You probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that Post Malone performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards — after all, he's been moving into country for a while now. But did you expect Dua Lipa to show up?
Dua was a surprise performer at the May 16 awards ceremony, which streamed on Prime Video. She joined country superstar Chris Stapleton for a duet on his latest hit, "Think I'm In Love with You." Another surprise performer was Noah Kahan, who was making his awards show debut. He teamed up with Kelsea Ballerini to perform her song "Mountain with a View" and his song "Stick Season."
Other pop stars making the scene at the show, which streamed live from Dallas, Texas, included Gwen Stefani, who sang "Purple Irises" with her husband Blake Shelton, and Avril Lavigne, who joined rising country star Nate Smith for his song "Bulletproof." As for Posty, he sang a ballad called "Never Love You Again" and performed his recent single, "I Had Some Help."
Lainey Wilson was the night's big winner, and one of the categories she won was Music Event of the Year for "Save Me," her hit duet with Jelly Roll. Jelly also performed — he did a new song called "Liar" — and so did Kane Brown. Luke Combs' "Fast Car" was named Single of the Year.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreDua Lipa, Avril Lavigne and Noah Kahan get their country on at the ACMs
The new musical biopic Back to Black tells the story of Grammy winner Amy Winehouse’s life.
Marisa Abela plays the beloved pop star in the film, and she tells ABC Audio Winehouse’s music has always loomed large in her life.
“I was so aware of her and her music,” Abela said. “But as a 10-year-old, you don't know what you're singing when you're singing ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ or ‘Love is a Losing Game.’”
While she’s always been a fan, Abela said preparing for the film gave her a better picture of who Winehouse truly was.
“As a grown woman, to come back and revisit her music — not just as an artist and as a singer, but as a songwriter,” Abela said. “The person that took all of these experiences in life and, like, squished them into these songs that will live forever as some of the most vulnerable and authentic pieces of storytelling that there are, just creates a sort of new level of admiration for Amy as an artist.”
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson said she hopes the film conveys just how complex Winehouse truly was.
“I felt like she'd just become this tragic figure, and I wanted to really go back to the music and go into the lyrics and understand really how deeply she felt everything and the pain and the love,” Taylor-Johnson said.
Taylor-Johnson also hopes to have honored Winehouse’s legacy.
“It's tough making a film about somebody real. But also, my feeling was to uphold and celebrate her without judgment,” Taylor-Johnson said.
Black to Black is available to watch in movie theaters everywhere on Friday, May 17.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read more'Back to Black star' and director on telling Amy Winehouse’s complex life story
Maroon 5 returns to Dolby Live at Park MGM Las Vegas on Thursday for the first 2024 dates of their residency show, which launched last year. Guitarist James Valentine says fans who come to the shows might get to see a side of Adam Levine they've never seen before.
Most Las Vegas residency shows are strictly timed and the set lists don't change that much, but James notes there are definitely moments built into the show that allow them to let loose.
"We always get to inject a little bit of creativity and spontaneity within every song, and there's certain moments in the set that are certainly engineered for that," he tells ABC Audio. "And Adam also gets to sort of explore his Vegas lounge performer side."
He laughs, "We never know what he's going to be saying onstage. We're always as surprised as the audience."
Maroon 5's Vegas set list may change slightly from last year's shows, but it'll still include their biggest hits, from "Moves Like Jagger" and "Girls Like You" to "Sunday Morning," "This Love" and one of James' personal favorites.
"It was really fun to play 'She Will Be Loved' [in Vegas] because we got to go out in the audience, me and Adam," he says. "Y'know, I'd strap on my acoustic guitar ... and we'd go walk around the audience. And so that was a pretty special moment every night. I really enjoyed doing that."
However, James says that moment caused a slight problem.
"Sometimes when you are in the audience, people are excited, which I understand," he says. "And so we did have some aggressive selfie taking. Our security had to explain, 'Hey, they are performing' and 'back off a little bit.'"
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreMaroon 5's residency lets Adam Levine "explore his Vegas lounge performer side"
Billie Eilish's new album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, is out now, and to promote it, she's doing a takeover of the platform that she says is "the only reason I'm anything, 100%": SoundCloud.
Billie was discovered on SoundCloud in 2015 when she uploaded her song "Ocean Eyes" and it racked up 10,000 plays in a few hours. Two years later, she had a record deal. She's now teamed up with SoundCloud to pay tribute to the fans who've been with her since day one.
There's a special landing page that features a new logo designed by Billie, with her name replacing the name SoundCloud. There are also user profile photos of Billie's "first fans" on the platform, and a timeline charting her career from 2015 to her current superstar status.
Plus, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is fully available to all SoundCloud users, instead of just the ones with paid subscriptions, which is how it usually works.
Billie previewed the new album, her third, at a special in-person fan listening event at New York's Barclays Center Thursday. There will also be a listening event at AMC movie theaters across the country Friday.
Speaking to Rolling Stone about HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Billie said, “I feel like this album is me. It’s not a character ... it feels like my youth and who I was as a kid."
She added, "This whole process has felt like I’m coming back to the girl that I was. I’ve been grieving her. I’ve been looking for her in everything, and it’s almost like she got drowned by the world and the media. I don’t remember when she went away.”
