One person was killed and another injured in a shooting Monday afternoon near an Opa-locka auto body shop. Miami-Dade police took over the investigation because of the homicide, Opa-locka police … Click to Continue »
Time to get in the holiday spirit — with a little help from BTS!
The K-pop superstars performed on Monday night’s (Nov. 30) The Disney Holiday Singalong, where they delivered a jolly rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
In the performance, BTS wear cozy sweaters, blazers and ties and sing the festive classic amid a golden winter wonderland.
Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, The Disney Holiday Singalong also featured performances from Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Ciara, Chloe x Halle, Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert, Julianne Hough, Adam Lambert, Leslie Odom Jr., Katy Perry, P!nk and Kerry Washington.
If you missed the special on Monday night, viewers can also watch on Hulu.
Watch BTS perform “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” below.
Who knew *NSYNC could be so haunting?
Team Gwen member Payge Turner took the stage on Monday night’s (Nov. 30) episode of The Voice, where she delivered a breathtaking, evocative cover of “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
Complete with a sparkling suit and a guitar, host Carson Daly noted that the performance “felt like a James Bond opening sequence.”
Coach Gwen Stefani, who gave Turner’s performance a standing ovation, couldn’t have agreed more. “Wow Payge, you make me look so cool!” she told the contestant. “I mean, honestly, from a distance I was seeing Prince standing there. Being able to see you with the guitar and outfit and just your whole vibe, I thought you did a really great job of being able to make the song your own, but also be familiar at the same time. You didn’t go too far. It was so you, and so cool and so beautiful. I’m so proud to be your coach.”
Watch the performance below.
In April and May, ABC delivered a pair of Disney Family Singalongs to entertain and unite families quarantining at home due to the ongoing pandemic. Now, the series has returned, and this time, it’s holiday-themed. On Monday night (Nov. 30), Ryan Seacrest — wearing a green Mickey Mouse sweater — hosted The Disney Holiday Singalong from a comfy-looking leather chair with a fire simmering in the background.
The hourlong special included performances by music’s biggest stars, from this week’s Hot 100 chart-toppers BTS to Katy Perry to P!nk and many more. After an animated introduction that transformed viewers’ television screens from black-and-white to high-definition color while showing vintage Mickey Mouse clips, Seacrest shared simple instructions: “Gather the family around the tree, put a log on the fire, and get ready to sing your heart out … ’tis the season for The Disney Holiday Singalong.“
Michael Bublé kicked off the show surrounded by his family while singing “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” while previews of what was to come appeared on the ornaments hanging on the tree behind him. Next up, “Hollywood’s hottest couple” Kermit and Miss Piggy delivered a vocal warm-up of sorts that ended in Piggy’s soaring notes cracking the camera lens. But Seacrest made it clear you don’t have to have a perfect voice to join in on the fun: “We’re celebrating all the holidays,” he said. “Wherever you are in the world” — from South Korea to Italy to Los Angeles — “this singalong is for you.”
Here are seven highlights from the holiday special:
Chloe x Halle: “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”
“It’s time for one of life’s great questions: Do you want to build a snowman?” asked Seacrest before introducing a “pair of talented sisters, just like [Frozen’s] heroines.” For Chloe x Halle’s performance, the sisters once again transformed their backyard to create a stunning at-home set overflowing with decorated trees and even some light snow falling from the sky. Plus, their performance wouldn’t be complete with their own version of Olaf. And as the sisters belted out beautifully chilling harmonies, they wrapped a scarf around their snowball friend.
BTS: “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
Joining the singalong from Seoul, the K-pop superstars introduced the Christmas classic by channeling the man himself, chuckling “ho ho ho” as they walked onto the present-filled set dressed in cozy sweaters and scarves. Halfway through, RM gave his best Santa impression while asking viewers: “What do you wish for this Christmas? BTS!” He later delivered a sky-high note before the group wished everyone a happy holiday.
