Music

Sing it high and sing it low, got a feeling in my soul … that it’s Grammy time! The vital question looming over this year’s show, on Feb. 10, is whether the Grammys will give enough love to female artists. As you may recall, last year the Recording Academy was rightfully slammed when the list

LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD has announced plans to honor Madonna with their Advocate for Change Award at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards. Reserved for public figures who have dedicated their work to advocating for LGBTQ rights, Madonna is the second person to receive the honor after Bill Clinton in 2013. The GLAAD Media Awards honor

Unless Drake or Kendrick Lamar is living in humbler means than we imagined, it’s a safe bet that Brandi Carlile is the only musician nominated for six or more Grammys this year who calls a log cabin home. You can find her on a hillside 40 minutes outside Seattle, where she resides with her wife

February 4, 2019 5:45PM PT Just days ahead of the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, former Nirvana co-manager Danny Goldberg is opening up about his brief but memorable years working with the legendary musician in his new book, “Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain.” Due on April 2, the book catalogues Nirvana’s skyrocket to

With the Grammys just days away, the final preparations for performers and announcers are coming together: Among them, Variety has confirmed with sources that K-pop sensations BTS will be presenting an award at the show. While BTS is up for one Grammy this year, it’s somewhat of a sidelong nomination: best recording package (i.e. artwork) for their

Jussie Smollett was initially reluctant to report that he had been attacked by two men who yelled racial and homophobic slurs, according to a Chicago Police Department report. Smollett, the 36-year-old musician and actor who appears on “Empire,” told police that he was accosted on the street at 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. ABC7 in

Don Grierson, a notable A&R executive who first signed Celine Dion to Epic Records and received a Golden Apple Award from The Beatles while at Capitol Records, died on Jan. 23. He was 77. The U.K.-born Grierson worked as a local radio DJ in Australia at the age of 18, but dreamed of moving to

21 Savage is being denied a release on bail in the wake of his arrest yesterday by ICE officials, according to a statement from his attorney, who also say that he was arrested “based upon incorrect information about prior criminal charges.” The attorney, Charles H. Kuck, also claims that the rapper (legal name: She’yaa Bin

Demi Lovato deleted her Twitter Sunday following backlash over a tweet she shared about rapper 21 Savage. During the Super Bowl, Lovato tweeted, “So far 21 Savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl,” which resulted in a number of tweets criticizing the singer for being insensitive to the rapper’s detainment. 21

Imagine a music-filled kids’ cartoon about saving the ocean, with characters voiced and sung by Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, and Grammy winner Pharrell Williams. Nearly ten years ago, it almost happened. Hoppus recently guested on KROQ’s “Kevin and Bean Show,” where he and “Kevin & Bean” co-host Jensen Karp revealed that

Despite a tepid halftime performance and a 10-year low in ratings, Sunday night’s Super Bowl telecast was still a healthy one for top music publishers and record labels, many of whom saw overall volume and revenue on par with 2018’s record year of activity. Among publishers, Sony/ATV secured seven synch licenses in national brand commercials, followed

Composer and lyricist Marc Shaiman will be honored with the Icon Award at the 9th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards, taking place Feb. 13 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. The “Hairspray” and “Smash” tunesmith will be performing “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” the “Mary Poppins Returns” ballad he co-wrote with

Let the music play, indeed. The Grammys are just days away and dozens of parties are happening every night this week leading up to the big day, Sunday, Feb. 10. And the partying continues with several bashes following the ceremony. Here is Variety’s ultimate party guide for Grammys 2019… Monday, Feb 4Grammy Celebration of Women

While Album of the Year is the most prestigious Grammy award and also the most confusing (witness Herbie Hancock’s “The Joni Letters” defeating Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” in 2008), Best Pop Vocal Album, in comparison, tends to be mainstream and populist. In other words, it’s the category where Grammy voters seem to be more

Viacom is going direct-to-consumer, launching an MTV Play app in the U.K. It marks the first time that Viacom, one of the big beasts of the pay-TV world, has taken one of its flagship brands straight to fans in this way outside of kids’ TV, where it has a Noggin app in the U.S. and

