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America’s Got Talent singer Zuri Craig has died. The vocalist and member of the Craig Lewis Band passed away at age 44 on Friday according to a note from his family, who did not provide a cause of death.
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“It is with profound sadness that we announce the transition of our beloved son, brother and friend, Zuri Craig. We thank you in advance for your prayers. Please honor our privacy at this unimaginable time of mourning,” they wrote in a tribute; the family said more information on Craig’s funeral is forthcoming.
Craig appeared on AGT during season 10, performing with Jeffrey Lewis as part of the Craig Lewis Band, which made it to the finals in 2015 thanks to killer covers of James Brown (“This is a Man’s World”) and Mary J. Blige (“I’m Goin’ Down”); the group finished fifth that year. The singer was also a regular in films from Tyler Perry, appearing in Medea’s Big Happy Family and A Medea Christmas in 2011 and singing in 2013’s Medea Gets a Job.
According to The Wrap, Craig was discovered after he posted a cover of The Brady Bunch theme song on YouTube in 2008, catching the ear of Perry, who then invited Craig and Lewis to appear in his stage show, Medea’s Big Happy Family. They then took the stage at AGT — earning a Golden Buzzer from guest panelist Michael Bublé — and released their 12-track full-length Must Be Love album in 2016.
Craig continued to appear on stage after his AGT run, including in The Perfect Pastor, The Truth About Black Men and The House That Misery Built. His production company, ZoReMi Entertainment, recently announced an upcoming live stage production of the beloved 1997 romantic drama Soul Food. At press time AGT had not reacted to Craig’s death.
Check out the announcement of Craig’s death and watch his Golden Buzzer moment below.
“She’s here!” With that proud, excited announcement “Jar of Hears” singer Christina Perri and husband Paul Costabile announced the birth of their baby girl, Pixie Rose, on Sunday (Oct. 23) in a joyous Instagram post.
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“With a whole lot of faith, trust and pixie dust she has arrived safely,” Perri, 36, wrote. Please welcome our magical double rainbow baby girl.” The joyous message was accompanied by a black and white image of Perri breastfeeding her daughter. The couple already share 4-year-old daughter Carmella Stanley and their newborn’s middle name is a tribute to their daughter Rosie, who was “born silent” in 2020.
The baby was reportedly experiencing intestinal complications and Perri revealed that the infant would have required surgery after birth. In January 2020, Perri suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks. “We are shocked and completely heartbroken,” she wrote on social media. “We were only 1 week away from sharing the news so i feel like its also important to share this news too.”
Perri used the devastating loss to “help change the story & stigma around miscarriage, secrecy and shame,” she wrote. “i am so sad but not ashamed. i am ever reminded how amazing and powerful women are at making life and at healing. to all the mothers who have been here and who will be here, i see you and i love you.”
After the loss of Rosie, Perri released a lullabies album called Songs for Rosie. Then, in May of this year, the couple revealed that they were expecting with a message delivered by older sister Carmella, who opened a box with a pink balloon attached to it revealing sonogram pictures inside.
Check out Perri’s post below.
she’s here!with a whole lot of faith, trust and pixie dust she has arrived safely. please welcome our magical double rainbow baby girl: pixie rose costabile 10.22.22🧚🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/KoWCIqy5ri— christina perri (@christinaperri) October 23, 2022
Mariah Carey has some big plans for the holiday season. The reigning queen of all things red and green announced a pair of Christmas shows on Monday morning (Oct. 24) at which she will deck the halls with all her jingle bell best. “It’s almost time NEW YORK + Toronto!!!” she wrote. “Come celebrate Christmas with me this December! lil’ excited lil’ excited to be back on stage and get festive with everybody!!”
Tickets for the shows — Dec. 11 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Dec, 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York — will go on sale on Friday (Oct. 28) at 10 a.m. ET on Ticketmaster. Carey, as always, will be a major presence leading up to the holiday, via her illustrated holiday fairytale book, The Christmas Princess, due out on Nov. 1, as well as the annual chart watch to see if her perennial Christmas classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” will hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth year in a row.
Last week, the Christmas Queen got fans excited to get in the spirit by teasing the kick-off to “All I Want” season by tweeting, “It’s almost time…,” in which she showed off her festive red robe draped on the steps leading to her luxurious jacuzzi-style bathtub. The scene was filled out with a giant display of red and white roses spelling out her initials.
