Category: Entertainment

ITV Studios has unveiled 10 new titles on its Mipcom formats slate, led by “The Chase Around the World,” and also revealed the unscripted lineup, which includes “70 Up,” the final chapter of the groundbreaking documentary series “7 Up.”

“The Chase Around the World,” a multi-country treasure hunt, is a spin-off of ITV’s game show “The Chase.” The series, comprising six hour-long episodes, is produced by Bright Entertainment for British broadcaster ITV.

The show sees six pairs of contestants attempt to track down some of the biggest brains in Britain – six individuals known as The Chasers – in undisclosed locations across Europe. Unravelling puzzles along the way, the winning pair will pit their knowledge against The Chasers in order to win a life-changing prize pot.

Also new to the slate is endurance experiment “Expedition Into the Wild.” The show had a very successful launch on Kanal 5 in Sweden, where it became the number 1 commercial title in its timeslot, outperforming the slot average by 60%, and has been commissioned for a second season. The show, which comprises 12 hour-long episodes, is produced by ITV Studios Sweden.

In the show, eight celebrity city dwellers with almost no survival skills are dropped into a remote natural environment for 18 days. Working in pairs, the contestants have only basic tools and limited food. They must build shelter, source supplies and tackle survival challenges.

“Celebrity Escape,” produced by Perpetual Entertainment for Three in New Zealand, sees seven comedians take on one of the most popular and fastest-growing activities in the world: the escape room.

Each hour-long episode of the show sees the comedians working as a team to navigate the puzzles, clues and scares of a new themed room, before voting out their competition.

All the while, another comedian, known as the Games Master, watches from the control room, chiming in to help or hinder as they see fit.

Over the six episodes, alliances shift, egos clash, and pressure builds as the group shrinks. In the finale, the last two contestants face a head-to-head escape where only one can win.

New food-entertainment series “Next on the Menu,” produced by South Shore for the U.K.’s Channel 4, sees four food superfans battle to create the next menu hit for a global brand, from Wagamama and KFC to Taco Bell and Krispy Kreme.

Each contestant must pitch, prototype and perfect their dream dish with their creations then stress-tested for taste, kitchen feasibility, and trialled with real customers, to win a place on the menu. The show is in four parts, with each episode an hour long.

Also new to the slate is “Apocalypse,” a new social experiment show from The Garden and ITV Studios Australia. It was the biggest unscripted original launch since 2024 for Binge, the Australian streaming service, and one of Channel 4’s biggest young-skewing entertainment launches of this year.

The series, which has eight hour-long episodes, sees 16 ordinary people enter an abandoned town that bears all the hallmarks of being ravaged by an apocalyptic event. With no running water, heating or electricity, they must survive for 28 days, scavenging for food and supplies and by reusing and repurposing anything they find.

“Secret Garden,” narrated by David Attenborough in the U.K., also joins the slate. The show, comprising five 60-minute episodes, is produced by Plimsoll Studios. It was the BBC’s biggest new factual series since 2025.

The series uncovers the wildlife stories hidden in the places we know best. Each episode follows one garden over an extended period, capturing animal behavior rarely witnessed by human eyes – from raising families and defending territories to hunting, courting and surviving the changing seasons.

Also on the slate is the reality format “How to Clean Up for Cash,” where loved ones secretly seek help for a family member or friend whose clutter has taken over their home.

While the unsuspecting homeowner is away for 48 hours, an expert team clears, sorts and values years of accumulated belongings, transforming the space that has become overwhelmed by clutter.

The six-parter, with each episode running for 30 minutes, is produced by MultiStory Media for ITV.

“Name That Tune,” which is based on the U.S. game show that debuted on NBC in 1953, is returning to the U.K. in 2027 after 29 years off air.

The show is a global staple of entertainment, with over 25 countries, including Australia, France, Germany and Italy, having produced localized versions across the last seven decades. Accompanied by the Name That Tune Live Band and led by a celebrity host, contestants race against the clock (and each other) to identify legendary tracks across various genres and eras.

The series, comprising nine 60-minute episodes, is produced by Bright Entertainment for ITV.

Also new to the slate is “The Ultimate Summer Star,” produced by Magga og Anders and ITV Studios Denmark for TV2 Echo. It is a sun-soaked spin-off of the smash-hit Norwegian format “The Ultimate Christmas Star,” which continues to deliver strong ratings with a 13% increase in total viewers from Season 2 to 3 in Norway, with a fourth season returning this December, a third season returning in Denmark, and a newly announced first season in Sweden.

Chaos unfolds as 24 celebrities head to a lakeside cabin to compete in a lineup of bonkers challenges. From laugh-out-loud antics to outdoor adventures, the tasks are silly, light-hearted and packed with warm-weather fun, as they compete to be crowned The Ultimate Summer Star.

The show has 24 30-minute episodes.

And finally, there is “The Joy of Pets,” which is produced by Bandicoot for ITV. The show, which has five 60-minute episodes, is a warm-hearted factual entertainment format celebrating the bond between people and their animals.

