Music

Luke Combs has been tapped to headline the Thanksgiving Day halftime show at the Dallas Cowboys vs. Las Vegas Raiders NFL game at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

The event also serves as the launch of the annual Red Kettle Campaign run by the Salvation Army to supply a range of resources to people in need during the holiday season, including food, shelter and Christmas gifts.

Luke, who is friends with Dallas Cowboys player Ezekiel Elliott, says he’s “humbled” to be a part of the initiative.

“Considering I’m a huge football fan, the Dallas Cowboys were always on our TV on Thanksgiving Day growing up, so it is a complete honor to be a part of their 25th Thanksgiving Day halftime show supporting The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign,” the singer says in a statement. 

The CMA Entertainer of the Year follows in the footsteps of Kane Brown, who performed at the halftime show last year. Luke’s performance comes as his latest single, “Cold as You,” clinches the #1 spot on the country charts.   

The NFL game airs at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

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Shinedown frontman Brent Smith and Jack White‘s Third Man Records are among those applauding Adele in her effort to remove the shuffle option as the default setting for playing albums on Spotify.

In a tweet over the weekend, the “Rolling in the Deep” superstar revealed that she’d requested the change alongside the release of her much-anticipated new album, 30.

“We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason,” Adele wrote. “Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”

Smith very much agreed with that sentiment, writing in an Instagram post, “The fact that @adele was able to get @Spotify to remove the shuffle button on album pages is massive.”

“Simply put, albums do tell a story whether they are conceptual, or not,” Smith says. “They are a snapshot, ‘a window in time’ into the hearts, and minds of the artist.”

“Now some opinions of this may be, what’s the big deal? and why does it matter?” he continues. “It matters because it gives value back to the music, and the artist. Ultimately it comes down to respect. So with that being said, we applaud you @adele and @spotify.”

Meanwhile, the Third Man Records Twitter account retweeted Adele’s statement alongside a trio of clapping hands emojis.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by SHINEDOWN (@shinedown)

👏👏👏 https://t.co/KglKxnywf3

— Third Man Records (@thirdmanrecords) November 21, 2021

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Country stars are lining up to bring seasonal cheer to fans next week with the airing of the annual CMA Country Christmas special. Following the lineup announcement earlier in November, the CMA has now revealed which songs will be performed on the 2021 show.

Breland, Carrie Underwood and Brett Eldredge are all sticking with the classics, performing “The Christmas Song,” “Mary, Did You Know?” and “Merry Christmas, Baby,” respectively.

Show hosts Gabby Barrett and Carly Pearce will perform Christmas standards, too, with Gabby offering her version of “Silent Night” and Carly putting her spin on “O Holy Night.”

Gabby and Carly will also take the stage together. They’re planning a duet version of “Sleigh Ride” that features two student musicians: eight-year-old Carter Hammonds and 17-year-old Truman Eltringham, both of whom are from Nashville.

The CMA Country Christmas special will offer some original holiday music, too. The Pistol Annies are performing “Snow Globe,” off their newly-released Christmas record, Hell of a Holiday. Lady A will offer “Christmas Through Your Eyes,” a holiday song inspired by their kids, and Jimmie Allen taps Louis York and the Shindellas for a performance of “What Does Christmas Mean,” a song they put out together last year.

Finally, Lainey Wilson will keep it country with her spin on George Strait’s “Christmas Cookies.”

The 2021 CMA Country Christmas will air on Monday, November 29 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Taylor Swift is just full of surprises these days, and this one is sure to bring the holiday cheer.

The singer has released an “Old Timey Version” of her 2019 Christmas tune, “Christmas Tree Farm,” exclusively on Amazon Music. The reimagined track was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and features a new arrangement complete with a 70-piece orchestra.

Taylor also released a video with behind-the-scenes footage of her recording the song, as well as home video clips of her as a kid. “Christmas Tree Farm” was inspired by her childhood growing up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Red (Taylor’s Version) hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It marks her 10th number one on the chart, making her the second woman with at least 10 number ones after Barbra Streisand, who has 11.

The album sold 605,000 equivalent album units — with 369,000 in physical sales. It’s the highest selling release from a female artist in 2021, as well as the biggest selling physical album of 2021.

Red (Taylor’s Version) also broke Spotify’s 24-hour streaming record, with 90.8 million streams on day one. The previous record holder was Taylor’s folklore.

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While you were crying to Adele’s new album, 30, this weekend, she was shedding some tears, too.

The singer got emotional during her U.K. special An Evening with Adele when she was surprised by the teacher who changed her life.

