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Nick Jonas had a rough day at work on Tuesday. The Jonas Brothers singer and solo star was minding his own business during the group’s The Tour date at Boston’s TD Garden gig while singing “Sail Away” when a trap door opened up behind him and, well, there’s no easy way to say it, he […]
Famed Game of Thrones extra Ed Sheeran has flipped the script on Westeros’ favorite wintry warning with his recent “Autumn Is Coming” teaser campaign. Now he’s finally confirmed that his weeks of cryptic Instagram photos and videos — including a bit last week where he worked a shift at a Minneapolis LEGO store and flashed a minifig wearing a shirt with the fall-themed slogan — has a pay-off.
Kind of.
The “Eyes Closed” singer made Sheerios work for it a bit, though. The information came in the form of a fake 90-second informercial from the Gingerbread Man Shopping Channel that dropped on Wednesday (Aug. 16) in which Ed plays a cheesy pitchman whose tagline is: “if you like it a bit damper, check out my hamper!”
In a fast-talking bit where he talks up the wonders of the season of leaves and soggy rain, Sheeran promises a “brand new product” that will help you – yes, you! — deliver the “glum of autumn to the folks you love most.” Okay, so what he technically appears to be selling is an apple box filled with dirty, wet clothes, mashed potatoes, a warm pint, a rake, scarf, frozen pies and other miscellaneous items.
The wind-up leads to what appears to be the album title, Autumn Variations, with an accompanying phone number (917-909-4498) revealing that while all damper hampers are currently sold out, the shop will be re-stocking on Aug. 24. At press time a spokesperson for Sheeran had not returned a request for additional information on the project.
Before the commercial dropped, Sheeran shared more details about the album in an interview with Andy Cohen for his Deep & Shallow SiriusXM podcast. When Cohen asked if “Autumn Is Coming” was a reference to new music coming in October, Sheeran said “not in October. No, but there is new music coming.”
To clarify, Sheeran said, “It’s an album about Autumn and… I kind of have no expectations for it. I sort of, I made it whilst basically I, it was the album I was trying to make and then – (subtract) happened. And then, so I kind of like have finished it over the last year and, yeah, it’s ready to come out, so I’m gonna put it out.”
The interview came ahead of an exclusive show on Monday for SiriusXM subscribers and a group of special guests at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, NY that included Howard and Beth Stern, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, John Mayer, Brooke Shields, Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cohen, James Corden, Michael J. Fox, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld and others.
Sheeran dropped his latest maths-themed album, – (subtract), in May of this year.
Check out Sheeran’s informercial below.
Breakups are never easy. Some folks keep calm and carry on. Some of us heal by cutting our hair, hitting the gym, or eating the contents of the fridge. Britney Spears, it would appear, is indulging in some retail therapy. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In her […]
Westlife is going west for a first-ever tour of North America.
The hitmaking Irish boyband will embark on a multi-date trek in 2024, timed around St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national day of celebration.
Westlife: The Hits Tour is scheduled to kick off March 13 at Meridan Hall in Toronto, followed by dates at Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway (March 14), New York’s Radio City Music Hall (March 16), and Chicago Theatre (March 18).
“North America, we can’t wait to see you! It’s gonna be EPIC,” reads a message on the group’s socials.
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According to a statement, the brief run will feature the band’s many hits, including “Swear It Again,” “Flying Without Wings,” “World Of Our Own,” “My Love,” “If I Let You Go,” and “Hello My Love.”
But first, a U.S. TV debut on Monday, Aug. 21 with a spot on Good Morning America.
Formed in 1998, Westlife made an immediate, and sizeable, impact in the British Isles.
They hold the record for most consecutive No. 1s in the U.K. (seven) and most singles to debut at the summit.
All told, they’ve scored eight No. 1 albums in the U.K. and have an impressive haul of 14 No. 1 singles, one of the biggest for any act, surpassed only by the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Twenty-five Westlife singles have hit the U.K. top 10.
According to Warner Music’s EastWest division, which signed the act in 2021 — also on St. Patrick’s Day — the group has sold over 55 million records worldwide.
The foursome of Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne (past member Brian McFadden is no longer with the band) reunited for the 2019 album release Spectrum, which again ruled the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Their career trophy collection includes two Brit Awards, four MTV Awards and a venue record at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, which they sold-out five times.
Taika Waititi turned 48 years old on Wednesday (Aug. 16), and Rita Ora showered her husband with love in a swoon-worthy Instagram post. “Happy birthday to the funnest smartest man I have ever come across in my life,” she wrote alongside a series of photos of the filmmaker. “You keep me together in moments I […]
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari are separating after one year of marriage, according to People. TMZ was the first to share the news, but neither Spears nor Asghari have publicly confirmed the current status of their relationship. Billboard has reached out to Spears’ reps for more information, but did not receive a response at press […]
Doja Cat is looking on the bright side after she lost nearly 300,000 followers across social media due to a since-deleted Threads spree blasting her fanbase. “Seeing all these people unfollow me makes me feel like I’ve defeated a large beast that’s been holding me down for so long,” the 27-year-old “Need to Know” singer wrote […]
Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift both have a number of projects in the works at the moment, but re-doing their 2017 collaboration “End Game” for Swift’s imminent Reputation (Taylor’s Version) isn’t one of them. Not yet, anyway.
