Music

When Taylor Swift started dating Travis Kelce, she certainly turned a spotlight on the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs. But the team’s president reveals that he promised Travis early on that he wouldn’t try to use their relationship for publicity — or to make money.

While appearing on the Up & Adams Show, Chiefs President Mark Donovan told sportscaster Kay Adams that early on in the couple’s romance, he told Travis, “Look, we are going to treat you and your relationship with the same respect that we treat any other player and coach’s relationship.”

“It’s a relationship. We’re not going to monetize it, we’re not going to go out there and go crazy.”

“We’re not taking advantage of this relationship,” Donovan continued, saying that they “never played a Taylor Swift song in the stadium when she’s in the building” and “we never showed Taylor on our big boards in our stadium. Never.”

“Taylor’s been amazing to us. It’s been nothing but good. She is a phenomenon. But she is just a special, kind person,” Donovan said, insisting that the team has always been “respectful.” He said Travis prefers it that way, too.

“Travis, to his credit, is all about team and he’s all about the guys, and he’s all about being part of a team and not being separate,” he said. “And he said, ‘That separates me. When we’re playing a game, when we’re in that stadium, it’s about us. And I want it to be about us.'”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Alex Warren‘s duet with Jelly Roll, “Bloodline,” was released in May, but it’s only now climbing the radio charts. It’s ironic, considering that Alex says he and his collaborators specifically designed the song to be a summer bop.

“I actually wrote that song for a DJ,” Alex explains. “I was in my [songwriting] camp, writing my album, and we had been reached out to by someone and they were asking us to, you know, write a summer song. Like, a really cool summer song.”

“We were like, ‘Heck yeah, we can do that,'” recalls Alex. “We sat around a fire. It took us like two hours and we wrote ‘Bloodline.'”

However, “Bloodline” isn’t exactly a happy summer song. Although the music is upbeat, the lyrics convey a powerful message about breaking the cycle of generational trauma. It was specifically inspired by Alex’s brother, who was in a dark place following the death of their alcoholic mother. But according to Alex, that’s just how he rolls when it comes to his music.

“Besides the love songs, there’s no happy music,” he says of his catalog. “It’s all sad, but I make them sound happy. So that way I feel like it’s not depressing when you’re trying to feel better about yourself.”

Despite its personal lyrics, Alex believes the message of “Bloodlines” can be universal.

As he notes, “I think even the sentiments, like, you know, ‘You always have tomorrow’ is such a cool sentiment, regardless of what it’s about.” 

In other Alex Warren news, after teasing a special guest on a new version of “Eternity” — another one of his upbeat sad songs — he’s revealed the artist is Gigi Perez. The song is dropping Thursday.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland died on Dec. 3, 2015, 10 years ago Wednesday.

Weiland founded STP alongside guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz in San Diego in 1989. The debut STP album, Core, was released in 1992.

As the grunge explosion was happening farther north in Seattle, STP’s similar brand of alternative rock was dismissed by critics as an imitation of the real thing. Even still, Core was a hit with fans, spawning the singles “Plush,” “Creep” and “Sex Type Thing,” and eventually earning eight-times Platinum certification by the RIAA.

1994’s Purple was similarly successful thanks to the singles “Vasoline,” “Interstate Love Song” and “Big Empty” on its way to being certified six-times Platinum.

STP released three more albums before breaking up in 2003. Weiland’s drug use, which led to stints in jail and rehab, as well as interpersonal issues with the other band members, contributed to the breakup.

Weiland then joined up with Velvet Revolver, a new band featuring Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses. The group put out two albums, 2004’s Contraband and 2007’s Libertad, spawning singles including “Slither,” “Fall to Pieces” and “She Builds Quick Machines.”

Weiland departed Velvet Revolver in 2008 and reunited with STP that year. The reformed band put out a self-titled record in 2010 before firing Weiland in 2013. STP continued on with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who left the band in 2015.

Weiland, who’d previously released two solo albums, launched a new solo project called Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts. He was on tour with the Wildabouts when he was found dead of an accidental overdose on his tour bus at age 48.

STP has continued with singer Jeff Gutt, who joined in 2017.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foo Fighters and All Time Low have earned new #1 hits on the Billboard rock charts.

Dave Grohl and company’s latest single, “Asking for a Friend,” has reached the top of the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, giving them a total of 15 leaders on the ranking.

The Foos now claim sole possession of the fourth-most #1s in the history of Mainstream Rock Airplay, behind only Shinedown, Three Days Grace and Five Finger Death Punch. They were previously tied with Metallica, who have a total of 14 #1s.

“Asking for a Friend” marks the second new Foo Fighters single of 2025, following “Today’s Song.” The band’s most recent album is 2023’s But Here We Are.

All Time Low, meanwhile, conquers the Alternative Airplay chart with “The Weather,” the current single off the band’s new album, Everyone’s Talking!

