Music News

Maxwell Frost, Gen Z’s First Ever Congressman, Loves Harry Styles & Ariana Grande: Fans React

For the first time ever, Gen Z is represented in Congress — and so are Harries and Arianators. After Maxwell Frost was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night (Nov. 8), fans discovered a couple old tweets proving that the 25-year-old Florida Democrat is a fan of both Harry Styles and Ariana Grande.

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Born in 1997, Frost made history on Midterm election night by becoming the first member of Gen Z to take a seat in either the House or the Senate — a feat that, for some, is probably overshadowed only by his love for a couple of this generation’s biggest pop stars. Fans quickly discovered after his triumph that Frost had tweeted a photo in 2014 showing himself standing behind a barricade with a crowd of excited fans.

Also captured in the photo is a long-haired Harry Styles, still a member of One Direction at the time. “Yea….you could say we’re friends now @Harry_Styles,” Frost captioned the tweet.

A year before that, Frost tweeted that he’d met Ariana Grande, writing: “Ariana Grande at Starbucks !!! IM SO HAPPY SHE IS SO AMAZING TALKING WITH US.”

Naturally, many fans were ecstatic to discover that both their political and musical interests were now represented on a national level. “HISTORIC: FIRST DIRECTIONER ELECTED TO CONGRESS,” one wrote, retweeting Frost’s photo with Harry.

“An Arianator going to Congress omg I won,” another replied to Frost’s tweet about the “Positions” singer.

Now Swifties, don’t feel left out. In addition to backing gun control, Medicare for all and climate action, Frost also supports Taylor Swift. Just a few weeks ago, he revealed on Twitter that his favorite song by Swift is “You Belong With Me” — “Taylor’s version of course.”

Florida’s newest 10th Congressional District representative is also a proven fan of The 1975. Hours after he won his election, he tweeted: “I’VE BEEN CAMPAIGNING FOR OVER A YEAR THIS IS WILD!! I’M GONNA SEE @the1975 ON THURSDAY TO CELEBRATE!!!”

See fan reactions to Maxwell Frost’s tweets about Harry Styles and Ariana Grande below:

Bruce Springsteen Set to Take Over ‘Fallon’ With Four Nights of Performances

Bruce Springsteen is coming to a television near you. On Wednesday (Nov. 9), NBC announced that The Boss will be heading to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon starting next week for a full-blown takeover, which will see him performing several tracks from his forthcoming album, Only the Strong Survive.

Springsteen’s takeover will begin on the Nov. 14 episode of Fallon, and will continue through Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, in addition to the special Thanksgiving episode on Nov. 24. During his time on the show, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer will accompany Fallon as a guest and deliver the live television debut of four tracks from Only the Strong Survive.

While Springsteen’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon marks his third time on the show as a guest, the takeover will be his first, in addition to his first time performing on the television program.

Only the Strong Survive — a covers album of R&B and soul songs — is set to be released on Nov. 11. The 15-track LP features a guest spot from Sam Moore on tracks “Soul Days” and “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” the latter originally written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones. (Billy Idol‘s version of the track, which appeared on his 1986 album Whiplash Smile, peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.) Only the Strong Survive also features singles “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” (Frank Wilson), “Nightshift” (Commodores) and “Don’t Play That Song” (Ben E. King).

Springsteen follows a roster of celebrities to takeover Fallon in recent months, including Mariah Carey, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Taylor Swift and more.

Rihanna Shares the Best Parts About Being a New Mother & Gushes About Her Son: ‘He’s Amazing’

It’s been about five months since Rihanna gave birth to the son she shares with A$AP Rocky, and she is still is in awe of the rewarding experiences of motherhood. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of the Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 fashion show, Ri revealed a few of the moments that have made being a mom special for her so far.

“Oh my god, the mornings, like, seeing his morning face! Seeing a baby with, like, little bags and waking up and they’re just, like, startled. They’re trying to figure out where they’re at. It’s the cutest, it’s my favorite part of the day,” the singer said. “He’s amazing, he’s a happy baby.”

