You can watch now Foo Fighters‘ trip to Fraggle Rock without an Apple TV+ subscription.
As previously reported, Dave Grohl and company appear on an episode of the new Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock series, which brings back the beloved music-loving puppets created by the late Jim Henson. The series premiered on Apple TV+ in January, but the streamer has now released a clip of the Foos’ performance.
The video, which you can watch now on YouTube, finds the “Everlong” outfit playing an original song, fittingly titled “Fraggle Rock Rock.” The tune also appears on the Back to the Rock soundtrack, which is out now.
By the way, Fraggle Rock isn’t Grohl’s first foray into the wacky world of Henson’s creations. He also had a cameo in the 2011 The Muppets movie, and guested on a 2015 episode of the ABC sitcom The Muppets.
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
This year’s Super Bowl is again bringing on the star power for its lineup of famous commercials. Miley Cyrus is the latest star who’ll make a cameo appearance in a Big Game ad for T-Mobile — and she’ll also be reuniting with her godmother, Dolly Parton.
Dolly teased a clip on Wednesday, which shows her telling her protégé over FaceTime, “You got a voice, Miley. Use it.” As Miley appears struck by inspiration, Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger” plays in the background.
In a brief montage, Miley toils over song lyrics, plays some notes on a piano and scribbles notes into a notepad before asking out loud, “What would Dolly do?” The teaser abruptly ends with a message telling fans to tune in on Sunday, February 13, to catch the Big Game ad in full.
Dolly seemingly teased the commercial is going to pull some memorable stunts by writing, “There’s big stuff on the way from me,” followed by a winking face emoji.
The Super Bowl, where the Los Angeles Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals at California’s SoFi Stadium, kicks off this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Chris Young is a frontrunner after the 2022 ACM Awards nominees were announced Thursday morning. He earned the most nominations of any artist, thanks largely to his mega-hit duet with Kane Brown, “Famous Friends.”
Chris earned seven mentions in total over four categories. He’s double-nominated in three of those, due to his role as both a producer and artist on the single and its album, also titled Famous Friends. He’s a bit of a dark horse at the awards show, having never won an ACM trophy in the past.
Behind Chris, the most-nominated artists are Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton, who are tied for second place, with five mentions apiece. Carrie Underwood, Carly Pearce and Jordan Davis also made a splash on the nominees list, coming in with four nods each.
Also scoring four nods was Morgan Wallen, who returns to the awards show pool after having been disqualified at the ACMs in 2021. His removal from consideration came after video footage emerged showing Morgan yelling a racist slur; he was also barred from all the other major awards shows that year.
But in 2022, the ACMs seem to be welcoming Morgan back. He’s nominated for Male Artist of the Year, also scoring a mention in the Album of the Year category, and two nods for Song of the Year, as both an artist and songwriter on his nominated “7 Summers.”
The 2022 ACMs will stream on Amazon Prime Video on March 7 at 8 p.m. EST.
Congratulations to Eve — she’s a mom. On Instagram, the rapper, actress and TV host announced that she and husband Maximillion Cooper welcomed a son on February 1.
Along with a picture of the baby sleeping peacefully in a floral-print basket, Eve wrote, “Our Beautiful boy was born Feb 1st 2022. Wilde Wolf Fife Alexander Somers Cooper. Words can’t describe this feeling.”
Eve and Cooper have been married since 2014; she’s a stepmom to his four teenage children from his previous marriage. Last October, she announced that she was expecting, writing, “You all know how long we’ve been waiting for this blessing!!!”
The Grammy winner had spoken in the past of her struggles to get pregnant; in 2020, she had fibroid tumors removed to improve her chance of becoming a mother.
In the comments on her Instagram post, Naomi Campbell congratulated Eve, and wrote, “Welcome to the world precious Wilde, play dates please.”
Eve’s Queens co-star Nadine Velazquez, who attended Eve’s baby shower last year, wrote “Welcome to Earth, The Liddle Wolfe. I can’t wait to meet him and see u again!”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Jack Antonoff has further responded to Damon Albarn‘s comments on Taylor Swift, likening the Blur frontman’s assertion that the pop star “doesn’t write her own songs” to a “Trumpian approach of just making things up.”
“You’re talking about one of the greatest songwriters of our generation who has her name as the only name on many songs,” Antonoff says of Swift. “You don’t need me to explain it; it’s fact.”
“I don’t care if Damon Albarn or anyone likes or doesn’t like something, but to unequivocally make a statement that isn’t true, that you actually have no idea about, and not to get to deep on it, but isn’t that kind of everything that’s wrong with our world at the moment?” he added. “People talking about s*** that they have no clue about?”
