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Hypebeast
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Kid Cudi Officially Announces New Album 'Free'
Summary Kid Cudihas officially lifted the curtain on his next studio project. Entitled'Free,' the album now has a confirmed release date coming at the end of August. Set to drop on August 22, Cudi took to Instagram today to share the project's cover art, a photograph shot by photographer Norman Jean Roy. 'I wanted something that really expressed freedom, so the concept of me leaping into the clouds made so much sense,' he wrote in the post's caption. 'Inspired byThe Truman Show. I can't WAIT for u guys to hear this album and really see the album art brought to life. You're in for a beautiful ride. Promise.' Additionally, the album's second single, 'Grave,' along with its accompanying music video, is set to land this Friday, July 11. 'Grave' follows up the lead single 'Neverland,' which Cudi unveiled back in May ahead of his Tribeca Film Festival debut. Stay tuned as more information onFreecomes to light.
Scottish Sun
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
How ‘Mr Doodle' artist went from earning millions to being sectioned in psychiatric ward & thinking mum was Nigel Farage
Read on to learn more TO DOODLE OR NOT TO DOODLE OR NOT How 'Mr Doodle' artist went from earning millions to being sectioned in psychiatric ward & thinking mum was Nigel Farage Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOR most people, doodling is a harmless distraction. But for Sam Cox it became a dangerous obsession that led him to believe Donald Trump wished he'd graffiti his 'big, beautiful wall.' Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Sam Cox, in a bath with wife Alena, has recovered from his ordeal Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 6 Sam outside his doodle mansion Credit: Alamy The Kent artist became a worldwide sensation in 2017 when a video of him using a marker pen to draw over a shop gained 46 million views in a week on social media. Soon Sam's doodles were selling for a million dollars and big name brands such as Adidas and Samsung commissioned him. That provided the funds to buy a £1.35million mansion, which the 31-year-old compulsive creator wanted to draw all over. Working for 36 hours without sleep, though, sparked a major mental health breakdown in which he believed he was his alter ego Mr Doodle. Sam thought his mum was Nigel Farage and that US President Trump asked him to doodle all over the planned 2,000 mile wall between Mexico and the USA. A new documentary on Channel 4 reveals how he had to be held down by six burly nurses after being sectioned in late February 2020. His delusions included fearing the doctors were trying to poison him and that his parents were trying to kill him. Sam, who has now recovered, tells The Sun: 'I think in black and white. 'I felt I had to be the character. 'It was becoming more 100 percent or nothing. Artist at war with council over plan to build seaside home laser cut with DOODLES in 'Britain's only desert' 'When I was sectioned it was really frightening. 'In my mind it was like being in the Truman Show. 'I thought everyone was conspiring against me. 'I felt like I was in a game. 'You think health professionals and even family and friends are trying to hurt you. 'Donald Trump or other celebrities took the place of other patients in the hospital for me. 'I remember thinking my mum was like Nigel Farage.' Thankfully, after six weeks in hospital he was able to return home and is now fully recovered. The documentary titled The Trouble With Mr Doodle, which airs on Wednesday, allows Sam to figure out how he got into such an altered state. His parents Andrea and Neill knew early on that Sam was different to other children. Growing up in picturesque Tenterden, Kent, he showed no interest in outdoor pursuits. Instead, Sam just wanted to draw all day long, even doing so under his bed covers when he was supposed to be asleep. 6 Sam's uncle painted the walls white ready for doodling Credit: ABACUS 6 Even the toilet is covered in graffiti Credit: ABACUS Andrea says in the documentary: 'You don't want to think there is anything wrong with your child. 'It did cross my mind that there might be something different about him.' It was while studying illustration at the University of the West of England, Bristol, that his distinctive style started to develop. One day he turned up to class in a white suit and fedora hat with black marker pen scribblings all over them and his lecturer nicknamed him the 'Doodle Man.' But getting other people enthused about his art was not so easy. Dressed as Mr Doodle he found few customers willing to buy his A4 sized individual sketches for one pound each. Gradually, though, he started to earn money by having his creations on clothes and buildings. It was a video of his doodling on a pop up shop in Old Street in east London in 2017 that skyrocketed his reputation. Images of his work also attracted the attention of Ukrainian artist Alena and they started chatting online. Sam, whose mum thought he was so obsessed with his art that he'd never get married, kissed his love interest as soon as they met up for the first time in Berlin, Germany. He recalls: 'It was one of the first times I wasn't really drawing and it felt like a good experience.' It was the purchase of a 12-room house near his childhood home in December 2019 with the sole aim of doodling all over the Georgian style property that was to push Sam beyond his limits. 