When Dave Grohl first heard a film studio was interested in making a horror movie with the Foo Fighters, he dismissed the notion. But when a former landlord emailed him about a vacant Encino property, the Foo frontman decided to make the most out of the “big creepy old house.” There, he wrote and recorded
Music
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the first seven episodes of “Euphoria” Season 2. Despite the immense popularity of HBO’s “Euphoria,” clearing a song for use in the show isn’t as easy as it may appear — especially when it comes to legacy artists and estates. As music supervisor Jen Malone puts
Country star Jason Aldean has sold 90% of his recorded-music catalog to the indie Spirit Music Group, the company announced Thursday, in a deal sources say was worth upwards of $100 million. The acquisition includes 90% of Aldean’s recorded music catalog and encompasses nine albums in total, six of which are certified platinum. The deal
BlackRock and Warner Music Group have invested $750 million, in partnership with Influence Media, to acquire music-rights catalogs from female and diverse artists, a source confirms to Variety. Rather than joining the fray pursuing catalogs of iconic, older white-male artists like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, the female-led Influence, which was founded by Lylette Pizarro
LL Cool J will host the ninth edition of the iHeartRadio Music Awards and Jennifer Lopez will receive the iHeartRadio Icon Award, iHeartMedia and Fox Entertainment announced today. The 2022 ceremony is scheduled for March 22 at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium. A 2021 inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, LL Cool J
Live Nation has released financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021, and those results are strong, despite a return to live entertainment that was disrupted by the omicron variant and the tragedy at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last fall. Yet the company’s eyes are on the coming months: CEO Michael
Just how important is music to movies? Not too important, according to the producers of the upcoming Academy Awards, who have decided to relegate the score Oscar — along with seven other categories — to an off-air segment prior to the three-hour telecast. It is a slap in the face to the hundreds of composers,
Eddie Vedder had a reaction to fellow musician Mark Lanegan’s passing this week that was not just tantamount to each-Seattle-rocker’s-death-diminishes me — he felt it deeply viscerally, as he described it during a concert at the city’s Benaroya Hall Tuesday night. “We felt good last night and excited… and then I got here at 4:00
Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Reggaeton star Adassa, who made her acting debut starring as Dolores in “Encanto,” says she’s “not surprised” that Disney didn’t submit the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” for Oscar consideration because “Dos Oruguitas,” which is up for best song, is the “heart and soul of the film.”
When Lizzo was growing up in the ’90s, she never saw anyone who looked like her on TV. “The choice of Black girls they used in media was the same kind of Black girl,” the Grammy-winning singer says, alluding to the rail-thin figures of celebrities. As a teenager, Lizzo remembers the tabloids body-shaming Jessica Simpson.
Coincidentally or not, Kanye West’s livestream and theatrical simulcast of his “Donda Experience” event Tuesday night seemed to make some use of a staging conceit that Adele had recently nixed for her scotched Las Vegas residency. The latter singer had reportedly balked at a design that would have had appear to be in or floating
Legendary U.S. rock band Foo Fighters will play a one-off gig in Australia next month in front of a possible 25,000 fans. The concert is part of a drive to resuscitate the live music industry ‘Down Under,’ which has not welcomed a major international touring act since federal authorities closed the country’s borders in March
K-pop group BTS is continuing its world tour in April, with four newly announced dates at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The global superstars will perform on April 8, 9, 15 and 16, with the last day of the tour being streamed live online. Additionally, the group’s event “Live Play in Las Vegas” will be
Mark Lanegan’s nickname — “Dark Mark” — was no accident. As evidenced by the music and especially the autobiography of the Washington-born singer — who died Tuesday at the age of 57 after long battles with substance abuse, kidney disease and recently Covid-19 — were as darkly uplifting as they were distinctive. Anchored by his
Alternative rock band The Neighbourhood are taking a hiatus, multiple sources confirm to Variety. The group, best known for the 2013 hit “Sweater Weather,” released its fourth album, “Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones,” in September 2020. They played two shows in October 2021 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Forest Hills Stadium in
