Music

It’s easy to think of Tom Petty’s 1994 “solo album,” “Wildflowers,” as a cult record — the underdog in a catalog full of bigger and brasher choices, revered for its willingness to forgo the classic Heartbreakers band sound in favor of more abundantly acoustic textures, and for letting down the good-time veil for more personal

Though he’s just 25, French songwriter and record producer Alex Petit — better-known in the hip-hop music community as CashMoneyAP — already drives a new Bentley SUV and just dropped $1.8 million on his very first home, a five-bedroom structure in L.A.’s wealthy but oft-overlooked San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Tarzana. But Petit can well

Singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, best know for his late–‘70s hits “Ride Like the Wind” and “Sailing,” opened up about his recent battle with COVID-19, calling the experience “the darkest days of my life.” He was paralyzed and in intensive care for 10 days, he tells Serena Altschul for this weekend’s installment of “CBS Sunday Morning.” “There

Gorgeously gravel-voiced rock star and Tinseltown scion Elle King — for anyone who somehow does not know her parents are actor Rob Schneider and model London King — has sold her professionally decorated Hollywood Hills home for $1.8 million, well above the asking price of $1.665 million. The sale price is a tiny fraction over

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty has teamed up with Ryan Shaw for “Love in Pain,” the second single from Shaw’s upcoming Marvin Gaye-inspired record, “Imagining Marvin.” The track was co-written by Shaw, Thomas and Derek Fuhrmann and also features guitarist Derek Trucks. It’s due out soon, though a release date has yet to be announced.

Would any time be a good time for the Tony Awards this year? With the country gripped by a pandemic, a presidential election and an overdue reckoning on racial justice — and a Broadway industry struggling to survive a shutdown that will extend through at least May — it seems an awkward time to be

The pandemic has crushed the live-entertainment business, and concert venues in particular, all over the world — but New York’s may have been hit the hardest in the U.S. Due largely to the density of the city and its mass-gathering-based culture, the virus struck New York first and fastest, and has claimed nearly 33,000 lives.

“Jagged Little Pill,” a ferocious reimagining of Alanis Morissette’s album of the same name, captured a leading 15 Tony Award nominations on Thursday. The show, which pulls back the curtain on a seemingly perfect suburban family to show their struggles with everything from sexual assault to drug addiction, was a hit with critics and audiences

Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez are some of the celebs who are taking part in a new virtual Chicano cultural celebration. Marin and singer Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez of La Santa Celilia will co-host Ingeñuity’s OndaLive! Chicano Music + Culture Fest presented by AARP. The three-day fan gathering kicks off on Oct. 27.

Not every pandemic-era awards show can reinvent the wheel, or try to, just for the sake of quarantine creativity points. And so “The Billboard Music Awards” occupied a unique space in the recent history of prime-time awards shows, by proceeding almost exactly as it probably would’ve if there had been a live audience in the

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long:

Saint Dog, an original member of the Southern California rap group Kottonmouth Kings, has died. He was 44. According to a coroner’s report released by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Saint Dog was found unresponsive in his friend’s residence and was pronounced dead shortly after midnight Wednesday morning. An autopsy is being performed to

Shares of Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind K-pop superstars BTS, soared during their stock market debut on Thursday in Seoul. Having been offered at KRW135,000 apiece, shares began trading at KRW270,000. That gives the company a valuation of $8.38 billion (KRW9.6 trillion) and gives agency co-founder Bang Si-hyuk, with a 36% stake, a net

DJ Cassidy has been your new quarantine best buddy in 2020, if you have any affinity at all for the classic R&B that came between the Motown era and the turn of the century, or for early hip-hip. In only three episodes — the most recent of which aired Tuesday night — his “Pass the

Britney Spears won a minor victory Wednesday in her conservatorship battle against her father, Jamie Spears: The singer will be allowed to expand her legal team, after a petition request was granted. Britney, 38, is seeking to have Jamie removed from her conservatorship, which has been in effect for 12 years. She was not present