6 Sam's son Alfie scribbles on the windows Credit: Instagram/babydoodle2023 6 Sam thought Trump asked him to doodle all over the planned 2,000 mile wall between Mexico and the USA Credit: Getty With a builder uncle having painted and tiled the whole house white, Sam quickly started to feel mentally unwell as he started drawing on it in February 2020. This was the time that Covid 19 was sweeping across much of the world and having travelled extensively to the Far East, Sam did wonder if it was connected. He smiles: 'It was so weird. 'Covid hadn't really reached the UK entirely then and I had spoken about my work a lot as a Doodle virus. 'When it reached the UK was when I went into hospital.' Suddenly, everything spiraled out of control. It was clear that this was something other than a virus. Hallucinations and panic attacks put him in fear for his life. When his dad Neill turned up, Sam told him 'I love you but you are trying to kill me.' When I was sectioned it was really frightening. I thought everyone was conspiring against me...I remember thinking my mum was like Nigel Farage Sam Cox Sam also told Alena that he didn't love her and loved someone else, which wasn't true. A psychiatrist told the family that Sam had to be sectioned for his own safety. But he only pretended to take his medication once on the secure ward, so half a dozen nurses had to hold him down while it was injected. Sam says: 'Your mind goes into a dream or nightmare state and your mind can't grasp what reality is until you've recovered from it. 'I couldn't even watch television without thinking it was talking to me.' Sam spent six weeks on a psychiatric ward in Canterbury, Kent, being treated for psychosis. Understandably, his parents didn't want Sam to return to his Doodle house once he had left the hospital. His mum says: 'I hated that character he created. 'I just wanted him to go away.' Sam also considered killing off Mr Doodle, but then decided this character had brought him some of the best things in his life such as Alena who he married after recovering from his illness. He has found a safer half way approach allowing time for both Sam and Mr Doodle. Sam explains: 'I realised there was room for grey areas and for colour in my life. 'It doesn't have to be so extreme.' On September 18 2020 he began drawing on the mansion again and completed the project 743 days later on October 1 2022. We love the house. It has never triggered anything since what happened. I live there with my wife and my son and our dog. It doesn't make us dizzy like people think Sam Cox His home gives a whole new meaning to drawing the curtains, because not only are the drapes covered in doodles, so are the bedsheets, the towels and everything else you can think of. That includes the toaster, the toilet, 2,000 bathroom tiles, the window panes and his Tesla car. Most people can't believe that Sam actually lives in such a visually stimulating environment, but he insists that he loves it. Sam says: 'We love the house. 'It has never triggered anything since what happened. 'I live there with my wife and my son and our dog. 'It doesn't make us dizzy or give us headaches like people think. 'It is busy but it doesn't feel like that when you are there.' The problem is that his two year-old son Alfie has started to colour in the walls. Sam says: 'He draws on the characters and I don't have the heart to tell him not to because I feel it is too ironic to tell him not to draw everywhere. 'The difficult thing is when we take him to restaurants and they give him crayons and he doesn't realise they want it to just be on the colouring in sheet.' His next major project is in Dungeness on the Kent coast, where he has received planning permission to construct a Doodle house. There are other ideas in the pipeline and he says: 'It's always about making it bigger or more walls and things. 'I love kind of big, endurance-based doodle activities like making a really big doodle.' But with Sam insisting on drawing everything himself, rather than roping in assistants like some artists do, it will all take years to complete. There has been snobbery in the art world about Mr Doodle, whose work is yet to be shown in a famous gallery. The always polite Sam says: 'It would be amazing to be exhibited in the Tate, but the thing for me is that someone who never goes into a museum and sees my art on the way to work is equal to someone who goes to a gallery.' It is remarkable to think that Sam ever had a dark moment, considering how upbeat he is during our interview. This is an artist whose intention is to make the world smile. He concludes: 'There is no hidden message. It is what you see, it is happy faces and doodles. 'I proudly say how my art doesn't have a social message. 'I like it when people smile about it.'
