Music

Jason Aldean has dropped a big preview of his upcoming 10th studio album with the release of his power-ballad duet with Carrie Underwood, “If I Didn’t Love You.” Aldean describes the tune, released Friday by Broken Bow Records, as a “love song breakup song thing” that was penned by his band members Kurt Allison and

The family of late singer James Brown has reached a settlement deal in the 15-year dispute over his estate, according to the Associated Press. The attorney representing Brown’s estate, David Black, told the AP that the settlement had been reached on July 9, though the details of the agreement were not made public. The estate

Taylor Swift has celebrated one year passed since the release of her Grammy-winning “Folklore” album by giving fans an anniversary gift: an alternate, “original” version of bonus track “The Lakes” that has a more elaborate arrangement by co-writer/co-producer than the previous recording did. [embedded content] “It’s been one year since we escaped the real world

Tencent Music Entertainment has been fined by Chinese regulators and ordered to terminate its exclusive content supply deals with major global music suppliers. The company is the largest online music group in China and is a majority owned subsidiary of China’s Tencent Group. Its shares are separately listed on the New York Stock Exchange in

Not surprisingly, there have been all kinds of reactions to Lil Nas X’s latest very unsubtle video, for “Industry Baby.” Like many of his other recent videos and TV appearances, the jail-themed clip includes multiple eye-popping homoerotic scenes, particularly one of Nas and his dancers gyrating naked in the shower. Guest rapper Jack Harlow gets

At 79-going-on-80 and 72, respectively, David Crosby and Jackson Browne — two lyrical lions of the ’60s-into-’70s singer-songwriter movement — have faced more than their share of demons and angels battling on their shoulders. Lives lived to the fullest for the better and the worse, activist causes driven and dropped, both men are now creating

It was nearly 90 degrees in Atlanta, the sun stubbornly beating down on Mercedes Benz stadium as nearly 72,000 people streamed into the venue for what was probably the biggest event the arena has seen in over a year, the listening event for Kanye West’s “Donda” (which, although it was played in full at the

Recent Oscar winner and late-night star Jon Batiste is premiering a new track, “Sweet Loraine,” that serves as the leadoff single from an upcoming benefit album, “Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians Relief Fund.” Variety has the song’s exclusive debut, below. [embedded content] The album comes out on all formats —

Welp, Lil Nas X definitely is not backing down from stirring up controversy. After a series of sexually provocative videos and TV appearances that found him lap-dancing Satan, soul-kissing a man on national TV, and splitting the crotch of his pants on “Saturday Night Live” (okay, that last one was an accident), he’s actually stripped

Coming just five months after “Framing Britney Spears,” Curious Films’ new documentary, “Reclaiming Amy,” about late singer Amy Winehouse, takes a similar tack in examining the flesh-and-blood woman behind the paparazzi pictures. Only two years apart in age, Spears and Winehouse dominated the mid-2000s tabloid headlines with their public unravelling although, unlike Spears, Winehouse’s story

Kanye West premiered his long-delayed studio album “Donda” at a listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium on Thursday that was broadcast live on Apple Music. While many details about the album have leaked in the days after hints about its imminent arrival first popped up on Sunday, one that didn’t was a fiery guest

Travis Barker has signed an exclusive worldwide administration deal with Warner Chappell Music, the publishing arm of Warner Music Group, the company announced Thursday (July 22). He is best known as the drummer of multiplatinum pop-punk band Blink-182 but has also played with his bands the Transplants and +44, and co-written and produced songs for

The shortlist for the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Prize have been announced, and includes such recent Variety favorites as indie singer-songwriter Arlo Parks (pictured above), alt-R&B outfit Sault, R&B singer Celeste and rock savants Wolf Alice, as well as instrumental vets Mogwai, rapper Ghetts and more. The full list appears below. The award, sponsored by Hyundai,

Yasiin Bey was announced as the star of a Thelonious Monk biopic on Wednesday, but as of Thursday, he appeared to be backing out the project in the wake of complaints coming from the late jazz great’s estate about the planned film. “If the Monk Estate is not happy with it, if Mr. Monk III

