Music

The rapper Pop Smoke had been out that night, returning late to the four-bedroom Spanish-style house where he was staying in the Hollywood Hills. Around 4 a.m., soon after he came home, the police said, four men in hoodies broke in and shot him twice. A bullet to the torso left the promising 20-year-old musician dead.A week after his death, the Los Angeles Police Department is trying to untangle whether Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, was the victim of a random robbery or if he was targeted, perhaps because of what he was posting on social media. There have been no arrests.In the weeks before his death, Pop Smoke had posted pictures on Instagram showing him next to or holding large stacks of cash. One such picture was posted the day before he died. He also posted about a gift bag he had received, in which the address of the Hollywood Hills home was clearly visible.“It’s an angle we’re looking at,” Capt. Jonathan L. Tippet said of Pop Smoke’s Instagram posts. “It also extends the pool of people that would have known where he was at and could have targeted him for a variety of reasons.”While there were other people in the house, Captain Tippet said that Pop Smoke was alone in one part of the home when the intruders found him. He was the only person who was shot at.Some items were taken, Captain Tippet said, but there were also standard signs of a robbery that were absent, particularly ransacking. The intruders would have had to travel through some portion of the house before they found him, but they did not pull the place apart looking for valuables along the way.“There were a couple of items that were taken, but some of the things you would think would be taken weren’t even really looked for,” Captain Tippet said. “So that’s why we’re not really saying that it was a robbery or that he was the intended target.”Pop Smoke was from Brooklyn, and Captain Tippet said that the L.A.P.D. had been informed by their East Coast counterparts that he had gang associations. (He also was facing federal charges of transporting a stolen Rolls-Royce across state lines, and for a time wore an ankle monitor because of a weapons charge.) But Captain Tippet said there was no indication at this point that a rival gang from the East Coast had come to Los Angeles to target him.Captain Tippet said the police department was examining leads, and because the neighborhood of expensive homes was blanketed in cameras, they were also poring over large batches of video.With a deep, gravelly voice and rugged style, Pop Smoke released his first album, “Meet the Woo,” last July, featuring the hits “Welcome to the Party” and “Dior.” He quickly went on to collaborate with big names like Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott. His second album was released this month, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. Before he was killed, he had just returned from a publicity trip to London and was preparing for a concert tour in March. More

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Filmed by director Michael D. Ratner, the promo video for the ‘Baby’ hitmaker’s title track off his new album details some of the changes he has gone through to get to his 26th birthday.
Feb 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Justin Bieber’s new music videos have all been shot at natural sites that have meant something to the pop star.
His promo for “Changes”, the title track on his new album, dropped on Apple Music on Tuesday morning, February 25, and it features the singer in his native Canada.
The wintry scenes were shot by director Michael D. Ratner, and the film details some of the changes Bieber has gone through to get to his 26th birthday, which falls on Sunday, March 1.
Bieber tells Apple Music, “These videos were all shot in places in nature that meant something to me over the years and I’m thrilled that my fans get to experience the music with these concepts in mind.”
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The video is Ratner’s second in a series of four. He also shot Justin’s “Intentions” video.

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Titled ‘Stupid Love’, the lead single of the ‘A Star Is Born’ actress’ long-awaited sixth studio album is set to be released on Friday, February 28, the singer has announced.
Feb 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Lady GaGa’s fans wouldn’t have to wait too long for her new music. A little over a month after a snippet of the lead single from her sixth studio album was leaked, the “Bad Romance” hitmaker took to her Instagram to announce that her long-awaited single “Stupid Love” will be made available for listening within days.
Through a post she made on Tuesday, February 26, the 33-year-old singer spilled that her lead single is set to drop two days later on Friday, February 28. ” ‘STUPID LOVE’ THE NEW SINGLE BY LADY GAGA OUT FRIDAY AT MIDNIGHT ET,” she wrote alongside a “LG6” hashtag and a photo of its promotional billboard that features sparkling pink lips.
The release date announcement has driven many crazy with anticipation. Nicola Formichetti, a fashion and artistic editor who often collaborated with the “A Star is Born” actress, responded by writing, “Ok let’s go.” Hairstylist Fredric Aspiras declared, “LET’S GET STUPIDDD!!!!!!” YouTuber Jessie Paege exclaimed, “THE QUEEN IS BACK.” Another YouTube star Tyler Oakley gushed, “WE ARE READY.” MTV’s official account also shared the excitement, “OH YES YES YES YES.”
A preview of “Stupid Song” has made its way online in late January. This leak version was said to deliver a vibe similar to GaGa’s 2011 “Born This Way” album. It includes lyrics that read, “You’re the one that I’ve been waiting for/ Gotta quit this crying/ Nobody’s gonna heal me if I don’t open the door/ Kinda hard to believe (Gotta have faith in me).”
One fan who had caught the leak version raved, “Lady Gaga serving gay bop, heavenly vocals, born this way nostalgia, disco pop, 80s synths in one song… yeah everyone freaked out, everybody got down, everybody wants STUPID LOVE.” Another gushed, “I’m not embarrassed to say I was excited when I heard Lady GaGa was releasing a new song. But after my son played Stupid Love I dropped my lasagna in amazement!”
GaGa herself has poked fun at the leak. Taking to Twitter to address the issue, the “Shallow” songstress posted a popular meme of a girl wearing a ski mask while listening to music with a note that read, “Can y’all stop.”

