The Wombats will be livestreaming their upcoming sold-out show in Los Angeles.
The virtual festivities kick off February 25 at 7:55 p.m. PT via the streaming platform Veeps. For ticket info, visit TheWombatsOfficial.Veeps.com.
The LA show is the final date on The Wombats’ ongoing U.S. headlining tour in support of their new album Fix Yourself, Not the World, which dropped in January. It debuted at the top of the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart, giving the U.K. trio their first number-one record in their home country.
Fix Yourself, Not the World features The Wombats’ current single, “If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming with You.”
In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for induction in 2022, some of the artists shared their feelings about the good news on their social media pages or in interviews.
Pat Benatar, who previously was nominated for the honor in 2020, said in a joint statement with her husband and longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, “Thrilled to be nominated again for the RRHOF. Congratulations to all the nominees!”
Judas Priest, who received its third nomination this year, posted a video message from frontman Rob Halford expressing excitement about the latest nod.
“Hello, heavy metal maniacs,” Halford says in the clip. “As Judas Priest continues to celebrate our ongoing 50th Anniversary we’re absolutely thrilled and stoked and amped to be nominated for the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
He also encourages the band’s fans to vote for Priest via the online Rock Hall fan ballot to help “get some more heavy metal into the hallowed Halls of Fame!”
Devo also received their third nomination this year. The veteran New Wave band’s lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed by Billboard and said about the Rock Hall, “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there. We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen — but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”
As previously reported, the 2022 Rock Hall inductees will be announced in May, while the induction ceremony will take place this fall. Fans can vote at RockHall.com for their favorite nominees through April 29.
Rod Stewart has announced that he’s hitting the road this summer for a series of shows in the U.S. and Canada, with special guests Cheap Trick.
In a video, Rod reveals that the tour will run from June through September and adds, “I really want you to come out, because we’ve had a bad time lately, and it’s really gonna be fun!”
At the moment, however, Rod’s website only reveals tour dates starting July 1 in Fort Worth, TX and wrapping September 3 in Tampa, Florida, but more dates will likely follow.
From May 13 to May 21, Rod is performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and he’ll return for a second round of shows there on September 23.
Rod’s most recent album, The Tears of Hercules, came out in November.
Halsey will complete their acting transition with the recently announced National Anthem movie. The movie’s cast was unveiled Thursday and the “Without Me” singer says they are “So honored and excited” for the opportunity.
National Anthem also stars Halsey’s “bestie,” Euphoria‘s Sydney Sweeney, as well as Paul Walter Hauser and Simon Rex, reports Deadline. The movie, from Bron Studios, will be the directorial debut of Tony Tost.
According to the movie’s synopsis, National Anthem is about “a gritty hunt for a valuable rare Lakota Native American Ghost Shirt. Some are hunting for fortune, others for personal freedom, while others simply want to return it properly to its home. No longer will the marginalized be ignored — all must learn to survive or else.”
No information is available yet concerning Halsey’s role in the movie or when it is expected to arrive in theaters.
Back in 2020, Halsey had announced another project with Sweeney — TV’s The Player’s Table. No word on if that project is still moving forward.
After revealing earlier this week that her dream is to record with Rihanna and Adele, Megan Thee Stallion also has a 15-time Grammy nominee on her collabo wish list.
“Me and Jazmine Sullivan would definitely have some stuff to talk about,” the Glamour Woman of the Year honoree tells Billboard. “We’ll have the girls crying, we’ll have the girls screaming, we’ll have the girls dancing, we’ll have the girls sipping wine, [and] sitting in the backyard sipping cognac.”
She adds, “The men better go run and hide if me and Jazmine Sullivan do an EP. We need to get that in the works.”
The “Hot Girl Summer” star has been on fire over the past year, earning two Grammy nominations, and promoting several companies, including Coach and Popeyes, as well as starring in a Frito-Lay Super Bowl commercial.
Megan also signed a production deal with Netflix in 2021. She also graduated from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in health administration in December, and despite her busy entertainment career, the “Savage” rapper says she’s still committed to opening a health facility in her Houston hometown.
“I’m definitely manifesting that I will get these buildings together to open up my assisted-living facilities. I already manifested my Netflix deal, so you will see the results of my manifestations from that,” Megan says. “Whatever I say I’m gonna do, I definitely always do it.”
The sophomore effort from the band, led by 13 Reasons Why actor Dylan Minnette, will arrive March 25. It includes the previously released song “I Don’t Want to Talk,” as well as a just-premiered tune called “Especially You,” which is available now for digital download.
“It’s about when you’re in the early stages of a relationship and you get so worried that the other person’s mind will change at the flip of a switch,” Minnette says of “Especially You.” “It’s about stressing over the smallest things for no reason, but it’s definitely self-aware about the fact that I’m doing this all to myself.”
Tell Me That It’s Over follows Wallows’ 2019 debut, Nothing Happens, which features the hit Clairo collaboration “Are You Bored Yet?”
Wallows will launch a North American headlining tour in support of Tell Me That It’s Over in April.
