Ringo Starr Talks New Beatles Track and Turning 83 at Peace-Loving Birthday Celebration

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If you came into the “Barbie” film cold, expecting that if any song was going to get the most play, it might be Aqua’s “Barbie World,” you had a surprise coming. Turns out Barbie is a huge Indigo Girls fan — or, at least like a million women and some men before her, she likes to belt along with the 1989 folk-rock smash “Closer to Fine” in the car. The song pops up three times over the course of the blockbuster film, guaranteeing that there is going to be a huge resurgence in the real world of people singing about going “to see the doctor of philosophy,” even if they’re actually on their way to the beach.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ready to expand your theatergoing experience to encompass “Scottieheimer”? Hip-hop artist Travis Scott has a feature film going into theaters this weekend. He announced the release of “Circus Maximus” through a tweet (or rather, an X), revealing poster art of himself on a motorcycle and taking writer-director credit, although a release about the film also lists five other famous names as “additional directors”: Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding-Refn, Harmony Korine, Valdimar Jóhannsson and Kahlil Joseph.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Pop-jazz singing legend Tony Bennett died July 24 at age 96, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease seven years earlier. His 75-year career followed a classic three-act structure: a rise through the 1950s and early ‘60s that culminated in his biggest hit, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in 1962; the loss of pop opportunities as rock took over, resulting in deeper explorations into jazz; and a return to superstardom in the 1990s as he won the album of the year Grammy for “MTV Unplugged.” Actually, “we had a fourth act, with Lady Gaga, that lasted 10 years,” says his son, Danny Bennett. Danny became his dad’s manager in 1986 and oversaw one of the great comebacks in music, which ended with Bennett and Gaga taping a final special at Radio City Music Hall on his 95th birthday.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Four senior executives at Interscope Geffen A&M just got a little more senior, as the company has boosted four execs that have already proven integral up to the president or general manager level. The promotions find Michelle An being named president of creative strategy; Gary Kelly becoming general manager of Interscope and EVP and chief revenue officer of Interscope Geffen A&M; and new roles for Sam Riback and Nicole Wyskoarko as presidents of A&R, with the former exec assigned to pop and rock genres and the latter charged with on urban music. John Janick, chairman-CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, said in a statement: “Each of these four executives has played an integral role in propelling Interscope Geffen A&M to become one of the most consistently successful music and culture companies in the world. In doing so, they and the amazing teams that they lead have made IGA a magnet for some of the world’s most talented artists. These promotions recognize their innumerable contributions and ensure our success for years to come.”

Ringo Starr has shared his thoughts on the upcoming “Last” Beatles song, which has been created by Paul McCartney using help from artificial intelligence.The track was first teased by McCartney last month during an interview with Radio 4’s Today Programme when he revealed that he’d used AI to help him finish a “final” Beatles song.According to the legendary songwriter and bassist, the new technology allowed him to “extricate” John Lennon’s vocals from an old demo track, and complete the song over four decades since the Beatles musician’s death.Now, following a mixed reaction from fans at the idea of the song, which is suspected to be the unreleased 1978 track ‘Now And Then’, the band’s former drummer Starr has shared his thoughts on the project, saying that the final result sounds “beautiful”.Speaking in an interview with Variety, the musician clarified that the song is made using authentic recordings from the time and that fans needn’t worry about the whole thing being reliant on artificial intelligence.“It’s not down to AI,” he said. “It’s not like we’re pretending anything.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s not many tours that take a complete left turn from the style, content and tone of how they started with just a few dates left on the itinerary before everyone heads home. That’s coasting time. Yet that’s exactly what happened with the final six shows on Elvis Costello & the Imposters’ “We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday Tour,” where no one who saw any of the first 17 gigs on the outing would have much recognized how things transpired in the final half-dozen. It was all due to the transformative presence of a three-man horn section, which the advertising had accurately promised would only be showing up for the tour coda. What was unexpected was just how thoroughly Costello retooled the whole show to build it around these new brass arrangements, discarding certain set staples and adding new ones to show just what different flavors could be realized with horns o’ plenty.

Thania Garcia Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music rights company, has requested aid from the United States Congress to combat copyright infringement by people using and developing new AI technology. Jeffery Harleston, UMG’s general counsel/executive vice president of business and legal affairs, spoke as a witness in a Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12 and called for a federal “right of publicity” — the intellectual property right that shields a person’s likenesses such as their voice and name (some states already follow this guideline but Harleston is arguing for a nationwide statute). According to a report by Music Business Worldwide, the company also requested copyright owners should have awareness of AI training models and that all “AI-generated content” should be labeled as such.

A woman was arrested Thursday in New York City in connection to the suspected fentanyl overdose death of Robert De Niro's grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Fox News Digital has learned. Sophia Haley Marks, 20, allegedly sold Rodriguez drugs before he was found dead July 2 in his Manhattan apartment, according to a law enforcement source.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jung Kook launched his first major solo single, “Seven,” at the stroke of midnight ET Friday morning, as promised. It came with a surprise that was unpromised: the appearance of one of the hottest female rappers of our day, Latto, making a featured appearance on the track. The lyrics talk about some hot action that is due to go down between the two, but the music, however, high-energy, feels deeply chill. In other words, it feels designed to be a late entry in the “songs of the summer” derby. In an email interview with Variety, Jung Kook acknowledges the summery vibe but sounds almost surprised to hear a hit-status projection for the tune, as if this crossed his mind about the Andrew Watt/Cirkut co-written and -produced track belatedly. “I honestly didn’t have a huge goal in mind, but since you said that, I’d be ecstatic if it becomes a ‘hit,'” he says.

The Eagles aren’t “takin’ it easy” on their 2023 farewell tour.After announcing there would be 13 concerts on their ‘Long Goodbye Tour,’ the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers just added six new dates to their fall run of shows with special guest Steely Dan.That includes a second show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill and Glenn Frey’s son Deacon Frey will now play back-to-back nights at MSG on Thursday, Sept.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is not just a one-day streaming wonder. Yes, it did hit the highest single-day numbers for Spotify so far this year when it came out Friday. But as of Monday evening, not quite 96 hours into the new album’s release, Swift is so thoroughly dominating the streaming world that she holds 23 of the top 50 slots on the Spotify U.S. Top 50. That includes all 22 of the newly released songs, plus the resurgent “Cruel Summer.” Her domination is nearly that complete globally, too. On Spotify’s Global Top 50 at the same hour Monday night, Swift held down a third of that chart’s 50 spots, with 17 songs represented.

Robert De Niro attended the funeral for his grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez on Friday, five days after the 19-year-old tragically died in New York City. The 79-year-old actor was accompanied by his girlfriend Tiffany Chen and their 3-month-old daughter Gia for the service at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Jarvis Cocker decided to pay tribute to a Beatles legend during Pulp's Friday night headline slot at TRNSMT.

