Month: May 2023

Kesha unfurled her new album Gag Order at midnight on Friday (May 19) via Kemosabe/RCA Records.

The 13-track collection produced by Rick Rubin is the pop singer’s long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s High Road and was preceded by dual lead singles “Fine Line” and “Eat the Acid” — both of which demonstrate a hard-fought evolution from her early days as pop’s reckless party girl in the early 2010s. (On the former she warns, “There’s a fine line I’ve been walkin’/ And trying to balance is exhaustin’/ This is where you f–kers pushed me/ Don’t get surprised if s–t gets ugly” while the latter finds her turning her experiences with LSD and transcendental meditation into a synth-drenched psychedelic haze.)

Prior to the album’s release, Kesha also dropped the frenetic “Only Love Can Save Us Now,” which hits the senses as equal parts country, rap and gospel confessional.

“I feel like I’m giving birth to the most intimate thing I’ve ever created,” the star confessed in an interview with Rolling Stone when she announced the studio set. “I really dug into some of my uglier emotions and sides of myself that are less fun. It’s scary being vulnerable. The fact that I have compiled an entire record of these emotions, of anger, of insecurity, of anxiety, of grief, of pain, of regret, all of that is so nerve-racking — but it’s also so healing.”

Featuring jarring cover art of Kesha’s distorted face being suffocated by a translucent plastic bag, Gag Order also contains numerous co-writing credits from her mother, Pebe Sebert, as well as contributions from songwriting supernova Justin Tranter (“Hate Me Harder”) and The Ramones (a clever interpolation on album cut “The Drama”).

Stream Kesha’s Gag Order below.

JoJo Siwa took to social media this week to reveal that her Los Angeles-area home had been robbed in the middle of the night.

The Dance Moms alum shared the story in a series of Snapchats, which were picked up by various fan accounts on Instagram. “We were robbed last night at 2:40(ish)AM,” she wrote. “It was an armed robbery which is very scary. It was a REALLLLLY long night on the phone with my security, family, and LAPD.”

Siwa explained that everyone in her family — including her pets — were safe and accounted for and finished the post with a security-camera photo of the two masked and hooded gunmen fleeing the scene by running down the grand staircase in her foyer.

“Do me a favor and hug your people extra tight tonight,” she wrote in the last few slides. “Life is SCARY. And you never know when anything could happen…It’s terrifying.”

Per additional reporting by Entertainment Tonight, Siwa was out of town on a cruise at the time of the robbery and though she didn’t say exactly what was stolen, she said there was “lots of materialistic damage…that can all be fixed.”

Even before the break-in, Siwa has been dealing with quite a few traumas and annoyances in her personal life. Late last month, she shared the sad news with fans that her puppy Tooie had unexpectedly died after getting into a fatal accident. That loss also occurred on the heels of her public beef with conservative commentator Candice Owens, who accused the onetime Nickelodeon star of lying about her sexuality because she was “desperate for attention.”

Check out Siwa’s frightening footage from her home robbery, as shared by a fan account, below.

Jimmie Allen took to social media on Thursday (May 18) to issue a public apology to his estranged wife, Alexis Gale, and his family amid serious allegations against the country star.

“I wan to publicly apologize to my wife Alexis for humiliating her with my affair. I’m embarrassed that my choices have brought shame on her,” Allen wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “That’s something that she did not deserve at all.”

The “Make Me Want To” singer also apologized to his daughters, three-year-old Naomi and one-year-old Zara, “for being a poor example of a man and a father.”

His statement continued, “I’m working on becoming a better person that my kids can be proud of. My goal is to be better than the generation before me. This business takes so much from you. It’s full of temptations that can cripple you and ruin everything you’ve built. I’m ashamed that I wasn’t strong enough to withstand them. I will no longer be a victim of my weaknesses.”

Last month, Gale and Allen revealed that they are expecting their third baby together, but also that they are breaking up. “After much thought and reflection in recent months, Lex & I have made the decision to separate,” the country star wrote. “Our number one priority is and always will be ensuring that our children are healthy, happy and loved, and we remain committed to co-parenting with love and respect for one another. In light of our growing family, we respectfully request privacy during this time.”