Here’s the Tell Me That It’s Over track list:
“Hard to Believe”
“I Don’t Want to Talk”
“Especially You”
“At the End of the Day”
“Marvelous”
“Permanent Price”
“Missing Out”
“Hurts Me”
“That’s What I Get”
“Guitar Romantic Search Adventure”
Jennifer Lopez is counting down the days until her new rom-com, Marry Me, bows in theaters next Friday. Ahead of its February 11 release, the singer/actress opened up about the challenges of making the movie’s soundtrack.
She told Billboard it was “really difficult” to make the songs for the Marry Me movie. She plays pop superstar Kat Valdez in the film, but Jennifer said the main challenge was ensuring that Kat’s music did not come across as J. Lo songs.
“I wasn’t making it a J. Lo album. I was making a different character, and also, I was weaving the songs and writing them for the story,” she explained. In the end, she found those eight tracks — but only after combing through “a hundred” songs that “every producer and writer” sent to her.
The singer added that she’s a big fan of rom-coms and won’t tolerate critics besmirching their contribution to entertainment. “First of all, romantic comedies are not light movies,” said Jennifer. “They’re necessary, beautiful movies, and I don’t know why people feel like they have to put them down when everybody enjoys them so much. It’s like chick flicks. I don’t know guys who don’t love to go to the movies and watch a rom-com with me.”
Marry Me ties the knot in theaters on Friday, February 11. To help tide fans over, the movie’s eponymous lead single was released Thursday.
In other J. Lo news, the “On the Floor” singer celebrated the second anniversary of her groundbreaking Super Bowl Halftime show with Shakira on Wednesday in an Instagram post.
“A lot has happened since then…the world has changed…that’s why I’m especially thankful to my#JLovers for being so incredible and being by my side through it all,” she wrote.
Coldplay‘s latest album, Music of the Spheres, features a collaboration with Selena Gomez called “Let Somebody Go,” and now it’s being released as a single.
The ballad — and possibly a music video — are coming on Monday, according to Coldplay’s socials. The announcement came with a pic of Selena and Coldplay’s Chris Martin embracing on the set of a video directed by Dave Meyers. According to the photo, it appears as though the video was filmed last October.
Coldplay recently performed the song without Selena on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Coldplay’s collaboration with BTS on another Music of the Spheres single, “My Universe,” gave the British band its second U.S. number-one hit — more than 13 years after its first, “Viva La Vida,” in 2008.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill appeared on back-to-back nights of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week, each offering separate perspectives on their 1883 roles and more.
During Faith’s stop on the show, she looked back on her “terrifying” experience singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, saying that it was “the most extraordinary amount of pressure ever.”
By the time she sang at the Super Bowl, she knew first-hand the perils of what could go wrong: Early on in her career, she sang the national anthem at a Dallas playoff game, and completely blanked on the lyrics.
“I’m walking out to the center of the field, with this…very generous woman that was walking me out, and I say to her, ‘Would you happen to know just the first word of the national anthem?’” Faith remembers.
“And she said, ‘Seriously?’ And I said, ‘I’m serious. I’m very serious,’” she continues. “She said, ‘Honey, I don’t know.’”
Fortunately, once the spotlight hit and it was Faith’s time to sing, the words came to her. But she had a back-up plan — if she couldn’t remember the words, she was going to pivot and sing “Amazing Grace.”
“I thought I would sing ‘Amazing Grace’ and be forgiven!” she adds.
This year’s Super Bowl is coming up, and another rising country superstar will sing the national anthem in 2022: Mickey Guyton was just announced as the performer, much to Faith’s excitement.
“I am such a huge fan and supporter. She is going to slay it,” Faith adds.
After Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine co-founded Beats Electronics in 2006, they focused on creating educational opportunities for minority youth in Los Angeles. In 2013, they donated $70 million to the University of Southern California to create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation.
Now they are collaborating with Adidas to design a new education program in South Los Angeles that blends fashion, technology, and entrepreneurship, according to Rolling Stone. Adidas says in a statement, “Design and creative hobbies have become more than just that – they are an opportunity for youth to explore a future that can become a career.”
In addition to the new program with Adidas, Iovine, and Dre, who is performing in the Super Bowl halftime show, are launching a magnate school in South LA, set to open on September 22, 2022. Many youth in South LA come from low-income families, however Iovine says they can overcome their obstacles.
“A lot of these kids, they have all these words for them: under-served, disadvantaged,” the entrepreneur says. “But what they really have is superpowers.”
Iovine and Dre have become a super duo, producing several multi-platinum albums, and launching Beats by Dre. They were the subject of the 2017 Grammy Award-winning HBO docuseries, The Defiant Ones.
“We come from two different cultures, and we’ve collaborated for 30 years now,” the Interscope Records co-founder says. “We really complement each other.”
Following their success in music and audio, they hope for similar results in affecting education. “I grant that it’s a big idea, but we also believe that if you were to create a spark that’s powerful enough, a fire will happen,” Iovine says. “We think that this will catch on.”
![Megan Thee Stallion wants to record with Jazmine Sullivan: “We’ll have the girls crying…screaming [and] dancing”](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2022-02-03/Getty_MeganTheeStallion_020322.jpg "Megan Thee Stallion wants to record with Jazmine Sullivan: “We’ll have the girls crying…screaming [and] dancing”")
