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13 Sep 2023

‘Yellowstone’ at Home: This Bestselling Cookbook Teaches You How to Make Dishes From the Hit Show

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Whip out your cast-iron pans: It’s time to get cooking! Yellowstone: The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook, released Tuesday (Sept. 12), compiles more than 55 simple recipes from chef and Yellowstone actor Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau.

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Many of the recipes are inspired by and featured in the hit series, such as Rip’s Fry Bread with scrambled eggs and bacon. Fans can whip up Beth’s Cheesy Hamburger Mac Casserole or “Two Scoops of Ice Cream, Three Shots of Vodka Smoothie” and Gator’s Louisiana Fried Shrimp (a favorite of Yellowstone creator, Taylor Sheridan).

Other recipes include a chopped salad with “Dutton Ranch” dressing, and Rancher’s Chicken and Biscuit Dumplings. The cookbook retails for $35, but it’s currently 30% off at Amazon.

Amazon

Yellowstone: The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook: Delicious Homestyle Recipes from Character and Real-Life Chef Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau

$24.49 $34.99 30% OFF

Yellowstone fans will also find cast photos and snapshots of the sprawling Montana landscape made famous on the show. The bestselling cookbook is available by itself or as a gift set that comes with a Yellowstone apron. The set makes a great gift that will help tide fans over until the show returns later this year (check out the Paramount Shop for more Yellowstone gear).

It’s unclear when the second part of Yellowstone’s fifth season will premiere. In the meantime, you can catch up on previous seasons on CBS. The network will air a series marathon beginning Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Yellowstone repeats will air on Paramount Network as well.

If you don’t already have access to CBS through cable, streaming, satellite – or an HD antenna – subscribe to a Paramount+ annual plan and enjoy 50% off and a free trial for the first week.

Paramount+ Annual Plan 50% Off

The Paramount+ and Showtime plan includes access to your local CBS channel, ad-free streaming (except for live TV and certain shows), and it’s only $5/month with the discount. You can stream the Yellowstone spin-offs 1883 and 1923 on Paramount+.

Speaking of discounts, Hulu + Live TV is $49.99/month for a limited time only, and DirecTV Stream’s packages start at $65/month (save $30 over three months). Where else can you watch Yellowstone? Previous seasons are available on Peacock, Philo and Prime Video.

Purchase the Yellowstone: The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook gift set below.

Amazon

Yellowstone: The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook Gift Set

$35.99 $39.99 10% OFF

13 Sep 2023

Grateful Dead Members Announce Dead Ahead Festival in Cancun

This week, organizers with Playa Luna Presents announced the Dead Ahead Festival, an all-inclusive musical experience at the Moon Palace Resort in Riviera Cancún, Mexico, from Jan. 12-15, 2024, celebrating the Grateful Dead songbook with two nights of curated collaborations.

Dead Ahead Festival includes Grateful Dead alumni Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart, as well as frequent collaborators Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, Don Was and Jay Lane, featuring Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Rick Mitarotonda, Margo Price and very special guest Sturgill Simpson.

Moreover, during the evening, Oteil & Friends and Lettuce will celebrate the music of the Jerry Garcia Band. Additional artist support will come from Orebolo, LP Giobbi, Sierra Hull, Brittney Spencer and Jaime Wyatt, plus a late-night rhythmic experience with Mickey Hart’s Noche de Ondas.

Dead Ahead will also feature daytime pool parties, curated activities throughout the resort and nightly concerts on the beach. Guests are encouraged to flex their weekend with tours of the Yucatan Peninsula’s natural beauty and rich Mayan culture through various off-site adventures. In the months leading up to the event, all lead guests will receive login details for their personal event Guest Dashboard. This is where lead guests can review package information, submit additional guest and flight details, as well as place proximity and hotel requests. Adventure reservations can also be made in advance via the Guest Dashboard.

All-inclusive packages for Dead Ahead Festival 2024 will go on sale to the public on Friday at 1 p.m. ET on deadaheadfestival.com. Previous Playa Luna guests will be invited to return to the beach via a special pre-sale, starting Thursday at 1 p.m E.T.

13 Sep 2023

Concord’s Bid for Round Hill Music Royalty Fund Strikes Positive Chords for Music Assets Market

Concord’s $469 million bid for Round Hill Music Royalty Fund, announced on Friday, did more than give Round Hill’s shareholders a tidy premium over the previous day’s closing price. The offer, which must be approved by 75% of Round Hill shareholders at the company’s Oct. 18 general meeting, also provides a vote of confidence in music asset valuations and the ability of the marketplace to seek out value.

