Category: Pop Daypop

Miley Cyrus revealed that she will be releasing a new single, titled “Flowers,” on Jan. 13. The singer, 29, made the announcement while hosting her second annual Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party alongside godmother Dolly Parton.

The announcement came when a video showing Cyrus strutting through a street played after a commercial break. In the clip, a snippet of the upcoming tune played with the caption: “NEW YEAR, NEW MILEY, NEW SINGLE. FLOWERS JANUARY 13,” flashing across a black background in white lettering. The same announcement was also posted on Cyrus’ social media.

Rumors of new music from Cyrus began circulating back in November after she reunited in the studio with music producer Mike WiLL Made-It, with whom she worked on her fourth studio album Bangerz in 2013. At the time, hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd shared a series of photographs on Instagram from a studio session, where Cyrus appeared to be making some new music. Cyrus’ last studio album release was 2020’s Plastic Hearts.. She also released a live album, Attention: Miley Live, in April 2022.

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Anita Pointer, a founding member of Grammy-winners the Pointer Sisters along with her younger sisters Bonnie, June and her sister Ruth, died of cancer on Saturday, December 31st at the age of 74.  Pointer passed away at home in Los Angeles, surrounded by her family.

A family statement read in part: “While we are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita, we are comforted in knowing she is now with her daughter, Jada and her sisters June & Bonnie and at peace. Heaven is a more loving beautiful place with Anita there. She was the one that kept all of us close and together for so long. Her love of our family will live on in each of us.”

The P0inter Sisters released their first, self-titled album in 1973, which was certified gold. They had seven Top 10 pop singles, two of which (“Fire” and “Slow Hand”) reached No.2. They placed a total of 30 singles on the R&B chart between 1973 and 1991, also including such memorable songs as “Automatic,” “I’m So Excited,” “Jump (For My Love),” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire.”

Anita’s death leaves Ruth Pointer as the only surviving member of the group. June died in 2006 and Bonnie in 2020. Anita’s daughter Jada died of cancer in 2003, at the age of 37.

Pointer Sisters’ Anita Pointer dies

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The Weeknd released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM, in January, and now he is teasing an upcoming video for the song “Is There Someone Else”.  When a fan asked how he felt after a year that saw the album go to #1 on the Billboard sales chart, The Weeknd tweeted back, saying “i feel istheresomeoneelsemusicvideo-ish.”

A video for the song “Is There Someone Else” would be the sixth from Dawn FM.  The lead single “Take My Breath,” and the rest of the singles — “Out of Time,” “Sacrifice,” “Gasoline” and “How Do I Make You Love Me” all have previously released videos.

No further announcement has been made about a video release or who might star in or direct it. In the past, Tesfaye has worked most frequently with directors Cliqua, who recently did the “Out of Time” video, Anton Tammi (“In Your Eyes”), and Grant Singer (“Try Me”).

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Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” became the No.1 song across US radio stations, making Swift the first artist to have landed on the top of Billboard’s Radio Songs chart in the 2000s, 10s, and 20s. Swift earned her seventh Radio Songs chart-topper, tying Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and Usher for the fourth-most No.1s dating to the chart’s beginning in December 1990.

In just eight weeks, Midnights achieved over six million album equivalent units worldwide, three million in the U.S. alone, and became the only artist ever to have five albums with over one million units during release week. Midnights moved almost 1.6 million during its debut week and is the first album to sell over one million physical albums since 2015. Swift also broke streaming, physical and vinyl album sales milestones around the world as Midnights became the fastest-selling album of her career, and became the first artist in history to capture the entire Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Universal Music Group Chairman & CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge said, “Taylor is a multidimensional creative force whose achievements place her among the most accomplished artists in the history of music, and we are thrilled and honored to partner with her across so many aspects of her career.” Republic Records Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Monte Lipman said, “Taylor’s achievements over the past year have been absolutely spectacular! With more than two dozen historic milestones set by Midnights, it’s nearly unimaginable for any artist to sell more than six million albums in less than eight weeks during any era of our business. These accomplishments further exemplify Taylor’s prowess as the consummate artist and storyteller defining a generation.”

Taylor Swift Breaks Radio Songs Chart Record with “Anti-Hero”

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BTS’s RM has become the first member of the band to have a solo album enter the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. RM’s ‘Indigo’ has landed itself at Number 3, coming after the song saw its CD release after it debuted as a digital-only album.  ‘Indigo’ included collaborations with several Korean artists and American heavyweights like Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak.

