music
CupcakKe Drops Epic Diss Track “How to Rob (Remix)”: Stream
Leave it to Chicago rapper CupcakKe to start some drama right before the year’s end. In a nod to 50 Cent’s debut single “How to Rob”, she’s released her own diss track called “How to Rob (Remix)” where she goes after more than 20 rappers. Stream it below. CupcakKe sets the scene by opening the song with cheeky insults and friendly digs, saying, “It’s all motherfuckin’ love, don’t take shit personal.” From there, she wastes no time calling out Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Lil Baby, 6ix9ine, Lizzo, Offset, Migos, Wiz Khalifa, Tory Lanez, Young M.A., Doja Cat, Sukihana, Lil Durk, City Girls, Lil Kim, Chief Keef, G Herbo, Mulatto, Flo Milli, Sada Baby, and DreamDoll. The one-liners she shoots off, ranging from “Drop Offset’s body in the jungle since he wanna be a cheetah” to “Is that ...
Kacey Musgraves Joins English-Language Voice Cast of Studio Ghibli’s Earwig and the Witch
With just one week to go before Christmas, Kacey Musgraves has been granted her so-called “biggest heart dream”: a role in a Studio Ghibli film. The Grammy-winning country star has just joined the cast of the English-language version of Earwig and the Witch, Studio Ghibli’s first fully-CGI film. Musgraves is set to voice the mother of protagonist Earwig. She will also perform her own version of the movie’s theme song “Don’t Disturb Me”. According to a tweet Musgraves posted on Tuesday, she has wanted to work with the renowned Japanese animation studio since she was a child. “My dad brought a VHS tape of [My Neighbor] Totoro home when I was about 9, and I’ll never ever forget the comfort and the magic that movie (and many other Ghibli films) have given me,” Musgraves, now 32 years old, wrot...
Johnny Brennan on the Origins of the First Jerky Boys Album in 20 Years: “It’s a Whole Different Game Today”
Something about being kept away from typical entertainment outlets this year led to a surge in nostalgia content. Pop culture reunions grew from one-off virtual gatherings to fully-scripted streamable events. That made it somewhat fortuitous that 2020 happened to be the year Johnny Brennan decided to return with his classic prank project The Jerky Boys. Brennan recently released the first Jerky Boys album in 20 years, a long-demanded effort that’s been met with the warmest of welcomes by fans. All the favorites like Sol, Frank, and the rest are back, alongside new characters ringing up everyone from Social Security scammers to iRobot customer service reps to college admissions offices. Speaking with Brennan over the phone — where he does his best work, after all — the comedian and voice ac...
Jack Antonoff’s Ally Coalition Announces Talent Show Livestream with St. Vincent, Spoon, Brittany Howard, More
Brittany Howard (photo by Amy Price), Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers (photo by Heather Kaplan), St. Vincent (photo courtesy of MasterClass), and Spoon (photo by Amy Price Jack Antonoff and The Ally Coalition have announced an absolutely bonkers lineup for the seventh annual Talent Show. This year’s event will be livestreamed on December 21st, and feature performances from St. Vincent, Sleater-Kinney, Spoon, The Chicks, Brittany Howard, Lana Del Rey, Tierra Whack, and more. Founded in 2013 by siblings Jack and Rachel Antonoff, The Ally Coalition raises money for non-profits servicing the LGBTQ community. This year’s edition comes with a suggested donation, with proceeds earmarked for organizations that service homeless youths. With an in-demand ghostwriter making the calls, the T...
Lady A Releases New Song “My Name Is All I Got” in Response to Lady A: Stream
Anita White, the Seattle blues singer best known as Lady A, has released a new song called “My Name Is All I Got”. The track was seemingly written in response to her ongoing legal battle with Lady A, aka the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum. Stream it below. “My Name Is All I Got” is a boisterous, heartening, blues number about standing tall and being proud of your identity. “Oh they tried to take my name, but my name is all I got,” she sings in the opening verse. Later on in the song, she thanks Margo Price for saying “the real Lady A” should be invited to play the Grand Ole Opry (“That’s what true allyship looks like,” sings White) and comends Chris Stapleton for saying “Black lives matter” in a CBS interview, notes Pitchfork. This is the latest in an ongoing tug-of-war between the...
Naomi Ackie to Play Whitney Houston in Upcoming Biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard and Naomi Ackie in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Sony’s upcoming Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, has finally found its leading star. English actress Naomi Ackie is in “final negotiations” to play the late legendary singer, according to Variety. The 28-year-old Ackie recently earned a BAFTA for her acclaimed performance in the Netflix comedy-drama The End of the F***ing World. She’s also scored major screen time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the British anthology series Small Axe from Steve McQueen, whom we recently named our Filmmaker of the Year. Together with director Stella Meghie (The Photograph) and screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody), Ackie will tell the complex yet inspiring story of Whitney H...
