Maren Morris sent a big announcement fans’ way on Thursday morning: Her third album, called Humble Quest, is due out March 25.
The singer shared the news on social media, along with a personal letter that reflected on how the COVID-19 pandemic — and becoming a mom to her son, Hayes — shaped her new project.
“For the first time in many years, I was not in control,” Maren writes. “I wasn’t in control of the fate of my career, or of taking care of all my people without the promise of touring, or even of my body ‘snapping back’ after giving birth to my first child. Each day, my control descended into quiet, unmeasured chaos inside the same four walls.”
She began to think about the meaning of the word “humble,” the singer continues, and she started wondering whether or not that word applied to her. As it turned out, there were many things that “humbled” her in recent years: The pandemic, the death of her friend and producer busbee, her evolving relationship with her husband Ryan Hurd and her transition into parenthood.
“Am I humble enough now? Maybe. Or maybe I still haven’t found it yet,” Maren concludes. “…But here’s to taking the quest to find out…”
In addition to announcing the project and some of the themes behind it, Maren shared the full track list of the 11-song collection. It includes the title track of Humble Quest, plus lead single “Circles Around This Town,” which Maren dropped earlier this month.
The track, which is available now for digital download, is the second cut to be released from Korn’s upcoming album Requiem, following lead single “Start the Healing.”
Requiem, Korn’s 14th studio album, will be released February 4. It’s the follow-up to 2019’s The Nothing.
Korn will launch a headlining tour in support of Requiem March 4 in Springfield, Missouri. Before that, they’ll play a batch of dates with System of a Down beginning January 31 in Phoenix.
Former Blue Öyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard will be playing a special concert celebrating his two recent solo concept albums — 2020’s Re Imaginos and 2021’s Imaginos II Bombs over Germany — this Saturday, January 15, in Fall River, Massachusetts.
The show will feature Bouchard and his backing group — called the Imaginos Band — performing Re Imaginos in its entirety, as well as selections from Imaginos II and various classic songs from Blue Öyster Cult’s catalog.
The concert at Narrows Center for the Arts will mark the first time Bouchard performs many of the songs from the Imaginos saga live with a full group of musicians.
The Imaginos Band lineup includes Albert’s brother, Joe Bouchard — who was Blue Öyster Cult’s longtime bassist — as well as veteran guitarist/singer Mike Fornatale, who has played with latter-day versions of such 1960s group’s as The Left Banke, Moby Grape and The Monks.
As previously reported, Re Imaginos was an updated version of the 1988 Blue Öyster Cult concept album, Imaginos, which was based on the writings and poems of late Blue Öyster Cult manager, producer and songwriter Sandy Pearlman. The album was about an alien conspiracy that comes to fruition during the late 1800s and early 1900s, through the actions of an evil character.
The Imaginos II album continued the story, and Albert plans to record a third installment of the saga.
Bouchard recently released a vinyl version of Imaginos II that’s available at Merchbucket.com on black, black-and-red and black-and-white vinyl.
Lionel Richie will be celebrated “All Night Long” at a gala event in March where he’ll be awarded the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
The Gershwin Prize honors a “living musical artist’s lifetime achievement in promoting the genre of song as a vehicle of entertainment, information, inspiration and cultural understanding.” Past recipients include Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon and Gloria and Emilio Estefan.
“This is truly an honor of a lifetime, and I am so grateful…I am proud to be joining all the other previous artists, who I also admire and am a fan of their music,” Lionel said in a statement.
The singer, who’s sold more than 125 million albums worldwide and has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and four Grammy Awards, will receive the award on March 9 during an all-star tribute concert in Washington, D.C., which will air May 17 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS stations, at PBS.org and on the PBS Video App.
Richie will return to ABC’s American Idol for his fourth season as a judge on February 27.
Days after the producers of the 94th Annual Academy Awards announced the upcoming telecast will have a host for the first time since 2018, they’ve reached out to fans to see who they’d like to see at the podium.
“Hypothetically, if we asked you who would you want to host the Oscars, and this is strictly hypothetical, who would it hypothetically be?,” the Oscars official Twitter account queried its 3.6 million followers.
