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27 Mar 2023

‘American Idol’ Contestant Cam Amen Scores Platinum Ticket With Stunning ‘Hallelujah’ Rendition

American Idol judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan became visibly emotional when contestant Cam Amen sang a rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” during Sunday night’s (March 26) auditions.

Before launching into his passionate version of Cohen’s track, the judges asked Amen about his back story, in which he revealed that he and his siblings lost their mother and ended up in the foster care system. Once 18, Amen took care of his brother and sister until it was time for them to graduate, and tearfully shared he is now chasing his dream on Idol.

Accompanied by a piano player, he sang, “Now I’ve done my best, I know it wasn’t much/ I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch/ I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come here to London just to fool you/ And even though it all went wrong/ I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song/ With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah/ Hallelujah, Hallelujah/ Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”

All three of the judges were noticeably moved by Amen’s rendition of the song, with Bryan visibly tearing up. “This is our sixth year here. Stylistically … your style is so beautifully unique. I don’t have anybody that I’ve seen in this chair to compare you to, and every time I wanted you to do something amazing, you did it,” he said. “It was just incredible. You came out of being upset and crying and just started singing like that. You didn’t even have all the tears dry.”

Richie added, “Cam, do you believe in divine guidance? It just happened, for whatever reason, that divine guidance brought you to us. And my friend, you are going to have one heck of a ride.”

After requesting Amen bring his girlfriend in the room, Bryan told his fellow judges, “He might be the best soul singer we’ve ever had.”

Bryan then revealed that Amen was the winner of a platinum ticket, allowing the hopeful to sit out the first round of Hollywood week. “This is the first time I ever went for something for myself, and it’s a dream,” Amen shared following the audition.

Watch Amen’s platinum ticket story unfold in the video above.

27 Mar 2023

Nick Cannon Addresses His Past Antisemitic Comments, Calls Backlash a ‘Growth Moment’

Nick Cannon addressed his history of anti-semitic comments and what he learned from the public backlash over them in a new interview that published Friday (March 24).

Speaking to All Hip-Hop, the host of The Masked Singer reflected, “I’m going to be super honest with you, man. That process was a growth moment for me, on so many levels as a man,” after the reporter lumped his past remarks about Jewish people in with similar antisemitic rhetoric from the likes of Kanye West and Kyrie Irving.

Cannon cited his podcast Solutions: To Hate or Not To Hate with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, as a way he’s shown growth on the issue. He said of the podcast: “It’s really talking about the equation of our two communities from two different perspectives. We voice our side, or the perspective as a Black man, and then he voices his side from a Jewish man. Just even that alone is helpful and educational for both communities. And again, because that’s the thing, we can sit up here and be enraged, but if we don’t engage, what are we really doing, if we can’t even learn from one another? And clearly, we all know the issues, we all know the tropes, we all know the stereotypes.”

The singer-actor also said he’s “no longer about just talk.”

“I’m really putting my money where my mouth is and my energy to where my heart is,” the father of 12 said. “To me, that situation says, ‘All right, I’m done talking. Everybody talk. Let’s figure it out, let’s solve it. What’s the problem?’ The next people who say something in front of a microphone can have an understanding of what it is, so they don’t stumble and fumble and have to lose opportunities or get so-called canceled and all of that stuff on the next go around. Really, it’s just about bringing people closer together. Ultimately, nobody’s monolithic, but we’re all one organism that allows this thing to keep pumping.”

Back in the summer of 2020, Cannon perpetuated controversial conspiracy theories about Jewish people on his now-axed podcast Cannon’s Class during a conversation with former Public Enemy member Professor Griff.

While he issued a public apology at the time, he was fired by ViacomCBS from his long-running MTV improv show Wild ‘N Out. (The media company has since resumed its working relationship with the star.)

27 Mar 2023

Shawn Mendes Goes Shirtless to Show Off His Red Hot Sunburn

Shawn Mendes got a little too much sun on his recent trip to Mexico. The 24-year-old pop star posted a series of photos from his time in the country Sunday (March 26), including a couple snapshots showing off his buff upper body glowing a painful-looking shade of red.

