Music News

Shemar Moore Recounts Being Turned Down By Alicia Keys in the Early ’00s: ‘I Walked Away So Uncool’

Shemar Moore swung by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (Jan. 26) to share an amusing story about being turned down by Alicia Keys in his Soul Train days.

“I tried to get at Alicia Keys, I ain’t gonna lie,” he said with a laugh after naming the many, many famous faces he met during his stint hosting the musical variety show from 1999 to 2003. “I tried! And no, I’ve told this story from time to time but the short version of it is, I saw her at the Soul Train Awards, I was in my dressing room. I looked at the monitor, there she was with her cornrows. And this is when her song ‘Fallin’ was first blowing up, she was just getting ready to explode.

“So she’s playing the piano, doing her thing,” the Criminal Minds alum continued. “And my favorite instrument is the piano. So fast forward about four months, she’s having a listening party here in L.A. So me and my homie, I was like, ‘Yo, Alicia’s performing, we gotta go, we gotta go!’”

From there, Moore gathered up the courage to approach Keys at the rooftop listening party, and even inquired about what her “man situation was like.” However, the R&B star’s reaction was not what he expected.

“And she goes, ‘Check this out, son,’” he recalled to a giddy Jennifer Hudson, “‘I respect your flirt game. But my man situation is handled.’ I walked away so uncool, I was like [drops head in shame].”(At the time, Keys was dating Kerry Brothers Jr., though she’s since married longtime love Swizz Beatz.)

This week, Keys hit No. 1 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart with her KEYS II single “Trillions” featuring Brent Faiyaz (chart dated Jan. 28).

Watch Moore recount the story of Keys’ blunt rejection below.

Britney Spears Asks for Privacy After Fans Reportedly Called Cops to Her House: ‘Things Went a Little Too Far’

Britney Spears is standing up to her fans and politely asking them to respect her privacy going forward. On Thursday (Jan. 26), the “…Baby One More Time” singer took to Twitter to discuss a recent incident in which authorities were reportedly called to her house on Tuesday night (Jan. 23) to perform a wellness check on her after she deleted her Instagram account.

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“As everyone knows the police were called to my home based on some prank phone calls. I love and adore my fans but this time things went a little too far and my privacy was invaded,” Spears wrote in a text post. “The police never entered my home and when they came to my gate they quickly realized there was no issue and left immediately.”

TMZ was the first to report the news, and stated that the Ventura Co. Sheriff’s Office started receiving calls about Spears after 11 p.m. on Tuesday night. According to the outlet, “authorities went to her home out of an abundance of caution,” though the 41-year-old has deleted her Instagram account multiple times prior to the new incident.

Spear continued in her note, “This felt like I was being gaslit and bullied once the incident made it to the news and being portrayed once again in a poor and unfair light by the media. During this time in my life, I truly hope the public and my fans who I care so much about can respect my privacy moving forward. All the love, B.”

Fans calling the police after Spears deleted Instagram comes a little over a month after her husband, Sam Asghari, asked fans to ease up on their scrutiny of Spears’ own Instagram activity. “Social media can be traumatizing,” he wrote in his Instagram Story on Dec. 8. “Sometimes it’s good to take a break. She has her voice and is a free woman.” in the same story, he added, “I have respect for her privacy and I protect it at all times.”

See Spears’ Twitter post below.

Musicians Who Have Starred in Animated Films: Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Selena Gomez & More

Ever watched an animated movie and heard a voice that you couldn’t quite place? That could have been because a character — be it a blue-haired troll or a singing crocodile — was actually played by someone whose tone you’re much more used to hearing in song.

Over the years, dozens of celebrity musicians have added a whimsical film project or two to their resumés by lending their certified platinum voices to colorful 2D characters. There was Taylor Swift in The Lorax, Rihanna in Home, Beyoncé in Epic, Katy Perry in Smurfs, Selena Gomez in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, and Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Lopez in Ice Age. At this point, it’s practically a trend. No family-feature film made by the folks at DreamWorks, Illumination or Disney Animation Studios feels complete these days without at least one cameo from a star singer-songwriter, whether it’s queen of pop Madonna or a hip-hop icon such Snoop Dogg. (They were actually both in the same movie, but more on that later.)

