Month: September 2022

The 2022 Mercury Prize ceremony has been postponed following the announcement that Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday (Sept. 8). The event had been scheduled to take place tonight at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith.

“In light of the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, we are so sorry to announce that we will not be proceeding with this evening’s event as planned,” Mercury Prize shared in a statement.

“Mercury Prize will be communicating with guests and audience members over the coming days,” they added. “We thank you for your understanding at this difficult and sad time.”

The Mercury Prize celebrates the best of British and Irish music across a range of contemporary music genres. Last year, Arlo Parks took the prize for her album Collapsed in Sunbeams.

There is precedent for real life intruding on award shows, necessitating their postponement. In 1968, the Oscars were postponed two days because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The show was originally scheduled for April 8, 1968, which was the day before King’s funeral. The show was pushed back to April 10.

In 1981, the Oscars were postponed a day because of the assassination attempt on President Reagan. The show was originally set for March 30, 1981, but was delayed when Reagan was shot that same day. It was held the next day, when it became clear that he would recover.

In 2001, the Emmys were postponed twice because of events related to 9/11. The show was originally scheduled for Sept. 16, 2001, just five days after the terrorist attacks. It was bumped to Oct. 7, but that date coincided with the state of the war in Afghanistan, forcing a second postponement to Nov. 4, seven weeks later than originally planned.

The 2022 Mercury Prize ceremony was to be hosted by Lauren Laverne and broadcast on BBC Four from 9 p.m.  to 10:15 p.m. BT and on BBC Radio 6 Music from 7 p.m. to midnight.

On July 26, the Mercury Prize identified the 12 albums that were shortlisted for this year’s award, including  Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, Little Simz’s Sometimes I Might be Introvert, Sam Fender’s Seventeen Going Under and an eponymous album by Wet Leg.

Eleven of the 12 nominees were confirmed to perform live at the ceremony. Styles had announced that he was unable to attend. He planned to instead pre-record a performance that would be broadcast during the event.

The 12 shortlisted artists will each receive an album of the year trophy, with the overall winner also receiving a winner’s trophy and a cash prize.

Here are the albums shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize:

• Fergus McCreadie – Forest Floor
• Gwenno – Tresor 
• Harry Styles – Harry’s House
• Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler – For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
• Joy Crookes – Skin
• Kojey Radical – Reason to Smile
• Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
• Nova Twins – Supernova
• Sam Fender – Seventeen Going Under
• Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
• Wet Leg – Wet Leg
• Yard Act – The Overload

Megan Hilty spoke out on Wednesday night (Sept. 7) about the tragic deaths of her sister, brother-in-law and nephew in a seaplane crash off the coast of Washington.

“On Sunday afternoon, a small float plane crashed into Puget Sound off the coast of Whidbey Island.  My beloved sister Lauren, brother-in-law Ross and baby nephew Remy were on that plane,” she wrote alongside sweet photos of the trio on Instagram. “To make this news even more devastating, my sister was eight months pregnant and we were expecting to welcome baby boy Luca into the world next month.

“The last three days have been the worst of our lives. There are truly no words to appropriately convey the depth of our grief,” the Smash alum continued, adding that she only chose to make a public statement because a number of news outlets had “misgendered my sweet nephew and some haven’t even mentioned baby Luca.” She also confirmed in the post that the couple are survived by Remy’s sister, who wasn’t on the plane, and asked for respect in keeping the girl’s identity private.

“It is important these details be corrected to respectfully honor everyone we’ve lost and the loved ones they’ve left behind,” Hilty concluded. “The outpouring of love and support has meant so much to everyone in our family. It has been so comforting to know just how loved Lauren, Ross, Remy and Luca truly are.”

Friends, fans and members of Hilty’s Broadway community rallied around her heartbreaking news in the comments, with Cheyenne Jackson writing, “have not stopped thinking about your family. I love you. I’m here for you.” Eden Espinosa, who starred opposite Hilty in Wicked, also commented: “Surrounding you and every member of your family with love and light. There are no words. Only love my friend.”

According to reports by the U.S. Coast Guard, the flight also contained seven other passengers.

Read Hilty’s full statement below.

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A post shared by Megan Hilty (@meganhilty)

DJ Khaled scores his first No. 1 in his maiden appearance on Billboard‘s faith-based Hot Christian Songs and Hot Gospel Songs charts as “Use This Gospel (Remix),” featuring Kanye West and Eminem, rockets in at the summit of both surveys (dated Sept. 10).

The song also marks Eminem’s first appearance on the spiritual tallies, while West earns his fifth No. 1 on each ranking.

West initially recorded “Use This Gospel,” with his version featuring Clipse and Kenny G. Released on his 2019 album Jesus Is King, it hit No. 3 on Hot Gospel Songs and No. 6 on Hot Christian Songs that November. The set spent logged 67 weeks at No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums and eight frames at No. 1 on Top Christian Albums.

