Month: November 2022

Country music fans are getting an early holiday gift! Tanya Tucker is set to star in the movie A Nashville Country Christmas, which will premiere Monday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. ET via Paramount Network, with a simulcast on CMT.

Tucker portrays a country music singer who is overwhelmed with her work on an over-the-top Hollywood production and seeks respite by retreating to her grandmother’s Tennessee farm. However, she also finds much-needed reconnection on several levels, from rekindling a romance with an ex-lover, returning to her own musical roots, and discovering a unique familial bond when she realizes three children who have outsmarted the local foster care system are instead residing at the family’s property.

In addition to Tucker, the cast includes Keith Carradine, Ana Oritz and Olivia Sanabia. Tucker also serves as an executive producer on the project, alongside Stephanie Slack, Margret Huddleston, Ali Spuck and Kristofer McNeeley.

“It’s amazing that after 50 years in this business, I get to see my dreams become reality! And being part of A Nashville Country Christmas is definitely one of them,” Tucker said in a statement. “I’ve always wanted to do more acting, and it was a gift from the good Lord when this role came along. I can’t wait for everyone to enjoy the movie this season.”

The film was produced by Andrew Gernhard and Dustin Rikert, and directed by Ashley Williams. For MTV Entertainment Studios, executive producers include Trevor Rose, Leslie Fram, Amal Baggar, Andrew Lutin and Donny Hugo Herran.

An encore presentation of A Nashville Country Christmas will air Sunday, Dec. 25, at 11 a.m. ET on CMT.

The romantic holiday movie is the latest film project for two-time CMA Award winner Tucker, who recently teamed with Brandi Carlile for the documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker, which chronicles Tucker’s five decades in the music industry, as well as the making of her Grammy-winning album While I’m Livin’ (produced by Carlile and Shooter Jennings). Over the years, Tucker has also appeared in several TV movies and series, including 1979’s The Rebels and 1981’s The Love Boat. In 2005, she starred in and served as executive producer for the reality series Tuckerville.

Watch the official trailer for A Nashville Country Christmas below:

Riding off the wave of a top-charting album (De Adentro Pa Afuera), Billboard Español cover love, and a handful of Latin Grammy nominations to boot, Camilo arrived on late-night television on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Tuesday (Nov. 29).

The mustachioed Colombian artist was joined by his wife, Venezuelan singer and actress Evaluna Montaner, to sing their charming pop duet “Índigo,” which is also, sweetly, the name of their daughter. The performance opened up with its characteristic sunny electric guitar riff, and backed by mid-tempo drumming, but adding more acoustic guitar jangle than the original recorded version.

Camilo arrived barefoot as usual in green boho-styled pants, and Evaluna was clad in a black one-piece with colorful embroidered butterflies. Together, their vocals created beautiful harmony. “How can you dream about someone you have never even met?/ I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’ve been dreaming about you for a long time now,” they sang in Spanish.

“That process of being with Indigo from inside to outside began to generate a bunch of feelings inside me that I didn’t know I had. And seeing them made me immortalize them in songs,” Camilo told Billboard Español in September. “It was a process of, ‘Go downstairs, look at Evaluna’s belly, write a song; go downstairs, look at Evaluna’s belly and play guitar.’ They were some of the prettiest days in my life.”

“Índigo” is the first single from his third album, and the tune premiered in October of last year. Yet there is somewhat of a déjà vu moment going on with the late-night appearance. On Nov. 6, 2021, Camilo and his wife joined the late-night-show stage — but with the other Jimmy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Since then, the track has received many accolades. The pop ballad peaked at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Latin Pop Airplay chart, reached No. 21 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, and No. 16 on Latin Airplay. “Índigo” also won best couple song at Premios Juventud 2022, and was nominated for song of the year at the 2022 Latin Grammys.

With the continued rise of Latin music, more and more Latin music performers are making their way to late-night talk shows. This year, viewers saw Sebastian Yatra and Becky G on Kimmel, as well as Rauw Alejandro, Rosalía, Maluma, Anitta rock the screen. For the complete list of all the Latin artists on late-night TV in 2021 and 2022, check out this list.

Watch Camilo and Evaluna’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! above.

Chuu is no longer a member of the K-pop girl group LOONA, and the events surrounding the exit have raised eyebrows in Korea’s media and music industry.

BlockBerryCreative, the K-pop girl group’s label, announced through LOONA’s online “fan cafe” on Friday that Chuu had been expelled and withdrawn from the 12-member outfit. The fan cafe post is only available to subscribers of the Korean site, but local media widely shared the news and statement. In the report, the agency cited an investigation that found Chuu using “violent language” and “misuse of power toward staff” (as shared by translations from Soompi).

