Music

21 Oct 2022

Brian Johnson Talks Heart-Wrenching & Hilarious Memoir, Shoots Down Idea of an AC/DC Movie

As AC/DC’s frontman since 1980, Brian Johnson is used to shaking people all night. But writing his new memoir, The Lives of Brian, affected him in a different way.

“I had to be careful, because sometimes it can get a little emotional, and it all comes out,” Johnson tells Billboard from his home in Sarasota, Fla., which he had to vacate briefly during Hurricane Ian. “It goes from your brain into your heart, through the soul and then the hand and you’re writing and you gotta stop and, ‘Whoo, this might be a bit much now, come on.’ And there were tears. There were times I actually started crying.”

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One of those times, Johnson says, came as he wrote about being treated for debilitating hearing issues during October 2015 at the same medical facility where AC/DC co-founder and guitarist Malcolm Young was being for dementia. “When I was writing about being next to Malcolm, just over the way, it was horrible,” Johnson recalls. “The tears were falling when I was writing it. It was a very touching moment.” The two bandmates did not connect, however; he writes that Young’s wife limited visitors to immediate family only. Young passed away during November 2017 at the age of 64.

Johnson says he had other Kleenex-dampening moments throughout his writing, which he did primarily by longhand. The 373-page The Lives of Brian, which publishes Oct. 25, is his second book and the follow-up to the car-centric Rockers and Rollers: A Full-Throttle Memoir in 2011. And it may surprise fans how little is in the book about AC/DC; he limits the discourse to his joining the group (including the first audition when he was late because he was playing pool downstairs with crew members), recording the 25-times platinum Back in Black album, the hearing issues that took him out of the band, temporarily, during the 2015-2016 Rock Or Bust World Tour and the making of 2020’s Billboard 200-topping album Power Up.

Why not more?

“I didn’t want to write an AC/DC book, ’cause that’s not my book. It never will be. It’s not my story to tell,” Johnson explains. “That book is for the boys, or whoever was there from the start. That’s what I want to read. I want to read what it was like when Malcolm and Angus just had a meeting and said, ‘Right, let’s do this’ and got the drummer and the singer. I think it would be fantastic if it came out, if somebody wanted to do it. But that’s not my book. And I think a book about the present day or, say, when I joined to the present day would be nothing more than a catalog, a diary of what happened.”

Brian Johnson

“The Lives of Brian”

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Johnson does tease at the end of The Lives of Brian that “I will save all those stories for another time, another book,” but he now considers that an “unfortunate” and unintended promise. “I should have said that’s another book, but it’s not mine,” he says. “I wouldn’t write another book about the band, absolutely not. If there’s something else to write about I would, but there isn’t. It’s somebody else’s story. If I can think of something like the great f-ck-ups on stage, maybe, THAT would be a f-ckin’ book!”

Johnson had no problem filling The Lives of Brian with other compelling stories, however, both humorous and heart-wrenching. Writing in a conversational style that conveys the energy of his soul-banshee vocal delivery, Johnson digs into his family history — an Italian mother who came back to England with Johnson’s father after World War II (“He must’ve had a silver tongue, ’cause my ma was from a better place”) — and growing up poor working class in industrial northern England. Music seemed a way out, and Johnson chronicles early days of “having to go on stage and sing, not a clue what the f-ck I was doing but enjoying it and, ‘Hey, this is good when people clap at the end. That makes me feel good, that does.’”

The Lives of Brian details his early bands, most notably Geordie, which had some British and European hits and toured around the continent. It was with Geordie that Johnson met his AC/DC predecessor, Bon Scott, who at the time was in a lighter-weight band called Fang. “They opened for us,” says Johnson, who writes in the book about Scott and Fang sneaking into Geordie’s hotel room one night after the band’s tour bus broke down. “I think at the time Bon was learning his trade,” Johnson recalls. “He was playing flute and (Fang) was a bit Jethro Tull-y. It was very different than what he would do with (AC/DC).” Johnson’s kindness was repaid down the road, however.

