Music

The release of Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights, has inspired several publications to rank every song Taylor’s recorded, which is quite an undertaking, considering there are over 200 of them. But some enterprising kids are going to go one step further: They say they’re going to perform every song Taylor’s ever recorded.

The Songs for Kids Foundation has announced its inaugural Every. Taylor. Song. Ever. Fest!, which will take place November 13 and 14 in Atlanta, Georgia. It will also stream online via Songs For Kids’ YouTube channel and Facebook Live. Over two days, more than 100 kids and young adults with illnesses or disabilities who are part of the Songs for Kids Mentorship Program will perform Taylor’s entire catalog.

To be clear, they plan to perform 194 songs, which includes all the songs on Taylor’s albums, including Midnight and its seven bonus tracks. Rolling Stone’s ranking of Taylor’s songs includes 229 tracks and Gawker‘s includes 202, but that includes movie soundtrack tunes, Christmas singles and other non-album tracks.

Tickets to the event will benefit Songs for Kids, which funds free music programs for kids and young adults with illnesses, injuries and disabilities.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Ashanti found herself the topic of Irv Gotti‘s Drink Champs appearance in August and waited some time before addressing claims he made about their alleged relationship. In addition to directly discussing the matter in her own set of interviews, she, like other singers and songwriters, channeled her thoughts into music.

“It’s givin’ ‘Obsessed’ / It’s givin’ you stressed,” she sings on Diddy‘s “Gotta Move On (Queens Remix).” “It’s givin’ you pressed / It’s givin’ this n**** missin’ the best.”

Speaking to Billboard about the collaboration, Ashanti said, “It just organically came together.” It also allowed her to share her thoughts after Irv claimed she cheated on him with Nelly and ran away when he was arrested, among other things.

“My name was all over the place. But sometimes it’s really cool to be able to express yourself through your art,” Ashanti explained. “Sometimes we get into situations where people need to move on instead of being bitter or talking ill or negative about a person. It’s better to just let go and move on.”

In other Ashanti news, the singer recently released her own single, “Falling for You.” 

“Immediately you think the record is about falling for someone,” she told Billboard. “But it’s actually titled that because I’m not falling for [the person] anymore. It’s very Ashanti 2022-esque.”

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Artists including The Lumineers are taking part in a new climate change campaign coinciding with the start of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, which began this week in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, hopes to “rally support for United Nations Human Rights climate justice goals” and for “the world leaders and dignitaries assembled in Sharm El Sheikh to view climate change through a human rights lens.”

Others participating include Leonardo DiCaprio, Dead & Company, Bob Weir, Quincy Jones, Cher, Annie Lennox, Ellen DeGeneres, Edward Norton, Jack Black, LL Cool J and Joss Stone.

“By working together and supporting inclusive rights-based climate action for people and the planet, we can realize a better, more sustainable future for all,” DiCaprio says.

For more info, visit RightHereRightNow.global.

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Metallica, Slipknot and Bring Me the Horizon will headline the 2023 edition of England’s Download Festival, taking place June 8-11.

The “Enter Sandman” metallers are set to headline two of the festival’s four nights and will play two distinct sets without any repeating songs.

Other artists on the bill include Ghost, Evanescence, Disturbed, I Prevail, Parkway Drive, The Distillers, Architects, Placebo, Simple Plan, Asking Alexandria and Three Days Grace.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit DownloadFestival.co.uk.

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Taylor Swift has released a new version of her hit single “Anti-Hero” featuring Bleachers.

The updated track finds frontman Jack Antonoff, who co-produced Swift’s new album, Midnights, replacing the much-discussed “sexy baby” lyric with “art bro.”

“Jack’s version of ‘sexy baby’ is ‘art bro’ and we sincerely hope it confuses just as many people,” Taylor says.

You can listen to the Bleachers version of “Anti-Hero” now via Swift’s webstore until Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The original “Anti-Hero” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Bleachers guests on a new version of Taylor Swift‘s single “Anti-Hero.”

The updated track finds frontman Jack Antonoff, who co-produced Swift’s new album, Midnights, replacing the much-discussed “sexy baby” lyric with “art bro.”

“Jack’s version of ‘sexy baby’ is ‘art bro’ and we sincerely hope it confuses just as many people,” Swift says.

You can listen to the Bleachers version of “Anti-Hero” now via Swift’s webstore until Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The original “Anti-Hero” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Sam Smith’s song with Kim Petras, “Unholy,” made queer history when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart last month, making them the first non-binary and transgender artists, respectively, to top the chart. But despite the fame and success, Sam says being a queer person hasn’t gotten easier.

In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Sam admits, “It’s still hard to be queer. There’s still backlash. I still get things said to me on the street, even now.”

They add, “The weirdest thing is you can be famous, you can be a pop star and you still get it. Because I thought I’d become a pop star and I’d never get a bad word said to me ever again. I’d never have homophobia. I’d never experience it if I became a star. And then it happens and it’s still there.”

Sam says it takes bravery to continue to live authentically and they’ve since embraced their role of being a voice for the LGBTQ+ community.

“There’s kids out there that need this,” Sam says. “They need us to talk about it.”

Sam’s fourth studio album, Gloria, is due out January 23.

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