In some cases, these guest musicians become part of a voice cast simply to try out something new. In others, they contribute their own expertise to the project by working on an animated film’s soundtrack — oftentimes to great success. One of Justin Timberlake‘s best-charting songs, “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was written for Trolls 2, in which he also starred, and took home the Oscar for best original song in 2017.

Keep reading to see which of your favorite musicians have starred in an animated film below:

Kelly Clarkson Goes Country in Hailey Whitters Kellyoke Cover

Country Kelly, oh how we love you. The Thursday (Jan. 26) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show saw the American Idol alumn stepping up to the plate for yet another one of her fan favorite Kellyoke covers, and decided to give a country track a spin. The powerhouse singer went with Hailey Whitters’ “Everything She Ain’t,” and injected the song with her own unique twang.

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Accompanied by her band Y’all, Clarkson slipped into the sassy track with ease, letting her signature vibrato and runs shine through the track.

“The whiskey in your soda, the lime to your Corona/ Shotgun in your Tacoma, the Audrey to your Hank/ She’s got a little style and a Hollywood smile/ But believe me, honey, good as money in the bank/ I’m everything she is and everything she ain’t,” Clarkson soulfully sang on the chorus of the track.

“Everything She Ain’t” hails from Whitters’ third studio album, Raised, which was released in March. The country singer, whose song “A Beautiful Noise” earned a Grammy nomination last year in the song of the year category, had her television debut and performed “Everything She Ain’t” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Jan. 25.

Clarkson’s cover of the Whitters track is just one of the few country songs she has offered up for Kellyoke recently. She also gave Taylor Swift’s “Better Man” a try for the show’s opening segment, as well as Christ Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave,” in the past week.

Watch Kelly Clarkson perform “Everything She Ain’t” in the video above.

Priyanka Chopra Reveals She and Nick Jonas Have Matching Tattoos

Priyanka Chopra shared a fun fact in a new interview with British Vogue on Wednesday (Jan. 25): she and Nick Jonas have a pair of matching tattoos.

“I don’t have too many tattoos,” she said in the video sit-down. After gesturing to the phrase “Daddy’s lil girl…” on her arm in her father’s handwriting, she added, “Then I have a check and a box behind my ears. My husband has them on his arms because when he proposed, he asked me that, you know, I checked all his boxes and would I check another one?

Elsewhere in the video, the actress opened up about one of the things she loves most about Jonas. “My husband is super thoughtful,” she said. “When he’s around, everything feels like it’ll be OK. He’s taught me to approach things from a much calmer place. I was a tornado — still am — mile a minute, bee in a bonnet kind of person and he’s not.”

Earlier this month, Jonas confirmed on The Kelly Clarkson Show that the Jonas Brothers’ next album is complete and ready to be released sometime in 2023. (“Later this year, there will be a tour,” he also revealed.) In the same interview, the singer opened up about celebrating daughter Malti’s first birthday after a premature delivery that left the baby in the neonatal intensive care unit for more than 100 days.

Currently, Jonas and his brothers are gearing up for three more dates on their Sin City residency, Jonas Brothers: Live in Las Vegas, as well as their upcoming Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.

Watch Chopra’s British Vogue interview below.

TikTok Pastor Says He Went to Hell & Demons Tortured Him With Rihanna, Jazmine Sullivan Songs

A TikTok pastor says he has seen hell, and it’s more musical than you might think.

Gerald Johnson took to social media to share a now-viral video in which he recounted a 2016 moment in which his spirit left his body and he experienced hell, which he noted is at the center of the earth. “It still baffles me to this day,” he explained. “There’s a section in hell where music was playing. It was the same music that we hear on the Earth, but as opposed to entertainers singing it, the music, demons were singing it. It was some of the same lyrics we hear here.”

Johnson, who is the leader of the Gerald A. Johnson Ministries in Texas, added that when musicians do drugs, they can open a portal to hell that allows demons to whisper lyrics to them, which ultimately allows Satan to control people. “Here, music is to get over a breakup. ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ ‘I bust the windows out your car,’ or, ‘under my umbrella,’ whatever,” he shared, referring to songs by Bob Marley, Jazmine Sullivan and Rihanna.

