(Note Language) SZA‘s highly anticipated return album, SOS, is resonating with fans, so much so it has tied a chart record held by Cardi B.
According to Chart Data, songs from SOS occupied the entire top 10 of U.S. Apple Music on its release day, Friday, December 9. The project now ties Cardi’s debut Invasion of Privacy as the female album with the most top-10 hits in U.S. Apple Music’s history; they have 13 songs each.
In addition, SOS, the follow-up to Ctrl, garnered 68 million streams on Spotify, breaking the record for biggest single-day streams for an R&B album in the platform’s history, Chart Datareports.
If Hits Daily Double‘s projections are true, SZA’s on track to secure her first #1 album on the Billboard 200, with 275,000 to 300,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week.
According to SZA, SOS is “about heartbreak, it’s about revenge, it’s about being pissed.” “I’ve never raged the way that I should have. This is my villain era, and I’m very comfortable with that,” she told Glamour. “It is in the way I say no, it’s in the way I’m deciding what I’m taking, what I’m not taking. It’s in the f***ed up things that I don’t apologize for.”
SZA added, “I am a b**** — it’s not all the time, but when I am, that’s OK. I don’t have to spend my whole life trying to be a nice girl. It’s just not who I am. But I am a good person.”
ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd are teaming up for a new co-headlining tour. The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour is set to hit 22 North American cities this summer, including Phoenix, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Denver and Saratoga Springs.
The trek kicks off July 21 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and runs through September 17 in Camden, New Jersey. It’s mostly made up of outdoor amphitheaters shows.
Tickets go on sale starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. Check out the complete list of dates here.
(DALLAS) — Aaron Dean, the now-former police officer charged in the 2019 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, took the stand Monday in his murder trial.
Dean is charged with fatally shooting Jefferson, a Black woman who was killed inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home on Oct. 12, 2019.
“This jury needs to hear from me and hear the truth,” Dean said of his decision to testify.
The defense focused its questioning on what Dean learned in police academy training, specifically “shoot, don’t shoot survival training.”
Dean testified that he was sent to respond to an “open structure” call around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 12. An open structure call refers to a door or window left open on a building, according to testimony from Officer Carol Darch, Dean’s partner that night.
A neighbor had dialed a non-emergency number about his concerns of open doors at Jefferson’s home, according to testimony from the call center employee who received the call. The neighbor, who testified last week, said he wanted a welfare check on the family.
Officers parked down the street from the home, Dean said. When asked why he didn’t park in front of the house, he responded, “We don’t want to give away our position to a criminal actor who might be on scene, it’s for officer safety.” He said he and Darch did not walk up the driveway of the home for similar reasons.
According to officials and body camera footage, Dean didn’t knock on the door or announce a police presence.
He testified the residence was quiet when he and Darch approached. As they looked inside, “I could see objects strewn all over the floor … it looked ransacked,” Dean said.
He said he believed it was “a possible burglary.” He said he responded by examining “the whole structure for signs of forced entry.”
Dean then testified that he opened a gate to the backyard. He said he saw a person when he looked into the window of the house.
“I could tell there was movement, like the upper arms are moving like someone was reaching for something,” Dean said on the witness stand.
According to Dean, the person was very close to the window.
He continued, “I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back, straightened up and drew my weapon and then pointed it towards the figure. I couldn’t see that person’s hands and we’re taught the hands — and it’s what’s in them that kill. We need to see the hands. We need to get people to show us our hands. We need to get control of those hands. So I drew my weapon intended to tell that person to show me their hands.”
Dean testified that he looked back after he got his “light on [and] saw the silhouette again.” He said he shouted, “Put up your hands, show me your hands, show me your hands.”
“And as I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I saw the silhouette. I was looking right down the barrel of a gun. And when I saw the barrel of that gun pointed at me, I fired a single shot from my duty weapon,” Dean testified.
Pantera bassist Rex Brown missed the band’s performance at Knotfest Chile over the weekend.
In a statement obtained by Metal Hammer, festival organizers announced that Brown was unable to play the show due to “health problems.”
