Showbiz News | Page: 1
The Storks Battle at Eurovision 2026: Ukraine and Croatia chose artists with almost identical names.
Preparations for Eurovision 2026 are gradually entering an active phase: national selections are forming the line-up of participants for the contest, which will take place in the Austrian city of Vienna. One of the most discussed storylines has been the symbolic parallel between the representatives of Ukraine and Croatia — projects with almost identical stage names LELÉKA and LELEK.
Croatia selects LELEK: Dora 2026 results
The winner of Croatia’s national selection Dora 2026 is the ethno-pop group LELEK with the song Andromeda.
The selection featured 16 performers who passed through two semi-finals (12 and 13 February). The winner was determined by a mixed voting system:
50% — public televote
25% — Croatian jury (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek)
25% — in...
Architecture of a DJ Set: How to Build the Perfect Mix and Read the Dancefloor
A DJ set is not a collection of successful tracks and not a display of technical skills. It is a controlled process in which music, space, and people merge into a single flow. The mistake many DJs make is starting with the equipment, even though everything begins much earlier — with mindset and taste.
Let’s break a set down as architecture: from the foundation to the final touch.
1. Preparation and selection (The foundation)
Crate Digging 2.0: finding music beyond templates
Modern crate digging is no longer about hunting for rare vinyl. Today it is the ability to navigate noise and discover music before it becomes mainstream.
Professional digging is built on several sources:
curated radio shows and themed broadcasts,
independent and niche labels,
closed scenes and local commun...
LELÉKA will represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2026: victory with the song “Ridnym”
On 7 February 2026, Ukrainian artist LELÉKA achieved a confident and symbolic victory in the National Selection, earning the right to represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2026, which will take place in Vienna, Austria. Her performance with the song “Ridnym” received the maximum possible support — 10 points from the jury and 10 points from the audience — making the result unanimous and unequivocal.
LELÉKA’s victory became one of the most emotionally charged moments of the Ukrainian selection in recent years and sparked a wide response both within the professional music community and among viewers.
The song “Ridnym”: a return to one’s roots
The composition “Ridnym” was perceived not merely as a competitive entry, but as a d...
Hardstyle — the raw energy of the electronic music scene
Hardstyle is one of the most powerful and emotionally charged genres of electronic dance music, combining the aggression of hardcore, the structure of techno, and the epic nature of trance melodies. It emerged in the early 2000s in the Netherlands and, over two decades, evolved into a global movement with its own culture, festivals, and a fiercely loyal audience.
Today, hardstyle is no longer just a club genre, but a massive festival phenomenon capable of gathering tens of thousands of fans worldwide.
Origins and Evolution of the Genre
Hardstyle formed at the intersection of hard trance, hard house, and hardcore. A key turning point was the rethinking of the hard beat: producers began experimenting with the kick drum shape—stretching it, adding distortion, and creating the signature ...
Minatrix: Brand History — From Latin Meanings to a Media Platform
Strong brands are rarely born from pure calculation. More often, they emerge from experience, intuition, and a precise sense of meaning. They cannot be assembled using a checklist — they either align with the creator’s internal logic, or they don’t survive for long. The story of Minatrix is exactly like that. It is not a legend invented for marketing purposes, but a sequence of decisions that, over the years, have formed a coherent ecosystem.
Foundation: from “AdminStation” to a new identity
The history of Minatrix began not as a media project, but as a practical development initiative. In the mid-2000s, when the internet was still largely a hands-on environment, I deliberately refused to use third-party CMS platforms. Security issues and excessive server load...
From the Bedroom to the Radio: A Step-by-Step Guide for Aspiring Musicians
Just ten to fifteen years ago, the path into music looked almost mythical: a professional studio, a producer, a label, and the so-called “right people.” Today, reality has changed, and music has become far more accessible. A track written late at night in a bedroom on a laptop can, within a month, end up in playlists, blogs, and even on the radio. Not because of “luck,” but because the infrastructure has changed: tools have become cheaper, and the distance to the listener has become much shorter.
But freedom also means responsibility. In this article, we break down the real journey of a beginner musician: from a home studio to first broadcasts and an audience.
Home Studio for a Beginner Musician: a Minimal Setup Without Breaking the Bank
A home studio is not a colle...
Radio Record: history, format, transformations, and its role in Russia’s electronic music industry
Radio Record is a Russian federal radio station focused on dance and modern popular music, with its broadcast center located in Saint Petersburg. On air since 1995, it is now the country’s largest dance radio network, combining FM broadcasting, more than 100 proprietary internet channels, a festival division, a record label, and a booking structure.
The station’s core musical format is Dance CHR and EDM, while its key technical distinction is a continuous tempo-matched mix, which evolved over time from 128 BPM to 124 BPM, reflecting shifts in club culture and commercial sound trends.
The origins of the project (1986–1995)
The idea of creating a radio station called “Record” emerged in 1986 and belonged to Soviet composer Viktor Reznikov. After his death in 199...
Suno AI and Music: How to Work Without Losing Your Authorial Voice
Suno is one of the most talked-about music AI tools of recent years. It’s often described as “a neural network that writes songs,” but that’s an oversimplification. In practice, Suno is neither a composer nor an artist — it’s an idea accelerator that can become either a powerful creative ally or a subtle trap for musicians.
