Music

18 Jan 2024

Renee Rapp Reveals She Got a ‘Little Scar’ From Her Viral Birthday Fall

This year is less than a month old, but Reneé Rapp is already knocking fans off their feet – and herself, literally – in 2024. And in between the release of Mean Girls and her upcoming appearance on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, the rising superstar stopped by Late Night on Wednesday (Jan. 17) to chat with Seth Meyers about her accomplishments, along with the recent viral moment she wiped out on the sidewalk on her birthday. 

“It was literally painful,” Rapp said as Meyers held up a photo of her scraped knee, followed by paparazzi snaps in Page Six of the “Snow Angel” singer taking a spill with a bottle of champagne in hand.  

“I was walking out and I was like, ‘It’s my f—king birthday,’” recalled Rapp, who turned 24 on Jan. 10. “I was like, ‘Who’s coming for me right now? Nobody.’ Mind you, I ended up coming for myself.” 

“It’s a sign I’m gonna have a great year,” she added, smiling. “I have a little scar.” 

Rapp, who’s fresh off the release of “Not My Fault” with Megan Thee Stallion for the soundtrack of the Mean Girls movie musical adaptation – in which the Broadway vet also stars – will make her SNL debut as musical guest on Saturday (Jan. 20). Earlier this week, it was announced that Rapp would perform at this year’s Coachella, billed just under headliners Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat. 

“Chappel Roan is playing and I’m really excited,” she told Meyers. “So is Sabrina Carpenter – my girls are playing I’m very excited to go see them.” 

In addition to her birthday tumble, Rapp has been generating a number of viral clips while promoting Mean Girls on the film’s press junket. In one video, she rants about a “disrespectful” and “misogynistic” tour bus businessman named Buddy as her costar, The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Chris Briney, looks on in disbelief. 

In another recent video from BuzzFeed UK, she gently chides Briney for not recognizing Beyoncé or Lady Gaga in photos from their 2010 music video for “Telephone.” “Oh my– oh my god. Have you ever heard ‘Telephone?’” she asks him as he shakes his head nervously. 

“I’m like, sweating,” Briney tells her. “Am I canceled? Is this it for me?” 

“No you’re not canceled!” she responds, laughing. “You’re just straight, it’s OK.” 

See Rapp on Late Night above and BuzzFeed UK below: 

18 Jan 2024

Earth, Wind & Fire, Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary Lift Their Voices for ‘Super Bowl Soulful Celebration 25th Anniversary’

Earth, Wind & Fire, Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary are the first wave of performers being announced for the Super Bowl Soulful Celebration 25th Anniversary special. CBS will broadcast the one-hour special on Feb. 10 (8 p.m. ET). 

Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and Tichina Arnold, stars of the CBS series The Neighborhood, the special will be taped on Feb. 7 during Super Bowl LVIII week in Las Vegas. The taping will take place at the Pearl Theater in the Palms Casino Resort. Also performing will be The Players Choir. The ensemble of NFL talent has been a staple of the league’s Super Bowl weekend festivities for 16 seasons. Additional Super Bowl Soulful Celebration performers, honorees and partners will be announced in the coming weeks.

In addition, three NFL players will be saluted for their achievements on and off the field during the special. The honorees include Dallas Cowboys quarterback Rayne “Dak” Prescott (Faith In Action Award), Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (New Beginnings Award) and Dallas Cowboys linebacker Markquese Bell (HBCU Player of the Year).

The Super Bowl Soulful Celebration 25th Anniversary is executive produced by Melanie Few, with Valarie Benning Thompson as producer. Television veteran Leon Knoles will direct, while four-time Grammy nominee Adam Blackstone will serve as music director.

Launched in 1999 during Super Bowl XXXIII, the Super Bowl Soulful Celebration was formerly known as the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. Over the last 25 years, the annual NFL-sanctioned program has welcomed performers such as Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, Fantasia and Gladys Knight. Previous NFL honorees include Deion Sanders, Ray Lewis and Troy Vincent. For tickets and more information, visit SuperBowlSoulful.com.

18 Jan 2024

With Debut Album, Brittney Spencer Forges Her Own Path — But Not Alone: ‘This Is a Very Collaborative Record’

Nearly three years after Brittney Spencer first caught Nashville’s attention after posting a cover of The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table” on social media, Spencer is fully coming into her own with her debut full-length album My Stupid Life, out Friday (Jan. 19) on Elektra.