One of the captionless photos shows the “Señorita” singer from the front, laughing off the sting of his scorched skin. Another shows him in the same spot, facing away from the camera, the outline of a tank top temporarily stamped on his back.

Mendes also shared photos of the sights he explored in Mexico City, including the pyramids of Teotihuacan, a street musician and a cluttered bookstore. The sunburn photos definitely got the most attention from friends and followers though, with One Republic’s Ryan Tedder commenting, “Protek that skin bruhhhh.”

The Grammy nominee’s brush with strong UV waves isn’t the first time he’s faced the elements recently. Shortly after the winter holidays, he took an underwear-only dip into an ice cold river and posted a video of the adventure to Instagram.

The musician’s trip to Mexico comes just a few days after he denied rumors he’s dating Sabrina Carpenter, with whom he’s been photographed a couple times in the past month or so. “We are not dating but I think we should talk about Tommy Hilfiger probably more than Sabrina,” he reportedly told RTL Boulevard during an interview about his recent Tommy X Shawn Classics Reborn collection with the designer.

27 Mar 2023

Meek Mill, Tom Brady Join Robert Kraft’s $25 Million Antisemitism Initiative

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has enlisted a pair of his celebrity friends to help spread the word about his family’s new multi-million dollar effort to fight back against an unprecedented wave of antisemitism in America.

People reported that the 81-year-old billionaire is investing $25 million in a multi-level campaign to fight antisemitism through his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS), teaming up with the Patriots’ former QB legend, Tom Brady, as well as rapper Meek Mill to help spread word about their efforts.

The Foundation has been promoting stories about efforts to combat anti-Jewish hate on its social feeds and is launching a campaign with a blue square emoji that Kraft said he hopes will “educate all Americans” on the rise of hateful acts against Jewish Americans. “What’s happening in America today, it is a big part of my life,” Kraft told People. “There’s been work done that shows that 50% of Americans do not realize that antisemitism is any problem, and the Jewish population is roughly 2.4% of the population in the US but yet receives over 55% of the hate crimes.”

Kraft said the American Jewish community — which numbers approximately 7.6 million per most recent estimates — needs the help of “all Americans” to combat the highest level of antisemitism in the country in a quarter century; the ADL recently reported that antisemitic incidents increased 36% in 2022.

The Patriots owner said he’s already reached out to recently re-retired QB Brady about the blue emoji symbol in advance of the new campaign’s launch. “He and I are still very tight and he will be using this blue emoji when we kick off again,” Kraft said, noting that he hopes the emoji will become a “symbol of solidarity” that will help fight anti-Jewish hate and other forms of discrimination.

Mill — who has received funding from Kraft to build his REFORM Alliance to push for parole/sentencing/probation reform — is also on board with the team owner’s cause. In fact, People reported that Meek (born Robert Rihmeek Williams) will fly with Kraft to Poland next month, where the NFL boss will lead the this year’s annual March of the Living event that takes thousands of visitors on a walk between the remains of concentration camps in the country.

The billionaire said he wanted Meek to join him in Poland to “see what went on” in Holocaust death camps. “So when I tell you there are 15 million Jews in the world today, what happened 75, 80 years ago with the killing of 6 million, they would’ve represented 60, 70 million people today,” Kraft said. “And it is really horrible.”

Check out FCAS’ YouTube video for its #StandUpToJewishHate campaign below.

27 Mar 2023

March Madness: Men’s NCAA Basketball Final Four Is Set

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NCAA BASKETBALL: MAR 25 Div I Men's Championship Elite 8 - Gonzaga vs UConn

The Final Four field for the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament was set over the weekend with three schools making it to the hallowed quartet for the first time in over 50 years. One of the teams celebrated its first entry into the Final Four, and everything will kick off this coming weekend.

March Madness for both the men’s and women’s teams is an unpredictable affair every year and this tourney was no different. The Elite Eight field was one for the books as not one No. 1 seed advanced that far in 2023 in the men’s division. In fact, brackets were busted on day one of the tournament but few could’ve predicted the outcome of the field like this.

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The University of Connecticut Huskies are in line to win their fifth national championship since 1999. The Florida Atlantic University Owls never had a tournament win ahead of landing in the Final Four over the weekend.

