Music

22 Jul 2024

Watch Influencer Harry Daniels Sing Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ to an Unsuspecting Kamala Harris

It’s been less than a day since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and subsequently endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to take his place. Harry Daniels, however, was already on top of doing what he does best — surprise-serenading celebrities.

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The influencer took to social media on Monday (July 22) to share a video in which he sees “Ms. VP” Harris in a hallway, and begins singing the opening lines of Beyoncé’s “Formation” to her. “Y’all haters corny with that Illuminati mess / Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh / I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress,” he belts to the Democratic politician, who watched in surprise.

The song choice made sense, as Harris is an outspoken Beyoncé fan, having attended her Renaissance tour last summer and even walked out to the superstar’s “Freedom” during her campaign staff meeting earlier this morning.

“Uh, hi,” Harris tells Daniels while giggling, before being escorted out of the room. “Who is that guy?” the vice president is heard hilariously asking her team before the clip cuts. It’s hardly Daniels’ first time singing to politicians, as he’s previously graced President Biden with a rendition of Lana Del Rey’s “National Anthem” and former President Barack Obama with Halsey’s “New Americana.”

Since Biden’s endorsement of Harris, countless party members, public figures and voters alike provided an outpouring of support for the attorney-turned-politician’s last-minute campaign, which raised more than $50 million in fundraising less than a day after it launched. “On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country,” Harris wrote in a public response to the news. “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.”

Watch Daniels serenade Harris below.

22 Jul 2024

Kamala Harris Walks Out to Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ During Campaign Staff Meeting

All eyes have been on Vice President Kamala Harris since President Joe Biden announced on Sunday (July 21) that he’s dropping out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsing Harris to run in his place as the Democratic nominee. On Monday (July 22), when she appeared in a campaign staff meeting in Wilmington, Del., Harris boldly walked out to Beyoncé‘s “Freedom.”

“Freedom,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, was featured on Beyoncé’s 2016 Billboard 200-topping album Lemonade. It earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for best rap/sung performance, while Lemonade won best urban contemporary album and was up for album of the year and best music film.

While Beyoncé has not publicly endorsed or commented on Harris’ presidential campaign, her mother Tina Knowles has. “New, Youthful, Sharp , , energy !!!! You asked for it and our President Biden did what was best for the country ! Putting personal Ego , power and fame aside . That is the definition of a great leader, . Thank you, President Biden for your service and your leadership . Go Vice President Kamala Harris for President. Let’s Go #kamala2024,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday, featuring a photo of her with the VP at her daughter’s Renaissance World Tour.

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Harris attended the show at Landover’s FedEx Field last August with her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, last August, and according to financial disclosure reports released in May, Beyoncé gifted them two tickets that were valued at $1655.92, per NBC News. 

Watch Harris walk out to “Freedom” around the 5:23 mark and exit to the same song around the 25:14 mark below.



22 Jul 2024

Post Malone & Luke Combs Announce ‘Guy for That’ Collaboration, Release Date

Post Malone has steadily been showcasing new music from his upcoming country album F-1 Trillion (out Aug. 16), and piling up country collaborations over the past several weeks. He previously earned a six-week No. 1 hit on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 with the Morgan Wallen collab “I Had Some Help” and teamed with Blake Shelton for the song “Pour Me a Drink.”

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Now, Post Malone and two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Luke Combs are set to release a new collaboration, “Guy for That,” on Friday (July 26).

Post Malone first teased a clip of the song on social media back in February. Earlier this week, Post Malone and Combs surprised fans by filming what seemed to be portions of a music video for the song. Wearing a hat emblazoned with “Dolly Parton Fan Club,” Posty joined Combs on a flatbed trailer, performing the song together as cameras rolled and the trailer made its way through downtown Nashville‘s Broadway.

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Earlier this week, Post Malone shared more of his country connections by teaming with Bud Light for “A Night in Nashville,” an intimate concert held at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, where Post welcomed not only Shelton, but also Joe Nichols, HARDY and Sierra Ferrell to preview more new music, including a version of Posty’s “Never Love Again” with Ferrell, “Would You Hide My Gun” with HARDY, and tender new solo song Post Malone dedicated to his daughter, called “Yours.”

He also teamed with Shelton for a performance during CMA Fest in June and in June, teamed with Lainey Wilson, Ashley Gorley and Ernest for a songwriters’ round at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe.

See the clip of “Guy For That” below:

22 Jul 2024

Jerry Fuller, Songwriter-Producer Whose Hits Spanned Decades & Genres, Dies at 85

Jerry Fuller, who wrote and/or produced hits that spanned decades and genres, died of lung cancer on Thursday (July 18) at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 85.

