U.K. Nurse Tells Kate Middleton About Being Asked to Sing Bon Jovi to Dying COVID Patient

The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton praised nurses from U.K. hospitals performing “acts of kindness” for their COVID-19 patients in a new video — including one wife’s musical request.

The Duchess hopped on a video call with nurses from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and commended them for “going that extra mile” apart from their usual job duties. A senior nurse, Vasu Lingappa, told her about one of his dying patients and how the patient’s wife asked him to sing Bon Jovi while holding his hand.

“She said, ‘I can’t come to see you. But can you make sure you sing Bon Jovi and hold his hand?’ If I sing Bon Jovi in my accent, it won’t be appropriate,” Lingappa recalled with a laugh to Middleton. “So I took my phone out and played a YouTube video of Bon Jovi, and I held his hand.”

“That’s what matters so much now, these acts of kindness to the patients that you’re looking after, that are in your care, that family members aren’t able to be there,” Middleton told the nurses after hearing his story.

See the Duchess’ heartwarming video call below:

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Paris Jackson Unveils ‘Eyelids’ Video With Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull

Paris Jackson shared an emotional visual on Friday (Jan. 22) to accompany her collaboration with Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull, “eyelids.”

The black-and-white vignette finds the duo standing — first separately, then back-to-back — in a dark room as a light circles them. “Now I don’t know your name / It wouldn’t matter if I did anymore / Now I don’t know your name / I’m afraid of what’s under the floor,” they belt in the heartbreaking chorus.

Jackson worked with Hull throughout the process of writing, producing and recording her debut album Wilted, which was released in December 2020. “Manchester Orchestra was the soundtrack to the most vital time in my life in regards to mourning and becoming who I am today,” she told Billboard of working with one of her personal heroes. “[Hull’s] voice has guided me through some of the roughest times where I really had to lean into healthy coping skills, and to hear [him] singing lyrics from my heart was one of the coolest things in the world. I remember just being so blown away that I physically leaned back in my chair and was gripping the armrest.”

Watch the “eyelids” music video below.

 

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Is the SAG Award for Outstanding Movie Cast a Good Predictor for Best Picture Oscar?

When the Screen Actors Guild nominations are announced on Feb. 4, all eyes will turn to the top category: outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. That is often looked to as a leading bellwether for the Academy Award for best picture.

Last year, Parasite won the SAG Award for outstanding cast (a first for a film not in English) en route to its Oscar win for best picture (again, a first for a film not in English).

But the two awards don’t always go hand-in-hand. Of the 25 films to win the SAG Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture since the category’s inception in 1995 (the awards show’s second year), 12 have gone on to win the Oscar for best picture, 12 have gone on to be nominated for best picture (but not win), and one wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar for best picture. (That was Mike Nichols’ 1996 farce The Birdcage.)

Looking at it from the other direction, of the last 25 Academy Award winners for best picture, all but three were at least nominated for the SAG cast award. The three Oscar winners for best picture that were not SAG-nominated in the cast category were Braveheart (1995), The Shape of Water (2017) and Green Book (2018).

Are there any patterns to what types of films do best in the top category at each show? Speaking very broadly, big, epic films seem to do better at the Oscars. These include Braveheart, Titanic and Gladiator. Smaller, more intimate films seem to do better at the SAG Awards. These include The Full Monty, Sideways and Little Miss Sunshine.

The five films that seem to have the inside track for SAG nominations in the cast category this year are The Trial of the Chicago 7, One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods and Mank.

Other strong contenders include Minari, The Prom, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and Judas and the Black Messiah.

Here are all the SAG winners for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, separated into three categories based on how well the films did at the Oscars. Note: In the second and third categories, the second title on each line is the name of the film that won the Oscar for best picture.

Won the SAG Award; won the Oscar for best picture

Shakespeare in Love (1998)
American Beauty (1999)
Chicago (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Crash (2005)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The King’s Speech (2010)
Argo (2012)
Birdman (2014)
Spotlight (2015)
Parasite (2019)

Won the SAG Award; nominated for the Oscar for best picture

Apollo 13 (1995); Oscar: Braveheart
The Full Monty (1997); Oscar: Titanic
Traffic (2000); Oscar: Gladiator
Gosford Park (2001); Oscar: A Beautiful Mind
Sideways (2004); Oscar: Million Dollar Baby
Little Miss Sunshine (2006); Oscar: The Departed
Inglorious Basterds (2009); Oscar: The Hurt Locker
The Help (2011); Oscar: The Artist
American Hustle (2013); Oscar: 12 Years a Slave
Hidden Figures (2016); Oscar: Moonlight
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017); Oscar: The Shape of Water
Black Panther (2018); Oscar: Green Book

Won the SAG Award; not even nominated for the Oscar for best picture

The Birdcage (1996); Oscar: The English Patient

SAG Trivia

Of the 25 winners of the SAG cast award, the film with the largest ensemble cast was Gosford Park (20 actors shared the award). The film with the smallest ensemble cast was Sideways (just four actors — Thomas Haden Church, Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh — shared the award).

