Music

After devoting “a huge chunk of my last year” to working on his book with co-writer Holly Gleason, Kenny Chesney‘s volume titled Heart Life Music is finished. 

“What they don’t tell you is how much goes into polishing, how many times you’ll read it… or how many moments you’ll have to leave out,” the superstar reflects. “But for me, I really wanted to send a love letter to all the places and characters along the way that made this journey such an incredible ride.”

Kenny promises “snapshots of my journey, vignettes of my soul” tracing his 1991 move from East Tennessee to Nashville and beyond.

“When I look back, I can’t believe the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard and the music I’ve been able to hear from songwriters, other artists, as well as all the songs I’ve been fortunate enough to cut,” he says.

Heart Life Music comes out Nov. 4, about the same time Kenny will be officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

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Since Teddy Swims and his partner, Raiche Wright, announced the birth of their first child in June, we haven’t seen the little boy on Teddy’s socials — until now.

On his Instagram Story Monday, he posted a photo of himself shirtless, lying down with the baby sleeping on his chest. “Less than 12 hours till I see you buccee and I can’t even sleep son I love you so much,” he wrote in the Story.

Teddy may have been referring to the fact that his next concert is Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, and he’s from nearby Conyers, Georgia, so he’ll presumably get to visit with his loved ones while he’s in town.

Teddy and Raiche haven’t announced the baby’s name yet, but “buccee” is a nickname they gave the baby when he was still in the womb. As Teddy explained on The Kelly Clarkson Show, that’s because they found out they were expecting while they were wearing newly purchased adult onesies from Buc-ee’s.

Raiche has shared a few photos and videos of the baby since he was born on June 23, but she’s kept his face hidden. 

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Tucker Wetmore, Chris Lane, Tiera Kennedy and Fancy Hagood are set to play the upcoming Wags & Walks Benefit Concert in Nashville. The show will take place Oct. 7 at SkyDeck on Broadway. 

The previous benefit raised more than $300,000 to help rescued animals and find them forever homes. After six years in Music City, Wags & Walks has saved 6,000 animals. 

Tickets are on sale now, with more artists to be added to the lineup in the coming weeks.

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Anderson .Paak‘s drum performance at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show was the result of his determination to be onstage. As a recent guest on Drink Champs, he shared that he’d asked Dr. Dre if he could be part of the lineup after seeing a flyer for the event.

“They had already dropped a flyer for the Super Bowl. I was not on that s***,” Paak recalls. “I hit Dre direct. ‘Dre, what the f***? Let me get on that joint. Let me play drums, something. I gotta get in there some way. … He said, ‘Hey, it’s all good.’”

Paak says he then found a way to make light of the situation and jokingly created a flyer with his face on it.

“I showed it to [Dre]. He started cracking up. He was like, ‘Make sure they know it’s a joke,’” Paak says. 

The joke later turned to reality, as Paak played the drums to “Lose Yourself” during Eminem‘s set, which he says “went off without a hitch.”

Though he intended to “be straight-faced” while performing, Paak says the opposite happened when the moment arrived. “As you can see, I had the biggest f****** smile the whole time,” he tells Drink Champs. “I tried. I was hyped.”

Dr. Dre performed alongside Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. 50 Cent appeared as a surprise guest.

In other Paak news, he spent the weekend performing at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival, where he was joined by surprise guest E40.

E40 performed “Tell Me When to Go” and his verse on Big Sean’s “I Don’t F*** With You” before Paak made another request, according to the SF Chronicle. “Promise me we’re going to do a record tonight. We need to make a song for the city.”

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Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco attended a wedding over the weekend, but you can understand how Selena’s post about the event might have confused SZA.

The lovebirds who got married were actually Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky and his longtime girlfriend, Kristin Batalucco, but Selena captioned the post, “About last nights wedding.” Considering that Selena and Benny are engaged, it’s no wonder SZA wrote in the comments, “This caption .. I panicked so crazy yay dave !!!”

