Month: May 2023

Following Tina Turner’s death at age 83 on Wednesday (May 24), Angela Bassett took to Instagram to share a heartbreaking tribute to the musical icon.

“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world? Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like,” the actress wrote alongside a photo of the duo laughing.

Bassett portrayed the rock n’ roll trailblazer in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do With It, which secured her a best actress Academy Award nomination in 1994. In her post, the star shared the heartwarming “final words” Turner shared with her. “You never mimicked me. Instead, you reached deep into your soul, found your inner Tina, and showed her to the world,” Bassett said “The Best” singer told her, adding, “I shall hold these words close to my heart for the rest of my days. I am honored to have known Tina Turner. I am humbled to have helped show her to the world. So on today, while we mourn the loss of this iconic voice and presence, she gave us more than we could have ever asked. She gave us her whole self.”

Turner’s official Instagram account confirmed the news of her death in a statement earlier in the day. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow,” the caption read. “Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”

See below for Bassett’s tribute.

BeachLife Ranch organizer Allen Sanford promised attendees a more country-oriented festival in 2023, only to throw fans a curveball with the announcement of Jack Johnson as a headliner for Beachlife Ranch, coming to Redondo Beach, Calif., Sept. 22-24, during the fourth annual staging of his mainstay Beachlife festival last month.

While Johnson is massively popular in the surfer’s paradise locale known regionally as the South Bay — a beach region of Los Angeles that runs along the Santa Monica Bay from Palos Verdes to Playa del Rey — he’s not exactly known for singing about pickup trucks or Tulsa honky tonks. Sanford later told Billboard that Johnson was a longtime bucket-list booking and that additional artists from Nashville and the Americana and Outlaw genres would be announced in the following weeks.

Earlier Wednesday (May 24), Sanford delivered on the promise with a lineup featuring Nashville royalty Wynonna Judd and Brad Paisley, who is headlining the last night of the festival. The lineup includes “Hippies and Cowboys” outlaw Cody Jinks, Georgia southern rockers Blackberry Smoke, popular Americana band Avett Brothers, and legendary producer Shooter Jennings, who is reviving the legacy of the famed Highwaymen, which included his late father Waylon Jennings. Sanford also booked Keb’ Mo’, The Brothers Comatose, Chris Isaak, Parmalee, Easton Corbin, Colbie Caillat, The Marshall Tucker Band, Amanda Shires and more.

BeachLife’s exclusive dining SideStage Experience, which provides fans the opportunity to be seated onstage (literally) and served a delicious meal from a celebrity chef while their favorite musicians perform, will also be a core element of BeachLife Ranch and this year will incorporate a Southern flair, featuring smoked meats and BBQ options. The festival grounds will also host art installations, on-site activations highlighting various philanthropic causes, eco-friendly and sustainable initiatives, as well as brand partner gifting and local boutique shopping.

Three-day and Weekend Warrior passes are available for general admission, GA+, VIP and higher-end Outlaw and Admiral Passes are on sale now at BeachLifeRanch.com. GA tickets are available now starting at $299 (plus fees) for a 3-day pass. All ages are welcome and children ages 6 and under are free with ticketed adult. For detailed descriptions of ticket options, please visit: www.beachliferanch.com/ticket-types. 

I had the good fortune to interview Tina Turner in February 1984 when her remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” was climbing the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The interview ran in the Feb. 25, 1984, issue under the headline “Tina Turner Rocks Back Into Top 40.”

Turner’s remake of “Let’s Stay Together,” which climbed from No. 38 to No. 34 that week, was her first top 40 hit since Ike & Tina’s “Nutbush City Limits” in late 1973. And Turner was then in the midst of a 40-date British tour. So, she was already doing well.

But she could not possibly have imagined how big her comeback would be. On Feb. 26, 1985, almost exactly one year after we spoke, she won three Grammys, including record of the year for “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

Turner credited her improved fortunes to changes she had made in her career, including signing for management with Roger Davies, who was then best known for guiding the career of Olivia Newton-John.  She had decided to focus on rock’n’roll, which was unusual for a woman of color – and a woman of a certain age (Turner was 45 at the time).

“I changed my band and changed a lot of the songs,” she said. “I was doing a high-energy Vegas type of show, because I was working a lot of clubs. I changed that and made it more rock’n’roll. I got into a lot of the rock’n’roll clubs, and a result my audience is getting younger and younger.”  

Turner also attributed her rediscovery by rock fans to recent pairings with The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. Turner performed duets with Mick Jagger during The Stones’ 1981 tour and also appeared with Stewart at a 1982 concert that was televised worldwide via satellite.

Though the door to Turner’s comeback was opened by a remake of an R&B classic, rock’n’roll is where her heart was.

“My stage performance is basically rock’n’roll,” she said. “I’m more comfortable with it; the energy is good and I like the words. I don’t really want to do R&B right now. I can’t say that I won’t go back to it, because it’s my roots. I just like to sing uptempo things. I’m very optimistic now.”

