music
Tori Kelly Spills on Why Doing Voiceover for ‘Sing 2’ Was ‘Really Awkward & Weird’: Watch
Tori Kelly stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday (Dec. 29) to dish about reprising her role as Meena the elephant in Sing 2. “It’s really fun and you have to just not be scared to be silly. ‘Cause it’s very awkward,” she admitted to guest host Brad Paisley, who’s currently filling in for Ellen DeGeneres. “This was my first time doing voiceover work, so thankfully I had our amazing director Garth Jennings, who is just like a kid at heart.” She continued: “It’s similar to being in a recording booth, like, just recording a song. So that part felt comfortable; I already knew kind of how to do that part. But it’s a lot of repetition. I mean, there would be times where they would be like, ‘OK… this scene you’re falling down a hole. And so we need you to make noises like you’re falling...
Nicki Minaj Remembers Former Business Manager Angela Kukawski as ‘Sweetest Person’ After Her Death
Nicki Minaj honored her former business manager Angela “Angie” Kukawski, who recently died in a suspected homicide. The Los Angeles-based business manager was reported missing a week ago on Dec. 22, but Los Angeles and Simi Valley police officers found her body inside her car parked on Patricia Avenue in Simi Valley the next day, according to a press release from the Los Angeles Police Department issued Wednesday (Dec. 29). Her death was ruled a homicide by the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office. She was 55. On Minaj’s Instagram Story Wednesday, the rapper wrote, “Hardest working, most reliable, sweetest person you could ever know. You didn’t deserve this, Angela. My heart is breaking for your children. Rest In Peace.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news Nicki Minaj sympathize...
BE:FIRST and Its Fans Achieve Success on Hot Trending Songs Charts
BE:FIRST, a Japanese group led by musician and music producer SKY-HI, is enjoying tremendous success on the U.S. Billboard charts. The Hot Trending Songs global charts track Twitter posts by artists’ fans and other Twitter users around the world. BE:FIRST’s debut single “Gifted.” — which was released on Nov. 3 — took the No. 1 spot with a commanding lead, a rarity for a Japanese artist. Even now, a month after the single’s release, it still enjoys a high place on the charts. Posts from BESTY, BE:FIRST’s supporters, are generating constant buzz on Twitter. There are also fan accounts who share daily chart updates. [embedded content] As reported in numerous news articles, “Gifted.” took the No. 1 position on the Nov. 10 Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, dominating the digital metrics of downloa...
Dr. Dre’s Divorce Finalized, Nicole Young Awarded More Than 20% of His Net Worth
After more than year of acrimonious divorce proceedings, Dr. Dre and Nicole Young are finally ready for the next episode. As Rolling Stone notes, their divorce is now finalized, and the couple will move on from recent accusations of domestic abuse as Young walks away with more than 20% of Dre’s net worth. The couple married in 1996 and Young filed for divorce after 24 years together in June 2020. As part of the split, she’s been awarded $100 million, which includes more than half of Dre’s liquid assets, as well as a Rolls Royce, Range Rover, Spyder motorcycle, Escalade limousine, and all of her jewelry. In the process, Young successfully fought off a prenuptial agreement from 1996, arguing that it had been signed under “duress.” Dre had been cited as the world’s first ...
Motörhead Crew Get Tattoos Using Ink Blended with Lemmy’s Ashes
Members of Motörhead’s road crew paid the ultimate tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister by getting tattoos with ink blended from his ashes. The band’s longtime tour manager Eddie Rocha and production assistant Emma Cederblad recently got inked up with a portrait of Lemmy and the iconic “Ace of Spades” image, respectively. A short video documenting the process was posted on Motörhead’s official YouTube channel on Tuesday (December 28th) — six years since the day Lemmy passed away at age 70. Advertisement Related Video Tattoo artist Stina Nyman of Eye Scream Tattoo handled the blending and artistry. Clearly gifted with the tattoo needle, Nyman rendered a striking portrait of Lemmy on Rocha’s calf. As previously reported, Lemmy’s ashes were encased inside bullets and sent to his closest friend...
Rush Are Getting Their Own Pinball Machine
Rush are the latest legendary rock band to get their own pinball machine. Stern Pinball announced that their first machine of 2022 will be themed around the iconic prog act, sharing a short teaser video featuring a list of featured songs. Although a mockup design for the machine and play field have yet to be revealed, the teaser does depict an impressive CGI rendering of the Fly By Night owl — the kind of graphics one would expect to see on a modern pinball machine as you’re racking up points. Most importantly, the video reveals at least 17 songs that will be featured in the new game — a large playlist compared to other band-themed pinball machines. Fans and players will hear classic tracks such as “Tom Sawyer,” “Spirit of the Radio,” and “Limelight” alongside deeper cuts like “Subdiv...
