The Grévin Museum in Paris vows it is “already working on improving” the wax likeness of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that had been widely flamed online for being too white.
Online snarkers teed off on the noticeably pale statue of the Black and Samoan superstar, and Johnson weighed in, forwarding comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr.‘s riffs, one of which described the statue as looking more like a storefront accountant than the Black Adam star.
Johnson also noted, “For the record, I’m going to have my team reach out to our friends at Grevin Museum … so we can work at ‘updating’ my wax figure here with some important details and improvements- starting with my skin color.”
In its statement posted to Instagram, the museum called the flamed wax statue a “work in progress,” expressing to its followers, “your feedback is always invaluable to us.”
Green Day‘s new song “The American Dream Is Killing Me” is here.
The track, which the “American Idiot” trio had been teasing for the past month and debuted live during a recent Las Vegas show, is the lead single off the upcoming album Saviors, due out January 19.
In a statement, Billie Joe Armstrong describes “The American Dream Is Killing Me” as “a look at the way the traditional American Dream doesn’t work for a lot of people — in fact, it’s hurting a lot of people.”
You can listen to “The American Dream Is Killing Me” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying, zombie-themed video streaming now on YouTube.
Saviors is the 14th Green Day album and the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All… It also includes the song “Look Ma, No Brains!” — which Green Day played during When We Were Young. The rest of the 15-song track list has yet to be revealed.
Green Day is planning to tour the U.S. in 2024 alongside The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas. Full details for the tour are forthcoming.
As Britney Spears gears up for the release of her debut memoir, The Woman in Me, her iconic breakthrough hit, “…Baby One More Time,” celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 23 — and the song’s producer, Max Martin, took to Instagram to mark this milestone and reflect on the track’s impact.
“On October 23, 1998, @britneyspears released her debut single ‘…Baby One More Time’ in the U.S.A, the pop classic that became No 1 in every country where it was released, and that launched Britney’s career as an international pop icon,” Martin wrote in his post.
The hitmaker went on to highlight Spears’ vocal nuances and described her inflections as “pure pop heaven.” He celebrated the song as a “pure piece of art” and “3:30 minutes of sonic bliss.”
“Da Vinci painted ‘Mona Lisa’ and Max Martin composed ‘…Baby One More Time’, and I think this is no overstatement to claim that every single second of ‘…Baby One More Time’ is f****** glorious, each single line of this smash is a hook and every instrument or tiny ad-lib serves an emotion,” he added.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction gala has added nine new performers and presenters to its star-studded lineup.
Stevie Nicks, Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine, Carrie Underwood, LL Cool J, Sia, Miguel, Queen Latifah, Common and Ice-T will join a lineup that already includes Elton John, Dave Matthews, St. Vincent, H.E.R., New Edition, Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile.
This year’s inductees are Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson, the late George Michael and The Spinners, plus Link Wray and DJ Kook Herc in the category of Musical Influence and Chaka Khan, Al Kooper and Bernie Taupin in the category of Musical Excellence. Soul Train creator Don Cornelius will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will stream live coast to coast on Disney+ from Brooklyn, New York, on November 3, starting at 8 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream on demand following the ceremony.
A primetime special, 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, featuring highlights of the ceremony, will air on ABC on January 1 at 8 p.m., and will be available the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
Writer Michael Azerrad has released a newly annotated version of Come As You Are, his 1993 biography of Nirvana, the only book to feature original interviews with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
The project, dubbed The Amplified Come As You Are, began after Azerrad decided to revisit one of the many legends told about the late Cobain and how it held up so many years later.
“I decided, ‘Oh, well let’s just see if there’s anything else I have something to say about,'” Azerrad tells ABC Audio. “I flipped over to page one of the book and, sure enough, on page one, there was absolutely something I just had to say … two years later I’d gone through the whole book.”
Throughout The Amplified Come As You Are, Azerrad comments on themes that recur throughout the original book, such as how Cobain would often mythologize the villains in his life. It also brought into stark relief the number of times Cobain mentions suicide or self-harm in his interviews with Azerrad, which the author says he did not take seriously enough at the time.
“Now I will take it seriously if that ever happens again, and I urge the reader to take it very seriously, as well,” Azerrad says.
Overall, Azerrad wants both versions of Come As You Are to portray Cobain as a real person, as someone who simply loved music and made it to “make him feel better, and, by extension, hopefully the audience feel better.”
“That was the mission statement for me for the original Come As You Are, to demystify the people who made this music and show that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and The Amplified Come As You Are just goes even deeper into that,” Azerrad says.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
A$AP Rocky‘s fashion ventures continue via a creative partnership with Puma. The rapper has been named the creative director for Puma’s new deal with Formula 1, which sees the sneaker brand take over as the exclusive licensee and trackside retailer at all F1 races. He will focus on the intersection of sports and fashion, designing capsules and creating content for the brands.
For his first campaign, Rocky will explore America’s car culture and its impact on streetwear and fashion. Other projects include an extremely limited PUMA x F1 collection, which drops later this year, as well as activations, merch and marketing for several Grand Prix collections.