Motherhood is also serving as a major inspiration to Rihanna in the baby market. The singer revealed that it’s been difficult finding clothes that she likes for her son, and is tempted to create outfits for him herself.

“You know, I always thought doing kid stuff would be cliche and the obvious thing to do when you have a baby. It’s, like, the obvious next step,” RiRi shared. “But when I went shopping, that’s when I realized like, OK, maybe I need to start making the stuff that I want my kids to wear because it’s hard! I got my own ideas.”

In the meantime, Rihanna is busy with her endeavors in the lingerie market. The Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 fashion show arrived on Wednesday (Nov. 9) via Amazon Prime. The showcase features performances from AnittaBurna BoyDon Toliver and Maxwell. The show will also include special appearances by Johnny Depp, Ángela Aguilar, Avani Gregg, Bella Poarch, Cara Delevingne, Damson Idris, Irina Shayk, Joan Smalls, Kornbread, Lara Stone, Lilly Singh, Marsai Martin, Precious Lee, Rickey Thompson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Simu Liu, Taraji P. Henson, Taylour Paige, Winston Duke, Zach Miko and more.

Aaron Carter’s Unfinished Memoir, ‘An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life,’ Due Out Soon

The incomplete memoir Aaron Carter was working on at the time of his death is slated for release on Nov. 15. The result of three years of interviews by author Andy Symonds (My Father’s Son), Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life, will cover the troubled singer’s relationship with older brother Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, his drug use and struggles with mental health.

“Aaron was an open book during the writing process,” author Symonds said in a statement. “It’s a tragic irony that his autobiography will never include all his stories, thoughts, hopes, and dreams as he intended.” According to a release, Carter, 34, was working on the book before he was found dead at his Los Angeles home over the weekend of as-yet-unspecified causes, recording hours of interviews with Symonds in which he chronicled the intense pressures of fame that often left him physically and mentally drained.

“I remember locking myself in the bathroom of one of our hotel rooms and falling asleep in the bathtub because I needed more sleep,” he told Symonds. “My mom broke down the door, afraid I was drowning in there.” In a preview, publisher Ballast Books also shared the story of the night he spent at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, where he woke in the early morning to allegedly find the late King of Pop “crouched at the end of his bed in his underwear, apparently sleepwalking.”

“What the f–k!?’ I shouted and shook him a little to wake him. ‘Go back to your bed!,’” Carter said he told the pop icon. “He looked startled, like he was surprised to be there. He just mumbled, ‘Okay,’ then got back into his bed, and we both went back to sleep. I never asked him about it, and we never mentioned it. When I woke up in the morning, he was gone from the room.”

Other stories include Carter’s recollection of performing with Jackson at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sept. 10, 2001, and then watching the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 on his way to the airport to board Jackson’s private plane. “In the book, Aaron is honest, funny, irreverent, and self-aware with amazing recall about the stories that shaped a childhood star into a troubled but talented adult,” Ballast said in a release.

While incomplete — the final version will feature notes in the manuscript by Symonds and the publisher hinting at the direction the book was headed — the release also promises stories about how making beats “saved” Carter’s life when he was at his lowest points. “I was always suicidal, especially through those years. I never attempted suicide but never had anyone to talk to about it,” the singer told Symonds. “But I knew I loved life too much to actually do it. Hopefully I won’t do it. Having lost my own family, I want to have my own. That’s the best feeling.”

It also delves into his relationship with older brother Nick, whom Aaron refers to as his “hero from about the time I could walk. He was eight years older than me, and aside from all the standard, cool big brother stuff, he also just happened to be in the biggest boy band in the world, doing exactly what I wanted to do. And he was happy to take me under his wing from early on.”

“My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded,” Nick Carter wrote on Instagram alongside a photo gallery of childhood photos with his brother over the weekend.

“I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here.”

