Christopher Wheeldon knows how iconic Michael Jackson’s moves are to the world and to the entertainment industry, so when he stepped in as both director and choreographer for the Broadway show, now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre, he knew how important it was to get it right. Not only did he have to honor
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“I’m 90% sure the reason I’m here is because I have a song called ’22,’” quipped Taylor Swift, delivering the commencement address for New York University’s class of 2022 at a graduation ceremony held Wednesday. The pop superstar was awarded an honorary doctorate before giving a playful and reflective speech that lasted… no, not 22,
Hulu has shared the official trailer for the upcoming documentary “Look At Me: XXXTentacion,” detailing the late artist’s monumental come-up and tragic death. Directed by Sabaah Folayan, “Look At Me: XXXTentacion” examines the Florida rapper’s success and status from his early popularity on SoundCloud to his June 2018 death. The trailer mentions the list of
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Court granted a victory to Toni Basil last week, affirming a lower court decision. In the 8-page opinion issued by the Ninth Circuit last Wednesday, the judges ruled that Basil, referred to by her real name, Antonia Basilotta, owns the sole copyright to her 1981
Wendy Ong brings an extraordinarily diverse background to her current role as global co-president of TaP Music. Her career path has led her from Singapore to Hong Kong to New York to Los Angeles, working with Clive Davis, Diddy, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Universal Music, Roc Nation, and beginning in 2018, at TaP, where she
Backline and Sweet Relief Musicians Fund have teamed up to provide no-cost therapy to professional musical artists, road crew and anyone who makes the majority of their income in the music business. Even as the music world gradually emerges from the pandemic, the strain of the past two years will continue to manifest. These organizations
Harry Styles joined Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 ahead of the release of his highly-anticipated third studio album “Harry’s House” out this Friday (May 20). In a wide-ranging conversation conducted in the California desert, Styles detailed the “intimately made” project that he calls his “favorite album at the moment” and discusses getting to a
“We Cry Together” is probably the most conversation-stopping song on Kendrick Lamar’s brilliant and challenging fifth album “Mr. Morale & the High Steppers” — a horrifyingly realistic recreation of an argument in an abusive relationship that finds Lamar and actress Taylour Paige saying absolutely horrible things to each other, with her delivering an entire verse
The musical pairing of songwriter-producer Rogét Chahayed and rapper Jack Harlow seems so pre-destined, it’s hard to believe the seed was planted by DM. It was back in May 2021, just as Harlow was starting to conceptualize his just-released album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You,” when he reached out to Chahayed, whose credits include
Just two weeks after the last crop of honorees was formally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in a medallion ceremony — including the Judds — the next trio of legends to be voted in has been announced, and it includes the name that has most often been cited by Hall-watchers as a
Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Is “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan going to be in the Margot Robbie-led “Barbie” movie? Sure sounds like it. It all begins with the speculation that Coughlan would be on the next season of “Doctor Who” after she was photographed at the BAFTA TV Awards with Ncuti Gatwa. Just
Nigerian-British singer Tiwa Savage is a relatively new presence to most American music fans, but she’s been honing her craft for many years. After moving from Nigeria to London as a child, she began singing backup for George Michael and Mary J. Blige as a teenager. She participated in the British edition of “The X
Director Peter Jackson’s eight-hour documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” is set to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray this summer, with the sprawling doc from 2021 finally available in physical editions July 12. If there’s a sense of deja vu to that announcement, it’s because these home video editions were already previously announced to come
My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Future, and Jack White will headline the 2022 edition of Music Midtown, which will also feature performances from Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, Phoenix, Turnstile, Louis The Child, A Day To Remember, 2 Chainz, Quinn XCII, Conan Gray, Denzel Curry and many more. The full lineup appears below. Over 30 artists,
Harry Styles’ “One Night Only in New York” concert at UBS Arena at Belmont Park this Friday — May 20 — will be available to stream exclusively to Apple Music subscribers in 167 countries around the world, the company has announced. The concert will celebrate his new album “Harry’s House,” which drops that day, “and will see
