Music

If you’re a Lady Gaga fan, you may want to have some Words with Friends today.

Gaga’s charity, the Born This Way Foundation, has teamed up with a number of partners, including Zynga’s super-popular game, Words with Friends, to promote its annual #BeKind campaign, now in its fourth year.  Today, September 1, the Word of the Day on Words with Friends is “Kindness,” in honor of the campaign, which encourages players to sign up to practice kindness for 21 days.

Specifically, the #BeKind21 campaign is asking participants to pledge to do one act of kindness each day from September 1 to September 21 to build “kinder, more connected communities” that “foster mental wellness.” 

Words with Friends is one of 400 non-profit organizations, businesses, communities and school districts that are coming together for #BeKind21.   Some of those partners include Duncan Hines, CareBares, Hilton, Indeed, Kate Space, PacSun, MGM Resorts, Under Armour and Zappos.

Gaga’s mom, Cynthia Germanotta, the president and co-founder of the Born This Way Foundation, says, “We’ve learned from young people that they believe experiencing, and even witnessing, more kindness in the places they live, work, and play will help to improve their mental wellness.”

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Jimmie Allen is joining Elton John on a song, “Beauty in the Bones,” on John’s upcoming The Lockdown Sessions, out on October 22. The 16-track project includes collaborations from artists of all genres, including Brandi Carlile, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder, Charlie Puth and more.

Allen is thrilled to join his musical hero on the new record. “I have been a [Elton John] fan for as long as I can remember. One of my ultimate dreams was to work with him.. IT HAPPENED!” Allen wrote on Instagram.

All of the songs were recorded during the pandemic.

“Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens,” John said in a statement. “But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory.

Although he had never written via Zoom before, John did say it was reminiscent of his early years as a studio musician.

“At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician,” he explained. “Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”

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Only a couple of weeks after Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood dropped their “If I Didn’t Love You” collaboration, we now know when the video will be released. It’ll premiere on YouTube on September 8 at 6:00 PM.

Although neither Aldean nor Underwood have said much about the video, which shows both singers dressed in classy attire, Aldean did say he is grateful that Underwood chose to join him on the heartbreaking song.

“We were pretty close to finishing up this album, but this song came in and we knew we had to record it,” Aldean said in a press release. “She did her thing like only Carrie can…and I don’t know how, but she made it sound even better than what we expected. It’s a really special song to start this album.”

“If I Didn’t Love You” is from Aldean’s upcoming new album.

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Imagine Dragons has announced a streaming event with Amazon Music to mark the release of the band’s upcoming new album, Mercury — Act 1.

Premiering Thursday, September 2, at 9 p.m. ET, the celebration will include acoustic performances of songs off Mercury, as well as a live Q&A with fans watching the stream.

Visit Amazon.com for more info.

Mercury — Act 1, the fifth Imagine Dragons album, arrives Friday, September 3. It includes the previously released singles “Follow You,” “Wrecked” and “Cutthroat.”

In related news, Imagine Dragons’ video for “Believer” has hit two billion views on YouTube. The clip, which stars Dolph Lundgren of Rocky IV fame, is the first ID video to cross two billion views, though they’ve previously crossed the one billion threshold with “Radioactive” and “Thunder.”

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Jennifer Hudson stars in the Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, and she performed a tribute to The Queen of Soul on August 19 at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City. The concert will be streamed for free Wednesday night on her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

The special performance, which was presented by American Airlines and Mastercard, will also be available on their social media platforms, as well as Priceless.com.

The Oscar and Grammy winner posted a promo video on Instagram featuring her singing “Respect” and commented, “You asked. Bosslady is delivering!! If u missed my show at the legendary Apollo Theater with @mastercard, u can now watch it virtually!”

On August 19, prior to the show, Hudson posted, “Playing the @apollotheater is a dream come true ! So excited to perform a show in front of a live audience again!

Jennifer Hudson Live at The Apollo streams Wednesday, September 1st, at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT.

 

 

 

 

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Luke Bryan has dealt with plenty of loss in his life, including the death of both his brother, Chris, and his sister, Kelly, as well as his brother-in-law, Ben. While Bryan wishes he hadn’t endured so much grief, he does say he is grateful he can use his experience to help others, including one little boy Bryan says he will never forget.

“I believe we were in North Carolina,” Bryan recalled in the Dirt Road Diaries documentary about his life. “It was a typical meet and greet. This little blond-headed boy walks up to me and says, ‘Can I ask you a question?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, buddy,’ and I got down on one knee.”

It was what the little boy said next that Bryan still remembers to this day.

“He looked at me and goes, ‘I wanna know how you get through every day having lost your brother and your sister, because I lost my sister, and I can’t get over it. My heart’s broke,” Bryan says. “It was a big moment for me, because I understood the way I live, with a smile on my face, is important to people.”

Bryan is currently on the road on his Proud to Be Right Here Tour. His Farm Tour will kick off on September 9.

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You might think Demi Lovato would have no problem enticing a fellow celeb to go on a date with them, but in the latest episode of their podcast, the singer was embarrassingly reminded of what happened when they tried to shoot their shot with one of the stars of Schitt’s Creek.

Demi’s guest on 4D with Demi Lovato was Emily Hampshire, who played Stevie Budd in the Emmy-winning comedy series.  She asked Demi if they minded if she talked about how they first met, and then revealed that it was when Demi slid into her DMs and asked for a date.

“You said, ‘I like you on the show, we should kick it sometimes,'” Hampshire, who identifies as pansexual, recalled. “And then you said, ‘And by kick it, I mean go on a date’…like, you made it clear it was a date. And I loved that, because sometimes that’s confusing.”

Hampshire, who’s 40, then revealed that she turned down Demi, who’s 29, because she’s so much older than the singer.  According to Hampshire, Demi responded, “Think of Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor,” before backtracking and adding, “Uh, I don’t mean YOU’RE the Holland Taylor!”

Paulson, who’s 46, is in a relationship with Taylor, who’s 78.

Demi, who was in hysterics over this story, attempted to explain, “I was like, ‘No! No! I just love them together! I really do!'”  And then Hampshire added, “I thought it was the funniest thing in the whole world, because I was the Holland Taylor in that situation!”

Demi admitted that referring to the age difference wasn’t their “smoothest move,” but added, “A non-binary person can dream. And they, she — I was a ‘she’ at the time — was dreaming big!”

Long story short, the two didn’t end up dating, but became really good friends.

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Trace Adkins just released his 25-track The Way I Wanna Go album. The record, which commemorates the 25th anniversary of his debut, Dreamin’ Out Loud, features an impressive list of guest artists, including Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Melissa Etheridge, Keb’ Mo’, Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg and Pitbull.

Adkins spent much of the last year working on The Way I Wanna Go, but he says it is his wife of two years, Victoria Pratt, who deserves the credit for the ambitious project.

“I can’t even begin to explain what a difference she’s made in my life,” Adkins tells People. “She rejuvenated me and inspired me to take whatever time I have left and make the most of it…and then just make the best music that I can make.”

Adkins is currently on the road, serving as the opening act on Shelton’s Proud to Be Right Here Tour. Adkins and Shelton duet on “If I Was a Woman” from The Way I Wanna Go.

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