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The musician has taken to his Twitter account to share that there’s too much good music right now, unlike what others, including rapper Young M.A. and K. Michelle, previously claimed.
Feb 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Many musicians lately voiced their criticism against the current state of R&B music. Among them was Young M.A., who previously said on his Twitter account that nowadays music wasn’t bringing balance to music as it once did. 6lack, however, begs to differ.
The musician recently took to Twitter to share that unlike what others claimed, there was in fact too much good music right now. “There’s too much good hip-hop and R&B out here to be complaining about what we don’t have,” he shared in the Tuesday, February 25 clip.
“Sayin’ that you miss something specific in R&B is the equivalent to saying that you miss substance and bars or whatever in hip-hop,” he continued saying. “It’s always somebody who do it. The question is — Do you support ’em?”

Apparently, 6lack wasn’t the only one who disagreed with Young M.A. as the latter received criticism over her February 23 tweet which read, “Music don’t feel the same because we barely have R&B. R&B brung that balance to music.. now everything is leanin one way smh so it gets played out quick! We need R&B for the balance no kap!”
Not feeling her tweet, singer-songwriter PJ Morton shared his disapproval. “I got it at first… but I think this take is getting pretty corny and lazy now .. There’s SO MUCH GOOD R&B!! You just must not be trying to find it,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of Young M.A.’s tweet. He also tagged a slew of new artists including H.E.R., Ari Lennox, Tink, Tank, Ledisi, India Arie, BJ the Chicago Kid, Luke James, Summer Walker and Eric Bellinger among others.
“I’m probably missing so many.. that’s just off the top.. all DIFFERENT types of R&B,” he continued. “Tell the radio to balance it.. it’s definitely not because ‘We barely have R&B.’ ”

However, Young M.A. wasn’t alone. Back in January, K. Michelle also criticized the current music on her Twitter page, writing, “Up early listening to new R&B artist and this is the best way to fall asleep, this s**t has no soul and it boring.” Sean “P. Diddy” Combs also echoed the sentiment. He told his millions of followers that in the next season of “Making the Band”, he wanted to “bring R&B back.”

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The ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’ hitmaker has proved her commitment to the show after she battled appendicitis while hosting the 2019 prizegiving ceremony.
Feb 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Kelly Clarkson will return to host the 2020 Billboard Music Awards for the third consecutive year.
The “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” hitmaker gushed she’s “thrilled to be back with my Billboard family” as the news was announced, and teased this year’s show will be something special.
“I love being part of an event that celebrates our greatest artists and entertains our fans,” the singer added. “This a night of music that you won’t want to miss!”.
Kelly has been a hit with audiences, and proved her commitment to the show when she battled appendicitis while hosting the 2019 prizegiving. The morning after the three-hour ceremony, during which she performed twice, the “Breakaway” star underwent emergency surgery to remove her appendix.
The 2020 Billboard Music Awards takes place April 29 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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Attending a memorial service for the late basketball player, the ‘Going Back to Cali rapper’ remembers the time the former signed a record deal for his first rap album as ‘the funniest moment’ of his life.
Feb 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – LL Cool J urged Kobe Bryant to scrap an album of gangster rap recordings after admitting to being “confused” by the concept.
The “Going Back to Cali” star attended a memorial service for the late basketball player on Monday, February 24, who along with his teenage daughter Gianna was one of nine victims of a helicopter crash last month.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the hitmaker, real name James Todd Smith, recalled the time Kobe signed a record deal for his first rap album, preceded by the lead single “K.O.B.E.”, which the star remembered as “the funniest moment of my life”.
“We talked about rap,” he said. “He played me this album, this gangsta rap album and I was like, ‘Kobe,’ I said, ‘Come on dog. That’s not what you need to be doing’.”
“He had a gangster rap album. He played me that album, we’re sitting in a parking lot. I was confused, I was sittin’ there like, ‘What are we doing? You got endorsements, what are you doing?’.”
He joked: “It had to be the funniest moment of my life, listening to him do gangster rap.”
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The “Rock the Bells” hitmaker also spoke about the NBA (National Basketball Association) player’s performance of “K.O.B.E.” at the 2000 All-Star Game with Tyra Banks, adding: “Yeah, we’re not gonna pretend like we wasn’t laughing. Like yeah yeah yeah the world was laughing, that was not — but you know, he took his shot. He took his shot.”
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Stars including Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aguilera, and Alicia Keys took the stage to perform at the star-studded memorial, with the proceeds from ticket sales for the Celebration of Life benefitting the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, which Vanessa relaunched earlier this month.

