“How far would you go?” That’s what Netflix is asking folks in a casting call for a reality show version of the streaming service’s smash Squid Game.
Squid Game: The Challenge will pit 456 players against “a series of games inspired by the original show,” as well as “surprising new additions,” in pursuit of “a life-changing reward of $4.56 million.”
“Their strategies, alliances, and character will be put to the test while competitors are eliminated around them,” Netflix teases, adding, “The stakes are high, but in this game the worst fate is going home empty-handed.”
While the announcement doesn’t specify, it’s likely the losers won’t face brutal deaths, as did the players on the hit Korean import.
If you want to don the tracksuit yourself, there’s no need to get recruited by a creepy guy in a business suit — just head over to SquidGameCasting.com.
Meanwhile, a second season of Squid Game — the drama series, that is — is in development from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.
Make sure your house is in order because Downton Abbey is coming to your home via a special Peacock channel.
Ahead of its June 24 debut of the Downton Abbey: A New Era film, the streaming service announced that it has curated a channel specifically for fans old and new to catch up with the English import.
Peacock will not only be home to all six seasons of the series, which stars Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, and Michelle Dockery, but the new channel also promises a one-hour special dedicated to the fancy phenomenon.
Downton Abbey: A New Era debuted in theaters on May 20 and held its own versus rampaging dinosaurs and Tom Cruise‘s return to the Top Gun cockpit. It follows the Crawleys and their staff staging the estate for a silent film, while the rest of the gang vacations at a villa in the south of France.
The film hits HD digital on the same day of the Peacock premiere and will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™and DVD on July 5, 2022.
Count Harry Styles in for an onstage One Direction reunion.
The singer guested on the Spoutpodcast and spoke about the possibility of getting back together with his old bandmates. “I think the thought of it is really nice,” he said.
“I think we all went through something really special together and there’s a lot of love there,” he continued. “So yeah, I think if there’s a moment for us to do it in the right way, I think it’d be great.”
Harry did not address the recent controversy surrounding fellow 1D member Liam Payne, who sparked outrage for his comments about Zayn Malik and claims that he was not only the most successful member of the band, but the face of One Direction. Instead, the Grammy winner kept things light and positive, saying he has nothing but fond memories of the music he put out with the band.
Harry also touched upon his romance with actress Olivia Wilde, admitting that — shocker — he didn’t think he was cool enough for her at first. “And yet we’re all human,” he said. The singer added those thoughts were part of “initial phase” in that relationship where he was wondering, “Am I doing things right?” He added the two are now “comfortable” with one another.
Speaking of comfortable, he opened up about his new album, Harry’s House, saying it is “the most comfortable” album he’s ever made. “I used to be so afraid of, kind of who I was if I didn’t do [music] and I don’t feel kind of afraid of that anymore,” he said, adding this newfound sense of self allows him to enjoy his career even more.
He also revealed the songs “Matilda” and “Little Freak” off his new album are personal favorites.
The inaugural Carly’s Closet event hosted during CMA Fest last week raised more than $10,000 for Music Health Alliance. The event saw the ACM Award winner donating outfits worn at various awards shows and public events for fans to purchase, with all of the proceeds going toward Music Health Alliance’s mission to connect members of the music industry with access to health care.
The hit singer took to Instagram to share her gratitude to fans for showing up and making the Nashville event a success, posting photos that show her posing with a black-and-white polka dot shirt and a floral dress in front of a clothing rack as a bunch of smiling fans gather around her.
“I am overjoyed by your generosity. I loved meeting you and looking in your shopping bags to see what you purchased. I am thrilled that so many of my clothes have a new home…and that we are helping the people who make the music in the process,” she said in the caption, while also hinting, “Shall we do it again next year?!”
The Kentuckian continues on the road this summer as part of Kenny Chesney‘s Here and Now Tour.
Foals‘ new album Life Is Yours drops this Friday, but if you need something to tide you over until then, the band has released one more song off the record.
