Music

As one of country music’s fastest-rising newcomers, Breland has gotten his fair share of attention from listeners on the Internet — including some negative comments.

“There are people on the Internet who like to troll and I definitely have gotten some pretty hateful messages from people that don’t feel like my brand in country music is authentic,” the singer tells E! Online.

Hailing from New Jersey and pulling influence from gospel standards to Justin Bieber-era pop and more, Breland does indeed have his own distinct sound, which he’s dubbed “cross country.”

But he’s far from the only country artist to make the genre their own. His duet partner on his remixed version of “My Truck,” Sam Hunt, is just one example of someone who’s pushed the boundaries of country music and been hugely successful in the process.

Breland’s message to his haters? “Okay, well, you don’t have to love it. Music is interpretative,” he reflects. “Just because you don’t think that this is country enough doesn’t mean that it isn’t.”

Most recently, Breland joined forces with Dierks Bentley and Hardy for Dierks’ hit single, “Beers on Me.”

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Elle King is gearing up for her next tour, her first since 2019’s Shake The Spit Tour, and she can thank Stevie Nicks for making it easier to perform in front of a large crowd.

Speaking with Variance, the “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer revealed the legendary singer gave her the best advice when she was overwhelmed by nerves before performing a tribute for the late Tom Petty.  She recalled, “I was playing with his band and I definitely hid behind my instruments because you know that whole joke, ‘What do I do with my hands?'”

“I got to meet Stevie Nicks and I was like, ‘I’m so nervous, I don’t know what I’m gonna do, like on stage, I’m just like, what do I do? Just stand there and sing?’ And she goes, ‘Why do you think I played tambourine? You think I’m just gonna stand there and look like an idiot?'” she continued. “So I asked for a tambourine on stage and it gave me something to do, and that was one thing that I’ll never forget.”

Elle is heading back on tour next month, her first headlining tour in three years, which has her nervous. “I put a lot of pressure on myself,” she admitted. “Looking at my full tour schedule gives me a little bit of anxiety!”

Elle adds it’s going to be a “very, very different tour for me” because it marks her first one since becoming a mom.  She and partner Dan Tooker welcomed their son, Lucky, in September, and Elle says she’s “bringing my family” on tour.

“I’ve always really admired people who tour with their families and I always really wanted to be that and now I get to experience that and it’s exciting,” she says.

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Thursday was a day of joy and pain for Jazmine Sullivan: She won three NAACP Image Awards, and also announced she tested positive for COVID-19.

The “Need U Bad” singer tweeted, “I am taking every precaution to isolate myself. I’m truly sad to have to cancel more shows but health and safety come first for myself, my team and all of you.”

Sullivan will not perform her scheduled shows today in Los Angeles and Saturday in Phoenix.

“We will let you know when the tour will resume once we have made that decision,” she continued. “As soon as we have more information in regards to tickets and rescheduling, ticket holders will be notified via email. Thank you so much for your understanding and support and I’ll be seeing you very soon.”

Sullivan’s statement comes a day after canceling her Wednesday concert in Sacramento, California, for “feeling extremely under the weather.”

The 34-year-old vocalist from Philadelphia kicked off her Heaux Tales tour on February 14 in Vancouver, Canada. The tour is scheduled to continue through March 30 in Chicago.

As Jazmine announced she tested positive for COVID, also on Thursday, she also won NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Album for Heaux Tales, and Outstanding R&B Song for “Pick Up Your Feelings.” She commented on Instagram, “Thank you NAACP Image Awards for this recognition and always upholding and showcasing Black excellence. I’m honored.”

Sullivan is also up for three Grammy Awards: Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” and Best R&B Album for Heaux Tales.

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Charlie Puth admits his head is full of music, but, when it comes to making a new song, he has an unconventional way of starting the process.

“Beatboxing is how I draft music,” he tells the U.K. radio station Heart, using his new song “Light Switch” as an example.

“I’m thinking about what the tempo is going to be and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Okay, I want it to be fast,'” Charlie said, and recreated the song’s tempo, bass and other elements using just his mouth. “I’m coming up with it and layering it into the actual song at the same time, but by me putting it out in my mouth — that’s a weird sentence — it’s just a feasible product that I can hear back rather than just playing it in my head,” he explained.

Speaking of his new single, Charlie remembers what inspired it in the first place — ironically, it was because he had too many music ideas in his head.

Says Charlie, “I started to think to myself, ‘I’m just thinking too much. I wish I had a light switch to turn my brain off’ and then I thought, ‘Oh, that could be it!'” He then drove to the studio and recorded the sound of him turning on the light — and the rest was history.

The Grammy nominee is gearing up for his third studio album, Charlie, which he teased is his most personal and emotionally open album yet.  He also admits he feels anxious about how it’ll be received.

“I’m a very nervous person,” he confessed. “I’m always thinking, ‘Where is my song gonna end up? How is the song going?’… I’m not impervious to any of that. The bigger artist I become, the more worried I get.”

A release date for Charlie is forthcoming.

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Lainey Wilson knows that “Never Say Never” — her new duet with Cole Swindell — couldn’t be more different than her debut release to country radio, the chart-topping ballad “Things a Man Oughta Know.”

But when she first heard it, after Cole texted it to her while she was “drinking a piña colada on a beach in Mexico,” Lainey says she instantly gravitated toward “Never Say Never.”