Ciara: “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
Following a heart-warming performance from P!nk and her 9-year-old daughter Willow, Seacrest teased Ciara’s clip by telling fans the show was going “from one talented mother to another.” He then joked that her kids, Future and Sienna, were trying to take his job as they introduced their mom’s song of choice. And that wasn’t all they did — they also joined in on the fun, dancing and singing along with their mom. While Ciara and Sienna wore matching vintage ’50s varsity jackets, Future sported a leather jacket and aviators to drive home the vintage-inspired visual.
Disney on Broadway: “Let It Go”
While the Disney on Broadway cast members have participated in the previous two Disney Singalongs, this one was particularly special: It was their first time performing onstage — and together — since Broadway’s shutdown in the spring. The members joined forces at Times Square’s New Amsterdam Theatre for the Frozen hit, and when they sang the line “We’re never going back … the past is in the past,” it hit unintentionally hard.
Leslie Odom Jr.: “What’s This?”
The Hamilton star delivered an impassioned and incredibly speedy delivery of The Nightmare Before Christmas track, mirroring Jack Skellington’s movements from the film that played behind him. Prior to his performance, Odom admitted to Seacrest he was a bit nervous, but after he was seen smiling in front of the at-home green screen — and standing next to a Jack Skellington-inspired snowman — it was clear he knew he nailed it.
Katy Perry: “I’ll Be Home for Christmas / Cozy Little Christmas”
Seacrest said it best when he introduced Katy Perry’s performance by saying she “put her heart and soul — as we’ve come to expect” into her clip, “really going the extra mile” (for those who don’t remember, Perry dressed as Mrs. Jumbo for her last Disney Singalong performance). And somehow, even that was an understatement. Perry started her performance of not one but two Christmas songs strapped atop a moving vehicle because, of course, she was dressed as a Christmas tree. After fighting to be taken down, Perry the tree was then shown inside a family’s home all dressed up with ornaments and lights while being fed pie in between verses. As Seacrest said: “I’ve never been more moved by a singing tree.”
Adam Lambert: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Adam Lambert had the highly sought-after closing slot, which appeared just before the legendary Andrea Bocelli wrapped the special as at-home fan videos aired. But to no one’s surprise, Lambert over-delivered by adopting the less-is-more strategy, opting for gorgeous sky-high notes rather than costumes or green screens. Seated in his backyard, he performed what Seacrest said was “Minnie Mouse’s personal favorite” and balanced soft, tender moments with unparalleled vocal strength.
The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles remains closed due to COVID-19, but the museum has announced a new exhibit for when it reopens — and it just might make you say “I’ll Be There.”
The exhibit, Motown: The Sound of Young America, presented by City National Bank, traces the evolution of the legendary record label. The exhibit focuses on the label’s major artists and achievements, and explores how the sound of Motown continues to influence some of pop music’s most important artists today. In addition to stage outfits from many of Motown’s top performers, the exhibit also includes exclusive interviews with many Motown artists.
The Grammy organization saluted Motown on a two-hour special, Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration, which aired April 21, 2019, on CBS. Cedric the Entertainer and Motown legend Smokey Robinson co-hosted the show.
“While the museum’s doors may still be closed, our curatorial team has been hard at work preparing for our reopening,” said Michael Sticka, president of the Grammy Museum, in a statement.
In the meantime, Motown Records will take over this month’s Spotlight Saturdays, the museum’s virtual program series featuring up-and-coming artists in sit-down interviews and performances.
Here is this month’s Spotlight Saturdays schedule:
Dec. 5 – Joy Denalane
Dec. 12 – Chaz French
Dec. 19 – Asiahn
Dec. 26 – NJOMZA
The museum also announced the rest of its December schedule on COLLECTION:live (which consist of interviews and/or performances). Two of the subjects of these sessions were Grammy-nominated last week. Bettye LaVette was nominated for best contemporary blues album for Blackbirds. Tom Kitt was nominated as one of the producers of Jagged Little Pill, a finalist for best musical theater album.
