Music

Jimmie Allen is savoring the simple life in his new song, “Big in a Small Town,” a laid-back and easygoing track that arrived on Friday.

In its lyrics, the singer sings the praises of small-town life. “It’s a little dream, but it’s the little things / That are big in a small town,” he points out in the first verse. “My kinda living ain’t made for the city / No, it don’t slow down one bit / All we got is a mom and pop / Smoking ribs in the tin roof pit…”

“Big in a Small Town” is also the theme song for new Netflix reality series Titletown High, which follows the high stakes and ups and downs of a small-town varsity football team. Jimmie is an executive music producer for the show, a new title that he says marks exciting, uncharted territory for him.

“Having an executive role behind the camera has always been a dream of mine, so I’m thrilled to be the Executive Music Producer on Titletown High,” the singer notes. “I loved using music to enhance the show’s already compelling nature and can’t wait for viewers to hear incredible songs from many amazing artists. Having ‘Big in a Small Town’ serve as the show’s theme song was the cherry on top!”

Titletown High premiered globally this week. You can watch the show on Netflix.

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Pearl Jam celebrates two milestone anniversaries on August 27. Not only does their massive 1991 debut Ten turn 30 today, but their 1996 effort, No Code, also turns 25.

To mark both anniversaries, Pearl Jam has released new digital mixes of both Ten and No Code. Producer and engineer Josh Evans, who produced PJ’s 2020 album Gigaton, gave the original records an audio revamp using Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio.

“These two albums sound amazing in the immersive format,” Evans says.

“For Ten, the goal was to create the best version of the record, bigger, wider and higher fidelity; now, it actually sounds as great coming out of your speakers as it does in your memory of hearing it the first time,” he explains. “[Twenty-five] years ahead of its time, No Code almost sounds like it was intended to be an immersive album; experimental layers, nuance and raw aggression are all amplified and expanded in a simultaneously bigger and more intimate experience.”

Ten, of course, put Pearl Jam on the map as one the most prominent bands in the rising grunge scene of the early ’90s. It spawned singles in “Even Flow,” “Jeremy” and “Alive,” and has been certified Diamond by the RIAA.

No Code, meanwhile, was a more of a polarizing record. With a more experimental sound, it didn’t reach the commercial heights of its predecessors, though it was still certified Platinum and featured singles including “Hail, Hail” and “Who You Are.”

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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Aaliyah‘s second album, One in a Million, a new merchandise line was released Thursday in honor of the late singer.

The collection features a baseball jersey, T-shirts with her photo, hoodies, sweatpants, a sports bra and more items.

One in a Million, which was released August 27, 1996, made its debut on streaming services on August 20. The RIAA-certified double-Platinum effort features the number-one R&B hit “If Your Girl Only Knew,” written by Missy Elliott and Timbaland.

The merchandise collection is available on the Blackground Records website.

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Over 30 years later, the inaudible bass on Metallica‘s 1988 album …And Justice for All remains one of the most puzzling studio decisions in metal history. Understandably, Jason Newsted was among those most confused.

Newsted joined Metallica in 1986 after the death of bassist Cliff Burton. Justice was the first ‘Tallica album that he played on, and was quite angry when his parts were turned down to near-silent levels on the final mix.

“I was f***ing livid!,” Newsted tells Metal Hammer. “Are you kidding me? I was ready [to go] for throats, man!”

“No, I was out of my head, because I really thought I did well,” he adds. “And I thought I played how I was supposed to play.”

Being Newsted was joining in place of a beloved member who’d just died, some have hypothesized that Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield purposely turned down his bass out of misplaced anger towards him. However, Ulrich has said the decision was not intentional, and that Newsted getting buried in the mix was a result of turning everything else up, and not specifically turning him down.

Newsted left Metallica in 2001 under somewhat acrimonious circumstances — as detailed in the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster — but seems to be back on good terms with the band. Earlier this month, he starred in an unboxing video for Metallica’s upcoming Black Album 30th anniversary reissue, due out September 10.

