Country star Luke Combs and his wife Nicole are officially a family of four.
The pair have joyfully welcomed their second baby boy, Beau Lee Combs, into the world on August 15, they announced in a joint Instagram post shared on August 31.
Set to Cory Asbury‘s “These Are the Days,” the social media post shows a pacifier and an infant’s hospital hat laid out on a cream-colored blanket, accompanied by a developing Polaroid featuring “Beau Combs” and a heart drawn with Sharpie. The footage then reveals an image of baby Beau.
The announcement was affectionately captioned, “8.15.2023 – Beau Lee Combs. Welcome to the world. We couldn’t love you more.”
Beau joins his one-year-old brother, Tex, who was born on June 19, 2022.
On August 31, Michael Bublé shared an Instagram video in which he highlights the fact that many people still don’t know he’s the one who wrote all his biggest hits — including “Home.”
In the video, Michael responds to a comment that says, “In my opinion, your cover of Blake Shelton‘s ‘Home’ sucks” by lip-synching to some audio of someone saying “shut the eff up.”
“I’m just using this audio so i could brag,” he captioned the video. “I wrote the song and @blakeshelton covered it.”
It’s true: Michael released the song in 2005; Blake released his version in 2008. Michael also wrote “Haven’t Met You Yet,” “It’s a Beautiful Day,” “Everything,” “Higher” and all this other chart hits.
Speaking about songwriting, Michael told ABC Audio in 2022, “It’s a massive part of how we [artists] express ourselves. And so it was always a bit upsetting for me when I would do an interview and the interviewer would say, ‘Yeah, you’re a great interpreter of music, but what do you say when people say that all you do is cover people?'”
“And I would go, ‘But don’t [you know]?’ I get upset. I wrotethe hits.”
As Michael explains, “There’s that ego part where you want people to know that you’re more than just a singer and an entertainer.”
However, Michael’s definitely not shading artists who don’t write their own songs.
“I mean, my heroes, the greatest icons of all time — and I can mention two of them in Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley — they didn’t write,” he points out. “They were just incredible storytellers, interpreters of music that were gifted with incredible voices and charisma and stage presence. And that was enough.”
“But [songwriting is] a big part of my life, and I love doing it.”
Speaking with the press recently, Jon recounted how the storyline in his crowd-favorite chart-toppers “Heartache Medication” and “Last Night Lonely” lead almost seamlessly into the romantic conundrum in his latest hit, “Your Heart Or Mine.”
“‘Heartache Medication’ is getting over someone, moving on, having a good time and getting out and doing the things you need to do to move on. But ‘Last Night Lonely’ is almost like a continuation of ‘Heartache Medication,'” says Jon. “He’s moved on and found a girl he wants to settle down with. And ‘Your Heart Or Mine’ is now, he doesn’t know if he wants to settle down, but does he want to settle down? They got to figure their stuff out.”
Though Jon didn’t pen his recent chart-topping song, he says he’s generally not fussed about recording a tune he didn’t write. But, they’ve got to be able to stir up emotion and be memorable.
“There’s a lot of love situations that we could write about as songwriters. But for me, a good song — whether I write it or not — has to move people, has to make people tap their feet, and it’s got to be powerful and you’ve got to be remembered,” notes Jon. “I feel like a lot of these songs will be remembered for a long time.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph has announced a rebranding and expansion of her nonprofit charitable organization, The DIVA Foundation.
The announcement of the rebrand came on Thursday, August 31. The DIVA Foundation, which Ralph founded 33 years ago to deliver urgent messaging, and fight the stigma surrounding the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS, is launching a rebrand and expansion in response to changing needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of this, The DIVA Foundation has extended its programming to focus its efforts across five different pillars: Health Awareness, Women and Girls, LGBTQ+, Social Justice & Racial Equity and Food & Housing Insecurity.
Ralph, who serves as the board president and founding director, says that she is “excited about the look and feel of our new brand.”
“The DIVA Foundation works hard to ensure that the people who serve are represented by messengers they can trust,” Ralph said. “I’ve been blessed to have the support of many volunteers, fellow celebrities and influencers, and corporate partners to make this vision a reality.”
On Royal Blood‘s new album, Back to the Water Below, frontman Mike Kerr went back to his early instrument: the piano.
As Kerr tells ABC Audio, he was particularly inspired by the sound of the famed “Mrs. Mills” piano from Abbey Road Studios, which was played by The Beatles.
“There was something that The Beatles did that was very, like, regal on it,” Kerr says. “That’s how I learned to play piano, is learning The Beatles.”
Along with the Fab Four, Kerr found inspiration from another Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
“I went to see Aerosmith by chance in Vegas when I was there, and [Steven Tyler] uses a similar piano sound on ‘Dream On,'” Kerr says.
That particular experience led Kerr to start writing more songs on the piano, resulting in what would become the single “Pull Me Through.”
“I guess it really didn’t resemble a Royal Blood song until [drummer] Ben [Thatcher] and I sat behind it and thought, ‘OK, what would we do now?'” Kerr laughs. “From this point onwards, how would we prop this up? It was almost like putting muscles on it. How do we put muscles on these bones?”
Kerr and Thatcher would end up creating much of Back to the Water Below that way: writing songs first on the piano before Royal Blood-ifying them with their signature heavy bass and drums.
“It resulted in me having a lot of songs that were complete at a piano and kind of doing the hard bit first,” Kerr explains. “I had all the lyrics and the full concept of the song, and then embellishing our sound around that, rather than the other way around, which I guess usually, typically starts with beats and riffs.”