Andy Moats, director of music, sports and entertainment at Pinnacle Financial Partners, says Concord’s offer is “a win-win for all parties.” Round Hill, which had been trading at a steep discount to its catalog’s value, was offered a premium over the share price prior to the announcement. Concord gets to pay fair-market value for a catalog of 150,000 songs by the likes of Bruno Mars, The Supremes and Louis Armstrong.

The deal comes as Round Hill’s share price struggled to meet expectations and falls short of it the value ascribed by multiple independent experts. Concord bid $1.15 per share, 11.5% below the per-share net asset value (NAV) ascribed to Round Hill by Citron Cooperman, a leading valuation expert. Round Hill’s shares had been trading at a 47% discount to NAV the prior day and had fallen 11.5% year to date.

But the fact that Concord’s bid is slightly below Round Hill’s NAV shouldn’t be viewed as a negative, says Larry Miller, clinical professor and director of music business program at New York University. “When you see a liquidity event like this at even close to NAV, I think that is a sign of a strong business fundamentals, notwithstanding how some class of investors — in particular investors in alternative assets — might view the value of the catalog to NAV.”

Moats agrees that Concord’s bid should be seen as a positive despite falling short of Round Hill’s recent NAV. “It was consistent with what we’ve seen in the past” in terms of where deals transact, he says. Not all deals close precisely on valuations, Moats says. Some prices are above valuations and some fall below. The Round Hill price is “within range of what I’ve seen over the last five years where something trades relative to its valuation,” he says.

Other people see additional positives in Concord’s bid for Round Hill’s music royalty fund — which still leaves Round Hill with a substantial publishing and recorded music business. To some, the acquisition reflects a functioning market in which Round Hill’s music assets are moving to Concord’s more efficient cost structure.

Roy Salter, senior managing partner at Virtu Global Advisors, says the deal shows the market is working as intended. “Among the major messages symbolized by the Concord transaction is the continuing advancement of music royalty capital market efficiencies, wherein an increasing number of pension and profit-sharing funds, insurance companies, sovereign funds and similar capital market constituents are steadily entering the market in search of predictable, non-correlated investment returns, and business operations which support music royalty administration continue to be enhanced such as enables optimal market-efficiencies,” he says.

For others, Concord’s bid is an important vote of confidence for firms’ NAV models. “The key takeaway from this Round Hill deal is that it affirms the valuation methodologies that have been used for large music portfolios,” says Michael Poster, an attorney with Michelman & Robinson. “For all the negativity that has come out of a handful of analysts around some of these valuation methodologies, at the end of the day, the market tells the story.”

NAV, a measure of an investment fund’s assets minus debts and liabilities, has been a sticking point for Round Hill and the other publicly traded music royalty fund, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, in recent years. Citron Cooperman, FTI Consulting and other valuation experts employ valuation models that calculate music catalogs’ values by estimating their cash flows over a lengthy period of time. A company’s NAV can improve if the valuation expert believes the catalog merits a lower discount rate, for example, or because favorable industry trends suggest previous revenue forecasts are too conservative.

Some equity analysts have raised questions about not just the valuations but the music industry’s tendency to constantly update NAV. Most funds in other sectors hold their new acquired assets at cost “until there are verifiable reasons” — such as a market transaction — “to suggest a change is warranted,” Stiefel analysts wrote in a Jan. 7, 2021, note to Hipgnosis investors.

Over the last roughly two years, a gap between independent valuation expert’s NAV and Round Hill’s trading price had widened dramatically. The discount to NAV stood at 5% on Dec. 31, 2021, when Round Hill’s NAV was $1.12 per share, and peaked at 51.6% on April 3, 2023, when Round Hill fell to $0.615 per share.

To give the market more faith in its NAV, Round Hill commissioned a second valuation report, by FTI Consulting, that put its NAV within 3% of Citron Cooperman’s estimate. This additional valuation supported Round Hill’s view that its portfolio was being “significantly undervalued” by investors, Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss said at the time.

The move appears to have helped some: Round Hill’s share price rose 19.7% over the following month (Hipgnosis shares, not part of Round Hill’s efforts to change investors’ impressions, fell 4% over that period). But whether investors remained concerned with NAV methodologies or motivated by rising interest rates and other macroeconomic factors, Round Hill’s share price remained well below NAV until last week.