The ginger-haired pop star revealed in a recent interview on Andy Cohen’s Deep & Shallow SiriusXM podcast that he and Swift still haven’t reunited in the studio to take a second stab at “End Game,” which also originally featured Future and served as the third single from Reputation. “No, I haven’t,” he confirmed. “No. No. But 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the next one coming out. That’s the next one.”
Swift has released three “Taylor’s Version” records so far, with 1989 set to become the fourth in October. That means that only her self-titled 2006 debut album and Reputation, the final album she released under her former record label Big Machine, are left for her to re-record. And while “End Game” is still on the to-do list, 2021’s Red (Taylor’s Version) did already bring along two Swift-Sheeran duets: “Everything Has Changed (Taylor’s Version)” and “Run,” a previously unreleased From the Vault track.
The “Anti-Hero” singer announced last week that 2014’s 1989 was next in line at her final U.S. leg 1 stop on the Eras Tour — which Sheeran says he’s hopeful he’ll be able to attend once the trek makes its way to Europe. “I would love to go and see Taylor’s show, but we’re all playing on the same dates every single weekend,” the “A Team” musician, whose currently embarked on his record-breaking Mathematics Tour, told Cohen. “I think there’s a chance next year when she’s in the UK…”
Sheeran himself is busy gearing up to release a new record of his own, which he confirmed to Cohen is coming soon. The revelation comes after the Grammy winner’s repeated “Autumn is coming” messages to fans on Instagram, which turned out to be teasers for the fall-themed LP he has in store.
Fans even recently pieced together a possible release date based on numbers printed on the jerseys Sheeran wore at a pair of recent concerts: 9/29, or September 29th. “It’s an album about Autumn and I kind of have no expectations for it,” Sheeran shared, not confirming the project’s release date. “It was the album I was trying to make, and then Subtract happened. So I kind of have finished it over the last year and, yeah, it’s ready to come out, so I’m gonna put it out.”
One thing’s for sure, though: You probably won’t ever catch Sheeran singing the new songs, or any of his music, for that matter, as a headliner at the Super Bowl. “I think it’s an American thing,” he explained. “I think I, I don’t have pizazz… I don’t, you watch Prince, you watch Michael Jackson, you watch Katy Perry, you watch Lady Gaga, you watch Rihanna, you watch Beyoncé. Like all of these amazing performers. I’m just not that, I’m not gonna have dancers on stage.”
Check out clips from Ed Sheeran’s interview with Andy Cohen below:
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Barbie summer isn’t over yet — not if Charli XCX has something to say about it. On Wednesday (Aug. 16), the “Beg For You” singer released her long-awaited music video for “Speed Drive,” nearly one month after the theatrical release of Great Gerwig’s Barbie. The English pop star kept the visual somewhat simple, appearing alongside […]
Doja Cat has love in her heart and Hollywood on her mind. In the 27-year-old superstar’s new Harper’s Bazaar cover story — one of three “Icons” issues by the publication this month — she opened up about her transition from being a “serial dater” to falling in love with her partner and shared plans to pause her music career someday in order to pursue acting.
“I love love,” confessed Doja, who’s reportedly dating comedian and Twitch streamer J. Cyrus.
“I’m possibly a serial dater,” she continued. “I definitely have had that in me a little bit. But right now I’m in a different place in my life where I am very committed and very much in love in a different way than before. I think I’ve evolved… I feel like a woman who is coming into her own.”
The “Kiss Me More” artist, who’s threatened to quit music altogether multiple times in the past, went on to share her dreams of taking a break from her current occupation to dip her toes into acting — and possibly stand-up comedy. “[Stand-up] is something I’ve definitely considered,” she told the publication. “I actually went onstage recently with Craig Robinson. He’ll get on a piano and just play songs, but he’ll do it in his own Craig Robinson, funny-ass way.”
“I would love to do movies that I believe in,” Doja continued. “I would have to stop the music for a minute. But I would be down to immerse myself in acting for a certain period of time. I love comedies and action films. I want to learn martial arts and be in a film like John Wick.”
Doja is fresh off the release of her second single of 2023, “Paint The Town Red.” The track debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is expected to appear on the star’s upcoming fourth, as-yet-untitled album, along with June’s “Attention.”
She also touched on what’s to come with her next musical project for the Harper’s Bazaar “Icons” trilogy, which also featured cover stars Paul Mescal and Kendall Jenner. “This new album is more introspective, but I’m not leaning so hard into that to where it becomes boring,” Doja revealed.
“So I want to give stories and bops. It’s a nice mixture of both,” she added. “I think this project is a really fun canvas for me to play with my rap skills and talk about what’s going on in my life. But I’m not abandoning who I was and what I know about pop and singing and that aspect of music.”
See Doja Cat grace the cover of Harper’s Bazaar below:
Mario Sorrenti