Jem Aswad Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Live Nation’s “On the Road Again” plan, announced Tuesday, says it will deliver “tens of millions of dollars” for artists and touring crews by by providing $1,500 in gas and travel cash per show to all headliners and support acts, on top of nightly performance compensation, at venues the company owns, operates or exclusively books. Those clubs will also charge no merchandise-selling fees, so artists keep 100% of merch profits.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Kanye West’s 2019 collaboration with Dr. Dre has leaked, Variety has confirmed. Titled “Jesus Is King 2,” the album is a follow-up to West’s Grammy-winning first full gospel album.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music There’s little question that the Birthday Party — Nick Cave’s first major band — was one of the most aggressive and confrontational groups of the ‘80s if not all of rock history. Their bruising, brutal sound and genuinely dangerous concerts are the stuff of legend, but as Cave’s intensity has been channeled into more-refined and less-blunt art, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how genuinely crazy the Birthday Party’s concerts were.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As someone who purchased “Tim,” the Replacements’ 1985 major label debut, on the day it arrived in my local record store, I can say the following with absolute certainty: If the remixed, significantly beefed-up version of the album that dropped last week had been released in 1985, the group would have been crucified by the indie-rock morality police, and it probably would have destroyed their career. Make no mistake, the new version sounds amazing: The original, produced by the late original Ramones drummer Tommy Erdelyi in a sort of homage to Phil Spector, was a muddled mess, with the instruments blurred together and an indistinct, heavily reverbed sound.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The 2023 installment of the annual Global Citizen Festival featured a powerful (if rainy) day of music, with sets by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lauryn Hill — who reunited the Fugees during her set — Anitta, Jung Kook — who was joined by Latto — Stray Kids side project 3Racha and a 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance with Busta Rhymes, Common, Big Daddy Kane and Rapsody alongside D-Nice. But far more important was what it accomplished in raising awareness, and commitments for some $240 million from France and Norway to the International Fund for Agricultural Development to address the global hunger crisis, announced by Emmanuel Macron, President of France. The flagship event from Global Citizen generated 3.3 million actions taken by global citizens around the world, calling on governments to address the major systemic issues our world is facing, including the global hunger crisis, the climate crisis, and equity for women and girls.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music When Megan Thee Stallion pulled out of her scheduled performance at the Global Citizen festival in New York earlier this month due to an “unforeseen scheduling conflict,” it took about five minutes to do the math and realize — oh, Beyonce’s playing in Houston that night. Not only did she and Megan team up for the “Savage Remix” back in 2020, they’re both from Houston.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Usher will be the headlining performer at the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime show, Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation have announced tannounced one of the most influential artists of a generation, USHER will perform during the APPLE MUSIC SUPER BOWL LVIII HALFTIME SHOW at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. on Sunday, February 11, 2024, airing on CBS. “It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Amid the expected chaos of the on-sale for Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” tour is an unusual caveat: In an attempt to crack down on scalpers, purchased tickets will only be issued 72 hours before the concert takes place, regardless of when they were purchased — and they will only be available electronically. In a statement, Ticketmaster told Good Morning America: “Delivery delays are commonly used by artists to allow for a thorough review of the sale and to ensure all ticket purchasers have adhered to ticket limits and terms.” The decision was taken by the tour’s operators as “as an added level of protection.” While the 72-hour rule seems new to many people, a source says has been used in the past for Ed Sheeran, Jack Harlow and Doja Cat tours, among others.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s not hard to understand why Doja Cat sometimes seems to have a chip on her shoulder. She rode in five years ago on an unabashed novelty song called “I’m a Cow” (choice lyrics: “Bitch, I’m a cow / Bitch, I’m a cow / I go ‘Mooooo’”) and was originally positioned as a Dr. Luke-produced, sassy and solid if unspectacular pop-R&B singer.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music “As much as I love the United States, I am always appalled at the ease with which anyone can get a weapon,” says Peter Gabriel in a new video from Artist for Action to Prevent Gun Violence, the coalition of musicians — also including Billie Eilish, Sheryl Crow, Nile Rodgers, Bootsy Collins, Sofi Tukker, Rufus Wainwright, Bush and many more — designed to inspire people to volunteer, donate and vote to end the epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States. The video arrives in a week of gun control activism in the music community: Migos rapper Quavo, whose nephew and bandmate Takeoff was shot to death as an innocent bystander during an argument outside a Houston bowling alley last year, met with Vice PresidentKamala Harris at the White House on Wednesday, spoke on a panel about combating the issue during the Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference in Washington, and appeared on “Good Morning America” Thursday morning talking about gun violence in the U.S.