Concord’s bid also provided a boost to Hipgnosis Songs Fund shares that have also been trading at a deep discount to NAV. The day before Concord’s bid was announced, Hipgnsosis shares closed at 0.798 pounds ($1.00), a 58.3% discount to the company’s NAV on March 31 of $1.92. Whether investors regained faith in the NAV or expect Hipgnosis to negotiate a similar asset sale, its shares jumped 15.7% to 0.923 pounds ($1.15) the day of the announcement, peaked at 0.962 pounds ($1.20) on Tuesday and closed at 0.93 pounds ($1.16) on Wednesday.

Had Concord’s bid come in significantly less than NAV, there could have been ripple effects that touched everybody from banks to investors. In such a scenario, people would re-think the value of catalogs and their interest in investing in music assets.

But that didn’t happen. Concord and Round Hill, both widely considered to be smart players in the music asset market, agreed to a price tag close to the often-criticized NAV. If the market was looking for a signal about how to value Round Hill, it received a credible confirmation.

“There’s a lot of stability and consistency in this space,” says Moats, “and this transaction provides that.”

13 Sep 2023

After Selena Gomez’s Sour Reaction to Chris Brown VMA Nomination Goes Viral, She Wonders ‘Who Cares?’

Selena Gomez does not appear to be fan of Chris Brown, and she isn’t apologizing for it.

The “Calm Down” singer attended the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday night and later made the rounds on social media for making a sour face as the nominees for best R&B were announced.

In the category, Chloe Bailey and Brown’s “How Does It Feel” — from the Chloe x Halle singer’s debut solo album In Pieces — made the cut, and as a clip of the duo’s video rolled and Brown’s name was called, Gomez was spotted scrunching up her face at his name and then smiling and clapping for the other artists in the category.

iHeartRadio Australia grabbed video of the moment and shared it on Instagram with the caption: “@selenagomez reacts to @chrisbrownofficial being nominated.”

The Rare Beauty founder flippantly responded in the comments, “Who cares lol.”

Gomez also seemingly addressed the moment going viral via her Instagram Story, writing in simple text, “I will never be a meme again. I’d rather sit still than be dragged for being myself. Much love.”

Gomez’s on-camera reaction to Brown’s name likely stems from the R&B singer’s 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna ahead of that year’s Grammy Awards. Brown pleaded guilty to a felony and was sentenced to five years’ probation and domestic violence counseling.

For his part, not long after the show aired, Brown wrote on his Instagram Story: “Let me mind my business.”

In addition to reuniting with her bestie Taylor Swift at Tuesday’s show, Gomez also took home best Afrobeats for her featured spot on Rema’s “Calm Down,” which recently hit 1 billion streams on Spotify.

See Gomez’s response in the Instagram post below.

13 Sep 2023

Cardi B, Nicki Minaj & More Celebs Dazzle in Pat McGrath Makeup for the VMAs: Shop Here

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The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards may have come and gone, but some of the pink-carpet looks will never be forgotten. Most celebrities that stopped for photos seemed to rely on one makeup brand for their glamorous looks: Pat McGrath Labs.

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The beauty brand has been known for being a celebrity favorite — just look at Taylor Swift’s red lip in her “Bejeweled” music video for proof. If it wasn’t obvious before, the awards show on Tuesday night (Sept. 12) only solidified its celebrity approval, as music superstars including Cardi B, Anitta and Nicki Minaj showed off the brand’s high-quality and versatile collection.

To celebrate the artists’ achievements and show off the range of looks they debuted, the official Instagram account for Pat McGrath Labs posted Cardi B, Minaj and Anitta‘s looks and the exact products that were used — including some unreleased eye and cheek pieces.

From shimmering lip gloss to rosy cheeks, the artists were all dolled up in Pat McGrath Labs makeup, including pieces that are a part of the brand’s Backstage Essentials sale. If you’ve been on the hunt for some new makeup products and beauty deals, then look no further than these celeb-loved products that can be worn for everyday looks or dressed up for a night on the town.