Paul McCartney befuddled Beatles fans last month when he announced the band would be releasing a record featuring the late John Lennon, with the help of artificial intelligence.  "When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record it was a demo that John had – that we worked on and we just finished it up – it'll be released this year. We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do," he told BBC Radio 4's Today show. Fans began questioning why the Beatles would do such a thing, sharing their disdain on social media.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Sorry, Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy: Marjorie has stolen the show again. Not that Taylor Swift’s beloved grandmother actually puts in a vocal appearance from the great beyond, as she did on the “Evermore” album three years ago. But Marjorie Finlay still manages to be a dominative force in the Vault Tracks for the newly released “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” by having her photos appear throughout the lyric video for the closing track, “Timeless,” and having her relationship with Taylor’s granddad be a focus of the inspirational ballad. Twenty-first-century pop-punk or emo can hardly compete with that emotional a capper. But for those less sentimentally inclined, Paramore’s singer and Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump will be way up there in what Swift fans immediately take away from the six previously unheard compositions that have been appended to the previous 16-track running order of 2010’s “Speak Now.” The duet with Williams, “Castles Crumbling,” is particularly pungent, as a lament that just about could have been an outtake from the more recent “Folklore” or “Evermore” instead of an album that came out a full decade before those. As for the FOB-aided track, it’s the farthest thing from a Swift classic. But — having been written, like the rest of these tracks, when the artist was 18 or 19 — the number does hark back to an era when girls (and Fall Out Boys) could just wanna have fun.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Leading into the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” one of the hottest topics of speculation among Taylor Swift fans and observers was whether she might change a specific line in “Better Than Revenge” that some felt had not dated well since the original recording came out in 2010. The conjecture was on point: She indeed rewrote the lyric in question for the 2023 version. For the last 13 years, a particularly quotable diss line stood as: “She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.” In “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version),” the line has been rewritten to: “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The 2024 Grammy race may have just gotten a shakeup. Jon Batiste, who dominated the 2022 awards with his breakout album “We Are,” has announced a followup, “World Music Radio,” set to come out Aug. 18 on Verve/Interscope. Among the guests on the album is Lana Del Rey, returning the favor from Batiste’s recent appearance on two tracks on her “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” release earlier this year. Their collaboration, “Life Lesson,” is listed as a bonus track wrapping up the 21-song release, but is likely to be the most anticipated track, however it’s billed. Other guests include Lil Wayne on “Uneasy,” Kenny G on “Clair De Lune,” Native Soul on “Raindance,” Leigh-Anne on “Running Away,” Jon Bellion and Fireboy DML on “Drink Water,” Rita Payés on “My Heart,” Heroes on “Movement 18′” and Michael Batiste on “Call Now (504-305-8269).”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Is it heresy to say that one of the greatest albums of all time just got a little bit better, 57 years after the fact? Possibly, but it doesn’t feel like too strong a statement to make after hearing the just-released Dolby Atmos mix of the Beach Boys’ 1966 classic “Pet Sounds,” as played back in one of the most state-of-the-art Dolby rooms in the world. It’s going to sound different under other listening circumstances, of course, whether the spatially immersive mix is being heard in a home with dozens of carefully calibrated speakers or through one of the all-in-one Atmos boxes that are now coming out. But what’s almost certain is that any status Brian Wilson’s masterpiece might’ve had as your own personal pet project is only going to be elevated with a lusher and richer audio interpretation of the work.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Who wouldn’t want to sing Kelly-oke to a brand new Kelly Clarkson album? But just be prepared to go to a few darker places, as some of the deeply confessional songs on “Chemistry” come up, many of them prompted by her 2020 divorce from Brandon Blackstock and the events that led up to it. Even if she insists that she put some of the most baldly personal songs she wrote away in a drawer, what’s left is still altogether autobiographical, having been written during some of her darkest days roughly three years ago. Not that it’s entirely daunting stuff; Clarkson made sure to include some songs harking further back in her relationship, before the chemistry went sour, to cover the heat generated in the early stages of a relationship, too. She joined Variety via Zoom to discuss the full arc of what “Chemistry” covers.

little help from AI — but just a little.Paul McCartney has responded to the speculation about the use of artificial intelligence in the Beatles’ upcoming song.McCartney, 81, told the BBC that “the final Beatles album” will be released later this year — using AI technology to “extricate” John Lennon’s voice from a previously unheard track.“It was a demo that John had that we worked on, and we just finished it up, it’ll be released this year,” he said in his initial announcement on June 12. “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you would normally do.”With AI being at the center of much concern and debate, many fans jumped to conclusions and assumed that the technology was being used to generate fabricated vocals from the late Lennon.McCartney took to social media to ensure his fans that nothing was fabricated.“Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year,” he tweeted.“We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it.