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2023 will mark five years since Henry Lau went independent after his contract completion with Korean super-label SM Entertainment, and his latest music shows him still pushing toward his goal of boundary-less music.
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Henry’s new single “Real Love Still Exists” brings the singer-songwriter and Malaysian breakout superstar Yuna together for a languishing R&B-pop duet perfect for both their tender voices. Canada-raised Lau opens the track with sparse acoustic guitar backing a melancholy melody reminiscent of the No. 1 Beatles classic “Something.” Yuna hops in halfway through the song as the second verse incorporates heavier percussion beats accompanying the songbird’s sweetly somber delivery. The two harmonize on the chorus together, dreamily duetting and pleading: “Give me just a chance/ One chance/ Take you to the other side/ Where ignorance is bliss/ Where real love still exists.”
For the accompanying music video, Henry headed to the City of Light for the lovelorn song’s visual. The star plays guitar on the Paris streets amid couples kissing, one getting down on one knee for a proposal, as Henry flashbacks to his own relationship. By the end of the visual, the sun has set on Paris, and Henry finds himself face-to-face with his lost love again.
“Real Love Still Exists” is the second new track from Henry in 2023 after January’s funky, folky pop single “Moonlight,” marking the former Super Junior member’s first new collection of singles since his Journey album in late 2020. Both releases come through Lau’s Monster Entertainment Group, which he told Billboard in 2019 was envisioned for him to “make my own brand, to have my own color” and make label-less music in any language he feels. The multilingual star has recently been active with music, television, acting, and his YouTube channel featuring viral violin and vocal covers of Hot 100 hits like Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers,” SZA‘s “Kill Bill” and more.
Check out if “Real Love Still Exists” with Henry below:
Ozzy Osbourne has met a lot of fellow famous people over the course of his global hopping half century of rocking. So you’d have to forgive him if he doesn’t always remember every single one.
Case in point: during the new episode of “Ozzy Speaks” on the metal icon’s SiriusXM channel Ozzy’s Boneyard this week, Osbourne recalled the time he ran into Whitney Houston and the late R&B legend scared him witless.
“When we were doing Dancing with the Stars [with] of the kids, in one of the breaks, Whitney [Houston] came down to sing in the break, you know, in the show,” Osbourne said of Houston’s performance of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” during the season 9 finale of the seaons, which found Ozzy and manager/wife Sharon’s daughter, Kelly Osbourne, finishing in third place.
“And she came down and I saw her when she was on the prime of her things. When that woman sang, it was like something out of a… it was like mind blowing,” Ozzy recalled. “And she came and she looked tired, burnt out. She stopped in the middle of it, and I thought she was looking at me. She was. She walks towards me and I’m going… I’m trying to think… my brain’s going, ‘Have I met her? Have I ever insulted her?’”
For the life of him, Osbourne could not figure out why Houston — who died at 48 in Feb. 2012 — would be coming over to talk to him.
“No, I’m, I’m going like, ‘have I f–king met this woman? Have I pissed her off? She’s gonna come over and tell me I’m a c–t,’” he said he worried. “‘Did I say anything about her in an interview?”’ Gripped with fear, Ozzy said Houston came right up next to him and said, “good to see you,” which mystified him even more. Ozzy said he turned to Sharon after Houston had walked away and said, “‘I never knew you knew Whitney Houston,’” to his wife.
“‘You never asked,’” Sharon responded. “Well you could have f–king told me!,” Ozzy shot back.
The sit down with co-host Billy Morrison also included an update on Osbourne’s medical condition, which forced the hard-charging metal icon to share that his touring days were over. Ozzy said he’s been “working my guts out” to get back on his feet after last year’s major spinal surgery, but appeared to confirm that he’s probably done mounting major global treks. “If I can ever get back to where I can tour again, fine. But right now, if you said to me, ‘Can you go on the road in a month?,’ I couldn’t say yes,” he said.
He did, however, clarify what he said was a false narrative in reports that he was retiring. “I looked in the magazine, ‘Ozzy’s on his last legs,’ I’m f–king not dying,” he said, as Morrison promised listeners that Osbourne was not on his deathbed.
“Come on, guys. Haven’t I had it bad enough already?,” Ozzy said. “If I get okay today… if the doctor said to me today, ‘Oh, you can tour,’ it would take another six months to get it together.”
