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Bunnie XO has always been an open book, and her latest TikTok shares insight to her traumatic upbringing.
The Dumb Blonde podcast host took part in a recent trend on the platform to the tune of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department hit, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” in which she sings, “You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me.” Participants of the trend share the various “asylums” they grew up experiencing.
In Bunnie’s version, she shows a photo of her teenage self before showing a picture of a church as the “asylum” that hurt her. “Pentacostals & Mental Hospitals,” she captioned the photos set, adding, “That pic was taken shortly after I left home at 14. Wait ’til y’all read my book.”
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Watch the TikTok here.
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Last week, Bunnie got vulnerable on her podcast and discussed how online bullying and harsh comments have affected her husband, country superstar Jelly Roll. “My husband got off the internet because he is so tired of being bullied about his f–king weight,” she said on the podcast. “And that makes me want to cry, because he is the sweetest angel baby. My husband doesn’t show it to you guys, but I’m going to have a very vulnerable moment here. It hurts him.
“The internet can say whatever they f–king want about you and they say, ‘You’re a celebrity. You’re supposed to be able to handle it.’ No the f–k we’re not … Enough is enough,” she continued. “Don’t bully people, because you never know where they are mentally. There are a lot of people who are not as strong as me, that are on the internet and they don’t deserve to f–kin’ be bullied.”
The entrepreneur also called out internet trolls and bullies who try to intimidate her and her family. “I’m going to stand up for all the f–kin’ underdogs. You’re never going to bully me. You’re never going to lie about me or my family, and I will fight to the end,” she said. “I love it when people say, ‘Bunnie is a bad human. Just wait and you’ll see.’ I’ve been on the internet 15 f–kin’ years. When are they gonna see? I’m waiting. What you see is what you get with me. I don’t f–kin’ pretend to be something I’m not … all you gotta do is leave me and my family the f–k alone, and you won’t get called out.”
Watch Latin American Music Awards Jelly Roll adds his fourth top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Halfway to Hell” rides 11-9 on the list dated May 4. The song increased by 11% to 20.3 million audience impressions in the April 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate. Explore See latest videos, charts and news […]
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Earlier this week, Flavor Flav posted a video standing up for Jelly Roll after the country star’s wife, podcaster Bunnie XO, revealed that her husband had quit social media due to relentless bullying about his weight. But in a new interview, the “Need a Favor” singer explained that there’s actually a bit more to the story — although he’s very grateful to the DJ for coming to his defense.
“He’s a sweet human, man,” Jelly told Variety of Flav in an article published Friday (April 26). “His wife is just salt of the earth. I met their whole family again last night. I’ve gotten to really spend some time with Flav and his family, and they’re real, real salt of the earth.”
The three-time CMT Award-winner went on to say he’s “sure [he’ll] be back” on social media at some point, but for now, there’s “bigger fish to fry.”
“I probably shouldn’t elaborate on this because nobody on my team wants me to, but I don’t have a problem with social media,” he continued. “And it wasn’t just bullying that did it. It was not only the toxicity of social media, but the addiction of it. I was becoming too busy to waste hours of my life scrolling.”
“I can honestly say that I’ve been off social media for a few months now and I’ve never felt better or healthier mentally — never felt more clearheaded,” Jelly added. “I’ve also never had less of an idea what was going on in the world, but I tell you what, I’m definitely not coming back before the election. Bad joke.”
The interview comes a few days after Bunnie told fans on TikTok that Jelly “got off the internet because he is so tired of being bullied about his f–king weight.” She added, “My husband doesn’t show it to you guys, but I’m going to have a very vulnerable moment here … It hurts him.”
Shortly afterward, Flavor Flav addressed the haters with a video on X. “How dare y’all try to judge my man about his weight and his character,” the rapper said at the time. “All y’all trying to judge my boy Jelly Roll, I think y’all need to take a step back and judge yourself.”
The “Son of a Sinner” musician is currently gearing up to make his Stagecoach debut at this year’s festival. He’s slated to perform on the first day of the weekend-long event, which kicks off Friday and will also see sets from Morgan Wallen, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Post Malone, Hardy and more.
“I tell you what: I don’t know what every other artist does when they debut at Stagecoach, but I have taken it serious,” Jelly told Variety, noting that he wants to premiere some new material at the festival. “I rehearsed more for Stagecoach than I have any single event in my career.”
Watch Latin American Music Awards The University of Oklahoma will fete late singer-songwriter Toby Keith with an honorary degree during the university’s May 11 commencement ceremony at Lloyd Noble Center. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Keith is one of four individuals who will earn an honorary […]
Mickey Guyton is hitting the road this fall for a North American tour. The Grammy-nominated country star announced the dates for her CMT On Tour Presents Mickey Guyton 2024 dates on Friday morning (April 26), along with dropping a sweet lyric video for her new single, “Scary Love.”