Following a controversy-filled Super Bowl halftime performance — although the performance itself worked hard to be uncontroversial — Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine posted a note on Instagram sharing his thoughts on the occasion. (Read Variety’s review of the performance here.) Along with a photo showing the “One Love” light display that took place during the set,

In the end, it was about abs, not knees. Maroon 5’s Super Bowl halftime performance will by no means go down as the worst ever, but it immediately wins a trophy for most anticlimactic, with weeks of tense buildup leading up to exactly the fizzy 14 minutes you would have pictured in your head if

Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine dedicated the band’s Super Bowl halftime performance to “Jordy,” his late manager Jordan Feldstein. Feldstein, the older brother of actor Jonah Hill, died in December 2017 at the age of 40 of a blood clot in his leg, among other contributing factors. Among his many successes as the band’s and

The Queen is back! Returning to Beats 1 on Apple Music after a brief hiatus, Nicki Minaj begins episode 11 of Queen Radio with the disclaimer: “This is a very important show. And when I say important… this is gonna be a legendary f—ing show!” Teasing to her more than 100 million followers, between Instagram

February 3, 2019 1:18PM PT Rapper 21 Savage was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta Sunday morning, on the grounds that he is actually from the United Kingdom and overstayed his visa, according to reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and TMZ. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested unlawfully present United Kingdom

Atlanta has been in full Super Bowl mode all week, and not surprisingly, the dozens of events taking place in town in advance of the big game reached a peak on Saturday. Along with concerts by Bruno Mars and Cardi B (more on that in a minute), there was the Maxim party with Future, Diplo

One of the most highly-anticipated Super Bowl matchups in recent years is finally upon us. The Tom Brady-led New England Patriots hope to bounce back from last year’s disappointing loss as they face off against the Los Angeles Rams (and their league-best record) at Super Bowl LIII on Sunday in Atlanta. CBS is projecting huge numbers for

Jussie Smollett performed Saturday for the first time since it was reported that he was assaulted by two men in Chicago in the early morning hours of Jan. 29. Taking the stage at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, he fought back tears as he said, “I had to be here tonight, y’all. I can’t let the motherf—ers win.”

In advance of his controversial halftime performance with Maroon 5 at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Travis Scott headlined a Pepsi-sponsored, invite-only concert Friday night in downtown Atlanta. The concert, held at a transformed Georgia Freight Depot, also featured special guests Metro Boomin, Lil Baby and Chase B, with a surprise drop-in from Young Thug, who came out

February 2, 2019 12:15PM PT Rapper Bow Wow was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning in Atlanta, Ga. after being accused of assaulting a woman, identified as Leslie Holden. According to the Associated Press, police were called to 205 12th Street around 4:15 a.m., where Holden told them Bow Wow — whose given

In a candid interview, Linda Ronstadt revealed that her health has deteriorated to such an extent that she “can’t even sing in the shower.” The singer and songwriter, known for hits like “You’re No Good” and “It’s So Easy,” told “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith that she began having issues with her voice in

Get ready for a grand ole doc’ry. Country fans have been thirsty for years just to get a release date for, much less see, Ken Burns’ characteristically epic documentary on the genre. A delivery date for “Country Music” was finally provided Friday in PBS’ presentation for the film at the Television Critics Association conference in Pasadena:

Rhino Entertainment, Warner Music Group’s catalog label, has acquired the rights to the catalogs of Jefferson Starship, Starship & Hot Tuna, effective today. Also included in the deal are rights to a selection of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna albums, solo albums by Grace Slick, and additional albums and Grunt label signings related to various other band members including Paul Kantner and David Freiberg. 

The

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine made a secret plea deal — which saw him admitting that he’d hired someone to shoot rival rapper Chief Keef, and to selling a kilo of heroin in 2017 — and is now cooperating with federal law-enforcement officers, according to newly unsealed court documents. The news was first reported by TMZ and the Daily

When the NFL announced that Maroon 5 would be headlining this year’s Super Bowl LIII, more than a few Atlanta artists were less than enthusiastic about the decision. In the interim between that September announcement and the Big Game Sunday, artists like Travis Scott and Atlanta native Big Boi have been added to the bill,