Music

Another track has just been released from the upcoming album Beat Live, which captures a performance from the 2024 BEAT tour featuring former King Crimson members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, guitar great Steve Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey.

The tour had the four artists celebrating the ’80s-era music of King Crimson, reinterpreting three of the band’s albums – 1981’s Discipline, 1982’s Beat and 1984’s Three of a Perfect Pair – which were also the first three to feature Belew and Levin.

The latest preview of the live album is a performance of the track “Frame By Frame,” which appeared on Three of a Perfect Pair. 

“This is a miraculous piece of music,” Vai says of the song. “It contains unique, death-defying poly-metric intertwined guitar parts that seamlessly and elegantly support a most gorgeous lyric and vocal melody line. It’s a joy to perform every time. Did I mention that the guitar parts are death-defying?”

The Beat tour hit 65 North American cities in 2024 and Beat Live captures their performance at the United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles. The album will be released in various formats on Sept. 26 and is available for preorder now.

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Mgk‘s new album, Lost Americana, features a song called “dont wait run fast,” which ESPN has announced will serve as its 2025 college football anthem. But it turns out the song was inspired by pro football, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

Speaking to ABC News Live, mgk said, “It was cool ’cause I wrote that song after I left the Chiefs’ losing party that I had to perform at at the Super Bowl.”

Earlier this year, the Chiefs lost to the Eagles at Super Bowl 59.

Asked what it was like to play a “losing party,” mgk laughed, “Just let me be the only one that can say I’ve done it. Don’t ever sign yourself up for that. Wait to sign the paper … until third quarter or something.”

He added that he “rocks with” the Chiefs and felt “honored” that he was asked to do it.

“I was in Travis’ suite [during the game] and at the beginning of it, Taylor was like, ‘Hell yeah, we’re gonna come watch you perform. It’s gonna be crazy tonight.’ And internally, I was stoked. I was like, ‘Oh, what a legendary night this is gonna be.'”

“By the third quarter, dude, I was looking at that score — I went up to Taylor, I was like, ‘Y’all aren’t coming tonight, huh?’ She was like, ‘I don’t think so, man. I’ll see if I can get him to get out.’”

In other mgk sports-related news, MGK Day will be celebrated in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 8-10. Events include a free concert by the singer and a celebrity shootout, where stars including former NFL players, streetball legends, UFC champions, snowboarders, actors and WWE stars will play a half-court, streetball-style basketball game.

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If you still think of Scotty McCreery as the teen who won American Idol in 2011, the new cover of Cigar & Spirits may just change all that. 

McCreery casts a steely gaze in a dark suit and tie for the summer 2025 issue of the lifestyle magazine, along with an article titled “Country Music Star Scotty McCreery Goes Deep” and an “exclusive bonus pictorial.”

Meanwhile, his hit with Hootie & the Blowfish, “Bottle Rockets,” has made it into the top 10 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart in only a dozen weeks. It’s the band’s first country top 10, following nine solo number ones for lead singer Darius Rucker. 

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YoungBoy Never Broke Again‘s latest album, MASA, debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, helping him make Billboard history. It’s his 34th album to make its way onto the chart, according to Billboard, giving him the most career entries in the genre of rap. He is now followed by previous chart-topper E-40, who previously held the record with 33 career entries.

YoungBoy debuted on the Billboard 200 in 2017 with AI YoungBoy and has since had eight studio albums, 20 mixtapes, three compilations and three EPs secure positions on the chart. His busiest years were in 2018 and 2022, when eight of his projects entered the chart each year.

YoungBoy previously spoke to Billboard about his consistent releases, which he, at the time, described as a “disease.”

“Literally, I cannot help myself. I tell myself sometimes, ‘I’m not going to drop until months from now,’ but it’s addictive,” he said. “I wish I knew when I was younger how unhealthy this was for me. Whatever type of energy I had inside me, I would’ve pushed it toward something else.”

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Songs by artists including Foo Fighters, Linkin Park and Green Day are featured on the soundtrack for Madden NFL 26, the latest edition in the long-running football video game series.

