Music

At the Grammys Sunday night, Doja Cat and SZA won Best Pop Vocal Performance Duo or Group for their hit collab “Kiss Me More.” While Doja made it to the stage to accept the award — barely — she didn’t make it backstage to talk to supporters.  But SZA — who was juggling crutches and a Grammy backstage after falling out of bed — took the opportunity to rave about her collaborator.

“She’s a star. And like, literally the first thing I asked her [was] ‘How do you write? What’s your process?'” SZA said of Doja. “I love people who write, and it’s something about the way that she just kinda like freestyles genuine things from her brain. And when I write, I freestyle everything too. So it was just crazy to meet somebody who even works similarly.”

“But I think she’s like, so masterful at what she does,” SZA continued. “I’ve just been able to really, like, admire just her powerhouse-ness and the way that she just, like, emotes from the brain, from the top.”

SZA also said backstage that she’s just finished what will be her second studio album.

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Britney Spears spoke out against her family in a scathing Instagram caption, which she promptly edited out moments later.

Speaking about how her mother Lynne Spears, “Thrived on drama,” the Grammy winner claimed she would be kept up all night because her parents would shout at each other “from the rooftops” when she was a child.

“No lie !!!  All night long arguing with a drunk man who couldn’t even talk … Why ???,” she marveled, adding “Traditionally, growing up going to therapy WHERE I COME FROM is looked down on !!!  I mean MY PARENTS never went to therapy, they THRIVED AND LIVED WITH DRAMA every day.”

Britney then discussed her own experiences with therapy, revealing she is “extremely embarrassed to talk about my personal life.”  Referencing her 13-year conservatorship, she added, “That’s why forcing me so long to talk in therapy has never been my style yet at this point … my family has broken me so much I do need a little therapy.”

Britney again slammed the books her mother and little sister, Jamie Lynn, recently published.  “We are entitled to our own story but this drama is the devil,” she said and hinted that those books are more than just “a little gossip.”‘ 

“I am not the type of person to air dirty laundry but I’m sure as hell not going to sit back and be my family’s,” she declared. “My family again I will SAY IT … took it way too far with me I’m still not done.”  She also hinted that the stories she has yet to tell will “blow the f***ing house down !!!”

Britney has since switched gears on Instagram and instead has been showing videos of her relaxing trip to Maui as well as video updates of her new puppy, Sawyer.

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Michael Bublé admits he was ready to walk away from his music career in 2016 when his young son, Noah, was diagnosed with liver cancer.  Noah has been in remission since 2017, but Michael revealed what was stolen from him during that scary time.

“I didn’t think I’d ever perform again. Never,” Michael told the U.K.’s The Telegraph. It wasn’t even on my radar.”

Michael said he was so affected by his son’s diagnosis, “I wasn’t even singing in the shower” because he poured all his energy into “taking care of my family and protecting my mental health.”

Following the good news that Noah beat liver cancer, Michael said it took him a long time to recover mentally and emotionally from that dark period in his life.  He was encouraged to return to music and, in 2018, released Love.

“I limped back on that last record,” the Canadian singer confessed. “There was no way I was ready. I was still a wreck.” 

Michael explained how deeply he was affected when recalling a moment in July 2018 when the pressure became too much. He had finished performing at London’s Hyde Park and admits he “was a mess” once he walked off stage. “I always felt like I was Teflon, there was never a moment that could get the better of me. I was a centered, focused machine on stage,” he explained. “For the first time in my whole career, I couldn’t hide emotionally. But it was beautiful. I realized I didn’t have that protective mechanism any more. And I felt free.”

Michael is glad he continued his singing, calling his career “a privilege” and “a joy.”

His new album, Higher, is out now.

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Miranda Lambert gave fans the ultimate treat with a surprise performance at her Nashville bar, Casa Rosa. 

In lieu of attending the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, Miranda instead headed down to Broadway to watch her friend and backup singer, Gwen Sebastian, and new country artist Krystal Steel perform live at Casa Rosa. The hit singer shared a video on Instagram Stories of Gwen singing a cover of her early hit, “Kerosene.” But Miranda wasn’t merely a bystander, as she also hopped onstage for a surprise appearance.

Video captured by fans who were at Casa Rosa show Miranda delivering a performance of her current radio hit with Elle King, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” to a packed house that loudly sang along with her.    