BlockBerryCreative and Chuu’s relationship has been a source of concern among fans and prone to media speculation in the past year.

In the spring, rumors surfaced that Chuu took legal action in 2021 to cut parts of her exclusive contract with BlockBerryCreative. By summertime, the stories evolved to Chuu joining a new management label and setting up her own agency. BlockBerryCreative denied any management changes. Still, the 23-year-old did not participate in LOONA’s world tour that visited North America, Europe and Asia from August to October this year or their recent Japanese single “Luminous.” Chuu has stayed busy, with many television appearances, growing a YouTube channel, and releasing solo singles as LOONA’s most visible member.

In the spring, Chuu was rumored to have taken legal action in 2021 to cut parts of her exclusive contract with BlockBerryCreative. By summertime, the stories ranged from Chuu joining a new management label to setting up an agency all on her own. BlockBerryCreative denied that she was transferring management. Still, the 23-year-old did not take part in LOONA’s world tour that visited North America, Europe and Asia from August to October of this year, or their recent Japanese single “Luminous.” Chuu has stayed busy, with many television appearances, growing a YouTube channel and releasing solo singles as LOONA’s most visible member.

On Nov. 28, BlockBerryCreative followed up with another statement saying that the expulsion was not in retaliation. The label said it’s up to the parties involved to share specific evidence. It asked the media to refrain from speculative reporting, after noting articles that doubted BlockBerryCreative’s claims and intentions.

Billboard repeatedly reached out to a BlockBerryCreative representative for comment as the stories unfolded. The rep confirmed Chuu’s removal from LOONA and pointed to previously shared statements.

Several K-pop stars and industry professionals have shown public support for Chuu. Singer Sunmi posted a selfie of her with Chuu after the expulsion news dropped, while Korean music journalist Joy Park shared her memories of Chuu and a signed LOONA album on her Twitter account. Kim Do Heon, another Korean music critic, criticized BlockBerryCreative’s statement through a Twitter post.

For her part, Chuu shared a short statement through an Instagram Story post. On Monday, the star wrote that she was not contacted about nor does she know anything about the recent events. She shared that she would release another statement soon but told fans she hadn’t done anything they would disapprove of.

Another report surfaced on Monday saying that nine of the remaining 11 LOONA members (Heejin, Haseul, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Go Won and Olivia Hye) were taking legal action to break their contracts with BlockBerryCreative. The agency dismissed the rumor. A BlockBerryCreative representative told Billboard that the report is “groundless.”

LOONA (whose Korean name translates to “Girl of the Month”) began their journey in 2016 with the ambitious plan of introducing each member with her own solo music and splinter units between the members before all 12 members finally came together in August 2018 for the [+ +] EP. LOONA has since earned multiple entries on World Albums and even sent their [12:00] album to the Billboard 200. The group hit No. 1 on World Digital Song Sales with their songs “365” and “Shake It” and also became one of the few K-pop acts to enter the Pop Airplay chart with an English single, “Star.”

Jessie James Decker recently enjoyed a vacation in Mexico with her family, and like many parents, shared some adorable photos of her kids having fun in the sun on Instagram. However, the “I Still Love You” singer received some backlash, with critics claiming that she photoshopped the children’s visible abs or even accusing her and husband Eric Decker of “overtraining” their kids.

In a follow-up post on Monday (Nov. 28), Jessie addressed the “bonkers” accusations. “Being accused of photoshopping abs on my kids (I can’t help but laugh) or … the polar opposite over ‘overtraining’ our kids makes me realize how bizarre our world has gotten regarding the body and what’s normal and what’s not,” she captioned a series of videos of the couple’s three children — eight-year-old Vivianne, seven-year-old Eric Jr. and four-year-old Forrest — playing outside on the same vacation.

“We preach about body positivity and acceptance but my kids having a mass amount of genetic and built muscle from athletics is ‘weird’?” she continued. “I want to raise my kids to feel proud of their bodies and hard work from either Vivis elite competitive gymnastics to Eric Jr wanting to be like dad as an NFL receiver to little Forrest who spends hours dancing his heart out. Let’s not pick and choose what we normalize regarding bodies and be accepting of all people and children. If we wanna do ‘better’ then do better. I’m proud of my children and encourage them to live their dreams. So we’ll see y’all at the 2032 Olympics, and wearing Bubbys jersey in the stands and dancing at Forrests rock concert.”

Jessie’s husband and NFL wide receiver Eric commented on the post in support, writing, “U get mama bear [raised hands emoji] [lion emoji].”

See her post below.