Music

16 Feb 2023

Watch Paramore Get Stuck in a Trippy, Alternate Reality in ‘Running Out of Time’ Video

Paramore‘s sixth studio album, This Is Why, arrived last week Friday, and the goodies from the new set continue to roll in. The band released a brand new music video for “Running Out of Time” on Thursday (Feb. 16), and things get a little trippy for the trio.

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The visual kicks off with lead singer Hayley Williams attempting to create magic in a music studio, vacantly strumming a guitar and trying to come up with lyrics to no avail — inspiration does not come to her easily. After looking to where bandmates Taylor York and Zac Farro would take their place in the studio, the drum kit and guitar become 10 feet tall and walk with a human gait, prompting Willams to seek refuge in a guitar case, which then pops her into an alternate dimension.

Things go topsy turvy when Williams, dolled up in a vintage corset and pink satin pants, falls into an alternate universe filled with horse-shaped bushes, larger than life flowers and gigantic mushrooms. York and Farro are there dressed in monochromatic orange and purple ensembles, but there’s one major problem — their arms appear to be over four feet tall in length.

“Intentions only get you so far/ (It was on my list, I swear I meant to get to it)/ A harsh reality to discover, ah/ I’m always runnin’ out of time/ (She’s always runnin’ out of time)/ I’m always runnin’ out of time,” Williams sings on the track’s punchy chorus.

After a series of unusual shenanigans unfold, the band reconvenes and runs on a track in space trying to reach the studio once again, only for there to be a twist at the end of the video.

Williams explained in an interview with Zane Lowe that the groovy track was partly inspired by her relationship with Taylor Swift. After taking a trip to the superstar’s abode and realizing she keeps thank you, birthday and holiday gifts for her friends and family months in advance, Williams was struck with the realization that her life was not together.

“I was like, ‘I can barely remember to send someone a card or flowers.’ There are still Christmas gifts at my house that I have not sent to my friends just sitting there in the back of my closet,” the 34-year-old revealed. “Two of the people I was supposed to give a gift to, I was like, ‘Sorry, I forgot to put [the gifts] in my suitcase so you still don’t get a gift.’ I wish that I was the person that felt like I had all my s–t together and I was like, ‘Oh, I had some extra time, so I’m just popping by with some flowers.’ That kind of a thing, that is my idealized self.”

In an interview with Genius, the Grammy-winning vocalist also shared “my sense of anxiety around time management has gotten worse since the pandemic.” She added, “How does a person who is self-aware enough, but also politically and culturally aware, socially aware, how do you even pick what thing to focus on and maybe devote your life to in some respect, when everything is an emergency? It does feel like there’s not enough time in the day, in the month, in the year, to fix everything.”

Watch Paramore’s video for “Running Out of Time” above.

16 Feb 2023

Alison Wonderland, Kaskade, John Summit & GRiZ Lead Lineup for Insomniac’s Moonrise 2023 Fest

This summer, the moon will once again rise over Baltimore. Insomniac Events is returning to the city for the eighth annual Moonrise, happening Aug. 12-13 at the Pimlico Race Course, just north of the city.

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The lineup features a spectrum spanning collection of electronic artists including Alison Wonderland, a redux set from Kaskade, psychedelic sax hero GRiZ, white hot phenom John Summit, beloved trance trio Above & Beyond, live electronic duo Forester, and loads of bass and dubstep by genre leaders including Zomboy, Big Gigantic, Ray Volpe, Malaa and powerhouse b2bs from Borgore and Whipped Cream, Sullivan King and Wooli, Rusko and Dirty Monkey, Getter and Space Laces.

Moonrise is presented in partnership with Washington, D.C.’s, Club Glow, which Insomniac purchased in 2019. The venue includes D.C.’s legendary 34,000-foot Echostage and the smaller Soundcheck. Club Glow will host a variety of Moonrise pre and after-parties, with lineups for those events forthcoming. Moonrise launched in Baltimore in 2014, taking 2020 and 2021 off during the pandemic. Tickets for Moonrise 2023 are on sale now.

Insomniac Events Founder & CEO Pasquale Rotella was among the honorees of Billboard‘s 2023 Power 100 list, citing a year’s worth of accomplishments that included more than 40 festivals, 200 concerts and 1,500 club nights, which Rotella says drew a total of 7 million fans.

