Music

Essence Magazine’s “The Black Women in Hollywood” issue hits stands today. Actress Niecy Nash and partner Jessica Betts are featured on the cover and, as previously reported, the newly-married duo are the first-ever same sex couple to do so.

Nash took to her Instagram account to promote and reveal the historical cover, captioning the post, “Making H E R S T O R Y.”

In a similar Instagram post, Essence wrote, “Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts stun on our March/April Cover. When you find ‘A Love Like This’ it keeps faith alive of what true love means…”

Philadelphia native and Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson is living her best life as the star of the hit ABC show and spreading the love because of it.

After creating the show based on her former school teacher, the 32-year-old mogul-in-the-making recently surprised a Philadelphia school teacher for her work and dedication to the students.

Brunson teamed up with Good Morning America to award Xiomara Robinson and Benjamin B. Comegys Elementary School with $20,000 worth of books from Scholastic and $40,000 from Wells Fargo for supplies and equipment.

“To be a part of something like this because of the show … right now, it’s just, it feels fantastic. I feel humbled,” Brunson said.

Actress Laverne Cox is under fire for joking about “entanglements” to Jada Pinkett Smith on the SAG Awards carpet.

“Thank you for all the years of joy you brought us,” Cox said, wrapping up her interview with Jada and Will Smith. “We can’t wait for more Red Table Talk and more, more entanglements,” she added.

Fans took to social media condemning the star and her comments. Actress Vivica Fox said, “Talk about wrong place, wrong time,” on the Fox Soul show, Cocktails with Queens.

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Taylor Swift shook off another lawsuit.  A three-judge panel dismissed the suit filed by singer Jesse Graham, who claimed Taylor’s 2014 hit “Shake It Off” ripped off his 2013 song “Haters Gone Hate,” reports Law360.  Graham sought more than $42 million in damages and claimed Taylor stole his song’s lyrics, which included, “Haters gone hate/ Haters gone hate/ Playas gone play/ Playas gone play/ Watch out for them fakers/ They’ll fake you every day.”  The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning Graham cannot refile the same claim again.

Gwen Stefani celebrated her son Apollo’s eighth birthday by sharing a sweet throwback video of her little one singing “Old McDonald,” with an original twist.  He sang the farmer “had a momma” on his farm, adding, “Here a momma, there a momma!”  Gwen, who shares Apollo and two other sons with ex Gavin Rossdale, captioned the video, “Happy 8th birthday to our angel boy a true gift from God your family loves u Apollo.”

Pink is the latest artist to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The Grammy winner is using her social media platform to tell fans how they can donate to UNICEF and help those displaced by the violence.  She also shared an op-ed to her Instagram Story about why Russian President Vladimir Putin has “already lost the war.”

Justin Bieber has a new song coming out on Friday.  “Attention” will feature Justin’s longtime friend DJ Tay James, whom he’s worked with for over 10 years.  

Rosé from BLACKPINK tested positive for COVID-19, Billboard confirms. It is unknown if the other members of BLACKPINK — Jisoo, Jennie and Lisa — were exposed. Rosé, who just celebrated her 25th birthday, isn’t the first K-Pop sensation to contract COVID-19. BTS members Jin, RM, Suga and V all battled the coronavirus and have fully recovered.

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Testament has a new member: Dave Lombardo.

The former Slayer drummer has rejoined Chuck Billy and company after previously playing with the thrash metallers on their 1999 album, The Gathering.

“I’ll state the obvious,” Billy says in a statement. “We are more than overwhelmed to welcome back Dave Lombardo to play drums with Testament…Dave added immense power when he joined the band for The Gathering, and we are ecstatic to see what new flavor he will bring back to Testament.”

Lombardo adds, “This is a long-awaited reunion that was bound to happen. Once upon a time, we created a thrash masterpiece. I have no doubt that our musical chemistry will pick up exactly where we left off. I love the Testament family and am very excited to be joining them once again. Pure brutality awaits.”

Lombardo takes the place of longtime Testament drummer Gene Hoglan, who left the band earlier this year.

You can catch Lombardo live with Testament on their upcoming The Bay Strikes Back tour, which launches in April.

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“The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act,” designating lynching as a federal hate crime, was passed by the House on Monday and is now on its way to the Senate to possibly be signed into law.

The historic bill was approved on the last day of Black History Month and 65 years after Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, was murdered in a brutal lynching in Mississippi in 1955.

Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush, who authored the House bill, said its passage marked “a day of enormous consequence for our nation.”

“I was eight years old when my mother put the photograph of Emmett Till’s brutalized body that ran in Jet magazine on our living room coffee table, pointed to it, and said, ‘This is why I brought my boys out of Albany, Georgia,'” Rush said. “That photograph shaped my consciousness as a Black man in America, changed the course of my life, and changed our nation.”

This is not the first time the lynching bill was introduced; according to the Washington Post, passage of the bill failed nearly 200 times. In 2020, GOP Sen. Rand Paul blocked the bill from passing, worried it would “conflate lesser crimes with lynching.”

