Music News

29 Mar 2023

Megan Thee Stallion Is a Golden Goddess at THR & Jimmy Choo’s Power Stylists Dinner

Megan Thee Stallion joined the iconic Law Roach at The Hollywood Reporter and Jimmy Choo’s Power Stylists dinner on Tuesday night (March 28), celebrating the beloved stylist making the publication’s list of the 25 best celebrity stylists.

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As expected, the “Hot Girl Summer” rapper didn’t disappoint with her Roach-curated look, a gold vintage 1997 Paco Rabanne that was originally worn by Yasmeen Ghauri. The stylist revealed at the event that the outfit was remade “months and months and months ago” by the house’s Julien Dossena. 

Meg added her flair to the look with her natural, voluminous curls as well as a sleek cat-eye makeup look and long, golden nails.

Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion attends The Hollywood Reporter And Jimmy Choo Power Stylists Dinner at The Terrace at Sunset Tower on March 28, 2023 in West Hollywood, Calif.

Donato Sardella/The Hollywood Reporter via GI

“What can I say about Law?” Meg told THR of her fashionable peer. “He’s the best. Like, I’m so upset that he’s going away right now because I need him. The world needs him. But he’s amazing, and we appreciate him so much. We don’t have a business relationship. It’s more like family. I’m still going to bother him, and he’s not going to stop being my family. He’s just not going to be in my closet.”

The event comes just a week after Roach announced his retirement from personal styling, explaining on Instagram that the decision came because “the politics, the lies and false narratives” finally got him. “You win,” he shared. “I’m out.”

29 Mar 2023

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova Added to Russia’s Most Wanted List

Russian authorities have put a member of the Pussy Riot punk group on a most wanted list for criminal suspects as the Kremlin works to stifle political dissent.

Russian news outlet Mediazona discovered an entry for Nadya Tolokonnikova in the Russian Interior Ministry’s database of wanted individuals on Wednesday (March 29). The entry, also reviewed by The Associated Press, said Tolokonnikova faces criminal charges, but it didn’t specify what the charges are.

Tolokonnikova became widely known for taking part in a 2012 Pussy Riot protest inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. She spent nearly two years in prison.

Earlier this month Russia’s top human rights lawyer, Pavel Chikov, said a criminal case had been launched against Tolokonnikova on the charge of offending religious believers’ feelings, which became a criminal offense in Russia after the 2012 Pussy Riot protest.

Tolokonnikova has left Russia. In 2021, the Russian government designated her as a “foreign agent,” a label that brings additional government scrutiny and carries pejorative connotations that can discredit the recipients.

Russian authorities have applied the designation to independent media outlets and opposition activists.

It was announced last week that Pussy Riot will receive the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize, with Tolokonnikova telling Billboard after the announcement: “It feels fitting to be awarded in the spirit of Woody, I think he would love Pussy Riot’s anti-fascist message.”

29 Mar 2023

Katy Perry ‘Made a Promise’ to Orlando Bloom to Stay Sober for 3 Months: ‘I Want to Quit’

Katy Perry‘s weekends are looking a little different now from the ones she sings about in “Last Friday Night” (“We danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots…”).

While attending a curated cocktail event in New York City Monday night (March 27), the pop star declined to drink anything spiked and revealed that she’s currently attempting a three-month sobriety pact with fiancé Orlando Bloom. “I’ve been sober for five weeks today…,” she said at the event, according to People.

“I’ve been doing a pact with my partner and I want to quit,” she added, jokingly pretending to cry.

And when fellow American Idol judge Luke Bryan, who was also in attendance along with Lionel Richie, asked the “Firework” singer if she was going to break her promise to Bloom, she said: “No, girl! I can’t cave. I made a promise. Three months.”

Luckily, Perry didn’t have to abstain from the party completely. The bar was reportedly stocked with her own line of non-alcoholic apéritifs, De Soi. “I definitely can’t drink like I was in my 20s,” she said in an interview when she launched the company last year. “On a weekday, having a couple [of alcoholic drinks] will take me out of the presence game for the next day or two.”

“So I like to have a bit of self-control on the weekdays and then have dinners with friends and stuff on weekends or when I’m not working, et cetera,” continued Perry, who shares a two-year-old daughter with Bloom. “But really it’s about balance.”

29 Mar 2023

Danny Brown Announces Plans to Check Into Rehab: ‘Alcohol Is Something I Need to Be Done With’

Danny Brown revealed he is planning to check into rehab, following an incident on the Tuesday (March 28) episode of The Danny Brown Show, in which he stated that his Quaranta album has been ready for over two years, but his label Warp Records has yet to release it.

