Jimmie Allen will make his debut performance appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, airing at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS. He’ll also perform on Good Morning America and GMA3 Wednesday morning on ABC.
Kelsea Ballerini will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday. Comedian Chelsea Handler is filling in as a guest host. The show airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
Fancy Hagood has teamed up with Kacey Musgraves for “Blue Dream Baby,” released in honor of International Pride Day.
Garth Brooks will be honored with the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award at the NSAI Nashville Songwriter Awards on September 20 at the Ryman Auditorium.
The artists who’ll be performing on this year’s installment of Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks® Spectacular have been revealed.
5 Seconds of Summer will rock out before the fireworks display. So will Pitbull, who’ll be performing with country singer Filmore: The two have a song coming out Friday called “USA.” Also performing are country stars Brett Eldredge and Carly Pearce, and Lin-Manuel Miranda and his Freestyle Love Supreme cast. The cast of Broadway’s Moulin Rouge! The Musical rounds out the bill.
Celebrity guests including Craig Ferguson, Padma Lakshmi, Paulina Porizkova and Wolfgang Puck will participate in segments called “The American Spirit,” talking about what it means to them to live in the U.S., since they were all born in other countries.
Meanwhile, the main event, the fireworks, will launch from five barges on New York City’s East River, and will include more than 48,000 shells and effects. The show starts at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and will stream on Peacock. It’ll air again at 10 p.m. PT.
The Aftershock lineup is going through some shake-ups.
Organizers for the California festival announced Tuesday that artists including Judas Priest, Bullet for My Valentine, Nita Strauss and Jinjer have dropped off the bill. A tweet announcing the news did not give a specific reason for the change, noting only that those acts are “no longer able to perform at Aftershock 2022.”
As replacements, Danzig and In Flames are among the artists now joining the Aftershock lineup.
Aftershock 2022 takes place October 6-9 in Sacramento. The lineup also includes My Chemical Romance, KISS, Slipknot, Muse, Rob Zombie, Papa Roach, Shinedown, Bring Me the Horizon, A Day to Remember, Lamb of God and Evanescence.
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
R. Kelly has faced allegations of sexual misconduct for decades. Wednesday will mark the first time he will be punished for them.
Kelly faces much of the rest of his life in prison when he is sentenced in Brooklyn federal court for a racketeering conviction that involved a dozen separate criminal acts, including sex with underage girls.
Kelly was found guilty of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and girls for sex. The charges also included a bribery scheme involving a public official to get a fake ID for Aaliyah so the two could get married when she was 15.
“In light of the seriousness of the offenses, the need for specific deterrence and the need to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant, as well as the other factors … the government respectfully submits that a sentence in excess of 25 years is warranted,” federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum.
Nearly four dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution about Kelly and his inner circle of aides, who prosecutors said preyed upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification.
“Kelly relied upon his fame, money and popularity as an R&B recording star and used the large network of people his status afforded him – including his business managers, security guards and bouncers, runners, lawyers, accountants, and assistants to both carry out and conceal his crimes. He continued his crimes and avoided punishment for them for almost 30 years and must now be held to account,” prosecutors said.
Kelly declined to testify at trial but could make a statement during the sentencing hearing. The defense has asked for less than 14 years in prison, citing Kelly’s traumatic childhood. The defense also cast his accusers as motivated by money.
Prosecutors, though, called Kelly’s crimes “calculated” and “methodical,” and said he has shown “no remorse.”
Luke Bryan is ready to get his “Country On” with a new song.
The country superstar has shared a snippet of a new track he’s releasing Friday called “Country On.” Luke first teased the news by sharing the cover art, which shows him posing against the side of a cabin in the country with his ball cap in his hand.
On Tuesday, he shared a 15-second teaser, holding his phone up to his ear as he sings along to the song that features a classic country melody and patriotic lyrics. “I say hey hey USA/We ain’t seen our better days/Hell no/Hey y’all/Country on,” Luke mouths along with a smile on his face.
The anthemic track arrives just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend and is available for presave now.
The American Idol judge will continue on his Raised Up Right Tour through the summer.
Not only is Machine Gun Kelly headlining Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, he’s putting his stamp on the New York City skyline.
The Empire State Building will be lit up in pink in honor of Kelly’s concert and “as a symbol of strength, perseverance, and hope in partnership with his new documentary Life in Pink.”
According to a press release, Kelly will switch the Empire State Building’s lights to pink while onstage at MSG, which is just a few blocks away from the iconic landmark.
