Watch BTS Perform ‘Dynamite’ and More, Live on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFoo Fighters, Miley Cyrus, Dave Matthews, the Roots, Brittany Howard, G-Eazy, Leon Bridges, YG, Finneas and Phoebe Bridgers are just some of the 35 acts who will perform at the #SOSFEST, a three-day virtual music festival to spread awareness of the $10 billion Save Our Stages Act currently before Congress, and raise funds for independent venues that are the beneficiaries of the act — if it passes.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJason Isbell, Kiiara, Jade Bird and many other artists will perform at Sound Mind Live, a virtual music festival in celebration of World Mental Health Day taking place on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m.

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.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn a week when nearly everything you read makes you wince, duck or want to run, here’s a bunch of songs that both reflect and offer refuge from the trainwreck of 2020.Two songs that reflect this reality have already been covered in Variety’s virtual pages this week: Maren Morris’ brave and conscience-tugging “Better Than We Found It,” a clear call from a new mom to take this moment to reflect on the decisions we’re making today and what they’ll mean for future

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMariah Carey has always been about control: over her career, sure, but also over her extraordinary voice, which is her greatest asset as a performer. And that voice is in full bloom on “The Rarities,” her new compilation of previously unreleased and low-profile B-sides.Although releasing an album of rarities and outtakes can be like sharing baby pictures with the world, based on the evidence presented here, Mariah never really had much of an awkward stage.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music Publishing and Lava Media have announced a new business relationship that sees Primary Wave making an investment in the Lava Media businesses, including the “Lava Music” and “Lava for Good” podcasts, and providing marketing and branding support for the podcasts as well as access to Primary Wave’s roster of artists and writers.In addition, Lava will work closely with Primary Wave on new publishing signings and catalog acquisitions and will

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLil Yachty was arrested and charged with driving more than 150 mph down an Atlanta interstate, according to the city’s WSB-TV.Yachty (real name: Miles McCollum), was pulled over on Sept. 21 on the Downtown Connector near University Avenue in Atlanta.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorK-pop titans BTS have announced the release of their new album “BE (Deluxe Edition)” slated for November 20.According to the announcement, “The new album imparts a message of healing to the world by declaring, ‘Even in the face of this new normality, our life goes on.’”It also notes that “For this album in particular, the septet took a step further and was involved not only in the music making process, but also in the overall production: concept, composition,

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 EditorSuperstar DJ Tiesto, alt-rock group Fitz & the Tantrums, bluegrass artist Billy Strings and funk-jam band Lotus will perform concerts from Red Rocks Amphitheater that will be livestreamed in 4K via Nugs.net, from Thursday to Sunday this week.There will be an “extremely limited number” of in-person tickets made available for purchase via axs.com and redrocksonline.com and in strict accordance with venue and local government safety guidelines, according to the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs the first major pandemic awards show, the 2020 Emmys were fascinating and numbing, joyous and sad, unprecedented in most ways and, to our lockdown-dulled senses, all too familiar in others.While Jimmy Kimmel made many jokes about the situation in his audience-less (and thankless) role as host, if there was one person who made the viewing audience feel like she was performing in an arena filled with people, it was Grammy-winning R&B singer H.E.R., who delivered a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBTS and NPR announced on Sunday that the K-pop titans will be performing on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series on Monday, Sept. 20 at 9 a.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSO. MANY.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio of Phish and many more will perform tonight (Thursday, Sept. 17) at SummerStage Jubilee, a free benefit concert supporting City Parks Foundation’s programs in parks, taking place via livestream at 8 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn a focused media blast, former R.E.M.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Tuesday, October 13, legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders will perform at a special concert livestreamed from Zebulon in Los Angeles to celebrate his 80th birthday. Called “Another Trip Around the Sun,” the concert will see Sanders joined by Azar Lawrence on sax, John Beasley on keyboards, Tony Austin on drums and Sekou Bunch on bass.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter a pandemic-induced delay and several production shutdowns and rescheduling, singer-songwriter and “Power” star Rotimi presents his official video for “In My Bed,” featuring Wale. The clip is steamy but reps assure that safety protocols for talent and crew were strictly followed.“This record has been a blessing for me and I felt like the fans deserved a classic visual to tell the story,” Rotimi says.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNew York City venue (Le) Poisson Rouge is launching LPR.tv, a subscription-based service through which they will livestream concerts held in their downtown venue (without an audience) in high-definition video with full production and soundboard audio.The venue has booked an impressive array of indie-leaning artists for LPR.tv’s inaugural lineup, including Cults, Kimbra, Sunflower Bean, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), San Fermin,  Kevin Devine, Son Little, Laraaji, Too Many

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUPDATED: Kanye West launched a new social-media campaign to gain control of the rights to his recorded music and publishing on Monday night, claiming “I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract[s]” with his record company, Universal Music Group, and his publisher, Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJ Balvin, Ellie Goulding, FKA twigs, Grimes, Matt Healy from the 1975 and Chaeyoung from Twice are all starring in the new season of Google Arts & Culture’s Art Zoom series, which takes viewers on a guided tour of some of the world’s most famous masterpieces through the narration of famous musicians.Through Google’s “gigapixel” Art Camera — a robotic camera custom-made to create the highest possible resolution images of paintings — users can zoom into an artwork at