Fuller wrote two songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Ricky Nelson’s “Travelin’ Man” in 1961 and Al Wilson’s “Show and Tell” in 1974. He also produced the latter song, which in addition to topping the Hot 100 reached No. 10 on what was then known as Billboard‘s Best Selling Soul Singles.

He also wrote Nelson’s “A Wonder Like You,” his follow-up to “Travelin’ Man,” which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100, as well as two subsequent Nelson singles that went top 10: “Young World” (No. 5) and “It’s Up to You” (No. 6).

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Fuller had another solid run of hits in 1968 with Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. He wrote the group’s punchy pop hits “Young Girl” and “Lady Willpower,” which spent a combined five weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100, and the mellower, adult contemporary-oriented “Over You,” which reached No. 7. All three of those singles went gold.

“What can I say about a guy whose vision defined my musical identity and destiny,” Puckett said in a statement in the wake of Fuller’s death. “What can ANYONE say about a man who gave SO much to SO many through his talents and efforts in the world of music. Thank you, Jerry! The world was a better place with you in it.”

Fuller was born in Fort Worth, Texas on Nov. 19, 1938, and moved to Los Angeles in early 1959. In 1960, while touring with The Champs (best known for their 1958 smash “Tequila”), Fuller got to know Glen Campbell, who remained a lifelong friend.

Early in his career, Fuller worked as a demo singer, which led to a recording and songwriting contract with Gene Autry’s Four Star Music and Challenge Records.

Fuller had four Hot 100 hits as an artist from 1959-61, the highest-charting of which (a rockabilly cover version of the standard “Tennessee Waltz”) reached No. 61. But he had far more success working with other artists. He originally wrote “Travelin’ Man” for Sam Cooke — it has the pop flavor of such Cooke hits of the period as “Only Sixteen,” “Wonderful World” and Cupid” — but it made its way to Nelson instead.

Fuller was unique among writer/producers in that he also produced songs he didn’t write, including O.C. Smith’s recording of Bobby Russell’s “Little Green Apples,” which reached No. 2 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard‘s Best Selling Rhythm & Blues Singles (as the chart was then known) in 1968.

He also produced but did not write Gary Puckett & the Union Gap’s breakthrough hit “Woman, Woman” (which was written by Jim Glaser and Jimmy Payne); Mark Lindsay’s solo hits “Arizona” and “Silver Bird” (which were written by Kenny Young, the latter in tandem with Artie Butler); and The Knickerbockers’ 1965 hit “Lies” (which was written by Beau Charles and Buddy Randell).

The power-pop hit “Lies,” which has the energy of Beatles hits of the era, also underscores Fuller’s range. From power-pop to ballads; from pop/soul to country, his hits defied easy categorization.

In the early ’90s, Fuller co-produced (with John Hobbs) Collin Raye’s “Love, Me,” which topped Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs for three weeks in early 1992. The song brought Raye, Fuller and Hobbs a nomination for single of the year at the 1991 CMA Awards.

Elsewhere, Fuller also wrote numerous country hits for Ray Price, including “That’s All She Wrote,” “To Make a Long Story Short” and “Feet.”

In the 1970s, Fuller formed his own companies, Moonchild Productions In. and Fullness Music Company.

Fuller was never personally nominated for a Grammy, though some of the records he worked on were. And, somewhat surprisingly, he was not inducted into either the Songwriters Hall of Fame or the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. But he wrote and/or produced many songs that are fondly remembered.

Fuller is survived by his wife, the former Annette Smerigan, and their two children, Adam Lee and Anna Nicole.

22 Jul 2024

Travis Kelce’s ‘Stache Is a Throwback to His First Time Meeting Taylor Swift

El Travador is back.

Travis Kelce recently stepped out rocking a mustache for the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp this week, marking the same facial hair look he had when he first began dating Taylor Swift last summer. “The return of El Travador,” the NFL team captioned a video of the tight end, who’s seen walking in his 87 jersey, Nike Jordan 1 football cleats and the new facial hair look.

“I’ll tell you what that ‘stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a bit. “I had it when I met Taylor for the first time,” Kelce previously shared during a press conference in October 2023.

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The New Heights host has been to more than a dozen Eras Tour concerts since he first came to one of her Kansas City shows last summer. Prior to Swift’s stops in Germany, he attended her concert in Amsterdam with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, as well as made a surprise onstage cameo in London.

The athlete made his Eras Tour stage debut at the start of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” The Kansas City Chiefs tight end carried an exhausted Swift to the couch on set in the over-the-top final act of her Tortured Poets extravaganza.

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22 Jul 2024

Drake Fans Respond With ‘Family Matters’ Video Game Targeting Kendrick Lamar

On the heels of Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us: The Game arriving last week, Drake fans wasted no time in responding to drop, drop, drop, a video game celebrating “Family Matters.”

