Music News

07 Jul 2023

BTS’ Jung Kook to Kick Off ‘Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series 2023: See the Lineup

Jung Kook is about to bring the fire and set the summer alight! Good Morning America announced on Friday (July 7), that the BTS member is set to kick off the long-running show’s annual Summer Concert Series this year.

“Get ready to dance!” Jung Kook tells ARMY with a smile in a brief video message during the announcement. The performance, which will be his solo debut on GMA — will take place July 14 in New York’s Central Park. That happens to be the same day that Jung Kook is dropping his solo single “Seven,” which he announced on June 29, so there’s a strong chance fans will get the live debut of his song during the performance.

Also slated for the Summer Concert Series are Carly Rae Jepsen, Hozier, and Fitz and the Tantrums, who will be performing live in the Times Square studio. And to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, there will be a special set featuring Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Remy Ma and BIA, which will also take place in Central Park. On the country front, Tim McGraw and Sam Hunt are scheduled to perform in Central Park.

Tickets for all the performances in the park will be available beginning at noon today via GMA‘s website. The sets in Times Square will not have live audiences.

See GMA‘s complete Summer Concert Series lineup below:

  • July 14: Jung Kook, Central Park
  • July 28: Fitz and the Tantrums, Times Square studio
  • Aug. 10: Carly Rae Jepsen, Times Square studio
  • Aug. 11: Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Busta Rhymes and BIA, Central Park
  • Aug. 18: Hozier, Times Square studio
  • Aug. 25: Tim McGraw, Central Park
  • Sept. 1: Sam Hunt, Central Park

Watch Good Morning America‘s announcement video below:


https://youtube.com/watch?v=6fKdReggLhY&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

07 Jul 2023

Ice Spice Considers Taylor Swift a Mentor: ‘She Gives Me So Much Advice’

Ice Spice has dominated the year with a slew of star-studded collaborations, but success on the Billboard Hot 100 is not the only thing she has gleaned from these tracks. In an interview with The Guardian published Friday (July 7), the “Munch” rapper opened up about how both Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj have become mentors to her.

According to Ice, Swift — who tapped the rapper for a much-discussed “Karma” remix — had been listening to her Like..? EP during rehearsals for her Eras Tour. “I was like, ‘You f–k with my project? Like, what?’” Ice said. “She’s so sweet – I was so obsessed with how humble she was and willing to work. She gives me so much advice – we talk all the time and she’s so funny. … But I can’t say what she be telling me.”

The “Karma” remix peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, tying “Lavender Haze” as the second-highest charting single from Midnights.

The idea for the collaboration came from Ice Spice, according to the rapper — she “reached out through her team, just kind of saying, ‘Hey, Ice has been a big fan of Taylor’s since she was a little kid, would love to collaborate if that was ever something that came about.’” As with so much of her career already, Ice manifested the collaboration into existence and soon performed the remix to a sold-out stadium alongside Swift at the New Jersey Eras Tour stops.

Aside from Swift, Grammy-nominated rap icon Nicki Minaj has been another key collaborator for Ice Spice this year. The two New York rappers have teamed up for a pair of Hot 100 top 10 hits: “Princess Diana” (No. 4) and the AQUA-assisted “Barbie World” (No. 7). In the interview, Ice expressed how much she has learned from spending time with the “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” rapper.

“She be telling me to learn from her mistakes – just watching her in general, if you pay close enough attention, you gonna see what you should do,” Ice said. “I love to talk to her about things that I can’t talk about publicly – it just means so much to be able to have somebody like her.”

In addition to “Karma,” “Princess Diana” and “Barbie World,” Ice Spice has also sent a fourth song to the top 10 of the Hot 100 this year: the Jersey-inflected PinkPantheress duet “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” (No. 3).

07 Jul 2023

RZA Says Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Naming Their Baby After Him Is a ‘Great Honor’

Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA has collected a trophy room full of honors over the course of his nearly-four decade career. But it is a recent unexpected tribute that had the veteran MC/producer feeling super special.

“[It’s a] great honor to know that there’s another generation that’s not even of my own household that feels the strength and the inspiration of that name,” the Grammy-winning rapper born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs told CNN on Thursday (July 6) when describing his feelings about Rihanna and A$AP Rocky naming thier 13-month-old son after him.

“RZA is only a name, it’s a title,” RZA added. “So it’s an honor and I salute her and A$AP and their family. All the blessings in the world from me.” According to Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide Vol. 1, RZA came up with his rap name as he began to delve into Islam and learned about the significance of the letter Z, which refers to the highest level of human consciousness. He’s said the name stands for “Ruler, Zi-Zag-Zig, Allah,” which translates into “Ruler, Knowledge-Wisdom-Understanding, Allah.”