This format travels across the country uncovering uplifting, emotional and often surprising stories of pets, their owners and the veterinary professionals dedicated to their care.

Each episode combines behind-the-scenes access to a local veterinary practice, a community roadshow featuring expert advice and audience interaction, and inspiring local stories that showcase the life-changing impact animals have on the people around them.

ITV Studios has also unveiled its full unscripted slate for Mipcom, led by “70 Up,” the final chapter of the groundbreaking series “7 Up,” the longest-running documentary series ever made.

“70 Up,” which comprises two 90-minute episodes, is produced by MultiStory Media for ITV.

The “7 Up” series, which follows the lives of 14 ordinary people, has been broadcast in 157 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Australia and France.

“70 Up” marks the culmination of this journey across seven decades. Building on the forensic questioning of the late director Michael Apted, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia steps in to close the circle on a series that captures a lifetime from childhood through careers, marriage, parenting and beyond.

From Plimsoll Studios for ITV, comes the landmark natural history series “World’s Wildest Cities.” Across six hour-long episodes, the show follows a variety of urban animals to uncover the challenges of living alongside the human race. Each episode has a new cast of animals and focuses on one city: Rio de Janeiro, New York, Melbourne, Singapore and London, with the final episode revealing how the series was made, and the science behind the stories.

Another title looking at the changing world around us, “Ages of Ice,” which has three hour-long episodes, is produced by Northern Pictures for PBS and ABC Australia, and is narrated by actor David Tennant. It follows the brave scientists pushing the boundaries of exploration and human endeavor in Earth’s coldest corners to understand the changes of ice and what this means for our planet’s future. In the unforgiving grip of our planet’s polar regions, the series will follow these modern-day explorers as they try to understand how the fate of every place and every creature on our planet is tied to these frozen extremes.

New to the slate from Wonderhood Studios is a documentary series “Jesus Christ: The Man, The Mystery,” which has four hour-long episodes. Produced for the BBC, it draws on the latest historical research, archaeological discoveries, technological innovation and expert testimony to expand and sharpen our understanding of Jesus.

The story draws on the testimony recorded in the Gospel accounts, and elsewhere, to understand the world he inhabited and the foundations of the movement he inspired.

And finally, from Curious Films, there is “Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story,” which is produced for Channel 4. It has all the ingredients of an espionage thriller, but is a true story, with access to people caught up in the Russian spy network as well as FBI operatives and former Russian insiders.

In 2010, 11 deep-cover Russian spies were arrested across the United States, sending shockwaves around the globe. At the center of it all was Anna Chapman (née Kushchenko) — the femme fatale turned media sensation. But before she became the face of the spy ring, she was recruited, trained and indoctrinated in the U.K. The series reveals how the actions of a few would trigger seismic, long-lasting and deadly consequences.

It comprises two hour-long episodes.

Variety spoke to Julie Meldal-Johnsen, executive VP global content and content strategy at ITV Studios, about the slate.

Referring to “70 Up,” she said, “I can’t think of another documentary project that is more ambitious, more far-reaching. There were so few filmmakers that could have done it justice [following the death of Michael Apted], but it’s incredible to be able to wrap up that endeavor, that vision, and bring back some people who haven’t been in it for a long time. Obviously, sadly, there have been a couple of deaths on the way. It is a feat of filmmaking that will be unparalleled. So that brings tears to my eyes every time, and we’re really, really, really proud of that.”

Turning her attention to “Jesus Christ: The Man, The Mystery,” she said, “It is very rare for us to have something in that space, but we were very keen. It’s a history documentary with archaeological discoveries thanks to new techniques, and some great expert testimony. We think this really will be a seminal documentary. And whether you’re Christian or not, I think it will be fascinating.”

She added, “ ‘World’s Wildest Cities’ features a different city every episode, and there are some really exotic animals, and this amazing drama that takes place in urban places. It’s quite a different approach to blue chip natural history.”

“Ages of Ice” has been three years in the making, she said. “We were excited to have it voiced by David Tennant, and the visuals on that are just stunning. It follows these polar-nauts to some of the most incredible and dangerous places on the planet, doing research to help us figure out how to manage water and changing climate.”

Talking about “The Chase Around the World,” a spin-off of ITV’s game show “The Chase,” she said, “What I love about ‘The Chase’ is taking the quizzes and the studio show and getting it out into the world. We say The Chasers are both beloved and feared, and to see them out of their environment – of a safe, comfortable studio – and out into the world is great. Some of the locations are just gorgeous. The photography in the series is really great too, and it’s fun, and it’s getting that scale – these wonderful locations – and I think it’s just a clever way of wrapping up a treasure hunt and bit of travel porn in a way.”

She also discussed “Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story.” “I think there’s always a demand for stories about spies,” she said. “People are endlessly fascinated by spies, true or fictional, and it’s a remarkable story. And she was this glamorous woman, which just adds to the intrigue.”