“It’s so great to think that I met him and did two gigs with him, and the wonderful part is that he actually mentioned me to Angus and Malcolm when they were talking about rock singers. (Scott) said, ‘Well, I met a f-ckin’ one that was worth his weight.’ I never saw him after that, but it was amazing that we did meet.”

The Lives of Brian’s telling of Johnson joining AC/DC is also highlight, documenting the band’s hospitality — they had his native Newcastle Brown Ale waiting for him — and the singer guiding them through an unexpected rendition of Ike & Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits.” “I was me,” Johnson recalls. “I don’t give a f-ck. I was like, ‘That was brilliant! Wasn’t that great?!’ And these guys were just not used to that kind of thing, and they were looking at each other going, ‘Yeah, well, do you know one of our songs?’ and I go, ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’? And they all went, ‘Yeah!’”

Johnson — who had a business replacing auto roofs at the time — left convinced that he wouldn’t get the job. “I finished me Brown Ale and I said, ‘Y’know what, lads, thank you so much. I’ll never forget this. Wait’ll I get home and tell the boys I’ve had a sing with AC/DC — they’ll never f-ckin’ believe it. Anyway, I’ve gotta get shootin’. Got to open the shop tomorrow, and I’ve got a gig tomorrow night.’

“Then one of the managers (Peter Mensch) comes out and says, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m f-ckin’ going home.’ ‘You can’t’ go home!’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He’s going, ‘Well, well, well, the lads haven’t finished yet.’ But it was true — I had to open up the shop in the morning and we did have a gig that night. But it was a joyful ride back.”

Mensch prevailed upon Johnson to return and the rest, of course, is history. He reveals in the book that he made Malcolm Young call him twice to make sure the job offer was real, and Johnson also recalls playing Back in Black for the first time at one of his Geordie II bandmate’s house because Johnson didn’t have a turntable of his own. “He was like, ‘Come on, the quicker we get this over with the quicker we can get the band started again,” Johnson remembers. “So I drive to his house and I get (the album) out and he’s going, ‘F-ckin’ black?! Is that it?’ Then we put it on and it starts with ‘Hells Bells’ and he’s going, ‘Ooh, it’s taking its time isn’t it?’ Then I start singing and he went, ‘Oh, no, that’s way too high!’ It wasn’t anything bad or nasty, just, ‘That’s way too high, son’ and he took it off and said, ‘Come on, let’s go get some beer.’ And that was my introduction to the f-ckin’ album.”

Johnson has recorded an audiobook version of The Lives of Brian but laughs off the idea of a movie based on it. “If they do, I’ll shoot the balls off anybody. I hate movies about bands,” says Johnson, adding that his management has received multiple offers for the film rights. “One of theme even sent a full script. I read about 30 pages in and it was awful. That was just one and I knew the others were going to be the same, so…nah.”

As The Lives of Brian rolls out, Johnson is looking at other endeavors. He’s been active in helping Asius Technologies develop the hearing aids that allow him to perform live again — most recently at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert on Sept. 3 in London. He also has a hankering to “jump into my race car, put the helmet on, qualify as high as I can and just go racing.”

He’s more circumspect about AC/DC, however. He refers to the band as “still a working entity of sorts” but stops short of revealing any future touring or recording plans.

“I would love to do music again,” Johnson says, “whether it’ll be guesting with somebody, whether it be actually playing live with the boys. I’ve heard that term ‘hell freezes over’ a million times before with people saying, ‘I’m not doing that again.’ But I’d be up for it. I think everybody hopes to make more music.”

21 Oct 2022

Tanya Tucker on Her New Documentary and Career Longevity: ‘I Won’t Go Away, So You’ll Just Have to Put Up With Me’

In 2019, when Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings began working with country music veteran Tanya Tucker on While I’m Livin’, Tucker’s first album of new music in nearly two decades, they aimed to create the kind of critical and commercial career resurgence that Rick Rubin’s American Recordings series had for Johnny Cash’s career. Carlile also heeded key advice from Rubin, who told her to bring in a camera crew to film her studio sessions with Tucker.

