Uriah Heep is giving fans another taste of their upcoming album. The band just dropped the new single “Hurricane” from their 25th studio album, Chaos & Colour, which comes out Friday.
“Simon (Pinto) and I wrote the song about how our ancestors looked at storms and how these can be interpreted as being messages from the Gods,” drummer Russell Gilbrook, who co-wrote the tune, shares. “Their power is awesome and a great inspiration for a rocking track!”
“Hurricane” is the second track Uriah Heep has released from Chaos & Colour, following “Save Me Tonight.” The album is available for preorder now.
Kendrick Lamar has secured another headlining performance for 2023. The rapper is now scheduled to headline Lollapalooza Paris.
Kendrick will take the stage on Day 3 of the event, following headlining performances from Stray Kidsand Rosalía, respectively. Lil Nas X and J.I.D. are among the slew of artists slated to hit the stage.
Lollapalooza Paris is set for July 21-23 at Hippodrome de Longchamp. Alongside the musical performances will be a “wide variety of French cuisine, art exhibitions, and a space dedicated to music fans that want to learn more about how to help the world around them,” a press release reads.
Kendrick’s also headlining the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Governors Ball, Rolling Loud Rotterdam and more.
Ava Max almost gave up on her music career before it even got off the ground, saying she had a “mental breakdown” in 2018.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, the pop star shared a story she’d kept to herself for nearly five years. “No one knows this but I had a mental breakdown,” she said, noting it happened when she released “Sweet but Psycho.”
She was desperate for a breakthrough song, and remembers getting on her hands and knees to pray for its success.
“I’m like, ‘God, please, if you’re listening. I need to pay for my gas. My parents, I want to buy them a house. I just want to help the people I love and I want to perform on big stages and I want to have fans and I want people to relate to my music,'” Ava recalled. “I was yelling this at the top of my lungs … I said, ‘If “Sweet but Psycho” does nothing, I’m done.'”
After that outburst, Ava remembers standing up and wiping away her tears while telling herself, “Oh my God, b****. Get yourself together.”
We know what happened next: “Sweet but Psycho” took off. It made it into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has so far been RIAA-certified four times Platinum.
Now Ava is days away from releasing her second studio album, Diamonds & Dancefloors, which arrives Friday.
Although she’s launched a successful music career, the singer says she owes it all to her parents, who fled Albania in the ’90s. “If they didn’t risk their lives, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. Ava added her parents “came here with nothing” and took on multiple jobs to obtain the American Dream.
Their work ethic, she said, inspired her to always keep going.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fans are getting a new look at the band’s famed 20-show residency at San Francisco’s iconic Fillmore back in 1997. The band just released a 12-minute video, The Fillmore House Band – 1997 (Short Film 2), which features footage from the shows, along with commentary from the band members.
“You feel the history; you feel the ghosts,” guitarist Mike Campbell shares about the venue. “And you feel the magic that’s happened – it’s sort of dripping on the walls.”
“The Fillmore to me is an event, it’s a place in time,” keyboardist Benmont Tench adds. “Being that close to the fans was better … When you’re in a smaller space that’s enclosed like that, then the concentration of the energy, the concentration of the band, the focus, is different.” He noted, “That’s got a really serious kind of magic … It’s incredible.”
The video follows the November release of the Live at the Fillmore (1997) box set, which featured performances recorded during the final six shows of the residency, and included guest appearances by The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and blues legend John Lee Hooker.
Luke Combs is set to take the stage in a couple weeks at the 65th annual Grammy Awards.
He’s among the first round of performers just announced, along with Brandi Carlile, Mary J. Blige, Lizzo, Sam Smith, Bad Bunny, Steve Lacy and Kim Petras.
Luke could take home three trophies: Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” with Miranda Lambert, Best Country Song for “Doin’ This” and Best Country Album for Growin’ Up.
Trevor Noah returns this year as host. You can watch the show live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Sunday, February 5, starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Steve Lacy is among the artists performing at the 2023 Grammys.
The initial lineup also includes Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Lizzo, Kim Petras and Sam Smith.
