Best New Songs This Week: Drake, Orville Peck, Shania Twain, Burna Boy and More

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn an effort to rally support for the countless music venues impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of buildings across the U.S. — from New York’s Empire State Building to Seattle’s Space Needle — were illuminated in red light on Tuesday evening (Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in May, an organization formed by music industry execs Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang under the name #TheShowMustBePaused began with a call for a single day shutdown soon grew into a movement that called for change across the entire industry.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMore than 1,500 music venues across the U.S. will be illuminated in red light on Tuesday evening (Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive agents formerly with Paradigm have launched a new agency called TBA that represents The War on Drugs, Courtney Barnett, Chvrches, Jose Gonzales, Guided by Voices, Jay Som, Yaeji, Omar Apollo and many other artists.The company, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, was founded by agents Marshall Betts, Avery McTaggart, Amy Davidman, Ryan Craven, and Devin Landau.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn this pivotal year and racially charged era, the BET Awards chose to open their show in June with a new version of Public Enemy’s iconic 1989 song “Fight the Power,” which sadly is as relevant today as it was 31 years ago.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEven in a pandemic, the VMAs found a way to start off their show with a bang: The Weeknd performed his smash single “Blinding Lights” 1,100 feet above New York, from the city’s highest observation deck, Edge at Hudson Yards.Weeknd was in the guise of the busted-nose character he portrays on his latest album, “After Hours,” and the performance began in a way similar to the album’s videos, which depict the character having a surreal and absolutely terrible night in

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEvery week, the avalanche gets bigger: Even though we’re reaching the end of the proverbial dog days of August, the songs keep coming, in greater numbers each week. I got nearly 400 emails between midnight and noon, and easily half were about new songs or albums (NOT COMPLAINING but wow).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorK-pop titans Blackpink are joined by Selena Gomez for a new song and video called “Ice Cream,” the second single from the quartet’s debut album, set for release via YG Entertainment/Interscope Records on October 2.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPublic Enemy, the legendary rap group that helped shape socially conscious hip-hop into what it is today, have returned to Def Jam Recordings, the label that hosted their most iconic recordings.The reunion launches with a remix of the group’s classic 1989 song “Fight the Power (Remix 2020),” which opened the 2020 BET Awards in June featuring Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, YG, Jahi and Questlove. The song, originally featured in Spike Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing,”

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorStaging an awards show in a pandemic is a steep challenge, but for the VMAs on Sunday night, MTV and Toyota will present Latinx music stars Maluma and CNCO performing at a special drive-in location, where fans can enjoy the performances in a safe and controlled environment at an undisclosed iconic location overlooking the New York skyline.The performances will both be debuts: Colombian singer — and recent Variety cover star — Maluma will perform “Hawaii,” from his

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe MTV VMAs are coming up fast, and the network has revealed its lineup of presenters: Anthony Ramos, Bebe Rexha, Bella Hadid, Drew Barrymore, Jaden Smith, Joey King, Kelly Clarkson, Machine Gun Kelly, Madison Beer, Nicole Richie, Sofia Carson and Travis Barker.Performers include Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, BTS, Doja Cat, CNCO, Maluma and Black Eyed Peas.Grande, Gaga, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd top the nominees list.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust hours after announcing the Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBTS have dropped an alternate video for their blockbuster new single “Dynamite,” filmed on the same set but with different angles — and a few amusing bloopers as well.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBeyonce has released a new video for her song “Brown Skin Girl,” featuring appearances from her daughter Blue Ivy and former Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, along with Naomi Campbell, actor Lupita Nyong’o, singers Saint Jhn and WizKid and others.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs announced that it has acquired 50% of the copyright interest and writers share in the song catalog of Wu-Tang Clan’s primary producer, Robert “RZA” Diggs. He has produced nearly all of Wu-Tang Clan’s albums, as well as many of the multiple solo albums released by the group’s members.The group’s enormously influential debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” was released in 1993 and has been followed by a series of group and solo releases,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEver since the Verzuz DJ battle series — where artists like Snoop Dogg and DMX square off and showcase their hits in friendly competition while fans cheer on via social media — launched in March, Brandy vs. Monica has been the matchup that fans have clamored for.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEven in a week loaded with high-profile singles and albums, one song stands out: Pharrell and Jay-Z’s moving ode to Black entrepreneurship, “Entrepreneur,” which is part of an issue of Time magazine dedicated to the subject called “The New American Revolution” and curated by Pharrell.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPharrell Williams and Jay-Z have released their first new song together in more than a decade, “Entrepreneur.” The song is deeply relevant to the present day and the protests leading into the summer of 2020: “In this position with no choice / The system imprison young Black boys / Distract with white noise,” Williams whispers on the track.“The intention for a song was all about how tough it is to be an entrepreneur in our country to begin with,” Williams says.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSinger-songwriter-actor Kat Cunning has signed with Lava Records, home to Lorde, Greta Van Fleet, Jessie J and other artists — and debuts with the song and video “Supernova,” which you can see below.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOne of the most common refrains in the music industry is that only superstars earn serious bank from streaming — how many artists have, quite understandably, have vented publicly about receiving royalty checks in the double, single, or decimal digits?But advocates have long emphasized that with the right deal, streaming can pay handsomely — and while it declined to provide details, AWAL, the recorded-music division of Kobalt, announced that “hundreds” of artists