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Singing isn’t typically in the job description when you’re an orchestral musician. But the Budapest Festival Orchestra is not a typical orchestra, and on Sunday afternoon at David Geffen Hall, the players put down their instruments, stood up, and sang a short chorus by Dvorak — beautifully.It spoke to what makes this ensemble so special. The conductor Ivan Fischer, who founded it in 1983 and is an outspoken voice for tolerance in Hungary, has always taken a comprehensive approach to making music. The main works on this program were Dvorak’s Violin Concerto and his Eighth Symphony.But to introduce elements of folk song and dance that run through Dvorak’s major scores, Mr. Fischer began with three short pieces: a lyrically glowing Legend, a rousing Slavonic Dance and that wistful choral piece, “Misto Klekani” (“Evening’s Blessing”).All musicians learn to sight-sing, at least as students. But the Budapest players still exercise this skill. Maybe that explains why their playing in the Eighth Symphony sang out with such fullness and breadth, and why chordal passages had such strong hints of a church choir.Renaud Capuçon was a riveting soloist in Dvorak’s Violin Concerto. The violin essentially leads the orchestra through the rhapsodic first movement, playing restless lines that shift from searching lyricism to impetuous brilliance. Mr. Capuçon and the orchestra were inspired in the Finale, a dancing, sometimes impish movement full of sudden, startling dark bursts. After intermission, the performance of the Eighth Symphony was alive with color, fanciful flights, elegiac sadness and, in the rousing finale, almost frenzied abandon.On Monday evening, the orchestra was back with a Mahler program that opened with the “Kindertotenlieder.” The soloist was Gerhild Romberger, making her New York debut; she proved a true contralto, with a warm, deep, russet-tone voice. For these aching songs, Mahler often uses the orchestra almost like a chamber ensemble, and the intimacy of the playing here matched Ms. Romberger’s elegantly restrained singing.The teeming Fifth Symphony, lasting nearly 80 minutes, presents formidable challenges, especially the need to reconcile the disparate elements of music that constantly shifts moods, even within movements. Mr. Fischer led the most convincing account I’ve heard in many years of this elusive work.The first movement, an episodic funeral march, moved with a weighty tread, over which a somber melodic line kept trying to offer solace. Mahler indicates that the stormy second movement should be performed with “greatest vehemence,” and this performance delivered.For the sprawling Scherzo, Mr. Fischer had the first horn (Zoltan Szoke) seated next to the podium to highlight crucial solo passages, played vibrantly here. In the sublime Adagietto, the string sound was glowing and plush; the phrasing urgent yet pliant. Right through the Rondo-Finale, the performance danced on the divide between rustic romp and wild-eyed abandon.It truly sang. No surprise from an orchestra that makes such a beautiful chorus, too.Budapest Festival OrchestraPerformed on Sunday and Monday at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center. More

