Chris Young‘s first love might be country music, but he also loves sports. The Tennessee native, who’s an avid fan of both the Texas Longhorns and the Dallas Cowboys, will join Stephen A. Smith on ESPN+ on Thursday, September 23, at 5:30 PM ET, for Stephen A’s World.
This isn’t the singer’s first foray into discussing sports on ESPN. Earlier this month, Chris joined Jason Fitz and Gary Striewski for their inaugural The Kickoff show.
For Chris, it makes sense that both of his favorite teams aren’t from his home state. “When I was growing up we didn’t have the [Tennessee] Titans so it was like just pick a team near you,” Chris previously told Sports Illustrated. “I was always a diehard Cowboys fan.”
Chris just celebrated a #1 hit with “Famous Friends,” a song he recorded with Kane Brown. The tune became the title track of Young’s eighth studio album, which was released in August.
A new report claims that Lana Del Rey and Lorde are at odds over the New Zealand singer’s new album, Solar Power.
According to British publication The Sun, sources participating in the recent Ivor Novello songwriting awards claim that Rey is accusing Lorde of copying two of her songs.
Sources tell the outlet that Lorde has quietly agreed that there is a similarity between the tracks, but has declined to go public with the feud because she doesn’t want to escalate it.
“The disagreement between Lana and Lorde has been quietly bubbling for a while,” an insider spilled. “Lana’s team agreed and after an expert got involved and some discussions were thrashed out between everyone involved, Lorde’s people came back and offered Lana a percentage of the publishing rights to the song.”
The source claims the “Summertime Sadness” singer doesn’t want a percentage and is asking for a public acknowledgement of the similarity and that Lorde was inspired by her music.
“It means the only last course of action would be to sue — but everyone is very keen to avoid that if at all possible and hopes there can be an amicable resolution instead,” the insider explained. “The forensic experts agree with the fans, so it seems to be quite a clear cut case.”
Neither Lana nor Lorde have publicly reacted to the alleged disagreement.
Clockwise from left: Alanis Morissette, Will.i.am, Nick Lachey, Grimes; Greg Gayne/FOX
Nick Lachey is coming to terms with the fact that he’s approaching his 50th birthday. The 98 Degrees singer opened up to The New York Post about what made him start reevaluating his age.
“I’ve never felt older in my life than sitting next to Grimes on a judging panel,” the 47-year-old laughed in reference to his new reality singing competition series, Alter Ego.
In addition to the 14-year age difference separating him and the 33-year-old singer, he says they are both operating on completely different mindsets. “The way her mind operates and the things that she understands, I don’t even begin to grasp how those things are working,” he explained.
Grimes is in a relationship with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, with whom she shares one-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii, which is pronounced X-Ash-A-Twelve.
Also sitting with Grimes and Nick on the Alter Ego judging panel are will.i.am and Alanis Morissette. Lachey says the different backgrounds represented at the judges’ table is exactly what makes the singing competition stand out.
“We are all so different,” said Nick. “We come from different backgrounds. Will is also very into tech. I think Alanis and I are a little bit more of your kind of straight-ahead, not-really-understanding-what’s-going-on type performers…But I think what I do understand and really recognize is true talent — and that’s what cuts through in the performances.”
Alter Ego, which features competitors wearing motion-capture suits and singing backstage as their digital avatar performs in their stead on stage, debuted Wednesday on Fox. Another episode airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET.
It’s hard to judge who was more excited for Dan + Shay to finally continue The (Arena) Tour, after being off the road for a year-and-a-half.
Fans snapped up tickets, selling out the first five shows earlier this month, while Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney brought along some Good Things, in the form of a new album.
“This is something we’ve dreamed of our entire lives, you know, being on stage in arenas,” Dan says. “And having a new album of new songs for the fans to sing along with us is the greatest feeling in the entire world.”
“You know, the album came out,” he continues, “and the fans had like 24 hours to learn these songs. And they were screaming as loud as any of our hits, which is like the most surreal thing.”
Good Things features nine new tracks — including their new single, “Steal My Love” — along with the number-one songs “10,000 Hours,” “I Should Probably Go to Bed,” and “Glad You Exist.”