Rachael Ray added, “girl you and me both!”

Benny and Selena are all dressed up in the post, but Dicky and Kristin are clearly the bride and groom. Dicky considers Benny his best friend; Benny played himself in an episode of Dicky’s show Dave.

As for Selena and Benny’s own wedding, during her recent appearance on the Therapuss podcast she said she “couldn’t be more excited” about it, but noted they haven’t made any plans yet.

“There’s so much happening at the moment with [Benny] working on some projects that he has to wrap up and we just have things we want to finish and our own personal endeavors before we get into all the nitty-gritty,” she explained.

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“And we back, and we back, and we back, and we back” with another Chance the Rapper tour. He’ll be going on a 15-city North American headlining run, starting Sept. 26 in Houston and wrapping Oct. 20 in LA. Other cities on the schedule include New Orleans, Atlanta, Toronto and Chance’s hometown of Chicago. 

Presales for the And We Back Tour begin Tuesday, followed by Friday’s sale of general tickets. More information can be found at chancestuff.com.

News of Chance’s And We Back tour arrives after the official announcement of his Star Line album, due out on Aug. 15. It’s led by single “Tree” featuring Lil Wayne and Smino, and its accompanying music video. Star Line is available for CD preorder now.

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Production will start later in August on A Grand Ole Opry Christmas, which is set to air on Hallmark Channel this holiday season.

Nikki DeLoach and Kristoffer Polaha will star in the film, described as a “magical trip across time.” Brad Paisley is set to write original music and perform in the movie as well, alongside other members of the Opry cast. 

“The Hallmark Channel to me is a major part of finding the joy and the spirit of the holidays,” Brad says. “We turn it on and leave it on in our house like Christmas tree lights or decorations, it’s a major part of the atmosphere for us.”

“I loved the challenge of creating that same magic with this music by letting it take you to the same place that these movies and this world Hallmark has built,” he adds. “Can’t wait for you to hear what all we’ve done. Also, knowing the Opry is the setting for one of these movies is very inspiring.”

Brad’s also writing and recording the official theme for Hallmark’s 16th annual Countdown to Christmas campaign.

Hallmark’s debuting an exclusive line of Opry-themed products this year, as well.

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Birdman and Toni Braxton have officially been married for one year. Toni took to her Instagram Friday to commemorate the anniversary. Next to a photo of her holding white flowers and showing off her engagement ring and wedding band, she wrote, “Happy Anniversary.” 

Speaking of one-year anniversaries, it’s been one year since Leon Thomas released his breakthrough single “Mutt.” In honor of the occasion, he released the version of the song from his performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk on streaming services. 

SZA‘s time on the Grand National Tour has come to an end. Reflecting on the experience in an Instagram Story, she wrote, “This tour was the craziest most once in a lifetime experience I’ve ever had. Like all my childhood thoughts in one bang.. WHAT WAS THAT? Lmao not a lotta words.. thank you to every single person involved that made this happen. Especially @kendricklamar.”

Less than a month after the release of NBA YoungBoy‘s latest album, MASA, it’s been announced he has another album on the way. The project appears to be a collaboration with DJ Khaled, who shared the news on Instagram. “NEW MIXTAPE ALERT #DESHAWN THIS TUESDAY! @nba_youngboy hosted by DJ KHALED!” Khaled wrote, alongside the cover art and track list. “This a mixtape…but to me it sound like a album,” he continued. Kevin Gates is the sole feature on the mixtape, which is named after YoungBoy’s birth name, DeSean.

Lil Baby‘s The Leaks is a compilation of “songs that I already got leaked,” he explained during a stream with PlaqueBoyMax and Veeze. “Most of the leaks don’t be, like, the real versions of s*** anyway,” he said. “But people already got it, so we just go with ‘The leaks.'” He later announced another album will follow four weeks later. Fans think it’s the previously announced Dominique.

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