The updated version of the song launches with 8.6 million streams and 4,000 downloads sold in the Aug. 26-Sept. 1 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also blasts in atop the Christian Streaming Songs, Gospel Streaming Songs, Christian Digital Song Sales and Gospel Digital Song Sales charts.

The track is from DJ Khaled’s new album God Did, which opens atop the Sept. 10-dated Billboard 200 with 107,500 equivalent album units, marking his fourth No. 1.

“Use This Gospel (Remix)” is the first No. 1 debut on both Hot Christian Songs and Hot Gospel Songs since West’s “Hurricane” last September.

West’s other leaders on the lists are “Follow God”; “Wash Us in the Blood” featuring Travis Scott; and “Praise God.” “Follow God” is from Jesus Is King, while “Hurricane” and “Praise God” are from West’s 2021 LP Donda, which has dominated Top Gospel Albums for 53 weeks (and counting) and Top Christian Albums for 46 weeks.

Don’t worry, darling: Olivia Wilde did not cheat on Jason Sudeikis with Harry Styles. The 38-year-old actress-director was candid about the timeline of her relationship with her ex-fiancé in a Thursday (Sept. 8) cover story with Vanity Fair, insisting that the engaged couple had parted ways long before Wilde started dating her pop star boyfriend.

“The complete horses–t idea that I left Jason for Harry is completely inaccurate,” she told the magazine. “Our relationship was over long before I met Harry. Like any relationship that ends, it doesn’t end overnight.”

Speculation that there had been overlap between Wilde’s relationships with Sudeikis and the “As It Was” singer began after the Ted Lasso star told GQ last year that he and his ex — with whom he shares kids Otis and Daisy — had called it quits in November of 2020. In January 2021, the Booksmart filmmaker was spotted holding hands with Styles, leading to speculation that the director ended things with her fiance for the musician.

But in her new interview, the House alum said she and Sudeikis had actually broken up toward the beginning of 2020, when the global pandemic started. “Unfortunately, Jason and I had a very bumpy road, and we officially dissolved the relationship towards the beginning of the pandemic,” she shared.

“We were raising two kids during lockdown, so we co-parented through that time,” she continued. “Once it became clear that co-habitating was no longer beneficial for the children, it became the responsible thing to not, because we could be better parents as friends who live in different houses.”

Rumors about her love life weren’t the only thing Wilde addressed in the feature. She also spoke about persistent speculation that she doesn’t get along with her Don’t Worry Darling leading lady Florence Pugh — something that was exacerbated by the cast of the film’s recent reunion at the Venice International Film Festival, during which the two appeared to avoid each other.

“It is very rare that people assume the best from women in power,” she told VF. “I think they don’t often give us the benefit of the doubt. Florence did the job I hired her to do, and she did it exquisitely. She blew me away. Every day I was in awe of her, and we worked very well together.”

“Florence is one of the most in-demand actresses in the universe,” she continued, specifically addressing fans who think Pugh’s lack of promotion for the movie on social media is evidence that the Midsommar star is unhappy with Wilde. “She’s on set on Dune. I gather that some people expect for her to be engaging more on social media. I didn’t hire her to post. I hired her to act.”

“She fulfilled every single expectation I had of her,” Wilde added. “That’s all that matters to me.”

“Everything in my job just feels different now,” says Kane Brown, on the eve of release of his third full-length album, Different Man, out tomorrow (Sept. 9).

For one thing, Brown stepped into the co-producer role for the first time, helping meld the country, pop, R&B, hard rock and hip-hop variants that have vibrated throughout his music since his 2016 eponymous debut studio album, and through its successor Experiment, which bowed atop the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in 2018.

But his new role took a lot of time, patience and willingness to let the music lead. “We went from a demo to a master recording to redoing everything,” he explains. “I was listening to the album and not liking the sounds. For example, with ‘Nothin’ I’d Change,’ I really wanted it to sound like Motown at first. We had a lot of strings on it, but after listening to it, it was way too theatrical. We kept revamping things, working and finding the sound I’ve been looking for, adding in more rock and country sounds and all of that affects how I perform onstage and put my show together.”

Brown is the rare artist who can effortlessly toggle between major country trailblazer (in 2017, Brown became the first artist to simultaneously top all five major Billboard country charts) and pop hitmaker, having collaborated outside the country sphere with hitmakers like Khalid, H.E.R., Becky G and Marshmello. Sony Music Nashville and RCA Records have worked in tandem to promote different songs in different areas, and the work has paid off. On Aug. 28, Brown became the first male country artist to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed another song from the new album, the R&B-soaked “Grand.”

“That meant a lot to me, because that’s been my main focus, to open doors for other artists,” Brown says.