Believe it or not, it didn’t immediately turn out to be a “Boaty McBoatface” situation, with fans weighing in with honest suggestions like a triple-bill of Spider-Man stars Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire; another offered Oscars hosting vet Hugh Jackman along with his pal Ryan Reynolds, while a third suggested, “Anyone but James Corden.” That post has been liked nearly a thousand times, by the way.
That’s not to say Twitter didn’t have some fun with the question. In fact, Drew Carey Show vet and American Housewife‘s Diedrich Baderwas the first to reply, with the suggestion “Diedrich Bader.” When one fan joshed, “Can they get him tho,” the actor replied, “He works for sandwiches.”
One offeredRocco, the pet rock with whom Elmo had publicly beefed on Sesame Street, and one follower tipped the hat to the late great Norm Macdonald, saying, “Just who does everyone want to host the Oscars? You guessed it, Frank Stallone.”
What is interesting is how close to the mark many fans got, perhaps without knowing the Academy was reportedly already talking to Holland. A double-bill with his equally worshiped girlfriend Zendaya was also popular. “[T]hose kids have fun on press tours, if they bring that energy you’re set,” offered one poster.
Another popular suggestion was Only Murders in the Building co-stars Martin Short and 2010 Oscars hosting vet Steve Martin, but as previously reported, they’re apparently not interested.
The 94th Annual Academy Awards will air March 27 on ABC.
After months of teasing, Avril Lavigne finally unveiled the name and cover art of her upcoming seventh studio album. She also revealed when fans can get their hands on it.
Avril’s next album is called LOVE SUX and it’ll be released on February 25, according to her Twitter. The cover features the “Complicated” singer rocking a black crop top, black leather skirt and black, laced-up platform boots, sitting against a blood-red backdrop with her legs stretched wide apart as she holds a bouquet of black balloons.
The album offers 12 tracks, including collaborations with Machine Gun Kelly, Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus and Blackbear, the latter of which fans will get to hear very soon.
Avril has announced that her song with the “hot girl bummer” hit maker, called “Love It When You Hate Me,” will arrive on Friday. The single follows the album’s previously released track, “Bite Me.”
As for the album’s other collaborations, MGK assisted Avril on “Bois Lie,” while Hoppus appears on a track called “All I Wanted.”
The Grammy nominee previously told Entertainment Weeklythat her “fun and feisty and light” album would be a return to her pop-punk roots.
“I just wanted to have fun and rock out. It just felt like it was time to make this type of an album,” the twice-divorced star said at the time. “It’s fun. It’s just pure rock & roll from front to back. There’s a lot of reflecting upon different relationships that I have gone through and where I’m at.”
LOVE SUX and “Love It When You Hate Me” are both available to pre-save now.
The track, titled “Won’t Stand Down,” mixes the U.K. trio’s typically operatic style with some of the heaviest guitar riffs of their career. You can download it now via digital outlets.
“‘Won’t Stand Down’ is a song about standing your ground against bullies, whether that be on the playground, at work or anywhere,” frontman Matt Bellamy says. “Protecting yourself from coercion and sociopathic manipulation and to face adversity with strength, confidence and aggression.”
The accompanying “Won’t Stand Down” video, which finds a frail, older Bellamy using a mysterious device to control his own army, is streaming now on YouTube.
“Won’t Stand Down” is the first new single from Muse to follow their 2018 album, Simulation Theory.
The lineup for Coachella has officially been announced.
Billie Eilish is among the headliners, marking her return to the festival after making her Coachella debut in 2019. The bill also includes Måneskin, Phoebe Bridgers, FINNEAS, Bishop Briggs, The Hu, The Regrettes, girl in red, Wallows, Turnstile, Run the Jewels and beabadoobee.
The other headliners are Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — and Harry Styles.
Rage Against the Machine — who had been scheduled to headline Coachella 2020 and then Coachella 2021 before both festivals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — is no longer on the bill.
Coachella 2022 takes place over two weekends: April 15-17 and April 22-24. For the full lineup and ticket info, visit Coachella.com.
(ALMATY, Kazakhstan) — Russian-led troops sent to help Kazakhstan’s government quell violent protests have begun leaving the country, according to Russia’s defense minister.
Roughly 2,300 troops were dispatched to Kazakhstan last week by a Moscow-dominated alliance of former Soviet countries, after Kazakhstan’s president appealed for assistance amid the protests that saw his government lose control in the country’s biggest city, Almaty.
