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Billie Eilish Leads Trio of Teens at the Top of Billboard 200 — Has That Ever Happened?
So has that ever happened before? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Keith takes a trip down memory lane to see if there’s ever been another trio of teenagers in the top three before. Listen to the new episode to hear his findings: Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on Prince’s new album Welcome 2 America scoring the late legend his highest-charting new album in more than a decade and The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber taking over at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Stay.” Plus, we’ve got news about The Weeknd’s latest single “Take My Breath,” new music coming from Lizzo and a very special guest this week, and drama surrounding the 2014 hit song “Bang Bang” from Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande. The Billbo...
‘Pokémon Go’ Developer Niantic Acquires 3D Scanning App
Niantic, the developer behind Pokémon Go, has acquired a 3D scanning app called Scaniverse, the company shared today. The purchase comes as part of the game developer’s plan to expand into augmented reality hardware and software. Niantic’s vision for its AR experiences includes a “dynamic spatial map of the world rendered from 3D scanned locations,” said Kjell Bronder, AR Group Product Manager, in the announcement. The developer has already begun crowdsourcing images from notable Wayspots — in-game sites of interaction for Pokémon Go players — including the Gandhi sculpture in San Francisco and Maneki-Neko shrine in the Gotokuji Temple in Tokyo. Scaniverse enables users to document, edit and share 3D content via a smartphone. The app’s addition to Niantic will contribute to making its “mul...
Xbox Announces Gamescom 2021 Stream
Xbox announced their upcoming Gamescom live stream. Usually, the yearly Gamescom event would occur in Cologne, Germany. However, this year Gamescom will be a completely virtual experience that will be available for fans all around the world. From the Xbox Stream, the gaming company will provide detailed updates about previously revealed Xbox Game Studios titles. Additionally, Xbox is set to discuss forthcoming gaming titles that are slated to arrive this holiday season, forthcoming releases to the Xbox Game Pass monthly subscription service and more. To continue the social experience that is typically present at Gamescom, Xbox will be hosting a special edition FanFest, allowing fans to connect with each other from around the globe and share in the news from the upcoming event. More details...
The Weeknd Shares Extended Version of Latest Single “Take My Breath”
The Weeknd surprised fans with an extended cut of his newest single, “Take My Breath.” Clocking in at almost six minutes, the latest version hears an additional two minutes that’s packed in the extended intro and the bridge. The XO Records head initially teased the new single by clearing out his Instagram account and tweeting “f*ck it … IT STARTS TONIGHT.” He also shared in his recent GQ cover story that his upcoming project will be a “successful” one, “What makes any of my albums a successful album, especially this one, is me putting it out and getting excited to make the next one. So the excitement to make the next project means that this one was successful to me.” He continued, “I want to do this forever. And even if I start getting into different mediums and different types of expressi...
Big Thief’s New Single Is an Effervescent, New York City Love Song
Big Thief is back. The Brooklyn-by-way-of-Berklee indie-rock band released their first new music since their 2019 album Two Hands. The single, “Little Things” is a skittering love letter that takes place in New York City. Singer-guitarist Adrianne Lenker encompasses that big/small duality in the way her voice whittles a declaration of love into a mumble: “The little things I like about you/ How you say when you say what you do.” The song was recorded with Shawn Everett at Five Star Studios last October and features one of the band’s most inventive arrangements yet. “It’s in this sort of evolving free time signature where the beat is always changing, so Max [Oleartchik] and I were just flowing with it and guessing where the downbeats were, which gives the groove a really cool, light feeling...
Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst Was Outbid for a Bootleg “Dad” Action Figure of Himself
Despite Limp Bizkit canceling the remainder of their summer tour, Fred Durst’s new “dad” look is taking the internet by storm. So much so, that someone created a Fred Durst “dad” action figure that garnered a losing eBay bid from the nu-metal singer himself. Durst first debuted his new look on Instagram, sporting a gray wig, horseshoe mustache, and an outfit that looks like it came straight off the racks of Sears. He then rocked the same look at Lollapalooza, and the band’s next couple of shows, until the tour came to a halt just a few gigs into the planned itinerary. On his Instagram Story, Durst shared an image of the crude looking action figure presented in an official-looking box, writing, “I lost the auction on this illegal toy. Things are good.” The image also showed that the “Nookie...
