Music

Singer Chris Brown has pleaded not guilty in London after being charged in a serious assault at a London nightclub two years ago.

Brown arrived at Southwark Crown Court in central London on Friday morning for a hearing where he pleaded not guilty on a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent in connection to an alleged 2023 incident that took place in London, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

Brown was arrested in Manchester, England, last month but was released after paying a £5 million security fee and has been appearing in concerts as part of his tour, including in Cardiff, Wales, Thursday night.

Brown has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement over the years. Most notably, the singer pleaded guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, in 2009. He was ordered to rehab but was later kicked out of a rehab facility and spent over two months in a Los Angeles County jail before he was released in June 2014, as the AP reported at the time. Brown’s probation in that case lasted until 2015.

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Lorde has premiered a new song called “Hammer,” a track off her upcoming album, Virgin.

The “Royals” artist previously described “Hammer” as an “ode to city life and horniness,” which is immediately clear in the song’s opening lyric: “There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising/ Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation.”

Later, Lorde sings, “Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man,” which reflects her recent comments regarding gender identity.

You can listen to “Hammer” now via digital outlets, and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

Virgin, the fourth Lorde album and the follow-up to 2021’s Solar Power, drops June 27. It also includes the singles “What Was That” and “Man of the Year.”

Lorde will launch a U.S. tour in support of Virgin in September.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 



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Dave Grohl drums on the new Ed Sheeran song, “Drive,” recorded for the upcoming movie F1.

With some help from the Foo Fighters frontman’s beat, “Drive” is more of a rock song then you might expect from the “Shape of You” star, though Sheeran has performed with bands including Bring Me the Horizon and The Offspring.

Still, “Drive” falls more into the pop-rock genre — if you’re waiting for metal Ed Sheeran, keep an eye out for his upcoming collaboration with Cradle of Filth, which is a real thing.

You can listen to “Drive” now via digital outlets, and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

F1, which stars Brad Pitt as a Formula One racer, hits theaters June 27. 

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While wrapping the North American leg of the Grand National Tour Wednesday, SZA shared an emotional moment with Kendrick Lamar onstage, as she thanked him for the opportunity. “He put me onto the biggest moment of my life,” SZA told the crowd, in part. “This is also the biggest moment of my life… I’m so thankful, and I’m so thankful to y’all.” The two then embraced each other, before Kendrick asked the crowd to “give it up for mothaf******* SZA.”

Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter tour has moved on to the Stade de France in Paris, where she was joined Thursday by the tour’s first guest: Miley Cyrus. The audience was treated to the live debut of their song “II Most Wanted,” which they performed in shimmering gold outfits.

Keke Palmer paid a visit to The Tonight Show to promote her new album, Just Keke. Backed by The Roots and some dancers, she performed a medley of the songs “125 Degrees,” “Act 3,” “Off Script” and “Act 1.” The full performance is now available to watch on YouTube.

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American crime boss Bumpy Johnson attempts to go legit in season 4 of Godfather of Harlem, but rival crime boss Joe Colombo intentionally throws a wretch in his plan.

Speaking to ABC Audio, Michael Raymond-James, who portrays Joe in the show, explains Joe is still upset about Bumpy rejecting his past offer to “join forces” and get into the Italian families.

“I think when other kids in the neighborhood had their heroes [who] were baseball players or, you know, musicians or whatever, I think Joe Colombo’s heroes were gangsters. And I think he looked up to Bumpy and I think he thought maybe he could be a peer with Bumpy,” Michael says.

When Bumpy rejected him and teamed with mobster Chin Gigante to send Joe to prison in season 2, Michael says the “little boy inside of Joe Colombo” had “his feelings hurt.”

“[Joe]’s the leader of men, he’s an aggressive sociopath,” Michael says. “He hide[s] those things and channel[s] that into aggression.”

Throughout season 4, he requests a share of the profits from Bumpy’s nightclub, The St. Clair, and eventually forces him into a corner to agree, before finessing his way into owning the club.

By episode 9, Bumpy has had enough and calls on an old enemy to help handle Colombo. 

Joe’s fate remains to be seen in the finale of Godfather of Harlem’s fourth season, airing Sunday on MGM+.

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Carly Pearce revealed she’s finished the vocals on her fifth album in an Instagram post Wednesday. 

Judging from what she’s said earlier, the Kentucky native expects the follow-up to hummingbird to be a game changer.

“I’m working with a new producer, and I know that everybody says this, so I’m not trying to be cliché. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. It is absolutely my favorite music that I’ve ever made,” she told ABC Audio. “I am going even harder into my Appalachian roots, like super, super bluegrassy rootsy country, cutting some outside songs for the first time in a long time, also writing some of my favorite songs.”

“I just, I think this album is like the album — THE album,” she adds.

Part of Carly’s new direction is the freedom she feels with the passage of time.

“I just turned 35 and I feel like I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in at 35, which also is helping me to create my favorite music and just not care,” she says. “I’ve gotten to a place where I’m just like, I just want to do exactly what I want to do and I think it’s making me even more — I feel this new wave of excitement.”  

No word on when Carly’s new record may drop, but since “truck on fire” has just finished its chart run, its seems a new single is likely on the way from the new album. 

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The 2024 Sessanta tour produced an EP featuring new songs from A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and Primus, marking the first fresh material from the “Judith” rockers in six years. While the 2025 Sessanta leg, which wrapped up earlier in June, came and went without the release of any new APC music, guitarist Billy Howerdel has ideas in the works.

“I’m writing new stuff that’s underway for the near future,” Howerdel tells ABC Audio.

Howerdel also shares that he’s been drawing from a unique inspiration as he’s been forming those ideas.

“My son started playing guitar,” Howerdel says. “That’s always interesting getting into the mindset of a beginner player, and helping him kind of figure that stuff out and remembering what it is that gets you excited about guitar in the beginning.”

“Sometimes it gets a little less orchestrated and more riff-oriented,” he continues. “I think my head has been there for a little bit.”

In between, Howerdel’s been teaching his son how to play APC tunes — the first song he learned was “3 Libras.” 

“He’s kinda going through the catalog, and Tool, too,” Howerdel says. “I saw [Tool guitarist] Adam [Jones] and I was telling him, like, ‘You are my son’s hero right now.'” 

The most recent A Perfect Circle album is 2018’s Eat the Elephant. The 2024 EP includes a new APC song called “Kindred.”

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Alex Warren is up for two trophies at this year’s Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, which air Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. He’s up for favorite male breakout artist and favorite viral song for “Ordinary.” Since these are the first awards he’s ever been nominated for, he’s not sure how he feels about them.

“I don’t know. Truthfully, I’ve never even thought about it. I have never thought of what it would be like to win one of these, or even be nominated,” he tells ABC Audio. “So that’s cool. I don’t know. I’m just, I like making the music. So, hopefully I win something.”

But assuming that more nominations will be coming his way, Alex says there’s one aspect of award shows that he thinks is pretty cool — and it doesn’t involve winning.

“I like the idea of just getting nominated, and showing up and hanging out with my friends,” he notes. “Like, I’ve made so many awesome friends in this industry with [‘Ordinary’] doing well, and I’ve gotten really great advice from people [whose music] I fell in love with.”

Among those “awesome friends”? Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll and Shawn Mendes.

“So yeah, I hope I get to go to these award shows and be nominated, just so I can see my friends and get to hang out,” he says. 

Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar are the top nominees for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards with four nominations each. Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll have three nods each. In addition to Alex, Chappell Roan and Gracie Abrams are among the first-time nominees. 

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