Music

23 Jan 2023

Lady Gaga Sends Sweet Note to Madonna: ‘We Love You M’

When Madonna shared a touching message to her fans across her socials, one very special fan put her hand out — Lady Gaga.

The Queen of Pop shared a video in which she thanked fans for their overwhelming “love and support” this past week, during which time tickets for her Celebration Tour moved like hotcakes.

“I don’t take any of this for granted,” Madonna enthuses. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And I’m so grateful for all of your support. And I can’t wait to put the show together and have a moment with each and every one of you on the stage. To celebrate the last four decades of my journey.”

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One of those fans who’ll cheer Madonna on will be Mother Monster herself. Gaga responded to the pop legend’s unscripted piece to camera, “We love you M.”

But wait, there’s more. Friend and collaborator Diplo responded, “U better book me for afterparty.”

Gaga isn’t wrong. Fans bought up 600,000 tickets in one day for Madonna’s retrospective trek. To keep up with demand, 23 concerts were added the 37 dates already announced on both sides of the Atlantic, when 98% of all tickets sold out in a matter of hours, Billboard reports.

The Celebration Tour begins July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and will include performances of music from Madonna’s entire catalog, spanning her 40-year career as the best-selling female touring artist of all time.

For those pop fans with a long memory, Madonna and Gaga reportedly had a frosty, decade-long rivalry.

In a 2019 interview with British Vogue, however, Madonna suggested those rumors of a beef were blown out of proportion because people wanted to believe them.

“People got very excited about [the thought of Lady Gaga and myself as] enemies, when we never were enemies,” she told the title.

The pair were spotted partying together at a Met Gala afterparty in 2015, and in 2019 Gaga came to Madonna’s Oscars party after winning for original song for “Shallow,” even posing for photos together, looking cuddly.

Live Nation is producing The Celebration Tour. Visit www.madonna.com/tour for more.

23 Jan 2023

Courteeners Claim Record as ‘St. Jude’ Rides to U.K. No. 1

Almost 15 years after its release, Courteeners’ debut St. Jude (via Polydor/UMR) hits No. 1 on the U.K. album chart — setting a new mark in the process.

The 2008 debut album blasts to the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Jan. 20, powered by a 15th anniversary edition containing remastered tracks, rarities and previously-unreleased works.

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St. Jude becomes the album with the longest span between release and charting at No. 1 in U.K. chart history, the Official Charts Company reports, doing so in 14 years, 9 months and 14 days after its initial release.

It’s the first leader for the Manchester trio, and it sees them join the rarest of company. Liam Fray, Michael Campbell and Daniel “Conan” Moores are, collectively, only the third act to chart at No. 1 with a reissued album. The others? The Rolling Stones (Goats Head Soup, Exile On Main St.) and the Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).

St. Jude previously peaked at No. 4 back in 2008, and carries three U.K. top 40 singles: “Not Nineteen Forever,” “No You Didn’t, No You Don’t” and “What Took You So Long?”

Physical sales (97%) fueled its big week, as St. Jude tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart.

Meanwhile, London rapper Clavish bows at No. 4 with his 28-track mixtape Rap Game Awful (via Polydor), while former Supergrass guitarist Gaz Coombes scores his first solo top 10 with Turn The Car Around (Hot Fruit), his fourth effort. Turn The Car Around parks at No. 6.

Liverpool indie rocker outfit Circa Waves score a fifth top 40 with Never Going Under (Lower Third). The followup to 2020’s Sad Happy (No. 4 peak), Never Going Under bobs up at No. 15.

Finally, Garthamlock, Scotland singer Joesef earns a top 20 on debut with his first album, Permanent Damage (Bold Cut). It’s new at No. 18.

22 Jan 2023

Miley Cyrus’ ’Flowers’ Has Hot Start In U.K.

Miley Cyrus stands tall on the U.K. singles chart as “Flowers” (via Columbia) arrives at No. 1, for her third leader.

