At the top of the month, the music world was rocked by the death of legendary Soul singer Bill Withers – the GRAMMY-winning star responsible for timeless hits ‘Lovely Day,’ ‘Lean On Me,’ ‘Just the Two of Us,’ and more (as we reported here).
While a number of artists took to their respective social media platforms to ode the fallen icon, others have opted to band together to deliver tributes. Case in point? Canadian artists Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Michael Bublé, Sarah McLachlan, and more used his inspirational classic, ‘Lean On Me,’ to pay homage to him as well as essential workers on the front lines helping global citizens through the coronavirus pandemic.
Before their teamed effort, R&B singers Anthony David, Avery Sunshine, Raheem DeVaughn, and more joined forces to honor Withers with a stirring rendition of ‘Lovely Day.’
Watch both videos inside:
Another day, another record.
Giving her fans (affectionately called #Barbz) another reason to say yikes, Grammy-nominated rapstress Nicki Minaj is seeing her name penciled in digital history books again – this time for soaring past ‘Fly’ co-star Rihanna to claim the title as YouTube’s most viewed female act.
Details inside:
‘Trolls World Tour,’ the sequel to the 2016 blockbuster ‘Trolls,’ was one of the year’s first major films to be directly impacted by the drastic changes the current global health crisis has caused as – in an unprecedented move – Universal decided to bypass theaters and take the animated flick directly to video-on-demand (VOD).
Introduced at the 48-hour rental price of $19.99 on April 10, the Justin Timberlake-led movie has nearly generated enough revenue to recoup the costs of its budget in less than 3 weeks.
Details inside:
BTS is the latest act to pull the plug on a tour because of the Coronavirus.
Full story below… (more…)
With little warning, April 24 saw DaBaby release ‘Blame It on Baby’ – his third album in nearly a year.
Despite being greeted with mixed critical reviews, the set still managed to land the 28-year-old his second consecutive Billboard 200 chart-topper (as we reported here). Jam-packed with features (including the likes Megan Thee Stallion, Ashanti, Quavo, Future, and more), a standout cut from the LP comes courtesy of the Roddy Ricch-assisted ‘Rockstar.’
Produced by SethInTheKitchen, the tune – which serves as ‘Blame It on Baby’s official second single – is one of 12 from the 13-track disc that placed on this week’s Hot 100. Unlike its counterparts, it is the only to debut in the tally’s top 10 – a career first for DaBaby and Ricch respectively.
Also marking both artists’ second top 10 hit overall, look inside to see who joined them in the top 25 on this week’s TGJ Chart Check: Hot 100 edition.
Though hard at work on the companion short film to his latest chart-topping effort, 2019’s ‘INDIGO’ (as we reported here), the top of the month saw Chris Brown announce he was also readying a joint mixtape with rapper Young Thug (click here to read more).
Not giving much more detail at the time, the GRAMMY winner has since broken his silence on the project by taking to social media to not only reveal its cover artwork but also when fans can expect the set to hit digital shelves.
More inside:
Demi Lovato feels that Disney overworked her during her time with the company. Her thoughts below…
In tragic news, it has been confirmed that Ashley Ross – star of hit series ‘Little Women: Atlanta’ – has died.
Full story below… (more…)
Brandy is back!
The vocal bible is set to serve new music from her revered pulpit. For, this Friday brings with it the release of comeback jam ‘Baby Mama’ featuring Chance The Rapper.
Hotly anticipated, the track is the first offering from B-Rocka’s seventh studio album, which is due later this year.
The set is the GRAMMY winner’s first in six years.
With ‘Mama’ and its accompanying video just days away from its May 1st arrival, Brandy and director Derek Blanks both have unleashed a sneak peek.
Check it out below…
As an artist who had been established as a frontrunner in Pop music with the release of two back-to-back chart-toppers, ‘In the Lonely Hour’ and ‘The Thrill of It All,’ pressure has undoubtedly been mounting for Sam Smith to meet or exceed those critical and commercial successes with a follow-up.
Seemingly en route to doing just that with the Normani-assisted ‘Dancing with a Stranger’ – one of 2019’s biggest hits – but the rollout of the era in its entirety, christened ‘To Die For,’ went downhill from there.
The lack of buzz for the project – coupled with a global pandemic – certainly served as reason enough to not only delay the LP from its original May 1 release date (as we reported here), but also rename it to avoid perception of insensitivity to said health crisis.
Taking to our friends at PopBuzz recently, Smith spoke on the strategy behind revamping ‘To Die For,’ gave insight into its rerouted conceptual direction (which potentially includes omitting ALL of the previously released singles), and so much more.
See what they said inside:
Those who thought Lil Wayne had put promotion of his latest album ‘Funeral’ to rest will be pleasantly surprised to see there are more tunes getting the visual treatment.
The latest launched from the LP are ‘Piano Trap’ and ‘Not Me.’
Doubling up by releasing one extended music video featuring both songs, the Ricky x Willis-directed visual sees Wayne showing off his skateboarding skills. Taking to our friends at ‘Rolling Stone’ to discuss the creation of the clip, the 37-year-old said:
“I was happiest with the banger at the end! In Barcelona, the 180 to fake shuv! It was like 5 a.m. and those homies who was lit at the end were unknown to me!They were just out there kickin it,” he exclaimed. “And they literally didn’t bother me until I landed that shit! And it took me about an hour or two.”
See the action inside: