Music News

09 Nov 2022

Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Cody Johnson Earn Early CMA Awards Wins

Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde and Cody Johnson are having a stellar morning as the Country Music Association prepares to celebrate this year’s winners.

Early winners were announced Wednesday (Nov. 9) via Good Morning America, which also featured a performance from Keith Urban.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Johnson’s heart-tugging “‘Til You Can’t” has picked up music video of the year; the clip was directed by Dustin Haney. This marks Johnson’s first CMA Awards win. Heading into the evening’s ceremony, he is also up for male vocalist of the year, single of the year (“‘Til You Can’t”), and new artist of the year (a category he was previously nominated for in 2019).

Meanwhile, the Pearce and McBryde collaboration “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” was named musical event of the year. This honor goes to both artists and producers of the song. “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” was produced by Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne.

“Girl” crowned Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart back in May, becoming the third duet between two solo women to top Country Airplay, dating to the chart’s January 1990 launch. The previous female collaborative chart leaders are Elle King and Miranda Lambert’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home,” which dominated in April, and Reba McEntire’s “Does He Love You,” with Linda Davis, which ruled for a week in November 1993.

“WOWWWW what a way to start #cmaawards day!!!” Pearce said via social media. “This song means everything to me & seeing the life it has had this year has been so rewarding. Thank you @cma for this. MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR!!! “

McBryde and Pearce each garnered five nominations heading into tonight’s CMA Awards. “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” earns both McBryde and Pearce four out of five of each artist’s nominations, including song, single, music event and music video. Both are also nominated in the female vocalist of the year category, with Pearce being the reigning CMA female vocalist of the year.

The CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, air Wednesday, Nov. 9, on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. 

09 Nov 2022

Bruno Mars Doubles-Down on Las Vegas With 10 More Solo Residency Dates

Bruno Mars is not ready to leave Las Vegas. After previously announcing a pair of New Year’s Eve shows at the Dolby Live at Park MGM Grand on Dec. 30 and 31, the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has added 10 more gigs to his solo run in January and February.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Tickets are on sale now for the shows, which will take place on Jan. 25, 27 and 28 as well as Feb. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11 and 14. The gigs with his Hooligans band follow on the heels of this summer’s Vegas residency by Mars’ Silk Sonic side project with Anderson .Paak at the MGM. The New Year’s Eve and early 2023 shows will be the first time that Mars has hit the stage for a proper fun of solo gigs in the U.S., since Silk Sonic released their debut single “Leave the Door Open” last year.

His last solo album was 24K Magic, released in 2016. The multi-platinum album spawned singles such as “That’s What I Like,” “Finesse,” “Versace on the Floor” and the title track. Mars recently wrapped a stadium/arena tour of Australia and Japan that included him officially opening the new Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

One place you probably won’t find Mars is at next year’s 65th annual Grammy Awards, after the singer announced last month that he was choosing to sit out this year’s ceremony after opting to not submit Silk Sonic’s acclaimed debut, An Evening With Silk Sonic, for Grammy consideration.

“Andy and I, and everyone that worked on this project, won the moment the world responded to first single ‘Leave the Door Open.’ Everything else was just icing on the cake,” Mars — who has won 15 Grammys on 31 nominations to date — said of the retro soul track that won four Grammy awards in April: song of the year, record of the year, best R&B song and best R&B performance. The album was released in November 2021, which would have made it eligible for nominations at the 2023 ceremony.

“We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once, but twice — and awarding us at last year’s ceremony. We’d be crazy to ask for anything more,” he said of the duo’s spirited performance at this year’s show of “777” and “Hot Music” and a run-through of “Leave the Door Open” for the 2021 broadcast. “Thank you to everyone that supported this project and championed for it. We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year. We hope we can celebrate with everyone on a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic Thrive.”

