Silk Sonic co-founder Anderson .Paak is skating on over to Sesame Street to sing about the holidays with its cast of lovable muppets.
In a new promo, the “Leave the Door Open” singer is seen teaming with Elmo to teach Cookie Monster what makes a holiday and why they’re so special. While the lesson goes on, images play in the background showcasing all types of celebrations and the activities families enjoy during those moments — such as dancing, singing and craft making.
“Holidays remind us of an event that we remember/ Like Memorial Day, Juneteenth / Not to mention Veteran’s Day and Purim and 4th of July / And, sometimes, things that happen every year,” Anderson raps while playing the drums. He also lists off a few dates that honor people, like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Mother’s Day.
Between him and Elmo, they cover a broad spectrum of holidays celebrated by different cultures and religions across the world. They also pull an April Fools’ prank on Cookie Monster by convincing him the world ran out of his favorite treat.
Anderson is just the latest celebrity guest to make a cameo on the long running children’s show, with previous guests including Kacey Musgraves and Tennis star Naomi Osaka. Billie Eilish is set to appear on the show in June.
Catch Anderson when he joins the cast of Sesame Street tomorrow, January 13, on HBO Max.
Thomas Rhett‘s family grew once again in November when he and his wife, Lauren, welcomed baby girl Lillie Carolina. But the singer’s not too phased by the prospect of life with four young kids.
“Minus the lack of sleep, not a whole lot has changed,” he says, adding that he got some parenting advice from fellow country star dad Walker Hayes, who’s got six children of his own.
“Walker Hayes told me one time that anything after four is just more kids,” Thomas notes. “And I said, ‘There’s no way that that’s possible,’ but I’m starting to understand that that’s true.”
Going from “two to three was definitely harder than three to four,” the singer admits, adding that his almost-two-year-old daughter Lennon Love has had to adjust to not being the youngest child in the family.
“Lennon is still a bit jealous, and I would say that is the hardest part, is that she’s not the baby anymore,” Thomas explains, adding that it’ll be awhile before he and Lauren further expand their family.
“We’ll see what happens in the next five or six years, but we’re definitely gonna take a small break from trying to have babies right now,” he says.
For now, Thomas’ oldest children — Willa Gray and Ada James — are eager babysitters who can’t wait to take care of their baby sister.
“You know, they beg to hold Lillie every day,” Thomas says. “I literally could put Lillie in Willa Gray’s arms and be like, ‘Are you good for five minutes?’ And she’d be like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ She’ll feed her a bottle. Ada James can hold her.”
In music news, Thomas is looking ahead to a big year in 2022. His current single, “Slow Down Summer,” is inside country radio’s top 30.
After 12 years as a recording artist, K. Michelle says she is about to release her sixth and final R&B album in March.
The “V.S.O.P.” singer tweeted that the project, titled I’m the Problem, “is definitely some ole school 90’s R&B crying s***.”
In a separate tweet, the former Love & Hip Hop star noted about the current state of R&B, “It’s a lot of awesome R&B music out now. The sound is just different right now. Every artist has their o[w]n take and version of R&B, and that’s what makes it so dope. I love 90’s vibes. The Jagged Edge, Mary [J. Blige], Brandy, Usher.”
Michelle says she was “going to pick the songs that show my true emotions,” and wants her R&B career to “end honest.” The 39-year-old entertainer plans to changes lanes and segue into country music.
As she records her upcoming album, her Lifetime series, My Killer Body with K. Michelle, will premiere on Thursday, February 3, at 9 p.m ET. The show will focus on her recovery from harmful body enhancements and document the journeys of other women who’ve had traumatic cosmetic surgery experiences.
“I decided to have an open form of communication that could save someone’s life. I WISH someone had told me the truth,” Michelle wrote about the series in an Instagram post.
“This world is a tough place and will tear you down if you let it, she added. “I’m so blessed to have met a group of individuals who are struggling to live, who just want to heal, and they want to share their true story to help other woman and men.”
The Memphis, Tennessee, singer will also star in the Lifetime film Single Black Female, premiering Thursday, February 3.
“Life Goes On” singer Oliver Tree will release his new album, Cowboy Tears, on February 18th. He’s also released a music video for the album’s title track, in which he co-stars with Bella Thorne.
The album is now available for pre-order. In a statement, Oliver explains the concept of the song, noting, “Cowboys are the toughest guys. It’s okay for us tough guys to cry, and the thing is, it’s okay for everyone to cry.”
“There’s a lot of anger that comes out of holding in your emotions, and that’s really popular for guys,” he continues., “Cowboy Tears is teaching people how to let it out and be able to put it out in a way that isn’t going to be violent or self-destructive.”
Thursday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Oliver will perform a medley of “Cowboys Don’t Cry” and “Life Goes On,” the latter of which is currently rising up Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart.
Evan Rachel Wood, who has accused Marilyn Manson of abuse, will detail her experience with domestic violence in a new documentary titled Phoenix Rising.
