Music

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas from six years ago: Michael Bublé is coming back to NBC for a new holiday special.

Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City will air December 6 at 10 p.m. ET and will repeat on December 22 at 10 p.m. ET.  The special will originate from Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, which is the same studio where Saturday Night Live happens each week.  So far, no special guests have been announced for the special, which will mix comedy and music, but it’s probably likely that one or two SNL cast members will show up for the festivities.

This will be Michael’s first Christmas special since 2015’s Michael Bublé’s Christmas in Hollywood and his sixth one overall.  He’s returned to TV to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his record-setting 2011 album, Christmas, so you can expect music from that project to take center stage, along with other Christmas favorites.

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Summer Walker is reigning over the Billboard 200 chart as her new album, Still Over It, debuted at number one.

The 25-year-old singer’s second studio album earned 166,000 units in its first week. This marks the biggest week for an R&B album in 2021, and Still Over It is the first R&B album by a woman to top the Billboard 200 in more than five years. Solange’s A Seat at the Table ruled for one week in October 2016.

Summer’s 20-track project also set the record for the largest streaming week ever for an R&B album by a woman, with 201 million on-demand streams, surpassing Walker’s first album, Over It, which earned 155 million stream in its debut week in October 2019.

Plus, Still Over It achieved the biggest sales week for an R&B album by a woman since Beyoncé’s Lemonade earned 202,000 units in May 2016.

Still Over It features Cardi B, Pharrell Williams, SZA, Ciara, Omarion, Lil Durk and Ari Lennox, plus JT from City Girls, who teamed with Summer for the first single, “Ex for a Reason.

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Verzuz has a double treat for the holidays: two R&B queens, and two veteran hip hop groups.

Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills will face off in “A Night for the Queens” on November 18 in Los Angeles. Two weeks later, the match-up will feature Bone Thugs-N-Harmony against Three 6 Mafia on December 2, also in LA.

Khan has received ten Grammy Awards, and her classics include “I’m Every Woman,” “Sweet Thing” and “I Feel for You.”

Mills began her career on Broadway at the age of 17 in the musical The Wiz. Her number-one hits include “Home,” “Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel),” and “I Feel Good All Over.”

Their Verzuz battle begins Thursday, November 18 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony recently performed as the opening act on TLC‘s “Celebration of CrazySexyCool Tour.” Three 6 Mafia won an Academy Award in 2006 for “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” from the film Hustle & Flow starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

The time for the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony against Three 6 Mafia Verzuz will be announced later. Both Verzuz battles stream on Triller, Fite TV and Verzuz TV Instagram.

Verzuz diversified for its last event on November 3, featuring the teams of Lil Jon and Lil Tecca gaming against Big Boi and Big Sean. Migos also performed.

On October 17, Big Daddy Kane battled KRS-One at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event featured guest appearances by Roxanne Shanté, Masta Ace and Craig G, Das EFX, Mad Lion, Buckshot and Kool DJ Red Alert. There was also a dance battle between legendary breakers Crazy Legs and Pop Master.

 

 

 

 

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The Jonas Brothers are tapping into Las Vegas’ red-hot restaurant scene.

In early 2022, the group, along with their parents and their brother, Frankie, will open Nellie’s Southern Kitchen, a new eatery at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The restaurant is named after Nellie, Kevin, Nick and Joe’s great-grandmother, who lived in Belmont, North Carolina until she passed away in 2011.

The restaurant is described as having “the comfort food, hospitality and Southern charm of the family’s 1760s roots in North Carolina,” and will feature live entertainment as well.  This will be the second outpost of Nellie’s Southern Kitchen; there’s also one in Belmont.

In a statement, Kevin Jonas Sr., the brothers’ dad, says in a statement, “To open a restaurant in the heart of the iconic Las Vegas Strip is thrilling, and I know my Grandma Nellie would be truly amazed seeing her name in lights.” 

Their mom, Denise, added, “One of our greatest joys in life is sharing a meal with those we love. There is always room for guests in our home and around our table. Grandma Nellie was the perfect example of showing this kind of comfort to people!”

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Justin Bieber hasn’t toured in nearly five years. So to make it up to his fans, he announced a blitz of new dates Monday for his long-awaited Justice world tour.  His global trek has ballooned to almost 100 dates before it wraps up in 2023.

In all, the “Peaches” singer plans to visit over 20 countries when his tour launches on February 18, 2022 at the Pechanga Arena San Diego in California.  

Justin’s 52-date North American leg of the tour wraps June 24, with a final show planned in Milwaukee.  After that, he’ll hit the pause button and recharge for the whole month of July before crossing the pond to resume operations in Europe, starting with an August 3 performance in Denmark.

Justin also has pit stops planned in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.  He’ll release dates for his Asian and Middle Eastern tour dates at a later time.

Tickets for Justin’s tour can be purchased on his official website. 

Justin’s tour was initially scheduled for last year, in support of his 2020 album, Changes, but was later pushed back to this summer before ultimately being rescheduled to 2022.  It was renamed the Justice world tour in celebration of his most recent album.

The Grammy winner’s last outing was his Purpose world tour, which ran from 2016 to 2017.

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Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd have clinched the #1 spot at country radio with “Chasing After You.” 

Serving as their first official duet as a couple, “Chasing” is Maren’s fifth #1 single and Ryan’s first as an artist. Both singers took to social media to share their gratitude.

“Thank you to our team, the fans & country radio for falling in love with a song that so perfectly describes the heart wrenching journey love can often times be, even after the wine’s all gone…,” Maren writes, alongside a romantic picture of the couple from the video and a screenshot of the song at #1 on the chart.

“Chasing” is the lead single off Ryan’s recently released debut album, Pelago. As a songwriter, Ryan has penned multiple #1 hits, including Luke Bryan’s “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” and Lady A’s “What If I Never Get Over You.”

“Number 1! Can’t even believe it. So proud of this song and grateful that I get to share it with @MarenMorris,”  Ryan shares on Twitter, accompanied by several prayer hands emojis. “Thank you to every station who played it, person who listened to and loved the song, and to our team who worked so incredibly hard all year to make it a hit!” Ryan adds.

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Taylor Swift went all out when giving one of her “From the Vault” songs the music video treatment.  On Monday, she, alongside pal Blake Lively, transformed “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version)” into a colorful and comedic cinematic short.  

The music video focuses on a nervous groom, played by actor Miles Teller, who is haunted by the ghost of his previous relationship, played by Taylor, at his all-white wedding.  

The Grammy-winner, clad in her signature red, wrecks havoc on the groom’s nuptials by clawing into his five-tier wedding cake, teaching a table of young girls how to flip the bird, giving a drunken speech at the reception and falling off the stage after giving the bride — played by Teller’s real wife, Keleigh Sperry — a red scarf, an Easter egg that references Taylor’s other song, “All Too Well.”

Despite raising nothing but hell at the ceremony, everyone except the groom appears to adore the rowdy guest.  But it’s soon revealed that Taylor is not physically present at the wedding and that the groom is only imagining the chaos, proving he is unable to stop thinking about his old flame even though he’s about to marry someone else.

At the end of the music video, Taylor penned a heartfelt thank you to those who worked on the music video, as well as “our families who supported us as we dream impossible things.”

“I Bet You Think About Me” is one of nine previously unreleased — or “from the Vault” — tracks off of Taylor’s newly re-recorded Red album. The song is rich in star power: It serves as Lively’s directorial debut, and in addition to starring Teller, it features vocals from Chris Stapleton and was originally co-written by folk legend Lori McKenna.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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