Back in May, Rocky posted a series of photos and a video of the couple’s son on Instagram, including a caption that included the name RZA and a Wu-Tang shout-out. “‘WU TANG IZ 4 DA CHUREN’ HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY 1st BORN . RZA,” he wrote at the time. Just days before the Daily Mail claimed that it had obtained the baby boy’s birth certificate, which reportedly noted that his full name is RZA Athelston Mayers; Rocky’s birth name is Rakim Athelston Mayers.

The happy couple celebrated summer earlier this week when Rihanna showed off her view from the beach via a cute photo of Rocky holding RZA up the sky. With a palm tree and setting sun background, she captioned the sweet scene, “my Bajan boyz…??❤️,” suggesting that the family — which will soon by joined by baby No. 2 — is taking some R&R time in RihRih’s home country of Barbados.

07 Jul 2023

Watch Olivia Rodrigo Perform a Stripped-Down Piano-Only Version of ‘Vampire’

Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Vampire” single opens with the melancholy sound of the singer initially whisper-singing the song’s biting lyrics over a gently played piano. By the end of the first chorus, though, as her voice rises, she’s suddenly bolstered by a thrumming beat, strings and a bull-rush arrangement that builds to a rush-of-blood-to-the-head sprint.

But in a stripped-down live performance on YouTube Thursday (July 6), the 20-year-old star washed all of that away and played the first single from her upcoming sophomore album, GUTS, on solo grand piano.

Opening with a shot from above, the moving re-imagining begins with Rodrigo plucking the keys while singing the song’s overstuffed first verse. “I I hate to give the satisfaction, asking how you’re doing now/ How’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about?/ Just what you wanted/ Look at you, cool guy, you got it,” she sings.

As she winds her way to the first chorus, the camera swings to the side to capture Rodrigo in profile, her passion rising as she hits the by-now-familiar vicious kiss-off refrain. “I used to think I was smart/ But you made me look so naïve/ The way you sold me for parts/ As you sunk your teeth into me, oh/ Bloodsucker, famef–ker/ Bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire,” she croons in a heartsick yowl.

While the piano take features the song’s NSFW refrain, earlier this week Rodrigo also shared a TikTok with some hilariously sanitized alternate radio edit lyrics to the song, swapping the f-word for some more carpool-friendly rhymes, including “tree hugger,” “fame hunter,” “whale blubber,” “Mark Zucker,” “fame lover” and “garlic butter.” GUTS is due out on Sept. 8.

Watch Rodrigo’s solo piano performance of “Vampire” below.

07 Jul 2023

Taylor Swift Shares Ecstatic Note About ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’: ‘It’s Here. It’s Yours, It’s Mine, It’s Ours’

Taylor Swift dropped her highly anticipated re-recording of her 2010 album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on Friday (July 7) and it’s not just Swifties who are amped up about it. The singer celebrated the release with a note to fans in which she reminisced about the songs she began writing at 18 and then revisited as a 32-year-old, and all the attendant memories and emotions that journey unleashed.

“It’s here. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours. It’s an album I wrote alone about the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas and tragedies I lived out as a young woman between 18 and 20,” she wrote. “I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story. I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now.”

The revised version of the album includes all 16 songs from the original and deluxe versions of the project, plus six never-before-heard “From the Vault” tracks with two collaborations with Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy; Williams guests on a vault track called “Castles Crumbling,” while Fall Out Boy appears on the vault track “Electric Touch.” The other solo Vault songs on Speak Now are: “When Emma Falls in Love,” “I Can See You,” “Foolish One” and “Timeless.”

Swift previously released Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which similarly featured re-recordings of those album’s tracks, as well as previously unreleased songs that were cut from those original albums.

In her note to fans, Taylor addressed the new songs, writing, “therefore, you have 6 From The Vault tracks! I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still growing up, now) and the memories it brought back filled me with nostalgia and appreciation. For life, for you, for the fact that I get to reclaim my work. Thank you a million times, for the memories that break our fall.”

In addition to re-recording the songs, Swift tweaked a lyric from the song “Better Than Revenge,” which was rumored at the time to be inspired by ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas and his post-Tay girlfriend, Camilla Belle. On the original, Swift sang: “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think, she’s an actress, whoa/ She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa.”

In the re-recorded version, Swift kept the first line the same, but changed the latter line to: “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches, whoa.”

