Music

After a four-year hiatus, Selena Gomez is back on the ‘gram. Selena famously quit the app, citing mental health reasons, and presumably handed it over to her team to manage over the years. Now she’s back to posting selfies and asked fans in her new update, “Wait can you tell I’m back on Instagram ?”

Another Pitbull music video surpassed 1 billion YouTube views. His 2011 anthem “Give Me Everything,” featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, officially became his fourth entry into YouTube’s Billion Views Club — joining his Kesha collab “Timber,” his “Rain Over Me” collab with Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez‘s “On The Floor.”

Lizzo wants to join the world of Avatar and explored video filters that turn her into a Na’vi, one of the blue aliens that star in the James Cameron franchise. “Tell James Cameron I’m ready…,” she captioned a TikTok video of her chilling in the ocean. 

Charlie Puth teased an all-new song on TikTok, which he revealed is a mashup of two previously scrapped tracks that worked together perfectly when he began chasing a new idea. Although he didn’t reveal a title, the song is about a girl who keeps leading him on by relying on him during times of need.

Billboard did the math on last year’s vinyl sales. Turns out that one out of every 25 vinyl sales was a Taylor Swift record. Roughly 43.5 million vinyl records were sold in 2022 and Taylor sold the most — 1.695 million albums. 

Britney Spears is a fan of Ally Brooke — and the feeling is definitely mutual. Britney shared a video of her dancing to Ally’s “Higher,” which the former Fifth Harmony member shared to Twitter. “Omggg,” she wrote in all capital letters. “I love you @BritneySpears.” She also included several crying and dancing emojis. 

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Paul McCartney is the latest rock star to share his thoughts on the passing of Jeff Beck, who died Tuesday at the age of 78. 

Saying he was saddened to hear of Beck’s passing, McCartney called him “a lovely man with a wicked sense of humor who played some of the best guitar music ever to come out of Great Britain.”

He added Beck “was a superb technician and could strip down his guitar and put it back together again in time for the show. His unique style of playing was something that no one could match.” He shared, “I will always remember the great times we had together. He would come over to dinner at our place or he and his wife, Sandra, would host an evening at their house.”

Finally Sir Paul offered, “I will cherish forever the moments we spent together. Jeff Beck has left the building and it is a lonelier place without him.”

Meanwhile, Queen‘s Brian May also shared his thoughts on the loss, posting a five-minute video to social media in which he says he’s struggling to deal with Beck’s passing.

“This is such an extraordinary loss and he was such an extraordinary person, it’s hard to process the fact that he’s not here, apart from process what I would like to say,” he shared. “Jeff was completely and utterly unique and the kind of musician who’s impossible to define. And I was absolutely in awe of him.”

May added, “The loss is incalculable. It’s so sad not having him in the world anymore. I still can’t quite compute it in my head.”

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Pink is urging her fans to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated against COVID-19 in a new partnership with Pfizer.

The singer joined the company’s Know Plan Go campaign, which is designed to raise awareness of underlying conditions that increase one’s risk of developing severe COVID-19. For her part, Pink wanted to address why she needs the vaccine, as she is considered high-risk due to her asthma.

“Having COVID-19 was a scary experience. Having asthma puts me at high risk for getting very sick from it,” she shared. “But now I’m ready to act quickly if COVID-19 strikes again. If I ever have symptoms – even if they’re mild – I know to get tested quickly and make the call to my doctor right away if my test is positive.”

She expanded in an additional statement about why she partnered with the pharmaceutical company, “Unfortunately, I was unaware of this the first time I got COVID-19 so it’s super important to me that everyone knows what risk factors may put them at high risk too.”

Pink revealed in 2021 she contracted COVID-19 early on in the pandemic. She told U.K.’s Heart Radio, “We had COVID last year, very early in March and it was really, really bad and I rewrote my will.” She continued, “I thought it was over for us.”

She added her experience with COVID inspired her to write “All I Know So Far,” which contains all the messages she wanted to pass on to her daughter, Willow.

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The Zombies are set to drop a new album later this year, and they’re giving fans their first taste of the record.

The album, Different Game, is the follow-up to the 2015 album Still Got That Hunger and is due out March 31. The band shared the first single, “Dropped Reeling and Stupid.”

