Music

Julian Casablancas took the mound at Citi Field Monday ahead of his beloved New York Mets’ doubleheader against the visiting Atlanta Braves.

The Strokes frontman delivered the ceremonial first pitch while wearing a Darryl Strawberry jersey and a bandana sticking out the front of his backwards Mets cap, which seemed to confuse the announcing crew. It a post-pitch interview, Casablancas described his look as “baseball fashion.”

The Mets broadcast team might’ve also given any Strokes fans watching a minor stroke of their own when they referred to Casablancas as the “former lead singer” of the band. Luckily, a rep tells Pitchfork the comment was a mistake.

Casablancas, an NYC native, is a longtime Mets fan. He even wrote a song called “Ode to the Mets” for The Strokes’ most recent album, 2020’s The New Abnormal.

The Mets, by the way, split the doubleheader against the Braves, losing the first game but winning the second.

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Snoop Dogg expressed his gratitude to fans over the weekend, thanking them for their continued prayers for his mother, Beverly Tate, who fell ill last spring.

In May, the 49-year-old rapper asked fans to pray for his mother, but didn’t specify any details surrounding her health or the situation.  Then Sunday, Snoop shared some positive news, posting a photo of his 70-year-old mom resting on a hospital bed while he and his siblings comfort her.

“Happy Sunday me and my brothers went to c mama today and she opened up her eyes to c us and let us know she still fighting,” he explained in the emotional caption. “God is good.”

“Thanks for all the prayers,” he concluded, adding, “1 day at a time.” 

Snoop’s update attracted support from his famous friends, including Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx, Lizzo, Kenan Thompson and many others.

Snoop has yet to publicly disclose his mother’s ailment or condition.

Shortly after revealing his mother’s health struggles in May, Snoop shared in an Instagram video, “Gotta stay strong, gotta keep pushing on. They say God ain’t gon put nothing on you, you can’t handle. I’m being tested right now y’all. Make sure y’all pray for me and my family.”

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Carrie Underwood has a new Gift to offer fans. The superstar singer is releasing a deluxe edition of her 2020 debut Christmas album, My Gift, on September 24. 

My Gift (Special Edition) will include three new tracks: “Favorite Time of Year,” which was originally released in as an Amazon Original and featured in Ring’s holiday commercial; a cover of Michael W. Smith‘s “All is Well”; and a mashup of Carrie’s holiday original “Let There Peace” and hit song, “Something in the Water.” 

“My Gift is an album I’ve wanted to make from the beginning of my career. It’s been such a blessing to share this special music and I’m excited to share even more with the release of My Gift (Special Edition),” Carrie says. 

The trio of new songs join other holiday classics on the standard edition, including “O Holy Night,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” which features an appearance from Carrie’s son, Isaiah, and more. Carrie also collaborated with John Legend on “Hallelujah.”

My Gift reached #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Holiday Albums charts following its release. It also peaked inside the top five on the all-genre Billboard 200.  

My Gift (Special Edition) will also be available on vinyl on November 5.

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Derek Hough has a full plate already — from judging Dancing with the Stars to starring on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — but the professional dancer is adding yet another project to his roster: a Las Vegas residency titled Derek Hough: No Limit.

While the 36-year-old Emmy winner is no stranger to performing live, he credited his World of Dance co-star Jennifer Lopez for inspiring him further with a pep talk.

“She gave me some good advice. Her MO is hustle, right?” Hough told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s like, ‘Make sure you hustle. Make sure you keep people out there seeing the show and you’re working,'” said Hough, who is set to become the first artist to take over The Summit Showroom, located at Vegas’ Venetian Resort.

Hough said he’s continually inspired by Lopez’s work ethic, adding, “She’s great. She goes hard in her show. She goes hard in everything.”

He also said the door is open for Jennifer to join him during one of his shows, should she so choose.  He also extended the invite to other people in his inner circle.

“I think I’m gonna leave a space in the show open for, you know, if I have Andy Grammer get up, or my sister [Julianne Hough], or Lindsey Stirling, or Ne-Yo,” he grinned, referencing past DWTS competitors. “There’s so many people I think that could be great on the show.”

As for what fans can expect when the curtain rises on September 22, the DWTS pro teased, “It’s gonna be a great show. Live music, I have a live band, incredible dancers… There’s a lot of pent-up energy that’s gonna be out there on that stage. I’m excited!”

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Ed Sheeran is busy cooking up “something special” for the fans. 

On Monday, the English singer-songwriter teased a short video to Instagram with the vague caption, “Was recording something special today.”