Here is the rest of the December schedule:
Thursday, Dec. 3
Touché Amoré
Music biographer Peter Guralnick
Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, Tom Kitt, and the original Broadway cast from Jagged Little Pill
Celebrating 100 Years of Charlie Parker featuring a conversation with Dave Chisholm, Chuck Haddix, Bobby Watson, and Christian McBride
Thursday, Dec. 17
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Asleep At The Wheel featuring Ray Benson
Andrew Bird
Bettye LaVette with producer Steve Jordan
MisterWives
G.E. Smith
Livestream Event
Dec. 9 – Catching Up with Chris Hillman, a livestream conversation
4 p.m. PT
Tickets HERE
Digital Exhibits
Dec. 4 – Jerry Weintraub Presents…
COLLECTION:live is the Grammy Museum’s new online streaming service available for $2.99/month or $29.99 a year. Proceeds benefit the museum’s music education initiatives and help keep the museum’s mission alive while the physical location remains closed due to COVID-19.
All content is released at the museum’s new streaming service, COLLECTION:live: watch.grammymuseum.org
Ice-T is promoting mask-wearing as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rapidly spread, and is using his father-in-law as an example.
The rapper took to Twitter on Monday (Nov. 30) to share a photo of his father-in-law hooked up to an ventilator in the hospital, noting that he used to be a “serious ‘No-Masker.’”
“COVID hit him. Pneumonia in both lungs.. 40 days in ICU close to death..” he continued. “Now he’s on Oxygen indefinitely. Ohhh he’s a Believer now.. #COVIDisNotAGame.”
Ice-T followed up by replying to a fan who insisted that “some of us gotta learn the hard way,” writing, “Some people think a Mask is a sign of weakness.. My homie @BrotherMob who had it, told me.. ‘Ice, your Gangster can’t fight this s—…..’ I heard him loud and clear!”
“Honestly.. A lot of no maskers only do it because they’re listening to the President.. Just sayin,” he replied to another fan, before adding, “I would NEVER wish ANYONE sickness… I don’t need that Karma.”
See below.
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BTS lands its fifth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as Be bows atop the tally. The set, which was released via Big Hit Entertainment on Nov. 20, arrives with 242,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 26, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Be is the second chart-topper of 2020 for the pop group, following Map of the Soul: 7, which debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated March 7.
Also in the new top 10, Megan Thee Stallion’s Good News bows at No. 2, Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore flies 29-6 after its vinyl edition was released to Target stores and her Disney+ special premiered, and Carrie Underwood’s holiday set My Gift returns to the top 10 with a 25-10 jump.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 5-dated chart (where Be debuts at to No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Dec. 1. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Be’s 242,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Nov. 26, album sales comprise 177,000, TEA units comprise 35,000 and SEA units comprise 30,000 (equating to 48.56 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs).
The Be album is a mostly-Korean-language release, but does feature the group’s first all-English song, “Dynamite.” The track marked the act’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Sept. 5. It also recently garnered the group its first Grammy Award nomination, for best pop duo/group performance. Be is the 11th mostly non-English album to hit No. 1. Of the 11 leaders that were recorded mostly in a language other than English, five have been by BTS.
The album’s first week is the largest for an album by a group, both in terms of equivalent album units and album sales, since BTS’ own last No. 1 album, Map of the Soul: 7, earned 422,000 units in its first week, of which 347,000 were in album sales (chart dated March 7).
However, unlike many other high-selling albums that benefit from an array of available formats and exclusive or limited editions, Be was only available in two formats. It was issued as a standard digital album that cost about $9 and a pricey CD edition that retailed for around $50. (Big Hit has termed the CD edition a “deluxe” package, though there is no traditional standard CD available.)
Even BTS’ last No. 1, Map of the Soul: 7, was issued in five editions – a standard digital album and four collectible CD packages (each selling for around $25).