That seems to be backed up by an Instagram post from drummer Charlie Benante, which reads, “We missed Rex tonight, get better buddy!”
According to Setlist.fm, Derek Engemann and Bobby Landgraf played bass in Brown’s place. Engemann plays in vocalist’s Phil Anselmo‘s Illegals band, while Landgraf previously played guitar in Down.
The Knotfest Chile show was part of Pantera’s first tour with the reformed lineup of longtime members Anselmo and Brown alongside Anthrax‘s Benante and Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde in place of the late Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and “Dimebag” Darrell, respectively. The tour is scheduled to continue Monday with a headlining show in Chile.
Adele revealed she struggled with her mental health after she and ex-husband Simon Konecki divorced in 2019.
During her Weekends with Adele residency in Las Vegas, the singer said she required daily trips to the therapist.
According to a fan-captured videos, the singer told the audience during a recent show, “I started having therapy again, right? Because I went a few years without. I needed to start.”
“When I was going through my divorce, I was basically, like, doing five therapy sessions a day,” she continued with a laugh. As for why she restarted therapy, the singer revealed, “I stopped holding myself accountable for my own behavior and the things that I would say. And that’s because I would always fall back on my therapist.”
She said her therapist would help her understand her reactions or responses to certain things, which helped her understand where she needed to improve. “Now I’m doing it because I wanna make sure that I’m now topping myself up every week to make sure I can give you everything,” Adele explained.
Apparently, she dreads performing for large shows and is now relying on her therapist to help her work through her fears. “There is something about performing live that actually terrifies me and fills me with dread,” she confessed, but assured fans she loves what she does.
She also hinted she prefers residencies over touring and told the audience she just might continue doing shows like Weekends with Adele “for the rest of my life.”
Adele and Konecki were first romantically linked in 2011 and wed in 2018, but separated the following year. They share a 10-year-old son named Angelo.
Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford has shared that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly before the band launched their reunion tour earlier this year.
“Right before I was about to go on tour with Rage, I had my prostate removed, and I have prostate cancer,” Commerford reveals in an interview with Spin.
The 54-year-old says his cancer battle has been emotionally and physically difficult.
“Prostate cancer is a very, very, very tough one because it’s connected to your sexuality,” Commerford says. “It’s hard to disconnect from that and when you’re forced into that situation, it’s a brutal psychological journey. I’ve been trying to find support groups, and it’s hard to find people and hard to talk about it.”
He adds, “The suffering part of it, the physical suffering after the surgery, I’ve never felt pain quite like that.”
Commerford describes his current condition as having to “hold your breath for six months” in between check-ins.
“I just got my six-month test, and it came back at zero,” Commerford shares. “I was like, ‘F*** yeah!’ That’s the best I can feel for the rest of my life.”
“Every day I get closer to that test is like, ‘F*** man, is this going to be the time when the number is going to go up and I’m going to the next thing, whatever that is?'” he continues. “I already went through some pain and s***.”
Despite the diagnosis, Commerford played throughout Rage’s U.S. tour over the summer. The subsequent trip to the United Kingdom and Europe and a planned 2023 North American leg were canceled due to an Achilles tendon injury frontman Zack de la Rocha suffered onstage during the first leg.
Meanwhile, Commerford just launched a new band called 7D7D.
Missy Elliott got some hometown recognition this weekend when Norfolk State University awarded her an honorary doctorate degree.
The musician received the honor Saturday during the college’s fall commencement ceremony. “I am proud of y’all, and y’all should be proud of your self,” she told the class of 400 students, per The Virginian Pilot. “I want you to look at each other and say, ‘You already won.’ ‘Cause y’all coulda been doing anything else the last few years, y’all coulda been wildin’ out, but y’all decided to finish the course. And that’s major.”
“I’m looking around and I see innovators, visionaries, leaders created in here,” Missy continued. “I want to see these same faces years from now saying … ’I became famous, I became president, I became a lawyer.’ All of those things.”