Insomniac Events will also stretch its sea legs this legs this November with the launch of its party cruise EDSea, an offshoot of the company’s flagship festival, EDC Las Vegas. The cruise will host roughly 3,800 guests, with the lineup be to be announced later this year.

See the full Moonrise Festival lineup below:

Moonrise Lineup

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16 Feb 2023

Machine Gun Kelly’s Guitarist Sophie Lloyd Slams Rumors They Had an Affair: ‘It’s Disrespectful’

Sophie Lloyd wants no part of the Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox drama. After the “Jennifer’s Body” actress hinted on Instagram that she and her punk rocker fiancé had split, and some fans were quick to try to connect the dots back to Lloyd, who plays guitar in MGK’s band. But in a prompt statement sent out by her management team, Lloyd shut the rumors right down.

“Sophie Lloyd is a professional, accomplished musician who has been needlessly dragged into the media based off of meritless accusations made by social media,” read the Wednesday (Feb. 15) statement, according to People. “Any suggestion that she has ever acted in an unprofessional manner or stepped out of her relationship are untrue.”

“It’s disrespectful to her as a female artist and poor journalism and social commentary to be reporting anything else,” it concluded.

The drama first began when Fox deleted all traces of MGK, born Colson Baker, from her Instagram account Sunday (Feb. 12). And keep in mind, there were a lot of photos of them together, given that the couple had been engaged since January of 2022.

She proceeded to unfollow the “Emo Girl” singer and follow his famous nemesis, Eminem, on the platform. And as if all that wasn’t enough to get her message across, Fox posted a video of a burning envelope with a caption quoting “Pray You Catch Me” from Beyoncé‘s Lemonade, an entire album more or less dedicated to the pain of being cheated on: “You can taste the dishonesty/ it’s all over your breath.”

Before deactivating her account altogether, fans commented on the post with speculation that Baker had cheated on the New Girl alum with Lloyd. “He probably got with Sophie,” commented one fan, to which Fox responded, “Maybe I got with Sophie” alongside a fire emoji.

The rumors of a breakup certainly felt sudden to fans who’ve kept up with MGK and Fox’s romance, considering the pair had just appeared together at the Grammys on Feb. 5. After the “My Ex’s Best Friend” singer, who was nominated for best rock album, walked away empty-handed that night, Fox posted a sweet message on Instagram praising him for handling the loss with “a grace and maturity that I haven’t seen from you before and I’m so proud of you.”

“Watching you walk in humility and gratitude, watching you grow into yourself and become a better man is an immeasurably more satisfying experience than watching you accept an award,” she continued. “Although those will come… and this is irrelevant I guess but I will just never ever get over how beautiful your face is.”

16 Feb 2023

Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-Winning ‘Just Like That’ Reaches Multiple Billboard Charts

After it won the Grammy Award for song of the year Feb. 5, Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” reaches Billboard’s charts for the first time, debuting on multiple lists dated Feb. 18.

The song even reaches No. 1 on one of the surveys, bowing atop Rock Digital Song Sales with 9,000 downloads sold in the Feb. 3-9 tracking week, a 9,947% increase over a negligible amount the previous period, according to Luminate.

It’s Raitt’s first No. 1 on the chart, which began in 2010. Previously, she reached a No. 3 best in 2020 via her co-bill with John Prine, “Angel From Montgomery,” following Prine’s death.

“That” also debuts at No. 6 on the all-format Digital Song Sales ranking, her first top 10.

Elsewhere, the track is No. 26 on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. In addition to its sales, “That” earned 1.4 million official U.S. streams, a 2,955% boost from 45,000 the previous week.

Raitt’s album of the same name, released in 2022, returns to the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart at No. 46 with 7,000 equivalent album units earned, up 1,121%. It premiered at No. 6 in May 2022.

The set also re-appears on Americana/Folk Albums at No. 9, after debuting at No. 1 in May 2022.

In all, Raitt’s song catalog jumped 109% in streams, to 5.8 million Feb. 3-9 vs. 2.8 million the previous week. Removing “That” from the equation, it’s still a 62% leap to 4.4 million from 2.7 million.

Meanwhile, one of her classic returns to a Billboard chart: “Something to Talk About,” which debuts at No. 18 on Rock Digital Song Sales (1,000 sold, up 679%). It became a No. 5 hit in 1991 on the Billboard Hot 100, to date her top-performing song on the survey.

