Seal revealed his parents weren’t the people who pushed him to become a singer — it was one of his teachers.

Speaking on his Think About It podcast, the “Kiss from a Rose” singer opened up about the teacher, who’s one of his “champions and pivotal figures,” as the person who helped him realize he could sing.

“The person that really started it for me … that made a difference, was a teacher named Mr. Ren,” Seal recalled.

Seal said he attended a school that served low-income, blue-collar families. “I wasn’t very good academically and, like most of the people in my class … [I thought] we were never going to amount to anything,” he said.

“[Mr. Ren] was the one that saw me, and saw something in me and encouraged me to sing,” the Grammy winner said. “The first time I sung publicly was in front of him. I guess I started singing because I idolized him.”

Seal said Mr. Ren pushed him further by putting him onstage “in front of the parents and teachers” at the end- of-the-year celebration. The young singer was understandably nervous and “froze.”

“I’ll emphasize that my parents had never heard me sing. They didn’t even know I could sing,” added Seal, adding he was supposed to sing an a cappella version of Johnny Nash‘s “I Can See Clearly Now.”

“I remember being so afraid, and closing my eyes and getting through this song, and being lost in it and finishing it. And it was like one of those scenes in the movie where you could hear a pin drop,” said Seal.

Seal said he “never forgot that feeling” when the audience erupted into cheers, and he eventually pursued a singing career — because, as he said, Mr. Ren “believed in me.”

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Walker Hayes might be known as the good-timing “Fancy Like” guy, but fans of the artist’s deeper cuts already know that his song catalog is full of tear-jerking ballads, too.

For example, Country Stuff (The Album) includes a searing track called “Briefcase,” which Walker wrote about his complicated, loving relationship with his dad.

The song’s lyrics remember how his father sold real estate and was often too busy to spend time with the family. Once Walker grew up and became a father himself, he gained new perspective on the sacrifices his dad had to make to provide for his kids.

“He died right before this hit the rocket ship,” Walker explains in an interview on Southern Living‘s Biscuits & Jam podcast. “And it’s been perplexing to me this year. Honestly, I still text him. I texted his number from the Grammys, and said, ‘You know, I’m nominated for a Grammy.”

Though he never lived to see his son’s biggest musical successes, Walker says that his dad was an instrumental part of his early days in music.

“My first gig was at the yacht club on Mobile Bay. The only reason I played that show is because he booked it. He called me and said, ‘You’re already signed up to play,’ and he didn’t ask me, he didn’t ask if I wanted to, he didn’t say ‘practice,’ he said, ‘You’re playing on Friday,’” Walker remembers.

“I played that gig and it truly changed my life, and he is the reason,” he added.

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It doesn’t matter if you’re Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd or Eminem: When you perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, you don’t get paid. The NFL’s first head of music — who was just appointed in April — is coming clean about why that is.

Seth Dudowsky, who’s been with the league since 2013, tells Billboard, “The most valuable currency that exists in our culture at this point is a captive audience — people’s attention. It’s the hardest thing to capture, no matter who you are. So, the real value that our platforms offer is the promotional value of being up on that stage.”

Dudowsky says that in addition to the halftime show, which attracts “hundreds of millions of viewers,” performers also benefit from being featured in a huge marketing campaign and get payments to license their music for advertising purposes. Then, of course, there’s the inevitable sales bumps that comes after the game.

Using the 2020 halftime show, which featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, as an example of that, Dudowsky boasts, “When you look at Shakira’s ‘Whenever, Wherever’ becoming a No. 1 song [on iTunes] almost 20 years after it was released … in terms of value, that’s something that, for a lot of artists, isn’t even quantifiable.”

As for who might perform during halftime in 2023, Dudowsky says, “I can’t speak to where we are this year, but historically [when the season begins], we are starting to solidify plans with an artist with the goal of announcing in-season who the artist is.” 

No matter who it is, though, he says, “We’re already planning the production.”

Super Bowl 57 will be held February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

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Garth Brooks is ending his Stadium Tour in style next month, heading over to Dublin for five sold-out nights at the city’s Croke Park.

It’s been more than two decades since Garth played in Ireland, but he says he still remembers how playing in the country elevates his live show.

“No matter how much you know or don’t know about Garth Brooks, you go to Ireland, you see what they do over there, it’s a whole new chapter,” the singer said in a recent installment of his Facebook Live series, Inside Studio G.

“People think they know who we are, they think they know the music. It takes on a whole different world when you hit Ireland,” he continued. “It’s something to behold.”

The singer says he’s particularly excited for fans who’ve seen him in other cities, who are now planning to make a trip to Ireland to catch one of his Croke Park shows. “Because get ready: You’re about to see what I saw for the first time, and cried like a baby the whole time,” he recounted.

Though this string of shows concludes his Stadium Tour dates for the year, Garth added that he’s hopeful he’ll get to return sooner rather than later, saying he’d like it to be “one of many trips” he’ll make to Ireland to perform in the future.

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Yungblud has premiered a new song called “Tissues,” which will appear on his upcoming self-titled album.

“Tissues,” which samples The Cure‘s “Close to Me,” is available now via digital outlets. It’s the fourth track to be released from the record, following “The Funeral,” “Don’t Feel Like Feeling Sad Today” and the WILLOW collaboration “Memories.”

Yungblud the album, the English rocker’s third full-length effort, arrives in full this Friday, September 2.

To celebrate the new release, Yungblud will be making appearances at a number of U.S. record stores September 2 to September 5. You can also catch him at several U.S. festivals this fall, including Riot Fest, Louder than Life, Firefly and Aftershock.

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As Serena Williams plays in what she says will be her final tournament this week, the US Open in New York City, her good friend Beyoncé is paying homage to the tennis star by narrating a Gatorade commercial in tribute to her historic career.

“When the world writes her down in history, we’ll begin where she started: at love,” Queen Bey says, opening the ad titled “Love Means Everything.”

“To feel like a queen unapologetically, with a crown indefinitely,” Beyoncé continues. “A movement to always love being a proud Black woman, a parent, a dreamer, a leader. To love being one of a kind.”

The Renaissance singer has known the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion for many years. Serena appeared in Beyoncé’s 2016 “Sorry” video from the Lemonade film. Williams also joined the 28-time Grammy winner as she performed the song on the Formation Tour in October 2016 at Met-Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Last year, Beyoncé recorded the Oscar-nominated song “Be Alive” for King Richard, the film about how Serena’s father, Richard Williams, developed her and sister Venus into tennis superstars.

“So when we write her down in history, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, we’ll remember what she’s shown us,” Beyoncé concludes. “A movement to love you.”

Serena appears on the cover of this week’s TIME. The magazine writes, “The greatest female athlete of all-time—check that: perhaps the greatest athlete of all-time.”

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