Music

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has responded to Kanye West’s recent antisemitic rhetoric in an op-ed written for the Chicago Tribune. In the piece, Emanuel wrote that West is part of an overall rise in hate coming in various forms throughout the country. “Of course, praising Hitler is vile. And it’s easy to condemn – and

“The last thing in the world I wanted to do was write 1920s jazz,” says composer Justin Hurwitz about “Babylon,” his latest collaboration with filmmaker Damien Chazelle (whose “La La Land” won best song and best score Oscars for Hurwitz). “Babylon” is set in Hollywood near the end of the silent era, and music plays

There’s really hardly such a thing as a hive mind in music anymore. Accordingly, there are no direct repeats among the two Variety music critics’ top 10 lists … at least not until you factor in our respective honorable mentions, at which point it turns out that, when you get down to it, everybody does

UPDATED: A new, official-appearing R. Kelly collection provocatively titled “I Admit” appeared on streaming services — including Spotify and Apple Music — on Friday, although reps for Sony Music, which owns the rights to much of the singer’s catalog, stressed to Variety that the album is an unofficial release (i.e. a bootleg), even though the

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie are taking the stage together for a North American tour next year, celebrating the 20th anniversary of each of the band’s landmark albums. Each band will

Forget “Seven Nation Army” — this World Cup, the latest song to be hijacked by crazed football fans and turned into an anthem that is seemingly ubiquitous-among-winning-teams-and-their-fans is, surprisingly, a 1996 house-music inspired Italian crossover pop/club hit, “Freed From Desire” by Gala. Not only was the song chosen as the official selection given to FIFA

Taylor Swift will be making her feature directorial debut with Searchlight Pictures. The singer, songwriter and director has written an original script, which will be produced by the Oscar-winning studio behind “Nomadland” and “The Shape of Water.” Other key details, like a plot and casting, are being kept under wraps until a later date, but landing the project

A 39-year-old woman has filed a sexual battery lawsuit accusing Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter of raping her and infecting her with HPV when she was 17. The suit, which was filed on Thursday in Clark County, Nevada, claims the assault against accuser Shannon “Shay” Ruth happened in February 2001 after a Backstreet Boys concert

It’s been 10 years since Paris Hilton made her first major festival debut as a DJ. At the time, several publications and online spectators disdainfully rejected the multi-hyphenate’s entrance into the electronic dance world and nitpicked her setlist, stage appearance and gear choices (which, if you were curious, consist of the Traktor S8 and Swarovski-encrusted

Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well: The Short Film” has earned the singer a nomination for best music video at the 2023 Grammys for its harrowing display of broken romance. Now, she’s giving fans a behind-the-scenes peek at how she pieced together the coming-of-age film. On Thursday, Swift shared a casual six-minute video comprised of compilation

The radio airplay monitor MediaBase has announced that Columbia Records is the No. 1 label for overall airplay chart share in 2022. The Sony Music-owned company holds a 15.3 share, up 31% from an 11.7 last year — marking the greatest chart share growth for any record label since 2018. It was also announced that Columbia holds the No. 1

Indie-rock institutions the Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie — both of whom are fronted and co-founded by singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard — will undertake a 20th anniversary co-headlining North American tour next year. The groups will perform their landmark 2003 albums in full — the Postal Service’s platinum-certified “Give Up” and Death Cab’s breakthrough fourth studio LP “Transatlanticism” — which were actually

Sam Ryder could reasonably be described as the most positive person in pop. When greeted with a “How are you?” as he pops up on Zoom, Ryder replies “I’m fantastic!” During the interview, he uses the word “joy” seven times in response to a single question and (jokingly, in fairness) describes the M4 – a

Atlantic Music Group Chairman and CEO Julie Greenwald and Atlantic Records Chairman and CEO Craig Kallman will receive the 2023 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honor, to be celebrated at the the Pre-Grammy Gala — a.k.a. the Clive Davis party — on Feb. 4, 2023. The gala, held the night before the Grammy Awards, returns as

The Recording Industry Association of America today announces the 13 albums and 68 singles released and awarded this year in its Gold & Platinum program. Taylor Swift earns the top album with her double-platinum “Midnights” (via Republic Records), while Future locks the top single with his triple-platinum “Wait for U” (on Epic Records/Freebandz). See the full lists below. “Incredible voices and

