Music

Earlier this year, ZAYN said on the Call Her Daddy podcast that when it comes to Khai, his daughter with ex Gigi Hadid, he’s a “super full-on, hands-on” dad. Now, he’s paid sweet tribute to her on her third birthday, which was September 19.

ZAYN posted a collage of photos of Khai celebrating her special day with not one but two cakes: One was Frozen-themed and another was Skittles rainbow-themed. There are also pictures of Khai opening gifts and enjoying the cake with her daddy; her face is covered with a snowflake emoji.

“Happy birthday to my everything, you are the most amazing soul I’ve ever known,” ZAYN wrote in the caption. “Every day I get with you is a blessing that I cherish beyond words. 3 already!! Where has that time gone?”

“My beautiful little girl, I couldn’t live without you, thank you for all the love you bring to my life,” he concluded.

ZAYN has 50% custody of Khai. The “Love Like This” singer has a new album in the works, and he told the podcast, “My daughter’s mentioned in there a couple of times.”

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Lady A has released their long-awaited new song, “Love You Back.”

Although the trio’s Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood didn’t pen it, Charles recalls sharing a strong affinity with the track as soon as he heard it.

“It’s funny, we had written a ton for this record, as we usually do, and it always seems to work this way that sometime around the 11th hour there, a song just comes in,” says Charles. “I thought the hook [of ‘Love You Back’] was just so simply well done. I was like, ‘Gosh, how did I not come up with that,’ you know? ‘You can love a memory, but a memory can’t love you back.'”

“I get sent a lot of songs. We all do,” he notes. “[This] was just one I kept listening to over and over again.”

With half a mind to record “Love You Back,” Charles approached Emily Weisband, who co-wrote the track with James McNair and Lindsay Rimes, to do a little test run.

“I texted [one of the song’s co-writers] Emily Weisband and I said, ‘Hey, I have an idea. Lyrically, this would be great for a duet. Before I send it to the guys, can I come over and sing with you? You play Hillary,'” Charles recounts of his text exchange. “We changed the key and we did that.”

“Once she put her vocal on it and it had mine in there together, I was like, it just sounded like a Lady A song,” he recalls. “So the minute I sent it to the guys and our team, they were flipping out over it.”

“Love You Back” is the first preview of Lady A’s forthcoming as-yet-untitled new album.

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Twenty-five years ago — September 22, 1998 — Goo Goo Dolls released Dizzy Up the Girl, the album that would make them bona fide stars, thanks to the hits “Slide,” “Broadway” and “Black Balloon,” as well as their signature song, “Iris.” But how does the band think it holds up as an album today? Frontman John Rzeznik says it does, but not entirely.

“That’s tough. You always listen back and it’s like, I remember … the fun that we had making that album and what a pivotal kind of time in my life it was,” he tells ABC Audio. “And there are a few things I would like to change about it, but you can’t. So, y’know, I just enjoy it for what it’s worth.”

He adds, “I skip a few of the songs.”

While “Iris” is the most successful track on Dizzy Up the Girl, John admits he didn’t even want to put it on the album because it had been released that April on the soundtrack of the film City of Angels.

“I was kind of like, ‘Ehhh, we already did that,'” John recalls. “And [the record company was] just like, ‘You’re crazy and you’re blowing an enormous opportunity.’ So I was like, ‘OK.'”

As for the song’s title, which is never mentioned in the lyrics, John says he didn’t know what to name it, so he took inspiration from a female folk singer.

“I was looking through an LA Weekly at the time and … it was an ad for Iris Dement,” John recalls. “And I was like, ‘”Iris,” that’s a really beautiful name. I like that.’ And so I said, ‘Call the song “Iris.”‘”

A 25th anniversary version of Dizzy Up the Girl, pressed on metallic ice silver vinyl, is available now.

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When Jermaine Dupri wrote and produced Mariah Carey‘s 2005 hit “We Belong Together,” he had to encourage the singer to do one of the many things she’s known for doing well: add her signature high note to the track. 