“I immediately knew this song was special,” the rising star tells Nashville’s Tennesseean. “Even though it was completely different than ‘Things a Man Oughta Know,’ the song — and no, not the piña colada — made me feel something, so we recorded it.”

That intuition has served her well. Lainey was one of the genre’s biggest breakout stories in 2021, with a hit debut single and an opening slot on tour with Jason Aldean.

“It’s like I was being pulled behind a speedboat on a kneeboard,” she describes, thinking about her ascent to stardom.

There’s more ahead for Lainey, who’s a three-time nominee at this year’s ACM Awards — a turn of events that “blows my mind,” she says.

“I’ve been practicing my dang award-winning ACM speech since I was a little girl, and now that I might have to use it, I don’t know what I’m gonna say,” she adds.

As for “Never Say Never,” Lainey’s gut feeling seems to paying off there, too: The song is quickly cruising towards country radio’s top-fifteen.

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AWOLNATION has revealed the full details of the band’s upcoming covers album, My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me.

Among the songs the “Sail” outfit will be tackling on the record include ABBA‘s “Take a Chance on Me,” Madonna‘s “Material Girl,” Biz Markie‘s “Just a Friend” and Harvey Danger‘s “Flagpole Sitta.” Aaron Bruno and company will also be accompanied by a number of special guests, such as Rise Against‘s Tim McIlrath, Beck, Jewel, Grouplove, Hyro the Hero, Hanson‘s Taylor Hanson and Nothing but Thieves‘ Conor Mason.

The collaboration with McIlrath, a cover of the Midnight Oil song “Beds Are Burning,” is out today via digital outlets. An accompanying video is streaming now on YouTube.

My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me will be released May 6. It also includes AWOL’s previously released cover of the Scorpions hit “Wind of Change,” featuring Incubus‘ Brandon Boyd and Portugal. The Man.

Here’s the My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me track list:

“Beds Are Burning” feat. Tim McIlrath of Rise Against
“Eye in the Sky” feat. Beck
“Take a Chance on Me” feat. Jewel
“Maniac” feat. Conor Mason of Nothing But Thieves
“Just a Friend” feat. Hyro The Hero
“Material Girl” feat. Taylor Hanson of Hanson
“Wind of Change” feat. Brandon Boyd of Incubus & Portugal. The Man
“Waiting Room” feat. Grouplove
“Drive” (Digital only)
“Flagpole Sitta” feat. Elohim
“Alone Again” feat. Midland

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Just days after dropping his new single, “Last Night Lonely,” Jon Pardi has announced a summer tour.

Jon’s Ain’t Always the Cowboy Tour begins in July, he revealed via American Songwriter this week.

The string of dates both opens and closes with a hometown connection. Jon’s first stop, in late July, is in Sacramento, California — the same state in which he grew up. He’ll end the tour with a performance at Ascend Amphitheater in his adopted home city of Nashville.

Joining Pardi on tour will be up-and-coming acts Lainey Wilson and Hailey Whitters. Lainey’s one of Nashville’s fastest-rising stars, who earned her first number-one in 2021 with “Things a Man Oughta Know.” Meanwhile, Hailey just announced a new album, Raised, which is due out in March.

With “Last Night Lonely” already out in the world, Jon’s gearing up for a new album cycle himself, though he doesn’t have an exact release date to share just yet. Per American Songwriter, he’s hoping for a fall 2022 release date.

For dates and details about all the stops on Jon’s next tour, visit his website.

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Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor has released his new EP CMFB…Sides, a collection of acoustic tracks, live recordings and covers to follow his 2020 solo debut album, CMFT.

Among songs Taylor chose to put his spin on for the EP include Red Rider‘s “Lunatic Fringe,” KISS‘ “Got to Choose,” Eddie Money‘s “Shakin'” and Dead Boys‘ “All This and More.” The “Lunatic Fringe” cover is accompanied by a lyric video, which is streaming now on YouTube.

CMFB…Sides also includes Taylor’s previously released cover of “On the Dark Side,” originally recorded by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band for the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers, and his Metallica Blacklist rendition of “Holier Than Thou.”

Next month, Taylor and Slipknot will resume their Knotfest Roadshow tour, beginning March 16 in Fargo, North Dakota. The masked metallers have also been teasing a new album to be released later this year.

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Avril Lavigne‘s eagerly awaited new album, Love Sux, is out today, featuring guest appearances and production work from blackbear, Blink-182’s Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus, her boyfriend Mod Sun, and Machine Gun Kelly.  Now in her 20th year as a recording artist, the Canadian star says she’s still enjoying that pop-punk life. 

Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Avril said of being two decades past the release of her 2002 debut album, Let Go, “I feel like it’s gone by so fast but I’m really grateful to still be here and making music. This is my seventh record and I’m still having so much fun, and I’m looking forward to going out on tour this year.”

Avril was also asked about young female artists like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo citing her as an inspiration.

“Oh my God, it’s so crazy to hear that,” Avril told GMA. “I mean, those ladies are incredible songwriters and performers and I’ve met both of them. They’re lovely and I love what they’re dong musically.”

The first leg of Avril’s tour starts in Canada in May 3 and wraps up May 27 at the Boston Calling Festival. In September, she’ll perform at the Firefly Festival in Delaware and in October, she’ll appear at the the all-emo and pop-punk festival When We Were Young in Las Vegas.  She gave the GMA audience a taste of her tour by performing her latest single, “Love It When You Hate Me.”

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