As Metallica gears up to celebrate its 40th anniversary, a new book will examine the impact the band and its music have had on our culture.
Metallica: The $24.95 Book, written by Ben Apatoff after years of exhaustive research, features chapters dedicated to each band member and each album. It’ll also cover touring, fashion, books, film, influences, fandom, history and more.
“I wanted it to be more than a fact book, and not just something people could look up on the Internet,” says Apatoff.
The book covers Metallica through 2021, and is the first one written with access to the band’s box set materials. Unpublished photos, new transcriptions of video interviews and magazine quotes that were previously unavailable online round out the tome.
The book’s foreword was written by Laina Dawes, the author of the 2013 memoir What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman’s Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal.
Metallica: The $24.95 Book will be released in August, but you can pre-order it now. We’re sure you can figure out how much it costs.
After landing his first platinum-certified album,Pray 4 Love, rapper Rod Wave has now earned a spot on Billboard’s Money Makers list of the highest-paid music artists in the U.S in 2020, placing 25th.
Throughout the year, most artists hosted virtual performances due to COVID-19, which drastically diminished or elimnated touring revenue. However, the Florida native managed to close out last year with $7.37 million in earnings.
Rod Wave reportedly made $1.3 million from publishing and $66,400 in royalties, which came entirely from digital downloads. Yet he made his biggest earnings from streaming services, in the amount of $6 million. His music videos account for close to 20% of his 4.1 billion combined streaming plays.
Pray 4 Love debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart in April 2020, with singles such as “Girl of My Dreams” and “Rags2Riches” landing on the Hot 100.
Rod Wave is among the many hip-hop artists who dominated last year and earned a spot on Billboard’sranking of the highest-paid musicians of 2020, including Travis Scott, DaBaby, Kanye West, Roddy Ricch, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Lil Uzi Vert. Out of 40 artists, Taylor Swift returned to the number-one spot on the 2020 list, earning $23.8 million — which is $75.8 million less than what she made in 2018, the last time she appeared on the list.
“The Bigger Picture” rapper Lil Baby came in at number ten, earning $11.7 million behind heavyweights such as Drake, who earned $14.2 million, putting him in sixth place.
Walker Hayes has a hit on his hands with “Fancy Like,” and he’s opening up about the inspiration behind the infectious track.
In June, Walker and his daughter, Lela, went viral on TikTok after posting a video of themselves doing an original dance to the hip-hop-meets-country track that’s amassed nearly 20 million views so far.
The hitmaker hints that he’s been in contact with Applebees, and says the restaurant chain is considering returning to their menu the Oreo milkshake he references in the lyrics, due to the song’s popularity.
“I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but one thing that truly excites me is that the Oreo shake actually came off the menu several years back and it’s coming back because of the song,” he teases. “I can’t wait [until] I have grandkids and we’re at Applebee’s and they’re drinking a shake and I could say, ‘you know why’s it on the menu? It’s because I saved it.'”
As for how the TikTok video came about, Walker tells Billboard he and Lela “came home from church and put [the song’s] chorus on repeat and made it simple and we popped it off on the porch. We did two takes and then we slapped it on TikTok. [By] that night it surpassed a million [views].” He calls the response “bonkers,” saying, “I just left a Planet Fitness and people were walking up to me and [saying] ‘My daughter loves the dance. Can I get a picture?'”
Walker co-wrote “Fancy Like” for his latest EP, Country Stuff, which has become his highest-charting single to date, reaching the top 20 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It’s currently climbing the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
After releasing her new album, Sling, to rave reviews, Clairo is hitting the road.
The 22-year-old singer will kick off a tour February 16 in Charlotte, NC, and wrap it up April 16 in Atlanta, GA. Arlo Parks will open for the majority of the tour; the final three shows will feature Widowspeak.
For the tour, Clairo is partnering with several organizations that will ensure a safe and harassment-free experience at each show by establishing a text helpline and proactively canvassing each concert to look for, as she put it in an interview with NME, “any misconduct that goes on within the crowd.”
In addition, Clairo’s band and crew, as well as venue staff, will undergo sexual harassment prevention and response training.
Clairo also told NME, ” “I’m lucky that [misconduct] never happened to me, but experiencing some of that in my adult life, I can’t believe how brave I was to go to shows by myself and be so carefree. If I can’t provide this [security] on tour, then I won’t tour — that’s my mentality at the moment.”
In a statement, she added, “Everyone deserves a resource and everyone deserves to enjoy the show in peace. I want the audience to know that there is someone who will listen and believe them at every show.”
Tickets for the tour go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. Visit Clairo.com for the full itinerary and pre-sale information.
Mariah Carey‘s daughter is starring in a new brand campaign inspired by her famous mom.
Monroe Cannon, the singer’s 10-year-old daughter with Nick Cannon, stands front and center in a new ad for kids’ clothing company OshKosh B’gosh, titled “Today Is Someday.” In the clip, Monroe plays a younger version of Mariah and models an OshKosh B’gosh that pays homage to the singer’s 1990 “Someday” video.
“Someday it’s going to be different,” Monroe says in the ad. “The melodies that live in my head, someday they’ll live at the top of the charts. The songs in my heart will touch millions of hearts. Artist of the year, artist of the decade, artist of the millennium. But the meaning is in inspiring generations of little girls to hit their high note. How’s that for a daydream?”
“As a little girl, I was determined to realize my dreams. Now as a mother, it brings me so much joy to see my children visualize and develop the dreams they hold in their own hearts,” Mariah, who’s also mom to Monroe’s twin brother, Moroccan, says in a statement. “We did the campaign because we love the message of empowering kids to dream boldly and blaze their own path.”