In an interview with The Estelle Show on Apple Music in honor of the 30th anniversary of his label So So Def, the iconic producer said the demo version of the song hadn’t included the special note, but he was determined to incorporate it into the song. 

“When we did ‘We Belong Together,’ this song became song of the decade,” he said. “But prior to it becoming song of the decade, I had to tell Mariah, ‘You got to hit that note at the end. People want to hear Mariah Carey do the note.'”

Dupri remembers telling the Grammy winner “you hit that note, then we good.”

“If I’m not mistaken, L.A. [Reid] definitely said, ‘If she hits the note at the end, this song is a rocket,'” he recalled.

And Mariah did hit that note. And the song did take off. 

“We Belong Together” spent 14 nonconsecutive weeks at number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart and 14 consecutive weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song received numerous accolades, including wins at the Radio Music, Soul Train, Teen Choice and Vibe awards. At the 48th Grammy Awards, Carey was nominated in eight categories, with the song winning Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

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Carlos Santana looks back at his life and career in the new documentary Carlos, and after 50 years in the business, he tells ABC Audio that making the documentary “was a long time coming.” 

“A lot of people approached me that wanted to do this, but it just wasn’t the time or it wasn’t the right people or the right person,” he shares. Things changed when producer Ron Howard and director Rudy Valdez came into the picture, with Santana sharing he had confidence “they would honor and respect my request and that I had say so on beginning, middle and end, how my life was being presented.”

The decision to call the movie Carlos and not Santana was a deliberate one, as the film gives fans insight into the man, not just his music.

Santana says throughout his career, regardless of the bands he’s played with, “Carlos seems to be the glue that keeps believing that this particular multidimensional Mexican could bring something” respected by other artists, which makes him feel “really, really grateful.”

The film covers many of the highs and lows of Santana’s career, including highs like playing Woodstock and his multi-Platinum album, Supernatural. He hopes fans are inspired by what they see.

“I remember that it was Maya Angelou who said, ‘The only thing people are going to remember is how you make them feel,’” he said. “So I want to make people feel like you’re priceless, precious, and God loves you and he believes in you. That’s what I want people to receive from this documentary.” 

Carlos is set to open with a special three-day theatrical event September 23, 24 and 27. It will then get a wider theatrical release on September 29.

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Sure, Taylor Swift has inspired a bunch of college courses, but Australia is taking the study of Taylor to the next level.  The BBC reports that Australia is holding the first-ever international academic symposium — a “Swiftposium,” if you will — on the pop superstar.

The three-day event will be held in February, when Taylor is scheduled to bring the Eras Tour to Australia.  The symposium will study her influence on the music industry, culture and the economy.

Dr. Jennifer Beckett of the University of Melbourne is organizing the symposium, and she told the BBC that Taylor is “quite a phenomenon.” 

“Taylor Swift really does have a very concrete impact globally, across things that affect all of us,” she adds. “World leaders are begging for her to bring the Eras Tour to their country because of the economic benefits that it brings.”

Academic researchers from the Asia-Pacific region are invited submit proposals for papers to present at Swiftposium. These papers will connect Taylor to such topics as gender, identity, race and intersectionality, sexuality, mental health, marketing strategies, the #metoo movement, pop culture, intellectual property and political discourse.

Fans as well as academics will be able to attend, and oh — if Taylor herself wants to pop in, she’s welcome, too.

“I think all of us would have to spend some time picking our jaws up from the ground, but that invitation is definitely there,” Dr. Beckett told the BBC. “TayTay, if you want to come, we’d love to have you.”

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Jack White will be interviewing folk legend Joan Baez about her upcoming documentary I Am a Noise.

The conversation will be held following the Nashville premiere of the film, taking place October 20 at the Belcourt Theatre. For more info, visit Belcourt.org.

A description for I Am a Noise reads, “Neither a conventional biopic nor a traditional concert film, this immersive documentary moves back and forth through time as it follows Joan on her farewell tour and delves into her extraordinary archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings.”

The film will be released in select theaters and on digital October 6.

In other Jack White movie happenings, the “Seven Nation Army” rocker has a role in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon, which premieres October 20.

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