Music News

18 Oct 2022

Christina Aguilera Celebrates ‘Stripped’ 20th Anniversary: ‘I Truly Made Music That Represented Who I Was’

Keep on singin’ her song! Christina Aguilera took to social media on Tuesday (Oct. 18) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her sophomore album, Stripped.

“My favorite memory was just, I mean, the freedom to finally do what I wanted to do,” the pop star reminisced over a montage of moments from the Stripped era on Twitter. “As an artist, telling my stories, my personal messages for the first time. It was so important to me on my sophomore album that I truly made music that represented who I was.”

Aguilera then gave a bit more context in the tweet itself, writing, “Stripped gave me the strength and freedom as an artist to tell my story the way I wanted. Thank you to all of my fighters around the world for amplifying that strength and giving me the space to continue to share myself in my truest forms, #20YearsOfStripped more to come.”

The 2002 studio set holds a special place for the singer as well as her legions of fans, having peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and delivered smash singles like “Dirrty” featuring Redman, “Beautiful,” “Fighter,” “Can’t Hold Us Down” with Lil’ Kim and “The Voice Within.” The album has since been certified 5x platinum by the RIAA.

Just last week, Aguilera announced a brand new music video for “Beautiful” to kick off the anniversary celebrations. And late last month, she took home the Spirit of Hope Award at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music, where she also performed ranchera anthem “La Reina.”

Check out Xtina’s memories of Stripped below.

18 Oct 2022

Taylor Swift Reveals ‘Self-Loathing’ & ‘Fantasizing About Revenge’ Inspired ‘Midnights’

As if Swifties weren’t excited enough for the Friday (Oct. 21) release of Taylor Swift‘s Midnights, the pop star has now shared two enticing new details about what inspired her highly anticipated new album.

In recent videos shared via the Spotify pre-save page for Midnights, Swift revealed that she’d be unveiling five things “that kept me up at night and helped inspire the Midnights album.” As of Tuesday (Oct. 18), two of the five have gone live.

“The first thing that kept me up at night that helped inspired the Midnights album is …,” the singer-songwriter teases in the video. “Self-loathing.”

At that, she gives a small smile and shrugs her shoulders ever so slightly.

In the next video, Swift gets just a little bit shady. “The second thing that kept me up at night: fantasizing about revenge,” she says, throwing a mischievous side-eye glance to her left.

The revealing new videos come as part of a partnership with Spotify that’s also spawned in a couple digital billboards that have turned up in New York City and London, previewing snippets of lyrics on Midnights. A mammoth billboard in Times Square displayed the lyric “I should not be left to my own devices” on Oct. 17, and another in London read “I polish up real nice.” More lyrics are expected to be revealed in the coming days.

The 11-time Grammy winner’s Spotify Easter eggs come on the heels of the announcement that “Anti-Hero,” track three on Midnights would be getting a music video released at 8 a.m. Friday, hours after the full album drops. Kicking off with an Oct. 20 album teaser on Thursday Night Football, Swift’s album release week also includes a “special very chaotic surprise” on release day, appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Oct. 24) and The Graham Norton Show (Oct. 28), and the Tuesday (Oct. 25) release of a second unidentified music video.

See Swift’s new teaser videos on Spotify Mobile here.

18 Oct 2022

Jin Unveils Details for Solo Single ‘The Astronaut’ Ahead of Military Service

Get ready, ARMY! Jin announced the release date for his new solo single, titled “The Astronaut,” on Tuesday morning (Oct. 18).

The track is set to arrive from the BTS singer at the end of this month, on Oct. 28, via BigHit Music. According to BigHit’s press release, the song is “meant to be a gift for the fans.”

The K-pop idol also shared the very first logo trailer for the song, which features a tiny astronaut exiting a massive, futuristic space station as he floats high above the earth. From there, he travels through a meteor shower, past moons and planets, satellites and asteroid fields before arriving at an otherworldly source of light that envelops him completely as the song’s official logo takes over the screen.

Additionally, BigHit Music laid out the entire rollout schedule leading up to the song’s premiere for excited fans, with the single’s official poster being unveiled Wednesday (Oct. 19) at 11 a.m. ET. Three different concept photos will arrive next, on Oct. 23, 24 and 25, before Jin drops the official music video teaser on Oct. 26.

“The Astronaut” announcement comes just one day after news broke that all seven members of the K-pop boy band will face the mandate to serve in South Korea’s military for at least 18 months.

“Jin will initiate the process as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October,” the label had said in a statement. “He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government. Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans.” (As such, BTS won’t be expected to reconvene with all seven members until around 2025.)

