"It's coming along really well. It's taking a really long time to perfect the new sound and direction we're taking," Clifford revealed in a recent interview with Billboard. "I think the reason it's taken so long is because we haven't just wanted to get it to a place where we're, like, happy' We want it to be perfect.
"I think when all the new stuff comes out, it's like a departure of our old sound but it still keeps elements of all of the things we liked about it," he added. "It was just time for us to change. The studio's been awesome. We've just been slaving away, living in there. We're at a point now where we're almost ready to put out our first single." Read more
here.
Kalie Shorr, Kelleigh Bannen and Lindsay Ell came together for the CMT Next Women Of Country campaign to take Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" back to the singer's Nashville roots.
Supplanting the digital production style of the original, the trio strip the song's melody down with acoustic guitars. The cover version was shared live, with the three singers performing it in front of an audience in a new video. Check it out
here.
McEntire has thrived as a country music superstar, despite early hardships including a 1991 plane crash that killed seven of her band members and a tour manager.
"I always say that you need three things to succeed in life: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone," McEntire said in a statement. "These qualities have served me well in every part of my life, and I have no doubt my fellow honorees would agree. I am honored to be inducted into the Horatio Alger Association, and I can't wait to meet our 2018 Scholars and help them in any way I can to reach their own dreams."
"The Horatio Alger Association stands for integrity, honesty and resilience - qualities that Reba certainly exemplifies," explained Matthew Rose, president, Horatio Alger Association and 2013 Horatio Alger Award recipient. Read more
here.
"I started having anxiety for the first time when I was 18," Michaels revealed to Glamour. "I'd just signed my first publishing deal, and I felt so much pressure to perform that it sent my mind and body down something that felt like a never-ending spiral. I thought I was dying."
The singer-songwriter goes on to detail her ongoing battle with anxiety, sharing that she suffered attacks during her Billboard Music Awards performance of hit song, "Issues," and during a writing session with Ed Sheeran and producer Benny Blanco.
"I was asked by Ed Sheeran and producer Benny Blanco to come to a house in Malibu and work with them and a few of Ed's favorite collaborators," she explained. "One day, I was writing in the courtyard with singer/songwriter Foy Vance when these cameras that were following Ed came to see where we were at with the progress of our song. I became so overwhelmed that I discreetly walked away and ran into Benny's room. I curled up in a ball on his bathroom floor and hyperventilated."
"Benny left the room and came back in with ice," Michaels continued. "He had me hold it in my palms tightly to distract my brain from my thoughts and to focus on the cold cubes in my hands. He told me this is one of the methods he uses when he has panic attacks. He stayed next to me and talked me through it. It was the first time someone had stood in front of me and understood me. He knew exactly how I was feeling. It was the first time I didn't feel so alone. I will never forget that, and I will always have a love and appreciation for him because of that day." Read more
here.
January 28 is the release date for Lamar's custom Nike Cortez collaboration, which is the same day he'll compete in such hallowed GRAMMY categories as Album of the Year and Record of the Year.
Lamar revealed the "Cortez Kenny" sneaker on Instagram recently, with the shoes retailing at $100. The rapper's custom sneakers will be available for purchase through Nike's SNKRS app starting Jan. 28. Read more
here.
Kahn quickly defended himself by insisting that the imagery in Taylor's new video are "not in [Beyonce's] art space." Now, Kahn has poked a stick into the Beyhive by saying Beyonce is the one guilty of theft, not Swift - that Bey actually nabbed the look of "Formation" from Swift's "Bad Blood."
"['Look What You Made Me Do' is] not 'Formation' at all," he told the Los Angeles Times. "They try to say she's wearing a black crop top and Beyonce wore a black crop top. But they don't realize in 2015 in 'Bad Blood,' Taylor Swift was wearing a black crop top. I really do think, by the way, that Beyonce copied 'Bad Blood.'" Read more
here.
While she loved singing live and making her Disney TV show, Wizards of Waverly Place, some harsh realities of the industry began to affect the budding performer.
"When I got older, I started to become exposed to the truth behind some stuff and that's when it flipped a little bit. I realized that, 'Oh this is actually really hard, and kind of slimy in certain areas,' and I didn't realize that certain people wanted certain things from me," Gomez explained.
