Music

After 33 million Google searches, Taylor Swift has revealed four out of the five “From the Vault” tracks on her upcoming album 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

Over the past few days, fans who searched “Taylor Swift” in Google were sent on a scavenger hunt of scrambled letters and clues, inviting them to piece together the names of the songs.  All would be revealed, the stunt promised, when worldwide Google searches hit 33 million.

Now, if you search “Taylor Swift,” you’ll hear Taylor congratulating you for unlocking the “vault,” and then revealing the titles: “Is It Over Now,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Say Don’t Go” and “Suburban Legends.” 

“Cant wait for you to hear them!” she adds.

However — because this is Taylor we’re talking about — the details of the release have always specified five “From the Vault” tracks. Could she be holding one back because of a big-name collaboration?  Rumor has it she’s done a song with Nicki Minaj.

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For many who are born in Nashville, being surrounded by country music is inevitable.

But not only did Conner Smith grow up listening to the genre, he was introduced to the music industry at a young age by his veteran broadcaster mom, Jennifer Vickery Smith.

“Growing up, my mom was a TV reporter on the local station. But she always loved country music, so she would really kind of raise her hand for all those jobs. She would interview songwriters and artists,” Conner recounts to ABC Audio. “I remember she would go to number-one parties, and she’d pull me out of school every now and then. I remember she pulled me out of school one day to go to the ‘Why Don’t We Just Dance’ Josh Turner number-one party.”

As Conner embraced being a fly on the wall, he started analyzing interviews his mom had with hit songmakers — which later sparked his passion for country songwriting.

“She would interview songwriters, these [legends like] Craig Wiseman, Neil Thrasher, Kelly Lovelace, Tom Douglas. And I would just study these interviews of these guys that were telling the stories of these country songs,” Conner recalls. “That was where, [in] my heart, I was just like, ‘Whatever that is, I have to do that.’ So that’s really where it started for me.” 

Conner’s currently approaching the top 20 on the country charts with his single “Creek Will Rise.”

Tickets for Conner’s fall Creek Will Rise Tour are available now at connersmithmusic.com.

Conner’s mom, Jennifer, also hosts the Got It From My Momma podcast. Check it out at gotitfrommymommapodcast.com.

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Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley has spoken out for the first time since his hospitalization with pneumonia.

In a Facebook post published Tuesday, September 19, Whibley writes, “I wanted to take a min to say thank you to everyone for so much love and support.”

“Although I’m not out of the woods yet and have been told to be prepared for a bit of roller coaster sickness over the next couple of weeks, I’m staying positive and doing my best to get through all of this,” he continues. “I’m still bed ridden, having a hard time breathing, tight chest pains and some pretty wild fever dreams, that I guess are keeping this whole thing somewhat entertaining.”

News of Whibley’s hospitalization first came in a September 15 Instagram post by his wife, Ariana, who noted, “There is a lot of strain on his heart and they are telling us that there is a possibility of heart failure.” In a follow-up post on September 16, Ariana said that Whibley had been discharged from the hospital and was “responding so well to his treatments.”

In his post, Whibley adds that he’s “in the best hands and am on the right medicine.” He plans on “being my absolute best” for Sum 41’s scheduled performance at the 2023 When We Were Young festival in October.

“That’s my goal,” he says. “Thank you, so much love.”

The 43-year-old Whibley was previously hospitalized in 2014 with liver and kidney damage resulting from alcoholism.

Sum 41 spent the summer on tour with The Offspring. The band announced in May that they were planning to break up following a final album and tour.

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fun. and Janelle Monáe‘s “We Are Young” has reached 1 billion streams on Spotify.

In a social media post on Monday, September 18, Spotify shares, “[fun.] and [Monae]’s youth anthem is the newest entry in the #BillionsClub canon.”

Hitting 1 billions streams on Spotify is the latest accomplishment for the well-decorated “We Are Young,” which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2019 and reached 1 billion YouTube views in 2022.

“We Are Young” was a single off fun.’s 2012 album, Some Nights, which also spawned hits in the title track and “Carry On.” The trio — made up of Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost — never released a follow-up album and has remained on hiatus since 2015.

