Music

Kenny Chesney‘s summer has become even more exciting with the announcement of an amphitheater tour. 

In between his stadium shows, Kenny will headline amphitheaters across the country. The 20-date amphitheater trek kicks off May 5 at the Ruoff Music Center in Indiana, making stops at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, AL, Jiffy Lube Live in Bristol, VA, a two-night stay at Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harvey’s in Nevada and Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Oregon along the way. 

Carly Pearce, who serves as one of the opening acts on the stadium-sized Here and Now Tour, will also open for the “Knowing You” singer on his amphitheater tour. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.  

“There is something about amphitheaters that creates an immediacy that is so intimate. The energy is very different from a stadium show, and it almost opens the songs up in completely different ways,” Kenny describes. “It’s pretty cool to feel that difference between the two kinds of venues, but I can tell you: both are absolutely the greatest sensations in the world.” 

The superstar embarks on the Here and Now Tour on April 23 in Tampa, FL, with Dan + Shay and Old Dominion serving as additional opening acts. 

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Nikki Sixx kickstarted his weekend by dissing Pearl Jam as “one of the most boring bands in history.”

The Mötley Crüe bassist was responding to an interview Eddie Vedder recently gave to The New York Times Magazine, in which the PJ frontman said he “despised” Sixx’s band.

“I hated it,” Vedder said of the “Girls, Girls, Girls” outfit. “I hated how it made the fellas look. I hated how it made the women look. It felt so vacuous. Guns N’ Roses came out and, thank God, at least had some teeth.”

In a tweet this past Saturday, Sixx fired back with, “Made me laugh today reading how much the singer in Pearl Jam hated @MotleyCrue.”

He added, “Now considering that [Pearl Jam is] one of the most boring bands in history it’s kind of a compliment isn’t it?”

Vedder, who’s currently on tour in support of his forthcoming solo album Earthling, has not yet publicly responded to Sixx’s comments.

Mötley Crüe, meanwhile, is preparing for the band’s long-in-the-works reunion tour, which is set to kick off this June, which has been delayed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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It’s all or nothing for Lizzo. 

Over the weekend, the “Truth Hurts” singer bared it all while promoting a powerful message about love. Taking to social media, she shared an 11-second video of herself in the buff as she caressed her arm before looking deeply into the camera. 

“If you love me… you love all of me. You don’t get to pick and choose,” she captioned the clip. “We should be unconditionally loving of one another, starting with being unconditionally loving to ourselves. Take a moment today and think about the conditions we hold so tightly to that keep us from the freedom of true love. Do you really wanna be so tightly wound?”

“Free yourself in love. You deserve it,” the 33-year-old singer concluded. 

In the background of the video, Lizzo sings a cappella, “If you love me, you love all of me / Or none of me at all.”

She later shared a snapshot taken from the same set and simply titled it, “Art.”

Although Lizzo didn’t explicitly state any plans for releasing a song, fans are eagerly awaiting it. 

“Release the song lizzo please,” one Instagram user commented, while another raved, “New music Lizzo yess Queen.”

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Kanye West appears to have deleted all the Instagram posts where he called out his estranged wife Kim Kardashian. 

In the since-deleted posts, the Donda rapper, 44, slammed Kim, 41, and voiced concerns about his oldest daughter, North, being on TikTok, made claims that she stopped him from seeing their children, and even claimed that he was accused of putting a hit out on Kim. 

“YESTERDAY KIM ACCUSED ME OF PUTTING A HIT OUT ON HER,” Ye claimed in a lengthy post shared to Instagram on Sunday, according to Page Six. 

“SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT I BEG TO GO TO MY DAUGHTERS PARTY AND IM ACCUSED OF BEING ON DRUGS THEN I GO PLAY WITH MY SON AND I TAKE MY AKIRA GRAPHIC NOVELS AND IM ACCUSED OF STEALING,” he continued. “THESE IDEAS CAN ACTUALLY GET SOMEONE LOCKED UP.”

“THEY PLAY LIKE THAT WITH BLACK MENS LIVES WEATHER [SIC] ITS GETTING THEM FREE OR GETTING THEM LOCKED UP,” the Yeezy founder wrote, adding, “IM NOT PLAYING ABOUT MY BLACK CHILDREN ANYMORE.”

Kim, filed for divorce from Ye in February 2021 after almost seven years of marriage and filed to be legally single in December 2021. They have four children together North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2.

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Beartooth has launched a new, signature whiskey brand.