The Irish Sun
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
How ‘Mr Doodle' artist went from earning millions to being sectioned in psychiatric ward & thinking mum was Nigel Farage
FOR most people, doodling is a harmless distraction. But for Sam Cox it became a dangerous obsession that led him to believe Donald Trump wished he'd graffiti his 'big, beautiful wall.' 6 Sam Cox, in a bath with wife Alena, has recovered from his ordeal Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 6 Sam outside his doodle mansion Credit: Alamy The Kent artist became a worldwide sensation in 2017 when a video of him using a marker pen to draw over a shop gained 46 million views in a week on social media. Soon Sam's doodles were selling for a million dollars and big name brands such as Adidas and Samsung commissioned him. That provided the funds to buy a £1.35million mansion, which the 31-year-old compulsive creator wanted to draw all over. Working for 36 hours without sleep, though, sparked a major mental health breakdown in which he believed he was his alter ego Mr Doodle. Read More on UK News Sam thought his mum was Nigel Farage and that US President Trump asked him to doodle all over the planned 2,000 mile wall between Mexico and the USA. A new documentary on Channel 4 reveals how he had to be held down by six burly nurses after being sectioned in late February 2020. His delusions included fearing the doctors were trying to poison him and that his parents were trying to kill him. Sam, who has now recovered, tells The Sun: 'I think in black and white. Most read in The Sun 'I felt I had to be the character. 'It was becoming more 100 percent or nothing. Artist at war with council over plan to build seaside home laser cut with DOODLES in 'Britain's only desert' 'When I was sectioned it was really frightening. 'In my mind it was like being in the Truman Show. 'I thought everyone was conspiring against me. 'I felt like I was in a game. 'You think health professionals and even family and friends are trying to hurt you. 'Donald Trump or other celebrities took the place of other patients in the hospital for me. 'I remember thinking my mum was like Nigel Farage.' Thankfully, after six weeks in hospital he was able to return home and is now fully recovered. The documentary titled The Trouble With Mr Doodle, which airs on Wednesday, allows Sam to figure out how he got into such an altered state. His parents Andrea and Neill knew early on that Sam was different to other children. Growing up in picturesque Tenterden, Kent, he showed no interest in outdoor pursuits. Instead, Sam just wanted to draw all day long, even doing so under his bed covers when he was supposed to be asleep. 6 Sam's uncle painted the walls white ready for doodling Credit: ABACUS 6 Even the toilet is covered in graffiti Credit: ABACUS Andrea says in the documentary: 'You don't want to think there is anything wrong with your child. 'It did cross my mind that there might be something different about him.' It was while studying illustration at the University of the West of England, Bristol, that his distinctive style started to develop. One day he turned up to class in a white suit and fedora hat with black marker pen scribblings all over them and his lecturer nicknamed him the 'Doodle Man.' But getting other people enthused about his art was not so easy. Dressed as Mr Doodle he found few customers willing to buy his A4 sized individual sketches for one pound each. Gradually, though, he started to earn money by having his creations on clothes and buildings. It was a video of his doodling on a pop up shop in Old Street in east London in 2017 that skyrocketed his reputation. Images of his work also attracted the attention of Ukrainian artist Alena and they started chatting online. Sam, whose mum thought he was so obsessed with his art that he'd never get married, kissed his love interest as soon as they met up for the first time in Berlin, Germany. He recalls: 'It was one of the first times I wasn't really drawing and it felt like a good experience.' It was the purchase of a 12-room house near his childhood home in December 2019 with the sole aim of doodling all over the Georgian style property that was to push Sam beyond his limits. 