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Music
Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Boyzone to reunite for exclusive New Year’s Eve special on the BBC
Danny Jones
2025 has very much been the year of the comeback – be it Oasis, Britpop fashion in general, or short bobs and pixie cuts – so it’s only fitting that we round off the calendar with one last reunion, as throwback boyband Boyzone are set to feature on a TV special on the BBC this New Year’s Eve.
Turns out ‘All That I Need’ to make a year memorable is a load of 1990s nostalgia.
Now, obviously, despite plenty of other music names enjoying a second renaissance over the past 12 months or so, nothing is ever going to be quite as big as the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour.
However, if you asked us to guess which group from the era were also going to reunite this year back in January, there’s not a chance we would’ve said Boyzone.
Boyzone are telling us about coming back together for one final run in their most unforgettable concerts yet 🎤
After news first began circulating earlier this week, it has now been confirmed that musician turned presenter Ronan Keating will be getting back together with two of his former bandmates.
Joining the 48-year-old for ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’, ex-Boyzone members Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch are part of an exciting live music lineup.
Other names include actor and singer, Shona McGarty, who recently starred on season 25 of I’m A Celeb, as well as fellow 90s pop artist Louise Redknapp and singer-songwriter Calum Scott.
The exclusive reunion comes after the success of the recently aired Boyzone: No Matter What documentary show.
Spread across three parts on Sky, the docuseries (named after their hit song from 1998) looks back on the career and journey up the charts back in their heyday, all the way up to the present. After seemingly striking a chord with fans and the lads themselves, it looks like they’re not done after all…
Yes, not only is the festive TV special going to see three of the original members performing alongside each other again, but
Here’s hoping that turns into a springboard for something even bigger, and we get a Manchester arena show sometime soon.
As for the programme itself, ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’ will be broadcast on BBC One and made available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday, 31 December 2025.
Hannah Starkie -
14th May 2021 