Black Panther is the only superhero film to win the ensemble cast award.

The Full Monty, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Parasite are the only winners not to be nominated in any other category at the SAG Awards.

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Luke Bryan Wanted This Top 10 Country Hit, But Morgan Wallen Got It First: ‘Sorry, Luke’

Morgan Wallen has had a successful streak on the Billboard charts this week, and another country superstar wanted to get his hands on one of his new hits: Luke Bryan.

“Sand in My Boots” is the first track on Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which topped the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums in the week ending Jan. 23, and it hit No. 8 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Wallen chatted with his frequent collaborators HARDY, who co-wrote “Sand in My Boots,” and Charlie Handsome on Apple Music Country’s Happy Hour Radio on Friday (Jan. 22) about how the song came to be and how both Wallen and Bryan “fell in love” with it.

“I just had that idea in my phone for forever. And I went in to write with Ashley Gorley and Josh Osborne at Smack, right across the street from Big Loud. And I just had this idea called ‘Sand in My Boots,’” HARDY said. “I just had this idea about just a summer love kind of thing. And I wanted to call it ‘Sand in My Boots.’”

“I listened to it. I immediately fell in love with it, man,” Wallen chimed in about his initial reaction to hearing the demo. “I knew I was going to have to change some of your Mississippi sh– off of there, but that’s all right,” Wallen laughed.

However, that “summer love kind of thing” wasn’t meant to be between the song and Bryan. HARDY told Wallen during the interview that the “Play It Again” hitmaker “fell in love with it too,” but he and Wallen didn’t know how he had even heard the demo.

“We were all like, ‘Man, we wanted you [Wallen] to have it. We thought you could make it cool.’ So he missed out, dawg,” HARDY said.

“Sorry, Luke,” Wallen teased at the end.

Since Wallen is still slated to open for Bryan’s Proud to Be Right Here Tour this summer, maybe they’ll get to perform “Sand in My Boots” together soon.

Listen to their entire conversation on Apple Music Country’s Happy Hour Radio here, and listen to “Sand in My Boots” below.

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Grimes Didn’t Give Dave Chappelle COVID-19, Joe Rogan Says

Dave Chappelle tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday (Jan. 22), which led the comedian to cancel a string of shows in Austin, Texas.

Following the news, sleuths on the Internet began to speculate that Grimes infected the star, as she and her partner Elon Musk were photographed hanging out at Stubb’s in Austin with Chappelle, Joe Rogan and a bunch of other comedians earlier this week.

The singer revealed on Jan. 11 (less than two weeks ago) that she also tested positive. “Finally got COVID but weirdly enjoying the DayQuil fever dream…2021,” she wrote via Instagram Stories with a leaf and fairy emoji, over a screenshot of the single art for SZA’s new track “Good Days.”

Rogan, however, says that Chapelle’s COVID diagnosis was not Grimes’ fault. He debunked the rumors via Instagram while announcing the show cancellations. “Because people are asking, I was not exposed to the person who had covid and I have tested negative every day this week,” he wrote. “Also, the person that gave covid to Dave was NOT Elon’s partner @grimes.”

See here.

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Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Is Examined in FX Docuseries: See the Trailer

In an upcoming episode of The New York Times Presents, the FX docuseries will go deep on Britney Spears’ incredible pop-music success and why she’s now in a court battle with her father to take back control of her life.

On Thursday (Jan. 21), a 30-second preview was released of the “Framing Britney Spears” episode, debuting Feb. 5 on FX and FX on Hulu.

“Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport,” reads FX promotional material for the episode. “People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.”

At a November hearing, Spears asked the court to remove her dad, Jamie Spears, as co-conservator of her estate. Spears has been under a conservatorship led by her father since 2008, when she was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold after a hospitalization.

