Music

Dr. Dre has reportedly agreed to pay his ex-wife, Nicole Young, $100 million in their divorce settlement.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, whose net worth is estimated at $820 million, will keep his seven properties: a Malibu home, two homes in Calabasas, and four properties in the Los Angeles area, including a $100 million Brentwood estate, according to TMZ. Dre also maintains ownership of his Apple stocks, six vehicles, the rights to his master recordings, and his various partnerships, including Beats By Dre.

Nicole will get four vehicles, her jewelry, as well as money she has in her bank accounts. She is required to pay her own legal fees, which have been estimated to be millions of dollars.

Earlier this month, Dre posed for an Instagram photo with a string of balloons that read “divorced AF,” suggesting that the divorce had been finalized.

Young filed for divorce in July 2020 after 24 years of marriage, and the former couple has been involved in bitter divorce proceedings over the past year. As previously reported, Young had papers served to the six-time Grammy winner at a cemetery in Los Angeles, where he was burying his grandmother.

Dre and Nicole share a son, Truice, 24, and a daughter, Truly, 20.

On December 15, The Chronic rapper released six songs, his first new music in six years, for the Grand Theft Auto video game, GTA Online: The Contract. The tracks feature Eminem, Snoop Dogg with Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign with Nipsey Hussle, plus Paak and Rick Ross, as well as two solo songs.

In January, the former N.W.A. member will begin rehearsals with Eminem, Snoop, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige for their halftime performance at Super Bowl LVI, February 13 in Inglewood, CA.

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Maren Morris just celebrated her second Christmas with her son, Hayes, who’s old enough to enjoy gifts this year — but not necessarily the gifts his mom thought he’d like.

“Went to Texas for Christmas and my son got so many gifts I thought he’d love,” she wrote on Twitter this week. “[H]is preference?” Climbing in and out of a dog crate for 2 hours. I give up.”

The singer didn’t share any photos or video of Hayes enjoying his “toy.” Since early on in his life, she’s put a pretty strict limit on photos she posts of her son, after facing negativity from mommy-shamers who picked out criticisms of her parenting style whenever she shared snapshots of her family life.

But Maren does share little snippets of life with Hayes now and again: Back in October, the singer’s Twitter followers got to see a glimpse of Hayes yelling “moo” at a procession of horses.

“ATTN: My son thinks horses say ‘moo’ and it’s here to brighten up your doom scrolling,” the singer wrote in the caption of the post.

In recent weeks, Maren also teased exciting musical news on the horizon, hinting that she’s got big plans for new releases in 2022. She’s also nominated at January’s Grammy Awards ceremony, thanks to “Chasing After You,” her duet with her singer-songwriter husband, Ryan Hurd.

Went to Texas for Christmas and my son got so many gifts I thought he’d love… his preference?

Climbing in and out of a dog crate for 2 hours. I give up.

— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) December 29, 2021

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Rush is set to be immortalized as a pinball machine.

A silver ball game dedicated to the Canadian prog legends is about to be released. Manufacturer Stern Pinball will debut the Rush machine during a virtual event at the 2022 Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, taking place January 5-8, after which it’ll be coming to an arcade near you.

You can watch a teaser video for the Rush pinball machine, which promises that it’ll be “traveling soon,” now on YouTube.

Stern has also created machines inspired by bands including Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Aerosmith, AC/DC and KISS. To find a Stern pinball game in your area, visit SternPinball.com.

In addition to your local arcade, you can also hear Rush’s music live on tour next year, albeit played by Primus. The “My Name Is Mud” outfit will be launching a 2022 leg of their A Tribute to Kings tour in April, during which they perform Rush’s 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety.

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Phish has announced a New Year’s Eve livestream concert to make up for the band’s postponed New Year’s run at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, which was pushed back due to surging COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant.

The virtual event, which will consist of three full sets, will premiere December 31 at 8:30 p.m. ET. You can watch for free via the Phish YouTube channel or on LivePhish.com.