See Swift’s note below.

06 Jul 2023

Taylor Swift Updates ‘Better Than Revenge’ Lyrics on ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’

When Taylor Swift announced the arrival of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) back in May, a lot of fans and journalists wondered if she might change the lyrics on one of the album’s most controversial songs, “Better Than Revenge.” Now that the re-recording has arrived, what’s the verdict?

She lit a match to the infamous lyrics.

On the original song — an album cut from the 2010 project rumored to be inspired by ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas and his post-Taylor girlfriend Camilla Belle — Swift sings: “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think, she’s an actress, whoa/ She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa.”

In the re-recorded version that arrived first thing Friday (July 6), Swift keeps the first line the same, but changes the latter line to: “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches, whoa.”

In the years since Speak Now was released in October 2010, critics have accused Swift of “slut-shaming” her romantic rival in the lyrics. When asked about the controversy swirling around the song by The Guardian in 2014, four years after the song’s release, Swift said, “I was 18 when I wrote that. That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one take someone from you if they don’t want to leave.”

According to setlist.fm, Swift last performed “Revenge” in March 2012, when she wrapped up her Speak Now World Tour in New Zealand. Now that it has updated lyrics, we’ll see if she pulls it out as a surprise song on her ongoing Eras Tour.

Listen to the new version here:

06 Jul 2023

Cardi B Links With FendiDa Rappa for ‘Point Me 2’ Remix: Stream It Now

Allow us to us to point you to your next summer hip-hop anthem. Grammy-winning rap superstar Cardi B has finally unleashed her remix of FendiDa Rappa’s TikTok viral hit “Point Me To the S—s.” Titled “Point Me 2,” the new remix is the latest in a string of collaborations between Cardi and rising female rappers.

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Last September, Cardi linked up with Memphis rapper GloRilla for “Tomorrow 2,” a remix of the “F.N.F.” rapper’s original track. With Cardi’s help, the remix peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Just last month (June 2), Cardi joined forces with two-time Grammy nominee Latto for “Put It On Da Floor Again,” a remix of Latto’s original that landed a Hot 100 peak of No. 13. Although it has been over five years since Cardi released her last album, fans are still (im)patiently waiting for her follow-up. Nonetheless, the “Up” rapper has kept the verses coming as she continues to prep the release of her sophomore LP.

Hailing from Chicago, FendiDa Rappa has been garnering a lot of traction recently thanks to her viral hit. On TikTok, the official “Point Me To the S—s” sound boasts over 150,000 posts, and just two weeks ago (June 23), FendiDa Rappa revealed that she signed a deal with Giant Music. Though she has yet to find any success on the Billboard charts, that could very well change with the release of “Point Me 2.”

On the Billboard Hot 100, Cardi B has earned five No. 1 singles, including “Bodak Yellow,” “Girls Like You” (with Maroon 5), and the Megan Thee Stallion-assisted “WAP.” Invasion of Privacy, the Bronx rapper’s debut studio album, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has spent over 200 weeks on the ranking.

Stream “Point Me 2” below:

06 Jul 2023

Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ Is Finally Here: Stream It Now

The story starts when it was hot and it was summer — and Taylor Swift finally dropped Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

The superstar’s re-recording of her 2010 studio album arrived at midnight on Friday (July 7), includes all 16 songs from the original and deluxe versions of the project, plus seven never-before-heard “From the Vault” tracks with two collaborations with Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy.

“Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album,” Swift wrote last month, when she revealed the track listing. Williams is guest on a vault track called “Castles Crumbling,” while Fall Out Boy appears on a vault track titled “Electric Touch.”

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“They’re so cool and generous for agreeing to support my version of Speak Now,” she added of her collaborators. As Swift has previously explained in regards to Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version), her 2021 re-recorded projects, vault songs are previously unreleased tracks that were ultimately cut from their respective original albums. As revealed in her post, the other (solo) vault songs on the updated Speak Now are “When Emma Falls In Love,” “I Can See You,” “Foolish One” and “Timeless.”

Swift first announced Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) during her first of three The Eras shows at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium in May, revealing the release date on the screen behind her.

“The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness,” she shared at the time. “I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it.”

Listen to Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in full below.

06 Jul 2023

LIT Killah, Tiago Pzk, Maria Becerra, Duki, Emilia, Rusherking, Big One & FMK Add 4th Week Atop Argentina Hot 100

The all-star team of LIT Killah, Tiago Pzk, Maria Becerra, Duki, Emilia, Rusherking, Big One and FMK add a fourth week atop the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as “Los Del Espacio” dominates the July 1-dated ranking.