Listen to Osbourne’s stories about Houston and touring below.
Kelly Clarkson hopped into the wayback machine on Friday’s (Feb. 24) Kelly Clarkson Show and ended the week with one of the classic late 1970s between-the-sheets R&B ballads of all time.
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With the stage bathed in a warm orange glow, Clarkson eased into duo Peaches & Herb’s 1979 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Reunited,” a cross-over smash from the pair’s 1978 album, Hot. “Reunited and it feels so good/ Reunited ’cause we understood/ There’s one perfect fit/ And, sugar, this one is it/ We both are so excited ’cause we’re reunited, hey, hey,” Clarkson with a subtle twang over the band’s smooth as a melting pat of butter arrangement.
At the time of its release “Reunited” topped the Billboard singles chart for four weeks during a nearly six-month run on the charts, during which it also went to No. 1 on the R&B singles chart.
The run through “Reunited” came during a week of introspective covers from Clarkson, who also emoted her way through Mazzy Star’s signature hit, “Fade Into You” as well as her thoughtful take on Dermot Kennedy’s “Better Days,” GEMS’ “Peacefully,” Lenny Kravitz’s “Fly Away” and a four-pack of collaborations with legendary singer/songwriter/producer Babyface.
The singer also invited her fellow The Voice coach Niall Horan on on Wednesday and while they bonded over their mutual reality singing show resumes, with Clarkson admitting that she was sure One Direction had won the X Factor the year the group was formed on the show in 2009; they actually came in third.
Check out Clarkson’s cover of “Reunited” below.
What happens when two beloved legends meet for the first time?
“Well, it was more laughter than anything else,” Dionne Warwick says of meeting Dolly Parton. “We had a wonderful, wonderful meeting. It was as if we’d known each other for years.”
Though both women have been fans of each other’s work for many years, the occasion that finally brought them together was a video shoot for their new gospel duet “Peace Like a River.” Written by Parton and produced by Warwick’s son/manager Damon Elliott, the song is the first taste of Warwick’s forthcoming inspirational album, coming via Warwick and Elliott’s Kind Music Group.
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Parton and Warwick recorded their vocals for the single separately then met at Parton’s production facility outside Nashville to film the video. Sitting in a downtown Nashville hotel room for this interview, Warwick is both elegant and energetic — the excitement she feels over the collaboration with Parton is palpable.
“We were there to take care of our business, but along with that, we found time to not only smile but outright laugh,” Warwick says of the filming the clip, which was directed by Elliott and Nick Pres. “Dolly is very, very grounded — which I was thrilled about — but she’s also very business, which I happen to be about as well. So, it felt like two peas in a pod. It wasn’t like we were working at all. It was more like two friends meeting for lunch.”
“I was honored to get to sing with one of my idols, Dionne Warwick,” Parton said in a statement. “I have loved her since we were younger and getting to sing with her was one of the highlights of my career. I loved that she loved my song, and I loved singing it with her.”
Parton sent the song to Elliott in hopes that Warwick would be interested in recording it. When she heard it, she was immediately impressed by the lyrics and Parton’s vocals. “She asked if I’d like to do it as a duet. She’s testifying on this song, which she knows how to do,” Warwick tells Billboard of Parton’s fiery gospel delivery. “She felt that I was her voice of choice to do this with. She feels that the world needs it, as I do, and she said, ‘We’ve got a hit song.’ It’s so beautifully written. [These are] beautiful words to sing and I’m truly honored that she asked me to record it.”
Warwick plans to title her upcoming album Songs of Inspiration and is hoping to recruit Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin and some of her other favorite gospel singers to participate in the project. The new album will be Warwick’s first inspirational collection since Why We Sing was released in 2008 on Rhino Records. “It’s so important for this time and so much needed,” Warwick says of releasing the inspirational set. “I don’t know what’s going on with our country.”
Though “Peace Like a River” marks Warwick’s first collaboration with Parton, Elliott recently produced another project involving the country icon when he recruited Dolly for “Gonna Be You,” a Diane Warren song performed by Parton, Cyndi Lauper and Belinda Carlisle featuring Gloria Estefan and Deborah Harry (which comes from the 80 for Brady movie starring Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Lily Tomlin). “Diane had this great song that she wrote, and she came to me and said, ‘I’m working on this song for this movie, and I want you to produce it,’” says Elliott, who produced Warren’s Oscar-nominated “Applause” from the film Tell It Like A Woman.