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During the show, Brown additionally asked his fans to tweet #FreeDanny and #FreeQuaranta at Warp Records and his manager, Dart Parker, to speed up the record’s release. Following the episode, however, Brown tweeted that he had been “drunk and talking s–t,” and as a result he would be checking himself into a rehab treatment facility.

“Aye chill out with all the #FreeDanny sh-t,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “I was drunk and talking s–t and that’s why my dumb a– is checking into treatment tomorrow got nothing but love for Dart and Warp so chill out the album is mastered.” A fan then reiterated that the rapper was the one who asked fans to “harass” Parker, to which he replied, “That’s why alcohol is something I need to be done with cause it makes me hurt the people that care the most.” Billboard reached out to Brown’s reps for additional comment.

Brown’s Twitter announcement was not the first time he expressed a desire to go to a rehab facility. During his SXSW performance on March 17, the rapper took the stage at Dr. Marten’s annual showcase and revealed that was “going to get help.”

“At the end of the day, I’m 42 years old, sitting around smoking blunts all day, and getting drunk is getting old. Y’all have y’all fun but s–t could get dark,” Brown said on stage, according to Vibe. “I’m going to get help. Honestly, my dumba– supposed to been gone, but I’m broke so I gotta do shows to take my a– in, so shoutout to Dr. Martens. Ima go do my lil time, but I will say this, I made so many songs about doing drugs … sometimes I feel bad about that s–t … if I f—ed your life up, I’m sorry.”

See Brown’s tweets below.

29 Mar 2023

Rancid’s Tim Armstrong Reunites With Operation Ivy Bandmate in Bad Optix

Operation Ivy fans rejoice! The legendary late 1980s Berkeley, California ska punk band featuring Rancid singer/guitarist Tim Armstrong and singer Jesse Michaels is partially reunited on the debut single from Armstrong and Michaels’ new band, Bad Optix.

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Their easy skanking first track, “Raid,” dropped on Wednesday (March 29) and it features the former bandmates trading off vocals on a track about looking for distraction in a time of anxiety and confusion. “Rethrone a crown with their hands made of stone / New crew got oil in our bones / Good things perish on the road to the castle,” Armstrong sings in his signature dead-set vocal style over a bubbling ska arrangement.

“RAID/ Hit them where they live, where they kill, where they bury/ RAID/ We won’t step in line for the party secretary,” the group gang up on the anti-authoritarian song’s urgent chorus. The band featuring Circle Jerks/The Bronx drummer Joey Castillo and Trash Talk bassist Spencer Pollard share a writing and production credit on the song, which will kick off the new Hellcat Single Club.

The Club will roll out a series of releases by a number of as-yet-unnamed bands curated by Armstrong and the Hellcat squad.

“’Raid’ is about every person’s spiritual autonomy from the powers that be, regardless of who they are or what their particular struggle is,” Michaels said in a statement about the rockstady song. “Like many of the tracks we have worked on, I heard the music and wrote the lyrics very quickly, almost on the spot. This was only the second song we did but it felt hot immediately and just flowed so we thought it would be a good way to introduce the new band to the world.”

According to the statement, the group formed in March 2021 and Michaels said despite the more than three-decade gap between the 1989 dissolution of the short-lived Op Ivy and the formation of Optix, his creative connection with Armstrong has only gotten stronger. The band was birthed when Michaels and Armstrong reconnected to hang out and Armstrong played his old friend some tracks he’d been working on.

“As soon as we started writing together, we found that we had the same collaborative energy that we had in the past, so it was natural and fun just to keep going,” Michaels said of the immediate lyrical/vocal inspiration he felt. “It came back, just like that. Like when we were kids,” Armstrong added. “There is a special chemistry between us and I don’t take it for granted.”

Armstrong and Michaels performed together for only the second time in 33 years last February to play the Op Ivy song “Sound System” at the Musack Charity Concert in Los Angeles.

Armstrong nodded to his long association with Michaels in an Instagram post, writing that they’ve been friends since they were teens in the early 1980s. “We formed Operation Ivy in 1987 and 2 years later we broke up. Jesse and I both continued down our own musical journeys through the years,” he said. “I always felt a little sadness that Jesse and I stoped making music together. But we never lost touch. And then it happened. A few years ago we started writing songs again! A couple of the songs ended up on Grade 2’s record. Jesse and I just stared writing again a lot. It came back. Just like that. Like when we we were kids. There is a special chemistry between us and I don’t take it for granted.”

Armstrong also had high praise for Castillo, who he called “one of the best drummers in the world and a dear friend,” and Pollard, who he met a few years ago when Castillo brought Trash Talk to record at Armstrong’s studio. “The rhythm section of Joey and Spencer is as good as it gets and their respected styled has added another element to the song writing,” he wrote.