“It validates all the hard work, all the sleepless nights,” Dan says of the fans’ reaction. “I mean, we were working 20 hours a day on this thing. I mean, my hair was falling out, I wasn’t sleeping. It was crazy.”
“But, you know, it’s all worth it when you get to stand on that stage again, and feel that love from the fans,” he adds.
The (Arena) Tour continues on Friday, with stops in Louisville, Kentucky; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Minneapolis, Minnesota this weekend.
The Pretenders‘ classic 1979 self-titled debut album and its 1981 follow-up, Pretenders II, will both be reissued on November 5 as deluxe three-CD sets.
Frontwoman Chrissie Hynde curated both releases, which will feature remastered versions of the original albums by producer Chris Thomas, demos, rarities, live performances and more.
The deluxe edition of the Pretenders reissue features B-sides, demos, two BBC sessions from 1979, and songs recorded at concerts in London in January 1979 and Boston in March 1980.
The Pretenders II deluxe reissue will feature demos, single edits, alternate versions and outtakes, and live tunes recorded at shows in New York’s Central Park in August 1980 and in Santa Monica, California, in September 1981.
Both deluxe reissues will come packaged with a high-quality book featuring new liner notes and a variety of rare and unseen photos.
Limited-edition colored vinyl LPs of Pretenders and Pretenders II, pressed on red and white vinyl, respectively, also will be released. Visit Rhino.com for pre-order details.
The Pretenders’ self-titled debut, which was released in December 1979, reached #9 on the Billboard 200. It featured the band’s first stateside hit, “Brass in Pocket,” as well as several other enduring songs, including “Precious,” “Kid” and “Mystery Achievement” and the group’s memorable cover of The Kinks‘ “Stop Your Sobbing.”
Pretenders II, which arrived in August of ’81, reached #10 on the Billboard 200 and included the popular tunes “Talk of the Town” and “Message of Love.”
The albums were the only two full-length records by the band to feature the original lineup of Hynde, drummer Martin Chambers, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon. Sadly, Honeyman-Scott and Farndon died of drug-related causes in June 1982 and April 1983, respectively.
Here’s the track list of Pretenders — Deluxe Edition:
CD 1: Original Album & B-Sides
Original Album
“Precious”
“The Phone Call”
“Up the Neck”
“Tattooed Love Boys”
“Space Invader”
“The Wait”
“Stop Your Sobbing”
“Kid”
“Private Life”
“Brass in Pocket”
“Lovers of Today”
“Mystery Achievement”
B-Sides
“Cuban Slide”
“Porcelain”
“The Wait” (Nick Lowe Version)
“Nervous but Shy”
“Swinging London”
CD 2: Demos & BBC In Studio
Demos
“The Phone Call”
“Suicide”*
“Brass in Pocket”
“Precious”
“The Wait”
“I Can’t Control Myself”
“Stop Your Sobbing”
“Tequila”
“Kid”
“I Go to Sleep”*
“Do I Love You”*
BBC In Session: The Kid Jensen Show, February 5, 1979
“The Wait”*
“Up the Neck”*
“Stop Your Sobbing”*
“Private Life”*
“Cuban Slide”*
BBC In Session: The Kid Jensen Show, July 2, 1979
“Mystery Achievement”
“I Need Somebody”
“Tattooed Love Boys”*
CD3: Live
BBC In Session: Live at The Paris Theatre, London, January 2, 1979
“The Wait”*
“Stop Your Sobbing”*
“Kid”*
“Cuban Slide”*
“Brass in Pocket*
“Tattooed Love Boys*
“Mystery Achievement*
Warner Bros. Music Show: Live at the Paradise Theater, Boston, March 23, 1980
“Space Invader”**
“The Wait”**
“Precious”
“Kid”**
“Private Life”**
“Cuban Slide”**
“The Phone Call”*
“Talk of the Town”**
“Tattooed Love Boys”
“Up the Neck”**
“Mystery Achievement”**
“Stop Your Sobbing”**
And here’s the track list of Pretenders II — Deluxe Edition:
CD 1: Original Album
“The Adultress”
“Bad Boys Get Spanked”
“Message of Love”
“I Go to Sleep”
“Birds of Paradise”
“Talk of the Town”
“Pack It Up”
“Waste Not Want Not”
“Day After Day”
“Jealous Dogs”
“The English Roses”
“Louie Louie”
CD2: Studio Demos, Singles & Alternates
“Talk of the Town” (Demo)
