Music

The first round of guest artists appearing in the upcoming country music musical May We All has been unveiled. 

Co-produced by Florida Georgia Line‘s Brian Kelley, May We All tells the story of Jenna Coates, a singer from the fictional town of Harmony, Tennessee, with dreams to make it big in Nashville. But along the way, she faces a series of setbacks that send her back to her small hometown, where she rediscovers who she is.

The score includes generations of country music, with songs by Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert,Chris Stapleton, Dolly Parton and many more. 

May We All will premiere at Tennessee Performing Arts Center in June, with several of Brian’s fellow country artists slated to fill the rotating cast role of Bailey Stone throughout the month, with each guest star performing as the character on their respective date. 

“One Big Country Song” hitmakers LoCash will open the show as Bailey on June 7, with Breland taking over the role on June 8. Lainey Wilson will perform on June 14, with Lindsay Ell filling the role on June 22. 

Danielle Bradbery, Jamie O’Neal and former American Idol contestants Trent Harmon and Caleb Lee Hutchinson are among the other artists who will take part in the production.

May We All will run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville from June 7 to July 17.

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In an apparent attempt to prove that he can work in every musical genre, Ed Sheeran made a surprise appearance Sunday night at a show in London by country music superstar Luke Combs.

Luke was performing at London’s O2 Arena as part of the Country 2 Country Festival, and Ed showed up to join him on a version of Ed’s song “Dive,” which appears on Ed’s album, ÷ (Divide).  While it wasn’t a single, the track’s a fan favorite and Luke often covers it in concert.

“Boys, I don’t know how we follow that,” laughed Luke after Ed walked off stage.

In just the past couple of months, Ed’s collaborated with Camila Cabello on the Latin-flavored “Bam Bam,” Fireboy DML on the Afrobeats song “Peru,” the metal band Bring Me the Horizon on a remix of his own song “Bad Habits,” and Elton John on the holiday song “Merry Christmas.”

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Lindsay Ell has been through some difficult moments. She went through a public breakup, grappled with heartache and ultimately channeled those emotions into heart theory, her most intimate and revealing work to date.

She’s also learned a lot about self-love and what she’s looking for in a partner, the singer tells People.

“What bad breakups teach us is what we don’t want and what we truly do want,” Lindsay says. “Sometimes, it’s just the right relationships at the wrong time. Or sometimes, we fall in love with the wrong people for us.”

But by this point in her life, she’s learned to be happily single and feel truly comfortable with who she is as an artist and a person. “My insecurities make me who I am, and no one can be a better version of you. And you will find the right person who will like that,” she notes.

In the meantime, Lindsay has also used her hard-earned wisdom to support friends as they navigate their own heartbreak, like Carly Pearce. Carly went through a very public divorce in 2020 after marrying fellow artist Michael Ray just eight months earlier.

Now, Carly’s got a new man in her life, and Lindsay says it feels good to see her friend happy again. “Going through that heartbreak and then coming out of it — that’s just such a cool thing to watch a good friend experience that for themselves,” she adds.

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Alexisonfire has announced a headlining U.S. tour.

The outing launches May 19 in Nashville, and will stretch all the way into the fall before wrapping up October 9 in Anaheim, California.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 18, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit the Alexisonfire website, TheOnlyBandEver.com.

The tour news comes a week after Alexisonfire announced their new album, Otherness, last week, ending the 13-year wait for a follow-up to the band’s last full-length record, 2009’s Old Crows/Young Cardinals.

Otherness will be released June 24. It includes the lead single “Sweet Dreams of Otherness.”

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Machine Gun Kelly has revealed the track list and guest artists appearing on his upcoming album, Mainstream Sellout.

In addition to the previously released “Emo Girl” featuring WILLOW and “Ay!” featuring Lil Wayne, the 16-song set includes collaborations with Bring Me the Horizon, blackbear, iann diorr, Gunna and Young Thug, as well as a second tune with Wayne, plus an appearance from SNL cast member and future astronaut Pete Davidson.

Also on the track list is the single “Papercuts,” which was released last year back when the album was called Born with Horns.

Mainstream Sellout arrives March 25. It’s the follow-up to 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall, which was also produced by Blink-182‘s Travis Barker.

Here’s the Mainstream Sellout track list:

“Born with Horns”
“God Save Me”
“Maybe” feat. Bring Me the Horizon
“Drug Dealer” feat. Lil Wayne
“Wall of Fame (interlude)” feat. Pete Davidson
“Mainstream Sellout”
“Make Up Sex” feat. blackbear
“Emo Girl” feat. WILLOW
“5150”
“Papercuts”
“WW4”
“Ay!” feat. Lil Wayne
“Fake Love Don’t Last” feat. iann dior
“Die in California” feat. Gunna & Young Thug
“Sid & Nancy”
“Twin Flame”

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In addition to breaking multiple Billboard records, Foo Fighters‘ “Love Dies Young” has the honor of soundtracking the credits to the band’s new horror movie, Studio 666. As frontman Dave Grohl tells ABC Audio, the track was inspired by one of his personal favorite groups.

