Music

We’ve been hearing about it for years, but now we’ve got our first look at Dua Lipa in the new movie Argylle, directed by Matthew Vaughn, the man who brought us the Kingsman movies.

The new trailer opens with a glamorous, blonde Dua in a slinky gold dress, dancing with Henry Cavill, who she then outs as “Agent Argylle.” Espionage-related hijinks follow, including Dua firing a gun while riding a motorcycle, and then getting yanked off said motorcycle by Argylle’s helper, played by John Cena. Then, everything stops.

Turns out what we’ve just witnessed is the action in a new spy thriller written by author Elly Conway, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. She’s written a whole series of books about Agent Argylle, but she soon finds herself embroiled in a real-life web of espionage: An actual spy, played by Sam Rockwell, saves her from assassins and takes her on a roller-coaster ride of adventure. 

It seems the government and the bad guys both want to get their hands on Elly because everything she wrote in her new book actually happened. “You kicked a hornet’s nest you didn’t even know existed,” says Rockwell’s character.

Throughout the movie, Conway keeps her cat close to her in an argyle-patterned carrier — and said feline appears to figure heavily in the plot.

Argylle, which also stars Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson and Catherine O’Hara, arrives in theaters February 2.

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For the first time, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live coast to coast on Disney+.

In past years, the ceremony was recorded and aired at a later date on HBO. Now, the ceremony will stream live starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Friday, November 3 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. ABC will then air a highlights special on Monday, January 1, 2024.

In addition, the first batch of presenters and performers for this year’s ceremony have been announced. They include inductees Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson and Missy Elliott, as well Chaka Khan, who’s being inducted in the category of Musical Excellence. Other performers and presenters include Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews, H.E.R., New Edition, Chris Stapleton and many more.

In addition to Sheryl, Missy and Willie, this year’s inductees include the late George Michael, Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners. In addition to Chaka Khan, Elton John’s longtime musical collaborator Bernie Taupin is being inducted in the Musical Excellence category.

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The performance lineup at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2023 has been announced!

Continuing their celebration of five decades of hip hop, BET announced that Offset, DaBaby, Fivio Foreign, GloRilla, and Sexyy Red will be hitting the stage during the awards ceremony. There will also be a tribute to deejays and producers featuring Kid Capri, Kool DJ Red Alert, Scott Storch, and Spinderlla.  

Adding to the excitement, this year’s awards will pay homage to the 30th anniversary of the iconic record label So So Def. Hip-hop luminaries, including Jermaine Dupri, Bone Crusher, Bow Wow, Da Brat, Dem Franchize Boyz, Ludacris, and more, who will take the stage for a memorable celebration.

Drumming up some more entertainment for the night will be super producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, who will host a star-studded cypher, featuring a clash of lyrical titans, including Bun B, Cassidy, Gloss Up, Lady London, Lola Brooke, Symba, and more. The digital cypher will include DJ Hed, LaNell Grant, Maiya The Don, and That Mexican OT.

With Grammy-nominated recording artist, actor, entrepreneur, and media personality Fat Joe at the helm as host, the BET Hip Hop Awards 2023 premieres on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

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Luke Combs‘ version of Tracy Chapman‘s 1998 hit “Fast Car” became a huge hit, hanging out in the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 for months. But despite his success on the pop charts, Luke, who’s one of country music’s biggest superstars, says he has no desire to enter the world of pop music.

“I feel like to me, country music is enough, right?” Luke told reporters recently. “Like, I don’t want to be a pop star. You know what I mean? I love writing country songs with my songwriting buddies and singing them with the guys that I like to make records with. And I’m not chasing anything. I’m not chasing fame or notoriety or money.”

And while fellow country superstar Chris Stapleton has duetted with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Adele and Pink, Luke says he has no interest in similar pop collaborations.

“If a really amazing collaboration came along, I would want it to be on a country song, you know?” he said. “I would want somebody to do a country song with me. I wouldn’t want to go do a pop song with somebody else just because it would be good for my career, you know?”

“I’ve never made decisions based on that,” he insists. “I’ve always let the music kind of lead where we go and what we do because that’s why we’re all here, right? It’s like, we all love music at the end of the day.”

As he put it, “I’m in the music business. I don’t love business. I do love music.”

Pop collaboration offers aside, plenty of people are hoping that at some award show in the near future, Luke will perform “Fast Car” with Tracy, who’s already voiced her support for Luke’s version of her signature hit.

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Taye Diggs has taken his talents to the audio world as the host of the new Sony Music podcast You Had Me at Hello. And the actor said it’s one of the most fulfilling jobs he’s had. 

It’s a podcast about love and relationships in which Diggs takes listeners on a journey with “ordinary people” who share what their “soul-stirring stories of romance.”

He told ABC Audio that discussing the ups and downs of love with the different couples who appear on the show is based on his own love of love. 

