Taylor Swift always does the right thing. After her song “All Too Well” broke the record for the lengthiest track ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, she sent a gift to the guy who’d held the record for the past 50 years: singer/songwriter Don McLean.
McLean, whose 1971 hit “American Pie” ran eight minutes and 36 seconds, was bested by Taylor, with “All Too Well” clocking in at 10:13. McLean tweeted a photo of the flowers and letter that Taylor sent him, and commented, “What a classy artist! Thank you @taylorswift13 for the flowers & note!“
In her letter, Taylor wrote, “Don, I will never forget that I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. Your music has been so important to me. Sending love [from] one writer of LONG SONGS to another. Your fan, Taylor.”
McLean, 76, said in a statement to ABC Audio last month, “Let’s face it, nobody ever wants to lose that #1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor.”
Taylor’s 10-minute-plus recording of “All Too Well” is featured as a bonus track on Red (Taylor’s Version), which she released on November 12.
After the photographers snapped some “embarrassing” snapshots of her, the pop star took to Instagram on Wednesday to air her grievances.
“I had a s****y day yesterday !!! Paps took pics of me coming out of a public bathroom ….. I mean how embarrassing is that ????” she wrote alongside a video of herself posing in front of a Christmas tree in different outfits, set to Madonna‘s “Vogue.”
The photos in question could be ones that TMZ posted of Britney, at a gas station in Los Angeles. However, that didn’t keep the “Toxic” singer down for long. She added that to cheer herself up after seeing the pictures she had a “party for confidence.”
“I swear if you have confidence struggles or low self esteem and need to practice walking with your head held high and kinda hunched over … you must try it,” she urged.
Britney also hit back at the paps in a later post, where she showed off her physique and posed with fiancé Sam Asghari while wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, distressed denim shorts, and red knee-high boots.
“Oh the precious joy today !!! Me and my fiancé are so excited to be going away …. as you can see I’m not 800 pounds like the paps have me in pics … I’ve been working out and it’s real,” she shared. “God thank you for being able to go out of the country !!!! I am blessed !!!!”
Carlos Santana has canceled all the December shows of his Las Vegas show at the House of Blues, because he’s recovering from what’s described as an “unscheduled heart procedure.”
The 74-year-old guitar legend tweeted a video in which he explains that last Saturday, he asked his wife to take him to the hospital because “I had this thing happening in my chest.”
“We found out that I need to take care of it, so I am,” Carlos goes on. “So I’m gonna be taking time out for a little bit to make sure that I replenish and I rest….so that when I play for you, I will play the way I’m used to and give you 150%. I wouldn’t show up unless I could do that.”
Santana will resume his shows in January of 2022. A statement from his manager further explains that Santana’s “procedure” “impacted his performance,” but adds that Carlos is “doing fantastic and is anxious to be back on stage soon.”
Santana has canceled all December 2021 at the House of Blues Las Vegas as he recovers from an unscheduled heart procedure. We look forward to returning to perform at the House Of Blues in January 2022. pic.twitter.com/8cHcVDjFhv
A summer of love has faded into a winter of heartbreak for Shawn Mendes.
On Wednesday, the 23-year-old released “It’ll Be Okay,” an emotional ballad, which comes shortly after his split from girlfriend and fellow singer Camila Cabello.
The piano-backed, slow tempo melody of the track is only overshadowed by the somber lyrics that detail the evolution of realizing the end of relationship. The song starts with Shawn questioning the situation as he sings, “Are we gonna make it? / Is this gonna hurt?”
By the end of the song, though, the Canadian singer seems to have come to terms with what is inevitable, that “the future we dreamed of is fading to black.”
He sings in the chorus, “If you tell me you’re leaving / I’ll make it easy / It’ll be okay / If we can’t stop the bleeding / We don’t have to fix it / We don’t have to stay / I will love you either way.”
Shawn first teased “It’ll Be Okay” on Tuesday, sharing a 12-second clip of the song to Instagram. In a following post he wrote, “It feels like I [haven’t] truly connected with you guys in a while. I miss you [white heart emoji] I hope you love this song.”
