Music News

07 Nov 2022

Maren Morris Stars in Democratic National Committee Ad to Encourage Voting: ‘This Is Personal’

Maren Morris is helping encourage voters to get to the polls for the Nov. 8 midterm election in a new ad for the Democratic National Committee. Morris narrates the ad, which includes footage from the music video for her 2019 hit “Girl.” That music video previously earned a CMA Awards nomination for music video of the year.

“This is personal. Your vote is your voice,” Morris says in the spot as the camera focuses on the singer-songwriter in a guitar shop, sitting with her back to the camera and playing an acoustic guitar. “It is the only thing that is standing in the way of having the right to choose, or having the choice be made for you.”

The ad ends with a message for viewers to visit iwillvote.com, a site that identifies voting and drop-off locations, helps people check their voters registration, register to vote, and learn more about casting a ballot.

Morris has long been outspoken about her social and political beliefs, endorsing Joe Biden in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election during the virtual “I Will Vote” Democratic fundraiser.

As “a proud Texan now living in Nashville, Tenn.,” Morris discussed her decision via a three-minute video later uploaded to Instagram at the time. “Coming from a Southern family with a conservative background, throughout my childhood, I was always taught to treat people with respect and dignity, no matter their race, their religion, their sexual orientation, and yes, even their political party,” she explained in 2020. “But like a lot of us, I’ve been in perpetual shock watching what’s happened to our country these last few years. We’ve been divided and pitted against one another.”

She added, “I voted early for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and for Democrats down the ticket here in Tennessee because we need leadership that is kind, compassionate and that cares,” she continued. “Leadership that will unite us to overcome this pandemic, to put us back to work again, end systemic racism and work every day to ensure we leave this world to our kids in better shape than we found it.”

Following the June 24 ruling from the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that provided federal protection to access to abortion, Morris provided a statement to Rolling Stone, describing the careful planning she and husband Ryan Hurd did in welcoming their son Hayes in 2020.

“As mothers do, I really tried to think of every detail I could before he came into this world to keep him safe; pediatrician, hospital, crib, nursery sound machine, even future school he would someday go to,” she said. “Every choice, every decision, a thoughtful one.”

She added, “Today, I hold my 2-year-old son with tears streaming down my face because all my love and planning still wasn’t enough to protect him from being born into a country who could do this to women,” the singer added. “Tomorrow I will fight, but today I am grieving.”

Morris’ 2022 album, Humble Quest, is nominated for album of the year heading into this week’s CMA Awards, set to be held Nov. 9 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and airing on ABC.

Watch her new spot for the DNC above.

07 Nov 2022

Kid Cudi Promises ‘1 More Album’ After Hinting at Retirement: ‘This Is for All My Fans’

It looks like Kid Cudi is putting his potential retirement on the back burner — at least for now. On Sunday (Nov. 6), the “Pursuit of Happiness” rapper explained on Twitter that he will prepare one more album before his record deal with Republic Records is up, and that he’ll potentially be releasing songs he’s previously teased.

“Im doin 1 more album and then im done w my deal and not sure what ima do after that but yea, 1 more,” he wrote. “Wont be next year. Keep u posted.” In a follow up tweet, Cudi added, “This is for all my fans that have been ridin w me for so long. This will be all new music. The songs ive teased ill prolly put out as singles here and there to hold u over.”

During the rapper’s appearance on Hot Ones in early October, he shared that he feels like his career as a rap artist is “nearing the end.”

Host Sean Evans had asked the rapper who he looked to as the blueprint for aging gracefully as an artist. “Yeah, like Jay-Z for sure,” Cudi said. “But I don’t feel like I have what they have. I just don’t know if I wanna do music, drop albums for too much longer, you know? I’m kind of nearing the end on all things Kid Cudi, I think.”

As for what the artist sees himself doing in the future? “This is like a wacky idea I had years ago. But it would be cool to, like, one day be a kindergarten teacher, and just do that for a couple years,” he shared. “Like, when I’m, like, 50 … And I just, like, infect the youth with that freshness. Get ’em young, and then those kids will just sprinkle the freshness to the world, and I’ll just be like, ‘Yes! Yes!’”

Cudi’s most recent album Entergalactic — the corresponding set for animated Netflix special of the same name — peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200.

