2023 CMT Music Awards to Air Live From Austin, Texas

The 2023 CMT Music Awards are headed to the Lone Star State.

CMT and CBS have revealed that the 2023 CMT Music Awards will air Sunday, April 2, 2023, live from Austin, Texas’ Moody Center, via CBS. The Paramount Global country music tentpole event returns for its global premiere exclusively via the CBS Television Network and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

Kelsea Ballerini, who recently released her album Subject to Change, will return for a third consecutive year as co-host of the CMT Music Awards. Ballerini surprised Carrie Underwood during her Wednbesday (Nov. 2) stop at Moody Center on her The Denim & Rhinestones Tour, where they revealed Underwood as the first performer for the 2023 CMT Music Awards. Underwood has won the most honors of any artist at the CMT Music Awards, with 25 trophies to date.

“Both Austin and Nashville are two of the world’s greatest music cities and we couldn’t be more excited to announce the return of the CMT Music Awards on CBS than with co-host Kelsea Ballerini surprising Carrie Underwood, our most awarded artist, in the middle of her incredible live performance at Moody Center – the exact venue where we’ll all be back exactly five months from today!” shared Margaret Comeaux, John Hamlin, Leslie Fram and Jason Owen, executive producers of the CMT Music Awards, via a statement. “Our fans are in for an unforgettable night of music with plenty of surprises, as the Live Music Capital meets Music City for the first time ever on a national stage in what will be a true country music extravaganza.”

“The programming team at Oak View Group and Moody Center has spent the past two years cultivating this relationship and working to endear CMT, CBS and Paramount to Austin and our new, world-class arena. CMT’s commitment to Austin reflects those efforts and we couldn’t be more grateful and excited to host them next year,” added Michael Owens, vp, programming, Moody Center.   

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome the CMT Music Awards to Moody Center in 2023! This event will have not only a huge financial impact on Austin and its tourism industry, but it will also showcase two of the top music brands globally, Austin as The Live Music Capital of the World and Country Music Television,” added Tom Noonan, president/CEO, Austin CVB. 

This year marked the CMT Music Awards’ debut on CBS, where the show garnered 5.89 million viewers, a 529% increase from June 2021, while also earning 2.7 billion impressions on social platforms.

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Kelly Clarkson Delivers Smooth Cover of Z.Z. Hill’s ‘Someone Else Is Steppin‘ In’

Kelly Clarkson once more proved that she can truly sing any genre when she dipped into R&B and soul for her latest Kellyoke cover.

On Wednesday’s (Nov. 2) episode of her popular daytime talk show, the superstar delivered a buttery smooth rendition of Z.Z. Hill’s 1982 hit, “Someone Else Is Steppin’ In.” Dressed in a flirty periwinkle dress, she delivered every high and low note flawlessly, backed by a full horn section and her band.

The song was originally featured on Z.Z. Hill’s 1982 album, The Rhythm & the Blues, released just two years before the singer’s death.

Later in the episode, Selena Gomez stopped by, and dished on what it was like to work with Steve Martin and Martin Short on their popular Hulu comedic drama series, Only Murders in the Building.

In September, the beloved American Idol winner kicked off season four of her Emmy-winning Kelly Clarkson Show. In the three seasons that the daytime talk show had been on the air before that, Clarkson has won an impressive five Daytime Emmys. Clarkson won outstanding entertainment talk show host all three seasons her show has been on the air. 

Other recent Kellyoke picks by Clarkson for her daytime show have included Monica’s “Angel of Mine,” Faith Hill’s “Breathe,” Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me,” Joni Mitchell’s Christmastime classic “River,” John Legend’s “In My Mind,” “Heartbreak Anthem” by David Guetta, Galantis and Little Mix and more.

Check out Kelly Clarkson cover of Z.Z. Hill’s “Someone Else Is Steppin’ In” below.

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Imagine Dragons & The Strokes to Headline Inaugural Edition of Lollapalooza India

MUMBAI – Rock bands Imagine Dragons and The Strokes will headline the first Indian edition of Lollapalooza in January 2023, it was announced Wednesday (Nov. 2).

The festival, which will take place at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse on Jan. 28-29, is promoted and co-produced by Indian ticketing platform and entertainment company BookMyShow, along with global producers Perry Farrell and C3 Presents, which is owned by Live Nation. The Mumbai leg will mark the Asia debut of Lollapalooza, which expanded to Santiago, São Paulo and Buenos Aires in South America, and Berlin, Paris and Stockholm in Europe over the past decade.

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Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza Expands to India in 2023, Marking Festival’s Asia Debut

Other international names in the lineup for Lollapalooza India — several of whom will be staging their first concert appearances in the country — include rock bands Greta Van Fleet and The Wombats; singer and Got7 member Jackson Wang; pop artists Alec Benjamin, Chelsea Cutler, Japanese Breakfast and Raveena; dream-pop group Cigarettes After Sex; and electronic music producers Apashe, Diplo, Imanbek, Kasablanca, Madeon and Zhu. Though it isn’t part of the official announcement, Farrell’s Kind Heaven Orchestra will also play the event, he told Forbes in September.

