Music

Kane Brown and Jimmie Allen will be showing off their athletic abilities this Friday as they compete in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

They’re on opposite teams: Kane’s competing for Team Nique, coached by former pro basketball player Dominique Wilkins, while Jimmie’s on Team Walton, coached by Bill Walton.

Also stepping onto the court for the event are a host of other celebrities, including rocker Machine Gun Kelly, The Bachelor contestant Matt James, comedian Tiffany Haddish, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.

Both Kane and Jimmie are talented amateur athletes. Kane’s said in interviews that he played basketball in high school and considered pursuing the sport on the college level, but the music business came calling instead.

Meanwhile, Jimmie recently proved his love of physical fitness during a stint on Dancing with the Stars, where he learned how to dance the tango, paso doble and more.

The NBA All-Star Celebrity Game will air Friday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The game will take place at Cleveland, Ohio’s Wolstein Center.

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Gavin DeGraw delighted fans Wednesday with a major announcement — he’s about to release new music for the first time in almost six years. The “Not Over You” singer revealed he is also heading back on tour this spring to support his forthcoming new album.

Gavin is heading out on the 20-date Full Circle Tour, which will take him to the nation’s biggest cities starting in Los Angeles, California, on April 19.  He will hit up cities like Austin, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts, before wrapping things up in New York City on May 21.

“I’m very excited to announce my Full Circle Tour,” he said in a statement obtained by ABC Audio. “Each night I’ll be performing my upcoming album Face the River in its entirety. These songs are very close to my heart. I look forward to sharing them with you.”

This is the first time Gavin announced the title of his upcoming album, and he promises more info on its upcoming release is on the horizon.  Face the River will be his first album in nearly six years, following 2016’s Something Worth Saving, which featured the hit “She Sets the City on Fire.”  

Tickets for the Full Circle Tour go on sale this Friday on Gavin’s official website.

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Artists including Weezer, Stone Temple Pilots and Death Cab for Cutie have joined the lineup for the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival, taking place April 29 to May 1 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Chevelle, Spoon, Grouplove, Rival Sons, Counting Crows, Grace Potter and Ayron Jones are also among the new additions to the bill.

Previously announced artists include headliners Foo Fighters, as well as The Smashing Pumpkins, Lindsey Buckingham, Modest Mouse, Dirty Honey and The Glorious Sons.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit MemphisinMay.org.

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Following three separate allegations of sexual assault in four months, Trey Songz is again being accused of the same crime.

The “Bottoms Up” singer is being accused of raping a woman at his home in a new $20 million sexual assault case. The woman claims that she had a consensual sexual relationship with the singer, but that changed on March 24, 2016 when he allegedly became a “savage rapist,” she said in the lawsuit, according to TMZ.

A representative for Songz denied the allegations.

“The attorney who drafted this suit was credibly accused of trying to pay a woman to falsely accuse Trey,” the rep said in a statement. “That same attorney has filed this suit on behalf of an anonymous client. It isn’t hard to see what’s happening here, and it is a shame for genuine victims of sexual assault.”

The woman involved in the new lawsuit claims that in 2016, Songz raped her after she told him she did not want to have anal sex. The woman also alleges that she went to the hospital and was too frightened to name the artist after she was examined. She said the examination found that there was “severe anal tearing that could require surgery.”

Ariel Mitchell, the lawyer for Jauhara Jeffries, the woman accusing the singer of assaulting her in 2017 in another case, denied she attempted to bribe witnesses.

“This is nothing more than bullying and an attempt to silence counsel and the many victims who have been assaulted by defendant Songz and will be vigorously defended in court,” Mitchell told TMZ. “I will further be exonerated as I was when this allegation was previously made by defendant Songz’s prior attorney.”​​​

In January, a third woman, Dylan Gonzalez, also accused Songz of rape.

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Evanescence has announced the rescheduled dates for the band’s long-delayed European tour, alongside Within Temptation.

The international outing is now set to kick off in November of this year, with dates stretching into December. Previously purchased tickets will be valid at the rescheduled dates.

Evanescence and Within Temptation first announced the tour in 2019 ahead of its scheduled launch in April 2020. Then, of course, came the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed the trek back first to the fall of 2020, and then to the fall of 2021, and then for a third time to March 2022. Things looked promising for the tour to finally launch in March when Evanescence announced a fourth delay just last week.

“We know you understand that many things are still outside of our control,” Amy Lee and company said in a statement. “But we are very optimistic that we WILL be performing these shows, and we kindly ask that you bear with us one more time while we arrange the tour so it can actually happen.”

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Evanescence.com.

