Music

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello is pleading on behalf of the female guitar students who are trapped in Afghanistan after the U.S. completed its withdrawal on Monday.

Billboard obtained a copy of the open letter Morello penned as U.S. withdrawal efforts came to a close, with him begging for the rescue of those enrolled in the Girl with a Guitar program, which was kick-started by friend Lanny Cordola and teaches close to 200 students.

“I’m writing on behalf of some very special girls in Afghanistan who are in grave danger,” Morello penned. “[Girl with a Guitar] takes in street orphans and other girls that have endured significant trauma and uses music as a rehabilitation tool and means of working through their problems, their histories, and their hopes.”

“I’ve had the honor of collaborating with these wonderful kids. Since the Taliban takeover their school has been destroyed and the girls are in hiding. They are at extreme risk because they are widely known to have performed Western music and have been educated by a male American teacher,” Morello pleaded. “Anything you could do to help save their lives would be much appreciated.”

The students enrolled in the Girl with a Guitar program have remotely recorded with a variety of artists, including Morello, Sammy Hagar, Brian Wilson, Blake Shelton and many others. With Morello, the girls assisted in his and Kathy Valentine‘s cover of Eurythmics‘ “Sweet Dreams.”

Cordola, who’s is currently in Pakistan, is working to extract the rest of his students, 12 in all, their families and his driver from the country, saying “their lives are in peril.”

Donations can be made on Cordola’s Miraculous Love Kids website.

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Kanye West‘s newly released Donda is already making waves across several charts. The album has shattered an Apple Music record within its first 24 hours of release.

Billboard reports that fans streamed Ye’s 10th studio effort a whopping 60 million times over the course of 24 hours.  In addition, the rapper overtook the top 20 spots in Apple’s Daily Top 100 Global songs chart.  This milestone officially makes the “Stronger” rapper the service’s most-streamed artist.

In addition, Donda debuted atop the streamer’s albums charts in 152 countries.

The studio effort also made a splash on Spotify, racking up 94 million global streams in its first 24 hours of release, becoming the album with the second-best debut in the streaming service’s history.

Donda, which boasts 27 tracks, was released unexpectedly on Sunday after numerous delays.  As Ye pushed back the album’s release date, he held three listening events — two in Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium and one in Chicago’s Soldier Field — where fans packed into the respective stadiums to hear the album.

Donda, which is named after Ye’s late mother, Donda West, was first teased in March 2020 and originally slated to come out that July. However, the Grammy winner cancelled the release and announced he would be further tweaking the album, and later set a new release date for July 23 of this year. The album was famously pushed back two more times after failing to materialize on several other promised release dates before finally dropping on August 29.

West claims the album was released without approval, according to a text graphic he shared shortly after the album’s release.  He also claimed Universal, his label, blocked a track that featured DaBaby from the studio effort.

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Niko Moon‘s debut single, “Good Time,” topped the chart back in March, and now that the accompanying album of the same name is out, the celebration is still underway — sort of.

“I ended up going to Lucchese and getting some boots for me and all the people close to me who helped me make the song,” he explains. “I had ’em made, you know, they’ll measure your foot. I got some custom gold boots made.”

“They’re still not here. I’m not gonna get ’em till December, and I ordered them in March,” he laughs. “So it’s like a nine-month boot baby.”

In the meantime, Niko’s out on the What a Song Can Do Tour with Lady A, and is already working on new music.

“It’s the first big tour I’ve ever been on and, you know, I got to be honest, I didn’t know none of ’em personally before the tour,” he tells ABC Audio. “And they are the kindest, sweetest people. It’s been amazing. And Carly Pearce and Tenille Arts are so sweet too. So I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“Me and Lady A have been writing a lot of songs together,” he reveals, “so it’s been great. These songs are coming out pretty good, I ain’t gonna lie, man. I mean, I got a good feeling that some of ’em are gonna see the light of day.”  

You can stream or download Good Time, featuring Niko’s new single, “Paradise to Me,” now.

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The Rolling Stones have posted a video montage on their social media sites paying tribute to their longtime drummer, Charlie Watts, who died Tuesday, August 24, at age 80.

The two-minute clip, which is soundtracked to the 1973 Stones song “If You Can’t Rock Me,” features a variety of archival photos and film and video segments from throughout Watts’ long career with the band.

The homage also includes a clip of an interview with Charlie in which he recalls what he thought when he was asked to join The Stones.

“[T]hey talked in terms of a band, a commitment in other words,” Watts said. “[I thought,] ‘Oh, this will go on for a year, and next year fold up.'”

The video also features a clip of Mick Jagger introducing Watts to the audience as “the Wembley whammer” during a show at London’s Wembley Stadium. The tribute ends with a photo that Keith Richards posted on his own social media pages after Charlie’s death, showing a photo of Watts’ drum kit and a sign hanging from it that reads, “Closed — Please Call Again.”

All three surviving current Stones members — Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood — posted photographic tributes to Watts following his passing. Ex-Stones bassist Bill Wyman posted his own homage to his former band mate on his official website that reads, “Charlie, you were like a brother to me. In the band and in life. Rest in peace.”