Rather than dig for the products yourself, we rounded up some of the available products all three artists used below.

black tube of eyeliner

Pat McGrath Labs

Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner

$21 $35 40% off% OFF

Complete a sharp cat-eye look using Pat McGrath Lab’s liquid eyeliner (also used in Cardi B’s VMA look). It comes in a compact tube to throw in your tote bag and with a made with a water- and smudge-proof formula that aims to create a velvety finish that can last up to 12 hours.

black and gold lip gloss tube with peach lip gloss

Revolve

LUST: Gloss

$29

Add some shimmer to your lips just like Anitta and Cardi B did using the LUST: Gloss. If you’re looking for a more peachy look then you can opt for the “Funk Rave” singer’s choice of Faux Real whereas Bardigang members will mostly likely want the star’s go-to shade: Flesh Fantasy.

black tube of mascara next to applicator brush

Ulta Beauty

FetishEYES Mascara

$34

Lift and lengthen your lashes with this mascara that the “Super Bass” rapper showed off. The wand aims to prevent clumpy lashes while the formula coats each lash in a bold black that’ll aim to add volume and length with each brush and coat.

pink tube of blush

Sephora

Divine Blush: Legendary Glow Colour Balm

$29

Add some color to your cheeks using this Anitta and Minaj-approved blush balm, which the two used in the shade Fleurotique. It comes in a compact tube you can throw in your toiletry bag and just requires a swipe and blend to get your desired look.

brown eyeliner pencil

Sephora

PermaGel Eyeliner Pencil

$29

Not a fan of liquid eyeliner? Anitta used the PermaGel eyeliner pencil in Blk Coffee to achieve her smoky cat eye. The pencil comes in black or brown and even includes a sharpener to help keep your lines smooth and precise.

pink and gold tube of lipstick

Sephora

SatinAllure Lipstick

$30

Before applying a gloss, add some bold color to your lips using the SatinAllure Lipstick, which you can spot on both the “WAP” singer (in Venusian Peach) and Minaj (in Divine Rose). Each tube comes with a creamy formula that looks hydrate lips while leaving a dewy finish.

pink bottle of divine skin

Bergdorf Goodman

Divine Skin Rose 001 Essence

$86

Before contouring or applying concealer, Pat McGrath Labs’ Divine Skin Rose 001 Essence will help calm and rebalance your skin beforehand. It uses a Rose-Biotic complex and HydraSphere 18 to help hydrate and nourish your skin, which you can see in Cardi B’s VMA look.

bottle of setting powder, primer and foundations

Pat McGrath Labs

Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection The System

$94 $157 40% off% OFF

Minaj’s makeup team used this skin prep trio as a base and it’s being discounted for 40% — A.K.A a major steal. You’ll receive a setting powder to help keep your makeup in place all day, a customizable foundation and a primer to apply beforehand that’ll help keep makeup looking fresh no matter if you’re hitting the red carpet or the bookstore for your next read.

For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the

13 Sep 2023

HHW Gaming: Game Developers React To Unity’s New Runtime Fees For Game Installs

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In this photo illustration, the Unity Technologies (Unity...

Source: SOPA Images / Getty / Unity

Unity, the cross-platform game engine that many popular games run on, is the current subject of ire on X (formerly known as Twitter) following the announcement of its new business model, including ridiculous new fees.

Spotted on Kotaku, Unity took a page out of Elon Musk’s book of sabotaging your own brand by introducing a new Runtime Fee tied to player’s game installations in a September 12 blog post.

Per Kotaku:

The new Runtime Fee, announced in a September 12 Unity blog, is based on the number of installations a game built with the Unity engine receives, as well as the revenue it generates. Though it won’t start until January 1, 2024, the Runtime Fee will apply to any game that has reached both a previously established annual revenue threshold and a lifetime install count. Games developed with the lower-cost Unity Personal and Unity Plus plans reach that threshold at $200,000 of revenue in one year and 200,000 lifetime installs, while Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise accounts must reach $1 million in revenue and 1 million lifetime installs for the fee to kick in.

As expected, the announcement of these new fees garnered many adverse reactions from Game Developers. Unity claims the new prices will help fund the development of new technology. Developers wonder if developing a hit game on Unity will cost them more money than they can bring in.

Per Axios Gaming’s reporting, under the new fee, “developers who use Unity’s free tier of development services would owe Unity $0.20 per installation once their game hit thresholds of 200,000 downloads and earn $200,000 in revenue.”

Developers paying $2,000 a year for a Unity Pro plan must hit higher thresholds but would be charged lower fees. The fees won’t kick in until the start of 2024.

Unity Scrambles To Explain The New Business Model

The company took to X to explain the new business model.

Today we announced a change to our business model which includes new additions to our subscription plans, and the introduction of a Runtime fee. We wanted to provide clarifying answers to the top questions most of you are asking.

