Jessica Simpson attends the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 07, 2025 in Elmont, New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Jessica Simpson has been a reality TV star, singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and bestselling author. Now she’ll be a Netflix star.
A documentary about the “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer is coming to the streamer in 2027. It’s being directed by Joe Pearlman, who was behind the camera for documentaries on Lewis Capaldi and Robbie Williams.
One of the producers is Van Toffler, who was the head of MTV Networks when Jessica’s reality show Newlyweds with her ex-husband Nick Lachey made the couple household names.
In her career, Jessica has sold more than 20 million records and headed up a fashion brand worth a billion dollars. Her 2020 memoir, Open Book, which became a New York Times bestseller, spilled the beans on her marriage to Nick, her relationship with John Mayer, her struggles with substance abuse and body image, her difficult childhood and more.
Jessica split with her second husband, Eric Johnson, in 2025. The couple share three children. That same year, she returned to recording with two EPs: Nashville Canyon — Part 1 and Part 2.
Ariana Grande attends the AFI Awards Luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 9, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
Ariana Grande is about to confront the hackers who allegedly stole her music and videos.
In a Wednesday order obtained by ABC News, Judge Mark H. Epstein has granted Ariana permission to skip the usual waiting period and move ahead with discovery in the hacking case, meaning she can subpoena information that may help her identify the anonymous hackers.
“Given that there is no one to whom notice can be given anyway, it makes little sense to wait the 16 days,” the judge wrote, adding that Ariana has “good cause” to do so. He noted that Ariana can’t find out the identities of the alleged hackers “without this discovery, and therefore will never be able to serve defendants.”
According to The Statesman, Ariana’s team was concerned that the longer they waited to subpoena certain online platforms and third-party services connected to the alleged hacking activity, the more likely it would be to be deleted.
Ariana filed the lawsuit in July against the unnamed hackers, accusing them of invasion of privacy by breaking into online accounts of her collaborators — photographers, producers and others — and stealing songs, video footage and photos. The lawsuit further accused the alleged hackers of selling the content on the dark web.
Drake watches on as the Sacramento Kings play the Toronto Raptors during the second half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on November 2, 2024, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Drake has teamed with Live Nation to create another music venue. He’s launched the second History in his native Canada, taking to Instagram to make the announcement and share images of the new space.
“Today we open the second History,” Drake captioned the post on Thursday. “A venue for outstanding artists and the incredible fan bases that seek that communal family experience.”
He thanked Live Nation for trusting him “on a journey that I hope is shared with every city and country worldwide,” noting that the venues “are where our stories are born, elevated, shared, and hopefully revisited.”
He adds that he personally thought “about every artist that had to play a venue and ask themselves ‘is this what making it feels like’ because I know we respect all the heritage and all the years of inheritance but hope to create a better experience for our budding artists moving forward.”
Speaking to CBC News, Ali Shafaee, regional vice-president with Live Nation Canada, described the new venue, which features a general-admission standing room space on the main floor that can also host concerts and galas. The second floor offers premium space, with 112 seats for fans who want to sit individually or in groups, as well as standing room behind the reserved seating.
Shafee added that 60 shows have been planned for the remainder of the year, with 150 more scheduled for next year.
The first History concert venue opened in Toronto, Ontario, in 2021. The new one is located in Ottawa, Canada.
“I will be there to drop off my personal touch to Ottawa soon,” Drake wrote in his post.
L-R) Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp backstage at Farm Aid at the KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, United States on September 16, 2017. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)
Farm Aid is headed to Virginia this September, but folks who can’t make it to the show will be able to enjoy it from the comfort of their own home.
Farm Aid just announced that the annual benefit concert, taking place Sept. 26 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, will broadcast live on CNN.
Farm Aid board members Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are all set to perform this year. Young will be performing with his band The Chrome Hearts, while Matthews will perform with frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds.
Other artists on the bill include Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, I’m With Her, Mon Rovîa, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola and Chris Pierce.
The concert will begin on CNN at 7 p.m. ET. It will stream live on nugs.net, FarmAid.org and YouTube starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The first Farm Aid concert was held on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois. Since then, the Farm Aid organization has raised nearly $90 million to help American farmers.