According to a press release, Rocky’s taking “an incubator-style approach … to begin creative exploration for where he can take the category” and hopes to “fully immerse himself into the holistic product creative designs for all of the PUMA x F1 product spanning from racewear to fanwear to fashion” by 2025. He’ll also be hands on with marketing “to bring disruption to the category via innovative product design and marketing concepts.”
“Working with brands as iconic as PUMA, and as innovative as F1, has been truly inspiring,” Rocky said in a statement. “When the world sees what [we’re] doing, I believe a shift will happen with how [brands] approach taking risks and working with diverse creatives.”
If you’ve heard Nate Smith‘s latest single, “World on Fire,” you’d probably think it was inspired by a heart-wrenching breakup.
While that’s partially true, its genesis runs deeper and on a more personal level. “World on Fire” was actually inspired by the 2018 wildfire that happened in Nate’s hometown of Paradise, California.
“There’s definitely nuggets in there about not recognizing the place that you used to go,” Nate tells ABC Audio. “Because when we had the wildfire in Paradise, going back up there, I would drive on streets that I used to drive and I didn’t recognize where I was because you lost all the landmarks and stuff like that. So there [are] nods to that in the song.”
That said, “World on Fire” is still rooted in the storyline of an aching romantic split.
“It’s also a song about a breakup and how sometimes when you break up with somebody, it’s like it ruined your favorite bar,” Nate explains. “Like, ‘Girl, you set my whole world on fire. You could have just burned down my house, but you had to do the whole thing,’ you know? And that’s what the song’s about right there.”
“World on Fire” is currently #17 and ascending the country charts. The track is the second single off Nate’s self-titled debut album and follows the chart-topping lead single, “Whiskey on You.”
Handwritten lyrics of songs by the Eagles, Melissa Etheridge and others are being auctioned off to support the music community.
Julien’s Auctions announced details of the Music Health Alliance’s Lyrics for a Cause benefit auction, which raises money for Music Health Alliance’s mission to provide free health care, support and more to those in the music industry.
The fourth annual auction includes the handwritten lyrics for two Eagles classics, “Best of My Love” and “New Kid in Town,” which were written by JD Souther, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Both sets of lyrics are written and signed by Souther.
Other handwritten lyrics up for auction include: Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” on a Fender Squier acoustic guitar; Etheridge’s “I’m the Only One,” signed on an Epiphone Hummingbird guitar; Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” handwritten by co-writer Steve Cropper, which comes with Cropper’s hand-painted watercolor of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge; and Joe Bonamassa’s “Dust Bowl,” which comes with a signed Gibson Les Paul Custom electric guitar.
The auction is currently open online, with the live auction being held Tuesday, November 16, at 6 p.m. CT at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville. More info on the auction can be found at Julienslive.com.
Melissa Etheridge is currently starring in her one-woman show on Broadway, My Window, in which she tells the audience her life story, punctuated by her hit songs. But she says what she really wants to do is write something completely new for the Great White Way.
“I would want to create it from the ground up, and create the music around the characters and create a story that moves people,” she tells ABC Audio. “So that’s my dream.”
Back in 2019, it seemed like Melissa’s dream would come true. That’s when it was reported that she was writing the score for a stage musical based on the 1988 Julia Roberts movie Mystic Pizza. But she says it didn’t quite work out that way.
“At the time, I thought they wanted me to, like, create original music for it and that really excited me,” she says. “But then I realized they just wanted kind of a jukebox musical. And I was like, “Oh, no, no, no … you go ahead.'”
They did, creating a musical using pop hits of the ’80s — Melissa let them use her song “I’m the Only One.”
As Melissa continues her Broadway run, would she encourage other rock and pop stars to stage autobiographical shows on Broadway, like she and Bruce Springsteen have done?
“If it delights them, if it brings them joy,” she says. “I mean, I have been in love with Broadway since I was a child, so I have always had a dream of … coming and doing something here.”
But, she cautions, “I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who isn’t into the very rigorous … work that it entails. But it is very, very rewarding for me.“
Katy Perry and her A-list friends served up a smashing good time at the inaugural “Light Up The Court Pickleball Tournament” in Santa Barbara, California, held on October 22.
The tournament, hosted by Katy and her foundation, Firework Foundation, which aims to empower kids from underserved communities through the arts, featured a mix of celebrities, local pickleball enthusiasts, and pro players. Some notable participants included Jason Collins, Kate Hudson, Lauren Sanchez, Corey Gamble, Meghan Trainor, Daryl Sabara, Rob Lowe and John Owen Lowe.
Ultimately, Eric Geeb and Brett Williams clinched the championship title, and the entertainment continued with Katy teaming up with Federico Staksrud to take on her husband Orlando Bloom and Maggie Brascia in a match that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Team Katy emerged victorious, sealing the deal with a score of 13-11.
The event’s sponsors, including Celsius, Stanley, and more, added flavor to the festivities, with sneak peeks of unreleased pickleball gear. Guests savored drinks from De Soi, Cascade, Amass, and Avaline and even had a chance to bid on a Moke vehicle in an auction.
Not just about fun and games, the Firework Foundation’s camp counselors were on hand, distributing custom camper-designed Katy Perry Collections shoes and sharing their mission. The foundation’s goal is to ignite kids’ creativity through artistic programming and, ultimately, to make the world a more sparkling place.
