Jem Aswad Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Along with Nick Drake, Judee Sill is probably the greatest lost singer-songwriter of the 1970s — an artist whose gifts were so great but their demons were apparently greater. While Drake’s legend has taken its rightful place — due largely to a car commercial, of all things — Sill is yet to get her due.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As accusations of sexual misconduct continue to be leveled against Sean “Diddy” Combs — and now his son — the embattled artist and entrepreneur posted a seemingly defiant video and caption on Instagram Friday. He posted the full-length video from his 1998 song “Victory” — in which he is seen running from Los Angeles police for nearly its entire seven minutes — along with the caption “Bad Boy for life,” a frequent catchphrase referencing his long-running record label and a fist emoji. The comments were left open, and Christian Combs, who is reportedly being sued by a woman for sexual assault in 2022 — wrote “Who you know do it better!!” with three fire emojis.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Keith LeBlanc, a drummer, producer and recording artist best known for his work on pioneering early hip-hop records by Grandmaster Flash and others, died Thursday after a battle with an undisclosed illness, his wife Fran LeBlanc confirms to Variety. Later in his career he worked extensively as a producer, session musician — including on Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 debut “Pretty Hate Machine” — and member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music A major problem with early success is getting past it — case in point, the cheerful bop of Vampire Weekend’s first two albums and their image as peppy college boys who’d studied Paul Simon’s “Graceland” like a James Joyce masters’ thesis, playing their jaunty global pop to deliriously skanking millennials at seemingly every music festival of the latter aughts. And although that take was understandable — if unfairly reductive — at the time, VW is now a very different band.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Considering the vast number of books published every year about David Bowie — or, for that matter, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Prince — a new one had better have either fresh info or fresh insights. Thankfully, Suzi Ronson’s “Me and Mr.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Spotify, which increased the cost of its U.S. monthly subscriptions less than a year ago, plans to raise the price of its paid-subscription service in several overseas markets at by the end of this month, and in the U.S.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Lou Reed was indisputably one of the most provocative musicians the rock world has known, releasing songs about heroin abuse and sadomasochism on his very first album (“The Velvet Underground and Nico”), utilizing piercing guitar feedback on many of his songs, and scoring a global hit single in 1973 that referenced oral sex (“Walk on the Wild Side”). But arguably his single most provocative musical move was “Metal Machine Music,” a double-LP filled with nothing but deafening guitar feedback and effects that was released in 1975, at the peak of his commercial success.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music A series of billboards apparently teasing Billie Eilish’s new album have popped up in major cities across the world, as noted in multiple social media posts on Tuesday. The billboards do not feature the Grammy- and Oscar-winning artist’s name but do include her familiar “blohsh” symbol and what appear to be lyric snippets saying things like “Did I cross the line?,” “I try to live in black and white” and “She’s the headlights I’m the deer.” A rep for the artist did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music SiriusXM has announced that Taylor Swift will have her own limited-engagement SiriusXM channel, “Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version),” starting Sunday, April 7, 13 days ahead of her forthcoming album “The Tortured Poets Department.” The channel will air 24/7 across North America and will be a destination for Swift’s music from across her 17-year career, including favorites, all “(Taylor’s Versions),” “From the Vault” tracks, live recordings, bonus tracks and more. The 13th day of the channel, Friday, April 19, coincides with the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.” The channel will be playing the full album throughout the weekend.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Kacey Musgraves, Camila Cabello and more than 200 other artists have joined with the Artist Rights Alliance non-profit – an artist-led education and advocacy organization – to issue an open letter supported by more than 200 artists calling on “AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.” A full list of signatories appears below. While AI-related threats such as deepfakes and voice cloning continue to attract significant (and legal) scrutiny, the letter also highlights two related trends: the use of musical works by AI developers without permission to train and produce AI “copycats,” and the use of AI “sound” to dilute royalty obligations.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music With hits like Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Kelis’ “Milkshake,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” and dozens of others, Pharrell Williams and longtime collaborator Chad Hugo rode to multiplatinum success as the songwriting/production duo the Neptunes. While Pharrell has become a superstar in his own right over the last two decades, with solo hits like “Happy” and “Freedom,” Hugo has kept a comparatively low profile – but the pair are now in a legal dispute over the group’s name.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music In the weeks since Beyonce announced her “Cowboy Carter” album, there’s been an enormous amount of commentary over the singer’s move into country music, and the long-overlooked contributions of Black artists to the genre since its very beginning. There’s also been more-humorous comments about the album’s title — which comes from Beyonce’s married surname and her husband, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter — and the long legacy left by the Carter Family, whose music is widely viewed as the single biggest influence on the country genre.