Ruess has since launched a solo career, while Antonoff started the band Bleachers and has become one today’s most in-demand producers, working with artists including Taylor Swift, Lorde, Lana Del Rey and St. Vincent.

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Another night, another Taylor Swift outing with her gal pals. The singer was spotted out to dinner in NYC with Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz and Barbie director Greta Gerwig on Monday, September 18. Zoë and Laura worked together on Big Little Lies, while Laura worked with Greta on Little Women and starred in Taylor’s “Bejeweled” video.

After recording Latin and EDM music, former Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke has returned to pop. Her new single “Gone to Bed” will be out September 29 and is now available to presave.

Bruno Mars is set to perform at the Qatar Formula 1 Grand Prix 2023 next month. He’ll play the post-race concert on Sunday, October 8. The Grand Prix weekend kicks off October 6 at Lusail International Circuit in Doha.

The Jonas Brothers want to kick start your fitness routine. They’re teaming up with VR fitness app Supernatural to bring their greatest hits to a bunch of different workout classes, including boxing and a cardio class called Flow. The JoBros collab launches Monday, September 25.

John Mayer opened for Ed Sheeran in a pinch at his Gillette Stadium show in July, and now, Ed is returning the favor. Ed will be John’s opening act at a benefit concert to support the Heart and Armor Foundation, set to take place Tuesday night, September 19, at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

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Rising country artist and Yellowstone star Luke Grimes is set to release his debut EP, Pain Pills Or Pews, on October 20. The Dave Cobb-produced EP features six songs, including “Burn,” which drops Friday, September 22. Pain Pill Or Pews is available for presave now.

The Oak Ridge Boys have announced their American Made: Farewell Tour. “We are doing a farewell tour because we owe it to our fans to say goodbye. They have always been there for us through the good times and the bad,” shares the group’s William Lee Golden. The full statement and tour schedule are available now at oakridgeboys.com.

Tyler Booth‘s EP, Keep It Real, is out now. “It’s always cool for me to watch artists I look up to grow in their music and evolve. With this new music, I feel like I’ve moved on to another stage myself, which is a very cool thing and makes me really excited to share what I’ve been working on with the world,” Tyler says of his new six-track project.

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Dee Snider’s new graphic novel is getting a boost from Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

Morello has written the foreword to He’s Not Gonna Take It, a comic book-style retelling of the Twisted Sister frontman’s crusade against the Parents Music Resource Center.

Snider famously spoke out against the PMRC during a 1985 Senate hearing over adding a “parental advisory” sticker to albums containing explicit material. In addition to supporting the advisory label, the PMRC compiled a list known as the “Filthy Fifteen,” which included Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as well as songs by artists including Judas Priest, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Prince and Madonna.

In Morello’s foreword, which Rolling Stone shared along with panels from the release, he writes, “Dee Snider’s heroic appearance before a congressional committee in 1985 to stand up against censorship was a high-water mark of musician activism.” 

“[Snider] stunned Congress and the world by speaking powerfully and eloquently about free speech while looking like the bada** heavy metal demon that he is, making everyone present question every false assumption they had about heavy metal or the people who play it and love it,” Morello continued. “His uncompromising stand in his music and on the witness stand were very inspirational to me and I was so proud of him on that day, and I still am.” 

The foreword concludes, “It’s OK to play kick-a** music and be smart and be yourself and stand up for what you believe in. Thanks Dee for proving that you can’t stop rock n roll!”

He’s Not Gonna Take It, which was co-written by Snider, will be released November 21. Frequent rock collaborators Z2 Comics will publish the novel.

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Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion earned themselves a #1 song with “Bongos.”

The hit new single debuted at the top spot on YouTube’s Top Songs chart.

Released September 8,  “Bongos” is the duo’s most recent collab following 2020’s “WAP.” They joined one another on an Instagram Live session ahead of its release at midnight, where they discussed the nerves surrounding the song’s release and how they knew it’d be a hit. 

Cardi and Meg then appeared at the 2023 VMAs, where, in outfits similar to the matching, colorful, vibrant bodysuits and heels worn in the official music video, they shared the stage for a debut performance of “Bongos.”

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