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Of course, Tucker — who once led her own reality television show, Tuckerville — had no qualms about filming the process.

“I love it — I think everything should be documented,” Tucker tells Billboard. “I’ve thought about, ‘How much would it cost to have a cinematographer video everything, from the time I get up to the time I go to sleep?’ I mean, you can throw away what you don’t want, but at least we got it.”

The result of that filming­ — the nearly two-hour documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker (Featuring Brandi Carlile) — appears in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles beginning today (Oct. 21) and nationwide Nov. 4. Helmed by Kathlyn Horan, the film chronicles the three musicians’ time spent at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, crafting the album that would ultimately garner Tucker her first Grammy wins.

In 2020, nearly 50 years after earning the first of her 14 Grammy nominations (for “Delta Dawn” in 1973, when Tucker was only 14), Tucker celebrated winning her first two Grammy awards: best country song (“Bring My Flowers Now”) and best country album (While I’m Livin’). Poignantly, she took the stage with Jennings and Carlile, as Carlile noted that after the death of Tucker’s parents (her father and longtime manager Beau Tucker died in 2006, and her mother Juanita died in 2012), Tucker didn’t want to record music and that she felt her life had “more love behind her than in front of her.”

Interspersed between modern footage from the studio are home videos and archived video interviews from throughout Tucker’s career, piecing together the story of a spunky, self-determined teen who became one of country music’s brightest — and at times, most controversial — stars.

Tucker was ushered into the spotlight in 1972 as a 13-year-old teen phenom singing “Delta Dawn” and “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone),” and later appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone at age 15 (With the confident headline: “Hi, I’m Tanya Tucker, I’m 15, You’re Gonna Hear From Me”). And the world did: In the 1970s and 1980s, she notched 10 leaders on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, and over the course of three decades, earned 40 top 10 country hits. In 1994, she became one of the few country artists to perform during the Super Bowl halftime show, appearing alongside The Judds, Clint Black and Travis Tritt.

But even as Tucker notched No. 1 country hits in the 1970s and 1980s, she also took criticism for releasing the rock-oriented 1978 album TNT — as well as its suggestive album cover, which featured a leather-clad Tucker straddling a microphone cord. She also contended with the sexism and double standards of an industry that often penalized Tucker for partaking in many of the same vices (smoking, drug use, alcohol, and tumultuous romances) that helped make icons of her male counterparts.

At one key point in the documentary, Tucker is asked about her female musical heroes and influences. Tellingly, she is unable to point to a particular female artist she looked up to, instead namechecking Elvis Presley and Merle Haggard (“Haggard was everything to me,” she says in the documentary). Early on in her career, Tucker traded the long, modest dresses that were the norm for female artists, opting for flashy jumpsuits a la Presley, costumes that allowed her to move freely onstage and fit her hard-charging style. It was Haggard who would later offer Tucker a pep-talk when she was contemplating quitting music (“He jumped all over my a—about that. You know, what are you gonna do?” she tells Billboard).

The documentary also spotlights the sweet chemistry between Tucker, Jennings and especially Carlile, who serves as producer, co-writer, supporter and astute interviewer of Tucker, often gently pulling out the star’s childhood memories. Tucker recalls turning down “Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” — which would become a huge crossover smash for Donna Fargo — in order to record her own breakthrough hit, “Delta Dawn.” Elsewhere, viewers are reminded that after she signed her first recording contract while barely a teen. The documentary also shows a diary entry from Tucker on her 16th birthday — the same day she signed a $1.6 million record deal.

“Brandi’s always waiting for me to get something out, and she unscrambles it,” Tucker says. “She’s so smart, she hears things that other people don’t hear in conversations, and she acts on it.”

The documentary captures one such conversation, as Tucker recounts singing to Loretta Lynn — who died Oct. 4 at 90 — a chorus she had written, and the two artists promising to get together to co-write.

“Me and Loretta talked about it for years: ‘We’ve got to write a song together, we gotta write a song together,’” Tucker says. “But we never did. Me, at my core, is a singer, and an entertainer. But Loretta’s real core was writing songs — though she happened to be a really great singer, too, one of the greatest.”