Whitney Houston’s estate has announced that “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert,” a new residency at Harrah’s Las Vegas, will begin on Oct. 26. The concert will feature the virtual image and voice of the late singer backed by a live four-piece band and background singers and dancers performing “all the hits,”

In a bid to help bring fans back to concerts, Live Nation announced its “Return to Live” summer concert campaign, offering fans $20 all-in tickets to nearly 1,000 shows this year. While the company has used the tactic for slower-selling tours in the past, obviously in 2021, as its 40-plus outdoor venues across the U.S.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Neal Casal, who died of a suicide in August 2019, was the kind of artist who did not become a household name but was widely admired by other artists. While he released some 14 solo albums, he also performed in bands with the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson and (pre-cancelation) Ryan Adams as well as

Grammy-winning singer and electronic musician James Blake has announced his fifth studio full-length, “Friends That Break Your Heart” — which he describes as “a concept album” — will be out on September 10. He’s leading with the single “Say What You Will,” a highlight of his solo tour late in 2019. The album features guest spots from SZA,

The recent explosive accusations of sexual misconduct against superstar actor and rapper Kris Wu were in fact the result of three different elaborate schemes to malign and fraud him, an investigation by the Chinese police concluded late Thursday evening local time. The police in Beijing’s Chaoyang district responsible for handling the case arrived at the

Jenna Andrews, the hit songwriter and producer whose credits include BTS’ chart-topping “Butter” as well as “Dynamite” and “Permission to Dance,” has signed with Milk & Honey for management. She will be represented by founder and CEO Lucas Keller along with general manager Nic Warner and manager Chad Wes. A native of Calgary, Andrews also

Martin Kahan, a music video director who worked with major pop and rock acts in the 1980s before coming to specialize in top Nashville artists during the ’90s, died of cancer Sunday in Lakewood, NH. He was 74. Kahan got his start in music videos working on live clips for Rush in the era just

Leon Bridges is a 33-year-old Texan R&B singer who launched his career as a retro R&B singer so successfully that his 2015 debut, “Coming Home,” scored two Grammy nominations, earned him an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and even a performance for the Obamas at the White House. But he felt typecast and basically rebelled,

The Rolling Stones have announced rescheduled dates for their “No Filter” tour, which was originally slated for 2020 and postponed due to the pandemic. The 2021 dates are set to kick off September 26 in St. Louis, with rescheduled stops in Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Minneapolis, Tampa, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit and Austin following. The Stones have also

Following on their podcast series earlier this year, former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen will release a book titled “Renegades: Born in the USA” via Higher Ground and Penguin Random House on October 26. The book is described as “a collection of candid, intimate, and entertaining conversations between the two,” building on the Spotify

Brandi Carlile is at that nexus in her 15-year-plus recording career where this is the first time that the debut single from a new album has landed as an event. Not so many people were looking when she released “The Joke,” the first track off her slowly- star-making “By the Way, I Forgive You” album,

While TikTok superstar Addison Rae is usually seen mouthing the words of other people’s songs, the dancer, actor and recording artist is preparing to release more of her own music. In an interview with Variety, Rae, who tops the list of highest-paid TikTokers, revealed she is working on a new EP out “really, really soon,” with

Chuck E. Weiss, the musician who helped launch the Viper Room with Johnny Depp and was a fixture of Los Angeles’ music scene for decades, died Tuesday. He was 76. His bandmate Jimmy Wood confirmed his death, telling Variety, “Chuck E. Weiss left the room yesterday morning around 8:30. JJ Holiday was by his side.

Music memorabilia collectors finally have a TV show to justify their obsession, or at least reassure them they’re hardly alone in their mania. AXS TV will premiere “Rock My Collection,” a new series co-hosted by Ahmet Zappa and appraiser Stephen Braitman, on August 15 at 8 p.m. ET/5 PT. Zappa and Braitman will be joined

Yasiin Bey, the musician formerly known as Mos Def, will portray jazz piano legend Thelonious Monk in the biopic “Thelonious,” which is slated to begin production in the summer of 2022. The project is being brought to the screen by Jupiter Rising Film and its co-founders, Alberto Marzan and Peter Lord Moreland. Moreland will also

Eric Clapton will not perform at venues that require proof of vaccination. “Following the PM’s announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021, I feel honour bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there