Starsplash Music News

Megan Thee Stallion slammed the new Texas Abortion Law during her performance at the Austin City Limits festival on Saturday.

Megan took the opportunity to speak out against the state's controversial bill that prohibits abortions as early as six weeks. The law went into effect on September 1. Meanwhile, last week, a federal judge had issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law.

"This middle finger is also to these motherf**king men that want to tell us what the f**k to do with our body," Megan said to crowd, who also waved their middle finger in unison.

"Cause how the f**k you gonna tell me what to do with my motherf**king body? Drop that s**t," she added.

After the festival, the rapper wrote on Instagram, "Y'all know I'm a Texas girl and we deserve better! Politicians want to cut off abortion access and control our bodies, lives, and futures - I'm speaking up."

Yungblud, Maggie Rogers, St. Vincent and Lucy Dacus have all spoke out against the law. Phoebe Bridgers even released a cover of Bo Burnham's "That Funny Feeling" exclusively via her Bandcamp, with all the proceeds from the track to benefit Texas Abortion Funds.

(Photo: Huxley World)

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Cardi B officiated a same-sex couple's wedding in the latest episode of her new limited series, "Cardi Tries."

The episode, titled "Cardi Tries Tying The Knot," features a pregnant Cardi along with actress Raven Symone helping the couple Brandi and Shannon with their dream wedding.

Cardi came as a surprise at the altar, telling the crowd, "You guys are probably wondering why I'm here. I'm gonna get these two beautiful ladies married." She then introduced Raven as the ring bearer.

Cardi B, who is a licensed marriage officiant, shared a snippet of the episode on Twitter.

"By the way WORLD, I'm licensed to marry people. sooo yea. I do it all and this was such a fulfilling thing to do and Raven was soo fun I was sooo starstruck," the "WAP" singer tweeted.

Previous episodes of "Cardi Tries" featured the rapper attempting different challenges such as rhythmic gymnastics, teaching, sampling Latin American food and wildlife.

(Photo: Flo Ngala)

By the way WORLD I'm licensed to marry people ..sooo yea. I do it all and this was such a fulfilling thing to do and Raven was soo fun I was sooo starstruck. https://t.co/i74YNT7Xbb

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) October 9, 2021

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The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber's "Stay" has reclaimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 songs chart, reigning the all-genre chart for a seventh overall week.

The song, which dropped on July 9 via Raymond Braun/Columbia Records/Def Jam, rose from No. 2 to the top position on the chart dated October 16. The track earned 86.4 million radio airplay audience impressions, up 4%; and 23.2 million U.S. streams, down 6%; and sold 7,400 downloads, down 14%, in the week ending October 7, according to MRC Data.

"Stay" scored a fourth week at No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart and rose to 3rd position from 4th on the Streaming Songs chart, where the track spent six weeks on top. The song dropped to No. 10 from 6th on Digital Song Sales.

With "Stay", The Kid LAROI had earned his first No. 1, while Bieber scored his 8th.

(Photo: Steve Cannon)

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Lana Del Rey recently released an alternate video for her latest single, "Arcadia."

The video, directed by Del Rey, shows her rocking on a swing and staring patiently at the camera, while frolicking around a hillside cottage.

Lana had released the original video for the song on September 8.

The song, which Del Rey co-produced with Drew Erickson, will appear on her forthcoming 15-track LP, Blue Banisters, set to be released on October 22.

The record will be released as CD and cassette, with various exclusive vinyl formats.

Del Rey shared some of the inspiration behind the new album on her socials last Wednesday (October 6), writing, "I guess you could say this album is about what it was like, what happened, and what it's like now."

"If you're interested go back and listen to the first three songs I put out earlier. They chronicle the beginning," she added. "This song hits somewhere in the middle and by the time the record drops you will hear where we're at today."

(Photo: Harmony Gerber)

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BMI on Monday honored the top U.K. and European songwriters, composers and music publishers of the most-performed songs of the previous year at the 2021 BMI London Awards.

Elton John and Ed Sheeran were among the honorees who won the BMI Million-Air Award.

BMI Million-Air Awards recognize the iconic songs that have reached a million or more broadcast performances by U.K. and European songwriters and publishers.

John's classic hit songs "Bennie And The Jets" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" each reached seven million performances and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" received six million performances.

Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Nick Van Eede's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" performed by Cutting Crew also hit six million performances. In addition, Sheeran was honored for "Love Yourself" with four million performances.

Topping the list of legendary songwriters who have reached this milestone was Sting for 16 million performances of the timeless hit song, "Every Breath You Take."