“It was a lot of fun,” Elliott says of working on “Gonna Be You.” “It took me back to when I produced ‘Lady Marmalade’ [with P!nk, Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim and Mya for Moulin Rouge!] many moons ago. Working with extraordinary talented artists — in this case living legends — is just something… I can’t put words to it.”
In addition to working on her upcoming inspirational album, Warwick and Elliott are co-executive producers for Hits! The Musical, a 50-city national tour featuring 29 young artists, ages 10 to 22, delivering 80 of America’s most iconic songs. Elliott is currently planning a Las Vegas residency for the show after the tour concludes.
When Elliott first became involved in the musical, he knew it would appeal to Warwick. “I called mom and said, ‘This is probably going to resonate with you,’ because she does stuff to help propel future artists,” he explains.
“Anything that has to do with kids, you’ve got me. Especially if it’s dealing with music, which I think I know a little bit about,” Warwick says with a smile. “It is absolutely phenomenal. The talent is enormous. They take five decades of music. Every time I think about it, I get tongue-tied. It’s something I think everybody should see.”
At 82, Warwick — whose Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over documentary recently hit HBO Max — shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to the new duet with Parton, touring the country, working on her inspirational album and co-executive producing Hits! The Musical, the five-time Grammy winner (who was honored with the lifetime achievement Grammy in 2019) is considered the “Queen of Twitter.” “After seeing some of the things that were being said on Twitter when I first got involved, [I thought] it’s time for a grownup to be present and let these kids know that there is another way to do all this,” Warwick quips.
She says she has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I’ve got a long, long time just to sit and be doing nothing,” she says. “I’m not ready for that yet.”
When they go low, Robert Glasper goes viral. The Grammy-winning pianist and producer/songwriter could have stewed about the static he got from Chris Brown after he bested the “Iffy” singer for this year’s best R&B golden gramophone and Brown griped, “Y’all playing. Who da f— is this?”
Instead of getting into a social media showdown with Brown, Glasper did something way better: he took the insult and printed it on a t-shirt while promising to donate the proceeds to a charity. On Tuesday (Feb. 14) Glasper announced that after just four days those shirts had sold out already.
“Thanks for the support. A portion of the proceeds from this shirt will be donated to the Community Music Center of New Orleans,” Glasper said in an Instagram post featuring an image of the black shirt emblazoned with Brown’s insult. “A nonprofit created to share the music culture and music education in New Orleans, providing free music lessons to underserved youth. I can’t thank y’all enough for supporting this cause.”
At press time Glasper had not announced how much was raised by the limited-edition shirts.
After an avalanche of social media critique for his fit of pique, Brown posted an apology 24 hours later, DMing Glasper to express regret for his comments. ““Congratulations my brother.. I would like to apologize if you took offense to my reaction at the Grammys,” Brown wrote. “You were not the intended target and I know I came off really rude and mean. After doing my research I actually think your amazing…THE ORGANIZATION ISN’T DOING US BLACKS OUR DUE DILIGENCE. YOU AND I SHOULD never be in the same [category].. two totally different vibes and genres. So from one black man to another.. CONGRATULATIONS. HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO FEED YOUR FAMILY FOR LIFE. God bless my G.”
Glasper’s righteous dunk on Brown is just the latest example of a musician turning hate into delicious haterade. It came six months after Maren Morris flipped her feud with Jason Alden’s wife, Brittany, over the latter’s transphobic joke into a “Lunatic Country Music Person” t-shirt that raised money for LGBTQ right organization GLAAD; the effort raised more than $100,000 for GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program and Trans Life.
Check out Glasper’s posts below.
The Cincinnati Music Festival will take over the city’s Paycor Stadium for two nights in July with its patented mix of old school soul and R&B legends and hip-hop superstars, with Snoop Dogg, Al Green, Babyface and Jill Scott topping the bill on July 21 and 22.
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The annual gathering of the vibe will kick off on July 20 at the adjacent Andrew J. Brady Center with a tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a lineup to be announced soon. Night one will feature Green and Scott joined by Jodeci, Midnight Star and Gerald Albright, while the second evening will include a visit from intergalactic funk icons P-Funk, as well as sets from Avery Sunshine and Norman Brown.
