Music

21 Mar 2023

Chapel Hart, Nate Smith & More to Perform at 2023 CMT Music Awards’ Ram Trucks Side Stage

We’re just weeks away from the 2023 CMT Music Awards, and the jam-packed lineup of Ram Trucks Side Stage performers were announced on Tuesday (March 21). Avery Anna, Chapel Hart, Jackson Dean, Lily Rose, Megan Moroney and Nate Smith are all set for the Ram Trucks Side Stage, which will air during the ceremony on April 2.

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Avery Anna, Chapel Heart, Lily Rose and Megan Moroney have all been honored as CMT Next Women of Country members, with Moroney vying for her first CMT belt buckle this year, as her hit song “Tennessee Orange” is up for breakthrough female video of the year” and CMT digital first performance of the year.

Meanwhile, Dean and Smith are no strangers to the Billboard charts. Dean’s “Don’t Come Lookin’” peaked at No. 3 on the Country Airplay chart, while Smith topped the tally with “Whiskey on You.”

The fan-voted CMT Music Awards will air live on CBS on Sunday, April 2, from Moody Center in Austin, Texas. This marks the first time that the CMT Music Awards have been held in Austin, after being held in Nashville for decades. Voting for the 2023 CMT Music Awards is open at vote.cmt.com. Check out the full list of nominees here.

Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Cody Johnson, Kane Brown with Katelyn Brown, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and Lainey Wilson are all set to perform during the annual awards show, which is hosted this year by Brown and Ballerini.

21 Mar 2023

Latin Grammys Announce Changes, New Categories For 2023

The Latin Grammys are implementing some changes and additions in 2023, including a new songwriting field and categories like best songwriter of the year and best singer-songwriter song, the Latin Recording Academy announced on Tuesday (March 21).

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The adjustments are part of the Academy’s commitment to “evolve with the ever-changing musical landscape and to best serve its membership body of music creators and professionals,” the organization said in a press release.

“Our priority is to effectively represent all the Latin music creators that we serve,” added CEO Manuel Abud.

All updates go into effect immediately for the 24th annual Latin Grammy Awards, which will take place in November. The registration process for this year begins on Thursday (March 23).

Here are the details:

NEW LATIN GRAMMY FIELD AND CATEGORY

Best Songwriter Of The Year: As part of the newly-created songwriting field, this new category recognizes the written excellence, profession and art of songwriting. Songwriters must have a minimum of six newly written songs in which they are credited as a songwriter or co-writer and are not the performer, producer or engineer.

NEW LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS CATEGORIES

Best Singer-Songwriter Song: To be eligible for this new category within the singer-songwriter field, the singles or tracks must contain at least 51% of the lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese or any native regional dialect and must be from a set nominated to Singer-Songwriter Album that year.

Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance: This new category within the Portuguese language field recognizes the enormous amount of Urban music that is being created in Brazil and Portugal. The singles or tracks can include a fusion mix of Urban styles with other genres as long as the Urban character predominates.

ADDITIONAL CATEGORY AMENDMENTS

Album Of The Year: Albums within the general field must contain at least 51% playing time of newly recorded material. Awarded to the artist, producer(s), engineer(s), mixer(s), mastering engineer(s) and songwriter(s) of 33% playing time on the album if other than the artist will receive the award.

Song Categories: It is now required to include the date of composition when submitting product for all of the song categories.

New Criteria For Best Engineered Album: Award goes to recording engineer(s) and mixing engineer(s) credited with at least 33% of the album and mastering engineer(s) credited with at least 51% of the album within the production field.

For more information click here.

21 Mar 2023

SiriusXM’s ‘Billboard Women of Pop 1000 Countdown’ Spotlights 50 Years of Chart Hits

SiriusXM and Billboard are celebrating Women’s History Month with the Billboard Women of Pop 1000 Countdown.

The Billboard Women Of Pop 1000 Countdown launched on Tuesday morning (March 21) on SiriusXM’s channel 104 and will run through April 1 at 3 a.m. ET. It’s also available on-demand on the SXM App.

The feature spotlights the top 1,000 songs by women from the start of the 1970s through the end of the 2010s (encompassing the top 20 hits with female vocals each year from 1970 through 2019), as ranked by performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and via Billboard’s Greatest of All Time chart methodology.