Among the included tracks are the Foos’ “The Pretender,” LP’s “The Emptiness Machine” and Green Day’s “Basket Case,” as well songs by Twenty One Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, 311, Beastie Boys, Bush, Blur, Franz Ferdinand, Judas Priest, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Mammoth, Megadeth, Shinedown, The Killers, The Warning, Weezer and Wolfmother.

Additionally, you’ll be able to hear snippets of such songs as The White Stripes‘ “Seven Nation Army,” Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ “Give It Away” and Metallica‘s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the virtual football stadiums while playing games.

Madden NFL 26 will be released Aug. 14.

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Not long after Kelly Clarkson announced that she was canceling her August residency shows in Las Vegas due to her ex-husband’s health comes the news that he has passed away. He was 48.

A statement from his rep reads, “It is with great sadness that we share the news that Brandon Blackstock has passed away. Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years. He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family.”

“We thank you for your thoughts and prayers and ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time,” the statement concludes.

Blackstock, a music manager who worked with Blake Shelton, among others, was married to Kelly from 2013 to 2022. He was Reba McEntire‘s stepson, as his father, music manager Narvel Blackstock, was married to McEntire from 1989 to 2015.

Blackstock had two children from his previous marriage to Melissa Ashworth: Seth Blackstock and Savannah Blackstock. With Kelly, he had daughter River, 10, and son Remy, 8.

When Kelly missed several episodes of her talk show earlier this year, there were unconfirmed reports that she was absent due to Brandon’s illness.

Kelly and Brandon’s split was messy, with Kelly suing and eventually winning more than $2.6 million from him in commissions, which the California Labor Commission ruled that he had received from unlawfully handling certain business deals for her. They also fought in court over their Montana ranch.

As part of their split, Kelly was ordered to pay Brandon over $100,000 per month in spousal support and more than $45,000 a month in child support until January 2024.

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Ed Sheeran has released his self-described “bonkers” video for his song “A Little More,” and to be fair, it is kinda crazy.

The clip, a sequel to his 2011 video for “Lego House,” finds Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint reprising his role as an obsessive Ed Sheeran stalker. In the video, he gets out of prison after 14 years, goes back home and starts a new life. He attends “Stalkers Anonymous” meetings, goes to therapy and gets a new job as a cleaner in a mansion. He even meets a girl, played by Game of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel, and gets engaged to her.

The only problem is that everywhere Grint’s character goes, he sees Ed. Ed’s the prison guard, his therapist, the owner of the mansion, the maid in the mansion, the people in his support group and so on. Everything comes to a head during his wedding to Emmanuel’s character: All the guests in the church are Ed, the members of the choir are Ed and when he lifts the bride’s veil, he sees Ed.

“I hadn’t worked with @rupertgrint in 14 years since Lego house, so didn’t know if he’d say yes to this idea,” Ed writes on Instagram. “But I’m so glad he did. It’s such a fun, bonkers video. Longest video shoot I had ever done at that time, and deffo the most costume changes.” He thanks Emmanuel for “being amazing” and writes, “Rupert, my brother from another mother, thank you for throwing yourself into this, it wouldn’t exist had you said no.”

At the end of the clip, Rupert and Ed, who’s wearing a full-on wedding gown, waltz together under a disco ball and share a cigarette to the strains of what appears to be an unreleased romantic song — by Ed.

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Eminem surprised fans Wednesday at the New York City premiere of his documentary film, Stans. Ahead of the screening at The Rooftop At Pier 17, he gave thanks for the yearslong support he’s received through the highs and lows of his career.

“This film was a thank-you to all of you,” Eminem said, according to a TikTok video. “This is my thank-you to all of you for sticking by me the entire f****** time. Through all my bulls***, through all my mediocre s***, the good s***, the bad s***—all of it. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Stans, named after Em’s 2000 song “Stan” and the term used to describe an overly obsessed fan, is an exploration of fandom through the real-life stories of Eminem’s passionate supporters. The documentary will play in AMC theaters Thursday to Sunday. It will later become available to stream internationally on Paramount+.

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