“Making this album has been a joy from start to finish,” The Zombies’ Rod Argent shares. “Post-lockdown, we were absolutely determined to come together and record in as ‘live’ a way as we could – to capture the magical, fleeting quality of energy and immediacy of performance.” He adds, “’Dropped Reeling & Stupid’ is our first streamed release… Can’t wait for you to hear it!”

The Zombies are also set to hit the road this year and will make an appearance at the SXSW Film & Music Festival, which takes place March 11 to 17. Their U.S. shows kick off March 18 in San Antonio, Texas, wrapping March 24 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Kassi Ashton is set to make her Grand Ole Opry debut March 15. Next week, the Missouri native heads out on the No Bad Vibes Tour with Old Dominion. 

You can check out the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s online exhibit, Night Train to Nashville, free on the nonprofit’s website. Formerly a physical exhibit at the museum, Night Train showcases Music City’s R&B roots and how it impacted its music scene.

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Katy Perry is about to celebrate her sixth season on American Idol and revealed what convinced her to join the show.

“I was pursued by Idol for a long time — long, long, long, long time,” Katy disclosed to Gwyneth Paltrow via the goop podcast. She continued, “I was putting out records, going on tours and stuff like that.”

While Katy said she always knew she would join the show because she loved the aspect of empowering future singers, she wanted to wait until the timing was right for her. 

“I also wanted to start my life and have my family and have a little bit more balance. I knew I wasn’t going to go on a world tour every year, and so they came and said, ‘Ya wanna do it?'” she recalled, adding she responded with an eager, “I’m ready!”

“I did it and I just fell in love with the new iteration of it … It’s super empowering, super uplifting. It’s got so much heart and depth to it,” the singer said, adding she loves working alongside her co-judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Ritchie. “No one hands us any script and we get to literally have final say over pretty much everything until America actually votes,” she added.

Katy is glad she signed on, adding she has since started her family with fiancé Orlando Bloom and embarked on her PLAY residency in Las Vegas, where she performs every “three weeks on and three weeks off.”

The next season of American Idol begins February 19 on ABC. 

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Rotimi is doing his thing as an independent artist, but at one point in time, he was signed to G-Unit. Speaking to HipHopDX, he revealed that his departure from the label was a decision he made simply because he was ready to “just do my thing and grow.”

“With G-Unit, 50 Cent gave me my deal in 2014,” he recalled. The singer requested that he be released three years later, and he said the Queens native made no big deal about it.

“We had a conversation, like, ‘Yo, I have an idea that I want to just do my thing and grow,'” said Rotimi. “And as a businessman, he knew that he saw himself in me and said, ‘I’m not going to stop you from doing what you need to do.’”

He thanked 50 for allowing him to break away “because I was able to learn on my own and still have his support.”

“Even after we left, he found his own way to market me and it worked,” Rotimi continued. “So again, anytime he calls me and needs me, it’s all love and it’s always been that way.”

Rotimi, who played Andre Coleman on Power, released Royal Wednesday and Jeep Music Vol. 1 when he was with G-Unit. He’s now signed to EMPIRE and is set to appear in the reboot of the ’90s classic House Party, which he says he was a fan of.

“For us to be part of something like this is just God,” he said.

House Party premieres on Friday.

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De La Soul‘s first six albums will be available on streaming platforms in March, two of which longtime fan Pharrell Williams thinks fans should definitely make time to hear.

Responding to an inquiry during a Q&A session for The Guardian, Pharrell told a fan that the group’s first two albums are important music projects to listen to.

“Everybody needs to get 3 Feet High And Rising and De La Soul Is Dead,” Pharrell responded when asked, “What album, past or present, does everybody need to hear?”

He credited Damon Albarn for understanding the band’s contributions to music and tapping them to be part of a few Gorillaz songs.

“Even when they were going through all their stuff [a disagreement over the rights to their catalog], Damon [Albarn] from Blur put them on the Gorillaz albums, because he gets it,” Pharrell said. “He knows those guys are responsible for making so many of us misfits feel like we actually fit. The De La tribe were the forefathers and founders of the way we see things. I was nearly 16 when 3 Feet High and Rising came out. It was a total game-changer. It changed my life, period. Would I like to work with them? I would do anything for them, they know that. If they don’t, they should.”

De La Soul recently dropped “The Magic Number” on digital music services to celebrate the news of their catalog’s streaming debut.

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