The 22-date Live Nation-promoted tour is slated to kick off on Sept. 18 at Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, followed by gigs in New York, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Columbus, Buffalo, Toronto, Boston and Philadelphia before winding down on Nov. 9 in Lexington, Kentucky at Manchester Music Hall.
Tickets for the tour will be available via a artist presale beginning on April 30 at 10 a.m. local time, with additional presales throughout the week leading up to the general on-sale beginning on May 3 at 10 a.m. local time; click here for ticketing details.
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Guyton’s new single, a gentle ballad about a mother’s fierce love, opens with the heart-touching lines, “I see pictures of my mama, hangin’ on the wall/ She’s never looked so happy, and I’ve never looked so small/ Now I’m holdin’ you and I know what they say is true/ When a baby’s born that’s when a mother’s born too.”
Guyton and husband Grant Savoy welcomed their first child, son Grayson, in Feb. 2021 and the acoustic ballad’s moving lyric video features home movie footage of Guyton in the hospital cradling her then newborn and spending time with the now toddler. “Cuz I felt it before, but it wasn’t like this/ Ain’t a thing I wouldn’t do, ain’t a thing I wouldn’t give/ It’s the kind you fall into and never hit the bottom of/ It’s a scary love,” she sings on the chorus.
Watch the “Scary Love” lyric video and check out the 2024 CMT on Tour dates below.
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Sept. 18 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
Sept. 20 — Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
Sept. 21 — Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
Sept. 26 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Sept. 27 — New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
Sept. 28 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Café and Music Hall
Oct. 2 — Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads*
Oct. 3 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City Music Hall*
Oct. 15 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
Oct. 17 — Chicago, IL @ Joe’s on Weed St.
Oct. 18 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave*
Oct. 19 — Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
Oct. 22 — Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
Oct. 23 — Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
Oct. 25 — Grand Rapids, MI @ The Stache at The Intersection
Oct. 30 — Columbus, OH @ The Bluestone
Nov. 1 — Buffalo, NY @ Iron Works*
Nov. 2 — Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
Nov. 4 — Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
Nov. 6 — Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live*
Nov. 8 — Indianapolis, Indiana @ The Hifi*
Nov. 9 — Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall
*Not a Live Nation Date
The Rolling Stones will launch the group’s Hackney Diamonds North American tour on April 28 at NRG Houston, and the lineup of openers for various dates on the tour includes a few heavy-hitters from country and Americana circles.
Reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson, as well as Tyler Childers, The Red Clay Strays and The War and Treaty are among the openers, joining Carin León (who made his own Grand Ole Opry debut earlier this year and has a country-tinged album in the works), The Pretty Reckless, Ghost Hounds, Bettye LaVette, Gary Clark Jr. and The Linda Lindas.
Wilson will open for The Rolling Stones on June 30 at Soldier Field in Chicago, while Childers, who released his sixth album Rustin in the Rain in 2023, will perform June 3 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The Red Clay Strays, who earned their first major Billboard Hot 100 entry this year with “Wondering Why,” will open for the rockers on May 30 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty, who just released the video for their song “Stealing a Kiss,” will open for The Stones on July 10 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
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The tour supports The Rolling Stones’ album Hackney Diamonds, their first project of new, original material in nearly two decades.
Notably, Wilson and The War and Treaty were part of a 2023 tribute album to The Rolling Stones, Stoned Cold Country, which featured several country artists performing Stones classics.
See the full list of tour dates below:
The Rolling Stones 2024 Tour Dates:April 28 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium w/ Gary Clark JrMay 2 – New Orleans, LA @ Jazz FestMay 7 – Glendale, AZ @ State Farm Stadium w/ Carin León; Electric MudMay 11 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium w/ The Pretty RecklessMay 15 – Seattle, WA @ Lumen Field w/ Joe BonamassaMay 23 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium w/ TBAMay 26 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium w/ LawrenceMay 30 – Foxboro, MA @ Gillette Stadium w/ The Red Clay StraysJune 3 – Orlando, FL @ Camping World Stadium w/ Tyler ChildersJune 7 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium w/ Ghost HoundsJune 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field w/ KaleoJune 15 – Cleveland, OH @ Cleveland Browns Stadium w/ Ghost HoundsJune 20 – Denver, CO @ Empower Field at Mile High w/ Widespread PanicJune 27 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field w/ Betty LaVetteJune 30 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field w/ Lainey WilsonJuly 5 – Vancouver, BC @ BC Place w/ Ghost HoundsJuly 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium w/ The War and TreatyJuly 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium w/ The Linda LindasJuly 17 – Santa Clara, CA @ Levi’s® Stadium w/ The Beaches
Flavor Flav isn’t letting hate slide. After learning that Jelly Roll recently quit social media due to relentless bullying about his weight, the rapper came to the country star’s defense in a heated video posted to social media Wednesday (April 24). “How dare y’all try to judge my man about his weight and his character,” […]
On April 25, 2009, Rascal Flatts’ “Here Comes Goodbye” ascended to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, becoming the 10th of the trio’s 12 leaders. The song was written by Clint Lagerberg and Chris Sligh (the latter a finalist on American Idol in 2007) and produced by Dan Huff. It introduced Rascal Flatts’ […]
Jelly Roll “righted a wrong” to a fellow performer and offered up a brand new song during a concert Wednesday night (April 24) on the eve of the NFL Draft in Detroit.
