Music

DJ Khaled and Mary J. Blige are cooking up the visuals for their catchy anthem, “Amazing.”

Taking to social media Monday night, both artists teased the flashy music video, which drops Tuesday at 10 a.m. 

The just over 30-second clip features the R&B icon and DJ living it up and popping bottles of bubbly at a colorful, vibrant party on a lavish estate. 

Mary captioned the snippet, “Only Positive Vibes .. I don’t pay ‘em no mind… I don’t pay ‘em no minnnnd…. Ready for the “Amazing” video?” 

Mary first released the DJ Khaled-assisted track “Amazing,” which is essentially a self-confidence anthem, on December 3. Prior to its release, the Queen of Hip Hop-Soul teased this next chapter of her music.

“Wait till you hear it, it’s gonna blow everybody’s mind,” she said on the Tamron Hall Show. “And it’s because it’s something I had to do, and something I had to say when I was in my darkest, darkest moments in that life, to build myself up to this person that I can see and accept my nose, accept my eyes, accept my cheeks, accept all the things that I used to hate.”

 

 

 

 

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After holding his annual .Paak House charity festival in Los Angeles for three years, Anderson .Paak is proud to move his December 22 event to his hometown, Oxnard, California.

“I want to give back more to the city that gave me my character,” the two-time Grammy winner tells the Ventura County Star.

“When I was growing up, I used to shoot out to LA whenever I could,” he adds. “As I get older, I’m more appreciative of where I’m from.”

The fourth annual .Paak House festival benefits his non-profit Brandon Anderson Foundation, which supports underserved youth through access to the arts, after-school programs and more. 

The 35-year-old singer will perform with his group The Free Nationals, and he will also present special surprise entertainment. He’s keeping the entertainment a secret, although he says attendees could expect artists like Jhené Aiko and Lucky Daye.

Anthony Anderson, Ty Dolla $ign, Snoh Aalegra, Raphael Saadiq, Goapele, The Game, Schoolboy Q, Cordae and Thundercat are among the celebrities who have appeared in the past.

2021 has been a big year for Anderson. “Leave the Door Open,” the debut single by Silk Sonic, his duo with Bruno Mars, is up for four Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.

The smash hit also won an American Music Award for Favorite R&B Song, and Soul Train Awards for Song of the Year and Video of the Year.

In person tickets for .Paak House are sold out; however, tickets are available to watch the livestream, which begins this Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, at MomentHouse.com/paakhouse.

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When reflecting on Christmases past, a poignant memory comes to Miranda Lambert‘s mind.

Growing up in Lindale, Texas, Miranda’s parents were private investigators, but her father, Rick Lambert, also dabbled in music. She remembers a particularly challenging time for her family around the holiday season, with her family finding joy in a somber holiday song by Merle Haggard, ”If We Make It Through December,” that her dad would sing each year.

“I think my favorite Christmas song of all time is ‘If We Make it Through December’ because growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money a lot of the years at the holiday season and my dad, I could just see the look on his face when he would sing that song on his guitar, sitting on the porch every Christmas, trying to make it special for his family,” Miranda recalls. “But sometimes it’s a real struggle.” 

The country superstar is now honoring that memory on the Pistol Annies‘ Christmas album, Hell of a Holiday, which features a cover of the plaintive number. 

Knowing the challenges her family faced, Miranda views the song as a symbol of hope for those who struggle during the holidays. 

“When I hear that song, it brings back those emotions of there’s families out there who really don’t have a way to do the whole Santa, Christmas morning,” she describes. “So that song just really speaks to that.” 

Hell of a Holiday is available now. 

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Machine Gun Kelly capped off a banner year over the weekend with a sold-out show at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

For the “Bloody Valentine” rocker, headlining the arena, which is where the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team plays, has long been a dream of his.

“Manifested sellin [sic] out the Cavs arena since I saw Jay-Z do it in 2008,” Kelly writes in an Instagram post reflecting on the concert. “It sold out in one day.”

“You are my gift,” Kelly adds of his Cleveland fans. “Thank you for the best homecoming ever, merry xxmas.”

The post also includes a number of photos and videos from the concert, which, according to Setlist.fm, spanned over 40 songs and featured renditions of nearly every Tickets to My Downfall song.

The show was a fitting end to MGK’s 2021, which saw him continue to enjoy the success of Tickets with the release of the Downfalls High film and a sold-out headlining tour. Kelly looks to continue that streak into 2022 with the expected release of his next album, Born with Horns.

 

 

 

 

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Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is back on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a record third straight year. But Mariah says even now, after all its success, she’s not quite sure why the song, which she originally released in 1994, has become a bona fide Christmas classic.

In an interview she did to promote her latest Apple TV+ holiday special, Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, Mariah admits, “I don’t know how to explain it. It was just the moment. At first, I doubted it, too. I was like, ‘Why would I do a Christmas song now? This is so early in my life and my career.’ But I’m so thankful that I did because it came out from a pure place.”

She continues, “I think one of the things that has given it the longevity that it has is that it doesn’t feel like one specific era, you know what I mean? Like, we did it so that it would feel like a modern classic.”

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” wasn’t eligible to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994 because it wasn’t commercially available as a single. That rule changed, and now, every year since 2012, the song has returned to the chart; for the past three years, it’s reached number one.

“You know, Christmas songs, a lot of people do them now earlier in their careers,” Mariah notes. “But it does take a long time to sort of permeate the world’s…’Christmas radar.’ And you just gotta hold on and live with it. And if it’s a true hit that resonates with people, then that’s what it’s gonna be.”

She adds, “I don’t know the magic. There is no secret formula. It is just, like, what it is.”

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Think you’ve got it tough, trying to wrangle all your kids together for Christmas? Consider Rod Stewart, who has eight children by five different women. While he says he managed to get most of them together years ago, it’s just become way too complicated now that they’re adults.

“We did it once, I think about 20 years ago,” Rod tells ABC Audio. “There was my first wife, Alana, and then my second wife, Rachel, and my to-be third wife, Penny, and the mother of Ruby, my third daughter. So they were all there, cooking the turkey in their own particular way.”

But Rod says these days, spending Christmas together is pretty impossible.

“We’re in all different parts of the world now, you know,” he explains. “The kids all go home to their mums’ for Christmas Day. But hopefully we’re all going to get together in Florida for New Year’s Day and my birthday, which is the 10th of January.”

However, Rod admits that he doesn’t mind that gathering his brood is a logistical nightmare.

“I’m glad it’s difficult because they’ve all got their own careers you have to consider,” he notes. “It’s not like they’re little and they depend on me. They’ve got their own careers, their own relationships and I have to be, y’know, a different father to every one of them, such is the age group: It goes from 10 up to 57.”

Rod’s eldest child, Sarah, was given up for adoption when she was born, but the two now have a relationship. Alana Hamilton is the mother of Sean and Kimberly Stewart. Kelly Emberg is the mother of Ruby Stewart. Rachel Hunter is the mother of Liam and Renee Stewart, while Penny Lancaster is the mother of Aiden, 10, and Alastair, 16.

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grandson, I Prevail and nothing, nowhere. are playing the 2022 So What?! Music Festival, scheduled for May 27-29 in Arlington, Texas.

The bill also features Parkway Drive, blackbear, The Maine, Alexisonfire, Sleeping with Sirens, Simple Plan and Sum 41, along with hip hop artists including 24kGoldn, 2 Chainz, Trippie Redd, Tyga and Rae Sremmurd.

“This year’s So What?! lineup is us basically saying, ‘F*** a genre!'” says festival founder Mike Ziemer. “Everything is blending together more and more. There are so many hip hop artists collaborating with rock artists. Travis Barker is working with every type of artist.”

Ziemer adds, “This festival brings together all the hype and energy of what’s current and what’s exciting to the fan that misses Warped Tour but also attends Rolling Loud.”

For the full lineup and ticket info, visit SoWhatMusicFestival.com.

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A new Bill Cosby docuseries is coming to Showtime.

We Need to Talk About Cosby, a four-part series directed by W. Kamau Bell, will examine the comedian’s early influence as an admirable pop culture figure and his later fall from grace after being accused of sexual assault by dozens of women.

“I am a child of Bill Cosby,” Bell says in the teaser. “You know what I mean: I am a Black man, stand-up comic, born in the ’70s. Bill Cosby had been one of my heroes.”

“But this? This was f***** up,” he says, referencing the accusations against Cosby and his subsequent arrest. “What do we do about everything we knew about Bill Cosby, and what we know now?”

Cosby was convicted of sexual assault in 2018 but was released from prison this past June after his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

We Need to Talk About Cosby premieres January 22 at the Sundance Film Festival and January 30 on Showtime.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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