Tom McCarthy’s biographical drama “Spotlight” won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2016. The film, featuring a stacked ensemble led by Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, was widely praised for chronicling the investigative reporting by the Boston Globe that exposed the Catholic Church’s systemic cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests. A decade later, McCarthy says his influential film still hasn’t galvanized enough change within the church.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people who saw the movie. A lot of people who felt understood after the movie was released,” McCarthy told Variety Saturday night at the New York Film Festival. “Has it caused a lot of change within the Catholic Church? In my opinion, not really. Not enough. It’s not enough until every child is safe, as far as I’m concerned. And that’s a zero sum game. So, I would like to see more change.”

McCarthy’s new film, “A Statement,” could be seen as a cathartic response to the lack of institutional change that followed “Spotlight.” Bolstered by a strong ensemble led by Paul Rudd, the film follows 20 experts who attempt to reach a consensus on a statement to Congress about the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on the climate.

Based on a real-life conference that took place in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1980, the film’s opening text calls the gathering “the first meeting dedicated to solving the climate crisis in America.” The group, ultimately, never reached a consensus — and nearly 50 years later, the debate over carbon emissions continues to divide American politics.

“I’m very proud of [‘Spotlight’],” McCarthy explained. “I think, as filmmakers, our job is to start a conversation, get people thinking about an issue, but draw a light on things. That’s what I think we’ve done with ‘Spotlight,’ and hopefully, we’ve done that with ‘A Statement.’ This movie doesn’t preach. There is a right and wrong here, but we want people to come to the table and have thaat conversation and listen.”

Coincidentally, “A Statement” premiered the same weekend Tom Cruise’s “Digger” bombed at the box office. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman panned the film as a “bombastically self-important satire” that attempts to be “the ‘Dr. Strangelove’ of climate change.” Nathaniel Rich, who wrote the 2019 nonfiction book “Losing Earth” that McCarthy based his script on, used the same adjective to describe “A Statement.” At the festival, he called McCarthy’s film the “first climate change movie written for adults” and praised it for being “not bombastic.”

“I haven’t seen [‘Digger] but I’m very curious to see it,” Rich said. “All I can say is there has not been a film like [‘A Statement’] before. There are some films like this on other social justice issues that movie beyond a kind of polemic into a deeper exploration of the material. That hasn’t happened with climate change in a feature film until now.”

On Thursday, 21 states sued the Trump administration over its repeal of federal greenhouse gas regulations for power plants. While the Trump-led EPA believes that eliminating the Biden-era limits will lower costs and boost American energy production, the Democratic-led coalition argues the rollback will set the country back decades in its fight against climate change. The back-and-forth is the latest example of how climate action, nearly half a century after the meeting depicted in “A Statement,” has become poisoned by partisan politics.

“Everything becomes politicized,” Rudd said. “This was not a politicized issue. This [gathering] was really smart people, Republicans and Democrats alike, who realized, ‘Oh, this is an existential threat and it is something that we should deal with. Now, how we go about dealing with it, we need to figure that out — but the science is there. We know.’”

But do we know? At the end of the film, Paul Giamatti’s David Slade (a government director at the Department of Energy) offers a reassuring one-liner to Tatiana Maslany’s character about the factual nature of science. The 1980 gathering took place just four days before Ronald Reagan won the presidency.

“Presidents come and go,” Slade said, “but if there’s one thing we’ll always agree on, it’s science.”

“Yeah, well,” Rudd laughed. “I think he said that with a bit of a wink.”

Sass Jordan, the singer, songwriter and longtime “Canadian Idol” judge, died on Oct. 2. She was 65.

Her family confirmed her death, noting that she “died peacefully” and was “surrounded by those who loved her most.” They remembered her as “an inimitable force of nature” and “an irreplaceable being of light and joy.”

Jordan began her recording career in 1986 as co-lead vocalist on “Come On (Baby Tonight)” from Bündock’s album “Mauve.” She quickly became a sought-after session singer in Montreal, most notably on The Box’s breakthrough “L’Affaire Dumoutier (Say To Me…)”, and appeared in the band’s video for “Closer Together.”

She was also a prominent songwriter. Michael Breen took her composition “Rain” onto the Canadian charts in 1987.

In 1989, Jordan won the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year after her debut album, “Tell Somebody.”

After moving to Los Angeles in Jan. 1990, she released “Racine” in March 1992. It became the defining album of her career, selling an estimated 450,000 copies worldwide and 100,000 in Canada on the strength of “Make You a Believer,” “I Want to Believe,” “You Don’t Have to Remind Me” and “Goin’ Back Again,” with “Who Do You Think You Are” following in 1993.

“Make You a Believer” climbed to #11 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, and Billboard named her its top female rock artist of 1992.

She joined “Canadian Idol” as a judge in 2003, the only woman on the panel, and stayed for all six seasons. She continued performing and releasing music for two decades.

