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The Streets' Mike Skinner: 'AI Will Force Us to Be More Bonkers'

Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
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The Streets' Mike Skinner: 'AI Will Force Us to Be More Bonkers'

Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP

Mike Skinner of The Streets has returned "rejuvenated" with a new album and his own self-made movie, optimistic for the future of music as it sits on the cusp of an AI revolution.

Having defined a musical era in the early 2000s with his unique mash-up of UK garage and US hip-hop, Skinner retired from The Streets in 2011, said AFP.

The project flickered back to life a few years ago with occasional tours and singles, and on Friday sees the release of the first proper album in 12 years, "The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light".

But Skinner's real obsession for the past decade has been the movie of the same name which it soundtracks -- one in which he starred, as well as wrote, directed, shot, edited and funded by himself.

"It's actually a lot easier to make a film than you think... It's just the amount of work that's the problem," he told AFP during a trip to Paris.

"I really enjoyed each individual job -- recording the sound, lighting the scenes. Even the special effects -- which are awful -- I did myself," he said with typically self-deprecating frankness.

Set in the underworld of London clubs, the film has the same jarring feel as his music -- a homespun delivery that straddles the line between amateurish and daringly experimental.

"The reason it seems experimental is just because I did everything myself and I didn't really know how it's supposed to be done," he said.

"But my best work in the past I think has been when I didn't know how things were supposed to be done.

"I sabotage myself... Even if I could make my stuff sound slick I would pull it apart because I would feel that's fake somehow.

"I can't quite bear to do things well," he added with a chuckle.

'So much weirder'

It is that embracing of imperfection that has made The Streets such a singular musical creation.

It also gives Skinner hope for the future at a time when the industry is freaking out over the coming deluge of AI-generated music.

"AI will make human creativity so much weirder because in order to stand out against that you won't be able to copy anything," Skinner said.

"It will force humans to be a bit more bonkers and a bit more avant-garde."

The Streets released the game-changing "Original Pirate Material" in 2002, putting a laddish British spin on hip-hop with lyrics that were more about "greasy spoon cafeterias" than gangsters and diamond rings.

Four studio albums followed until Skinner announced he had "run out of new avenues".

The film, however, has "totally rejuvenated" his passion, and several years of DJ-ing in clubs have given him a slate of banging new tunes, such as recent hit "Troubled Waters".

He cannot quite help a bit more self-deprecation, though.

"I think we've only really got a few songs in us to be honest. Bob Dylan said it: 'I've only ever written one song but I just do it over and over again.'

"That's why I think adding a film to that just makes it more interesting."

One downer is that he cannot tour Europe.

"We can't afford to do a tour here, which is really sad. It's a Brexit-related thing," he said, outlining the onerous tax and paperwork problems that Brexit has caused for British musicians, though he hopes to come for festivals next summer.

Having returned to The Streets in his forties, can he see himself still clubbing into his old age?

"I think I might be dancing on the QM2 from Southampton to New York on an eight-day cruise," he said with a grin, referring to the luxury Queen Mary 2 cruise liner.

"And maybe I might sneak in some ecstasy. I'm sure they'll be up for it."

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Entertainment

Movie Review: James Gray Delivers a Milestone Crime Drama in ‘Paper Tiger’

Adam Driver, from left, director James Gray and Miles Teller attend the premiere of the film "Paper Tiger" at the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 16, 2026. (AP)
Adam Driver, from left, director James Gray and Miles Teller attend the premiere of the film "Paper Tiger" at the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 16, 2026. (AP)
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Movie Review: James Gray Delivers a Milestone Crime Drama in ‘Paper Tiger’

Adam Driver, from left, director James Gray and Miles Teller attend the premiere of the film "Paper Tiger" at the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 16, 2026. (AP)
Adam Driver, from left, director James Gray and Miles Teller attend the premiere of the film "Paper Tiger" at the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France on May 16, 2026. (AP)

The American Dream has seldom looked so bleak as in “Paper Tiger,” James Gray’s beautifully punishing tragedy about a middle class family in Queens. With operatic grace and 35 mm grit, “Paper Tiger” shrewdly and authentically explores ideas about wealth, worth, the cost of family and the price of wanting more.

In 1986 New York, Wall Street might be booming in its “greed is good” era, but across the East River — where the grass still grows tall and the twin towers look small and distant on the skyline — Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) is up early making storm windows for the winter. This is being done very much against the wishes of one of his teenage sons, who is trying to sleep in. Winter is three months away anyway, he complains.

