Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson take a Christmas-themed trip through Fort Worth, Texas, in the new animated music video for “Pretty Paper.”
The holiday duet appears on Parton’s latest album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, her first holiday release in 30 years. The track was originally penned by Nelson in 1963 after the country music icon saw a disabled man selling pencils and wrapping paper outside of a department store.
In the new animated video for “Pretty Paper,” Parton sings on the back of a wagon, with Nelson strumming his guitar alongside her, as they take a journey through the packed streets of Fort Worth, which are filled with holiday cheer.
Released through Parton’s Butterfly Records in partnership with 12Tone Music Group, A Holly Dolly Christmas includes a mix of originals and holiday standards. In addition to Nelson, the set features Parton duetting with such famous friends as Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, goddaughter Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon.
In early December, Parton accepted the hitmaker award from Miley Cyrus during the 2020 Billboard Women in Music event.
Watch Parton and Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” animated video below.
Think pink! Grace VanderWaal recently debuted a drastic new look and the result is nothing short of stunningly rosy.
In early December, the teen singer traded in her signature bob for an ultra-short pixie chop, writing “I did it” alongside a video and photo of the big reveal. The following day, it appears she took her new look even further by going full buzz cut.
Then, on Tuesday (Dec. 22), the star revealed she’d dyed her hair bright pink, showing off her latest transformation as she lip synched to K.Flay’s 2019 single “This Baby Don’t Cry” on her new TikTok channel.
“I used to think about the way that I dressed/ Like was I pretty enough? And am I good at sex?/ I used to want to say an early goodbye/ But I’m a disco queen, I just keep staying alive/ I try to tell ‘em, ‘See ya later!’/ But they don’t wanna let me go/ I blow a kiss to all the haters/ Yeah, I just wanna let ‘em know/ This baby don’t cry,” a pink-haired VanderWaal mouths for the camera, wearing an oversized black varsity jacket and nude, corset-inspired top as she claps along to the track.
In the clip, the America’s Got Talent champ complements her new hair color with cerise lipstick, a single earring and a large, locket-style necklace as an unnamed pal dances along in the background.
While VanderWaal dropped her most recent EP, Letters: Vol. 1, back in Nov. 2019, she made her feature film debut earlier this year as the titular character in Disney+’s Stargirl. The singer also recorded ukulele-strewn track “Today and Tomorrow” for the movie’s soundtrack.
Check out VanderWaal’s bold pink hair makeover here.
Wearing hard hats and protective suits, the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang inside the medieval Paris landmark for the first time since last year’s devastating fire for a special Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) concert.
Accompanied by an acclaimed violinist, a rented organ and a soprano soloist, 20 singers performed beneath the cathedral’s stained-glass windows amid the darkened church, which is transitioning from being a precarious hazardous clean-up operation to becoming a massive reconstruction site.
The singers stood socially distanced to be able to take off their masks — which is required indoors in France to stem the spread of the virus — and sing.
The concert was recorded Saturday and will be broadcast Thursday night. The public was not allowed and isn’t expected to see the insides of Notre Dame until at least 2024.
The diocese called it a “highly symbolic concert … marked with emotion and hope,” and a celebration of a “musical heritage that dates to the Middle Ages.”
The archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Michel Aupetit, will hold Thursday’s Christmas Eve services in Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois Church across from the Louvre Museum instead of Notre Dame.
The Notre Dame choir used to give 60 concerts a year inside the cathedral but has been itinerant ever since, moving among other Paris churches.
The April 2019 fire consumed the cathedral’s lead roof and destroyed its spire, and only earlier this month did workers finally stabilize the site enough to begin rebuilding.
Juan Luis Guerra is celebrating Christmas with a virtual concert that’s doubling as the launch of his new EP, Privé.
The five-track EP features new renditions of classics — including a pared-down jazzy version of “Ojalá que llueva café” — plus two new songs. The title came from gatherings among music-lover friends in the Dominican Republic.
“When it’s something really private and special, they call it a ‘privé,’” Guerra says with a smile.
But Privé also hints at the intimacy of the project, conceived between Guerra and his longtime producer, Janina Rosado. Set to acoustic arrangements that range from blues to bossa to classical influences, the EP highlights a different side of Guerra and his band, 4.40.
Guerra and his group will perform Privé on Christmas Day (Dec. 25) at 9 p.m. ET. The livestream can be viewed on his YouTube channel.
“What better date than December 24 when we celebrate the birth of Christ?” Guerra says. “It’s the most important and most beautiful date in the year.”
Watch the livestream on Christmas Day in the video below.
Britney Spears’ boyfriend Sam Asghari took to social media on Wednesday (Dec. 23) to share that he recently came down with, and recovered from, a mild case of COVID-19.
“2020 has been a crazy/twisted year for all of us,” the fitness model captioned the lengthy Instagram post. “Recently I tested positive for Covid-19, I was lucky enough to catch the news before being around and infecting my loved ones (friends, family, significant other). I quickly isolated myself and started my quarantine process alone.”
After ensuring followers he hadn’t passed the virus along to Spears, Asghari credited his “healthy lifestyle” with helping him bounce back and make a full recovery, adding that he had even kept his stringent fitness routine while ill.
“I only had 1 day of common cold symptoms day 2 after testing positive but 24 hours later I was perfectly normal,” he continued. “I continued my workouts and clean nutrition at home as usual. 10 days later I was no longer contagious, and tested negative twice and was cleared by doctors to end quarantine and return to my loved ones.
“I spend a lot of time cleansing And thinking about how important our health is in General even outside of Covid, at the end of our lives one of the most important things will be health,” he concluded, promising his 1.5 million followers, “I will continue to do my best and inspire you guys to also live a healthy lifestyle.”
Back in November, Asghari jetted off to Hawaii on an early birthday trip for Spears, who celebrated turning 39 on Dec. 2 amid the ongoing legal drama with her father, Jamie Spears, over the status of her controversial conservatorship.
Check out Asghari’s post about his COVID diagnosis here.