Yes, this is a price increase and it will only affect a small subset of current Unity Editor users. Today, a large majority of Unity Editor users are currently not paying anything and will not be affected by this change. The Unity Runtime fee will not impact the majority of our developers. T

he developers who will be impacted are generally those who have successful games and are generating revenue way above the thresholds we outlined in our blog. This means that developers who are still building their business and growing the audience of their games will not pay a fee. The program was designed specifically this way to ensure developers could find success before the install fee takes effect.

Social Media Reactions

As expected, the fallout to Unity’s news was swift. Video Game Awards creator Geoff Keighly wrote on X in reply to the news, “What a joke.”

“I appreciate that louder voices than mine are pushing back on this Unity news. I’ve spent every moment of the last six years building my world and tools in Unity and honestly don’t have time or energy to be bothered with more corporate nonsense,” Indie Developer Dean Dodrill said. 

Welp.

You can see more reactions in the gallery below.

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Photo: SOPA Images / Getty

13 Sep 2023

Beyonce Sends Flowers & Congratulatory Note to Coi Leray: ‘I Love Watching You Grow’

Beyoncé stays supporting her fellow female artists.

Coi Leray took to Instagram on Tuesday (Sept. 12) to share a series of photos of a stunning white floral arrangement sent to her by Queen Bey herself. In the flowers was a sweet note that reads, “I’m a fan of yours and I love watching you grow. You’re a very talented young lady. Love, Beyoncé.”

“The queen has spoken .. Thank you for inspiring all of us not only with music but just how you carry yourself with such grace,” Leray captioned the post along with a string of pink heart emojis. “Thank you thank you thank you ??”

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The 26-year-old rapper has had an impressive 2023 so far, heating up the charts with song like her hit “Players,” which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. “When I found out I was on the top 10 U.K. charts, and then the top 20 pop charts and then the top 20 Billboard [Hot 100],” she told Billboard before her set at Rolling Loud earlier this year. “That was a big stepping stone for me because my dream was to cross over. Of course, I love Billboard. I look up to you guys. You guys are watching me grow, so I can’t wait to show you how much more I have for you.”

See the sweet gift from Bey below.

13 Sep 2023

Adam Sandler Announces I Missed You Tour: Here Are the Dates

You might be so not invited to Adam Sandler‘s daughter’s bar mitzvah, but the comedian is giving his fans ample opportunity to see him live this fall. On Wednesday (Sept. 13), Live Nation announced that Sandler is set to embark on a 25-date North American trek titled the I Missed You Tour.

Produced by Live Nation, the tour will commence on Oct. 12 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, and make stops in Las Vegas, Memphis, Toronto and more before closing in Denver at Ball Arena on Dec. 12. The I Missed You Tour marks Sandler’s second major trek of the year. In March, the three-time Grammy-nominated comedian and actor added seven more shows to his Adam Sandler LIVE tour.

The new tour comes on the heels of several acclaimed films from the five-time Emmy nominee. This year, Sandler produced and starred in You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah alongside Tony winner Idina Menzel, wife Jackie Sandler and daughters Sadie and Sunny Sandler. Last year, he acted opposite Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah in the sports dramedy Hustle, for which he won the People’s Choice Award for The Comedy Movie Star of 2022. Back in 2019, Sandler flaunted his dramatic chops in the award-winning thriller Uncut Gems.

Sandler has charted five titles on the Billboard 200, peaking with 1999’s Stan and Judy’s Kid at No. 16, while his “Chanukah Song” peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1999. Earlier this year, Sandler was honored with the 2023 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Through a Live Nation presale, fans will be able to purchase tickets to the I Missed You Tour beginning Thursday at noon local time. The general sale starts Friday at noon local time.

Here are all the dates for Adam Sandler’s I Missed You Tour:

Thu. Oct. 12 — Vancouver, BC — Rogers Arena
Fri. Oct. 13 — Seattle, WA — Climate Pledge Arena
Sat. Oct. 14 — Portland, OR — Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Sun. Oct. 15 — Nampa, ID — Ford Idaho Center Arena
Mon. Oct. 16 — Spokane, WA — Spokane Arena
Wed. Oct. 18 — San Jose, CA — SAP Center at San Jose
Thu. Oct. 19 — Stateline, NV — Tahoe Blue Event Center
Fri. Oct. 20 — Fresno, CA — Save Mart Center
Sat. Oct. 21 — Palm Desert, CA — Acrisure Arena
Mon. Oct. 23 — Anaheim, CA — Honda Center
Tue. Nov. 7 — Toronto, ON — Scotiabank Arena
Wed. Nov. 8 — Rochester, NY — Blue Cross Arena
Thu. Nov. 9 — Washington, DC — Capital One Arena
Sat. Nov. 11 — Milwaukee, WI — Fiserv Forum
Sun. Nov. 12 — Minneapolis, MN — Target Center
Mon. Nov. 13 — Des Moines, IA — Wells Fargo Arena
Wed. Nov. 15 — Indianapolis, IN — Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Thu. Nov. 16 — Memphis, TN — FedExForum
Sat. Dec. 2 — Las Vegas, NV — Michelob ULTRA Arena
Sun. Dec. 3 — Salt Lake City, UT — Delta Center
Thu. Dec. 7 — San Antonio, TX — AT&T Center
Fri. Dec. 8 — Thackerville, OK — WinStar Casino
Sat. Dec. 9 — Oklahoma City, OK — Paycom Center
Sun. Dec. 10 — Wichita, KS — INTRUST Bank Arena
Tue. Dec. 12 — Denver, CO — Ball Arena

13 Sep 2023

No ‘Question’: Teddy Robb’s ‘Universe’ is Rooted in Real-World Drama

“Question the Universe” is a strange title for a song. It’s fairly abstract, doesn’t roll off the tongue and doesn’t sound like it rhymes with anything in a comfortable, singable way.

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But it sure fits independent artist Teddy Robb. He had a near-miss on a relationship, meeting a woman he thought was his soul mate just days before she moved to Los Angeles to live with her boyfriend. He had a near-miss on a songwriting opportunity when Old Dominion guitarist Brad Tursi started — and finished — a song about Robb’s almost-relationship before Robb had arrived for a writing appointment. And Robb had yet another near-miss when the song came along shortly after he lost his recording deal with Monument and had no label that would issue it.

All of that gives real perspective to the “Question the Universe” title. Robb struggled to find any meaning in the series of events, and his performance of the current release is heartbreakingly convincing.

“The emotion of it is so raw that when I’m singing it, it kind of takes me right back to that moment,” he says.

That moment was St. Patrick’s Day 2022. Robb met Leah Lawson, a former Miss South Carolina, at Nashville club Red Door, where the green beer was flowing. They had an instant, undefined connection and ended up talking and partying for much of the night. “It really started off the very first night, very platonic, just like friends,” he remembers. “There was sparks, but [she] was very up front: ‘I have a boyfriend. I’m going to L.A.’ ”

During the evening, they ran into Tursi, and the party expanded. “We hung out that night, and everyone kind of slept over at my house,” recalls Tursi. “We just stayed up late and indulged ourselves in music and all the other things you can indulge yourself with, and then I guess the next day, they’d really fallen for each other.”

Lawson and Robb met up daily during her final days in Nashville, and he admittedly tried to get her to stay. She insisted on sticking with her California boyfriend, and Tursi watched Robb experience torturously teasing circumstances. Robb planned a co-writing session at Tursi’s house, and before it commenced, Tursi sat down at a piano that he had recently purchased.

“I don’t really know how to play it that well,” Tursi says. “Accidents can happen, which makes it more inspiring sometimes.”

Tursi stumbled across some melancholy chords and began recounting Robb’s heartbreaking tale with conversational, out-of-meter lines about meeting over drinks and forming a seemingly doomed connection. It eased into an aching chorus melody that accompanied an accurate summation — “Right person, wrong time” — with the singer adhering more closely to the beat for singalong ease, even as he reveals his anger toward God. Tursi didn’t know where he was going until he reached the chorus’ final line: “It’s shit like this makes me question the universe.”

Musically, that chorus started on a two-minor chord — an unsettled sound that the listener intuitively hopes will resolve. The entire eight-line stanza dodges root-chord finality, though, until the last line, wrapping itself in the situation’s inherent frustration. “It’s hard to accept that, [when] you actually like the person and there’s seemingly some insurmountable obstacles in your way,” says Tursi. “The chorus definitely feels that.”

He kept going with it and finished “Question the Universe,” then texted it to Robb, who was en route for the co-write when it appeared on his phone. Surprisingly, he wasn’t at all bothered that he had missed out on crafting it.