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But that doesn’t mean she’s putting the spotlight solely on herself.

“This was a very collaborative record for me,” she tells Billboard, seated on a couch in the Nashville office of her management company, Activist Artists Management.

On My Stupid Life, Spencer welcomes several in her creative community who have championed her along the way. Jason Isbell lends guitar to “First Car Feeling” and “Reaching Out,” while Grace Potter, Maren Morris, Abbey Cone and Sarah Buxton offer up backing vocals on various tracks including “I Got Time,” “Deeper” and “If You Say So”.

In an industry where women artists are seemingly set against each other in a fight for scant radio airplay, Spencer’s new album feels like not only a conduit for her own thunderous artistry, but a celebration of likeminded friends, fellow artists and supporters.

“People always will try to pit somebody against someone else and compare, and all of that stuff is the thief of creativity — and so to be able to push back and be like, ‘No, that’s not my narrative, that’s not what’s happening…’ I just think it’s beautiful,” Spencer says.

My Stupid Life follows her two previous EPs, 2020’s Compassion and 2022’s If I Ever Get There: A Day at Blackbird Studio. Spencer, who recently signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, co-wrote every song on the new album, each one unearthing a new layer in personality and perspective. “The Last Time” depicts hard-fought love lessons, while “Deeper” looks at the yin-and-yang of yearning for love while fearing heartbreak. Throughout is a periphery-expanding mix of pop, country, R&B and rock.

At a label exec’s suggestion, Spencer worked with producer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town) on most of the album, with additional production from  Marcus “MarcLo” Lomax and Romil Hemnani. The album mixes newer and older compositions, including several Spencer crafted on writing trips in Los Angeles.

“I wanted it to be a lot more personal [than the two previous EPs],” Spencer says. “I wanted to put more of my stories and myself, which is challenging for me to do, because I’m not a person who naturally likes to take up space like that. I find so much value in people and in stories. With this album, I wanted to put more of myself and my feelings into it, which is something I’m becoming more comfortable doing. I’m excited for this new chapter, and nervous, and all the things.”

On “New to This Town,” she sketches a journey familiar to many Nashville singer-songwriters, recalling the early days in Music City of songwriters rounds, industry events, networking and honing a craft.

“You move to a new city for your career, and it takes time to find your people,” she says. “If I could go back, I would tell myself to use that time to find more of myself. If you’re not finding your people, at least find yourself.”

The Baltimore native moved to Nashville a decade ago, attending Middle Tennessee State University while busking on the streets of Music City. She grew up inspired by  amultiplicity of sounds, from The Chicks and Faith Hill to Aretha Franklin and Alanis Morrisette. After uploading that cover of “Crowded Table,” The Highwomen members Morris and Amanda Shires not only shared her cover but invited Spencer to open shows for them on tour and to join them on their writing sessions.

The past three years have been marked by many high-profile looks. At the 2021 Country Music Association Awards, Spencer joined Mickey Guyton and Madeline Edwards to perform Guyton’s “Love My Hair.” In 2022, she earned a CMT Music Awards nomination for CMT digital-first performance of the year and an Americana Honors & Awards nomination for emerging artist of the year. She’s been a member of The Highwomen and performed with or opened shows for Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir, Reba McEntire and Isbell. She sang on albums including Isbell’s Georgia Blue, Shires’ Take It Like a Man, and, as part of The Highwomen, recorded on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way: The Tenth Anniversary project. She was also featured in the Amazon Music documentary For Love and Country, which examined race and country music.

In November, Spencer andGuyton backed Morris on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

“That meant the world to me,” Spencer says. “I’ve even explained this to Maren, like, ‘You’re so much further along in your career. You’ve been such a huge support and help to me. I never thought that I’d get to be able to offer any of that.’ It felt like such a rare opportunity where I was like, ‘Wow, I get to be there for you right now.’ She’s been there for me countless times. And I adore Mickey. There is no me here without Mickey and Maren. There just isn’t. There have been specific decisions that I’ve made because of conversations I’ve had with Amanda, Jason Isbell, Mickey, Maren. They have been so helpful — I’ve not had to just guess at the road ahead. I’ve had people around me who have open-heartedly and open-handedly poured into me and cared about me.”

