Music

Fans on social media have high hopes to receive another collaboration with Drake and Nicki Minaj before the end of the year.

The OVO head honcho shared two cryptic posts on his Instagram Story Tuesday night, including a pic taken inside Nicki’s studio — hence the wall with her name written on it in neon pink.

The other photo shows Drake sitting in the back of a vehicle rocking a YMCMB hoodie, which stands for Young Money Cash Money Billionaires. It represents Drake, Nicki, and other artists signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment label and Birdman’s Cash Money label.

Drake’s posts came hours after Nicki Minaj made public service announcement on her Instagram account.  “There’s something I urgently need to share with you guys. I’ll go LIVE on IG THURSDAY @ 10:30 PM EST,” Nicki wrote in the caption. “No, I won’t be late. In fact, I’ll be early. This is VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT. Love you so much.”

Nicki and Drake recently collaborated with Lil Wayne on “Seeing Green,” from the re-release of Nicki’s critically acclaimed mixtape, Beat Me Up Scotty. Throughout the project, Nicki lyrically mentions working on the follow up to 2018’s Queen. 

Fans are still waiting on Drake’s album, Certified Lover Boy, which was set to arrive this summer. The Toronto rapper recently changed his Instagram bio to Certified, which gives the impression the album has a new title or has been delayed.

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The Offspring has premiered the video for “This Is Not Utopia,” a track off the band’s new album, Let the Bad Times Roll.

The clip finds the SoCal punks sporting gas masks as they rock out in a smoky blue room while a woman dances in an American flag bikini. That’s all cut with microscopic footage of blood, which a press release describes as a “sly wink” to vocalist Dexter Holland‘s PhD in Molecular Biology.

You can watch the “This Is Not Utopia” video streaming on YouTube.

Let the Bad Times Roll, the first new Offspring record in nine years, was released in April. Its lead single and title track hit number one on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

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98 Degrees is back to heat up your summer with a brand new song.

The reunited boy band teased their new single, “Where Do You Wanna Go,” and gave a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process this week.

The song, which drops Friday along with a music video, was recorded at a makeshift recording studio at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino during quarantine. In a clip posted to the band’s social media, we see the group playing around with melodies for the upbeat pop tune.

“Where Do You Wanna Go” is part of their 98 Days of Summer campaign, which they launched last month. The campaign will include the release of a new EP, titled Summer of 98, with new songs and remixes of their most popular hits, including “Heat It Up,” “I Do (Cherish You),” “Invisible Man,” “Because of You,” “The Hardest Thing,” and more.

The group — Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre — most recently released a Christmas album, Let It Snow, in 2017. Their last album of original music was 2013’s 2.0.

 

 

 

 

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Bleachers and Americana artist Jason Isbell have teamed up for a charity single featuring covers of each other’s songs.

The split seven-inch vinyl, which will be limited to just 1,000 copies, includes Jack Antonoff and company taking on Isbell’s song “Dreamsicle,” and Isbell putting his spin on the Bleachers tune “45.”

Proceeds will benefit the LGBTQ equality organization The Ally Coalition, which Antonoff co-founded with his sister, fashion designer Rachel Antonoff.

You can order the single now via the Bleachers web store. For a preview, you can check out a teaser of both covers streaming now on YouTube.

Meanwhile, the new Bleachers album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, is due out July 30. It includes “45,” as well as the Bruce Springsteen collaboration “Chinatown.”

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George Strait, Eric Church and singer-songwriter Caitlyn Smith are holding down one half of the lineup for the second annual ATLive event, Billboard reports. This year’s ATLive will take place in November.

The country performers will hit the stage on November 5, which is the first of two nights of music planned. The following day, November 6, Metallica will headline a bill that also includes Cage the Elephant and Greta Van Fleet.

ATLive took a pandemic-induced break in 2020, and before that, its inaugural 2019 event was made up of entirely country performers. Eric’s a repeat ATLive performer, and last time around, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Sam Hunt and Luke Combs joined him.

A portion of ATLive ticket sales proceeds will benefit two causes of the headliners’ choosing: Metallica’s nonprofit  All Within My Hands, and George’s cause of choice, the Military Warriors Support Foundation.

Tickets to ATLive will go on sale July 16.

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Avenged Sevenfold is planning to release a new album by the summer of 2022.

During a recent stream on the DWPresents Twitch channel, frontman M. Shadows revealed, “We’re booking shows for next summer, and the record will be out before then.”