Irwin is an ordinary dad, kind and a little goofy, resplendent in a constant stream of neatly but not stylishly tucked-in plaid shirts and windbreakers. He seems older than his years, though he’s probably barely 40. Part of that might be due to the choices Teller has made for his voice and accent, sounding a little like Peter Falk in “The Princess Bride,” but it’s also spiritually true that every generation gets to believe that all the ones prior were always “old.”

Irwin is married to Hester (Scarlett Johansson), a practical but spirited woman who has started to fantasize about life in the suburbs. They live in a modest house where you can practically feel the texture of real life. It's a home of laughter, love and schoolwork — both parents dream of their boys going to Ivy League schools and doing better than they did. The boys also have their eyes on a fancier life, whining, “Why do we always have to buy crappy stuff and live crappy?”

They wouldn’t be the first ungrateful teens who fail to recognize just how good they have it. But they get glimpses of the rich life in their uncle Gary (Adam Driver), a former police officer who now does quite well as a security consultant. He has the suit and car, and the grand gestures he makes seem casual. When we meet him, he’s dropped by Irwin and Hester’s with a steak dinner for five from “Luger's.”

Gary proposes an idea to his brother, an engineer with a specialty in risk assessment: There’s a project in the works to clean up the Gowanus Canal, and they might be able to help. The businesses, once controlled by the mafia, are being taken over by Russian immigrants. Gary has spotted an opportunity to help them navigate the ins and outs of regulations.

The offer of a windfall comes as a relief for Irwin, stressed by the looming cost of college for two kids. Gary, too, is going through an expensive divorce. Irwin wonders if there is something shady beneath it all, but Gary reminds him that “we’ve never played in the dirt.” Still, there’s a foreboding feeling that this is not going to be as simple, clean and easy as Gary is promising. The movie, after all, began with a quote from Aeschylus: “Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.”

It’s only a matter of time before things start going very wrong: One night, Irwin takes his boys out for a “nighttime risk assessment,” and they soon find themselves swarmed by paranoid Russian goons with guns.

Gray, who finds new notes in a genre he’s already put his mark on with films like “Little Odessa,” “The Yards” and “We Own the Night,” is masterful at slowly, methodically building tension and dread to an almost unbearable crescendo. The decisions these brothers make, first together, then separately, take on the grandeur and weight of a classic tragedy.

Hester, meanwhile, becomes a physical manifestation of the polluted canal as she endures her own secret health crisis. Like many mothers before and after her, she feels it is her duty to bear the weight of a death sentence in private. There are louder, uglier, bigger things happening all around and she doesn’t want to worry anyone. It’s a beautiful performance from an actor who often gets lost in franchise and spectacle.

But it’s Driver who really steals the show as a man doomed by the responsibility he feels for his brother. Beneath Gary's easy smile, charm and flash festers a different kind of heartbreak and loneliness. He can also be shockingly violent. And, when it comes down to it, the brotherly loyalty and desire to protect at any cost might only go one way.

It builds to one of the more thrilling and inventive showdowns in recent film history — a rare movie that embraces, rather than tries to disguise, the omnipresent sound of planes taking off and landing at a nearby airport.

The whole grimy affair is agonizing, as everyone tries in vain to do the right thing. The morbid joke is that it was rigged from the beginning — not just the job, but the entire system, the false promises of capitalism, the ways in which corruption is enabled, and the paradox of honest wealth.

“Paper Tiger” may be set 40 years ago, but in the most fundamental way, it’s not a movie about our past.

Entertainment

Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, SZA, Madonna to Headline Coachella

Dua Lipa attends the Chanel Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week on January 27, 2026 in Paris, France. (Getty Images)
Dua Lipa attends the Chanel Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week on January 27, 2026 in Paris, France. (Getty Images)
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Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, SZA, Madonna to Headline Coachella

Dua Lipa attends the Chanel Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week on January 27, 2026 in Paris, France. (Getty Images)
Dua Lipa attends the Chanel Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week on January 27, 2026 in Paris, France. (Getty Images)

British pop star Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, SZA and Madonna will headline the prestigious Coachella festival in 2027, organizers said Tuesday.

Reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee, Zara Larsson, Steve Lacy, K-pop singer Jisoo, Kehlani and Leon Thomas are also on deck for the festival in Indio, California, over two weekends in April.

Dua Lipa will headline the festival, held in the California desert, on Friday on both weekends.

The line-up also includes Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer, Tiesto, Martin Garrix, Role Model, Kygo, The Neighbourhood, and Becky G.

