Music

A Britney Spears musical is heading to Broadway, but it isn’t necessarily about the pop star’s story. Instead, it will only feature her music.

The curtain will rise for Once Upon a One More Time at the Marquis Theatre in June 2023. The jukebox musical will put a feminist spin on famous fairy tales such as Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid and more by telling their stories using Britney’s music catalog.

Songs include “Lucky,” “Circus,” “Oops!… I Did It Again,” “Toxic” and more.

The story follows several book-clubbing princesses after “a rogue fairy godmother” encourages them to read Betty Friedan‘s 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique. Apparently, the novel informs these princesses claiming their happily ever after is more than finding true love’s kiss and employing small animals as their chore-fulfilling sidekicks.

Casting has not been announced.

The musical is slated to open June 22, with previews starting May 13. Tickets are now on sale for Britney Spears Fan Club members on Ticketmaster, with general public sales beginning December 5.

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Green Day has unearthed a live version of the song “Nice Guys Finish Last” for their upcoming 25th anniversary Nimrod reissue.

The performance was recorded at the Electric Factory venue in Philadelphia in November 1997, just a month after Nimrod was first released. The entire Electric Factory set is included on the Nimrod reissue, which arrives January 27.

You can listen to the live “Nice Guys Finish Last” now via digital outlets.

The reissue also includes two previously unreleased songs — “You Irritate Me” and “Tre Polka” — and a cover of Elvis Costello‘s “Alison,” as well as a host of demo recordings.

The original Nimrod spawned the singles “Hitchin’ a Ride” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and has been certified double-Platinum by the RIAA.

Meanwhile, Green Day recently confirmed they’ve been working on a new album, the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All…

(Video contains uncensored profanity) 

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Nia Long is opening up about the cheating scandal surrounding her fiancé and Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Dec. 1, Long, who shares 11-year-old son Kez with Udoka, said, “I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public.” 

Long’s comment was in reference to the Celtics calling a press conference on the matter on Sept. 23. She also shared that she took her son out of school when the news broke, saying, “It was devastating, and it still is. He still has moments where it’s not easy for him.”

The Best Man actress said it was “disappointing” to not have any support from the Celtics organization, telling the outlet, “If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing.”

Long did find support elsewhere though. 

“What I found was this tribe of women and men who were standing up for me in a way that felt like I was in this bubble of protection, and that was very comforting,” she said. 

Udoka was suspended from his duties as head coach for the 2022-23 season following the cheating allegations. 

Long, 51, and Udoka, 45, have been engaged since 2015.

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Kanye West has been suspended from Twitter after a post on his account appeared to show a swastika inside a Star of David. The post arrived just hours after he made antisemitic remarks and praised Adolf Hitler in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Elon Musk, who’s owned Twitter for just five weeks, tweeted in response to the now-deleted image that West — also known as Ye — posted on Thursday night.

“I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended,” Musk wrote.

It was not immediately clear how long the rapper and fashion mogul would be suspended for.

Ye returned to Twitter on November 21 after Musk took over the company and reinstated a number of high-profile accounts of users who had previously been banned or restricted under guidelines that were in place before his takeover.

Ye has caused controversy over the past several months by making a series of antisemitic remarks. Just last month, Adidas — among other companies — ended its partnership with the rapper over his hateful speech. Adidas said the move would cost them up to $246 million in profits this year.

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Long before Jessica Chastain won the Oscar for playing Tammy Faye Bakker, she started on her journey to embody Tammy Wynette.

This Sunday, you can experience her interpretation of the first lady of country music for yourself, as she and Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon become George & Tammy.

The six-part series traces the love affair of George Jones and the “Stand by Your Man” hitmaker, with Chastain and Shannon even doing their own singing. In an eerie twist of fate, the real George and Tammy were not far away.

“At the studio we were recording at, there was a cemetery behind it,” Shannon explains. “And you could go back and see George’s grave and the mausoleum where Tammy’s ashes are.”

“And it was a very kind of, I don’t know, sacred experience, you know, going back there,” he adds. “We went back there more than once, actually.”

Since the limited series is based on the book written by George and Tammy’s only child, Georgette, it was even more crucial for Chastain to get it right. 

“Georgette was very, very important,” the actress points out. “You know, she introduced us to so many people.”

“It was just such an important story to tell. In some sense, my heart kind of broke for all their kids, because these are two people that were just gifted and so open and so full of intensity and love and passion,” Chastain tells ABC Audio. “And I hate to say it, but I kind of feel like they were both hijacked, you know, in some part of their lives and used.”  