In the clip, Sheeran is dressed in a black tee and black jeans with a semi-circle of background singers, also dressed in black, behind him. Together they sing an a capella version of his song “Afterglow,” in what appears to be a church, as the sunlight shines through the stain-glassed windows behind them.

While Sheeran didn’t spill any other details about the project, the teaser comes on the heels of his single “Bad Habits” landing the number one spot on Billboard‘s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts.

“Bad Habits. One month at number one,” he celebrated on Twitter on July 23. “Thank you all for listening and supporting Ed’s new single.”

“Bad Habits” is the lead single off his upcoming fifth studio album. The title and the release date have yet to be announced. 

 

 

 

 

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Lizzo shared an important public service announcement on Monday, telling fans that she will no longer tolerate strangers — regardless of their vaccination status — standing fewer than six feet away from her.

The “Truth Hurts” singer, taking to Instagram to share the candid announcement, said she doesn’t want to take any chances with her health and cited the recent surge in new COVID-19 cases.  Lizzo also admitted that she’s worried about the Delta variant, which currently makes up the majority of cases in the country.

“I don’t care who you are. You could be the nicest person. You could be vaccinated. You could be quadruple vaccinated. If you see me, please give me six feet,” Lizzo explained in the candid video.  “[The virus] is coming back.”

Noting that people have become “sloppy” with social distancing measures, the Grammy winner stressed, “If ya’ll see me in the street, come up on me, want to hug, want to shake my hand, want to kiss me on the cheek, don’t do it… I ain’t trying to catch this motherf****** virus.”

To further illustrate her message, Lizzo warned she would spray people with Lysol should they come too close to her because she wants to stay “COVID-free” and “healthy.”  Her main priority, she said, was to be a safe person for her family, friends and her team “to be around.”

“I’m about to be rude [even though] I’m nice,” she said plainly. “This virus gonna have me acting up.  I’m about to be mean.”

Lizzo then asked her 10 million followers to adopt a similar mentality, telling them to “protect yourselves… and double mask up” because “this is scary!”

COVID-19 has infected more than 34.5 million Americans and killed over 611,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

 

 

 

 

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Quincy Brown plays a local music producer named Crown Camacho in Starz’s Power prequel, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, which focuses on Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s character Kanan Stark.

Due to his background as an artist under his step-dad Diddy and Bad Boy Records, the “Enough About Me” singer says his character is more relatable than he thought. 

“The Power universe itself speaks volumes, and from the success of that, they started to now dive into the characters that people fell in love with their stories,” Brown tells POPSUGAR. “Crown Camacho is that ear to the streets, but also that plug to the music. I think in the lifestyle in which we’re surrounded by, the music speaks more than anything, and everybody wants to have the newest artist with the hottest song, and I’m the guy that that has to go through.”

“It’s definitely a great dive into a period of time, the birth of hip-hop. I was born in ’91, and that’s exactly where it takes place,” says the 30-year-old. “Having the family I have, I was actually around these times and even the areas the show represents. This is one of those projects that will live on forever.”

If you haven’t already, Brown says now is a “good time” to check out Raising Kanan, so you won’t be lost during season two, which was renewed before the first episode premiered on July 18. 

Power Book III: Raising Kanan airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.

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Anne-Marie co-wrote her single “2002” with Ed Sheeran, and on her new album, Therapy, she’s teamed with him again on the song “Beautiful.” The British singer says not only did she get some great songs out of her friendship with Ed, but she also learned a valuable lesson.

Speaking to Music Week, Anne-Marie recalls the first time she and Ed got together to co-write.  She remembers thinking, “If we get in the session and he thinks I’m crap, is he not going to be my friend?” But, she says, “How he was in the session was amazing to me, because he’s very much open to being crap. And I think that’s what I really am bad at.”

“For example, I would probably go through about 10 sentences in my head before I feel confident to see if one is O.K. with everyone in the room,” explains the “FRIENDS” singer. “Whereas he was just like, ‘What about this? What about this?’ and saying the first thing that came into his head.”

“He wasn’t scared to look like something was not good enough,” she notes. “I learned not to be scared but to be seen.”

In addition to getting help from Ed on Therapy, Anne-Marie also got help from, well, actual therapy.

“It changed my life,” she admits. “I can’t tell you how different I am just even speaking to you now. I feel different. I would have been, like, full of anxiety before…I was scared and terrified about people staring at me.”

Anne-Marie, whose latest hit is “Our Song,” with Niall Horan, will promote her new album with a livestream called Therapy: The Live Experience, on August 7. Tickets for the stream are on sale now.

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