In an Instagram Story, Michaels elaborated on the inspiration for Bad Optix and what’s to come, writing, “It’s funny how life happens because I had been sort of thinking about anything and everything besides doing music at that time but that’s the way it always works. Anyway, we kept writing songs over the last year and we have more to share, which we will do over the coming months.” He also teased some live shows (“eventually”), but said for now they’re just taking things slowly and having fun.

While “Raid” has a vibe that fits with both men’s musical lane, Michaels promised that they’ve also written “a lot of punk stuff and some stuff that is hard to even categorize. Really excited about this project and hope you guys dig it,” he wrote.

Listen to “Raid” and see Armstrong’s post below.

29 Mar 2023

The Cure’s Robert Smith Demands Explanation From Ticketmaster For ‘Weird, Over Priced’ ‘Face Value’ Ticket Fees

Robert Smith still hasn’t found a permanent cure for Ticketmaster’s ill-priced fees. After blasting the company earlier this month for applying exceptionally costly service charges to ticket sales for The Cure‘s upcoming tour, the frontman is now calling out the entertainment giant once again.

This time, the issue comes with the discovery of some tickets labeled by Ticketmaster as being “face value” in spite of the fact that they cost a lot more money than a standard ticket normally would, much less one supposedly charging a minimum amount. “I AM ASKING ABOUT THE WEIRD OVER PRICED ‘FACE VALUE’ TICKETS THAT ARE POPPING UP HERE AND THERE… X,” Smith tweeted on Tuesday (March 28).

For reference, one fan commented on the guitarist’s tweet with a screenshot of two “face value” tickets that cost nearly $1,400. “That’s nuts,” someone else replied to the fan. “I gave almost the same seat for Toronto and paid $160. In USD, that’s around $115!!!”

On Ticketmaster’s website, the face value ticket exchange is defined as “an artist-driven marketplace where fans can sell their tickets to other fans at face value.”

As the band gears up for its first trek in seven years, The Lost World North American Tour, The Cure had hoped to keep seat-buying fair and simple for their fans by opting out of dynamic pricing and shielding against scalpers with non-transferable tickets. But when the sale opened mid-March, customers were disappointed to find that the Ticketmaster had tacked on sky-high fees to tickets that totaled more than the price of the actual tickets themselves.

Afterward, Smith went on a similarly all-caps Twitter rant, writing that he was “AS SICKENED AS YOU ALL ARE BY TODAY’S TICKETMASTER ‘FEES’ DEBACLE” before promising to investigate what went wrong. Soon after, he took to social media again to announce that Ticketmaster would be offering refunds and lower fees.

See Smith’s tweet below.

29 Mar 2023

Skrillex to Play 5-Hour Set at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Skrillex is taking the rumble to the Rockies. On Wednesday (March 29) he announced a show at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre that will happen next month.

The set, going down on Saturday, April 29, will feature Skrillex playing a five-hour set from 7 p.m. until midnight, local time. This format emulates his show last month at Madison Square Garden, where he — along with co-headliners Fred again.. and Four Tet — played for five hours, from 7 p.m. to midnight ET.

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Tickets for the Red Rocks show go on sale this Friday (March 31) at 12 p.m. ET.

This show announcement comes in the wake of the release of a pair of Skrillex albums, Quest For Fire on Feb. 17 and Don’t Get Too Close, which was surprise released the following day, Feb. 18. Skrillex has not announced a full tour behind these albums, instead opting to play prestige venues like MSG and Red Rocks, along with a hefty list of summer festivals: Something In The Water, Hangout, Movement and Elements, plus a series of European events including Primavera in Barcelona and EXIT in Serbia. This Euro run also includes a show at Ibiza’s influential techno mecca DC10.

Quest For Fire is currently sitting at No. 11 on Dance/Electronic albums, where it peaked at No. 2 upon release and is currently its fifth week on the chart. Album singles “Rumble” and RATATATA” are currently at No. 20 and No. 18 on the chart, respectively. Skrillex also appear on this same chart for “Baby again,” his recently released earworm single with Fred again.. and Four Tet.

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29 Mar 2023

George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ Music Video Joins Billion Views Club on YouTube

Just like time, a billion views probably can’t mend the careless whispers of a good friend — but it’s still a pretty major milestone. The music video for George Michael‘s iconic 1984 hit “Careless Whisper” recently surpassed the momentous view count, thanks to the help of hundreds of thousands of average views per day.

