Alessia Cara reimagined a series of Destiny’s Child hits – “Say My Name,” “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Bootylicious,” “Survivor” and “Emotion” – during a stripped-down live session for Sirius XM. The singer recruited a trio of backing vocalists for the performance, and their pitch-perfect blend highlighted the four-minute medley. Acoustic guitar, synth-bass and electronic …
Read More »'Brightburn': See Terrifying Trailer for James Gunn's 'Superhero Horror' Film
James Gunn, following his firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, returns to the big screen as producer and co-writer on Brightburn, an upcoming “superhero horror” film. The film borrows many of the tropes from the Superman myth – the rural setting, an asteroid-strapped infant crash-landing in a field …
Read More »Brett Young Talks New Album 'Ticket to L.A.,' Gavin DeGraw Influence
Back in October, Brett Young ticked an important item off the bucket list when he headlined Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in front of a sold-out crowd. He opened his set with a pair of new songs, “Here Tonight” and “Used to Missing You,” that qualified as legitimately uptempo numbers within his …
Read More »'Mary Queen of Scots' Review: Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie's Royal Rivalry
Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie earn all the bows and curtsies coming their way for breathing feminist fire into Mary Queen of Scots, a 16th-century drama that messes just enough with recorded fact to avoid being dismissed as textbook-stuffy. In the year of the radically raunchy and irreverent The Favourite, …
Read More »Nick Mason on New Saucerful of Secrets Band: 'It Reminds Me of Pink Floyd 1967'
Earlier this year, after waiting nearly a quarter century in vain for Pink Floyd to reunite, drummer Nick Mason decided to start a Floyd of his own: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets. The group features Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp, longtime Pink Floyd touring bassist Guy Pratt, guitarist Lee Harris, …
Read More »Review: Meek Mill's 'Championships' Places Him Up There With the Greats
“Nigga like the new Jay-Z” raps firebrand Meek Mill on “Tic Tac Toe.” “Poppin’ like Bad Boy in ’94, Big Poppa and Diddy,” he insists on “What’s Free.” Indeed, the shadow of the Biggie/Jay-Z/Nas era of critical and commercial dominance – circa 1996 to 2003 – looms large on Mill’s …
Read More »Claire Foy on 'SNL': 3 Sketches You Have to See
Saturday Night Live kicked off its final run of 2018 with a solid episode that seemed hellbent on hiding host Claire Foy as much as possible. If you actually mark the screen time of any particular host, it’s often extremely low compared to the episode’s full run time. But this …
Read More »Chance The Rapper Surprise Releases Uptempo 'My Own Thing' and Melancholic Christmas Song
Back in July, after teasing a new album, Chance The Rapper released four new songs with little fanfare. He repeated the release strategy on Thursday, dropping two new song with no warning. “My Own Thing” and “The Man Who Has Everything” hit streaming services, with the similar stark artwork of …
Read More »Jay-Z Halted a Lawsuit By Pointing Out the Lack of Black Arbitrators
Jay-Z won a court battle on Wednesday in a lawsuit against his company Roc Nation, on somewhat unusual grounds: The rapper-entrepreneur argued that the lack of African-American arbitrators presiding over the case left him susceptible to unconscious racial bias. The suit has to do with Jay-Z’s Rocawear clothing brand, which …
Read More »'Anna and the Apocalypse' Review: Night of the Singing, Dancing Dead
Here’s the holiday musical you’re looking for — if, say, you like a splash of gore and a parade of flesh-eating zombies between musical numbers. Eat your heart out, Mary Poppins! Literally! Set in Scotland during Christmas season, in the perfectly named town of Little Haven, Anna and the Apocalypse …
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