Ruel is the winner of the 2025 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition, snagging the lucrative contest for his release “The Suburbs.”

Written by the Australian singer and songwriter (full name: Ruel Vincent Van Dijk) alongside Mark Landon (M-Phazes), Elias Danielson, Chelsea Lena and Fran Hall, and produced by M-Phazes and Danielson, “The Suburbs” was recognized for its “emotional clarity, melodic strength and contemporary songwriting craft,” reads a statement from the award organizers.

With the victory spoils, Ruel collects A$50,000 courtesy of APRA AMCOS, Alberts and Sony Music Publishing.

Ruel broke through in 2018 when he won the ARIA Award for breakthrough artist of the year (now the Michael Gudinski breakthrough artist) with “Dazed & Confused.” He was just 16 at the time, making him the youngest artist to win an ARIA.

The following year, he cracked the history books again as the youngest artist to sell out the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall, twice. He has gone on to amass over three billion streams, sold out multiple tours and regularly attends fashion shows at the invitation of luxury haute couture such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès. ​ ​ ​ 

Ninajirachi (real name: Nina Wilson) adds to her heaving collection of awards by taking out second prize for “iPod Touch,” co-written and co-produced with Darcy Baylis.

With her Vanda & Young honor, Ninajirachi earns A$10,000 thanks to Banki Haddock Fiora. The rising EDM star had a year to remember in 2025, during which she collected multiple ARIA Awards, J Awards, the Australian Music Prize and the NSW Music Prize for breakthrough artist, all off the back of her debut album, I Love My Computer.

Third prize goes to Louis Schoorl for “Zombie,” performed and co-written by Lewis Fitzgerald and co-written and co-produced by Danny Shah. “Zombie” is recognized for its songwriting structure, emotional weight and clean production, a statement reads. The A$5,000 winner’s check is presented by Volume Foundation.

The emerging Australasian songwriter category was awarded to Jude York for “Almost Me, Almost You,” co-written with Sarah Aarons and produced by Giorgio Tuinfort. York receives A$5,000, courtesy of the Australasian Music Publishers’ Association Limited (AMPAL) for a song that will be released in the coming weeks via Spinnin’ Records.

Named after the iconic songwriters and founding members of The Easybeats, Harry Vanda and the late George Young, the contest recognizes outstanding songwriting talent from around the world and this year awards a total prize pool of A$80,000 across 14 songs.

The comp is a fundraiser for Noro Music Therapy, with entry fees raising over A$2.5 million since 2009 to fund life-changing music therapy services. This year’s competition received upwards of 4,000 entries from 52 countries, organizers say.

Also, 10 additional songwriters were feted with emerging global songwriter awards, including Oliver Cronin, Carla Wehbe and Bri Clark. Each artist receives A$1,000, courtesy of Merrick Property Group, Complete Law Pty Ltd, GLOW Music and anonymous donors.

View this post on Instagram

The 2025 judging panel featured artists, producers, media and music industry professionals including reps from Live Nation, AEG Presents, Spotify, ARIA, YouTube, Universal Music and Billboard. Read more here.

SYDNEY, Australia — Tributes are flowing for Rob Hirst, co-founder, co-songwriter and drummer for Midnight Oil, who died Wednesday (Jan. 20) following a years-long battle with cancer. He was 70.

Hirst wasn’t just a timekeeper for the Oils, as they’ve lovingly known in these parts. He was their power station, one of the most formidable and accomplished drummers to emerge from these parts. His drum solo in “Power And the Passion,” from 1982, is both powerful, passionate, and one of the most memorable pieces of percussion in Aussie rock music’s impressive history.  

“After fighting heroically for almost three years, Rob is now free of pain – ‘a glimmer of tiny light in the wilderness,’” reads a statement posted to Midnight Oil’s social pages. “He died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.”

A separate message signed by the surviving bandmates — Peter Garrett (vocals), Jim Moginie (guitar, keys), and Martin Rotsey (guitar) — reads: “We are shattered and grieving the loss of our brother Rob. For now there are no words but there will always be songs.”