SZA’s ‘SOS’ topped the Billboard list, with Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ landing at No. 2. Among the other non-Christmas albums in the top 10 are Metro Boomin’s ‘Heroes & Villains’, Drake and 21 Savage’s ‘Her Loss’ and Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’.

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Former President Barack Obama has revealed his annual playlist of his favorite songs released in 2022. Among the 25 eclectic songs included on the 2022 edition of Obama’s list are Beyoncé, Lizzo, SZA and Bad Bunny, as well as Zach Bryan, Steve Lacy, and Omar Appollo.

Obama captioned a tweet  that also included a list of his picks: “I always enjoy sharing my end of year music playlist with all of you — and this year we heard a lot of great songs. Here are some of my favorites. Are there any songs or artists I should check out?”

Among the songs featured in his playlist are Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5”, Bad Bunny’s “Titi Me Pregunto,” and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.”  Newcomer Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange”, Maggie Rogers’ “That’s Where I Am”, and Burna Boy’s “Last Last” also made the list along with “POF” by Ari Lennox, “American Teenager” by Ethel Cain, “Communion in my Cup” by Tank and The Bangas, “Sunshine” by Steve Lacy, and “Shirt” by SZA.

In addition to his favorite songs, the former president also shared his favorite books of the year, a list topped by Michelle Obama‘s The Light We Carry, and his favorite movies of the year, including Top Gun: Maverick, Descendant, Tár, and more.

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Five years after a deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, Ariana Grande continues to give back to the community. Per Manchester Evening News, Grande once again sent gifts to children spending their holidays in a hospital.

The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity shared photos,” on Twitter from Christmas Day of dozens of gifts surrounding a Christmas tree with a caption reading: “Thank you Ariana! We were so excited to receive Christmas gifts for young patients across our hospitals from Ariana Grande.”  The charity added that the gifts were distributed to babies, children and teens at several hospitals around Manchester.

This isn’t the first time Grande has sent gifts to kids spending Christmas in a Manchester hospital. In 2021, she reportedly gave 1,000 presents to make sure each child got two gifts, while in 2020 she donated an Amazon voucher to every child at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and Manchester Royal Infirmary.

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SZA’s sophomore album “SOS” is on top of the Billboard 200 chart again this week, earning 180,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 22. SOS moved 315,000 album equivalent units in its opening week.  SZA is now the first Black female artist since Beyoncé to see her album spend its first two weeks atop the Billboard 200 (Beyoncé accomplished the feat with her self-titled 2013 album).

Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights, held steady at No. 2 with 155,000 album equivalent units. BTS’s RM is a newcomer in this week’s Top 10, and becomes the first member of the K-pop and to chart a solo album within the Top 10. RM earned his first top 10 solo album with Indigo, which re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 3 with 83,000 equivalent album units. Indigo was released on Dec. 16.  Rounding out the Top 5 are Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains, and Michael Buble’s Christmas at No. 5.

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Diddy is showing off his newborn daughter in his latest Instagram post. The 53-year-old welcomed his youngest child, Love, earlier this month, and on Christmas Day shared photos of the baby along with his six children (minus his 28-year-old son Justin Dior).

The photo showed the family posing in matching green and red striped pajamas and Santa hats. Diddy held his newborn daughter in his arms surrounded by other children: Quincy, 31, King, 24, Chance, 16, and twins, D’Lila Star and Jessie James, 16, along with the caption: “Merry Christmas from my family to yours! LOVE ”

Diddy’s Christmas photos come shortly after he announced the birth of Love in a Twitter post earlier this month, where he wrote: “I’m so blessed to welcome my baby girl Love Sean Combs to the world. Mama Combs, Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D’Lila, Jessie and myself all love you so much! God is the Greatest!”

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Mariah Carey has made history again with her Christmas classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.  The song, which was originally released back in 1994, now ranks the all-time records for the biggest single-day streams in Spotify chart history. According to the platform, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was streamed 21.27 million times a day before Christmas, the biggest peak in Spotify history. The song also recently earned a milestone 10th week at #1 on Billboard Hot 100, making her the first woman with three songs that have led the chart for double-digit weeks.

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” was released as part of Carey’s first-holiday album “Merry Christmas” back in 1994. The song was produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and released through Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings. It is estimated that “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, and is the best-selling holiday song by a female artist, as well as one of the best-selling physical singles in music history.

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