News

03 Mar 2023

Lil Baby to Perform at 2023 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards

Lil Baby will perform his hit “California Breeze” on the 2023 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. The show will air live on Saturday at 7 p.m. (ET/PT) from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

“California Breeze” debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October. It’s drawn from the rapper’s third studio album, It’s Only Me, which was his third album to top the Billboard 200.

Dove Cameron, Miranda Cosgrove, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Jenna Ortega, Olivia Rodrigo and Kelly Rowland will also appear on the show. Optimus Prime, Transformers’ heroic leader of the Autobots, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Previously announced participants on the show, which is being hosted by Nate Burleson and Charli D’Amelio, include Bebe Rexha, who will perform her top five Hot 100 hit “I’m Good (Blue)”; Adam Sander, who will receive the King of Comedy award; as well as Awkwafina, Halle Bailey, Pete Davidson, Peyton List, Melissa McCarthy, MrBeast, Chris Pine, Anthony Ramos, Michelle Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Michael Le, Bella Poarch and Lil Uzi Vert.

The show will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick Jr., TV Land, CMT and MTV2, and livestream on Nick.com and the Nick App.

Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2023 is produced by Nickelodeon Productions and overseen by Ashley Kaplan, executive vice president, Nickelodeon & Awesomeness Unscripted & Digital Franchise Studio; Paul J Medford, vice president, Unscripted Current Series; Luke Wahl, vice president, Unscripted Creative; Jennifer Bryson, vice president, production, tentpoles, events & music & specials; and Ellen Rydzewski, senior vice president, celebrity, events & talent relations. Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager, and Barb Bialkowski serve as executive producers, with Harriet Cuddeford and Andria Parides serving as co-executive producers.

03 Mar 2023

Just Raise Your Glasses High for These ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Music Moments

Vanderpump Rules has focused largely on the drama-filled lives of Lisa Vanderpump’s employees since its debut on Bravo in 2013. But while these glamorous SUR-vice workers might be slinging drinks and bringing you fried goat cheese balls in between screaming matches and drunken rage texts, they’ve also been dishing up some mind-boggling but always entertaining musical moments.

It makes sense, if you think about it. Several members of the cast — including Scheana Shay and James Kennedy, for example — are in Los Angeles not just for modeling and acting jobs, but also to try to make it in the music industry. She’s “Good as Gold” as a singer (as far as she’s concerned), and he’s a relatively successful DJ with his “See You Next Tuesday” gigs at Sur.

And who can forget Tom Sandoval’s band Charles McMansion and its unforgettable (and somewhat naughty and 100 percent catchy “T.I.P” – that’s “Touch in Public”)? There’s also his newer project, Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras (the members of whom he pays just to attend band practice, as he revealed in season 10), which the reality star and TomTom partner has taken on the road while trying to launch his and best bud Tom Schwartz’s lounge, Schwartz and Sandy’s.

Yes, many of the cast’s musical endeavors – some fun, some great just to give viewers laughs — have fortunately been captured on camera over the seasons for posterity. From their music videos to live performances, here are the moments on the reality TV hit that we’re always happy to revisit.

03 Mar 2023

Wayne Shorter, Iconic Jazz Saxophonist, Dead At 89

HipHopWired Featured Video

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter, one of the giants of jazz and a wizard with the saxophone, was part of the genre’s experimental shifts of the 1960s and 1970s, spawning a new direction that honored the roots. Shorter passed away on Thursday, and we briefly look back at his extraordinary life and career.

Wayne Shorter was born on August 25, 1933, in Newark, N.J., and raised in the area through grade school. The New York University graduate and Army veteran joined Art Blakely’s Jazz Messengers in 1959 at the age of 26, later joining Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet. Shorter’s time with Davis was instrumental in him establishing his own sound in the presence of masters and using his formal education to great effect.

In 1971, the emergence of Shorter’s band, Weather Report, expanded the wide universe of jazz fusion and pushed new sounds to the forefront all with Shorter’s guiding hand. Some classic releases from that period include standout albums such as the acclaimed Heavy Weather release from 1977 and its 1978 follow-up, Mr. Gone.

Towards the end of his playing career, Shorter released several live recording albums, including the collaborative Live At The Detroit Jazz Festival album with Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, and Leo Genovese which was released in 2022.

Shorter was married three times. He married his first wife, Teruko Nakagami, in 1961, and is the mother of his daughter, Miyako. He married his second wife, Ana Maria Patricio in 1970, and the pair had a daughter, Iska, who passed away in 1985. Shorter then married Carolina Dos Santos in 1999.

Wayne Shorter was 89.

