Music

In his first major interview since February, when a video of him using the n-word at the end of a night of partying led to his swift removal from the spotlight, Morgan Wallen is opening up about the incident.

“It just happened,” he told Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan on Friday of the night in question, explaining that it was the last night of weekend filled with partying with some “longtime friends” who were in town.

“We say dumb stuff together. In our minds, it’s playful,” Morgan continued. “It sounds ignorant, but that’s really where it came from.”

He went on to say that his use of the word wasn’t intended to be derogatory, explaining the mistake came from ignorance and adding, “I don’t think I sat down and was like, ‘Hey, is this right or is this wrong?’”

After the tape’s release, Morgan’s promising path toward superstardom came screeching to a halt. His record label suspended his contract and his music was removed from a variety of radio networks and streaming services.

During the months that followed, Morgan says he accepted invitations to speak with advocacy organization the Black Music Action Coalition, and also with other prominent Black music industry members, like Kevin Liles, Eric Hutcherson and gospel singer BeBe Winans.

Morgan also spent 30 days in a rehab facility, “Just trying to figure it out,” he explained.  “Why am I acting this way? Do I have an alcohol problem?”

He also donated $500,000 to BMAC and other Black-focused organizations. The figure is what he and his team estimated he made from the spike in his album sales following the incident.  Regarding that, Strahan asked Wallen if he felt country music has a race problem.

“I mean…it would seem that way, yeah,” Morgan replied, though he added, “I haven’t really sat and thought about that.” 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Recently, Shawn Mendes revealed that his girlfriend, Camila Cabello, coached him through the Spanish parts of his contribution to a remix of the song “KESI,” by Latin star Camilo.  But now Camila says Shawn is really getting into the whole Spanish thing.

“That studio session, I was riding him so hard,” Camila tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “He was like, ‘That’s good’…[and] I’m like, ‘Do what you want, but it isn’t right, I’m just saying.’ But he, apart from that song, really has also fallen in love with Latin culture.”

“He is taking Spanish lessons to [really] learn to speak Spanish,” she adds. “So he already had some ground covered before that.”

When Zane comments that Shawn is “really good-looking” — duh — Camila responds, “I know. It’s great when he does things that are weird and dorky because I feel it makes him…just, his handsomeness makes me not as nervous.”

Speaking to Zane about her new song “Don’t Go Yet” and her new album, Familia, Camila says the forced break due to the pandemic taught her “how to be I think a human and develop interests and passions outside of the studio and outside of music and outside of that. And I think that brought me really close to my family.”

“Before that break…I hit such a low point and I was struggling so much and kind of feeling so isolated,” she adds. “It ended up really solidifying, I feel, this idea of true happiness and it really coming from my connection to my life and to the people around me.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A judge has ruled that Dr. Dre must pay his ex-wife, Nicole Young, roughly $300,000 a month in spousal support.  The two had been married for 24 years before Young filed for divorce in 2020, citing irreconcilable differences. 

According to Entertainment Tonight, Young will receive over $3.5 million a year from Dre, born Andre Romelle Young.  The court ruled that the support will be paid “in a like manner until the party receiving support remarries or enters into a new domestic partnership, death of either party or until further order of the court.”

The seven-time Grammy winner is also responsible for paying expenses for their two homes, located in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

Young’s representative, Melissa Nathan, was pleased with the outcome and told the outlet, “The support order is consistent with what he has already been paying since the initial separation and is a fraction of what Nicole and her lawyers demanded.”

Still, both reportedly remain locked in a battle over their prenuptial agreement, with Dre claiming it’s legally binding and should be upheld, while Young says the document is invalid. A judge will rule later on the prenup, which will determine how the former couple will divide the property they own.

The spousal support ruling comes on the heels of a Los Angeles County judge declaring that the “I Need a Doctor” rapper is legally single after he requested for a change in his marital status in March, insisting that his relationship with his estranged wife cannot be repaired.

“Marital or domestic partnership status is terminated and the parties are restored to the status of single persons,” the judge declared at the time.

Dre, 56, and Young, 51, wed in 1996. They share two children: Truice, 24, and 20-year-old Truly.  

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Cher has promised to make Britney Spears‘ dreams come true: Well, at least a few of them.

On Instagram, Britney revealed what she’s been doing to “keep my dreams alive.” Aside from “thinking about having a six-pack like @jlo,” Britney wrote that she was also “thinking about visiting St. Tropez with @cher and eating ice cream,” adding, “She was one of my favorite singers as a kid and I loved to dress up as her.”

Cher has now responded, writing on Twitter, “When #FreeBritney is FINALLY FREE, I’m Taking her to San Tropez & We’ll Eat Ice Cream To Her Hearts Content.”

Fans responded by thanking Cher for how generous she is, and also requesting that they be included in said trip. Quite a few people posted video of Britney dressed as Cher, singing the Sonny & Cher hit “The Beat Goes On” at the 1999 World Music Awards.

Cher’s had Britney in her thoughts since last month, when the “Toxic” singer shocked the world by detailing in court the alleged abuses of her conservators. At the time, Cher tweeted, “OK LETS TALK ABOUT BRITNEY & THOSE PEOPLE .I SAID LONG AGO, EVERYONE ON THE [VEGAS] STRIP HEARD ABOUT HER FATHER (Didn’t Know About Her Conservator Acting In Concert With Her Dad) GIVING HER DRUGS SO SHE COULD PERFORM, BUT MADE SURE SHE COULDN’T HAVE A LIFE, BUT NO ONE COULD GET 2 HER.”