The University of Miami Hurricanes is priming itself to win its first national championship along with celebrating its first Final Four appearance and is the current ACC champion. The San Diego State Aztecs are also in a position to win their first chip.

Florida Atlantic and San Diego State will battle it out on Saturday, April 1 at 6:09 PM EST. The Huskies and the Hurricanes will play at 8:49 PM EST.

Check out the NCAA coverage of the Final Four field here.

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Photo: Getty

27 Mar 2023

Harry Styles Was Spotted Kissing Emily Ratajkowski & Fans Are Incredulous: See the Reactions

Harry Styles is doing some late-night talking with someone new, apparently. The pop star was just spotted getting up close and personal with model, actress and author Emily Ratajkowski on a recent trip to Japan, and naturally, the internet is undergoing a volcanic eruption of emotions in response.

It’s not unlike the deluge of reactions that flooded Twitter more than two years ago, when Styles was first confirmed to be dating his Don’t Worry Darling director and costar, Olivia Wilde. The two were together up until just a few months ago, when it was revealed in November that the pair had gone their separate ways.

Now, it looks like the “As It Was” singer is moving on. He and Ratajkowski — who was linked to comedian Eric André as recently as last month — were filmed kissing against the side of a car during a rainy day in Tokyo, where Styles just closed out the Asian leg of his ongoing Love on Tour with two shows at Ariake Arena Friday (March 24) and Saturday (March 25).

By strange coincidence, the footage surfaced on the exact date — March 25 — that Zayn Malik broke hearts across the globe by announcing his departure from One Direction

Reactions to footage of the new romance ranged from happy for the potential new couple to heartbroken that Styles may once again be off the market. But overall, the unifying feeling was one of pure shock. “Just saw harry styles passionately making out with emily ratajkowski… i can’t breathe,” one fan tweeted.

“harry are you dating emily ratajkowski? it’s not really my business i’m only 14 and stuff but i have always thought that we were going to get married,” joked another.

Some were excited for the new pairing, with one fan tweeting, “emrata and harry styles honestly power couple.”

See some of the best fan reactions below:

27 Mar 2023

Seven Returning ‘Idol’ Stars Talk Mentoring Season 21’s Contestants

Finally, what are you doing now and what is next for you?

Noah Thompson
Image Credit: David McClister

Justin: I’m finishing up the last bit of my Star Code course. I’m teaching that live online. I also have a master class that I teach, which is a lead-in to that. And then I’m gearing up for what will be my seventh Broadway show, Once Upon a One More Time, which is opening in the summer. It’s a Britney Spears musical and I’ve been with it for five years and we are finally getting our due to come to Broadway and I could not be more excited. It is legitimately my most favorite role I’ve ever played, and it is going to be something where people come to it, they will laugh, they will cry and it will feel like they are watching the most kick-ass music video they’ve ever seen on Broadway.

Clay: I semi-retired from performing nine years ago. In 2013 I said, “I’m going to step away from this.” And then in 2018 Ruben wanted to do something and we had an opportunity to do a Broadway show, so I came back and did that. And then I said, “Okay, dude. I’m not going to keep going.” And he said, “It’s our 20th anniversary. We’ve got do something.” I said, “Fine, let’s do it.” There’s nobody who could get me to come back and perform except for Ruben. I love doing that. We’re going to go out on our 20th anniversary tour, and it’ll be the first time I’ve been on tour in over a decade now. We’re putting everything we’ve got into this tour. I might fall on the ground afterward and be done for a while again. We’ll see.

Jordin: I am still doing music. I am in the final stages of choosing the songs that are going to go on the new album. Last season, they were talking to me about music while I was on stage with Ruben during the finale and I had over 100 songs and now I have almost close to 200 and so I really have to figure out which songs are the best. I want to take people on a journey and make them feel something. So I’m hoping to get that done in the next couple weeks, because after that I’m going to film a Christmas movie for BET+ and then I’m hoping that I can tour internationally. So there are a lot of dreams and ambitions. I’m also just being mom. I’m really grateful that I still get to do what I love.