If “New to This Town” recalls a time when Spencer was still finding her way in Music City, “Night In,” written with Jessica Cayne and Summer Overstreet, feels like a joyous, if low-key, ode to friendship. Spencer trades a night out on the town for an evening in pajamas, with good tunes and best friends. Cone, Morris, Guyton and Fancy Hagood join Spencer for a spoken-word intro.

“I hit up everybody and I was like, ‘I want to do this little sketch in the beginning of this song that I’m doing. Would you be down?’ It was so much fun and it was natural. I think it was Abbey and Maren’s first time meeting. Everybody else had known each other already, and so it was really sweet. It was just easy. For that particular moment, I wanted this album to have personality, a certain element that showed who I am as a person.”

The album’s first release, “Bigger Than the Song,” which Spencer wrote with Tofer Brown and Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne, honors the connection that is passed down as one generation of female artists imprints on the next generation through song. Lessons — both life and musical — are soaked in, pondered and refined. Spencer nods to those whose music has influenced her in a myriad of ways, including: McEntire, Franklin, Morrissette, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Morris and Beyonce.

Elsewhere, she describes “I Got Time,” written with Cayne, Nate Campany and Emily Reid, as a throbbing “disco hoedown,” while she turns contemplative and introspective on the solo write “If You Say So,” which was partly inspired by her parents’ marriage and divorce.

“I was trying to put myself in my parents’ shoes,” she says. “They got married when they were young. I think they were both still teenagers and they ended up divorcing early on. I cannot imagine being married with two kids at my age; It feels so impossible in my head. I was just trying to imagine, ‘What does responsibility look like?’ I was also inspired because a lot of my friends get engaged after knowing someone for eight or nine months, and it’s wild for me to think about knowing a person a few months and knowing already that you want to spend your life with them.”

Looking ahead, Spencer, who is booked by UTA, will play Stagecoach later this year, but her aspirations aren’t limited to recording and performing.

“I definitely want to do movies. I want to act and do music for soundtracks,” Spencer says. “I already have folders in my phone with songs I’ve written that I think would go great with different kinds of movies. I want to be the face of beauty brands,” says Spencer, who has already been spotlighted in the Victoria’s Secret “Undefinable” campaign.

But currently, her focus is on further cementing her place in country music and beyond. “I’m exploring, but I do know where I am musically, and I know where I want to be and where I want to go.”

18 Jan 2024

Norah Jones Announces ‘Visions’ Album, Spring 2024 U.S. Tour

Norah Jones revealed the title of her upcoming ninth studio album, Visions, on Thursday (Jan. 18), as well as the 12-song collection’s bubbling first single, “Running.” The Blue Note album from the 9-time Grammy winner is due out on March 8 and was recorded with producer/multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels (El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings), who also co-wrote the single, on which he plays drums and baritone sax.

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“From the first time I felt the click in my heart/ I keep running, oh I keep running away/ Try to sleep but the aching tears me apart/ I keep running, oh I keep running away,” Jones sings breathily on the slow-rolling, meditative pop tune spiked with her signature piano playing.

“The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep, and ‘Running’ was one of them where you’re half asleep and kind of jolted awake,” Jones said in a statement that describes the album as “vibrant and joyous,” while tapping into “feeling free, wanting to dance, making it right, and acceptance of what life brings.”

In her statement, Jones added, “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that’s where he’s coming from, but also not overly perfected.”

Visions is the follow-up to Pick Me Up Off the Floor, Jones’ last album of new songs, which was released early in the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

In addition to the album, Jones also announced the dates for her 9-show 2024 spring East Coast U.S. tour, which is slated to kick off with a May 6 show at MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston and wind down on June 30 on the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Watch the “Running” video and see Jone’s tour dates and the Visions track list below.

Visions track list:

“All This Time”

“Staring at the Wall”

“Paradise”

“Visions”

“Running”

“I Just Wanna Dance”

“I’m Awake”

“Swept Up in the Night”

“On My Way”

“Alone With My Thoughts”

“That’s Life”

Spring 2024 U.S. tour dates:

May 6 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway

May 7 – Poughkeepsie, NY @ Bardavon 1869 Opera House

May 10 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre

May 13 – Washington, DC @ Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia

May 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount

May 19 – New York, NY @ Apollo Theater

May 24 – Napa, CA @ BottleRock Napa Valley

June 30 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival

18 Jan 2024

Chartbreaker: There’s No ‘Wondering Why’ The Red Clay Strays Are Positioned for Their Biggest Year Yet

In 2019, Alabama-born country–rock quintet The Red Clay Strays were plugging away at building a core fan base, playing small clubs and festivals around the Southeastern United States in hopes of exposure. “We were a bar band at the time, playing honky-tonks [with] no stability, really just chasing the dream,” harmonicist/guitarist/vocalist Drew Nix says. In the same breath, he acknowledges the toll such commitment took on their romantic partners. “We were like, ‘Our women have the short end of the stick of this. I wonder why they even like us.’”