Cher added, “SAW THE ABSOLUTE POWER A CONSERVATOR HAS OVER PERSON THEY WERE MEANT 2 PROTECT. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST EXCRUCIATING, HEARTBREAKING, EPISODES IVE BEEN A PART OF. DONT BE FOOLED BY THE WORD ‘CONSERVATOR’ LOOK INTO WAYS THEY CAN B PAID. BRITNEY WAS A PRISONER & TOTALLY LUCID.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bullet for My Valentine has unleashed a new song called “Parasite.”

The track, which is available now for digital download, will appear on the Welsh metallers’ upcoming self-titled album. It’s the second cut to be released from the record, following lead single “Knives.”

“‘Parasite’ is an absolute RAGER from start to finish!!!” Bullet says. “Easily one of the gnarliest tracks we’ve ever written — we couldn’t be more stoked to finally get it out there.”

Bullet for My Valentine the album will be released October 22. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s Gravity.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Luke Combs paid his respects to the three fans who died at Michigan’s Faster Horses Festival by paying for their funerals.  Combs was one of the festival’s headliners.

ABC affiliate WXYZ in Detroit reports that the three victims — identified as Kole Sova, 19, Dawson Brown, 20, and Richie Mays Jr., 20 — were found deceased inside a trailer at the campgrounds.  Authorities believe they died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a nearby generator.

A representative for Combs confirmed the “Beautiful Crazy” singer handled the victims’ funeral expenses but declined further comment. 

No foul play is suspected at this time.  Authorities say that, in addition to the deceased, two other men were found in critical condition at the trailer and remain hospitalized. Authorities told WXYZ another woman was found deceased on the grounds but don’t believe her death is related to the incident.

Combs was one of the headliners for the three-day music festival, which takes place at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.  In addition to Combs paying the funeral expenses, the Michigan Center Athletic Boosters set up a GoFundMe page to cover medical costs and set up “future scholarships in honor of Dawson, Kole and Richie.”  The campaign has raised over $62,000 as of Friday morning.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Whitney Houston is heading to Las Vegas! Well, her hologram is. 

The music icon, who died in 2012, will be brought back to life for a residency titled An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert, Rolling Stone reports. The show kicks off at Harrah’s Las Vegas on October 26 and currently has dates scheduled through April 2022. 

As with other “virtual” concerts of its kind, the residency will use technology to produce a lifelike virtual image and vocals of the “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” singer as she serenades the crowd with a medley of her hits, accompanied by a live band, background singers and dancers. 

Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster.com. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Selena Gomez is confronting Facebook again about not curbing COVID-19 misinformation.  The “Lose You To Love Me” singer previously put the social media site on blast in December for not doing enough, saying its inaction would result in “thousands of deaths.”

Taking to Twitter, Selena called out the social media giant by retweeting her warning from last year, which said, in part, “Scientific disinformation has and will cost lives…Facebook is going to be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t take action now!”

“In December I asked @Facebook and @Instagram to take action on lies about COVID and vaccines,” she penned in a new thread, citing recent data that claims only a handful of users are behind the vaccine misinformation.

“@CCDHate found that 12 people are behind 2 in 3 of all misinformation,” said Selena, linking to the study for her nearly 65 million followers to read.  It claims that the 12 bad agents produce 60 percent of the lies spreading across the service.

“So why do they still refuse to act?,” she concluded in a final tweet.

Selena also commended President Joe Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy for putting  pressure on Facebook to remedy the matter, while rebuking it for its alleged inaction.

While the president previously stated Facebook is “killing people” for allowing the spread of false information — sparking the media giant’s ire — Biden has since walked back his comments.

“My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally… would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine,” Biden said last week.

As of Thursday, 610,264 Americans have died of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Coldplay is back with their second offering from their upcoming ninth studio album Music of the Spheres.

On Thursday night, the British rock band dropped the 10-minute experimental track “Coloratura,” which serves as their new album’s closing piece.  In addition to the track, the band also released its accompanying kaleidoscopic lyric video.

According to a press release, Coldplay views their latest song “as an album track rather than a single.”  In addition, they described “Coloratura” as “an exhilarating, space-bound epic that includes namechecks for Galileo, Oumuamua and Betelgeuse.”

If you’re not up on your astronomy, “Oumuamua” is the first known interstellar object to be detected passing through the Solar System. “Betelgeuse” — pronounced “Beetlejuice” — is a star in the constellation of Orion. Galileo, a scientist who died in 1642, is considered to be the father of modern astronomy.

The gentle, dream-like piece is rife with piano riffs and guitar solos that are reminiscent of Pink Floyd‘s The Wall era — especially when Chris Martin‘s tranquil vocals are accentuated by a bevy of hazy strings.

As previously reported, Coldplay’s upcoming ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres, is set to be released on October 15.  The album is produced by Max Martin.

There are 12 tracks on the upcoming studio effort, with five of the titles represented by emojis instead of names. Those tracks are described as the planet emoji, sparkle emoji, heart emoji, the Earth emoji and infinity symbol emoji.

You can pre-order Music of the Spheres at store.coldplay.com.

Music of the Spheres is the followup to 2019’s Everyday Life.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.