The self-written “That” won song of the year honors at the 65th Grammy Awards, marking Raitt’s second big-four category victory, after Nick of Time took album of the year honors in 1990. “That” is also now being promoted to adult alternative radio as the new single from her latest set, after “Made Up Mind” hit No. 17 on Adult Alternative Airplay last April.

16 Feb 2023

Hoobastank Had No Reason to Shelve Collab With Then-Unknown Rihanna: ‘Total Lack of Foresight’

Music history is littered with tales of shoulda, coulda, woulda. But after Rihanna soared to new heights during her instant-classic Super Bowl LVII halftime show one of the least likely headlines to emerge in the wake of her performance linked the singer to the last band on Earth you’d imagine.

“True story. There is a version of a @Hoobastank song featuring @rihanna when she was a ‘newer’ artist,” tweeted the California nu-metal band’s singer, Doug Robb on Tuesday. “Displaying a total lack of foresight, we didn’t use that version of the song for the album. We also didn’t think ‘The Reason’ was a single though either so… Oops.”

The accompanying video mashed up a clip of Rihanna’s halftime extravaganza with ‘Stank’s hit “Crawling in the Dark.” After a fan asked, Hobbs said the unreleased version was for the song “Inside of You,” the second single from the group’s third album, Every Man for Himself. When another wondered if it would be kosher to release it now as a bonus track, Robb said, “not sure.”

Robb also did an interview with ALT98.7FM radio host Ted Stryker elaborating on the story. He said during the sessions for Every Man, their label Island/Def Jam — Rihanna was signed to Def Jam at the time — approached them asking if they’d be up for including one of their new acts on a song. “Which is pretty common… we’re like, ‘cool, sure, like, what song?’,” he said they asked.

They landed on “Inside of You,” which the band sent to RihRih’s camp back in 2005. “They chopped it up and rearranged some parts because it wasn’t written as a duet or anything, so they had to extend some part and they sent it back and they basically put this pre-chorus where Rihanna wrote some new lyrics and sang a melody,” he said. The group listened to it and because they were so used to hearing it the way they originally wrote it, “nobody really loved it.”

Robb said they ran into Rihanna a few times during that album cycle and she was always, “super cool and so there was never any hard feelings.” And, believe it or not, Robb said they don’t regret saying no to the feature. “I don’t think anybody loved it at the time,” he said, admitting that he hasn’t listened to it in years, but that the subject comes up every once in a while and they all have a laugh about it.

“‘Dude, can you believe we nixed Rihanna on one of our songs?’,” Robb said the band’s members ask each other.

Check out Robb’s tweets below.

16 Feb 2023

Dave Davies Asks Elon Musk to Stop Twitter Blocking His Band: ‘Just Trying to Promote Our Kinks Music’

Dave Davies learned the hard way this week what happens when there’s a glitch in the Matrix. After The Kinks announced the upcoming release of a 60th anniversary celebration of the legendary British band with a two-part anthology called The Journey, Twitter apparently flagged the band’s name as “sensitive content.”

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That sent guitarist Dave Davies down a Twitterhole, unleashing a flurry of tweets in which he told chief Twit, Elon Musk, that he’s tired of waiting for him to get it right. “Dear @elonmusk would @twiiter please stop putting warnings on everything from ‘the Kinks’. We are just trying to promote our Kinks music,” Davies tweeted on Wednesday. The tweet linked to a previous one in which Davies invited fans to check out the band’s TikTok promo for the set, which featured a message at the bottom that read, “We put a warning on this Tweet because it might have sensitive content.”

A short time later, Davies gave Musk a bit of a lesson on his group’s background, tweeting, “The Kinks are a brand name. We have been called the Kinks since 1963.” When another user told Davies that Twitter had apparently reviewed the matter and removed the sensitive content warning, apologizing for helping them “catch that mistake,” Davies was not impressed.

“That’s impossible,” he wrote. “The word robot should be banned. We got robots running our lives. At least I’m a Kink and not a f–in robot.” He also had a bit of fun in the end, responding to a fan’s plea to Musk to “Give the People What They Want!” — a play on the title of the band’s 1981 album — quipping, “give the people what Elon Musk wants.”

The Twit Snit came just hours after The Kinks announced the March 24 release of The Journey — Part 1, a 2CD, 2LP collection that will kick off a two-year celebration of their 60th anniversary. Part one of the anthology — curated by the band according to themes including “Songs about becoming a man, the search for adventure, finding an identity and a girl” — will feature such beloved hits as “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Tired of Waiting For You” and “Waterloo Sunset.”