According to TMZ, Carter was working on a sitcom called Group at the time of his death. The show about a collection of characters in group therapy will reportedly go forward and honor the singer by dedicated the show to his memory; Carter and the ensemble — featuring Freaks and Geeks‘ Samm Levine Bring It On Again‘s Anne Judson-Yager and Mike Starr (Dumb and Dumber) — completed work on the pilot episode a month ago and it will be shopped around to networks once post-production work is finished.

Louis Tomlinson Goes Pop-Punk on New Song ‘Silver Tongues’: Listen

Louis Tomlinson dropped his latest single “Silver Tongues” on Wednesday (Nov. 9) via BMG.

On the track, the former One Directioner channels his best pop-punk rocker as he sings, “It’s times like these/ We’re so much happier/ Nights like these/ We’ll remember those stupid jokes/ Only we know/ You know, when I’m with you/ I’m so much happier/ Nights like these/ We’ll remember those songs we wrote/ Only we know.”

“Silver Tongues” is set to appear on Tomlinson’s upcoming sophomore album Faith in the Future, which will arrive Friday (Nov. 11), and contains fellow singles “Bigger Than Me” and “Out of My System.”

When it comes to his former bandmates, the singer recently cheered the news of Niall Horan joining The Voice as a coach for season 23, but admitted in a new interview this week with U.K. paper The Telegraph that he was initially jealous of Harry Styles’ solo success after One Direction went on hiatus in 2016.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me at first,” he told the publication. “Only ‘cos I didn’t know where to place myself, and really my only point of reference was other members of the band. But it’s not surprising to me that Harry’s the most commercially successful because he really fits the mold of a modern star.”

Tomlinson also questioned the possibility of a 1D reunion anytime soon during the chat, surmising that he and the guys won’t get back together for “at least another 10 years.”

Stream Tomlinson’s “Silver Tongues” below.

SZA Teases New Music in NSFW ‘PSA’ Trailer: Watch

SZA has a public service announcement to share: Get ready for even more new music. Less than two weeks after she released her new single “Shirt,” the R&B star has now dropped a stunning NSFW teaser trailer for a project titled “PSA.”

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In the video, uploaded to her official YouTube channel Tuesday evening (Nov. 8), SZA poses in a brown bikini, while crouching in a ring of neon green flames. Other snippets filmed on a beach in the pitch-black night cut in and out, showing what looks to be the “Kiss Me More” artist pouring a luminous blue liquid onto her bare body from a plastic bottle.

“I always knew things would be just fine, I always knew it’d get worse with time,” she sings over twinkling piano and gorgeous stacks of vocal harmony. “You should go cry about it, not trying to fight about it.”

After the one-and-a-half-minute long video cuts to black, a quick snippet of morse code flashes by: three dots, three dashes and three more dots, translating to “S.O.S.”

The “Good Days” musician also posted the teaser to her Instagram Tuesday, which just so happened to be her 33rd birthday. “Happy birthday to me,” she captioned the video. “Clock starts now.”

As mentioned above, SZA’s teaser follows the Oct. 28 release of “Shirt,” her first proper piece of new music since the seven previously unreleased tracks she dropped in the summer as part of her Ctrl five-year anniversary deluxe package. Before that came 2021 single “I Hate U,” which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On the same day as the song’s release, the Grammy winner also dropped a “Shirt” music video featuring Judas and the Black Messiah star LaKeith Stanfield. A few days before that, she revealed that her long-awaited sophomore album is coming “any day” now, and will include a selection of a hundred or so songs she’s recorded in the half decade since she released her debut LP.

Watch SZA’s new “PSA” teaser video above.

 

Whitney Houston Defends Her Music in New ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Trailer: Watch

With a little over a month left until its arrival in theaters, the second trailer for the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody arrived on Wednesday (Nov. 9). The trailer features Naomi Ackie as the “I Have Nothing” singer responding to critics of her music being too genre bending, as well as singing the national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl and getting into a heated spat with Houston’s father, John Russell Houston (Clarke Peters).

The trailer starts off with Houston sitting down for an interview with a radio host, who tells her,
“A common criticism of you, your music isn’t Black enough.”