Here's the HIT ME HARD AND SOFT track list:
"SKINNY"
"LUNCH"
"CHIHIRO"
"BIRDS OF A FEATHER"
"WILDFLOWER"
"THE GREATEST"
"L’AMOUR DE MA VIE"
"THE DINER"
"BITTERSUITE"
"BLUE"
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreBillie Eilish is throwing it back to SoundCloud for new album 'HIT ME HARD AND SOFT'
Did you watch The Idea of You on Prime Video and come away from it wishing the film's boy band was real? Well, luckily for you, that band — called August Moon — has released the music video for their song "Guard Down." The track features lead vocals from Nicholas Galitzine and was produced by Savan Kotecha.
It seems Sabrina Carpenter ships Colin and Penelope on Bridgerton. Her hit song "Espresso" even features their ship name, albeit spelled a bit differently. "@bridgertonnetflix season 3's about to dream come true it for Polin shippers," @teamsabrina captioned a video filled with some of Colin and Penelope's most memorable scenes. "Use #ComeAndGetThisPolin on videos of ur fav moments from this season!" the caption reads.
While out and about in LA on Thursday, Justin Bieber was spotted sporting a vintage R.E.M. T-shirt from the band's 1989 Green World Tour. The band gave their approval on social media. "Nice t-shirt!" R.E.M's official HQ page wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreMusic notes: Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and more
One of Ed Sheeran's favorite things to do is drop in on schools unexpectedly and meet with music students. But on May 16, he went one step further during a surprise visit to The Sheffield College in Northern England.
During his visit to the campus of the music career-focused college, Ed walked onstage during a workshop that was being held in the theater and performed with several students. Nineteen-year-old Lol Bailey was singing Ed's hit "Shape of You" when the singer appeared.
“It really threw me off when Ed Sheeran walked on stage but it was brilliant,” Bailey told The Star.
Another student, 18-year-old Brad Lyne, got the chance to rap alongside Ed. He told The Star, "It was so cool. He’s a global superstar and an absolute legend but he was a normal dude who gave us some great advice. It made me think if he can achieve success, we can too.”
You can watch footage of both performances on Instagram. According to the college, Ed also performed "Castle on the Hill" during his visit and answered students' questions about the music industry.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreEd Sheeran surprises college students, performs alongside them
Stephen Sanchez is putting his retro sound to good use. The "Until I Found You" singer has recorded a new song called "Baby Blue Bathing Suit" for the upcoming Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys, which starts streaming on May 24.
Stephen co-wrote the song with Olivia Rodrigo collaborator Dan Nigro and hitmaker Amy Allen. In a statement, he says, "I was floored when The Beach Boys’ team reached out to me about being featured on the film’s soundtrack - it’s truly an honor to be a part of this project and I have so much respect for the band and their musical legacy."
"Endless Summer was one of the first vinyls my Grandpa gave me as a kid," Stephen says.
Endless Summer was a Beach Boys compilation that came out in 1974 to take advantage of the wave of late '50s/early '60s nostalgia that was sweeping the nation at the time. It was the legendary group's only #1 studio album, and for many fans — like Stephen — it was their introduction to music.
"Recording the song was equally incredible ... I recorded the vocals when I was in London at the iconic Abbey Road Studios," Stephen says, referring to the place where The Beatles recorded most of their music. "I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!”
You can also watch a behind-the-scenes feature on the making of the song and video on People.com.
Stephen just released a deluxe version of his debut album, Angel Face, and will launch an international tour this summer.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreStephen Sanchez records new original song for soundtrack of Disney+ Beach Boys documentary
When Amy Winehouse died tragically in 2011 at age 27, she was a global superstar, but Kelly Clarkson knew her before then.
On the May 16 episode of her talk show, Kelly interviewed Marisa Abela, who portrays Amy in the new biopic Back to Black, in theaters on May 17. During the chat, Kelly revealed she got to sing with Amy years before she was famous — during karaoke.
"It's funny, I actually saw her before she was who she was," Kelly said. "She was just coming over [to the U.S.] with her boyfriend, and it was while I was shooting this movie that I absolutely hate." She was referring to From Justin to Kelly, the 2003 movie that she was forced to film after winning American Idol.
"But anyway, we all did a karaoke night. And it was before she was her, and she almost sounded a little different as well," Kelly recalled. "It was, like, before she became 'Amy Winehouse.' I don't think she had a record deal or anything at that time. But we all went to karaoke and she sang Etta James and I was like, 'Wait, what?'"
"It was like she, just from the jump, had such a presence about her voice," Kelly added. "It almost became, like, more of a character, too, like, with herself throughout her career."
Amy's breakthrough album, Back to Black, was released in 2006.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreKelly Clarkson recalls doing karaoke with Amy Winehouse years before Amy was famous
The upcoming movie Twisters, described as a "current-day chapter" of the 1996 film Twister, has inspired an entire album of new music.
Twisters: The Album features new songs by Benson Boone, Jelly Roll, Jelly's "Save Me" duet partner Lainey Wilson, "Fast Car" singer Luke Combs, Shania Twain, "Miles On It" and "Thank God" singer Kane Brown and more.
The new Benson song is called "Death Wish Love." It doesn't appear on his debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblades. The Luke Combs song "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma" is out now.
Both the album and the movie, which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, arrive July 19.
The original movie Twister starred Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Jami Gertz and Cary Elwes as "storm chasers" who risk life and limb to research tornadoes in Oklahoma. It was a huge box-office hit.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read moreNew songs by Benson Boone, Jelly Roll & more featured on soundtrack for new movie 'Twisters'