Music

Tasha Cobbs Leonard is up for three BET Awards this year, and she doesn’t take the nominations lightly. Speaking to People, she said she’s grateful for the recognition from her community.

“Any nomination is just mind-blowing,” she said. “When you’re doing a creative work musically, you expect people to listen to the music, enjoy the music. But then you have nominations like the BET Awards where now my peers and people who understand what it takes to create these works have noticed that there was something special about this album.”

Tasha has two songs nominated for best gospel/inspirational artist — “Church” featuring John Legend and “Already Good (Tasha Slide).” She’s also been nominated for the BET Her Award. Tasha be at the show in LA on Sunday, where she hopes to meet Teyana Taylor.

“One of my fashion mentors is Teyana Taylor,” she said. “I would love, love, love to tell her that she’s such an inspiration.”

She continued, “Sometimes people think you’re just putting on clothes, but for some of us, it’s inspiring just to see someone get dressed in the way she has, a creative way.”

Teyana is also nominated for a few BET Awards, including best actress, video of the year for Escape Room (Short Film) and the fashion vanguard award.

The BET Awards air live on BET at 8 p.m. ET and reair at 8 p.m. PT.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Chris Young’s Famous Friends officially opened Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Midtown Nashville.  

Located at 1516A Demonbreun St., the sports bar takes its name from his #1 hit from 2021 with Kane Brown.

“This has been a passion project of mine for a long time,” Chris says. “I’ve talked about opening a bar for years, and I wanted to create a true sports bar that still feels like a great place to hang out—even when there’s not a game on. At Famous Friends, we have the ability to show up to seven different games at once, so fans never have to miss the action.”

Opening week kicked off Monday with a VIP celebration for friends, fellow artists, athletes and entertainment personalities. Breland and Shaylen, who both appear on the deluxe edition of Chris’ I Didn’t Come Here to Leave album, were in attendance, as well as husband-and-wife artists Mitchell Tenpenny and Meghan Patrick.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Eric Church, Ella Langley, Kacey Musgraves, The Carter Family, Bill Anderson, Brett James, Landman, C2C: Country to Country and Mike Curb are among those who’ll step into the spotlight Aug. 19 at the 19th Academy of Country Music Honors. 

Carly Pearce will host the show for the sixth year, with Parker McCollum joining her for the first time. 

Brett and the Carters will posthumously get the ACM Poet’s Award for songwriting, while Eric’s picking up the ACM Lifting Lives Award for his work in service to others. Kacey’s getting the ACM Spirit Award, which was inspired by Merle Haggard.

Whisperin’ Bill and the Curb Records founder will both receive the ACM Icon Award. Ella will officially get her ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year trophy, which she won at May’s 61st ACMs in Vegas.

C2C’s getting the ACM International Award, while Landman‘s winning the ACM Film Award.

The ACM Studio Recording Awards and Industry Awards will be revealed the week of July 6. 

Tickets for the Aug. 19 show at The Pinnacle in Nashville go on sale to the public Friday, with presales underway now. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kenny Chesney’s launching his first album from his new label, HEY NOW Records, from Silver Sands Marina on Sept. 25. 

The new collection was produced by the superstar and his longtime collaborator, Buddy Cannon. It features its lead single, “Carry On,” which is one spot away from country’s top 10. 

“I love everything about music, but especially how it makes you feel,” Kenny says. “It can crack open a tough moment, lift you up, blow you up and make you laugh harder than anything. When I started thinking about all the things music can be, a few songs came in – and Silver Springs Marina, as it now exists, took shape. Some great players, guests who really fit the songs, but especially some places I’ve never gone.”

Megan Moroney, Colbie Caillat and Lily Meola all collab with Kenny on his 21st album, which he’ll promote July 15 on TalkShopLive, the exclusive home for autographed copies of the record. 

The title track of Silver Sands Marina is out now. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Beabadoobee has announced a new album called Pylon.

The fourth studio effort from the “Beaches” artist is due out Sept. 18. It’s the follow-up to 2024’s This Is How Tomorrow Moves.

The first single off Pylon is called “Sun Has Set” and is accompanied by a video on YouTube. The record also includes contributions from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Deftones’ Chino Moreno. 

Along with the album, beabadoobee has announced a U.S. headlining tour, running from Oct. 1 in Uncasville, Connecticut, to Oct. 29 in Seattle. The trek includes a date at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 5.

Presales begin June 29 at 10 a.m. local time, and tickets go on sale to the general public on July 2 at 10 a.m. local time.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit beabadoobee.com.

Here’s the Pylon track list:
“Pylon”
“Sun Has Set”
“Estranged”
“Switchblade”
“Write Me a Letter”
“It’s Alright”
“In Motion”
“Memories”
“Nothing to Prove”
“Radio”
“Powerlines”
“Spark”
“Despite That”
“Satellite”

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Arin Ray is headed on the road for his Limbo tour, which supports his upcoming album of the same name. 

The tour begins Sept. 25 at the Crown Hill Theatre in New York and wraps Oct. 11 at The Rink in Sacramento. Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles are also on the schedule, which has 10 shows in total.

A local presale is underway, with general ticket sales beginning Friday at 10 a.m. local time. “Omw to you,” Arin wrote on Instagram, alongside the tour poster.

The announcement of the tour comes days after the release of Arin’s “Sweet Thang,” the lead single to Limbo. 

Limbo is set to arrive on Friday.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

One has an Oscar and one doesn’t. But now they’ll both get to vote for who wins Oscars in the future.

Sara Bareilles and HUNTR/X singer EJAE are among the 529 people The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited to join its ranks as members. EJAE is one of several songwriters who won the 2026 best original song Oscar for co-writing the KPop Demon Hunters smash “Golden.” 

Sara has never been nominated for an Oscar, but she has written songs for films that have been. Most recently, she co-wrote “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” for the Oscar-nominated documentary Come See Me in the Good Light.

Sara and EJAE were invited to join the songwriters branch of the academy. Some of the actors who’ve been invited to join this year include Jacob Elordi, Julia Garner, Josh Gad, Jon Bernthal, Teyana Taylor, Jenna Ortega and Josh O’Connor.

If all of the people invited decide to accept their membership, the total amount of academy members will increase to 11,319, including emeritus. The number of voting members will stand at 10,338.

With the new additions of the 2025 member class, the academy would consist of 36% women, with 25% of them from underrepresented communities and 22% international.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.