Check out Davies’ tweets below.

16 Feb 2023

Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ Returns to Top 10 on Album Sales Chart After Grammy Awards

Beyoncé’s Renaissance returns to the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Feb. 18) for the first time in three months, rising 56-10, following the diva’s multiple wins at the Grammy Awards (Feb. 5). The set sold 5,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 9 (up 138%), according to Luminate.

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The album was last in the top 10 on the Oct. 29, 2022-dated list, when it ranked at No. 7.

Renaissance won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album (an award presented on-air during the CBS-TV broadcast of the main ceremony) while three of its songs won individual awards. “Break My Soul” won best dance/electronic recording, “Plastic Off the Sofa” took home best traditional R&B performance and “Cuff It” won best R&B song.

Beyoncé won four Grammys on Feb. 5, bringing her total of awards to 32 – breaking the record for the most wins in the Awards’ history (a feat that was promoted extensively during the CBS show).

In total, Beyoncé was nominated for nine Grammys at the ceremony, winning four. She was also up for album of the year (Renaissance), record of the year, song of the year (both for “Break My Soul”), best R&B performance (“Virgo’s Groove”) and best song written for visual media (“Be Alive”).

Elsewhere on Billboard’s album charts, Renaissance runs 30-8 on Top Current Album Sales, 24-11 on the Billboard 200 (its highest rank since the Nov. 12 chart, when it placed at No. 10), 10-5 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 4-3 on Top R&B Albums and holds at No. 1 for an 11th week on Top Dance/Electronic Albums.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top R&B Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums rank the week’s most popular R&B/hip-hop, R&B and dance/electronic albums, respectively, by units.

Back on Top Album Sales, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, which debuted atop the list a week ago, spends a second week at No. 1, with 43,000 copies sold (down 72%). The set has shifted 195,000 copies in its first two weeks of release – with 98% of that sum from CD sales.

Shania Twain’s new studio album Queen of Me debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 34,000 sold. It’s the country/pop superstar’s sixth top 10-charting effort on the list.

Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights is a non-mover at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 15,500 sold (down 12%).

Harry Styles’ Harry’s House zooms 21-4 with 10,000 sold (up 119%), following its two wins at the Grammy Awards (best pop vocal album and album of the year). Styles also performed the album’s hit single “As It Was” on the CBS broadcast. Meanwhile, best new artist winner Samara Joy reaches the top 10 for the first time as her album Linger Awhile vaults 87-5 with 6,500 sold (up 317%). The set also won the Grammy best jazz vocal album.

The charity compilation A Philly Special Christmas rises 7-6 on Top Album Sales despite a decline in sales (down 31% to 6,000 for the week). It’s the highest charting non-soundtrack compilation since 2020, when the all-star Now 74 set also hit No. 6 (May 16, 2020 chart). (Speaking of the Now That’s What I Call Music! franchise, the new Now 85 compilation debuts on the new chart at No. 13.)

The Philly album continues to perform well thanks to vinyl sales. 65% of its cumulative sales (20,500 of 31,500) are vinyl, with the remainder digital album purchases.

Michael Jackson’s Thriller rises 10-7 on Top Album Sales with nearly 6,000 sold (down less than 1%), Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours rebounds 13-8 with 5,500 (up 4%) and Stray Kids’ former No. 1 MAXIDENT climbs 22-9 with nearly 5,500 (up 21%).

In the week ending Feb. 9, there were 1.778 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 5.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.414 million (down 8.9%) and digital albums comprised 364,000 (up 9.9%).

There were 606,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Feb. 9 (down 16.2% week-over-week) and 801,000 vinyl albums sold (down 2.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 3.659 million (up 0.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 5.299 million (up 25.6%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 11.037 million (up 6.4% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 9.009 million (up 13.8%) and digital album sales total 2.029 million (down 17.4%).

16 Feb 2023

Get Ready For ‘The Show’: Niall Horan Teases First Single, Cover of Third Album

Niall Horan is gearing up to release his third solo album. The singer announced on Wednesday that The Show will drop on June 9, with the first taste of the collection, “Heaven,” due out this Friday (Feb. 17).

“This album is a piece of work I’m so proud of and now it’s time to pass it over to you to go and make it your own,” Horan wrote on Instagram in a post that featured the cover, in which he is depicted leaning on his elbows in a window and staring up at the title. “Thank you so much for being there for me all this time and I can’t wait to share the next couple of years of this new era with you. I’ve missed you all so much. It’s good to be back.”

