Music

Shinedown has dropped off the bill for the Rock the Country festival.

The festival, which is headlined by Kid Rock and country star Jason Aldean, has garnered controversy due to its association with conservative and MAGA circles.

“Shinedown is everyone’s band,” the “Second Chance” outfit writes in a Facebook post. “We feel that we have been given a platform to bring all people together through the power of music and song.”

“We have one BOSS, and it is everyone in the audience,” the group continues. “Our band’s purpose is to unite, not divide. With that in mind, we have made the decision that we will not be playing the Rock the Country Festival.”

The post acknowledges that, “We know this decision will create differences of opinion.”

“But we do not wat to participate in something will believe will creature further division,” Shinedown says. “And to our fans, thank you for supporting and believing in us.”

Several other artists have already exited Rock the Country, including rapper Ludacris. Notably, Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch dubbed Ludacris a “coward” for the decision during a recent podcast interview.

“If he’s not tough enough to stick it out, that’s just silly,” Kerch said. “That’s him being a coward, in my opinion.”

When asked whether Shinedown would ever drop off a show due to negative feedback, Kerch replied, “I would hope not.”

“But it is a democracy,” Kerch continued. “There’s four of us to vote. My vote would be no, but if three of the other guys vote against it, then, again, it’s a democracy.”

Meanwhile, Kid Rock just announced a run of live dates dubbed the Freedom 250 tour, running from May 1 in Dallas to June 20 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. Tickets go on sale Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. local time.

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Mgk appears in a T-Mobile Super Bowl commercial.

The ad begins with unsuspecting customers being surprised by the Backstreet Boys, who sing a parody of their hit “I Want It That Way” all about T-Mobile’s qualities as a carrier. 

At the end, the narrator says, “We also had a second surprise.” Cut to a curtain falling to reveal mgk rocking a guitar in a nearly empty store.

“Where’s the Backstreet Boys?” a disappointed girl asks.

“Tell me why,” mgk sighs.

Super Bowl 60 kicks off Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Green Day will perform during the game’s opening ceremony, airing at 6 p.m. ET.

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Twisted Sister has canceled their planned 50th anniversary reunion tour.

The trek, featuring original members Dee Snider, Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda, was supposed to begin in April but has been called off due to Snider’s health.

“Due to the sudden and unexpected resignation of Twisted Sister’s lead singer Dee Snider brought on by a series of health challenges, the band has been forced to cancel all shows,” Jay Jay and Eddie said in a statement. noting cancelations included the planned opening show April 25 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as all summer dates. “The future of Twisted Sister will be determined in the next several weeks.”

A separate statement detailed Snider’s health issues.

“A lifetime of legendarily aggressive performing has taken its toll on Dee Snider’s body and soul,” it read. “Unbeknownst to the public (until now) Snider (70) suffers from degenerative arthritis and has had several surgeries over the years just to keep going, able to only perform a few songs at a time in pain.”

“Adding insult to injury, Dee has recently found out the level of intensity he has dedicated to his life’s work has taken its toll on his heart as well,” the statement continued. “He can no longer push the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll fury like he has done for decades.”

“I don’t know of any other way to rock,” Snider said, according to the statement. “The idea of slowing down is unacceptable to me. I’d rather walk away than be a shadow of my former self.”

“In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, ‘A man’s got to know his limitations.’ Sadly, Dee Snider now knows his,” the statement concluded.

The trek would have marked the first time Twisted Sister toured together since 2016. 

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Taylor Swift’s new video for “Opalite” has quite the star-studded cast, and it’s all because last year she appeared on the U.K. series The Graham Norton Show.

On the episode, Taylor was joined on Norton’s couch by Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy, actors Greta Lee, Domhnall Gleeson and Jodie Turner-Smith, and Lewis Capaldi. As Taylor explains on Instagram, “When we were all talking during the broadcast, Domhnall made a light hearted joke about wanting to be in one of my music videos. He’s Irish! He was joking! Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an *idea.*”

“And so a week later he received an email script I’d written for the Opalite video, where he was playing the starring role,” she goes on to explain. 

“I had this thought that it would be wild if all of our fellow guests on the Graham Norton show that night, including Graham himself, could be a part of it too. Like a school group project but for adults and it isn’t mandatory.”

In the hilarious video, which Taylor wrote and directed, she plays a lonely woman whose best friend is a rock, while Domhnall is a lonely guy who’s dating a cactus. But after they spray themselves with “Opalite” — the new product that “magically transforms your problems into paradise” — they fall in love.

The other stars from the Graham Norton episode pop up throughout the video, including Graham, whose attempt to sell them “Reverse Opalite,” is desperately blocked by Domhnall. 

At the end of the clip, we find out that the rock and the cactus got married, and then we see the actual clip of the Graham Norton Show episode where Domhnall made that joke — and Taylor suddenly looked inspired.

The “Opalite” video is now streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.