“Let’s Stay Together” was only the seventh top 40 hit of Turner’s career, which stretched back nearly 24 years to Ike & Tina Turner’s breakthrough hit “A Fool in Love.”

Asked about pop radio’s seeming reluctance over the years to add her records, Turner said, “I hate to talk about racism, but that has a lot to do with it. When I started my career, you had to hit R&B before you could make the crossover. I understand it’s still that way a lot. In foreign countries, they don’t put a label or color on music. They just program it.”

Of her smooth re-entry after a five-year absence from the recording scene, Turner said, “It wasn’t as if I was constantly putting out records that were losers. I just worked at doing good performances and holding on to my audience, so when I did come out with some material they were all there for it.”

And that stat about “Let’s Stay Together” being just her seventh top 40 hit in a 24-year career? Turner would collect her next seven top 40 hits – from “What’s Love Got to Do With It” to “It’s Only Love” (with Bryan Adams) — by the end of 1985.

The “optimistic” feelings Turner spoke of that day in February 1984 were fully justified.

Dua Lipa‘s love for pop music knows no bounds. In the “Levitating” singer’s Wednesday (May 24) cover story for Dazed, she reiterated her love for the genre and shared that it is the perfect medium for her to explore the many facets of her personality.

The three-time Grammy winner was asked about Charli XCX’s comments on her At Your Service podcast, in which the Crash artist stated, “We live in this world where there is desperation and fear for authenticity. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Sell me the dream.’ I want my pop stars to sell me the f—ing dream.”

Lipa seems to agree to an extent. “I love the main pop-girl energy,” she says. “It’s so fun for the fans and the character. I can be that girl; I can do that for the videos, for the red carpet, for the performances. For me, there’s a time and a place to do that. There are so many sides to me that I also love to embody.”

The pop star’s dedication to the genre has certainly paid off — the singer’s most recently released album, 2020’s Future Nostalgia, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. It charted six singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating,” which both peaked at No. 2, as well as “Break My Heart” (No. 13), “We’re Good” (No. 31), “Love Again” (No. 41) and “Physical” (No. 60).

Up next for the star is the release of her forthcoming single “Dance the Night” from the Barbie soundtrack. Lipa will also star as Mermaid Barbie in the movie, which hits theaters July 21.

This month, Travis Scott hasn’t relented in his quest to roll out his highly anticipated album Utopia. After previewing the project for the Houston Astros and then having his bodyguard spotted with a Utopia-branded suitcase handcuffed to his wrist last week, Scott has elected to take a new, calmer approach by covering the latest issue of PINUP Magazine.

The wildly creative cover finds the Astroworld artist reimagining the alphabet through his eyes. Scott offered each letter a word and its importance when talking to the architecture and design publication. For the letter “U,” of course, Scott chose “utopia” and gave his breakdown, saying, “Utopia is something that people feel is so far-fetched and out of reach, some perfect state of mind. But you create it yourself. There are people who achieve Utopia every day. They may not be the richest people with the dopest cribs, but it’s a utopia wherever they are, and that’s the most you can have. With every album I live in these worlds in my mind — I’m trying to show people experiences where utopian things can exist, and you can enjoy yourself and have a good time. They can create energy that spews out magical things — new cures, new buildings, new avenues for people to move forward. People need to see that Utopia is real.”

For “M,” Scott chose MPC, reveling that he “made most of my new album on an MPC.” “I got new ones; I got some old ones. My favorite is the 2000XL. It produces a very distinctive sound that makes it feel alive,” he added.

Though Utopia doesn’t have a release date, Scott’s longtime collaborator Mike Dean said on social media this week that he and the Houston staple are still busily chipping away on the project. “Utopia will be done when Trav and I say it’s done. Do not rush. Let us cook.”

Miley Cyrus meant what she said about not wanting to tour anymore. After some fans were left disappointed when she revealed in a recent interview that she has no plans to hit the road, the pop star has now posted a message to social media doubling down and shedding light on her decision.

“For clarity I feel connected to my fans NOW more than ever,” she wrote in a lengthy notes app entry on her phone, sharing a screenshot to Twitter on Wednesday (May 24). “Even if I don’t see them face to face every night at a concert, my fans are felt deeply in my heart.”

“This has nothing to do with a lack of appreciation for the fans & everything to do with I simply don’t want to get ready in a locker room,” she continued. “Which is the reality of life on the road.”

The message comes less than a week after the “Flowers” singer told British Vogue that she wouldn’t be touring in support of her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, even though it’s been nearly 10 years since her last global trek (2014’s Bangerz Tour). “I can’t,” she told the publication, calling stadium and arena performances “isolating” and “not natural.” “Not only ‘can’t’, because ‘can’t’ is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?”

Her new note to fans echoes those sentiments, with the musician writing, “I just don’t want to sleep on a moving bus.”

“It isn’t what’s best for me right NOW, & if you’ve been following my career you know that I always change and the way I feel about that could too,” she added. “Love you forever, I’m just on my Endless Summer Vacation.”

Read Miley’s message below: