The Swizz Beatz Trailer For DMX's New Album, Dropping This Friday, Is Fucking Awesome, A New Slash and Chester Bennington Track Has Been Unearthed, Morgan Wallen Released A New Record, and More.
Monster news in music this past week as festival season got the green light nationwide, Lollapalooza announced their line up (discussed here) and ACL followed suit later in the week.
Austin City Limits 2021 headliners include Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, George Strait, Stevie Nicks, Rüfüs Du Sol, DaBaby, Erykah Badu, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Black Pumas.
And the 2021 Billboard Awards were Sunday night.
The Weeknd took home 10 awards, including top artist. Pop Smoke won five, including top new artist and BTS and Bad Bunny each earned four.
Hosted by Nick Jonas, the ceremony also honored P!nk as the Icon, Drake as the artist of the decade and Trae Tha Truth as the Change Maker. More info on each down below-
Here's my "New New" spotify list, updated and ready to go. Give it a follow to stay up to date and in the know.
POP
- Olivia Rodrigo finally dropped Sour, her highly anticipated debut album that she released on Friday (May 21) via Geffen Records.
The 11-track project includes her previously released breakout debut hit "Drivers License," which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, her top 10 hit "Deja Vu" and her latest song "Good 4 U."
And for her fellow Swifties, Rodrigo has a sweet surprise: The fourth track, "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back," interpolates "New Year's Day" from the pop superstar's 2017 album Reputation. Swift and her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff each have writing credits on the song.
- Jason Derulo's baby mama Jena Frumes gave birth to their first child, Jason King Derulo.
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- It was a good start to the 2021 Billboard Music Awards for The Weeknd, as he took home the trophy for Top Hot 100 Artist at the start of the ceremony.
"I'd like to thank my fellow nominees — it's been a dark year, and you brought light and escape with you music, genius and brilliance," he said, reading his speech off of his phone. "You deserve this award just as much as I do, if not more."
The Weeknd already took home seven awards Sunday in the non-televised categories he was nominated in, like Top Male Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist and more.
- Pink took home the "Icon Award" at The Billboard Awards and also brought the house down with an 8 minute medley of all her hits
- BTS continue to somehow release English language music despite not being able to speak it. "Butter" is their newest single
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- Maroon 5 is getting ready to release their forthcoming album, Jordi, named after their former manager who passed away in 2017. Maroon 5 unveiled the project's tracklist which includes some heavy hitters from the rap game. However, the surprising part of the tracklist is the posthumous appearances from Nipsey Hussle and Juice WRLD. Nip is featured on the remix of "Memories" alongside YG while Juice is credited on the song, "Can't Leave You Alone."
- Ahead of his debut Saturday Night Live performance this weekend, Lil Nas X released a new song, “Sun Goes Down”.
ROCK
- A one-minute snippet of a previously unreleased Slash song featuring the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park has been uploaded online.
The track, titled “Crazy”, was intended for release on Slash’s 2010 debut solo album. However, Linkin Park’s camp prevented the song’s release at the time. Instead, Slash enlisted legendary Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister for the vocals, and the track ended up being called “Doctor Alibi”.
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- Twenty One Pilots released their sixth album, Scaled And Icy.
The new album drips in ‘80s synth-pop sounds, and it arrives three years after their considerably darker project, Trench, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Scaled And Icy features the previously-released "Choker" and "Shy Away," the latter dropping last month and rapidly moving into top spot on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay songs chart, for their eighth leader.
They also gave their new single "Shy Away" its award show debut on Sunday night (May 23) with a performance at the Billboard Music Awards.
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- Dave Grohl is co-hosting "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" this week, Fallon revealed on Friday’s (May 21) episode.
Grohl and Fallon will team up on the monologue, games and guest interviews with comedian Jim Jefferies and musical guest Blake Shelton on the May 24-dated episode, according to Rolling Stone, which first reported the news.
- Lana Del Rey dropped 3 new songs from her upcoming 'Blue Banisters' album.
- Lord Huron released their new album Long Lost and it's awesome.
