New Weekend Playlist "TRL Era Rap Part 3" and Music Dump - New Lil Wayne "No Ceilings 3", Wu Tang Clan, Taylor Swift, Van Halen, Miley Cyrus, Shawn Mendes, To Name A Few.
Last week was a holiday and a slow week music-wise so this week is another double dose.
This weeks new featured weekend 100 is TRL Era Rap Part 3
And here's my playlist featuring all the new shit-
POP-
- Taylor Swift released a new film on Disney+ featuring her recording sessions from Folklore, titled Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
In it, she confirms that the unknown writer named William Bowery credited on both "Exile" and "Betty" is, in fact, her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn. And also that Betty and James End do end up together.
- the 2021 Grammy Nominees were announced.
Beyoncé leads all artists with nine total. "Black Parade" earned her nods in the record of the year, song of the year, best r&b performance and best r&b song categories. "Savage" with Megan Thee Stallion is also up for record of the year, best rap performance and best rap song. Beyonce tops off her nominations with best music video ("Brown Skin Girl") and best music film (Black Is King.)
Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Roddy Rich follow Queen Bey, with six nods a piece. Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia is up for album of the year and best pop vocal album. "Don't Start Now" appears in the record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance categories. She's also up for best pop duo/group performance with J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Tainy for "Un Dia (One Day)." Dua Lipa's nomination total grows to eight.
Roddy Ricch now has nine total nominations. In 2021, he is up for record of the year ("Rockstar"), song of the year ("The Box"), best melodic rap performance and best rap song for both "Rockstar" and "The Box."
K-pop sensation BTS and former One Directioner Harry Styles each earned their first Grammy nods.
- Shawn Mendes dropped an incredible album, Wonder, and a Netflix documentary to go along with it.
His new collection, “Wonder,” finds a number of dynamics playing out. Mendes’ singing style remains the kind of breathy, über-sensitive tenor, with frequent flips into falsetto, that he’s helped to make one of the defining sounds of this era, although he shows off his range here on the soaring “Song for No One.” The album also dispenses with the star features and collaborations of its predecessor, apart from a duet with Justin Bieber and a pair of songs with producer Frank Dukes (Camila Cabello, Post Malone). Instead, Mendes and his long-standing core team of producers-songwriters (Scott Harris, Nate Mercereau and Kid Harpoon, the latter of whom cowrote two hits on Harry Styles’ latest album) pull out all the stops to diversify and dramatize his sound — with big choruses, lush arrangements and momentous fanfares that drop down to a whisper — while remaining firmly rooted in the pop genre.
Two days after his Netflix documentary Shawn Mendes: In Wonder was released, the Canadian pop star revealed a bonus binge-worthy treat: His concert film Shawn Mendes: Live in Concert arrives on Netflix just in time for Thanksgiving.
- Miley Cyrus released her seventh full-length studio album, Plastic Hearts, which includes collaborations with Joan Jett, Billy Idol, and Dua Lipa
Miley Cyrus also delivered an Apple Music Backyard Sessions edition of her seventh album. After dropping her Plastic Hearts album last week, the popstar has released Backyard Sessions versions of four songs from the LP, including the fan-favorite track "Golden G String." Joined by producer Andrew Wyatt on acoustic guitar for her performance-
- Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, and Ariana Grande released new version of “Oh Santa!” from Carey's Apple TV special
- The Weeknd just released a new remix of “Blinding Lights” featuring Rosalía
- Britney Spears celebrated her 39th birthday by dropping an unreleased song, “Swimming”. It's a leftover track that was originally recorded during sessions for Spears’ 2016 album Glory.
- Quinn XCII and Chelsea Cutler dropped a new fire jam called "Stay Next To Me"
ROCK-
- AC/DC’s Power Up debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, giving the legendary rockers their third chart-topping set. The new LP started with 117,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 28, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
- Oasis' Liam Gallagher performed “All You’re Dreaming Of” on top of a floating barge on Fallon to promote his concert livestream special, "Down by the River Thames"
He also performed What's The Story Morning Glory?'s opening track, “Hello”, for the first time in 18 years.
- Greta Van Fleet have announced a new album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate. In advance of its April 16th release, the young rockers have unleashed the LP’s latest single, “Age of Machine”.
- The Arctic Monkeysreleased their new live album, Live at The Royal Albert Hall.
- Black Sabbath’s influential 1972 album Vol. 4 is receiving a deluxe expanded edition on February 12th
- Sheryl Crow covered Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” on Jimmy Fallon
- Eddie Van Halen covered Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9” on a newly unearthed recording. The track was recorded in the '90s and recovered by musician David Garfield-
- Eric Clapton teamed up with Van Morrison for an "Anti-Lockdown Protest Song" called “Stand and Deliver”. Set for release this week, the track was written by Morrison and performed by Clapton
- George Harrison’s estate released a new audio mix of “All Things Must Pass” to commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary-
- The Smashing Pumpkins have released their new double album CYR.
RAP-
- Lil Wayne dropped a new mixtape, No Ceilings 3, hosted by DJ Khaled and featuring collaborations with Drake, Young Thug, and more.
“The mixtape game seemed to be a dying art and since I’m one of the pioneers of the craft, and it played such a big part in my career, I felt it was only right to resurrect it,” Lil Wayne told Complex. “Also, it’s a lot of songs out here I wanted to kill my way!”
The tape is the follow-up to 2015’s No Ceilings 2 and 2009’s No Ceilings, which bookended the fertile online mixtape era that Lil Wayne was both a pioneer and a leader of. To celebrate the nostalgic occasion, Wayne enlisted three artists — Gustavo Zermeño Jr (aka gz.jr), ABH, and Hustlegrl — to create three separate album covers for No Ceilings 3. As it turns out, Hustelgrl actually designed the artwork for the first No Ceilings tape back when she was only 17-years-old, which serves as a nice callback.
- A new posthumous Juice WRLD song has been released by friend, frequent collaborator, and producer Benny Blanco-
- Juicy J dropped a new album, The Hustle Continues. The follow-up to 2017's Rubba Band Business boasts Logic, Megan Thee Stallion, A$AP Rocky, and more
- Bad Bunny released new album El Último Tour del Mundo.
- Texas reunite with Wu-Tang Clan for new single ‘Hi’
Texas and Wu-Tang Clan have teamed up for the first time in over two decades with new single ‘Hi’.
The two groups formed an unlikely friendship in the late 1990s, when Wu-Tang’s RZA and Method Man remixed Texas’ ‘Say What You Want’, performing it at the 1998 BRIT Awards.
The new video for ‘Hi’ opens with archive footage of that performance, before segueing into a new Fenn O’Meally-directed clip starring Top Boy and Small Axe actor Kadeem Ramsay.
Amine dropped a new album Limbo
COUNTRY -
- Morgan Wallen has been asked back to perform on SNL on Dec. 5. He was pulled from the Oct. 10-dated episode after videos of him partying at the University of Alabama football game surfaced online.
- Tim McGraw released the video for "Gravy" on Wednesday. An obvious play on Thanksgiving, but the song and video depicting family was released on his 15th studio album Here on Earth back in August. The video features most home videos of McGraw, Faith Hill and their three kids. A light-hearted tug on the heart strings, sometimes having it made is Biscuits in the oven, chicken in the fryer / Lights turned on, cable paid.
- Sam Hunt released the video for "Breaking Up Was Easy in the '90s". It's from his sophomore album released in April (again, slow week). Wild his speaking/singing style came around with his first album SIX years ago. The collab and appearance life must be good to his bank account. Wish he wasn't such a dick.
- Dan + Shay released "Christmas Isn't Christmas" - a love ballad - might be the song of the winter… move over Mariah. Dan + Shay also keep themselves busy playing at private weddings where Chainsmokers open for them and yours truly bookend the evenings - humble brag, NBD.
- Chase Rice "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen." (ft. Florida Georgia Line) - see Friday's blog. Great backstory of a song a decade in the making.
- Taylor Swift teased a re-release of "Love Story" as part of a new-old project in re-recording all her songs from her first 6 albums. Why? Because - as blogged a few weeks ago - a clown was on the loose (Scooter Braun) who bought all of Swift's masters from her original label. The clown then sold the works to a, then, unknown party. Turned out to be Mickey Mouse… aka a private equity company owned by the estate of Roy E Disney. THEN, that company contacted Swift to work with her on plans for her work. She said something to the effect of fuck off because the terms would have meant Braun would profit. So, re-recording it is.
- Chris Stapleton performed Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" for the Country Cares radiothon benefiting kids at St. Jude's. Again, with only a guitar, his voice and wife by his side… unreal. The song is no big deal though - in 2000, Womack's track was top 10 in the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, CMA and ACM song of the year, and won a Grammy.
- Carrie Underwood leans on her straight As in high school Spanish classes (no idea if that's true, half-true, or false) teaming up with David Bisbal on "Tears of Gold". Bisbal had a similar path as Underwood getting his first exposure through a reality singing show. He's a 3x Latin Grammy winner and has worked with Rihanna and Luis Fonsi.
- There's a theme with country lately and this blog - saving some dick for last. Trey Lewis released "Dicked Down in Dallas" which went straight to #1 on the iTunes US singles charts when it was released Tuesday and stayed for a couple days, currently at #2. It has a classic country-rock rhythm with a story of a girl leaving her man and his heart behind in Amarillo. That rhythm maintains throughout which makes landing lines even more effective when they are,
She's gettin' dicked down in Dallas
Railed out in Raleigh
Tag teamed up in Tennessee
Anal in Austin
Butt fucked in Boston
Givin' neck down in New Orleans
Puttin' me through hell
Fuckin' someone else
Now I'm the one on my knees
Prayin' she'll come back
Gimme that sweet ass
But I already know that
She's gettin' dicked down in Dallas
She's probably in the lonestar state
Sucking off ole what's his name
I wonder what her daddy'd say
Maybe he's the one to blame
Apparently, it's becoming a trend on the wiggle-dicking platform that is TikTok with multiple different angles:
Parent reactions (which are delayed cause Trey's smooth delivery)
The NY Football Giants angle, which is pretty creative - get your popcorn ready
Smokes are wanting some Santa Baby for Xmas
Giving country music street cred
Some good ole country boy wiggle dickin/beer drinkin
And apparently means some ladies are gonna get some D in Dallas because NFR got moved there. Thought it was a zoomer acronym for something, but no - the 2020 National Finals Rodeo got moved to Dallas, so some lucky bulls are gonna get to lay some seed.
Folk/Reggae-
New discovery - thank you Spotify algo. Xavier Rudd's "Shame" collab with The United Nations was released in 2015. Per Wiki, the song "was inspired by conversations about racism surrounding AFL player Adam Goodes, an Aboriginal Australian football player who was repeatedly booed at matches. Rudd had previously declared his support for Goodes addressing the AFL Players' Association 2014 Season Launch. At the time of writing the song Creancient for the album, Rudd was working with a Shaman in Peru. He participated in several ceremonies, including one that involved vomiting and experiencing hallucinations and another involving mud bathing. Rudd described the song as something that flowed out of him over a week while he felt like he was outside of himself, looking at his ego from a distance."
h/t Augie