“If you love music and you’ve been around as long as I have, you pretty much do what you got to do,” Jordan once said. “But I love music. I am a huge, gigantic fan.”

Born Sarah Jordan on Dec. 23, 1960, in Birmingham, England, she was the daughter of French literature professor Albert Jordan and former English ballerina Jean Lanceman. She began singing with friends at a young age and, by 16, was fronting bands in downtown Montreal clubs; later, she became singer and bassist for local favorites The Pinups.

She is survived by her husband, Derek Sharp, daughter Stella Jordan-Sharp (Daniel Yepes), stepdaughter Brianne Sharp and brother Daniel Jordan (Isabelle Courville).

Predictions that Taylor Swift would make a cameo on “Saturday Night Live” with host Dakota Johnson came to fruition when the duo appeared together in the opening monologue.

After Johnson joked about her failed relationships, she said “I have really good friends. They don’t judge me, they’re really supportive. Ladies and gentlemen, my literal therapist.”

Swift then appeared onscreen — in what one Swiftie on X delightedly described as a “Taylor Swift jump scare” — and said, “I’m not your therapist, actually. You just show up once a week at my house with an empty bottle of wine and ask if I want some… You flop on my couch and overshare and every so often I say ‘Damn, that’s crazy,’” Swift continued. “And then you say…”

“Sleepover, yay!” said Johnson.

“Then I give you Pedialyte and my security drives you home,” Swift said.

Then the subject returned to Johnson’s dating life. Earlier in the monologue, after jokes about her “tight-ass latex dress” and the failure of “Madame Web,” the actress said, “What else has happened since the last time I hosted? Well, I went through two very public, very lame breakups with two very awesome musicians,” referring to Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Role Model. “Looking for a third,” she added. Mentioning that her new film “Verity” is a “psychosexual erotic thriller,” she noted, “So is dating musicians. Some of them don’t wear shoes, some of them are terrible in bed, but all of them are in my DMs. It’s not my fault, though. Some people leave concerts with merch, and I leave concerts with a two-and-a-half-year relationship.”

WIth Swift beside her minutes later, Johnson picked up the subject and continued, “Just quickly while we’re on the subject of musicians, I think actually I’m doing a public service by dating them, because, ladies, I am saving you a lot of money on Zoloft. So you’re welcome, America. And also England. And parts of Ireland. And Cleveland,” a reference to Travis Kelce, which led to the rejoinder, “Allegedly.”

Swift then squealed “It’s her birthday!” — just slightly prematurely, as Johnson had earlier announced her birthday would be arriving at midnight.

During the goodnights at the end of the episode, Swift brought a birthday cake out for Johnson.

There was no question of Swift doing a musical number on the episode, since the musical guest had long since been announced as Turnstile. But the singer turning up at some point on “SNL” this season seemed like an inevitability after Swift participated in an Easter egg-laden “Law & Order SVU” sketch on the Emmys. Behind her in the skit, a large “Saturday Night Live” emblem was tacked to a bulletin board… not her subtlest clue ever.

In the Oct. 3 cold open on “Saturday Night Live,” Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla play Republican strategists who have their work cut out for them building buzz for their party.

Marcello Hernández comes in first as Marco Rubio, who speaks to constituents in Spanish, admits that Trump did not live up to expectations and his endless war is not making things better.

Mikey Day then shows up as a frozen Mitch McConnell in a wheelchair, only able to give the peace sign and nearly derailing the fourth wall of the sketch when he mistakenly tries to say “Live from New York” too early.

Vice President JD Vance stopped by, played by Jeremy Culhane, and his lack of charisma was mocked when he started his camera test by saying, “Hi, I’m JD Vance,” before getting dismissed.

The sketch’s highlight was Colin Jost returning as Pete Hegseth, who immediately chugs one of Tom Holland’s Bero beers, which he refers to as “Spider-Man’s new non-alcoholic bitch beer.”

The sketch, which parodied his unhinged “State of the Force” address this week, he also urges Republicans to do something shocking: “I need all you patriots at home to do the gayest thing ever and vote.”

He also noted that, “I’m putting God back in war and it’s working. Our soldiers are praying a lot more than they used to.”

Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, also dropped by, saying, “Let me cook.”

He also made fun of his real-life strategy to reimburse American voters for a Republican midterm win, saying, “If the Republicans win, I’ll give everyone $5,000 and that is not a bribe because I have no intention of following through on that promise.”

The episode’s host is Dakota Johnson and the musical guest is Turnstile.

Watch the cold open below.

Paul Rudd plays the moderator of the first-ever meeting dedicated to solving America’s climate crisis in “A Statement,” the latest film from Oscar-winning director Tom McCarthy. Set at a Florida beachside resort in 1980, the film follows 20 experts who spend a weekend in a conference room and — analogous to “12 Angry Men” — hash out their differences over how to draft a statement to Congress about the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on the climate.