Earlier this month Horan posted a short clip of what appears to be the video for the dreamy, Beach Boys-inspired “Heaven,” in which he sings “Doesn’t get, doesn’t get better than, better than this/ God only knows where this could go/ And even if our love starts to go out of control/ And you let me go up in flames/ Heaven won’t be the same,” over a montage that takes fans from baby Niall’s first plastic toy microphone to his teen troubadour years, through the X Factor audition process, the rise of One Direction and his solo stardom.

In his latest TikTok tease of the album, Horan said it is “by far and away my favorite stuff I’ve ever worked on.”

“Heaven” is Horan’s first new release since “Our Song” and “Everywhere,” his pair of 2021 collaborations with Anne-Marie. The singer’s last full-length album, Heartbreak Weather, contained singles “Nice to Meet Ya,” “Put a Little Love on Me,” “No Judgement” and “Black and White”; the album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 after its March 2020 release.

Check out Horan’s announcement and the “Heaven” preview below.

16 Feb 2023

Oscar Nominees Son Lux, Diane Warren Among Winners at 2023 SCL Awards (Full List)

Two 2023 Oscar contenders, Son Lux and Diane Warren, each won awards in competition at the fourth annual SCL Awards, presented by The Society of Composers & Lyricists. Emmy winner Darren Criss hosted the event, which was held on Wednesday (Feb. 15) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

Son Lux, Oscar-nominated for best original score for Everything Everywhere All at Once, won outstanding score for an independent film. The award was accepted by the trio’s Ryan Lott. Warren, Oscar-nominated for best original song for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, won outstanding song for a drama/documentary.

Michael Abels was a double winner on the night. He won outstanding original score for a feature film for Nope as well as a Jury Award for Omar, an opera he composed with Rhiannon Giddens.

The SCL presented two 2023 Jury Awards in recognition of the increasing number of ways music is used in an audiovisual context. These awards are voted on by the SCL board of directors. The other went to the audiovisual concert experience Women Warriors: The Voices of Change, for which Amy Andersson is musical director.

The Spirit of Collaboration Award was presented to composer Justin Hurwitz and director Damien Chazelle, who have collaborated on five films, including La La Land, for which they each won Oscars, and the 2022 film Babylon, for which Hurwitz is again nominated for an Oscar for best original score. The presentation was accompanied by a musical performance which included “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land, the First Man theme for harp and theremin, and a Babylon medley.

The Spirit of Collaboration Award, considered the SCL’s most distinctive and perhaps most meaningful, is presented to a composer and filmmaker who maintain a distinguished creative partnership. Previous recipients are Thomas Newman and Sam Mendes, Carter Burwell and the Coen Brothers, and Terence Blanchard and Spike Lee.

Additionally, filmmaker/lyricist Guillermo del Toro and lyricist Roeban Katz accepted their award for outstanding original song for a musical or comedy for “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which they co-wrote with Alexandre Desplat.

Nami Melumad, who became Star Trek’s first female composer with Star Trek: Prodigy, won the David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Stephanie Economou, who received the first ever David Raksin Award at last year’s ceremony, won best original score for interactive media for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök. Also, Emmy-winning composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer won outstanding original score for a television production for White Lotus for the second year in a row.

The Society of Composers & Lyricists is a leading organization for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and lyricists. The 77-year-old organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological and legal issues affecting the music for visual media community.

Here are the nominees for the 2023 SCL Awards, with winners identified:

Outstanding score for a studio film

Alexandre Desplat – Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio

Carter Burwell – The Banshees of Inisherin

Winner: Michael Abels – Nope

Michael Giacchino – The Batman

John Powell – Don’t Worry Darling

Outstanding score for an independent film

Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Sharon Farber – Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

WINNER: Son Lux  – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Rob Simonsen – The Whale

Mark Smythe – The Reef: Stalked

Outstanding song for a musical/comedy

WINNER: Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo Del Toro – “Ciao Papa” From Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio

Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Mark Sonnenblick – “Good Afternoon” From Spirited

Danny Elfman – “Light the Match” From Central Park

Billy Eichner, Marc Shaiman – “Love Is Not Love” From Bros

Weird Al Yankovic - “Now You Know” From Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Outstanding song for a drama/documentary