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Nine months after seeing his nephew and bandmate Takeoff shot to death as an innocent bystander during an argument outside a Houston bowling alley, Migos rapper Quavo has gone on a gun-control offensive: This week, he met with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House, spoke on a panel about combating the issue during the Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference in Washington, and appeared on “Good Morning America” Thursday morning talking about gun violence in the U.S. “I feel like your calling comes at the least expected times,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Three members of the hit K-pop group Stray Kids were involved in a car accident Wednesday, according to an announcement from the group’s agency. There were no serious injuries but the members — Lee Know, Hyunjin and Seungmin — have been advised to cancel or postpone forthcoming work “for the time being.” Thus, the full eight-member Stray Kids lineup will not take part in their scheduled performance at the Global Citizen Festival in New York on Saturday, but 3Racha — a side project involving Stray Kids members Bang Chan, Changbin and Han operating under the names CB97, SpearB and J.One — will fill that slot.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The torrent of criticism around Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner’s controversial remarks regarding Black and female musicians continued on Tuesday as both the pioneering rock group Living Colour and the Black Music Action Coalition weighed in with statements. Wenner posted an apology for his remarks on Saturday, shortly after the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced that he had been ejected from its board of directors. The members of Living Colour — Will Calhoun, Corey Glover, Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish — wrote: “We, the members of Living Colour, would like to address Jann Wenner’s recent apology for controversial statements made in support of his new book.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Warner Chappell Music has announced the appointment of Rachel Jacobson to the newly created role of senior vice president of creative sync. Reporting to department EVP Rich Robinson, Jacobson will oversee a new team that’s solely focused on sourcing and developing songwriters for creative opportunities in sync, according to announcement.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The U.S. music industry continued its robust growth in the first half of 2023, according to the RIAA’s latest mid-year report. Total revenues grew 9.3% at estimated retail value, reaching an all-time first-half high of $8.4 billion; at wholesale value, revenues grew 8.3% to $5.3 billion.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music After months of rumors, Katy Perry has sold her music rights to Litmus Music, the Carlyle-backed company co-founded by former Capitol Records president Dan McCarroll, for $225 million, the company announced Monday. The deal includes Perry’s stakes in master recordings and publishing rights for the five albums she released between 2008 and 2020: “One of the Boys,” “Teenage Dream”, “Prism,” “Witness” and “Smile.” Universal Music Group continues to own the masters to those albums.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music A day after the publication of a New York Times interview in which Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner said that Black and female musicians “didn’t articulate at the level” of the white musicians featured in his new book of interviews, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that he has been removed from its board of directors. “Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” a terse statement from a rep reads in full; contacted by Variety, a rep for the Hall had no further comment. Wenner is a co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was launched in 1987, and had served as its chairman until 2020.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s been 17 years since Sean “Puff Daddy/ Diddy/ Love” Combs made a solo album, and he’s more than made up for lost time with “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” In the conversation below, he describes the album as a “Super Bowl of R&B,” and the list of guests bears out that title: everyone from the Weeknd and Justin Bieber to Summer Walker and H.E.R. to Babyface and Mary J. Blige make featured appearances, but it sounds like a Puff album every step of the way.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Contemporary music is filled with great unreleased albums — the Beach Boys’ “Smile,” Marvin Gaye’s “Love Man,” the Clash’s “Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg,” David Bowie’s soundtrack to “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” multiple titles from Prince, Kanye West and Neil Young — many of which were never truly existed in anything resembling finished form. Usually, such albums turn out to be overblown in terms of their significance, leaving die-hard fans trying to piece together the ultimate version of a tantalizing missing link in a beloved artist’s catalog from scraps that were never a whole in the first place.