Born in Camden, on the outskirts of Sydney, Hirst co-founded the band in early 1970s, initially as Farm. The call for a frontman went out, a lanky young law student by the name of Peter Garrett answered, and by 1976, Midnight Oil was ready to take on the world. The group did so, tackling tough subjects in their lyrics, from corporate greed and corruption, to civil rights and more. No one did it better than the Oils.

Their 1987 single “Beds Are Burning” is recognized as a benchmark in Australian music, with its message of Indigenous land rights also resonating internationally and peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of the band’s three entries on the chart. Its parent, Diesel and Dust, hit No. 21 on the Billboard 200, and the followup, 1990’s Blue Sky Mining, went one better at No. 20. All told, seven Oils albums impacted the U.S. all-genres chart.

By the time the rockers called it a day in 2022, they’d logged six ARIA No. 1 albums, including Resist, their first full-length studio album in two decades, and their last as a unit.

There could’ve been more hits, and awards (they collected 11 ARIAs), had Garrett not marched into federal politics for a decade from the mid-2000s.

Hirst reunited with his bandmates for induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006, and, after reuniting for a world tour, the group was tapped in 2018 for the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music, presented at the APRA Music Awards.

Hirst was a serial creator. He played, sung and wrote songs with The Ghostwriters, Backsliders, Hirst & Greene, Rob Hirst + Sean Sennett, The Angry Tradesmen and The Break, an instrumental lineup which features two of his fellow members of Midnight Oil (Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey) as well as bass player Brian Ritchie from the Violent Femmes, and in 2020 released a collaborative album with his daughter Jay O’Shea. As recently as last November, he released the deeply personal EP, A Hundred Years or More.

And it was Hirst who provided the explosive opening piece for the early ‘80s Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s weekly youth program Beatbox.

View this post on Instagram

The music community is remembering Hirst as one of the greats.

“Rob was an incredible drummer and songwriter — and a good friend to all of us in Cold Chisel. Vale Rob,” reads a message from the fellow ARIA Hall of Famers.

“Beyond the awards,” reads a message from ARIA, “Rob stood for integrity, activism and collaboration, using music as a force for change and connection. His influence continues to echo through generations of Australian artists.”

View this post on Instagram

Writes Ian Haug, guitarist with Powderfinger and the Church: “R.I.P. Rob Hirst. What an absolute beast of a drummer…songwriter…and character. Such a lovely and inspiring man.”

Hirst’s family asks that anyone wanting to honor the late artist do so by donating to Pankind (Pancreatic Cancer Australia) or music industry charity Support Act.

His passing follows the death of Oils bass player Bones Hillman, who died in November 2020 following his own battle with cancer, at the age of 62. Bones died just a few hours after the band received confirmation that The Makarrata Project hit No. 1 on the Australian chart.

Meghan Trainor announced Tuesday (Jan. 20) that she and husband Daryl Sabara welcomed a third child over the weekend: baby girl Mikey Moon Trainor.

According to the couple’s Instagram post, Mikey Moon was born on Sunday (Jan. 18) “thanks to our incredible, superwoman surrogate.”

“We are forever grateful to all the doctors, nurses, teams who made this dream possible,” the couple wrote alongside a carousel of seven photos, starting with a teary-eyed Trainor holding her newborn daughter. “We had endless conversations with our doctors in this journey and this was the safest way for us to be able to continue growing our family. We are over the moon in love with this precious girl.”

A second photo shows Trainor’s two older boys — 4-year-old Riley and 2-year-old Barry — wearing matching “big brother” T-shirts and holding their baby sister.

“Riley and Barry have been so excited, they even got to choose her middle name,” the caption continues. “We are going to enjoy our family time now, love you all.”

The carousel also includes close-ups of Mikey’s face, a selfie of Trainor and Sabara with baby, and an adorable pic of Barry looking lovingly at his little sis.

