Music

Grace West is Blake Shelton’s last country contestant to grace The Voice, which means her moments on stage are extra meaningful for the long-running coach. It also means she has to give it her all to make him proud.During night one of the special two-part finale on Monday (May 22), she did just that, captivating viewers with a powerful rendition of Patsy Cline’s “She’s Got You.”Standing in front of the live studio audience inside Universal Studios in Hollywood, Calif., West brought it back to the ‘60s with the country classic...

Hojean Image Credit: Ye Fan for Rolling Stone “Coming from a family where my immigrant parents had worked all their lives in businesses, all by themselves — being able to come to where I am now, verified on multiple platforms, a million plays in multiple songs — I never thought I’d be able to get here,” Hojean told The Anti in 2021....

After her performance with Jelly Roll earlier in the show, Lainey Wilson returned to the American Idol stage during Sunday night's (May 21) finale episode for a second time.For her second appearance, Wilson hit the stage to perform her hit song “Heart Like a Truck.”She started the song off by herself before being joined by Marybeth Byrd. Byrd was a contestant during this season of Idol who was eliminated earlier in the competition. Wilson and Byrd stood center-stage to exchanged the lyrics about the complications of love.An unexpected third voice...

Renowned and always-in-demand drummer has had tenures with Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Devo and dozens more Foo Fighters officially revealed during their “Preparing Music for Concerts” livestream Sunday that renowned drummer Josh Freese will join the band full-time for their summer tour, filling the vacancy left by the late Taylor Hawkins. Dave Grohl and company promised a “few surprises” during the livestream, and they delivered as Freese was formally introduced in a humorous clip where Foo Fighters are solicited by potential A-list drummers — like Red Hot Chili...

Keith Urban made a triumphant return to the American Idol stage during Sunday night’s (May 21) finale episode.After taking some time to mentor the Top 3 contestants earlier in the week, Urban hit the stage himself to deliver his fun song “Wild Hearts.”Although he remained behind a standing microphone, Urban brought plenty of energy with him to the Idol stage. Dancing, strobe lights and even a little bit of pyrotechnics helped set the mood for the feel-good song that had the audience pumping their fists.Before hitting the stage, the country singer...

Pete Brown, the British poet and singer who helped co-write some of Cream’s most enduring songs — including “White Room” and “Sunshine of Your Love” — has died at the age of 82. Brown’s death Friday following “a courageous battle with cancer” was announced on his official Facebook page. “Brown started his artistic career as a Beat Poet in the late 1950s,” the statement notes. “By the mid 1960s he had sold out The Royal Albert Hall with both his British and American contemporaries including Alan Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and...

Once upon a time, Garth Brooks did a one-man show in Las Vegas and then he followed it with a full band stadium tour. Opening night of his Plus One residency in Las Vegas was a terrific marriage of the two concepts.Nobody really knew what to expect when Brooks took the stage at the Caesars Palace Colosseum on Thursday night (May 18). To hear him tell it, he didn't, either.A single acoustic guitar sat alone on the stage before the curtains raised after 8PM, tempting fans to believe they were about to witness...

Adidas has announced that proceeds from the sale of their $1.2 billion worth of Kanye West’s Yeezys shoes will benefit charities like the Anti-Defamation League and a non-profit founded by George Floyd’s brother.  The company’s CEO Bjorn Gulden previously told shareholders that Adidas would begin offloading the leftover Yeezys and “donate money to the organizations that help us and were harmed by what Ye said.” On Friday, Adidas announced two of those organizations, both of which represent those who were deeply impacted by West’s words: The Anti-Defamation League — West’s...

American Idol finalist Megan Danielle will compete for the Idol crown during the Season 21 finale on Sunday, May 21.To gear up for the big moment, she and the other two finalists Colin Stough and Iam Tongi, have released official singles into the world.For her first official introduction to audiences post-Idol, Danielle is sharing a determined, country-rock song called "Dream Girl." It's a shot of encouragement to all of the dreamers out there, as Danielle sings of being independent and following a unique path in life.The song was written by American Idol alum Laci Kaye...

James McMurtry took the title of his 2002 song “Red Dress” quite literally while playing a string of concerts earlier this month. The songwriter performed the song at gigs in Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee — and, on Friday night, in New Braunfels, Texas — dressed in drag to protest an increasing slate of anti-LGBTQ legislation being introduced across the nation. In an essay for Rolling Stone, McMurtry explains why he donned his red dress for the encore with opening act BettySoo (herself dressed as a man) and why the right-wing panic over drag...

Before Blake Shelton's name was widely known in country music, and before he was a judge on The Voice, fans may have seen him opening for Toby Keith's 2002 Shock'n Y'all Tour, Rascal Flatts' 2005 Here's to You Tour or the Flatts' 2006 Me and My Gang Tour. Every superstar starts out as an opening act, after all.Shelton first headlined his own trek in 2005; it was his Barn and Grill Tour. Other treks have included the Hillbilly Bone Tour, the Well Lit & Amplified Tour, the Ten Times Crazier Tour...

More than half a century after Jimi Hendrix moved to England to form rock’s preeminent transatlantic power trio with a couple of Brits, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. Now Billboard reports that a Manhattan federal judge decided Tuesday that England will also be the starting place for a lawsuit that Hendrix’s estate (Experience Hendrix, LLC) and Sony Music filed against Redding’s and Mitchell’s estates last year. The whole idea behind the lawsuit was to stop Redding’s and Mitchell’s heirs from seeking to expand their copyright claims; it was...

Iam Tongi will join his fellow American Idol finalists Megan Danielle and Colin Stough in competition during the Season 23 finale on Sunday (May 21). Ahead of the big night, Tongi has shared his first official single, "I'll Be Seeing You."The acoustic-led song was written by Francisco Martin VI, and in it, Tongi emotionally sings of keeping the memories of a lost loved one fresh in his mind. The song is astonishingly genuine as he confronts the fears that go along with losing a special someone. The serene instrumentation and Tongi's voice...

Old Becomes New While the original soundtrack cut "Daughters of Triton" doesn't appear in the film, the mix of old and new songs build a new musical world for the live-action princess Old becomes new on the official soundtrack for Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid, which stars Halle Bailey and will be released in theaters on May 26. Welcoming a new princess to the classic film more than three decades after its original release offers a chance for a new generation of children to build their own connection to the...