WINNER: Diane Warren – “Applause” From Tell It Like a Woman

Taylor Swift – “Carolina” From Where the Crawdads Sing

Lady Gaga, Bloodpop – “Hold My Hand” From Top Gun: Maverick

Tems, Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, Ryan Coogler – “Lift Me Up” From Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – “(You Made It Feel Like) Home” From Bones and All

Outstanding score for television

Nicholas Britell – Andor

Siddhartha Khosla – Only Murders in the Building

Bear Mccreary – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Theodore Shapiro – Severance

WINNER: Cristobal Tapia De Veer – The White Lotus

Outstanding score for interactive media

Nainita Desai – Immortality

WINNER: Stephanie Economou – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök

Bear Mccreary – God of War Ragnarök

Winifred Phillips – Jurassic World Primal Ops

Christopher Wiliis – Cat Burglar

David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent

Dara Taylor – The Invitation

Anna Drubich – Barbarian

DeAndre James Allen-Toole – God’s Country

Esin Aydingoz – Simchas and Sorrows

WINNER: Nami Melumad – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

15 Feb 2023

Mustang Talks Galloping Away From ‘Masked Singer,’ Belting a Rock Classic

Spoiler alert: This story contains information about contestants eliminated on Wednesday’s (Feb. 15) episode of The Masked Singer.

The ninth season of Fox’s The Masked Singer launched with formidable competition, with night one seeing the Mustang—an Academy of Country Music award-winning artist—galloping off into the sunset on the season’s premiere episode.

The evening featured Mustang showing off some serious vocal power on the Whitesnake classic “Here I Go Again,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987. It was an unexpected song choice from this sometimes traditional-leaning country vocalist. Guesses from judges ran the gamut, from P!nk to Suzanne Somers, with only one judge picking up on the hint of twang in Mustang’s voice — and even then, guessing (incorrectly) that Mustang might be Wynonna Judd.

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Guesses for Nancy Wilson and Joan Jett were also tossed into the mix, before it was revealed that hiding under the decadent red-and-black costume was “A Little Bit Stronger” singer Sara Evans.

Before her elimination, Evans spoke with Billboard about singing the Whitesnake classic, her reactions to the judges’ guesses and why she didn’t tell her family members she was competing on The Masked Singer.

What drew you to being part of The Masked Singer?

I thought it would be fun and something different to experience, and of course, being on television is good for anyone’s career. It’s also different from our normal routine of writing and touring, so any chance I get to do something different and exciting, it gives you a new energy.

Had you watched the show before?

I had watched maybe a handful of episodes. I didn’t realize everything that went into it and it’s just incredible and the secrecy is so fun. Some of my good friends, Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black, I saw their time on the show.

Did they give you any advice on the show?

They were just like, “The costume can be claustrophobic, just know that going into it and they’ll do what they can to help you feel comfortable.” But it was great because my costume was, aside from a big horse head, which was heavy, it was really just like leather pants and a leather top. It wasn’t too restrictive.

How did you decide on the Mustang as a costume choice?

Producers and people sometimes help with those decisions. They came to me with that idea and I loved it. It was great because I grew up on a farm and I grew up on a horse and adore horses. There couldn’t have been anything better.

You performed “Here I Go Again” from Whitesnake, and also did the battle round, performing Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” Those were perhaps unexpected choices for you.

I was going to be on a different episode, doing ABBA Night. But then someone had to drop out and the producers asked me if I would fill in for that person and take their songs to be on the first episode of The Masked Singer instead. So I already knew the Whitesnake song; of course, everyone knows it, but I got it at like 11:30 the night before we had to film it, at the last minute. Everyone was really appreciative, though, and I ended up having so much fun singing the Whitesnake song, especially.

The judges had some great guesses—P!nk and Joan Jett among them. Were you surprised by any of their guesses?

I was flattered. Everyone they guessed, I was like, “Oh, my god. I’m a fan of hers, and hers, and she’s a legend.” It was great. I felt like it was a huge compliment.

It sounded like you didn’t tell anyone in your family that you were going to be on the show.

Yeah, ’cause I wanted my kids to be surprised and I didn’t trust my mom not to tell people. [laughs] I’m going to tell my mom and siblings and everyone tonight, like around five or six o’clock and ask them to watch.

What is coming up for you, musically?

I’m gonna make a new album. I’m still writing songs for it, and we will go into the studio probably around April and start recording it. I haven’t had an album out since 2020, so that will be a big part of our year. We’re also on the road. We usually do about 80 shows a year and that starts next week, so we are just always busy working and on the road.