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“Every lyric to every song is to torment you as to the fact that you didn’t worship God through music when you were on the Earth,” he said. “You had a chance to worship him in church and at home and through music, but you chose to worship Satan by repeating the lyrics that he inspired to come into the earth.”

Rihanna and Sullivan have yet to publicly respond to Johnson’s story. See the full TikTok below.

Brent Faiyaz & Kehlani to Headline 2023 Sol Blume Festival

The Bay Area-based R&B festival Sol Blume announced its 2023 lineup on Thursday (Jan. 26), featuring Brent Faiyaz and Kehlani as the two headliners.

The fourth annual festival will take place at Discovery Park in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, April 29, and Sunday, April 30, and brings together emerging and established R&B, hip-hop and soul acts, including Ella Mai, Isaiah Rashad, Joey Bada$$, Mariah the Scientist, Mereba, Jessie Reyez, Pink Sweat$, Chlöe, PinkPantheress, Muni Long, Arin Ray, FLO, Coco Jones, Nao, Jacquees, Mahalia, Marc E. Bassy, Alex Isley, Fana Hues, Thuy, Rini, Destin Conrad and Samaria. Teyana Taylor is slated as Sol Blume’s very special guest, with the bill detailing “one night only performing ‘The Last Rose Petal 2′” following the artist’s two-part farewell tour by the same name.

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Faiyaz’s rare festival appearance comes months after the release of his successful sophomore studio album, Wasteland, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, Bay Area native Kehlani recently sold out the nearby Oracle Arena in Oakland last fall during her tour in support of her third studio album, Blue Water Road. Sol Blume marks both headliners’ return to Sacramento in five-plus years.

Tickets will go on sale for the general public on Monday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m. PT on Sol Blume’s official website. General admission tickets for the two-day festival cost $200 (not including fees), while VIP tickets cost $400 (not including fees).

Check out the full Sol Blume 2023 lineup below.

New Around the World: Miley Cyrus & Shakira’s New Hits Bring Their Classics to Global Charts

Less than a month into the year, 2023 has already found itself two major new hits. Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” simultaneously debuts atop the Jan. 28-dated Billboard Global 200, Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 charts, while Bizarrap & Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” scales the top 10 of all three, securing No. 2 ranks on both global tallies.

Meanwhile, the momentum of each new hit has yielded additional chart placements for both superstars’ past smashes on both global charts.

In addition to “Flowers,” Cyrus logs three debuts and one re-entry, stretching back to her ‘00s material. “Party in the U.S.A.” (2009) debuts on Global Excl. U.S. at No. 186, while re-entering the Global 200 at No. 124 (12.3 million streams, up 60%, worldwide Jan. 13-19, according to Luminate). A modern national treasure, it had previously charted for a week apiece in 2021 and 2022 on the back of July 4th boosts.

Further, 2020’s “Midnight Sky” returns to the Global 200 at No. 176 (10.6 million, up 112%). As for new global hits for Cyrus, 2013’s “Wrecking Ball” hits the Global 200 at No. 197 (10.3 million, up 182%), while her featured turn on Mark Ronson’s “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” (2018) impacts Global Excl. U.S. at No. 165.

Cyrus’ five charting songs average 28% of their streams from the U.S. and 72% from outside, slightly slanted from the 23/77 split among all songs on this week’s global charts. While “Flowers,” “Sky” and “Ball” sit right in the middle of that 28% U.S. share, the patriotic “Party” skews 38% domestic, while Ronson’s U.K. roots help pull the stateside share for “Heart” down to 16%.

As previously reported, “Flowers” launches with 179.1 million streams and 98,000 downloads sold worldwide Jan. 13-19. That’s the biggest weekly streaming total since BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” drew 212.1 million clicks in August, and the largest total for a song by a soloist since the charts launched in September 2020, bypassing Adele’s “Easy on Me” (178.4 million).

As for Shakira, “Hips Don’t Lie,” featuring Wyclef Jean, debuts on Global Excl. U.S. at No. 169 and on Global 200 at No. 193 (12.4 million, up 39%). Released in 2006, the song topped the Hot 100 for two weeks that June, ultimately ranking at No. 5 for the year.