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Lindsey Buckingham joined Halsey on the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live" on October 9 for a stellar performance of "Darling" from Halsey's latest album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power.

Legendary singer-songwriter Buckingham joined Halsey for the beautiful acoustic ballad "Darling." Halsey wore a black gown with a black top hat and veil, while Buckingham backed up her with his guitar.

Meanwhile, for the first song, the pop star gave a performance of the powerful single "I Am Not a Woman, I'm a God."

"The first performance is power, cold desolate and intricate: me before," Halsey tweeted after the show. "The second is love, lush and organic and dreamy: me after. And how wonderfully they both co-exist!"

In another tweet, Halsey said, "I can't believe I just did SNL for the 5th time!!!!!! It never gets old. Always electrifying and so fun to finally perform the new songs."

If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey's fourth album, was released on August 27. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart and topped Alternative Albums.

(Photo: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC)

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Drake recently celebrated his son Adonis' fourth birthday by throwing him a big party.

The 34-year-old rapper shared two pictures on Instagram of his son's birthday celebration. In one image, the father and son posed against a race car-themed birthday background, smiling before a sign that read "Adonis races into 4."

"TEACHA MORE LIFE KID" the Certified Lover Boy rapper captioned the photo.

In the second picture, which was taken at a black and white photo booth, Drake holds his son, while Adonis gives a superhero pose.

Drake welcomed his only son with Sophie Brussaux in October 2017. Earlier this year, Drake also surprised his fans by bringing Adonis on stage at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards to accept the artist of the decade award.

Meanwhile, Drake is having a great year, as his latest album Certified Lover Boy debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart last month. The album broke several records as well. All 21 songs from the album broke into the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Drake also became the first singer or act to claim 9 out of the top 10 spots on the tally in a single week. Drake also matched The Beatles by claiming all top five positions on the Hot 100 tally.

(Photo: Republic Records)

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Lil Wayne released a new song, "Ya Dig," via Young Money Records/Republic Records last Thursday (October 7).

Wayne announced a day later that the song will be part of Tha Carter Singles Collection box set, which will feature 19 of his biggest Tha Carter series hits.

STREETRUNNER and Tarik Azzouz co-produced "Ya Dig." The song features a sample of Margie Joseph's "Stop! In the Name of Love," which Wayne also sampled on "Gossip" off his 2007 EP The Leak.

"Get the f**k up out my hair unless you're my comb / That means mind yours because I'm grown and I'ma die alone with my Styrofoam," Lil Wayne raps on the track.

According to Lil Wayne HQ, the song was recorded in late 2007 or early 2008.

The seven-inch vinyl box set will include songs such as "A Milli," "Go DJ," "Hustler Musik" and "6 Foot 7 Foot" along with liner notes and a booklet of rare photos for the first time ever.

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Ariana Grande has promised to donate up to $5 million, in collaboration with the therapy platform Better Health, to provide free mental health therapy to her fans on World Mental Health Day.

Grande announced the humanitarian gesture on Instagram, saying, "I acknowledge that there are very real barriers when it comes to accessing mental health resources, and while this is only one small gesture (and a much larger systemic problem remains) I wanted to do this again with @betterhelp in hopes of bringing access to a few more people and perhaps inspiring a few of you to try something new and prioritize your own healing."

Those who are interested can sign up for the initiative at betterhelp.com/ariana.

Maroon 5 also offered support to kids' mental health and organizations including YourMomCares and RxWell.

"We are donating to help continue the further development of behavioral health care that was not previously available for adolescents," the band tweeted.

(Photo: Dave Meyers)

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Silk Sonic, the supergroup formed by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, have announced that their debut album, An Evening With Silk Sonic, will drop on November 12, 2021.

"ALBUM DROPS NOVEMBER 12!! Now spam the comments with happy birthday wishes to my brother @BrunoMars," Paak tweeted. The announcement coincided with Mars' 36th birthday.

The duo dropped their chart-topping debut track "Leave the Door Open" in March before following it up in July with "Skate." The band had hinted in August that their debut LP would arrive next year.

An Evening With Silk Sonic will mark the first studio album from Mars since 2016's 24K Magic. Paak released his fourth studio album Ventura in 2019.

(Photo: Harper Smith)

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Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams recently announced that she is leaving social media.

In an announcement posted on Instagram on Friday, Williams said, "Connection is and always will be a part of my job (thankfully). As for my own personal experience with social media, I just don't want it anymore."