Check out the logo trailer for Jin’s “The Astronaut” below.

18 Oct 2022

Kanye West Gets Into Heated Argument With Chris Cuomo Over Anti-Semitism, Buying Parler & Kim Kardashian: Watch

Kanye West continued his streak of spouting anti-Semitic comments in a heated argument with Chris Cuomo Monday (Oct. 17) on Cuomo’s self-titled new show on NewsNation. Before angrily hanging up on the show’s host, the rapper — who now goes by Ye — gave an update on his plans to buy the conservative social media platform Parler, spoke about ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s “left agenda” politics, and explained how he justifies his ongoing campaign of hate speech against Jewish people in a 20-minute virtual appearance on Cuomo.

Cuomo caught up with Ye in a video call as the Yeezy designer was riding in a car. When asked if he was on his way to meet with former president Donald Trump, Ye said he was actually going to negotiate with the CEO of Parler — a social media hub generally used by right-wing political thinkers that Ye offered to purchase earlier this week following his suspension from Instagram and Twitter.

“Why would I remain in a place where I’m just tolerated?” he said of his desire to buy Parler. “Why not go to a place where I’m celebrated? I bring a lot of attention to these platforms, to Instagram and Twitter and … they shadow ban you.”

This led into a conversation about the real reason Ye was booted from the two platforms: for posting hostile remarks aimed at the Jewish community, including one in which he said he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” In the days leading up to his Cuomo appearance, Ye doubled down on his anti-Semitic comments on Tucker Carlson‘s Fox News Show as well as Drink Champs (the latter show’s host, N.O.R.E, later said he regretted having Ye on as a guest).

On Cuomo, Ye once again asserted his stance by claiming that Jewish people make up a majority of music executives and yield an agenda exercised by taking control of musicians such as himself. “This is not hate speech,” he insisted to Cuomo. “This is the truth. If you say anything out of the line with the agenda, then your career could be over.”

“There’s so many Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership … of the culture itself,” he added. “It’s like a modern day slavery, and I’m calling it out. That’s what ‘death con 3’ meant. It didn’t mean I wished any harm on my fellow Jewish people.”

Cuomo didn’t let Ye’s comments just stand, especially the musician’s mention of a “Jewish underground media mafia.” “Look, there is no Jewish media, cabal, mafia. That is a figment of either your imagination or a projection of a prejudice,” Cuomo shot back. “You may have had bad business dealings with people — it’s about those people. It’s not about their religion or faith. And I know that you’re intelligent and understand that when you target people because of their faith, other people may do so the same.”

Ye also looped in his former in-laws, saying that his political differences with Kardashian caused their divorce. “My family was torn apart off of my political opinion because of my ex-wife’s attachment to the Clinton administration,” he told an astonished Cuomo, also claiming that former pals John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen are also part of the “left agenda.”

“They were getting my ex-wife to push the vaccination — I didn’t realize how attached [the Kardashians] were to the left agenda when I was there.”

Watch Kanye’s full interview on Cuomo above.

18 Oct 2022

Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Kane Brown to Headline ‘Amazon Music Live’ Thursday Night Football Series

Amazon is adding some music to its Thursday night football coverage. Amazon Music Live will feature a series of artists performing during the streamers’ Thursday Night Football on Prime Video series beginning on Oct. 27.

Among the acts slated to take the stage on the broadcasts are are Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion and Kane Brown, with more artists to be announced throughout the season according to a release announcing the events. The livestream concert series will be hosted by 2 Chainz and will air on Prime Video following that week’s game. Baby is first man up on Oct. 27, followed by Megan hitting the Amazon Music Live stage on Nov. 3 and Brown performing on Nov. 10.

“Whether you’re a sports fan waiting for the first football game of the week, or a music fan staying up late to hear the latest drop from your favorite artist, Thursday is the biggest night for entertainment,” said Kirdis Postelle, global head of artist marketing of Amazon Music in a statement. “With Amazon Music Live, we’ve created a new, can’t-miss series for fans to experience the most exciting new music together. For artists, this show represents a massive new stage to share their music with fans after Thursday Night Football — the biggest game of the week, airing live on Prime Video.”

2 Chainz will also interview each night’s performer and the concerts will be available to stream for free around the world on Prime Video as well as being available to stream on-demand for a limited time. “Every Thursday night, I’m bringing the biggest and the brightest stars in music to the Amazon Music Live stage in Los Angeles,” said 2 Chainz in a statement. “We have the people that are influencing the culture and have carved their own unique path in music, like Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and Kane Brown.”