See Cudi’s tweets below.

07 Nov 2022

Cher Encourages Voters to Choose Kathy Hochul, Catherine Cortez Masto Ahead of 2022 Midterm Elections

Cher used her social media prowess over the weekend to encourage her four million Twitter followers to vote in the upcoming 2022 midterm election.

In a pair of videos, the pop icon focused in on supporting two female candidates: Governor Kathy Hochul of New York and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “New Yorkers, it’s election season. Right now you have a Trump supporter trying to oust your Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul,” she said in one. “This man, Lee Zeldin, has riled up the MAGA base to support him and the polls show it could be a close race.

“New York, I love you with all my heart,” Cher continued. “I have spent half of my life there and I would hate to see a guy who wants to ban abortion, frack the state and have ‘Don’t Say Gay’ policies in schools become the governor of your great state.”

In the second video about Sen. Cortez Masto, the Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! star reminds Nevada voters that, “In this election, what happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas,” as the results from the purple swing state will inevitably affect the balance of the Senate, and thereby the entire country. Both of Cher’s posts directed followers to iwillvote.com, a website with state-by-state voting resources put together by the Democratic National Committee.

Back in September, Cher also hit the catwalk during Paris Fashion Week by walking in the Balmain finale hand-in-hand with designer Olivier Rousteing.

Watch Cher’s political PSAs for New York and Nevada below.

07 Nov 2022

Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Taylor Swift’s Midnights easily tops the Billboard 200 chart (dated Nov. 12) for a second week, following its blockbuster debut at No. 1 a week earlier. The set earned 342,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 3 (down 78%). A week ago, the album barged in at No. 1 with 1.578 million units, the largest weekly total since Adele’s 25 debuted with 3.482 million units (Dec. 12, 2015 chart).

Midnights has the largest second-week total for any album since Adele’s 25 tallied 1.162 million units in is second frame (Dec. 19, 2015, chart). Plus, Midnights’ second-week sum is the third-largest overall week of the year for any album. In 2022, the three largest weeks are Midnights’ debut (1.578 million), the debut of Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (521,000) and Midnights’ second week (342,000). One more note about the size of Midnights’ second-week – it’s so big, it’s larger than the total units earned by the Nos. 2-7 albums on the latest chart combined. A week ago, Midnights’ first week was larger than the Nos. 2-88 albums’ totals combined.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 12, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Nov. 8. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Midnights‘ 342,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 224,000 (down 46%, equaling 294 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 114,000 (down 90%) and TEA units comprise 4,000 (down 79%).

Lil Baby’s former No. 1 It’s Only Me is a non-mover at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (81,000 equivalent album units; down 26%), while Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti is stationary at No. 3 (62,000; down 7%).

The Beatles’ former No. 1 Billboard 200 album Revolver re-enters the chart at No. 4 following its deluxe special edition reissue on Oct. 28. The set earned 54,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 3 (up 1,963%). Of that sum, album sales comprise 46,000 (up 6,346%), SEA units comprise 7,000 (up 280%; equaling 8.78 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 1,237%).

Revolver was first released in 1966 and spent six weeks atop the chart (Sept. 10 – Oct. 15, 1966-dated charts). For its special edition, the album was reintroduced in a variety of expanded formats and editions, including many with previously unreleased tracks. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.

The rerelease of Revolver is part of the ongoing series of expanded reissues of select studio albums by The Beatles. It follows reissues of Let It Be in 2021 (first released in 1970), Abbey Road in 2019 (first released in 1969), The Beatles in 2018 (often referred to as the White Album, first released in 1968) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017 (first released in 1967). All five albums originally hit No. 1 shortly after their release, and returned to the top 10 after their expanded reissues.

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album falls 4-5 on the Billboard 200 with 41,000 equivalent album units earned (down 6%), and The Weeknd’s The Highlights dips 5-6 with nearly 41,000 (up 3%).

Baby Keem’s The Melodic Blue returns to the top 10 after more than a year, vaulting 105-7, following the set’s expanded reissue and debut on vinyl (both on Oct. 28). Ten additional tracks were added to the album (bringing its total to 26 tracks), while the set’s original standard tracklist of 16 tracks bowed on vinyl LP.

