Music

As its annual ACM Honors celebration nears, the Academy of Country Music is adding new performers to the show’s bill. 

Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Jamey Johnson and Sam Williams are all among the newly-added acts. The ACM also announced on Thursday that Carly Pearce — who’s hosting the show — will perform, too. Also on the bill are acclaimed songwriters Jordan Reynolds, Nicolle Galyon and Jessie Jo Dillon and Laura Veltz. 

Chris Janson was previously announced as a performer, but this week, it was revealed that he will also present this year’s ACM Industry Awards and Studio Recording Awards. Other special guest presenters are Trace Adkins and Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern. 

Previously-announced performers include Lady A, RaeLynn, Lauren Alaina, Ashley McBryde and many more. While Keith is a new addition to the bill itself, the ACM did previously announce that he’s playing the annual pre-show ACM Party for a Cause, which takes place this year on August 24. 

This year’s ACM Honors will take place at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on August 25. It will livestream on Circle Network’s social channels, and will also be filmed for a television special set to air on the Circle Network later this year.

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Gloria Estefan sings a new song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the new Netflix animated film Vivo, which starts streaming on Friday. You can watch a video of the sequence where Gloria’s character performs the song, called “Inside Your Heart,” on YouTube now.

Vivo stars Miranda as the voice of Vivo, a kinkajou who entertains people on the street by playing music with his owner, Andrés.  Andrés’ former musical partner, a now-famous Cuban singer named Marta Sandoval, played by Gloria, invites him to her farewell concert.  However, it eventually falls to Vivo to deliver to Marta a song that Andrés wrote for her many years ago.

Miranda wrote all the songs for the film, and Gloria tells Variety it was hearing the sad romantic ballad “Inside Your Heart” that convinced her to accept a role in Vivo.

“It was a moment when I was so incredibly busy, I thought it was going to be impossible,” she says. “But he sent me the demo of him singing it, and it tore my heart apart.”  She adds of Vivo, “It’s a story after my own heart because I’m Cuban American, and that story of love, loss and separation is near and dear to my heart.”

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Sanaa Lathan says she’s doing better mentally and physically now that she’s stopped drinking alcohol.

“I stopped drinking about three years ago,” Lathan tells People. “Alcohol was not going well with me physically. Just, it was not working anymore. It affects everything, and that’s part of the reason why I stopped, because even if you’re going out a couple of times a week and you’re drinking, it was starting to affect me throughout the week. It wouldn’t be necessarily a hangover, but it definitely dimmed my energy. I didn’t feel as good. It was affecting anxiety.”

After noting some of the affects of alcohol, Lathan admits she had to “educated” herself on why drinking wasn’t necessary to be social.

“There’s this whole belief that you can only have fun with alcohol,” she says. “I had to really reprogram that aspect, because it’s just all over in our culture. So, I haven’t missed it. My life has definitely become more of a morning life, but I can still go out and have fun.”

Now that alcohol is absent in her life, Lathan shares that she journals regularly as a form of self-care, and also incorporates meditation to help her cope with unexpected stress.

“I grew up with a mother who taught me about meditation so, I did it on and off,” she says. “The reason why I came to this practice was several years ago, I went through a lot of trauma. I had a best friend who died suddenly. She was not sick. It was completely unexpected. I didn’t process it. I was in a shock type of situation.”

“So I started [meditating],” Lathan continues. “And as soon as I started, they went away. There’s so many benefits. And so, I’m a huge believer, a huge advocate.”

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Recently, Trisha Yearwood’s had reason to think back to her early days in country music: She just celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut single, “She’s in Love with the Boy.”

Trisha tells Billboard that when that song first came out, she was surprised by its success, simply because she never expected her first single to be a chart-topping hit. 

“The thought process was that normally your first song is an introduction to the artist, because it won’t get to No. 1; at least that was the thinking back then,” she reflects.

But get to number one it did. “She’s in Love With the Boy” was a hit for Trisha, the first of five chart-topping country songs she’d snag over career to date. When she saw its success, the singer says, she was “amazed, actually.” 

“I was a demo singer prior to being signed to MCA and this was a dream of mine since I was five,” she continues. “The thoughts ranged from, ‘Wow, that was easy,’ to, ‘Well, if we can’t follow this up, I’ll just be the answer to a trivia question about one-hit wonders.’”

Once she got her first hit, Trisha had to confront the pressure of replicating her success. “I didn’t even know what a sophomore jinx was until I was asked about it in every interview I did,” she admits. 

Fortunately, she never succumbed to the sophomore slump. After a handful of memorable top-10 hits, Trisha scored her next number one three years later, in 1994, with “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl).”

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Papa Roach has premiered the video for “Swerve,” the band’s new, collaborative single with FEVER 333‘s Jason Aalon Butler and rapper Sueco.

