Beyoncé is back

Beyoncé slays once more with her brand new single, Formation. 

After keeping things pretty quiet through 2015, Queen Bee is back. Her new single is just a teaser of what we can expect from her upcoming album, and does definitely not hold back. I will have this song on repeat for days and cannot wait to see where she will be heading on her world tour.

The artwork for the single is obviously, flawless. With designer names, risqué dancing and catchy lyrics, I can't wait to see whether this album will be just as good as Beyoncé:Platinum Edition.

Image from Beyoncé's wesbite

Birmingham Break

 This weekend, we had a little pre-holiday mini break to Birmingham. Although we only live about 50 minutes away from the city, we were going to see Krept and Konan on Friday night and thought we might as well make a weekend out of it!

Hotel La Tour was absolutely gorgeous; big rooms, modern technology and right in the middle of everything. I would highly recommend staying there if you find yourself in Birmingham for the weekend!

Friday night was great. We went for a meal and had some cocktails, before heading to The Institute for the gig. I bought the tickets for Ollie's birthday and I'm so glad I did, it made the perfect weekend. Krept and Konan were amazing, their new album is so so good (check it out if you haven't already!), and bringing out Yungen for a couple of songs made it even better.

Shopping on Saturday was as busy as ever. The german market is now up and which was lovely, but we didn't get much time to look around. I saw so much that I'd have loved to buy, but coming up to Christmas I thought it would be better to just hint!! We managed to get quite a few presents and bits for ourselves, before heading back home.

Here's just a few pictures I managed to take over the couple of days:

Film review: Straight Outta Compton

Wow, wow, wow. Although (as you've probably noticed) I have been at the cinema practically every weekend this summer, this film will be the one I definitely won't be forgetting anytime soon.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this film before seeing it, would the acting do justice to one of the greatest groups ever? Would the storyline be over exaggerated? Or how would they portray the group?
But from the start, the directing and acting in this film was obviously incredible. With O'Shea Jackson Jr. playing Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr Dre, Jason Mitchell as Easy-E, Neil Brown Jr. playing Dj Yella and Aldis Hodge as MC Ren, the 5 amazing performances are what make this film as good as it is. They have clearly all put all they could to research background details of N.W.A and the individual artists in order to mould their character to perfection.

Taking us right back to the start of N.W.A, the film honestly portrays what exactly it was like to live in Compton and the dangers not only these 5 guys, but everyone else in the neighbourhood faced. Freedom of expression left them with risks but with brutally honest lyrics and courage to speak out, this film shows the challenges these artists had when they put their thoughts and frustration into the most powerful form, music.
The film is incredibly uplifting, you can tell that the group really believed in themselves, through everything. The moment they release 'Straight Outta Compton', although we know now that it obviously was one of the best albums of all time, the passion and love that N.W.A show for their music is inspiring.

Throughout the film, not only do we see the rise and risks that N.W.A took to get to where they wanted, but the personal challenges they all faced individually. Dr Dre blaming himself for the loss of his brother is something that a lot of people can relate to and this scene in the film gripped on our heartstrings, after seeing how passionate and loving he really felt towards his family. As well as this, the scene where Easy-E is diagnosed with AIDS and the former N.W.A members come to visit him in hospital after years of not speaking, captured all of my emotions especially. The feeling that no matter how much you disagree with the people that really know you best, they'll always be there and this really came across in an emotion ending.

This film is one that will really make you think. Not only leaving you thinking about the love, passion and hope that this group had but their personal challenges, emotions and efforts they went to in order to show themselves as courageous, determined men throughout. I personally can not wait for the sequel to come out and I can really see why this film has topped box office records for the third weekend in a row. One of the best films of the year.