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11 Nov 2022

Chris Rock to Go Live on Netflix For Stand-Up Special

Chris Rock is going where no comedian has gone before — live on Netflix.

The streaming giant said Thursday (Nov. 10) that Rock will be the first artist to perform on the company’s first-ever live, global streaming event. The comedy special is set to stream in early 2023, but few other details were revealed.

“Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation,” Robbie Praw, Netflix vice president of stand-up and comedy formats said in a statement. “We’re thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history. This will be an unforgettable moment and we’re so honored that Chris is carrying this torch.”

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This will be the first significant test of live streaming on Netflix, potentially opening the door for other programs to get the live treatment. It will be Rock’s second Netflix stand-up special. His first, Chris Rock: Tamborine, debuted in February 2018; Rock also appeared on the streamer’s Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival earlier this year alongside friend Dave Chappelle.

The as-yet-unnamed special will be Rock’s seventh stand-up special to date. The comedian is currently on his Ego Death world tour, which will keep him on the road through a Nov. 20 date at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood; he will then play a series of dates with Chappelle that kick off on Dec. 1 in San Diego and run through a Dec. 16 gig at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.

11 Nov 2022

Bruce Springsteen Drops Covers Collection ‘Only the Strong Survive’: Stream It Now

Look busy, the Boss is here.

At age 73, and with a new album dropping at the stroke of midnight, Only the Strong Survive, Bruce Springsteen proves once again that age is just a number.

For Springsteen, Only the Strong Survive, a collection of covers, is studio album number 21.

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“This was something I hadn’t done since the Seeger Sessions,” he said of the format of the new project while nodding to his Grammy-winning 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a collection of folk songs made famous by Pete Seeger.

Springsteen paid close attention to the vocals, and his team “mastered and sonically modernized some of the most beautiful songs in the American pop song book,” he explained earlier. “I had so much fun recording this music. I fell back in love with all these great songs and great writers and great singers. All of them still underrated in my opinion. And through the project I rediscovered the power of my own voice.”

Spanning 15 works, Survive features songs made famous by Jerry Butler, Dobie Gray, The Commodores, Jimmy Ruffin, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Four Tops, The Walker Brothers and more.

Springsteen isn’t just surviving, he’s thriving. Only the Strong Survive closely follows the release of Western Stars (from 2019), and Letter to You (2020), both of which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.

In the peak of the pandemic, in 2021, he returned to his Springsteen on Broadway show, launched a podcast (Renegades: Born in the USA, with President Barack Obama), and published a 320-page book capturing those conversations between the rock legend and the 44th U.S president.

Springsteen and the E Street Band will play an arena or a stadium near you when they kick off an international tour in Feb. 2023, with dates across North America, the U.K. and Europe stretching deep into summer.

Stream Only the Strong Survive below.

11 Nov 2022

Taylor Swift Completes Third Sweep of Australia’s Charts

For the third consecutive week, Taylor Swift dominates Australia’s main charts with Midnights (Universal) and its hit single, “Anti-Hero.”

Midnights continues its upbroken streak atop the latest ARIA Albums Chart, published Nov. 11, while “Anti-Hero” remains unchallenged atop the ARIA Singles Chart.

Swift’s 10th and latest studio album gets the better of four new releases, as Drake and 21 Savage’s collaborative album Her Loss (Republic/Universal), debuts at No. 2. The new LP has a notable impact on the ARIA Singles Chart, with four songs from it splashing in the top 10 — “Rich Flex” (at No. 3), “P***y & Millions” (No. 5), “Circo Loco” (No. 9) and “Major Distribution” (No. 10).

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A trio of homegrown recordings complete the top 5.

Japanese-Australian singer and songwriter Joji arrives at No. 3 with his sophomore set Smithereens (88R/Warner), his second No. 1 album after 2020’s Nectar.

Smithereens includes the ARIA song of the year-nominated number “Glimpse of Us,” which peaked at No. 1 on the national singles survey.

Dean Lewis lands at No. 4 with The Hardest Love (Island/Universal), the followup to 2019’s A Place We Knew, which hit No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The Hardest Love features the heartbreaking song “How Do I Say Goodbye,” which is climbing charts in the Lewis’ homeland and in the U.K. It’s up 31-29 on Australia’s current singles survey.