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As Luke Combs and his wife, Nicole Combs, welcome their third child, the country superstar says there’s only one word for their home life: “Chaotic!”

That’s largely because their housing situation isn’t at all what you’ve expect for one of the most successful artists in country music. 

“I’ll have three under 4, which will be [a] very, very interesting dynamic at the house — in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house,” Luke tells ABC Audio. “We’ve been building a house for a couple years. It’s not quite done yet.”

“We will have three small children in the same room for about eight months,” he continues, “and I’m absolutely terrified of what that looks like. So that should be very interesting. We can do it, but it is going to be trying for sure.” 

Big brother Tex Lawrence Combs arrived in June 2022, while Beau Lee Combs followed in August 2023. 

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With Pusicifer‘s new album, Normal Isn’t, Maynard James Keenan and company did what they always do, which is to say that they did something completely different.

“The challenge that we’ve placed in front of ourselves … is to do something different than the last album,” Keenan tells ABC Audio. “Not just for the sake of being different, just literally as a challenge to just kinda figure out how we can push ourselves.”

One way Puscifer changed up their approach on Normal Isn’t was with Keenan and bandmate Mat Mitchell‘s songwriting process.

“Normally, Mat’s presenting things and I’m reacting,” Keenan explains. “So a few of the songs, we kinda flipped it around where I’m handing him things. So for him, that was his new challenge, interpreting what my ideas were and coming back with something that made it better.”

Normal Isn’t certainly has a distinct feel compared to Puscifer’s last record, 2020’s Existential Reckoning. If Existential Reckoning was the soundtrack to a hedonistic dance party during the apocalypse, the world has fully ended on Normal Isn’t and explores the consequences of that new reality.

“I would say the last one was far more cinematic, trying to widen your perspective on what you’re seeing, what you’re looking at, how you’re gonna navigate it,” Keenan says. “And then this one is definitely Mad Max. We’re scrambling for gasoline.”

One thing that Normal Isn’t is not is subtle. Take the song “Self Evident,” which Keenan opens with the lyric “You’re an idiot.”

“At some point, you just have to say it,” Keenan says. “Trying to dress it up and kinda beat around the bush, so to speak it, isn’t working, so f*** it. You’re a dumba**.” 

Normal Isn’t is out now. Puscifer will launch a U.S. tour in March.

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On Sunday, Charlie Puth will follow in the footsteps of stars like Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson when he sings the national anthem at the Super Bowl. And he said he’s been thinking about how to make the song his own since he got the job in November.

“The arrangement is everything for me,” Charlie said at the Apple Music Super Bowl 60 pregame show press conference in San Francisco on Thursday. “I always reverse engineer how I hear my own music in my head and then it’s kind of just like pulling it apart and making it a feasible product. … So I’ve been rehearsing this in my head for months, if that makes sense.”

At one point during the press conference, Charlie slipped into his “Professor Puth” persona, explaining that the anthem is a “very musically difficult song to sing” because he has to hit “five more notes above the octave.” 

But when asked what he wants fans to take away from his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Charlie said simply, “I want them to feel inspired. I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing and can change so many people’s lives.”

When the talk turned to sports, Charlie and “America the Beautiful” pregame singer Brandi Carlile admitted they were terrible athletes as children.

“I played baseball and would kick the dirt by third base. I was not good at sports,” Charlie laughed. “I know that’s very awkward to admit at such a sporty event, but … I tried swimming, tennis, no. Soccer, I would do a backflip in the mud. I always heard the music in my head.”

Super Bowl 60 airs on NBC Sunday night.

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Coco Jones is set to give fans a “Taste” of Black history on Sunday when she performs “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during the Super Bowl pregame show — a responsibility she approached with care and research.

“Something that I like to do to really understand the gravity of what I’m doing and what I am representing is to look at the history of how ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ even came into fruition from poetry to being the song that became a staple for our culture,” she said at the Apple Music Super Bowl 60 pregame show press conference Thursday.

That understanding, she explained, was important because she sees herself as vessel rather than the focus of the performance.

“Being able to have this light on the culture is a moment in itself. I’m just the vessel that is able to represent what this means to the culture,” she said, adding her thoughts are with the people who came before her and those that will come after.

“[I’m] thinking about younger me and what she needed to see, how she needed be taught that she could walk into rooms,” she said. “[I’m] thinking about the youth, thinking about my grandma and my ancestors and the women that came before me … what they would need to see to … confirm that everything was worth it.”

Coco said it’s hard to think of a moment topping this one, noting, “This is one of the most highly viewed events of all time, so it’s hard to compete. It’s hard to compete. Maybe my wedding will be up there.”

As for how she plans to prepare before stepping onto the field, Coco said she’ll snack on some Lay’s potato chips. “Whitney Houston said it makes your voice more oiled and loose,” she said.

Super Bowl 60 kicks off Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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