But, before you get too revved up, as the first, twinkly notes of “All I Want” bubbled up, Mariah tapped the brakes and in a follow-up tweet cautioned, “Not yet.”
Check out the announcement below.
Taylor Swift‘s new album Midnights has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Oct. 21) on Billboard, choosing Midnights as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Swift’s latest release brought in more than 66% of the vote, beating out new music by Carly Rae Jepsen, Shakira and Ozuna, Arctic Monkeys and more.
As of Saturday (Oct. 22), Midnights was off to a record-breaking start in sales in the U.S. after its first day of release. According to initial reports, the album has sold more than 800,000 copies in the U.S. through its first day across all available formats. It has already logged the largest sales week for any album since 2017, is the top-selling album of 2022 year-to-date, and has set a modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales. (See the full update here.)
The 13-track album arrived with a “chaotic” bonus at 3 a,m.: The 3am Edition of the album gave fans seven additional new songs.
“Surprise!” Swift wrote. “I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour. However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13.”
Trailing behind Swift’s Midnights treasure trove on the fan-voted poll is Carly Rae Jepsen’s The Loneliest Time album, with 16% of the vote, and Shakira & Ozuna’s track “Monotonía,” with 8% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
Cardi B and Madonna have patched things up following comments the Queen of Pop made while reflecting on the 30-year anniversary of her Sex coffee table book.
On Sunday morning (Oct. 23), the superstar rapper fired off a series of now-deleted tweets expressing that she felt disrespected by comments Madge made on her Instagram Story the previous evening about how the iconic singer helped pave the way for other female artists expressing their sexuality.
“30 years ago I published a book called S.E.X. In addition to photos of me naked there were photos of Men kissing Men, Woman kissing Woman and Me kissing everyone,” Madonna wrote on Saturday, noting that she faced a great deal of criticism at the time. “Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP. Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked ass and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball.”
Cardi took particular offense to the final line of Madonna’s post, which read, “You’re welcome b—-es,” followed by a clown emoji.
“I literally [paid] this woman homage so many times cause I grew up listening to her …she can make her point without putting clown emojis and getting slick out the mouth,” the rapper wrote in a now-deleted tweet alongside a screenshot of a 2018 Billboard article in which she praises Madonna. “These icons really become disappointments once u make it in the industry that’s why I keep to myself.”
Later Sunday morning, Hollywood Unlocked founder Jason Lee tweeted that he was “on the phone with Madonna and Cardi” and listening to the stars “share their perspective on the communication going on has broadened their love for each other.”
Shortly after, both Cardi and Madonna took to Twitter to share that they had patched things up. “I talked to Madonna …It was beautiful …Have a great day and drive safely yallll,” the rapper wrote. Madonna added, “I love you @iamcardib!! Always have and always will.”
In a video posted to Hollywood Unlocked’s Instagram account, Cardi shared a few more words about her telephone conversation with Madonna.
“I’m glad I had a conversation with Madonna, because I am sensitive. You already know I’m a sensitive gangsta,” the rapper said. “My feelings was a little hurt because to me Madonna is not no regular artist; she’s actually somebody that I really look up to.”
In 2018, Cardi gushed after meeting her “idol” Madonna at an Oscars afterparty, where she posed for pictures alongside the singer and Kardashian.
“I met my real life IDOL Madonna. I can’t even believe I performed at her event and it was the most meaningful performance ever,” Cardi wrote on Instagram at the time. “I grew up with my mom listening to Madonna for hours. I performed ‘Material Girl’ freshman year in High school, listen to her on all my photo shoots to have super confidence and always mentioned her in my interviews. The best part about it is she was everything i thought she would be a Liberal Kick ass feminist bitch. I’m soo happy.”
See Cardi and Madonna’s tweets below.
I talked to Madonna …It was beautiful 🥲….Have a great day and drive safely yallll😘— Cardi B (@iamcardib) October 23, 2022
Elton John and Britney Spears have dropped the official music video for the Joel Corry remix of their hit collaboration “Hold Me Closer.”
The four-minute video, directed by Rebekah Creative and produced by Greatcoat Films, arrived on Sunday (Oct. 22) and features the British DJ and producer alongside a group of dancers paying tribute to John and Spears by sporting the superstars’ various iconic fashion looks throughout the decades.
In early October, Spears and John shared the first official remix of “Hold Me Closer,” featuring a reimagining by Corry. The new version begins with a slow piano build to the chorus, with isolated vocals from John and Spears. As John and Spears’ vocals are isolated. As the track progresses to its guiding hook (“Hold me closer tiny dancer/ Count the headlights on the highway”), the beat progresses to a euphoric tropical house, dance-ready groove.
