Music

Ed Sheeran loves keeping in touch with friends, but he doesn’t keep in touch with them through text.  Speaking on the The Collector’s Edition podcast in an episode posted Monday, the “Shivers” singer revealed he doesn’t have a phone.

“I don’t carry a phone, no,” Ed revealed candidly. “I haven’t had a phone since 2015.”  He then detailed why quitting his cellular plan cold turkey was one of the best choices he ever made.

The Grammy winner explained how his mental health was suffering because of the device. “I got really, really overwhelmed and sad with the phone.  I just spent my whole time in a very low place,” said Ed, detailing how answering text messages straight away “would stress me out.” He added there were immediate benefits after he “got rid of it” at the end of his X (Multiply) world tour.

“It was, like, a veil just lifted… I didn’t so much cut contact with people, I just limit contact with people,” he continued.  “Now, I have an email… and every few days, I’ll sit down and open up my laptop and I’ll answer 10 emails at a time… And then I’ll go back to living life and I don’t feel overwhelmed by it.”

Ed says “the best thing about” ditching the phone, aside from feeling less stressed, “Is the moments that I have with the people I love in person, uninterrupted.”  He adds he finds it funny that, when he goes out with large groups of friends, he notices how many have their noses buried in their phones.  “I’ll be like, ‘Good chat, guys!'” he joked.

Ed also believes phones are too advanced nowadays and should “take a step back” so they’re less complicated. He then yearned for his old BlackBerry Bold and the old BBM messaging service it offered.

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Lady Gaga is spilling the tea on the House of Gucci love scene with Salma Hayek fans never got to see. 

While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday, the Oscar Award winner, admitted that she’s not sure who’s responsible for cutting the scene from the film, but did reveal how the idea of the two’s characters becoming more than friends came about. 

In the film Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, who hires a hit man to kill her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, with the help of her friend and spiritual advisor, Pina, played by Hayek.

Recalling her conversation with Hayek, Gaga says, “I was like ‘Okay, listen. So before we do this scene, I just want your consent to do something together’…And I said ‘Okay, so I was thinking, you know, after the hit gets put out on Maurizio and you get the phone call that he is dead, that I will go over to you and kiss you.'”

After getting Hayek on board, the “Rain on Me” singer went to get approval from director Ridley Scott and his wife, who was working production on the film.

“They were like ‘Yeah, sure, try it.’ And we did it,” Gaga explained. “The only reason it’s not in the movie is because that whole scene was cut. But it was an awesome scene. “

As for what the scene looked like, the Grammy award winner dished, “So Salma is walking around the house and the cats are following her and then we’re surrounded by cats, and we started making out.” 

“I made out with Salma Hayek,” she adds. “But I’m like that really annoying kid in school that’s like bragging that they made out with the popular girl but has no proof.”

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Sam Hunt‘s hit single “23,” was years in the making. In fact, it originally had a different title and hook until he and co-writers Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Chris LaCorte landed on the defining version of the track.

“That was one that I’ve tried to write for a couple of years. I started writing it, it was ’22’ originally. ‘I’ll never be 22 with anyone but you,'” Sam describes of the initial approach. “And for whatever reason, one day we decided to try ’23,’ and that was the thing that broke it open for us and [we] ended up writing it in a couple of hours.” 

While the Georgia native has a skill for writing hit songs, he reveals that the songs he writes evolve over time and sometimes end up on future projects.

“You try to write a good handful of songs and then you hope a few of those songs end up making it on the record,” he explains of his songwriting process. “Then you also have an excess of ideas that maybe are skeletons or bones that never really get finished and they float around, and then you hope one day maybe they will get finished.” 

“23” is the lead single from the superstar’s forthcoming third studio album. It’s currently climbing its way up the top 10 on country radio. 

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Gunna shocked the music world when his new album, DS4Ever, outsold The Weeknd‘s Dawn FM and debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.

The 19-track project features an all-star cast, including Drake, Chris Brown, Chloe Bailey and Kodak Black.

“I expect the unexpected,” Gunna tells Complex about his success. “I’m definitely cherishing it, because it’s a moment. The Weeknd is a very, very big artist. I mean, he’s done the Super Bowl and everything. Just to be fighting with him — good sportsmanship fighting, because I’m cool with him — it’s love.”

The Grammy nominee has also set social media on fire with his phrase “pushing P,” named after the album track featuring Future and Young Thug.

“I’ve actually been keeping it P and pushing P,” Gunna explains. “The world is just now catching on because of the song, but Atlanta and LA people who know me know. That’s why it hit hard, too, because I really been kicking P outside of music. So when I bring it to music, it’s like, yeah, that’s really him. He ain’t lying.”

“Pushin P” essentially means keeping it real or player.

“[I] always keep it cool,” Gunna says. “I don’t really like all that chaos. I’m more calm, more playa. That’s where the P started.”

The “King of Drip” inspired another viral sensation last year when Rihanna dressed up like him for Halloween and posted the photo on social media. The Atlanta rapper jokes that Riri paid tribute to him even though they’ve never spoken.

“How are you going to dress like a motherf***** and then never talk to him?” he says with a laugh. “You just too GOATed.”

However, he is hoping for a collaboration.

“We’re going to make some godd***** tropical s***,” Gunna boasts.

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After Blur and Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn told the Los Angeles Times that Taylor Swift “doesn’t write her own songs,” Swift immediately responded on Twitter, “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.”  Now Albarn is apologizing…or trying to, at least.

In response to Taylor’s tweet, Albarn wrote, “I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologize unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”

Some are asking, however, how Albarn could claim that his comments were reduced to “clickbait” when he specifically said of Taylor, “She doesn’t write her own songs.”

When the interviewer insisted that Taylor did, and added that she “co-writes some of them,” Albarn responded, “That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing. I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great.”

And then, bizarrely, Albarn then went on to praise Billie Eilish, who co-writes all of her songs with her brother FINNEAS.

Meanwhile, some of Taylor’s collaborators, including Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner of The National and John Paul White, jumped to her defense. 

Antonoff tweeted, “i’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. herb.” 

Dessner, who worked with Swift and Antonoff on her albums folklore and evermore, noted, “Your statements couldn’t be further from the truth…you’re obviously completely clueless as to her actual writing and work process.”

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Las Vegas’ When We Were Young festival is proving to be a hot ticket: It’s just added a third date after selling out the first two.

Last week, the festival, which features a star-studded 2000s era lineup, announced that it had added an October 23rd date after the first one, on October 22, sold out. Now a new date has been added: October 29.

A presale starts January 31 at 10 a.m. PT for fans who sign up for early access at whenwewereyoungfestival.com.  Any remaining tickets will go on sale January 31 at 2 p.m. PT.

The lineup is the same for all three dates and, as previously reported, features My Chemical Romance, Paramore and Bring Me the Horizon topping the bill.

Performers also include Avril Lavigne, A Day to Remember, Jimmy Eat World, AFI, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Alkaline Trio, Manchester Orchestra, jxdn, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Ice Nine Kills, Atreyu, The Maine, The All-American Rejects, Sleeping with Sirens, Nessa Barrett, Wolf Alice, 3OH!3, The Linda Lindas, Royal & the Serpent, I Prevail and Pierce the Veil.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit WhenWeWereYoungFestival.com.

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