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Ben Schneider of Lord Huron joined Southern Craft Radio with Joy Williams on Apple Music Country to talk about the characters behind their new album 'Long Lost' and just how important their haunted studio was to making this record.
- IAA gold-certified singer/producer Sueco and the legendary Travis Barker have released their new video for their explosive, pop-punk anthem “SOS”
- AJR, who I love but I'm afraid is going too pop now, performed 'Bang!' & 'Way Less Sad' at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards
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- The legendary British Duran Duran announced their return this October with Future Past, their 15th studio album and the first through BMG and released its first single, "Invisible".
- The Tragically Hip surprised fans with the announcement of a surprise new album, Saskadelphia, which features six previously unreleased songs. The collection, is made up of tracks written in 1990, five of which were laid down during the Road Apples sessions in New Orleans, according to a press release.
- Wolfgang Van Halen has shared another single from his Mammoth WVH solo project. The son of the late Eddie Van Halen has unveiled the eponymous track “Mammoth”, the sixth (!) song released thus far from his highly anticipated debut album, due out June 11th.
- The official soundtrack for Disney’s live-action Cruella is out, and it’s led by Florence and The Machine‘s new song “Call Me Cruella”.
The song kicks off with a reinterpretation of the classic tune from 1996’s 101 Dalmations. “Cruella De Vil,” Florence Welch muses, “Cruella De Vil/ She’s born to be bad/ So run for the hills.”
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- Alanis Morissette has released a new song, “Rest”, in support of Mental Health Action Day. She co-wrote the track with her “I Miss the Band” collaborator Michael Farrell. The production was handled by Alex Hope, known for working with Troye Sivan and Alec Benjamin.
- Angels & Airwaves have released “Euphoria”, their first new song of 2021. The bombastic track arrives with an accompanying music video directed by singer Tom DeLonge.
- “Missing Piece” is the first taste of new music from Vance Joy in three years, and follows on from his recent collaboration with fellow superstars Benny Blanco and Marshmello on “You.”
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RAP
- DMX's posthumous album Exodus, recorded and completed prior to his passing on April 9th, is only days away from its release on May 28th. Last week, Swizz Beatz shared the tracklist and stacked roster of guest appearances, which include JAY-Z, Nas, Snoop Dogg, The LOX, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, Denaun Porter, Infrared & Cross, Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, Bono, Moneybagg Yo, and more.
Now, the producer has returned to share an epic trailer for the project. "Let’s get it started !!!!" captions Swizzy in a message destined to spark nostalgia. "4 days till EXODUS @dmx 5/28!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s take it back to the motherf Streets !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RR 4 Life!!!!!"
- Musical luminaries including Nas, LL Cool J, and Fat Joe came out Thursday (May 20) to the birthplace of hip-hop for a ground-breaking ceremony to launch the capital campaign for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum. They joined a slew of politicians in the Bronx, where the now-global cultural force that is hip-hop has its roots.
“Hip hop made me believe that anything was possible,” said LL Cool J. “This was like the first time where I felt like, ‘Wow, it’s possible to be powerful. It’s possible to be somebody. It’s possible to have meaning in this world.’ ”The museum is part of a $349 million mixed-use project along the waterfront in the South Bronx.
- DJ Khaled, Migos, and H.E.R. kicked off the 2021 Billboard Music Awardswith a smoldering performance of their new anthem "We Going Crazy."
Residing on DJ Khaled's latest album, Khaled Khaled, the Shawty Lo-sampled record received thunderous applause from the fans watching outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. With drummers and horn players anchoring the live effort, the trio of stars fed off the crowd's momentum and punched in an electric effort.
- Doja Cat and SZA were the second act to grace the stage at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, performing their collaborative single "Kiss Me More."
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- Drake celebrated his Artist of the Decade Award after Sunday night's 2021 BBMA: renting out the new 70,000-capacity SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California for a little party with this team.
It was a beautiful way to cap a major night for the rapper, 34, who was honored at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night with his whole OVO team, along with his parents, who presented him with the prestigious award. His manager, Future the Prince, had glowing praise for the self-proclaimed 6 God, labeling him as "the most kind, selfless, generous person we know."