Tickets for the shows are on sale now through Ticketmaster and the festival’s office (513) 924-0900.
“We are thrilled with this year’s lineup for the Cincinnati Music Festival presented by P&G,” said producer Joe Santangelo in a statement. “It’s the first time for Snoop Dogg to perform at the Festival and Al Green last performed in 1974. We know they will both be huge draws for our fans. It’s also an honor for us to plan a Thursday performance to pay tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop.”
After cancelling two go-rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the beloved fest returned last summer with a stacked lineup featuring Janet Jackson, Charlie Wilson, Anthony Hamilton, the O’Jays and more.
CMF began life as the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival in 1962 as an all-jazz event and has evolved over the year to embrace a wide variety of acts, from Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to Luther Vandross, New Edition, Whitney Houston, Earth Wind and Fire and many more, drawing more than 50,000 fans to the concerts and the adjacent Festival 513 street party.
R&B legend Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is happy his Super Bowl performance is over — sort of.
“I feel relieved — now I can breathe,” he told The Hollywood Reporter outside his suite following his moment on the field Sunday. “Before it was moments of nervousness and then I’d be chill and then I’d get a little nervous again. Right before they introduced me [I was like], ‘Oh shit, there it is.’ I just have to be chill and just try to concentrate on the song.”
“You know the words, but it’s a different kind of song. It’s not something that you sing every day and you’re on the spot,” he added of singing “America the Beautiful” at the State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
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“If you go wrong in this, you go wrong forever. I’m thankful that we made it through it good,” he said.
Babyface strummed a custom-made guitar featuring the American flag during the performance.
The singer/songwriter/producer has won 12 Grammys, written all of his own hits and also written for Beyoncé, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Ariana Grande, Mary J. Blige, TLC, Mariah Carey, Usher and Whitney Houston, whose 11-year death anniversary was Saturday.
“I can only say that Whitney was always fun. She was silly and that was the relationship that we had when we were in the studio. We always had fun with each other,” he recalled.
Babyface is still penning hits today: He recently co-wrote the track “Snooze” on SZA’s critically acclaimed album SOS, which is spending its eighth week at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 albums chart.
“SZA is great. We worked on two songs, actually. Hopefully one day she’ll let us put out that other song, but she’s amazing,” he said. “I don’t know any artist that’s like her, male or female. She is truly one of the best that I’ve ever written with.”
The 64-year-old debuted in the R&B group The Deele, who released their debut album 40 years ago in 1983. He said he’s happy to still have a career strong enough to bring him to the Super Bowl.
“I just find it interesting that I’m here at this event doing this. I didn’t see this coming and so it’s such an honor to be here,” he said. “I was honored that Roc Nation and Jay-Z thought I was worthy of doing it. It’s great.”
Watch SZA’s “Snooze” lyric video below.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Jay Park had a busy day after delivering his new singles and twerking skills for Kehlani.
On the evening of Feb. 13 local time in South Korea, the rapper-singer-CEO dropped two new songs, “Yesterday” and “Love Is Ugly” featuring Hwa Sa of K-pop girl group MAMAMOO. While Park is most known for his rap skills, the two new tracks see the Korean-American star embracing his R&B sensibilities and showcasing a tender vocal approach.
“Yesterday” is an English acoustic track that comes with a stripped-down music video where Park sings heartfelt lyrics (“Your smile is all I need, without you these lungs can’t breathe/ I’d fall from the sky for you, want to do better and thrive for you”) in a white T-shirt and jeans. Soon enough, the love interest Jay’s singing to joins him, played by actress Lee You-mi who’s best known as the Emmy Award–winning Squid Game actress who was the first Korean named Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
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Park’s second new song, “Love Is Ugly,” stays in a similarly laid-back, R&B sound with Jay and Hwa Sa trading off expressive, emotive verses. The two performed the track live for Hwa Sa’s cable television show on Korean TV station tVn (below), with the latest episode also including a cover of Park’s excellent pop-R&B single “Ganadara” and Hwa Sa covering “Stay” by 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner Rihanna.