Homegrown indie act Slowly Slowly bows at No. 5 with Daisy Chain (UNFD/Orchard). That’s a career best for the Victorian act, besting the No. 7 peak for their third album, 2020’s Race Car Blues.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Meghan Trainor’s return to doo-wop pays dividends as “Made You Look” (Epic/Sony) lifts 19-12, for a new peak position.

Finally, Glass Animals’ hit “Heat Waves” (Polydor/Universal) gathers steam as it passes a chart milestone. The slow-burner lifts 26-23 in its 101st week on the chart. “Heat Waves” broke early in Australia, where it won triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown in January 2021, and led the ARIA Chart for several months earlier this year.

11 Nov 2022

7 Essential Tracks on Rauw Alejandro’s ‘Saturno’ Album: Editor’s Picks

In July, Rauw Alejandro wiped his Instagram account and left one short clip featuring him, his go-to producers Caleb Calloway, Mr. NaisGai, Keno, and his manager Eric Duars. “Take care. I love you. Thanks for the love always. See you soon,” he captioned it.

Suddenly, Rauw went missing from social media only to appear a month later in yet another clip surrounded by aliens in a studio. “Do not believe everything you see and everything you hear on the internet, except that I am in Saturn making the most amazing album of the year and the other year and the other and the other,” he expressed. 

Almost three months later, the Puerto Rican artist born Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz unleashes his new studio album Saturno, home to 18 tracks including the previously-released “Lokera,” “Punto 40,” “Dime Quien????,” and focus single “Lejos Del Cielo,” which all set the tone for his new galactical era. 

Rauw Alejandro,

Rauw Alejandro, “Saturno”

Jora Frantzis

The ever-chameleonic singer steps away from his signature trap and perreo, and continues honing his art with a more experimental sound. Think old-school hip-hop, 80’s and 90’s freestyle, and even punk rock laced with otherworldly, innovative rhythms. 

And in true Rauw fashion, he couldn’t escape to Outerspace without edgy reggaeton songs and some of his best collaborators, including veterans Arcangel and DJ Playero. 

Saturno (Duars Entertainment/Sony Music Latin) marks Rauw’s third studio album following Afrodisiaco (2020) and Vice Versa (2021), which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart.  

Below, Billboard editors recommend seven essential tracks on the new set.

11 Nov 2022

Louis Tomlinson Unveils Sophomore Solo Album ‘Faith in the Future’

Louis Tomlinson released his sophomore studio set, Faith in the Future, on Friday (Nov. 11) via BMG.

The new album arrives nearly three years after the former One Direction-er’s debut solo outing Walls — which bowed at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 upon its January 2020 release. On top of previously released lead single “Bigger Than Me,” the churning “Out of My System” and pop-punk anthem “Silver Tongues,” the 14-track LP contains cuts like “The Greatest,” “Written All Over Your Face,” “Face the Music” and “She Is Beauty We Are World Class.”

When he first announced the project back in August, Tomlinson teased that he had been “living with this album for a while” and thanked his fans for giving him the space to make the music he very specifically “wanted to make.”

To support the album, the boy band alum will embark on his Faith in the Future World Tour 2023, which kicks off May 26 in Uncasville, Conn. and hits major cities across the U.S. and Canada including Chicago, Vancouver, Atlanta and Nashville before hopping the pond for another slew of dates in the U.K. and Europe. But before that, he’s holding a pair of release concerts at New York City’s Irving Plaza on Friday night and London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire the following week on Nov. 18.

In the promo cycle leading up to the release of Faith in the Future, Tomlinson spoke candidly about his relationships with his former 1D bandmates, whether that meant admitting he used to be bothered by Harry Styles’ solo success or sharing an update on his once-tense relationship with Zayn.

Stream Tomlinson’s Faith in the Future below.

11 Nov 2022

Rihanna Drops ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Single ‘Born Again’

Rihanna unveiled “Born Again,” her second single from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, on Friday (Nov. 11).

On the track, the superstar takes us back into ballad territory. It’s a mid-tempo, stripped-down number that places RiRi’s vocals over piano and strings, and provides some dramatic flourishes.

“Born Again” marks RiRi’s second song to be featured in the Marvel sequel after “Lift Me Up,” the emotional ballad that heralded the singer’s long-awaited return to music more than six years after her last studio album, 2016’s Anti. The superhero film is now in theaters nationwide. “Lift Me Up” debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (chart dated Nov. 12) behind only Taylor’s Swift’s “Anti-Hero.”