6 Sam's son Alfie scribbles on the windows Credit: Instagram/babydoodle2023 6 Sam thought Trump asked him to doodle all over the planned 2,000 mile wall between Mexico and the USA Credit: Getty With a builder uncle having painted and tiled the whole house white, Sam quickly started to feel mentally unwell as he started drawing on it in February 2020. This was the time that Covid 19 was sweeping across much of the world and having travelled extensively to the Far East, Sam did wonder if it was connected. He smiles: 'It was so weird. 'Covid hadn't really reached the UK entirely then and I had spoken about my work a lot as a Doodle virus. 'When it reached the UK was when I went into hospital.' Suddenly, everything spiraled out of control. It was clear that this was something other than a virus. Hallucinations and panic attacks put him in fear for his life. When his dad Neill turned up, Sam told him 'I love you but you are trying to kill me.' When I was sectioned it was really frightening. I thought everyone was conspiring against me...I remember thinking my mum was like Nigel Farage Sam Cox Sam also told Alena that he didn't love her and loved someone else, which wasn't true. A psychiatrist told the family that Sam had to be sectioned for his own safety. But he only pretended to take his medication once on the secure ward, so half a dozen nurses had to hold him down while it was injected. Sam says: 'Your mind goes into a dream or nightmare state and your mind can't grasp what reality is until you've recovered from it. 'I couldn't even watch television without thinking it was talking to me.' Sam spent six weeks on a psychiatric ward in Understandably, his parents didn't want Sam to return to his His mum says: 'I hated that character he created. 'I just wanted him to go away.' Sam also considered killing off Mr Doodle, but then decided this character had brought him some of the best things in his life such as Alena who he married after recovering from his illness. He has found a safer half way approach allowing time for both Sam and Mr Doodle. Sam explains: 'I realised there was room for grey areas and for colour in my life. 'It doesn't have to be so extreme.' On September 18 2020 he began drawing on the mansion again and completed the project 743 days later on October 1 2022. We love the house. It has never triggered anything since what happened. I live there with my wife and my son and our dog. It doesn't make us dizzy like people think Sam Cox His home gives a whole new meaning to drawing the curtains, because not only are the drapes covered in doodles, so are the bedsheets, the towels and everything else you can think of. That includes the toaster, the toilet, 2,000 bathroom tiles, the window panes and his Tesla car. Most people can't believe that Sam actually lives in such a visually stimulating environment, but he insists that he loves it. Sam says: 'We love the house. 'It has never triggered anything since what happened. 'I live there with my wife and my son and our dog. 'It doesn't make us dizzy or give us headaches like people think. 'It is busy but it doesn't feel like that when you are there.' The problem is that his two year-old son Alfie has started to colour in the walls. Sam says: 'He draws on the characters and I don't have the heart to tell him not to because I feel it is too ironic to tell him not to draw everywhere. 'The difficult thing is when we take him to restaurants and they give him crayons and he doesn't realise they want it to just be on the colouring in sheet.' His next major project is in There are other ideas in the pipeline and he says: 'It's always about making it bigger or more walls and things. 'I love kind of big, endurance-based doodle activities like making a really big doodle.' But with Sam insisting on drawing everything himself, rather than roping in assistants like some artists do, it will all take years to complete. There has been snobbery in the art world about The always polite Sam says: 'It would be amazing to be exhibited in the Tate, but the thing for me is that someone who never goes into a museum and sees my art on the way to work is equal to someone who goes to a gallery.' It is remarkable to think that Sam ever had a dark moment, considering how upbeat he is during our interview. This is an artist whose intention is to make the world smile. He concludes: 'There is no hidden message. It is what you see, it is happy faces and doodles. 'I proudly say how my art doesn't have a social message. 'I like it when people smile about it.' The Trouble with Mr Doodle airs on Channel 4 on July 9 at 10pm.
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
When everyone is an expert, no one is!