“Who said that? That’s just bull. And it makes me angry actually because it’s hateful and uninformed. My whole life: ‘She ain’t Black enough, she ain’t white enough.’ Well how ’bout ‘She’s not obedient enough’? How ’bout ‘She ain’t fearful enough’?” she replies.

In between scenes from her life and performing at the Super Bowl, she continues, “Music is not a color to me. It has no boundaries. I sing what I wanna sing, be how I wanna be, and reach as big an audience as I can.”

Houston then butts heads with her father over her finances. “Whitney, you’re Daddy’s princess. We’re building something here, so you just keep singing,” advises John Houston (played by Clarke Peters).

The father-daughter pair face off, with the singer fiercely declaring, “Daddy … my money. I trusted you. You were meant to look out for me,” as Houston’s hit single “I Will Always Love You” plays in the background.

Slated to arrive in theaters Dec. 21, I Wanna Dance With Somebody was directed by Kasi Lemmons and written by Bohemian Rhapsody’s Anthony McCarten. Clive Davis, now 90 years old, is portrayed by Stanley Tucci, and served as a producer on the film.

Watch the new trailer for I Wanna Dance With Somebody above.

Mike Birbiglia Was Convinced He Was Being Catfished When Taylor Swift Cast Him in ‘Anti-Hero’ Video

Comedian Mike Birbiglia has steadily climbed from playing college cafeteria gigs to comedy clubs, off-Broadway theaters, starring in films and, currently, playing Broadway with his latest one-man show, The Old Man & the Pool. But despite spinning his warm-hearted tales in TV shows, movies, his Working It Out podcast and the stage, nothing could prepare the frequent This American Life contributor for an unexpected phone call he got a few months ago from Taylor Swift.

“I’m in the ‘Anti-Hero‘ video… it’s just a fluke-y thing,” Birbiglia told Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night’s (Nov. 8) The Late Show about his stunt casting alongside fellow funny folk John Early (Search Party) and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) in the video, where they play Swift’s battling heirs. Mike and Taylor happen to share a friend in common, producer Jack Antonoff, who Birbiglia explained he met at Bonnaroo 15 years ago.

“It just so happened she was writing the music video the day that we happened to meet and we were having pizza with Jack and a bunch of folks and she thought, ‘Oh, you,’” Birbiglia said. “Apparently in her mind she thought this is the dystopoic, nightmare version of what my son would be. And that’s my dream come true.”

Birbiglia wasn’t sure his fantasy would become reality at first, though. He said he got a text from Swift a month or two later and, if he’s being honest, he was pretty sure he was being catfished. “I thought, ‘it’s either Taylor Swift… that would be cool,’ or it’s someone catfishing me who’s an excellent writer,” he recalled thinking when the call came in. “Because she sent the script to the video, that’s wonderful and very funny… so I thought, ‘either way, sort of a win-win.’ And I go, ‘count me in… either Taylor Swift or catfish person!’”

Swift will notch another major career milestone this week she she becomes the first artist to spend a full year at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.

Watch Birgiblia tell his Taylor tale on The Late Show below.

Louis Tomlinson Admits He Was Jealous of Harry Styles’ Success: ‘I’d Be Lying If I Said It Didn’t Bother Me’

Louis Tomlinson is blossoming in his solo career, but he also isn’t shying away from talking about his roots. The 30-year-old singer-songwriter famously started out in the five-piece boy band One Direction, and in a new interview, he opened up about everything from feeling jealous of his former bandmate Harry Styles to the possibility of a reunion.

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Two days ahead of the Friday (Nov. 11) release of his second studio album Faith in the Future, Tomlinson was candid with Telegraph about how he used to feel when comparing his solo trajectory with that of Styles, who has released three No. 1 albums, scored two No. 1 singles and toured through stadiums across the world on multiple occasions since One Direction disbanded in 2015.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me at first,” the “Back to You” singer admitted of Styles’ success. “Only ‘cos I didn’t know where to place myself, and really my only point of reference was other members of the band. But it’s not surprising to me that Harry’s the most commercially successful because he really fits the mold of a modern star.”