David: I did a Christmas tour, and I was supposed to go on a spring tour, but I put that on hold because I need time to reassess myself. Because not only did I come out, but I also had a transition in faith. Before, my faith was the ship that steered every decision I made. I involved it in my career and now that it’s not there, it’s like I lost myself and I’m asking, “Who am I now?” But it’s also an opportunity to start again and decide who I am without my faith as a buffer. I’ve been writing a lot of music and I’m really excited to share my journey with everybody. Learning how to love yourself when you spent so much time believing that you were supposed to hate yourself and believing that that was the right thing to do: to be afraid of a piece of you, feeling like you have to hide this for your own safety and for the safety of the people around you. To think that if it ever came out, you would be hurting not only yourself but the people around you in your life. I am in the process of learning how to change that way of thinking. It hasn’t been easy, but I feel like I’m entering a whole new space of my career because I’m entering this new space personally. It’s always been important for me to share what’s in my soul and in my heart. Now, I feel so much passion in my career — [there’s] this fire that’s coming out of me that’s given me this new fuel into what I do and into the music and I just can’t wait. I’m looking for ways to share my story, because I know so many other people, especially those coming from religious backgrounds, they’re still in the thick of it and I want to help them learn because I know what it’s like. It’s like being a mentor on Idol: I was there, so this is what I wish I would have known. While it’s easier for some, it’s especially tricky for people in religious conservative households where you are still being taught, “This is not okay. Resist it. Do not give into it. Do not accept this part of you. If you do, you’re a failure.” Too many [people] who share my beliefs feel like it’s better to end their lives than to accept their sexuality if they’re queer. I was there as well. I thought, “Before I accept this about myself, maybe it’s better for me to not be here and to end my life, so that I save my soul in the long run.” I realized, “Even if you’re queer, David, maybe your life is still worth living.” I had to take that chance and it has been worth it and I realized I’m not this evil person. I’m just now understanding this love that everyone wrote love songs and romance movies and romance novels about, expressing how beautiful of a feeling it is. I didn’t understand before. I couldn’t relate to it and now I’m able to comprehend that and write those songs myself and tell my story of what it’s like to feel that feeling of loving someone and wanting to be there for them. I feel like that will help people understand, like, “Oh, that’s not very much different from what I experienced, so maybe it’s not as foreign than what I thought it was.” To help them not demonize that feeling because they feel it too and it’s a pure, wholesome feeling to experience.

Phillip: I released a song earlier this year called “Dancing With Your Shadows.” I love that song. And I’m releasing another song when this is airing called “Before I Loved You” and I’m really proud of that song. It’s a beautiful love song about me and my wife. There’ll be an album toward the end of the summer called Drift Back and all of these songs are representations for the past three to five years for me through COVID and show where I am now. It’s an honest album of love through ups and downs, not just your significant other but relationships with family and friends. My little boy Patch, he sings every word to one of these songs and that’s really sweet. I’ll say, “Is that a good song?” He’ll say, “Yup, that sounds good, daddy.” I’m like, “That’s good. Thank you.”

Catie: I am releasing a new single called “Hyperfixations” and it shows what the inside of my brain sounds like, if anyone’s ever wondered that before. I wrote this song with my producer in Nashville, Ruslan. I was discovering a new sound for myself because I went from very acoustic to very pop and I wanted to find a way to honor both but still feel authentic to myself. I’m finding the nice middle ground of acoustic lyrics but with a more produced sound and in a way to where it’s not so pop. I’m having a really fun time with that.

Noah: I recently moved to Nashville. I’ve been on tour, and I’ve been writing every day. I really don’t want to stop. Hopefully we’ll get some tour dates back up pretty soon. We’ve got some cool shows coming up, opening for Luke Combs.

27 Mar 2023

Teacher Says Miley Cyrus/Dolly Parton Duet ‘Rainbowland’ Pulled From Spring Concert at Wisconsin Grade School: ‘No Reason Given’

A language teacher at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha, Wisconsin has called out her school’s administration after saying that they vetoed the inclusion of a pair of rainbow-themed songs in the spring concert. “My first graders were so excited to sing ‘Rainbowland’ for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?,” she tweeted last week along with hashtags for the school system, Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, GSafe (which create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin schools) and civil rights.