The first installment of the two-part film will premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, taking place virtually from January 20 to January 30. According to a description on the Sundance website, Phoenix Rising follows Wood as she “moves toward naming her infamous abuser for the first time.”
While the description does not mention him specifically, it is presumably referring to Manson, to whom Wood was once engaged. In a February 2021 social media post, Wood wrote that Manson, born Brian Warner, had “horrifically abused [her] for years.” Warner responded with a statement that did not mention Wood’s allegations specifically, only that “recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.”
Following Wood’s allegations, more women came forward with accusations of sexual, physical and mental abuse against Warner, including actor Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline, and Warner’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, all of whom filed lawsuits against him. Through lawyers, Warner has denied the allegations.
For anyone affected by abuse and needing support, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or if you’re unable to speak safely, you can log onto thehotline.org or text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474.
Billie Eilish and Harry Styles will headline Coachella 2022, along with Kanye West and Swedish House Mafia.
Billboardconfirmed the new lineup on Wednesday after Coachella had to slam on the brakes for the past two years. 2020’s festival was set to take place that April, but it was moved to October because of the pandemic before organizers decided to push it back a year. The rescheduled 2021 festival was also canceled because of COVID-19.
Travis Scott, Rage Against the Machine and Frank Ocean were set as the original headliners, but all three will no longer take to the stage in 2022. Travis was dropped from the lineup after 10 people died at his Astroworld concert in November and Frank Ocean will instead take over the Coachella stage in 2023.
This year’s festival is set to take place for two weekends in April, the 15th through the 17th, and then again on the 22nd through the 24th, in Indio, California. No further information regarding musical acts is being reported at this time.
Following Kodak Black‘s recent Jay-Z Verzuz challenge, Drake is showering praise upon the “Zeze”rapper.
“You really all that for this generation and the next one if we being honest,” Drizzy commented while Kodak was doing an Instagram Live session.
Back in 2018, Drake called Kodak’s Dying to Live one of his favorite albums of “the last five years.” He told the Florida MC, “Your purpose is so pure. … Like you are almost talking from this God level birds eye view of your own life. I wanna know how you broke that wall.”
In January 2020, Kodak suggested a collab album in Drake’s IG comments, saying, “I Am Your Biggest Fan Sir. … If We Can’t Do A Whole Album Together, I Never Want To Do A Song With You Sir.” When Kodak dropped his Haitian Boy album last year, the Champagne Papi responded, “Man you always give me that inspiration…Real POET…Oracle. … Man let’s do some music for sure. But for real you really on another level.”
Maddie & Taeshared an update this week about duo member Taylor Kerr, revealing that the singer has been in the hospital for the past month due to complications with her pregnancy.
Taylor shared a selfie from her hospital bed, with her singer-songwriter husband, Josh Kerr, in the background. Both are giving the camera a thumbs-up, despite their lengthy bed-rest ordeal.
“Today marks 1 month of being in the hospital,” the post’s caption reads. “T went in for a routine checkup at 24 weeks, then we were immediately admitted and we have been here ever since.”
The band assured fans that Taylor’s baby is doing well. “Our sweet girl is doing great, she is just a little more excited than she is ready to be in the world,” the post continues. “This hasn’t been easy but we’re leaning on God and trusting His plan. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.”
Back in December, Maddie & Tae postponed their 2022 tour plans, saying that Taylor was on bed rest per her doctor’s orders. The singer had previously announced her pregnancy in November. Taylor and Josh’s baby girl will be their first child, and she’s due in spring 2022.
Meanwhile, the duo have continued to share new music off their Through the Madness Vol. 1 project, which is due out January 28.
Adele started off her 2022 with a bang by releasing the music video for “Oh My God,” which is rife with symbolism and metaphors.
The most obvious reference is to the Garden of Eden with the video’s inclusion of apples, a snake and ring lights styled like halos. The clip starts with an apple positioned on an empty chair, symbolizing a temptation that haunts Adele throughout the song until she finally indulges herself with it.
In the song, the Grammy winner chants, “I know that it’s wrong, but I want to have fun,” giving a deeper meaning to the apple as it remains a constant theme while Adele keeps herself distracted by other activities. However, as people dance, jump and even sit on a horse — the singer does not participate and just continues to sing.
There are also moments that show multiple Adeles, which appear to symbolize her talking with herself and debating what action to take.
Adele only moves after she decides to bite into the apple, which happens at the end of the song, revealing how paralyzing that decision was for her to make. She then finally stands and walks off screen, with the apple in hand, after chewing contemplatively.
The video was directed by Sam Brown, who also helmed the 2011 “Rolling in the Deep” music video. Adele said working with Sam “was nostalgic to say the least,” adding, “We filmed this one on the day ‘Easy On Me’ dropped, there were a million things going on all at once.”
She also shouted out the “huge python” that starred in the video, saying she “skidaddled my ar** straight out of there” the moment she could make a break for it.