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Though the video was uploaded to YouTube in 2009 and first created two decades prior to that — the clip is seriously a time capsule of the mid-80s — it still reaches an average audience of more than 400,000 global views each day. It stars Michael — looking glam in gold earrings, a suit and his trademark poofy hair — serenading the camera as he reflects on clips of him cheating on his significant other. There’s vintage swimwear, sailboats and Miami sunsets, a perfectly dramatic backdrop for the pop star to profess his regret over an affair.

The ballad, which was credited to “George Michael” or “Wham! featuring George Michael” depending on the country of release, served as Michael’s pivot away from Wham! into an extremely successful solo career. Thanks in part to its instantly recognizable featured saxophone solo, “Careless Whisper” remains one of the musician’s most well-known songs of all time, spending three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in ’84 and ’85. Only “Faith” has surpassed that chart reign, having clocked four weeks at No. 1 in 1987; “One More Try” also spent three weeks in the prime spot in 1988.

The two-time Grammy winner passed away in 2016, but not before sharing one last project with the world: his autobiographical documentary, Freedom. Of his legendary, decades-long career, Michel professed in the doc that he hoped to be remembered as “one of those last kind of big pop stars, in a sense that there was a certain glamour to it.”

“But really, it’s just the songs, and I hope that people think of me as someone who had some kind of integrity,” he continued at the time, jokingly adding: “Very unlikely.” 

Watch George Michael’s billion-times-viewed music video for “Careless Whisper” above.

29 Mar 2023

Reba McEntire Gushes Over Her Love of Aretha Franklin, Sings ‘Respect’ With Jennifer Hudson

Like Jennifer Hudson, country icon Reba McEntire counts herself as a major Aretha Franklin fan — so much so, that the 68-year-old gushed over how much she loves Franklin during the Tuesday (March 28) episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show.

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“You covered Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ in 1980?,” Hudson asked the country star, who sang Franklin’s signature hit at the 1988 CMA Awards. “How did that come about?”

McEntire said the answer was simple, “I like the song. I love the song, I love Aretha.” The three-time Grammy winner also shared an anecdote about an encounter she had with the late Queen of Soul. “I got to meet her, she scared me to death, I wouldn’t even go up to talk to her,” McEntire said, with the American Idol alum adding, “Yeah that scared me too… I got to meet her in Washington, D.C. at Christmas in Washington, and she’s just amazing.”

The pair then paid tribute to their love and respect for Aretha in the most appropriate way — by covering Franklin’s signature 1967 single, “Respect.”

“What you want, baby, I got it/ What you need, do you know I got it?/ All I want you to do for me, is show me some respect when you get home/ Hey, baby/ Give it to me/ Hey baby,” McEntire kicked off the track, with Hudson providing an assist with some ad libbed vocals backgrounds.

Hudson then hopped on the second verse with ease — unsurprisingly, considering she played Franklin in the 2021 biopic, Respect. “I ain’t gon’ do you wrong while you’re gone/ Ain’t gon’ do you wrong ’cause I don’t wanna/ All I’m askin’ is for a little respect when you come home/ Baby/ When you get home/ Yeah,” she sang.

Watch McEntire and Hudson duet “Respect” in the video above.

29 Mar 2023

No, Lil Nas X Did Not Actually Go on a Date With Michael Bublé: Here’s How the Singer Reacted to the Joke

Finding love is hard, but Lil Nas X is confident that the right person is out there … he just hasn’t met him yet.

On the latest episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden, the “That’s What I Want” artist appeared as a special guest on “Carpool Karaoke” to sing through his hits and even act in a soap opera for the very first time. But there was one moment during the segment that turned more than a few fans’ heads.

Chatting with Corden about his dating life (after noticing a hot man on the street), Lil Nas said that he had used the exclusive dating app Raya, but ultimately, he shared, “I’ve come to know that I don’t like dating famous people.”

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When Corden followed up, asking if any of the famous men he’d met on the app were guests on “Carpool Karaoke,” the rapper didn’t hesitate: “For sure,” he confirmed.

Keeping the bit going, Corden’s immediate first guess as to who the mystery beau could have been was none other than jazz-pop singer Michael Bublé. Bursting into laughter, Lil Nas jokingly quipped, “Yeah, you caught me,” before asking if the “Sway” singer was a gay. “No,” Corden confirmed. “But he’s hot, and he’s got a hell of a voice.”

One person who certainly saw the funny side of the bit was Bublé himself, who retweeted the clip from The Late Late Show. While the original tweet’s caption specified that “@lilnasx isn’t dating @michaelbuble,” the crooner made sure to keep the joke alive. “Clearly out of my league,” he wrote in response.

Check out the full “Carpool Karaoke” segment above, and see Bublé’s response below: