Music

It may not feel like it as country artists settle in for the holiday break this week, but a bustling new year is just around the corner, and many stars — like Maren Morris — have got big plans for 2022.

The singer teased…well, something to come on her social media, sharing a short video clip of herself walking alongside a tan, retro car with a California license plate that reads “Go.” A snippet of new music plays in the background, and the caption reads, “Pedal down, 2022.”

It comes as no surprise to fans that Maren’s working on her next album: She’s been teasing it all year. In November, the singer described her new project as a turn back in the direction of her country roots.  That follows her 2018 studio album, Girl, which brought Maren crossover success — particularly with “The Bones,” a massive hit that found a home on pop radio along with country radio success.

First up in 2022, Maren’s nominated for a Grammy Award thanks to “Chasing After You,” her number-one duet with her singer-songwriter husband, Ryan Hurd.

 

 

 

 

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5 Seconds of Summer is being sued for $2.5 million by their former management firm.  YM&U Group, a global talent agency, alleges the Australian band has not paid them what they’re due and therefore are in breach of contract. 

Billboard reports YM&U is claiming they were owed commission fees for the many profitable deals they brokered on the band’s behalf, and provided examples, one of which included a contract with BMG, where 5SOS was paid $10 million to record an album. YM&U claims the quartet had previously agreed to pay the full commission amount but refused to pay up after they received several invoices.

The talent agency has named 5SOS’ current manager, Benjamin Evans, as well as band members Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin and Michael Clifford in the suit, alongside their touring company, 5SOS Touring. They are seeking $2.5 million in damages, but are asking for additional punitive damages against Evans, claiming he “acted with fraud, malice, or oppression” by allegedly attempting to avoid paying what YM&U says they’re due. 

The “Youngblood” singers signed with YM&U in February 2021 and ended their partnership that September.  Evans had represented the group prior to their partnership with the talent agency and, after the band left that summer, he resumed his day-to-day duties as manager.

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Jim Brickman‘s on tour in support of his latest holiday album, A Christmas Symphony, featuring Jim performing Christmas instrumentals backed by a symphony orchestra.  However, a few songs feature vocals, like his current single “Carols of Christmas,” a medley of classic songs like “What Child Is This” recorded with his pal, Five for Fighting‘s John Ondrasik, singing lead.

“I’m a big fan of medleys at Christmas time, because a lot of the…carols, are really short,” Jim laughs. “So I thought if I put it together with his voice and then instrumental in between, we could do ‘What Child Is This?,’ ‘We Three Kings,’ ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,’ ‘Carol of the Bells,’ and weave them all together.”

Jim says he was eager to get John, known for hits like “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and “100 Years,” to use his voice in a different way.

“People hear his voice in such a pop fashion — when you hear it, you know it’s him,” explains Jim. “And I was like, ‘Your falsetto would sound so beautiful.’ So he was all for it, for sure.”

Jim’s been doing Christmas tours for years, because he says his holiday music seems to be his most popular stuff.

“Christmas has always been my time of the year, for sure. Ever since The Gift album, I think people have associated my music with holidays,” he tells ABC Audio. “When I run into somebody who’s a casual fan, usually they’ll say, ‘I have your Christmas album! We listen every year!'”

“I think it’s because there’s not a lot of relaxing, calm piano versions of a lot of Christmas hits,” Jim adds. “Instrumentals give you the flavor and the soundtrack and the memory and the nostalgia, without feeling like you’re hearing, you know, [a] redux of everything.” 

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Joe Jonas is spilling the tea — on himself.

In a recent TikTok, the Jo-Bro shared a photo of himself in the audience at Coachella in 2016 and revealed that he was high during the event. 

“Thinking no one can tell I’m high at Coachella,” he confessed in the text, superimposed on the photo. Joe posted to confession alongside himself mouthing along to a popular Tyra Banks line that originated from America’s Next Top Model. 

“It is so bad, I want to give you a ‘zero,'” Joe mouths while looking embarrassed. “But that’s not possible so I give you a ‘one.'”

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Britney Spears killed two birds with one Instagram post, calling out her family and teasing new music on Wednesday. 

Sharing a video of herself singing while wearing black pants and a purple crop top, the 40-year-old pop star, who was recently released from her 13-year-long conservatorship, wrote, “I just realized this today guys… after what my family tried to do to me three years ago… I needed to be my own cheerleader !!!! God knows they weren’t,” according to People.

Britney also took a moment to pat herself on the back regarding her accomplishments over the years.

“So I just read up on my self [sic] and this is what I found: Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning pop icon Britney Spears is one of the most successful and celebrated entertainers in pop history with nearly 100 million records sold worldwide. In the U.S. alone, she has sold more than 70 million albums, singles and songs, according to Nielsen Music,” she noted. 

The “Toxic” singer continued, “Spears has sold 33.6 million albums in the U.S. and ranks as the 18th-best selling album artist in the Nielsen era. Her songs have drawn 25 billion in cumulative radio airplay audience and 2.6 billion on-demand U.S. audio and video streams combined and she’s sold 39.8 million singles (36.9 million via downloads).”

Explaining why she’ll be her own cheerleader, Britney added, “I’m here to remind my white “classy” family that I haven’t forgotten what they did to me nor will I ever forget !!!!⁣,” before teasing she’s got a “new song in the works … I’m gonna let you know what I mean !!!!!”

Spears has since deleted the caption from her post. 

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Christmas is a few days away and Mariah Carey is the gift that keeps on giving.  Ahead of her favorite holiday, the Grammy winner revealed some little-known trivia facts about herself.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Mariah participated in a YouTube segment for the magazine called “Do You Know Her?” where she was quizzed on questions about her life and career — including the time of day she was born. For the curious, it was at 7:27 in the morning.

She wouldn’t reveal how many dogs she has — it’s seven — but she was able to recall that she spent 500 hours in beauty school, that she “almost burned” the bridal gown she wore in her “We Belong Together” music video, and that she has “no idea” which song of hers contains her longest note.  Mariah guessed that it was “Emotions,” but the real answer was 2001’s “Lead the Way,” where she held a note for 21 seconds.

Mariah also stood her ground when she guessed that she’d scored 19 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  When a woman off-camera corrected her, saying the number was actually 18, Mariah wasn’t having it.

“I think I know how many number ones I’ve had on the Hot 100 chart, because one of them was a holiday song and it is ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You,'” she deadpanned. “That’s my 19th number one.”

She also knew right off the bat which one of her songs allowed her to surpass Elvis Presley in the ranking of artists with the most Hot 100 number-one hits: It was her 2008 tune “Touch My Body.”

“That was my 18th number one,” she quipped. “It was a pretty amazing moment!”

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Rob Thomas is a big Christmas fan, as you might assume from his new holiday album Something About Christmas Time.  But as a kid, he says he “hated” Christmas, not because of the holiday itself, but because of the weather, which wasn’t exactly “Christmassy.”

Rob lived in South Carolina as a small child and then moved to Florida at age 10.

“I mean, I hated it, because I started off in South Carolina where it’s a little more wintery and…you get some snow,” he tells ABC Audio.

“So for years and years, when I was young, we would all go to South Carolina for Christmas, and it always kinda still felt a little Christmassy,” he continues. “But then, when my grandparents passed away and we didn’t really have anybody to go see — just spending Christmas in Florida…people get excited because, you know, you needed a coat. Like, ‘Oh, I need to wear a coat. It feels like Christmas!'”

But since Rob has lived in the New York area for over 20 years, he now gets more snow that he can handle, and says “all my great [Christmas] memories are of New York.” 

Rob says he’d love to be able to celebrate in Manhattan again like he did in the before times: December of 2019.

“It was one of our favorite Christmases of all time,” he tells ABC Audio. “My wife and her mom and I did the full traditional [thing]. We went to the Rockettes and then we went to The Plaza and had a really nice dinner there…and it just felt very ‘New York Christmas,’ for lack of a better term.”

“I would love something like that,” he admits. “I’m just not sure of my [comfort] factor right now, still, just being out and about.”

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Brett Young grew up in a family with plenty of holiday traditions, although some were a little quirkier than the usual traditions of caroling around a tree or decorating cookies.

“For me, there were weird ones,” the singer says. “Every Christmas Eve — my dad was a pastor, and a woman from my dad’s church would make him homemade tamales. Not a Christmas dish, but we would have tamales every Christmas Eve.”

The unusual holiday eating didn’t stop there: “My mom, every Christmas Day, would make homemade chili,” he continues. “Not a Christmas dish, but it was our Christmas thing.”

These days, Brett and his wife, Taylor, celebrate the holidays with their own young family: they’ve got two little girls, Presley and Rowan. The family welcomed baby Rowan this July, so she’ll only be a few months old this Christmas, but Presley — who turned two in October — is starting to understand some of the spirit of the season. That means it’s time to start establishing some new holiday traditions, Brett goes on to say.

“She’s talking, and she’s active, and so I think this is the year where the traditions will start,” he relates. “I think this is the first year where Presley is old enough, where I think things will start locking in and become traditions. And I don’t know what those will be yet, but I’m excited.”

Making this year even merrier is the fact that Brett has a new holiday album out: Brett Young & Friends Sing the Christmas Classics. It’s a collection of holiday hits, sung by Brett and a host of musical pals.

As an additional pre-Christmas gift to fans, Brett just shared a behind-the-scenes video about the making of that album.

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