Music

By the time Luke Bryan released Tailgates & Tanlines on Aug. 9, 2011, he'd placed two albums in the No. 2 spot on the country albums chart, earned five Top 10 singles (including two No. 1s) and won a few awards. His third studio album, though, kicked his career to another level.It started with "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)," the lead single from the album, released in March of 2011. Although the song — written by Bryan and Dallas Davidson — peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it's endured...

Farewell, Olivia Newton-John, the eternally beloved pop queen who died Monday at age 73. No Seventies star had a weirder pop trajectory, going from the world’s favorite Australian country singer to a brazen Eighties black-leather New Wave diva in just a few years. But Olivia could do it all: weepy ballads like “I Honestly Love You,” country twang like “Let Me Be There,” Fifties pastiche in Grease. Disco show tunes with Gene Kelly and ELO in Xanadu. Heavy-breathing rock odes to sex like “Magic” and “Make a Move On Me.”...

Less than an hour after news of actor and singer Olivia Newton-John's death broke, her most famous on-screen romance shared his emotions on social media. John Travolta took to Instagram with a photo and a personal note.Newton-John and Travolta starred opposite one another as Sandy and Danny in the 1978 film Grease. The movie and the soundtrack was a generational success."My dearest Olivia," Travolta begins, "you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road...

Kanye West is being weird again. In the aftermath of Kim Kardashian’s split from Pete Davidson, the rapper has regressed back to the same social media bullying he enacted when the pair first started dating. This time, West took to Instagram to share a photoshopped New York Times front page that reads: “Skete Davidson Dead at 28.” An optimistic take on the morbid headline would be that with Skete Davidson dead and gone, West’s relentless mocking of Pete Davidson could finally come to an end. But the small print underneath...

Over the past couple of years, Breland has made a name for himself as one of country music's most in-demand collaborators: He's worked with the likes of Sam Hunt, Mickey Guyton, Thomas Rhett and Keith Urban, and his team-up with Dierks Bentley and Hardy, "Beers on Me," was a No. 1 hit at country radio.As he readies the release of his full-length debut album, Cross Country, Breland is continuing that trend of high-power collaborations, this time in a duet with Lady A. The two acts shared an R&B-laced slow jam...

After promising to release new music this month, Blackpink have revealed their next single “Pink Venom” will arrive in less than two weeks. The K-pop girl group announced Sunday that the track would arrive on Aug. 19; “Pink Venom” is available to pre-save now on streaming services, as well as digitally preorder on Blackpink’s site. #BLACKPINK Pre-Release Single ‘Pink Venom’ Release Poster "Pink Venom" is available for Pre-Save now!✔ https://t.co/WM0YOPNg9s#BLACKPINK #블랙핑크 #PreReleaseSingle #PinkVenom #20220819_12amEST #20220819_1pmKST #Release #YG pic.twitter.com/OWwGvJtey1 — BLACKPINKOFFICIAL (@BLACKPINK) August 7, 2022 Blackpink previously revealed in July that they...

Dolly Parton's Pigeon Forge, Tenn.-based theme park, Dollywood, is about to get a little bit bigger.The singer recently revealed plans to open a new roller coaster called Big Bear Mountain, which -- at 3,990 feet long -- will be the park's longest coaster to date. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, the $25 million ride is the "largest single attraction investment" in the park's history, and will include "three separate launches, multiple airtime hills, high-speed carousel turns, and tunnels, including a pass behind a waterfall." It'll also be the first...

Drake held a Young Money reunion with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj Saturday night in Toronto as part of the rapper’s October World Weekend shows. The gig marked the first time in eight years that the former label mates appeared together onstage. The concert — which had been delayed one week after Drake tested positive before the original date — opened with some levity as the video screens stated “Unfortunately, Lil Wayne had some troubles at the border. Luckily, Drake runs the border.” Lil Wayne then took the stage to...

Eleven years ago today, on Aug. 6, 2011, the Oak Ridge Boys fulfilled a lifelong dream when they were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Their induction came more than 70 years after the original version of the quartet (then known as the Oak Ridge Quartet) first appeared on the hallowed stage.“We’ve always been a friend of the Opry," Joe Bonsall says. "We’ve always believed in the Opry and loved and respected every member of this brotherhood and sisterhood of country music.”The Oak Ridge Boys, which also includes Duane Allen, William Lee...

Judith Durham, the Australian folk hero who recorded worldwide hits with the Sixties band the Seekers, has died at the age of 79. Universal Music Australia confirmed to the Associated Press that Durham died Friday at a Melbourne hospital following a battle with the lung disease bronchiectasis. “Our lives are changed forever losing our treasured lifelong friend and shining star,” the surviving members of the Seekers — Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley and Athol Guy — said in a statement. “Her struggle was intense and heroic, never complaining of her destiny...

Naomi Judd's family have obtained a court order that temporarily seals the late country star's death records from public release.NBC News reports that Judd's husband, Larry Strickland, and her two daughters, the Judds singing partner Wynonna Judd and actor Ashley Judd, filed for injunctive relief in Williamson County, Tenn., on Monday (Aug. 1), asking a judge to keep Judd's records sealed from public release after authorities concluded a standard investigation into Judd's death.In documents NBC obtained, the Judd family argue that photos, videos and other evidence investigators collected depict the...

In the continual reordering of the popular-music canon, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: Joni Mitchell’s complex, emotive, cerebral, ever-evolving music is ranking higher than ever. Her 1971 album Blue landed in the Top Three on Rolling Stone‘s most recent ranking of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and artists from Taylor Swift to Harry Styles to Mitski to Phoebe Bridgers have been dropping her name for years. And when Mitchell recently returned to the stage at the Newport Folk Festival for her first performance since a near-fatal 2015...

Now in its second year, the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix returns on Friday (Aug. 5), kicking off a jam-packed weekend of racing, food, super trucks and, of course, music. Over the course of three days, a lineup of country stars will take the stage, beginning with a Friday night performance headlined by Aaron Lewis."It's gonna be cool. I'm excited," says Jackson Dean, who is also performing as part of Friday night's lineup, along with Abby Anderson and Deana Carter. A fast-rising up-and-comer in the genre whose single, "Don't...

Beyoncé and Madonna have teamed up for a royal collaboration, “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix).” The latest remix of Beyoncé’s Renaissance single arrived on Friday, just in time to get the weekend party started. The percolating remix interpolates Madonna’s “Vogue” with Beyoncé flipping the script for the iconic spoke-sung section of the 1990 song, where the Material Girl lists Hollywood stars from the Golden Age. In Bey’s take, she pays homage to both current and past influential Black women who have been game-changers for the culture — from Aaliyah,...