Elliott’s honorary degree recognized her “outstanding professional achievements and extraordinary contributions to public service.” She also received the Presidential Commencement Medallion, the institution’s most prestigious award, at the ceremony, during which she donated a $20,000 check toward their “area of greatest needs.”
“Two time Doctorate ‘Dr. Elliott’ I am so Humbly Grateful. Thank you@norfolkstateuniversity for having me today & showing so much love 🙌🏾 To the Class Of 2022,” Elliott wrote on Instagram along with shots of her on her special day. “May your Journey be Successful/ Fearless/ Determined to be the BEST! Behold The Green & Gold!!!!”
Elliott received her first honorary doctorate in 2019 from Berklee College of Music.
(NEW YORK) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said at a Republican event in New York over the weekend that if she had organized the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “we would have won” and “it would’ve been armed,” according to video from her appearance that was posted on social media.
Greene, R-Ga., made the comments at the New York Young Republican Club in New York City on Saturday night.
Video shows her making jokes on stage at the event, to laughter from the assembled guests.
Before scoffing at the idea that she played a role in the Jan. 6 attack, she made a crack about how unfamiliar she had been with the layout of the Capitol complex: “I couldn’t even find a bathroom.”
“Then Jan. 6 happens and next thing you know, I organized the whole thing along with Steve Bannon here,” Greene said with apparent sarcasm, to laughter from attendees. “And I will tell you something: If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won.”
As cheers and clapping broke out in the audience, Greene added: “Not to mention, it would’ve been armed” — drawing a seemingly surprised reaction from the room.
A spokesperson for Greene did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on her remarks.
The attack on Jan. 6 was armed, with many rioters bringing weapons — including hammers, batons and bear and wasp spray — as they sought to overrun the Capitol to interrupt the certification of then-President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden.
Officers at the insurrection later described the violence as “carnage” and “chaos,” and more than 100 police were injured.
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell testified at a House Jan. 6 hearing last summer about being attacked during the riot.
“I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, ‘This is how I’m going to die, trampled defending this entrance,'” he said.
Ahead of the attack, members of the Oath Keepers militia had also gathered weapons at a hotel in Virginia, according to the Justice Department, and the founder of the group was recently found guilty of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the electoral certification.
Greene’s comments about Jan. 6 come as her influence is set to rise in the upcoming Republican-led House — with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to be speaker, promising her a spot back on committees.
Greene has made it known that she would like to play a large role on the House Oversight Committee.
She was stripped last year of her assignments by Democrats and some Republicans because of her history of incendiary, violent and conspiratorial comments.
She said then that she was regretful over some of what she had said and believed.
Things got a little scary at Patti LaBelle’s Christmas concert in Milwaukee Saturday night. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, two songs into the show at the Riverside Theater, security rushed the singer off the stage and evacuated the 2,500-seat venue due to a bomb threat.
“Regarding the bomb threat in the 100 block of W. Wisconsin, all patrons have been safely evacuated,” Milwaukee Police Capt. Warren E. Allen Jr. shared in an email Saturday evening. “Police are clearing the facility at this time. The investigation is fluid and ongoing.” A later statement added, “The building was searched by K9 units. No explosive devices were discovered. There is no threat to the public at this time.”
Video posted to social media shows two security guards interrupting LaBelle as she was chatting with a member of the audience who was celebrating a birthday. She can be heard saying “Wait,” before quickly being escorted off the stage.
So far there has been no comment from LaBelle about the incident.
Ike and Tina Turner with family circa 1972; Ronnie seated to the right of Tina; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Tina Turner has broken her silence following the death of her son Ronnie, who recently passed away at age 62.
The singer shared a picture on Facebook of herself with her eyes closed, simply writing, “Ronnie, you left the world far too early. In sorrow I close my eyes and think of you, my beloved son.”
Ronnie was born to Tina and ex-husband and musical partner Ike Turner in October 1960. Her older son Craig, who she had with saxophonist Raymond Hill and was adopted by Ike, died by suicide in 2018.
According toPeople, Ronnie was a musician and played in a band called Manufactured Funk. He had a small role in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It.
