Music

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, which is why Michael Buble is now offering fans the chance to buy t-shirts based on one of those memes that poke fun of his identification with the Christmas season.

On TikTok, Michael explains, “Every time the holiday season comes around, it’s like clockwork. I hear the jokes, I see the memes: ‘Buble’s coming out of the cave, Buble’s defrosting, Christmas is near.'”

He then asks, “Did you guys ever wonder WHY someone might spend that much time in a cave?”

Cut to Michael wearing a Batman mask and cape.

“It’s because I’m f***ing Batman, you a**holes,” he growls, doing his best Michael Keaton impression.

“And now you’ve probably cost me THAT job, so I’m forced to have to sell these t-shirts,” he concludes, holding up the new merchandise. 

The tee uses the photo of the meme that shows Michael wearing a suit and appearing to be exiting a cave.  The meme’s caption reads: “‘Christmas Is Coming.’ Michael Buble emerges from his cave.”

The shirt, which simply shows the pic along with the words “Christmas Is Coming…Michael Buble,” is now available in Michael’s online shop for 30 bucks.

As previously reported, Michael is releasing a Super Deluxe Edition of his 2011 album Christmas to mark its 10th anniversary.  You can buy that on the site too.

(Video contains censored profanity.)

@michaelbuble

I have an announcement.

♬ original sound – Michael Bublé

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Pitchfork has unveiled its list of the 200 Most Influential Musicians of the last 25 years to coincide with the site’s 25th anniversary.

The ranking is divided into 50 “Icons” and 150 “Essentials,” each presented in alphabetical order. Trent Reznor, for example, is listed among the “Essentials,” while bands including The White Stripes and Radiohead find themselves among the “Icons.”

“The key to Reznor’s longevity is his willingness to experiment,” Pitchfork writes of the Nine Inch Nails frontman. “He’s a connected industry guy who thinks like a cult artist — he’ll make weird instrumental music aimed at his most devoted fans one moment and then his next project will be a soundtrack to a Hollywood blockbuster.”

Other rock and alternative artists who made the ranking include Arctic Monkeys, Billie Eilish, Paramore, Lorde, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, The Strokes, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, The 1975, Death Cab for Cutie‘s Ben Gibbard, Blur and Gorillaz‘s Damon Albarn, Brittany Howard, The xx, HAIM, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, TV on the Radio and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

For the full list, visit Pitchfork.com.

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Lady Gaga reunited for a pair of farewell shows in August, titled “One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga,” and, in a recent 60 Minutes interview, she recalled the moment Bennett, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, remembered who she was.

“Whoa, Lady Gaga,” the legendary 95-year-old crooner shouted as she entered the stage, but as Gaga revealed on Sunday’s episode 60 Minutes, it was the first time he remembered her name in a while.

“That’s the first time Tony said my name in a long time. I had to keep it together ’cause we had a sold out show and I have a job to do,” she recalled. “But I’ll tell you when I walked out on that stage and he said, ‘It’s Lady Gaga,’ my friend saw me, and it was very special.”

Gaga insisted that when dealing with someone who has Alzheimer’s “there is a way to communicate and there’s a way to touch the magic inside of them that’s still there.”

The 35-year-old performer added, “I think it’s up to us to ask ourselves what are the ways we can push through what we’re feeling so we can best communicate with them and receive our love, because it’s still there.”

“With Tony in particular, a lot of it was me making sure that I navigate his needs in any given moment,” she continued, noting that “to be honest, that’s jazz too……we’re singing different notes in every song almost every time. We improvise all the time… Once you learn [the music that was written at the time] you can play with it, but you have to listen to each other.”

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett’s last album together, Love for Sale, is out now.

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Drake and Meek Mill beefed for several years, but now they are at peace, and Drizzy is promoting the Philly MC’s new album, Expensive Pain.

“PAIN GETS EXPENSIVE AT MIDNIGHT,” Drake wrote on his Instagram story. “@meekmill proud of u boy since the Bahamas cook up we were plotting on the next chapter time to eat.”

The feud between Drake and Meek Mill sparked in 2015, when Meek stated that the Champagne Papi used a ghostwriter to write his lyrics. Mill says that feud led to his worst year in music four years later.

“2019, I think my slowest year, me and Drake was beefing. I was at a disadvantage,” he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, as reported by HotNewHipHop. “He was winning, in the eyes of the people. I still walked my way through that, went through prison, I had to go through something. Once I bounced back out, Championships. We had a pandemic, two years go by, few people fading away.

“We in 2021, I’m going to stand on Expensive Pain,” Meek continued. “I’m going to stand on my talent, and I’m going to remain confident and hope that people pay attention to what’s going on because they got a long way to go. I’m trying to keep pushing.”

