Music

Britney Spears is not done letting Sir Elton John know how thankful she is to be part of their new collab, “Hold Me Closer.” The pop star sent Sir Elton a “fabulous” gift to celebrate the song’s release, and he finally got in the mail.

“Thank you @britneyspears for the fabulous rocket salt and pepper shakers!!” the British legend tweeted on Friday alongside a photo of the chrome rocket-shaped shakers. “David [Furnish] and I love them.” He also added two red heart and rocket emojis.

Sir Elton’s gift arrived shortly before Billboard announced the collab has rocketed to the #6 spot on the Hot 100. This marks his 29th song, and Britney’s 14th, to enter the top 10.  

It also should be noted the collaboration is Britney’s first top 10 offering in almost a decade. Her last, “Scream & Shout” with will.i.am, peaked at number three in February 2013.

“Hold Me Closer” was streamed 11.1 million times and sold 48,000 downloads in its first week. Its impressive sales allows the hit to top Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart.

Sir Elton previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe he is “really happy for Britney” and explained how much the collaboration means to him. “This is someone who has been through hell, who needed some love in her life, a lot of love from a lot of people, and she’s getting it,” the singer expressed, adding he always knew Britney could sing even though some fans doubted she still could.

Sir Elton con, “What I was worried about is if she would be so nervous because she hadn’t done it for a while, but she came through it with flying colors.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Stranger Things episode that made Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” a resurgent hit has won an Emmy.

The Netflix series’ music supervisor Nora Felder earned the Outstanding Music Supervision prize, which was handed out during the Emmys’ two-part Creative Arts ceremony over the weekend. The award specifically recognizes Felder’s work on the episode “Chapter Four: Dear Billy.”

While “Running Up That Hill” is used throughout the latest Stranger Things season, it’s heard most prominently in “Dear Billy” when — spoiler alert — the 1985 single helps the character Max Mayfield escape from the Upside Down villain Vecna.

Following its placement in Stranger Things, “Running Up That Hill” started running up pretty much every chart it could, eventually reaching the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 — a career-first for Bush — and hitting #1 in the English artist’s home country.

The renewed interest in “Running Up that Hill” was so massive that the normally press-shy Bush made several public statements commenting on its newfound popularity and even gave a rare interview.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kane Brown is giving fans a preview of the duet with his wife, Katelyn. 

The superstar took to Instagram to share a snippet of the highly anticipated duet, “Thank God,” that finds the husband and wife singing together for the first time.

The song features a soft, pop-country melody as Kane and Katelyn’s voices unite singing, “I thank God/I get to wake up by your side/I thank God your hand fits perfectly in mine/And thank God you loved me when you didn’t have to/But you did, you do/And he knew/Thank God for giving me you.”

“So excited,” Kane shared alongside the video of them recording in the studio. “Are y’all ready?” Katelyn adds.

Kane also shared photos from the music video that takes them to a tropical location. A pair of black-and-white pictures shows the singer overlooking misty mountains and driving in a car with his wife, with the windows and top down. Katelyn also shared a photo of them from the set singing with each other on the beach at sunset. 

“Thank God” is featured on Kane’s new album, Different Man, which is out on Friday. 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ozzy Osbourne has premiered another new track off his upcoming solo album, Patient Number 9.

The latest cut is titled “Nothing Feels Right” and features Ozzy’s longtime guitarist and Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde, who delivers a characteristically blistering solo.

You can listen to “Nothing Feels Right” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying visualizer streaming now on YouTube.

Patient Number 9, the follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man, arrives this Friday, September 9. It features guests including Wylde, Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Ozzy will celebrate the release of Patient Number 9 with a halftime performance at the NFL’s season opening game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills, kicking off Thursday, September 8.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Simple Minds have just debuted a second advance single from their forthcoming studio album, Directions of the Heart, a soaring, alt-rock-flavored tune titled “First You Jump.”

The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion music video has debuted at Simple Minds’ official YouTube channel. The clip features footage of the band performing “First You Jump” during a soundcheck before a concert this past July at the historic Ancient Theatre of Taormina in Sicily, Italy.

Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr tells ABC Audio that “First You Jump” was inspired by a friend’s daughter, who was struggling with depression.

“[C]ertainly when I grew up and where I grew up, people really didn’t walk around talking about their anxiety and that, but it is a huge issue these days,” Kerr notes. “And while we were making the record, a friend of mine, his kid … was suffering really badly. And [in] the song … I’m using that phrase metaphorically. It’s almost like saying ‘keep the faith’ or ‘don’t be afraid.’ Jump in. Things won’t be as bad as you think. You’ll find a way to glide.”

Kerr co-wrote “First You Jump” with bandmates Charlie Burchill and Ged Grimes. Explaining how he wrote the song’s lyrics, Jim says, “I get the music, and … usually it’s very heavy in an atmosphere, which means I perceive pictures. And certainly with that thing, as a piece of music, it almost felt like you were gliding in it. And I had that phrase and I thought it could be good to build a song around that.”

“First You Jump” is the second advance track from Directions of the Heart that Simple Minds has released, following “Vision Thing.” The album is due out on October 20, and can be preordered now.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Luke Combs lost his voice during a recent concert, but that didn’t stop him from keeping the show going.   

During his second night headlining Maine Savings Ampitheater in Maine this weekend, the superstar stopped mid-show to tell the audience that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to sing “as good as I normally do.” To make up for it, he refunded all of the tickets and continued on with the show.