“Flowers” blooms with imposing numbers. During its first chart cycle, “Flowers” racks up 92,000 chart units, including total streams of nearly 10 million. That’s Cyrus’ biggest-ever opening week for streams, the Official Charts Company reports, and the market’s biggest debut week since Harry Styles’ “As It Was” blasted to the summit in May 2022.

Lifted from Cyrus’ forthcoming eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation, “Flowers” got away to a hot start everywhere. The single opened at No. 1 on Australia’s chart, and it smashed Spotify’s global one-week streaming mark. The track will make its official mark on the Billboard Hot 100 when the latest charts are unveiled Monday (Jan. 23), though Billboard readers already voted it as their favorite new release last week.

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Previously, Cyrus lead the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “We Can’t Stop” (from 2013) and “Wrecking Ball” (2013), the latter earning her a chart double as its parent Bangerz simultaneously led the national albums survey.

Positions 2-6 are unchanged on the current survey, while St. Louis-raised Metro Boomin bags a career-best with “Creepin’” (Republic Records), featuring the Weeknd and 21 Savage. It’s up 11-7 for Metro Boomin’s first-ever U.K. top 10 single.

Further down the list, British singer and songwriter Mimi Webb lands her sixth top 40 with “Red Flags” (Epic). It’s the second-highest new entry this week at No. 23.

Also new to the chart, published Jan. 20, is Fredo’s “Flow” (PG Records), new at No. 30. It’s the London rapper’s 17th top 40 appearance.

Finally, Shakira scores her first U.K. top 40 appearance in almost a decade with “Bizarrap – BZRP Music Sessions #53” (via Dale Play), the break-up song cut Argentine DJ and YouTuber Bizarrap. It’s new at No. 31, Shakira’s 13th top 40 hit — and first for the Colombian star since 2014’s “Empire” (No. 25 peak).

22 Jan 2023

Travis Barker Shows Off New Tattoo That Looks Like Kourtney Kardashian’s Eyes

Travis Barker has a new tattoo that appears to be another tribute to wife Kourtney Kardashian.

“Oh hey there,” Barker captioned a series of photos he posted on Saturday (Jan. 21).

The images included one of him with Kardashian, followed shortly after by a look at his leg art. After a full body picture, there was a closeup of a tattoo design resembling Kardashian’s eyes.

The Blink-182 drummer debuted another tattoo of Kardashian in 2021 — her name spelled out on his chest — following just a few months of dating. The couple were married in 2022, with a practice wedding with no license in Las Vegas, a legal wedding in Santa Barbara, California, and finally a lavish celebration in Portofino, Italy.

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Barker will be heading out on a world tour with Blink-182 beginning in March, kicking things off on March 11 in Tijuana, Mexico.

See Barker’s new tattoo on the third and fourth photos on his weekend Instagram post here.

22 Jan 2023

Fans Choose Kali Uchis‘ ’I Wish You Roses’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Kali Uchis‘ new song “I Wish You Roses” has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Jan. 20) on Billboard, choosing the Colombian-American singer’s latest single as their favorite new music release of the past week.

“I Wish You Roses” brought in 79% of the vote, beating out new music by Måneskin (Rush!), Trippie Redd (Mansion Musik), The Kid LAROI (“I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)),” Mac DeMarco (Five Easy Hot Dogs), and others.

Uchis proves yet again with “I Wish You Roses” that her lush production and vocal delivery never fail. The genre-bending singer-songwriter bids her subject a fond farewell, all while showcasing her power as a masterful hook creator and proving that this year may be when she firmly steps into the spotlight of mainstream pop — that is, if her billing on this year’s Coachella lineup wasn’t already an indicator.

“This song is about being able to release people with love,” Uchis said in a statement. “It could be a friend, a lover, or someone else, but the point is to celebrate releasing people from your life without being resentful or bitter.”

