Music

Organizers of the Austin City Limits festival have apologized to Phoebe Bridgers after her set at the Texas event this past weekend was cut short.

As seen in footage posted to social media, the audio cut out just as Bridgers and her band were about to reach the crescendo of her song “I Know the End” — the same tune during which she famously smashed her guitar on Saturday Night Live.

In a since-deleted tweet reacting to the audio snafu, Bridgers wrote, “lol f*** ACL.”

ACL has now issued a statement to the Austin-American Statesmen blaming the incident on a “miscommunication on stage.”

“We wish this had not happened and extend our apologies to Phoebe,” the statement reads. “After positive conversations between festival organizers and the artist about the situation, ACL Fest has made a donation to Texas Abortion Funds to show our support for Phoebe and an organization close to her heart.”

The “Kyoto” artist has since retweeted ACL’s statement, along with the caption, “Thank you.”

Bridgers is also supporting Texas Abortion Funds with her cover of the Bo Burnham song “That Funny Feeling,” which was released earlier this month. According to Billboard, the cover is one of the five best-selling songs of the past week.

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AJ Mitchell‘s debut album, Skyview, was supposed to be released in 2019, and then in 2020.  But after having been delayed again, it finally came out last Friday, along with a new single and video, “Hi-Lo.” AJ says he really appreciates that his fans have waited this long for his music — because he’s not sure if he could’ve done the same.

“They’ve been so patient, they have been like blessings,” AJ tells ABC Audio. “They are blessings. They’re the best fans ever! I don’t know how I would react if someone, like, took this long for an album!”

And while the pandemic contributed to the delay, AJ says it also helped him realize that Skyview wasn’t quite complete.

“It’s kind of crazy how I had the album finished, but just having that extra time, you know, you write music, and you’re like, ‘This actually fits perfectly with the album,'” he says, adding, “I’ve been creating this album for the past two years, trying to find out who I am…and now I’m at that point where I feel like it all just came together.”

While not all of the 20-plus singles that AJ’s released over the past few years are on Skyview, one that is is “Used to Be,” which he wrote when he was just 13.  AJ is 20 now, so why put such an old track on the album?

“It kind of just made sense because, at the end of the day, Skyview is a drive-in movie theater in my hometown,” he explains. “It’s where I came from, and I think it just it made sense to have ‘Used to Be’ on it, because I wrote [it] in my hometown when I was 13, and I think it just kind of ties together the whole album.”

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Marilyn Manson is trying to unload his Los Angeles home and has listed it for $1.75 million.

The New York Post reports that the 1926 Spanish-styled home boasts three bedrooms, three bathrooms and other amenities, such as an office and walk in closets.

Manson bought the 2,711 square foot home, which sits on a 0.15-acre plot, back in 2013.

The move comes as the musician grapples with allegations of abuse and sexual assault by numerous women. The fallout began last February after his ex-fiancée, Evan Rachel Wood, alleged he had “horrifically abused [her] for years.” Manson, born Brian Warner, denied her claims as “horrible distortions of reality.”

In the months since, multiple women come forward with their own allegations, including Game of Thrones star Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline and Warner’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, all of whom filed lawsuits against him.

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Just days after Britney Spears announced she’s writing a book, her little sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, has beaten her to the punch.

Sharing a photo of her upcoming book cover on Instagram on Monday, the actress and singer announced, “I can’t believe I finally finished writing my book!!!”

Jamie goes on to explain that the idea for the memoir, titled Things I Should Have Said, came to her in 2017 after her daughter Maddie‘s near-fatal ATV incident.

“I felt a strong conviction to share my story, but there was a lot of personal work and healing that had to happen before I could share my truth the proper way,” the Zoey 101 alum wrote. “I’ve spent my whole life believing that I had to pretend to be perfect, even when I wasn’t, so for the first time I am opening up about my own mental health.”

She added, “I owe it to myself, my younger self, and to my daughters to be an example that you should never edit yourself or your truth to please anyone else.”

Jamie admitted that while she still has “ALOT of learning to do,” the book gave her “closure on this ’30 year long’ chapter of [her] life.” 

Additionally, she announced that “a portion of my book proceeds will be going to @thisismybrave, because I know how scary it can be to share personal struggles, especially if you don’t feel you have the support or a safe space to do so, and they are doing amazing work to support and encourage people as they bravely share their experiences.”

Although Jamie didn’t specify any book details in her post, according to a description written by her publisher, Worthy Publishing, the memoir will also touch on her “role as Britney’s kid sister.”

 

 

 

 

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Reba McEntire isn’t taking sides when it comes to Kelly Clarkson‘s divorce from her stepson, Brandon Blackstock.

“Kelly and I do talk, we text and I love them both, and so I can’t play favorites because I’ve been a friend of Kelly for a long time,” the country music legend tells Entertainment Tonight.

Reba was married to Brandon’s father, Narvel Blackstock, from 1989 to 2015.  Even though the two have gone their separate ways, she still considers Brandon to be her own flesh and blood.

“Brandon’s been my son forever it seems. Although he’s my stepson, I still love him like he’s…my blood, so I’m praying for ‘em both ’cause I love ‘em both,” Reba tells ET.

Kelly filed for divorce from Brandon in June 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage.

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Demi Lovato wants people to consider the feelings of those from outer space — starting with retiring the term “alien.”

