Month: July 2025

The Recording Academy has tweaked some of its rules for the 2026 Grammy Awards, which includes a stand-alone category for best album cover.

The academy announced that the best recording package and the best boxed or special limited edition package categories will be combined into the best recording package category, with best album cover spun out on its own.

Eligibility for Best New Artist has been expanded to include artists who have been previously nominated in Album Of The Year, but whose contributions fell below the current 20 percent playing time threshold — allowing for acts who were credited as featured artists on projects that were Grammy nominated for Album Of The Year in a previous awards cycle, to be eligible for Best New Artist consideration.

In addition: the existing Best Country Album Category has been renamed Best Contemporary Country Album, and a new Category, ‘Best Traditional Country Album,’ has been added.

The existing Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Categories have been combined into one single Category: Best Recording Package. A new Category, ‘Best Album Cover,’ has also been added.

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement: “The Academy’s top priority is to represent the music people that we serve each year. That entails listening carefully to our members to make sure our rules and guidelines reflect today’s music and allow us to accurately recognize as many deserving creators as possible. As we kick off another exciting GRAMMY Season, we look forward to celebrating the amazing power of music and its ability to bring so many people together.”

The Grammys will be held Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with nominations set to be announced on Nov. 7.

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Peacock’s Emmy-winning reality series “The Traitors”, hosted by Alan Cumming, revealed the cast for its upcoming Season 4, now in production in Scotland. Dylan Efron, Gabby Windey, Dolores Catania and Ivar Mountbatten pulled off an unlikely victory in the show’s Season 3.

Donna Kelce, former ‘Real Housewives’ Lisa Rinna and Dorinda Medley, actors Ron Funches and Michael Rapaport, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Monét X Change and ‘Love Island USA‘s’ Rob Rausch are among the 23 castmembers joining season four of the hit reality show.

Other Season 4 contestants include: Candiace Dillard Bassett, Caroline Stanbury, Colton Underwood, Eric Nam, Ian Terry, Johnny Weir, Kristen Kish, Rob Cesternino, Mark Ballas, Maura Higgins, Natalie Anderson, Porsha Williams, Ron Funches, Stephen Colletti, Tara Lipinski, Tiffany Mitchell and Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho.

The series — based on a Dutch format — is a competition where contestants are split into two categories: Faithfuls and Traitors. All 23 contestants will start as Faithfuls before host Alan Cumming decides which (typically) three players will become Traitors. The titular role then works to sneak past the rule-following players who are attempting to figure out who the Traitors are while choosing a Faithful player each night to “murder.”

An official synopsis reads: “Hidden amongst the Faithful are the Traitors, whose goal is to eliminate the Faithful and claim the ($250,000) prize for themselves. Under the cover of darkness, the Traitors murder the Faithful one by one in a treacherous spree, while the Faithful try to uncover the Traitors and banish them from the game.”

The Traitors has been renewed at Peacock through Season 5; see the cast reveal: HERE.

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Jason Momoa stars in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Chief of War, an epic historical drama that sees Momoa portray Ka’iana, a legendary warrior fighting to unite Hawaiian islands against colonizers.

Chief of War, co-created by Momoa and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, explores “the unification and colonization of Hawai’i from an indigenous perspective,” according to a press release.

Luciane Buchanan, Temuera Morrison, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Cliff Curtis, Kaina Makua, Moses Goods, Siua Ikale’o, Brandon Finn, James Udom, Mainei Kinimaka, Te Kohe Tuhaka and Benjamin Hoetjes also star in the series, which features an almost entirely Hawaiian and Polynesian cast and crew, “emphasizing authenticity and a commitment to indigenous storytelling. The trailer underscores this dedication, promising a visually stunning and culturally resonant drama that sheds light on a rarely explored period of history.”

Momoa also penned the script and serves as an executive producer on the show, which spans nine episodes. The first two episodes arrive on the streamer Aug. 1; see the trailer – HERE.

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Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76.

Osbourne’s family announced the rock legend’s passing in a statement to The Sun on Tuesday: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.”  Osbourne’s death was also confirmed by the BBC.

Osbourne’s death comes just weeks after the ailing singer reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for a triumphant final show titled “Back to the Beginning” in July, witness by 45,000 fans at Birmingham’s Villa Park soccer stadium and by another 5.8 million around the world online. The festival included appearances from fellow metal legends including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains and more.

Osbourne had been sick for some time, and opened up about his battles with Parkinson’s disease (which he was diagnosed with in January 2020) and repeat spinal surgeries in a November 2023 interview with Rolling Stone. Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, revealed in February 2025 that his battle with Parkinson’s disease had left him unable to walk but “did not affect his voice.”

Born John Michael Osbourne in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 3, 1948, he was first nicknamed “Ozzy” in primary school. Ozzy dropped out of school when he was 15, and worked several trade jobs before he and his friend, Geezer Butler, formed their first band, Rare Breed, with Ozzy on vocals. Osbourne later became a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1967, famous for heavy metal hits including “Paranoid,” “War Pigs” and “Iron Man.” However due to Osbourne’s struggle with alcohol and drug abuse, he was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979.

Osbourne went on to a hugely successful solo career, thanks to his future wife, the former Sharon Arden – daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager, Don Arden – who decided to manage Ozzy as a solo act. Ozzy would go on to make 12 solo albums with hits including “Crazy Train,” “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “No More Tears”. Throughout his career, Osbourne sold over 100 million albums worldwide as a solo artist and a member of Black Sabbath combined.

Osbourne is survived by his wife, Sharon, and six children — Jessica, Louis and Elliot from his first marriage to Thelma Riley, and Aimee, Kelly and Jack from his second marriage.

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Deadline reported that Katie Holmes will write, direct and star in Happy Hours, a new feature film trilogy that will reunite Homes with her ‘Dawson’s Creek’ co-star Joshua Jackson. Production on the first film will begin in New York City this summer, with the second and third installments scheduled to follow thereafter.

Happy Hours is described as “a story about two people (Jackson and Holmes) navigating their relationship within the challenges of careers and family responsibilities and the pursuit of love, despite life’s inevitable obstacles. It’s a character-driven dramedy that explores the emotional journey of young loves who reconnect as adults, with the connective thread of shared joys, loss, and hope.”

The cast also includes Mary-Louise Parker, Constance Wu, Joe Tippett, John McGinty, Donald Webber Jr., Nathan Darrow, Johnna Dias-Watson and Jack Martin.

Holmes previously directed the feature films All We Had, Alone Together and Rare Objects and an episode of The Kennedys After Camelot, in which she played Jackie Kennedy.

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