Trailing behind Uchis on the fan-voted poll was a tie between Måneskin’s third album, Rush!, and Redd’s surprise release, Mansion Musick, an ode to Chief Keef’s 2018 mixtape Mansion Musick. Both sets brought in 4.91% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

22 Jan 2023

Axl Rose Delivers Heartfelt Speech, Performs ‘November Rain’ at Lisa Marie Presley’s Graceland Memorial Service

Axl Rose was among several music stars to honor Lisa Marie Presley during the late singer-songwriter’s public memorial service at Graceland on Sunday (Jan. 22).

In a rare speaking appearance, the Guns N’ Roses frontman took the stage at the Memphis gathering — which was livestreamed from Graceland’s website — to share some heartfelt words about his close friend before performing a solo rendition of the GNR classic “November Rain.”

“With Lisa’s passing, I knew if I was invited I needed to come to these ceremonies,” Rose began his emotional statement, reading from a cell phone. “I hadn’t planned on speaking, and when I was put on the spot, I really didn’t know what to say. I was tongue-tied and nervous, and I didn’t really know what I said. But I, as I’m sure many of you, are still in shock, as I feel I will continue to be for quite some time.”

Rose continued, “I never in a million years imagined being here, singing under these circumstances.”

The rock icon also noted how Lisa Marie was “fiercely protective” of her father Elvis Presley‘s legacy.

“She was extremely proud, as proud as anyone could be, of her father and his many accomplishments and place in music. She was also very proud of the Elvis movie and how she felt it portrayed her father, and the care that was put into the film by those involved — [director Baz Luhrmann’s] vision and direction, and Austin Butler’s dedication to the role of her father.”

Following his speech, Rose sat down at a nearby piano to deliver a shortened version of Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I hit “November Rain,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992.

In addition to Rose, the memorial service also included musical tributes from Billy Corgan, who performed an acoustic rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins song “To Sheila,” and Alanis Morissette, who sang her 2017 song about mental health “Rest.”

Other speakers included Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla Presley; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; music industry veteran Jerry Schilling; and daughter Riley Keough’s husband, Ben Smith-Petersen; among others.

Lisa Marie died on Jan. 12 after being hospitalized earlier in the day following a report of a woman in full cardiac arrest at an address associated with Presley. She was 54 years old.

Watch Rose’s emotional speech and “November Rain” performance beginning at the one-hour mark of the memorial livestream here.

22 Jan 2023

Sam Smith Brings Out Kim Petras for ‘Unholy,’ Surprises With Guest Sharon Stone for ‘Gloria’ on ‘SNL’: Watch

Sam Smith helped usher Saturday Night Live into 2023 with a pair of dramatic performances from their upcoming album.

For their third appearance as musical guest on the iconic NBC sketch comedy show, the U.K. singer-songwriter unleashed unforgettable live performances of chart-topper “Unholy” and the title track from their soon-to-be-released fourth album, Gloria, which is scheduled to arrive on Jan. 27 through Capitol.

Following an introduction from SNL host Aubrey Plaza, Smith opened with their smash hit “Unholy,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2022. Donning an extravagant fluffy pink dress, Smith belted out the opening lines of the song before sneaking in Kim Petras, who is featured on the track, to assist with her verse.

Petras wasn’t the only unexpected guest during Smith’s SNL appearance. For their second performance, the singer surprised with a guest appearance from Oscar-nominated actress Sharon Stone, who lounged on a gold-covered couch while Smith delivered their recently dropped single “Gloria.” Surrounded by a group of darkly robed singers, Smith — who was draped in a gold sequin blazer — beautifully crooned the track while Stone slowly rose from her reclined position and gazed off into the distance.

Gloria, the followup to 2020’s Love Goes, features the previously-released singles “Love Me More,” “Gimme” and the Petras-assisted hit “Unholy,” which is nominated for best song at the 2023 Brit Awards.

Smith’s three studio albums all crashed the top five on the Billboard 200, with 2017’s The Thrill of It All hitting No. 1.

Watch Smith’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.

