Music

Shawn Mendes provided fans a sweet look at how he spent quarantine with girlfriend Camila Cabello in his new single “Summer of Love,” which he released Friday. 

The dreamy new track and its accompanying beachy music video arrived just as the sun is beginning to set on summer.

The song opens with Mendes musing about how he and his love would spend the day “tangled in the sheets until the evening” because “there was nowhere to go” before launching into the bouncy chorus that described how those months of solitude enriched him.

“It was the summer of love/ A delicate daydream/ And for a couple of months/ It felt like we were 18/ It was the summer of/ La-la-love,” the three-time Grammy nominee croons over the playful beat.

Mendes, 23, also revealed in the track that he filled his days with “meditation and tequila” and “calling you my señorita” — a throwback to his and Cabello’s steamy 2019 track.

In the sun-kissed music video, Mendes bumps up the nostalgia by palling around Mallorca, Spain, with his group of friends where activities include lounging on a boat, splashing around in the ocean and dancing in a night club.

“Summer of Love” also features reggaetón producer Tainy, whose resume includes producing hits for well-known Latin singers such as Bad Bunny and J Balvin.

Mendes is promoting “Summer of Love” as a non-album single.  His last effort, Wonder, arrived last December.  Plans for a fifth album have yet to be announced.

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For Thomas Rhett, his latest hit, “Country Again,” represents coming back to his roots in more ways than one.

The former ACM Entertainer of the Year confesses the inspiration came after a particularly difficult period, when he was “freaking out,” not knowing what to do since he couldn’t tour or make music, about a month after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My wife [Lauren] was like, ‘Honey, I think you have to just realize that you can’t do this right now. So maybe why don’t you just take a step back and live some life and then go try to write again?'” TR recalls. “And so I literally didn’t write a song for almost two months, which is the longest I’ve ever gone, I think, in my whole life.”

“And when I came back, the very first song I wrote was ‘Country Again,'” he reveals.

That also unleashed the floodgates for a double album, which begins with Country Again: Side A.

“Songs just kind of started flowing out of me,” TR explains. “And I think the writers were kind of on board with this vision.”

“And I think for the first time in a long time,” he continues, “I just was like, ‘What do I want to say? What do I want to write? If this had nothing to do with anything in the world, what would I say if nobody was in here?’ And these are some of the songs that just kind of flowed out of that.”

“And it was a really fun way to, just to be creative and write songs,” he adds.

The Country Again: Side A collection also includes his previous #1, “What’s Your Country Song,” with the new track, “Redneck Be Like,” presumably offering a glimpse into Side B.

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Yungblud has dropped a new single called “Fleabag.”

The grungy track will not only remind you of the acclaimed TV series starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but also Kurt Cobain‘s yelps on Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Heart-Shaped Box.”

“I wrote ‘Fleabag’ in a really dark time of my life, when a lot of people around me had an expectation about what I should be,” Yungblud explains. “To tell you the truth, it’s about being f***ing gutted about people judging me and trying to tear me down. I felt so alienated, I felt so alone.”

He continues, “This song is a kick back. A kick back against the world, a kick back against my friends, against my family and some of my fanbase. I am who I am, all I want to do is spread love and lead with my heart. I’ve always told people to be themselves, sometimes I have to remember that message myself.”

You can download “Fleabag” now via digital outlets.

“Fleabag” follows Yungblud’s sophomore album, Weird!, which dropped last December.

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After 6- and 7-year-old sisters were shot sitting in a car earlier this week in Chicago, one fatally, Lil Durk wants the violence to end in his hometown.

“This needs to change and ASAP,” the “Viral Moment” rapper said, according to My Mixtapez.com. “I be willing to help, but some higher power act like they just don’t care,” he added.

According to ABC Chicago affiliate WLS-TV, 250 kids have been shot in the city this year, with 32 losing their life.

As previously reported, Durk and his girlfriend, India Cox, were nearly victims of gunfire last month. Armed intruders attempted to break into their Braselton, Georgia home. The couple had guns to defend themselves and were involved in a shootout. Fortunately, they were not hurt.