George & Tammy premieres simultaneously on Showtime and Paramount Network Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

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Jimmy Eat World has shared a new remix of “Place Your Debts,” recorded in collaboration with musician and producer TW Walsh.

“To me, ‘Place Your Debts’ sounds like a long-lost late 80’s [sic] maximalist anthem,” Walsh says. “The original track has a nostalgic and classic feel. It’s a killer song!”

Walsh adds, “I tried to re-imagine it as if it came from an alternate dark timeline of minimalism, drum machines, tape loops and analog synths. Like disco night at the arcade…dancing into the apocalypse.”

You can listen to the “Place Your Debts” remix now via digital outlets.

The original “Place Your Debts” dropped in October. It’s the second new Jimmy Eat World tune of 2022, following “Something Loud.”

Jimmy Eat World’s most recent album is 2019’s Surviving.

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ABC Audio is premiering a new acoustic version of Classless Act‘s “All That We Are,” which was recorded for the band’s upcoming unplugged EP, Welcome to the Acoustic Show.

With the EP, the up-and-coming rockers hope to show a “different” and “raw” side of the sound they showcased on their debut album, Welcome to the Show, which dropped earlier this year.

“It’s like telling a different version of the same story, stripp[ing] down a song like that,” says bassist Franco Gravante, who also mixed the set. “It was very organic the way it happened, actually. It was one take, pretty much, on each song.”

Having recently gotten off the road opening for Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard‘s giant Stadium Tour, frontman Derek Day found himself channeling the energy from his live performances into his vocals for the acoustic recordings.

“Because of just coming off of tour, I was just doing all the stuff I did live usually, just to keep it interesting for myself, I think,” Day says, adding that the unplugged environment creates a “new atmosphere” for him to explore, vocally.

“I just kinda dance around the rhythm guitar, even,” Day shares. “I get to hear it differently.”

“All That We Are” in particular presented a unique vocal challenge for the acoustic version in recreating the Queen-esque three-part harmony from the original, electric recording.

“Even in the record there’s a little keyboard in there,” Day explains “So it was really cool to be just, like, ‘No, nothing, just three vocals!'”

Classless Act is currently touring the U.S., including headlining dates and shows with Giovannie & the Hired Guns.

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The latest releases from Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles are included in the top 10 of Rolling Stone‘s list of the 100 Best Albums of 2022.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance tops the list, with Rolling Stone calling it Queen Bey’s “stunning solo return” and “the musical highlight of the year.” Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is in at number two. Rolling Stone notes that it’s the only all-Spanish album ever to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys. 

Taylor Swift’s Midnights comes in third, with the publication highlighting three songs in particular: “Vigilante S**t,” “Bejweled” and “Labyrinth,” which Rolling Stone says “make for a euphoric streak higher than nearly anything released this year.”

The rest of the top 10 includes Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House at number five — described as a “vibrant, playful, vividly emotional song cycle” — and BTS member J-Hope‘s solo album Jack In the Box, which Rolling Stone calls “endlessly creative,” at number nine.

Further down the list is Steve Lacy’s album Gemini Rights at #14, Megan Thee Stallion‘s Traumazine at #17, Drake‘s Honestly, Nevermind at #22 and BLACKPINK’s Born Pink at #25. Here are some others Rolling Stone singled out:

#36 — Camila Cabello, Familia

#37 — The Weeknd, Dawn FM

#76 — Latto, 777

#91 — Lizzo, Special

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A$AP Rocky is a self-proclaimed Fashion Killa who’s taking his creativity to the home decor space. The rapper recently launched his new venture Hommemade, which is billed as his “furniture interior design studio.”

“I’m proud to present to you my new decor line,” he wrote on Instagram. The line, he added, is his first collaboration with Italian design studio Gufgram.

According to Complex, Hommemade launched during Design Miami, an annual design showcase in Miami Beach, Florida. Its first release is a sculptural piece called Shroom Cactus, created to honor the 50th anniversary of Gufram‘s Cactus, which Guido Drocco and FrancoMello designed in 1972.

“From mid-century modifications, to contemporary collaborations, they have established themselves as a unique brand and therefore a perfect brand collaborator,” Rocky said of Gufram, who he praised for their “playfully innovative” and “luxury” approach to design. “This is the first collaboration from my HOMMEMADE decor studio and since I’ve always advocated for mushrooms it was only right that we made a cactus with them.”

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