“I’m one of those people in life that loves love. I love romantic comedies, I love hearing how people met, I love discussing, you know, the ins and outs of relationships. It’s fascinating to me.”

Diggs added, “To be able to sit front row to hear these real-life stories from real-life people that in most situations are far more interesting than any script I’ve read, it has been awesome.”

Podcasting is a new venture for Diggs, one he’s never really thought about exploring prior to You Had Me at Hello. But now that he’s been introduced to it, “I love it,” he said.

“I love the idea that someone like myself [who’s] been blessed, I’ve been working for quite some time — there’s always something new to experience. And I had no idea that I would have such an interest.” 

Diggs plans to do more in the podcasting world. And if he had to drum up his own podcasting show, it’d be one about people in the limelight opening up about how they’re “just as regular … as the average everyday person.” 

Listeners can stream You Had Me at Hello on all major platforms. 

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While Taylor Swift fans may be happy about their girl’s potential new romance with Travis Kelce, businesses are too, because it gives them the opportunity to cash in on the alleged pairing.

To that end, Heinz has introduced a new limited-edition condiment called “Heinz Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch.” This odd duo was inspired by a tweet from an excited fan who shared a photo of Taylor at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium over the weekend, where she watched Travis and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears.

In the pic, Taylor is seen sitting next to a table in the VIP Suite. On the table, there’s a plate containing a piece of fried chicken, with dollops of two different sauces placed next to it.

The account, @tswifterastour, captioned the pic, “Taylor Swift was eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch!”

Since then, the expression “Seemingly Ranch” has blown up. The account holder posted, “Seen a few seemingly ranch products being released recently… they better be cutting me a cheque.”

They then shared, “*SOME* companies have been really nice to me about the whole seemingly ranch blow up by sliding into my dms offering to send me items/ interviewing me and i can’t wait for them to arrive cause it’s just really funny to me this whole thing.”

It’s not clear if Heinz is one of those “really nice” companies, but US Weekly reports that there will only be 100 bottles of “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” made — because Taylor’s lucky number, 13, and Travis’ jersey number, 87, equal 100.  Visit the Heinz Instagram page for more details.

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Nonpoint has announced a headlining U.S. tour.

The outing, dubbed the Million Watts tour, kicks off December 1 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and wraps up December 15 in Flint, Michigan.

Tickets go on sale Friday, September 29. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Nonpoint.com.

The tour takes its name from the latest Nonpoint single, “A Million Watts,” which dropped in July. It’s the second Nonpoint single of 2023, along with “Heartless.”

The most recent Nonpoint album is 2018’s X.

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It’s not every day that artists revisit songs they’d written years ago for a new project. But, that’s what Chris Janson did for his latest album, The Outlaw Side of Me.

“I’ve never actually went back to my back catalogs and pulled songs, you know? I’m always sort of like, ‘What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?’ But there are some real gems in there,” Chris tells ABC Audio. “And if we hadn’t done that, we maybe would have missed a couple of them.”

Two gems that Chris found eventually landed on his new record: the Dolly Parton and Slash-assisted “21 Forever” and the lead single, “All I Need Is You,” which is approaching the top 15 on the country charts.

“Actually, the current hit single, I wanted to put that on two albums ago, but I just didn’t have the chance to do it and it was not the opportune time,” Chris recalls. “It’s so funny. Those two songs in particular on this album have been the single and the focus track.”

The Outlaw Side of Me is available wherever you listen to music.

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A lot has changed in the last 20 years, but Metric‘s 2003 debut album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, seemed to have some idea where things were going.

On the song “Succexy,” frontwoman Emily Haines sings, “All we do is talk, sit, switch screens,” which certainly could apply today, though probably with less talking and way more screens.

“I think [guitarist] Jimmy [Shaw] and I, like, shared a flip phone at that point,” Haines laughs to ABC Audio. “I must’ve been talking about CNN or whatever.”

Beyond Haines’ apparent prescience, Old World Underground introduced her penchant for adding “do-dos” and “la-las” into songs, which was brought up to her multiple times by music industry people.

“I can’t imagine what the point [of making music] would be other than being able to be like, ‘I feel like going ‘do-do-do do-do-do-do’ and then doing it,” Haines says.

Perhaps to the chagrin of those music industry people, Metric’s built a steady career over the last two decades, which continues with the release of their ninth album, Forementera II, on October 13.

“One of the weirdest things about a life in rock ‘n’ roll is that a lack of decline is, like, a massive success,” Shaw remarks. “It’s weird to really own that feeling.”

Metric will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Old World Underground and the release of Formentera II with a series of intimate shows beginning October 10 in New York City, the set lists for which will be “bonkers.”

“There is a song from five minutes ago next to a song from 20 years ago,” Haines muses. “It’s like time is a construct. As far as the songs are concerned, there’s no difference, and the four people playing them. Super weird.”

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