Additionally, two 2022 Shakira songs surge: “Te Felicito,” with Rauw Alejandro, re-enters the Global 200 at No. 79 (21.4 million, up 69%), while jumping from No. 139 to No. 55 on Global Excl. U.S., and “Don’t You Worry,” with the Black Eyed Peas and David Guetta, returns to Global Excl. U.S. at No. 150 (10.3 million, up 28%).

More, her 2022 Ozuna collaboration, “Monotonia,” hangs at No. 25 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 35 on Global 200 (29.8 mililon, up 58%), while 2010’s World Cup anthem “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” featuring Freshlyground, is at Nos. 81 and 116 (20.8 million, up 19%), respectively, having already dawn renewed buzz from the ’22 soccer/football tournament.

Far different from Cyrus, Shakira’s tracks average just 13% of their streams from the U.S. and 87% beyond, perhaps a natural split due to Shakira’s Spanish-language lyrics, fellow Latin collaborators and the bulk of her chart history for the Colombian-born star logged on Latin lists. Unsurprisingly, “Hips,” with its international crossover and English-language vocals, bumps to 20% from the U.S., while the others sit between 10-13%.

Movement Festival 2023 Announces Phase 1 Lineup: See Who’s Playing

Amid this most hallowed season of festival lineup releases, Detroit’s equally venerable Movement on Thursday (Jan. 26) announced the phase one lineup for its 2023 show.

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Belgian techno phenom Charlotte De Witte will headline the three-day fest along with U.K. legends Underworld. The show will also feature Caribou, Detroit’s own Moodymann and DJ Minx, Louie Vega, Green Velvet, Derrick Carter b2b Mark Farina, Masters At Work, a live performance from Robert Hood, Berlin duo Fjaak, Movement debuts from DJ Seinfeld and TSHA, an extremely fun-sounding b2b by from Dom Dolla and John Summit and much more.

With Detroit of course the hometown of techno itself, Movement 2023 will return to its longstanding base in the city’s Hart Plaza from May 27 to 29. Tickets are currently on sale.

Movement is produced by Detroit-based Paxahau, which launched in 1998 as an underground party promoter. The dance-focused company has produced Movement for the past 17 years, helping it gain global renown as one of the world’s premiere techno festivals.

“It was truly joyful to be back in the city for the many of us who fell in love with Detroit through Movement and its music,” Billboard contributor Ana Monroy Yglesias said of the festival last year. “The event also marked a triumphant family reunion for the techno all-stars and superfans who call Detroit home. Altogether, it was a stellar three days of techno, house, hip-hop, love, connection, positive vibes and dancing, and a much-needed respite from the pain of current events.”

See the phase one lineup below:

Niall Horan Is Ready to Send Fans to ‘Heaven’ With His New Single: Here’s When It Arrives

Niall Horan announced his brand new single “Heaven” in a social media post on Thursday (Jan. 25).

“I could not be happier to let you know that my new single Heaven is being released February 17. Pre-save and pre-order heavenwontbethesame.com,” the former One Direction-er captioned a photo of the single’s artwork, which features him dressed a denim button-down, light pants and two-tone loafers while seated in front of a drum kit.

The special landing page where fans can presave the single depicts a blue candle melted down to its wick in front of an airy window flanked by golden curtains. The tab, meanwhile, promises users “NH3 Loading…”

“Heaven” will serve as Horan’s first new release since “Our Song” and “Everywhere,” his pair of 2021 collaborations with Anne-Marie. The singer’s last full-length album, Heartbreak Weather, contained singles “Nice to Meet Ya,” “Put a Little Love on Me,” “No Judgement” and “Black and White,” and originally peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 upon its March 2020 release.

Horan previously teased the existence of “Heaven” by sprinkling snippets of the song on TikTok and sending mysterious gifts to a few lucky fans in the form of candles and QR codes.

At the start of the year, the pop singer’s erstwhile romance with Ellie Goulding surfaced again after a TikTok follower accused the latter of cheating on Ed Sheeran with Horan. “False!!!! But also slay,” Goulding replied in the comments, reminding fans that she and Horan dated briefly almost a decade ago, while maintaining that she and Sheeran were never more than friends.

Get a look at Horan’s “Heaven”-ly single announcement below.