See the Instagram post below:

View this post on Instagram

Trainor and Sabara married in 2018 after just two years of dating. They welcomed Riley in 2021 and Barry in 2023 before Mikey Moon joined their family.

Most recently, Trainor has been poking some lighthearted fun at the mama drama her name has been linked to after Ashley Tisdale published an essay about leaving a “toxic” group of mom friends after feeling excluded by them. On Jan. 8, the pop star broke her silence on the subject by sharing a TikTok in which she frantically types on a computer keyboard with a confused look on her face. “me finding out about the apparent mom group drama,” she captioned the clip, which she appropriately set to her song “Still Don’t Care” — the lead single from her upcoming seventh album, Toy With Me, set for April 24 release.

Nicki Minaj sharply criticized independent journalist Don Lemon after he reported on a protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota.

The 43-year-old rapper took to X on Sunday (Jan. 18) to attack the former CNN anchor, 59, following his livestream from Cities Church in St. Paul. Demonstrators interrupted the service to protest the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to TMZ.

“DON ‘C—K SUCKIN’ LEMON IS DISGUSTING,” Minaj wrote in an all-caps post alongside an image of Chucky from Child’s Play. “HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!”

David Easterwood, listed as a pastor on the Cities Church website, is also identified as acting director of ICE’s Saint Paul Field Office, according to a Dec. 19 cease-and-desist notice obtained by People.

Lemon, who is openly gay and married to real estate agent Tim Malone, clapped back at Minaj’s remarks in a statement to TMZ.

“I’m not surprised Nicki Minaj does not understand journalism and is weighing in on matters that are above her capacity,” he told the outlet. “However, the more appropriate image for her post is a ‘Pick Me’ Doll.”

In another interview with TMZ Live, Lemon added that the rapper needs to “sit the f—k down” and “grow some brains,” while calling her a “homophobic, bigoted ignorant woman.”

On Monday (Jan. 20), Minaj followed up with another post on X, again including an image of Chucky giving the middle finger.

“LOL!!! And I purposely wrote it that way b/c I knew that would be the only way to get the c—k suckas to post about it. They would’ve all collectively ignored the despicable behavior displayed by Lemon head,” she wrote. “I’m glad they’re angry. They’re about to get angrier.”

The controversy comes after Minaj faced backlash for appearing on stage at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest last December in Phoenix with Erika Kirk, the wife of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. During the interview, the hip-hop star praised President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance as “role models” and awkwardly referred to Vance as an “assassin.”

In early January, thousands of people signed an online petition on Change.org calling for Minaj’s deportation to her native Trinidad. Minaj moved to the United States when she was 5 years old and said in a 2024 livestream that she still was not a U.S. citizen.

Valentino Garavani, the jet-set Italian designer whose high-glamour gowns — often in his trademark shade of “Valentino red” — were fashion show staples for nearly half a century, has died at home in Rome, his foundation announced Monday (Jan. 19). He was 93.

“Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” the foundation said in a statement posted on social media.

His body will repose at the foundation’s headquarters in Rome on Wednesday and Thursday. The funeral will be held Friday at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica.

Universally known by his first name, Valentino was adored by generations of royals, first ladies and movie stars, from Jackie Kennedy Onassis to Julia Roberts and Queen Rania of Jordan, who swore the designer always made them look and feel their best.

“I know what women want,” he once remarked. “They want to be beautiful.”

Never one for edginess or statement dressing, Valentino made precious few fashion faux-pas throughout his nearly half-century-long career, which stretched from his early days in Rome in the 1960s through to his retirement in 2008.

His fail-safe designs made Valentino the king of the red carpet, the go-to man for A-listers’ awards ceremony needs. His sumptuous gowns have graced countless Academy Awards, notably in 2001, when Roberts wore a vintage black and white column to accept her best actress statue. Cate Blanchett also wore Valentino — a one-shouldered number in butter-yellow silk — when she won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2004.