The Melodic Blue earned 37,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 3 (up 267%). Of that sum, SEA units comprise 26,000 (equaling 35.76 million on-demand official streams of the set’s collected tracks), album sales comprise 11,000 (essentially all in vinyl sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The Melodic Blue previously spent one week in the top 10, when it debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the Sept. 25, 2021-dated chart.

Kodak Black collects his fifth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Kutthroat Bill: Vol. 1 debuts at No. 8 with 37,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 34,000 (equaling 45.67 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 2,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Rounding out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 are two former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, falling 8-9 with 31,000 equivalent album units (down 3%), and Beyoncé’s Renaissance, steady at No. 10 with 26,000 (down 12%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

07 Nov 2022

Rapper Hurricane G Dies at 52

Brooklyn rapper Gloria “Hurricane G” Rodriguez has died at age 52. The passing of the Puerto Rican MC best known for her 1997 No. 10 hot rap singles hit “Somebody Else” as well as binlingual songs including “Underground Lockdown” and “El Barrio,” was confirmed by EPMD’s Erick Sermon, who had a daughter with Rodriguez.

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“My heart is hardened today. One of my good friends…. my oldest daughters mother passed away today #HURRICANEGLORIA was also a legend in her own right in the Hiphop community,” Sermon wrote in an Instagram tribute posted on Sunday (Nov. 6). “One of the first puertorican female rappers She rapped with me. @redmangilla she paved the way @keithmurray @diddy she was in all the Hiphop magazines with all the top females at the time.”

Rodriguez first gained fame in 1992 when she appeared on Redman’s “Tonight’s da Night,” then teamed up with him again two years later on “We Run N.Y.” from his Dare Iz a Darkside album. Her debut full-length Spanglish album, All Woman, dropped in 1997 on the New York-based H.O.L.A. Recordings after she’d logged spots on songs by everyone from Xzibit to Funkdoobiest, Keith Murray and Puff Daddy. She also became the first female member of the East Coast hip-hop crew the Def Squad, which included Sermon, Redman, Murray and Jamal.

Though her output was sparse, Sermon noted in his tribute that legendary underground hip-hop radio due Stretch and Bobbito “loved a song that she did called ‘MILKY,’” adding, “She will be missed all around the world. I can’t believe this. Pray for us. Beautiful blessings. She was a beautiful person a wonderful mother as real as they come.”

At press time no cause of death was revealed, but according a FB post on May 20 from Rodriguez’s daughter, Lexus, her mom was suffering from advanced lung cancer. “My mom has stage 4 lung cancer,” she wrote at the time. “I dont know how many of you understand what that means but even after 30 years of life Im still trying to process it myself. I have never cried so much in my life I have never felt so disconnected from reality in my life. Yet my mom still manages to be the one to hold it together and say “dont worry baby everythings gonna be alright”. S–t im crying right now but today is a blessing.”

Hurricane G’s last released album was a 2013 collaboration with Thirstin Howl III entitled Mami & Papi.

See Sermon’s tribute and listen to “Somebody Else” below.

07 Nov 2022

Lorde & Surprise Guest Phoebe Bridgers Sing ‘Stoned at the Nail Salon’ at Primavera Sound

Lorde‘s Solar Power Tour had double the star power Sunday night (Nov. 6). Stopping through Brazil to perform at the Primavera Sound festival, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter brought out fellow alt-pop star Phoebe Bridgers to perform “Stoned at the Nail Salon” — a song the two collaborated on last year for Lorde’s Solar Power.

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“I wanted to sing a song that means a lot to me, and a song that probably wouldn’t exist without this person,” Lorde told her audience while introducing the “Motion Sickness” singer. “It’s a pretty direct channel of inspiration between me and this wonderful artist.”

“Please give the warmest welcome to Phoebe Bridgers,” she concluded, the crowd going wild in response.

Bridgers then walked out onstage and hugged the “Royals” singer before the two sat down on one of the set pieces onstage — an enormous replica of a sundial that’s been present throughout Lorde’s Solar Power tour, which kicked off in April this year. With the audience loudly belting the lyrics along with them, the pair sang the soft main melody of “Stoned at the Nail Salon” together.