- Polo G dropped a new track featuring Lil Wayne, “Gang Gang”
- City Girls dropped club anthem “Twerkulator”
- Alicia Keys reintroduced herself and the album that carved her name into the cornerstone of R&B by performing a Songs in A Minor medley at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night
- Gucci Mane dropped "Poppin"
- Bobby Sessions joins forces with Benny the Butcher and Freddie Gibbs on his new single “Gold Rolex”
- Isaiah Rashad released "Lay Wit Ya"
- Mike Posner released a new single 'Jealousy' featuring Blackbear
EDM
- Little Mix, Galantis & David Guetta released a collab record, 'Heartbreak Anthem'
- Liv Nervo, one half of the NERVO sisters, recently revealed in an interview that the Australian duo was in motion to complete a decade-old Avicii collaboration called "Let Me Show You Love (Don't Give Up On Us)." Which would have been fucking amazing. (Anytime we get new Avicci music is). But due to rights holdings, the project in motion appears to be more a remake of the song than a release of the known version, and will not include any of Avicii's contributions.
"It’s a completely new track," Liv Nervo says. "None of Tim's chords or parts are being used.”
Somebody leak this please.
- Duke Dumont released a new heater featuring Channel Tres, “Alter Ego”
- MK dropped "Chemical"
- Shermanology released “Rain”
- New Rezz Feat. Dove Cameron, "Taste Of You"
- Felix Cartal dropped a new record featuring Hanne Mjøen, “My Last Song”
COUNTRY
- Embattled star Morgan Wallen cleaned up at the Billboard Awards and also returned with a candid new song dedicated to his mother.
On Saturday the 28-year-old country music star shared a video on Instagram of himself performing the unreleased track, titled "Thought You Should Know."
"I wrote this song for my mom a while ago, seemed like an appropriate time to share it," Wallen, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, says before the emotional solo acoustic performance.
- Gabby Barrett, one of the night's most nominated performers, won the 2021 Billboard Music Award for top country female artist.
- In a new cover story in Elle magazine, Kacey Musgraves says her follow-up to breakthrough 2018 album Golden Hour was inspired by some unusual EDM and rock sources like Weezer, and Daft Punk. And, maybe, psychedelic mushrooms.
- Old Dominion released “I Was On a Boat That Day”
- Hide your elementary school-aged daughters cause this kid can shred the guitar. Two-year-old video, but resurfaced this week of a then 9-year old jamming to Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey." Expression on expression, the hair, the hat… kid's got it going and probably got girls in different area codes elementary schools.
- Nashville lifted mask restrictions and the pent up demand showed out.
- Luke Bryan said hello to the patons at his bar, covering Brooks & Dunn's "Neon Moon".
- Alan Jackson first released an album in 1987. He just released another one, "Where Have You Gone." Sabermetrics… of the 66 singles of his career, 60 (.909) have reached the Billboard Country Singles Top 40 with 26 Number Ones (.394). Performed "Way Down In My Whiskey" on the Tonight Show.
- For something more upbeat, try "Back"
- Parker McCollum will release an album in July. Here's a sneak peak of "Speed". I love this guy.
- Ashley McBryde keeps doing her thing with "The Jacket"
- Gary Allan dropped a new song, "Temptation"
- NEEDTOBREATHE released a new single "I Wanna Remember" featuring seven-time GRAMMY Award winner Carrie Underwood
- The Steel Woods co-founder Jason "Rowdy" Cope died at 42 unexpectedly in his sleep this past January. They were in the middle of creating their third album All of Your Stones which just got released. Here's the title track. RIP Rowdy.
ROOTS/FOLK
- Trevor Hall released a new version of "my god" collaborating with Alborosie, an Italian-Jamaican reggae artist. Wouldn't mind hearing this when Hall headlines at Red Rocks in April 2022.
- Jamestown Revival with "Prospector's Blues" - good stuff.
SOUL
- Leon Bridges released "Motorbike" as a preview to the July 23rd drop of his new album Gold-Diggers Sound.
h/t Augie
If I missed anything or you want to submit something hit me at dante@barstoolsports.com