However, Brown first gained an audience through covering primarily songs made popular by neo-traditionalist country artists including Chris Young and Randy Travis. On Different Man, Brown rededicates himself to those early country influences and weaves them throughout the album, as evidenced by his recent eighth Billboard Country Airplay chart leader, “Like I Love Country Music,” which works in ‘90s country sounds (and namechecks). Brown first recorded the song in 2019, then re-entered the studio with producer Dann Huff to include it on Different Man, with guest vocals from Brooks & Dunn. Brown opens and closes the project with odes to his Georgia roots with “Bury Me in Georgia” and “Dear Georgia” (Brown was raised in the rural northern Georgia and the Chattanooga, Tennessee areas).

He also layers his new album with hard-edged songs such as “Riot,” a song he’s held onto since 2015: “That was the first time I met AKON and it was [one of his artists] who had the song and they gave it to me to share on Facebook when I was doing all of that. It kind of went viral but we never released it. The sound is just so crazy to it, and I took it to Dann and he just lifted that rock edge to it — and now I feel like it’s a masterpiece.”

As a biracial artist and a multi-genre hitmaker, Brown also finds himself in a unique position to address topics through his music that are infrequently approached within the modern country music sphere — but it’s through that hard-fought lens that a swath of the population can feel their own stories reflected.

On “Learning” from his debut album, Brown disclosed the childhood abuse, racism and prejudice he’s endured, while also singing about losing friends to drugs and gun violence. “American Bad Dream” from Experiment addressed gun violence, while “For My Daughter” revealed Brown’s dedication to being the best father he can be, after growing up without his own father in his life (Brown’s father has been incarcerated since 1996).

Even “Bury Me in Georgia,” which finds Brown meditating on a final resting place, might seem a curious inclusion for any other artist not having yet reached the age of 30. But as someone who pursued his music career while watching friends lose their lives to drugs and gun violence — and who weathered the death of his friend and drummer Kenny Dixon in a car accident in 2019 — Brown brings a weightiness and wisdom to the lyric.

On Different Man, Brown again addresses his family lineage in “Pop’s Last Name,” this time honoring the maternal grandfather Brown says “was literally the only father figure I really had in my life. He took me to baseball games, took me fishing. He was a really sweet guy, always there for me and stood up for me.”

Brown doesn’t abandon his collaborative penchant on the new project, teaming with Blake Shelton on the title track, an ode to recognizing that some people are just irrevocably drawn to making music, performing and living the artist life.

“I was driving to the gym — that’s where I really have time to think and listen,” he says of bringing in Shelton on the song. “I wanted one more feature on the album, and Blake was the first person I thought of. The song just reminded me of the ‘God’s Country’ kind of Blake Shelton, so I felt like it made sense.”

The project’s other feature is the smooth pop ballad “Thank God,” his first recorded collaboration with his wife Katelyn Brown.

“She doesn’t want to be an artist — she just loves singing,” Brown explains. “She’s always singing around the house and her voice is beautiful. We’ve been looking for songs and probably went through about five of them before we got this one from one of my writers at [publishing company] Verse 2 and it was supposed to be a solo song. We changed it to a duet, and she fell in love this song. Personally, I think it is the biggest song off the record.”

Though collaborations like “What Ifs” with Lauren Alaina and “One Thing Right” with Marshmello have given Brown some of his biggest chart hits, he still harbors more collaborative ambitions. “Honestly, I keep saying my boy Jason Aldean, I’d love to have a song with him,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to do one with Jack Harlow. But honestly, I’m down for whoever as long as it makes sense and we can get something that’s gonna work.”

Brown previously opened shows on Aldean’s 2019 Ride All Night Tour, and says he gleaned wisdom in picking his own tour openers. Later this month, Brown will embark on his international Drunk or Dreaming Tour, which will include his first headlining tour dates in Australia and New Zealand, as well as his return to Canada and Europe. Next year, he will bring the tour stateside, welcoming openers Dustin Lynch, Gabby Barrett and LOCASH.

“I found that out in the early days when I was on tour with Aldean — the importance of having artists out with you that have similar fanbases, but also artists that you can really hang with, before or after the show,” Brown says.

Given his new collaboration with his wife Katelyn, Brown says fans can expect to hear them perform “Thank God” during his upcoming shows. Under the name Katelyn Jae, she previously recorded pop songs including 2014’s “24KT.” The couple first met in 2015, while Katelyn was living in Orlando.

“We’ll have a nanny that can watch the kids while they are sleeping, and then Katelyn can be onstage and sing with me,” he says. “We’ll do ‘Thank God,’ and she’ll sing Lauren’s part on ‘What Ifs.’ Katelyn hasn’t done anything musically since she left Orlando, so we just gotta get her bearings, like learning how to use the in-ears [monitors] onstage. She’s never used those before.”

