Lil Nas X announces debut album ‘Montero’

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Lil Nas X announced his debut album, Montero. The rapper/singer shared the news via Twitter, stating that the project is “coming soon!” 

Spoofing the opening to Marvel movies, Lil Nas X introduced Montero with a cinematic album trailer containing clips from his videos for “Old Town Road”, “Panini”, “Holiday”, and “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”. It also includes a snippet of an unreleased song, in which Lil Nas raps, “Couple Grammys on him/ Couple plaques, eh, that’s a fact.” 

Lil Nas dropped his debut EP, titled 7, in June 2019.  He returned in November 2020 with “Holiday”, the controversial “Montero” and recently released “Sun Goes Down” in late May.

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BTS’s “Butter” stays on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for record-breaking 5th consecutive week

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Billboard announced that BTS’s “Butter” has once again taken the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 for the fifth consecutive week. “Butter” also topped the list for top-selling songs of the week.

BTS set the record for the longest-running No. 1 hit by any Asian act when it topped the Hot 100 for the fourth consecutive time last week, and this week’s fifth consecutive No. 1 extends that record. Billboard’s Gary Trust writes, “Only one song by a group has topped the Hot 100 for more weeks from its debut than ‘Butter’: Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s ‘One Sweet Day,’ which spent its first 16 weeks on the chart at No. 1 in 1995-96.”

According to Billboard, “Butter” is just the 11th song out of the 54 songs that have debuted at No. 1 to spend its first five weeks at No. 1 in the history of the Hot 100.  “Butter” also took No. 1 on Billboard’s Global Excl. U.S. chart and No. 2 on the Global 200 chart again this week. The song also topped the Digital Song Sales chart again and ranked No. 18 on the Streaming Songs chart and No. 22 on the Radio Songs chart.

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Halsey announces fourth album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

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Halsey has announced her next album will be called If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, produced by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

No release date has yet been announced for If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, but Halsey shared a short teaser of the album earlier on her social media pages with the caption: “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power The FOURTH album by Halsey Produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.”

Halsey has been dabbling in the rock genre recently, releasing “11 Minutes” with Yungblud and Travis Barker in 2019, “Forget Me Too” with Machine Gun Kelly in 2020, and several songs with Bring Me the Horizon. Her last release, Manic, reached number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts and included hit such as “Graveyard” and “Without Me.” The full-length album also featured BTS’ Suga and Alanis Morissette.

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Courtney Love calls out Olivia Rodrigo for allegedly copying Hole’s album cover

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Courtney Love is calling out Olivia Rodrigo, saying she didn’t ask permission to use a very similar picture of cover art from her band Hole‘s 1994 album Live Through This, for Rodrigo’s Sour Prom Concert Film.  The 56-year-old Love reposted a tweet that 18-year-old Olivia posted, showing her in a prom dress with a crown and mascara running down her face.  Love added the comment: “Spot the difference! #twinning! @Olivia_Rodrigo.”

Olivia’s picture appears to copy a close-up shot of model Leilani Bishop from Hole’s album, where Leilani is holding flowers, wearing a crown on her head as mascara runs down her face.  Love also posted on her Facebook, adding: “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude. There’s no way to be elegant about it . I’m not angry . It happens all the time to me . And he really I’m very gracious or say nothing . But this was bad form . That’s not bullying or bomb throwing . This persons music has nothing to do with my life . Possibly never will . It was rude And I gave every right to stick up for my work . Don’t gatekeep me ! I’m honorable as f*ck to my fellow artists, and I expect the same.”

After Courtney shared Olivia’s pic, Olivia responded with a comment that seemed to indicate she was paying homage to Hole and the album. “love u and live through this sooooo much,” the comment read. Courtney replied: “Olivia – you’re welcome. My favorite florist is in Notting Hill, London! Dm me for deets! I look forward to reading your note!”

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Jamie Lynn Spears breaks her silence to show support for sister Britney Spears

Just days after Britney Spears made an emotional plea to a Los Angeles judge to terminate her conservatorship, her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears broke her silence, saying that she wants nothing but happiness for her sister and that she always has and “always will” support Britney.

Jamie Lynn said in the video message shared Monday to her Instagram stories, “I just want to take a second to address a few things. The only reason I hadn’t before is because I felt like until my sister was able to speak for herself and say what she felt she needed to say publicly that it wasn’t my place and it wasn’t the right thing to do. But now that she’s very clearly spoken and said what she needed to say, I feel like I can follow her lead and say what I feeI I need to say.”