The Billboard Women Of Pop 1000 Countdown spans classics from Barbra Streisand to Billie Eilish, the Carpenters to Cardi B, and Carole King to the Queens of Pop (Madonna) and Soul (Aretha Franklin) (plus “Queen of Hearts”). Other hits on the retrospective range from “Call Me” to “Call Me Maybe,” “Last Dance” to “Just Dance,” and “Love Takes Time” to “TiK ToK.”

The feature is part of SiriusXM’s She’s Got the Mic campaign, in which, every March, SiriusXM and Pandora celebrate Women’s History Month, amplifying women’s achievements and cultural and historical contributions.

For those who aren’t SiriusXM subscribers, eligible customers can get their first three months of SiriusXM streaming for free. You can click here to sign up.

The Billboard Women Of Pop 1000 Countdown marks the latest partnership between SiriusXM and Billboard. Billboard Live, hosted by Lyndsey Havens and Carl Lamarre, airs each Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s Volume channel. Plus, the Billboard Cupid Countdown recently highlighted the legacy of love songs on the Hot 100, the Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown celebrated the sounds of the season and last year’s Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits recap evoked musical summer memories covering eight decades.

Additionally, SiriusXM’s Big 40 Countdown, on 80s on 8, and the Back in the Day Replay, on ’90s on 9, are based on historical weekly Hot 100 charts, while Prime Country’s Prime 30 time-travels back through Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

21 Mar 2023

Coldplay’s ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ Duet with Chvches’ Lauren Mayberry Sparks Tears of Joy

Coldplay have made a habit of bringing special guests up for the late-show satellite stage acoustic jam session during their massive Music of the Spheres world tour. In the midst of their six-night stand at São Paulo, Brazil’s 77,000-capacity Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo football stadium last week, they did it again, asking Lauren Mayberry of opening act Chvrches to lend her vocals to their 2019 Everyday Life song “Cry, Cry, Cry.”

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Mayberry posted video of the moment on Monday (March 20), in which Coldplay singer Chris Martin strums an acoustic guitar as the Chvrches singer — wearing a stunning disco ball-like floor-length shiny halter dress — sways gently before joining in.

“There are trees and flowers growing/ While Jizo Bodhisattva sings,” Martin croons, as Mayberry joins him on the chorus, “When you cry, cry, cry baby/ When you cry, cry, cry/ When you cry, cry, cry baby/ I’ll be by your side.” Mayberry appreciated the bonus stage time, thanking the band in her post of the duet, tweeting, “grateful to be on this tour and honoured to be asked to sing with the lads.”

It was a wild week in the largest city in Brazil, which also included a duet with legendary Brazilian samba singer Seu George on March 11, during which they performed his 2011 classic “Amiga Da Minha Mulher” at the first two shows of the run. The South American leg of the tour will wrap up with a run of shows at Estadio Nilton Santos Engenhao in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on March 25, 26 and 28 before moving on to another European swing that will run from May 17 through July 19 before a final North American string of dates in September that wraps with an Oct. 1 gig at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

The band’s concert movie, Coldplay — Music of the Spheres: Live at River Plate — which was recorded during their sold-out, 10-night run at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, will screen in theaters worldwide on April 19 and 23.

Check out footage of the duet below.

21 Mar 2023

Rick Ross Says If You See One of His Buffalos Wandering in Your Backyard, Just Wing It: ‘Give it a Carrot. Give it a Apple’

In the immortal words of Snoop Dogg, you gotta pay the cost to be the boss. Or in Rick Ross‘ case, you gotta make sure your cattle behave-or you’ll be a bad neighbor. In case you missed the news earlier this week, some folks who live near Ross’ massive spread in Fayetteville, Georgia complained that a few of the buffalos in his Bawse herd had wandered off the property.

One even shared footage with TMZ of two animals who moseyed onto her property twice last week. In the clip, you can see the animals — who can weigh up to 2,000 pounds — walking through her front yard and grazing on grass near her driveway. The woman said she worried that they might hurt her children. But Ross — who was reportedly gifted the two animals by partners in his clothing company last year — said in an Instagram Story that everyone needs to chill and just reach into the crisper.

“Everybody that’s wanting a statement and a response for my bulls, my cows, a couple of buffaloes that got away in the community, this is my response,” Ross said in the Story. I always return stray animals. Make sure you always keep a collar on your animal. And mine don’t have a collar ’cause you know it’s mines.”

