Freja Newman
Freja Newman is a digital content producer at WHO Magazine who covers music within the wider entertainment world, linking major pop culture moments to the industry stories behind them. She writes entertainment and lifestyle features and also contributes to WHO’s social media presence, giving her coverage a strong sense of how audiences actually engage with artists, shows and celebrity news.
Music stories with a Hollywood lens
Within her music beat, Newman focuses on the intersection of artists, celebrity power and the business of entertainment. In her exclusive on Madonna’s “extortion” claims exposing Hollywood’s “messiest secret”, she treats a music figure as a gateway into a broader industry controversy, using the story to explore how power dynamics and commercial pressures shape what audiences see and hear. That approach reflects her habit of positioning music coverage inside a larger entertainment ecosystem, connecting a specific artist or dispute to the structures around them rather than treating it as isolated fan news.
Reality television and franchise storytelling
Newman writes regularly about reality television, focusing on how long-running franchises evolve and introduce new characters and twists. In her profile of MasterChef Australia judge Jean-Christophe Novelli, she explains who he is, how he joins a refreshed judging panel, and what his arrival means for the franchise’s current and upcoming seasons. In her exclusive on Married at First Sight participant Danny’s “jaw-dropping” dinner party behaviour, she leans into the narrative drama of the episode while signalling that the piece contains fresh detail beyond what aired, using the “EXCLUSIVE” framing to position the story as must-read context for viewers keeping up with the show. Across these pieces she treats reality formats as ongoing stories, helping readers understand new personalities and pivotal moments as part of a continuing arc.
Books, adaptations and how Hollywood uses stories
Newman covers books and their journeys to screen, paying close attention to how publishing and Hollywood handle popular narratives. In her feature “Everything we know about Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Truths”, she introduces the upcoming sequel to Big Little Lies, outlining the time jump, the focus on the original characters’ now-teenage children, and the heightened stakes that include a severed human finger arriving at a school. She details the release timing and pre-order options, positioning the book in relation to its predecessor and the broader appetite for crime-tinged domestic dramas.
She returns to the relationship between page and screen in her piece on Luke Bateman’s “major gripe” with how Hollywood handles book-to-screen adaptations. There she foregrounds criticism of the adaptation process and uses specific examples to explore what is lost or altered when novels are turned into films or series. Taken together, these stories show her interest in the pipeline that runs from publishing to streaming platforms and cinemas, and in the creative and commercial choices that determine how audiences eventually encounter a story.
Celebrity events and entertainment lifestyle coverage
Newman also writes about high-profile cultural events and the lifestyles of the people orbiting them. Her article on celebrities snubbing the Met Gala focuses on which actors and public figures are absent from fashion’s biggest night and why, citing demanding press schedules and upcoming projects as reasons for skipping the event. She uses those explanations to situate each decision in the rhythm of a modern entertainment career, showing how publicity campaigns, filming commitments and personal choices intersect with marquee red-carpet appearances.
Across these pieces, Newman’s entertainment and lifestyle work is characterised by accessible explainers and context-heavy features: “everything we know” rundowns, “who is” profiles, exclusives on key reality TV episodes, and sharp takes on adaptation controversies. Her regular contribution to WHO’s social media channels underscores that she writes with a clear sense of what will resonate in the feed, tying music, television, books and celebrity news together into stories that help readers see both the spectacle and the machinery of contemporary entertainment.
4 more music journalists.
Abby Webster
Abby Webster zeroes in on the storytelling side of contemporary pop, writing for Billboard about how songs build worlds around K-pop groups, fictional pop stars and ambitious soundtracks. She covers K-pop projects through close, song-by-song features, like her track-by-track piece with SEVENTEEN’s Vernon and The 8 on their EP ‘V8,’ and fan-centered lists such as “7 Best Moments from BTS’ Long-Awaited Return.” She treats soundtracks and fictional acts with the same rigor, mapping the inspirations behind “The Vampire Lestat” soundtrack and profiling in-universe groups like HUNTR/X and Saja Boys as if they were chart acts. Through Chart Beat stories on projects like “KPop Demon Hunters,” she connects these releases to industry strategy, global fandom, and the business systems that turn pop narratives into durable IP.
Alex Suskind
Alex Suskind is a freelance writer and editor who covers music with concise news stories and curated release lists. He focuses on new songs, album roundups, and archival access, from Carly Rae Jepsen’s “On Wires” to Neil Young opening his full catalog to residents of Greenland. His reporting stays close to the release cycle and foregrounds the core hook of each story. He has written for Pitchfork and has freelance work in Vulture, The Guardian, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. He also covers broader arts and culture, but his music beat is built around what is newly out now or newly available.
Ali Shutler
Ali Shutler links chart pop, alternative music and fan culture with the ways songs move through festivals, streaming platforms and games. He is a freelance culture journalist specialising in music, writing news and features for NME and other music and culture titles. He covers breakout chart acts, legacy artists whose catalogues are resurfacing, and how audiences rediscover songs via TikTok, streaming or in‑game soundtracks. His reporting on streaming-era pop and live festival moments tracks virality, catalog access and fan behaviour as part of the story of a track. He also examines music, gaming and visual art crossovers, treating game soundtracks and artist-led campaigns as part of a wider cultural map. Alongside this, he profiles emerging chart artists for outlets including The Telegraph, Vice, The Independent, Dork and Upset, focusing on early-career trajectories and fan culture.
Annette Sharp
Annette Sharp is a veteran gossip and entertainment columnist known for direct, opinion-led coverage of celebrity power struggles and reputational crises across television and the music industry. She now writes high-profile columns for the masthead, after a decade on a well-read gossip column and a move to News Corp in 2008. Her real beat is the friction between public image and behind-the-scenes behaviour on flagship TV programs, including breakfast shows, reality formats and other long-running franchises. She focuses on who drives conflicts, who is exposed and who benefits, using ratings history, production decisions and industry mechanics as context. Sharp covers on-air personalities, executives, advisers and musicians, treating television and music as workplaces with competing egos, contracts and alliances, and blending reporting, media commentary and critique in a narrative column format.