Future Is the First Artist to Hit 10 Million Soundcloud Followers
Future has officially set a new Soundcloud record as the first artist to hit 10 million followers. According to reports, the Freebandz head first became the most-followed artist on Soundcloud around June with approximately 9.92 million followers — surpassing Big Sean’s No. 2 record of 9.5 million followers. Future responded to the news on social media by sharing an Instagram Story of the announcement and a simple “thank u” to his fans. Back in June, other artists who trailed Future included the Young Money roster with 8.48 million followers, Wale with 8.32 million, Pusha T with 8.20 million, Big K.R.I.T. with 8.07 million, Lana Del Rey with 8.01 million and Justin Timberlake with 7.83 million. Elsewhere in music, Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon III has broken hip-hop vinyl sales recor...
Vinyl Records Earn Biggest Sales Week in 30 Years
Vinyl albums sales just hit a new 30-year high as it sold 2.11 million records in the week ending December 23. According to reports, it marks the largest sales week since MRC Data began tracking vinyl numbers in 1991. The week of December 23 also became the first week that record sales surpassed 2 million, outdoing its previous record of 1.84 million in the week of December 24, 2020. The surge in vinyl records were up by 45% compared to its previous week due to Christmas shopping, with Adele’s 30 holding on to the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Vinyl Album charts for the fifth week in a row. In addition to the new record, Billboard states that the week of December 23 is the sixth consecutive week in where vinyl records surpassed one million copies — this has only happened 14 times since 1991, a...
Tyler, the Creator Says He’s Considering Changing His Stage Name
Tyler, the Creator may be switching up his stage name in the future, according to a new interview with Fast Company. The rapper, who released his sixth album Call Me If You Get Lost over the summer, broke down the origin of his stage name, which dates back to when he was only thirteen years old. “My stage name was from, I made a MySpace page when I was 13,” Tyler, the Creator said. “I had 3 of them, one was regular for friends, another one was for something else, and then the third one was just ideas. I would put drawings and photos I would take, and I would upload beats on there.” “It’s really dumb, but it stuck with me so it just works,” he continued. Now the rapper is considering using his real name for upcoming projects. “But my full name, Tyler Okonma, in all caps just looks really co...
Anne Wilson’s ‘I Still Believe in Christmas’ Crowns Christian Airplay Chart
Anne Wilson notches her second leader on Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart as “I Still Believe in Christmas” bounds from No. 9 to No. 1 on the list dated Jan. 1. The single drew 2.6 million audience impressions in the tracking week ending Dec. 26, according to MRC Data. Wilson wrote the ballad with Jeff Pardo and Matthew West, the same triumvirate that penned Wilson’s debut hit, “My Jesus,” which ruled Christian Airplay for six weeks starting in August. It also logged four frames atop the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Christian Songs list. “‘I Still Believe in Christmas’ means so much to me,” the 19-year-old Wilson, from Lexington, Ky., tells Billboard. “After losing my brother Jacob in a car accident four years ago, Christmas became the hardest time of year for me. I wan...
LL Cool J Cancels ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ Performance After Testing Positive for COVID-19
LL Cool J will no longer be performing at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022 after he tested positive for COVID-19, he announced Wednesday (Dec. 29). The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was scheduled to take the stage in NYC’s Times Square shortly before midnight to perform his decades-spanning smashes. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I know it’s disappointing to the millions of fans but my test came back positive for COVID, which means I’ll no longer be able to perform as scheduled at NYRE,” LL Cool J said in a statement to Billboard. “We were ready and I was really looking forward to ringing in 2022 in my hometown in a special way, but for now I wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year. The best is yet to ...
How Ledisi’s Tribute to Nina Simone Landed a Grammy Nod for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Two tribute albums to famed singers are nominated for best traditional pop vocal album at the 64th annual Grammy Awards – Willie Nelson’s That’s Life, which is the ninth tribute to Frank Sinatra to be nominated in this category, and Ledisi’s Ledisi Sings Nina, the first tribute to Nina Simone to be nominated here. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Sinatra virtually personifies the traditional pop genre, which was built around songs from the Great American Songbook. But Simone, a jazz-styled singer who is nearly as well known for her calls for social justice, isn’t usually thought of in those terms. So how did a tribute to Simone wind up in the traditional pop category? Ledisi won her first Grammy in March for best traditional R&B performance ...
