Music

Justin Bieber has launched a fundraiser to help the people of Haiti, who are struggling to rebuild after a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the country, killing over 2,200 people and destroying more than 100,000 homes. 

Project Medishare, a global nonprofit, announced Wednesday that they partnered with the “Peaches” singer and the activist network Propeller for a charity auction, all proceeds from which will go to help the people of Haiti.

Bieber has donated a Vegas experience for two, complete with round-trip flights, a hotel stay, tickets to his concert at the T-Mobile Arena and a VIP meet and greet.  He also donated a variety of original artworks.  Also up for grabs is an exclusive invite to Bieber’s event in New York City, set to take place the week of September 12. The auction ends September 7.

“Thank you @justinbieberfor setting up an auction with @propeller.la to raise funds for @medishare4haiti,” the organization shared on Instagram. “100% of proceeds will support our work on the ground providing critical medical care and distributing food and hygiene kits to families affected by the devastating 7.2 earthquake in #Haiti.”

Those wanting to help can donate now on Project Medishare’s website, and also stay up to date there on the ongoing relief efforts.

Haiti’s recovery efforts were further hampered by Tropical Storm Grace, which drenched the Caribbean nation two days after the devastating earthquake, which triggered flash floods and mudslides. The back-to-back natural disasters came as Haiti grapples with a political crisis following the assassination of their president, Jovenel Moïse.

 

 

 

 

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Alicia Keys is gearing up to drop some new music. 

The 40-year-old singer took to social media Wednesday to announce that next week she’s dropping “La La,” a new song with Swae Lee.

“New Music. Timeless vibes. #LALA 9/9,” Alicia captioned the Instagram post, which tagged Lee and producer Mike Will Made It. 

The post also showed off the track’s cover art, which features Keys’ looking over her shoulder with her hair slicked back in a low bun. She’s sporting a pair of gold earrings that read “Queen” and a chunky layered gold chain necklace, with gold nail polish that’s painted over her fingertips to match. 

Over on Twitter, the singer shared a TikTok video of her reacting to a duo dancing to her song, simultaneously giving fans a 30-second sneak peek at the upcoming record. 

“This is a ZONEEEEEEE!!!! Can y’all teach me the #LaLa???” she wrote alongside the clip. 

 

 

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This is a ZONEEEEEEE!!!! Can y’all teach me the #LaLa???🔥🔥🔥👑👑👑💜💜 pic.twitter.com/kyvqxkrWXz

— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) August 30, 2021

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With Labor Day weekend coming up, tonight’s CMA Summer Jam is country’s unofficial farewell party for the warmest season — and Darius Rucker is bringing the beer.

“I wrote a song with some buddies last year that was a kind of a summery song that did pretty good for us,” he says regarding his latest #1. “So I’m gonna… have fun and try to bring some ‘Beers and Sunshine’ to everybody…”

“It’s just a song about getting back to normal and getting back to the things you love and remembering that there’s still great things around that are just real simple,” he adds.

Luke Combs has an entirely different take on sharing some drinks with the crowd.

“It’s obviously gonna be a high-energy set…” he reveals. “I’m bringing my buddy Jimmie Allen out, which is gonna be really exciting. He’ll get to sing for everybody. I’m a huge fan of his…”

“I’m looking forward to the energy,” Luke continues. “Drink some beers, drink some drinks, you know, throw some drinks on some people, probably. It’ll be fun.”

CMA Summer Jam features a who’s-who of the biggest stars in country music, and Entertainer of the Year Eric Church speaks for them all when he says they couldn’t wait to return to the stage.

“I’ve tried to get like five-year-old birthday party gigs,” he jokes, “and anybody that would hire a guy in sunglasses to play.”

“But I’ll play anywhere,” he adds. “I think the band will play anywhere. And I think it hearkens back to, at least for us, it’s about the love of music… We can’t wait to get back out there.”

Check out all the fun as country takes over ABC prime time tonight with CMA Summer Jam, which starts at 8 p.m. ET.

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Say “Hello” to the latest business venture from Lionel Richie: a new flavor of super-premium ice cream.

Lionel has teamed with Tyra Banks‘ new gourmet ice cream brand SMiZE Cream to create his own flavor, dubbed “All Night Love.”  It features flavors that Lionel grew up loving: vanilla ice cream, Midnight cookie crumble swirls and a salted caramel ribbon, plus milk chocolate-covered fudge hearts, which were Tyra’s suggestion.

There’s also a SMiZE SURPRiZE hidden inside: a “caramel-scotch” cookie-dough truffle. The container for the flavor comes with a QR code that links to videos featuring Tyra and Lionel, as well as an illustrated version of Lionel that comes alive via Augmented Reality.

Tyra, a huge fan of Lionel’s who even appeared in one of his videos back in the day, says, “His music and presence light up any room. And now, Lionel’s delectable ice cream flavor will light up your palate!” 