Celine Dion has revealed she has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome. She said the disorder affects approximately one in a million people. In a video message posted on Instagram, Dion said the disorder was causing spasms that affect her ability to walk and sing. “While we’re still learning about this

In a markup session, the House Judiciary Committee has given its approval to a bill that implement a sound recording performance royalty on over-the-air broadcasting, the American Music Fairness Act. If the bipartisan bill were to go through, artists, performers, producers and musicians involved in creating songs would receive royalties when their music plays on

Karol G has been crowned Vevo’s most-viewed artist globally and has the platform’s single most-viewed video of the year. The visualizer for her hit “Provenza” reached the No. 1 spot with 547 million views worldwide, but even that was just a fraction of Karol G’s overall total, as her videos collectively added up to a

Peter Cooper, one of the most preeminent journalists covering country music in the 21st century, a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter-producer in his own right, and most recently one of the foremost public faces of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, died Tuesday at age 52. A significant part of the Nashville music community had been

English rockers the Zombies and California’s Osees are among the artists that have been added to the expansive lineup for the 37th annual South by Southwest music festival, scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas, from March 13-18, 2023. The new list of performers features the Lemon Twigs (from New York), R&B singer-songwriter Ambré (New

The Weeknd will release “Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from the soundtrack to the film “Avatar: The Way of Water” on Hollywood Records on December 15. [embedded content] The song, which was teased last week, was written by the Weeknd and produced by Swedish House Mafia along with Simon Franglen. The album will

Lana Del Rey surprised fans this morning with a release of a new single titled “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” the title track from her ninth studio album, set for release on March 10, 2023. The album features guest appearances from Jon Batiste (who cleaned up at the Grammys earlier

Jim Stewart, who founded what became the Stax Records label and produced some of the great soul records of the 1960s, died Monday at age 92. A cause of death was not released. Stewart co-founded the iconic, Memphis-based Black music label in 1957 and ran it, with eventual help from future figurehead Al Bell, until

Rimas Publishing, the publishing arm for the Puerto Rican-based Rimas Entertainment label, has signed Yensanjuan to a global publishing agreement. The musician, born Roberto Rivera Elias, has collaborated with several of Latin music’s biggest names including Alvaro Díaz, Feid, Rauw Alejandro, Sebastián Yatra, and Young Miko. He most recently appeared on Alejandro’s “Trap Cake, Vol.

A second lawsuit involving alleged past sexual misconduct has been filed against Atlantic Records, the estate of co-founder Ahmet Ertegun and former executives as part of New York State’s Adult Survivors Act, which allows alleged victims of abuse a one-year window to take action against alleged perpetrators in the state after the statute of limitations

The legend of Hannukah is that oil that was supposed to last for one night actually lasted for eight. That’s nothing compared to the miracle pulled off by Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin at the first-ever live edition of their Hannukah Sessions project, which took place Monday night (Dec. 5) at the tiny, 250-capacity Largo

BigHit, BTS‘ management company, has issued a statement asking fans of the South Korean supergroup to “please refrain” from visiting the site where the group’s Jin will be inducted into his mandatory service slated for later this month. On Dec. 5, the company uploaded a note to the WeVerse site asking fans to take “note

Hybe Corp., the Korean firm behind BTS, is launching an original cartoon series “Dark Moon: The Grey City.” It tells the story of nine werewolves who join forces to protect one another against a hostile world. The concept was created in collaboration with Hybe’s Japanese boy band &Team and will launch as a webtoon (a

Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” keeps her stronghold atop the songs chart (for a sixth week) and albums chart (for a fifth week), while holiday favorites round out both top 10s fueled by streaming playlist placement. “Midnights” dominated the Billboard 200 this week, earning the equivalent of 151,000 sales in the United States, according to the tracking

SZA, fresh from a “Saturday Night Live” performance in which she announced the December 9 release date for her upcoming album “SOS,” has geared into release week mode: On Monday she shared the 23-song track list with a lucrative array of features headlined by indie darling Phoebe Bridgers, multiplatinum rapper Travis Scott and his Cactus