Tomlinson also pointed out Styles’ blossoming film career. The 28-year-old “As It Was” musician starred in two feature films just this year: Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling and Michael Grandage’s My Policeman.

“He’s not just doing music, he’s got film as well, and the tour he’s done is unbelievable,” Tomlinson added to the U.K. publication. “It took me a while to work out where I stand.”

But as singular as Styles’ accomplishments are, Tomlinson said he feels proud of his former bandmate. “I look on Harry like a brother, man,” he said. “I have a lot of pride for what he’s doing.”

Styles and Tomlinson have been specifically grouped together for years by the public, even when both were still part of a band with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne. The two found themselves at the center of an internet obsession with the idea of them being a romantic couple — often referred to as “Larry Stylinson,” a combination of their names — and the resulting theories and fan art became so pervasive, recreations of it were once featured in a graphically sexual sequence on HBO’s Euphoria.

“It’s weird, all that s–t,” he said, also speaking on the upcoming Anne Hathaway-led film adaptation of The Idea of You, a piece of One Direction fan fiction. “But there’s not much you can do about it. I’d rather they didn’t … but it is what it is. I won’t be watching it.”

In spite of all they’ve gone through together, be it social media squabbles or the occasional airing out of dirty laundry, Tomlinson said he and his 1D bandmates are on good terms these days. “I’m sure the lads will text me when the album comes out — we check in on each other, we’re good like that,” he said.

“I bumped into Niall at Glastonbury, and even though we hadn’t spoken all year, it was like no time had passed. Because we’ve lived through such experiences together in One Direction, this bond that we have is for life.”

When it came to the possibility of a One Direction reunion, however, Tomlinson wasn’t so sure — though he definitely hasn’t ruled one out. “I don’t see anything happening for at least another 10 years, but you never know,” he said. “It looks pretty jumbled. But I think there is a world where it all kind of fits together.”

Nazareth Singer Dan McCafferty Dead at 76

Dan McCafferty, original lead singer for Scottish hard rockers Nazareth, has died at age 76. The vocalist’s passing was announced by founding bassist/backing vocalist Pete Agnew, who revealed in an Instagram post that McCafferty died on Tuesday afternoon; at press time no cause of death had been announced.

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“This is the saddest announcement I ever had to make,” Agnew wrote. “Maryann and the family have lost a wonderful loving husband and father, I have lost my best friend and the world has lost one of the greatest singers who ever lived. Too upset to say anything more at this time.”

McCafferty, born on Oct. 14, 1946 in Dunfermline, Scotland was a co-founder of Nazareth, which came together in 1968 with guitarist Manny Charlton and drummer Darrell Sweet joining McCafferty and Agnew. The band released their self-titled debut in 1971, which was followed by 1972’s Exercises and 1973’s Razamanaz.

But it wasn’t until their sixth album, 1975s Hair of the Dog, that the group broke out beyond their European success, thanks to their rocked-up cover of the Everly Brothers’ 1960 song “Love Hurts.” The showcase for McCafferty’s muscular vocals rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hair of the Dog also marked the band’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200 charts, where it rose to No. 17 in March 1976, according to data provided by Luminate.

Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” was the highest-charting version of the tune — also famously covered by Cher as the title track of her 1991 album of the same name — and it has become a go-to power ballad in dozens of movies, including Wayne’s World, This is Spinal Tap, Dazed and Confused, Rock Star, Empire Records, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and many more.

McCafferty fronted the band until his retirement from touring in 2013 due to unspecified health issues and appeared on 23 studio albums through 2014’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Telephone; he was replaced by Linton Osborne in 2014, who in turn was swapped out for current singer Carl Sentance. McCafferty also released a pair of solo albums during his time with the group, a self-titled 1975 collection and 1987’s Into the Ring, as well as his final solo effort, 2019’s Last Testament.

See Agnew’s tribute and watch a live version of “Love Hurts” below.