Be’s rollout is reminiscent of the arrival of Tool’s Fear Inoculum, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 14, 2019, with 270,000 equivalent album units – of which 240,000 were in album sales. The album was initially only sold in two formats: a digital download and a limited-edition CD that cost around $45-50, and came with a 4-inch HD screen, video footage, a speaker and a 36-page booklet.
While the $50 BTS Be deluxe CD doesn’t have any technology housed in its package, it does contain paper goods such as a photobook, photocards, postcards and a poster.
BTS is the first group to land two No. 1 albums in 2020, and the second act overall, following rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again (with 38 Baby 2 and Top).
In total, BTS has now led the Billboard 200 five times. Before Be and Map of the Soul: 7, there was Map of the Soul: Persona (April 27, 2019), Love Yourself: Answer (Sept. 8, 2018) and Love Yourself: Tear (June 2, 2018).
In turn, BTS has achieved its five No. 1 albums in just a little over two years and six months. The last act to accumulate five No. 1s quicker was Future, who logged his first five leaders in just over one year and seven months (from DS2 on Aug. 8, 2015, through HNDRXX on March 18, 2017). The last group to tally five No. 1s faster than BTS was The Beatles, who strung together five No. 1s in just under two years and five months from Yesterday and Today (July 30, 1966) to its self-titled album (often referred to as the White Album, Dec. 28, 1968). And finally, the last group to achieve its first five No. 1s faster than BTS was, again, The Beatles. The Fab Four clocked its first five No. 1s in just under one year and five months, between Meet the Beatles! (Feb. 15, 1964) and Beatles VI (July 10, 1965).
At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Megan Thee Stallion’s debut full-length album Good News starts with 100,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 82,500 comprise SEA units (equaling 115.85 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 16,000 comprise album sales and a little over 2,000 comprise TEA units. Good News is also the most streamed album of the week.
The 17-track Good News set follows a pair of top 10s from Megan Thee Stallion with the nine-track EP Suga (No. 7; May 16, 2020) and the mixtape Fever (No. 10; June 1, 2019).
The new album includes the remix version of the No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé. The original version of “Savage” was included on Suga.
Ariana Grande’s former No. 1 Positions rises 4-3 on the new Billboard 200 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (down 18%), Pop Smoke’s former leader Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon bumps up a notch to No. 4 with 52,000 units (down 3%) and Future and Lil Uzi Vert’s Pluto x Baby Pluto falls 2-5 in its second week with 46,000 units (down 56%).
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Folklore charges back into the top 10, rising 29-6, after the set’s vinyl edition was released to Target stores during the tracking week, her Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions premiered on Nov. 25 and a new digital deluxe edition of the album was released.
Folklore earned 44,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 26 (up 120%), with 23,000 of that sum in album sales (up 452%). Vinyl LP sales comprise 15,000 of that sales figure (up 16,476%). Folklore’s digital album sales also increased, rising to 4,000 for the week (up 425%). A new deluxe edition of the album was issued to digital retailers on Nov. 25 that includes live versions of each of the album’s tracks (as heard in the Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions).
Luke Combs’ former No. 1 What You See Is What You Get falls 6-7 with 41,000 equivalent album units (down 2%), Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over descends 3-8 with 37,000 units (down 64%) and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die dips 7-9 with 36,000 units (down 2%).
Carrie Underwood’s holiday album My Gift jumps back into the top 10, rising 25-10 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (up 63%). The album debuted at No. 8 on the Oct. 10-dated chart, and then spent the next four weeks outside the top 50. However, it vaulted 150-39 on the Nov. 14 chart, and then rose 29-25-10 in the next three weeks, as Thanksgiving (and the heart of the Christmas season) approached.
With Starting Over, What You See Is What You Get and My Gift all in the top 10 together, it’s the first time in nearly three years that three albums which also appear on the Top Country Albums chart have all been in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 concurrently. It last happened on the Jan. 3, 2018-dated chart, when Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country, Garth Brooks’ The Anthology: Part I, The First Five Years and Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 2 were Nos. 8-10, respectively.
