Barbra Streisand has made history once again, this time with her Release Me 2 album, which debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart dated August 21.
The debut makes Barbra the only woman to chart a new album in the top 20, or top 40, of the Billboard albums chart in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s.
The 79-year-old music legend made her Billboard 200 chart debut 58 years ago, when The Barbra Streisand Album bowed at No. 17 in 1963. It later peaked at No. 9.
The only other act to have sent an album into the top 20 or top 40 in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s is Bob Dylan, who accomplished that thanks to his Rough and Rowdy Ways collection, which peaked at No. 2 in 2020.
Streisand also extends her record for the most top-40-charting albums among women in the history of the Billboard 200 chart, which began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956. Release Me 2 brings her total of top-40-charting albums to 54, ahead of Aretha Franklin, who has 26. Frank Sinatra tops all acts, with 58.
Release Me 2 features a collection of 10 previously unreleased Streisand recordings. The first volume, Release Me, came out in 2012.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Trade Commission is not backing down in its antitrust legal battle against Facebook.
The agency filed an amended complaint against the social media giant on Thursday — voting 3-2 along party lines to proceed — after a federal judge in June dismissed an initial antitrust complaint brought by the FTC.
The new complaint alleges that after Facebook failed to develop innovative mobile features for its network, the company instead opted for an “illegal buy-or-bury scheme” to maintain dominance, according to a statement from the FTC. The agency also accuses the company of “unlawfully” acquiring innovative competitors after its own failed efforts to create popular mobile features.
“Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” Holly Vedova, the FTC’s Bureau of Competition acting director, said in a statement Thursday. “This conduct is no less anticompetitive than if Facebook had bribed emerging app competitors not to compete.”
“The antitrust laws were enacted to prevent precisely this type of illegal activity by monopolists,” Vedova added. “Facebook’s actions have suppressed innovation and product quality improvements. And they have degraded the social network experience, subjecting users to lower levels of privacy and data protections and more intrusive ads.”
Vedova said the FTC’s latest legal move seeks to “put an end to this illegal activity and restore competition for the benefit of Americans and honest businesses alike.”
Many of the arguments are along similar lines of the initial lawsuit, though the FTC said the new complaint includes additional data and evidence.
The new complaint in part focuses on the “transition period” when the emergence of smartphones and mobile internet use seemingly threatened Facebook’s dominance.
The agency alleges in a statement that after Facebook suffered “significant failures during this critical transition period,” the company opted instead to engage in anticompetitive behavior and buy up mobile innovators, including former rivals Instagram and WhatsApp.
The agency also takes aim at Facebook’s treatment of software developers, saying that after starting its Facebook Platform as an open space for third-party software developers, it abruptly reversed course and required developers to agree to conditions that prevented successful apps from emerging as competitors.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, Facebook referred to a company Twitter post that said: “We are reviewing the FTC’s amended complaint and will have more to say soon.”
In response to the initial complaint, the company has previously slammed the allegations as “revisionist history,” noting that the agency had cleared the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The company has also argued that Instagram and WhatsApp have become what they are today due because Facebook further funded and developed them.
When he dismissed the initial antitrust complaint, District Judge James Boasberg stated that the agency’s complaint “is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed.” Boasberg said the FTC failed to provide enough facts to prove Facebook’s alleged monopolistic behavior.
Lina Khan, a vocal critic of Big Tech’s dominance, took the helm at the FTC earlier this year, leading many to speculate a crackdown on the industry could be looming. Facebook has petitioned for Khan to be recused from the antitrust investigation, but the agency on Thursday dismissed the petition.
In a new cover story with VMAN, Lil Nas X reveals how his father’s musical aspirations inspired him to pursue a music career of his own.
“My dad is a gospel singer,” the 22-year-old tells the mag. “He still sings gospel but not as much. I guess [he] inspired me to say, ‘Wow, if my dad can go out there now, at almost 50 years old, and make music, what’s stopping me?’ It was definitely a part of what pushed me. I actually ended up using one of his engineers for some of my earlier music.”
With his upcoming album Montero — titled for Lil Nas’ birth name — the singer is putting himself out there more than ever before.