Rudd found himself more connected to the sprawling ensemble cast, which includes Paul Giamatti, Tatiana Maslany and John Turturro, by leaving his smartphone in his trailer, a practice he claims he’s now followed for some time.

“I don’t go to sets with a phone. I haven’t done that for a while now,” he told Variety Saturday evening during the film’s world premiere at the New York Film Festival. “It’s important to put it down. Anytime. They’re horrible things. I’m addicted to it like everybody else. They’re facilitating our own destruction.”

Rudd revealed that McCarthy enforced a “very strict no phones policy” on the set of “A Statement,” which he found brought his castmates closer together and made filming feel more like a play.

“The world has changed since cell phones have existed. We don’t look at each other or talk to each other quite the same way,” Rudd said. “Now, [with the phone ban], we were forced to really spend time with each other and talk. Working on a movie set in 1980, we’re dressed in a certain kind of way. It felt like, ‘Oh, yeah. I remember this. This feels like it used to feel when people sat around and spoke to one another.’”

Amy Ryan, whose character delivers a sobering wake-up call to the group at the film’s climax, encouraged other filmmakers to follow McCarthy’s lead. The absence of notifications and doomscrolling, she said, “definitely made the work much more rich.”

“What happens is there’s a five-minute break and people are connected. ‘Hey, what are you doing? How’s your morning? What do you think of this scene?’” Ryan explained. “I equate it to like when you quit sugar. In three days, it’s out of your system. You don’t miss it! And hopefully, it becomes like a toy you’re gonna get sick of.”

Lawrence Rothman has a lot of nerve, starting an album with a song called “The Meaning,” and then daring to ask some of the questions inherent in the big picture created by those two words — like, if not what is the meaning of life, then what is the meaning of music? (Of course, for a lot of musicians and music lovers, those two questions might as well be synonymous.) But thoughtfulness and intent are never far away from Rothman’s music, or at least hasn’t been since they made a shift about five years ago toward recording in Nashville and feeling the embrace of the Americana community, as opposed to drifting through a series of rock ‘n’ roll bands and personas in L.A. for a lot of years prior.

“The Meaning” kicks off Rothman’s new album, “Here Lives Love/Sawdust to Stardust,” which they consider the completion of a trilogy of Americana-rooted albums that tell the story of the singer’s life and career to date. (Rothman suggests the music being formulated for the next album actually has more of a jazz flavor, though they’re convinced that belongs as much in Americana as the acoustic singer/songwriter material being emphasized at present.)

During the recent AmericanaFest in Nashville, Variety sat down to talk with Rothman not just about wrapping up the fruitful trilogy with “Here Lives Love/Sawdust to Stardust” but about a rich and growing side career producing other artists, including Amanda Shires‘ 2025 confessional album “Nobody’s Girl” (and “Take It Like a Man” before it), Maggie Rose‘s vivacious “Half Moon” and Tift Merritt‘s comeback, “Sugar.” When Rothman begins the new album asking the most core question of them all, “Why am I breathing?,” any of these albums — the ones produced for others, and their own new one — offers a substantial and worthy enough answer.

To ask first about your production work: You work with a lot of great singer-songwriters, and there’s a lot of versatility in the types of sounds you get with different people. No one would mistake an Amanda Shires record for the Maggie Rose album you just had come out.

I don’t know if it’s the Gemini in me, but I’ve loved so many different types of music. my entire life. So to produce and to be able to add sounds, textures and treatments to things that are in a new style every month — because I produce something once a month — helps keep me alive, really, and eep my inspiration up. Amanda Shires makes poetic songs that are just these heartbreaking stories, done in a way that’s so classy, and like Leonard Cohen. It is such a great thing to immerse myself in, because I love sad music, and she definitely makes some beautifully sad songs. You can do that for a while and you’re in that zone, and then it’s great to be able to pop out and do something like Maggie Rose, where it’s more of a celebratory thing of being a mother and this new stage of her life, where it’s about a weird youthfulness in the energy a family gives back to you. T hat record feels very celebratory, and very different than the Tiff Merritt record I made earlier in the year, which was more of a look at the life of an artist, much like myself — what I’ve gone through and what she went through, in a heavy lyrical mode.

I’m a little Method when I produce. I have to feel like I’m in the band. As a sensitive artist yourself, when you’re with all these musicians and you’re getting Method with them, you can lose yourself in it and start to feel a bit like you’re taking on everybody’s trauma. So it’s nice to be able to go amongst these groups of musicians that I work with who telling their truths and spilling their drama and their sadness. They’re all such great people that when you leave those sessions, it’s almost like you’ve been acting in a film, crying and singing and laughing with them, and then at the end of it, you can walk away like yourself again. And I feel like all those artists that I work with, when they’re done, it’s like a clean reset. They got it out of them. I got it out of myself. It’s like a little bit of a demon that you dance with, when you’re producing things.

How do you make yourself “part of the band”? Is that literally through playing an instrument as part of the sessions?