Malin Akerman as Margo and Brittany Snow as Sophie in episode 2 of ‘The Hunting Wives’ season 2. (Netflix)
The Hunting Wives will be back for seconds on Thanksgiving Day.
Netflix has announced that season 2 of the popular series premieres on Nov. 26. This new season will release exclusively as a Netflix branded series in nearly all countries where the streaming service is available. It will consist of eight new episodes.
Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman are reprising their roles of Sophie and Margo in this new season. Also returning are Jaime Ray Newman, Dermot Mulroney, Evan Jonigkeit and George Ferrier. Karen Rodriguez and Hunter Emery will reprise their roles of Deputy Salazar and Deputy Flynn as series regulars, while Branton Box will also return in the guest star role of Sheriff Johnny.
New cast members this season are John Stamos, Dale Dickey, Cam Gigandet, Kim Matula and Alex FitzAlan. Stamos will play the role of Chase Brylan, while Dickey will play Zelda Moffitt and Gigandet will take on the role of Gentle John Moffitt.
“At the start of season 2, Sophie and Margo are on the outs. But soon enough, old secrets and new foes force them back together,” according to its official logline. “As they play their dangerous games the question arises. Are they the hunters or the hunted?”
Rebecca Cutter created The Hunting Wives and serves as its showrunner, writer and executive producer. The series is based on the novel by May Cobb.
Austin Metcalf in a family provided photo. (Metcalf Family)
(FRISCO, Texas) — A Texas judge is hearing arguments Thursday on whether Karmelo Anthony should get a new trial, two months after a jury convicted and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing a fellow student at a high school track meet.
The hearing comes a day after the Collin County judge who presided over the murder trial was removed from further proceedings in the case.
Prosecutors called the deadly stabbing “unjustified” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025.
After hearing four days of testimony, a Collin County jury found Anthony, 19, guilty of murder following three hours of deliberation on June 9. The same jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison after several more hours of deliberation.
Anthony’s attorneys claimed in a motion seeking a new trial that the teen was “coerced” into waiving his right to testify, stemming from a purported dispute between defense attorneys and prosecutors about whether his testimony would be covered by an agreement limiting some character evidence in the trial. Defense attorneys alleged this denied him a “complete defense.”
The defense also alleged that Collin County Judge John Roach improperly instructed the jury and that his courtroom restrictions, which limited public access to the proceedings, denied Anthony a fair trial.
In a statement to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA ahead of this week’s hearings, Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye said Anthony’s new, post-trial attorneys “filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings.”
“I and the entire prosecution team conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s ruling and any agreements with defense counsel,” Wirskye added.
In opening remarks during Thursday’s hearing, defense attorney Russell Wilson said Anthony decided not to testify because he believed the prosecution would not adhere to the agreement not to question him about his past behavior, beyond what happened during the confrontation at the track meet, WFAA reported.
Wirskye, meanwhile, said he offered the agreement to “stay away from historical character and stick to the facts — what happened under the tent” in order to “keep the peace” amid what he said was intense public vitriol over the case that led to threats against both sides, WFAA reported. He said the trial defense attorneys agreed to it, and that the “agreement was held.”
Wirskye also pushed back on defense claims that Anthony had insufficient time to decide whether to testify and noted that prosecutors wanted him to take the stand, saying, “There’s nothing better in my business than a testifying defendant,” WFAA reported.
The hearing is ongoing, with the defense so far calling Derrick Jackson, the former Collin County public information officer, to discuss the courtroom protocols, and Mike Howard, one of Anthony’s trial attorneys.
A new judge is presiding over Thursday’s hearing, after Judge Sid Harle granted the defense’s motion to recuse Roach from any further matters in the Anthony case.
In his order issued Wednesday, Harle wrote that there were grounds for recusal “in that the evidence adduced at the hearing is such that the respondent judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Retired Kaufman County District Judge Michael Chitty has been assigned to oversee the case.
In the defense motion seeking to recuse the trial judge from the post-trial proceedings, Anthony’s attorneys questioned both Roach’s impartiality in the case and his courtroom restrictions.