According to ABC News, the senator now supports the bill, saying in a statement, “I’m pleased to have worked with Senators Cory Booker and Tim Scott to strengthen the final product and ensure the language of this bill defines lynching as the absolutely heinous crime that it is, and I’m glad to cosponsor this bipartisan effort.”

The bill passed in a 422-3 House vote, with Republican leaders Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Chip Roy of Texas all on the opposing side.

If signed into law, the hate crime is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Following the season-two finale of HBO’s Euphoria, superstar actress Zendaya and show composer Labrinth released the full version of the gospel-inspired track “I’m Tired.”

A snippet of the track was first heard in the season’s second episode, during an emotional church scene with Zendaya’s character, Rue, who struggles with sobriety. At the end of the season finale, the last minute of the song — and Zendaya’s vocals — are heard while Rue reflects on her sobriety journey.

Zendaya sings, “Hey Lord, you know I’m trying. Hey Lord, you know I’m trying. It’s all I got, is this enough? Hey Lord, I wanna stay.”

The star expressed gratitude to Labrinth in a Monday Instagram story, saying, “Thank you bro for allowing me to write, create and share space with you on this very special song. I learn so much from you every time we work. Excited for what’s to come.”

In an interview with Variety, Labrinth discussed what it was like writing the track and even appearing in the final episode.

“I [sang], ‘Hey lord, you know I’m tired.’ And then she was like, ‘Oh s***!’ And we just started writing the song,” the singer, songwriter said. “It was all of that impulsive inspiration, you know? And then being in the scene, I was like, ‘I haven’t performed for a while and I’ve not been on American TV before or been an actor before… I [was] like, just be in the moment.”

“I’m Tired” isn’t the first track produced by the duo. Labrinth started contributing music to the show during season one, composing “All for Us” for the season’s finale.

Considering Euphoria was greenlit for season three, fans may get much more of the Zendaya-Labrinth dynamic combo.  The show is available to stream on HBO and HBO Max.

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Blink-182‘s Travis Barker has a new reality TV show in the works.

According to Deadline, the series will be called Inked and Iced, and will explore Barker’s passion for tattoos and diamond dental implants alongside so-called “diamond dentist” Dr. Tom Connelly.

Episodes of Inked and Iced will feature “celebrities and musicians undergoing high-end diamond dental implants while simultaneously receiving full-body tattoos, all while under anesthesia,” Deadline reports.

“Inked and Iced is about self-expression, the human body as an art canvas, capitalism, eccentricity and entrepreneurship,” says Aengus James of This Is Just a Test Media, one of the entertainment companies developing the show with Barker.

The premiere date for Inked and Iced has yet to be announced.

Barker previously starred in the reality show Meet the Barkers — alongside his two kids and then-wife Shanna Moakler — which aired 2005-2006 on MTV.

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Caitlyn Smith still remembers being a kid in Minnesota, watching country music award shows like the ACMs, so she’s in awe of the fact that she’s now a nominee for New Female Artist of the Year. 

“My manager told me, and I remember a surreal feeling of ‘pinch me is this a dream? Is this real?'” she describes. “I grew up watching the ACMs and all the award shows, so I’ve definitely dreamed of this for a very long time. It feels very weird to finally be ‘it’s here now.’ It feels crazy.”

Though she’s been part of the Nashville scene for several years, Caitlyn recently scored her first top-40 country hit with the Old Dominion collaboration, “I Cant.” She says that when she first signed her record deal in 2017, country radio was lacking in representation of female artists, with only Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert in the top 20. But Caitlyn’s grateful for the shift she’s seen in recent years that’s allowed her to make her mark in country music. 

“A lot has changed in the last five years. I came here to write country songs, but I didn’t know there was a place for me in country music when I first started recording music,” she explains. “In that time, so many incredible females like Maren [Morris], Ingrid Andress, Kelsea Ballerini, they’ve all paved this way in country radio for there to be more room for women. It’s a place that I’ve always wanted to be and not knowing if I’ve had a space, and thank goodness for all those women.”

Caitlyn continues, “I feel like I finally do have a space, and I feel grateful for Old Dominion for hopping on the song and really bringing me out on the road and helping me out.”

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With more and more artists coming out with a summer tour, Live Nation is making sure you get to see as many as possible.  Their all-new Lawn Pass allows concertgoers to attend shows at their venue of choice throughout summer 2022.

A Lawn Pass ticket allows you to attend up to 40 concerts this summer at one of a select number of Live Nation amphitheaters for a total of $199, plus fees.

The promoter says Lawn Pass not only will allow fans to catch concerts at their local selected music venue, they will also be able to access some select sold-out shows. “Each Lawn Pass purchaser will receive a custom personalized credential with their name that serves as their ticket on each show day,” Live Nation says, adding that the pass is good up to 40 shows.

The Lawn Pass will allow concertgoers to check out Goo Goo Dolls, Josh Groban, Backstreet Boys, OneRepublic, Rod Stewart, Santana, EWF, Tears for Fears, Steely Dan and many others at their local venues, with more artists to be announced.

Only a limited number of Lawn Passes will be available per venue and go on sale today, March 1, at 10 a.m. PT at LawnPass.LiveNation.com on a first-come-first-serve basis.  Check out the website to find eligible venues and artists.

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