The song was one of two tracks to which Bridgers lent background vocals ti on Lorde’s third studio record Solar Power, which was produced by Jack Antonoff and released in August 2021. The “Kyoto” musician, along with Clairo, also sang on the album’s lead single and title track, “Solar Power.”

“I love those girls so much,” Lorde said of Bridgers and Clairo in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe last year. “I was like, ‘Who are my most God-tier female vocalist friends that could be on this?’ And they both just crushed. It was such a pleasure for me to have them.”

“So talented, so cool and I’ve never had any other voices on my songs,” she added at the time. “This is the first time people were singing with me. I just knew it had to be a gang.”

Watch Lorde and Bridgers sing “Stones at the Nail Salon” below.

07 Nov 2022

Ozzy Osbourne Having Second Thoughts About Leaving the U.S.: ‘I’m American Now’

Like a lot of people who said they were headed for the border over the past six tumultuous years in the country, Ozzy Osbourne swore his days in the U.S. were numbered. As recently as early September, the metal icon seemed poised to bounce back to his native England after it was announced that the BBC had green-lit a revival of the beloved Osbournes series starring the first family of metal.

The announcement came after Ozzy’s statement a month earlier that he was “fed up” with America and that his family was headed back to England because of the relentless string of mass shootings in the U.S. “Everything’s f—ing ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings,” Osbourne said in a an interview with The Observer.

But in a new cover story for Consequence of Sound, Ozzy said after decades of living in Los Angeles he’s on the fence about making the move permanent. “I’m getting a bit of flak from people,” Ozzy said about the reaction to news of the planned pack-up that will set the stage for the BBC reality series Home to Roost. “To be honest with you, if I had my way, I’d stay in America. I’m American now.”

Osbourne gave a bit of context for the decision, saying wife/manager Sharon Osbourne’s booting from the daytime TV chat program The Talk was one of the reasons the couple no longer felt like this was the safest place for them anymore.

“When my wife got called a racist on [The Talk], she is absolutely not a racist,” Ozzy said of Sharon’s March 2021 booting from the syndicated show after 11 seasons over her defense of British chatter Piers Morgan, who had mad disparaging comments regarding Meghan Markle. “Her friend is Piers Morgan… She didn’t say, ‘I agree with him.’ She just respected his ability to have freedom of speech,” Ozzy explained. “That’s all that she said. And she got a lot of flak from that, so we actually had to have f–king armed guards and all that.”

Sharon Osbourne also said safety in L.A. was an impetus for them to pack up the gargoyles and split. “When I first came here, I thought I was in heaven. In the ’70s, if you loved music, this was the place to be,” she said. “It’s not that hub anymore. It’s not exciting anymore. It hasn’t gone sideways, it’s gone down. It’s not a fun place to live. It’s dangerous here. Every big city’s got crime, but I don’t feel safe here. Neither does Ozzy.”

To be clear, though, Ozzy said he’d still rather stay put. “To be honest with you, I don’t want to go back [to England],” he told CoS. “F–k that.”

According to the BBC, producers expect to film 10 30-minute episodes for BBC One and iPlayer of Home to Roost, which will find the clan — Ozzy and Sharon, son Jack and daughter Kelly — living their new life at their 350-acre Welders House estate in Buckinghamshire. Producers promised to chronicle everything from Sharon’s recent 70th birthday party to daughter Kelly’s soon-to-be-born baby, Ozzy’s upcoming tour to the big move itself.

07 Nov 2022

Jin Details the Concept Behind His ‘The Astronaut’ Video in Shoot Sketch: Watch

Jin’s solo single “The Astronaut” has been out for one week, and to continue the song’s rollout, the BTS singer is taking fans behind the scenes of the song’s official visual filming and concert in a shoot sketch video posted on Monday (Nov. 7).

In the video, Jin talks through the video’s touching concept, which conveys the humanity he feels after being away from planet Earth for an extended period of time.

“It’s been so long since I filmed a music video. I never imagined there’s be a female protagonist in my music video. I just arrived on Earth and I’m shooting a flashback scene where I ride a bike with the friend who makes a person that barely expresses himself [do so],” he explains.

The female protagonist in question in a little girl named Victoria, who through her friendly gestures, allows the BTS star to feel more human. One of the scenes features Victoria playfully pinching Jin’s cheeks.