In 2007, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Nelly Furtado teamed up for the #1 song “Give it to Me,” a track from Timbaland’s album Shock Value. Now, 16 years later, the trio is hoping lightning will strike twice with their new collab, “Keep Going Up!“
Released on Friday, September 1, alongside the audio, comes a music video that shows a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new song. With clips of them in the studio, to snippets of FaceTime calls, the visuals show how the catchy, new single came to be.
As for the lyrics, Timberlake, Timbaland and Furtado each take turns sharing updates on how they’ve been doing with Timberlake and Furtado asserting in the chorus, “I keep goin’, I keep goin’, I keep goin’ up.”
“Keep Going Up!” is the first rollout for Timbaland, whose EP is due out this fall.
In addition to this collab, Justin has a lot going on. He just put his 127-acre property in Tennessee up for sale, he’s starring in the upcoming Netflix movie Reptile and the animated film Trolls Band Together, andhe’s reportedly reunited with *NSYNC to record a song for that film.
On top of that, Justin and Timbaland are curating music for select Monday Night Football games during the 2023-24 season, and he and Tiger Woods are planning to open T-Squared Social — an “elevated” sports bar in Times Square with games, food and drinks — this fall.
After 50 years together, Aerosmith is ready to start their long farewell to the road. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will launch their Peace Out final tour on Saturday, September 2, at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, featuring special guests The Black Crowes.
“It’s not goodbye it’s PEACE OUT!” the band shared when they announced the tour. “Get ready and walk this way, you’re going to get the best show of our lives.”
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford are all on board for the trek, although drummer Joey Kramer is sitting this one out “to focus his full attention on his family and health.” The band noted, “Joey’s unmistakable and legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed.”
And it certainly sounds like Aerosmith is going all out for this one. They shared on Instagram that the tour is their biggest production ever and needs “133 person crew, 22 semi trucks, 158 rigging points, 10 tour busses.” It will also consist of “over 600 lights, 67 guitars, 10 basses, 5 scarves and 4 legends of rock.”
The tour is Aerosmith’s first full-scale trek since the 2017-18 Aero-Vederci Baby! Tour. In 2019 they debuted their Deuces Are Wild residency, with dates in Las Vegas, Maryland and Massachusetts. It lasted until September 2022, with dates scheduled for December of that year canceled when Tyler went to rehab.
As of now, the Peace Out tour is set to run until January 26 in Montreal, Canada. The tour also includes a very special New Year’s Eve show in the band’s home city of Boston, Massachusetts. A complete list of dates can be found at aerosmith.com.
Foo Fighters have reached a new Billboard chart milestone with their latest single, “Under You.”
The track has hit #8 on the Alternative Airplay ranking, giving Dave Grohl and company a total of 30 top-10 hits on the tally. Not only does that extend the Foos record for the most Alternative Airplay top 10s, it also makes them the first act in the chart’s 35-year history to have 30 singles reach the top 10.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are in second place, with 28.
“Under You” appears on the new Foo Fighters album, But Here We Are, their first record since the 2022 death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. They’ve been touring over the spring and summer playing one-off festival and headlining shows with new drummer Josh Freese.
The next Foo Fighters show takes place September 3 in Aspen, Colorado.
Paul McCartney will launch a new leg of his Got Back tour in Australia in October, which means a lot of traveling for the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. And he has some specific ways he likes to pass the time.
In a new Q&A posted to his website, McCartney was asked how he keeps himself busy while traveling on a plane, with the fan wondering if he has hobbies like “reading, watching TV, or knitting…?” McCartney says he’s not a knitter, although he notes, “I imagine that would be quite cool, actually … it must be a great release of tension.”
“But I watch movies,” he says. “So when I travel from London to New York, its [sic] normally a seven-hour journey so I end up watching about three movies, and in the middle of it all I try and have a meal.”
For long car rides, McCartney says he’ll watch movies or TV shows on his iPad, revealing, “I’m currently on Better Call Saul and it’s a good one.”
One thing he doesn’t do is read, leaving that instead for just before he goes to bed. “I try to read biographies, which can be a little bit dry,” he says. “After a few pages you start you yawn, the page goes fuzzy, so it’s light off and straight to sleep. I like that!”
Paul McCartney’s Got Back tour kicks off October 18 in Adelaide, Australia. He’s also announced dates in Brazil and Mexico City. A complete list of dates can be found at paulmccartney.com.
Music fans are getting their first look at Doja Cat’s upcoming appearance at the revamped Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, now called The Victoria’s Secret World Tour. A trailer for the event was just released featuring Hailey Bieber, Gigi Hadid and more, with Doja popping up at the end in a nude-colored bra and matching pants adorned with sparkles. TheVictoria’s Secret World Tour airs September 26 on Prime Video.
Lizzo has gone blond. The singer shared some new photos on Instagram debuting her new hairdo: blond with pink tips, cut to chin-length in the front with long strands in back. It’s giving serious Carol Brady circa the 1970s. She captioned the shots, “I DONT THINK YOU’RE READY FOR THIS JELLY-FISH.”
A new book about Harry Styles is being released this fall, but it’s already a hot item. The hardcover book, Harry Styles, is currently #1 on the Amazon bestsellers list — and it doesn’t actually come out until October 24. The hardcover book features more than 100 photos of the pop star. It celebrates his “impact on music and fashion and how his choice of positive and authentic self-expression and tolerance has helped redefine modern masculinity and celebrity worldwide.”
Selena Gomez is sporting a new accessory on her hand — a cast. The singer recently revealed she broke her hand, and now she’s showing the world her black cast in a mirror selfie posted to her Instagram Story.