The sentimental record comes just two weeks after Shawn and Camila announced that they were breaking up after two years together.
“Hey guys, we’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for one another as humans is stronger than ever,” the “Señorita” collaborators shared in announcements on their respective Instagram Stories.
“[W]e started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends,” they continued. “[W]e so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”
In September, The Scorpions announced that their long-awaited new studio album, Rock Believer, was due out on February 11, 2022, but the release date recently was pushed back to February 25.
This week, Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine and guitarist Rudolf Schenker shared some details about the album during a Zoom interview with Chile’s Radio Futuro.
Asked what fans can expect when they hear the new material, Meine said, “Well, you can expect an album that is dedicated to all the rock believers in the world…The goal was to make a rock album — to make an album with lots of attitude, power and focus on the good old times and really enjoy the music and have some fun with the music.”
Talking about the meaning of the album’s title, Schenker said, “Look, we [have been] around the world since 50 years or more. And [if] somebody can say he’s a rock believer, then this is us. And of course, we meet our rock believers in front of us, our audience.”
Meine told Radio Futuro that “Peacemaker” exemplified a lot of the tunes on the new record, noting, “It is an uptempo rock song, and this album really rocks…There are many uptempo songs and, believe it or not, there are even faster songs than ‘Peacemaker.'”
In addition, the singer revealed, “There’s also a very beautiful ballad on the album, and I’m sure there are fans out there [who] especially love the Scorpions ballads, and they will enjoy this record as well very much.”
As if she didn’t already have enough to celebrate, Britney Spears turns the big 4-0 today, December 2. Within the past few weeks, Britney’s 13-year-long conservatorship was finally ended, and it appears that wedding plans with fiance Sam Asghari are proceeding quickly. The mom of two is even thinking about having another baby.
A few days ago, Britney teased on Instagram, “Guess what???? My b-day is coming soon!!!!” And while we don’t know how she’s planning to spend her special day, let’s celebrate her by highlighting just a few of her many accomplishments.
–Last year, Rolling Stonenamed Britney’s “…Baby One More Time” the Greatest Debut Single of All Time.
–Britney has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling artists of all time. She’s also the best-selling female albums artist of the 2000s.
–Britney’s scored five number-one singles and six number-one albums. Her second album, Oops!…I Did It Again, set the record for the highest debut-week sales by a female artist, with 1.39 million. That record stood until Adele‘s 25 broke it in 2015.
–Her honors include an American Music Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, a Grammy, six MTV VMAs, six People’s Choice Awards, 12 Teen Choice Awards and the GLAAD Vanguard Award, among dozens more.
–Britney’s line of signature perfumes, now numbering more than 20, has made over $1.5 billion.
–Britney’s Las Vegas residency Piece of Me grossed nearly $138 million and won multiple awards.
–Among the TV shows Britney has appeared in over the years: Will & Grace, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, The Simpsons, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Jane the Virgin. She was also a judge on The X Factor‘s second season.
Asked to send Britney a birthday wish, her old pal Joey Fatone from *NSYNC tells ABC Audio, “To Britney: Happy 40th birthday! Have fun, enjoy, be safe. You need to party your a** off!”
“Not too crazy,” he adds. “But party your a** off in the sense of, to have your freedom, to have fun, to be able to enjoy yourself and do what the hell you wanna do…obviously, within reason! So Britney, happy 40th birthday and enjoy!”
–Britney’s first movie, 2002’s Crossroads, written by Shonda Rhimes and co-starring Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning and Dan Aykroyd, was a box-office hit.
–Britney is a doting mother to her teenage sons Sean Preston and Jayden James, and wrote this year, “I’m so incredibly blessed to have these two little men in my life.”
Eddie Vedder has announced a 2022 U.S. tour with his solo band, Earthlings.
The outing will begin February 3-4 with a two-night stand in New York City, and will wrap up with a pair of dates in Pearl Jam‘s hometown of Seattle February 21-22.