Jamie Lynn continued by saying she had made a “very conscious choice” to “only participate” in Britney’s life as a sister, adding “my sister knows I love and support her… I’m not my family. I’m my own person. And I’m speaking for myself.”  Jamie Lynn also said she’s “very proud” of Britney for speaking up and that she has always supported her and her happiness: “Maybe I didn’t support the way the public would like me to with a hashtag on a public platform but I can assure you that I support my sister long before there was a hashtag and I’ll support her long after.”

The statement from Jamie Lynn comes less than a week after Britney spoke publicly during a court hearing, addressing her conservatorship and how she hopes it is terminated.

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Ed Sheeran releases new single “Bad Habits” along with official music video

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Ed Sheeran has release his new single “Bad Habits.”   Sheeran hasn’t released new music since December 2019, and posted on Instagram at the time that he needed to “take a breather to travel, write, and read.”

Sheeran said about the new track: “I’ve been working away in the studio over recent months and I can’t wait for you to hear “Bad Habits.”  I always aim to push myself and my music in new directions and hopefully you’ll hear that on the new single. Feels great to be back!”

Watch Sheeran’s music video for “Bad Habits” at the link –here.

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Willow Smith confirms new album “Lately I Feel Everything” due out July 16th

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Willow Smith has confirmed the release date for her forthcoming new album ‘Lately I Feel Everything’ will be July 16th. Lately I Feel Everything is the follow-up to 2020’s ‘The Anxiety’ – which was a collaborative record with Tyler Cole under the moniker The Anxiety.  Willow previously dropped her collaboration with Travis Barker ‘t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l’, which came out back in April.

A press release says that Willow will “channel the alt rock, pop-punk and emo heroes she adored as a teenager, like Avril Lavigne, My Chemical Romance and Paramore,” on her new album. Willow said in a statement: “I thought this was a really dope outlet for a new energy I wanted to bring to my music.” and she revealed in an interview earlier this month that her new album features a collaboration with Avril Lavigne, telling V Magazine: “I’m so excited that I’m going to be having a song on the album with Avril Lavigne. She is so iconic. From [ages] 13 to 16, she was my idol. It’s really nice to be able to have a quintessential pop-punk record with the pop-punk queen.”

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Olivia Rodrigo to air ‘SOUR Prom’ concert film on YouTube

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Olivia Rodrigo announced that she will host her own alternative prom — titled the Sour Prom Concert Film – to stream Tuesday, June 29, at 8:30 p.m. PT on her official YouTube channel.   Rodrigo wrote on Twitter: “Since I never got to go to prom, I wanted to throw a little prom party with my fav ppl (you guys obvs).”

During the event, the singer will be performing tunes from her hit debut album as fans enjoy what the press release calls “the ultimate alternative prom experience.” There will also be a pre-prom event hosted by Rodrigo on her YouTube page, which begins 30 minutes before the livestream, at 8 p.m. PT.  Rodrigo will be answering questions from fans and sharing behind the scenes stories about the making of Sour Prom.

The 18-year-old singer surprised some fans with an in-person invitation to the event ahead of the announcement. The ‘promposals’ come just days after Rodrigo graduated from high school herself, which she celebrated on social media.

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Britney Spears speaks at hearing asking to end conservatorship

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Britney Spears appeared before a judge on Wednesday, asking to end the court conservatorship that has controlled her life and money since 2008.  Spears’ request at a Los Angeles hearing was the first time she spoke in open court under the conservatorship during its 13-year existence.

In the written speech that lasted more than 20 minutes, Spears revealed many details that have been carefully guarded for years by the court.  Spears, speaking by phone, called the conservatorship “abusive” and condemned her father and the others who have controlled it, saying: “I want to end this conservatorship without being evaluated,” Spears said, adding, “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I deserve to have a life.”  Spears said she wants to marry her boyfriend Sam Asghari and have a baby, but the conservatorship won’t allow her to, telling the court she’s being forced to take birth control against her will. When an attorney representing her co-conservator said the hearing and transcript should be kept sealed, Spears objected, saying “They’ve done a good job at exploiting my life, so I feel like it should be an open court hearing and they should listen and hear what I have to say.”

James Spears serves as co-conservator of his daughter’s finances, and also had control of her life decisions for most of the conservatorship. The conservatorship was put in place as she underwent a mental health crisis in 2008.  Vivian Thoreen, attorney for James Spears, gave a brief statement on his behalf: “He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain. Mr. Spears loves his daughter, and misses her very much.”

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