The notion led Nix and the group’s lead singer Brandon Coleman, along with songwriter Dan Couch, to write “Wondering Why,” the band’s breakthrough hit from their 2022 album Moment of Truth, putting them on the mainstream map.

The bluesy romantic ballad depicts a committed, if unlikely, love story between an upper-class woman and a working-class man. (“I don’t know what happened, but it sure don’t add up on paper/ But when I close my eyes late at night, you can bet I thank my maker,” Coleman croons in the opening verse.) More than a year after its release, “Wondering Why” made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 — in late December, no less, even amid the typical influx of holiday songs on the all-genre chart. Now, the band’s first entry rises to a new No. 71 high on charts dated Jan. 20 as it builds at radio and streaming.

Composed of Coleman, Nix, Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass) and John Hall (drums), The Red Clay Strays have been making music since 2016, with most of the group meeting during college or through prior gigs. Crafting an amalgam of rockabilly, gospel, soul, blues and hints of country, Coleman’s barrel-chested vocal and 1950s Johnny Cash-meets-Jerry Lee Lewis onstage aesthetic shape what he refers to as “non-denominational rock’n’roll.”

While crafting its sound in the local circuit, the independent band began to add pieces to its team, including Conway Entertainment Group’s Cody Payne as manager. He first met the group in 2019 as a booking agent and later began working with the group through the company’s management arm, Ontourage Management. As his position continued to grow, so did the group’s fan base within the community and online: by the time the members felt ready to record a debut album, Payne played an instrumental role in igniting crowdfunding efforts to help with the financial struggles of paying for studio time.

“I built it on their website, straight PayPal,” Payne says. Despite not having an official monetary goal in mind, he recalls thinking that $30,000 would be enough to get the job done — and was floored as the total quickly soared past that number. “The first week we did over $50,000; by the end of it we had about $60,000.”

Red Clay Strays, Chartbreaker

The Red Clay Strays

Macie B. Coleman

Red Clay Strays, Chartbreaker

The Red Clay Strays

Macie B. Coleman

Using analog methods at a Huntsville, Ala. studio, the band spent just over a week creating Moment of Truth, which was subsequently self-released in April 2022. Though it was initially met with tepid commercial returns, at the start of the following year, Payne hired Coleman’s younger brother, Matthew — who is also one of the band’s primary songwriters — as a videographer to help grow The Red Clay Strays’ online presence. The band also signed with WME for booking representation in January 2023, and within the span of a few months, announced a series of high-profile opening gigs for Elle King, Eric Church and Dierks Bentley.

In May, the band began taking meetings with a handful of labels, with the members parsing the decision of whether to sign or remain independent — until they met with Thirty Tigers co-founder/president David Macias. “It just made more sense for us,” Coleman says. “Instead of giving us the dog and pony show, David gave us straight advice. There was no pitch. That’s what I wanted to hear. If I’m betting on anybody, I’m betting on us every time.” By September, following months of touring festivals including Lollapalooza and CMA Fest, The Red Clay Strays had officially signed to Thirty Tigers.

With Matthew’s help, the band began to upload an influx of clips, largely consisting of live performances, to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. “He was putting out reels and social numbers kept going up,” Payne says. “Wondering Why” has soundtracked more than 71,000 TikTok videos to date, along with a lyric video for the song that has compiled more than 2.5 million YouTube views.

In the time since, “Wondering Why” has grown across formats and genres: on charts dated Jan. 20, the breakthrough hit holds at highs on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts, reaches a new No. 19 best on Adult Alternative Airplay and sits at No. 22 on Hot Country Songs. Labels have again reached out, says Payne, though the band has no plans to move from Thirty Tigers.