Shortly after, a woman on his management team filed a civil lawsuit in Tennessee federal court, in which the anonymous “Jane Doe” accused Allen of sexual assault. The accuser claimed that Allen “manipulated and used his power” over her job as a day-to-day manager in order to “sexually harass and abuse her.”

In a statement to Billboard, Allen admitted to a sexual relationship with his accuser but denied all allegations of assault. “It is deeply troubling and hurtful that someone I counted as one of my closest friends, colleagues and confidants would make allegations that have no truth to them whatsoever,” he said. “I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship — one that lasted for nearly two years. During that time she never once accused me of any wrongdoing, and she spoke of our relationship and friendship as being something she wanted to continue indefinitely.”

See his newest statement below.

Garth Brooks stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show on Thursday (May 18) to spill the tea on the time he found himself in the showers with none other than Steven Tyler.

The country legend regaled host Kelly Clarkson with the story, which happened back in 2008 when he and the Aerosmith frontman performed with Billy Joel during his historic final shows at New York’s Shea Stadium.

“I showered with him,” Brooks said nonchalantly, as the American Idol winner was pointing out that he’d covered one of Aerosmith’s songs in the past. “Did you say ‘I showered with him’?” a baffled Clarkson responded once she registered what her pal had revealed.

“So we’re playin’ The Last Play at Shea, Billy Joel. They’re gettin’ ready to tear down Shea Stadium [in] New York,” Brooks continued. “And I go out there and I’m late anyway, and they have just the baseball showers. I’m in there showering, gettin’ ready for the show. And I have soap in my eyes, I look around and there’s Steven Tyler. He’s showerin’ too. [Waves] ‘Hey! How ya doin’?’

“And so it was…How many people get to say that?” the icon added, to which Clarkson hilariously rejoined, “Well, who knows? Who knows, he’s rock and roll, I don’t know! You might not be so special, Garth.”

During the chat, Brooks also declared his recent ACM Awards co-host Dolly Parton the all-time best country music has to offer, saying, “The thing is, we always talk about the GOAT. And the GOAT is always a guy. I’m not sure that the GOAT of country music isn’t a female.”

Watch Brooks dish on accidentally hitting the showers with Tyler and more below.

Performance rights organization ASCAP is bringing their creator summit to Los Angeles on June 21 for a one-day live event at Avalon Hollywood.

The 2023 ASCAP Experience, which was founded 18 years ago, is set to connect aspiring songwriters and composers with hit-making names across genres including Sarah Hudson (Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello), Leon Thomas III (Ariana Grande, Rick Ross), Hitmaka (Big Sean, Nicki Minaj), Steph Jones (Selena Gomez, Kelsea Ballerini), Darrell Brown (Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes), Neff-U (Justin Bieber, Sia) and more to be announced.

The summit will include a number of sessions across topics, from building a music career in the social media era to a live song feedback session during which guest speakers will listen to and share insights on a few songs pre-submitted by attendees, in front of a live audience. The 50th anniversary of hip-hop will also be celebrated, with a session dedicated to the global impact of the genre through a panel of “respected contributors to hip-hop’s storied history,” per a statement from ASCAP.

In previous years, panelists have included Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Justin Timberlake, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Katy Perry, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Questlove, Lee Ann Womack, Wyclef Jean, Jermaine Dupri and Hans Zimmer, among others.

Registration for the live experience is open now, with tickets available for ASCAP members at $35 in advance and $50 on the day of. Unaffiliated songwriters and composers who would like to attend must first join ASCAP.

On Tuesday, ASCAP hosted their 2023 ASCAP Screen Music Awards at an invitation-only party in West Hollywood, Calif. Big winners of the night included Michael Abels for Jordan Peele’s film “Nope,” Cristobal Tapia de Veer and Kim Neundorf for their work on “The White Lotus,” and Bear McCreary’s win for Video Game Score of the Year for “God of War: Ragnarok.”