An old school friend recently sent me a detailed analysis of why Virat Kohli keeps getting out to deliveries around the fourth stump. It had something to do with certain planetary motions and Anushka Sharma's social media activity. Another watched half a podcast on YouTube and had strong opinions on China-Taiwan relations. Such commentary is relentless and breathless. Informed, half-informed, misinformed – it does not matter. It just has to be there. Sometimes it seems that, like Jim Carrey in the Truman Show, you are living inside a panel discussion with no commercial breaks. However, this is not new. Indians have always had a soft spot for opinions. Amartya Sen in The Argumentative Indian showed that the edifice of Indian civilization is built upon argumentation. This argument is not the one that you have with your local sabziwala, but one steeped in the tradition of vada and prativada. Indians have debated and argued over everything from esoteric metaphysics to statecraft strategies for over five millennia. But where once there was conscientious deliberation, now there is the rapid-fire certainty of the 'hot take'. Rather than thinking and speaking, we feel first, speak next, and think, if at all. To be clear, this is not a sermon, lest it comes across that way. I am as guilty as the next person. I routinely weigh in on cricket strategies despite having last played the game properly in the 2000s. I have waxed eloquent on issues far beyond my remit. My only qualification, it seems, is a narcissistic fondness for my own writing. The problem is not that Indians have too many opinions. There is a certain democratic texture to having opinions, for, after all, having opinions and voicing them is not (and cannot be) the preserve of the elite or the literate. The old man at the neighbourhood cigarette shop might have much more sophisticated and grounded views on Indian polity than you can possibly imagine. When you talk to an auto driver, he will explain in no uncertain terms the pain of migration from his home state. The problem arises when we wear our opinions lightly and without experience. When the burden of proof is replaced by a dangerously breezy confidence that would be admirable if not so unearned. There is absolutely nothing to differentiate between detritus and genuine insight. And this thirst for commentary has been turbocharged by social media. The internet is no longer the global library that Berners-Lee wanted it to be. It is now a loud Indian wedding reception where everyone talks over the other person, passes judgements, and performs acts of subtle (or blatant?) social bragging. Platforms built to connect disparate humans and democratise discourse have handed every citizen a megaphone without any moderator. A scroll down any comment thread will confirm that we are not debating but hollering at each other in parallel monologues. In such an environment, nuance and discretion begin to look like non-chalance and are mistaken for either shyness or incompetence. Where is the quiet, internal voice that says, 'Perhaps I do not know enough to comment on this' ? A willingness to let a thought remain unfinished? We are also a society in which being wrong carries no real cost. There is no shame in backpedalling, because memory is short. The same person who celebrated a celebrity's flop movie yesterday will today be retweeting about their latest hit. We do not really mind being wrong; what we do mind is being unheard. No one in India has ever lost a friend for having a strange opinion, however many have lost face by having no opinion at all. And so, we plod on despite there being something tragicomic about it, almost like Harishankar Parsai's short stories. But we don't mind. Will we? I doubt. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Courier-Mail
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Courier-Mail
AFL 2025: Damien Hardwick delivers two-fingered response to fine
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News. Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick concedes he has to 'be better' but found a cheeky, two-fingered way to put his $2000 fine for delivering the bird to umpires in last week's loss to GWS in comedic perspective. Hardwick said he'd pay the fine, which only arose after vision was showed during his appearance on AFL 360 this week, not during the broadcast of the game, and it would be matched by a charitable donation from Fox Footy. But at the start of his weekly press conference on Thursday, Hardwick gave a brief two-fingered salute, reflecting the two-year-deal signed by Suns star Matt Rowell, then quickly turned his fingers around before later declaring 'the AFL and humour, I'm not sure they could be used in the same sentence'. 'Great news it's a two-year deal,' Hardwick said as he vigorously whipped his two fingers up in the air. 'Oh, sh*t, I should turn them around.' Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick lets everyone know Matt Rowell signed a two-year deal. Hardwick caught giving the middle finger. After much laughter, Hardwick ploughed on with his excitement at Rowell's extension, knowing the midfield bull had spoken to at least four Victorian clubs, something the Suns are also doing. 'We've got some really exciting players we are talking to that we are really excited at the prospect of coming,' he said. 'It's not something any coach feels overly comfortable about, but we are all big boys.' He said Rowell had shown he believed in the direction the Suns were heading, with a maiden finals berth in sight despite slipping out of the top eight following the loss to the Giants. 'Anytime you are an interstate club and he's a Victorian boy and he's got the overtures at home, it will come calling,' he said. 'What Matt sees, he's very close to the playing group … he can see what this club will eventually become. We've got some work to do, but he sees the possibility of what may be.' That includes an emphasis on goalkicking against Melbourne this week, and more controlled emotions in the coaching box from Hardwick, who said he had to get back to the 'Truman Show mentality' of being on camera all the time. 'I've got to be better, no question about that,' he said. 'I make mistakes in games and every now and then the umpire is going to make a blue. They have a tougher job than me to be perfectly honest. 'They do a pretty good job. Unless you are prepared to put up your hand and do it yourself, just shut up and cop your whack.' Originally published as After being hit with a $2000 fine for giving the bird to the umpires, Damien Hardwick delivered a not-so-subtle response