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An X account surfaced on Monday (July 22) for Family Matters The Game seemingly targeting Kendrick Lamar for OVO fans.

The video game is essentially inspired by Drake’s “Family Matters” bars making fun of K. Dot’s inclination to win Grammy Awards. “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now,” he raps on the scathing diss.

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The point of the game is to shoot as many Grammy Award trophies into Kendrick’s mouth as possible. As the levels go up, so does the game’s difficulty with Kendrick’s head moving from side-to-side with a digitized version of the “Family Matters” instrumental playing in the background.

“Made by some real ones to prove a point. That Not Like us game was trash. KBots backdooring the plays like Kendrick’s Spotify, haha,” the game’s credits state while insinuating that Lamar’s streams were artificially boosted in his war with Drake.

As of press time, Family Matters The Game‘s high score is listed at 19 by a user named Ron. “Let’s see if @Complex ,@XXL and all the other site run with the Family Matters Game like they did the other game. Someone send this ish to @Akademiks,” the game’s X account added.

Drake fans seemed to find the game amusing. “Nah this is hilarious whoever made this,” one person wrote. Anyone who thought the pettiness from both fan bases was going to die down appears to be mistaken.

Although, it’s been two different stories on the Billboard Hot 100. On last week’s chart — dated July 20 — K. Dot’s “Not Like Us” returned to No. 1 while “Family Matters” has fallen off the chart completely.

Drake delivered the eviscerating “Family Matters” on May 4 in what he thought would be a three-part kill shot on Lamar. However, Kendrick smothered Drizzy’s momentum with the diabolical “Meet The Grahams” just mere minutes later, which cleared the way for “Not Like Us” to be the true knockout punch.

Play Family Matters The Game here.

22 Jul 2024

Frank Ocean & Michael Uzowuru Have Been Working on New Music Together

The New York Times profiled producer Michael Uzowuru recently and in the article, they talked about his relationship with Frank Ocean. Uzowuru, who has been affiliated with the Odd Future crew since around 2009, worked on Frank’s last two albums, Endless and Blonde, and more recently they’ve been in Miami making new music together.

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“Me and Michael’s careers exist post hip-hop — that genre, that culture, informs both of us greatly, but his appetite has grown; his vocabulary, musically, has grown so much over the time that I’ve known him,” Ocean told NYT over the phone.

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Along with Rick Rubin, Uzowuru is someone the singer turns to when he has writer’s block. “Michael is a friend I talk to about where I’m at artistically very often.” Ocean also mentioned how it was his friend who he called when he was trying to figure out Blonde standout “Nights,” revealing, “I had all these ways of describing what the album was missing. Ultimately, I had to write it, I had to do it. But it did start in conversation with [Michael].”

The duo are much more than collaborators, though, and are closer to family. “I couldn’t love him or care about him more,” Uzowuru told NYT. “I’m very grateful for him as a person outside of the work, so it doesn’t matter if we work. I don’t need to work with him, because it’s so much bigger. He’s separate from everyone else. He’s family.”

Frank Ocean hasn’t released an album since dropping both Endless and Blonde in 2016. The last time we heard from him was when he gave us the two loosies “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in 2020.

22 Jul 2024

Lupe Fiasco Clears the Air on Rumored Kendrick Lamar Rift: ‘I Never Said I Don’t Like Him’

A contingent of fans are still convinced that there is static between hip-hop titans Kendrick Lamar and Lupe Fiasco.

During an all-encompassing Twitter Spaces over the weekend, Lupe cleared the air about not having any issues with the “Not Like Us” rapper.

“I’m a Kendrick fan for more than his music,” the Chicago rap dignitary responded to a fan. “I like his creativity and conceptualization. And the decisions that he makes. I also like his impact into the culture for Black folks. I like that he inspires Black folks. That’s why I never said I don’t like him.”

Lupe continued: “Cus even if I don’t like all his songs or listen to all his songs — and same thing with Drake — I understand their impact into the culture and I would never, ever, ever — because for me it’s us first — ever, ever, disparage.”

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The “Kick, Push” rapper implored the agitated fan to pull up receipts regarding an instance in the past that he showcased distain for Lamar.

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“I don’t have a problem with dude. Show me where I’ve explicitly said I don’t like him. Show me that. Then we can move on.”

However, Lupe did admit he was envious of the creative environment that Top Dawg Entertainment fostered for artists.

“One thing that I wish I had. This is me being open and vulnerable that I’ve always looked at like, ‘Man, I wish I had that.’ I wish I had that creative space that they created at TDE, he said. “When I say wish I had, I wish I had it back. When we first started rocking, that was our thing.”