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Teacher Melissa Tempel also included the lyrics to “Rainbowland,” the Cyrus/Parton duet about acceptance that appeared on Miley’s 2017 album Younger Now. “Living in Rainbowland/ Where you and I go hand in hand/ Oh, I’d be lying if I said this was fine/ All the hurt and the hate going on here/ We are rainbows, me and you/ Every color, every hue,” they sing on the song. Why was that track about living in harmony together reportedly banned?

On March 24, Tempel wrote, “The latest I heard is that the song was banned bc @MileyCyrus is controversial. D’oh, I thought for sure it was @DollyPartonvand her beautiful drag queen followers! Oh well, I can’t stop my students if they still sing ‘Rainbowland.’ It’s a fun, catchy song!” First grade teacher Tempel later said her guess as to why the duet was pulled was because of its “beautiful LYRICS. Because saying an ARTIST is controversial would be a very slippery slope and they wouldn’t want to go there. Amirite?,” she wrote.

When a commenter asked why the song was pulled from the concert Tempel responded, “no reason given.” A day later, Tempel reported that the administration also banned the Muppet Movie classic “Rainbow Connection,” writing, “so it seems the reason is rainbows.” Tempel provided another update on March 23 when she reported that “Rainbow Connection” had been unbanned after “parents sent emails to admin,” though it seems “Rainbowland” is still off the menu.

At press time spokespeople for Heyer Elementary and the Waukesha Country board of Education had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the reported song bans. At press time it also did not appear as if Parton or Cyrus had responded to the reported “Rainbowland” ban on their socials.

In a statement to People, the Alliance for Education’s Becky Gilligan said that their organization, “continues to advocate for our community… This is the most recent decision by a school district administration intent on stifling the diversity and denying equality to the community it serves, further ostracizing Waukesha in the eyes of the nation.”

The mother of a first-grader at the school, Sarah Schindler, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter came home last week with a list of songs she was going to perform at the spring concert. Among the tracks Schindler pulled up on YouTube were “Rainbowland,” Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Schindler said both she and her daughter were very excited because they love Parton.

Then a few days later, her daughter came home and told Schindler, “we can’t sing it anymore. We can’t sing ‘Rainbow Connection’ and we can’t sing ‘Rainbowland.’” Schindler said she reached out to Tempel, her daughter’s teacher, and the school’s principal as well as the district superintendent for answers and was told that the administration had pulled the songs because they were too “controversial.”

Schindler told the Times that the school board had undergone a “conservative flip” recently in the wake of COVID-19 mitigation strategies during the global pandemic that has has killed more than 1.2 million Americans to date. “One of those is a controversial topics policy saying that teachers can’t have any kind of signage that could be deemed political. … Discussion of pronouns with students was another thing that came up. And teachers aren’t allowed to wear rainbows,” Schindler said.

Another parent with a student enrolled in the district told the paper that the Waukesha school district has “really cracked down on anything LGBTQ… so this song being an ‘issue’ has not in any way come as a surprise… My daughter is 17 and has been in the marching band community for four years. It’s a very welcoming community for kids that are LBGTQ. She has a lot of friends that identify as part of that community so it hurts her deeply. All that Miley and Dolly are saying is that they want to live in a world that is accepting, with no judgment and where people can be who they want to be.”

See Tempel’s tweets below.

27 Mar 2023

Lenny Kravitz Talks Next Two Albums and How Younger Artists ‘Reinspire’ Him Ahead of Hosting 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards

Ahead of his award-show hosting debut tonight (March 27) at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Lenny Kravitz is feeling cool, calm and collected. “It’s an honor to be here and I’m happy to be asked,” he says.

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When it comes to his hosting approach, Kravitz plans to “keep it chill” and notes that he hasn’t called up any previous hosts for advice. “I purposely have not called anybody [or] watched anything,” he tells Billboard. “They’re like ‘Did you call LL [Cool J]? Did you call Usher?’ I’m just gonna go up there and do what I gotta do.”

It was his authentic approach to hosting that caught the attention of old friends and iHeart Radio execs John Sykes and Tom Poleman, during the induction of Lionel Richie into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November. “He won over the room,” Sykes says. “He was funny, he connected with the audience because he’s such a serious musician. When we saw this other side of him and called him up, he said, ‘I’d love to do it.’”