Lacy is nominated for four Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year for his breakout hit “Bad Habit.” On its way to hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Bad Habit” became the first song to lead the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts simultaneously with the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs rankings.
The 2023 Grammys take place February 5 in Los Angeles.
Foo Fighters will headline Germany’s 2023 Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals, taking place June 2-4.
Dave Grohl and company take the place of the reformed Pantera, which was dropped from the lineup earlier this week.
Statements posted to bothfestivals‘ Facebook pages read, “In the last few weeks, we have had many intensive conversations with artists, our partners and you, the festival fans, we have continued to deal with the criticism together and decided to remove the band from the program.”
According to German news site DW.com, said criticism stems from when Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo yelled “white power” while giving the Nazi salute during a performance at the 2016 Dimebash concert, held in honor of late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
Other artists on the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park lineups include Machine Gun Kelly, Rise Against, Limp Bizkit, Evanescence and Bring Me the Horizon. For more info, visit Rock-am-Ring.com and Rock-im-Park.com.
For Foo Fighters, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park are part of the band’s live comeback this year following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022. The group is also set to headline this year’s Bonnaroo, Boston Calling and Sonic Temple festivals.
Sam Smith doesn’t care as much if people love or don’t love Gloria. They love their new album just the way it is.
Speaking with Billboard, Sam opened up about their new mentality and why they are more at ease than ever before an album launch. “It doesn’t feel nerve-racking this time around,” the singer shared. “I made a very conscious decision with this record to not bring anything out until I just loved it, in and out.”
“[I] didn’t want to be in a position where I was putting something out and was thinking, ‘Are people going to like this?’ I wanted to be in a position where I put something out and I felt I didn’t care if anyone else liked it, because it’s about whether I like it. Because it’s what I make,” Sam explained.
The singer said Gloria is their most intimate album yet, adding it “really came about expressing the liberation I’ve been feeling over the last few years, when it comes to my sexuality, my emotions, my spirit.”
Sam added they were also tired of making songs about love confessions and heartbreak. So, the album was born when Sam felt they were “in a good place” because “I wanted to explore a more confident voice and a voice that was stronger, honestly.”
“I really do feel like I’m in that place,” they marveled. And while Sam admittedly hopes people like Gloria, the singer noted, “I’m on my fourth album now. I don’t feel like I have to prove so much, I just want to enjoy what I make and enjoy my job.”
Metallica’s new album, 72 Seasons, is dropping April 14, but fans will now have a chance to hear the whole thing one day early, thanks to a just-announced global listening party.
The one-night-only 72 Seasons global premiere, presented by Metallica and Trafalgar Releasing, is coming to movie theaters worldwide on April 13 and will feature the album played in full in surround sound, accompanied by a new music video for each track. The band will also talk fans through each track with exclusive commentary. The band promises “a few surprises” for attendees.
“This is a monumental opportunity for Metallica fans to be the first to hear the new album,” Kymberli Frueh, of Trafalgar Releasing, shares. “We are thrilled to be a part of this historical global moment—connecting Metallica with their fans once again.”
Tickets for the listening party go on sale March 2 at metallica.film.
Sarah Morris/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Lizzo isn’t just heading to the 2023 BRIT Awards as a two-time nominee, she’ll also be performing.
The singer was added to the set list, marking her second onstage appearance since she brought down the house — and maybe stirred a little controversy — with her “incendiary performance” in 2020. The singer also turned heads when she took Harry Styles‘ wine glass, which was filled with tequila, and chugged it live on air.
Speaking of Harry, he’ll also take the stage at this year’s BRIT Awards, where he’s up for the most awards with four nominations.
David Guetta was also just announced to take the stage this year, where his Bebe Rexha collab “I’m Good (Blue)” is up for international song of the year. The DJ said in a statement, “The UK dance scene is full of incredible artists, so to be recognised once again means a lot to me. This collaboration with Bebe is the gift that keeps on giving, and we are both so grateful to be nominated!”
Other previously announced performers include Sam Smith and Kim Petras.
The BRIT Awards, which are essentially the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the Grammys, will be handed out February 11 at London’s O2 Arena and livestreamed globally on YouTube.