The concerts will take place in front of live crowds in Los Angeles.

Check out the promo video for the series below.

18 Oct 2022

‘The Voice’s Cara Brindisi & Jay Allen Armor Up in ‘Leather & Lace’ for Battle Round: Watch

The Voice‘s season 22 lineup continues to be whittled down during the Battle Rounds, which saw contestants Cara Brindisi and Jay Allen going head to head on Monday night’s (Oct. 17) episode for a spot on coach Gwen Stefani‘s team. The two performed a stunning duet of Stevie Nicks and Don Henley‘s 1981 track, “Leather and Lace.”

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After Brindisi and Allen took turns singing pairs of lines from the song — which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 — the duo employed a fitting country twang for the track that soared as the chorus rolled around.

“Lovers forever, face to face/ My city, your mountains/ Stay with me, stay/ I need you to love me, I need you today/ Give to me your leather/ Take from me my lace,” the pair harmonized, with Brindisi going for a softer tone and Allen opting for a stronger belt.

John Legend started off the commentary. “Cara, you were like so perfect. I love when you were whispering. I love when you were belted a little bit more and it just relaxed me,” he said. “Jay, the power of your voice, the raspiness … it was just a little more compelling to me, so I pick Jay.”

Blake Shelton also agreed with Legend’s reasoning, and brought in his country expertise into this critique. “I feel like Jay has the more Stevie Nicks approach to his vocal, and you definitely stepped into that role. And man, it sounded good,” he said, adding that he picked Jay as the winner of the battle.

Stefani then stepped up to the plate to give a decision on who to keep for her team. “One of the things that Jay needed to work on, his voice is so powerful that it was coming out too much, and I’m so proud of you because you took the advice and went to another level. Cara, your voice is so soothing and there’s a confidence that has to come with that,” she told the pair and noted that her decision was a difficult one before ultimately picking Brindisi to keep.

After extending a gracious thank you to the coaches, Allen headed off stage thinking he was headed back to Nashville, but was later saved by Stefani in a split-second decision. “Well, honestly that was such a hard one for me and it was so confusing because I knew I wanted to save Jay,” she said, before Shelton slammed down his buzzer and cut in with, “What if somebody wanted to steal Jay?”

Citing his near 10-year stint in Nashville, his love of country music and Shelton’s status in the genre, Allen switched over to the country star’s team.

Watch Cara Brindisi and Jay Allen’s Voice battle below.

18 Oct 2022

Nicki Minaj Slams Grammys Again Over ‘Super Freaky Girl’ Category Change: ‘Certain Members Are Afraid to Keep It in the Competition’

Nicki Minaj isn’t done lashing out at the Recording Academy for moving her hit “Super Freaky Girl” out of the Grammy’s rap category and placing it in a pop one. “The Grammys is having blogs post that Variety article to distract you from the fact that ‘SUPER FREAKY GIRL’ was unfairly moved from the rap category while other poppy rap songs remain in the RAP CATEGORY,” Minaj wrote in an Instagram Story on Tuesday morning (Oct. 18).

“They’re having blogs post that I pulled a ‘stunt’ and that it worked b/c ‘Do We Have a Problem’ is being submitted in rap categories,” she continued about the earlier single that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in February. “But what does ‘SFG’ have to do with “DWHAP????” In an earlier slide in Tuesday’s Story, Minaj displayed what appeared to be a post from The Shade Room blog chronicling the first time Minaj called out the Grammys for moving the song, noting that “it looks like the stunt may have gotten their attention.”

The post then cited a recent Variety story that reported that Grammy voters who’ve received their ballots “reportedly say that Nicki is in contention in the best rap performance category for another song of hers.” Responding to that Shade Room post, Nicki wrote, “This is gaslighting @ it’s finest & even this post specifically, @theshaderoom is not posting that part of my live. This is done constantly to make ppl look ‘crazy.’”

At press time a spokesperson for the Recording Academy had not returned requests for comment on Minaj’s post.

A third slide found Minaj continuing her rant against the category switch, with the rapper writing, “It was done to decrease my chances of winning awards for ‘Super Freaky Girl.’ It was done to remove me from the category that they don’t want COMPETITION in!!!!!!! They are all scared to death of the success of that song & thought it would be super EASY for them (like it’s been for the last few years) but ‘SFG’ is such a global smash, certain members are AFRAID to keep it in the competition.”

