Music

Darius Rucker lends his voice to “Good Strong Woman,” a breezy new release off of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Keb’ Mo’’s forthcoming Good to Be album.

Gently lilting and optimistic, the song celebrates how beautiful life can be with the right partner.

“She will never leave you if you treat her right /She’ll be there in the morning ‘til the late of night,” Darius sings in his verse of the song. “She’s the kind that’s never gonna let you down/ Makes you put the brakes on the world around.”

Keb’ Mo’ co-wrote “Good Strong Woman” with Nashville writers Jason Gantt and Jason Nix, and Darius is one of a handful of country collaborators on Good to Be. Others include roots-leaning act Old Crow Medicine Show and actor/singer-songwriter Kristin Chenoweth. Vince Gill produced a portion of the new record, which will be out in January 2022.

For his part, Darius recently celebrated his latest number-one hit with another carefree anthem, “Beers and Sunshine.”

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How often do you hear of an artist asking fans not to stream his song, and stream his rival’s song instead?  Well, that’s just the kind of guy Ed Sheeran is.

Ed’s hit “Shivers” has been number one on the British singles chart for several weeks now and Ed himself has been number one for some 15 weeks straight, thanks to his previous single “Bad Habits.” But right behind him this week are Elton John and Dua Lipa, with their mashup remix “Cold Heart.” 

The prediction is that “Cold Heart” will overtake “Shivers” — and Ed is the one who wants to see that happen the most.

“@eltonjohn is so close to knocking me off the #1 spot in the U.K.,” Ed writes on Instagram. “It will be his first number one in almost twenty years and I really want it to happen. Please go buy/stream/download Cold Heart with@dualipa now.”

He continues, “15 weeks at #1 was more than I ever expected anyway, love you all. Who doesn’t wanna be knocked off by Elton anyway?”

Of course, Ed and Elton are close friends; in fact, Ed used to be managed by Elton’s company, Rocket Management.  The two are also coming out with a joint Christmas single soon that will no doubt put them both on top of the British charts, so it’s not like Ed has that much to lose by promoting Elton’s song over his.

 

 

 

 

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Dave Grohl can now add “New York Times best-selling author” to his ever-impressive list of career accomplishments.

The Foo Fighters frontman’s debut book, The Storyteller, sits at number one on the Times‘ Hardcover Nonfiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction rankings.

The Storyteller faced some stiff competition, having been released the same day as former Donald Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham‘s tell-all book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, as well as actor Stanley Tucci‘s Taste memoir. Still, Grohl’s collection of rock n’ roll tales, which range from his childhood to joining Nirvana and jamming with everyone from Paul McCartney to Iggy Pop, grabbed the top spot.

In a tweet reacting to the news, Grohl writes that he’s “honored” by the book’s success.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would someday be a number-one bestselling author,” Grohl says. “But it’s those same wildest dreams that I’ve followed since the day I picked up a guitar.”

Grohl recently wrapped a tour in support of The Storyteller, which featured him playing drums alongside the recording of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would someday be a number one bestselling author, but it’s those same wildest dreams that I’ve followed since the day I picked up a guitar. Honored. pic.twitter.com/LpZx93C2jn

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) October 14, 2021

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Stars of all backgrounds and descriptions collided at the 2021 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony, which aired live from Nashville on CMT Wednesday night.

A handful of the genre’s biggest and most influential artists were the night’s honorees, while other stars from a diverse background of genres and musical styles were on hand to help celebrate them.

Alongside rising pop-soul act Yola, Breakout Artist of the Year honoree Mickey Guyton gave the world premiere performance of her song, “Remember Her Name.” Christian star Michael W. Smith celebrated honoree Gabby Barrett’s faith-filled roots before her performance, and Kane Brown was paid tribute by rapper Nelly, his musical pal and recent collaborator.

Another honoree, Luke Combs, was introduced by his country-rock hero, Eric Church, before performing recent hit “Forever After All.” Meanwhile, Chris Stapleton got a special tribute performance, with R&B greats Boyz II Men teaming with Pentatonix’s Kevin Olusola to highlight the soulful side of Chris’ song, “Cold.”

Kelsea Ballerini delivered a performance live from her tour with pop act the Jonas Brothers, treating the audience to their version of “With a Little Help from My Friends,” recorded in Franklin, Tennessee.

Of course, traditional country played a big role in Wednesday night’s ceremony, too. Garth Brooks celebrated his fellow traditionalist Randy Travis, who was honored with the Artist of a Lifetime award. Kane also took the stage in honor of Randy, delivering a version of the legendary artist’s “Three Wooden Crosses.”

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Demi Lovato made headlines recently by saying we shouldn’t call beings from outer space “aliens” because it’s “a derogatory term for anything, even extraterrestrials, ” saying they prefer the term “ETs.” But now a true expert on space is calling Demi out for that claim.

