Music

Taylor Swift was the top trophy winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards that aired live on Sunday, Nov. 13. The singer took home awards for Best Artist, Best Pop, and both Best Video and Best Longform Video for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).” “I wanted to say to the fans, I had an album come out recently called Midnights, and I’m so blown away, you have no idea how much it means to me to even get to do this as a career,” she said during...

Rocks the Ocean's Tortuga Music Festival is returning to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for its 10th year in a row, and festival organizers have officially announced the more than 30-artist, genre-spanning lineup.The festival will take place across three nights on April 14-16, 2023, and Kenny Chesney, Eric Church and Shania Twain have been named as headliners.Other artists performing on the main stage during the three-day event include Wade Bowen, Deana Carter, Ashley Cooke, Alexandra Kay, Dee Jay Silver, Niko Moon, Lukas Nelson & Potr, Jake Owen, Carly Pearce, Shane Profitt, Jameson Rodgers,...

Sharper than a straight razor shave Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey performed "So Be It" and "The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing" “Walk soft and carry a cro magnum,” Yasiin Bey rapped in “So Be It” — a bar that captured the vibe and vitriol of Black Star’s ferocious Saturday Night Live debut. Rap duo Talib Kweli and Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) received a hero’s welcome in Studio 8H. Dave Chappelle, who co-hosts The Midnight Miracle podcast with both Kweli and Bey,...

Twenty-three years ago today, on Nov. 13, 1999, Garth Brooks performed double duty on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The singer served as the host of the show, while his alter ego, Chris Gaines, performed as the musical guest.Brooks' appearance on SNL was widely regarded as a success. The country music hitmaker shared a skit with comedian Tracy Morgan, in which Morgan famously criticized Gaines to Brooks, saying, "The dude is chicken, and he’s fat, too ... If you were that big, they be calling you Girth Brooks." Readers can watch the skit...

Singer will also participate in the World Cup Qatar 2022 soundtrack BTS have announced Jung Kook will perform at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off at Al Bayt Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Nov. 20. He will perform during the soccer tournament’s opening ceremony and will participate in the World Cup’s accompanying soundtrack. “Proud to announce that Jung Kook is part of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Soundtrack & will perform at the World Cup opening ceremony. Stay tuned!” the band tweeted on Friday, Nov. 11. Host...

It's possible Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin had a late night after the 2022 CMA Awards, but he didn't forget that Thursday (Nov. 10) was his wife's birthday.Lambert turned 39 years old this week. Winning one (or both) of the two CMA Awards she was nominated for surely would have been a nice early birthday gift, but seeing messages like this couldn't have been a bad consolation."Happy Birthday @mirandalambert," McLoughlin begins. "It’s always an honor to be called your husband. You’re the most beautiful person inside and out. You have...

Joni Mitchell has granted very few interviews since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015, but she just sat down with Elton John for an in-depth conversation that will air appear Saturday on his Apple Music 1 show Elton John’s Rocket Hour. In the interview, Mitchell revealed that she’s working on a live record to document her surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in July alongside Brandi Carlile, Taylor Goldsmith, Wynonna Jude, and Marcus Mumford. “ didn’t have any ,” she says, noting that she played electric guitar on her...

Born Sept. 30, 1958, Mississippi native Marty Stuart has become one of the most accomplished and beloved figures in country music, bluegrass and beyond.Before making a name for himself as a solo artist, he honed his skills while touring with legendary artists like Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash in the 1960s and 70s. In 1985, he released his first solo self-titled album, but his fourth album, 1989's Hillbilly Rock, helped catapult him into stardom.During the early 1990s, Stuart enjoyed a streak of top 10 hits on country radio, including "Tempted,"...

Louis Tomlinson is ready to find his voice as a solo star. His second solo album, Faith in the Future, comes 7 years after the end of One Direction. When he released his excellent solo debut Walls in 2020, he was admirably open about the difficulty of making an album on his own. “It took me a second to get here,” Louis told Rolling Stone. “Because there was a lot of treading water.” But this time feels different for him. As he says now, “I’m just in a more confident...

Toby Keith worked the BMI Country Awards stage like a paid public speaker in accepting his BMI Icon Award on Tuesday (Nov. 8). The full 12-minute acceptance speech includes several stories and lessons for the next generation. It's also heavy on gratitude.The moment also marks his first country music industry appearance since last June, when he revealed he'd undergone treatment for stomach cancer since late 2021. The 61-year-old appears strong and confident as ever, if a bit thinner as he jokes with an audience there to celebrate him.“They tell you...

Rauw Alejandro has been known to spin off in unexpected directions. The Puerto Rican star, recognized for his quick-footed, anti-gravity choreography, has danced his way through a dizzying mix of genres: Risque, racy raps on his two-part EP Trap Cake, thudding old-school reggaeton on Afrodisiaco. Last year’s Vice Versa was his biggest triumph yet, a sharp sophomore effort that somersaulted between pop, drum ‘n’ bass, and Brazilian funke while delivering the mammoth hit “Todo De Ti,” which is nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at...

The higher a star's career soars, the farther they have to fall — and Luke Combs admits that the pressure was getting to him as he walked into Wednesday night's CMA Awards ceremony (Nov. 9).Combs' career so far has been historic: He's got an unprecedented 14-single streak of No. 1 hits at country radio, he just ramped up his tour plans to include stadium shows in 2022 and — still in his early 30s — he won Entertainer of the Year at the 2021 CMA Awards.At this year's ceremony, Combs...

Sofía Reyes takes us into a utopian, otherworldly paradise in her new video for “Luna.” On Thursday, the Mexican singer premiered her song’s visuals with Rolling Stone, and teased the start of a new album era following her excellent, cumbia-filled album Mal De Amores. The video, directed by Mamo Vernet, follows Reyes sitting nude in a field of moss as she sings about the beauty of finding new love. As the song’s beat picks up, she’s surrounded by dancers as she asks à la Frank Sinatra, “Why can’t we go...

Brantley Gilbert may be one of country music's most progressive hitmakers of the last 10 years, but with "Heaven by Then," he's making it clear that there are certain lines he will not cross.The new single — a collaboration with Blake Shelton and Vince Gill — makes a pledge to traditionalism.Gilbert and his co-writers (Brock Berryhill, Hardy, Jake Mitchell, Randy Montana, Hunter Phelps and Taylor Phillips) include country boy touchstones like NASCAR, Hank Williams, John Deere and chivalry in describing a world — no, the world — they want to live in. The...