Music

Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood, Kane Brown and Cody Johnson are the final three nominees for Video of the Year at the CMT Awards. 

Jason and Carrie are up for their chart-topping duet, “If I Didn’t Love You,” Kane is nominated for his hit, “One Mississippi,” and Cody scored a nod for his first #1 single, “Til You Can’t.” Fans can vote for their favorite now on Twitter. The winner will be revealed during tonight’s broadcast. 

Gabby Barrett has also been added to the star-studded lineup of performers that includes all of the Video of the Year nominees, as well as Carly Pearce, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and more. 

Additionally, Faith Hill is set to present the award for the Video of the Year alongside her 1883 costar, Isabel May. This marks the first time the country legend has appeared at the show since 2010. Craig Morgan, model Lily Aldridge and former NFL player Mike Singletary will also present awards throughout the night.

Kelsea Ballerini, who has tested positive for COVID-19, will co-host the show remotely from home with actor Anthony Mackie, who will be live from Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. Kane will fill in for Kelsea in person when the CMT Awards air on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.

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The next missive from the Prince of Darkness is upon us: Ozzy Osbourne‘s new solo album is done.

In a tweet over the weekend, the Black Sabbath frontman revealed, “I’m so happy to let everyone know that I finished my new album this week and delivered it to my label [Epic Records].”

“I’ll be sharing all the information about the album and its upcoming release with you in the next several weeks,” Ozzy added.

The upcoming record will be the follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man, which marked Osbourne’s first solo effort in 10 years. Like Ordinary Man, the album will be produced by Andrew Watt, and features Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who recently revealed a number of other guests on the record, including Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde and Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo.

Watt also previously shared that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins played on the album, as well, but that was before Hawkins’ unexpected death last month.

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Kelsea Ballerini will no longer host the CMT Awards in person after testing positive for COVID-19. 

A statement from CMT on Monday morning confirms that Kelsea, who was supposed to host the show with actor Anthony Mackie live from Nashville, has contracted the virus and will be co-hosting remotely. Kane Brown, who co-hosted the show with Kelsea last year, will fill in for her during the in-person ceremony at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.  

“I am devastated. I’m gutted. But the good news is that I’m feeling a lot better,” Kelsea shared in a video posted to Instagram, revealing that CMT brought part of set to her house where she’s quarantining so she can still host and perform.

“It is certainly not what we expected or planned for, but we are doing our damn best,” she adds with a smile. “Let’s make some lemonade together out of these very bitter lemons.”

The CMT Awards air tonight on CBS at 8 p.m. ET. 

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A pair of rock artists went through some big life events over the weekend.

Jack White not only got engaged to his longtime partner, Olivia Jean, they also got married. Immediately after he proposed to her during his concert in Detroit last Friday, White and Jean were officially wed in a onstage ceremony officiated by Third Man Records co-founder Ben Swank.

White celebrated the news in an Instagram post featuring a photo of himself alongside Jean immediately after the surprise proposal. In the caption, he wrote, “Let’s get married in a big cathedral by a priest,” a lyric from the beloved White Stripes song “Hotel Yorba.”

The same day of White’s wedding, Twenty One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph welcomed his second child with wife Jenna Black.

“New baby arrived yesterday,” Joseph wrote in a tweet Saturday. “I had a great time.”

The tweet includes a photo of Joseph beaming over an exhausted Black as she holds the newborn.

Joseph added, “Already named her, but still open for suggestions.”

Black gave birth to her and Joseph’s first kid, Rosie Robert Joseph, in February 2020.

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Olivia Rodrigo is the Songwriter of the Year.  That’s according to the performance-rights organization ASCAP, which has handed out its annual Pop Music Awards.

Olivia, who just won several Grammys and Kids’ Choice Awards, won Songwriter of the Year because of the success of the songs from her debut album, SOUR: specifically, “drivers license,” “deja vu” and “good 4 u.”

Meanwhile, Dua Lipa‘s hit “Levitating” has been named the ASCAP Pop Music Awards’ Song of the Year, thanks to its status as one of the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 Hits of All Time. 