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It appears that Drake announced the release date for his long awaited Certified Lover Boy album in a very mysterious way: with a handwritten note Friday morning on Sportscenter.

The ESPN show opened with its usual montage of sports highlights. Then suddenly, an image appeared, reading “CLB September 3,” as captured by XXL Magazine.

The Champagne Papi’s sixth studio album was delayed after originally being scheduled for release in January. It follows up Drake’s 2018, RIAA five-times Platinum album Scorpion, which features the number-one hits “Nice for What,” “In My Feelings,” and “Nonstop.”

Since the release of Scorpion, Drizzy dropped his Care Package compilation project in August 2019, the Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape in May 2020, and his Scary Hours 2 EP in March.

The first single from Certified Lover Boy, “Laugh Now Cry Later,” featuring Lil Durk, was released August 14, 2020 and hit number one.

Did Drake just announce Certified Lover Boy’s release date of next Friday on SportsCenter? 😳pic.twitter.com/nTq3s4OvpM

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) August 27, 2021

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Halsey is comparing their experience being pregnant to a teen mom situation. 

In a candid interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Halsey opens up about the struggle of going through a public pregnancy where they were constantly bombarded with derogatory comments. The singer and partner Alev Aydin welcomed their child Ender Ridley Alvin on July 14.  

“I’m 26, and I tried very hard for this pregnancy and I’m financially independent, I’m pretty far along in my career, it feels like the right time for me to do it. And I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times,” she explains.

The singer says that the comments targeting their age and not being married to Alev were damaging to their self-esteem. “It triggered all of these feelings of shame from when I was younger. It triggered a lot of old feelings of shame in me where I was like, ‘How can you have an opinion, that kind of opinion on me making this decision?'” they continue. 

Halsey also offered insight into their decision to take a social media break during the pregnancy to ensure the life-changing experience was personal.

“I had to make a choice, especially in my pregnancy, where the girl who’s been the open book for six years, this had to be mine. I was not going to put myself [out there]. The consequences were too high,” the singer says. “The consequences of letting social media stress me out or cause me grief, it’s no longer just me being affected by it. There’s a whole other person whose nervous system is being affected by the status of mine. So I had to make that choice.” 

Halsey’s new album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, was released Friday. 

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After years of being one of Nashville’s most in-demand country songwriters and a steadily rising artist in his own right, Ryan Hurd has announced the release of his debut album.

The project, called Pelago, will be out this fall and contain 15 songs, many of which were inspired by the singer’s childhood growing up near Lake Michigan. The track list includes previously-released love ballads like “To a T” and “Diamonds or Twine,” which Ryan has released over the years in part as dedications to his fellow country artist wife, Maren Morris.

Speaking of Maren, she’s featured on Pelago, too: The couple’s current country radio single duet, “Chasing After You,” is the third track on the project.

Additionally, Ryan is celebrating his album announcement with another new song, called “June, July, August.” Pelago will be out in full on October 15, but it’s available to pre-add and pre-save now.

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Taylor Swift and Big Red Machine are reuniting under “Birch.” 

The indie folk bank of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon called on the superstar singer for the cinematic “Birch” that’s led by piano with hints of a flickering pop beat and soft saxophone. Taylor supplies haunting supporting harmonies on the chorus as she and Justin sing, “Well, if you cannot tell/I’ll tell you right away/If I’ll stay a spell/Or if I cannot stay/I am less at ease, not the best at these/See the forest trees, call what’s these what’s these.” 

“Birch” is the latest in a line of successful collaborations between the two acts, as Taylor also appears on the previously released “Renegade.” Both songs are featured on Big Red Machine’s new album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, which dropped on Friday.  

Additionally, Aaron is co-producer behind Taylor’s Grammy-winning album Folklore and its follow-up, Evermore, while Justin — aka Bon Iver — co-wrote a duet with Taylor, “Exile,” and the title track of Evermore. 

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