The 58-year-old hitmaker has served as an inspiration to generations of pop stars and rising artists throughout his decades-long career as a boundary pushing rock star. Watching a new class of Black artists centered in pop, rock and alternative spaces, Kravitz feels great to witness “that artistic freedom.”

Recalling the climate of the music industry at the time of his first record deal, he says, “Everything was in these really tight boxes, white and black. Like ‘the pop department,’ it meant white, and the Black department was R&B.”

Kravitz says that watching artists like Steve Lacy — who he interviewed in October for the “Bad Habits” singer’s Billboard cover story — “reinspires” him. “It makes me feel great that there is that artistic freedom. I’m always flattered and honored when those artists come up to me and tell me how much I meant to them. They grew up listening to my music and looking at the visuals, and felt that they could push the boundaries.”

For the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, Poleman and Sykes are planning a “special moment,” planned in part by rap legend LL Cool J.

“We really thought the Grammys did a wonderful job doing this,” Poleman says. “LL [Cool J] had a very cool idea of how, in a very short period of time, he could tip his hat to the artists that inspired him in the 80s to get into hip-hop. It started back in 1973, when DJ Kool Herc played a song at an outdoor party in the Bronx and a format was born.”

Kravitz, who spent his early years in Brooklyn as the seeds of hip-hop were just sprouting, is excited by the evolution of the genre, but hopes to see more positivity in the future. “Well, in every genre,” he adds. “But things have to go the way they go, and that creates a reaction and turns into something else. There’s great artists and great concepts of how they’re doing their beats, sounds and styles.”

Kravitz has his next two albums “pretty much cut” and is eager to set off on the continuation of his world tour. “I was two years into a three year world tour when COVID hit,” he explains. “So I’m really happy to be getting back on the road and playing and sharing that experience with the people.”

The 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards will include nine performances across a variety of genres, including a set from Kravitz himself, Kelly Clarkson, Keith Urban, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Latto, Muni Long, Cody Johnson and Coldplay, who will appear at the event live from its Music of the Spheres World Tour stop in Brazil.

“We don’t foster competition. This is not about who’s better — we actually celebrate the artists that have gone to No. 1, and tell the stories that come during the show,” Poleman says of the show’s purpose. “So many artists know already that they’ve won, and it’s more of a celebration.”

“This is the first year we’re giving [an award to] the most-played artists across all of our genres — that’s going to be Doja Cat. She had so many hits, so it’s nice to honor her. We have some socially voted categories, like best use of a sample in a song.”

The award show will also feature appearances from Cher, the Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin, Donald Faison, H.E.R., Joel McHale, Jordan Davis, Nicole Scherzinger, Nikki Glaser, Phoebe Bridgers, TLC, Vella Lovell, Zach Braff and more. The 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards airs tonight (March 27) from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

27 Mar 2023

8 Must-Hear New Country Songs: Brandy Clark, Luke Combs, Randall King & More

This week in country, Brandy Clark returns with new music, Luke Combs takes on a Tracy Chapman classic, and Rissi Palmer and Miko Marks team up for a powerful collaboration. All that and more below, as Billboard takes you through the new country releases you need to hear this week.

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Brandy Clark, “Buried”

Clark returns with the announcement of an upcoming self-titled album (out May 19), with production by Brandi Carlile (their previous collaboration, “Same Devil,” earned Clark her 10th Grammy nomination). Clark, known for co-penning country hits including “Mama’s Broken Heart” and “Follow Your Arrow,” is well-versed with Nashville’s music row writing rooms and machinations. But here, she moves further away from writing-by-committee, unearthing personal revelations. With the album’s first single, “Buried,” Clark exhumes the sense of emotional tethering to an ex-lover, even as she attempts to move on. “I’ll be an over you achiever, I’ll make you a believer/ That I don’t love you either,” she sings — though the song’s denouement offers a glimpse at the devotion behind the defiance. As she envisions one day getting remarried, she confesses, “But I’ll love you ’til I’m buried.” Above all, Clark continues to convey her inexorable talents as both a song-crafter and vocal interpreter.