Expensive Pain is Mill’s fifth studio album, following Championships in 2018. It features Lil Baby, Kehlani, Lil Uzi Vert, Moneybagg Yo, Young Thug, Lil Durk, A$AP Ferg, Brent Faiyaz, Giggs and Vory.

Mill also announced a star-studded “Expensive Pain: Meek Mill & Friends” album playback concert on October 23 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He’ll perform the new project in its entirety alongside several special guests.

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This Friday, Justin Bieber: Our World, a documentary about the making of Justin’s New Year’s Eve concert in December 2020, will hit Amazon Prime Video.  Speaking to People, Justin said the hardest part of the show, which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in front of a small group of invited guests, was simply putting it together in the middle of a pandemic.

“It was difficult…all of the checks and balances that went along with putting together this show, from the COVID tests, to some people actually getting COVID during the process and having to wait in quarantine for 15 days or however long it took for it to pass,” Justin explains.

In the documentary, you’ll definitely see the panic that ensues when one key member of Justin’s creative team gets COVID-19. “There was just hurdles, and it’s already hard enough to put on a show of this level,” Justin adds. “But to do it during a pandemic…”

Of course, the fact that it was Justin’s first concert in three years also didn’t make it any easier.

“I definitely felt the nerves leading up to it,” Justin tells People. But as he points out, “I think sometimes nerves are coming from a good place, because you care.”

Justin also admits that “there’s a lot of moments that I messed up” during the show — but you can’t really tell from watching the doc, which features the star performing all his biggest hits, including “Intentions,” “Baby,” “Love Yourself,” “Lonely,” and “Holy.”

However, Justin allows, “You want to get better at something, you gotta be willing to make mistakes. I heard this saying like, ‘You miss all the shots you don’t take.’ So you take the shot. If you miss, you miss, but at least you tried.”

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It appears that hip hop heavyweights Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One will battle in the next Verzuz.

Their silhouettes appear in a Verzuz Instagram post that reads, “WANNA PLAY? We got a new VERZUZ on the way Sunday, October 17th, brought to you by the killer new series, #Chucky. Who do y’all think it is!? Drop your guesses in the comments below and we’ll pick an entry at random to get a pair of tix!”

Snoop Dogg, who was announced as one of the Super Bowl halftime performers on Friday, quickly figured out the answer.

“Big Daddy Kane. V. K. R. S1,” The Doggfather wrote.

DJ Premier from Gang Starr commented, “I can tell by the silhouette.”

Kane is celebrating 35 years in hip hop after launching his career in 1986 as a member of The Juice Crew. His many classics include “Ain’t No Half Steppin'” from 1986. Big Daddy performs a tribute to his late friend, Biz Markie, on the BET Hip Hop Awards, airing Tuesday night.

KRS-One also began his career in the ‘80s in New York City. He was a member of Boogie Down Productions, and began the Stop the Violence movement after his partner, Scott La Rock, was shot and killed in 1987. Tupac and Eminem are among the many rappers who praised him as one of their strongest influences.

Fat Joe and Ja Rule starred in the previous Verzuz held on September 14 at Madison Square Garden in NYC, where Nelly, Ashanti and Remy Ma were among the featured performers,

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Dave Grohl will be an upcoming guest on Bedtime Stories, a kids TV program on the BBC’s CBeebies pre-school channel.

On the first of two episodes, premiering October 8, the Foo Fighters frontman will read from Octopus’s Garden, a children’s book written by Ringo Starr based on the 1969 Beatles song of the same name.

“As a proud father of three, I’ve always enjoyed reading stories to my children,” Grohl says. “It was a pleasure to read these stories for CBeebies.”

If you’re looking for more Dave Grohl stories, look no further than The Storyteller, the iconic musician’s first ever memoir. The book will be released tomorrow, October 5.

Grohl is currently on a book tour in support of The Storyteller, which continues Tuesday in New York City.

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Dylan Scott is living his best life, as he’s set to embark on the Livin’ My Best Life Tour early next year.

The headlining tour takes the “My Girl” hit maker across the country, beginning on February 24 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and with stops at the famous Joe’s Live in Illinois, the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and at the House of Blues in Boston, Anaheim and Cleveland. The tour concludes on April 29 at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

The singer, whose other hits include “Hooked” and “Nobody,” recently wrapped up a stint as an opening act on Luke Bryan‘s Farm Tour, and continues out on the road with the American Idol judge’s Proud to Be Right Here Tour.  

“I’m excited to finally headline in front of my fans. Hopefully we’ve gained a lot of new ones over the past few months while being on tour with Luke,” Dylan shares in a statement, adding that newcomer Dylan Marlowe will serve as the opening act. “Ready to live my best life on the ‘Livin’ My Best Life Tour.'”

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time. 

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