The clip finds Jacoby Shaddix and company leading a motorcade down a sunny neighborhood street, much to the confusion of the residents. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

“Filming this music video with Jason and Sueco was one of the most fun experiences we’ve had,” Shaddix says. “I am so excited to share it with the world.”

“Swerve” premiered earlier this week. It’s the first preview of the next Papa Roach album, the follow-up to 2019’s Who Do You Trust?

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Taylor Swift knows just how to send her Swifties into a tizzy.

She posted a teaser video Thursday of a vault opening to reveal a series of jumbled letters. A distorted song, possibly playing backwards, can be heard in the background.

Taylor captioned the clip, “*presses post* *cackles maniacally*,” and then added, “Level: casually cruel in the name of being honest.”

Fans recognized that last part as a lyric from “All Too Well.” Taylor has already teased that an extended version of the fan-favorite track will appear on her next re-recorded release, Red (Taylor’s Version).

As for the jumbled letters — 13 phrases, to be exact — Swifties were already hard at work decoding. According to Variety, the puzzle appears to reveal song titles and album guests.

Some of the letters apparently spell out “All Too Well Ten Minute Version.” The names Chris Stapleton, Ed Sheeran and Phoebe Bridgers have also been pulled out of the puzzle so far. Ed was an album guest we already knew — he’s confirmed that he and Taylor had re-recorded their 2012 duet, “Everything Has Changed,” for the album.

Red (Taylor’s Version), which contains 30 tracks, will be released on November 19. It’s available for pre-order now.

 

 

 

 

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Finneas has announced the details of his debut album.

The first full-length effort from Billie Eilish‘s brother/producer is called Optimist, and will arrive October 15. It follows Finneas’ 2019 EP Blood Harmony, which spawned the single “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night.”

Optimist includes the previously released song “What They’ll Say About Us.” A second track from the record, the fittingly, optimistically titled “A Concert Six Months from Now,” is available now for digital download.

You can watch the video for “A Concert,” which finds Finneas in an empty Hollywood Bowl, streaming now on YouTube.

Here’s the Optimist track list:

“A Concert Six Months from Now”
“The Kids Are All Dying”
“Happy Now?”
“Only a Lifetime”
“The 90s”
“Love Is Pain”
“Peaches Etude”
“Hurt Locker”
“Medieval”
“Someone Else’s Star”
“Around My Neck”
“What They’ll Say About Us”
“How It Ends”

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Ice-T and Coco Austin are a united front when it comes to the topic of breastfeeding their five-year-old daughter, Chanel. 

After critics came after Coco for still breastfeeding the child, given Chanel’s age, Ice hit back at his wife’s haters in a tweet on Wednesday, writing,  “News Flash! We feed Chanel FOOD.”

“She just likes to suck mom’s boob every now and then,” the Law & Order: SVU star wrote, adding, “Me Too!!!”

Coco revealed in Us Weekly’s Parenting Do’s and Dont’s video on Monday that she still breastfeeds their preschooler. “Chanel still likes my boob. She’s 5 years old,” the 42-year-old actress said.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, you’re not getting the nutrition after 2 years old. Why do it?’ “And I’m like, ‘My child’s eating steak and hamburgers,'” Coco continued. “She just likes a little snack every now and then and more of the bonding [with] the mother.”.

“Why take that away from her?” Coco asked. “If she doesn’t want it, all right, that’s where you stop it. But I’m not just going to say no.”

Coco and Ice have been married for 19 years. Chanel is their only child. 

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A star-studded concert celebrating the career and philanthropic work of ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons that was held in May at Nashville’s famous Grand Ole Opry House will premiere on various U.S. television stations on different dates in August and September.

Gibbons himself took part in the benefit event, which was presented by America Salutes You and raised money for several charities that aid military members, veterans and first responders.

The show’s lineup included country stars Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Ronnie Milsap and Travis Tritt, ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, lauded singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams, and actor/musician Dennis Quaid.

The show featured a house band led by keyboardist Martin Guigui, who played in Gibbons’ solo backing band The BFG’s, and also included ex-Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed, as well as trombonist Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg and trumpet player Mike Pender of The Max Weinberg 7 and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes.

Fans who want to view the concert are encouraged to donate to America Salutes You via the organization’s website.

“A sold out audience at the Grand Ole Opry House enjoyed an amazing show honoring Mr. Gibbons,” says America Salutes You executive producer Bob Okun. “Now a national TV audience can enjoy the same dynamic concert special while supporting charities assisting our veterans and first responders with their generous on-line donations.”

Gibbons recently released his third solo album, Hardware, and he’s currently on tour with ZZ Top, whose longtime bassist, Dusty Hill, sadly passed away on July 28 at age 72.

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