Valentino was also behind the long-sleeved lace dress Jacqueline Kennedy wore for her wedding to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Kennedy and Valentino were close friends for decades, and for a spell the one-time U.S. first lady wore almost exclusively Valentino.

He was also close to Diana, Princess of Wales, who often donned his sumptuous gowns.

Beyond his signature orange-tinged shade of red, other Valentino trademarks included bows, ruffles, lace and embroidery; in short, feminine, flirty embellishments that added to the dresses’ beauty and hence to that of the wearers.

Perpetually tanned and always impeccably dressed, Valentino shared the lifestyle of his jet-set patrons. In addition to his 152-foot (46-meter) yacht and an art collection including works by Picasso and Miro, the couturier owned a 17th-century chateau near Paris with a garden said to boast more than a million roses.

Valentino and his longtime partner Giancarlo Giammetti flitted among their homes — which also included places in New York, London, Rome, Capri and Gstaad, Switzerland — traveling with their pack of pugs. The pair regularly received A-list friends and patrons, including Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

“When I see somebody and unfortunately she’s relaxed and running around in jogging trousers and without any makeup … I feel very sorry,” the designer told RTL television in a 2007 interview. “For me, woman is like a beautiful, beautiful flower bouquet. She has always to be sensational, always to please, always to be perfect, always to please the husband, the lover, everybody. Because we are born to show ourselves always at our best.”

Valentino was born into a well-off family in the northern Italian town of Voghera on May 11, 1932. He said it was his childhood love of cinema that set him down the fashion path.

“I was crazy for silver screen, I was crazy for beauty, to see all those movie stars being sensation, well dressed, being always perfect,” he explained in the 2007 television interview.

After studying fashion in Milan and Paris, he spent much of the 1950s working for established Paris-based designer Jean Desses and later Guy Laroche before striking out on his own. He founded the house of Valentino on Rome’s Via Condotti in 1959.

From the beginning, Giammetti was by his side, handling the business aspect while Valentino used his natural charm to build a client base among the world’s rich and fabulous.

After some early financial setbacks — Valentino’s tastes were always lavish, and the company spent with abandon — the brand took off.

Early fans included Italian screen sirens Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, as well as Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. Legendary American Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland also took the young designer under her wing.

Over the years, Valentino’s empire expanded as the designer added ready-to-wear, menswear and accessories lines to his stable. Valentino and Giammetti sold the label to an Italian holding company for an estimated $300 million in 1998. Valentino would remain in a design role for another decade.

In 2007, the couturier feted his 45th anniversary in fashion with a three-day-long blowout in Rome, capped with a grand ball in the Villa Borghese gallery.

Valentino retired in 2008 and was briefly replaced by fellow Italian Alessandra Facchinetti, who had stepped into Tom Ford’s shoes at Gucci before being sacked after two seasons.

Facchinetti’s tenure at Valentino proved equally short. As early as her first show for the label, rumors swirled that she was already on her way out, and just about one year after she was hired, Facchinetti was indeed replaced by two longtime accessories designers at the brand, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli.

Chiuri left to helm Dior in 2016, and Piccioli continued to lead the house through a golden period that drew on the launch of the Rockstud pump with Chiuri and his own signature color, a shade of fuchsia called Pink PP. He left the house in 2024, later joining Balenciaga, and has been replaced by Alessandro Michele, who revived Gucci’s stars with romantic, genderless styles.

Valentino is owned by Qatar’s Mayhoola, which controls a 70% stake, and the French luxury conglomerate Kering, which owns 30% with an option to take full control in 2028 or 2029. Richard Bellini was named CEO last September.

Valentino has been the subject of several retrospectives, including one at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, which is housed in a wing of Paris’ Louvre Museum. He was also the subject of a hit 2008 documentary, Valentino: The Last Emperor, that chronicled the end of his career in fashion.

In 2011, Valentino and Giammetti launched what they called a “virtual museum,” a free desktop application that allows viewers to feast their eyes on about 300 of the designer’s iconic pieces.