“The album is me inviting people into the world of me…into the world of Montero,” he says. “[This] project gave me the opportunity to bravely show different parts of myself. Parts that I may not have shown so openly previously.”
Lil Nas says he hopes people will listen to the album and learn something about themselves through learning more about him.
“I want the takeaway to be that it’s okay to be yourself, and I mean every aspect of your true self,” he says.
Lil Nas has yet to announce a release date for Montero, which features the songs “Montero (Call Me by Your Name), “Sun Goes Down” and “Industry Baby.”
Courtesy of the Academy of Country Music/Amazon Prime Video
The Academy of Country Music Awards is forgoing broadcast television in 2022 in favor of an Amazon Prime livestream.
It’s the latest development in a dramatic series of twists and turns for the country music awards show, which most recently aired on its longtime broadcast network home of CBS in April. But following that event, the Academy parted ways with the network after failing to agree on deal-renewal terms.
Now, it’s set to become the first-ever mainstream awards show to livestream exclusively.
“We are thrilled that the Academy of Country Music Awards are first to take this giant step toward the future of awards shows with Amazon Prime Video,” Damon Whiteside, the Academy’s CEO, says in a statement.
The exact date and location of next year’s ACM Awards will be announced at a later time. As always, the 2022 ACMs promise to bring together country music’s top artists for a packed show full of collaborations, world-television-premiere performances and other unforgettable moments.
Pop Evil has announced rescheduled dates for concerts the band postponed after frontman Leigh Kakaty tested positive for COVID-19.
The affected shows ran from August 17 to August 25. The new dates are scattered through late August, September and October.
Previously purchased tickets will be valid at the rescheduled shows. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit PopEvil.com.
Pop Evil announced news of Kakaty’s positive test earlier this week. In a statement, they noted that all band and crew members were vaccinated ahead of the tour.
Kakaty and company plan to return to the road August 27 in Virginia Beach. They’ve been touring in support of the new Pop Evil album, Versatile, which dropped in May.
(GEORGIA) — A Georgia teen honored his late mother through a graduation photoshoot.
KJ Morgan’s mother Teresa Colbert died from cancer on May 19, 2019, near the end of his freshman year at Northside High School. In preparation for his graduation this May, Morgan, 17, did a photoshoot with his mom’s portrait and wore a custom stole with photos of her on it.
“When she was here, we’d always talk about how I was going to graduate and I was going to be the one crying and she was going to be the one laughing and screaming,” Morgan told “Good Morning America.”
Morgan was supposed to graduate in May 2022, he said, but his mom’s death pushed him to work harder and graduate a year early.
“She was already not here,” he said. “So I was like, ‘Why don’t you just graduate early and make it 10 times more better?'”
In order to accomplish that, Morgan said he took college classes at Central Georgia Technical College in addition to his regular high school course load.
“From January to May, I took eight classes and for the summer semester I had five classes,” he said.
Morgan’s early graduation was even more special to him he said, because he had to miss class to take care of his mom.
“I missed so many school days taking care of my mom,” he said. “So my ninth grade year, I was failing classes back to back yet I still managed to graduate a whole year early. It just put the cherry on top for me. It did it for me to know that my mom wouldn’t be disappointed in me. … I just wanted to make her proud and this was my way of making her proud.”
WILLOW has announced a headlining U.S. tour in support of her new, pop-punk-influenced album, Lately I Feel Everything.
The trek is set to launch September 14 in Santa Ana, California, and will conclude October 19 in Atlanta. The full list of dates is listed on WILLOW’s Instagram.
WILLOW released Lately I Feel Everything in July. It features Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, who plays on the single “Transparent Soul,” and a collaboration with Avril Lavigne.
As previously reported, WILLOW will be opening for the first leg of Billie Eilish‘s U.S. tour, kicking off in February 2022.
Neil Young has announced that he’s decided not to perform at the Farm Aid 2021 festival scheduled for September 25 at Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut, citing his concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a message posted on NeilYoungArchives.com, the 75-year-old rock legend writes, “Lots is going on in our world right now. I find myself wondering whether [Farm Aid] will be safe for everyone with the Covid pandemic surging…I don’t want to let anybody down, but still can’t shake the feeling that it might not be safe for everyone. I worry about audiences coming together in these times.”