As for what the upcoming effort will sound like, well, you’ll just have to wait until it’s released to find out.

“There’s no way to describe music,” Shadows asserts. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s heavy, it’s fast.’ Like, what are we gonna say about it? It’s a work of art that we’ve worked on for a long time.”

Avenged Sevenfold’s most recent album is 2016’s conceptually driven The Stage.

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Metallica is headlining Atlanta’s 2021 ATLive festival.

The metal legends will take the stage at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on November 6, the second night of the two-day event. Greta Van Fleet and Cage the Elephant are also on the bill.

Tickets go on sale to the general public next Friday, July 16, at 10 a.m. ET. Those who’ve joined Metallica’s Fifth Member fan club will have access to a pre-sale. Visit Metallica.com for all ticket info.

The first night of ATLive, November 5, will be for the country fans, and features a lineup of George Strait, Eric Church and Caitlyn Smith. That show is ticketed separately from the Metallica day.

In related news, Metallica has shared Biffy Clyro‘s cover of “Holier Than Thou,” which will appear on the upcoming all-star tribute compilation The Metallica Blacklist, celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Black Album.

Along with the Scottish trio’s version, you can also listen to the punk group OFF! put their spin on “Holier Than Thou.” Both covers are available now for digital download.

The 53-track Metallica Blacklist will be released September 10.

Meanwhile, Metallica has also dug up a “Pre-Production Rehearsal” version of “Holier Than Thou,” one of the many bonus tracks included on the 30th anniversary Black Album reissue, also due out September 10.

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Filmmaker Ava DuVernay paid tribute to actress Suzzanne Douglas, who passed away Tuesday at age 64. The two worked together on Netflix’s When They See Us, in which Douglas played Grace Cuffee.

“Suzzanne Douglas was a quiet, elegant force as we made When They See Us,” DuVernay wrote on Instagram, sharing a clip from the film. “A gentlewoman. A gem of a lady. A confident, caring actor who breathed life into the words and made them shimmer. I’m grateful that our paths in this life crossed. May she journey on in peace and love.”

News of Douglas’ passing was shared on Facebook by her cousin, Angie Tee.

“Suzzanne Douglas, a beautiful and talented actress, made her transition today,” the post reads. “She warmed our hearts on movie screens and television sets all over the world. This beautiful soul was my cousin. I can remember growing up, there weren’t very many black actresses who had starring roles, but there was my cousin with the lead role in Tap starring alongside great dancers such as Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.“

Tee continued, mentioning Douglas’ other roles in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, alongside Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg, plus The Inkwell and Jason’s Lyric. “The world will miss your talent, but your soul will live on forever. Rest in Paradise, my beautiful cousin Suzzanne. You will be missed RIP,” Tee concluded.

Suzzanne Douglas is also known for starring alongside Robert Townsend in the family sitcom The Parent Hood, which ran from 1995-1999 on The WB. The cause of her death has yet to be disclosed.

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Jennifer Lopez neither confirmed nor denied she and Ben Affleck are giving love another shot, but she did recently say she’s “never been better.”

After ending her engagement with Alex Rodriguez, the “On The Floor” singer caught up with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and dished on her career and personal life.

Lopez, while plugging her new single “Cambia El Paso,” assured fans she’s in a good place.

“I’m super happy. I know people are always wondering, ‘How are you? What’s going on? Are you okay?’ This is it. I’ve never been better,” she grinned. “I want my people who care about me… to know that I’ve really gotten to a place in my life where I’m great on my own.”

The Grammy nominee continued, “I think once you get to that place, then amazing things happen to you that you never imagine in your life happening again. And so that is where I’m at.”

“I just want everybody to know that it’s… the best time of my life,” she maintained.

As for her new single, which translates to “Change the Step,” Lopez hinted the song may be about her recently called off engagement.

“It is about change and it is about taking a step… when things don’t feel right,” she explained. “To me that represents joy, happiness [and] life.”

“‘Cambia El Paso,’ where it says, ‘All she wants to do is just dance, dance, dance, dance.’ It’s really about all she wants to do is be happy. All she wants to do is live,” Lopez said.

Lopez and Affleck, who have recently been photographed canoodling together, first met in 2002 and broke up in 2004. 

Lopez later married singer Marc Anthony in 2004 while Affleck wed Jennifer Garner in 2005. Both respective marriages ended after 10 years.

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