Pokémon 25: The Album will be coming in fall 2021, it was revealed following the Pokémon virtual concert Saturday night (Feb. 27).

The album will be comprised of a total of 14 songs by 11 Universal Music Group artists, including Katy Perry, J Balvin and Post Malone.

Post Malone’s version of Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You” is on the Pokémon 25 album track list.

Katy Perry, J Balvin and another surprise artist will each release a song inspired by the Pokémon franchise, along with a music video and merchandise collection.

J Balvin commented on taking part in the project in a statement released on Saturday: “Pokémon is pulling out all the stops for P25 Music, and I’m thrilled to join the program as one of its premier collaborators,” he said. “I’m looking forward to adding my own unique flavor to this huge Pokémon party and adding more good vibes to the celebration.”

Pokémon 25: The Album, part of this year’s P25 Music program for Pokémon’s 25th anniversary, will be released by UMG’s Capitol Records.

Saturday night’s concert can be watched on-demand on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

Nashville’s long-anticipated National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) is now open to the public on a limited schedule.

NMAAM, which recently received a $1 million donation from Amazon and established a music education partnership with Sony Music Group, vividly tells the story of Black culture’s contributions and influences throughout the history of American music.

Once inside the 56,000 square-foot space, patrons can interact with six permanent exhibits that span several centuries and 50 musical genres. The first gallery that visitors will encounter is Rivers of Rhythm, described by NMAAM curator Steven Lewis as the “central space that connects the more genre-focused galleries.” The name of the exhibit, which features an interactive timeline of African-American music, was inspired by the Langston Hughes poem,“The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”

The Wade in the Water exhibit chronicles the history of African-American religious music, starting with indigenous African spirituals and musical traditions. The Crossroads and A Love Supreme exhibits (the latter borrows its name from jazz pioneer John Coltrane’s iconic album) focus on blues and jazz, respectively. One Nation Under a Groove (the title of the Funkadelic classic) recounts the history of R&B from WWII to its contemporary counterpart. Final exhibit The Message (Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five) traces the development of rap/hip-hop from its origins in the South Bronx to its global impact.

NMAAM also houses several mini-exhibits including The Business Behind the Music. Sponsored by Sony Music Group, the display spotlights trailblazing Black industry executives such as Logan H. Westbrooks (Capitol, Mercury, CBS and Source Records) in addition to record labels and publishers that have played important roles in music history.

Lewis joined NMAAM in 2018 after serving as a research assistant to the curator of music and performing arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History. In collaboration with NMAAM president H. Beecher Hicks III, the museum’s advisory committee and two additional curators, Lewis has spent the last three years collecting more than 1,400 artifacts to display. Once a framework was set for what the museum could include, says Lewis, “we looked for items to illustrate and interpret the history we were trying to convey.”

For instance, museum visitors will see a trombone donated by Helen Jones Woods, a trombonist with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm — the first interracial all-women’s band in the country. (Woods, the mother of Urban One founder/chairperson Cathy Hughes, died last August.) Other artifacts include a guitar on loan from the B.B. King Museum plus a cape and wig donated by Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton.

Of equal importance is the impact that African-American artists have had in NMAAM’s hometown. “The Nashville stories are woven throughout the space,” Lewis says. Among those prominently featured in those stories are Dr. Bobby Jones, host of BET’s longest-running series Bobby Jones Gospel and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Lewis adds that a future temporary exhibit dedicated to the Fisk Jubilee Singers will further examine Nashville’s Black history.

NMAAM is currently open on Saturdays and Sundays; visitors must reserve tickets for appointed times. Visit nmaam.org for more information.

It’s a girl!

Congratulations are in order for Victoria Monét and her boyfriend John Gaines, who recently welcomed their first child.

The 27-year-old singer-songwriter took to Instagram on Friday (Feb. 26) to announce the birth of the couple’s new baby daughter, Hazel Monét Gaines, who arrived on Feb. 21.

“Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!!” Monét captioned an adorable photo of the newborn holding her finger. “Welcome to the world.”

The singer’s post drew numerous congratulatory messages from fellow artists like Sam Smith, Dua Lipa and Khalid.

Gaines shared the same sweet photo of his girlfriend and daughter on Instagram. “I love you @victoriamonet,” he wrote. “Thank you for the best early birthday gift I could ask for,” and adding the hashtag “girl dad.”

Monét commented on his heartfelt post, writing, “We love you too baby!! family forever.”

The “Moments” singer revealed her baby bump in December with some goddess-like photos of herself on social media.

“I’m so happy to share that I’ve been promoted to the title just above Queen… Mom,” she captioned the beautiful images. “Two hearts beat inside of me now…That’s more love. Two brains and two souls…that’s so much power. Really been feelin like the ultra super Victoria cause my body is doing such miraculous work. This is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me and I can’t wait to meet my tiny soul mate earth side!!!”

Monét added, “I hold my head higher with the confidence you already gift. You are the best of me and I promise to protect you and be the best version of myself for you all ways, always.”

See her birth announcement on Instagram here.

Did George Clooney just join the ARMY?

On Friday night (Feb. 26), as part of a virtual celebration for W’s annual Best Performances Issue, one of the magazine’s cover stars, George Clooney, performed a Lyrical Improv reading of BTS’ first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Dynamite.” And it’s exactly as reverential as fans would hope.

“Hello, I’m Brad Pitt,” Clooney says with a straight face in the introduction. “And I’m going to read ‘Dynamite’ by BTS.”

He mostly gives the song a pretty straightforward reading in the Lynn Hirschberg-directed video, save for a few asides, like when he reads the lyric “Jump up to the top, LeBron” and adds: “And we know who that is.” But the best part of the black-and-white video has to be when he turns the page and says “Oh, Jesus” as he encounters the “Dy-na-na-na-na-na-mite” portion of the song. Like any seasoned actor, he soldiers through.

You can watch the full thing for yourself below, and check out Clooney’s W cover story, which celebrates his performance in The Midnight Sky.

We still don’t know exactly what to expect from the D’Angelo vs. Friends Verzuz event on Saturday night — but we know we need to watch.

The event, coming live from Harlem’s Apollo Theater, was announced on Feb. 15 as “D’Angelo & Friends,” unlike the traditional “Artist vs. Artist” setup. Co-created by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz as a form of socially distanced entertainment in the midst of COVID-19, Verzuz is now in its second season. In recent months, we’ve seen Ashanti vs. Keyshia Cole, Jeezy vs. Gucci Mane, and E-40 vs. Too Short.

It remains to be seen who D’Angelo’s “Friends” are, and whether they’ll be battling against D’Angelo or just performing alongside him, so tune in Saturday to find out.

D’Angelo’s most recent album, 2014’s Black Messiah, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. His highest-charting Hot 100 hit, “Lady,” stands as his lone top 10, having hit No. 10 on March 30, 1996.

You can watch it all go down Saturday night, Feb. 27, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on VerzuzTV’s Instagram Live and Apple Music.