Fresh off his three CMT Music Awards earlier in the month, Jelly veered from the night’s planned setlist at the Fillmore Detroit to add “Kill a Man,” a track from his chart-topping 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel. He explained to the crowd that the night’s opening act — Canadian singer-songwriter Madeline Merlot — had sung backup on the recording but wasn’t credited because, “I didn’t know if she’d want to be associated with my white trash ass.” The two are on the same label (BBR Music Group), and Jelly Roll pronounced himself “such a fan of hers and her voice. I love everything about you, Miss Madeline Merlo.”
He then invited her on stage to perform the song with him, letting her take lead on the second verse.
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Merlo, who’s been releasing music since 2014, was a second season contestant on NBC’s writing competition show Songland. Her most recent EP, Slide, came out during 2022, while a new single, “Time + Faith,” was released last September and reached No. 6 on Billboard Canada’s Country Songs chart.
Jelly Roll also used the special small-venue show — dubbed The Night Before, but not an official NFL Draft event — to preview a brand new song, “Liar,” a muscular rock track that he said was destined for his next album. He and his eight-piece band muffed the opening — “We’ve never done this before, so… we’re figuring it out,” he noted — but started over and made their way through on the second attempt. “Should I put it on the new album or what, Detroit?,” thes singer teased afterwards, to unanimous approval from the 3,000 fans in attendance.
He also urged those fans to post videos of him performing the song online immediately so that his wife, Bunnie XO, who was on the West Coast taping episode of her Dumb Blonde podcast, “will see it before I get off stage.”
The rest of Wednesday’s show — which was introduced by Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav — included Jelly Roll hits such as “Dead Man Walking,” “Halfway to hell,” “Smoking Section,” “Son of a Sinner,” “Bottle and Mary Jane,” “She,” “Wild Ones,” “Same Asshole” and “Need a Favor,” plus a rendition of Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” in tribute to the late country icon. It also featured his usual medley of rap favorites by Eazy-E, Eminem, Outkast and Biz Markie.
The Detroit concert presented by Audacy’s WYCD served as a warm-up for Jelly Roll’s Stagecoach festival performance on Friday (April 26). He also has dates currently booked into October, including his own Beautifully Broken Tour with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay and a pair of stadium shows with Morgan Wallen in Tampa on July 11-12.
Reba McEntire is back in the saddle as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards, returning to the top job for a record 17th time.
The veteran country artist will lead the 2024 edition of the ACM Awards, set for Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
No other artist has been asked to host the annual celebration of country music more often than McEntire, and few can beat her collection of 16 ACM Award wins and nine nominations for the prestigious ACM entertainer of the year, including a win back in 1994.
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McEntire, who stars as a mentor on NBC’s The Voice, is also the ACM Award record-holder with most nominations for female artist of the year.
“I am tickled to pieces to get to host the ACM Awards for the 17th time,” says McEntire, who will also perform on the night. “What an honor to have been part of the past, present and now the future of the Academy of Country Music with Amazon Prime Video. I can’t wait to get to Texas and see everybody May 16.”
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As previously reported, Luke Combs leads the nominations for the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards with eight nods, including entertainer of the year, male artist of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and single of the year.
Megan Moroney and Morgan Wallen are close behind with six nods each.
Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson received five nominations each, followed by Jelly Roll and Jordan Davis with four nods each and Kelsea Ballerini and Zach Bryan with three nods each.
“There is simply no one better to continue to elevate this show in our new global streaming era with Amazon Prime Video,” says ACM CEO Damon Whiteside of McEntire’s return as host. “With exciting new music coming, extensive television presence and a worldwide fanbase, Reba’s back and better than ever.”
McEntire “is an icon,” adds Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “She is one of the most influential artists in the music industry and we are thrilled to welcome her back as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards.”
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Dick Clark Productions (DCP) announced nominations for the forthcoming ceremony on The Bobby Bones Show on Tuesday (April 9).
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is produced by Dick Clark Productions. Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Barry Adelman serves as executive producer for DCP. John Saade serves as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
The ACM Awards, which bills itself as “country music’s party of the year,” will stream live exclusively for a global audience on Prime Video. The full rebroadcast will be available directly following the stream on Prime Video and also the next day for free on Amazon Freevee and the Amazon Music app.
