Music

Years before she shot to fame with the success of songs like “What Are You Gonna Tell Her” and “Black Like Me,” Mickey Guyton got her start with her 2015 debut single “Better Than You Left Me.”

Now, Mickey’s revisiting her powerful breakup anthem with a new acoustic version, which she shared on her social channels. Mickey performs the song accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, celebrating a song that’s still got emotional power all these years later.

“The song that started it all for me,” Mickey wrote in the caption of her post.

When it was first released, “Better Than You Left Me” cracked the Top 40 on the country radio chart, peaking in the mid-30s.

Mickey’s platform grew dramatically in 2020 as she began releasing songs that reflected her experience as a Black woman in the country genre and the world. Her long-awaited full-length debut, Remember Her Name, came out in 2021. The track list includes a rerecorded version of “Better Than You Left Me.”

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For fans who might’ve missed out on Lil Durk‘s 7220 tour in April and May this year, have no worries because the “Ahh Ha” rapper is “running it back,” he says. 

On Wednesday, the Chicago native announced a second leg of his concert series, The 7220 Deluxe Tour, set to kick off in Oklahoma City on Sept. 17. The 15-city tour will run through the middle of October, making stops in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Nashville and more, before its final show in Seattle on Oct 17. 

The announcement comes just a few weeks after Durk hinted at, then dropped, a deluxe version of his seventh studio album 7220, 7220 (Reloaded). Early Wednesday morning the rapper teased new music in an Instagram video he said would soon be deleted. 

To purchase tickets and for the full list of tour stops, visit Livenation.com.

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Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ahead of his hosting duties for this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, LeVar Burton opened up about losing the bid to become the host of Jeopardy!. 

In an interview with Newsy, the Reading Rainbow alum says he was “not just disappointed but wrecked” by not getting the hosting job. 

“Experiencing a very public defeat, humiliation, if you will, was sobering,” he said. “I didn’t expect that I would not be their choice for host.”

Burton says he believes he was the best person for the job and claims the search for an Alex Trebek replacement was “fixed.”

“The truth is it was my favorite game show. It really was. I mean, I watched that show since I was in the third grade and Art Fleming was the host. And I honestly thought that I was well suited for it. As it turns out, it really wasn’t a competition, after all, the fix was in.”

On what the 65-year-old actor and host learned from the “humiliating” moment: “It reinforced my belief that everything happens for a reason, even if you cannot discern the reason in the moment. In the fullness of time, everything will be revealed.” He added, “I’m a firm believer in betting on myself, and I would encourage anyone and everyone out there to to believe.”

Regarding his upcoming hosting duties at the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee, airing live on ION and Bounce at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 2, Burton said, “I’m definitely one to go where I’m wanted and loathe to go where I’m not invited.”

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Post Malone cannot wait to become a father and said it’s something he’s always wanted to be.

Speaking to Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, the “Circles” rapper opened up about expecting his first child with his girlfriend, whom he has kept out of the public eye.

“I’m pumped beyond belief,” he said of entering fatherhood and joked, “I’m going to be a hot dad.”

Post, whose birth name is Austin Post, revealed he has wanted to become a dad since he was a kid. “I was like 4 or 5, and I had this little baby I would carry around everywhere. It was a baby doll,” he said. “I thought that was the coolest thing. I would take him around everywhere. And I don’t know how long that lasted. But my mom still has it.”

Post is getting ready for the Friday release of his new album, Twelve Carat Toothache, and spoke about the new pressures artists face to promote their music. The nine-time Grammy nominee admitted singers are urged to go viral on TikTok to hype up a song, essentially backing up Halsey‘s claim that their label held up the release of their song “So Good” until they could manufacture a viral moment. 

Although he said TikTok is “great” for “discovering talented people,” it’s drastically changed how albums are released.

Post explained, “It’s just so hard for me to make something natural.” The “Sunflower” singer said he’s also not embracing social media as much for mental health reasons.

“I just think it’s my personal opinion and the changes that I’ve made, mentally, to distance myself from that,” he said of his relationship with social media. “That’s really impacted my life in a positive way.”

“Social media is something that I’m not super comfortable with,” he confessed.

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Måneskin left us “Beggin” when they covered The Four Seasons‘ 1967 hit, and the Italian rockers say they will continue to make song covers because they are “one of the coolest things you can do.”

The singers spoke to NME about their musical choices and referenced covering Britney Spears‘ “Womanizer,” The Killers‘ “Mr. Brightside” and Franz Ferdinand‘s “Take Me Out” when performing live in concert. The latter song has amassed over a billion streams on Spotify since being released last year.  

Frontman Damiano David said his band will “always do covers,” because, “It’s one of the coolest things you can do.”

David continued, “When you write a song and then publish it, it’s not yours anymore. You’ve gifted it to everyone.” He also shared how Måneskin feels when other people sing their music.

“When people cover us I’m super proud, because they’ve been so starstruck by this song that they want to make their own version,” he raved. “You can see the same thing born again with hundreds of different shapes.”

He also had a message to those urging them to maintain their rock roots and honor the acts that came before them. “It’s so stupid and pointless to expect a band of 20-year-olds to replicate what was happening in the ’70s and ’80s,” David admonished. “We’re just trying to do something new that makes us feel satisfied and happy.”

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Sir Rod Stewart is a big fan of Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, so it’s no surprise that he’s going to be part of the all-star lineup performing in her honor Sunday in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee, which marks her 70th year on the throne.

Rod has posted behind-the-scenes footage of his rehearsals for the big moment on his Instagram Story: They’re literally sound checking in front of the gates of Buckingham Palace. There’s also video of Rod, looking dapper in a plaid jacket and a black face mask, watching his backup dancers rehearse their moves.

Finally, a 360-degree video of him at sound check is captioned, “3 days to go!”

Back in February, at the official start of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, Rod paid tribute to the queen in an Instagram post, writing, “She’s been a wonderful example of how to conduct yourself with integrity and grace for 70 years now (just like me!) and we should all look forward to acknowledging her magnificent service.”

As previously reported, Rod will part of the Platinum Party at the Palace, a massive concert set for June 4 in front of the palace. The lineup also includes Sir Elton John, Diana Ross, Duran Duran, Alicia Keys and Queen + Adam Lambert, plus Lin Manuel-Miranda, Andrea Bocelli and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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Phoenix has premiered a new song called “Alpha Zulu.”

The track marks the first fresh material from the “1901” outfit since their 2020 tune “Identical,” which was recorded for the movie On the Rocks.

“We are SO HAPPY to put out new music!” Phoenix says. “I hope you feel how much we’ve put into this.”

You can listen to “Alpha Zulu” now via digital outlets.

Phoenix’s most recent album is 2017’s Ti Amo. In a January 2021 Instagram post, the band hinted that they’d started work on a new record.

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