Music

Eras Tour opener Christian Owens, who goes by the stage name Owenn, says he was in the recording studio “in the womb.” Granted, his mom was a Sony-signed artist and part of the 1990s group Lyric. Given his mother’s background, music was always around him. Owenn spoke with Variety over Zoom in his hotel room

“Here Lies Love,” the new David Byrne musical that’s set to begin previews on Broadway starting June 17, and the American Federation of Musicians’ Local 802 have reached an agreement over the inclusion of live musicians in the production. The show will be continuing with 12 musicians, according to a statement from Local 802 shared with

The very first line of Amaarae’s “Fountain Baby” clearly tells its listeners the best possible setting for the record to be heard: “In the club,” with her breathy intonations pummeling against a wall of war drums. It doesn’t let up from there: For the rest of this Ghanaian-American singer’s sophomore album, similar affirmations ring about

Jimmie Allen has been dropped by BBR Music Group, the label confirmed to Variety late Friday, after a second woman sued him for sexual assault. “BBR Music Group has dissolved its relationship with Jimmie Allen,” the brief statement reads. “He is no longer an active artist on its roster.” The country singer was previously put

On the scoring stage at 20th Century-Fox studios in Burbank, composer Jongnic Bontemps is walking around in a “Transformers: The Movie” T-shirt – that’s the animated cartoon from 1986, not the $200-million summer blockbuster he’s just scored. “Violins, play a little softer,” he tells the musicians via intercom from the glass booth behind the stage.

Nearly seven months after Migos rapper Takeoff was shot and killed at a Houston bowling alley, his mother, Titania Davenport, has filed a negligence lawsuit against the venue. Takeoff (real name: Kirsnick Khari Ball), was killed at a late-night event in downtown Houston on Nov. 1 after being shot multiple times. Harris County Police said

Composer Daniel Pemberton pushed a few boundaries and “made something really creative and different” when he scored 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When he returned to score the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” he knew he would have to “push it as far as we can go.” Pemberton says he had to build the score

Country star Jimmie Allen is being sued for sexual assault by a new accuser, who claims she filed a police report after Allen secretly filmed her during sex. This is the second woman to come forward publicly with sexual assault allegations against the Grammy-nominated country singer. The new lawsuit, filed Friday in Tennessee federal court,

Although it was rumored and teased for weeks before it was officially confirmed, it’s really not a surprise to see Madonna collaborating with Sam Smith: “Unholy,” the British singer’s hit with Kim Petras, was not only the most provocative song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since Cardi B and Megan Thee

Mariah Angeliq defines what it truly means to be a “Diva” in her new upbeat and liberating reggaeton single and music video that sees her breaking free from the confines of societal norms — with the swing of a baseball bat. Backed by a buzzing drum beat, and the Rockanfella-produced visual, “Diva” is the focus

Every album in the synth-pop arsenal of Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier – aka French vocalist-composer Christine and the Queens – benefits from a delicious brand of drama to go with his often obtuse lyricism. Yet it is only with this weekend’s release of “Paranoïa, Angels, True Love” that Chris (as he prefers to be known) has gone

Following the release of two back-to-back chart-topping albums last summer (“Honestly, Nevermind” and his and 21 Savage’s joint “Her Loss“), Drake has scored seven BET Awards nominations for the 2023 show slated to take place on June 25 in Los Angeles. Memphis rapper Glorilla nearly meets him at a tie, clocking in with six recognitions

In the penultimate episode of “Ted Lasso” season 3, “Mom City” features Sam Ryder’s song “Fought & Lost” co-written with Tom Howe, Jamie Hartman and Ryder. Playing toward the end of the episode, the song acts as a bridge as Ted (Jason Sudeikis) as he has a heartfelt confrontation with his mother Dottie (Becky Ann

CJ ENM America and iHeartMedia Los Angeles have partnered for sponsorship, content and marketing activities around the KCON LA fan convention that returns to downtown Los Angeles in August. KCON LA, run by CJ ENM, is a fan and South Korean culture festival that includes K-Pop concerts at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com