“I was basically trying to write a melody that was, like, a hard rock version of an ABBA song,” Grohl explains. “I think that’s as close as I’m ever gonna get.”

Grohl describes “Love Dies Young” as a “tortured love song,” with an ABBA-esque “structure” and “melody.”

“And the beat, it’s got that disco beat to it,” he says. “It’s basically an ABBA song with huge guitars.”

As for the track’s chugging riff, guitarist Chris Shiflett credits that to some goofing off in the studio.

W”e started doing that riff kind of as a joke, if I remember correctly,” Shiflett says. “We were sitting there tracking guitars, going into the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ thing or whatever, and then we were, like, ‘Oh wait, that’s kinda good!'”

Grohl adds, “If everyone’s in a good mood and laughing when you listen to something back, it’s probably a good idea to keep it.”

“Love Dies Young” is the current single off Foo Fighters’ 2021 album, Medicine at Midnight.

Studio 666, meanwhile, is in theaters now. It’ll be available on-demand beginning March 18.

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While Dua Lipa‘s “Levitating” recently made headlines for inspiring not one but two copyright-infringement lawsuits, it shows no sign of slowing down on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, it’s just broken a longstanding record.

“Levitating” has just racked up its 70th week on the Billboard Hot 100, which is the most ever for a song by a female artist. The previous record of 69 weeks was sent in 1998 by LeAnn Rimes‘ “How Do I Live.” “Levitating” spent 41 of its weeks on the chart in the top 10 — again, the most ever for a song by a woman.

In the history of the Hot 100, which dates back to 1958, only four other songs have spent at least 70 weeks on the chart. Leading the pack is The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” with 90 weeks, followed by “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons with 87 weeks, “Sail” by AWOLNATION with 79 weeks, and “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz with 76 weeks.

A couple of songs that are currently on the chart might just hang around long enough to challenge those numbers, though: Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves,” which is number one for a second week, has spent 60 weeks on the Hot 100 so far, while The Weeknd and Ariana Grande‘s “Save Your Tears” has been on the chart for 62 weeks. It’s currently #17.

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Jack White is urging the three major global record labels — Sony, Universal and Warner — to rebuild their own vinyl pressing plants.

The White Stripes/Dead Weather/Raconteurs rocker’s plea comes as vinyl production turnaround time has slowed immensely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing bands to delay their album releases.

“Vinyl records have exploded in the last decade, and their demand is incredibly high,” White says in a video. “A small punk band can’t get their record for eight to 10 months. I now ask the major labels…to finally build your own pressing plants again.”

He adds, “As the MC5 once said, ‘You’re either part of the problem, or part of the solution.”

In an accompanying written statement, White shares how he founded Detroit’s Third Man Pressing plant in 2017 for “anyone and everyone who walks in the door and wants to press a record.”

“In the last year, I’ve doubled down and invested in even more record presses, more employees to run them, and more shifts to try and accommodate the insane growing demand for vinyl product,” White says.

While Third Man may “benefit in the short term” from being one of the few operational pressing plants, White writes, “In the long term it ultimately hurts everyone involved in the vinyl ecosystem given the bottlenecks and delays.”

“Something needs to be done,” White says. That something, he feels, is for Sony, Universal and Warner to “help alleviate this unfortunate backlog and start dedicating resources to build pressing plants themselves.”

“The issue is not big labels versus small labels, it’s not independent versus mainstream, it’s not even punk versus pop,” White writes. “The issue is, simply, we have ALL created an environment where the unprecedented demand for vinyl records cannot keep up with the rudimentary supply of them.”

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Last year, Madonna threatened singer/rapper Tory Lanez over what she called his “illegal” usage of her song “Into the Groove” in his track “Pluto’s Comet.”  Now, Lanez is under fire for his alleged use of another ’80s classic by an iconic pop star.

Variety reports that the estate of the late George Michael is trying to get Lanez’s song “Enchanted Waterfall” taken down from digital streaming services for what it says is the unauthorized sampling of George’s 1985 smash “Careless Whisper.” 

A statement obtained by Variety states that the “requested permission for this use had been declined in June 2021,” noting that the estate is taking “immediate action…to prevent further exploitation,” adding, “We will not tolerate any unauthorized use of any songs within the catalogues of George Michael and/or Andrew Ridgeley.” George and his Wham! bandmate Ridgeley co-wrote “Careless Whisper.”

Variety notes that the song was removed from Spotify earlier this year, but it’s still up on YouTube and Apple Music.

Lanez already has enough legal problems: He’s been accused of shooting rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion in the feet in 2020. The next hearing in his trial is scheduled for April 5.

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