As a teenager, Gomez recoiled from the aggressive attention thrown at her from overeager paparazzi while trying to just live her life. "I remember just feeling really violated when I was younger, even just being on the beach. I was maybe 15 or 16 and people were taking pictures -- photographers," she described. "I felt very violated and I didn't like it or understand it, and that felt very weird, because I was a young girl and they were grown men. I didn't like that feeling."
"Then, I would say the last season of my show, I was probably 18 years old, is when I felt like the flip happened," Gomez added. "I didn't feel like it was about my art as much. I was on the fourth season of the show, and I felt like I was outgrowing it. I wanted something different and obviously I fell in love for the first time. There was all this stuff that was happening and I didn't know what to do." Read more
here.
The company's spokesperson gave a statement to TIME, explaining that the vulnerability allowed hackers to obtain private information about Selena's account--as well as accounts from other "high-profile" users.
"We recently discovered that one or more individuals obtained unlawful access to a number of high-profile Instagram users' contact information -- specifically email address and phone number -- by exploiting a bug in an Instagram API," a spokesperson for Instagram said.
Selena's 125 million followers were shocked when nude pictures of her ex, Bieber, appeared on her profile Monday, alongside profane captions. Instagram temporarily suspended her account, which was later re-opened without the scandalous posts. Read more
here.
The incarcerated Knight made the explosive claims from behind bars of the L.A. County Jail during a telephone interview with Ice-T and journalist Soledad O'Brien during filming for the upcoming FOX TV special, Who Shot Biggie and Tupac?
"When Pac died -- I mean, if he really did, you know," Knight said in an advance clip from the show about the last time he saw the rapper after being shot in Las Vegas. "I mean, when I left that hospital, me and Pac was laughing and joking. So I don't see how somebody can turn from doing well to doing bad. I'm gonna tell you that with Pac, you never know." See the clip
here.
The artist's boyfriend, Migos' Offset, talked to TMZ's Harvey Levin about an alleged assault on his girlfriend by an NYPD officer. The Migos member said, "At first, when she called, I ain't think she was being serious until I had seen it on her face."
"I don't know what happened but, I know you can't stop the police," he continued. "The police kill people every day and get away with it." Levin asked the rapper about the existence of "hip-hop cops," officers who are target hip-hop artists. Offset replied, "The hip-hop police? Oh yeah, they're real, for sure." See the full clip
here.
In a countersuit, the British insurance firm implied that West's drug and alcohol abuse caused the medical issues that forced him to abort the tour, or that his illness was the result of a pre-existing condition. Though Lloyd's did not directly accuse Kanye of abusing drugs and alcohol, the countersuit cited those exemptions in the policy as grounds to deny West more settlement money.
West and his legal team have now responded to the counterclaim, urging the courts to dismiss the insurer's response. 'The Counterclaim should be withdrawn or stricken," argue West's lawyers.
Documents from the new motion accuse Lloyd's of suggesting "that they may deny coverage of the claim on the unsupportable contention that use of marijuana by Kanye caused the medical condition." Read more
here.
The upcoming Super Bowl LII is slated for Feb. 4, 2018 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. While there has been no official word from JAY-Z's camp about the veracity of the claims, the NFL did make a statement to Pro Football Talk about the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.
"No decisions have been made on the performer(s) and we are not going to speculate on particular artists," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the site via email, never confirming or denying the JAY-Z rumors. "Along with Pepsi, we know that we will put on a spectacular show. When it is time to announce her name we will do it. Or his name. Or their names." Read more
here.
"We're reaching out to people who we were always inspired by or who may have been fans and we didn't even know," said AJ McLean. "We've all made friends with different people. Nick's been talking to Steve Aoki, Howie talked to Zedd, who's been a big, big fan [and] Diplo, we've also talked to. We've also done stuff with The Chainsmokers and those guys are amazing and out in Vegas with a residency as well, so who knows."
The group is also talking to hip-hop mega-producer Timbaland about possible collaborations after making the connection through Nick Carter during the film of the Boy Band TV show.
"We're all huge fans of him and we've never had a chance to work together, so we were just talking and vibing to see if it might make sense to [record] together," Howie Dorough explained. Read more
here.
Gentry's passing was confirmed with an official statement on the band's social media. The accident happened near the Flying W airport in Medford, New Jersey, where the band was scheduled to perform this past Friday (Sept. 8).
