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The 2024 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will be announced live coast-to-coast during a Rock Hall-themed episode of American Idol on Sunday (April 21).
The inductees will be announced by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest along with judge (and 2022 Rock Hall inductee) Lionel Richie. The episode will air 8-10:01 p.m. ET and 5-7:01 p.m. PT on ABC, with a repeat scheduled for 8-10:01 p.m. PT on the West Coast.
Mariah Carey, a past Idol judge, is among this year’s nominees for the Rock Hall, along with Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane’s Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinéad O’Connor, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest.
In that same episode, Gene Simmons will serve as a guest mentor for the top 14 Idol contenders. Simmons was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2014 as a member of KISS.
On the Monday (April 22) episode of Idol, the theme is an Idol perennial: Billboard No. 1 hits. Meghan Trainor will be the guest mentor for that episode. Trainor topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks in 2014 with “All About That Bass.” That episode will air live on the East Coast from 8-10:01 p.m. and on tape delay on the West Coast in the same time slot.
Upcoming themed episodes include the unveiling of the top 10 (April 28), judges’ song contest (April 29) and Adele night (May 5).
Historically, Coachella has leaned upon trusted partners to deliver a major “who’s next” artist from Asia when it sets up camp in the desert.
Long-running K-pop label YG Entertainment first landed hip-hop trio Epik High at the 2016 fest before having BLACKPINK in 2019 and 2023 (where the girl group was a headliner), as well as their long-running boy band BIGBANG for the ultimately canceled 2020 Coachella. Music and media company 88rising has brought the likes of Jackson Wang from China in 2023 and as a surprise guest this year, Joji from Japan in 2022, and both NIKI and Rich Brian from Indonesia in 2022. Korean indie-rock acts Hyukoh, those in electronic spaces like Peggy Gou, and even Japan’s vocaloid scene via Hatsune Miku’s booking in 2020 as well as this year all brought a much-needed range of representation to the festival in the past.
But for 2024, Coachella opened its arms to a range of new and rising artists boasting a vast range of seniority, label homes and backgrounds, casting its widest net yet across Asia’s varying pop scenes — most boasting fanbases that display their fandom in fierce fervor — giving the artists a similarly large spotlight offered to pop, rock, electronic and Latin music at the influential festival.
From ATEEZ, YOASOBI, The Rose, LE SSERAFIM and ATARASHII GAKKO! all rocking their own sets to the exciting mashing of worlds and surprise guests that came together at the 88rising Futures showcase, read on for more about the artists representing this year and why Coachella 2024 clearly did their research when it came to this year’s expanded spotlight on Asian pop.
Courtney Love is not a Swiftie.
The Hole frontwoman sat down for an interview with UK publication The Standard recently, where she opened up about which female artists she likes (Patti Smith, Nina Simone, PJ Harvey and Debbie Harry) and which ones she doesn’t, leading with Taylor Swift.
“Taylor is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist,” Love told the outlet, before adding that she’s growing tired of Coachella 2024 headliner Lana Del Rey. “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song, and I think she should really take seven years off,” she said. “Up until ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her as she was influencing me too much.”
Lastly, Love said that she’s not a fan of Madonna either. “I don’t like her and she doesn’t like me. I loved Desperately Seeking Susan, but for the city of New York as much as her,” she said.
While Love is quick to criticize the women she doesn’t like, she also has a history for standing up for women in music. Back in March 2023, the 59-year-old rocker wrote an op-ed for the Guardian aimed at the lack of female representation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The piece, titled, “Why Are Women So Marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?,” opens with Love describing her lifelong obsession with rock n’ roll by stating, “I got into this business to write great songs and have fun.”
Love said that the 2023 nominations provided another reminder of “just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boys club,” noting that more women were nominated this year than at any time in the organization’s 40-year history. That group included Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott, as well as the White Stripes’ drummer Meg White and New Order keyboardist Gillian Gilbert.
“If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag,” Love concluded the piece.
