music blog
CMT’s Next Women of Country Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary, Reveals Largest Class to Date
As CMT’s Next Women of Country celebrates its 10th anniversary, the franchise welcomes its largest class so far. Revealed on Tuesday night (Jan. 17) at Nashville’s City Winery, the 16 rising female artists in the class of 2023 are Sony Music Nashville/Columbia artist Alana Springsteen, Angie K, Big Loud’s Ashley Cooke, Warner Music Nashville’s Avery Anna, Carter Faith, Catie Offerman, Sony’s Georgia Webster, Julie Williams, Kasey Tyndall, Kimberly Kelly, Mackenzie Carpenter, Black River’s MaRynn Taylor, Sony Music Nashville/Columbia’s Megan Moroney, O.N.E The Duo, Pillbox Patti and Roberta Lea. Over the next year, the new CMT Next Women of Country class will receive cross-brand support for their music and videos on CMT, CMT Music, PlutoTV’s CMT Equal Play Channel, CMT Hot 20 Countdown, CMT...
Skrillex Reflects on ‘Toughest Year of My Life’ as He Rings in 35th Birthday
Skrillex marked his 35th birthday on Monday by posting a vulnerable series of tweets about the difficulties he’s faced in the past few years. “Had the toughest year of my life in ’22, as did so many others. I literally found myself with no drive and purpose for the first time in my life,” he began. “My mother passed away a few years back, 2nd day of Lollapalooza tour in [South America]. I never ever coped with it … I drank the pain away and kept going.” The electronic star continued: “People ask why ‘I’ve been gone’ or ‘fell off,’ rightfully so. Like I said, ’22 was sort of my tipping point, I had to put everything on ice especially my projects/ career. The truth is I didn’t cancel sunset and movement festival because of my albums. It was because I was working on myself.” However, the arti...
Did Frank Ocean Hint at a New Album on His Merch Posters?
Frank Ocean fans have been waiting for a new album since 2016’s Blonde, and the star seems to be giving fans the smallest glimmer of hope that their longtime wishes may be coming true. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On the back of posters mailed out in a new Blonded merch sale, as shared by fans on Twitter, there’s a cryptic message written on them explaining what happened in 2019, when Ocean released a series of singles without an album at the end of the road. “The Recording Artist has since changed his mind about the singles model, and is again more interested in durational bodies of work,” he wrote, which is not a confirmation of an album by any means, but enough to get fans buzzing. Ocean is also set to take the stage at Coach...
AntsLive Has Just Dropped the Best UK Rap Visuals of 2023
UK rap up-and-comer, AntsLive, has just dropped his latest single “Number One Candidate” — and it’s come with possibly, the best music video that will come out in 2023. After only releasing his debut single “Brown Liquor” in 2020, AntsLive has dropped an assemblage of new records over the last couple of years. However, “Number One Candidate” comes as the lead single of the rapper’s debut mixtape, Just A Matter Of Time, with each of the nine tracks taking elements of grime, drill and rap to bring a breath of fresh air to the current UK rap scene — which is arguably, the most saturated its ever been. For “Number One Candidate” — which is produced by Bijan Amir — AntsLive glides over a synth-heavy instrumental with ease, rhyming about how he stands up for his West London ends, and how he is s...
Boldy James In Stable Condition After Serious Car Accident
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Rapper Boldy James is in stable condition after he was injured in a serious car accident while in his hometown of Detroit. The accident occurred last Monday (Jan. 9). A rep for James, born James Clay Jones III, revealed that he was initially hospitalized in critical condition. “On Monday, January 9th, Boldy James was involved in a serious two-car accident in the Detroit metropolitan area. I can confirm that Boldy arrived at the hospital in critical condition, suffering from broken vertebrae in his neck and orthopedic injuries,” said a representative in a statement. “After undergoing extensive surgery on his neck, Boldy has been removed from the intensive care unit and is now in stable condition.” Related Stories Although James release...
227: Westside Gunn Celebrates Recovery Of Boldy James After Accident
HipHopWired Featured Video Boldy James, a talented and prolific rapper out of Detroit, was involved in a car accident last week according to a statement posted over the weekend by his record label. The latest development is that Boldy Bricks is on the road to recovery, which is good news for his legion of fans and peers, most especially Westside Gunn. According to a post from Griselda Records, Boldy James was involved in a serious two-car wreck in the greater Detroit metropolitan region on Jan. 9. In an official statement dated Jan. 14, the news James is making great progress. From the statement: Related Stories “On Monday, January 9th, Boldy James was involved in a serious two-car accident in the Detroit metropolitan area. I can confirm that Boldy arrived at the hospital in critical...
