SZA‘s been making music for over a decade, but she still struggles with whether fame is for her.
“Every day I grapple with, ‘Am I done with music?’ Maybe I’m just not meant to be famous – I’m crashing and burning and behaving erratically. It’s not for me because I have so much anxiety,” she tells British Vogue. “But why would God put me in this position if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this? So I just keep trying to rise to the occasion. But I’m also just like, ‘Please, the occasion is beating my a**.’”
Until she makes a different decision, SZA’s been working on her upcoming project, Lana. “I think I am making music from a more beautiful place. From a more possible place versus a more angsty place,” she says. “I’m not identifying with my brokenness. It’s not my identity. It’s s*** that happened to me. Yeah, I experienced cruelty. I have to put it down at some point. Piece by piece, my music is shifting because of that, the lighter I get.”
To continue decreasing the load, SZA finds yoga and meditation to be helpful, noting, “You don’t have to imagine anything is happening to you. In that weird stillness, something arrives at you every time.”
Longtime friends Thomas Rhett and Teddy Swims have reunited in the studio for a duet version of “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman.”
“This collaboration has been something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now,” says Thomas. “Teddy and I first met through our producer Julian Bunetta back in 2020 and it was pretty much instant musical chemistry.”
“I sang on his song ‘Broke’ and then we ended up writing ‘Angels (Don’t Always Have Wings)’ in under an hour,” the country star recalls. “I’ve been wanting to release something with him again ever since, and his voice on this song is insane.”
Teddy shares the same excitement as Thomas.
“Been waiting to release this song with Thomas Rhett for a while!! He has been in my corner since day one, so when he called me to join him on ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout A Woman,’ it was a no brainer,” Teddy says.
“It’s an honor to join him on this track—he’s a legend,” he adds. “I love you big bro!”
“Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman” is the title track of Thomas’ latest album, About A Woman.
You can catch Thomas and Teddy perform “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman” and “Lose Contol” onstage at the 2024 CMA Awards, airing live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach is getting ready to show off his lack of cooking skills.
The rocker is one of the celebrities booked for the Food Network competition series Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains, debuting Jan. 5.
“Hey i can make one thing perfectly in a restaurant! That would be a reservation,” Bach shared on Instagram. “i had a hilarious time filming this show and it should be very entertaining to watch!”
The heroes vs. villains labels come from the contestants’ previous reputations during their reality show days, with Bach, who appeared on reality shows like Sing Your Face Off and The Masked Singer, landing in the heroes category.
Bach and his fellow contestants, including Cheryl Burke, Adam Rippon, Frankie Grande and Tiffany “New York” Pollard, will be mentored this year by chefs Jeff Mauro and Antonia Lofaso, with the two most-improved contestants facing off in the season finale, airing Feb. 2. The winner gets $25,000 for the charity of their choice.
(NEW YORK) — The family of Malcolm X, the Black resistance leader who was assassinated in 1965, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the U.S. government, they announced Friday.
Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, who represented her family at a New York City press conference, and her lawyers claim that they have uncovered new evidence that they believe will prove that the NYPD and FBI conspired to kill Malcolm X.
“We fought primarily for our mother, who was here,” Ilyasah Shabazz said of Betty Shabazz, who died in 1997, from the site of the former Audubon Ballroom, where her father was killed. “My mother was pregnant when she came here to see her husband speak; someone who she just admired totally and to witness this horrific assassination of her husband …”
Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39. He was shot a total of 21 times by a group of men in front of his wife and daughters.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said that the lawsuit alleges authorities engaged in a decades-long cover-up that deprived Malcolm X and his family of justice. The suit seeks accountability for the harm caused by the alleged unlawful and unconstitutional actions of these agencies and individuals.
According to the complaint, Mustafa Hassan, a witness to Malcolm X’s killing, revealed that when he and others tried to apprehend one of the alleged shooters, it appeared to him that the NYPD officers at the scene tried to help the shooter escape.
Lawyers representing the family said that authorities never bothered to take a statement from Hassan even though it was allegedly clear that he was present during the assassination, implying that law enforcement willfully neglected to conduct a proper investigation.
Attorneys also claim to have sworn affidavits from two of Malcolm X’s former personal security guards. They were allegedly entrapped and jailed by an undercover NYPD officer a week before Malcolm X’s death to ensure the assassination was successful, according to attorneys.
The NYPD declined to comment on the allegations due to the pending litigation.
The family’s lawyers said that there were nine FBI informants in the ballroom the day Malcolm X was killed. One of the shooters was heavily connected to the FBI and received favors by authorities after the assassination, according to attorneys.
Lawyers said a New York FBI special agent sent a letter to J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director at the time, in December 1964 calling for extra surveillance of Malcolm X’s activities, since the Black resistance activist allegedly intended to have the oppression of Black Americans brought before the United Nations. About two months later, Malcolm X was assassinated.
According to The Washington Post, The FBI’s COINTELPRO, an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program, operated in secrecy for decades as investigators surveilled organizations and individuals that they deemed a threat to American interests. Targets of the program included civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and former Illinois Black Panther Party Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton.
The FBI did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for a statement.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam were originally convicted in the murder of Malcolm X but later exonerated in the 1965 assassination. They received a $36 million settlement in October 2022 after lawsuits were filed on their behalf in 2021 against both the city and the state of New York.
New York City agreed to pay $26 million in settling a lawsuit filed on behalf of Aziz and also Islam, who was exonerated posthumously in the killing. Meanwhile, the state of New York also agreed to pay an additional $10 million.
“I’m grateful on behalf of my sisters,” Ilyasah Shabazz said. “To stand here with a competent, ethical group of experts, legal experts, as we seek justice for the assassination of our father.”
Kash Doll and Mary J. Blige aren’t the only ones who dropped music on Friday. Here’s some of the latest to hit the culture:
In addition to gifting fans with love, Jennifer Hudson has blessed them with a new song. The Gift of Love bonus track “Let There Be Joy” is out now via Interscope Records. The track will serve as the official theme song for Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas and celebrations for its 15th anniversary.
Wiz Khalifa and Smoke DZA have reunited for another hit, this one titled “Bring Your Lungs.” The song will be featured on Wiz’s upcoming album, Kush + Orange.
Cordae has delivered his new project, The Crossroads, boasting 16 tracks. Juicy J, Ty Dolla $ign, Jordan Ward, Ravyn Lenae and Kanye West are on the album, which was inspired by his experience of feeling like he’s at a crossroads.
Kofi has dropped his new album, Pettyboy, which captures the full range of emotions that arise when in toxic relationships, but from the perspective of Kofi’s alter ego.“‘Pettyboy’ is my get back album,” Kofi says. “All the things I should’ve done in my last relationship but didn’t. All the times I held my tongue, this is what I should’ve said.”
Nicki Minaj hops on part two of Juice Wrld‘s “All Girls Are the Same.” Like Juice and the original, “All Girls Are the Same 2 (Insecure)” inspires fans and artists to be vulnerable. This is the latest collab for Nicki and Juice, who co-headlined the 2018 Nicki Wrld Tour.
Blake Shelton may be from Oklahoma, but it’s all about “Texas” for him in his new song.
The music video for “Texas,” which dropped Friday, features Blake sitting in a bar and wondering where his ex has gone after she “disappeared quicker than this double shot of Jim” — but he doesn’t have a clue.
With her location being tracked to no avail, we see Blake’s ex, played by Lioness actress Genesis Rodriguez, on the move, driving down wide open roads in her convertible. At the end of the clip, she gets the final laugh when she buries a suitcase with a tracker in an attempt to get her ex off her trail.
“She’s probably in Texas/ Amarillo, all I know/ George Strait said it/ Yeah, that’s where all them exes go/ If she ain’t with me out here in Tennessee/ Then I don’t know where she’s headed/ If I’m guessin’, I reckon/ She’s probably in Texas,” Blake sings in the chorus.
The country superstar said he was looking to “push” himself with “Texas.”
“The thing that struck me about ‘Texas’ immediately was how different it sounded for me, and I’m always looking to push myself,” Blake said in a press release. “I think there’s something really special about this record and important for me.”
He added, “This is the perfect opportunity to come back with something so different, and it easily felt like it should be the first single. It’s connected with what I’ve done but moves forward at the same time, and it’s the perfect start to the next chapter of my career.”
