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Both Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles are creatives in every sense of the word. They are deeply passionate about their music and acting careers — with Grammy-winning Nettles balancing her solo and Sugarland music success with leading roles on Broadway’s Chicago and Waitress, as well as starring in films including Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors. Meanwhile, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winner Bacon has starred in classic films including Footloose, Taking Chance and many more, all while releasing 12 albums via his band, The Bacon Brothers, alongside his sibling Michael.
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That’s why, when the opportunity came for the duo to blend their talents, they were immediately on board. Bacon and Nettles star in the Grainger David-helmed Prime Video series, The Bondsman, which follows the story of murdered bounty hunter Hub Halloran (Bacon), who is resurrected by the devil to send back demons who escaped from the prison of Hell. Nettles stars as Hub’s musician ex-wife.
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Together, the two teamed up for The Bondsman: Hell And Back, a collection of eight songs written fromthe point of view of their characters, with several of the tracks appearing on the show. “Long before I ever did something like this, I’ve made playlists for my roles. I’ll say to the writer or the director, ‘Do you have songs that you think my character would like?’” Bacon recalls. “But this situation is something that I don’t do really that much. Yes, I love to write songs and, yes, I’m an actor, but I’ve always had a certain purity about both of them. I didn’t want to somehow shoehorn some music into a movie, you know, on the off-chance that I would get to play in it.”
However, The Bondsman felt different, given that Bacon loved the story and Halloran was also a musician in his life. As a seasoned actor and musician, the challenge of writing the songs from the bounty hunter’s perspective, instead of his own, allowed him to create a deeper bond with his role. “It’s really interesting form of songwriting, because I tend to write from my point of view,” Bacon says. “Even if I’m writing off of a hook, it’s probably going to be related to my experience and my feelings around things. Whereas, in this case, I’m writing as the character. And now, you’re going, OK, who was Hub Halloran when he first met this woman that he’s in love with? Or when they were breaking up? What was his point of view, not only about the world or about love or about her, but also musically? What was the kind of country music that he liked and didn’t like?”
Nettles agrees, adding that the “storytelling” aspect of making the music alongside filming the TV show was something she particularly enjoyed. “Whenever I’m writing a song, it’s both story building and character building. You take on a persona in those times,” she explains. “In that way, it wasn’t anything new or different [to my usual songwriting style]. What was new and different, is getting to do it specifically for this world and for television. This specific character, and this specific world where demons are concerned and all the supernatural and horror — that made it really, really fun.”
Nettles also revealed that the show’s “authentic” portrayal of the South drew her to the role, and her immediate bond with Bacon allowed the music to “flow easily.” And, of course, working with superstar actor in general was a plus. “Working with someone with that level of talent, that icon status, was super thrilling,” she says.
“I just love the performing arts so much, and I love music so much and I love getting to tell stories, and to be able to do this in this show is so fun and campy,” she concludes. “It checks so many boxes.”
The Bondsman is available to watch on Prime Video here, and the corresponding Hell and Back album can be enjoyed on Amazon Music here.
Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater is getting a new operator.
Metro Nashville has notified Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) that it intends to have RHP’s Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) operate Ascend Amphitheater for the next decade. The deal is subject to successful negotiation between the two parties. Axios first reported the news.
Colin Reed, executive chairman of RHP’s board of directors, tells Billboard he expects the negotiations to conclude within the next three months and that the 10-year contract will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. It’s a realization of a dream for RHP that began even before the 6,800-capacity outdoor venue opened in 2015. “We applied for this a decade ago when the city was deciding they were going to build [Ascend],” he says. “We and Live Nation bid 10 years ago. We loved the space then and we really love the space now.”
RHP has aready committed capital to “beautify the project,” Reed says. “Upgrade it and make it more of an experience for the consumer.”
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RHP was selected over Live Nation and AEG. “We really put our front foot forward here, so we always thought we had a shot, but beating two companies that, quite candidly, we have a high degree of regard for — AEG, that handles all of our ticketing in all of our venues, as well as Live Nation, who we have a healthy relationship with — we were very pleased,” Reed adds.
Ascend has averaged 20 to 30 concerts a year, primarily during the summer season, but Reed says he expects to substantially expand activity at the venue.
A cap on 35 shows per year was put in place when the amphitheater opened because it is in a residential area, Reed says, but “the issue for us is this is one of the great pieces of real estate in the city of Nashville and how do we activate it for the other 330 days a year because it should not be kept fallow for that period of time. We can do daytime programming. We can do Opry Under the Stars. We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking with the symphony. There are multiple ways in which we can activate this space.” He is also eager to bring holiday offerings to the Ascend from Thanksgiving to the end of December.