Neil Young is set to go on his first solo tour since pre-pandemic times, hitting intimate theaters across the West Coast with a setlist of songs he’s never played live. Dates and venues for the special showings have not yet been revealed — and are expected to be officially announced June 9 — but the

Chicago’s Bloodshot Records was a powerful and pioneering force in the alt-country movement of the 1990s and beyond, defining the genre with a roster of breakthrough artists including the Robbie Fulks, Old 97s, Alejandro Escovedo, the Waco Brothers, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle, and the Bottle Rockets. In 2021, 27 years after its first release,

The music industry is once again at the forefront of technological change, the canary in the digital coalmine, this time with artificial intelligence. AI capabilities are evolving at lightning speed, and we as an industry have a window of time to figure out how to harness its power. It’s common knowledge that in the early

Days before he’ll attend the Tony Awards as an original score nominee for “Shucked,” country music hitmaker Shane McAnally has announced that rights to much of his songwriting and producing catalog have been acquired by CTM Outlander, a company that has moved aggressively into publishing deals with a particular eye toward investing in renowned Nashville

Despite the air quality crisis in New York due to the Canada wildfires, as of Wednesday afternoon the Governors Ball festival is still set to take place this weekend in Queens. “We’re closely monitoring the air quality with weather experts and are in close contact with city officials,” a representative for the music festival said

On April 15, 2012, 2Pac made his debut appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. At this point, it had been 16 years since Tupac Amaru Shakur had been murdered on the streets of Las Vegas at the age of 25. And yet there he was onstage, his holographic likeness projected with uncanny

Jack Lee, who co-fronted the influential L.A. band the Nerves in the late 1970s and saw his songs turn into major hits for Blondie and Paul Young, died May 26 in Santa Monica, Calif. at age 71. His death was revealed Wednesday in a press release, which revealed Lee died after battling colon cancer for

British singer Rebecca Ferguson has revealed that ITV refused to conduct an internal investigation following her claims about a “traumatic experience” on “The X Factor” in 2010. Ferguson took to social media on Wednesday to share screenshots of purported correspondence from 2021 with media regulator Ofcom as well as a detailed letter to ITV. In

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Throughout the explosive period in the early 1960s when the Beatles rose to unprecedented fame with hits like “Please Please Me,” “From Me to You” and “She Loves You,” Paul McCartney was quietly snapping

“I know you didn’t come here to listen to this,” sighed Roger Waters as he surveyed the O2 crowd. With most aging rockers on a “first-ever farewell tour”, that statement would likely mean they were about to play some new material. At Roger Waters’ show, sadly, it meant he was about to sing the same

The music world has seen countless reinventions, rehabilitations, transformations and image overhauls, but there’s never been anything quite like Prince changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol on his 35th birthday, 30 years ago today. His motivation for doing so was never clearly stated, although many assumed it was a ploy to get out of

As summer quickly approaches, Spotify is predicting which songs will bring the heat on the streaming platform. The list spans genres, cultures and even years, with Taylor Swift’s 2019 hit “Cruel Summer” making an appearance. Other notable inclusions are Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” from the “Barbie” soundtrack, “Where She Goes” by Bad Bunny, Rema’s

‘Shucked’ co-composer Brandy Clark says the ultimate goal of the Tony-nominated musical is to provide audiences with pure joy. Mixed in is also a big serving of queer representation. “I always think it’s hard to hate something that you know and love, and it’s a lot easier to hate something that’s just an idea or

George Winston, one of the bestselling instrumental pianists in the world during his heyday in the 1980s and ’90s, died Sunday at age 73. The announcement came through his social media and website and said he “painlessly left this world while asleep” following a decade-long battle with cancer. “George courageously managed serious cancers, including having

Argentina showed up and showed out in demand for Taylor Swift tickets after the pop star announced the first round of international “Eras Tour” dates late last week. Argentine Swifites have been patiently waiting for her first appearance in the country but received two dates as opposed to three like Mexico and Brazil. However, today

Allison Russell had one of the most acclaimed records of 2021 with her solo debut, “Outside Child,” in spite of — or because of — the fact that reviews described just how tough much of the subject material was. But she’s taking a break from “harrowing” with her second release, “The Returner,” which has just