“I listened to it. I immediately fell in love with it, man,” Wallen chimed in about his initial reaction to hearing the demo. “I knew I was going to have to change some of your Mississippi sh– off of there, but that’s all right,” Wallen laughed. However, that “summer love kind of thing” wasn’t meant to be between the song and Bryan. HARDY told Wallen during the interview that the “Play It Again” hitmaker “fell in love with it too,” but he and Wallen didn’t know how he had even heard the demo. “We were all like, ‘Man, we wanted you [Wallen] to have it. We thought you could make it cool.’ So he missed out, dawg,” HARDY said. “Sorry, Luke,” Wallen teased at the end. Since Wa...
The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, to serve as Secretary of Defense – the first Black American in the role. The vote was an overwhelming 90-2 in the 100-member chamber, far more than the simple majority needed. Lawmakers from both parties said they were pleased that Austin would be installed to lead the Pentagon just two days after Biden was sworn in as president on Wednesday. Senator Jack Reed, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, noted the wide range of challenges facing the country – including the coronavirus pandemic and competition with China and Russia. “General Austin is an exceptionally qualified leader with a long and distinguished career in the U.S. military,” Reed said before t...
Of Dangerous’ 265,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Jan. 14, SEA units comprise 184,000 (equaling 240.18 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 74,000 and TEA units comprise 7,000. (Of Dangerous’ 74,000 in album sales, digital download album sales comprise 50,000.) Dangerous is Wallen’s second full-length album, following 2018’s If I Know Me, which peaked at No. 13 on the Aug. 29, 2020-dated chart. It has spent over 110 weeks on the tally and earned 1.7 million equivalent album units, while its songs have accrued 2.4 billion on-demand streams. Prior to Dangerous’ release, the singer-songwriter had snared 13 charting hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, including eight top 10s (two of which reached No. 1). On the all-genre Billboard...
Dr. Bolere Elizabeth Ketebu, former Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland is dead. She was 66 years old. Her death was made known by President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday. In a statement, Buhari condoled with the Ketebu family, the Bayelsa State government, as well as friends and professional colleagues of Dr Bolere Ketebu, The President said the former ambassador served her country creditably in several capacities. She was at one time President National Council of Women Societies, Secretary to Bayelsa State government and a member House of Representatives between 1992 and 1993. In September 2001, she was elected Advisor, Habitat to the International Council of Women (ICW). She was elected in 2003 as International Board Member to ICW, position she held till 2009. As a board member, she coordinated...