“What You Gonna Do About It”
“I Go to Sleep” (Guitar Version — Outtake)
“Pack It Up” (Radio Mix — Outtake)
“Day After Day” (Single Mix)
“In the Sticks”
“Louie Louie” (Monitor Mix)*
Live in Central Park, New York City, August 30, 1980
“Precious”
“Space Invader”*
“Cuban Slide”*
“Porcelain”*
“Tattooed Love Boys”*
“Up the Neck”*
CD 3: Live at the Santa Monica Civic, September 4, 1981
“The Wait”
“The Adultress”
“Message of Love”
“Louie Louie”
“Talk of the Town”
“Birds of Paradise”
“The English Roses”
“Stop Your Sobbing”
“Private Life”
“Kid”
“Day After Day”
“Up the Neck”
“Bad Boys Get Spanked”
“Tattooed Love Boys”*
“Precious”*
“Brass in Pocket”
“Mystery Achievement”*
“Higher and Higher”
Elton John is thrilled that “Cold Heart,” his collaboration with Dua Lipa and the electronic dance duo PNAU, is doing so well on the charts, but he says landing the “Levitating” singer for the record wasn’t a forgone conclusion, even though they’d collaborated in the past.
“The Dua record happened because PNAU gave me the track, which I loved, but I didn’t want to sing the ‘Rocket Man’ [part] there, because I’d sung it so many times,” Elton tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “Cold Heart” is based around samples of four Elton songs: “Rocket Man,” “Sacrifice,” “Kiss the Bride” and “Where’s the Shoorah?”
“I thought it would be great if someone else sang that,” he notes. “And I’ve gotten to know Dua because she did our Oscar party this year and we became friends. She was in L.A. in May, and [my husband David and I] took her to dinner…and David said to her, ‘Listen, think about it. I’ll send you the track. You got to play it loud by the pool.'”
Elton continues, “She phoned us up [and said,] ‘I’m in.’ And that was the icing on the cake. She is probably…one of the most successful artists in the world at the moment…And it just was a stroke of luck.”
While Elton has had dozens of hits in his 50-year career, he tells Zane that “Cold Heart” is special because, as he puts it, “I haven’t had a genuine hit for a long, long time because I haven’t made genuine hit records. I haven’t set out to make them.”
“Cold Heart” is Elton’s his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2000, his first top 10 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart since 2005 and his first song to hit Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart since 1998.
The U.S. normally ignores the Eurovision Song Contest, but two recent winners are actually on the charts: 2019’s Duncan Laurence with “Arcade,” and this year’s Måneskin, with “Beggin.'” Duncan met Måneskin at the Eurovision semi-finals, where he says he correctly predicted their win.
“I told them they were going to win, and they did,” says Duncan. “I saw them perform, and I was like, ‘You guys are going to win.'”
“I really love them,” he says of the Italian rockers, whose name means “Moonlight” in Danish. “They stand for so many things I stand for. I think they’re this new wave of power that Eurovision, but also the world, needs.”
As a past winner, Duncan says Måneskin were eager to get pointers from him.
“It was funny because I walked in and they were humming my song, ‘Arcade,'” he laughs.
“And then they actually asked, ‘Are there any tip[s]?’ And I was, like, ‘No, because I saw you on stage and you’re so great,'” says Duncan. “‘You’re so different from me. I have no idea what I could possibly say that would benefit you. So, no, just do your own thing.’ And I think that’s the most important tip you can give anyone, actually.
So, does Duncan feel he’s leading a trend of future Eurovision winners conquering the U.S. charts?
“I hope so!” says the Dutch singer. “I mean, that was the dream: for me to go to Eurovision and…show the world that [it’s]…a platform where starting artists or, in the case with Måneskin, who were very famous already in Europe and Italy, to become bigger and show the world, ‘This is what we’re made of, and this is who we are, and this is what we want to do.’ So I’m very proud.”