That seemed fair. After all, what other rich forever rappers in the area have massive livestock roaming across their 235-acre, 109-room house estate? To ease tensions, Ross suggested that if you see something, feed something.

“So when you see my buffalo, give it a carrot. Give it a apple,” he said. “They so kind, they so peaceful. Thank everybody for watching. Thank everybody for making sure all of my animals got back into the Promise Land. … All my neighbors, Fayetteville, y’all the best.”

Check out the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office report on the incident below.

21 Mar 2023

U2’s ‘Songs of Surrender’ Is Bolting to U.K. No. 1

U2 is on the brink of ending a decade-long drought in the U.K., where the Irish rockers’ Songs of Surrender (via Island) is cantering to No. 1.

The collection will be tough to overcome in the chart race. Based on midweek sales and streaming data, Songs of Surrender is outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, according to the Official Charts Company, and should become the band’s 11^th leader when the chart proper is published late Friday (March 24).

The last time U2 was crowned on the U.K. chart was 2009 with No Line on the Horizon, while subsequent releases Songs of Innocence (from 2014, peaking at No. 6) and Songs of Experience (from 2017, peaking at No. 5) both cracked the top 10.

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On Songs of Surrender, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. revisit — and rework — 40 songs from across their 40-plus year career, including “One,” “Bad,” “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Desire,” “With Or Without You,” “I Will Follow,” and more.

The compilation, a companion to singer Bono’s recent memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, leads the Official Chart Update, ahead of Miley Cyrus‘ Endless Summer Vacation (RCA), set to dip 1-2.

The Rock And Roll Hall of Famers could see another hits collection surge into the top 40. The November 2006 compilation U218 Singles (Mercury) reenters the midweek chart at No. 33, having peaked at No. 6 following its initial release.

Meanwhile, Brighton, England indie-rock foursome Black Honey could stick a second top 10 record with A Fistful of Peaches (FoxFive). It’s new at No. 3 on the Official Chart Update, and could become the band’s highest-charting album (2021’s Written & Directed reached No. 7).

Also, U.S. pop-punk veterans All Time Low are heading for a fifth U.K. top 10 with Tell Me I’m Alive (Parlophone), new at No. 6 on the chart blast.

Finally, with Taylor Swift’s The Era Tour getting away to a buzz y start in North America, Swifties on the other side of the Atlantic are gobbling up her music, in anticipation of their turn.

Four of the U.S. pop superstar’s LPs rise on the Official Albums Chart Update: Midnights (up 12-7), 2014 (32-25), Lover (51-29) and folklore (58-37), all via EMI. Swift’s U.K. tour dates have yet to be announced.

21 Mar 2023

Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight, Jose Feliciano to be Honored With National Medal of Arts

President Joe Biden will present Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight and Jose Feliciano with the National Medals of Arts, the nation’s highest award given to artists and their patrons.

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The POTUS will hand out the 2021 honors during a ceremony today (March 21) at the White House from 4:30 p.m., and live streamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

“The National Medal of Arts recipients have helped to define and enrich our nation’s cultural legacy through their life long passionate commitment,” comments National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chair Maria Rosario Jackson. “We are a better nation because of their contributions. Their work helps us see the world in different ways. It inspires us to reach our full potential and recognize our common humanity. I join the President in congratulating and thanking them.”

Springsteen, known globally as The Boss, is celebrated as “one of our greatest performers and storytellers,” whose music “celebrates our triumphs, heals our wounds, and gives us hope, capturing the unyielding spirit of what it means to be American.”

Knight, or the “Empress of Soul,” is recognized as an “exceptional talent” who “influenced musical genres—from rhythm and blues to gospel to pop—and inspired generations of artists, captivated by her soundtrack of a golden age in American music.”

Feliciano, known for his bilingual Christmas classic “Feliz Navidad,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary and remains one of the top 10-performing hits in the decade-plus history of Billboard‘s Holiday 100 chart, will be honored for opening hearts, building bridges and “overcoming obstacles, never losing faith, and enriching the goodness and greatness of the Nation.”

Born blind in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Feliciano received the first-ever Billboard Legend Award at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

Other recipients of National Medals of Arts on this occasion include actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, designer Vera Wang and The Billie Holiday Theatre.

The 2021 National Humanities Medals will also be presented at the ceremony, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden confirmed to attend.