Luke Combs, “Fast Car”

When Luke Combs released his 18-song latest album, Gettin’ Old, on Friday (March 24), one of the most gut-wrenching songs on the project wasn’t a new track, but his cover of the 1988 blues-folk hit, “Fast Car,” written and recorded by Tracy Chapman. The song’s gritty tale chronicles a woman’s escape from a low-income, alcoholic family situation, only to end up in a similar situation, working a low-income job, living with an alcoholic partner, and once again faced with the decision to leave. The timeless song has earned several cover attempts since its release 35 years ago; Combs’s laudable cover stays steadfast to the song’s iconic guitar riffs, while his gravelly vocal phrasing at times approximates Chapman’s, encapsulating both the aspiration and desolation recounted in the song.

Jordana Bryant, “Penniless & Broke”

Bryant brings an atmospheric, country-pop polish to her new song, while laying waste to a lover’s litany of clichéd excuses for ending a relationship. “We could’ve been giving each other our hearts/ You gave it up before you even tried,” she sings, layering her staccato vocals over this spunky-yet-contemplative track. Written by Bryant with Jason Earley and Jonathan Gamble, this auspicious single melds conversational, ripped-from-the-diary lyrics with deft pop melody and rhythm. “Penniless and Broke” is the first release from Bryant’s upcoming six-song EP, out April 21.

Randall King, “Green Eyes Blue”

King follows his 2020 EP Leanna and 2022 album Shot Glass with his latest single, a nod to the life-changing power of love. “It’s like I was saved from the hell I raised/ When my gaze locked on you,” King sings. Written by King with Randy Montana, this song is so steeped in traditional country sounds that you can nearly smell the sawdust on the floor of the honkytonk. As with all of King’s music, it’s the honeyed, distinctive timbre of his voice and the vitality in his songs that hoist his staunchly traditional sound above the plethora of recently released, ’90s country-tinged songs.

Maggie Baugh, “Mystery Whiskey Woman”

Singer-songwriter and touring musician Baugh teamed with fellow songwriter Larry McCoy for her latest outing, a song which finds Baugh watching a woman alone in a bar, and pondering what circumstances led her to that moment. “Are you drinkin’ ’bout something worth drinkin’ ’bout tonight?” Baugh muses. A sparse accompaniment, stripped down to only guitar and pedal steel, lends a hushed, haunting feel to the track.

Rissi Palmer and Miko Marks, “Still Here”

This swampy track teams Palmer with close friend and fellow Black country artist Miko Marks, for a celebration of perseverance, ambition and ultimately triumph, imbued with sizzling vocals and shades of soul-elevating gospel. Singer-songwriter Palmer also hosts Apple Music’s Color Me Country, while Marks returned to country music in 2021 with her project Our Country, following a decade-plus hiatus from the genre.

The song shares its title with the recently-released PBS documentary, which traces Palmer’s career journey as one of a handful of Black women to have charted songs on country radio — also including Linda Martell, Dona Mason and Mickey Guyton. Starting in May, Palmer and Marks will team up for a co-headlining tour later this year.

Chancey Williams, One of These Days

Williams, a former saddle bronc rider, has previously released five studio albums. On his latest project, the 11-song One of These Days, he continues to wrap his pleasant baritone around a slate of honky tonk songs. The album features production by and nine co-writes with Trent Willmon, a singer-songwriter in his own right, who also produced Cody Johnson’s CMA-winning “‘Til You Can’t.” Among the gems on this project are the coolly swaggering “Bordertown Whiskey,” the gentle-yet-impactful “If I Die Before You Wake” (one of the few outside cuts here, written by Dave Brainard, Dustin Evans and Rick Tiger) and the fiddle-drenched title track (Williams with Jody Stevens).

Ashley Ryan, “Too Far Gone”

In 2018, California native-turned-Nashville resident Ashley Ryan got a career boost when she was invited to sing with Keith Urban at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena during his Graffiti U Tour. Ryan is all swagger on this full-fledged barn burner: “Your mama gave you her mama’s hand-me-down clothes/ My mama gave me a half-smoked pack of Marlboros,” she sneers on the track, contrasting her own down-home upbringing to that of someone else’s relative wealthy origins. Deftly navigating spitfire lyrics, this newcomer brings an abundance of firepower.