Notify your mama, papa and daughter: Blood Sugar Sex Magik is turning 30 years old.
Red Hot Chili Peppers released their breakout album on September 24, 1991. Spawning the hit singles in “Under the Bridge,” “Give It Away” and “Suck My Kiss,” Blood Sugar became one of the definitive albums of the ’90s alternative rock scene on its way to being certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Notably, Blood Sugar marked the second Chili Peppers album to feature guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith, who’d made their debut on 1989’s Mother’s Milk. Along with frontman Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea, they made up the band’s “classic” lineup.
“It changed a lot for [us],” Smith tells ABC Audio of Blood Sugar. “John and I had been in the band and we’d toured a bunch on Mother’s Milk and we had been in the group for awhile. We wrote all those songs, Anthony started to sing more, John was more involved in the songwriting.”
“To me, it was the first time the band actually sounded like what I thought we sounded like,” he adds.
Smith recalls feeling more focused during the Blood Sugar sessions, since the Peps recorded it themselves in a house, as opposed to a traditional recording studio.
“There were no other distractions,” he explains. “There were no other people walking around, studio secretaries or whatever. It was very insular, and we just dug right in and took advantage of that.”
Blood Sugar Sex Magik also marked RHCP’s first album with Rick Rubin in place of Mother’s Milk producer Michael Beinhorn, who often clashed with the band. Rubin then produced every Peppers album up until their most recent effort, 2016’s The Getaway.
“That was the beginning, obviously, of a long relationship with [Rubin],” Smith says.
Prince was honored this week on the 14th anniversary of a record-setting residency in England.
The Purple Rain star performed a record 21 shows in September 2007 at the famed O2 venue in London. To commemorate his historic accomplishment, a special custom artwork featuring the trademark symbol he used as his name in 2016 has been unveiled.
“The Prince shows at The O2 in 2007 were legendary and undoubtedly helped to cement The O2 as one of the most iconic venues in the world,” Steve Sayer, vice president and general manager of the venue, said in a statement. “Fans and employees still talk fondly about those amazing nights.”
He continued, “On the anniversary of the final show that Prince played at The O2, we are excited to present this beautiful key to The Prince Estate and are proud to unveil one backstage at the venue as part of the ’21 Club’ display.”
A second version of the artwork will be proudly displayed Prince’s Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
The “21 Club” celebrates stars who, like Prince, performed 21 shows or more in a residency at The O2.
Only seven other artists or performers have been inducted into the 21 Club: Drake; another Canadian artist, Michael Bublé; and English performers Take That, One Direction, Young Voices, Micky Flanagan and Michael McIntyre.
Founding Romantics guitarist Mike Skill has announced updated plans for his debut solo album, Skill…Mike Skill, which now will be released on October 8 after it initially was slated to arrive on September 10.
The record features 12 tracks, including Mike’s recently released new version of The Romantics’ 1980 power-pop classic “What I Like About You.”
Skill, who co-wrote “What I Like About You” with original Romantics drummer Jimmy Marinos, teamed up with his band’s current beat keeper, Brad Elvis, and current Flock of Seagulls drummer Kevin Rankin, for the updated rendition of the tune.
Mike recorded much of Skill…Mike Skill while The Romantics were unable to tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of the tracks were inspired by the raw rock he grew up with from his hometown of Detroit.
“[I] was bursting at the seams with that Detroit energy,” Skill explains, adding, “As I was writing, I couldn’t help reflecting on the Music that came before me.”
Skill…Mike Skill also features several songs that Skill released individually as digital singles over the last few years, including “’67 Riot,” which features a guest appearance by one of his guitar idols, Wayne Kramer of The MC5.
Skill…Mike Skill was produced by Chuck Alkazian, who also has worked with Eminem and late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. You’ll be able to pre-order the album starting this Sunday, September 26.
Here’s the full track list of Skill…Mike Skill:
“Not My Business”
“Dark Side of Your Love”
“My Bad Pretty”
“Carrie Got Married”
“’67 Riot” — featuring Wayne Kramer
“We Got Your Rock’n Roll”
“Sinners Song”
“So Soul Alone”
“I Want What You Got”
“Calling”
“What I Like About You”
“One More Time”
