Music

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...

Marilyn Manson’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, has filed a lawsuit against the singer, whose real name is Brian Warner, alleging a number of crimes including sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. Warner is one defendant in the suit along with a company he runs, Marilyn Manson Records, Inc. Walters is one of more than a dozen women to come forward with allegations of sexual impropriety against Warner and the second woman to submit a legal claim against him, following Game of...

Jordan Matthew Young secured a last-minute place in The Voice's season finale during the semi-finals episode on Tuesday night (May 18). That means that not only will there be two country-leaning contestants in the show's Top 5, but also Team Blake will have two chances to win this season, giving Blake Shelton a leg up over all three other coaches on the show.Tuesday night's episode revealed the results of viewer voting over the past 24 hours, which moved four of the Top 9 contestants directly through to The Voice's finale episode. One of...

Southern rockers Blackberry Smoke have announced new dates for an extensive tour giving praise to their musical heritage. The Georgia group’s headlining Spirit of the South Tour: A Celebration of Southern Rock N Roll will kick off July 30th and feature guests the Allman Betts Band, the Wild Feathers, and founding Allman Brothers Band member Jaimoe. Originally slated to launch in summer 2020 but thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Spirit of the South will now keep the band on the road through late October. Outdoor venues make up the bulk...

Brantley Gilbert is back in the studio. The "Bottoms Up" singer revealed in a Facebook photo on Monday (May 17) that he was joined by a special guest: none other than his friend Jason Aldean.Teasing the collaboration with a selfie, Gilbert writes, "Excited about this one."It's not the first time that Gilbert and Aldean have joined forces. Aldean's certified-platinum 2010 hit "My Kinda Party" was written and originally recorded by Gilbert, and that wasn't the only hit from Aldean's fourth studio album of the same name that was penned by Gilbert, either: He also...

Nile Rodgers, New Order’s Peter Hook, and Run-D.M.C.’s Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels are among the artists who have contributed to a new zine about addiction, sobriety, and staying clean, Sober 21, out Tuesday, May 18th. Published by the Creative Independent, the editorial arm of Kickstarter, Sober 21 features a mix of essays, interviews, and as-told-tos with sober musicians. The collection was spearheaded and edited by Elia Einhorn, the frontman for Scotland Yard Gospel Choir and Fashion Brigade, who has been sober for 24 years now. In an introduction to the zine,...

During The Voice's Monday night episode (May 17), Season 20's Top 9 finalists performed live as they vied for viewers' votes. But that wasn't all the show had in store: It also featured a blast from The Voice's past in the form of Season 19 finalist Ian Flanigan.Repping the country genre for Team Blake with performances of songs by the likes of Jamey Johnson and Travis Tritt, Flanigan made it all the way to the finals last season, ultimately ending his time on the show in third place. He impressed not only...

Happy 50th anniversary to Paul and Linda McCartney’s Ram, an album so divisive that it’s either despised or defended to the death — there is no in-between on this one. Rolling Stone famously described Macca’s second solo LP as “incredibly inconsequential” and “monumentally irrelevant,” while John Lennon called it “muzak” and mocked the pastoral cover on a postcard inside the sleeve of Imagine. But half a century later, it’s now regarded as a whimsical masterpiece, often credited for influencing the entire genre of indie pop, not to mention sitting pretty at...

Chase Rice will complete the release of The Album this spring, finishing a project that he started when he first dropped Part I over a year earlier.On Monday (May 17), the singer revealed that the final chapter of The Album will arrive on May 28. The new musical addition consists of three brand-new songs, plus his current single, "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."The brand-new songs are titled "Bedroom," "If I Didn't Have You" and "The Nights." Rice's next musical output promises a diverse blend of musical influences and stylistic themes, which he has hinted at throughout...