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Being asked to collaborate on a Beyonce album is the equivalent of knighthood, and the morning after “Cowboy Carter” dropped to near-universal hosannahs, featured artists Miley Cyrus and Post Malone shared their gratitude at the rare honor. Cyrus, who duets with Beyonce on the song “II Most Wanted,” wrote on social media: “I’ve loved Beyonce since long before I had the opportunity to meet & work with her. “My admiration runs so much deeper now that I’ve created along side of her.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Universal Music Group and Spotify — the world’s largest music company and the world’s largest paid music-subscription service — have unveiled an expansion of their “strategic relationship” in an announcement that has very few details but is likely the opening of a new maneuver in UMG’s ongoing battle with TikTok. UMG and the China-based platform, which has been the leading source of music discovery for the past five years, have been in a standoff over multiple issues, primarily the platform’s low royalty payments and AI policies, since their licensing agreement expired earlier this year.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sean “Diddy” Combs — rapper, producer and entrepreneur — has fired back against the government’s raids on two of his properties in Miami and Los Angeles on Monday. In a statement, his attorney Aaron Dyer characterized the searches by investigators with the Department of Homeland Security as an “unprecedented ambush” and a “witch hunt.” “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Dyer wrote.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The U.S. recorded music industry grew its revenue by 8% in 2023, reaching an all-time high of $17.1 billion and marking eight consecutive years of growth. However, there’s no question that the streaming boom of the past decade, which produced years of double-digit growth, is leveling off and the industry is reacting with layoffs and talk of a “transformational moment” in the months and years to come.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music R&B ace Maxwell has announced “The Serenade 2024” North American Tour, which will see him joined by two special guests: two-time Grammy winner Jazmine Sullivan and rising singer-songwriter October London. Full dates appear below.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music At the Black Music Action Coalition‘s “Rooted in Country” discussion panel Thursday night — addressing the many challenges Black country artists continue to face breaking into the genre — it was just a matter of time before the conversation turned to Beyonce’s “Act II: Cowboy Carter” country-themed album that drops next Friday. The all-female panel (in honor of Women’s History Month) featured Rissi Palmer, a pioneering country singer-songwriter and host of the “Color Me Country” podcast; Holly G, founder of the Black Opry collective; and Live Nation Country’s Julie Matway; it was moderated by label veteran and author Naima Cochrane, who wrote a powerful study on the subject called “Three Chords & the Actual Truth: The Manufactured Myth of Country Music & White America” that was published in June of 2022.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music If there’s a top jack-of-all-trades in the music industry, there’s a good chance it’s Ryan Tedder. He’s a hugely successful recording artist (as leader of OneRepublic), one of the top songwriter-producers of the past 15 years (Beyoncé’s “Halo,” U2, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5, Ariana Grande and many more) and is also a more savvy music publisher than many full-time music publishers.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Killer Mike, Mitski, Caroline Polachek, L’Rain and Wednesday lead the nominees for the 2024 Libera Awards, the American Association of Independent Music announced Wednesday. The full list of nominees appears below. This year’s awards, presented by Merlin, includes three new categories, including Best Record From Games and Interactive Media, Publisher of the Year and Distributor of the Year.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Variety‘s Hitmaker of 2023 SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Blink-182, the Killers, Future and Metro Boomin, Hozier, Stray Kids, Melanie Martinez and Skrillex are set to headline a Lollapalooza 2024, which will also feature performances from Deftones, Tate McRae, Conan Gray, Reneé Rapp, Victoria Monét, and many more, the festival announced on Tuesday. The annual festival takes place August 1-4 with over 170 bands, eight stages and four days of music and programming at its traditional location in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Spotify has provided further details on the record $9 billion it paid out to the music industry in 2023, which was first announced in January. For context, the company stated that the “amount has nearly tripled over the past six years, and represents a big part of the $48 billion-plus Spotify has paid since its founding.” Last March, the company said it pays out nearly 70% of every dollar it generates from music back to the industry, generating its music revenue from two sources: subscription fees from its Premium platform paying subscribers, and fees from advertisings on music on its Free tier.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Jeff Lynne’s ELO hae announce their final tour, dubbed “The Over and Out Tour.” The 27-date excursion, produced by Live Nation, will kick off in Palm Desert, CA on August 24 and travel across North America before concluding in Los Angeles on October 25. Artist Presale will begin on Wednesday, March 20 at 10am local time and the general onsale will start on Friday, March 22 @ 10am local time. Exclusive VIP experiences will be available March 20th at 10am local.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Despite and also because of its puzzling inside-joke name, Trouser Press was one of the greatest music magazines in history. It existed for just a decade — from 1974 through 1984 — but in the process, it nurtured the careers of thousands of musicians and exponentially more fans, future musicians, writers, music executives and others.