Pharrell Williams may not host his Something in the Water festival again in his hometown, Virginia Beach, because of the fatal police shooting of his cousin earlier this year.

As reported by Norfolk ABC affiliate WVEC-TV, the 13-time Grammy winner wrote a letter in response to city manager Patrick Duhaney, who had written to Pharrell saying he wanted to discuss having the event return.

Pharrell wrote that the goal of the festival was “to ease racial tension, to unify the region, bring about economic development opportunities, and broaden the horizons of the local business community. We achieved those things!”

“I wish the same energy I’ve felt from Virginia Beach leadership upon losing the festival would have been similarly channeled following the loss of my relative’s life,” Williams continued.

In the letter, Pharrell went on to say that he loves the city of Virginia Beach but for “far too long it has been run by, and with toxic energy.”

Pharrell ended his letter, writing, “I don’t have any problems with the city, but I realize that city hasn’t valued my proposed solutions, either.”

His cousin, Donovon Lynch, was shot and killed by a Virginia Beach police officer on March 26, 2021, and following his death, Pharrell called for a federal investigation.

The Something in the Water festival last took place in 2019. It was originally scheduled to return on April 22-24, 2022, but now, the future of the festival remains uncertain.

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Nicki Minaj just celebrated the first birthday of her baby boy with a huge party, and she was amazed by the gifts from her mentor, Lil Wayne.

Weezy sent over a dozen presents, and Minaj was nearly speechless. On her Instagram Story, as captured by The Shade Room, Minaj highlighted her son’s room full of gifts and was in disbelief. She tagged her longtime friend and wrote, “I just opened the bags & I’m shock… this is insane. I love you so much. This is A LOT OF STUFF. OMG.”

Last week, Wayne celebrated his 39th birthday in Miami, and surprisingly, Nicki was not invited. Young Money Entertainment president Mack Maine quickly apologized to the “Motorsport” rapper for the oversight.

Minaj posted her party photos Tuesday on Instagram, saying to her son, “Mama is so proud of you, PapaBear. You’re the best boy in the whole wide world. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but God bless you, son. Mommy & Daddy will never stop loving you. #KungFuPanda”

Meanwhile, Brandy wrote, “Thank you for inviting us. Wish we could have been there. Happy Birthday Papa Bear.”

The party was a child’s fantasy come true, with a bouncy house, face painting, a photo booth, water slides, and many more activities. Nicki and her family were having so much, they didn’t realize that they forgot to cut the cake until their guests had left.

“I had to bring my baby out in his pajamas. Boy u gon get this bday song whether u like it or not,” she commented. “To everyone who sent a gift, he hasn’t opened gifts yet but thank you, love you. Happy 1st bday My world, my everything.”

 

 

 

 

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James Heftfield and Lars Ulrich feel they “weren’t equipped” to handle bassist Jason Newsted leaving Metallica.

Newsted, of course, exited the legendary metal outfit in 2001 in part to work on other projects. His departure was a sore spot for Hetfield and Ulrich, who felt Newsted releasing his own music was a betrayal of Metallica. The bad blood was explored in great detail in the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster.

In an interview Wednesday with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Hetfield and Ulrich expressed regret about how they handled Newsted leaving.

“Jason is the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly,” Ulrich says. “That in itself is a statistic. And the resentment from James and I was just so…You can’t do that. You can only leave if we want you to leave. And then we weren’t equipped at the time to do a deep dive into why he was leaving.”

The drummer continued, “You can see 20 years later, it makes complete sense. We write the songs. We make the decisions. We do all of it. You have no creative outlet in this band. You have no creative voice. Then when you go and do something that gives you satisfaction in a way for you to express yourself to the rest of the world, then we get p***ed at you. Then that resentment then goes to you leaving the band.”

If something similar happened with Metallica today, Hetfield feels he’d handle it differently.

“If it was like that right now, say, [current bassist] Robert [Trujillo] comes and says, ‘Hey, I’m done here’…I would fight for him,” he said. “I didn’t know about the fight back then.”

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Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes have both been open about their struggles with mental health and anxiety, and they say that kind of honesty is what keeps their relationship going strong.

In a new cover story with Glamour, Camila talks about how the two both go to therapy separately and how they are both supportive of each other’s mental health journey.

“For better, for worse, we’re very transparent with each other. I think that’s why we can trust each other so much, because it’s a very 3D human relationship,” she says, adding, “I think even just the language of being like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry that I’ve been distant with you or snappy with you. I’m just struggling and I’m feeling kind of anxious.’ That level of transparency really helps a lot.”

Shawn agrees, telling the mag via email, “Camila and I give each other an extreme amount of patience and understanding. I think the truth is that when you’re struggling with mental health, it turns you sometimes into the version of yourself that you don’t like to be — and kind of loving and accepting your person through that, and being there for them through that, is life-changing.”

Camila admits that when she gets anxious, she tends to eat a lot — or “zombie-eat,” as she calls it. When she found herself doing that at a recent VMAs party, Shawn helped her get through it.

“It’s important to be on top of not just what’s making you sad or anxious, but also what’s giving you joy,” she says. “I want to be happy and enjoy my life. That’s kind of it.”

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Recording an album is difficult enough on its own, but Mickey Guyton made her full-length studio debut, Remember Her Name, while simultaneously at work on another creative process: She was pregnant with her first child, a son named Grayson.

“Pregnancy wasn’t in the plan!” Mickey admits during a recent CMT interview, adding that “God gives you exactly what you need at that exact moment.”

For Mickey, becoming a mom meant focusing less on the criticism and pressure she faced from the country music industry, not only as a new artist, but also as a Black woman. “I know that I needed this beautiful boy to take my mind off the industry’s pressure and put that energy into this precious human,” she explains.

In addition, the pregnancy brought logistical challenges to the album-making process. “Recording and singing with a baby in your belly is a lot!” the singer goes on to say. “When I first found out that I was pregnant, the first trimester was the hardest for recording.”

Early pregnancy symptoms like nausea made it difficult for Mickey to predict when she’d be able to work, and later on, as the baby grew, it became physically difficult for her to sing.

“Then, in the final trimester, I had to learn how to sing with a six-pound baby in my belly. While recording the song ‘All American,’ for instance, there was no room for my diaphragm, so I had to wait for certain times of the day to record,” she recounts. “If I had just eaten, I literally couldn’t sing ‘All American,’ because my voice couldn’t hit those notes…”

Also on the track list of Remember Her Name are songs like “Black Like Me” and “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?”

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