The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Return With New Music and Tour Dates

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“This is a very special evening for me, for us,” Harry Styles said to a crowd of nearly 20,000 at the UBS Arena on Friday, and to millions over an Apple Music livestream. “We’re in New York City for one night only, and we’ll be playing this new album for you the way it was intended to be heard: From start to finish.”And with a giant neon outline of a house behind in, that’s what Styles and his tightly drilled band did: Premiere his just-released third solo album, “Harry’s House,” at a “One Night Only” concert, an arena-sized album release party offered for Styles’ most devoted fans (even if the title was a little bit of a misnomer: There’s a similar concert taking place in London next week).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAt the first UJA-New York ceremony in three years, LL Cool J, Gayle King and Andy Cohen paid tribute and Maneskin played an acoustic set for Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s influential president and chief content officer, before an audience packed with music-industry brass on Wednesday.Greenstein’s impact and influence was amply demonstrated not only by Maneskin — who flew in specifically for the event from Europe, where they performed on the Eurovision Song Contest over the weekend — but by a tribute video that featured personal messages from Bruce Springsteen, Drake, Jimmy Buffett, Howard Stern, Megyn Kelly, Kevin Hart, Sway, Little Steven and others.Most importantly, the event raised a record $2 million-plus for the United Jewish Appeal, which provides assistance to people in need everywhere from Ukraine and the Middle East to New York and more than 70 countries around the world. Every year, UJA allocates approximately $150 million in grants — and to date has allocated more than $13 million in emergency funds for Ukraine.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLil Nas X will be honored at the long-awaited 51 st annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala next month with the Hal David Starlight Award, which recognizes “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.”Nas, a Sony Music Publishing writer, joins previous honorees Drake, Taylor Swift, Halsey, Sara Bareilles, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Benny Blanco, John Mayer and others. The award, created in 2004, was named in honor of SHOF chairman emeritus Hal David for his support of young songwriters.The ceremony, the first since 2019, is slated for Thursday, June 16 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHarry Styles’ “One Night Only in New York” concert at UBS Arena at Belmont Park this Friday — May 20 — will be available to stream exclusively to Apple Music subscribers in 167 countries around the world, the company has announced.The concert will celebrate his new album “Harry’s House,” which drops that day, “and will see Harry performing songs from the album for the first time ever,” according to the announcement. All tickets for the show were $25 all-in, including taxes and fees, although they are currently going for thousands of dollars on the secondary ticket market.The concert will be available to stream live on Apple Music at 9:00p EST / 6p PST on Friday, May 20th HERE and will encore on May 22nd at 12:00p EST / 9:00a PT / 6:00p CET and on May 26th at 4pm BST / 5pm SGT / 7pm AEST.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNew York City, the Notorious B.I.G.’s hometown, will pay tribute to the late rapper on May 21, which would have been his 50th birthday.On that day, the legendary Empire State Building will change its lights’ color to red and white, with a crown spinning on its mast in honor of the late rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace and who died in 1997 at the age of just 24. The day before, on May 20, the Empire State Building, in partnership with Bad Boy / Atlantic / Rhino Records, will host a ceremony that will include Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace, his children (CJ and Tyanna Wallace), his close friend James Lloyd (Lil’ Cease), and Kimberly Denise Jones (Lil Kim). Other close friends, collaborators, and hip-hop luminaries, that were instrumental in Biggie’s meteoric success and legacy will also be in attendance.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust hours after Kendrick Lamar dropped his long-awaited fifth full-length album, “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,” he’s unveiled dates for a massive tour in support of the album, launching in Oklahoma on July 19 and wrapping in New Zealand five months later.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBMG is ramping up its development of new stage musicals in both the U.S., with its first production “Punk Rock Girl!,” and in Germany, following the successful run of its first musical, “Ku’damm 56.”“Punk Rock Girl!” is the debut developmental theatrical production from BMG in the U.S., in partnership with New York-based theatrical company Lively McCabe Entertainment. It features a score of songs written and made famous by female artists and female-fronted bands from the BMG catalog, including Blondie, P!nk, Avril Lavigne, Pat Benatar and Sleater-Kinney, along with the title song, the Dead Milkmen’s 1988’s “Punk Rock Girl”; the full tracklist appears below.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLos Angeles-based Saudi-Arabian/American singer-rapper-producer $kinny has released his new album, “Have a Nice Trip,” which was executive produced by Swizz Beatz, on Universal Arabic Music.The album features his new single “Salam” with Swizz Beatz and French Montana, the video for which also dropped today (pictured above at the video shoot, L-R, are Swizz, UAM CEO Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, $kinny and Montana).$kinny grew up in Los Angeles as the child of an American mom and Saudi-Arabian dad, and his music is germane to both cultures. Swizz Beatz has been spending a lot of time in the Middle East in recent years, and the match was easy.“It’s crazy, Swizz and I made ‘Salam’ the day we met,” $kinny tells Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust two weeks before the release of his “Harry’s House” third solo album, Harry Styles has announced the dates for “Love on Tour 2022.”Coming off of a sold out 42-date arena tour in 2021 and two special “One Night Only” shows in New York and London, the 2022 tour works the “Harry’s House” theme by turning arenas in New York, Los Angeles (10 nights each), Chicago, Austin (5 nights each) and Toronto (2 nights) into Harry’s de facto house.Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on Monday, August 15th and Tuesday, August 16th at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. Styles will continue his residencies in New York City for ten nights at Madison Square Garden, Austin for five nights at Moody Center, and Chicago for five nights at United Center, before wrapping up at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum for 10 night run concluding on Tuesday, November 15th.