Additionally, despite plans to release a follow-up project by early summer, the recent chart success has spurred second thoughts to “let ‘Wondering Why’ and Moment of Truth breathe a bit,” Payne adds. When the new album does arrive, it’ll boast production from Dave Cobb, thanks to Conway Entertainment Group’s Brandon Mauldin setting things in motion with mutual connection Shooter Jennings. “Since we’ve started, the goal from day one was to work with Dave Cobb,” Coleman says. “The fact that it actually happened is surreal.”

Red Clay Strays, Chartbreaker

The Red Clay Strays

Macie B. Coleman

Red Clay Strays, Chartbreaker

From left: Drew Nix, John Hall, Brandon Coleman, Andrew Bishop and Zach Rishel of The Red Clay Strays with their manager Cody Payne (third from left) in Red Rocks, CO.

Macie B. Coleman

In the meantime, the band will continue its Way Too Long headlining tour, in addition to more festival dates, including Boston Calling and Hinterland. Coleman knows as the hype for “Wondering Why” mounts, so too may the pressure to follow it up while the iron is hot — but he’s keeping his cool amid the band’s breakthrough moment.

“Everybody yelling at us to play it from the beginning of the show is kind of crazy, but it’s cool. I’m thankful for the recognition, but I always have it in my mind that people [go] viral for a month or two, then the next thing comes along.”

A version of this story will appear in the Jan. 27, 2024, issue of Billboard.

18 Jan 2024

Flo Milli Crowns TikTok Billboard Top 50 With ‘Never Lose Me’

Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me” snags the No. 1 spot on the Jan. 20-dated TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart in its seventh week on the survey, vaulting 7-1.

The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Jan. 8-14. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

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“Never Lose Me” reigns a month-and-a-half after its Nov. 30, 2023, premiere. Its rise is concurrent with continued gains on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100; it reaches a new peak of No. 42 on the Jan. 20-dated tally on the strength of 9.8 million official chart-eligible U.S. streams (up 11%) and 430,000 radio audience impressions (up 113%), according to Luminate.

As previously covered in articles about the TikTok Billboard Top 50, “Never Lose Me” has sported a variety of trends on TikTok since its release, including one involving creators displaying medals and trophies with captions describing what they got those accolades for, generally tongue-in-cheek (example: having the worst ex). Recently, the sound has also included a bevy of uploads highlighting the song’s “never had a b—h like me” lyric.

“Never Lose Me” takes over from Lesley Gore’s “Misty,” which falls to No. 2 after a weeklong reign. Then comes Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which continues its bound toward the top of the chart, leaping 10-3. Its virality continues to stem from the film in which it’s featured, Saltburn, though usages of the track on TikTok continue to expand past Salburn-specific content.

Like “Never Lose Me,” “Murder on the Dancefloor” is blasting up the Hot 100, zooming 98-58 on the latest survey via 6.3 million streams, 295,000 radio impressions and 4,000 downloads.

Nicki Minaj’s “Everybody” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) and Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine,” both recent stalwarts near the top of the TikTok Billboard Top 50, round out the top five.

One doesn’t need to travel outside the top 10 to find the week’s top debut. That distinction belongs to He Is We’s “I Wouldn’t Mind,” which bows at No. 8. It’s one of TikTok’s latest examples of revitalizing a long-since-released song; “I Wouldn’t Mind” originally premiered in 2010.

A sped-up version of the track, which was officially released on streaming services Jan. 11, has aided the song’s renaissance, with nearly all uploads centering on its “merrily we fall out of line” opening refrain and many following a specific dance trend.

The latest Billboard chart tracking week finds “I Wouldn’t Mind” up 98% to 2.2 million streams total.

A pair of songs that are new in the top 10 – but not chart debuts – follow “I Wouldn’t Mind,” as Cordelia’s “Little Life” and Xavi’s “La Diabla” complete the top 10. “Little Life” has sported a recent trend where creators do impressions of the song’s “I think I like this little life” vocal delivery, while “La Diabla” is the latest regional Mexican tune to find success on TikTok, with the viral sound occurring as the song leaps up the Hot 100, hitting a new peak of No. 22 on the Jan. 20 ranking.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here, also featuring debuts from Rich Gang, Big Thief, Project Pat and more. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

18 Jan 2024

Hot 100 First-Timers: 4Batz Lands First Entry With Viral Hit ‘Act II: Date @ 8’

Up-and-coming R&B singer 4Batz is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist thanks to his viral hit “Act II: Date @ 8.”

