Music

Some of Adele‘s fans think they cracked the code about the powerhouse singer’s long-promised fourth studio album.  Rumor has it, new music is coming this week.

Billboard reports that a radio host named Mauler tweeted, then deleted, “New Adele.  This week.”

The internet went nuts over the statement, and now some fans are piecing together the clues that they think the British singer has been carefully leaving behind over the past few weeks.

Some took note that Adele has been posting a little more on social media and recently revealed a major life update on her relationship status by going Instagram official with NBA agent Rich Paul. 

Fans are also pointing out that, in order to be considered for a 2022 Grammy Award, artists must release their music by this Thursday, September 30, to be eligible. That means any album’s got to drop no later than Thursday.

Billboard notes that when they recently revisited the Grammy winner’s stats by reflecting on the success of her previous two albums, 25 and 21, some fans further took this as a sign that new album was on the way.

The Billboard Charts Twitter account ranked Adele’s albums and EPs on Monday, dubbing her sophomore album, 21, her best performing studio effort. Her third and latest album, 25, was one step behind. It also ranked her songs by naming the best-performing singles on the Hot 100 chart, with “Rolling in the Deep” leading the pack, followed by “Someone Like You,” “Set Fire to the Rain” and “Hello” — all of which went to number one.

Of course, it all comes down to what Adele has up her sleeve — and she hasn’t said a peep about when to expect her new album.

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Sorry Dolly Parton fans, it looks like the country star hasn’t joined TikTok after all. 

On Monday, many rejoiced after it appeared that Dolly joined the growing social media platform, but as it turns out, the account was a hoax.

The inaugural post showed the “9 to 5” singer stepping into the frame and declaring, “Woohoo! Well hello, I guess I’m on TikTok!” before taking a seat on a piano bench and adding, “I just dropped in to say everything’s gonna be OK. You keep the faith.”

Many applauded her introduction to the platform, however, a rep for the 75-year-old icon confirmed on the Today show that the account was fake and encouraged fans to “take a closer look” at the “doctored” footage, which was actually a taken from an old video used to promote her Imagination Library website.

The account amassed over 700,000 followers and five million views before TikTok deleted it for violating community guidelines regarding impersonation. 

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The week after her performance on Live with Kelly & Ryan, Cam‘s new single, “Till There’s Nothing Left,” is breaking into the country airplay chart. 

The “Burning House” hitmaker jokes a famous rapper may deserve some of the credit. But since the California native’s already worked with big names in the pop world like Sam Smith, Diplo, and Harry Styles, you never know.

“We joke. [Writer/producer] Jeff [Bhasker] calls it the 50 Cent guitar,” she explains, while starting to sing “In Da Club,” before slipping into her own hit. “‘Go shorty, it’s your birthday!’ But that’s happening… ‘I wanna steal every breath of fire.'”

“It has like a chug to it,” Cam continues, “and you’re like, ‘Okay. This is going somewhere.’ So it’s a banger.”

Lyrically, the song Cam co-wrote with Bhasker, Tyler Johnson, and Hillary Lindsey focuses on an all-consuming love.

“The thesis statement of this song and the heart of the song, it’s like a love that is just all-encompassing,” she tells ABC Audio. “Like, ‘But I just gotta give you everything. I gotta sit in my desires, and I’m not embarrassed by it. I’m just like everything, I want to give everything I am, and disappear into you.'”

“Like it’s very ‘I don’t want the date to end at the [end of the night]’ with your boyfriend or whatever in high school,” she adds.  

“Till There’s Nothing Left” is from Cam’s sophomore album, The Otherside. Later this week, she plays the Austin City Limits Festival in the Texas capital.

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On Wednesday, #FreeBritney may become more than just a hashtag: A hearing in Los Angeles today may either result in the removal of Britney Spears‘ father Jamie Spears as her conservator, or the actual termination of the conservatorship.

Team Britney’s top priority in this hearing is to have Jamie Spears removed, but Jamie is pushing to end the conservatorship now, which would make discussion of his removal a moot point. The judge simply needs to decide what’s in Britney’s best interests.

Britney’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart has petitioned the judge to suspend or remove Jamie if he doesn’t resign, and claims he has “overwhelming evidence” proving why this should happen immediately. And while Rosengart has said he wants the 13-year conservatorship “formally wound down” this fall, he’s hasn’t filed the paperwork to do that just yet.

Jamie Spears is actually the one who petitioned the court for the conservatorship to be terminated, noting that it is “opposed by no one.”  He says if it is terminated, then other issues before the court — like his removal — become unnecessary. Mr. Spears has said, essentially, that there’s no “basis ” for his removal, but if Britney is so convinced that she can handle her own life, then she “should get that chance.”

Rosengart says this is just a “desperate effort” to deflect attention from Mr. Spears’ “egregious incompetence” [and] “gross misconduct.”  However, he doesn’t need to prove this today: He just needs to convince the judge that Jamie’s removal is in the “best interests” of Britney Spears.

Meanwhile, Jodi Montgomery, Britney’s Conservator of Person, who handles the star’s medical records and personal affairs, says that Britney has asked her to “continue to serve.”  There are reports that Britney wants Montgomery on her payroll indefinitely, beyond the life of the conservatorship.

Stay tuned.

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Halestorm is “Back from the Dead,” and there’s a lot more where that came from.

The “I Miss the Misery” rockers unleashed their latest single in August, marking the first preview of their upcoming fifth studio album. As drummer Arejay Hale tells ABC Audio, “Back from the Dead” is just a taste of the intensity you’ll hear when the full record arrives.