As previously reported, The Stones are planning to move forward with their 2021 U.S. tour with veteran session drummer Steve Jordan standing in for Watts, which was arranged prior to Watts’ passing. The trek kicks off September 26 in St. Louis.

pic.twitter.com/K6OKExXBED

— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) August 27, 2021

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After writing and producing hits for a who’s who of hip-hop and R&B artists, including his wife, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz says he loved working as executive music producer of Queens, a new ABC TV series about four women in their 40s attempting to live their careers as ’90s music stars.

The show stars Brandy, Eve, Naturi Naughton and actress Nadine Velazquez. Swizz, who wrote and produced Eve’s 1999 top-10 single “Gotta Man,” says he loved reuniting with her on the project.

“Eve is my sister,” the Grammy winner tells Billboard. “So the idea of being able to sonically revisit the ’90s where we started and create a strong sound was a win-win.”

Swizz Beatz began working on the music for the show six months ago with six writers, focusing on music with a ’90s theme.

“You definitely have to catch your flow and move like clockwork,” says Swizz of working on the project.

The 42-year-old rapper/writer/producer created the Verzuz battles with Timbaland, and he says their success shows how the wide appeal of music from the ’90s is.

“A lot of people like to put an age limit on our culture’s music; if you’re 30, you’re old and it’s over,” Swizz says. “This is while many non-African American acts are still making albums and doing tours. Verzuz has shown that it’s not about age. That great, timeless music is about what you bring as a creative — and the access you have to get out in front of people’s faces.”

Queens will premiere Tuesday, October 19, at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

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After going viral for his comments about pro skateboarder Tony Hawk‘s blood-infused skateboard, Lil Nas X is showing there’s no hard feelings between the two.

In a post on social media Monday, Lil Nas shared photos of him posing with Hawk and holding the limited-edition board. He also shared a TikTok video where he’s seemingly about to perform some skateboarding tricks on the half pipe. But before he begins, the clip does a quick edit so that it’s Hawk who’s actually performing the stunts.

As for where the initial drama started, after Lil Nas caught wind that Hawk was releasing the blood board, he compared the public’s reaction to his own release of the infamous Satan Shoes, which contained a drop of human blood.

“Now that tony hawk has released skateboards with his blood painted on them, and there was no public outrage, are y’all ready to admit y’all were never actually upset over the blood in the shoes? and maybe u were mad for some other reason?” he tweeted last week.

Lil Nas also replied to a post about Hawk on Instagram, writing, “nah he tweakin” — which in turn blew up on social media.

In reference to that, Lil Nas captioned his new posts with Hawk, “nah WE tweakin.”

 

 

 

 

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A late hip-hop star, and a Motown icon, will be recognized at this year’s Songs of Hope virtual gala.

Pop Smoke, who died at the age of 20 from gunshot wounds in a home invasion in 2020, will be honored with the Voice of Hope award, according to Variety. In July, Faith became his second posthumous #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. The five-time Billboard Music Award winner is also featured on “Tell the Vision” on Kanye West‘s new Donda album.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Smokey Robinson will receive the Clive Davis Legend in Songwriting award. Jimmy Jam will co-host the event, which will stream September 30 at 6:30 p.m. PT.

The Songs of Hope gala was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. In 2019, The-Dream received the Warner Chappell Music Beacon of Excellence award. SZA was honored with the inaugural She is the Music award in 2018.

The Songs of Hope gala raises money for the City of Hope’s mission to eliminate cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.

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Camila Cabello is starring in Amazon Prime Video’s Cinderella, out this Friday, but in real life, she’s already found her Prince Charming: Shawn Mendes.  Even though the two were apart while Camila was filming the movie in Europe, she says he made sure to pop in and check on his girl at least once.

“He surprised me the week [that we filmed] the ball and he saw me do one of the scenes,” Camila tells Entertainment Tonight. “So he was there for the whole beginning of it, and was so supportive. I’m lucky I have some awesome people in my life.”

Camila says Shawn was also with her the very first time she watched the completed film. 

“He’s my guy,” she gushed to ET. “I love that guy,” adding, “He’s the best and I think we are really supportive of each other.”

However, Camila says it would have been “weird” if Shawn actually played the prince in the film. That role is played by Nicholas Galitzine.  Cinderella also stars Idina Menzel and Billy Porter.

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Blake Shelton is ready to defend his winner’s crown from new coach Ariana Grande on The Voice. 

In a new promo video for season 21, Blake is on the defense because it appears there’s favoritism toward megastar Ariana. 

“I’m the returning champion of The Voice, and I plan on winning,” Blake informs a contestant in the opening clip, as Ariana praises the contestant, saying, “I love your voice, someone needs to write you a show.”

“It’s fun to have your own TV show. This is mine,” Blake retorts, eliciting a high-pitched screech from the “7 Rings” hitmaker. “I’ve had this one for years.”  

At one point, fellow coach John Legend advises another contestant not to pick the country star, while Kelly Clarkson tells Blake he has “no chance,” after which he attempts to push his chair back behind Ariana’s. 

“Is everybody in here just obsessed with Ariana?” Blake yells to the audience, preceded by a shot of him taunting the other judges by dancing in front of their seats with a “Blake’s Win Cam” cutout framed around his face.    

Blake is the most winning coach on the popular series, with eight victories to his name, including season 20 winner Cam Anthony. The new season of The Voice debuts on September 20 on NBC.

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