Ascend will be an open room, meaning other promoters, including AEG and Live Nation, can promote shows there. “We want to maintain a good relationship with those businesses,” he says. “We’ll talk to anyone that wants to play this great city.”
Ryman Hospitality’s OEG also runs Nashville venues the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry House, in addition to having partnerships with Luke Combs‘ Category 10 venue and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
JT is tired of the stans. Over the weekend, the Miami rapper went on a rant directed at stan accounts on social media in now-deleted tweets after a Normani fan account called it “embarrassing” for JT to be celebrating her “Ran Out” music video “finally” hitting 1 million views. “Help me find the embarrassing part,” […]
Kelsea Ballerini got to be the bearer of excellent news at her recent concert in Tulsa, Okla, with the singer-songwriter helping an expecting fan announce her pregnancy to her friends and family by filming an adorable video mid-show.
In a clip posted after Ballerini’s Saturday (April 5) performance at BOK Center Arena, the country star holds up the fan’s phone in selfie-mode while on stage and says into her microphone, “Hello, my name is Kelsea Ballerini, and I’m here to tell you that Maddy’s pregnant!”
Ballerini then pans the camera over to Maddy standing in the audience as the mom-to-be waves excitedly. “And she’s due in November? She’s due in November!” the “Peter Pan” musician continues as the crowd at the arena erupts in applause.
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Maddy also shared a video of how the sweet moment came to be. Between songs, Ballerini had been interacting with fans in the crowd when Maddy’s sign — which read “Can you help me announce my pregnancy?” — caught her eye. “Yes. Yes,” Ballerini said immediately, her eyes widening with excitement.
The Tulsa show marked one of the final performances on Ballerini’s first-ever arena tour. She now has just a few shows left, including stops in South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Toronoto.
And though you wouldn’t be able to guess from how comfortably she chatted with fans in the pregnancy-reveal video, the vocalist recently opened up about how challenging she used to find speaking to be during shows. “My biggest fear was talking on stage, to the point where I would literally get on my laptop and have the set list up, and I would type out word-for-word exactly what I was going to say and when I was going to say it every night,” she said in her April 1 People cover story.
“This tour, I’ve done none of that, and it’s just been so freeing,” she continued. “If I feel like talking, I’ll talk for 10 minutes and read signs and get people’s stories and stuff like that. And I don’t have a certain way that I set up certain songs. I follow the night and I follow what’s impacting me in the moment. It’s kept me really present for each show, and it also helps me remember each show.”
Watch Ballerini help announce a fan’s pregnancy at her Tulsa concert below.
Preme, one of Drake‘s oldest friends and collaborators, has weighed in on the recent success of the Toronto rapper’s song “Nokia.” He recently tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s Top 100: Global chart showing that “Nokia” has taken over the No. 1 spot, beating out Kendrick and SZA‘s “Luther,” and proclaimed that Drake is here to […]
Corey Taylor is part of the “Pink Pony Club.” The Slipknot frontman took the stage at horror and pop culture convention SPOOKALA, where he performed a 14-song set on Saturday (April 5), according to Kerrang!. He included a series of covers during his performance, ranging from Foo Fighters and Violent Femmes tracks to the SpongeBob […]
50 Cent is welcoming Eminem into life as a grandpa. The G-Unit boss congratulated Em on becoming a grandpa on social media over the weekend after the Detroit legend’s daughter, Hailie Jade, revealed she gave birth to her son in March. “Congratulations This is the best WOW,” 50 wrote to X on April 5 alongside […]
Ed Sheeran‘s been making music long enough to know that not everyone’s going to be a fan of what he puts out — and the same goes for his new song, “Azizam.”
After one reviewer had a particularly harsh assessment of the carefree dance track, which dropped Friday (April 4), the singer-songwriter shared a hilarious, brief response before keeping it moving. The critic — a popular TikToker who shares thoughts on music and pop culture under the name The Swiftologist — had blasted “Azizam” in a recent video, calling the track “the same f–k-ng thing” as many of Sheeran’s past hits.
“‘Shivers,’ ‘Bad Habits’ and ‘Shape of You’ are all the same song [as ‘Azizam’], and they’re all so f—ing annoying,” he’d continued. “There has been no evolution from 2016. I feel like I’m going crazy … I’ll never get these two minutes of my life back.”
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The Swiftologist, whose real name is Zachary, also criticized the four-time Grammy winner’s songwriting style as a whole in the video. “The songs are good in the way that, I don’t know, heroin is good for people,” he’d added. “It’s addictive in a way that is not supposed to be good for the human brain. The way that he writes songs with the specific intention for them to be hits, he is soulless.”
So, how did Sheeran react? “lol,” the musician simply wrote in the comments.