—

Photo: Getty

03 Mar 2023

First Country: Kip Moore, Rosanne Cash, The Panhandlers & More

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

Kip Moore, “Damn Love” (Video)

The title track to Moore’s upcoming April 28 album, Moore delivers one of his fiercest vocals to date on the title track from his upcoming April 28 album, written by Jason Gantt, Jaren Johnston and James McNair. Moore’s signature passionate, blue-collar scruff of a voice wrings every nuance of longing and heartbreak out of the song’s straightforward musings on the illustrious highs and crushing valleys of love.

Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal, “I Am a Pilgrim”

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

On Friday (March 3), Doc Watson would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Here, Cash and Leventhal offer a sweetly sparse arrangement of the folk song “I Am a Pilgrim,” which Watson included in nearly every live show. Tasteful acoustic guitar work elevates Cash’s voice, which is both wisened and packed with warmth. “I Am a Pilgrim” is the second release from the upcoming Doc Watson tribute album, I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100, which releases April 28 and features artists including Dolly Parton, Jerry Douglas, Valerie June and Steve Earle.

Southerland, “World Without You”

Southerland’s Matt Chase and Chris Rogers wrote this track along with Greg Bates and Jessi Alexander. In “World Without You” a guy muses what his life would be like sans his lover, comparing it to Tennessee without its “guitar town,” or Texas without its signature gruffness. The earnest lyrics get elevate by rippling guitars, shining production and the duo’s smooth harmonies.

Juliana Riccardi, “Right on Time”

Riccardi’s lilting voice and moody acoustic guitar flourishes are an elegant foil for this sweetly assuring song about carving your own path in your own time. “Don’t hold on too tight, and don’t hold on for spite/ What ain’t working out is teaching you to steer,” she sings. “Right on Time” is part of Riccardi’s two-song The Nashville Sessions project, co-produced and mixed by Nick Bullock.

Jenna Paulette, “Anywhere the Wind Blows”

Paulette, who releases her debut album The Girl I Was on March 31, takes a confident, carefree approach to her new single, “Anywhere the Wind Blows,” written by Paulette with Rhett Akins, Will Bundy and Jeb Gipson. Paulette brings a lilting Texas twang to a song that, not unlike Jo Dee Messina’s 1996 hit “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” envisions a range of places she and her sweetheart could set off to, from the Carolinas to Texas. “You be the tumbleweed/ I’ll be the feather, I don’t care as long as we’re together,” she sings in this promising track, backed by sweet fiddle lines and a bed of laid-back percussion.

The Panhandlers, “Tough Country”

The Panhandlers, a collection of music veterans that include Josh Abbott, John Baumann, William Clark Green and Flatland Cavalry’s Cleto Cordero, formed The Panhandlers in 2019 and a year later released their debut album in 2020. On Friday (March 3), they returned with their second project, the 14-track Tough Country. On the sterling title track, they pay homage to the rugged Texas countryside that shaped members of a family for generations, a place “in the land before the lazy chair, power pole, Frigidaire.” The expertly-crafted, softly played track is tinged with both wistfulness and sadness, and an urgency to soak in the tough Texas land’s beauty, knowing “it’d bring a tear to my grandpa’s eye/ Knowing every good thing dies.” The song concludes with a knowledge that one day, more generations of the family will return to the land where their generational roots have held for so many years. The album also includes Santa Fe, a song written by the late Guy Clark, but never released until it was included on Tough Country.

03 Mar 2023

Cate Blanchett Busts a Move in Sparks’ ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ Music Video: Watch

Sparks is back with a brand-new single and music video to accompany it, featuring a very special movie-star guest. On Friday (March 3), the band — which consists of sibling duo Ron and Russell Mael — released a video for “The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte,” in which actress Cate Blanchett stars as the titular girl for the video.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Blanchett appears in the sparse, artsy visual, flanked by the Mael brothers, wearing thick black glasses, red headphones, a bright yellow two-piece suit and dancing to the heavy synth instrumentation with a deadpan expression on her face for the duration of the song.

“Is it due to the rain/ Or is she in some pain/ She looks physically fine/ Guess it’s something benign/ The girl is crying in her latte, yeah,” Russell muses in the first verse of the experimental track.

“We met Cate Blanchett in Paris at the César Awards last year,” the Mael brothers said in a press release, regarding their decision to cast Blanchett in their new video. “Little knowing that a year later, one of the great actors of our time (and a splendid person!) would graciously consent to lending her bootie-shaking skills to the first video from our new album, ‘The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte.’ Dreams really do come true. We will sleep well tonight knowing that forever we can say we co-starred in a film with Cate Blanchett!” 

“The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte” is the first single from Sparks’ 26th album of the same name — the record, which will be released May 26, will be supported by a series of world tour dates, with several stops in Europe and North America starting May 23.

Watch the music video for “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte” above.