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Combining elements of Sir Elton’s past hits 1971’s “Tiny Dancer” and 1992’s “The One,” the danceable bop has so far peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Thanks to its top 10 debut, the song marked Spears’ highest-charting single since 2012’s “Scream and Shout” with will.i.am.
“Hold Me Closer” has also given both singers new milestones on Billboard‘s various radio charts, including top 10 on Adult Pop Airplay and the top spot of Dance/Mix Show Airplay.
Watch the video for the Corry remix of “Hold Me Closer” below.
Cardi B is feeling disrespected after being mentioned in Madonna‘s reflection on the 30th anniversary of her Sex coffee table book.
The superstar rapper took to social media on Sunday (Oct. 23) to fire back at the Queen of Pop following an Instagram Post about how the iconic singer’s then-scandalous book — released in conjunction with her 1992 album, Erotica — helped pave the way for other female artists expressing their sexuality.
“30 years ago I published a book called S.E.X. In addition to photos of me naked there were photos of Men kissing Men, Woman kissing Woman and Me kissing everyone,” Madonna wrote on Saturday night, noting that she faced a great deal of criticism at the time. “Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP. Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked ass and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball.”
She closed with, You’re welcome b—-es,” alongside a clown face emoji.
In a series of tweets the next morning, Cardi wrote that she felt disrespected by the post, especially Madonna’s use of the clown emoji.
“I literally payed this woman homage so many times cause I grew up listening to her …she can make her point without putting clown emojis and getting slick out the mouth,” the rapper wrote alongside a 2018 Billboard article in which she praises Madonna. “These icons really become disappointments once u make it in the industry that’s why I keep to myself.”
Some Twitter users wrote that Cardi failed to comprehend Madonna’s point, noting that Madge was saying she “paved the way for sexual songs to become mainstream” and that the singer wasn’t trying to insult the rapper.
“I know exactly what she said and I understand,” Cardi replied, “but it’s about THE TONE …Calling me b—-es and putting clown emojis ? The f—!”
In a similar reaction, the rapper wrote, “EXACTLY SAY WAT YOU WANT TO SAY BUT DONT INSULT ME THE F— …nobody gonna lil girl me (specially a white woman).”
In 2018, Cardi gushed after meeting her “idol” Madonna at an Oscars afterparty, where she posed for pictures alongside the singer and Kardashian.
“I met my real life IDOL Madonna. I can’t even believe I performed at her event and it was the most meaningful performance ever,” Cardi wrote on Instagram at the time. “I grew up with my mom listening to Madonna for hours. I performed ‘Material Girl’ freshman year in High school, listen to her on all my photo shoots to have super confidence and always mentioned her in my interviews. The best part about it is she was everything i thought she would be a Liberal Kick ass feminist bitch. I’m soo happy.”
See Cardi’s response to Madonna’s Sex book reflection on Twitter below.
I literally payed this woman homage so many times cause I grew up listening to her …she can make her point without putting clown emojis and getting slick out the mouth ..These icons really become disappointments once u make it in the industry that’s why I keep to myself https://t.co/WWCGsirLXw pic.twitter.com/Ny1828TmgS— Cardi B (@iamcardib) October 23, 2022
I know exactly what she said and I understand but it’s about THE TONE …Calling me bitches and putting clown emojis ? The fuck! https://t.co/Q3GjYkAuDc— Cardi B (@iamcardib) October 23, 2022
EXACTLY AND IM NOT DELETING SHIT …IF IT WAS THEY FAVORITE ARTIST THEY WOULD BE CRYING…but since she mentioned the most hated women on the internet is “ yes take it” SUCK MY DICK I SAID WHAT I SAID!! https://t.co/FXWsFOU8jT— Cardi B (@iamcardib) October 23, 2022
Taylor Swift’s Midnights is off to a record-breaking start in the U.S. after its first day in release.
According to initial reports to Luminate, the album, which was released on Oct. 21, has sold more than 800,000 copies in the U.S. through its first day across all available formats (multiple digital album download, CD, vinyl and cassette variants). It has already logged the largest sales week for any album since 2017, is the top-selling album of 2022 year-to-date, and has set a modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales.
Luminate’s data powers Billboard’s weekly charts.
