Music

Foo Fighters are set to receive the inaugural U.S. Global Icon Award at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.

The prize will recognize Dave Grohl and company for their “unparalleled career and continued impact and influence [that] has maintained a unique level of global success in music and beyond.”

The Global Icon Award has previously been given out by the MTV Europe Music Awards. Past winners include Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, U2, Queen, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston.

Along with the honor, the Foos will perform at this year’s VMAs, marking their first set at the ceremony since 2007. They’re also nominated in three categories: Best Rock, Best Choreography and Best Cinematography, all for the “Shame Shame” video.

The 2021 MTV VMAs will air September 12. Other performers include Machine Gun Kelly and Lorde.

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Selena Gomez is the cover star for the first ever Latinx issue of ELLE magazine.

In the interview, she opens up about how making it her purpose to help others helped get her through some tough times.

“My lupus, my kidney transplant, chemotherapy, having a mental illness, going through very public heartbreaks— these were all things that honestly should have taken me down,” she says.

But Selena says she survived by telling herself, “You’re going to help people.”

“That’s really what kept me going,” she says. “There could have been a time when I wasn’t strong enough, and would have done something to hurt myself.”

Now, the 29-year-old says everything she’s attached to — including her HBO Max show Selena + Chef and her cosmetics line Rare Beauty — has “a charity aspect. …If something good isn’t coming out of it, I’m not going to do it,” she says.

Elsewhere in the interview, Selena clarifies a previous comment she made about retiring from music soon. She says that while she does feel like she has a lot of prove sometimes, she doesn’t think she’ll ever quit making music.

Her new Hulu show, Only Murders in the Building, debuts out August 31.

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Nine Inch Nails won’t be touring this year.

Trent Reznor and company have announced that they’re cancelling all of their 2021 live shows due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

“When originally planned, these shows were intended to be a cathartic and celebratory return to live music,” NIN writes in a statement. “However, with each passing day it’s becoming more apparent we’re not at that place yet.”

The band adds, “We are sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment and look forward to seeing you again when the time is right.”

Nine Inch Nails’ calendar included two headlining shows in Cleveland scheduled for September, as well as sets at festivals including Riot Fest, Louder than Life and Welcome to Rockville. Slipknot and Morrissey have joined the Riot Fest lineup in NIN’s place; replacements for Louder than Life and Welcome to Rockville have yet to be announced.

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If your board game time needs a heavier soundtrack, then Iron Maiden is here for you.

The metal legends have dropped a new song called “Stratego,” a track off their upcoming album Senjutsu. While there aren’t specific mentions of flags, bombs or spies, the tune does include lyrics such as “Teach me the art of war” and “Spills of a crying nation upon my soul.”

You can listen to “Stratego” now via digital outlets.

Senjutsu, Iron Maiden’s 17th studio album and its first since 2015’s The Book of Souls, is due out September 3, and can be pre-ordered now. It also includes the previously released single “The Writing on the Wall.”

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Nas is once again the ruler of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as his latest release, King’s Disease II, debuts at number one. This is his tenth album to top the chart, and his first in nine years to hit number one.

King’s Disease II, featuring Eminem, YG, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Charlie Wilson and Ms. Lauryn Hill, sold 56,000 units in its first week.

The Illmatic rapper hit the streets this week promoting his new music, and posted an Instagram video showing him randomly giving out free CDs and sharing fist bumps with his fans.

“This new album got me out here acting like a bootlegger in 2004,” Nas commented.

Nas is the 12th artist to have at least ten number-one albums on the chart. The Temptations lead with 17, followed by Jay-Z with 14, Future and R. Kelly with 12, and Drake has 11. Nas is tied with Aretha Franklin, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and The Isley Brothers, all of whom claim 10 chart-topping albums.

Nas’ new music is the follow-up to King’s Disease, which won a Grammy for Best Rap Album earlier this year, his first win after 13 nominations.

 

 

 

 

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Barbra Streisand has made history once again, this time with her Release Me 2 album, which debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart dated August 21.