In an interview with TMZ, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson jokes, “All the aliens that I’ve ever met, they have no feelings,” and states that it seems silly to be “worried about offending them by calling them an alien.” 

But then, more seriously, he says, “What is [Demi] thinking is going on in the head of species of life from another planet? I know it’s very considerate of [them], but really?”

deGrasse Tyson goes on to explain that when he talks about aliens, he uses the phrase “space aliens,” and points out nobody really calls people “aliens” — as in the term “illegal alien” — anymore, anyway.

“What we used to call ‘aliens’ — undocumented immigrants, that’s what the new term is for them,” he says. “So what that means is…the only invocation of the word ‘alien’ is for creatures from outer space that want to kill us all.”

He laughs, “I don’t care what they feel. Plus, why should I even believe they know English?”

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 Lil’ Kim isn’t here for 50 Cent‘s latest antics.

The Power star recently took aim at the Queen Bee, posting a side-by-side of her next to a Leprechaun meme and writing, “I’m sorry i know it’s early but i don’t know why s[tuff] like this is funny to me. LOL,” according to a screenshot obtained by The Shade Room. 

While it was funny for 50, Lil’ Kim thought he could have done better. Commenting on the post, she replied, “ur so Obsessed wit [sic] me this is getting creepy.”

Adding the yawning emoji, she continued, “This one ain’t it bro not funny at all I was hoping to laugh wit [sic] u but cornyyyyyyy… U fallin [sic] off Im too bad and too fly in this video u reaching now but we all kno whyyyyyyyy.”

The “Lady Marmalade” rapper then went on to slam 50, calling him lame and claiming that the real reason he dissed her was because he was “crushin hard.”

Lil Kim’ ended her rebuttal with a plug for her upcoming book. “DONT FORGET TO PREORDER MY BOOK YALL MEMOIRS OF ” LIL KIM THE QUEENBEE” PEROOD,” she concluded. 

This isn’t the first time the “In da Club” artist dissed Lil’ Kim. Back in July, 50 compared her to an owl because of her outfit during a performance at the BET Awards. 

After catching wind of the diss, Kim admitted that it was “accurate” and “hilarious” but didn’t bother her “one bit.” That didn’t stop her from throwing a little shade herself, though.

“50 Cent, I see u still in ur feels about that dinner date u asked me on that I had to turn down,” she fired back. “Let it go, u have a beautiful girlfriend, I have a loving husband. Let it go.”

 

 

 

 

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Ghost and Iron Maiden are reuniting — in the virtual world, at least.

The “Run to the Hills” legends have announced a new Ghost-themed level in their Legacy of the Beast mobile game.

Players will lead Maiden’s iconic mascot Eddie alongside an avatar of Ghost’s Papa Emeritus IV character through a dungeon called the Mascarade Diaboliquet. The visuals for the level take inspiration from the cover of Maiden’s 2003 album Dance of Death and Ghost’s 2018 Prequelle single, “Dance Macabre.”

You can play the Mascarade Diaboliquet level now through October 20.

Ghost previously opened for Iron Maiden on the latter’s 2017 U.S. Book of Souls tour.

Meanwhile, both Ghost and Maiden recently released new music. Last month, Ghost premiered the single “Hunter’s Moon” for the new Halloween Kills movie, while Maiden dropped their Senjutsu album.

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Kenya Moore is thankful she survived another week of Dancing with the Stars after Bachelor alum Matt James was sent home by the judges.

“I thought I broke my ribs,” the Real Housewives of Atlanta star revealed to Entertainment Tonight, explaining that the injury happened during Monday night’s performance.  She consulted a doctor the following morning because she was unable to make it to urgent care or an emergency room after the show.

“I was OK, but I just didn’t want to stop dancing. It meant everything for me to be here,” said Kenya, who didn’t elaborate on the extent of or what caused her injury. “I danced through all of that pain.”

Kenya also revealed that her injury placed additional pressure upon her pro dance partner, Brandon Armstrong, who would continually ask her if she was okay “every time he would touch me.”

“[Kenya] told me she is not 50, but she is not 22,” Brandon joked to ET.

Still, the two put on their brave faces and their hard work paid off, with Kenya adding she’s “just shocked” she survived a double elimination.  However, she suffered an emotional blow after being voted into the bottom two.

“I’m dancing injured. I had this emotional low last night after we performed, and it was just overwhelming to fight so much and do a great dance and then end up in the bottom again,” she recalled. “A lot of emotional things going on in my life right now. It was just overwhelming for me… I just cried myself to sleep last night.”

See how Kenya and Brandon salute Grease when Dancing with the Stars returns next Monday at 8 pm. ET on ABC.

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