“I think the biggest thing that this song represents is a lot of caged energy that has just finally just been — blah! —  just released, you know?” Hale laughs.

Writing “Back from the Dead,” Hale shares, was one of those special instances where it felt like the song was writing itself.

“Those are the best songs that come out of you, when they just write themselves, when it all just comes out so easily,” Hale says. “It’s rare…it’s impossible to consciously recreate that, but when it happens, it’s magical. This was one of those songs that just flowed out of us.”

It’s a feeling Hale’s had before, often on songs that turn out to be the backbone on which new Halestorm albums are built.

“Every album cycle, there’s always that one song,” Hale explains. “It was ‘Uncomfortable’ on [Vicious], it was ‘Love Bites’ on Strange Case, and it was ‘Mayhem’ on [Into the Wild Life], where we’re just, like, ‘Let’s give it everything we’ve got.’

“When we do, it’s, like, ‘Oh, OK! I think we’ve got something here, and now we have a template,'” he continues. “‘The bar has been raised up here, and now let’s bring the other songs up to this level.’ And that’s where we’re at right now.”

The new Halestorm album, the follow-up to 2018’s Vicious, is due out in 2022.

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M.A.C. Cosmetics is honoring the legacy of the late Whitney Houston with a new cosmetics line in her name.

“The idea that is coming to fruition now is something Whitney always wanted to do,” Whitney’s sister-in-law and former manager, Pat Houston, tells People. “I’m pleased we can do something that I know she would have loved. We are just starting on this collaboration but exciting things are coming!”

M.A.C. is participating in the I Wanna Dance With Somebody biopic, scheduled to be released in 2022. Producer Clive Davis says the film will “present the full story of Whitney Houston impeccably and [ensure] that it will be realistic in every respect.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time with the team at M.A.C. looking at Whitney photos and videos and helping them understand the true essence of her,” the sister-in-law says regarding the biopic. “I think you will see all of her looks ring true to how you saw Whitney in life.”

The six-time Grammy winner passed away on February 11, 2012, at the age of 48. She was introduced to makeup early in life as a teenage model.

“Whitney was always a champion of women feeling beautiful whether it was a major event or just for everyday wear. Our work with M.A.C. is about creating a line that can meet all of those needs,” Pat adds. “The line will be true to her colors that she loved to work with.”

 

 

 

 

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In July, Christina Aguilera teamed with SweeTARTS to invite fans to create original beats using the candy’s online “music mixer.” The winner, hand-picked by Christina, got one-on-one advice from the singer as he turned his beat into a finished track in a real recording studio.  Christina says being able to mentor unknown talent put “a big smile” on her face.

“I love being able to be in that position and do that for people, and I’m so happy that I did do it, because I got to have our session with Augusta Sani, the winner of the contest. And he was only 15 and he’d never had recording studio experience or never tried anything like this before,” Christina tells ABC Audio.

“It was so cute, we had to schedule our call…around his school schedule and his family dinners,” she laughs. “So it was sweet and cool for me to have that experience with someone so young…it was definitely great. I walked away with a big smile on my face.”

Another thing making Christina happy these days is her new music: She’s been working on a Spanish-language album project and says some of it will “be released very, very soon” — not just this fall, but beyond that.

“There was so much material that we’re going to be releasing it throughout next year, in sort of six-song increments every few months,” she explains.

“I’m really excited about releasing this music in a different way,” adds Christina, saying the new songs and videos tell “whole story and take you on this incredible journey…[it’s] my labor of love for a part of me and a part of my culture that’s so important, that isn’t always brought out in my English music.”

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With Grandude’s Green Submarine, the sequel to Paul McCartney‘s bestselling 2019 illustrated children’s book Hey Grandude!, set to be published soon, the former Beatles legend has taken part in a fan Q&A about the project that’s been posted on his official website.

As previously reported, the new book tells the further adventures of Grandude, a magical grandfather who takes his four grandchildren — who he calls his “chillers” — on a journey in his new invention, a green submarine, to find the kids’ music-loving grandmother, Nandude.

Asked how he likes being a grandparent, Sir Paul says he loves it, noting, “Each [grandkid] has a different personality, and they keep me entertained and constantly surprised.”

Another fan asked why the submarine in the book isn’t yellow, like the one in the famous 1966 Beatles song and the 1968 animated movie inspired by the tune.

“I have been there and done that with the Yellow Submarine,” McCartney explains. “[T]his green one is related, but has completely different powers than the Yellow Submarine had.”

As for what he enjoyed most about writing the book, the 79-year-old rock legend says, “I just like the process of allowing my imagination to run wild. After I’ve got all my crazy ideas written down, it’s up to the publishers and illustrator Kathryn Durst to bring it all to life.”

Asked why he decided to pen a sequel to Hey Grandude!, McCartney explains, “Writing Grandude’s adventures is something I love, so it made sense to keep going and write more of his story.”

Grandude’s Green Submarine gets released on October 5 in the U.S. and this Thursday, September 30, in the U.K. You can pre-order the book now.

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Biffy Clyro has premiered a new video combining “A Hunger in Your Haunt” and “Unknown Male 01,” the two released singles off the band’s upcoming album, The Myth of the Happily Ever After.

The 10-minute clip begins with the Scottish trio performing “A Hunger” in a warehouse covered in blue paint before transitioning outside into a Bird Box-esque world filled with people wearing blindfolds for “Unknown Male.” At the end of the video, a mysterious set of numbers flashes on the screen.

You can watch the “A Hunger in Your Haunt”/”Unknown Male 01” video streaming now on YouTube.

The Myth of the Happily Ever After, the follow-up to last year’s A Celebration of Endings, arrives October 22.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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