According to NJ.com, Medford Township Police Chief Richard said police got a call about a "helicopter that was distressed" around 1 p.m. ET. "Shortly after our arrival the helicopter did go down. It went into a field south of the airport," Meder said. Read more
here.
Now, it appears Wayne is back in the studio, cutting tracks with producer Scott Storch. Storch shared a photo from their session and assured his followers that Wayne is "healthy."
"My boy from back in Miami @liltunechi now he's healthy and we making some #hits in Los Angeles," he wrote. NBA point guard Damian Lillard also caught up with Wayne this week. The Portland Trail Blazers player and part-time rapper shared a photo of the pair hanging out at a recording studio. See photos of Wayne back in action
here.
"I think it's going to become a sports anthem," Gaudelli told Variety. "It's going to be one of those songs that you see cut to highlights for the next 25 years."
"My husband loved it," Underworld revealed in reference to hubby Mike Fisher, who played with NHL team the Nashville Predators before retiring after last season. "He would listen to it before playoff games. He was like 'I want everyone to hear it!' and I had to tell him, 'You can't do that. You can't play it in the locker room. I'm sorry.' But that was a good indicator that we were on the right track." Read more
here.
Pall was asked about his dog and made a joke that many Twitter users quickly condemned as culturally insensitive at the least. "I mean if she could come anywhere I'd bring her to - well, I don't know if I'd bring her to China'" he said, trailing off in a video the duo posted and has since removed from their social media accounts.
The resulting backlash resulted in the duo posting a message on their official Twitter account which read: "I made a comment in an interview about being hesitant to bring my dog, Cheddar, to China because I have read reports about dogs being slaughtered in certain provinces. We originally posted a video to share how much we love China and our fans there. We would never intentionally do anything to upset our fans and we apologize if we offended anyone."
The duo also included a link that outlines the controversy surrounding of dog consumption in China, specifically as it pertains to the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival. See the post
here.
Brice kicked off the benefit weekend with the first annual 'Lee Brice & Friends Guitar Pull," featuring Charles Esten, Jerrod Niemann, Tyler Farr, Tim Montana, Lucas Hoge and Nick Norman at a sold-out City Winery in Nashville.
It was followed the next day with the "Record Rack Celebrity Clays Shoot," held at the Nashville Gun Club. Among the invited participants included Ben Gallaher, members of the band Three Doors Down, Naomi Cooke of Runaway June, brother Lewis Brice, professional wrestler Jim 'Hacksaw" Duggan, Keith Bulluck of the Tennessee Titans and more. Read more
here.
Abdul Wall Muhammad (a.k.a. Eric P. Saunders) claims he obtained rights to the Lonnie Liston Smith song "Bridge Through Time" in 1979. Apollo Brown released a version of the tune in 2011 which Chance sampled.
Saunders, who now works as a criminal and civil rights lawyer, is seeking damages since the Brown sample was used without his permission. He is asking that Chance cease from 'copying, distributing, performing, selling or offering to sell 'Windows.'"
Chance credits Brown on the song, but he doesn't credit Muhammad. Read more
here.
While Gaga's ongoing battle with fibromyalgia is covered in the film, the singer shared the diagnosis with fans on social media. "In our documentary the #chronicillness #chronicpain I deal w/ is #Fibromyalgia I wish to help raise awareness & connect people who have it," Gaga wrote on Twitter.
Fibromyalgia is described by the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association as "a common and complex chronic pain disorder that causes widespread pain and tenderness to touch that may occur body wide or migrate over the body." The sites adds that approximately 10 million Americans deal with the disorder with a ratio of about 8 to 2, women over men. Read more
here.
Mystikal (born Michael Lawrence Tyler) surrendered to police last month on the charges. At the time, he claimed he wanted '"to get this business reconciled, get this behind me, man."
The incident reportedly took place on October 22, 2016 at a casino in Shreveport, LA. Two other people were wanted in connection with the crime. Read more
here.
She wrote, 'can't believe we made it to the second to last show without me slipping on that slippery a- stool honestly I'll take it." Dancing between a band of shirtless dancers, the pop star didn't make any more missteps.
Her adoring mom had an equally perfect response, '"his is such a wonderful clip though' fans so concerned screaming, your adorable laughs & then Perfect Singing & you landed like a pro!! Xo." Read more
here.
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