“We’re still going to play the show, but it’s not going to be what I think it should be for you guys having to pay for it, so we’re going to put on the best free show we can put on,” he explained with a hoarse voice, adding that he was “so upset” about the situation. 

“I’m going to give you everything that I have and I am so sorry,” he continued, getting emotional as the crowd cheered. His speech led into a performance of his most recent #1 hit, “Doin’ This.”

The night before, Luke paid it forward to two young fans, Bo and Tanner, who paid $200 total for their tickets by stacking wood. When the singer saw their sign from the audience, he paid the boys $140 in cash and promised to pay the remaining $60.   

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The lawsuit filed by the Nevermind cover baby Spencer Elden has been dismissed for the final time, Rolling Stone reports.

As previously reported, Elden sued Nirvana in August 2021, alleging that the cover artwork of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind constituted child pornography. The now-iconic cover features a photo of Elden, then a four-month-old baby, swimming naked underwater while reaching for a dollar bill.

The suit named current Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, as well as late frontman Kurt Cobain and his widow, Courtney Love. The Nevermind cover photographer, art director and various record labels were also listed as defendants.

Lawyers for Nirvana called Elden’s suit “not serious” and “absurd,” and argued that the statute of limitations on Elden’s allegations have expired. The suit was initially dismissed in January 2022, but Elden was allowed to refile an amended complaint.

Now, according to Rolling Stone, U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin has dismissed the suit once more, citing the expired statute of limitations.

“Because plaintiff had an opportunity to address the deficiencies in his complaint regarding the statute of limitations, the court is persuaded that it would be futile to afford plaintiff a fourth opportunity to file an amended complaint,” the judge’s ruling reads.

Elden’s lawyer tells Rolling Stone that their client “intends to appeal this ruling.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After a report suggesting as much, Josh Groban has now confirmed that he’s making his return to Broadway in a revival of the Tony-winning 1979 Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

There’s an exclusive 48-hour ticket pre-sale going on right now for Josh’s fans, which will run through September 8 at 9:59 a.m. ET. Previews for the show begin on February 26 at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Visit SweeneyToddBroadway.com for all the details.

This is Josh’s first Broadway role since his 2016 Tony-nominated debut in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. He’ll play the demon barber himself, Sweeney Todd, who kills his enemies and then hands them off to pie-maker Mrs. Lovett, played by Annaleigh Ashford. 

The show’s creative team includes some of the folks who brought you the Broadway hits Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Josh fans know that he loves Stephen Sondheim, and one of his favorite musicals by the late theater legend is Sweeney Todd — so much so that Josh named his late dog Sweeney. Among the songs featured in the Tony-winning musical is “Not While I’m Around,” which Josh recorded on his 2015 album Stages and also sang at a Sondheim 90th birthday tribute.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

At the Venice International Film Festival over the weekend for the premiere of his movie Don’t Worry Darling, Harry Styles shared his feelings about acting with reporters — but Twitter was too busy wondering whether or not he spat on his co-star, Chris Pine.

“What I like about acting is I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing,” Harry told the press, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  “Making music is a really personal thing,” he said. “There are aspects of acting where you’re drawing from experiences a bit, but for the most part you’re pretending to play someone else. That’s what I find the most interesting about it.”

He added, “They can aid each other in a way. Any time you get to view the world through a different lens, it can help to create whichever way it goes. I find it really different. I think the fun part is that you never know what you’re doing in either one of them.”

Meanwhile, a now-viral video of Harry taking his seat at the screening next to Chris Pine set Twitter on fire, with many fans convinced that right before he sat down, he spat on Pine, who looked surprised, then amused and kept on clapping.

Fans began analyzing video of the incident like it was the Zapruder film, examining different angles and slowing down the footage to determine if Harry really did hock a loogie at the Star Trek star.

Meanwhile, Harry reacted to the four-minute standing ovation that Don’t Worry Darling received by kissing another co-star, Nick Kroll, on the lips.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Britney Spears has a message for her son Jayden Federline. 

In a since-deleted voice note shared to Instagram on Monday, the pop star called out her 15-year-old son, who she shares with ex Kevin Federline. The note comes after a recent interview Kevin and Jayden did with 60 Minutes Australia aired. 

“I can totally understand why my family would have a problem with me doing my own thing. Maybe because I never have,” Britney began. “So Jayden, as you undermine my behavior just like my whole family always has with ‘I hope she gets better. I will pray for her.’ Pray for what?”

“I keep working so I can pay off mom’s legal fees and her house? Do you guys want me to get better so I can continue to give your dad $40 grand a month?” she continued. “Or is the reason behind you guys deciding to be hateful because it’s actually over in two years, and you don’t get anything?”

Britney went on to express that she believes that, like the rest of her family, Jayden “secretly loved looking at me as if something was wrong with me.”

“I didn’t need a family hiding s*** in houses and whispering s*** behind my back. Feeling subconsciously guilty because I paid for every f***ing thing in both homes,” she said. “I needed unconditional love and support.”

The “Circus” singer continued, “God would not allow that to happen to me if a God existed. I don’t believe in god anymore because of the way my children and my family have treated me. There is nothing to believe in anymore. I’m an atheist y’all.”

“It saddens me not one of you have valued me as a person,” Britney concluded. 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.