For what it’s worth, Zachary offered in response to Sheeran’s reply: “King I’m so sorry. But we need to come up with something else.”
It’s certainly not the first time someone has critiqued the British superstar’s songwriting, and with Sheeran recently announcing plans to release at least five more albums in the coming years, it won’t be the last. In March, he appeared on The Tonight Show and revealed that his next album, Play — for which “Azizam” serves as the lead single — will be followed by LPs titled Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.
The series mirrors the sequence of Sheeran’s first five albums, which fit a mathematics theme: + (2011), x (2014), ÷ (2017), = (2021) and – (2023). And though critics such as Zachary may not be a fan of the musician’s catalog, a lot of other people are; all five of the aforementioned LPs reached the top 5 of the Billboard 200, while nine songs spread out across those albums have charted in the Billboard Hot 100‘s top 10.
See The Swiftologist’s review of “Azizam” — and look for Sheeran’s comment — below.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura will testify against him under her real name at his looming sex trafficking and racketeering trial, according to new court filings.
Ventura, whose civil rape lawsuit triggered the rapper’s downfall, will not use the pseudonym “Victim-1” when she takes the stand at his May trial and will instead “testify under her own name,” federal prosecutors told a judge in filings on Friday (April 4). But three other alleged victims of Combs should remain anonymous in court filings and at the trial, prosecutors wrote.
“This case has already received an exceptional amount of media coverage, which will presumably only increase as trial proceeds,” the government lawyers wrote. “Permitting these measures will prevent unnecessary public disclosure of the victims’ identities, and the harassment from the media and others, undue embarrassment, and other adverse consequences.”
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Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But in November 2023, Cassie filed a civil lawsuit claiming he had repeatedly physically abused her over the course of their decade-long relationship, including one instance of rape. That case quickly ended with a settlement, but it sparked a cascade of allegations that has not yet stopped.
In September, Combs was indicted on charges that he misused the “employees, resources, and influence” of his business empire to “fulfill his sexual desires.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
Since filing her civil lawsuit under her real name, Cassie has been known as one of Combs’ accusers, but she has been listed in court documents only as “Victim-1.” The identities of three other women cited in court documents as Victim-2, Victim-3, and Victim-4 remain unknown.
In Friday’s filing, prosecutors said they wanted to keep it that way. They cited recent cases against R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and others in which judges allowed alleged victims to remain anonymous.
“The practice of allowing alleged victims of sexual abuse to testify under a pseudonym has been widely permitted because requiring alleged victims to publicly provide their names could chill their willingness to testify for fear of having their personal histories publicized and may cause further harassment or embarrassment,” prosecutors wrote. “There is no reason for this Court to deviate from that well-established practice here.”
Lizzo is gearing up to release her next album Love in Real Life, and she’s reflecting on the mental health break and journey she had leading up to the album.
The star joined the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, where she discussed taking a “gap year” in releasing music. “I don’t feel like I’ve expressed myself fully in the last two years, like how I want to. I feel like I’ve been kind of holding my tongue and like staying to myself, but I think that it’s for the best because you know, running your mouth these days,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just unnecessary and sometimes it can get you into some stuff you wasn’t even trying to get into because people will misinterpret it and run with it. I found when I was like, I’m taking a gap year, I’m protecting my peace. But like, people were like, wait, so what’s that supposed to mean?”
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Lizzo has already released two songs from her upcoming album, “Still Bad” and the title track. Aside from “Pink” for Greta Gerwig’s 2023 Barbie soundtrack, the first singles from the project mark the Yitty founder’s first proper releases since 2022’s Special, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned two-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “About Damn Time.”
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It also marks her first album since the harassment lawsuit brought by three of her former dancers in August 2023.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, accuses Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of a wide range of legal wrongdoing and included dozens of pages of detailed allegations. Lizzo denied the claims in a response shared to Twitter, calling them “false allegations” and “sensationalized stories.”
Lizzo told Shetty of public perception, “I think when it was out of my control and someone else could tell a story about me that wasn’t true and people believed it, it crushed me,” before adding, “I think what I learned about fame is, even if that’s really me, it just becomes kind of like a, a fictional story that you, it’s a character, it’s a brand, it’s a thing that now doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
She continued, “Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me. And that disconnect is depressing. And I think the only remedy to that is continuing to be myself. That’s the time. I just have to continue to be me and people will see me for who I am.”
Ultimately, Lizzo concluded, “I’m never gonna stop… If anything, I’m more careful now. I can’t just let any author into my life who can make me a villain. I can’t do that anymore. ’cause I’m the author and I. Taking back my narrative by continuing to tell my story from me, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that.”
Watch the full episode below.