“The Weather” gives All Time Low a total of three #1 Alternative Airplay hits, following the blackbear-featuring “Monsters” and the single “Sleepwalking.”

Everyone’s Talking!, the follow-up to 2023’s Tell Me I’m Alive, dropped in October.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“Good Time” singer Niko Moon and wife Anna Moon are expanding their family: They’re expecting a baby boy, who’ll join big sister Lily Anne Moon, 3. Niko tells People, “I’m so grateful to have the family I’ve been given and I can’t wait to see what being a boy dad is like!”

Thomas Rhett recently had to rescue his wife, Lauren Akins, from a holiday decoration mishap at home. She climbed up to put the topper on their Christmas tree and then couldn’t get back down because the ladder was too far away. Lauren, who’s pregnant, documented this in a video TR posted on his Instagram Story. “She stayed there till I got home,” TR wrote on the video.

Tyler Childers has announced his 2026 Snipe Hunt tour, which will start April 23 in Dallas. Tickets go on sale Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. local time. Visit tylerchildersmusic.com for all the details.

Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Stevens says he’s continuing to recover from the heart attack he had in July, saying in a statement, “I’m trying to get strong enough to continue performing. But in the meantime, I’ve got a lot of work I want to do in the recording studio, so I intend to focus my attention there for now.” He plans to release a new album on Feb. 12. Ray also wants someone to make him an offer that he “can understand and can’t refuse” on his West Nashville entertainment complex.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Michael B. Jordan will need no introduction when he appears as a guest on David Letterman‘s talk show. He’s officially been announced as a guest on season 6 of the Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.

Michael’s episode will find him playing darts with the former late-night host. “I never played a video game in my life,” David tells Michael in the newly released trailer. When Michael questions whether he played Pac-Man, David acknowledges that he did, prompting Michael to say, “I knew I would catch you on something.”

Other season 6 guests are MrBeast aka Jimmy Donaldson and Jason Bateman. 

Season 6 of Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction premieres on Netflix Dec. 16.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On her Peace, Love and Cowboys EP, Lainey Wilson sings a posthumous duet of “Let It Snow” with the late Bing Crosby. In a new Claymation-style animated video for the track, which doubles as an ad for Hershey’s, Lainey battles chaos in her house as she tries to enjoy some chocolate treats.

Throughout the clip, Lainey attempts to drink some hot chocolate and make s’mores, but she can’t, for reasons including a blackout, some mischievous mice, her French bulldog Hippie Mae and a duck, which may or may not be a stand-in for her fiancé, Devlin “Duck” Hodges. 

She also keeps getting interrupted by Bing, who’s first seen singing on her TV, before appearing frozen solid at her doorstep. After she thaws him out with her hot chocolate, he comes back with some mistletoe — and she closes the door in his face.

Finally, Lainey gets her chocolate fix by simultaneously pouring Hershey’s syrup and milk into her mouth.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kenny Chesney is a big Bruce Springsteen fan; he even mentions The Boss several times throughout his bestselling book, Heart Life Music. That’s why he’s pretty excited to be doing a podcast taping at the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, located at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

Kenny will appear on an episode of Conversations with Our Curator, a chat that was arranged after the center noted how often Kenny mentioned Bruce in his book. 

“I love that Bruce is using his archives to create a space to honor American music, open up conversations about how it’s all interconnected,” Kenny says in a statement. “When I recorded [Bruce’s song] ‘One Step Up,’ I didn’t think about genre, just heart and how human the experience in the song was.”

“As it says in the book, when Bruce responded to my version of it, I realized all that passion, all that church revival energy Bruce brings onstage is the same thing as me singing what was a rock song,” he continues. “Good music really is all tangled up together, but united by its honesty and willingness to get real.”

Kenny continues his book tour with an event in New York City Tuesday.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rosé, Addison Rae and Role Model are among the 2025 Variety Hitmakers honorees. Rosé was named Global Hitmaker of the Year, Addison is getting The Future Is Female Award and Role Model will receive the Triple Threat of the Year Award. Previously announced honorees include Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, Alex Warren and the three women who provide the singing voices of HUNTR/X, the animated group from KPop Demon Hunters. The 2025 Variety Hitmakers ceremony will take place Saturday in Los Angeles.

Madame Tussauds Las Vegas has debuted a new Lady Gaga wax figure, inspired by her Jazz & Piano Vegas residency. The figure depicts Gaga in a “blowing a kiss” pose, dressed in a rose gold gown, and sporting red lips and a blond bob.

Alex Warren tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in a new interview that he had an hourlong FaceTime call with his fellow best new artist Grammy nominees — including Addison Rae and sombr — after they got the news.

Charli XCX, along with Jack Antonoff and FKA twigs, contributed original music for the upcoming film Mother Mary. In a trailer released Tuesday, we see Anne Hathaway as a pop star who reunites with her former costume designer before a comeback performance. The film hits theaters in spring 2026.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.