ASCAP also honored a list of songs as ‘Most Performed,’ based on data from terrestrial and satellite radio, as well as on-demand audio streams, provided by Luminate, formerly PMRC Data.  Those songs include Silk Sonic‘s “Leave the Door Open,” Duncan Laurence‘s “Arcade,” Maroon 5′s “Beautiful Mistakes,” Justin Bieber‘s “Peaches,” The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears,”  and Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI‘s “Stay.”

The winners will be celebrated starting April 11 through April 14 on ASCAP’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds.

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Last month, Maddie & Tae band mate Taylor Kerr and her husband Josh finally brought home their “miracle baby,” Leighton Grace, after a 53-day stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Leighton was born on January 17, three months earlier than planned, and to celebrate her due date last week, Taylor uploaded a 22-minute video to YouTube to share her complete birth story with fans.

In addition to detailing her lengthy hospital stay and the emotional and scary journey to welcoming her first daughter, Taylor shared the story behind Leighton’s name, which she and Josh hadn’t quite settled on when they checked into the hospital.

“Her middle name is Grace because God’s grace is all over her story, and she’s not even here yet,” Taylor explained from her hospital bed, during a month-long period of bed rest leading up to the birth.

“Josh and I really had a hard time deciding on the name. I fully expected to give birth to her and have to see her and feel her presence to be able to officially name her,” the singer continues. “…But the day we got admitted to the hospital, Josh and I both were like, ‘We need something tangible, to solidify this beautiful little girl.”

They also knew fans were praying for baby Leighton, and “we really wanted people to call her by name when they prayed for her,” Taylor goes on to say. “So we just felt really convicted to name her.”

In music news, Maddie & Tae released their latest album, Through the Madness Vol. 1, in January.

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Kelsea Ballerini’s co-hosting this year’s CMT Music Awards with actor Anthony Mackie, and the singer says she learned how to host an awards show from the best: Dolly Parton.

“I mean, Dolly is the best,” Kelsea gushes to ABC Audio. “She’s all personality. She sets the tone for everybody to feel ready to celebrate community, and that’s always been the energy I’ve gotten from this show. It’s celebratory, it’s community, it’s all about the fans.”

Kelsea got an up-close look at Dolly’s hosting style during last month’s ACM Awards, where she performed a duet with the country legend. Dolly shared host duties with Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett at the ACMs.

“I feel like I’ve taken a lot of notes from Dolly this year,” Kelsea goes on to say.

But as much as she’s focusing on her hosting gig, the singer’s also looking forward to having a front-row seat for some truly epic performances.

“The Judds [are performing for the first time in] 20 years? That’s insane. It was just announced that Little Big Town, Jimmie Allen and Monica are performing together? Like, what?” Kelsea goes on to say, pointing out that unexpected live moments and team-ups are part of what makes this show special.

“It’s not just the songs you’ve heard on the radio for the last year. It’s album cuts. It’s new songs. It’s collaborations,” she elaborates. “It’s a true snapshot of what’s going on in country music.”

Tune in to the CMT Music Awards tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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While “Heat Waves” was in the middle of its historic run to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Glass Animals released a new single called “I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance).” Speaking to ABC Audio, frontman Dave Bayley describes the latter tune as a “one-off” ahead of starting another album.

“When I start making a record, it really is all-consuming,” Bayley says. “There’s lots of themes, all the songs tie together in a certain way, there’s all the artwork and the artwork ties into the music, and then there’s the stage show that goes with it, and that ties into the music. It’s really quite a complex, long-winded thing.”

Having released Glass Animals’ latest record, Dreamland, in 2020, Bayley is preparing for the “daunting” prospect of “diving straight back into another album project.” Releasing “I Don’t Wanna Talk,” Bayley says, is part of gearing up for that process.

“I’ve always made a point of making something very quickly and then releasing it very quickly, ’cause it just breaks that pressure immediately, and that’s where [‘I Don’t Wanna Talk’] came from,” he explains. “Actually, the song is kind of about breaking that pressure.”

While Bayley hasn’t actively started the new album process for a Dreamland follow-up, he can’t help but think of new ideas.

“I do kinda have little bits,” Bayley says. “It never stops, really. I always feel like I’m just about to fall asleep and I’m feeling really comfy in bed, and then, boom, there’s an idea, and I have to, like, get up and get the microphone out.”

He adds, “It’s a good thing, I know, that that happens. I dread the day when that stops happening.”

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