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA$AP Rocky has dropped his new single, “D.M.B.” via A$AP Worldwide/Polo Grounds Music/RCA Records — but the headlines will no doubt go to Rihanna, who stars in the video and is making her first appearance in a music-related video in years.The video is described as “an ode to the classic love story,” with Rocky and Rihanna depicting true ride-or-die characters in a devoted relationship despite their circumstances.The video was shot in New York last summer and was written, directed & executive produced by A$AP Rocky for AWGE.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-nominated rapper and Variety Hitmakers cover star Jack Harlow unveiled the tracklist for his second major-label album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You,” on Tuesday — and it includes features from Drake, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell and even a song called “Dua Lipa.”Pharrell guests on a song called “Movie Star,” Drake on “Churchill Downs” (presumably about the horse-racing track in Harlow’s home state of Kentucky), Lil Wayne on “Poison” and Timberlake on one called “Parent Trap” (in which he apparently plays the parent).The album drops Friday (May 6) via Generation Now/Atlantic Records and includes the singles “Nail Tech” and “First Class,” the latter of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last month and boosted streams for Fergie’s 2007 pop hit “Glamorous,” which it samples.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-nominated Colombian music luminaries stars Bomba Estéreo have announced the most extensive headline tour of their career, with 33 dates across North America, Europe and Mexico. Tickets are on sale Friday.The duo recently released the official music video for their single “Tierra.” The video stars Bomba singer Liliana Saumet and Lukas Avendaño, a nonbinary Zapotec indigenous performance artist, and was directed by Fana Adjani.The song is from Bomba’s recent Grammy-nominated album, “Deja.”  “This album has a very special aura,” Bomba’s founder Simon Mejia Simon says.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLong-running indie duo Beach House — who released the sprawling 18-song double album, ‘Once Twice Melody,’ just a few weeks ago — are making their film-scoring debut with Netflix’s “Along for the Ride,” which is described in the announcement as “a sweet summer film based on the popular YA book by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen.” The film arrives on Netflix on Friday.Written and directed by Sofia Alvarez (who wrote the screenplay for both “To All the Boys I’ve Love Before” and its sequel), “Along for the Ride” tells the story of Auden (Emma Pasarow), who’s decided to spend her last summer before college in picturesque Colby Beach, according to the synopsis. While other teens party in the sun, loner Auden spends her time roaming the streets after everyone else is asleep.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorChris Thile, singer-songwriter and virtuoso mandolinist and member of Nickel Creek and the Punch Brothers, will perform a concert to benefit pediatric cancer research at New York’s City Winery on June 1. Billed “Uncorked & Unplugged,” proceeds from the event will support Mount Sinai.Head here for tickets and more information.According to the announcement, “Uncorked & Unplugged continues the tradition of a grand New York bacchanal while raising money for and bringing awareness to cancer research.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have signed a new record deal with Secretly Canadian ahead of the release of new music later this year. This follows the announcement of live shows in the US, the UK and elsewhere.“It’s with true life affirming pleasure to announce our two headline shows in our two hometowns NYC and LA, supported by two wildly gifted bands, Japanese Breakfast and The Linda Lindas at the Hollywood Bowl, with The Linda Lindas supporting in Forest Hills and our other support TBA soon”, says frontwoman Karen O.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFollowing his recent headlining stint at Coachella and his long North American tour last fall, Harry Styles has announced a special “One Night Only in New York” concert at UBS Arena on Long Island on May 20. All tickets will be available for $25 all-in, including taxes and fees.According to the announcement, the show will celebrate his new album “Harry’s House,” which drops that day, “and will see Harry performing songs from the album for the first time ever.”American Express® Card Members have the power to unlock access to Harry Styles tickets for his UBS Arena show by registering for American Express® Early Access powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan*.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have announced details of two upcoming gigs in New York and L.A. as well as confirming new music is due in the fall.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs appear to have shared a snippet of new music while announcing headline shows in New York and Los Angeles.After teasing the gigs over the weekend, the Karen O-led trio have confirmed they’ll take to the stage at NYC’s Forest Hills Stadium on October 1 before visiting the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California on October 6.The Linda Lindas will open for the band on both dates, with Japanese Breakfast also appearing as a special guest in LA. An additional support act for the New York concert is still to be announced.It’ll mark the first time be the first time Yeah Yeah Yeahs have played headline shows in New York and Los Angeles since 2017 and 2018 respectively.Tickets go on general sale at 10am local time this Friday (May 6) – buy yours here.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem to be teasing two US headline shows with the help of a skywriter and lots of tennis balls.Yesterday (May 1) fans in Los Angeles saw that the band’s name had been written by a skywriter over LA venue The Hollywood Bowl, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs then sharing images on social media.The band then shared a picture of tennis balls arranged to spell “YYY” at New York’s Forest Hill Stadium, with fans assuming the band are teasing a pair of US headline concerts.YEAH LA! ☁️

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFrom the Beatles to the Backstreet Boys to Billie and BTS and beyond, the teen-centric pop concert is both timeless and definitively contemporary, from the screaming and sing-along/shout-alongs to the masses of similarly dressed fans — looking almost military in matching merch — to the indulging attendant parents and, these days, the selfies and social overload. And it was the latter, along with the overwhelmingly pre-drinking age audience, that made Olivia Rodrigo’s concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday the most definitively 2020s teen-centric concert of all: a near-total, two-hour-long wi-fi blackout in the venue so extensive that Russia could have launched a cyber attack and most of the crowd would have assumed it was simply due to thousands of kids posting selfies and video.