03 Mar 2023

Fireboy DML Locks in at EMPIRE’s Africa Writing Camp as Terrace Martin’s Next Dinner Party Project Takes Shape at Company HQ

The conference room on the 22nd floor of EMPIRE’s San Francisco office is brightly lit, with plaques covering the walls: a gold single for King Von’s “Crazy Story,” a gold album for Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80, a seven-times platinum certification for D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty’s “Broccoli.” Every chair around the big central table is full of EMPIRE staff members, each charged with different aspects of bringing to life the next project from Dinner Party, the collective comprised of Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder, among others; their first EP was released by EMPIRE in 2020 and subsequently nominated for a Grammy for best progressive R&B album.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Standing by the table near the door is Martin — the multi-talented producer, saxophonist and vocalist — who introduces the project to the staff and lays out his vision for how he wants to see it rolled out.

“I look at Dinner Party as like the hip-hop version of Steely Dan,” Martin says, referencing the classic rock group’s famous aversion to touring. “Let’s keep this one thing as like an expensive art piece.”

It’s late afternoon, and the EMPIRE crew is hosting another day of its Africa writing camp at its San Francisco studio for Nigerian stars Fireboy DML, Asake and Olamide. But first, there’s other business to attend to, and the Dinner Party project is high on the agenda. Martin holds court for nearly two hours, discussing plans for the physical release, for spot-date performances and for possible brand tie-ins and content plans when the project is rolled out. But he’s also playing near-final mixes of the album, which he hopes to complete within the week, and telling stories about how it came together (“We’re all in our 40s now,” he jokes about he and his Dinner Party cohorts. “You get us all together and it’s just story time, story after story.”)

One song, for instance, originally sampled Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit,” more famous these days as the basis for The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.” When Martin heard it, he called Mtume’s son to ask about clearing the sample, who replied not with permission but with the stems to his father’s original track; that allowed Martin to bypass clearing the master recording and left him needing only to clear the publishing side. For another song, Martin eschewed drums altogether — something he picked up from his 19-year-old daughter, who is now a producer herself. “I come from the era where a beat with no drums was an interlude,” he says. “I’m following her now.”

YBNL & EMPIRE

YBNL & EMPIRE teams meet in Studio A to listen over Olamide, Asake and Fireboy DML’s newly recorded records

Daniel Aziz

The meeting wraps before 6 p.m., and now it’s time to head over to the studio. The vibe is a little different tonight. Asake and Olamide have stayed at their hotel — where Olamide has been recording vocals in his room — the kitchen is playing Tupac instead of Kevin Gates, and Nigerian vegetable soup, fried catfish, smothered turkey wings and mac and cheese are the main events at dinner. (Though all anyone is talking about is how hot the pepper sauce is.)

Fireboy and Asake stayed in the studio until after midnight the night before cooking up another collaboration, and while Asake isn’t there now, Fireboy is, meeting Martin and adding in vocals and guitar to another song he’s working on. (The guitarist, Tone, sports a black triple-humbucker Fender Telecaster Deluxe, for those curious.) The vocals constitute an anthemic plea that Fireboy pores over with his engineer in Studio C, looping the vocals on the hook again and again to get them right then hopping back into the vocal booth to add harmonies and ad-libs while reading lyrics off his phone. Steadily, over the course of 45 minutes, the two add layer after layer to the track, reinforcing melodies and bringing forth different textures until Fireboy sits back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling and taking it all in.

It’s been more than a week since the camp began, and the conversations around the studio are diverse. Topics include the benefits of vocal coaching for an artist going on tour; the Nigerian presidential election; who is leaving from and coming to camp (songwriter Ivory Scott left this morning, Rexx Life Raj is set to arrive tomorrow, and Nigerian producer Magicsticks is on the way); and the studio’s many renovations. EMPIRE is planning to open a space in Los Angeles, too, and recently did the same in New York, though San Francisco will always be home.

YBNL & EMPIRE

Daniel Aziz

Shortly after 8 p.m., EMPIRE regional head of West Africa, Mobolaji Kareem, pulls us into Studio A to listen to a final mix of a new Kizz Daniel track that engineer Jaycen Joshua completed that morning. Right on cue, Daniel calls on FaceTime, dictating the custom lighting to tell us which color the room needs to be to listen to the track and promising to get out to the new studio when he can. But it’s an early night for just about everyone involved. The exception is Fireboy, who stays in the studio after many have left even though his voice is tired from the constant grind of recording. Tomorrow is another day, and more work is expected before things wrap in another week.

03 Mar 2023

BLACKPINK’s Jennie Says She’ll ‘Get Better Soon’ After Minor Facial Injury

BLACKPINK‘s Jennie took to social media on Friday (March 3) to share that she has suffered a minor injury to her face.

In a message to BLINKs on Weverse, the K-pop idol wrote, “It’s nothing, but I post[ed] it first in case you get surprised. I was taking care of my health during the break, eating well, and sleeping well, but I tripped a little while exercising and fell down, so I got a bit of a scar on my face.