The latest track is called “Crest of the Wave” and is available now via digital outlets.
As frontman Yannis Philippakis explains, the origins of “Crest of the Wave” date back all the way to 2011.
“It was one of those songs which had always been at the back of our minds, like there was some unfinished business there,” Philippakis shares. “As we were playing around with it with some of the themes on this record, we cracked it open and really reveled in adding lots of layers to it in the studio. I was looking at the power of the lyrics to transport myself and the listener somewhere else.”
“Crest of the Wave” follows the previously released Life Is Yours songs “Wake Me Up,” “2am,” “2001” and “Looking High.”
Just this week, Foals announced a U.S. headlining tour in support of Life Is Yours, set to kick off in October. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
The nine-track collection, a follow-up to 2018’s Walk Between Worlds, can be pre-orderednow. It will be available on CD, as a deluxe CD book package, on cassette, via digital formats and as a vinyl LP pressed on either 180-gram black vinyl or limited-edition silver vinyl. The deluxe CD and digital versions will include two extra tracks.
The band, which continues to be led by founding singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, has released the song “Vision Thing” as an advance digital single, while a visualizer video for the track has premiered on Simple Minds’ official YouTube channel.
The tune, which was co-written by Kerr and Burchill, pays tribute to Jim’s “best pal,” his father, who died in 2019.
Most of the songs on Direction of the Heart were written and demoed on the Italian island of Sicily, where Kerr and Burchill both reside. The album was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at Hamburg, Germany’s Chameleon Studios and features guest contributions from Sparks frontman Russell Mael and Scottish singer/songwriter Gary Clark, who used to play with current Simple Minds bassist Ged Grimes in the pop-rock group Danny Wilson.
Kerr says of the new album, “How to make a feel-good ‘Electro-rock’ record, during the very worst of times? Direction of the Heart is the result of that challenge. Who would have thought we’d have so much fun creating it?”
Simple Minds recently launched a European summer tour that’s plotted out through an August 13 concert in Edinburgh, U.K.
Here’s Direction of the Heart‘s full track list:
“Vision Thing”
“First You Jump”
“Human Traffic”
“Who Killed Truth?”
“Solstice Kiss”
“Act of Lone”
“Natural”
“Planet Zero”
“The Walls Came Down”
“Direction of the Heart (Taormina 2022)”*
“Wondertimes”*
* = available on digital and deluxe CD versions only.
Chris Young recently celebrated his 37th birthday, and it has a special connection to one of his many #1 hits.
On June 12, the country singer turned 37 and honored the occasion by posting a photo of himself holding a pair of balloons of the numbers “3” and “7” in addition to thanking those in his inner circle that reached out with their messages of support.
Additionally, the hitmaker also noted that it took 37 weeks for his first #1 single, “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song),” to reach the summit in 2009.
“Shoutout to all the friends/fam/etc that have reached out with Happy Birthday messages! My first number one single went number one in 37 weeks so this is a special one,” he writes alongside the cheerful photo, adding, #cheers #birthday #famousfriends.
Chris has another hit on his hands as his current single, “At the End of a Bar” featuring Mitchell Tenpenny, is in the top 15 at country radio.
The week-long Anti Social Camp, which aims to boost New York City’s music scene, is going on right now, and several big names are helping this year’s effort.
Billboardreports GAYLE teamed with the Anti Social Producers Club and about 150 other artists, writers and producers to create 100 new songs in the span of three days.
Aside from GAYLE, Rob Thomas, Walk The Moon, JP Saxe and many others will either attend in-person or virtual songwriting boot camps and other events that are dedicated to “putting the NYC music scene back on the map.”
In addition to music writing, the camp will feature a gala, a live concert, a panel dedicated to women in music, industry showcases, recording sessions, presentations and more. All the events are free to attend and open to musicians.