Lionel, who actually helped create the frozen concoction, notes, “I am so happy to have some of my favorite hometown tastes featured in my very own SMiZE Cream flavor. It’s been fun to work with the incredible Tyra Banks and to be able to share this special treat with everyone.”

You can pre-order “All Night Love” now; it starts shipping on September 8.

 

 

 

 

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13-time Grammy winner Pharrell Williams has written and produced music for a who’s who of music, including Prince, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, and dozens more stars. Few people in music have a more impressive resume. Of all the special artists he’s worked with, he declares one legend as the greatest of all time.

“Charlie Wilson is the GOAT, bro. Charlie Wilson, the Gap Band, he tells Variety. “My parents used to play that music, and it’s always been an honor to work with Uncle Charlie.”

Pharrell and Wilson have recorded several songs together, including “That Girl” from Pharrell’s 2006 debut solo album, In My Mind. They’ve also released five collabs with Snoop Dogg, led by the 2003 platinum single, “Beautiful,” which is a staple of Charlie’s concert list.

In 2013, Pharrell joined Snoop and Timberlake in performing a tribute to the former Gap Band lead singer when Wilson was honored for Lifetime Achievement at the 13th annual BET Awards.

Charlie is a favorite for hip-hop features, and Pharrell is thrilled that many other artists are embracing the 68-year-old icon.

“Seeing him get his flowers so many times with Kanye and Tyler, the Creator,” he continues, “and just continuing to be out there, still doing it and sounding amazing.”

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Shinedown‘s latest project has been three years in the making.

On Friday, the band will premiere ATTENTION ATTENTION, a film inspired by their 2018 album of the same name. As frontman Brent Smith tells ABC Audio, the movie was always the final goal for ATTENTION ATTENTION.

“Once we had the record written, we knew that it was a conceptual piece,” Smith explains. “The goal was always to show it all in its entirety as a visual piece and an accompaniment to the audio and the songs.

The end result is an hour-long optical roller-coaster ride that runs the length of the album, with each song getting its own video separated by Smith’s interstitial voiceover narration. Some of the videos, such as those for singles “GET UP” and “DEVIL,” have already been released, but are presented in a new context within the film as a whole.

Certain characters and visual motifs pop up throughout ATTENTION ATTENTION, though Smith doesn’t feel it comes to a singular, clear-cut conclusion.

“For us, it was about allowing the viewer to have their own interpretation,” Smith says.

ATTENTION ATTENTION was directed by Bill Yukich, whose editing work on Beyoncé‘s Lemonade earned him an Emmy nomination. One of the enduring images from that groundbreaking project was the shot of the “Formation” star wielding a bat while wearing a yellow dress, which is coincidentally paralleled in the use of yellow throughout ATTENTION ATTENTION.

While that parallel was unintentional, Smith sees it as another example of the universe doing what it does in bringing Yukich to Shinedown’s, well, attention.

“We gravitated towards each other because the universe said, ‘Yeah, these four guys and this dude, they need to meet,'” Smith says. “‘They’re gonna create something’ that, in my opinion, is pretty awesome.”

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In addition to painting the town, Twenty One Pilots are painting the Billboard charts.

The duo’s current single, “Saturday,” has hit number one on the Alternative Airplay ranking, giving Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun a total of nine leaders on the tally.

Twenty One Pilots now have the sixth-most Alternative Airplay number-ones in the history of the chart, which first began in 1988. Red Hot Chili Peppers have the most, with 13.

“Saturday” appears on the new Twenty One Pilots Scaled and Icy, which was released in May. The record’s lead single, “Shy Away,” also hit number one on Alternative Airplay.

Twenty One Pilots will perform “Saturday” on this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, airing September 12. The video for “Shy Away” is nominated in the Best Alternative category.

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The Weeknd received an Emmy nomination for his Super Bowl halftime performance, and now Showtime is taking us behind the scenes of the multi-million dollar production in a new documentary titled The Show.

A trailer was released Wednesday capturing the numerous rehearsals in dance studios and stadiums, and the preparations for the special effects, as well as clips from the actual show.

The Blinding Lights singer, who spent $7 million himself to create his halftime mini-concert, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt enormous pressure to deliver a special show.

“Oh yeah, absolutely. Naturally. Just the idea that it’s the Super Bowl alone, you know, there was that pressure,” he said. “Then, having to adjust to what we’re dealing with and making it a COVID-safe, COVID-free environment.”

“The silver lining was that we got to be very creative and got to make it a cinematic journey,” The Weeknd continued. “Less of a halftime show spectacle, more of a narrative. So there was a silver lining in that, but we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. We were kind of blind, but it turned out great.”

The halftime performance is up for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special. The Show will debut Friday, September 24 at 9 p.m., 8 p.m. Central, on Showtime.

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