AJR is nominated in two categories at this year’s American Music Awards: Favorite Rock Artist and Favorite Pop Duo or Group. For a band that’s always straddling between different genres, being nominated as both a rock and pop act actually makes perfect sense to the Met brothers.

“I think that’s always been our mindset of trying to stay between two lines of pop and alternative or whatever it is,” Ryan Met tells ABC Audio. “We’ve always tried to stay in our own lane and keep our head down and be, like, ‘OK, what do we wanna do?,’ separate from the way the music industry sounds.”

He adds, “Honestly, it’s the coolest compliment we could get that we’re nominated for pop and rock.”

As with any award that AJR’s been up for, Ryan says he’s just surprised to be recognized at all.

“We’re constantly in a state of, ‘We don’t deserve to be anywhere,'” he shares. “It’s always crazy to get any kind of recognition for any song or what we’re doing.”

Between the two categories, AJR will compete with everyone from Foo Fighters to BTS, the latter of whom Ryan refers to as the “biggest band on planet Earth.”

Award shows also allow for the opportunity to meet some of the most legendary musicians, like when AJR had a conversation with Elton John at a recent ceremony.

“[Elton] goes, ‘Your collaboration with Justin Bieber was incredible this year!'” Ryan recalls. “Then he goes, ‘Yeah, what you guys have done for country music is just incredible!’ And so we realized he thought we were Dan + Shay, the country band.”

Ryan laughs, “We ended up taking the compliment and just being like, ‘Thank you so much!'”

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Walker Hayes grew his fan base by leaps and bounds this year, thanks in part to the runaway success of his viral hit, “Fancy Like.”

Filled with swagger, optimism and a hook-filled good time, “Fancy Like”’s a great introduction to Walker’s catalogue, but he’s got more to share, starting with “AA,” the new single that he put out on Friday. While it’s still upbeat, the new song digs into some darker and more personal subject matter.

“…What I really mean to say with this song is just that I’m trying to stay the course,” Walker reflects. “I’ve struggled with alcohol abuse and sometimes I wish I didn’t need AA, but I do. I think a lot of people can relate to that.”

In addition to dropping “AA,” Walker announced this week that he’s expanding his Country Stuff EP into a full-length project, arriving on January 21. The track list will feature the songs included on the EP, such as “Fancy Like,” plus several new tunes and a re-imagined version of the singer’s fan-favorite “Craig,” sung as a duet with Christian act MercyMe.

“I’ve been waiting so long to put out a project like this,” Walker says. “It has everything I love from the fun of ‘Fancy Like’ to the more personal lyrics in ‘AA.’ As an artist, it’s such a unique thing to be able to share all the different versions of you in a project, and that’s really what I tried to do here.”

The singer’s also bringing his new material to the stage on The Fancy Like Tour, which launches in late January 2022.

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With the holidays fast approaching, the wonderful world of Disney unveiled its star-studded lineup for this years’ Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade.  Gwen Stefani, Pentatonix and Darren Criss are among the many performers who will help Disney kick off its legendary parade on December 25.

The parade steps off at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ABC, giving kids ample time to unwrap all the presents under the tree before the celebration begins.  

Darren will perform his bouncy new holiday song, “Christmas Dance,” while Pentatonix will sing “I Saw Three Ships” in their signature a cappella style.  Norah Jones will also be part of the festivities and will serenade us with her reimagined, jazzed-up version of Chuck Berry‘s “Run Rudolph Run.” 

Gwen will close out this year’s parade by saluting the unsung heroes of Christmas with her new track, “Cheer for the Elves.”

This year’s parade will be extra special, as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort’s grand opening. The route will travel through the resort and, interspersed between the performances, the company will share teasers of all the new attractions arriving in 2022, such as Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, which opens March 1.  The audience will also be treated to some behind the scenes look at the new movies Encanto and Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story.

Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade airs Saturday, December 25, at 10 a.m. ET until 12 p.m. ET on ABC.

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oulja Boy has been removed from the last two shows on The Millennium Tour this weekend because of his beef with the late Young Dolph. Promoter G-Squared Events made the decision because of the possibility of a retaliation against Soulja Boy,

“In response to the tragic shooting death of rap artist Young Dolph, The Millennium Tour 2021 Tour promoter, G-Squared Events, has determined that rapper Soulja Boy will not perform during this weekend’s tour stops in St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee,” the promoter posted on the company’s Facebook page.

Soulja responded to the announcement, writing on Instagram, “I’m still getting paid what him dying got do with me? I’m tryna see my fans.” 