A master itinerary of the week’s events has been made public, which you can check out now on Google Docs.
The long-running syndicated program The Wendy Williams Show is coming to an end Friday, notes Variety, which also explains the show’s titular host won’t be there to mark the occasion.
There will, however, be “a video tribute to the iconic host,” a rep for the program tells the trade.
Health issues have kept Williams out of her throne-like hosting chair for the entirety of this season, with a rotating slate of guest hosts, including Fat Joe and Sherri Shepherd, taking up the slack.
Shepherd, who will be in the chair for the show’s final installment, is getting her own eponymous chat show in the fall, replacing The Wendy Williams Show‘s current time slot.
As reported, Williams has been locked in a battle with Wells Fargo after they reportedly denied her access to her bank account in February, claiming she needs supervision.
Last month, Williams appeared in a rambling Instagram Live interview with Fat Joe, during which she insisted she was “absolutely” ready to return to her program.
Fat Joe equated the situation to that of Britney Spears, whose past conservatorship previously denied her access to her assets. “Why did you just get up and leave?” Joe asked Williams about her show.
“Because somebody stopped giving me my money,” she said.
“…I need my money. I’ll talk about it when I get my show back. I have people that will get it done. I don’t feel like I will go away. I will get bigger and bigger and bigger, and bigger, and I’ll talk about it…”
(PHILADELPHIA) — In an effort to curb shootings and make going to and from school less dangerous for students, Philadelphia officials announced they will spend $1.8 million on installing security cameras near city high schools and middle schools in high crime neighborhoods.
Standing outside the John Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia, where a 17-year-old student was fatally shot in January after leaving campus, Mayor Jim Kenney and other city leaders said at a news conference Monday they hope the cameras will make criminals think twice about committing shootings around a school.
“We need to create a culture of if you’re going do something, somebody might be watching you,” city councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez said.
Cameras that can be remotely monitored will be placed along routes students frequently take to and from Bartram and 18 other schools, officials said.
Craig Johnson, the deputy chief of school safety for the School District of Philadelphia, said the schools were chosen for the program based on information regarding shootings around those campuses. The cameras will be linked to the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center, where Philadelphia police monitor crime from real-time feeds.
“We hate to think that we have to have this environment where we have to have this coverage, but it’s a simple reality that people in the neighborhoods in the city of Philadelphia, they want us to do something,” Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke said at the press conference.
The move comes as shootings and murders in the City of Brotherly Love have climbed to record levels. Last year, Philadelphia set an all-time annual homicide record with 562 killings. As of Monday, the city has recorded 227 homicides this year, 18 fewer than this time in 2021, according to police department crime statistics.
More than 800 non-fatal shootings have occurred in the city this year as of Sunday, according to gun violence crisis data tracked by the city’s Office of the Controller. At least 95 young people 18 or younger have been shot in the city this year, according to the data.
Johnson said the need for the new security cameras is being prompted by the shootings of teenagers, many near their schools.
On May 17, a 16-year-old boy was shot seven times while sitting outside KIPP Philadelphia Charter School in the city’s Parkside neighborhood. Just seven days later, three students, ages 15 to 17, were shot and wounded after leaving the Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter in the city’s Tioga-Nicetown section.
In April, a 15-year-old boy was shot to death about a block from Tanner Duckrey School in North Central Philadelphia when a gunman fired at least 20 shots.
“Youth being shot or being murdered almost on a daily basis doesn’t even garner that much attention,” Johnson said. “It’s almost like it’s expected or normalized and that’s a really sad place to be.”
The announcement of the program comes less than a month after a teenager armed with an AR-15 rifle allegedly killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Clarke said he hopes the new cameras will also “create an environment where people feel a little more safe.”
“We need every child to be safe as they go to school, and come home later in the day,” Clarke said. “These cameras are a good start, and they’ll lend eyes to law enforcement officials working very hard to keep our kids safe from harm.”