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Fifty may be the new forty in some areas of life, but popular music isn’t one of them. With very few exceptions, pop musicians make their most vital work in their twenties and early thirties, and even if they continue to perform to sold-out arenas into their eighties, as the Rolling Stones have, the fans are largely indifferent to their new music and just want to hear the hits — leading to the seemingly counterintuitive situation of artists with sold-out tours connected to new albums that are, comparatively anyway, flops.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music For their headlining set opening the Rolling Loud California festival in Los Angeles on Thursday night, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign merely stood onstage for an hour while pre-recorded music from their already released first album played over the loudspeakers. While the wording in the official announcement of the late-added performance was unspecific — “Vultures headlining new Thursday night,” the since-deleted post read — it’s safe to say that most people expected the duo, who have been working together under the name Vultures, to at least deliver vocals.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Jennifer Lopez has canceled seven dates of her first North American tour in five years, in support of her new album “This Is Me… Now” and its pair of companion films. The dates spanning Aug.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music After months of it simply being called “DL3,” Dua Lipa has revealed the title, cover, tracklist and release date of her third full-length album.Titled “Radical Optimism,” the album will be released May 3 and consists of 11 songs, including the two preliminary singles, “Houdini” and “Training Season.” In an intriguing twist on the title, the cover art features the singer in the water, just feet away from a shark. The singer also unveiled a rather startling new look in a new promotional photo where her eyebrows are barely visible (although her eyebrows appeared to be perfectly normal when she announced the album in a brief Instagram Live appearance on Wednesday afternoon).

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The standoff between Universal Music Groupand TikTok over royalty payments and AI policies has resulted in a near-complete blackout of all music owned, distributed and published by the company on the platform — the videos are still there, but the music is muted. Yet new songs by UMG artists, including Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello and Niall Horan could be found on TikTok at the time of this article’s publication. How and why is that happening? While reps for UMG and TikTok declined comment, and an explanation of the platform’s logistics and process quickly devolves into a mind-melting blizzard of jargon and abbreviations, here’s a vast oversimplification of a couple of possibilities.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As the vast reorganization of Universal Music Group’s labels continues, as expected, the company’s East Coast operations are uniting under the Republic Corps umbrella. The move reflects the company’s reorganization of its labels under the domains of Republic’s Monte Lipman (East Coast) and Interscope’s John Janick (West Coast).

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music East Village Radio, the influential streetfront online radio station that broadcast from 2003-2016 and Mark Ronson hosted an influential show for several years, has announced it is planning to relaunch next month. The station, formerly located in a tiny studio behind a glass window at the front of a restaurant on First Avenue in New York’s East Village, opened directly onto the sidewalk, offering an almost surreal intimacy between passersby and the DJs.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Karl Wallinger, the Welsh-born frontman of World Party and early member of the Waterboys, died Sunday, according to a statement from his publicist. No cause of death was announced, although he suffered a brain aneurysm in 2001 that paused his career for several years; he was 66.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As the standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok over royalties, AI and other matters continues to boil amid angry words from both sides — and the National Music Publishers Assn. stating last weekthat it does not plan to renew its license with the platform — the official trade group for independent publishers has weighed in with its own advice.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Singer-songwriter-harpist and indie icon Joanna Newsom, who has kept a low profile since the tour supporting her 2015 album “Divers,” has announced a five-night solo residency in Los Angeles. Billed as the “Strings/Keys Incidence,” the shows will take place at the intimate Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever from May 15-19.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Love Rocks NYC Benefit Concert has become an annual New York tradition and Thursday night’s show at the Beacon Theatre was one of the best on record, raising $3.8 million for the God’s Love We Deliver charity with performances and/or appearances from Dave Grohl, the Black Keys, Hozier, Nile Rodgers, Tom Morello, Don Felder, Bettye LaVette, Joss Stone, Allison Russell, Emily King, Marcus King, Lucius, Larkin Poe, Trombone Shorty, Luke Spiller, Quinn Sullivan, and Bernie William. This year’s concert raised $3.8 million, which will allow God’s Love We Deliver to serve 380,000 meals for New Yorkers living with severe illnesses.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s been a very quiet three-and-a-half years for Ariana Grande — quiet for one of music’s biggest stars, anyway — and a bit of an adjustment for fans. She’d been almost ubiquitous, catapulting into her musical career at a superhuman velocity in 2013 and releasing six albums in just over seven years — a fierce clip for anyone whose name doesn’t include the words Swift or Prince — while touring constantly, launching multimillion-dollar brands, racking up 14 songs with a billion-plus streams on Spotify alone, and establishing herself as one of the most formidable presences on social media.