22 Jan 2023

Mourners at Graceland Bid Farewell to Lisa Marie Presley

Hundreds of people gathered on the front lawn of Graceland on a gray, chilly Sunday (Jan. 22) morning in Memphis to mourn the death and remember the life of Lisa Marie Presley, who died earlier this month.

Some mourners held flowers as they waited for the service to begin under the tall trees on the lawn of Graceland, the home where Lisa Marie lived as a child with her father, Elvis Presley. The mansion, which Lisa Marie Presley owned, has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction that hundreds of thousands of fans visit each year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977.

The property in south Memphis was a place of sadness and somber memories on Sunday. Presley, a 54-year-old singer-songwriter dedicated to her father’s legacy, died Jan. 12, hours after being hospitalized for a medical emergency.

The service began with the singing of “Amazing Grace” by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir.

“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have shown our family during this difficult time,” said a message from the Presley family written on the program for the service. “We will always be grateful.”

Among those expected to speak or sing during the service were Lisa Marie Presley’s mother, actress Priscilla Presley; her daughter, actress Riley Keough; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; and singers Billy Corgan, Alanis Morissette and Axl Rose.

After the service, mourners will make a procession through Graceland’s Meditation Garden, where she is being laid to rest.

22 Jan 2023

10 Killed in Monterey Park Mass Shooting Near Lunar New Year Fest

A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the fifth mass killing in the U.S. this month.

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Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park.

Meyer said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 21). He said officers then went into the ballroom and found victims as firefighters treated the wounded.

Meyer gave no description of the male suspect or the weapon he used, or why police gave no information on the shooting for hours while the shooter apparently remained on the run. He also said police were investigating another incident in the nearby city of Alhambra, where a similar business, the Lai Lai Ballroom, had police tape across its front door and an officer guarding it. Detectives could be seen working near the open back door, where a woman wearing gloves was carefully examining the door handle as though checking for prints. Officials gave no details on what had happened and it was unclear if this was the incident investigators were examining to see if there was a connection to the Monterey Park shooting.

Meyer said it’s too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if whether it was a hate crime.

“We will look at every angle,” Meyer said.

The shooting happened in the heart of downtown Monterey Park where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year festivities. A police car was parked near a large banner that proclaimed: “Happy Year of the Rabbit!”

The Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park is one of California’s largest and had attracted tens of thousands throughout the day. Most of the residents of Monterey Park, a city of about 60,000 people that sits at the eastern edge of Los Angeles, are Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans.

Two days of festivities, which have been attended by as many as 100,000 people in past years, were planned. But officials canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting.

The tragedy marked not just the fifth mass killing in the U.S. since the start of the year but also is the deadliest since May 24, 2022 — when 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S.

The database also shows that 2022 was also one of the worst years ever in terms of mass killings, with 42 such attacks — the second-highest number since the creation of the tracker in 2006. The database defines a mass killing as four people killed not including the perpetrator.

The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.

The White House said that President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation by Homeland Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.

“The President has been briefed by the Homeland Security Advisor on the mass shooting in Monterey Park. He directed her to make sure that the FBI is providing full support to local authorities, and to update him regularly today as more details are known.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland was also briefed, Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson said.

The shooting occurred at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a few blocks from city hall on Monterey Park’s main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls full of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are screened regularly in the city.

The business offered dance lessons from Tango to Rumba to the Fox Trot, and rented its space for events. On Saturday, its website said it was hosting an event called “Star Night” from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m..

Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told The Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.

The people said to Choi that there was a shooter with a gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him.

Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told The Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a bathroom at the dance club that night when the shooting started. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies.

The friend then fled to Wei’s home at around 11 p.m., he said, adding that his friends told him that the shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately with a long gun.

22 Jan 2023

8 Best Moments From Drake’s SiriusXM Show at New York’s Apollo Theater

“I’d like to take you on a little journey tonight, if that’s ok?,” Drake asked onstage at the Apollo Theater on Saturday (Jan. 21).