New York City, the Notorious B.I.G.’s hometown, will pay tribute to the late rapper on May 21, which would have been his 50th birthday. On that day, the legendary Empire State Building will change its lights’ color to red and white, with a crown spinning on its mast in honor of the late rapper, whose
Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” album continues its historic stride, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and filling four of the top 10 slots in the Hot 100 chart, led by “Moscow Mule” at No. 4. As the undeniable winner of the week, Bad Bunny earns the year’s biggest numbers yet
A sprawling all-day Springtime event celebrating the darker edge of ’80s music held under a brutal Southern California sun? It might sound antithetical, but the Cruel World Festival, which took over Pasadena’s Brookside golf course at the Rose Bowl this weekend, was in fact, a fitting, full-circle moment for music, celebrating and validating an often
This weekend’s season finale of “American Idol” is cooking up to be a star-studded event with performances by season four winner and current mentor on the program, Carrie Underwood, as well as Michael Bublé, Thomas Rhett and Sara Bareilles, among many others. The three-hour special will also welcome judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke
Brandi Carlile, Yola and Allison Russell lead the nominations for the 2022 Americana Honors & Awards with three nods each, the Americana Music Association announced during a live unveiling Monday afternoon at Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music. Adia Victoria and the duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss also fared well in the
One of the few bright spots of the early days of the pandemic was genre chameleon Rina Sawayama dropping her debut album “Sawayama.” As weeks became months while trapped inside, the genre-hopping LP gave listeners an audio passport, effortlessly jumping from Gaga-style pop to the late ’90s guitar chug of Korn on singles like “STFU!”
“I’ve been going through something.” These are the first words that Kendrick Lamar speaks on “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” and if the 19 songs that follow over the next 72 minutes are any indication, it’s quite an understatement. In the five years since he last released a proper album, 2017’s best-rapper-alive declaration “Damn,”
Joe Budden’s “Music Lovers Only With Joe Budden,” which launches today on Amazon’s live radio app Amp, is the latest entry to a deep resume that includes the super successful, 100% independent “Joe Budden Podcast.” The New York City native, who retired from the rap game, has become one of the leading voices in hip-hop
Sony Music and the estate of Michael Jackson will observe the 40 th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s classic “Thriller,” the biggest selling album of all time (by most metrics), with the November 18 release of “Thriller 40”: a double CD set comprised of the original album and a second disc “full of surprises for fans,
Shawn Mendes was the man of the hour accepting the International Achievement Award, Deborah Cox made history as the first Black woman inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame and Charlotte Cardin finished the weekend with a victory lap collecting four trophies at the 51st annual Juno Awards. The event took place in person, for
In his first televised performance since the Astroworld disaster last fall, Travis Scott performed his song “Mafia” on the Billboard Music Awards, on a polar-themed set reminiscent of “Game of Thrones.” The camera slowly zoomed in on him inside a cave-like room framed by a polar scene, wearing a fur-and-white outfit as he launched into
Sean “Diddy” Combs opened this year’s Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night (May 15) with a rousing performance and opening monologue. Shortly after he kicked off the show with a medley of his new single, “Gotta Move on” and Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 classic “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems” — accompanied by Bryson Tiller, Jack Harlow and
The Billboard Music Awards are back in Las Vegas for their 2022 edition, promising a star-studded evening in celebration of music’s most chart-topping artists. Before the awards ceremony airs on NBC at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET, Billboard announced many of the night’s winners, including Drake, who took home five awards for top artist, male
David Crosby’s days on the road are over. The 80-year-old musician declared in a newly published interview that “I’m too old to do it anymore. I’m too old to do it anymore. I don’t have the stamina; I don’t have the strength.” The revelation came as an almost casual aside in, of all things, a
The sweltering heat in Las Vegas didn’t deter hip-hop fans from attending the Lovers & Friends Festival on Saturday. The two-day Live Nation event is held at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds and features headliners Lauryn Hill, Usher, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Monica, TLC and Mario. Although much of the day’s performances got off without a