“My young friends pinched my cheeks just now. I’m not smiling but she plays jokes on me. She took interest in me when nobody else did and she considered me as her friend. That was the scene we were going for so she played with my face,” the BTS singer said. “Not many people have done that to my face before … in my 31 years of life, there hasn’t been many people that have done that.”

After shooting in the desert for his bike-riding and lip-syncing scenes, Jin heads back to South Korea for the shots of him in a bedroom, which features pictures of his new friend. But to his surprise, an old friends ends up visiting him on set.

“Does Jin know I’m here? He doesn’t, right?” Jin’s fellow BTS member J-Hope says, pulling up in a car and holding bags of snacks. When Jin sees J-Hope, he excitedly says, “Oh J-Hope, why are you here?” to which J-Hope replies, “Jin, you look good.”

After seeing shots of Jin on a monitor, the BTS rapper adds, “You look so handsome. How are you so good looking?”

See more behind the scenes content from Jin’s “The Astronaut” video below.

07 Nov 2022

Kelly Clarkson Offers Up Her ‘Umbrella’ in Rockin’ Rihanna Cover: Watch

You can stand under Kelly Clarkson‘s umbrella, ella, ella. For the Monday (Nov. 7) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the three-time Grammy winner performed a Kellyoke cover of Rihanna‘s 2007 smash hit “Umbrella” and added a rock n’ roll twist.

Equipped with electric guitars and pushed forward by thundering drums, Clarkson and her band Y’all reconstructed the song’s original pop mix into a hardcore free-for-all. “You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh,” belted the “Stronger” singer as one guitarist shredded out a solo, blue stage lights made to look like lightning strobing all around.

Released as the lead single off her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad, “Umbrella” marked Rihanna’s second of 14 (so far) Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s (following 2006’s “SOS”). Featuring Jay-Z, who also helped write the track, it went on to earn the Fenty Beauty mogul her first ever Grammy award, winning best rap/sung collaboration in 2008. At that year’s ceremony, “Umbrella” was also nominated for record of the year, though Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson’s “Rehab” ended up taking the prize.

Clarkson’s cover comes just after Rihanna made her return to music following a six-year hiatus. On Oct. 28, she released “Lift Me Up,” a single she contributed to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever film soundtrack.

The “Love on the Brain” musician hasn’t performed live in nearly as many years as she went without releasing music, but that’s also set to change come Super Bowl Sunday next year. In September, it was announced that Ri would be headlining the Halftime Show, something she recently opened up about feeling nervous for.

“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that,” she said in a Monday (Nov. 7) interview. “But it’s nerve-racking. You want to get it right. You know, everybody’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”

Watch Kelly Clarkson perform Rihanna’s “Umbrella” above.

07 Nov 2022

Selena Gomez Endorses Beto O’Rourke for Texas Governor

With Election Day less than 24 hours away, Selena Gomez took to social media on Monday morning (Nov. 7) to encourage her followers in Texas to vote for Beto O’Rourke.

“I had the pleasure of meeting @betoorourke a few years ago and was so impressed by him. For those of you in my home state of Texas, please vote for him!” the singer wrote on her Instagram Stories.

Along with the message, the star also shared an official campaign video from O’Rourke’s own Instagram feed, in which the candidate declares, “After eight years, it’s time to turn the page on Greg Abbott and vote for change in Texas!” during a rally in Fort Worth.

This isn’t the first time Gomez has spoken out in recent weeks to support a particular candidate, either. At the end of October, she also stumped for Democrat Stacey Abrams in the hotly contested race for governor of Georgia.

Meanwhile, when it comes to O’Rourke’s gubernatorial campaign, Harry Styles also publicly supported the Democratic challenger by placing a “BETO” sticker on his guitar during his recent tour stop in Austin. (Styles has also helped register more than 54,000 new voters ahead of the midterms by partnering with HeadCount in the organization’s latest “Good to Vote” initiative.)

When she’s not busy firing up her fans to vote, Gomez has been celebrating the premiere of her new Apple TV+ documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, which arrived last week along with a brand new track — the vulnerable ballad “My Mind & Me.”

Check out Selena’s endorsement of Beto on her Instagram Story before it expires.