Casa Rosa opened in 2021, making Miranda the first female country artist to own a bar and restaurant on Nashville’s Broadway, following in the footsteps of her peers Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan and others.

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Wet Leg has premiered a new song called “Ur Mum.”

While the duo sings about assigning someone to worry your mother on their breakout hit “Chaise Longue,” “Ur Mum” opens with the line, “When I think about what you’ve become, I feel sorry for your mum.”

“I was pretty angry at the way things had gone in this particular dynamic,” Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale says of the relationship that inspired “Ur Mum.” “It’s just a diss song I wrote to make myself feel better. It worked.”

You can listen to “Ur Mum” now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video is streaming now on YouTube.

Both “Ur Mum” and “Chaise Longue” will appear on Wet Leg’s upcoming self-titled debut album, which drops this Friday, April 8.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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The Weeknd wasn’t at the Grammy Awards Sunday night, following last year’s controversy when his smash hit album After Hours failed to snag a single nod.  Instead, he took to Twitter and ignored music’s biggest night.

To recap why the Weeknd paid the Grammys no mind on Sunday, rumors claim the Recording Academy gave him an ultimatum last year: perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show or the Grammy Awards, not both.  

The Weekend chose the Super Bowl and when After Hours was famously snubbed, that sparked rumors the Academy did so out of spite.  Following the controversy, The Weeknd vowed to never submit any of his work for consideration and called for a boycott of the Grammy Awards.

The singer kept his word and, instead of celebrating Sunday night’s winners, spent the day interacting with his fans on Twitter and promoting his upcoming “Out of Time” music video.  He, his birth name Abel Tesfaye and his songs soon became trending topics. 

“Wow what a day … today belongs to us,” The Weekend tweeted in celebration.

Because Abel was trending, the singer jokingly mulled over ditching his stage name.  “Maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL. no last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. I don’t know it seems like a lot,” he proposed, which caused fans to beg him to release an album titled Abel.

The Weeknd also floated the idea of going as the artist “[formerly] known as The Weeknd,” responding to a reply by John Legend that “ABEL is dope” by saying he’s “tempted” by the idea.

Ironically, The Weeknd did pick up a Grammy Sunday, thanks to YE: Their “Hurricane” collab won Best Melodic Rap Performance.

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Metallica has announced a $500,000 donation to the World Central Kitchen Ukraine Relief Fund to kick off the band’s annual Month of Giving charity initiative.

The money will support World Central Kitchen in its efforts to provide meals to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of their home country.

“The work that [WCK founder] Chef José Andrés and the dedicated World Central Kitchen cooks do on the frontlines in a humanitarian crisis is nothing short of incredible,” says Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. “We are inspired, humbled, and beyond proud to support their teams currently in six European countries serving the millions of Ukrainians who have been forced to leave their homes.”

The drummer adds, “WCK represents everything that Metallica and our All Within My Hands foundation stand for by providing meals with dignity and hope worldwide.”

Metallica first launched their Month of Giving campaign in 2020. This year’s program will last over two months, from now through May 31.

Metallica will continue to raise funds for WCK through exclusive merch through their website, as well as various auctions and raffles, one of which will offer the guitars James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett will play during the band’s upcoming Metallica Night with the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

For more info, visit Metallica.com.

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According to a Variety report, Kanye West has pulled out as a performer at the upcoming Coachella music and arts festival. 

The rapper is scheduled as a headliner and was set to close out the April 17th and 24th Sunday shows. Artists Doja Cat, Ari Lennox and many others are also slated to perform both Sundays, and rapper Travis Scott was recently rumored to join Ye’s performance. It doesn’t seem like that will actually happen either, says Variety. 

As of now, the reason for Ye’s cancellation is unknown.

The news comes a few days after Page Six reported that Ye has agreed to “stop harassing” his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, and boyfriend Pete Davidson and that due to his recent social media public outbursts, he is “going away to get help.” 

“For the sake of the kids, Kanye has told Kim he’s not making any public appearances or inflammatory social media statements, and he will go away somewhere to get better,” a source told Page Six.

When the recent news broke that Kim Kardashian was legally declared single, a rep for Kanye said, “At this time, Ye is committed to a healthy co-parenting relationship with Kim and is focused on raising their beautiful children.”

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