The official Wakanda Forever soundtrack also features offerings from Tems (“No Woman, No Cry”), Stormzy (“Interlude”), Fireboy DML (“Coming Back for You”), CKay and PinkPantheress (“Anya Mmiri”), Burna Boy (“Alone”) and more.

In other news, Rihanna also just held the fourth iteration of herSavage X Fenty lingerie fashion show with the likes of Sheryl Lee Ralph, Taraji P. Henson, Johnny Depp and Simu Liu among the models, while Anitta, Maxwell, Don Toliver and Burna Boy provided musical performances throughout the evening. The entire show can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video now.

Stream “Born Again” below.

11 Nov 2022

Bob Dylan’s Teenage Love Letters Going Under the Hammer

A deeply personal collection of love letters in which a teenage Bob Dylan tells his high-school sweetheart that he envisions changing his name and selling a million records is going up for sale in Boston.

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The Hibbing, Minnesota, boy — still known then as Bob Zimmerman — wrote the 42 letters totaling 150 pages to Barbara Ann Hewitt between 1957 and 1959. The missives, to be auctioned by RR Auction, have never before been made public and shed light on a period in the folk-rock icon’s life for which not much firsthand information is known.

“This archive is one of the most culturally important of the 20th century we have ever offered,” said RR Auction Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston, a big Dylan fan.

The collection, including a lavish Valentine’s card, is a “first-person account of Dylan’s formative years,” he said.

Hewitt’s daughter found the letters after her mother died in 2020. They, along with the original envelopes addressed in Dylan’s handwriting, are being offered as a single lot with a starting bid of $250,000. Bidding closes on Nov. 17.

RR Auction is not releasing the exact content of the letters ahead of time, but they deal with timeless and universal teenage concerns: clothes, cars, and musical tastes, the auction house said.

Dylan, now 81, also included snippets of poetry and professed his love for Hewitt. Perhaps most impressively, he also imagined his future success.

In one letter, he asks Hewitt for feedback about changing his name (Little Willie and Elston are mentioned in the letters), and writes about selling a million records (he’s actually sold about 125 million) and appearing on “American Bandstand” in front of throngs of screaming girls.

“They really give an insight into how he’s going to present himself,” Livingston said. “It shows that Dylan dreamed all this up, and it all came true — he foresaw it.”

Alas, like most teenage romances, it came to an end. In one of the last letters, the future Nobel laureate asks Hewitt to return the photographs he sent her.

But it seems likely Dylan did not forget her. Hewitt’s daughter told RR Auction that Dylan called her mother sometime in the late 1960s after he’d hit the big time and asked her to come to California. She turned him down.

Hewitt was a redhead, and Livingston speculates that Dylan’s references to redheaded or auburn-haired women in some songs were inspired by Hewitt, including “Tangled Up in Blue” where in one line he wonders “if her hair was still red.”

Hewitt moved on, apparently. She married another Hibbing man, but divorced in the late 1970s after seven years and never remarried, her daughter told the auction house.

This article originally appeared in AP.

11 Nov 2022

Aaron Carter’s Managers Slam Planned Music & Book Releases as ‘Heartless Money Grabs’

In the first statement released since his death Saturday at age 34, Aaron Carter‘s management team is decrying “obscenely disrespectful and unauthorized releases” planned from the late star, including an album, single and book.

The statement, sent from Taylor Helgeson of Big Umbrella Management, thanked Carter’s ex-girlfriend Hilary Duff for speaking out against a posthumous book release, titled Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life. An excerpt from the memoir published by Page Six claims that the stars lost their virginity to each other, and Duff is taking issue with the lack of fact checking for the project. “It’s really sad that within a week of Aaron’s death, there’s a publisher that seems to be recklessly pushing a book out to capitalize on this tragedy without taking appropriate time or care to fact check the validity of his work,” Duff said in a statement provided to Billboard.

In the statement from Carter’s management team, they thank Duff for her response to the book, which they say is “unauthorized,” along with a single and album release.

“In the few short days following our dear friend’s passing we have been trying to grieve and process while simultaneously having to deal with obscenely disrespectful and unauthorized releases including an album, a single and now it seems a book,” the statement reads. “This is a time for mourning and reflection not heartless money grabs and attention seeking. We would ask the parties responsible to remove the aforementioned content and that no further content be released without approval from his family, friends, and associates.”

