Music

Everything’s coming up you-know-what if you’re a Sondheim fan on either coast this season. “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” the third revue to be built around the great composer’s songbook — and the first such newly conceived production in more than 30 years — is headed to Broadway in March, with an ensemble cast led by

In an ambitious effort to chart the lineage of Yoruba and Afrobeats music over the past century and its global influence, Nigerian superstar Adekunle Gold has co-produced a forthcoming documentary titled “The Odyssey.” Co-produced by and helmed by award-winning director Abba T. Makama, the film aims to illuminate the timeline of Yoruba music from its

SPOILER ALERT: Details follow for Season 13, Episode 1 of “The Masked Singer,” “Lucky Season 13,” which aired February 12 on Fox. Cedric the Entertainer got that name for a reason: He’s more than a comedian and actor. In college, Cedric was in singing groups, crooning harmonies with others. “And when I started to perform,

Alicia Keys, Beck, Cher, Trey Anastasio, Mavis Staples, the War and Treaty, Michael McDonald, Peter Frampton, Kate Hudson, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Dave Stewart Eurythmics feat. Vanessa Amorosi, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Grace Bowers, Jesse Malin, Luke Spiller, and more will performed at the ninth annual Love Rocks NYC 2025 benefit concert, taking place March

Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal, Peacock TV and Ample Entertainment for defamatory statements published in the documentary “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.” The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New York, asserts that these media companies “falsely, recklessly, and maliciously” accused Combs of serial murder and sex trafficking,

The new documentary “Sly Lives, aka the Burden of Black Genius,” which focuses on the life and career of the brilliant but troubled musician Sly Stone and his group Sly and the Family Stone, is both a conventional documentary and an extremely unconventional one. Like its predecessor, the Oscar and Grammy-winning “Summer of Soul” —

The Backstreet Boys will become the first pop act to play at the Sphere in Las Vegas: the long-running group has announced a July 2025 residency at the immersive new venue called “Into the Millennium.” Produced by Live Nation, the event will feature nine performances on July 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26

The list of 14 performer nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2025 includes eight candidates who appear on the institution’s ballot for the first time — including some surprises that range from the previously overlooked “Twist” popularizer Chubby Checker to the Latin rock group Maná to the jam band Phish.

“Hey, that was a Beatles scream!” Paul McCartney said, responding to a female audience member’s shriek midway through his exuberant surprise concert at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night. “Okay girls, let’s get it over with,” he mock-sighed. “Let’s hear your Beatles screams.” A huge percentage of the audience complied, producing a credible impersonation

And so it begins: Shakira started her massive “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour” in Brazil on Tuesday night. This is the first of over 30 dates that will see the Colombian singer traveling across Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and North America. Ahead of her performance in Rio De Janeiro’s Estádio Nilton Santos,

Lyor Cohen, the former president of Def Jam Recordings, has issued an open letter addressed to Kanye West. Cohen is currently YouTube’s global head of music and the CEO of 300 Entertainment. West released his debut album, “The College Dropout,” via Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam in 2004, the same year Cohen left his position as

Tomás Talarico has been named managing director of Warner Music Southern Cone, overseeing the record company’s business in Argentina and Chile. Talarico has taken up the role this week as Guillermo Castellani has stepped down from the position.Talarico is based in Buenos Aires and reports to Alejandro Duque, president, Warner Music Latin America. Castellani will

Kanye West is no longer represented by the Los Angeles-based talent agency 33&West, a representative for the company has confirmed. West has been removed from agency’s music roster and the representative did not disclose how long he had been their client. Daniel McCartney of 33&West was tasked as West’s agent and posted to Instagram on Feb. 10 that

The National Basketball Association has announced its lineup of musical performances celebrating the Bay Area’s rich musical culture as part of NBA All-Star 2025: DJ Cassidy will lead a special Bay Area edition of his “Pass The Mic Live!” show featuring legendary rappers E-40 and Too $hort, along with singer-rapper Saweetie and vocal group En

A former marketing staffer for Kanye West sued him on Tuesday, alleging that he fired her after calling her ugly and texting her “Hail Hitler.” The staffer, who is Jewish, alleges that West routinely targeted his Jewish employees with hateful and antisemitic comments. The lawsuit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, includes text messages from West