Some familiar faces pop up in the New York Times Presents preview, including former MTV VJ Dave Holmes and #FreeBritney organizer Leanne Simmons. Watch the preview below, and catch the episode Feb. 5 on FX.

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Justin Timberlake & Ant Clemons’ ‘Better Days’ Duet Sees Biggest Sales Boost After Inauguration

The Biden-Harris inauguration festivities on Jan. 20 spurred sales gains for the songs performed throughout the day’s celebrations, including big increases for tunes by Ant Clemons and Justin Timberlake; Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard; and Black Pumas.

Altogether, the songs performed during the daytime show Parade Across America and the primetime event Celebrating America sold 39,000 downloads in the U.S. on Jan. 20, according to initial reports to MRC Data. That’s up 2,000% compared to the 2,000 those same songs sold on Jan. 19. The sales figures include the original and popularized versions of songs covered on the two programs, including Demi Lovato’s cover of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Jon Bon Jovi’s take on The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”

Both Parade Across America and Celebrating America were broadcast on U.S. television across multiple networks and streamed in their entirety on various social networks and website. The 90-minute Celebrating America program was carried live starting at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC and PBS.

The top-seller on Jan. 20 from the two shows was Clemons and Timberlake’s “Better Days,” which sold 13,000 downloads that day — a gain of 15,351% compared to the negligible sum it sold on Jan. 19. The song was released in December but has yet to chart on a Billboard tally. That will likely change come next week, once the new charts (dated Jan. 30, reflecting sales and streaming data for the week ending Jan. 21) are compiled and announced.

The next biggest seller from the two shows was McGraw and Hubbard’s “Undivided,” which moved 8,500 copies on Jan. 20 (up 2,272% from a little under 500 sales on Jan. 19). The tune debuted on a number of Billboard charts (dated Jan. 23) including Country Airplay at No. 19.

Black Pumas had the third-biggest selling song of the day, as “Colors” sold 4,000 — up 11,415% from a negligible figure on Jan. 19. The song is nominated for record of the year at the upcoming Grammy Awards and hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart a year ago (chart dated Feb. 15, 2020).

Other notable sellers from the two shows include Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These” (3,000; up 8,716%), Withers’ “Lovely Day” (2,500; up 1,897%), New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give” (1,500; up 262%), Katy Perry’s “Firework” (1,000; up 2,292%), and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber (1,000; up 1,894%). (The latter was sung in part by Fonsi, without Daddy Yankee and Bieber, during DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic segment on the Celebrating America special.)

“You Get What You Give” had already started to perk up in sales in the days leading up to the show, selling nearly 1,000 on Jan. 18 and Jan. 19 combined, thanks to buzz generated by news of the act’s reunion specifically for the inauguration. In a typical day, the song sells a negligible number. The track was released in 1998 and reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in 1999.

News on any significant streaming gains for the performed songs will be reported in the coming days.

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Folk Alliance International Starts Village Fund to Aid Musicians in Need

Folk Alliance International has established The Village Fund, a grant program for folk artists and independent music industry professionals experiencing financial hardship.

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages on, folk artists have been among the hardest hit since they make their living almost exclusively through touring.

FAI, which launched in 1989 to connect the folk music community, has committed $25,000 from its reserve and hopes to raise an additional $75,000 in public support for the fund in order to initially distribute 200 grants of $500, with plans to continually replenish the fund. The Village Fund will open applications in April for FAI members and those who have participated in FAI events over the past three years. Recipients will then be drawn by lottery.

To raise additional funds, the FAI will allow donors exclusive access to FolkUnlocked showcases, a virtual music festival taking place Feb. 22-26 with more than 800 hours of performances.

The lineup features a wide range of artists, including Los Lobos, Terrence Simien, Cedric Burnside, Sawyer Fredericks, Jim Lauderdale, Keb’Mo’, Flor de Toloache and the McCrary Sister. The suggested minimum donation, to be made here, is $20.

Like other organizations, the FAI’s annual conference, slated for February, has been canceled, but it will hold its annual International Folk Music Awards as part of FolkUnlocked’s four-day virtual gathering.

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Manuel Turizo, Myke Towers & Rauw Alejandro’s ‘La Nota’ Climbs to the Top of Latin Airplay Chart

Manuel Turizo, Myke Towers and Rauw Alejandro’s “La Nota” lands atop the Latin Airplay chart, with a 3-1 climb on the Jan. 23-dated survey, completing a 14-week trek to the top.