Like I said, I like to be immersive with it, and I don’t want to feel like I’m the producer behind the glass. I stand in the recording room, not the control room, when I’m producing. If a singer’s singing, I’m right next to them. Sometimes I’ll take my shirt off and dance. I’ll do whatever it takes to get it to have an energy. Because there’s something so clinical, almost like a doctor, about being behind a glass, and they’re in the distance — it just feels odd to me. So I’ve never been one to not just immerse myself physically in the room. If I’m not playing something, I’m tapping something or just getting people to get going.

You’ve talked with liking having women’s voices on your own albums…

I like to frame my voice. My voice is so low that a woman’s texture, or that range, always complements my voice well. So for this record, I have Amanda and Jillian Jacqueline and Katie Pruitt singing on some song, and I got to sing with Sarah Klang (as a duet on “A Fire Test”).

The artists we were just talking about you producing recently — Amanda, Maggie, Tift — are all women. Not that that would be solely your focus, but do you find you gravitate toward women artists more than others?

Yeah, I don’t look at it like that at all. I have to just love the music. And I’m not doing producing to become a millionaire of any sort. I’m doing it because I want to help this singer express what they’re doing in a way that feels like, are we pushing the envelope in some direction that’s forward? And with Americana music, funny enough, I think it’s the most forward-thinking music of any genre right now — because you can be R&B, you can be rock ‘n’ roll, singer-songwriter, folk, you can even be a little bit jazz, and it’s all accepted in the community of Americana. And I think the term Americana is being reinvented as different than what it started as. and now it’s the place for people who want to take all the styles that have sort of, I guess, begun in America or become more mainstream through American culture, and mashing them up to be something that’s uniquely its own.

I think some of the freshest and most exciting music I’ve heard in the last five years has come out of the Americana quote-unquote “scene.” So I find myself working and producing a lot of artists that are under that umbrella. But to me, they’re also all, like, either a rock ‘n’ roll artist or someone like Maggie Rose, who is like soul meets singer-songwriter. So when you’re asking me about, is it women, or… For me, I think right now it’s that it has to resonate in a way that’s pushing genre forward. And if we’re gonna still use use those genre terms like Americana, pop and alt rock, Americana is the place where I feel like you can kind of be anything. I wouldn’t be shocked if somebody put out a space-dance-country-folk record. You can kind of be anything in it and you’re welcomed into the party, as long as the thing that ties it together is the music’s played by real people. There’s great lyrics, whether it’s storytelling or more abstract. And I’m not anti-AI, but I feel like gives the identity to Americana music is that humans created it all. It’s the human touch music.

You have come to feel very comfortable in Americana, though it’s not at all where you started. And with your new album being pretty acoustic, you’re pretty in the pocket with that at the moment.

Yeah, the last three albums, I’ve pretty much focused on that, and that’s been the community that’s welcomed me, so it’s the one I want to identify myself with and support. But if I want to go make a jazz record for the next one, I’m gonna go make it. If it’s called jazz or Americana, I don’t really care. It’s come up a lot that it’s been hard to label what I do, and that’s fine with me. I love Beck, and Beck’s hard to label as well. David Bowie, I don’t even know what the label of that music would be, you know?. He started as a folk artist, and then was a rocker, and then was a pop star, and then was kind of an abstraction star.

You met and talked with David Bowie, and he had an impact on your thinking about things,, right?

I met David Bowie early on when I was starting my solo career. I’d disbanded my band with my brothers called Living Things that we were doing for 13 years, and I was exhausted. I’d met David Bowie, and I had a song that I had just written called “Montauk Fling,” and I showed it to him. I said, “Hey, I think I’m starting this new chapter of my musical existence, and what do you think of this?” Because it was very different from what I’d done before. And he listened to it, and gave me some great advice. He was just like, “The chorus that you’re singing about there, and the verses, do you mean it?” And I’m like, “Well, yeah!” And he’s like, “But what’s the meaning of it?” So I had to explain it to him. And he’s like, “Well, I don’t think you hit the meaning of it. You need to be more direct.” And so I went back in and rewrote that chorus, and I was very direct. The chorus (ended up being) “Why do you want to fuck like strangers?” I got right to the meaning of what I was trying to say. But that was a really interesting exercise from such an icon, because I had never really looked at David Bowie’s lyrics as I do Leonard Cohen’s per se.

At that point he was about to do “Blackstar,” and when you listen to that record, it’s very much him, autobiographical. He’s about to die. And so I guess he was at a point of what is the meaning of all of what we’re doing in art? — and he was examining it in his own self with “Blackstar.” And I wrote that down in my journal at the time: “David Bowie says, ‘What’s the meaning of all of this?’” It led me to start writing this song called “Glory,” which was on my album “Good Morning America.” A lot of people responded well to it, so when I got to this new record, I wanted to keep exploring what Bowie had said with that. I started the record with the song “The Meaning,” because it’s like, what is the meaning of me putting out music, or any of us putting out music? It’s very ego-driven. As a musician, you’re out there playing rock star — or you’re not, and that’s also playing rock star. If it’s all performance, what is the meaning of doing any of it? With him, I felt like I got to a result of, like, the meaning of doing any of it is just to tell some kind of solid story that somebody can understand, that when they’re going through it, they can go, “That’s pulling me through this hard time.”