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board of directors announced Thursday that the company will sell two segments of its song catalog in a bid to increase its stock price and pay down debt. The statement, made in a dense 20-page document capably translated into plain English by Billboard, reveals that one package of assets includes 29 catalogs worth around $440 million, which the Blackstone-backed entity, Hipgnosis Songs Capital, has agreed to acquire.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and the estate of Sid Vicious have signed a new global publishing administration agreement with BMG. The deal includes their portion of the pioneering band’s songwriting catalog; singer John Lydon and original bassist Glen Matlock are not involved in the arrangement.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Rolling Stones have revealed the full track list of their first full album of original studio material since 2005, “Hackney Diamonds” — and the full list of guests. “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven” features vocals from Lady Gaga and keyboards and piano from Stevie Wonder, “Bite My Head Off” gets some inimitable bass from Paul McCartney, and “Get Close” and “Live By The Sword” have Elton John on piano.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Derek Smalls, the legendary bassist with the ultimate heavy metal band, Spinal Tap, has returned with a brutally contemporary new single: “Must Crush Barbie,” which is described as “an excoriating attack on the pink sensation … that advocate of everything pink and fluffy, Barbie.” The vividly worded announcement continues, “The self-described embodiment of lukewarm water reaches boiling point with Smalls’ first track in five years.” The song is available now via Bottomland Productions / Immortal Records. “Been spending the last year or so as Brand Ambassador for BruegelCoin, the Dutch cryptocurrency,” says Smalls — who may or may not be actor Harry Shearer, co-star of the 1984 classic film “This Is Spinal Tap,” which may or may not be getting a sequel.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sean “Puff Daddy/Diddy” Combs’ decision to give artists and songwriters the publishing rights that he owns on songs from his 1990s powerhouse label Bad Boy, confirmed last week, was surprising, to put it mildly, and possibly unprecedented in its scale. At a time when music catalogs are routinely selling for nine figures and awareness of publishing’s value is at an all-time high, the decision to reassign his rights on those songs — many of which were hits — to the artists and songwriters is highly unusual, even for a man whose net worth was estimated by Forbes last year to be nearly a billion dollars.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s never the VMAs without drama, real, manufactured or imagined, and the first hour of Tuesday night’s show was no exception. Either before or after her performance with Cardi B of their new single “Bongos,” fan footage of Megan Thee Stallion apparently getting into an argument with Justin Timberlake, who took the stage with his (reunited?) bandmates in NSYNC early in the show. In a crowded area backstage, Megan is seen getting glam while the members of NSYNC pass.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As expected, 19 years after Justin Timberlake left the group and ten since their last performance together, the five members of NSYNC reunited again on Tuesday at the VMAs at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Their return was greeted with no small amount of enthusiasm by the crowd and especially Taylor Swift, who was seated up front next to Ice Spice.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Range Media Partners has announced that Casey Robison will join the company as the head of its new music publishing division. Robison was most recently executive VP of A&R at Hipgnosis Songs, where he led the company’s pop division, working with songwriters and artists including Monsters & Strangerz (Jordan and Stefan Johnson), John Ryan, Julian Bunetta, Normani, Teddy Geiger, Imad Royal, Dan Wilson and others.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Steven J. Horowitz has joined Variety as senior music writer, effective immediately. In his new role, he will be a key voice in music reporting and criticism, writing news articles, reviews, commentary, appreciations and cover stories across all of Variety’s platforms.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Lil Wayne spoke for a lot of people attending Saturday’s “50 Years of Hip-Hop” celebration at the official residence of the vice president of the United States in Washington, D.C.: At the conclusion of his set, he thanked the audience and said, “I cannot believe I am here.” Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke for many of the approximately 400 assembled artists, executives, politicians, journalists and others when she said as part of her opening remarks, “Hip-hop now shapes nearly every aspect of American popular culture, and it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people. I truly believe hip-hop is one of America’s greatest exports.” Although hip-hop has certainly received at least some of the respect it is due in recent years — nowhere near enough, considering it is indisputably the most important and influential cultural movement of the last half century — it was still surreal to be watching artists like Wayne, Common, Jeezy, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Doug E.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Demi Lovato has signed with Brandon Creed’s Good World Management, a rep for the singer confirms to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits; Lovato parted ways with former manager Scooter Braun earlier this year.