Entertainment

What Goes in to Making Hit Netflix Period Drama ‘The Empress’? Thousands of Candles, Wigs and Extras

This image released by Netflix shows Devrim Lingnau-Islamoğlu, center, and Dejan Bućin with crew on the set of "The Empress." (Sasha Ostrov/Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows Devrim Lingnau-Islamoğlu, center, and Dejan Bućin with crew on the set of "The Empress." (Sasha Ostrov/Netflix via AP)
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What Goes in to Making Hit Netflix Period Drama ‘The Empress’? Thousands of Candles, Wigs and Extras

This image released by Netflix shows Devrim Lingnau-Islamoğlu, center, and Dejan Bućin with crew on the set of "The Empress." (Sasha Ostrov/Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows Devrim Lingnau-Islamoğlu, center, and Dejan Bućin with crew on the set of "The Empress." (Sasha Ostrov/Netflix via AP)

The cast and crew never expected a German TV show about European monarchy to go global, but “The Empress” has reached viewers far beyond the old Austrian Empire.

According to Netflix, the period drama’s first two seasons hit the Top 10 in more than 85 countries, ahead of the third and final season launching Thursday.

Stars Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu and Philip Froissant, who play Empress Elisabeth (better known to some as Sisi or Sissi) and Emperor Franz Joseph I, have been recognized — even out of the wigs and gowns of the costume drama — around the world from the UK to Türkiye (Lingnau is German-Turkish) to Peru where Lingnau was filming a movie.

The show is set in the latter half of the 19th century and based on the real lives of the ill-fated empress, who was assassinated by an anarchist, and one of the last Habsburg emperors of Austria-Hungary.

Despite struggling with her own mental health and shyness, Empress Elisabeth fought for her political beliefs and to find her own place in the world. This continues to win her plenty of admirers and portrayals — by Romy Schneider in the 1950s “Sissi” trilogy of films and Vicky Krieps in 2022’s “Corsage.”

Born in Munich like the real Empress

Elisabeth, showrunner Katharina Eyssen grew up “overwhelmed” by stories about Sisi and wasn’t sure another version was needed. Now, she gets emotional thinking about how viewers from Ukraine, Iran and African countries have contacted her “saying that it meant so much to them to see this character and it gave them hope or a moment of relief or just a moment of joy.”

Froissant says he too receives messages from people over the world, who have been traveling to historic sites recreated in the show — though they're disappointed to find the series is shot in a Bavarian castle, not Austria. Sisi's real palaces are now museums and haven't been used for filming since the 1970s.

That hasn’t stopped fans paying their respects, as Eyssen noted when visiting Vienna’s Imperial Crypt where Habsburgs, including the couple and Archduke Maximilian, briefly emperor of Mexico before his execution, are buried. Among the Mexican flags and coins left by visitors, she saw, was a picture of the actor Johannes Nussbaum, who plays Franz Joseph's brother on the show.

Recreating the world of Sisi and Franz Joseph required a staggering number of costume changes and wigs. Here's a behind the scenes look at the details that went into the period drama, according to Netflix.

Sisi's costume changes: 88

It’s “quite unbalanced” to compare the number of costumes the lead actors had across three seasons, according to Froissant. “For me it was much easier, there’s just like three kinds of uniforms and then maybe eight to 10 civil outfits,” he says.

Lingnau, on the other hand, clocked 88 different costumes in total, with each outfit consisting of multiple layers — blouses, skirts, underskirts, corsets. The majority were hand-sewn.

“Some of the dresses we had were just seen once or something, in one small scene, and then they’re gone again, and people were working on it for weeks,” recalled Lingnau.

Beards and sideburns: 120

While 23 wigs were made for the main cast — four or five just for Sisi and her double — many more beards and sideburns were created.

Froissant, though, never needed to touch the stash of fake sideburns; it was all his own facial hair and he was stuck with it during shooting.

“It’s such a distinctive look, especially when you’re wearing normal day clothes," he said. "It makes you look more like a trucker or a rocker, rockabilly guy.”

Candles for two seasons: Around 8,000

That’s a lot of candles, but it could have been much more. Eyssen says that estimate is just from the last two seasons.

“We couldn’t (use candles) on Season 1 because we were still shooting in so many original locations,” Eyssen explained. “Then we got wiser and moved it to the stage and then we burned all the candles because you’re not allowed in the actual castles.”

Extras: 2,000

Big events like weddings, coronations and public appearances all involved huge crowds of background actors.

“The first time when everybody goes to their knees when you enter the room, it was a strange feeling,” says Froissant.

Both stars say the background actors were extremely patient but, after shooting the same scene multiple times, Lingnau said, “even the extras are starting to giggle, because they don’t take you serious anymore.”