Month: August 2022

Olivia Rodrigo will get to pay tribute to one of her influential musical icons on September 24 when she inducts Alanis Morissette into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. As part of the induction, Alessia Cara and JP Saxe will perform some of Morissette’s most beloved songs along with Ruby Waters.

“I remember hearing Alanis for the first time when I was about 13. I was in the car with my parents when Jagged Little Pill came on,” Rodrigo said in a statement about the galvanizing impact of Morissette’s music on her. “I heard ‘Perfect,’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God … You can write songs like that?’ I just looked at music and songwriting in a completely different way.”

Rodrigo and Morissette first worked together for the cover of Rolling Stones’ “Musicians on Musicians” series in October 2021, and in May of this year, Rodrigo surprised fans at her Sour tour stop at L.A.’s Greek Theater by bringing Alanis out for a duet on “You Oughta Know.”

The event will take place at Massey Hall in Toronto, and also include induction ceremonies for Bryan Adams, four-time Juno Award-winning songwriter Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams, Aerosmith), songwriter David Foster (Celine Dion, Whitney Houston) and and beloved singer-songwriter Daniel Lavoie (“Ils s’aiment”).

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Rapper A$AP Rocky has been charged with two counts of assault with a firearm, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on Monday afternoon August 15. Rocky is set to be arraigned on Wednesday.

“Discharging a gun in a public place is a serious offense that could have ended with tragic consequences not only for the person targeted but also for innocent bystanders visiting Hollywood,” Gascón said in a statement. “My office conducted a thorough review of the evidence in this case and determined that the addition of a special firearm allegation was warranted.”

It was reported last week that the alleged victim is a form friend, A$AP Relli.

Back in April, A$AP Rocky was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in connection with the shooting, which took place on November 6, 2021 in Hollywood. A$AP Rocky was arrested at the airport on his way back to the U.S. from Barbados, where he was on vacation with his fiancée, Rihanna.

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Jack Harlow, Lizzo, Blackpink, Maneskin have been added to the lineup to performance for the MTV Video Music Awards. The VMAs will be held on August 28th at the Prudential Center located in Newark, N.J. These artist will be joining previously-announced performers Anitta, J Balvin, Marshmello and Khalid! At The Disco, Kane Brown, and Nicki Minaj, the latter of whom is receiving the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

Lizzo will be performing “2 Be Loved,” from her latest album, Special. She’s up for four awards this year, including artist of the year and song of the year for “About Damn Time.” Harlow, who is tied with Kendrick Lamar and Lil Nas X with a leading seven nominations, will perform an unannounced song.

Blackpink will make its U.S. award show debut with the first American TV performance of the new single “Pink Venom,” while Italian rock act Maneskin will perform its hit single “Supermodel.”

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WNBA star Brittney Griner filed an appeal on Monday after being sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner was detained in Russia back in February after being found with vape canisters that contained cannabis oil in her luggage at the airport.

The appeal was no surprise as Griner’s lawyers already made plans to file it once she was convicted. Griner admitted that she had canisters in her luggage but said it was accidentally packed and had no intent on breaking the law. Griner’s lawyers argued that the sentence was extreme and defendants in similar cases received on average a five year prison sentence.

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