Tickets will only be available through the Pearl Jam Ten Club and the Ticketmaster Verified Fan program. Registration for either sale is open now through December 5 at 5 p.m. PT.
Along with Vedder, Earthlings includes Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, ex-RHCP guitarist and current Pearl Jam touring member Josh Klinghoffer, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, singer-songwriter and Once star Glen Hansard, and guitarist/producer Andrew Watt. The group made their debut at Vedder’s Ohana Festival in September.
Earthlings take their name from Vedder’s upcoming solo album Earthling, due out February 11, 2022. The record includes the previously released singles “Long Way” and “The Haves.”
Last month, The Black Crowes played a special two-night Las Vegas engagement at the House of Blues, and now the veteran rockers have announced plans to return to the venue in February 2022 for a pair of new concerts.
The band’s residency, dubbed The Black Crowes: Twice as Hard, will take place on February 11 and February 12, and will feature the group — led by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson — playing their biggest hits, as well favorites from the band’s 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. The concerts will be held just before Super Bowl LVI, which is scheduled for Sunday, February 13, at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.
Tickets for the new Vegas shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, December 3, at 10 a.m. PT. Black Crowes band, Live Nation and MGM pre-sale offers are all available now. Visit the group’s official website and social media pages and Ticketmaster.com for more details.
Besides the Las Vegas gigs, Chris and Rich Robinson are scheduled to perform as their Brothers of a Feather duo incarnation on January 15 at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. The Black Crowes also are part of the 2022 Stagecoach Festival lineup and are slated to play that event on May 1 in Indio, California.
Maxwell croons for an erotic encounter with the lady he’s missing as he finds himself alone in a vast desert in the video for his new single, “Off.” The sensual track is the first release from his upcoming BLACKsummers’NIGHT album, coming out spring of 2022.
As previously reported, the three-time Grammy winner received the Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards, which aired Sunday night on BET. In accepting the honor, he said, “The radio was the window to my dreams. And to be able to stand here before all of you and to be part of the community of R&B and soul music is truly the award that I’ve always wished for, but this literally is blowing my entire mind.”
Maxwell also performed a medley of his hits on the show, including “… Til the Cops Come Knockin’,” “Bad Habits,” “Lifetime,” “Sumthin’ Sumthin’,” “Ascension,” and “Off.”
The “Fortunate” singer will headline the NIGHT tour in 2022 featuring Anthony Hamilton and Joe. They will perform 25 shows, beginning March 2 in Dallas. Other cities will include New Orleans, Charlotte, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, and Oakland, and the tour will wrap up in Miami on May 8. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketmaster.com.
Double Soul Train Awards winner Jazmine Sullivan is taking her Heaux Tales on the road.
The “Need U Bad” singer announced that she will headline The Heaux Tales Tour, named after her latest album, which will kick off in February 2022.
“Ask and you shall receive. The Heaux Tales Tour is finally here. I can’t wait to see all of you there,” Jazmine commented as she revealed the tour itinerary on Instagram. She will perform 34 shows, beginning Valentine’s Day, February 14, in Vancouver, Canada, followed by a show February 15 in Portland, Oregon. Other tour stops include Oakland, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit. The trek wraps up March 30 in Chicago.
Pre-sale began Wednesday on Ticketmaster.com, and the public sale starts this Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
Sullivan won Album of the Year for Heaux Tales, and the Best R&B/Soul Female Artist honor, at the 2021 Soul Train Music Awards, which aired Sunday from the Apollo Theater in New York City. Last week, she was nominated for three Grammys: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” and Best R&B Album for Heaux Tales.
![Scorpions’ Klaus Meine says band wanted new album ‘Rock Believer’ to have “lots of attitude [and] power”](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2021-12-01/M_ScorpionsRockBeliever630_120121.jpeg "Scorpions’ Klaus Meine says band wanted new album ‘Rock Believer’ to have “lots of attitude [and] power”")