For Bowie with “Blackstar,” obviously that was cathartic to write about death because he was dying. With “The Meaning,” I wrote about, why am I putting this album out right now? Why am I doing this music? I’m doing it because it’s my primal scream. It’s my therapy.

You are calling this album, “Here Lies Love/Sawdust to Stardust,” the conclusion to a triology, which began for you with 2021’s “Good Morning, America” and had its middle part with 2024’s “The Plow That Broke the Plains,” which we previously discussed for Variety. Why do you think of them as a trilogy?

Henry Miller is one of my favorite writers of all time, and his his trilogy called “Sexus, Plexus and Nexus” was in my psyche my whole life. I thought, “One day I want to make a record that has the feeling of that, as far as telling a story across three pieces of work.” So when I went into the first record, “Good Morning America,” that was the clean slate. I said to myself, “I’m gonna do this trilogy now, starting with the South,” and it brought me to Nashville. I knew that I wanted to get back to letting songs and lyrics be the forefront of what I was doing as an artist; less so, production, because I had been doing records where I felt the production was kind of the centerpiece. I had gotten to a stage in my life where storytelling and the lyrics and presenting things that were the true me. At the beginning of my career, I was nine different people. I used prosthetics and I had nine different names and I performed different concerts as different alters, as I called them. I did that for seven years and it kind of just overtook my whole lifestyle. So at the top of that 2021 record, I wanted to get back to “this is what I’m going through” on the page with some chords behind it.

So the start of the trilogy was with that idea, and I connected with Lucinda Williams, who has been a huge influence on my life on every level. On that record, she sang with me on a song called “Decent Man,” and that brought me to Nashville. I’d come here as a kid to record, I fell back in love with the city and the scene, and then that record just sort of dictated where I was gonna go. I started writing more songs from that record that appeared on the last record, “The Plow That Broke the Plains,” and then a few of those songs I wrote during that period have appeared now on this one. I brought back some of the same collaborators throughout the three records. Katie Pruitt is on the first one, and now she’s on the last one with me. Amanda Shires is on all three. And Jason Isbell is on the last one and the new one. We wrote a song called “Nothing Like Shakespeare” together in the same three hours that we wrote a song off my last record called “Poster Child.”

Both of those songs, “Nothing Like Shakespeare” and “Poster Child,” sort of tell my origin story. “Poster Child” tells the story of what I went through as an artist at a young age, being signed at eight different major labels and getting dropped and getting signed again, and them sort of using my story as fodder for press and things like that, and how I felt like I got a little bit taken advantage of. “Nothing Like Shakespeare” is how I got to L.A. to get that first record deal. I lived with this girl who was the first love of my life, and we broke up when we got to L.A. In the lyric, I say, “I took the bus, she took the house,” because that’s what literally happened. I got a new record deal with a band with my brothers, and I’ll never forget the bus pulling up at our house, and I came out with everything I had, and it was done.

So, that’s the backstory with the trilogy situation. I hope one day people have the attention span to sit with it and listen from song one, which was “Thrash the West” on that first record in 2021, to the final song on this record, which is “Sawdust to Stardust.” Because basically that is the opening and the ending of this sort of filmic record that I’ve made that tells my complete adulthood story of the trials and tribulations I went through and how I got into music.

Is it a cathartic story, overall?

You know, it’s been a painful experience being in music, I’m not gonna lie. But it’s something that I can’t live without. Every time through the years that I’ve gone “I give up,” the next morning I wake up and I’m at the piano or guitar. My wife laughs at me about it because I give up, like, once a year. But I can’t get away from it. I’ve been on stage playing music since I was 8 years old; got my first record deal at 16. And it has more to do with the act of creation than it has to do with the fame or the fortune. I always say to my wife, “You can’t have a little hallelujah without a little hell.”

I’ve been on this journey a long time, and I’ve never gotten famous, and that’s never been my goal. There’s a lot of expectations you get from family members and things like that of like, “Why don’t I see you on late night TV?” Or “Why aren’t you over here on the radio?” That’s part of what I call the stress pool of making art, is the expectations of your audience, of your family, of your friends. For me, art’s always been about the act of creation. I don’t really care about who likes it or who doesn’t. There’s many people who only like my first album that I did, which was very indie pop, and all this newer singer-songwriter stuff, they don’t like. I lost probably thousands and thousands of fans, but I don’t care. It’s not why I’ve gotten into this. … When you’re in the mercy seat as a musician, and there’s all this expectation, regardless if you’re famous or not famous, but you always have a fan base. And I just find I have to stay true to myself, and with that brings a lot of hell, you know?