Bob Dylan’s protean career has created many entry points for a diverse audience: You may know him as a folk activist or an electric trickster, a country-western outlaw or a born-again preacher, an American Songbook interpreter or a Nobel Prize-winning poet.Or you may not know him at all, unaware it’s one of his songs your favorite artist is covering.The Irish playwright and director Conor McPherson, 48, was about 10 years old when he got into Dylan via the Beatles. Decades later, he somehow wrestled a coherent aesthetic universe out of 22 Dylan songs in the musical “Girl From the North Country,” which is reopening on Broadway after a successful run at the Public Theater in 2018. Set in Duluth, Minn., in 1934, the show brings together the folks who live in a modest boardinghouse and those passing through. They are a motley bunch, yet feel as one sharing Dylan’s songs.It is the same behind the scenes: Like McPherson, some members of the cast and creative team grew up with Dylan embedded in their life; others entered his world late and through a side door.Here, they talk about the first time they heard Dylan — whether they knew it or not. These are edited excerpts from their answers.Colton Ryan, 24Plays Gene LaineThe first Dylan song I heard that stuck with me was “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” during an episode of “Mad Men.” Must have been in high school.Andy Stack, 39Associate conductor, guitaristI think the first record was “Blood on the Tracks” but then I got into ’80s stuff that was on CD when I was growing up, like “Dylan & the Dead.” In college it was “Desire,” which was big for my circle of friends.Kimber Elayne Sprawl, 28Plays Marianne LaineTo be completely honest, I didn’t put the name to the music before going for the role [in the show]. Then I realized that the Adele song I loved, “Make You Feel My Love,” was by him. The famous song from “Forrest Gump” [starts singing “Blowin’ in the Wind”] — I had no idea it was Bob Dylan.Rachel SternEnsemble member “old enough to appreciate the Traveling Wilburys when they formed and know who all of them were”The first Bob Dylan song I remember hearing was “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” I didn’t get it because I was five, but I thought it sounded cool. My favorite is Nina Simone’s version of “The Times They Are A-Changin.’ ” I heard it for the first time on the subway and sobbed. I got a seat right away.Todd Almond, 43Plays Elias BurkeI was big into alternative music in high school, and PJ Harvey’s cover of “Highway 61 Revisited” was a favorite. This was the first in a long list of realizations that certain songs I really loved were written by Bob Dylan.Austin Scott, 26Plays Joe ScottI think the first song I heard was “The Times They Are A-Changin.’ ” At the time, around 2010 or so, I was hearing some of my own thoughts about the political atmosphere. We talked about his lyrics in history class.Marc Kudisch, 53Plays Mr. BurkeI had always been a fan of Dylan’s earlier music, the protest songs. After the Public Theater run, my wife, Shannon, and I were driving from N.Y.C. to Oshawa, Ontario, to visit family. On the way, we tuned into a classic-rock station. A Dylan tune I didn’t recognize came on, but I weirdly found myself singing all the lyrics. And then it hit me: It was “Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anyone Seen My Love?)”! With all due respect, I like our version better.Tom Nelis, 65Plays Mr. PerryAbout 40 years ago, my older brother, John, came home with Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” I’d never seen a double album. The way it unfolded to show a full body shot of Dylan in that great outfit with the scarf and all those shades of brown was very cool. Johnny is gone now but I still have his album. It reminds me of my brother when he was young.Chelsea Lee WilliamsEnsemble member “in my twenties”My parents listened to a lot of gospel and soul music. I remember being in the back seat of my mom’s Volvo and she would always play Shirley Caesar’s “Gotta Serve Somebody.” I didn’t know Dylan wrote it at the time, but it was always a part of my childhood. A few years later, I saw his Kennedy Center special and Shirley Caesar honored him by singing that song.Jeannette BayardellePlays Mrs. Neilsen and is “north of 25”I wasn’t really familiar with Bob Dylan’s music — my parents, who are from Haiti, mainly played Haitian music. When I started working on the reading of “Girl From the North Country” at the Public Theater, I remember learning the material and just feeling like the music was tugging on my soul. It was familiar yet very spiritual.Mare Winningham, 60Plays Elizabeth Laine“Blood on the Tracks” came out when I was in high school and remains my “desert island” album.Luba MasonPlays Mrs. Burke and is “one of the veteran Broadway actresses in the show”I saw Dylan at Madison Square Garden on a double bill with Paul Simon about 20 years ago and couldn’t understand a word he was singing. I didn’t know what the fuss was all about. It wasn’t until he won the Nobel that I took another look.Jay O. Sanders, 66Plays Nick LaineI grew up all over the place but I heard a lot of Dylan when I was in Bogotá, Colombia, and I was beginning to play guitar. I was 13, 14, going between acoustic and electric, and he was the god of that.Simon Hale, 55Music supervisor, orchestrator and arrangerWhat springs to mind are “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele and “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix. I didn’t realize they were by Dylan. Growing up [in Britain], I listened to funk, jazz, R&B, so he wasn’t really on my musical radar. I was aware of him and his poetry, but not in terms of details and albums. Americans now tell me Dylan is part of the DNA but I never knew that. More