Pop

Drake And Ye Were The Most-Tweeted About Musicians Of 2021

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When it comes to conversations about music, much of the discourse goes down on Twitter. That’s why it’s no surprise that the most talked-about artists on the platform were those who released an album this year or those that were surrounded by controversy (and if you’re Ye — both).

Twitter collected all their data from this year and shared who the most-tweeted-about musicians were. Drake came in at No. 1, Ye followed shortly after him, and Lil Nas X sat at No. 3. It comes as no surprise that BTS was the fourth most-tweeted-about musician thanks to their massive global fanbase. After BTS, who were the most-tweeted-about group in 2020, was Taylor Swift at No. 5, whose rerecorded Red (Taylor’s Version) gave the singer a fair amount of buzz on the platform. Nicki Minaj came in at No. 6, Beyonce was No. 7, Megan Thee Stallion was No. 8, DaBaby was No. 9, and Cardi B made it in at No. 10.

Though BTS fell down a few placements this year compared to last year, they were still big when it came to the most-liked tweets of the year. Joe Biden celebrating his inauguration in 2021 was the single most-liked tweet, but a selfie by BTS member Jungkook was the second-most-liked tweet of the year with 3.2 million likes.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Adele Says Drake Convinced Her To Release ’30’ Despite Its Delays

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Adele’s chart-topping album 30 has been out for a few weeks now. True to the singer’s previous releases, the LP features a mix of empowering and heart-tugging songs. This time, however, her songs were about her 2019 divorce. The album was supposed to arrive in 2020, when all her feelings about her marriage were still fresh. But because of COVID, 30 was delayed for nearly a year and the singer now says that if she had waited any longer, she would have decided not to release the LP altogether.

Adele recently sat down with Rolling Stone UK for a cover interview, where she talked about her album’s delays. “If it wasn’t coming out now, I think I probably would never put it out,” she said. Because the music was about her divorce, the singer was nearly ready to put those emotions behind her before it actually dropped. “I know I would’ve changed my mind and been like, ‘It’s moved on. Let’s start the next album,’” she said. “And I couldn’t do that to this album. I feel like it deserves to come out.”

One major reason why she went ahead with the album’s release was due to a conversation she had with her good friend Drake. The rapper had been in a similar position as Adele, sitting on his album Certified Lover Boy for quite some time. “I had that conversation with Drake,” Adele said. “Because he kept having to push his album back. Suddenly he just announced that it was out and was like, ‘I feel like I’ve been working on it for so long because I’ve been sitting on it.’ I feel a bit like that.”

Based on how wildly popular her album has been, Adele is likely glad she decided to heed Drake’s advice and go ahead with the release. The LP became the best-selling release of the year just three days after it debuted. This week, 30 also hit a major milestone: The album became the only release of 2021 to reach one million sales in the US.

Read Rolling Stone‘s conversation with Adele here.

Rihanna, Beyonce, And Taylor Swift Are Some Of 2021’s Most Powerful Women According To ‘Forbes’

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There are a lot of women in the music industry that could be labeled “powerful,” depending on how one defines the word. Billie Eilish used her influence to get a high-end fashion designer to commit to ending the use of fur permanently, for example. But for Forbes, money is power. And because of that, Forbes has named Beyonce, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift on a list of the 100 most powerful women of the year.

Coming in at No. 68 on the list is Rihanna. According to Forbes, her addition to their roundup is thanks to the success of her cosmetics line Fenty Beauty, which also made her become a recent billionaire. Beyonce followed Rihanna on the list at No. 76. Forbes named her powerful due to the success of her On The Run II tour with Jay-Z, which they said raked in a total of more than $250 million. Swift landed shortly behind Beyonce at No. 78 due to her process of re-recording her albums and earning her 10th No. 1 album.

The three musicians are in good company on Forbes‘ list. Some other names that make an appearance on the list have both political and financial power, like MacKenzie Scott, who was awarded 25 percent of her ex-husband Jeff Bezos’ Amazon stock and donated nearly $8 billion. Kamala Harris also made the list for her historic role as Vice President.

Read Forbes‘ full list of the 100 Most Powerful Women Of 2021 here.

The 2022 Reading And Leeds Lineup Will Be Led By Megan Thee Stallion And Rage Against The Machine

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England’s Reading and Leeds festivals have a unique set-up, as the sister events take place on the same weekend and share a lineup. It’s a big line-up, too, and now the fests have offered the first look at the 2022 edition, which goes down from August 26 to 28, by sharing some of the acts set to take the stage. Next year’s headliners include Megan Thee Stallion, Rage Against The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Halsey, Dave, and Bring Me The Horizon.

Beyond that, the lineup also features Polo G, Little Simz, Glass Animals, Wolf Alice, Fontaines DC, Enter:Shikari, Jack Harlow, Run The Jewels, Maneskin, Bastille, Circa Waves, Fever 333, Griff, Joy Crookes, PinkPantheress, Wallows, Jxdn, Kid Brunswick, Madison Beer, Tai Verdes, The Lathums, Wilkinson, Arrdee, Chloe Moriondo, Denzel Curry, Hybrid Minds, and Pale Waves. That’s only a small portion of the full lineup, so expect additions to be announced between now and next summer.