The song, which the Dallas native self-released Dec. 15, debuts at No. 77 on the Hot 100 (dated Jan. 20) — the highest new entry — with 5.3 million official U.S. streams (up 40%) in the Jan. 5-11 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also rises 11-7 on Hot R&B Songs, becoming his first top 10 on a Billboard chart, and 36-23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

4Batz is new to Billboard’s charts. “Date @ 8” became his first chart entry two weeks ago, when it debuted at No. 16 on Hot R&B Songs.

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On the Jan. 13-dated Hot R&B Songs ranking, 4Batz scored his second chart entry with “Act I: Stickerz 99.” The song rises 25-24 on Hot R&B Songs in its second week with 1.8 million streams (up 6%).

4Batz’s popularity has been growing in recent weeks, partly to due his presence on TikTok. “Date @ 8” has soundtracked more than 50,000 clips on the platform to date, while “Stickerz 99” has been used in over 3,000 videos. 4Batz himself boasts more than 250,000 followers.

“Act II: Date @ 8” is already drawing early radio airplay, led by hometown Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart reporter KKDA Dallas, which gave the song 37 first-time plays Jan. 9-15, according to Mediabase, which provides Luminate airplay data for Billboard charts. The track ranked among the station’s top 20 most played titles in that span.

“Date @ 8” and “Stickerz 99” are 4Batz’s only releases on streaming services so far. The songs concurrently spark his 23-18 rise in his second week on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.

18 Jan 2024

Lana Del Rey Teases Unreleased Song ‘Henry, Come On’: Listen Here

From her brief stint as a Waffle House waitress in Alabama to her recent cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Lana Del Rey has been embracing a rootsier aesthetic – and her latest song teaser is no exception. 

On Wednesday (Jan. 17), the 38-year-old alt-pop star shared a snippet of an unreleased recording on Instagram, which she simply captioned, “Henry, come on.” “Do you think I’d really choose it?/ All this off and on, Henry come on,” she croons over folksy acoustic guitar, her sultry voice drenched in her trademark reverb. 

“Baby come on, do you think I’d really lose it on ya?/ If you did nothing wrong, Henry come on,” she continues in the clip, whispering in some places. “Last call, hey ya, hang his hat up on a wall.” 

Del Rey provided no other details about the project, although she did pair the audio with a hazy black-and-white Polaroid of her wiping her eye with her thumb. “country era is coming,” one fan commented, while another person added, “Ah, so is this what you’ve been cooking up here down south? ? Sounds absolutely beautiful!” 

Indeed, the “Summertime Sadness” singer has been spending a lot of time below the Mason Dixon Line in recent months. In addition to mysteriously serving customers at a Waffle House in Florence, Ala., she was also spotted getting her nails done at a seemingly random salon in Birmingham over the summer. And just days before she released her take on John Denver’s “Country Roads,” she stopped by Memphis, Tenn., to perform “Unchained Melody” in Elvis’ honor on the live NBC special Christmas at Graceland. 

Del Rey’s potential song teaser comes less than a month ahead of the 2024 Grammys, at which she’s nominated for five awards, including album of the year for Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd and song of the year for “A&W.” She was also recently announced as one of three headliners at this year’s Coachella alongside Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat, about which she wrote on Instagram: “It’s a little bit crazy but we’re going back to Coachella! I think you should come it’ll be fun.” 

Listen to Del Rey’s “Henry, Come On” clip below: 

18 Jan 2024

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Says ‘Dilemma’ Tackles Substance Use, Mental Health With Zero Filter: ‘Theres’s No Metaphor’

Green Day singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong has a herculean talent for taking the personal and making it universal. The 51-year-old pop-punk icon has spent more than three decades translating his fiery thoughts and emotions into anthems that make the band’s fans feel seen as they shout along.

On the group’s latest single, the punk bossa nova “Dilemma,” Armstrong tackles his alcohol addiction and trip to rehab in such clear-eyed lyrics as, “I was sober, now I’m drunk again/ I’m in trouble and in love again/ I don’t want to be a dead man walking… Welcome to my nightmare/ Where dreams go to disappear/ Sit around in rehab/ Feeling like a lab rat.”