Global Music Rights (GMR), the boutique U.S. performance rights organization (PRO) that represents Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars, Prince, Drake, Pharrell Williams, the John Lennon estate, the Eagles and others, has settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against the Vermont Broadcast Association (VBA) that was filed in January.
According to Global Music Rights, which was founded by Irving Azoff and longtime PRO executive Randy Grimmett in 2013, the organization and VBA reached an agreement that includes a long-term GMR license as well as a settlement of past alleged infringements.
In January, GMR filed a suit in a Vermont federal court alleging that VBA’s seven radio stations — which serve local communities in Northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec — had been playing 66 songs from the GMR catalog without a license since 2017. GMR further claimed in its filing that the station had racked up about 1,600 violations of copyright law, even though the PRO had submitted 10 separate written licenses during that time period. “Defendants’ infringements were neither incidental nor accidental,” the group’s lawyers wrote in the complaint.
Following the settlement agreement, GMR’s general counsel, Emil Zizza, said in a statement, “We are dedicated to protecting the rights of GMR songwriters and composers, and ensuring entities publicly performing their works are appropriately licensed. Through this lawsuit, we have accomplished those endeavors, and look forward to our go-forward licensing relationship with VBA.”
In an e-mail, VBA owner Bruce James confirmed the settlement agreement but didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Drake has long been able to leverage social media to his advantage when it comes to trolling and Metro Boomin is his latest victim.
After sniping for a headshot at Metro Boomin by name on Drizzy’s leaked “Push Ups,” he continued to troll the producer with a clip from 2002’s Drumline movie on Monday (April 15).
“Metro, shut yo ho-a– up and make some drums, n—a,” Drake raps on the diss track.
The blockbuster scene finds Nick Cannon’s character having his late-night drumline tryout attempting to convince band leaders he’s worthy of being on the P1 line without reading a note of music.
But instead of Cannon, Drake hilariously Photoshops Metro’s face on him playing the drums, which fittingly aligns with the bar Drake used to jab Metro on “Push Ups.”
In a way, the Instagram Story post signifies Drake’s first time publicly recognizing his “Push Ups” diss track. An earlier version of the scathing diss surfaced on the internet on Saturday (April 13) and DJ Akademiks premiered the CDQ version hours later.
In addition to name-dropping Metro Boomin, Drake appeared to have smoke for Kendrick Lamar, Future, The Weeknd, Rick Ross and more.
At this point, It’s unclear exactly what ignited the friction between Metro and Drake while some fans speculated on social media that their issues were over a woman.
At the top of 2023, a leaked Drake verse appeared on Metro’s Heroes & Villains track “Trance” and he explained not having the 6 God on the final version alongside Young Thug and Travis Scott.
“Really, it was a song I had did with [Travis Scott] and [Young Thug], originally for my album,” Metro recalled in an interview with Gangsta Grillz Radio. “I was in the studio with Drake one time because we were gonna do some stuff for my album. He just wanted to hear some songs from my album, and then he heard that one. He really wanted to get on it, but I was letting him know that it was really just done for real. I was just set on how it was. I was like, ‘Bro, I ain’t trying to sell you no dream. I’m locked in where it was.’ He had hit me and was just like, ‘Let me see if there’s anything you could add to it.’ He was like, ‘If you don’t like it, then whatever.’”
Months later, he appeared to voice his frustration on social media with Her Loss sweeping hip-hop award categories like Top Rap Album at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.
“Yet Her Loss keeps winning rap album of the year over H&V,” he wrote to his IG Story. “Proof that award shows are just politics and not for me. Idc about awards honestly, the true award and REWARD is knowing that the music I spend so much time on brings joy to people’s everyday lives.”
Drake subliminally responded on his Instagram Story while quoting Jay-Z’s “Heart of the City.” “Damn, little mans, I’m just tryna do me/ If the record’s two mil I’m just tryna move three,” he posted.
Find a clip of Drake’s meme of Metro Boomin below.
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