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Thomas Rhett is expanding his tequila business.

The singer’s Dos Primos tequila line now features a Reposado variant, an easy-to-drink libation made from 100 percent blue agave sourced from Los Altos and Jalisco, Mexico. The Reposado joins the Dos Primos Tequila Blanco, which rolled out in 2021.

Dos Primos is Spanish for “two cousins,” and the name is fitting: Thomas started his tequila line with his cousin, Jeff Worn. Adding the Reposado to their repertoire is something the two men have been hoping to do for a long time.

“When Jeff and I started the Dos Primos Tequila company four years ago, we knew we wanted to continue to expand our tequila family,” Thomas says. “…Similar to our original goal, we’ve worked hard to make [the Reposado] as versatile as possible, and seamlessly fit into any activity, regardless of the time of year.”

The new tequila variety will be available starting March 2022. For more information, visit the company’s website.

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Britney Spears added a new, four-legged member to her family — a puppy named Sawyer.

“Geez …. can you have two loves of your lives because he comes in second !!!!,” Britney wrote on Instagram, sharing a video of her new addition. “His name is Sawyer and he’s a white Australian shepherd with blue eyes !!!!! I found him in Maui like a dream and took him home with me immediately.”

The Grammy winner noted how smart her puppy was, telling fans, “It’s funny … he doesn’t talk back but it’s like he understands what I’m saying !!!! I can talk to him for 30 min about potty training and rewarding him when he goes potty on the pad !!!! I think he understands me especially with those eyes.”

“He makes my heart melt … he needs me and I like that,” Britney continued, before revealing that she also added another member to her family: “I also have a new cat and will introduce her later.”  Britney also mentioned how her new kitten is trying to outsmart her already.  “She’s extremely smart and she looks like a miniature cheetah.  Me and security couldn’t find her for 2 hours and then when we did she would disappear again,” Britney wrote.

Britney said that her house is “FULL of small animals” but admitted she is not a fan of “potty training.”  Her video ended with an impromptu dance session, which briefly showed a curious Sawyer sniffing her feet.

Aside from Sawyer and the new kitten, Britney owns a Doberman named Porsha, whom fiancé Sam Asghari purchased for her in October, as well as a Maltese named Lacey and a Yorkshire Terrier named Hannah.

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Machine Gun Kelly is preparing for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game with some expert instruction.

The “Bloody Valentine” rocker has been working with famed basketball shooting coach Chris Matthews, aka “Lethal Shooter,” who’s helped players across the NBA and WNBA improve their jumpshot.

In an Instagram video, Matthews shared footage of a recent training session with Kelly, which shows him knocking down six straight three-pointers while rocking a vintage Shawn Kemp Cleveland Cavaliers jersey.

“See you at the All-Star game, baby!” Kelly declared at the end of the clip. “MVP!”

The 2022 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game takes place this Friday, February 18, in Kelly’s hometown of Cleveland. He’ll be playing for Team Walton against Team Nique, which will be coached by Basketball Hall of Famers Bill Walton and Dominique Wilkins, respectively. 

MGK will also be introducing the teams playing in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game this Sunday, February 20, alongside DJ D-Nice.

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Remember that contest where someone would be paid $1,100 to listen to 24-hours of heartbreak anthems?  Well, the results are in, and they show if you want to get over a breakup, you better listen to Destiny’s Child and Post Malone.

FinanceBuzz hired Cristin Sauter, a musician and psychotherapist, as their DJ of Heartache.  She was tasked with listening to the biggest breakup songs of all time and organizing them into playlists coinciding with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, relapse, depression and acceptance. 

Taylor Swift snags the title of having the most breakup anthems out of any other artist.

The DJ of Heartache was also tasked to rate each song’s ability to help a listener get over a heartbreak.  The songs were scored between one and 10, with 10 being the highest, in their ability to offer “emotional relief through the different stages of a breakup,” per the company’s description.

Although Taylor has the lion’s share of heartbreak anthems, her music only achieved a 5.7 out of 10 on the emotional relief rating scale, or E.R.R.  Fleetwood Mac scored the highest, with an E.R.R of 9.5, while second place went to Post Malone and The Beatles, who both earned a nine.  Destiny‘s Child took third with an overall E.R.R. of 8.5.

Also making it into the top 10 were Shawn Mendes, James Bay, James Arthur, Lewis Capaldi and Adele, who all achieved an E.R.R of eight.

As for the artists with the least effective songs, Daughtry and Backstreet Boys both achieved a score of three, while Miley Cyrus earned a 2.2.  Fifth Harmony also made it into the bottom 10, earning a mediocre score of two.

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