Music

Ariana Grande has released a live performance video of her Positions track “safety net,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign.

It’s the second video as part of Ariana’s VEVO Official Live Performance Series, which she launched last month with a video for “pov.”

The “safety net” clip features the same stage design as the “pov” performance, with Ari singing the track in a garden made up of fake flowers and grass. The camera starts from above and swoops down as she starts to sing. Ty Dolla joins her starting with the second verse. 

“For a singer, being able to set a mood is like being able to cast a spell,” reads the video description from Vevo. “Time and again Ariana Grande has proven she’s one of those vocalists who can architect an aura, and this performance of ‘safety net’ is a great example of the way she controls the emotional climate of a song.”

“Stay tuned, more coming,” Vevo promises.

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BTS is ready for another Tonight Show takeover.

The K-pop superstars are making their return to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with a double whammy of appearances next week.

On Tuesday, July 13, the group will perform the TV debut of “Permission to Dance,” their new song co-written by Ed Sheeran. The next night, they’ll perform their number-one hit, “Butter.”

Last fall, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook visited The Tonight Show for a week-long residency dubbed BTS Week. They performed “Mikrokosmos,” “Black Swan,” “Home,” “Dynamite” and “Idol.”

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50 Cent is getting back into his hip-hop roots with his latest project.

According to Deadline, 50 is working with ABC to develop a non-scripted hip-hop competition series titled Unrapped. The show will focus on celebrity contestants — who are coached by iconic hip-hop mentors — that end up in a rap battle until “a king or queen is crowned.” A release date for Unrapped has yet to be announced. Casting is currently underway.

In other news, Netflix has released the first trailer for their three-part documentary series on tennis star Naomi Osaka. Titled Naomi Osaka, the series follow the four-time Grand Slam winner in the years after her win at the 2018 US Open. It will also chronicle her meteoric rise in the tennis world. Naomi Osakahits Netflix on July 16, just ahead of her expected return to tennis at the Tokyo Olympics.

Finally, Henry Simmons and Joy Bryant have been tapped to star in season two of OWN’s anthology drama series Cherish the Day. As previously reported, each season of Cherish the Day follows the relationship of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day. In season two, Simmons and Bryant will play a high school sweethearts who find themselves reunited in New Orleans. A release date for Cherish the Day has yet be announced. Production on the series begins this month.

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Jon Pardi has been announced as a Saturday-night headliner for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, a three-day event happening in August.

Celebrating both music and racing, the Grand Prix will take place on a temporary, 2.17-mile circuit in downtown Nashville, which crosses the Cumberland River. That makes it the only current event in motorsports to cross over a major body of water.

A stacked lineup has already been announced: Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Justin Moore, Riley Green, Danielle Bradbery and more artists have signed on to perform as part of the event.

A variety of ticketing options, including three-day packages and single-day passes, are available now. The event will take place August 6-8; Jon’s headlining show is on Saturday, August 7.

Meanwhile, Jon is busily getting back to touring and performing after ending a stint of doctor-mandated vocal rest at the beginning of this month. He’s planning to keep busy at arenas, amphitheaters and fairs for the rest of the summer, concluding with a performance at Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks Festival over Labor Day weekend.

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In less than two weeks, Saweetie and Justine Skye will headline Samsung and Billboard’s Songs of the Summer concert.

According to Billboard, the virtual event will be free for Samsung Galaxy owners, who can redeem a code from the Samsung Members app to watch the show on their phone. Non-Galaxy owners can purchase a ticket for $10 and then stream it from their device or on their TV.

Saweetie will likely perform her singles “Tap In” and “Best Friend” from her upcoming debut album, Pretty B**** Music. Meanwhile, Justine Skye will pull from her Timbaland-produced album, Space & Time.

Samsung and Billboard‘s Songs of the Summer concert premieres July 16 at 3 p.m. ET on Billboard.com. The entire event will be available for viewing through July 19.

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We won’t have to wait too long to hear what a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-produced Halsey album sounds like.

The pop star’s upcoming record If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which was produced by the Nine Inch Nails duo, is due out next month, on August 27. 

Halsey, who revealed in January that she’s pregnant, describes If I Can’t Have Love as a “concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth.” That’s certainly reflected in the record’s cover artwork, which features Halsey sitting on a throne with a baby on her lap and one of her breasts exposed.

“It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months,” Halsey says. “The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore.”

Halsey has previously collaborated with rock artists including Bring Me the Horizon, Travis Barker, Machine Gun Kelly and Yungblud. Her early single “New Americana” was a top-20 hit on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.

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City Girls are back with a music video for their single, “Twerkulator. The visual features brightly-colored costumes, tons of twerking, choreography, and a voiceover from the one and only Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott.

“This an emergency. This is not a test. Everyone, please take shelter immediately,” Missy says. “The twerkulators have already invaded Twerk City and you don’t have much time. They’ve already landed and they’re taking over!”

Missy Elliot also serves as director of the chaotic “Twerkulator” video, which is centered on Caresha and JT dancing around ‘Twerk City.’ The video also spotlights major fashion and hair brands such as MCM, Kaleidoscope hair growth drops, and the swimwear company, Icon Swim.

City Girls launched their first collection with Icon Swim earlier this year, featuring a variety of swimsuit styles, dresses, and cover-ups in tiger and zebra prints. 

“Twerkulator” samples the 1982 song “Planet Rock” from Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force. 

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Badflower has released a new song called “Family,” the lead single off the band’s just-announced sophomore album, This Is How the World Ends.

The raw, emotional track finds frontman Josh Katz confronting his fractured relationship with his family, alongside a video featuring old home video footage.

“Family” is available now for digital download, and you can watch the video streaming now on YouTube.

This Is How the World Ends arrives September 24. It’s the follow-up to Badflower’s 2019 debut OK, I’m Sick, which spawned the singles “Ghost,” “Heroin,” “Promise Me” and “The Jester.” Since then, they’ve released a pair of standalone singles — “30” and “F*** the World” — neither of which will appear on the new album.

Here’s the This Is How the World Ends track list:

“Adolescent Love”
“F**boi”
“Family”
“Johnny Wants to Fight”
“Stalker”
“Everyone’s an A*****e”
“She Knows”
“Only Love”
“Sasshole”
“Don’t Hate Me”
“Tethered”
“Machine Gun”
“My Funeral”

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Halsey revealed the symbolic cover art for her new album on Wednesday, with an unveiling at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The cover of If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power features Halsey posed in the style of historical paintings, sitting on a golden throne with a baby on her lap and one of her breasts exposed. Halsey explains the significance of the portrait in a post on social media.

“This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth,” the singer, who’s expecting her first child, writes. “It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore.”

She continues, “The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully. My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being.”

Halsey adds that the cover image “celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired.”

She concludes, “We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!”

Halsey also revealed the release date for the album, which was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the rock band Nine Inch Nails. If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power comes out August 27.

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