The answer?  Earlier this month, Dolph and Soulja Boy dissed each other on social media, Soulja saying, “Ain’t you the n**** getting shot at 100 times? “Ain’t you the n**** getting popped and shot at all the time? F*** Young Dolph.” The “Crank That” rapper was referencing when Dolph’s car was shot at over 100 times in 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Then on Wednesday, the day Dolph was fatally shot, Soulja faced released “Stretch Some,” which many believed was a Dolph diss track. Also, as previously reported, a man was shot on Thursday afternoon near the site of a memorial for Dolph in Memphis. Police said Friday three men have been arrested, according to ABC Memphis affiliate WATN-TV. Terrance Jones, 23, 19-year-old Jailon Nelvis and Tavis McQueen, 22, are each charged with aggravated assault, evading arrest, reckless endangerment, theft, and more in that shooting.

Authorities are still searching for suspects in death of Young Dolph, who died Wednesday after being shot outside of the Makeda’s Cookie shop in Memphis.

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Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey are among the 2021 Variety Hitmakers honorees.

The media company’s annual award ceremony celebrates the “writers, producers, publishers, managers and executives who helped make — and break — the 25 most consumed songs of the year.”

Eilish and her brother/collaborator, FINNEAS, will receive the Film Song of the Year award for their James Bond theme “No Time to Die,” while Del Rey will be honored with the Decade Award in celebration of the 10th anniversary of her debut single, “Video Games.”

The Variety Hitmakers issue will be released December 2, followed by the in-person ceremony taking place December 4.

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Tony Iommi has been rocking for a long time, but not for nearly as long as the fossil that’s been named after him.

As previously reported, a team of scientists announced last month that they’d discovered a 469 million-year-old fossil, which they deemed Drepanoistodus iommii in honor of the Black Sabbath legend. Now, in a video for Westside BID in his hometown of Birmingham, England, Iommi has shared his reaction to the news.

“It was a real shock to hear that a fossil’s been named after me,” Iommi says. “I’ve had a bit of abuse from my friends about it who’ve enjoyed calling me an old fossil, but I think it’s great, a real honor.”

“This has to be the weirdest thing that’s ever been named after me,” he adds. “But I’m really proud of it.”

The clip also features Iommi posing with a photo of the fossil on the Black Sabbath Bridge in Birmingham, as well as a video call with scientist Mats E. Eriksson, a member of the discovery team.

“I wanted to thank Mats and his team in person for being such brilliant fans,” Iommi says.

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The Jonas Brothers aren’t exactly sure what to expect when they get roasted on Netflix’s upcoming Jonas Brothers Family Roast, but there’s one spouse who they’ve been warned about: Sophie Turner. 

Turner, who’s been married to Joe since 2019, apparently has such a good set of insults planned for her husband that he’s been told to be prepared.

“I’ve heard rumors of what Sophie has planned for, you, Joe,” Kevin told E! News’ Daily Pop, before Joe chimed in, “It’s never good when comedians that are helping us come up to me and are like ‘Oh man, good luck, brother.’ That’s not what I want to hear before this thing!” 

Nick added that he’s already preparing for the roast’s aftermath, revealing, “I definitely booked therapy for Monday morning.”

In addition to the one-hour comedy special, which is filled with sketches, games, songs and special guests, the JoBros are looking forward to some time off now that they’ve wrapped up their Remember This tour.

“But certainly not a full break hiatus like the last time when we broke up,” Nick clarified. However, Kevin is waiting to see how the roast goes before making any decisions about their future.

“Talk to us after the show,” he joked.

The Jonas Brothers Family Roast airs Tuesday, November 23 on Netflix.

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Ariana Grande plays pop star Riley Bina in Netflix’s apocalyptic dark comedy Don’t Look Up, and a snippet of the song she performs in the movie has finally been released. 

After two astronomers discover a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth, they task Riley to write a song about it after several world leaders brush it off as a hoax.  Ari co-wrote the song, “Just Look Up,” with Kid Cudi, who plays DJ Chello in the film.

A preview of the song recently surfaced online after a portion of it was played during the recent Hollywood Music in Media Awards, where it was nominated for best on-screen performance song.  Ari’s belting out a high note while singing the song’s title in the brief clip.

We’ll have to wait a little longer to hear the song in full.  Don’t Look Up, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill and Rob Morgan, premieres in select theaters on December 10 and hits Netflix on December 24.

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— v (@ViralMaterial) November 18, 2021

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