Cultural Life: Kele Okereke, Bloc Party

Music

Beyoncé's new single, 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)'. I immediately fell in love with it and listened to it five times in a row. She is in a class of her own as a performer. Watching her perform her song live – dancing and singing – is humbling. She is definitely this generation's Tina Turner.

Television

'Heroes' and 'The X Factor' are the only shows I watch religiously. I'm a huge 'X-Men' fan and there are parallels to 'Heroes'. I like the heat stages of 'The X Factor' when everybody is a bit rough and raw. There is a clear sense of char-acter development.

Books

I'm reading 'Snow' by Orhan Pamuk. It is a poetic novel about desire and violence. It's about Islamics in Turkey. I'm also re-reading Hanif Kureishi's collection of stories 'Love in a Blue Time' which are incredibly tender. He is one of my favourite authors.

Visual arts

In New York I saw the Elizabeth Peyton exhibition, Live Forever, of portraits including Mrs Obama and Kurt Cobain. I thought it a bit naive. In Sydney, I saw the Brett Whiteley exhibition. His surreal montages were impressive.

'Intimacy' is out now. For details of the UK tour this month, visit www.blocparty.com