The show will be part of Phish’s ongoing Dinner and a Movie streaming series, which also provides unique food recipes for those watching. The NYE’s meal will be lemon-themed, and includes recipes for a whole roasted chicken with lemon, a vegetarian lemon pasta, and lemon bars for dessert.

The Dinner and a Movie series has also been raising money for various non-profit organizations amid the pandemic through the band’s WaterWheel Foundation.

For more info, visit Phish.com.

Phish’s MSG shows had originally been scheduled for December 29 through January 1. They’ll now take place April 20-23, 2022.

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Katy Perry‘s Las Vegas residency at Resorts World, PLAY, kicks off tonight.  In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, she gave fans of preview of what to expect.

“Yes, a lot of my shows have been, you know, figuratively larger than life. But I play a doll in this show, so everything is like, three times the size of me,” Katy laughed. “It’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids meets Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on CBD.”

In her walk-through with Good Morning America, Katy showed off the giant props that will be used in the show: a massive toilet and plunger, a huge bathtub, super-sized mushrooms and snails, and a bedazzled bag of garbage that Katy calls “Trashion.”  She also gave viewers a peek at her many, many sequined outfits.

“We know what our audience is. People are here to have fun, people are here to let loose. People are here to just, you know, go on this trip!” Katy laughed.

Katy has previously said that one reason she’s choosing to do a Vegas residency now is because it’ll allow her to spend more time with her daughter, Daisy Dove. Noting that this will mark her first time back onstage in front of an audience since March of 2020, Katy told GMA, “Between then and now, I was able to have a baby, which changed my life, and brought me balance, and perspective, and priority, and so much joy.”

She added, “Everything I was looking for, I really found when I met her.”

On Instagram, Katy also revealed the hit-packed set list for PLAY, which features 19 songs, including her new single, “When I’m Gone,” and what appears to be a cover of Whitney Houston‘s “The Greatest Love of All.” Here it is — spoiler alert:

“E.T”
“Chained to the Rhythm”
“Dark Horse”
“It’s Not the End of the World”
“California Gurls”
“Hot ‘n Cold/Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”
“Waking Up in Vegas”
“Bon Appetit”
“Daisies”
“I Kissed a Girl”
“Lost/Part of Me/Wide Awake”
“Swish Swish”
“When I’m Gone/Walking On Air”
“Never Really Over”
“Teenage Dream”
“Smile”
“Roar”
“Greatest Love of All”
“Firework”

 

 

 

 

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From old school to new school, there’s no denying that hip-hop made its way to the top of the charts this year.  Here are the top five albums of 2021, based on first-week sales. 

5. Lil Baby and Lil Durk, The Voice of the Heroes, released June 4 — 150,000 in sales

4. Tyler, the Creator, Call Me if You Get Lost, released June 25 — 169,000 in sales

3. J. Cole, The Off-Season, released May 14 — 282,000 in sales

2. Kanye West, Donda, released August 29 — 309,000 in sales

1. Drake, Certified Lover Boy, released September 3 — 613,000 in sales

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Kelsea Ballerini finishes the year with a top-ten duet with Kenny Chesney that could very well go on to become the stars’ next number one.

Along the way, she also picked up her very first CMA trophies, with “Half of My Hometown” winning for both Music Video and Musical Event of the Year. 

“It’s my favorite song I’ve put out, you know,” she tells ABC Audio, “so just to have that song kinda get some love on it by my peers is a big deal. It’s also with my hometown hero. Like, there’s a lot of levels to it that make me feel really proud.”

Kelsea goes on: “When we got nominated, I FaceTimed Kenny, and we just kind of had that moment of like, ‘People like our song. Like, What a joy!’ You know, you make it because you like it, and we made it because we liked it. But to see people really kind of relating to it and catching on is exciting.”

Instead of focusing on career momentum, the East Tennessee native seems to view her success through the eyes of the Knoxville girl who dreamed these dreams.

“I still haven’t had the ‘I’ve made it’ moment, I hope I never do,” she confesses. “But yeah, there are certain moments that kinda make you look up and go, ‘Man, 12-year-old me would be losing her mind!'”

“And having a song with [Kenny] is certainly one of those,” she adds.  

In addition to touring the country with pop superstars the Jonas Brothers this year, Kelsea also released her first book of poetry, Feel Your Way Through, in November.

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Australian rapper Masked Wolf, born Harry Michael Avramidis, will be performing December 31 on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest on ABC.  But while the show is now in its 50th year, the rapper admits that, as an Aussie, he’d never heard of it before.

“I mean, our New Year’s Eve is, like, the Harbor Bridge in Sydney and, the fireworks there,” he tells ABC Audio. “They do a massive fireworks show, which is like $7 million or something, it’s huge. But the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve? No idea.”

But now that he’s familiar, Wolf says it’s definitely an honor to be included.

“I feel like if you’re an Australian and you’re included in anything American internationally, it’s something you should be privileged to be in,” he notes. “I’ve spoken with Ryan [Seacrest] before in an interview and that was just a privilege alone in itself.  So for me…I’m taking everything as it comes, but I hope they like the Aussie sound and how natural I am and what I speak about.”

It’s what he speaks about that led to his global hit “Astronaut in the Ocean,” Wolf says.

“I think once people found out what it was truly about —  the message of feeling out of place, especially during the time when it was released, it was, y’know, the pandemic at its core — it really resonated with a lot of listeners,” notes Wolf. “Like, ‘Hey, that’s how I feel and he was was actually willing to speak out about it.'”

“And it’s not just with music,” he adds. “It could be anything: your job, losing your job, stuff like that. So I just think it connected because it was real.” 

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest kicks off Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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2021 was the year that a host of big-name superstars either announced or kicked off Las Vegas residencies — including perhaps the biggest name of all: Adele.

Shortly after telling Rolling Stone that she wouldn’t do a regular tour due to COVID-19 fears — and claiming that she wasn’t doing a Las Vegas residency because there were no available venues — Adele turned around and announced Weekends with Adele.  The residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace kicks off January 21, 2022 and will feature the star performing two shows each weekend through April 16.

Adele’s announcement came in the wake of Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan all announcing residencies at the brand-new Resorts World Las Vegas, which opened in June.

–Celine’s new show was supposed to officially launch the Resorts World Theater on November 5, but the shows were abruptly canceled for medical reasons. Specifically, Celine was said to be suffering from what was described as “severe and persistent muscle spasms,” which left her unable to perform.  That left it to Carrie Underwood to open the Resorts World Theater on December 1.

–Another Las Vegas residency that didn’t happen in 2021 was a series of Christmas shows at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood by Backstreet Boys, who’d planned to release their first-ever Christmas album this year. But when the group decided to push the album to 2022, the shows — announced in July and scheduled for November and December — were canceled.

–Katy Perry is set to start her residency, PLAY, tonight, December 29, at Resorts World.  She described it as “a set-in-the-’60s, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie on mushrooms,” which will feature wild costumes, NFTs and, she told Variety, “a level of humor to it that is probably the weirdest I’ve ever done.”  Her fellow American Idol judge Luke Bryan starts his residency in February.

–Meanwhile, Sting officially launched his residency, My Songs, at the Colosseum in October. He’d originally announced it in 2019, but it was delayed by COVID-19.  Adam Lambert did a mini-residency in October at the Venetian Resort, while Bryan Adams did one at the Wynn Las Vegas in November.  

—Michael Buble announced a six-date residency at Resorts World, which will run between April 27, 2022 and May 7, while John Legend will bring his 24-show residency, Love in Las Vegas, to Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino beginning in April of 2022.  Fellow Voice coach Gwen Stefani officially wrapped up her residency at that same venue in November.

–Finally, Rod Stewart extended his long-running show at the Colosseum into 2022, marking his 11th year performing there, while both Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga resumed their residencies at Park MGM Theater.

–And as for a residency that isn’t in Las Vegas, Josh Groban announced the dates for the return of his show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall; he’d only played one date before COVID-19 shut it down.

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