The debut makes Barbra the only woman to chart a new album in the top 20, or top 40, of the Billboard albums chart in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s.

The 79-year-old music legend made her Billboard 200 chart debut 58 years ago, when The Barbra Streisand Album bowed at No. 17 in 1963.  It later peaked at No. 9.

The only other act to have sent an album into the top 20 or top 40 in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s is Bob Dylan, who accomplished that thanks to his Rough and Rowdy Ways collection, which peaked at No. 2 in 2020.

Streisand also extends her record for the most top-40-charting albums among women in the history of the Billboard 200 chart, which began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956.  Release Me 2 brings her total of top-40-charting albums to 54, ahead of Aretha Franklin, who has 26.  Frank Sinatra tops all acts, with 58.

Release Me 2 features a collection of 10 previously unreleased Streisand recordings.  The first volume, Release Me, came out in 2012.

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In a new cover story with VMAN, Lil Nas X reveals how his father’s musical aspirations inspired him to pursue a music career of his own.
                                               
“My dad is a gospel singer,” the 22-year-old tells the mag. “He still sings gospel but not as much. I guess [he] inspired me to say, ‘Wow, if my dad can go out there now, at almost 50 years old, and make music, what’s stopping me?’ It was definitely a part of what pushed me. I actually ended up using one of his engineers for some of my earlier music.”

With his upcoming album Montero — titled for Lil Nas’ birth name — the singer is putting himself out there more than ever before.

“The album is me inviting people into the world of me…into the world of Montero,” he says. “[This] project gave me the opportunity to bravely show different parts of myself. Parts that I may not have shown so openly previously.”

Lil Nas says he hopes people will listen to the album and learn something about themselves through learning more about him.

“I want the takeaway to be that it’s okay to be yourself, and I mean every aspect of your true self,” he says.

Lil Nas has yet to announce a release date for Montero, which features the songs “Montero (Call Me by Your Name), “Sun Goes Down” and “Industry Baby.”

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The Academy of Country Music Awards is forgoing broadcast television in 2022 in favor of an Amazon Prime livestream.

It’s the latest development in a dramatic series of twists and turns for the country music awards show, which most recently aired on its longtime broadcast network home of CBS in April. But following that event, the Academy parted ways with the network after failing to agree on deal-renewal terms.

Now, it’s set to become the first-ever mainstream awards show to livestream exclusively. 

“We are thrilled that the Academy of Country Music Awards are first to take this giant step toward the future of awards shows with Amazon Prime Video,” Damon Whiteside, the Academy’s CEO, says in a statement. 

The exact date and location of next year’s ACM Awards will be announced at a later time. As always, the 2022 ACMs promise to bring together country music’s top artists for a packed show full of collaborations, world-television-premiere performances and other unforgettable moments.

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Pop Evil has announced rescheduled dates for concerts the band postponed after frontman Leigh Kakaty tested positive for COVID-19.

The affected shows ran from August 17 to August 25. The new dates are scattered through late August, September and October.

Previously purchased tickets will be valid at the rescheduled shows. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit PopEvil.com.

Pop Evil announced news of Kakaty’s positive test earlier this week. In a statement, they noted that all band and crew members were vaccinated ahead of the tour.

Kakaty and company plan to return to the road August 27 in Virginia Beach. They’ve been touring in support of the new Pop Evil album, Versatile, which dropped in May.

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WILLOW has announced a headlining U.S. tour in support of her new, pop-punk-influenced album, Lately I Feel Everything.

The trek is set to launch September 14 in Santa Ana, California, and will conclude October 19 in Atlanta. The full list of dates is listed on WILLOW’s Instagram.

WILLOW released Lately I Feel Everything in July. It features Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, who plays on the single “Transparent Soul,” and a collaboration with Avril Lavigne.

As previously reported, WILLOW will be opening for the first leg of Billie Eilish‘s U.S. tour, kicking off in February 2022.

 

 

 

 

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