“Texas” is Blake’s first release with his new label home, BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, since signing with them in September.
Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Taylor Swift thanked fans on Thursday night at her Eras Tour stop in Toronto for the six Grammy nominations she received.
“You guys did something so amazing over the course of the last few months,” she said in a fan-captured video from the concert. “I just mean, what you did … just embracing Tortured Poets Department the album.”
“It’s truly blowing my mind, because it’s really emotional for me that this album, I wrote it during the Eras Tour, right?” she continued. “I wrote that album, made that album, all trying to keep it a secret from you guys, and then announced the album, and then we basically were, like, working really hard to secretly put together a new chapter in the Eras Tour of The Tortured Poets Department.”
The singer then went on to say it’s been “so wonderful” to see fans “digging into this album and really understanding where I was coming from with it.”
“You made it by far the biggest debut week I’ve ever had with an album, and you kept … that album at #1 for nearly four months,” she added. “And the most recent thing that you did, because everything that happens is a direct reflection of the passion that you show is, you guys got this album nominated for six Grammys! It’s so wonderful. So, thank you.”
Taylor earned six Grammy nominations for the 67th Grammy Awards, including album of the year and pop vocal album for The Tortured Poets Department. She also earned nominations for record of the year and song of the year for her song “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, which also appears on the album.
Taylor is on the final leg of her Eras Tour, which concludes Dec. 8 in Vancouver.
An animated video for the previously unreleased Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song “Never Be You” has just been released.
The clip, directed and animated by Jeff Scher, features hand-drawn images of Petty and the band, cut with similarly drawn visuals of couples kissing, various women and even an alligator.
Petty and the Heartbreakers’ version of “Never Be You” appears on the recently released Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) reissue. The song was originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, appearing on her 1985 album, Rhythm & Romance.
Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) was released in October and featured the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, including “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” as well as tracks taken from sessions for French TV.
Originally released in 1982, Long After Dark featured the Petty classic “You Got Lucky,” along with “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” It was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass and was a top-10 record for the band.
Bill Records/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Much like Texas, it seems like reboots are also forever.
According to Variety, Universal Television is working on bringing back the high school football drama Friday Night Lights with a new storyline and characters.
The original Friday Night Lights show ran from 2006 to 2011 and centered around the fictional Dillon Panthers high school football team in West Texas. It was inspired by the 1990 book of the same name and its 2004 film adaptation, both of which were about the real-life Permian High School Panthers of Odessa, Texas.
The show starred Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor, coach of the Dillon Panthers and, in later seasons, the school’s crosstown rivals, the East Dillon Lions. Connie Britton, who also starred in the FNL film, played Eric’s wife and Dillon High faculty member, Tami Taylor.
Among those who portrayed the players and students were Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch, Scott Porter, Minka Kelly, Gaius Charles and Adrianne Palicki, as well as Michael B. Jordan and Jesse Plemons in early breakout roles.
For anyone who’s feeling down and out, Shaboozey has a song for you.
The “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” singer dropped “Good News” on Friday, and just as the title suggests, he hopes it delivers good news to listeners.
“The response to this song the past 12 hours has been unreal! It’s telling how many people feel the weight of today’s problems,” Shaboozey shares on Instagram.
“Good News” finds a persona ruminating on life and loneliness while also yearning for a better tomorrow.
“I need some good news/ Sittin’ here, sippin’ on cold truth/ Nobody knows what I’m goin’ through/ Bet the devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes/ Wish someone told me/ ‘Livin’ this life would be lonely’/ Tryna get away from the old me/ Still stuck singin’ these blues/ All I really need is a little good news,” Shaboozey sings in the chorus.
“In a world that feels heavy at times, we all need a little light,” he continues. “This song is my reminder that even in the darkest moments, there’s always hope.”
“For anyone who needs some good news right now—this one’s for you,” adds Shaboozey.
Coming up, Shaboozey will perform “Highway” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” at the 2024 CMA Awards, where he’s nominated for New Artist of the Year and Single of the Year.
Hosted by Luke Bryan, Peyton Manning and Lainey Wilson, the 2024 CMAs air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.