Speaking to Australia’s PEDESTRIAN.TV recently, the “Skyscraper” singer explained why they think the terminology is both derogatory and offensive, saying that the word enforces negative stereotypes “that they’re harmful or that they’ll come and take over the planet.”

“I really think that if there was anything out there that would want to do that to us, it would have happened by now. But I think that we have to stop calling them aliens because aliens is a derogatory term for anything,” Demi continued. “That’s why I like to call them ETs! So yeah, that’s a little tidbit. A little information that I learned.”

The singer also believes that if — or when — otherworldly beings visit the planet, it won’t be out of malice.

“I think that if there were beings that could harm us, we would have been gone a long time ago,” they said, adding that the extraterrestrials would mostly likely hail from an advanced civilization and may want to share their technology. “I think that they are looking for nothing but peaceful encounters and interactions because like I said, if they wanted us gone, we would have been gone a long time ago!” said Demi.

Lovato seeks out proof of other life in their new show, Unidentified with Demi Lovato, where they visit known UFO hot spots and confer with experts in the field.  All four episodes are available to stream now on Peacock.

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For the first time since it hit #1 in 1993, Reba McEntire‘s “Does He Love You” is back on the country chart. This time, Dolly Parton steps in for Linda Davis, on a new version recorded for Reba’s Revived Remixed Revisited set.

Reba’s had hits with Vince Gill, Brooks & Dunn, and even recorded an entire album of duets, but somehow has never managed to collaborate with Dolly.

“It’s amazing that we’ve never done a duet,” Reba muses. “We’ve never [sung] together. I’ve gone on programs to sing for her, and she’s done that for me. But to never sing a song together is kinda weird.”

The original “Does He Love You” video may be iconic, but Reba and Dolly teamed up to shoot a new one that’s equally intense.

“My favorite part… was getting to visit with her in between,” Reba reflects. “Second was singing with her. But to get to hang out and just visit like girlfriends was so much fun.”

“But I love the acting,” she adds. “We got to play act like we were women at odds and not liking each other. And by the end, we’re like, ‘Ah, you can have him! Thunder, I don’t want him!'”

While this may be the first time Reba and Dolly have recorded together, they’re hoping it won’t be the last.

“We did talk about doing more stuff together,” Reba reveals. “And I hope that happens because I’d love to work with her. She’s a professional, she’s fun, she’s funny, she’s witty. I can [sit] and listen to her talk all day long.”

For now, Reba “can’t wait” for the chance to stage the duet live with Dolly.

“I think that would be so much fun,” she says. “I think the fans would love it, eat it up.”

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On the surface, at least half the title of Mastodon‘s upcoming album, Hushed and Grim, makes sense. Their music has often tackled grim subjects — the 2017 record Emperor of Sand, for example, was an entire metaphor for cancer — but, being a metal band, they’ve never been particularly hushed about it.

As guitarist Bill Kelliher tells ABC Audio, the title Hushed and Grim is in honor of Mastodon’s late manager, Nick John. Kelliher recalls one particularly tough scene, in which he and his band mates visited John while he was in home hospice care before he eventually succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2018.

“‘Hushed and grim’ [were] the perfect adjective[s] to say what was happening,” Kelliher shares. “There we were, some of his closest friends and his wife and his family members, everybody’s just hushed.”

“Everybody’s just [feeling] unbelievable sadness,” he remembers. “That was the grim part.”

It was drummer Brann Dailor who came up with the title. In trying to explain how he and his band mates were feeling, he did what a lot of us do in troubled times — he turned to art.

“It was from Gone with the Wind,” Kelliher says of the Hushed and Grim phrase. “They’re talking about the Civil War and how it was just a grim scene, and Atlanta was ‘hushed and grim.'”

He continues, “It’s a different sense, but it translates to that whole scene of walking into [John’s] house where he was not gonna come back out alive.”

Given that Mastodon formed in Atlanta, the title was all the more fitting.

Hushed and Grim will be released October 29. It includes the previously released songs “Pushing the Tides” and “Teardrinker.”

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Megan Thee Stallion is sharing rare details about her personal life in the season two premiere of Taraji P. Henson‘s Facebook Watch series Peace of Mind with Taraji.

Meg, whose mother, Holly Thomas, passed away in 2019 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, says her mother still serves as her “biggest inspiration” in becoming a rapper.

“That’s how I even knew to be this way,” Megan tells Henson of her mother’s own pursuits to become an emcee. “She had a nine-to-five job, but on her days off, she would be at the studio and she would take me to the studio, thinking I’m in the lobby doing coloring books and stuff. And I’m at the door, really listening, [thinking]… ‘What’s she in there singing?'”

Megan says listening to her mother rhyme led her to start “writing” her own material.

“And then one day I just came to her and I was like, ‘I can rap,'” Megan says, before noting that her mother ultimately foreshadowed her future career as an emcee. “She spoke all of this into existence. She knew I would do this.”

While the Grammy winner’s mother played a big part in Meg chasing her own dreams, the “Savage” rapper now thanks her current boyfriend, Pardison Fontaine, for keeping her “very happy.”

“He definitely takes care of me emotionally,” she shares. “He makes my brain feel good. He makes my heart feel good.”

Megan continues, “That’s a big thing for me, because I used to be so into the physical, right, like… but he moves me, he inspires me, and we just feel like a real team. He feels like a partner.”

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