Kazakhstan’s government has since re-established its grip after its security forces forcibly ended the unrest, using live fire to clear the streets in Almaty, where over a hundred were killed. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev this week announced the foreign troops from the alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), had completed their mission and could leave now that the situation in the country was stable.
Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday said the first Russian paratrooper units had taken off from Almaty. Four Il-76 transports would fly the troops and their equipment to their base in the Russian city Ivanovo, the ministry said.
Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, said the withdrawal was ongoing and would be completed by Jan. 19. In a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Shoigu said the several hundred troops from other CSTO countries — Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia — would all leave on Russian aircraft on Friday. A contingent sent from neighboring Kyrgyzstan would leave by land, Shoigu said.
Putin in the meeting said the troops had completed their mission and thanked Russia’s military command.
“On the whole we need to return home — we’ve completed our task,” Putin said.
Video published by Kazakh news media on Thursday showed CSTO troops taking part in a farewell ceremony in Kazakhstan, marching on a parade ground at a military institute in Almaty. Photos also showed Russian paratrooper boarding transport planes at the city’s airport.
Russia sent the largest contingent from the CSTO alliance, which was established as Moscow’s answer to NATO following the fall of the Soviet Union. The deployment was the first time Russia has acted through the alliance to assist a friendly regime against street protests in one of its former Soviet neighbors.
Peaceful protests began in Kazakhstan over fuel prices but they escalated into a violent uprising against Tokayev’s regime in the middle of last week. Armed mobs stormed government buildings and there was widespread looting in Almaty. Tokayev and Putin have claimed foreign-backed forces inside the country sought to exploit the unrest to stage an “attempted coup” against Tokayev.
Russia deployed soldiers as well as armored vehicles from the 45th Guards Special Purpose brigade, the 98th Guards Airborne Division and the 31st Separate Guards Order.
The Russian-led troops were not used in combat operations or against protesters, according to Kazakhstan’s authorities. Instead the foreign soldiers were used to guard key facilities, freeing up Kazakh security forces to restore order elsewhere, the government said. Russia’s defense ministry released video of Russian troops patrolling a power station.
Western countries, worried about Russian intervention in Kazakhstan, expressed concerns about whether Moscow might seek a more permanent presence in the country and whether its independence could be eroded. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last week told reporters: “One lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave.”
The situation in Kazakhstan has calmed and Tokayev’s government appears to be back in control. In Almaty, normal life is returning, although there remains a heavy security presence in the city, according to an ABC reporter there.
Kazakhstan’s authorities said they arrested nearly 10,000 people during the protests. The interior ministry on Thursday said 524 people were currently in pre-trial detention and that 412 of them had been charged with offenses relating to the unrest. At least 164 people died, including 18 police officers, and over two thousand were injured, according to the government.
After the tragic news broke Sunday that Full House star and comedian Bob Saget had died, his friend John Mayer paid tribute to him Monday with an emotional post, and followed it up with another one on Tuesday. But on Wednesday, John did something that only a true friend would do: He went to the airport to retrieve Saget’s car.
In an Instagram Live video, John and comedian Jeff Ross, another friend of Saget’s, narrate their journey to LAX, where, Ross says, “We went to four floors, looking for it, trying to figure out where he parked and of course, he parked right by the entrance. He’s Bob Saget, he’s got rockstar parking.”
“This is the only time in my life I’ve been honored to help out a friend at LAX,” John laughed, revealing that they had to pay a $250 parking ticket to get the car. “The parking company was, let’s just say, unreceptive to the idea that we were helping out a friend who’s no longer with us,” he noted.
“They were like, ‘If it was [John] Stamos‘ car, we would let you go,'” Ross joked.
The two also became emotional as they remembered their friend, with John saying, “Bob’s effusive and repeated expression of love is the greatest gift that he left people, because…we don’t have to worry about the accounting. The affairs are in order, in terms of wondering, or not having to wonder, how Bob felt about us.”
“We are just a couple of stars in the galaxy of Bob Saget’s loved ones,” John added, saying that even though he’d known Saget for 15 years, he was still “the new guy.”
Both men urged fans to donate to the Scleroderma Research Foundation at srfcure.org in Saget’s memory. Saget lost his sister to the disease.