Among the Indian acts on the bill are Indo-Canadian rapper AP Dhillon, who is among the most streamed artists on Spotify and Apple Music in India; and homegrown heavyweights rapper Divine and Prateek Kuhad, rock band The Yellow Diary and metal group Bloodywood, whose album Rakshak hit the top 100 of the Billboard Top Album Sales chart in March on the back of an international fan campaign.

Around 40 acts will perform to a cumulative audience of approximately 60,000 people at Lollapalooza India, early bird tickets for which sold out within 36 hours, a representative for BookMyShow told Billboard. Tickets are on sale from lollaindia.com.

Check out the Lollapalooza India lineup below:

Lollapalooza India
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OneRepublic’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Hit ‘I Ain’t Worried’ Flies to No. 1 on Adult Pop Airplay Chart

OneRepublic‘s “I Ain’t Worried,” from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack, ascends to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated Nov. 5).

The song marks the Ryan Tedder-fronted group’s fourth leader on the list and first since “Counting Stars” spent seven weeks at No. 1 in 2013-14. Before that, the act reigned with “Good Life,” for four weeks in 2011, and as featured on its first entry, Timbaland’s “Apologize,” which ruled for six weeks in 2008.

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OneRepublic

Five Burning Questions: OneRepublic Hits the Top 10 With ‘Top Gun’ Soundtrack Hit ‘I Ain’t Worried’

In August, “I Ain’t Worried” became OneRepublic’s 12th Adult Pop Airplay top 10. In between the song and “Counting Stars,” the group reached the top 10 with “Lose Somebody,” with Kygo (No. 8, 2020); “Connection” (No. 9, 2018); “I Lived” (No. 10, 2015); and “Love Runs Out” (No. 4, 2014).

Meanwhile, Tedder adds his 11th Adult Pop Airplay No. 1 as a co-writer. In addition to OneRepublic’s four leaders, he’s topped the chart as a co-author of: Lil Nas X’s “Thats What I Want” (2022); Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker” (2019); Maroon 5’s “Maps” (2014) and “Love Somebody” (2013); Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You” (2012); Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone” (2009-10); and Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” (2008).

On the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, “I Ain’t Worried” has so far reached No. 6, marking OneRepublic’s fourth top 10 and first since “Counting Stars” in 2014.

“I Ain’t Worried” is the second hit from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack. The set’s “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga rose to No. 12 on Adult Pop Airplay in July.

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Mariah Carey Unwraps Christmas Merch Collection

All I want for Christmas is a Mariah Holiday Apron. And a Naughty and Nice Adult Onesie. And maybe a Merry Christmas Red Ornament.

Mariah Carey fans have their wishlists sorted, now that the Queen of Christmas has unwrapped her new holiday merch collection.

Just hours after Carey reminded us that, yes, Christmas is coming, the pop superstar ushered in her latest range of presents.

Prices for her exclusive apparel, accessories, music and more are priced from $15 – $140 and are available at MariahCareyShop.com. 

Carey is the undisputed Queen of Christmas, with her 1994 holiday original topping the Billboard Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks and ranking as the most popular song of all time on the Billboard Holiday 100.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the evergreen hit briefly held the U.K. record for the longest journey to No. 1, when it hit the summit in December 2020 — 26 years after its release. 

In Australia, where Christmastime is a summer sweat-fest, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” took 24 years to reach No. 1, finally doing so in December 2018.

Meanwhile, Mimi is prepping for four holiday concerts in New York City and Toronto in the wake of releasing her new children’s book, The Christmas Princess.

“I’m trying to make [these shows] as magical as possible,” she said of the series of “Merry Christmas to All!” concerts at Madison Square Garden and Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in mid-December. “Oftentimes as a child, or even throughout earlier parts of my career, I did not feel loved. I certainly never felt unconditional love, and that’s what I have with my fans: that connection. So I’m extremely excited.”

She got one gift early when, on Tuesday, a songwriter who sued her over accusations that she stole “All I Want for Christmas is You” from his earlier song has dropped his lawsuit — for now.

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Migos Label Quality Control Music Mourns Takeoff’s Death: ‘We Are Devastated’

In the wake of Migos member Takeoff‘s untimely death, the hip-hop trio’s label, Quality Control Music, took to Instagram on Tuesday (Nov. 1) to mourn the loss of the rapper.

“It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved brother Kirsnick Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff,” a statement posted to the label’s social media reads. “Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated.”

The heartfelt statement concluded by asking fans to “respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss.” The post was captioned with a dove and broken heart emoji.

Takeoff was shot and killed early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) in Houston, Texas, at just 28 years old. The star — who was one third of the Migos trio alongside his uncle, Quavo, and cousin, Offset — was at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with Quavo around 2:35 a.m. when investigators say shots rang out during an afterparty attended by around 40 people. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other victims — a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female — checked themselves into a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Earlier in the day, Houston’s police chief, mayor and homicide investigators held a press conference, where they shared that the incident is currently under investigation, and encouraged anyone who was either at the scene or has any information to come forward to help authorities solve the case.

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