“It definitely deals with mental health and addiction,” Armstrong told People magazine about the song from the band’s new album, Saviors, due out Friday (Jan. 19). “When I say, ‘I was sober, now I’m drunk again,’ that could be looked at two different ways. It could be someone going, ‘F-k, yeah. I was sober, now I’m drunk again,’ at a party, or it could be someone that’s fallen. That’s what it means to me, anyway.”

Armstrong went to rehab in 2012 in the wake of a bizarre onstage meltdown at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas during which he ranted about the group’s time being cut and smashed his guitar. On Howard Stern’s SiriusXm radio show on Wednesday morning (Jan. 17), Armstrong said he’d been sober for “five years and I thought that I could go back and be like a normal drinker again. And I think I was for a little bit and then it just escalated. It got to a point where I was physically and mentally drained and I just felt terrible. I got tired of feeling tired.”

The singer told Stern “Dilemma” was written while he was drinking and that it’s one of the most honest songs he’s ever penned. “There’s like no metaphor or anything like that,” he said. Armstrong has been detailing his struggles with anxiety and substance use since the earliest days of Green Day’s career as a snotty, snarling trio on the Berkeley, CA underground punk scene in the early 1990s. He most famously did so on their 1994 major label debut, Dookie on the hit “Basket Case,” in which the singer chronicled his crippling anxiety attacks, as well as on “Geek Stink Breath” from their 1995 follow-up, Insomniac, in which he detailed the harsh effects of methamphetamine use on his body.

Now sober, Armstrong said he no longer drinks and did not enter a program to deal with what appears to have been a relapse following his 2012 rehab stint. “I ended up being around a bunch of really good friends that don’t drink,” he told People. “There’s a lot more sober people — I’ve noticed that, and maybe because I was the only one that was hammered before, that now I notice that people are more sober now, and it was just something that I was unaware of, because I was s—tfaced or something.”

The married father of two sons — fellow musicians Joey, 28, and Jakob, 25 — said his sobriety is helping him feel more present for his family, which includes his wife of 29 years, Adrienne. “For me, alcohol gets in the way of everything, from my relationship with my family to just trying to get a good night’s sleep. It gets in the way of my happiness,” he told People. “So that’s why really I wanted to quit, and I was done. So with the friends that I have, I’m still able to go out and go listen to some music, see some band or go to a party — and it’s still a fun, sexy kind of evening, even though there’s no alcohol.”

The best part for Armstrong, he said, was that he can wake up the next day and he might be a bit tired, but “now there’s no shame and hangover and all that s–t. I feel really good.”

Green Day’s visit to Stern’s studio also included Armstrong laughing as he listened to a recording of him singing a sweet song as a five-year-old and the singer’s emotional backstage meet weird with Eddie Van Halen in 2007, during which the late Van Halen guitarist cried and shredded on his guitar as they spoke.

Watch Armstrong talk about “Dilemma” with Stern and watch the video for the song below.



If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) is available 24/7.

18 Jan 2024

‘Barbie’ Snubbed in 2024 BAFTA Film Awards Nods: Full List of Nominees

There were mixed results for “Barbenheimer” in the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards nominations, which were announced on Thursday (Jan. 18). Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was the most nominated film, with 13 nods, but Greta Gerwig’s Barbie received just five nods and was passed over for both best film and best director. Oddly, the BAFTAs don’t have a category for best original song, which would have boosted Barbie’s total.

Poor Things was runner-up to Oppenheimer for most nods (11), followed by Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest, with nine each; Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers and Maestro, with seven each; and All of Us Strangers with six. Barbie tied with Saltburn, with five nods.

Nominees for best original score are the late Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon, Ludwig Göransson for Oppenheimer, Jerskin Fendrix for Poor Things, Anthony Willis for Saltburn and Daniel Pemberton for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. All five of these scores are on the Oscar shortlist for best original score, announced on Dec. 21. Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 23.

Last year, four of the five BAFTA-nominated scores were also nominated for Oscars.

Killers of the Flower Moon was the 12th and last Martin Scorsese film that Robertson worked on. Robertson died in June at age 80.

While Killers of the Flower Moon did well in the nominations, the film’s director, Scorsese, and lead actress, Lily Gladstone, were passed over for nods.

Two music docs are nominated for documentary – American Symphony, about Jon Batiste, and Wham!, about the 1980s chart-topping pop duo.

Bradley Cooper was nominated for lead actor, director and original screenplay for his second film as a director, Maestro. He was also a triple nominee for his first film as a director, A Star Is Born (though his writing nod on that film was for best adapted screenplay). 

