Music

Camila Cabello, The Jonas Brothers and Pentatonix are among the artists appearing on In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season, which debuts tonight, Tuesday, on PBS at 8 p.m. ET.  For Camila, her performance is especially meaningful, because in some ways, it shows that her family is living the American Dream.

At the White House, Camila performs a mariachi arrangement of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” with her mom and dad there for the occasion.  Camila’s mom is a Cuban immigrant, while her dad is a Mexican immigrant who recently became a citizen.

“The fact that I’m able to kind of pay tribute to my heritage and represent Latinos and also have my dad be sharing this moment with me, it’s kind of like a crazy moment,” Camila notes. “You know, the fact that, we’re an immigrant family and we’re at the White House is really special and really cool.”

Speaking of family and heritage, Camila says her favorite Christmas tradition is all about that.

“Latinos celebrate Christmas, the 24th, and it’s something that we call Nochebuena,” she explains. “And that’s when we have kind of like our party, and there’s, like, rice and beans and I guess like the traditional food from the countries.”

“And it’s also my grandma’s birthday is the 24th and my mom’s birthday is the 25th!” Camila adds. “So it’s a lot happening in those two days, so we celebrate their birthdays, too.“

Tonight’s In Performance at the White House also features President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, as well as Norah Jones, Billy Porter, Jennifer Garner, Andrea Bocelli and country star Eric Church.  Check your local listings.

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Thomas Rhett is giving fans a look into life at home with a new baby.

On Monday, Thomas shared a new photo of his one-month-old daughter, Lillie, looking up at the camera with a serious yet precious expression on her face. “Lillie girl,” he captioned the sweet pic with the raised hands emoji. 

Fans were quick to flood the comment section with kind words, writing, “so gorgeous,” “so adorable” and “she’s beautiful!” 

Thomas and his wife Lauren welcomed Lillie in November. She joins older sisters Willa, 6, Ada, 4, and one-year-old Lennon. 

The country star recently turned his parenthood experience into a song called “Years Are Short,” which he shared on Instagram.  

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Billie Eilish heads into the upcoming Grammy Awards with seven nominations, thanks to her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever.  And no one is prouder than her big brother, collaborator and co-producer, FINNEAS.  He spoke with Billboard about how the two created the song after which the album’s named.

“We just knew that it was important to the album,” he said, calling the song “cathartic. We were like, ‘Oh, this is definitely the title track.'”

FINNEAS reveals he and Billie began writing the track in 2019 while waiting to play a show in Denmark and were “super jet lagged.”

“I was sitting around with Billie, and we started writing that melody that was sort of the first chorus, the, ‘When I’m away from you, I’m happier than ever’ part,” he recalled, adding he played on a “little toy guitar” at the time.

FINNEAS continued, “It was correlated to what she was going through in her life at that exact moment. We knew that we liked that idea, but we weren’t in the period of time where we were like crunching down on an album, so we just put it in our back pocket and we’d write a line or two here and there.”

Eight months later, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a lockdown and the pair found themselves “very devoted to making an album.”

“We revisited that idea and loved it,” said FINNEAS, adding he and Billie finished the title track “in May or June 2020.”

The Grammy nominee noted, “That’s a pretty long writing lifespan for songs — usually, songs are written pretty quickly. I think it’s a testament to how long and winding that song is in and of itself, so it was a really fulfilling process. I’m so happy with the way it turned out.”

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After receiving five Grammy nominations last month, SZA is now celebrating her first major acting role.

The “All the Stars” singer posted in an Instagram story, “Can’t believe I got the part I wanted. She’s an actress,” as captured by The Shade Room.

Born Solani Rowe, the 32-year-old entertainer received a cake from an anonymous person that read, “Congrats record breaker and fire actress.” SZA didn’t give more details on the role. Her only previous acting experience was an appearance on Insecure in 2020.

Last week, SZA’s new single, “I Hate You,” set an Apple Music record as the most-streamed R&B Song by a female artist in its first week.

“Y’all really took a song from SoundCloud and made it number one for 7 days straight . No promo no radio . no nada. Jus YALLS LOVE,” SZA commented on Instagram. “I AM SO BEYOND THANKFUL TO HAVE YOU ALL IN MY LIFE! Thank you to my fire a** team for helping me get this song on streaming asap.”

As SZA enjoys the success of “I Hate You,” she’s looking forward to the Grammy Awards on January 31. Her nominations include Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More,” with Doja Cat.

 

 

 

 

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Lorde has premiered the video for “Leader of a New Regime,” a track from her new album, Solar Power.

The clip finds the New Zealand artist standing in front of the ocean, with shots of running horses and a mysterious mirror stuck in the sand, reflecting the water. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

“Leader of a New Regime” is the fourth Solar Power song to get a video, following “Fallen Fruit,” “Mood Ring” and the title track.

Lorde released Solar Power, her third album, in August. She’ll launch a U.S. tour behind the record in April 2022.

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Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani team up for a special holiday duet on Gwen’s new online series. 

Recently, Gwen — a native of Orange County, California — launched a Facebook series, Live From The Orange Grove, which sees her performing a variety of holiday songs on a set that looks like an orange grove. 

Gwen teased last week that she had a “special guest” coming, and she’s now fulfilled that promise with a surprise appearance by her husband. The couple join forces for a performance of their duet “You Make It Feel Like Christmas.” 

The couple is seen standing on the snow-covered groupnd in front of some digitized orange trees, with Blake in a sharp suit and tie and Gwen in a shimmering silver gown. The duo show off their chemistry as they sing, “I wanna thank you, baby/You make it feel like Christmas.”

“You Make It Feel Like Christmas” is the title track of Gwen’s 2017 album. The festive song became a hit across the world, reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. 

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Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis made an unannounced appearance at the Above Ground charity concert Monday night in Los Angeles.

Kiedis joined the event’s two organizers — Jane’s Addiction‘s Dave Navarro and Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison — for a rendition of the Lou Reed classic “Walk on the Wild Side.” The performance also marked a reunion for Kiedis and Navarro, the latter of whom played guitar in the Peppers for five years in the ’90s.

“Been a very long time since I performed with my brother Anthony!” Navarro wrote in an Instagram post following the show. “What a magical night. Thank you so much for coming out and supporting [Above Ground] my friend!”

The Above Ground concert, which Navarro and Morrison previously held in 2018 and 2019, raises money for MusiCares, which provides health and human services to musicians in need.

Other performers this year included Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor, The Offspring‘s Dexter Holland, Perry and Etty Lau Farrell, and Sugar Ray‘s Mark McGrath. Billy Idol and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins were also on the initial lineup, but dropped out before the show.

 

 

 

 

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Jack Antonoff had a busy year — so much so, in fact, that he had to recap his second half of 2021 in an all-new interview with Billboard. 

After sharing the Album of the Year Grammy with Taylor Swift at the beginning of 2021, the Bleachers frontman and producer has been nominated for two more Grammys: Album of the Year for Taylor’s Evermore and Producer of the Year. He said the nominations make him feel a “deep pride.”

Jack discussed Taylor’s 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which he co-produced. The track, from Red (Taylor’s Version), hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, setting a record for the lengthiest chart-topper ever.

“When I was working on that song, I was thinking to myself, ‘This is a great honor. Love this song. I was not involved in the original. I know how important this song is to her and her people. I am going to go about this with the most integrity and care humanly possible,'” Antonoff tells Billboard.

He added, “To see that go [to] number one is just a further confirmation of what needs to be dismantled in your head, which is, ‘Don’t ever f***ing think about what some herb is telling you is the thing that’s going to work right now, because if someone’s telling you that, they’re already too late.'”

Jack also praised Taylor’s artistry, telling Billboard, “Nobody does it like her. And at the core of all of this, all of these things are only interesting because of the brilliance of the songs. I think it just it restores my faith in that, more than anything.”

Find out if Jack and Taylor win a Grammy at the 64th annual Grammy Awards on January 31 on CBS.

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Gucci Mane is remembering his late close friend and frequent collaborator Young Dolph with a new tribute song and video.

The Trap God posted the song, titled “Long Live Dolph,” on Instagram and commented, “I did this one for you @youngdolph Love you Bro!” 

“RIP to Dolph, long, long live the legend / From Memphis to the six, they felt you in the bricks / The day you died, it broke my heart, a day I won’t forget,” Gucci raps. He adds, “Every day I pray and thank the Lord that I’m still alive/When it comes to legends, Dolph forever in my top five.”

The video features footage from Dolph’s memorial on December 15, as well as images of the two rappers together

Gucci teamed with Dolph on two mixtapes: 2013’s East Atlanta Memphis and 2015’s Felix Brothers, which also included Peewee Longway. They also recorded several singles, including “Bling Blaww Blur” in 2016.

Fans and community members gathered to pay tribute to the slain rapper at a public memorial at the FedExForum arena in Memphis, Tennessee last week, one month after his death.

The rapper, born Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis on November 17 while visiting Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a bakery in South Memphis that he’d been known to frequent. He was 36.

In addition to Gucci, stars like 2 Chainz, Monica and T.I. offered tributes at the memorial; there was also a message from jailed rapper C-Murder.

Dolph is also being remembered with a street named after him in his Castalia Heights neighborhood of Memphis.

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