Last week Minaj hit out at the Recording Academy after it was reported that “Super Freaky Girl” — which her team submitted to the Grammy’s rap categories — was moved to a pop one after the Recording Academy’s rap committee overturned the submission, according to a story in The Hollywood Reporter. “That group determined that Minaj’s playful and pop-sounding song sampling Rick James’ 1981 classic ‘Super Freak’ should compete for best pop solo performance instead of rap awards,” THR reported.

It’s worth noting that MC Hammer also sampled Rick James’ “Super Freak” for “U Can’t Touch This,” which won the best rap solo performance Grammy back in 1991.

“Super Freaky Girl” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August and has spent eight weeks atop Billboard’s hot rap songs chart. Minaj has suggested that the category switch was part of a broader agenda to celebrate rising rap artists over veterans. In 2017, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” took best rap song and best rap/sung collaboration, Minaj pointed out, though even Drake himself admitted it was a pop number.

On the flip side, Minaj said last week that the same rules applied to Latto’s pop-leaning “Big Energy.” “Now, let’s say that ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song. Let’s just say that, right. What is ‘Big Energy?’ If ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song, what song is ‘Big Energy.’ What genre is ‘Big Energy?,’” Minaj tweeted.

“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve, over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” Minaj continued. “And soon female rap will really not have any black women. If you pay attention, you’ll see, you’ll understand.”

The Recording Academy doesn’t reveal reasons when its screening committees relocate tracks into categories other than those that eligible recordings were submitted in, THR noted. The general ballot, which can include thousands of submissions in a single category, isn’t released to the public.

18 Oct 2022

Britney Spears Describes Harrowing MRIs as She Rips Into Conservatorship

Britney Spears lashed out at her father and the 13-year conservatorship that he helped oversee on her behalf in a series of outraged posts on Monday (Oct. 17). The tweets chronicled what she said was a harrowing medical experience she endured before being institutionalized.

“I believe in a world where we all deserve justice !!! 15 years in a system of secretive and manipulative abuse … JUST ENDING IT has never been good enough for me and it will never be !!! I was talked to abusively and punished for no reason at all,” Spears tweeted in the first of a half-dozen posts in which she lambasted the arrangement that handed control of her personal and professional life to her father, Jamie Spears, and a group of lawyers.

“I believe I have absolutely nothing to prove on the whereabouts of what was done to me … it is all known !!! With that being said, people who have mistreated me on that kind of scale just ending the system is not good enough,” she continued, adding a VoiceNote in which she told a previously unheard story about her treatment.

Describing it as “one of the weirdest things” she’s ever encountered, Spears said she had three MRIs before going to “that place”; Spears did not specify the date of the procedures or which facility she was referring to, though the singer was placed in mental health facilities in 2008 and 2019. The star said she wasn’t complaining about any health problems before the procedures and that she was told she “had to go,” even though she wasn’t sure why she was having them.

Spears noted that when she was eight years old, she had a cyst on her chest that was removed which required an MRI to determine that it wasn’t cancer. “So whenever I hear ‘MRI’ I kind of was like, ‘that’s a big deal, something must be wrong with me,’” she recalled thinking. But unlike when she was eight — when Britney said she stayed in the enveloping MRI machine for 30 minutes — she described the more recent MRIs during the conservatorship as lasting well over an hour.

“Which is a lot of being still,” she said of the diagnostic machine that can require a patient to lie perfectly still inside the large device for extended period of time as it clicks and whirrs while scanning the area of interest. “The whole thing didn’t make sense — the isolation, the nurses, [unintelligible] … to me I was like, ‘Wait, is this a new kind of cancer treatment? [Is] that why they sent me away to this place? They didn’t want me to know?’” she thought at the time. “None of that it true, I’m fine, I’m alive.”

Spears’ string of tweets continued, as she wrote that she endured the alleged mistreatment though “I did absolutely nothing wrong… I have no justice at all in my eyes… at all!!! The court system ended it TWO YEARS after I told them about 15 years of my abuse … my home friends jumping up and down when the judge ruled it to be over … a metaphor.” Spears was placed into the restrictive conservatorship in 2008 after the singer was twice put on 5150 psychiatric holds amid what was described at the time as a public mental health crisis.

At press time a spokesperson for Jamie Spears could not be reached for comment.

“Yet when I called them in that place they said it’s not illegal but it may seem illegal with what they are doing … because what your in is DIFFERENT … different my a– !!!.” she tweeted. “It’s been many months since it has been over … my wish is to take my father to a place … take his car away … his home away … his door to privacy away … sit him down 7 days a week from 8 am to 6 pm being asked questions and people treating him like a science experience … monitoring his food … no phone … nurses watch him shower and dress.”