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover Elastica’s “Connection”: Watch
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin are continuing their eight nights of service to prominent Jewish musicians. For the sixth installment of their Hanukkah Sessions songs series, the Foo Fighters frontman and Grammy-winning producer have covered Elastica’s Britpop classic “Connection”. “From Brit Milot to Britpop…here’s one of the coolest tracks from the 90’s….sung by the very cool…and Jewish…Justine Frischmann…ELASTICA!” wrote the duo in a tweet posted to Foo Fighters’ Twitter account. Previously, the duo paid tribute to Jewish greats like the Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”), Drake (“Hotline Bling”), Mountain (“Mississippi Queen”), Peaches (“Fuck the Pain Away”), and Bob Dylan (“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”). This run of covers will likely be the last chunk of Grohl-related content of 2020, but there’...
Hulu Is Making a TV Show About Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson
Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson had one of the most iconic celebrity relationships of the ’90s, in part due to the infamous leaking of their sex tape, a scandal that changed the world of celebrity privacy forever. So perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that Hulu is working on a new original limited series about the gossip-laden life of the Mötley Crüe drummer and the former Playboy star. The show, which is currently going by the working title of Pam & Tommy, will follow the couple’s relationship from their 1995 marriage (just four days after meeting one another!) on through to the birth of their two sons, the filming of their honeymoon sex tape, and the legal battles that ensued when it was uploaded on theIinternet as viral pornography. According to Deadline, the limited series ...
Channel Tres Is Reaping The Rewards Of His Work — But He’s Not Satisfied Yet
By Jack Irvin On the evening ahead of the release of his third EP, I Can’t Go Outside, you’d think Compton hip-house musician and producer Channel Tres would be getting ready to celebrate. Instead, he’s on his sixth hour in the studio, already working on his next project, for which he says this one is “just the precursor.” It’s that mighty work ethic and a dedication to honing his craft that have taken Tres all over the world — on tour with Robyn and Childish Gambino — as an independent artist with just a couple of EPs under his belt. In fact, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he’d never really taken a break. “This is kind of the first time I’ve been able to sit down for this long and not be on a plane or going somewhere else,” the 29-year-old tells MTV News over a phone call...
Slash on Eddie Van Halen: “Any Instrument He Had Chosen to Play Would Have Been Phenomenal”
There have been countless tributes to the great Eddie Van Halen since his passing on October 6th. One of the millions of fans mourning his death is fellow guitar legend Slash. Van Halen released their groundbreaking self-titled debut in 1978, and by the time Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985, one can easily argue that Van Halen were the biggest hard-rock band on the planet — until GN’R took that title with their own masterful debut, Appetite for Destruction. We recently caught up with Slash to discuss the new Guns N’ Roses pinball machines, as well as his new custom collection with Gibson Guitars. While speaking with the GN’R axeman, we asked him for his thoughts on Eddie Van Halen, specifically what it was about the Van Halen legend’s playing that made him such an iconic guitarist. Slash graci...
Bandcamp Fridays Raised $40 Million (!) for Musicians in 2020
Earlier this year, as the pandemic strangled the live events economy, the artist-oriented platform Bandcamp decided to waive its own cut on sales of music and merch on Friday, March 20th. The one-off sale was such a success that the website soon extended it to the first Friday of every month in 2020. With the year almost over, the results are in: artists earned more than $40 million on Bandcamp Fridays in 2020. And since the vaccine isn’t widely available yet, and live music unlikely to return for several months, the platform has announced four more Bandcamp Fridays extending into 2021. While competitors like YouTube and Spotify have long been criticized for their miniscule streaming payout rates, Bandcamp has helped normalize consumers paying for music again. On those special Fridays, the...
Billie Eilish Washes Her Dream Car And Ponders Existence In Revealing Doc Trailer
In three days, Billie Eilish turns 19, and yet she’s already become one of the most celebrated artists of her generation. It might be hard to remember a time before her Grammys sweep, before every new song drop was An Event, before she became a veritable auteur crafting her own visual identity. Luckily, filmmaker R.J. Cutler spent time documenting that very space in Eilish’s life. And the efforts of his time behind the scenes with her — a new doc called Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry — look to provide those intimate details, the kind you might expect from a global musical sensation who recorded a No. 1 album from her brother’s childhood bedroom. In the trailer, released today (December 15), we see Eilish pass her driver’s test and look forward to c...