Following the LA Times interview — during which Albarn also dismissed the idea of Swift “co-writing” songs, which he said “doesn’t count” — the “Shake It Off” artist tweeted, “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.”
“You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really f***ed up to try and discredit my writing,” Swift added. Antonoff, who’s long worked with Swift as a producer, also commented, “I’ve never met Damon Albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs Taylor writes and brings in.”
Albarn soon apologized “unreservedly and unconditionally,” claiming his comments were “reduced to clickbait.”
“The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting,” he said. “I hope you understand.”
Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS visited President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
The duo is currently on Eilish’s Happier Than Ever Tour and had a show scheduled at Washington D.C.’s Capital One Arena, but before they took the stage, they made a pit stop at the White House with their parents. In addition to meeting the president, the siblings got to meet Biden’s newest German shepherd, Commander.
Biden later shared a snapshot of the trio together on social media, and wrote, “When I heard my friends @billieeilish and @finneas were in town for a show, I knew I had to invite them over to the White House. Great to see you and your family — and I’m glad you got to meet Commander.”
Finneas shared the post on his Instagram story and added, “So cool.”
Erika Goldring/Getty Images; Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
In case you missed it, U.S. figure skater Nathan Chenwon the gold medal Wednesday night at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in the men’s singles competition, delivering a thrilling free skate program set to a medley of cover versions of Elton John songs, including “Rocket Man” and “Bennie and the Jets.”
Now, the “Rocket Man” himself has extended congratulations to the 22-year-old athlete via his social media pages.
“Congratulations Nathan Chen for winning Gold skating to ‘Rocket Man’ in the free skate finals in Beijing,” Elton writes.
The British pop-rock legend also points out that Chen is featured in new episodes of the Olympic Channel series From the Top, which Elton executive-produced for his Rocket Sports production company.
Nathan appears with singer/actress Hayley Kiyoko in three segments of the program, which pairs Olympic athletes and music artists together and features them discussing their journeys to success. You can check out the episodes at Olympics.com.
Nicki Minaj is apparently willing to make things right after being criticized for a Black History Month Event she participated in with TikTok.
According to E! Online, on Wednesday, TikTok influencers were invited to a Zoom chat with Nicki as part of TikTok’s Black History Month celebration. But Black TikTok creators later complained that the event, which had a 300-person limit, was dominated by non-Black creators.
After the event, Nicki did an Instagram Live, captured by the SipPink podcast, during which she seemed to address the issue. “I had a really great call, a really great Zoom, with TikTok today. Shoutout to everybody that was on there,” the “Do We Have a Problem” rapper told fans.
But then she went on to note, “I hear you guys. I heard what y’all were saying and let me see if I can schedule something else for you guys, ’cause trust me, I heard y’all loud and clear.”
Black creator Niccoya responded to Nicki’s comments by saying, “WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH QUEEN. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING WHEN OTHERS WONT!!”
Nicoya then added, “I’m so glad all the [B]lack creators spoke up and made noise, because if we didn’t and sat in silence nobody would have even KNOWN.”
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment
Sting is the latest rock legend to cash in by selling the rights to his music.
MusicWeek reports that Sting has sold his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group in a deal that’s worth a reported $250 million. The deal is for Sting’s solo songs, as well as songs by The Police, and includes hits like “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Fields of Gold,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,” “Desert Rose,” “Message In a Bottle” and many more.
MusicWeek reports that the deal is similar to the one Bob Dylan made, in that it includes the rights to the publisher and the writer shares of the songs. It means Sting’s songs are now in the same place as his entire recorded music catalog: Universal Music Group.
In a statement, quoted by MusicWeek, Sting says, “It is absolutely essential to me that my career’s body of work have a home where it is valued and respected — not only to connect with longtime fans in new ways but also to introduce my songs to new audiences, musicians and generations.”
He adds, “Throughout my career, I have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with UMG as my label partner…so it felt natural to unite everything in one trusted home, as I return to the studio, ready for the next chapter.”
The estates of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon recently made similar deals regarding their catalogs.
Snoop Dogg is now the proud owner of Death Row Records, the same label that launched his career three decades ago. He signed with the label in 1993 and dropped his debut album, Doggystyle, before later signing with various other labels, including Def Jam.
“I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value,” Snoop said in a statement. “It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members.”
Death Row Records was founded in 1992 by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey. In addition to Snoop, the label was home to legendary rap icon Tupac Shakur during the 1990s. Ultimately, Death Row filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and bounced around from owner to owner a bit before landing at The Blackstone Group and MRNK Music Group.