“I was flattered because it was so accurate — Brad paid attention so well to our story,” Robb says. “I mean, I’m still a kid from Akron [Ohio] who moved to Nashville to write songs and play country music, and to find out a guy wrote a song about you … I still have those kinds of moments.”

On March 25, following a send-off dinner for Lawson, Tursi played “Universe” for the ill-fated couple on piano at his house, reflecting their turmoil back to them even as they lived it out. Tursi stealthily whispered to Lawson that he knew she was gone for good.

Indeed, when she reached California, Robb told her not to call him again unless she moved back. But he decided he needed to record “Question the Universe.” Following the rules hadn’t necessarily paid off, and “Universe,” he felt, broke a bunch. “It starts with the title, ‘Question the Universe,’ ” he says.

It’s definitely outside the norm for country music, as are the melancholy chords, its piano foundation and its ballad tempo. But the differences are what make it stand out, as it did when producer Pete Good (Brandon Ratcliff, Alana Springsteen) reviewed a bundle of songs that Robb presented him. “When he played that, I was just like, ‘Holy crap, what is this?’” recalls Good. “It doesn’t sound like anything else. It’s a one-of-a-kind song.”

They recorded it on July 22, 2022 — four months after it had been written — at Good’s Stone Jag Studio with drummer Evan Hutchings, bassist Craig Young, guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield and pianist Alex Wright. The team agreed with Robb that they should break some rules with it.

“We knew that with this song in particular, we could take liberties,” Good explains. “It felt like it needed to be kind of dreamy, atmospheric, surreal — whatever word you want to use — and then we wanted to kind of crescendo toward the end of the song as well, where it just got more intense as it went on.”

Hutchings’ drum part felt sluggish — appropriate support for a depressed protagonist — and Philcox-Littlefield created a swath of razor-like sounds with a spacey vibe — “We’re talking about the universe here,” says Good — and a sitar-ish guitar break. As much as 90% of Robb’s final vocal came from his performance with the band as he relived every ounce of the pain in Lawson’s departure. It was so personal that he delivered even the difficult, out-of-meter sections with conviction.

“It stretched me vocally,” Robb says. “I just tried to do my best to sing what I was feeling, and so that’s probably why it feels like it pushes and pulls, as far as the meter goes. [The feeling’s] important when you’re telling a story like that.”

Good brought Sarah Buxton in to handle background vocals, and the sections where she sings unison octaves are particularly haunting. “It sounds like another person in a song versus a cast of people,” notes Good. “I wanted it to feel a little bit more like there’s an actual, singular female in the song with Teddy. It feels more intimate.”

Robb released it independently on April 20 with Gator Michaels Consulting. After Cumulus expressed some interest in playing it, Robb overdubbed a clean hook line — “Shit like this” became “Things like this” — and released it to radio on July 28 via PlayMPE.

The developments are making Robb more optimistic about his career path. And there’s a postscript regarding Lawson, too: A little more than a week into her time in Los Angeles, she realized it hadn’t been the right move. She returned to Nashville, pursued the relationship with Robb, and the two are now engaged. He has fewer questions for the universe than he did in March 2022.

“I think it takes heartbreak in this town,” he says, “to prepare you for the really good stuff.”

13 Sep 2023

The 23 Best VMAs Performances of All Time: Critics’ Picks

The annual MTV Video Music Awards have been one of pop culture’s biggest nights for decades. Good, bad or ugly, the show has had more than its fair share of headline-making moments since its debut in 1984. Remember when Drake professed his love for Rihanna on stage in 2016? Or Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley’s awkwardly long kiss in 1994? Oh, and need we even mention Lady Gaga’s 2010 meat dress?

Despite its anything-goes reputation, the ceremony has always been a celebration of the year in music. Musical acts across genres are recognized not just for their records and albums, but for the hard work and creativity they put into accompanying visual works. And although going home with a moon person trophy (most notably for video of the year) is surely a goal for nominees, for viewers, it’s the show’s performances that consistently leave people talking.

To celebrate the TV spectacular, we’ve dug back into MTV’s archives to round up the best performances in VMA history. There’s no question that pop megastars including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga made a strong showing on the tally. Hip-hop heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Kanye West have also made their mark — especially as the genre grows further into the mainstream. Plus, Video Vanguard recipients from Justin Timberlake to Missy Elliott have proven their superstar status with show-stopping medleys.

But who had the most memorable moment of all? Find out where these acts and more rank and relive 23 of the jaw-dropping performances below.