Lupe added some context around a 2014 Hot 97 interview: “I was so happy that those things exist. Even in that Peter Rosenberg interview, where I called Peter Rosenberg a nut-hugger very jovially was that the thing that I do admire and wished I was a part of was that creative piece. “

Back in 2018, Lupe said Kendrick wasn’t a “top-tier lyricist.” “I’ll put it to you like this. K. Dot is not a top tier lyricist to me and my standards when it comes to punchlines and bars. His overall lyrics are good, his stories phenomenal, but punchline entendre lyrically I don’t see it,” he wrote in a series of tweets captured by REVOLT. He later apologized for causing a stir with Lamar.

Lupe continued: “Also the only issue that the world thinks I have with K. Dot and I actually do is that I think his ‘Control’ verse was wack and super overhyped to be a verse claiming you are the best rapper. It was very weird. I was told it was just bait, but still.”

The claims resurfaced in April when Complex compiled a list of rappers that have apologized to Kendrick Lamar following J. Cole’s apology to the rapper. “Relax yo,” Lupe clapped back at Complex. “I wasn’t apologizing to him… Keep my name clean…I fear no rapper of any kind or on anytime. K dot solid but y’all need to chill lol.”

In a separate part of the Twitter Spaces, Lupe Fiasco took issue with some of hip-hop’s gatekeepers and thinks those involved should have some form of a PhD in the genre.

“If you want to start who is in and who is out, a process which I don’t agree with, and I think is bulls–t, if you want to do that you should have a degree,” he said. “You should have a PhD in hip-hop. If you ain’t got that, then I don’t think that you are qualified to and have the right to speak on of hip-hop.”

Lupe has stayed busy on the music side this year, as he returned with his Soundtrakk-produced Samurai project in June.

22 Jul 2024

Lady Gaga Spotted in Paris Amid Rumors She’s Performing at Olympics Opening Ceremony

Lady Gaga has arrived in Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympics, and fans think she’s there for more than the croissants.

On Monday (July 22), the pop superstar was photographed waving and blowing kisses to fans in the City of Light as she stood next to her car, dressed in a low-key baseball cap, sunglasses and leathery jacket. A fan video captures Gaga greeting admirers while peeking out of the vehicle’s sunroof, holding up a hand heart.

The sighting comes a few days after the Olympics appeared to tease a special guest at the 2024 Opening Ceremony, which kicks off Friday (July 26), by posting a cryptic video featuring a person in disguise that many thought to be the 13-time Grammy winner. In the clip, a hooded figure tightens their metallic belt and wraps a large flag with the ancient sporting event’s logo on it around their shoulders as a cape.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” the video teases. “See you on 26 July.”

“I told y’all this [was] GAGA,” one fan wrote of the clip on X after photos of the singer in Paris surfaced.

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“gaga probably gonna perform LG7 lead at the olympics girl we are SOOO back,” another person tweeted.

Gaga’s trip to France comes in the midst of her teasing that her upcoming seventh album is in the works. A few days prior, she shared photos from the studio and wrote, “Happy as ever making music … feel so grateful, heart is peaceful. It’s like meditation. I can’t wait for you to hear what I’m working on.”

The star is also closing in on the release of Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she stars as Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role. A teaser trailer for the dark movie musical dropped earlier this year, promising an Oct. 4 theatrical release date.

See clips of Gaga in Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympics below.

22 Jul 2024

Here’s What M. Night Shyamalan Has to Say About Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Sixth Sense’ Lyrics

M. Night Shyamalan’s breakout film The Sixth Sense — which became an instant pop-culture phenomenon when it was released in 1999 — finds itself in the conversation once again thanks to Kendrick Lamar.

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The Compton rapper referenced the movie twice during his rap battle with Drake. First, on “Euphoria,” Kendrick raps, “Am I battlin’ ghosts or AI? N—as feelin’ like [Haley] Joel Osteen/ Funny, he was in a film called A.I./ And my Sixth Sense tellin’ me to off him.” He then begins his knockout blow “Not Like Us” with the movie’s iconic line: “I see dead people.”

Shyamalan appeared on Way Up With Angela Yee with his daughter Saleka, a singer and actress who’s making her acting debut in her father’s upcoming film Trap. When asked about Kendrick’s references, the filmmaker mentioned that they are already familiar with each other. “We kind of lightly know each other, and I did know [he was a fan],” Shyamalan said of Lamar. “He’s very gracious with me, and I love him.”

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The director then revealed that someone in his office had first told him about the “Euphoria” reference, saying, “The first song ends with it,” Shyamalan recalled. “So someone in the office was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick just dropped something and it references one of your [movies].’ I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ That was before everything blew up.”

M. Night Shyamalan’s other daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan made her directorial debut earlier this year with the release of horror film The Watchers in February.

Trap stars Josh Hartnett who plays a serial killer trapped at a Lady Raven (played by Saleka) concert with his daughter as authorities zero in on him.

Trap hits theaters Aug. 2.