Music

American Idol finalist Willie Spence recently celebrated Mother’s Day by delivering a stunning performance of the Joe Cocker classic, “You Are So Beautiful.” And before the powerful song was through, both Spence and his dear mother watching from home were in tears.But they weren’t the only ones.“I couldn’t stop crying,” American Idol’s music director, Kristopher Pooley, admits during a recent interview with Taste of Country. “The fact is that we are experiencing these performances much the same way as the people at home are, and sometimes that gets pretty embarrassing...

Fresh off Foo Fighters’ Rock Hall induction announcement, Dave Grohl will serve as co-host on the Monday, May 24th episode of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon revealed on Friday’s episode. Together, Grohl and Fallon will deliver the monologue, interview guests — scheduled to be comedian Jim Jefferies with musical guest Blake Shelton — and participate in all the games the Tonight Show has planned. Monday’s appearance marks Grohl’s fourth visit to The Tonight Show and first time co-hosting. However, the Foo Fighters frontman does have some late-night hosting experience: Grohl...

Morgan Wallen is "back" on his record label's website and he was "back" at Kid Rock's Big-A-- Honky-Tonk Rock 'n' Roll Steakhouse on Wednesday night (May 19). After three and a half months, is the singer slowly stepping "back" into the spotlight?Whatever the answer, he won't be "back" in major categories on the 2021 CMA Awards ballot. The Country Music Association announced on Friday (May 21), per Billboard, that Wallen's music will be eligible for the November awards show — so as not to punish his collaborators -- but Wallen himself won't be...

For over a decade, J. Cole has rapped as the enlightened everyman, navigating issues of race, class, and gender like a thoughtful jock. His latest release, The Off-Season, finds him pondering inventive gun violence prevention measures one moment, and lobbing sexist locker-room insults the next (“Check your genitalia, pussy-niggas bleedin’ on yourself,” he raps on “95.South”). Still, the album is generally absent the overt social critiques that have built his reputation as a rapper of substance.  Last summer, on “Snow on tha Bluff,” his last lengthy engagement with ideas of...

On May 22, 2012, Pistol Annies singer and solo artist-on-the-rise Angaleena Presley married Jordan Powell, whom fans might recognize from his work as a producer on American Middle Class, Presley’s blockbuster 2014 album. The two wed in a private ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyo., after getting engaged in 2011.It’s unclear exactly how Powell and Presley met, though no doubt, fate intervened at some point when Powell was serving as Miranda Lambert’s tour manager. It was long rumored that a feud between Presley and Lambert, a fellow Pistol Annies member, was behind the trio's hiatus; in a 2014 interview with...

In the first few seconds of her debut album, Sour, Olivia Rodrigo declares, “I want it to be, like, messy!” That shouldn’t be too difficult for a pop star who emerged seemingly out of nowhere in January, a Disney actress whose hit “Drivers License” ignited widespread interest in a love triangle between her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-stars. Rodrigo belted extremely relatable, heart-wrenching lines about doing something you were supposed to do with your partner but are now doing alone — and it gave us a glimpse...

On May 21, 2013, Kellie Pickler and dancing partner Derek Hough won Season 16 of Dancing With the Stars. The pair won the season thanks to perfect 30-point scores on all three of their final dances: a quickstep set to Ludovic Bource's "Peppy and George;" a freestyle dance soundtracked by Labrinth feat. Emeli Sandé's "Beneath Your Beautiful;" and an instant jive to Little Richard's "Keep-a-Knockin'.""I'm overwhelmed with joy," Pickler told Us Weekly after her win. "I'm kind of speechless for the first time! Usually I can't be quiet! Usually I'm just...

The June 2021 cover sees international superstars BTS fronting Rolling Stone’s “The Future of Music” issue, with a look at the biggest acts in the world and their impact on the music industry today. From humble beginnings in Seoul, to taking over the Grammy stage and stadiums worldwide, BTS have cemented their status as one of the most influential groups in music, not only for their unique, genre-defying sound, but also for the messages of positivity and hope that they bring to their fans. Merch collectors can celebrate BTS with...

Rising country stair and 2019 American Idol winner Laine Hardy has just released his new feel-good single, “Memorize You.” The grooving summer jam is available everywhere."Let's go!” Hardy says of the new song. “I've been so excited to get this out since the moment I heard the mix. I've been asking and asking when we could put it out. Well, it's here and it's time to hit the road to play it for the fans."The upbeat love song was written by Michael Tyler, Eric Arjes and Steven Dale Jones, and produced by Michael...

Over the weekend, J.Cole played in his first professional basketball game as a 2-guard for the Rwanda Patriots Basketball Club, part of the newly formed Basketball Africa League. This was just a few days after the release of The Off-Season, J.Cole’s first album in 3 years. He scored 3 points in his team’s win against Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers, all while his album was streamed by scores of listeners around the world. It is a very specific kind of flex to spend your album’s opening weekend racking up highlight reels on...

What do you do when you've been missing festivals for the past year while the world has been shut down? If you're Jimmie Allen, you don't just go to one — you create your own.Named after his late grandmother, Bettie Snead, and late father, James "Big Jim" Allen, Bettie James Fest will take place in the country singer's hometown of Milton, Delaware, on August 7, 2021.Allen, of course, will headline the concert, joined by special guests DJ Jazzy Jeff, Neon Union, Hero the Band, Chuck Wicks and Chase Martin. If the success of his...

Anderson East reckons with a collective need for clarity in “Drugs,” the funky new release from his upcoming album Maybe We Never Die. The follow-up to 2018’s Encore, Maybe We Never Die will come out August 20th. Veering away from the retro R&B sounds that have been a mainstay of his albums, East cooks up a bass-driven disco groove for “Drugs” that’s accented by theremin and perky flute runs. The Alabama native adopts a silky falsetto for most of the tune, pondering the eternal difficulty of facing reality. “’Cause the...

The Voice fans' favorite bromance will be back in action during the Season 20 finale on Monday and Tuesday (May 24-25). Former coach Adam Levine and his band Maroon 5 will be guest performers during the two-night event, reuniting the frontman with his favorite faux frenemy, Blake Shelton.A short promo video for the finale episode teases Levine and Shelton's reunion, showing the pair — Levine with pink hair, Shelton looking sharp in dark jeans and a suit coat — hanging out on the lot where The Voice films."It's the reunion you've...