However, Tucker did finish the song with Carlile, creating what would become “Bring My Flowers Now,” which would help propel the project to Grammy success. For Tucker, it has been her intense devotion to finding top-shelf songs that pair with her wisdom-cracked voice.

“When I was a kid, I thought, ‘Why do people put two great songs on every album and the rest of it is s–t?’ Publishers loved it, because they could get a free ride. Put 10 songs on the album, and they should all be capable of being singles. Then [Tucker’s former Capitol Records labelmate] Garth Brooks came along and did that. We were real close there on Capitol. I think he made a lot of great decisions based on the mistakes I made.”

As much as she loves the idea of chronicling her every move, Tucker has yet to watch the documentary in full.

“The first time I tried to watch it was in Austin, and I didn’t see all of it because I had a hard time sitting through it. Really, what got me and the reason I was hesitant to watch it in a group of people is all the old home movies — my mom and dad, reliving those. That gets me emotional, and I got this reputation,” she says with a chuckle. “I’m tough. Brandi thinks I’m real tough, so I can’t be there crying with her — I’ll just go to the bathroom.”

Working with Carlile and Jennings has energized Tucker, who says she has three albums “in the can,” including a follow-up project with the pair.

“It’ll be out around June, I think,” she says, proudly discussing some of the songs set for the project, including the Tucker/Jennings co-write “Dearest Linda,” inspired by Linda Ronstadt, and several Carlile co-writes, including “The List” — as well as another song, “Ready As I’ll Never Be” which will be released Friday (Oct. 21).

“I adore her,” Tucker says of Carlile. “After that last album, I didn’t know we were going to make another one, but one day she sent me a message and said, ‘We got to work together again.’ One of my first thoughts was, ‘Oh god, now we gotta make this even better than the last time,’” she says, laughing. “It’s a lot of pressure to win those Grammys and stuff. You know, I was comfortable with losing, but I like winning a bit better. It’s gotten in my blood now.”

Even as a two-time Grammy champion with numerous No. 1s to her credit, one honor still eludes Tucker: induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“You know, it was never like I just had to be in the Hall of Fame, so maybe that’s why I ain’t done it — so now, maybe I shouldn’t want it and then I’ll get it,” she says. “Of course, [2020 inductee] Marty Stuart, I congratulated him and he said, ‘It’s ridiculous that I’m in there before you. Hell, I was campaigning for you to get in there.’ But I would much rather that people want me to be there, rather than have people going, ‘What is she in there for?’ And there are a few people that are in there that people wonder about—How did they get in there when they were [babies] while I was doin’ my stuff? But I don’t have the anger that some people have, and I’m just not a political person.”

Ultimately, Tanya Tucker Returns (Featuring Brandi Carlile) showcases Tucker’s decades-long fight for respect and creative freedom in a male-dominated industry, and introduces her story and music to a new generation of fans.

“People ask me, ‘How do you think you lasted so long?’” she says. “I won’t go away, so you’ll just have to put up with me.”

21 Oct 2022

Vitamin String Quartet Just Released a Whole Album of BTS Covers

BTS‘ music is the gift that keeps on giving. Though the K-pop group is currently in between albums and its members are focusing on solo projects and preparing for mandatory military service, the group’s catalogue has inspired new interpretations of several of its hits songs. Such is the case for Vitamin String Quartet, whose new album Vitamin String Quartet Performs BTS — released on Friday (Oct. 21) — sees the group tapping into BTS tracks such as “Idol,” “On,” “Black Swan” and more.

“It’s been thrilling to put together VSQ Performs BTS. BTS’ music is built for performance; it’s something that serenades as much as it moves. That sensational combination of song and dance is at the heart of what we’ve accomplished with the album and all its content,” James Curtiss, director of A&R and creative director of CMH Label Group, said in a statement.

Along with the arrival of the classical group’s album was the debut for its “Black Swan” video, which features a male dancer performing ballet to the tune.

“Against a clean, stark palette and backdrop of black, white, and industrial grays, we are telling the story of a ballerina who pushes himself to the breaking point of performance, transforming from a delicate, gentle danseur into a vivacious, rapturous soloist,” Curtiss noted of the inspirations behind the “Black Swan” visual. “That is contrasted with the performance of the quartet on camera, the music he hears in his head, pushing him to the next level. It’s a visual revelry that encapsulates all that both VSQ and BTS bring into listeners’ lives.”

Vitamin String Quartet Performs BTS arrives just before BTS member Jin is set to debut his solo single “The Astronaut” alongside Coldplay in Buenos Aires on Oct. 28. The BTS member will be the first of the septet to perform military service in South Korea.

“Jin will initiate the process as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October. He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government,” BTS’ label BigHit Music said in a statement. “Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans.”

Listen to Vitamin String Quartet Performs BTS, and watch the video for “Black Swan” below.

21 Oct 2022

Charlamagne Tha God Says Kanye West Screamed About Pete Davidson‘s ’10-Inch Penis’ During an Argument

Charlamagne the God appeared on The Brilliant Idiots podcast this week, where he shared an interesting, NSFW conversation he had with Kanye West.

It all started when Charlamagne brought up Ye’s controversial interview with the Drink Champs podcast — which has since been taken down — where the rapper said that the radio host was telling people that Kim Kardashian was dating comedian Pete Davidson because “he has a bigger d—.”

Charlamagne tha God explained that Ye’s comments originated from a phone call between the two last year, when the Yeezy founder’s ex-wife began dating the former SNL comedian. Charlamagne said that Ye tried to “get me on board to s— on someone he knows is my friend, Pete Davidson.”

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“My wife is out here f—ing a white boy with a 10-inch penis! And you won’t help me!” Charlamagne recalled Ye shouting on the phone call. “You’re telling me that’s your friend? When you’re supposed to be culture?” 

Ye repeatedly shared attacks on Davidson — whom he called “Skete” — throughout the actor’s nine-month relationship with Kardashian. West wrote that Davidson “will get my kids mom hooked on drugs He’s in rehab every 2 months” and asked SNL writer Dave Sirus to “please help write some more culturally irrelevant jokes for SKETE” while referencing Davidson’s tattoo of Hillary Clinton, which Ye had posted with the caption, “Tramp Stamp. Pete the tramp. Here’s the stamp.”

West also shared two music videos for “Eazy,” in which Davidson is depicted being buried alive and beaten violently. In January, Charlamagne called out “Eazy” for being “corny” with the lyric, “God saved me from that crash/Just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s a–.”

21 Oct 2022

From Taylor Swift to Carly Rae Jepsen, What’s Your Favorite New Music of the Week? Vote!

Like clockwork, we’ve reached the end of yet another week, and with the arrival of Friday (Oct. 21) comes a new slate of albums and songs to dive into, including long-awaited releases from Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen and Arctic Monkeys. And as always, Billboard wants to know which new release you’re enjoying the most.

It was a sleepless night for many Swifties, as their queen dropped her 10th studio album, Midnights. And as if the 13-song tracklist including instant faves such as “Anti-Hero,” “Lavender Haze” and “Vigilante Shit” wasn’t enough, the superstar gave fans seven more bonus cuts in the middle of the night, including “The Great War,” “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” and “Paris.”

The pop cornucopia didn’t stop there, with Jepsen releasing her sixth album The Loneliest Time. Led by “Western Wind,” the sparkling record features a guest assist from Rufus Wainwright on its title track, and serves as a follow-up to the Canadian pop chanteuse’s 2020 full-length of B-sides, Dedicated Side B.

Meghan Trainor is back, as well, returning to the ’60s-style doo-wop roots of her 2015 debut on fifth LP Takin’ It Back. Meanwhile, Tegan and Sara unveiled Crybaby, their first album in three years, as well as their first on new label Mom + Pop.