This article is neither a promotional review nor a technical manual. It’s a journalistic, musician-led analysis: what Suno really is, where it came from, how to work with it consciously, where the legal and creative boundaries lie — and what to expect next.
What SUNO really is
Suno is an AI platform that generates fully formed musical tracks from text prompts. The user defines genre, mood, tempo, instruments, vocal type, a...
Sennheiser HD 25 — why these headphones became a timeless standard for DJs and sound engineers
There are headphones that are “good-looking,” there are “fashionable” ones—and then there are tools. Sennheiser HD 25 are exactly that: a tool. They are not bought for looks or for “wow bass.” They are chosen when you need sound control in environments where everything else gives up: clubs, stages, broadcasts, field reporting, noisy studios.
This article is not about dry specifications. Below is real-world experience from DJ Victor PROG, engineering logic, and the reasons why the HD 25 have remained an industry standard for decades.
The Phenomenon of “Unattractive” Headphones
At first glance, the HD 25 look like a model from the late ’80s: plastic, minimal design, no gloss. And yet—you’ll find them in almost every DJ s...
How the Pioneer CDJ-1000 and DJM-800 Changed the World of DJing
In the history of music technology, there are devices that don’t just become popular — they establish a professional standard. In the early 2000s, Pioneer DJ achieved exactly such a breakthrough by releasing a pairing that would define the look of club DJ booths for years to come: the Pioneer CDJ-1000 and the Pioneer DJM-800.
It was the moment when digital DJing stopped being a compromise — and became the industry norm.
CDJ-1000: the end of vinyl snobbery
Before the arrival of the CDJ-1000, the professional scene lived by a rigid rule: a real DJ plays only vinyl. CD players were associated with mobile discos and were not taken seriously due to the lack of tactile control.
Why the CDJ-1000 became a turning point
Vinyl Mode Pioneer were the first to implement a large jog wh...
Minatrix.FM: a warm, old-school ’90s-style chat gets real artificial intelligence
We’ve preserved the atmosphere of those iconic ’90s chat rooms—where conversations were live, genuine, and free from algorithmic noise—and combined it with today’s technology. Now, the Minatrix.FM online chat is more than just a place for music lovers to talk—it’s a modern communication space with bots and real AI.
Meet Minatrix AI — your personal assistant in the chat
The main highlight is the arrival of Minatrix AI, appearing in the chat under its own nickname. This is not a script or a set of canned responses, but a fully fledged AI bot you can:
chat with freely on any topic
ask questions and get quick, clear answers
discuss music, tracks, artists, and culture
talk both in the public chat and in private messages
Minatrix AI is always onl...
Minatrix.FM launches a new project — the Minatrix.TV film portal
In recent weeks, many people noticed that the Minatrix.FM team’s activity during the New Year holidays was lower than usual. But this calm was deceptive. We were not resting — we were working on the launch of a new major project and laying the foundation for a new direction.
We are proud to announce: the Minatrix.FM team has launched Minatrix.TV — an encyclopedia of video and cinema, an independent film portal dedicated to movies, TV series, animated films, and music videos. It is important to emphasize: the project is non-commercial and independent, created out of love for cinema and visual culture, not for traffic or advertising algorithms.
A unified Minatrix ecosystem
Minatrix.TV is part of the broader Minatrix ecosystem. Minatrix.TV uses the same authorization system ...
Trends in Electronic Music: The Economics of Growth and a Culture of Meaning
The 2025 International Music Summit Report documents not merely the commercial success of electronic music, but a transition of the scene into a fundamentally new qualitative phase. Electronic culture is no longer a niche or purely entertainment-driven phenomenon — today it stands as one of the key ways of interpreting and understanding the contemporary world.
Economy and scale
By the end of 2024, the global electronic music industry reached $12.9 billion, confirming steady growth even amid broader turbulence across the music market. Crucially, it is not only the volume of this growth that matters, but its structure.
Streaming platforms report a sharp expansion of audiences: electronic music consistently accounts for a significant share of global listening on Spotify, Apple Music, an...
Melovin announces the end of his career in 2027 — farewell concerts and the artist’s statement
Ukrainian singer Melovin (real name — Kostiantyn Bocharov) has announced his intention to end his music career in 2027. The artist shared the news personally on his Instagram, accompanying the statement with an announcement of a series of farewell concerts scheduled for next year.
In an emotional message, the 28-year-old musician admitted that recently he has felt as though he has been living “faster than himself.” According to the artist, music, the stage, audience expectations, and constant public visibility have been — and remain — an important part of his journey, but his inner state no longer aligns with his former pace of life.
“I am ending my career in 2027. Lately, I often catch myself thinking that I’m living faster than myself. Music, th...
Happy New Year from Minatrix.FM — the year we created together
Friends, listeners, artists, and everyone who lives through music — the Minatrix.FM team wishes you a Happy New Year! This year became more than just another date on the calendar for us — it marked a true stage of growth, experimentation, and community building.
What we achieved this year
Minatrix.FM — more than just radio
Over the past year, Minatrix.FM has fully taken shape as a curated music platform, not just a stream:
we expanded the genre spectrum: from underground electronic and bass scenes to ambient, IDM, witch house, and experimental styles
we strengthened live broadcasting and editorial selections, focusing on taste rather than algorithms
we launched new themed hours and special rotations
International and multilingual growth
We continued developing mul...