Billboard has reached out to Ballast Books, the publisher behind the planned memoir release, for response to the managers’ claims.

As for music, an independent album called Blacklisted was released on Sunday, the day after Carter’s death, by producers Morgan Matthews and John Wyatt Johnson. “We decided to release Blacklisted tomorrow to honor him and share his exceptional artistry with his fans around the world as we all mourn his loss,” the producers said in a statement on the day of Carter’s death.

Carter was found dead Saturday at age 34. No cause of death has been announced for the pop star, TV personality and brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter.

Also in their statement, the Big Umbrella team thanks fans for their “overwhelming support and kind words during this difficult time,” adding: “We love you Aaron, you are so deeply missed.”

Read the full statement from Carter’s management below:

We as Aaron’s Management are grieving deeply for the loss of our dear friend and colleague Aaron, the silence is deafening and our world is different without you here. We would like to thank everyone for their overwhelming support and kind words During this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and beautiful son Prince. We love you Aaron, you are so deeply missed. 

We would also like to thank Hillary Duff for her statement regarding the Book that is set to be released. In the few short days following our dear friends passing we have been trying to grieve and process while simultaneously having to deal with obscenely disrespectful and unauthorized releases including an album, a single and now it seems a book. 

This is a time for mourning and reflection not heartless money grabs and attention seeking. We would ask the parties responsible to remove the aforementioned content and that no further content be released without approval from his family, friends, and associates.

11 Nov 2022

Music Stocks Rise on Positive Inflation News

Many music companies’ stocks soared on Thursday (Nov. 10) on news that U.S. inflation was less than expected in October. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed the consumer price index rose 0.4% last month, less than the 0.6% Dow Jones estimate. Although the annual inflation is still high at 7.7%, it had been as high as 9.1% in June and hadn’t been below 7.5% since January.  

Spotify shares jumped 9.9% to $78.44. Universal Music Group shares rose 3.3% to 20.81 euros. Sony shares spiked 6.6% to $44.15.  

Live music companies fared especially well: U.S.-based Live Nation and MSG Entertainment improved 5.1% and 6.6%, respectively, while German promoter CTS Eventim climbed 3.8%. Ticketing companies Eventbrite and Vivid Seats rose 8.3% and 9.2%, respectively.  

Radio company stocks, recently hurt by the softening advertising market, enjoyed the biggest gains as iHeartMedia was up 10.0% and Audacy rose 14.0%. Cumulus Media and Townsquare Media had smaller gains of 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively.  

U.S. stocks had their biggest single days since 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a group of 30 prominent stocks, rose 3.7%. The S&P 500 improved 5.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 7.4%.  

The good news quickly spread to Asia after U.S. markets closed. Shares of South Korean music companies HYBE and SM Entertainment were up 8.3% and 4.5%, respectively, early on Friday morning. Likewise, the Hang Seng Index, a selection of companies on the Hong Kong Exchange, was up 5.0% in early trading Friday.  

Persistently high prices have had damaging effects to economies of the U.S. and other countries re-opening from COVID-19 restrictions. Businesses have encountered higher costs for labor, manufacturing and services, and often pass them along to consumers rather than absorb them. Everything from vinyl manufacturing costs to tour buses have soared. Some bands, such as Anthrax and Cold, pulled out of tours because of logistical issues and high costs. “There are tours being canceled left and right,” Jamie Streetman, operations manager for Nashville-based Coach Quarters, told Billboard in Sept.  

To tame inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, which targets 2% annual inflation, has raised the federal funds rate six times in 2022 to tame inflation. That has made borrowing more expensive for everyone from investors in music publishing catalogs to consumers with credit card bills.  

The pairing of high interest-high inflation has wreaked havoc on stock prices, too. Year to date, the Dow index is down 7.2% and the S&P 500 is off 17.0%. Music companies that are otherwise having a solid year have seen their share prices sink, too. UMG shares are down 16.0% and Spotify shares are off 66.5% this year.  

While investors celebrated the improvement in the CPI, inflation is still abnormally high and energy costs – a significant cost for touring musicians – were up 17.6% year-over-year in October. Presidents of the Federal Reserve indicated on Thursday that more rate hikes would probably be forthcoming, although at a slower pace.