Music

Anderson .Paak announced Friday he is hosting his annual .Paak House charity holiday event for the first time in his Oxnard, California hometown.

The Grammy winner will perform with his group, The Free Nationals, and he will also present special surprise entertainment at the event on December 22. Anthony Anderson, Ty Dolla $ign, Snoh Aalegra, Jhené Aiko, Raphael Saadiq, Goapele, The Game, Schoolboy Q, Cordae, and Thundercat are among the celebrities who have appeared in the past.

“After a long year of studio sessions, promotional tours, and award shows, I’m excited to give back to the community. This year we are going to give Oxnard something they can remember for a lifetime,” Anderson said in a statement. “We can’t wait to see you all at .Paak House 2021!”

Tickets are on-sale now on the event website. For those not able to attend in person, .Paak House will be livestreamed.

This will be the fourth annual .Paak House, presented by the 35-year-old-singer’s Brandon Anderson Foundation. The event previously raised over half a million dollars toward community initiatives and served over 3,000 families providing them with basic hygiene care, food, toiletries, clothing, school supplies, and more.

Paak has released four solo albums, with his latest, Ventura, dropping in 2019. As a member of the duo Silk Sonic, with Bruno Mars, their debut single, “Leave The Door Open,” is up for four Grammy Awards:
Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Performance.

The smash hit also won an American Music Award for Favorite R&B Song, and Soul Train Awards for Song of the Year and Video of the Year.

 

 

 

 

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Halsey has released the sticky, sweet performance video for the song “Honey” off her album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.

In the clip, filmed live in Los Angeles, Halsey performs the upbeat tune in a white lace dress. Midway through the song, they begin to literally cover themselves in honey. By the end of the song, Halsey’s dancing around, completely covered in it.

Earlier this week, the singer hinted on Twitter that they’re thinking about not releasing any more music. When one fan suggested what their new “era” should be, Halsey responded, “Bold of you to assume I’m gonna make more music.”

They later explained why they’re considering hanging up their music career, writing, “im highly sensitive since having my child and I want to protect him from having to read or hear unnecessary things about me in the future considering I have 0 control over what people say about me and he didn’t ask to receive that volume of info so I do think about it sometimes.”

Halsey added, “Perhaps I will learn to stop spilling my guts and become the reclusive homestead farmer I was always meant to be. Write lots of books that I won’t let anyone publish till I die. Probably not. but if it happens, here’s the foreshadowing.”

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Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho was reportedly hospitalized with a “non COVID-related, treatable health issue.”

That’s according to the U.K.’s Sin City Swansea venue, where the “Judas” rockers were scheduled to play Friday.

“We were devastated to learn that Fozzy will have to cancel their planned date with us,” reads a statement posted to the club’s Facebook. The post also says that the venue received a message from Fozzy reading, “Chris was checked into hospital by doctors, with a non COVID related, treatable health issue.”

Fozzy also posted a statement on their own social media, writing that “due to circumstances beyond our control,” they will not be playing the Swansea gig. The statement made no mention of Jericho’s condition, though a rep for the band tells People that Chris is “feeling much better” and will “hopefully will be out of the hospital quickly.”

Fozzy had just announced the details of their new album Boombox earlier Friday. The record, due out April 15, includes the singles “Sane” and “Nowhere to Run.”

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Elvis Costello has released another track from his forthcoming album with The Imposters, The Boy Named If, due out January 14.

The new song, “Paint the Red Rose Blue,” is out now, and Costello describes it as “the account of someone who has long-courted theatrical darkness, only for its violence and cruelty to become all too real.”

“In its wake, a bereft couple learn to love again, painting a melancholy blue over the red of romance,” he adds.
    
As previously reported, in addition to the usual formats, The Boy Named If will also be available as an 88-page “hardback storybook edition,” each copy of which will be signed and numbered by Elvis.  It’ll feature 13 illustrated short stories, each one based on one of the album’s songs.

While he’s always been prolific, Costello’s been releasing albums at a steady clip since the start of the pandemic, beginning with Hey Clockface in October of 2020.  This past March, he put out an EP featuring new versions of six songs from that album sung in French by various people, including Iggy Pop. 

Then in September, Costello released Spanish Model, a Spanish-language version of his 1978 album This Year’s Model featuring famous Latin music artists.

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Alicia Keys released her eighth studio album, a double album, simply titled, KEYS. The 26-track project features Khalid, Lucky Daye, Lil Wayne, Brandi Carlile, Pusha T, and Swae Lee. The 15-time Grammy winner offers a dual audio experience; an Originals side with new songs, and an Unlocked side which samples the original tracks. Alicia also dropped a new video, “Old Memories,” on Friday, and performed via livestream at the Dubai UAE Infinite Nights concert series. 

Rick Ross dropped his 11th studio album, Richer Than I Ever Been, the follow-up to his 2019 Port of Miami. Wiz Khalifa, The-Dream, Bennie the Butcher, Wale, Future, and DreamDoll are among the stars featured on the 12 tracks. Also on Friday, Ricky Rozay released the video for “Outlawz” featuring Jazmine Sullivan and 21 Savage.   

Following the first Juice WRLD Day Thursday which was livestreamed from the United Center in Chicago, Fighting Demons, WRLD’s fourth studio album, dropped Friday featuring collaborations with Justin Bieber, Trippie Redd, SUGA of BTS, and Polo G. This second posthumous album is the follow-up to 2020’s Legends Never Die which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The late Juice WRLD will be remembered with the HBO documentary, Into the Abyss, debuting December 16. 

Finally, Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman and YoungBoy Never Broke Again have teamed for the 13-track duo mixtape, From The Bayou. Birdman, who launched the careers of Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj, recently predicted that YoungBoy can be the best MC in five years, saying, “I think NBA YoungBoy might be the biggest rapper.”

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AJR‘s Adam Met is certainly ending 2021 with a “Bang!”

The oldest member of the brother trio has earned his PhD from the U.K.’s University of Birmingham. The band announced the news in a tweet Thursday, alongside a photo of Adam holding a copy of his thesis, which is titled Stakeholder Approaches to Human Rights and Development in the Commercial Context.

“Introducing…Dr. Adam Met,” the caption reads. “After years of study, he officially has his PhD.”

Adam’s academic pursuits were previously highlighted in a 2019 New York Times article, which mentioned he was “PhD candidate in international human rights law.”

In addition to officially becoming a Doctor of Philosophy this year, Adam’s 2021 included releasing the new AJR album OK ORCHESTRA, which dropped in March. The record includes the singles “Bang!” and “Way Less Sad.”

Introducing… Dr. Adam Met. After years of study, he officially has his PhD. @AdamAJRbrothers pic.twitter.com/4njG7yStXG

— AJR (@AJRBrothers) December 9, 2021

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Former Flyleaf frontwoman Lacey Sturm has released a new solo single called “Awaken Love.”

The track was co-written by Skillet‘s Korey Cooper. You can download it now via digital outlets.

“Awaken Love” is Sturm’s second song of 2021, following February’s “State of Me.” She released her first and, so far, only solo album, Life Screams, in 2016.

Sturm sang on Flyleaf’s first three albums before leaving the group in 2012. She was replaced by vocalist Kristen May, who then left Flyleaf in 2016. The band’s been on hiatus since.

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