The “Today Is Someday” campaign also pays tribute to the childhood experiences of Muhammad Ali and Outkast.
(NEW YORK) — Much of the United States is under an ominous, hazy sky on Tuesday as smoke spreads from the massive wildfires in the West.
At least 40 million Americans are experiencing poor air quality.
The hazy skies have even reached New York City.
At least 80 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, mostly in the West.
Oregon’s Bootleg Fire has exploded to over 388,000 acres and is 30% contained as of Tuesday morning.
“Fighting this fire is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Rob Allen, incident commander for PNW Incident Management Team 2.
The Dixie Fire in Butte County, California, has spread to over 59,000 acres and is just 15% contained.
The danger for wildfires will remain high on Tuesday due to low humidity, high wind gusts and the potential of dry lightning.
Fire danger will continue Wednesday before subsiding some on Thursday. But with the West enduring a widespread drought, new fires could easily spread at any time.
(NEW YORK) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky told lawmakers Tuesday the delta variant now makes up 83% of cases, up from 50% at the beginning of this month.
“CDC has released estimates of variants across the country and predicted the delta variant now represents 83% of sequenced cases. This is a dramatic increase from — up from 50% for the week of July 3rd,” Walensky testified in a hearing before the Senate Health Committee.
Walensky said the alarming increase was happening in unvaccinated areas and that they were “allowing for the emergence and rapid spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.”
“In some parts of the country, the percentage is even higher, particularly in areas of low vaccination rates,” she said.
The best way to stop the spread is with vaccines, she said.
“To date, our data indicates that vaccines are available to neutralize the circulating variants in the United States and provide protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” she said. “The message from CDC remains clear: the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants is to prevent the spread of disease and vaccination is the most powerful tool we have.”
And on the subject of whether booster shots — which could offer extra protection against the variant for immunocompromised people — will be recommended, Walensky and Food and Drug Administration acting chief Janet Woodcock said they don’t yet have a timeline on an answer.
They were pushed multiple times by Republicans who argued Israel has already made the call to use boosters.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah pressed Woodcock on when boosters might be available to people who are immunocompromised.
A CDC advisory panel is scheduled to discuss on Thursday what the research shows on that point. While no vote is planned, the discussion could pave the way for the FDA to alter its authorization of the vaccines to allow for booster shots for the immunocompromised.
“Why should we not allow people who, who are elderly or have other compromised conditions to be able to get that booster?” Romney asked, noting that Israel was allowing it.
“Certainly, we are looking at all that,” Woodcock responded.
“Remember this vaccine right now — the vaccines are under emergencies use authorization and require an additional authorization for a booster,” she said.
“Well, how long is that going to take? That’s the question,” Romney asked. “We have people who want to get that booster and I’m hearing that from people who are at risk and concerned… Why can’t they?”
Woodcock didn’t answer directly, but noted that Pfizer was submitting data “to potentially make the case” for a booster and that “the FDA will be looking at that.”
Romney responded: “I don’t like the timeframe, frankly, given the fact that this is being done elsewhere.”
The 2020 edition of the Farm Aid was a virtual event because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year’s installment of the festival, which supports family-run and independent farms in the U.S., will return to being a live, in-person extravaganza.
Farm Aid 2021 is scheduled for September 25 in Hartford, Connecticut, at Xfinity Theatre, the same venue where the 2018 festival was held. As usual, the event will be headlined by Farm Aid board members Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, with Matthews playing as a duo with his longtime collaborator, Tim Reynolds.
This year’s lineup also features Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Bettye LaVette, Jamey Johnson, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and more. Tickets for the festival go on sale to the public this Friday, July 23, at 10 a.m. ET. A limited number of pre-sale tickets can be purchased now at FarmAid.org/Festival.
“The experience of the past 18 months has reminded us how much we need each other,” says Willie Nelson, Farm Aid’s president and co-founder. “I’m so glad that music is bringing us all back together at Farm Aid 2021 to celebrate family farmers. When we combine music, family farmers and good food, we have the power to grow the kind of agriculture that strengthens all of us.”
The festival will feature local and organic foods produced at family farms, and will offer various agricultural-themed activities and forums presented by farmers and artists.
In addition, a silent auction featuring rare and signed memorabilia, including guitars and prints, will be held to raise money for Farm Aid. The sale will run from September 25 to October 8 at FarmAid.org/auction.
Via handwritten note on their socials, Coldplay has announced that their ninth album will arrive October 15.
Called Music of the Spheres, the album, produced by Max Martin, comes with a trailer that depicts an animated cosmic journey through the album’s space-themed artwork, with snippets of each new song. In their note, the band says that a new track from the album, “Colaratura,” will be out on Friday, followed by a single in September. The first release, “Higher Power,” came out in May.
“Thank you for listening or coming to shows or any way we have met through music,” the band ends their note, adding, “Everyone is an alien somewhere.”
There are 12 tracks on Music of the Spheres, the titles of five of which are represented by emojis. The songs that aren’t so titled are “Higher Power,” “Humankind,” “Let Somebody Go,” “People of the Price,” “Biutyful,” “My Universe,” and “Coloratura.” The emojis range from a heart, to a picture of Earth, to what looks like an infinity symbol.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles Rams running back Cam Akers has torn his Achilles during a workout, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Further testing confirmed the injury, according to Schefter.
Akers is likely out for the season. The team has not announced the injury.
Akers was the team’s leading rusher last year with 626 yards and two touchdowns. Darrell Henderson Jr. was the second leading rusher with 624 yards and five touchdowns.
The 22-year old Florida State product missed two games last year with a rib injury.