Seemingly describing the tight strictures she lived under during the conservatorship, Spears also said she wanted her father to go through “all the things with no f—ing reason at all and have him call his family and they say WE DON’T KNOW!!! I’d like to see the state of California sit back and have 4 security men at a trailer house for months telling him he can’t ever leave !!! I’d like to see how he would feel.”

That however, she wrote, will “never happen.” Reflecting on a judge’s decision to end the conservatorship in November 2021, Spears said, “The only good thing that happened for me was that it ended !!! I don’t see how they get to walk away so easily and get away with what was done to me … the world has shown me and the world only that cruelty wins !!!”

18 Oct 2022

Hot 100 First-Timers: Lyanno Arrives With Rauw Alejandro & Brray Collab ‘Lokera’

Puerto Rican singer Lyanno scores his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, as his new collaboration with Rauw Alejandro and Brray, “Lokera,” debuts at No. 99 on the Oct. 22-dated chart.

The song, released in July via Duars/Sony Music Latin, debuts with 4.6 million radio airplay audience impressions and 4.1 million U.S. streams (up 4%) in the Oct. 7-13 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also holds at its No. 16 high on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, keeps at its No. 9 best on Latin Rhythm Airplay and rises 19-16 on Latin Airplay.

Contributing to the song’s popularity is TikTok, as a portion of its audio has been used in over 400,000 clips on the platform to date. (TikTok presently does not directly contribute data to Billboard’s charts.) Alejandro boasts 12.2 million TikTok followers, while Lyanno and Brray have 97,000 and 21,000, respectively.

The song’s official video, which was filmed in one take, features all three artists at a wild house party and has raked in over 43 million YouTube views to date.

While “Lokera” earns Lyanno his first Hot 100 entry, it brings Alejandro his sixth and Brray his second, after “La Jeepeta,” with Nio Garcia, Anuel AA, Myke Towers and Juanka, in 2020.

Lyanno (real name Edgardo Feliciano) has been a familiar face on Billboard‘s Latin charts since 2018. He notched his first chart appearance on Dec. 1, 2018, when his “Luz Apaga,” with Ozuna, Lunay and Rauw Alejandro, debuted at No. 40 on Hot Latin Songs; it peaked at No. 26 two weeks later. “Lokera” became his second entry on Hot Latin Songs when it debuted in August.

The reggaeton/trap-leaning artist has also landed on Billboard‘s charts as featured on Lunay’s “A Solas,” also with Anuel AA, Brytiago and Alex Rose (No. 9 peak on Latin Digital Song Sales in 2018), and with his solo single “Pa’ Que Vuelvas” (No. 38 peak on Latin Pop Airplay in 2019). Meanwhile, “Hasta Abajo,” with Kevin Roldan and Bryant Myers, reached No. 90 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and No. 165 on the Billboard Global 200 in February 2021.

Lyanno has also recorded songs with Jhay Cortez, Chencho Corleone and Zion & Lennox, among others. He released his debut studio album El Cambio in April through Rimas. The LP includes collaborations with Arcangel, De La Ghetto, Lunay, plus two with Alejandro: “Poderosa” and “En Tu Cuerpo.”

“Lokera” is slated to appear on Alejandro’s album Saturno, due next month.

18 Oct 2022

Stray Kids Returns to No. 1 on Artist 100 Chart Thanks to ‘MAXIDENT’ Debut

Stray Kids re-enter the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 22) at No. 1, returning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a second total week, thanks to the group’s new LP MAXIDENT.

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The set blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 117,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Luminate. It’s the group’s second leader on the chart, after mini album ODDINARY in April. Album sales comprise 110,000 of MAXIDENT‘s total sum, the fourth-largest sales week of any album this year.

Stray Kids are the third K-pop group to rule the Artist 100 for multiple weeks, dating to the chart’s 2014 inception, after BTS (21 total weeks) and BLACKPINK (two). Two additional K-pop acts have hit No. 1: SuperM and TWICE. Stray Kids first topped the chart for a week in April.

Notably, Stray Kids have now re-entered the Artist 100 at No. 1 on two occasions. The act is the sixth to re-enter at the summit as many as two times, after Bon Jovi, Eminem, Kanye West, Kenny Chesney and Slipknot.

Elsewhere on the Artist 100, Beyoncé bounds 24-2 thanks to the wide vinyl release of her former Billboard 200 No. 1 Renaissance. The album rises 6-3 on the Billboard 200 with 75,000 units, up 145%, as it sold 45,000 on vinyl and rebounds for a second week at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.