The song ties with Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” for the fourth-most weeks at No. 1 in 2023, after Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino’s “En La Intimidad,” which continues to lead with seven weeks in charge, and Ke Personajes, Big One and FMK’s “Un Finde: Big One CROSSOVER #2” which ruled for five weeks.

Continuing with Becerra, the Argentinian collects her 23rd top 10 as “Corazón Vacío” bows at No. 2, the Hot Shot Debut of the week. Thus, she extends her record for the most top 10s among acts since the chart launched in 2018.

Meanwhile, Bizarrap and Rauw Alejandro’s “Rauw Alejandro: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 56” takes home the Greatest Gainer honors of the week as the collab rallies 54-12, a 42-ranking ascent.

Duki crosses off a career milestone as 11 songs from his latest Antes de Ameri album debut. In total, he places a total of 15 simultaneous tracks on the chart, the second-most after Bad Bunny ranked with 17 concurrent songs in May 2022.

Here’s the complete list of Duki’s songs on the chart:

No. 1, “Los Del Espacio,” with LIT Killah, Tiago Pzk, Maria Becerra, Emilia, Rusherking, Big One & FMK
No. 16, “Rockstar 2.0,” with Jhay Cortez (debut)
No. 18, “Antes de Perderte (OG Version)” (debut)
No. 33, “Don’t Lie”, with Quevedo (debut)
No. 40, “Uno Dos”, with Salastkbron (debut)
No. 43, “01 De Enero”, with Lucho SSJ (debut)
No. 44, “Jefes del Sudoeste” (debut)
No. 50, “Harakiri,” with C.R.O.
No. 51, “Contra Mí,”, with We$t Dubai (debut)
No. 59, “Gigi” (debut)
No. 66, “Csipher,” with Akapellah & Neutro Shorty, featuring Micro TDH (debut)
No. 71, “N.C.L.C” (debut)
No. 74, “Último Tren a Ameri” (debut)

Other debuts of the week include Rauw Alejandro and Bizarrap’s “Baby Hello” at No. 47, Marshmello and Tiago PZK’s “Como Yo :(” at No. 55, Maluma’s “Coco Loco” at No. 62, and Myke Towers’ “Lala” at No. 68, while YSY A and Sixto Yegros’s “Esta Que Quema,” featuring Sponsor Dios, starts at No. 88.

06 Jul 2023

Prince Royce Leads Tropical Airplay Chart With ‘Me EnRD’

Prince Royce notches his 23rd No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart as “Me EnRD” lifts 2-1 to crown the July 8-dated ranking. The song unseats Marshmello and Manuel Turizo’s “El Merengue” from the lead, after its 13-week domination (it falls to No. 2).

“Me EnRD” lands at No. 1 in its 10th week after a steady climb, including five weeks at No. 2. It crowns the survey with a 4% increase in audience impressions, to 8 million, earned in the U.S. during the June 23-29 tracking week, according to Luminate.

“Me EnRD” is just the second Tropical Airplay-ruling song by an artist unaccompanied by any other act in 2023, after Manuel Turizo’s “La Bachata,” which led for five weeks (a total of 14 weeks in charge). With the 2-1 move, “EnRD” gifts Royce his 23rd champ, after Marc Anthony, who continues at the helm with 35 total No. 1s, and Victor Manuelle with 29.

Here’s the scoreboard with artists with the most No. 1s on Tropical Airplay since the chart begun in 1994:

35, Marc Anthony
29, Victor Manuelle
23, Prince Royce
18, Romeo Santos
14, Elvis Crespo
14, Gilberto Santa Rosa
13, Jerry Rivera

Beyond its Tropical Airplay coronation, “EnRD” makes progress on the overall Latin Airplay chart, with an 8-6 jump.

La Maquinaria Norteña hits top 10: Elsewhere on Latin Airplay, La Maquinaria Norteña captures its third top 10 as “Te Quiero Ver” climbs 16-9 with 7 million in audience impressions; that’s a 30% gain from the week prior, earned during the same period. It’s the biggest percentage gain among the 50-song deep tally.

As mentioned, “Te Quiero” is the norteño group’s third top 10 on Latin Airplay, all which arrived less than a year ago. The song follows La Maquinaria’s highest-charting title to date, the No. 4-peaking “Eres Ese Algo” (Feb. 25).

Further, “Quiero” nearly misses the No. 1 slot on Regional Mexican Airplay, as the song pushes 5-2.