2022’s Top-Selling Album After One Day: Midnights’ initial sales sum already makes it the biggest-selling album of 2022 year-to-date. Previously, 2022’s top-selling album, year-to-date, was Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, with 620,000 copies sold through the week ending Oct. 13.
It’s assumed that Midnights’ sales figure will increase in the coming days, as the tracking week ends on Thursday, Oct. 27. The set’s final sales number is expected to be announced on Sunday, Oct. 30, along with its expected large debut on the multi-metric Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Nov. 4). If Midnights debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it will mark Swift’s 11th chart-topping effort.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each units equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
News of initial streaming-and-track-equivalent activity for the album, as provided by Luminate, will reported in the coming days.
Biggest Sales Week for Any Album Since Swift’s reputation in 2017: With just one day of sales, Midnights logs the largest sales week for any album in the U.S. since Swift’s own reputation debuted with 1.216 million copies sold in its first week (ending Nov. 16, 2017).
Reputation was also the last album to sell more than 1 million copies in a single week in the U.S., a feat that has become difficult to achieve in recent years as consumers transition to consuming music through streaming services. (Yearly U.S. album sales decreased in every year from 2012-2020.)
Since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991, there have only been 23 instances – by 21 different albums – where an album sold at least 1 million copies in a single week. One of those albums, Adele’s 25, sold over 1 million in three separate weeks.
Modern-Era Vinyl Sales Record: Further, Midnights handily breaks the modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales in the U.S., with over 400,000 copies sold so far. That’s the largest week for an album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous high, set earlier this year, when Harry’s House debuted with 182,000 vinyl copies (week ending May 26, 2021).
Midnights’ overall initial sales figures include any pre-orders of the album that were fulfilled to the customer through Oct. 21, as well as traditional in-store sales that were generated on the day of release.
Midnights arrived after months of pre-release promotion and pre-orders – and its initial sales figure is bolstered by an array of available versions and variants of the album.
Midnights is available to purchase in a standard digital album (both clean and explicit), an iTunes-exclusive version with a bonus track (clean and explicit), four standard CD editions (each with a different cover, both clean and explicit), four vinyl LP editions (each with a different cover and colored vinyl) and a cassette tape.
Target is also selling an exclusive “Lavender” edition of the album on CD and colored-vinyl LP, with the CD boasting three bonus tracks.
In addition, in the weeks leading up to release, Swift’s webstore sold pre-orders of signed copies of the four standard CD albums and the four standard vinyl LPs. Midnights is also available in a deluxe boxed set with a CD edition of the album and a Swift-branded T-shirt, exclusively for Capital One cardholders.
Three hours after Midnights arrived, Swift issued a deluxe edition of the album with seven bonus songs (20 tracks total) to streaming services and digital retailers (with the later including a digital liner notes booklet).
Madonna‘s 1992 album Erotica, released 30 years ago alongside her then-scandalous Sex coffee table book, paved the way for other female artists expressing their sexuality. Reflecting on that 30-year anniversary, Madonna shared her thoughts about the criticism she faced at the time of their release on Instagram Stories on Saturday (Oct. 22).
“30 years ago I published a book called S.E.X. In addition to photos of me naked there were photos of Men kissing Men, Woman kissing Woman and Me kissing everyone. I also wrote about my sexual fantasies and shared my point of view about sexuality in an ironic way,” she wrote.
“I spent the next few years being interviewed by narrow minded people who tried to shame me for empowering myself as a Woman,” Madonna continued in her note on Instagram. “I was called a whore, a witch, a heretic and the devil.”
“Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP. Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked ass and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball,” Madonna pointed out.
She then shared an interview clip circa 1992 in which she was paired up with an interviewer incredibly uncomfortable with Sex.
“What did you get out of it?” Madonna countered when asked if there was a message in the book.
“I got afraid,” he admitted.
“Why?” she asked, to which he replied, “I’d never seen the likes of it.”
“You have so,” she teased. “You’ve never read Playboy magazine, or Penthouse, or anything like that?”
“Yes,” he said, “But it was different with you. The picture of you astride the mirror, masturbating — I thought that was horrible. It just strikes me as horrible.”
“I think people’s reaction to specific situations in the book was much more a reflection of that person than me,” she pointed out. (The full video, which aired on 60 Minutes Australia in 1992, is up on YouTube.)
“Erotica,” the album’s first single, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard dance club single sales chart. A remix of the song was included on Madonna’s recent collection Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones.
Rhino Records is releasing a limited-edition Erotica 12″ vinyl picture disc, featuring a toe-sucking photo from her Sex book, for the project’s 30th anniversary.