Universal Music Group has announced the launch of Def Jam India, a new label division within India and South Asia dedicated to representing the best hip-hop and rap talent from the region. According to the announcement, Def Jam India “will follow the blueprint of the Def Jam Recordings label.” The first flagship artist signings to join Def Jam India are rappers Dino
In the wake of ebbing controversy against Spotify’s partnership with podcaster Joe Rogan, Grammy-winning songwriter Tiffany Red and the advocacy group the 100 Percenters are planning a peaceful protest against the music streaming service on Feb. 28. The 100 Percenters were founded by Red in 2020 to advocate for more equitable payments for songwriters. The
In celebration of Daft Punk’s 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album, “Homework” comes the surprise release of “Homework Digital Deluxe.” The physical boxed set arrives in April; the full track list appears below. Courtesy Daft Life It will be previewed with an unreleased, exclusive and time-limited piece of content showing on 2/22 at 2:22pm
Cordae helped heat up a frigid New York City on Sunday night with a blend of fiery bars and slow-cooked jams delivered to a packed room at Webster Hall. The 24-year-old rapper is currently in the middle of an international tour for “From a Birds Eye View,” his second studio release and first after the
A second round of performers has been announced for the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, with Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Jordan Davis, Brittney Spencer, Mitchell Tenpenny, Jason Aldean and leading ACMs nominee Chris Young joining the lineup. More specific plans for some of the previously
Mark Lanegan, who followed a long stint as lead vocalist for the proto-grunge band Screaming Trees with a distinguished career as an impassioned solo singer-songwriter and adventurous collaborator with Queens of the Stone Age and others, has died. A cause of death was not announced, although last year he was said to be suffering from
The heat is still on for Glass Animals, whose “Heat Wave” may not yet have crested. The longest-simmering slow riser in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, “Heat Wave” reaches a new high this week of No. 2, in its 57th week on the chart. Is it burning bright enough to finally fulfill its
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Festivals across the country have slowly begun to announce their star-studded lineups for the year, signaling that it’s almost time for music lovers to begin switching out their winter coats for rave gear. Harry
Gary Brooker, the frontman for Procol Harum, the long-running band most famous for 1967’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” died Saturday at age 76. The cause of death was cancer. The surviving members announced Brooker’s death in an obituary on the group’s official website, writing that the “brightly shining, irreplaceable light in the music industry…
Dua Lipa, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Halsey will headline the 2022 Firefly festival, which returns to Delaware’s Woodlands Sept. 22-25. Presale for the festival, which is presented in conjunction with AEG Presents, begins Friday, February 25 at 10 am ET. “After last year’s rapturous return, Firefly 2022 is packed full of everything that makes
Making a good argument that rehearsals are for rookies, and that some Oscar nominees are better utility players than others, Questlove sat in with John Mayer’s band at a Madison Square Garden show Monday after the singer’s usual drummer, Steve Ferrone, tested positive for COVID in the afternoon leading up to the show. Mayer’s crew
We don’t talk about Bruno, and we don’t forget about Dre. The Super Bowl resulted in super nostalgia for fans of Eminem and Dr. Dre, as catalog albums by both those hip-hop titans landed among the newbies in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart, reflecting the unusually high level of enthusiasm for
Britney Spears has landed a massive publishing deal for a tell-all memoir, Variety has confirmed with a source close to Spears. Publishing house Simon & Schuster and Spears have secured a deal for the pop star’s memoir. The book will provide Spears’ accounts of and commentary on her rise to fame, her music career and
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen the first six episodes of “Euphoria” Season 2. Labrinth doesn’t necessarily consider himself a composer. “I know I am, but I don’t look at myself that way,” the 33-year-old musician tells Variety. “I’m just transmitting energy that I hear and see and feel.” Indeed, when most
Coming of age is a perennial theme in music, be it Billie Eilish singing about the joys and woes of growing up on “My Future,” or Olivia Rodrigo baring her soul on “Brutal.” For the band Fun., which released its seminal second album “Some Nights” 10 years ago today (Feb. 21), that moment came as