Month: November 2023

The Recording Academy unveiled the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards on Friday, with SZA leading the nominations with nine, followed by multiple nominations for Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Boygenius, Jon Batiste, Victoria Monét and Billie Eilish.

SZA’s nine nominations include record, album and song of the year, off her acclaimed sophomore effort, “SOS.” After SZA’s nominations, Monét, Phoebe Bridgers each earned 7, with six nominations each for producer Jack Antonoff, Batiste, Boygenius, Brandy Clark, Cyrus, Eilish, Rodrigo and Swift.

Swift can potentially become the all-time leader for album of the year wins if “Midnights” wins in that category in February, making it her fourth win – she is currently tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon with three album wins. With the 2024 nominations, Swift has became the first person ever to be nominated for song of the year seven times.

The 66th annual Grammy Awards will air Feb. 4 live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

For the full list of nominations, head here: Grammys.com.

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Wynonna Judd was been named Mega Mentor for Season 24 of NBC’s The Voice, joining coaches Niall Horan, John Legend, Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani to mentor the remaining artists who have made it through the Battle Rounds.

Reba posted: “Surprise! I am so excited to have my friend @Wynonna join us at @nbcthevoice as this season’s Mega Mentor Wy is the perfect person for this and I can’t wait for you to see all the great advice she gives to these talented artists .. I love her being on The Voice. We’re neighbors in Tennessee. We have to get out here in LA to see each other.”  Wynonna said to Reba in a social media video: “It’s one of the reasons I decided to do this show because you’re here and I wanted to work with you. I’m grateful.” 

Season 24 of the musical competition series The Voice airs Mondays from 8-10 pm ET/PT and Tuesdays from 9-10 pm ET/PT on NBC and next day on Peacock.

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Jared Leto decided to celebrate the announcement of Thirty Seconds to Mars 2024 world tour by climbing the Empire State Building in New York City. The Oscar-winning actor and musician is an avid climber, and decided that he would attempt the first ever climb of the New York landmark.

Leto posted on social media: “JARED LETO CLIMBS ICONIC EMPIRE STATE BUILDING TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS’ MASSIVE GLOBAL TOUR Today we launch SEASONS WORLD TOUR 2024 in celebration of our brand new album, It’s The End of The World But It’s a Beautiful Day!! We are so excited to get back out on the road and to come see you in so many amazing places all over the world It’s been too long. We miss you. We love you. And let us know where we will see you soon North America presale starts tomorrow at 10am local (Password: Seasons) and all tickets on sale Friday November 17!

Said Leto: “The building is a testament of all the things that can be done in the world if we put our minds to it, which is largely the inspiration behind our most recent album, ‘It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day.’” Thirty Seconds to Mars’ sixth studio release, It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day, was released in September and features the lead single “Stuck” as well as their most recent release, “Seasons.”

Thirty Seconds to Mars’ 2024 world tour will launch March in South America, following with legs in the U.K. and Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand through September. For North American audiences, the shows will feature support from AFI, Poppy and Kennyhoopla.

A pre-sale will be available for the North American dates beginning on Friday, November 10 at 10am local time. Fans can use the password ‘SEASONS’ to access it. General on-sale will commence on Friday, November 17 at 10am local time. For ticketing, head to Ticketmaster.

For more information, check out the official Thirty Seconds To Mars website here.

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The 57th Annual Country Music Association Awards took place on Wednesday night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning returning to host the awards ceremony for the second consecutive year.

Lainey Wilson, who led the night with nine nominations, was the night’s biggest winner – taking home five awards including the top prize, ‘Entertainer of the Year,’ as well as album of the year for Bell Bottom Country, female vocalist of the year and a pair awards for her HARDY collaboration “wait in the truck.”

Luke Combs took home the award for ‘Single of the Year’ for his rendition of ‘Fast Car,’ written by Tracey Chapman, who took home the ‘Song of the Year’ award for the song. Chapman first wrote and released the song in 1988 as part of her debut studio album; Combs re-recorded the song in 2023.

For the full list of winners, head to the CMA website.

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After an historic strike of 118 days, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) – the union that represents performers on film and television – announced on Wednesday that they have reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP). The strike will officially come to an end at 12:01am on Thursday, November 9th. The last strike of this nature was in 1980, and it lasted for three months.

SAG-AFTRA said in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly: “We are thrilled and proud to tell you that today your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee voted unanimously to approve a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. As of 12:01am PT on Nov. 9, our strike is officially suspended and all picket locations are closed. We will be in touch in the coming days with information about celebration gatherings around the country.”. SAG-AFTRA says that its tentative agreement with the studios is worth more than $1 billion over three years and added that it has “extraordinary scope” and “unprecedented provisions”, but added that the full details of the agreement will not be provided until it is reviewed by the SAG-AFTRA National Board on Friday.

The AMPTP shared in their own statement that the agreement is, “the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union” and one that represents a “new paradigm”… It gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board. The AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”

SAG-AFTRA joined the Writers’ Guild of America on the picket lines, as the WGA had been on strike since May. Actors were on strike since July 14, after the guild’s national board voted unanimously to launch the work stoppage. Following the expiration of their contract on June 30 and a 12-day extension period, the union and the AMPTP failed to reach an agreement. The strike of both SAG-AFTRA and WGA marked a historic moment in the Hollywood labor movement, as the first concurrent strike between the guilds since 1960.

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