The Petals for Armor singer-songwriter said she made the decision after carefully considering it for almost a year.

"Now I know for sure that my desire to move away from personal accounts (yes, even my finsta) is based on nothing more than my interest in keeping a boundary between a public and private life...and wanting to spend more time looking up and out, rather than down," she added.

Williams made clear later in the lengthy statement that she is not making any judgement to anyone who loves their social media.

"Just a huge encouragement to anyone needing permisssion to create more boundaries and space to grow - sometimes 'no' is the kindest thing you can say. to anyone!. even yourself," she said.

Williams, who removed her Instagram and Twitter posts, told fans that she can be reached at Paramore's social media accounts.

(Photo: Lindsey Byrnes)

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Justin Bieber has released an expanded version of his sixth and latest album Justice, featuring three new tracks.

Dubbed Justice (Complete Edition), the album includes new tracks "Red Eye," "Angels Speak," and "Hailey," with the last one being a tribute to his wife Hailey Baldwin Bieber.

According to Billboard, "Hailey" and "Angels Speak" had appeared on the Japanese edition of Justice, while "Red Eye" featured as a bonus track on his European webstore alternate cover CD.

Meanwhile, Bieber's documentary Our World also premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, October 8. The film was directed by Michael Ratner.

(Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews)

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iHeartMedia has announced the lineup for the fifth annual iHeartRadio ALTer EGO Presented by Capital One.

The biggest names in Alternative Rock will come together at the historic Forum in Los Angeles on January 15, 2022 to celebrate everything Alternative Rock LIVE in front of music fans. The lineup includes All Time Low, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Kings of Leon, twenty one pilots, and Willow.

The event will be hosted by Woody of iHeartRadio ALT 98.7's nationally-syndicated "The Woody Show."

"I'm psyched!" said Woody. "When the line-up is THIS good, with so much talent on the stage, it takes the pressure off the host. No one will notice and/or remember and/or care if I did a good job or not," he added.

Throughout this week, iHeartRadio is giving Alternative Rock fans across the country the opportunity to win trips to Los Angeles to attend iHeartRadio ALTer EGO before the tickets go on sale. The promotion will run across more than 80 Alternative, Rock and Classic Rock 90s iHeartRadio stations.

LiveOne, Inc. will exclusively stream all performances on livexlive.com. More than 75 Alternative and Rock iHeartRadio stations will also broadcast the event live in their local markets and on iHeartRadio.com.

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The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has named multi-platinum and Diamond certified global superstar The Weeknd as a Goodwill Ambassador.

"We are thrilled to welcome The Weeknd to the WFP family. His compassion and commitment to helping the world's hungriest people is truly inspirational," said United Nations World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley.

The Weeknd's new post comes after donating $1 million to the U.N. World Food Program's relief efforts in Ethiopia following months of deadly violence in the northern region.

"The U.N. World Food Program is doing urgent and important work to change and save lives on a daily basis and I feel passionately about addressing world hunger and helping people in need. Our partnership is an authentic extension of all our efforts and intentions to help those in need and bring an end to so much suffering," said Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye.

WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and the world's largest humanitarian organization fighting global hunger.

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Rappers Travis Scott and Lil Baby are among the honorees at the upcoming 2021 EBONY Power 100 event.

The star-studded awards ceremony to honor the remarkable achievements of African Americans across industries will be held in Los Angeles on October 23. It also marks the culmination of the iconic brand's 75th anniversary year.

The 2021 EBONY Power 100 list spans 10 categories.

Travis Scott and Lil Baby are awarded in the Music Impact category along with Big Freedia, Erica Campbell, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Derrick "D- Nice" Jones, Questlove, Joi Brown, Jeanine McLean-Williams, Rapsody, and Anderson .Paak.

This year's Special Awards recipients include talented, young actress Storm Reid (Rising Star Award); lead scientist of the Vaccine Research Center's coronavirus team at the National Institutes of Health Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (Innovator of the Year); Hip hop icon and entrepreneur MC Lyte (Trailblazer Award); NFL Hall of Famer and head football coach for Jackson State University Deion Sanders (Game Changer of the Year); Red Table Talk creators Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris (Entertainer of the Year Award) and P&G Executives Marc Pritchard, Damon Jones and Stephanie Headley (Corporate Citizen Award).

(Photo: Daniel Sannwald)

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Coldplay have announced a two-day immersive event, dubbed "The Atmospheres," in celebration of their upcoming album Music Of The Spheres.

The event, which will take place next weekend on October 15 and 16, is being presented in association with Amazon Music. The event will take place at four places, including New York, London, Tokyo and Berlin.

Coldplay are set to release their ninth studio album Music Of The Spheres on October 15.

"Inside the custom-built installation, fans will be transported to The Spheres - the distant solar system that plays host to the band's latest album, where each of the twelve tracks is twinned with a different planet," says a press statement about the event.

Coldplay said, "We're excited to partner with Amazon Music to bring Music of the Spheres to life. The Atmospheres will take fans on a trip through The Spheres and into the heart of the album."

Meanwhile, Coldplay topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since 2008 with their new BTS collab, "My Universe."

(Photo: Wes & Alex Photography)

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Kanye West is set to open a prep school, called Donda Academy, in Southern California.

The academy is named after West's tenth studio album Donda, and also honors his late mother, Dr. Donda West, former professor and English Department chair at Chicago State University.

According to reports, the school would feature "classrooms, labs, offices, a kitchen, restrooms, storage, a basketball court and an open field" for its students to use.

The academy, which has secured a partnership with Adidas, will focus heavily on basketball, and four bright basketball prospects - Zion Cruz, Jakhi Howard, Robert Dillingham, and Jalen Hooks - have reportedly committed to attend the academy.

"It's just one of those things you can't pass up," Hooks said in an interview with The Indianapolis Star. "It was more of a family decision, too. All of us just felt like it was a chance to reach my full potential and grow and get ready for the college level."

"I will be moving to California and I will be transferring to Donda academy, I want to THANK YOU NORCROSS and the whole BLUE DEVIL FAMILY STILL WILL BE MY FAMILY. #donda," Howard wrote on Instagram.

The K-12 school will focus on "equipping students with an education that will last in the ever-changing world" and plans to find the "intersection between faith and the innovation of the future," per the academy's official website, donda.world.

"'Donda Academy' prepares students to become the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators by providing them with a world-class education that includes a rigorous core curriculum, and an emphasis on sustainability, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving," the admissions portion of the website reads.

(Photo: Kenny Sun)

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Taylor Swift, who won the Gracie Award for her Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions concert film, thanked fans for the overwhelming support to the project.

The Gracie Awards, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, "honors exemplary programming created by, for and about women," according to the organization.

Swift, who thanked her collaborators, including Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, for their work on the record and the accompanying Disney+ concert film, expressed her gratitude to the health care professionals on site who ensured the project was COVID-safe during production.

She then gave a big thank you to her fans. "Thank you for caring about all of this. Thank you for being the reason why we could come together in this way. You made this album what it is. And you continue to just blow me away all the time," the singer said in the speech.

The 46th annual Gracie Awards, which took place virtually on the Alliance For Women in Media's Facebook page on Tuesday (October 5), was executive produced by Vicangelo Bulluck and hosted by Canadian actor/comedian Lauren Ash.

Olympian gymnast Simone Biles handed over the award to Swift.

(Photo: Beth Garrabrant)

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Billie Eilish has announced tour dates for the Australia and New Zealand leg of her "Happier Than Ever" world tour.

The Grammy-winning singer announced a five-date arena tour, which will kick off on September 8 at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, before performances in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

Tickets for the dates will go on sale next Friday, October 15, with presales available from Monday, October 11.

Tour Dates:

Sept. 8 -- Spark Arena, AucklandSept. 13 -- Qudos Bank Arena, SydneySept. 17 -- Brisbane Entertainment CentreSept. 22 -- Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneSept. 29 -- RAC Arena, Perth

(Photo: Kelia Anne MacCluskey)

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Chris Brown and Drake have been accused of copyright infringement over their track "No Guidance."

According to reports, Brandon Cooper, also known by his stage name Mr. Cooper, and Timothy Valentine, aka Drum'n Skillz, are suing Brown and Drake, claiming the track ripped off their work on a song called, "I Love Your Dress."

TMZ says that according to the documents obtained by it, Cooper and Valentine claim their song dropped three years before Brown and Drake's "No Guidance" arrived in June 2019. They claim an analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook and rhythmic structure demonstrates that "No Guidance" was copied or, at the very least, principally derived from "I Love Your Dress."

Specifically, they claimed their track has the lyrics ... "She got it; she got it" repeated 16 times while CB's and Drake's has "You got it, girl; you got it" at least 11 times.

Cooper and Valentine also claim that even non-expert listeners can see and hear the similarities, saying Clarke and Drake deliberately exploited "I Love Your Dress" and even taunted them with a lyric about "flew the coop," which Cooper claims is a play on his nickname, Coop.

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