On the rock front, Arctic Monkeys take The Car for a joyride with singles such as “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball,” “Body Paint” and “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am.” And if you’re in the mood for just a song rather than a full-length, there’s Shakira‘s new collaboration with Ozuna — “Monotonía” — plus Roddy Ricch‘s “Aston Martin Truck,” and more.

Vote for your favorite new release of the week in Billboard‘s latest poll below!

21 Oct 2022

Paris Hilton Gets a Tom Cruise Deepfake to Serenade Her With Elton John & Britney Spears’ Song: Watch

Hold me closer, Tommy Deepfake. In a bizarre video posted by Paris Hilton to TikTok Thursday (Oct. 20), the DJ tells a viral Tom Cruise impersonator, who uses deepfake technology to cosplay the actor, to serenade her with one of her favorite songs: “Hold Me Closer,” Elton John‘s 2022 duet with Britney Spears, which is an update of his 1971 classic hit “Tiny Dancer.”

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In the video, Paris and the faux Tom Cruise lean against a kitchen counter, the former in a bubblegum pink tracksuit and the latter in a checkered bathrobe. “Tom, can you sing me that song again?” Hilton asks, sipping from a bedazzled cup. “You know which one.”

“Hold me closer, tiny dancer/ Count the headlights on the highway,” sings the fake Cruise. “Lay me down in sheets of linen/ You had a busy day today.”

But while the impromptu kitchen concert was Paris’ idea, she wasn’t impressed by the results. “It’s good but not great. You should stick to acting,” she tells fake Tom.

“Yeah … I probably should,” he replies, slightly embarrassed.

“Nothing like being serenaded with my favorite @Britney Spears and @Elton John song,” the former Simple Life star captioned the TikTok, writing one of her signature catchphrases in the hashtags: “#ThatsHot #ButCouldBeHotter.”

Hilton also tagged her serenader’s TikTok page, confirming him to be @deeptomcruise, an account with nearly 4 million followers that went viral for posting absurd videos starring a very convincing Tom Cruise lookalike. It turned out to be the deepfake editing work of AI artist Chris Umé, who manipulates the face of stand-in Miles Fisher — the real-life man standing next to Paris in her TikTok — to look identical to the Top Gun star.

Watch Paris Hilton get serenaded by a Tom Cruise deepfake below:

21 Oct 2022

First Country: Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, Tanya Tucker & More

First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.

Thomas Rhett, Merry Christmas Y’all

Thomas Rhett is already feeling festive, with the release of his first holiday project. The polished four-song EP finds the singer-songwriter bringing his warm, relaxed sound to classics including “Winter Wonderland” (bolstered with sleek horns and soft percussion) and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Scotty McCreery, “Small Town Story”

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McCreery’s latest continues in his winning arc of songs pulled from chapters of his own life, chronicling his own small town story, from learning guitar and playing sports, getting his first truck and falling in love. The song will be included on his upcoming deluxe version of his album Same Truck, out Nov. 18.

Tanya Tucker, “Ready as I’ll Never Be”

In 2020, Tanya Tucker experienced a career resurgence when her album While I’m Livin’ and song “Bring My Flowers Now” earned Tucker her first Grammy wins, nearly 50 years after she got her start in the industry. Today, the documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker (Featuring Brandi Carlile) releases in select theaters and chronicles the making of the project. The doc also includes this new track, which matches Tucker’s wisdom-filled, life-weathered voice with lyrics of life, nostalgia and moving on.

Tyler Hubbard, “I’m the Only One” (Video)

A newly minted solo artist, Hubbard highlights his comedic and acting skills in this new music video. He works at an upscale clothing store, and when the shop closes, it’s time to cut up and have fun. The clip is a lighthearted complement for this jovial love song, which will be included on Hubbard’s upcoming debut solo album, which releases in January 2023.

HunterGirl, “Hometown Out of Me”

Former American Idol contestant HunterGirl makes her debut release following her time on the show, with her first release for 19 Recordings/BMG. On her first post-show song, she makes sure fans know she hasn’t left her Winchester, Tennessee roots. She wrote the song with Laura Veltz and Jimmy Robbins, and the lyrics nod to the small town as the reason for her fearlessness (“Maybe you ain’t scared of crashing/ When you got a place to land”). The sweetly sentimental song is a perfect foil for her likable, girl next door-made-good persona and strong voice, and a pleasant pop/country outing that chronicles her current moment of transcending from talented aspiring artist, to make her first steps toward the big leagues.

Jessie James Decker with Billy Currington, “I Still Love You”

Decker and Currington reunite for another duet, following the song “Good Night,” which was featured on Currington’s 2015 album, Summer Forever. “I Still Love You” centers on a couple that falls apart, only for each to discover they are better together. Sonically, the song falls neatly into Currington’s slow-groove, R&B-tinged wheelhouse and gives Decker space to let loose on some soulful vocal runs. While it would never be mistaken for Currington’s 2004 duet with Shania Twain on the boppy “Party for Two,” it does further showcase the influence Twain’s career has had on Decker.

Greylan James, “Old Truck Young Love”

This laid-back, radio-ready track is the latest release from singer-songwriter Greylan James, known as a writer on Kenny Chesney’s “Happy Does,” among other songs. Here, he continues to show his knack as both an artist as well as a writer, on a track he wrote with Jessi Alexander, Ben Hayslip, and NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler.

Noah Thompson, “Make You Rich”

Thompson draws on his Kentucky roots and past career as a construction worker, as he passes on lessons he’s learned along the way, like valuing family and friends over materialistic things, and being a person of character. “A man is measured by more than a treasure stacked up in a bank,” he sings, adding, “Be a better man than your old man was.” A promising release from this former American Idol winner.

21 Oct 2022

Kelsea Ballerini, Carly Pearce & Kelly Clarkson to Team Up for CMA Awards Performance

Three top female artists will team up for a searing performance during the upcoming CMA Awards, which is slated to air on ABC on Nov. 9 from Nashville.

On her latest album, Subject to Change, Kelsea Ballerini welcomed friends Carly Pearce and Kelly Clarkson on the rowdy track “You’re Drunk, Go Home.” The trio of artists will make their debut live performance of the song during the CMA Awards. TMZ first reported the news, and Billboard has independently confirmed the trio will be performing the song together during the awards ceremony.

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The track is a piercing kiss-off to a drunk guy trying hopelessly make a romantic gesture, and proves to be a fine female empowerment moment. Notably, all three of the women have weathered divorces in recent years, with Clarkson splitting from Brandon Blackstock in 2020. That same year, Pearce divorced fellow country artist Michael Ray, and in August 2022, Ballerini revealed her split from fellow country artist Morgan Evans.

Ballerini previously told Billboard about the song’s origins and how Pearce and Clarkson came to be on the track.

“I felt that there’s some sass and comedy to this song,” Ballerini explained. “So I thought, ‘Who are the women in my life that are artists that have both of those things?’ Carly and I have been friends for, like, 10 years, before either of us had anything going on and we’ve just seen each other personally and professionally through so many seasons of life. We’ve always wanted to do a song together and this made sense.”

When it came to Clarkson, Ballerini said, “I thought the biggest ask I could make is Kelly Clarkson, and I texted her that morning. She did her vocals that night.”

At last year’s CMA Awards, Ballerini picked up two wins for “Half of My Hometown,” her collaboration with Kenny Chesney, netting video of the year and musical event of the year. This year, the song is nominated for single of the year heading into November’s awards ceremony.

Pearce is one of the most nominated artists leading into this year’s awards show, with five nods, including musical event of the year, music video of the year, and single and song of the year (all for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” with Ashley McBryde), as well as female vocalist of the year. Pearce took home the CMA’s female vocalist of the year honor for the first time last year.

To date, Clarkson has earned six CMA Awards nominations, as well as a win for musical event of the year in 2011 for her collaboration with Jason Aldean, “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”

21 Oct 2022

Here Are All of Taylor Swift’s Self-Directed Music Videos, From ‘All Too Well’ to ‘Anti-Hero’

Taylor Swift has been telling stories through her song lyrics for nearly two decades, but it’s only been the second half of her career that she’s been trying her hand at illustrating them visually. Ever since she first took the plunge of overseeing the visual for her Lover single “The Man” in 2019, though, more of her music videos than not have been directed entirely by the country-turned-pop star herself.