He continues, “All you people who can’t go to a concert because you still don’t feel safe, I stand with you. I don’t want you to see me playing and think it’s safe now. I don’t want to play until you feel safe, and it is indeed…safe.”
Young adds, “My soul tells me it would be wrong to risk having anyone die because they wanted to hear music and be with friends… Since we know vaccinated people can catch and spread Covid, I worry about the children who could become infected after [Farm Aid], just by being with someone, maybe a parent, who caught the virus at [Farm Aid] and didn’t know it.”
Neil, who traditionally co-headlines the annual event with fellow Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, notes, “While I respect Willie, John and Dave’s decisions to stick with it and play, I am not of the same mind. It is a tough call.”
Other artists on the 2021 Farm Aid bill include Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Bettye LaVette and Jamey Johnson. The concert is sold out.
The critically-panned movie CATS will always have a special place in star Jennifer Hudson‘s heart.
Speaking to Total Film, the singer defended the 2019 movie musical, which flopped at the box office and became a certified punchline at various award shows — with fellow CATS alums James Corden and Rebel Wilson ripping the movie at the 2020 Academy Awards.
Unlike some of her peers, however, Hudson demonstrated how much she cares for the movie when praising the interviewer for even mentioning it during her interview.
“I loved that you asked about CATS!,” she exclaimed. “You know what? I think it was a bit overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that it was misunderstood.”
“I think later down the line, people will see it differently. But it is something I am still very proud of and grateful to have been a part of,” the Respect star continued, adding that she is honored to have played Grizabella — who belts out the musical’s most famous song, “Memories.”
In addition, Hudson revealed that CATS also inspired her to open her heart and home to two actual cats. She added that she even named her new felines after the characters Grizabella and Macavity, the latter played by Idris Elba in the film.
Said the Grammy winner, “They are the best thing I’ve ever had. I love them so much.”
CATS debuted December 29, 2019 and earned a lukewarm $27.2 million during its North American box office run. The movie was also panned on Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently sits with a 19% rating.
(MISSISSIPPI) — More than 20,000 students across Mississippi are in quarantine after the first week of in-person classes.
Mississippi, which has the lowest vaccination rate among all states — about 34%, according to state data — is reeling from rising COVID-19 cases and the highly transmissible delta variant. Last week, a 13-year-old eighth grader died after testing positive — the fifth Mississippi child to die during the pandemic.
Some schools reopened last week, and so far 4,521 students have tested positive for COVID-19 and 20,334 have been quarantined due to exposure — about 5% of the state’s public school students, according to data compiled by the state Aug. 9 to Aug. 13 from over 800 schools.
Additionally, 948 teachers or staffers tested positive last week and 1,463 were quarantined due to exposure, according to state data.
Dr. Paul Byers, the state epidemiologist, painted a somber picture of the crisis unfolding in real time during a call with state pediatricians on Wednesday.
“These are dramatic numbers,” he added. “We are clearly at the worst part of the pandemic that we’ve seen throughout, and it’s continuing to worsen.”
Gov. Tate Reeves has not mandated masks in schools, instead letting districts decide for themselves.
About 600 schools have implemented universal masking for indoor settings following the recent spike in cases and isolations, Mississippi newspaper The Clarion-Ledger reported. The Biloxi school board, and the Gulfport and Hancock districts are among those requiring students to wear masks.
Governors and school districts throughout the U.S. have sparred over mandating masks in classrooms even as children younger than 12 still can’t be vaccinated.
New COVID-19 infections among 5-to-17-year-olds in Mississippi have risen steadily since March, accounting for about 20% of new cases through July, according to state data.
On Saturday, 13-year-old Mkayla Robinson died in Smith County, according to ABC Jackson affiliate WAPT.
“She was loved by all of her teachers,” Smith County Schools Superintendent Nick Hillman told WAPT. “She was an honor student, a band student. Everybody says if they had 30 kids in the classroom like her, they have the perfect classroom.”