MLK & Coretta Scott King Monument Brings Everyone Together For An Epic Roasting Session
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Boston Globe / Getty/ MLK A moment meant to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, became nothing but pure jokes on social media. Friday, Jan.13, “The Embrace,” a 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide monument, made its debut on Boston Common, where King gave his speech on April 23, 1965, to a crowd of 22,000. The statue, which Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas designed, drew inspiration from a photo of King and Scott King hugging each other after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. The headless monument only features the couple’s arms embracing each other, and it has drawn tremendous amounts of criticism from folks on Twitter and some members of the King’s family. Many people call the statue hideous, wh...
Twitter Salutes The Living Legend James Earl Jones On His 92nd Birthday
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Edmund Eckstein / Getty / James Earl Jones If you opened up Twitter and saw James Earl Jones trending, you can breathe a sigh of relief. It’s the iconic actor’s 92nd birthday. Since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, trending topics no longer share descriptions of why certain things are trending anymore, so it can cause quite a scare when we see specific celebrities in the trending topic section. But everything is okay. James Earl Jones is fine. Today is his 92nd evolution around the sun, and we could not think of a better time to celebrate him. Born in Arkabutla Mississippi in 1931, Jones is best known for his recognizable voice that strikes fear into the hearts of the Rebel Alliance and Jedi Knights in the Star Wars films as Darth Vader. His voice also ...
Model/Actriz Announce Debut Album for True Panther Sounds
Brooklyn four-piece Model/Actriz have announced their debut album along with a North American tour. Dogsbody arrives February 24 via True Panther Sounds. Today, the group has shared the new single “Crossing Guard,” which drops references to Lady Gaga and J.M.W. Turner’s painting Rain, Steam, and Speed. Watch the accompanying music video, directed by Nathan Castiel, below; plus find the LP’s tracklist and the group’s upcoming tour dates. Vocalist Cole Haden, guitarist Jack Wetmore, drummer Ruben Radlauer, and bassist Aaron Shapiro are Model/Actriz. They co-produced Dogsbody with Seth Manchester, who also mixed the album. The visual for “Crossing Guard” was inspired by the body’s fragility, and references Butoh—a form of Japanese dance theater. “For ‘Crossing Guard,’ I wanted to de...
Yaeji Details Album and Tour Dates, Shares Video for New Song “For Granted”: Watch
Yaeji has shared the first song from her upcoming debut album, With a Hammer, which has a newly announced release date of April 7. The lead single, released via XL, is titled “For Granted,” and it arrives with a video that the musician directed herself. Yaeji has also announced a stretch of tour dates through North America. Check out “For Granted,” along with Yaeji’s springtime schedule, below. Find ticketing information below, too, and at Yaeji’s website. With a Hammer follows Yaeji’s 2020 mixtape What We Drew 우리가 그려왔던. Between releases, she made a track using samples from Pac-Man and launched a web game titled Woofa Joofa Juice Club. In 2021, she joined South Korean artist Oh Hyuk for the collaborative tracks “29” and “Year to Year.” Read Pitchfork’s review of “For Granted.” Yaeji: With ...
Yaeji, Everything But the Girl, 03 Greedo, and More: This Week’s Pitchfork Selects Playlist
The staff of Pitchfork listens to a lot of new music. A lot of it. On any given day our writers, editors, and contributors go through an imposing number of new releases, giving recommendations to each other and discovering new favorites along the way. Each Monday, with our Pitchfork Selects playlist, we’re sharing what our writers are playing obsessively and highlighting some of the Pitchfork staff’s favorite new music. The playlist is a grab-bag of tracks: Its only guiding principle is that these are the songs you’d gladly send to a friend. This week’s Pitchfork Selects playlist features Debby Friday, Yo La Tengo, Yaeji, Sauce Walka, and more. Listen below and follow our playlists on Apple Music and Spotify. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our ...
Destroyer Announces Solo U.S. Tour
Destroyer has announced a solo U.S. tour. The trek will take place this spring and will find Dan Bejar performing stripped-down takes from his latest album under the moniker, last year’s Labyrinthitis. Find the complete list of tour dates below. The 13-date tour begins on April 28 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From there, Destroyer will perform live in some of the usual major cities as well as a few off the beaten path, including Columbus, Ohio and Hamden, Connecticut. The leg ends on May 12 in Woodstock, New York. Opening for him on the tour will be the Reds, Pinks, and Purples. Labyrinthitis came out last March. It includes the singles “June,” “Tintoretto, It’s for You,” and “Eat the Wine, Drink the Bread.” Back in October, Destroyer teamed up with Sandro Perri for a new song titled “So...