09 Nov 2022

Greta Van Fleet Postpone Four More Shows Due to Singer Josh Kiszka’s Ruptured Ear Drum

Greta Van Fleet postponed four more shows on their Dreams in Gold U.S. tour on Tuesday (Nov. 8) as singer Josh Kiszka continues to recover from a ruptured eardrum. After playing at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, the band alerted fans that upcoming gigs in El Paso, Texas (Nov. 8), Tucson, Arizona (Nov. 9) and Anaheim (Nov. 11) and Sacramento, California (Nov. 12) have been postponed.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

“I just wanted to express how beautiful and how awe-inspiring these couple of shows have really been, truly. Also, unfortunately, they’ve been rather painful,” he said in a video message to fans announcing the postponements. “The last time I spoke with you, I had asked for your understanding; I was dealing with a ruptured eardrum. Unfortunately, while the eardrum continues to heal, it also has continued to cause me great deal of physical pain, which has made it very difficult to perform.”

Kiszka said he’d been fighting through the pain over the past week and trying to “push through” for each show, but he’d reached the point where, “I think I need a period of time for more healing. Unfortunately, that means rescheduling the shows for the rest of this month, which kills me to do this, especially on such a short notice. I’m truly sorry to everyone in El Paso, Tucson, Anaheim and Sacramento. This year has been an extremely humbling experience. I can’t begin to thank all of you enough for your seemingly endless support and understanding.”

Kiszka said the four postponements were a “truly disheartening setback.”

This is the second string of dates GVF have had to postpone due to the injury suffered by Kiszka at an Oct. 8 show in Bangor, Maine. At the time the singer said he’d been experiencing a “situation” in his left ear that’s “caused plenty of infections, tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and difficulty hearing.” At that time, the band postponed a series of shows due to the ear issue, pushing back gigs in Hollywood, Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida, as well as Raleigh, N.C. and Greenville, S.C.

The group said they will share the new date as soon as they are available; existing tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled gigs, with any refunds available at point of purchase. The band’s next scheduled tour date is Dec. 9 at the Mark G Etess Arena in Atlantic City, NJ.

Check out Kiszka’s message to fans below.

09 Nov 2022

Eminem’s Mother ‘Very, Very Proud’ of His Rock Hall of Fame Induction: ‘I Knew You’d Get There’

Eminem has famously taken a number of pretty vicious swipes against his mother Debbie on songs such as “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” and “My Name Is” (before offering a mea culpa on 2013’s “Headlights”). But that all appears to be water under the bridge now that Marshall is officially a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After the Detroit Don took his place among the rock gods over the weekend at the 2022 RRHOF induction ceremony, Debbie Mathers recorded a congratulations video that was pure proud mama. “Marshall, I want to say, I could not let this day go by without congratulating you on your induction into the Hall of Fame,” said Debbie in a video shared on Monday (Nov. 7) by a friend.

“I love you very much. I knew you’d get there. It’s been a long ride. I’m very, very proud of you. And also I’m very proud of [granddaughter] Hailie Jade, my big girl. I want to tell you Hailie, great job on your podcast and God bless you guys. I love you very much.”

After years of contentious back-and-forth — including a 1999 $12 million lawsuit filed against her son accusing him of slander, which they settled two years later for $25,000 — the sweet message was the perfect cap to a big weekend for Slim Shady. The rapper, joined by daughter Hailie at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles for his big night, alluded to his unusual rise to the occasion in his acceptance speech.

“So I’m probably not supposed to actually be here tonight because of a couple of reasons,” he told the crowd. “One of them that I’m a rapper, and this is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there’s only a few of us right now that have been inducted in already, but there’s only a few of us… I had to really fight my way through man to try and break through in this music, and I’m so honored and I’m so grateful that I’m even able to be up here doing hip-hop music, man, because I love it so much.”

Em was inducted by his longtime mentor and producer, Dr. Dre, who said he never lost faith in the MC, praising his “raw, dark and humorous lyrics coupled with an impeccable cadence.”

Check out Debbie Mathers’ sweet congratulations video below.