Her directorial journey started years before that, however. In 2010, she tried sitting in the director’s chair when she teamed up with Roman White — who’d previously directed Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and “Fifteen” videos — in supervising her Speak Now lead single’s mini-motion picture, “Mine.” It would take around nine years after that for the Grammy winner to step back onto the other side of the clapperboard, eventually taking on the role of co-director again with “Me!”

Several self-directed projects later, Swift’s video-making prowess culminated in the form of her very first short film All Too Well. The project doubled as a music video for the 10-minute “Taylor’s Version” re-release of a 10-year-old fan-favorite song of the same title, originally released on her 2012 record Red. After that would come a portfolio of music videos made by Swift for her 2022 10th studio record Midnights, the first taste of which came with the Oct. 21 premiere of “Anti-Hero.”

But what will come next for the full-time pop star, part-time filmmaker? “I’d like to keep taking baby steps forward and I’m at a place now where the next baby step is not a baby step,” she revealed at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022. “It would be committing to making a film and I feel like I would absolutely love for the right opportunity to arise, because I absolutely adore telling stories this way.”

“I think I will always want to tell human stories about human emotion,” she added. “I never say never, but I can’t imagine myself filming an action sequence. If it happens one day, that will be funny character growth. Could see it going in a more comedic, irreverent place. I don’t always see myself telling stories about extreme guttural heartbreak at your most formative age.”

Not counting music videos such s “The Best Day” and “Christmas Tree Farm,” which are comprised of childhood footage curated by Swift, keep reading to see all of Taylor Swift’s self-directed music videos.

21 Oct 2022

Lucy Simon, ‘Secret Garden’ Composer & Carly’s Sister, Dies at 82

Lucy Simon, the composer who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.

Simon, sister of pop superstar Carly Simon, died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, a family spokesperson said. Simon had breast cancer.

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The Secret Garden, with a book by Marsha Norman, opened in New York in 1991. Reviews were mixed, but it won a Tony for best book of a musical and went on to play for almost two years. A slightly revised version opened in London’s West End, and a pared-down-from-Broadway version went on tour.

The musical — adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel — focuses on Mary, a young English girl forced to move to England from colonial India when her parents die of cholera. She moves in with her Uncle Archibald, a hunchback who is mourning his late wife, Lily, and blaming his bedridden son for her death.

While living in her uncle’s home, Mary discovers a hidden and neglected garden that once belonged to Lily, and she and a young gardener bring it back to life. At the same time, she brings new life to her uncle and cousin. The songs include “The Girl I Mean to Be” and “How Could I Ever Know.”

Steven Pasquale and Sierra Boggess were among the Broadway stars mourning Simon’s passing. “Her music is her gift to the world. In one of her last messages to me she said ‘I was going to ask you to carry my voice onward’ and I sat and wept,” Boggess wrote on Instagram.

Simon was born in New York on May 5, 1940, to publishing giant Richard Simon and his wife, Andrea. She was the second oldest of four children Joanna, Lucy, Carly and Peter.

Carly and Lucy once performed as The Simon Sisters, opening for other acts in Greenwich Village folk clubs. Their recording of “Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod” hit No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

While Carly Simon would find huge success with such hits as “Anticipation,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” and “You’re So Vain,” Lucy went to nursing school.

After marrying and having children, Lucy Simon recorded two solo albums, Lucy Simon (1975) and Stolen Time (1977), for RCA. Lucy and her husband, David Levine, produced two Grammy-winning children’s albums, In Harmony (1981) and In Harmony 2 (1983).

Her return to Broadway with Doctor Zhivago in 2015 was less successful. The tale of five intertwined lovers set during final days of czarist Russia lasted less than two months after blistering reviews.

She is survived by her husband; her children, Julie Simon and James Levine; and four grandchildren Sophie, Ben, Charlie and Evie.