With nearly 2 dozen entries on World Digital Song Sales, ATEEZ are no strangers to the Billboard chart, but their latest feat shows how fans are taking their support to the charts.
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On the World Digital Song Sales chart dated Oct. 22, 2022, ATEEZ’s “Say My Name” re-enters the ranking at No. 11 for its fifth week on the chart overall. The track sold an additional 500 downloads in the week ending Oct. 13 in the U.S., up from a negligible amount in the previous week, making a total of 1,000 downloads in the U.S. this year alone.
Initially released in January 2019 as a single from the boy band’s Treasure EP.2: Zero to One album, “Say My Name” originally peaked at No. 8 on the chart and has sold 8,500 downloads in the U.S., making it ATEEZ’s second-biggest selling digital song in the States. Only “Wonderland,” the single off their first full-length Treasure EP.Fin: All to Action, released in October 2019, has sold slightly more than 8,500.
The surge in support comes after a growing controversy where ATEZ fans—and, possibly, ATEEZ themselves—claim that a famous choreographer swiped a signature move from the “Say My Name” dance on television.
The debate started when South Korean–based dance crew We Dem Boyz (who have helped helm choreography with K-pop acts like CL, SEVENTEEN and SuperM) performed the song “New Thing” on Korea’s popular dance-battle show Street Man Fighter. Sung by chart-topping solo star Zico and hip-hop trio Homies, “New Thing” has been rising up Korea’s local charts mainly due to the viral #NewThingChallenge dance. Soon, fans noticed one part felt similar to a key move from “Say My Name.”
As part of a Street Man Fighter episode, the “New Thing” choreography was created and sequenced by We Dem Boyz leader Vata. He taught his crew moves that imitate mounting and starting a motorcycle before stylishly walking and bobbing their head to the beat with one hand held outward and another on the hip. Vata shared a clip of the “New Thing” choreography on his Instagram.
The moves were claimed to be allegedly similar to a signature part of ATEEZ’s choreography to 2019’s “Say My Name” where the guys perform a walk and bob over the track’s hook—the part earned a nickname as the “driving dance.”
Since the episode airing, Vata began facing online plagiarism accusations over the sequence for “New Thing” that made its way to the original “Say My Name” choreographer, Anze Skrube.
Slovenia-born Skrube, credited in ATEEZ’s Treasure EP.2: Zero to One album as the “Say My Name” choreographer, spoke up about the claims on his Instagram.
“I want to be very quick regarding the allegations of somebody copying our moves,” he said in a video posted on Oct. 11. “Please stop harassing each other and fighting about it. To clarify, from my experience, there is a difference between ‘biting’ a move or being inspired by a move, or biting a whole sequence of moves—this is what happened here in this case. This particular sequence was choreographed by Josh Smith at the end of 2018 and it came out at the beginning of 2019. I’m only saying this because stuff like this happens a lot in the dance industry and that’s not OK. Let’s not do that, people. If you get inspired by something, the least you could do is credit the creators. I’m just going to leave it at that.”
ATEEZ fans also wondered if the group members themselves noticed the similarities.
Fans noted the eight-member boy band incorporating the driving dance into some of their latest performances and using what looks like the “biting” dance sign (mentioned by Skrube) where a dancer smacks one’s forearms together horizontally to physically indicate someone has stolen or copied a move.
On Oct. 14, Vata responded to the claims on his Instagram “in order to prevent further misunderstandings” (according to translations via Soompi).
“When I first heard the music, I was reminded of a plain in the wilderness, and I created the intro choreography to depict arriving on a motorcycle or horseback,” Vata wrote. “That’s why I used the motion of starting an engine at the beginning, followed by a big kick and a dismount after driving, and there is a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I think that it is completely different from the intent and connection between the movements of the choreography to which it is currently being compared.”
Vata added, “As a person who loves the culture of dance, I think it’s admirable when artists and choreographers respect one another. However, it seems like that isn’t the case [right now], which I find very unfortunate. Regardless of the reason, I feel apologetic to the viewers of Street Man Fighter and everyone who has been cheering for We Dem Boyz about the fact that I caused a controversy.”
So far, ATEEZ has not formally responded to the debate but see additional chart activity beyond their 2019 single. The boy band’s latest EP, The World EP.1 : Movement, re-entered World Albums (at No. 8 this week), Top Current Album Sales (at No. 19), and Top Album Sales (No. 22)