Kanye West‘s Yeezy.com is no longer online amid controversy over the rapper selling a swastika shirt on the merchandise website. Visitors to the Yeezy website are now met with error messages that read “something went wrong” and “this store is unavailable.” The site had used e-commerce platform Shopify to complete its transactions. “All merchants are

Justin Vernon’s band Bon Iver is returning with a new album. The record — “SABLE, fABLE” — is set to be released on April 11 via Jagjaguwar. It follows the critically-acclaimed three-song EP “SABLE,” which was released in October. The first single “Everything Is Peaceful Love” is set to arrive this Friday, which happens to be Valentine’s

Blackpink star Lisa battled some nerves while making her acting debut in the new season of HBO’s “The White Lotus.” The K-pop player told Variety on the red carpet that she sees a possible action movie in her future. And while she enjoyed bonding with her castmates during the “White Lotus” shoot in Thailand, she

Chappell Roan‘s statement at the Grammys, in which she demanded labels should provide artists with “a livable wage and health insurance,” continues to be the topic of heated debates. The latest comes from the Ivors Academy, a London-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting music writers and their rights. The Ivors Academy also hosts an annual awards

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. There are always many factors at play when it comes to deciding a Super Bowl halftime performer and this year, it was a perfect storm for Kendrick Lamar, who took home big wins at

Charlie Peacock’s stage name sounds like it was designed to be the nom de plume for a pop superstar, not someone who would become more renowned for his behind-the-scenes work as a producer, songwriter and label owner. He did enjoy cult success as a singer-songwriter in the 1980s, especially among the wing of more progressive

David Johansen — the sole surviving founding member of the New York Dolls and a solo artist who also performs as the lounge singer Buster Poindexter — is suffering from stage four cancer, a brain tumor and a broken back, and is seeking financial assistance through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Diagnosed in 2020, Johansen hoped

A performer in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was detained on the field and is now banned from all NFL stadiums and events. A spokesperson for the NFL confirmed via AP News that one of the 400 performers in Lamar’s triumphant Super Bowl show on Feb. 9 “hid” a combination Sudanese-Palestinian flag — with

Chappell Roan’s conversation-stirring Grammy night speech has incited action from the music industry to provide artists with livable wages and healthcare. Charli XCX and Noah Kahan joined the conversation online, with both pledging to match Roan’s $25,0000 contribution for rising artists. After Roan won best new artist at the Grammys and used her speech to hold record labels

Seven top film, TV and game composers presented a concert of their works Saturday night in West Los Angeles as a benefit for musicians whose homes burned during the recent Palisades and Eaton fires. The event is one of several staged in recent weeks to raise funds and awareness for those who lost homes during

Following their triumphant Super Bowl halftime performance, Kendrick Lamar and SZA have announced new dates for their “Grand National” tour, presented by Live Nation, pgLang and Top Dawg Entertainment, will visit 13 stadiums across Europe and the United Kingdom this summer, after the tour crosses North America in the spring. Head here for more details on the tour. TICKETS: Various pre-sales

Lady Gaga has cycled through many iterations in the time we’ve known her: disco diva, Warholian punk, country-inflected barroom balladeer, star of movies both successful and not. But with the Grammy-night debut of her video for the new single “Abracadabra,” she’s returned to the mode many fans hold dearest: a joyfully bonkers maximalism. With a

Kanye West‘s X account has been deactivated after the controversial rapper spent several days posting racist and antisemitic comments, from declaring “I’m a Nazi” to calling Hitler “so fresh.” West’s posts were widely condemned by anti-hate organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee. Amid West’s antisemitic rants, celebrities such as David

Kendrick Lamar showed out during his performance during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, enlisting SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams and Mustard for an ode to Compton on the biggest stage in the world. The set, with its American flag color palette, largely consisted of tracks from his freshly released album “GNX” as well as

Taylor Swift‘s Super Bowl appearance to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce was met with some boos when she was shown on the jumbotron. Watch the moment below. Swift laughed away the booing, perhaps thinking to herself, “Why you gotta be so mean?” (Get it?!) Serena Williams also came to her rescue, writing on X,