20 Mar 2023

Duran Duran Reunites With Andy Taylor for Upcoming Album

Duran Duran took to Instagram on Tuesday (March 20) to confirm that they have a new album on the way this year, and surprised fans by announcing that former guitarist Andy Taylor will be playing guitar on select tracks.

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“Duran Duran are thrilled to confirm a special new music project is in the works, set for release later this year on BMG,” the group wrote in their social media statement. “The new recordings will feature extended Duran Duran family and friends, old and new, including our former bandmate Andy Taylor who will join us on guitar on a few tracks.”

When the group split in two in 1985, following the release of the James Bond theme “A View to A Kill,” Taylor and bassist John Taylor formed The Power Station with the late Robert Palmer and Tony Thompson, while the others created Arcadia. Taylor contributed to sessions for the 1986 album Notorious, then went his own way with a solo career. He’d reunite with DD for 2004’s Astronaut album, and for tour dates in support.

In 2018, he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. The guitarist was expected to join current members Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor at Duran Duran’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November, but had to miss it due to his illness.

John Taylor recently discussed the upcoming Duran Duran album with The Mirror, and having Andy be part of it. “We’re working on an album right now that is going to be coming out at the end of the year and [Andy Taylor] is playing guitar,” the bassist explained. “There’s a lot of cover songs on the album, songs meaningful to us when we were kids. So having him be a part of that project is great.”

20 Mar 2023

Luke Combs Says Baby No. 2 Is On the Way

An album coming Friday (March 24) isn’t the only new delivery Luke Combs is expecting.

Combs took to Instagram Monday afternoon (March 20) to announce that his wife Nicole is pregnant with their second child, following son Tex who was born in June. As a slide show runs of Combs, his wife and Tex, sporting a “Big Brother” t-shirt, “Take You With Me” plays.

“Joining the 2 under 2 club!,” Combs captions the photos. ” Baby boy #2 coming this September!!,” then adds, “I would have the audio turned on for this point if I was y’all.”

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The sweet song addresses fatherhood and how quickly time passes. “I got a young’un of my own/he’s too young to understand it/When he gets a little older watching the stage where I’m standing/he’ll know it’s about him when I sing I take you with me/If it was up to me we’d do everything together/ and when they’re young like/ that days like that don’t last forever/So every chance I get, you best believe I take you with me,” Combs sings.

The 18-track Gettin’ Old hits this week and in addition to “Take You With Me,” includes Combs’ 15th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Going, Going, Gone,” as well as new single, “5 Leaf Clover,” and a rare cover from Combs of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”

Combs’ fellow artists were quick to offer their congratulations, including Chris Lane, who wrote, “congrats y’all! Buckle up…it’s wild,” as well as Cole Swindle and Ian Munsick, who sent best wishes.

The reigning Country Music Assn. Awards entertainer of the year starts a world tour March 25.

20 Mar 2023

Chlöe Bailey Unveils Track List for Debut Album ‘In Pieces’ Featuring Chris Brown, Future & More

Chlöe Bailey revealed the track list for her upcoming album In Pieces on Monday (March 20).

The 14-song track list boasts previously released singles like “Pray It Away” and “How Does It Feel,” featuring Chris Brown, as well as additional collaborations with Missy Elliott (“Told Ya”) and Future (“Cheatback”). Noticeably missing from the back cover are singles like “Have Mercy,” “Treat Me,” “Surprise” and the Latto-assisted “For the Night.”

Last week, the elder half of Chloe x Halle showed off the whimsical artwork for the album, which depicts her holding a colorful, crystalline version of her heart. In a message written to fans, she shared, “I saw a porcelain doll 3 years ago, holding her heart just like this and from then, I said this will be my album cover…”

She went on to explain that even the red tint of her hair is symbolic of the most difficult period of her life, when she dyed it red, about a year and a half ago. “IN PIECES is for the ones who behind closed doors are breaking and don’t know how much more they can take,” Bailey continued, in part. “I hope this project brings healing to those who listen, as it’s been completely therapeutic for me and I can’t wait to share my heart with you, literally.”

While In Pieces is due March 31 via Columbia Records and Parkwood Entertainment, Bailey’s younger sister Halle Bailey is gearing up to show the world her role as Ariel in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, out May 26.

Check out the full track list for In Pieces below.

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Music

Chapel Hart, Nate Smith & More to Perform at 2023 CMT Music Awards’ Ram Trucks Side Stage