Life in Pink premiered Monday on Hulu. The doc follows MGK’s breakout over the past two years, following his move from rap to rock with his 2020 album, Tickets to My Downfall, and this year’s Mainstream Sellout.
Vic Mensa has reportedly reached a plea deal and will avoid going to prison following his arrest earlier this year for psychedelic drug possession.
The Chicago MC pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a schedule III controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to one year probation and 25 months of community service, according to TMZ. He was also fined $1,000.
As previously reported, Mensa was arrested in January at Dulles International Airport just outside of Washington, D.C., for attempting to bring LSD, mushrooms and other illegal drugs through customs. Customs and Border Protection officers “discovered about 41 grams of liquid Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), about 124 grams of Psilocybin capsules, 178 grams of Psilocybin gummies, and six grams of Psilocybin mushrooms concealed inside Mensa’s luggage,” a release from the agency says.
The “U Mad” rapper was charged with felony drug possession. He was returning from Ghana and posted photoson Instagram of him meeting government officials with Chance the Rapper.
Mensa claims he possessed the shrooms for medicinal purposes.
“Unfortunately, our laws have not kept up with the research showing that psychedelic plants and compounds can be successfully used to treat otherwise treatment-resistant mental illness,” he told TMZ.
Mensa added, “My hope is that the silver lining to this matter will be increased focus on the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental illness and mood disorders that millions are battling with depression and anxiety with hope that all of our laws will change accordingly.”
Lauv is connecting with his inner child through his new music. He released the track “Kids Are Born Stars” on Tuesday, which gives fans a glimpse into his childhood.
The upbeat track is about a girl Lauv crushed on when he was a middle schooler and how he shared his prophesy that he was “going to be a really big star.” The music video sees the current version of the singer interacting with his younger self and helping him recover from a broken heart.
The song and its music video are also nostalgia bombs, with respective references to defunct messaging services, as well as featuring styles from the early aughts.
“When I started making this album, I was doing a lot of inner child meditation work and this song was me getting back in touch with my 8th grade self and giving him a little dose of confidence because Lord knows he would’ve needed it back then,” Lauv said in a statement. “As an adult I had lost touch with my sense of confidence too and making this song and the whole album helped me get back in touch with the person I really am.”
The “I Like Me Better” singer also teased his upcoming album, All 4 Nothing, which drops later this summer.
He said, “My album ‘All 4 Nothing’ curates an energy of openness, wonder, and excitement, but also vulnerability and realness. I hope it opens up a vortex to something you haven’t felt in a while—a place where you can build yourself up from.”
The album, which is the follow-up to his 2020 work How I’m Feeling, is expected August 5.
Shawn Mendes kicked off his first proper tour since the pandemic began in Portland, Oregon, on Monday night. Wonder: The World Tour comes in support of his most recent album, Wonder, which arrived in 2020.
According to setlist.fm, Shawn’s show is split into three different parts: act I is called Wonder, act II is called Black Cherry and act III is called Vanilla Sky. The encore portion is called Cool Runnings.
Shawn’s set list included plenty of songs from Wonder, including the title track, “Call My Friends,” “305, “Look Up to the Stars,” “Teach Me How to Love” and “Song for No One,” as well as his collaboration with Justin Bieber, “Monster.”
He also performed the hits, of course, from “Stitches” and “If I Can’t Have You” to “Treat You Better,” “Lost In Japan” and even “Señorita,” his duet with ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello. “Message in a Bottle,” a 1979 song by The Police, was a surprise cover. Shawn also performed recent stand-alone singles “It’ll Be Okay” and “When You’re Gone.”
Even Britney Spears has to hit the pause button on social media. The “Toxic” singer opened up to fans about how it affects her self-esteem and mental health.
“Do you know how many times I literally wanted to crawl in a hole and feel like an idiot while looking at social media ???” she shared while posting a video of her, Robert Pattinson and Cade Hudson dancing to Katy Perry‘s “Firework.”
The Grammy winner noted she’s only human and isn’t perfect, even though she will come across posts of women with “hot bodies” that make her feel like she has to be. “I lose my phone 3x a day, can’t find my shades when they are on top of my head … I’m human and I do my best !!! i know I completely suck most of the time but I still try my best.”
Britney also spoke of watching people edit her photos and videos during her conservatorship, so she is “well aware” of what’s happening behind the scenes when she looks at social media posts. She also said she is “leaving the whole system behind.”
Joking that her dancing video is her attempt to “be like Batman,” whom Pattinson plays, Britney noted, “It’s a hard world but we’re all fireworks as @katyperry says … I mean ask Batman if he knows !!!”