09 Nov 2022

Flume Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Debut With a Cut That ‘Never Quite Made It Onto An Album’

It’s been a full decade since Flume unleashed his first collection of sonic specimens, with his self-titled debut album. To celebrate, the Sydney producer opens the vault and drops “Slugger 1.4 [2014 Export.WAV],” an expansive cut with a belting beat and all the fades and feels of old-school Flume, which somehow never found a home.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

“Made this one in Paris, always loved this demo but it never quite made it onto an album,” writes Flume, known to friends and family as Harley Streten. “I figured now that it’s 10 years since my first album was released it would be a good time to share. Hope you like it.”

Released through Future Classic, Flume was a critical and commercial success, blasting to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, winning the J Award for Australian album of the year, and setting him up for the biggest stages on the planet.

The album was so influential, Flume would radically change his sound to escape the copycats.

Next up was Flume’s 2016 LP Skin, which won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album, the ARIA Award for album of the year, and its first release “Never Be like You” won triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.

Like its predecessor, Skin hit No. 1 in Australia, but it also gave the electronic music star his first U.S. top 10, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. His 59-date world tour in support of the album sold over 300,000 tickets, reps say.

In 2019, Flume’s Hi This Is Flume mixtape earned him a second Grammy nomination for best dance/electronic album and his third and most recent studio LP, Palaces, from May 2022, is up for six ARIA Awards and recently scooped a J Award nomination.

Following a run of headline U.S. dates and festivals, Flume returns home this week to wrap up his world tour, starting Friday with a sold-out show at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium.

09 Nov 2022

Tyrone Downie, Keyboardist With The Wailers, Dies at 66

Tyrone Downie, a keyboardist and producer who is best known for his work as a member of Bob Marley & The Wailers, died Saturday (Nov. 5) in Kingston, Jamaica after a brief illness. He was 66.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Born May 20, 1956 in the capital, Downie was drawn to music from a young age. He went on to study at the Kingston College and often sang with the chapel choir.

Downie carved his name in music history when he joined Marley’s band in 1973, making his recording debut on Rastaman Vibration, and contributing keys and backup vocals to some of legendary reggae act’s recordings into the 1980s.

“Reflecting on brother Tyrone Downie, Bob’s keyboardist, who made his transition yesterday,” reads a statement on the late Marley’s official social accounts. “Rest in peace brother.”

Across his career, Downie also played with The Abyssinians, Beenie Man, Black Uhuru, Buju Banton, Peter Tosh, Junior Reid, Tom Tom Club, Ian Dury, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Sly & Robbie, and, prior to the Wailers, was a member of the Impact All Stars.

A statement from Tuff Gong studio in Kingston, founded by Marley, reads: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Wailers keyboardist, Tyrone Downie. Tyrone joined The Wailers just before the age of 20, making his recording debut with the band on Rastaman Vibration. We are blessed to count him as a member of the Tuff Gong Family.”

Several of Downie’s compositions appeared on the big screen, including 1989’s Slaves of New York and The Mighty Quinn.

Downie settled in France in the mid-to-late 1990s, during which time he focused on production and worked closely with Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour.

The multi-instrumentalist also had an impact on Grace Jones, the iconic Jamaica-born singer and actor. Jones penned the 1983 song “My Jamaican Guy,” which she later revealed was written about Downie.

Downie went on to released the solo album Organ-D — his nickname — in 2001.

He is survived by nine children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, The Gleaner reports.

09 Nov 2022

Sia Continues Her ‘Unstoppable’ Run With 6-Year-Old Hit, But Just How High Can It Go?

This week, Sia‘s “Unstoppable” tops yet another new Billboard chart — six years after it was released.

The anthemic hit, which was on Sia’s 2016 album This Is Acting alongside the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Cheap Thrills,” has found new life over the past year, and this week, it rises 2-1 on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart. Last month, the song topped the Adult Pop Airplay chart too, and it’s so far peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100.

Just how high can this revived song climb? On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), Katie & Keith discuss its unlikely trajectory and what has driven its “Unstoppable” recent run on our charts.