The 96-proof beverage is called Barry’s Batch Whiskey, and was created in collaboration with Middle West Spirits, based in the “Hated” outfit’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

“We are so thrilled to be partnering with Columbus, Ohio’s own Middle West Spirits to present to you our first-ever whiskey — Barry’s Batch!” says bassist Oshie Bichar. “This exceptional straight rye whiskey was hand-picked by us, and we can’t wait for you to taste how delicious it is.”

Along with Barry’s Batch, Beartooth is also selling a special edition vinyl variant of the band’s 2021 album Below with a whiskey and barrel-inspired color.

For more info, visit KegnBottle.com.

Beartooth is set to launch a U.S. headlining tour in support of Below in March.

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When Russell Dickerson sings the first verse of his hit song “Home Sweet,” he’s remembering a real-life story, complete with going from “all-inclusive margaritas in Malibu” to “prayin’ we could pay rent this month.”

The song’s about his newlywed days, when he and his wife Kailey has just tied the knot — and they were broke.

“Literally, the day we got back from our honeymoon is when I got dropped from my first publishing deal,” Russell remembers. “Which was two years of great income. I was providing for the fam…and my income went to zero dollars.”

Fortunately, those lean times didn’t last: Russell found success as a country star, and he’s had four number-one hits to date. Now, “Home Sweet” is just outside country radio’s top-ten.  Though most of his fans have never had a publishing deal, Russell says that most listeners can relate to the song’s sentiment.

“I think so many people, so many newlyweds or people who are just young, and you know, just struggling to pay rent…everybody’s been there,” he says. “So that’s kind of a level of relating to the song.”

“Home Sweet” comes off of Russell’s 2021 album, Southern Symphony.

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At the age of 50, Clifford “Method Man” Smith Jr. is proud to continue his successful career with his featured role in Power Book II: Ghost. He loves appearing in the series with co-star Mary J. Blige after winning a Grammy with her in 1996: Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “I’ll Be There for You”/”You’re All I Need to Get By.”

The member of the iconic Wu-Tang Clan admits that growing up poor in New York City borough of Staten Island, it was not easy “getting by.”

“I was a Black boy living in some of the worst areas in New York,” Smith says in the cover issue of Essence‘s February digital issue. “I’ve been told that from the gate, ‘You don’t belong here.’ Sometimes even without words.”

Since then, Smith has proven that he belongs as an actor, as well as a rapper.

Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of Wu-Tung’s 1993 triple-platinum debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Beyond his group accomplishments, Method Man has forged his own identity with five solo albums, plus three collabo projects with Redman. He made the transition to acting in 1996, and his film credits include Belly, Brown Sugar, Red Tails, and 2019’s Shaft.

He tells Essence that he remembers it being difficult to convince casting directors he was ready for film and TV.

“I guess my background turned some people off. Some people aren’t willing to give you a chance, especially when you’ve already had one and you kind of squandered it,” Smith notes. “There was a changing of the guard in hip-hop. I was cool with that. I had to evolve with the business and if that meant acting, so be it.”

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British artist Mae Muller scored a massive hit with “Better Days,” her collab with Swedish producer NEIKED and Polo G.  Now, fans tell her they’ve gone online check out all her solo music, and she says that means everything to her.

“That’s the most important thing,” she tells ABC Audio. “Obviously I love ‘Better Days’ — the song has opened so many doors, but all the songs I did before, they really came from the heart and [are] really personal to me. So it just makes me feel like everything was kind of worth it, and it’s happening when it’s meant to happen.”

It’s because she wrote all her solo songs that Mae was hesitant to sing on anything she didn’t write, but “Better Days” changed her mind.

She explains, “I’ve had quite a few songs be sent over and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we think this is going to be a big song,’ but I’m like, ‘But it doesn’t feel right, and I wouldn’t say that. The message isn’t right for me.’ And that’s the biggest thing.”

But after hearing “Better Days,” Mae says, “I was like, “I would say this, and this is very aligned with how I feel and what I would say.’ And also, I was like, ‘This song sounds like a banger, and the only person who’s going to lose out if I don’t do this is me!”

“It just felt right,” she says, and laughs, “I just said, ‘Dolly Parton didn’t write every single one of her songs, so I’m sure it’s fine if I don’t!'”

Mae’s now hard at work on new songs, and her upcoming U.S. shows in March, she’ll “definitely” perform “some unreleased music that people can enjoy” — music that she says will be “a little teaser” of what’s to come.

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