James Blake Performs ‘Sinners’ Song at Cannes Lions 2025

As gamers from the media and advertising worlds gathered within the south of France for the 2025 Cannes Lions convention, manufacturers jockeying for visibility may be discovered up and down the Croissette the place hosted “seashores” draw each networkers and revelers. Offshore, nevertheless, are the ultra-exclusive occasions — amongst them: The Hollywood Reporter’s Wednesday afternoon Advertising Energy Gamers occasion.

Held on the gargantuan Kismet yacht, owned by the Khan household, whose sports activities property embody the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, English Premier league membership Fulham F.C. and All Elite Wrestling, the visitor listing included Activist Artists Administration co-founder Bernie Cahill; Activate founder and CEO Michael J. Wolf; Marcie Allen, president of Anzie Blue; Uncommon Magnificence CMO Katie Welch; YouTube co-head creators and gaming Kim Larson; Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins; The Macallan head of brand name Sergio Cabello and THR high entrepreneurs 2025 listing members Bianca Franklin, international enterprise developer, music at H&M, and Common Music Group govt vp, international model partnerships Kerri Mackar.

Different visitors included Group Black CEO Bonin Bough, Official AI founder and CEO David Siegfried, GK Ventures CEO Greg Kahn; All& co-CEO Jennifer Breithaupt and TikTok leisure partnerships head Jenny Kim.

James Blake, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter, carried out two songs, together with his newest, “Séance,” from the soundtrack to Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which he co-wrote with two-time Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, who scored the film and was additionally at Cannes Lions, serving as a featured speaker at Spotify’s beachside headquarters.

“I leaned into the metaphysical love relationship between the 2 important characters, not the vampires,” mentioned Blake, who additionally attended Cannes Lions as an official speaker, of the music, which was written earlier than he noticed the film. “It was truly fairly spooky once I noticed it, I might perceive the way it felt so pertinent to what I used to be writing about it.”

Blake shared the highlight with singer Monica Martin for one among her tunes, the wistful “Go Straightforward, Child.” Their harmonies coupled with Blake’s accompaniment elicited enthusiastic applause from the intimate viewers. Blake’s accomplice, the actress Jameela Jamil, was additionally in attendance. Forward of manufacturing on a brand new Ron Howard film, she was selling her podcast, Flawed Turns. Blake, in the meantime, has a brand new album popping out in October.

However as a lot because the folks had been spectacular — Tony Khan serves as founder, CEO, common supervisor and head of inventive of AEW, the third-most precious fight sport league on the planet (behind UFC and WWE) — all eyes had been on the main points of this huge marvel at sea which was meticulously designed by Shad Khan, proprietor of the Jaguars, Fulham F.C., AEW and Flex-N-Gate. The eight-story superyacht includes a pool, an underwater theater, a helipad, a number of bars and eating areas and designer furnishings in every of its properly apportioned visitor suites.

The daddy-son workforce was aglow within the success of AEW, which just lately inked an extension with Warner Bros. Discovery that may preserve its fashionable Wednesday Night time Dynamite and Saturday Night time Collision on TBS and TNT, respectively. “Over six years, as issues have advanced and leisure has modified, we’ve been a staple of cable and proceed to be an enormous staple of TBS, which is a channel that’s had wrestling in its lineup for the reason that Seventies,” mentioned Tony Khan. The numbers whiz name-checked CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, together with WBD chief income and technique officer Bruce Campbell, for being “key supporters.” And whereas AEW’s partnership with WBD has seen as many management modifications within the six years they’ve collaborated, Khan added, “We’ve come out stronger and stronger underneath the management of Warner Bros. Discovery. And now to be on such a prestigious platform as Max, that’s an enormous growth for AEW to achieve a brand new viewers and even reconnect with followers that possibly reduce the wire and didn’t have entry to TBS and TNT anymore.”

Internationally, AEW has additionally change into vacation spot viewing on ITV, one other community with a practice of wrestling. “We’ve been in a position to construct that nice linear viewers and change into the most-watched TV firm of all wrestling with the largest attendance,” mentioned Khan. “By a lot of the key metrics, AEW is the no. 1 wrestling firm within the UK.”

Little question the Khans are shifting in tremendous unique circles. Aboard the Kismet the night earlier than had been a number of main gamers in leisure and past, together with company and Olympics 2028 head Casey Wasserman, Fox Corp. CEO Rob Wade and former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin.

With AEW at the moment valued at $2 billion, it appears to be like as if the son is following within the steps of his self-made father and on the similar time increasing the empire. The youthful Khan was heading to Mexico for AEW’s first occasion within the nation, which passed off on June 18, and he’s additionally pushing his roster’s model extension to TV and movie. Professional wrestler MJF, as an illustration, will seem in Glad Gilmore 2, the sequel to a film he noticed within the theater as a child.

“Wrestling is the one 52 weeks-a-year sport,” provides Khan. “It’s a unending tour of all completely different cities and locations. It’s cool. I by no means cease.”