Now the two-time Grammy nominee is looking forward to performing at the tenth anniversary of Jay-Z’s Made in America festival Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia. He’s also up for two MTV VMAs September 12 in New York City: Best Collaboration and Best Hip-Hop for “Laugh Now Cry Later,” with Drake.

Lil Durk speaks on the violence in Chicago 🗣 pic.twitter.com/e6EW5x4Zp3

— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) August 17, 2021

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Britney Spears is under investigation for alleged battery stemming from an altercation with an employee, according to Capt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.

An employee filed a complaint after Spears allegedly struck them during a dispute on Monday morning, Buschow said, adding that the employee was not injured.

The sheriff’s office will forward their findings to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of misdemeanor charges. A source from the sheriff’s office added that this is a very minor case.

“This is overblown sensational tabloid fodder — nothing more than a ‘he said she said’ regarding a cell phone, with no striking and obviously no injury whatsoever,” Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, told ABC News. “Anyone can make an accusation but this should have been closed immediately.”

Recently, Spears, 39, has been focused on ousting her father, Jamie Spears, from the conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008. Last week, Jamie Spears filed court documents stating that he would be willing to resign as conservator of his daughter’s estate, even though he believes it is “highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. [Britney] Spears’ best interests.”

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Blues Traveler‘s travels took a scary turn Thursday when the band’s tour bus was involved in a road accident.

According to a press release, the “Hook” rockers and their crew were stuck inside the bus after it crashed on the way to a show in Rochester, Minnesota. They were assisted by law enforcement and first-responders in safely exiting the vehicle, and were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.

“This morning our tour bus went off the road and crossed the median,” Blues Traveler says in the statement. “Thankfully we are all safe and have only sustained minor injuries. Our sincere gratitude to the Winona, MN, Police Department and rescue crew for their help getting us safely off the highway and out of oncoming traffic.”

While the group is understandably “shaken,” they plan to still play Rochester this Friday, August 20, as scheduled.

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Kerry Washington has found a new inspiring project to get behind.

The Scandal star is working with Disney Branded Television to develop From the Desk of Zoe Washington, an original movie based on Janae Marks’ critically acclaimed book of the same name. Like the award-winning novel, the film will center on middle-schooler and aspiring pastry chef Zoe, a young girl who makes a connection with her incarcerated father. After he proclaims his innocence, Zoe “begins to learn about systemic racism” and works to “set her biological father free.” A release date for From the Desk of Zoe Washington has not been announced.

In other news, Starz has released the official trailer to their highly anticipated crime drama Black Mafia Family. As previously reported, the 50 Cent-produced series follows the real-life story of brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, who “rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in the country.” BMF premieres Sunday, September 26, at 9 p.m. ET. and stars Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr., Russell Hornsby, Snoop Dogg, La La Anthony and Serayah, among others.

Finally, Netflix has renewed Mindy Kaling‘s coming-of-age comedy Never Have I Ever for a third season. As previously noted, the series follows Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, a 15-year-old Indian-American girl navigating the pressures of high school and her social status. A release date for the third season has yet to be announced.

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From her intimate single, “homecoming queen?,” to her forthcoming book of poetry, Kelsea Ballerini has been making it a point recently to be vulnerable and authentic in her art. But that hasn’t always come easily to her.

The singer admits to People, “I think it’s a journey. I think it’s always evolving. I have days where I feel insecure and days where it’s hard. I’m human.”

Kelsea also knows how important it can be for those in the public eye to be transparent about their insecurities and vulnerabilities with fans. As an example, Kelsea says she’s proud of pop superstar Lizzo, who has recently faced an onslaught of racist and sexist comments on social media, and opened up to her fans about how hurt she was by the messages. 

“When someone, especially with Lizzo’s platform, is able to say, ‘I’m human and even though I try to put my most confident self forward..As a public figure, this hurts my feelings.’…I think when someone at that level is able to do that, it normalizes it,” Kelsea explains.

“It helps every person that’s at home crying because some troll on the Internet told them they looked bad in whatever form or fashion. It makes them go, ‘It’s not just me. I’m not alone,’” the singer continues. 

Most recently, Kelsea celebrated her journey to self-love in partnership with clothing brand Aerie as part of their #AerieReal campaign, which seeks to empower people to celebrate what they love about themselves. 

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