Beyond his own hit songs, Brown has steadily worked to build his musical empire. Brown is signed to Sony Music Nashville and worked with the company to launch his own label imprint, 1021 Entertainment, last year. He followed with the launch of Verse 2 (in conjunction with Sony Music Publishing Nashville and longtime music publishing executive Kent Earls). His first signing to 1021 Entertainment was Restless Road (Brown previously worked with the trio’s members during a stint on The X Factor, and they opened for his 2019 tour), while his writer roster at Verse 2 includes “One Mississippi” co-writer Levon Gray, as well as Josh Hoge (“One Thing Right,” “Used to Love You Sober”) and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Rivers Rutherford.

“We’re just sticking to it and even with Restless Road right now, it’s been a bit of a grind,” Brown says. “They came in during this pandemic and they finally got their first song out to country radio [“Growing Old With You”], which was a huge step forward. I do think we kind of messed up taking a slow song [to radio] in the summer, but the song was amazing and they still get crazy feedback. We’re working on new music and getting them out on the road with other artists and just pushing forward,” he says. He’s also evolving his business ventures beyond music, having recently begun a management relationship with boxer Ryan Martin.

“Jake Paul and Logan Paul and the whole TikTok thing were really getting boxing underway,” Brown says. “My buddy Ryan reached out to me and I signed him and just wanted to help him with connections and things.”

For now, though, Brown’s predominant focus is returning to the road, bringing new music to fans, and ultimately, broadening and diversifying country music’s listenership.

“I just love bringing different fanbases together that you would never see together,” Brown says. “The key is that I’m not forcing anything. It just makes sense for me.

Megan Thee Stallion and Christopher “YC” Pearson tied as songwriter of the year at the 2022 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, held at LIV Nightclub Miami Beach on Wednesday (Sept. 7).

Each songwriter co-wrote three of BMI’s most performed R&B/hip-hop songs. Megan Thee Stallion co-wrote her hits “Body,” “Cry Baby” and “Thot Shit.” YC co-wrote Moneybagg Yo’s “Time Today” and “Wockesha” and Pooh Shiesty’s “Back in Blood” (featuring Lil Durk).

The private event was hosted by Mike O’Neill, BMI president and CEO, and Catherine Brewton, BMI vice president, creative (Atlanta).

The award for song of the year went to the Justin Bieber smash “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and GIVĒON.  Five of the song’s co-writers — Caesar, GIVĒON, Bernard “HARV” Harvey, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr. (Shndō) and Andrew Watt — are signed with BMI. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1.

Sony Music Publishing received BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop publisher of the year for representing 20 of the previous year’s most performed songs including “Peaches,” Polo G’s “Rapstar,” Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy” (featuring Future and Young Thug) and Gunna’s “Lemonade” (with Internet Money featuring Don Toliver & Nav).

D’Mile was presented with producer of the year for his work on Silk Sonic’s “Smokin Out the Window,” “Skate” and “Leave the Door Open,” as well as “Fair Trade” by Drake and Travis Scott.

Top producer citations also went to ATL Jacob, Rogét Chahayed, Isaac “Zac” De Boni, Charlie Handsome, Michael “Finatik” Mulé and Kanye West.

As previously announced, Busta Rhymes was named a BMI Icon for his “defining impact on hip-hop and for mentoring the next generation of talent.”

A video tribute was shown featuring comments from Janet Jackson, Lil Wayne, Missy Elliott, Fat Joe and Mariah Carey. Called to the stage, Pharrell Williams said that he felt “honored to be in the presence of someone who had the courage to be so different … and still does today.”

On receiving the honor, Rhymes commented, “We’re all blessed with this gift. It’s one thing to identify with the gift, it’s another thing to believe in it once you identify with it.” He went on to say, “The most beautiful part about it is I earned this … I’ve never been celebrated as an icon before, but I never had to question whether I was one.”

Rhymes then performed a hit medley including “Break Ya Neck,” “Scenario” and “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” with longtime friend and collaborator Spliff Star and DJ Scratchator. Pharrell closed the night by joining Rhymes for a performance of “Pass the Courvoisier.”

As the 2022 BMI Icon, Busta Rhymes joins an elite group of music creators who have received BMI’s highest honor. Among them: Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Nile Rodgers, Snoop Dogg, The Jacksons, LA Reid, Babyface, Al Green, Isaac Hayes and James Brown.

During the celebration, BMI recognized the top producers and songwriters of the previous year’s 35 top-performing R&B/hip-hop songs in the BMI repertoire in the U.S. BMI notes that the writers on these songs included 64 first-time winners.

DJ Khaled welcomed the audience, while DJ Nasty performed throughout the evening. Soul trap singer and rapper Morray performed his songs “Bad Situations” and “Quicksand.” Nigerian singer/songwriter and producer Pheelz performed “Electricity” and his viral hit, “Finesse.”

To see a complete list of winners, visit BMI.com.