After two postponements last fall, the Toronto superstar finally graced the stage at the legendary Harlem venue on Saturday night for his first of two shows there this weekend. In partnership with SiriusXM and his radio show Sound 42, the concert was originally meant to take place on Friday (Nov. 11) but was moved to early December to mourn Takeoff whose untimely death occurred a little over a week prior. The show was then delayed again due to production issues.  

Twenty-five minutes after his scheduled set time of 9:00 p.m., a white screen lifted to reveal Drake sitting in a bedroom made to look like his old room in his mother’s basement. The other side resembled a record label office.

Drake then took fans and guests on a journey through his career. As he sat on the edge of the bed “where I wrote a lot of these songs,” he said, he took the crowd back to his early days with songs like “Marvin’s Room,” “Say Something” and “Practice.” After 15 minutes there was a slight pause before the set changed to an office, representing the times he played his music at record labels, only to get rejected. Early hits like “Best I Ever Had,” “Over,” “Headlines” and “I’m On One” soundtracked that scene.

Drake powered through a good mix of his biggest hits and deep cuts. Below are eight best moments from Drake’s night at the Apollo.

Free merch

Fans and guests were treated to free OVO T-shirts that were especially made for the show. The shirts were white with the OVO owl and the Apollo Theater’s logo on the left chest with the original show flier printed on the entire back.

The star-studded crowd

What’s a Drake show without a star-studded guest list? Notable people like Elliott Wilson, Kevin Durant, Odell Beckham Jr, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Ice Spice, 2 Chainz and more were in attendance for Drake’s first show in, what he said, “like five years or some s—.” A few times throughout the performance, the rapper also thanked his longtime friend and producer Noah “40” Shebib, who was in the crowd.

Drake’s nods to his Degrassi days

As he opened the concert with Take Care cut “Over My Dead Body,” Drake sported his Degrassi character Jimmy Brooks’s basketball jersey with baggy jeans and white Air Force 1s. “That’s what this sequence is about, me trying to grind my a– off and let people know that I’m not in a wheelchair in real life [and] Canadians can make music or whatever it was,” he joked later in the night after the record label scene.

The night was about gratitude

About seven minutes into his set, Drake took time to address the crowd. “I wanted to make this show about gratitude. This is a little story we put together about my deep love for my family, for my dear friends and for each and every one of you that have been supporting me for a long time,” he said. The star said he associates New York City with feelings of making it, and he revisited those feelings of gratitude by performing his biggest hits and deep cuts spanning his catalog thus far.

Drake being a mama’s boy

We all know that Drake is mama’s boy at heart. The rapper pointed out his mother, Sandi Graham, sitting in the mezzanine and thanked her for everything she’s done for him.

Dipset and diamond bracelets

After the record label scene, the stage design transitioned to a Harlem bodega and Dipset emerged along with Drake, who was wearing Cam’ron’s original pink mink coat and headband combo. The Harlem rap group — which includes Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey — performed their songs “I Really Mean It,” “Dipset Anthem” and Jones’s solo hit “We Fly High (Ballin’).” “I know I talk a lot about being influenced and I got a lot of love, but like … these guys right here from Harlem made us dress different, talk different, walk different, rap different, all the way in Canada,” said Drake after they performed. Jones then gifted Drake a diamond bracelet with jewels resembling the Dipset bird, praying hands, OVO logo, OVO owl and the Apollo logo.

’21, can you do something for me?‘

Fans were in for a treat when Drake brought out 21 Savage to perform a slew of Her Loss songs for the first time together. The two started with “Rich Flex” then tag-teamed for “Privileged Rappers,” “Spin Bout U,” “Jimmy Cooks” and “Knife Talk.” The Atlanta rapper told the crowd that his friendship with Drake is beyond music saying the Toronto native Drake would check on him often after they met in 2015. “He helped me every step of my career behind the scenes,” 21 said before hugging his friend.

Drake hinted at a summer tour with 21

“You should come see us this summer, we might be around,” Drake said before 21 left the stage.