Fantasia Barrino is nominated for best actress for her role in The Color Purple.

Sandra Hüller was nominated for both lead actress (Anatomy of a Fall) and supporting actress (The Zone of Interest).

With both Gerwig and Emerald Fennell (Saltburn) were passed over for director nods; the only woman director in the running is Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall.

The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony takes place Feb. 18 from London’s Royal Festival Hall, with David Tennant, star of Doctor Who, hosting.

Here’s the full list of nominations for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards:

Best film

Anatomy of a Fall — Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion

The Holdovers — Mark Johnson

Killers of the Flower Moon — Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas

Oppenheimer — Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas

Poor Things — Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

Leading actress 

Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple 

Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall 

Carey Mulligan, Maestro 

Vivian Oparah, Rye Lane

Margot Robbie, Barbie

Emma Stone, Poor Things

Leading actor

Bradley Cooper, Maestro

Colman Domingo, Rustin

Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers

Barry Keoghan, Saltburn

Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Teo Yoo, Past Lives

Supporting actress

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers

Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest

Rosamund Pike, Saltburn

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Supporting actor

Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer 

Jacob Elordi, Saltburn

Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers

Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Director                                                                              

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet

The Holdovers, Alexander Payne

Maestro, Bradley Cooper

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer

Original screenplay

Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet, Arthur Harari

Barbie — Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

The Holdovers — David Hemingson

Maestro — Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer

Past Lives — Celine Song

Adapted screenplay

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh

American Fiction, Cord Jefferson

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan

Poor Things, Tony McNamara

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer

Original score

Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson

Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson

Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

Saltburn, Anthony Willis

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Daniel Pemberton

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

Blue Bag Life — Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)

Bobi Wine: The People’s President — Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]

Earth Mama — Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)

How to Have Sex — Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)

Is There Anybody Out There? — Ella Glendining (Director)

Film not in the English language

20 Days in Mariupol — Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath

Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion

Past Lives — Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

Society of the Snow — J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza

The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer

Animated film

The Boy and the Heron — Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget — Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram

Elemental — Peter Sohn, Denise Ream

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

Outstanding British film

All of Us Strangers — Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

How to Have Sex — Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis

Napoleon — Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa

The Old Oak — Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty

Poor Things — Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara

Rye Lane — Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia

Saltburn — Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie

Scrapper — Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough

Wonka — Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby

The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska

Documentary

20 Days in Mariupol — Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath

American Symphony — Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun

Beyond Utopia — Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie — Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion

Wham! — Chris Smith

Casting

All of Us Strangers — Kahleen Crawford

Anatomy of a Fall — Cynthia Arra

The Holdovers — Susan Shopmaker

How to Have Sex — Isabella Odoffin

Killers of the Flower Moon — Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

Cinematography

Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto

Maestro, Matthew Libatique

Oppenheimer, Hoyte van Hoytema

Poor Things, Robbie Ryan

The Zone of Interest, Łukasz Żal

Editing

Anatomy of a Fall, Laurent Sénéchal

Killers of the Flower Moon, Thelma Schoonmaker

Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lame

Poor Things, Yorgos Mavropsaridis

The Zone of Interest, Paul Watts

Costume design

Barbie, Jacqueline Durran

Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West

Napoleon, Dave Crossman, Janty Yates

Oppenheimer, Ellen Mirojnick

Poor Things, Holly Waddington

Makeup & hair

Killers of the Flower Moon — Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen

Maestro — Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell

Napoleon — Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon

Oppenheimer — Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid

Poor Things — Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston

Production design

Barbie — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Killers of the Flower Moon — Jack Fisk, Adam Willis

Oppenheimer — Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman

Poor Things — Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek

The Zone of Interest — Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

Sound

Ferrari — Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser

Maestro — Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One — Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor

Oppenheimer — Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo

The Zone of Interest — Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

Special visual effects

The Creator — Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One — Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke

Napoleon — Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet

Poor Things — Simon Hughes

British short animation

Crab Day — Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak

Visible Mending — Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft

Wild Summon — Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

British short film

Festival of Slaps — Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer

Gorka — Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson

Jellyfish and Lobster — Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai

Such a Lovely Day — Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs

Yellow — Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

EE rising star award (public-voted)

Phoebe Dynevor

Ayo Edebiri

Jacob Elordi

Mia McKenna-Bruce

Sophie Wilde