After dropping the new music, Jay Park made his way to Seoul’s YES 24 Live Hall where Kehlani was performing as part of the Asia leg of her Blue Water Road Trip tour that night. Not only was Jay spotted watching the show, but he eventually joined Kehlani on stage for what appeared to be an impromptu dance lesson of how to twerk to Park’s 2015 single “MOMMAE.” Fans in attendance shared footage throughout the night, including the moment when Jay pulled his shirt off prompting a hyped-up reaction from the crowd and Kehlani herself.
“Yesterday” and “Love Is Ugly” are the latest releases from Jay Park under his newly created More Vision record label that launched nearly a year ago. Like these two new tracks, More Vision has seen Park serving more in the pop and R&B lane with singles like “Ganadara” and “Need to Know.” The former track earned Park his first Top 10 entry on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart since 2016, perhaps indicating that U.S. fans are especially loving his latest venture.
Watch Jay Park’s “Yesterday” video with Lee You-mi and “Love Is Ugly” live performance with Hwa Sa below:
Rihanna is down to joke, but the Super Bowl LVII halftime queen wasn’t laughing when league MVP and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was tricked into thinking she had called him the G.O.A.T. “That’s so mean. He is mean, O.K.,” Rihanna said when she was told about a bit where former NFL wideout Brandon Marshall punk’d Mahomes during a press event on Wednesday.
Marshall caught up with RihRih during her press day on Thursday (Feb. 9) and described how he told Mahomes that the singer had heaped praise on him before revealing that he was lying.
“I’m so sorry you went through that,” Rihanna said with a smile when Marshall asked her to actually say something nice about Mahomes. “I still think you’re great.”
“Rihanna came out and said that you are the greatest quarterback ever. Hearing that how does that make you feel?,” Marshall asked Mahomes during the QB’s Q&A session earlier this week. “It makes you feel great,” Mahomes responded. “Whatever Rihanna says is like the gospels. So I’m glad that she went with me for that honor.”
The two-time Super Bowl QB then turned KC red when Marshall added, “She didn’t. I was messing with you.”
Jokes aside, Rihanna is gearing up to blow minds on Sunday (Feb. 12) in Glendale, Arizona when Mahomes takes on the Philadelphia Eagles in the big game in her first live performance in seven years. “It feels like it could have only been now,” she said during a sit down with Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis to talk about her Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show set.
“When I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like, [hisses] ‘You sure?’ I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,” she said. “But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all … It’s important for my son to see that.”
Check out Rihanna’s response and the original Mahomes video below.
A new documentary and posthumous album will explore Whitney Houston‘s lifelong connection to gospel music. Good Morning America reported on Thursday (Feb. 9) that the album, I Go to the Rock, will feature six previously unreleased tracks, including the upcoming, upbeat first taste, “Testimony.”
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GMA said the full album is slated to drop later this year, with host Lara Spencer describing the collection as an example of the late R&B pop superstar “singing her first love: gospel songs.” A short preview snippet of “Testimony” finds Houston singing over a driving, spare beat, her voice as clear and strong as ever, but stripped of the lush pop production that marked her secular hits.
There will also reportedly be an accompanying documentary that will chronicle Houston’s longtime dedication to gospel, from her first performance at a local church through the release of the soundtrack to 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife, which topped the Billboard top gospel albums chart and remains the best-selling gospel album of all time.
Houston, who died in 2012 at age 48, released seven albums and two soundtracks over the course of her career, including 1992’s multi-platinum soundtrack to her starring vehicle The Bodyguard. Since her death the singer’s label has issued the 2012 greatest hits collection I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, as well as 2014 live collection, Her Greatest Performances, as well as a reissue of the Bodyguard soundtrack with remixes and live takes on the album’s songs.
In December of last year RCA issued the soundtrack to the Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, with remixes of some of the singer’s biggest hits and a previously unheard cover of CeCe Winans’ “Don’t Cry” (titled “Don’t Cry For Me.”) In 2019, Kygo scored a global smash with his dance-ready remix of “Higher Love,” which laid remixed Houston vocals on a cover of the 1986 Steve Winwood hit over pounding EDM beats.
Listen to the preview of “Testimony” below.
EXCLUSIVE: Get a sneak peek of never-before-released Whitney Houston music! 🎶The gospel album, “I Go to the Rock,” will be released March 24. pic.twitter.com/DcdvYrJA6o— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 9, 2023