“La Nota” was written by all three acts alongside La Industria’s CEO Juan Diego Medina and produced by Tainy. The song ascends with 12 million in audience impressions, up 10%, earned in the week ending Jan. 17, according to MRC Data.

Colombian Turizo secures his fourth Latin Airplay No. 1. He got his first with the two-week leader “Vaina Loca,” with Ozuna, in 2018. Meanwhile, both Rauw Alejandro and Towers, whose chart history began in 2019, claim their third.

Concurrently, Towers replaces himself at No. 1, as “Mi Niña,” with Los Legendarios and Wisin, ruled the Jan. 16-dated tally and earned him his first leader of 2021. The last act to do so? Maluma, when “Feel the Beat,” with the Black Eyed Peas, dethroned his own “Hawai” with The Weeknd on the Nov. 14, 2020-dated chart.

Turizo is already off to a great start in 2021, as “La Nota” pushes up the all-metric Hot Latin Songs chart and breaks into the top five on the current tally with 2.2 million U.S. streams, his highest ranking since the No. 4 peak of “Vaina Loca” in 2018. Turizo also places a second title on the tally: “Mala Costumbre,” with Wisin & Yandel, debuts at No. 39.

“La Nota” concurrently leads the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart. It’s also Turizo’s fourth No. 1 and Rauw Alejandro and Towers’ third there.

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Luis Fonsi ‘Immediately Said Yes’ to Performing One of Biden’s ‘Favorite Songs’ at Inauguration

When Luis Fonsi performed “Despacito” during President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration special Celebrating America on Wednesday night, it was a full-circle moment. Back in September, the 2017 global smash hit became a political trending topic on Twitter after then-presidential candidate Biden whipped out his phone at a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration with Fonsi and Ricky Martin in Orlando and started playing “Despacito.”

“There you go,” Fonsi told Biden. “Dance a little bit, Joe!”

This time around, Fonsi’s “Despacito” wasn’t blasted from a cell phone: He joined DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic: Inaugural Edition” to perform during the livestream, which also included fellow Puerto Rican hitmaker Ozuna’s “Taki Taki.”

“The Presidential Inaugural Committee called me over the holiday, out of the blue, to ask if I’d like to produce two ‘Pass the Mic’ segments for the televised inauguration,” DJ Cassidy tells Billboard. “They explained that because this inauguration would be different from all in the past, they wanted to connect Americans in an unprecedented way and celebrate the everyday heroes around the nation. So it made perfect sense, as I had created ‘Pass the Mic’ over the pandemic for that very reason — to celebrate my musical heroes in an effort to pay homage to the heroes on the frontlines of health, freedom and justice.”

Cassidy then reached out to Latin superstars Fonsi and Ozuna to ask if they wanted to be part of the special night.

“I immediately said yes,” Fonsi tells Billboard. “It was a true honor to be asked to be part of such a historic day, to sing in Spanish and to represent the Latino community,” adding, “I was told ‘Despacito’ is one of President Biden’s favorite songs and I’m glad I got to perform it along with DJ Cassidy.”

The upbeat celebratory set received praise on Twitter, with Cardi B and Chelsea Clinton agreeing it was a highlight of the night. “Very strong,” tweeted the “WAP” singer. “Oh my gosh! My kids are going to be so thrilled Luis Fonsi and ‘Despacito’ is part of tonight’s incredible celebration with DJ Cassidy,” Clinton shared.

DJ Cassidy kicked off his “Pass the Mic: Inaugural Edition” during the inauguration parade, featuring Earth Wind & Fire, Nile Rodgers and Kathy Sledge.

For his second segment, “I wanted to expand ‘Pass the Mic’ in both genre and era, and pass the mic to modern-day icons of Latin music. There are simply no present-day songs more iconic than ‘Despacito’ and ‘Taki Taki,’” Cassidy says. “I’ve played these records all over the globe, and I know first-hand their power in bringing people together to sing in unison, no matter your origin or language. I knew Luis and Ozuna would be the perfect artists to help me turn the inaugural primetime special into a true party.”

On Wednesday, Fonsi and Ozuna joined Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jennifer Lopez, who are both of Puerto Rican descent and were also featured throughout the inaugural events. During Celebrating America, Miranda recited “The Cure at Troy” by Seamus Heaney, while J.Lo performed a medley of “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” during Biden and Harris’ swearing-in ceremony.

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