Idris Elba Will Voice Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Idris Elba has earned the right to do whatever he wants, and if he wants to pull in seven figures for a few days of voice work in an air-conditioned studio, then bless. To that end, the star of The Suicide Squad and The Wire has revealed on Twitter that he’ll be playing the role of Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. For those unfamiliar with the Sonic video game franchise, Knuckles is a friend and occasional rival to the titular hedgehog. This red echidna guards the Master Emerald, and is known for his imposing strength, hot temper, and aggressively spiked knuckles. Like the original movie, 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2 will be directed by Jeff Fowler. Deadline reports that Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Shemar Moore, Adam Pally, Natasha Rothwel...
De La Soul Announce Their Full Catalog Is Coming to Streaming Services This Year
At long last, De La Soul are bringing their back catalog to streaming services. The group recently acquired the rights to their masters, finally giving the hip-hop luminaries the opportunity to make their music digitally available on their terms. “Our catalog will be released this year, we are trying to work hard and diligently along with the good folks up at Reservoir. We sat down and we got it done pretty quick actually — maybe in two weeks’ time tops,” said Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur on Instagram Live. “Music will be released [in] 2021 on all streaming platforms — we’re trying to get the whole catalog out there. There’s a lot of back work that needs to be done, so that’s why it’s taking a little time to get that out.” Watch the full announcement below. Earlier this week, Tali...
Stevie Nicks Cancels 2021 Tour Dates: “I Want Everyone to Be Safe and Healthy”
Stevie Nicks no longer plans to hit the road in 2021 due to concerns over the rising number of COVID cases. The Fleetwood Mac singer was scheduled to appear at a number of festivals this fall, including BottleRock Napa Valley, Austin City Limits, and Jazz Aspen Festival. Nicks was also booked to play this year’s New Orleans Jazz Fest, but that event was already canceled earlier in the week. “These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made,” Nicks said in a statement. “I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us. While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the five performances I had planned for 2021.” Advertisement Related Video “Because sing...
Hear Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen’s Otherworldly Rendition of ‘Like I Used To’
Forty years after “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” came out in 1981, two of Stevie Nicks’ musical heirs — Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen — reincarnated her prowling duet for the pandemic era. “Like I Used To” is another blistering ball-and-chain ballad, except this fraught relationship is about the one you have with your own mind. “Well, my head’s gone today/ sell my past for a way to sing and have something left to say,” Van Etten sings in her mysterious drawl. As with Nicks/Petty, the strange magic of “Like I Used To” lies in the polarity of Van Etten and Olsen’s distinctive voices. Together, they produce a sound that’s somehow both bitter and alluring, like two magnets that never touch. These qualities are heightened on the new, stripped-down rendition Etten and Olsen performed on Jimm...
Remembering Chucky Thompson, One of Bad Boy’s Architects of Hip-Hop Soul
Carl E. Thompson, better known as Chucky, a producer who’d been making hits with artists ranging from Notorious B.I.G. to Mary J. Blige since the mid-’90s, died from COVID-19 complications on Monday at the age of 53. One of Thompson’s friends and proteges, longtime Jay-Z engineer Young Guru, broke the news on Monday that Thompson had died at the age of 53. “You were the kindest person the world has ever seen. You were the most gifted musician I have ever been around,” Guru wrote on Instagram. Thompson joins a long list of notable musicians who’ve died after contracting the COVID-19 virus in 2020 and 2021, including John Prine, Charley Pride, Fred the Godson, Adam Schlesinger, Joe Diffie, and Hal Willner. In many ways, Thompson was a producer’s producer. He was the type of musician who was ...
R. Kelly Wants Federal Herpes Charges Bumped
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: E. JASON WAMBSGANS / Getty The R. Kelly trial in Brooklyn just started, and it’s already been the gift of gossip that keeps on giving—no pun intended. The disgraced R&B crooner’s lawyers are requesting that the charges related to R. Kelly passing on STD’s to his victims be dropped. Good luck with that. TMZ reports that R’s counsel is citing a technicality to get the charges tossed. Reportedly, the legal docs file the Eastern District of NY, R. Kelly’s team is asking that the charge that he knowingly exposed sexual partners to herpes get tossed because the law being cited doest include herpes because it’s “Not An Acute, Bacterial Venereal Disease.” So Team Pied Piper is basically saying herpes shouldn’t count. Again, good luck with that. The prosecutio...