The motion cited what it called “problematic comments” Roach made during an interview following the verdict, in which it said the judge “endorsed the jury’s guilty verdict” and defended his courtroom restrictions. It also pointed to a public letter Roach released following the trial, in which he stated that those who worked on the case “contributed to ensuring the process was conducted fairly.”
Anthony’s attorneys said Wednesday that they are “pleased” with Harle’s decision to recuse Roach and “look forward to presenting the merits of Karmelo’s motion for a new trial to a fair and independent judge.”
Ahead of the high-profile trial, Roach imposed a gag order and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the proceedings due to the attention the case had garnered.
“Due to the significant public and media interest in this case, the Court finds that specific procedures are necessary to ensure the Defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial, the orderly administration of justice, the safety and security of all participants, and reasonable public access consistent with constitutional requirements,” Roach wrote in a May order.
On Wednesday, Chitty ordered that the trial procedures will remain in effect at this time for future proceedings in the case.
When Kehlani thinks back to winning a Grammy, she tells Billboard, “It was a great moment.”
“For as long as I’ve been working, and as long as things have been going left, people have been telling me, ‘You deserve more,'” she says. “In order to survive in this industry, I’ve stayed grounded in the idea that my purpose is my purpose, and what God has for me is for me. It wasn’t like this Grammy is going to confirm that what I’m doing has purpose, that what I’m doing is valid or God’s plan for me. But it’s cool to be recognized by an institution that has always upheld excellence.”
She adds that celebrating with friends and fellow Grammy winners Leon Thomas and Durand Bernarr “couldn’t have been cooler.”
“Not only for us but for R&B. It proved the worthiness of time, brick-building and development — everything that we’ve put in for the genre thus far,” she notes.
Elsewhere in the Billboard story, Kehlani credited her focus on R&B to being “raised mostly on neo-soul” and loving “the range of Musiq Soulchild, D’Angelo, Brandy, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, but also Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. Stevie Wonder is my No. 1 of all time.”
When it comes to making her own music, though, her goal is for “people to feel warmth.”
“Even if it’s a sad song. My favorite music is any song I hear that takes me back to being in my auntie’s house,” Kehlani said. “It’s this certain nostalgia; this childhood thing that good music will just hug you.”
Kehlani won her first Grammys back in February. She took home best R&B song and best R&B performance for “Folded.”
Myles Smith, ‘My Mess, My Heart, My Life.’ (Atlantic)
Have concert ticket prices got you down? Myles Smith is here to help.
Growing up as one of three kids of a single mother, Myles says in an Instagram video, “I know what it’s like to want to go to a show but not necessarily have the means to do it.” That’s why he’s arranging to give away free tickets to the rest of his North American tour dates.
“I think shows are really important and should be accessible to as many people as they can,” Myles added.
He wrote in the caption, “I’ve been hearing from so many of you who’d love to come to a show, but right now the cost just makes it impossible. I know that feeling, and I don’t want money to be the reason you miss out.”
“So for every remaining show on this tour, we’re putting some tickets aside for people and families who might not otherwise be able to come,” he continued.
“If that’s you, leave your details in our form by 12pm ET / 9am PT on August 24th. Each person we’re able to invite will receive 2 tickets. These shows are for everyone. Hope to see some of you there.”
You can fill out the form by following the link in Myles’ Instagram Story. He added on the Story, “Sometimes a show is just a night out. Sometimes it can make you feel seen, give you hope, or show you a world you didn’t know was possible. …If I can help a few more people be inside the room this time, that means everything to me.”
‘Pylon’ album artwork. (Dirty Hit/Interscope Records)
Beabadoobee has released a new song called “Memories,” a track off her upcoming album, Pylon.
The “Beaches” artist describes “Memories” as “one of the happiest songs on the album,” while it still finds her “clinging onto ideas that should make me happy but actually make me feel sad, because I wish they were just moments I lived in forever.”
You can watch the “Memories” lyric video on YouTube.
Pylon, the follow-up to 2024’s This Is How Tomorrow Moves, is due out Sept. 18. It also includes the songs “Sun Has Set” and “Switchblade.”
Beabadoobee will launch a U.S. arena tour in October.