Actress Emma Thompson, who was in the audience, helped introduce the surprise by asking Adele if there was anyone from her past who particularly supported or inspired her. Adele began talking about her Chestnut Grove Academy English teacher, Ms. McDonald.

“She was so bloody cool, so engaging,” Adele said, adding, “She really made us care, and we knew that she cared about us.”

It was then revealed that Ms. McDonald was actually in the audience. Adele welcomed her to the stage, immediately welling up with tears.

“I’m so proud of you,” McDonald told her. “Thank you for remembering me.”

After briefly catching up and asking to exchange numbers, Adele had to step off stage to have her makeup touched up from crying.

Also over the weekend, Adele got Spotify to make a major change. The music streaming service has removed the shuffle button as the default option when playing albums.

“This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry!” Adele tweeted. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”

This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening 🍷♥️ https://t.co/XWlykhqxAy

— Adele (@Adele) November 21, 2021

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Carrie Underwood and Gabby Barrett were the big country winners at the 2021 American Music Awards, collecting two awards each at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Sunday night.

Gabby was awarded favorite country album for her debut, Goldmine, while country fans voted her song “The Good Ones” favorite country song.  As for Carrie, she took home the award for favorite female country artist — her ninth overall — as well as favorite inspirational artist.   

Although the country category was not televised during the AMAs, Carrie still had her moment to shine when performing her new song “If I Didn’t Love You” with Jason Aldean, who went into the ceremony with a nod for favorite male country artist.

The honor went to Luke Bryan — marking the fifth time he’s won favorite male country artist.  Previously, he dominated the category with four consecutive wins between 2012 and 2015.

Dan + Shay repeated history when the audience again voted them favorite country duo/group — the third time in a row they’ve won the honor.

Other performances of the night included Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton and Walker Hayes.  Brown, who was last year’s winner for favorite male country artist, took the stage to perform his hit, “One Mississippi.” Meanwhile, Mickey belted out a powerful rendition of “All American” and was shouted out by host Cardi B for teaching her how to milk a cow.

Walker performed his viral single “Fancy Like,” which was nominated for favorite country song.

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The 2021 American Music Awards rocked Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater Sunday night, with Machine Gun Kelly taking home the honor of favorite rock artist.

“Hilarious,” MGK said while staring down at the mic that was definitely not adjusted to his height.  The nearly six-foot-four star then picked up the stand to continue his speech, revealing the award “wasn’t going to be televised, but my fans spoke loudly.  So, I want to give them their credit.”

During his speech, the “My Ex’s Best Friend” singer also shouted out “all the aspiring musicians, the one who desires to play an instrument, wants to rap, wants to sing — not just the rock artists, but all the artists who are rock stars.”

“I read a headline that said the age of the rockstar is dead,” he said in closing before holding up his award, “But looks pretty alive to me.”

AJR, All Time Low, Foo Fighters and Glass Animals were also nominated for the honor.

AJR and Glass Animals also represented in the favorite pop duo or group category, but lost to the K-pop group BTS.

Måneskin, who were up for favorite trending song, flew all the way from Italy to perform their hit “Beggin'” for the first time before an American audience.

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The 2021 American Music Awards, hosted by Cardi B, held an evening full of some of the biggest names in music at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday night.

To get things started, Silk Sonic — made up of R&B duo Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — opened up the show draped in matching red velvet suits as they serenaded the crowd with their hit “Smoking Out the Window.” 

Megan Thee Stallion was set to perform with BTS but notified her fans the day before the show that she unfortunately wouldn’t make it “due to an unexpected personal matter.” Although she wasn’t at the awards ceremony, she still took home the awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album for her debut album Good News, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist, and Favorite Trending Song for her catchy hit “Body.”

Doja Cat also had a good night in terms of wins, taking home three awards, though she didn’t get to accept any during the broadcast: Collaboration of the Year for “Kiss Me More ft. SZA,” Favorite Female R&B Artist and Favorite R&B Album for Planet Her.

And in addition to hosting, Cardi walked away with a trophy for Favorite Hip-Hop Song for “Up.”

Taking it back to ’80s, the AMAs introduced the Battle of Boston, a back and forth between Boston natives New Kids On The Block and New Edition. Both groups took turns performing some of their biggest records, before it was revealed that they’re going on tour separately.

Other notable acts included Tyler, the Creator, Chloe, and Givēon, who made his AMA performance debut singing his viral TikTok hit “Heartbreak Anniversary.”

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