Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Robyn, 21 Savage and More Top Songs of the Week

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhat a week, huh? We’ve already written at length about Demi Lovato having her “VOTE” message muzzled by NBC after she performed her new song “Commander in Chief,” which slams President Trump and his policies — you can read about that semi-censorship here but here’s the performance, and a photo of how it was supposed to end.On a lighter note, we also already wrote about James Blake’s excellent new EP, “Before,” which is a throwback to his earlier club-oriented

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSurprisingly, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s smash single “WAP” was not submitted for 2021 Grammy Awards consideration, a source close to the situation has confirmed to Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn the day that rapper Tory Lanez is scheduled to appear in court on charges of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, Megan has written a powerful op-ed and posted a companion video called “Why I Speak Up for Black Women” in the New York Times.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTory Lanez has been charged with assaulting a woman who is obviously Megan Thee Stallion, per information provided by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDuring her musical performance on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend, Megan Thee Stallion voiced strong opposition to Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron’s handling of the Breonna Taylor case.

Maren Morris shared a special message in her music video for her newest song "Better Than We Found It," which was released on Friday.

Maren Morris holds onto her son, Hayes Hurd, in her brand new music video for “Better Than We Found It”.

Maren Morris spoke to the current cultural moment with a powerful protest song inspired by her baby boy, Shawn Mendes launched a «Wonder»-ful new era with a soaring, introspective single, and DaBaby joined Dua Lipa for a remix that will leave you «Levitating.»Plus, BLACKPINK dropped their first full Korean-language album, Mariah Carey released her collection and Dolly Parton blessed us with her new holiday album!Read on for some of our favorite recommendations for new songs and albums to listen

Maren Morris is back with new music.

Chris Willman Music WriterCountry-pop star Maren Morris has taken a strong stand with a surprise release that she calls a “protest song,” “Better Than We Found It.” An accompanying video, also dropped late Thursday night. addresses the issues of immigration and police shootings of Black men, as they’ve unfolded in Nashville.“I wanted to write something to address exactly how I feel right now, and this came together pretty quickly,” Morris said in a statement.

Ashley McBryde, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan and Maren Morris will all perform at this year’s show -- and they're all also nominated with some of the year's best music videos and performances.McBryde and Dan + Shay are two of the top nominees at this year's Music Awards — country music’s only entirely fan-voted awards show -- tied with Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett. All scored three nods apiece and are competing in the coveted «Video of the Year»

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDetails of the still-unexplained incident on July 12 in which rapper Tory Lanez allegedly shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot have unspooled gradually over the past few weeks.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn a week like this, with a crushing onslaught of strong contenders for the coveted Fri 5, your faithful reviewer feels like an “American Idol” judge, with a whole load of self-imposed rules about what constitutes a great single (as opposed to a great song), trying to disregard considerations like how popular an artist is or isn’t, which record label it’s on, etc. Like…“The new Lil Wayne song ‘Life of Mr.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBarely half a day after Tory Lanez refuted Megan Thee Stallion’s allegations that he shot her via the lyrics in his surprise album “Daystar,” Megan’s team fired back with a claim that representatives for Lanez have attempted to stage a “smear campaign” against her in an effort to discredit her claims against him.The incident in question took place in Los Angeles on July 12, when Lanez was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm after being pulled over in a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRapper Tory Lanez, who Megan Thee Stallion has accused of shooting her in the foot in an unexplained incident in July, dropped a 17-track album Thursday night in which nearly every song addresses the incident and its fallout, and what Lanez apparently perceives as betrayal from nearly all quarters.The new album, “Daystar,” may forever remain most famous for asking the musical question: “How the f— you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?”The album

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSO. MANY.