I don’t think I can really write stories about other people. Unless it’s a friend of mine and I’m observing it, it has to be something connected to me. Those types of writers that can just kind of observe from afar and write about it, that to me is more like work, and I can do that for other people, because I write a lot for other people. But for me, when I’m writing my own songs, if there’s not some weight behind it that’s resonant with my real life, I feel like it’s empty words. So it’ll always be autobiographical, I think. But hopefully, next time, I’m thinking it’s gonna be happy. Maybe I’ll have my Bobby McFerrin moment, you know?

Going back to the song “The Meaning,” a press release said you were donating proceeds to the Trevor Project. Why that cause?

I’m doing a portion of my whole album for it, but for that one song, I’m giving the full. If let’s say it got synced in a movie or something — which is hopefully what will happen; Madi Diaz and I originally wrote it for a movie that got shelved — I’m giving the full fee to the Trevor Project. You know, growing up being torn apart to pieces daily, it’s part of why I moved to L.A., because it was a little bit more acceptable to just be yourself. So I feel like I want to support what they’re doing as much as I possibly can. I’m not a rich person, but, I do put out art, and I can afford to help in the way that I can help, which is through my art, basically. And I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me since (the song went online). It’s ticking the box where somebody will listen to it, they’re having a bad day, and it’s lifting them. So I felt like that’s an appropriate song for that cause, because a lot of those kids are really going through it, and the song mirrors that there’s hope, you know? I went through it, and I’m still here. And I’m glad I did. I found meaning in my existence of why I was a little bit different growing up than everybody else. That created who I am today, which is completely unique. Back in the day, people picking on my physical appearance used to kill me. Now I take all that and I just put it in a song. So that’s the meaning of me being a little bit odder than everybody else.

You look like a rock star now, but if that’s how you looked growing up, there are reasons to understand why that might not have been the popular thing. Missouri is not the rock star milieu.

It was a lot of shit. You know, my mom was always the type of person where it’s like, “Be you. You’re an individual. Be yourself.” And I could wear a dress; I could wear a cowboy hat and no shirt with cut-off jean shorts if I wanted. She didn’t give a shit. I could put makeup on, do whatever I wanted to do, so I was always super eccentric. Back then, the word everybody would use was “androgynous.” That was how I was defined in the ’90s growing up, is like, “Oh, that’s the androgynous kid.” Growing up in Missouri, and you get a lot of heat for being not an athlete or at least dressing like an athlete.

To ask about another song on the new album, “Worn Out Woman” — was that inspired by anyone in particular?

I’m glad you brought up that one. Nobody’s asked about that, and that’s one of my favorite ones. It’s about my wife (Floria Sigismondi, known as the writer-director of “The Runaways” and dozens of music videos going back to the early ’90s). She’s a director and photographer, and she’s been doing it professionally for about 35 years, and is highly successful at it. She actually grew up in a time when there were no women directors, and came to work with people from Bowie to Rihanna. As time went on, I could tell that the weight of misogyny in the business of film was hitting her hard. and one night she was in the process of making her upcoming movie and a lot of stuff was being thrown at her. Her mother was dying. I sat at the piano and started to come up with that, and I kept it in my back pocket. I got together with a great songwriter called Amy Wadge (known as the co-author of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”), who came over to my house the next week. She was like, “Let me hear it,” and afterward, she was like, “I’m gonna cry. That’s me.” And so I said, “Well, let’s write that. Let’s finish that.”

Amy’s got a record coming out, too, and she’s about the same age as my wife. She was telling me the parallel story of how she’s been the head of the family, or the light bearer, and that’s the same with my wife. My wife grew up with her sister and her parents, and she was like the parent. And that, mixed with being a woman director in Hollywood, is intense. She ironically directed three episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” And she did this thing for Sigur Rós where it was like gas masks and art sort of become reality. She was like, “I don’t know about that song. I don’t want that to become my reality, (that) I’m worn out.” I’m like, “No, no! We’re just doing the the primal scream. We’re just screaming out the bad vibes on it and now it’s gone. Now you’re not worn out…” I told her, “I think a lot of other women will feel similar and see themselves in it.” It’s a testimony.

About another new song, “A Word’s a Weapon” — was that prompted by contemporary discourse?

It’s a saying that I’ve said my whole life, actually. I would just be like, your words are weapons and they go cut through me like a knife. I don’t know why it never dawned on me to write it in a song. But the political state that we’re in right now is so loaded and so huge and so even sometimes even beyond my comprehension. The one thing I know for sure, especially in the United States of America, is that people can hurt each other, like on steroids, 10 times more, by the things that they say than actually pushing them down the stairs. It’s really hard sometimes to wash off what somebody said to you, because it cuts harder than a punch or a fall or even getting stabbed. It’s just something that really psychologically changes you. And the way Americans speak to each other is so rancid and vile. I’n this country, I think everybody just needs to wash their mouths off with soap and pick up some books and just relearn how to talk to one another.