After relisting it over the summer for a princely $5.5 million, Calvin Harris has succeeded in unloading his idiosyncratic Los Angeles home, albeit at a discounted $5.1 million. The highly-compensated Scottish DJ barely broke even on the sprawling estate, which he bought in 2017 for a few hairs over $5 million from fellow DJ Steve

Ariana Grande’s teases about a forthcoming album are suddenly getting more specific. In a tweet Wednesday morning, the singer made the immediacy clear: “I can’t wait to give u my album this month,” she wrote. Assuming she’s not forecasting an album that’s only two days away, Grande’s vow would seem to augur for an album

Sony Music Group has announced the appointment of Tiffany R. Warren to the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, as part of its continued commitment to diversity and equity in the workplace and beyond. According to the announcement, Warren will work with all of Sony Music Group’s global recorded

The eagerly awaited Netflix documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky” follows Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa from their debut in 2016 under YG Entertainment to becoming global superstars and the biggest girl band to come out of Korea. Director Caroline Suh talked with Variety about traveling to her native Korea to sit down with the

The promoter of a controversial, non-socially-distanced Chainsmokers concert that was held in the Hamptons in New York over the summer will be fined $20,000 for violating public health law, according to a social media post by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday morning. “Following an investigation into the Chainsmokers concert in the Hamptons this summer, the

As voices get louder and tensions rise in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Demi Lovato has joined forces with Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator Finneas for a lyrically unfiltered criticism of President Donald Trump’s leadership, “Commander in Chief.” According to the announcement, the song, which dropped in the early hours of Wednesday,

UPDATE: A rep for the New York State Department of Health has walked back a comment from Governor Andrew Cuomo in which he stated that the promoter of a controversial, non-socially-distanced Chainsmokers concert that was held in the Hamptons in New York over the summer will be fined $20,000 for violating public health law: The rep

Herbert Kretzmer, best known as the lyricist on the English version of the musical “Les Misérables,” and writer of songs such as “Goodness Gracious Me” and Charles Aznavour’s hit “She,” has died at 95. Tributes came in Wednesday from some of the leading lights of the British stage world. “Les Misérables” producer Cameron Mackintosh said:

Hipgnosis Songs and its Investment adviser, The Family (Music) Limited, announced that Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and music executive L.A. Reid has been appointed to its advisory board, and the company has also acquired 100% of his publishing interests and writers share of income in his 162-song catalog. Reid’s songwriting and production successes include Boyz

Kane Brown has two singles in play at the moment. One is “Be Like That,” his collaboration with Swae Lee and Khalid, which currently has the country star crossing over to the pop charts. His other new song, the anthemic “Worldwide Beautiful,” is about crossover between the races, which is also something that Kane, a

Los Angeles-based songwriter and producer Andrew Goldstein scored the biggest hit of his career this year via a co-write of Blackbear’s smash “Hot Girl Bummer,” which lit up radio in America for the first four months of 2020 (its spin count is north of 538,700, according to Mediabase). He also co-wrote two songs on Katy

“Savage Mode II,” a joint album from Metro Boomin and 21 Savage, debuted atop the Rolling Stone album chart this week, with 166,400 album units. The duo had especially savage results when it came to streaming, with 182 million streams tallied for the week, on top of 22,300 full album sales and 10,100 individual song

Surprisingly, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s smash single “WAP” was not submitted for 2021 Grammy Awards consideration, a source close to the situation has confirmed to Variety. Instead, the song will be submitted for the 2022 Grammys as part of the campaign for Cardi’s long-awaited sophomore major-label album, the source confirmed; the news was first reported by Pitchfork.

Universal Music Group on Tuesday appointed Simon Jerome Nasser as managing director for Universal Music Singapore and its Southeast Asia head of live, a newly created role. The appointment helps UMG bolster its growing presence in the Southeast Asia region, after last month launching label divisions Def Jam Southeast Asia, focused on hip-hop, and Astralwerks

Stevie Wonder has joined forces with Republic Records to launch his own imprint, So What the Fuss Music, coming out of the gate with two songs, he announced at a virtual press conference Tuesday. The new songs were released concurrent with the press briefing. “Where Is Our Love Song” features Gary Clark Jr. as a