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how both Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” and SZA’s “Shirt” make high debuts on the Hot 100, how Taylor Swift’s Midnights logs a second — big! — week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and how the latest expanded reissue of a classic Beatles album returns to the Billboard 200 top 10. We also discuss the Billboard chart legacy of Aaron Carter, the pop star, TV personality and brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, who died over the weekend at age 34.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard‘s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

09 Nov 2022

The 1975’s Matt Healy Eats Raw Meat Onstage: Watch

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy brought out an unusual snack while onstage at the band’s New York show: raw meat. The British singer pulled out a slab of red meat while performing at Madison Square Garden, causing a major spectacle.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

A shirtless Healy devoured the meat before getting on his knees and crawling across the stage.

The spectacle was not new for fans of The 1975, who are used to Healy’s onstage antics. Even Healy’s mother, actress Denise Welch, tweeted that she witnessed his bizarre behavior as well. “I saw it too,” she wrote with three cry-laughing emojis in response to a journalist who tweeted: “There is no way I could possibly explain to my 18-year-old self that I just watched Matty Healy grope himself onstage and eat a raw steak before crawling into a television.”

It wasn’t just viewers in New York that got to see the act: The concert was broadcast on Twitch as a part of an Amazon Music UK event.

The band is currently on tour after releasing its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, last month. The Madison Square Garden show is just the tour’s third stop since beginning Nov. 3 in Connecticut. The North American leg of the band’s tour will end in Pittsburgh on Dec. 17.

Watch a safe-for-work version of the video below:

09 Nov 2022

Britney Spears Dismisses the Idea of a Biopic About Her Life: ‘Dude I’m Not Dead!!!’

On Tuesday (Nov. 8), Britney Spears put to rest any speculation of a biopic about her life and career coming anytime soon.

“Yeah I know I’ve posted too much this week on Instagram… kinda fun though !!! Now that I’m breathing … I have time … it’s different !!! I like it !!!” she posted alongside an artsy photo of a set of doors. “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life … dude I’m not dead !!!”

Without naming names, the “Hold Me Closer” singer’s thoughts on a potential movie adaptation of her life came hours after Millie Bobby Brown claimed that playing Spears would be her dream role in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show. “I think her story, first of all, resonates with me,” the 18-year-old Stranger Things actress said on the show. “Growing up in the public eye, watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was young…And I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way — and hers only.”

However, after shooting down the possibility of a biopic, Spears immediately turned her ire on her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, over keeping her in the legal conservatorship that controlled her life for 13 years. “Although it’s pretty f—ing clear they preferred me dead,” she continued in her lengthy caption followed by a series of eye-rolling emojis. “I guess my family is going to lock their doors now.”

Meanwhile, if Spears isn’t down to work with her, Brown still has her secret collaborations with pal Mariah Carey to focus on, having hinted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently that she’s already recorded music with the Elusive Chanteuse herself.

Read Britney’s latest Instagram post in full below.

08 Nov 2022

Alabama’s Jeff Cook Mourned by Jason Aldean, Travis Tritt & More Country Stars: ‘What an Iconic Sound He Had’

Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook died on Tuesday (Nov. 8) at age 73, and country stars including Jason Aldean and Travis Tritt have turned to social media to honor the late guitarist.

“So sad to hear of the passing of Jeff Cook,” tweeted the “Trouble With a Heartbreak” singer along with a picture of himself and the band. “I spent a lot of my life listening to him play guitar, what an iconic sound he had. I got a chance to perform with him multiple times over the years and I will never forget it.”

Tritt tweeted, “Sending out my deepest condolences to the family, friends and band mates of Jeff Cook from @TheAlabamaBand. Such a great guy [and] one heckuva bass fisherman. He will be truly missed” while Charlie Daniels wrote, “Heaven gained another guitar/fiddle player today. Mom and I were saddened to hear about the passing of @TheAlabamaBand’s Jeff Cook after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. Prayers for his family and many fans.”

Cook’s death was also memorialized on Twitter by both the Academy of Country Music and the CMA Awards, with the former organization pointing out that the musician and his bandmates remain the “most awarded group in ACM Awards history.”

In 2021, Alabama sold the entirety of their recorded music rights catalog to Reservoir Media, including 20 albums released on RCA Nashville from 1980 to 2007.

Read more tributes to the memory of Jeff Cook below.