“I wanted to get better soon so I don’t worry about BLINK, but it’s still healing, so I think I’m going to wear a bandage on my face for a while,” she continued. “Please understand if I sound silly. I need to show you a good performance, but I’m sorry for being like this, everyone. I’ll get better soon, so don’t worry and see you soon.”

In a reply, Jennie later added, “So… I don’t have time to take pictures these days, and I’ve been getting treatment every day” before apologizing again to the BLINKs, who naturally were more concerned about the star continuing to recuperate.

Indeed, according to her personal Instagram account, Jennie hasn’t posted a candid photo herself since Feb. 14 — instead posting behind the scenes content from her current Calvin Klein campaign in the intervening weeks for her nearly 75 million followers.

BLACKPINK, meanwhile, is currently wrapping up a month-long break in their Born Pink World Tour, which resumes Saturday (March 4) at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After finishing out the Asian leg of the tour with back-to-back shows at Japan’s Tokyo Dome in early April, Jennie and her bandmates will head back to the U.S. to serve as headliners for the 2023 iteration of Coachella.

Read Jennie’s full statement about her injury on Weverse here.

03 Mar 2023

Emilia, Big One & Callejero Fino Earn First No. 1 on Billboard Argentina Hot 100 Chart

Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino’s “En La Intimidad” ascends to No. 1, after two weeks in the top 10, on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Feb. 25). The song was released Feb. 1 through Fifty One. The song sends Luck Ra’s “Ya No Vuelvas,” featuring La K’Onga and Ke Personajes, to No. 4 after its one week on top.

It’s the first champ for Emilia, Big One and Callejero Fino, who have all reached the top 10 in the past before with at least one song. For Big One, the new leader arrives after he scored his first top 10 with first entry “Perfecta,” with Rusherking and Dread Mar (No. 6 high), last October.

Emilia, meanwhile, secured the No. 2-peaking “Cuatro Veinte” in April 2022. It became her only entry as a soloist, unaccompanied by another act, to reach the upper tier among her eight total top 10s.

As Callejero Fino claims his first No. 1 with “En La Intimidad,” it bests “Tu Turrito,” with Rei, which peaked at No. 3 last August.

Further, Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53″ climbs 3-2, while TINI, La Joaqui and Steve Aoki’s “Muñecas” ascends 4-3. Plus, Bm’s “M.A (Mejores Amigos)” holds at No. 5 for a second week. 

The week’s Greatest Gainer honors goes to Tini’s “Cupido,” which rockets up the chart 52-6, the biggest jump within the first two months of 2023. Plus, the Argentinian adds two new entries to her Billboard Argentina career count, a total of 30, as “Las Jordans” and “Te Pido” open at No. 53 and No. 58, respectively. Both songs stem from her latest Cupido album which debuts at No. 8 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart (dated March 11).

Elsewhere, Duki’s “Si Me Sobrara El Tiempo” scores the Hot Shot Debut of the week with a No. 27 start.

Lastly, three other songs debut this week, starting with Milo J’s “Rara Vez” at No. 61, following with Marama and Rodrigo Tapari’s “Dame un Besito” at No. 67, while Marc Anthony’s clocks his third chart entry as “La Fórmula,” with Maluma bows at No. 79.

03 Mar 2023

Fall Out Boy Unveils ‘So Much (For) Stardust’ Tracklist, Featuring Ethan Hawke Collab

With just three weeks to go until the arrival of Fall Out Boy‘s new album, the track list for the rock band’s forthcoming LP So Much (For) Stardust was unveiled Friday (March 3).

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

So Much (For) Stardust features a total of 13 tracks — including lead single “Love From the Other Side,” “Heartbreak Feels So Good,” a surprise Ethan Hawke collaboration titled “The Pink Seashell,” the album’s title track and more.

The track list reveal comes a month after the group announced plans for its 2023 So Much For (Tour) Dust North American tour on Jan. 31 — which will see the group performing across 29 dates starting in late June and concluding in August — and the recent addition of two intimate shows in England to celebrate the album’s release on March 15-16.

Fall Out Boy’s new era will unfortunately be without guitarist Joe Trohman, who announced he would be taking a hiatus from the group to focus on his mental health. “Without divulging all the details, I must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years. So, to avoid fading away and never returning, I will be taking a break from work which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell,” he wrote to share the news.

See Fall Out Boy’s track list reveal below.

So Much (For) Stardust Tracklist:

  • Love From the Other Side
  • Heartbreak Feels So Good
  • Hold Me Like a Grudge
  • Fake Out
  • Heaven, Iowa
  • So Good Right Now
  • The Pink Seashell feat. Ethan Hawke
  • I Am My Own Muse
  • Flu Game
  • Baby Annihilation
  • The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)
  • What a Time To Be Alive
  • So Much (For) Stardust