This appearance will be a big one for Rage Against The Machine, as they have been trying to get a reunion tour off the ground since 2020 and it will finally be able to happen next year (hopefully). Meanwhile, Megan has had to cancel some shows in recent days: She backed out of the AMAs due to a “personal matter” and she canceled a Houston concert “out of respect” to victims of the Astroworld Festival tragedy.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Olivia Rodrigo, DMX, And Travis Scott Lead Google’s Top Trending Searches Of 2021

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At the end of every year, Google shares lists of the top trending searches in various categories, which they note “are based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year.” Now they’ve dropped their 2021 rankings and a lot of music figures have found their way on the lists.

Globally, DMX was the tenth top-trending search overall, due largely to his death earlier this year. On the top songs list, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” leads the rank and is followed by a pair of Lil Nas X songs: “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and the Jack Harlow collaboration “Industry Baby.”

When you narrow down to the top trends of just the United States, DMX is the second biggest trend overall. Meanwhile, Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen are both in the top ten top-trending people. Musicians also have a firm hold over the “celebrities search together” category: “Kim and Kanye” are No. 1, followed by “Kanye and Jeffree Star” (No. 4), “Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal” (No. 5), “JLo and A-Rod” (No. 6), “Ben Affleck and JLo” (No. 9), and “Selena Gomez and Chris Evans” (No. 10).

As far as the music-specific lists for the US, Scott leads under “musicians and bands,” while “Drivers License” is the top trend under songs.

There are more music-related searches sprinkled throughout the lists, so find the global trends here and the US trends here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ariana Grande, Megan Thee Stallion, And Jimmy Fallon Keep Things Safe On ‘It Was A… (Masked Christmas)’

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Jimmy Fallon has worked with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion a bunch before. Grande has appeared on The Tonight Show plenty of times, and Meg previously linked up with Fallon to re-work “Hot Girl Summer” into “Hot Girl Fall.” While those collaborations were mostly Tonight Show bits with no life outside of the program, now Fallon has teamed up with those two on an actually commercially released single, “It Was A… (Masked Christmas).”

The track is led by punchy drums and a simple but catchy keyboard melody, and Fallon sings on the hook, “It was a masked Christmas, we stayed in the house / We covered our nose and covered our mouth / But it’s Christmas time / We’ll be in line for a booster.”

The song is Fallon’s first official single since 2014’s “Ew!” with Will.i.am, which managed to peak at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it Fallon’s only charting single so far. Meanwhile, his most recent album is 2012’s Blow Your Pants Off, which consists of songs first performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Watch the “It Was A… (Masked Christmas)” video above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Watch Chris Stapleton And HER Perform ‘This Christmas’ At The National Christmas Tree Lighting

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A time-honored tradition, The National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony took place in Washington D.C. last night with both Joe and Jill Biden present for the affair. There was a full-on slate of musical guests that included Chris Stapleton, HER, Juanes, Billy Porter, Keb’ Mo’, Patti LaBelle, Maren Morris, Kristin Chenoweth, the Howard University Gospel Choir, and LL Cool J as the evening’s presenter. Think of the ceremony as the Super Bowl of Christmas Tree lightings and it’s a totally decked out tree that spares no expense. Get a load of the description of this year’s design:

“This year’s design includes a background of warm white lights with a delicate sprinkling of sparkling red and warm white sphere ornaments placed in a cascading pattern from the top all the way down the newly planted White Fir tree, with a cluster of sparkling red and white spheres on the lower branches. A simple, yet elegant star topper finishes off the design. “

So with the gigantic tree flanking the stage, the stars came out and Stapleton and HER laid down a rendition of “This Christmas” that highlights what the 2022 Grammy nominees do best. Stapleton’s down home country vocals and slick guitar kicked off the number before being joined by HER’s gorgeous piano and elegant, forceful singing, becoming emboldened as the song rolled on. Backed by the U.S. Army Band Downrange, the confluence of the pair’s talents on the duet chorus made for a classy performance that feels natural and fits the moment perfectly.

Watch the video of the pair performance of “This Christmas” above.

Post Malone, Tame Impala, And Doja Cat Are Headlining Alabama’s Stacked Hangout Festival Lineup In 2022

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After ten illustrious years on Alabama’s Gulf Shores, Hangout Festival has had to postpone year number 11 twice due to the pandemic. But the wait is finally over as Hangout Festival 2022 will be going down from May 20th to 22nd with a stacked lineup.

Post Malone is the lone holdover from the previously announced but postponed headlining slate, and he’ll be joined by Tame Impala, Halsey, Doja Cat, Fall Out Boy, Illenium, Kane Brown, and Megan Thee Stallion on top of the bill. It’s a loaded lineup of all kinds of music that will even feature an appearance from Shaquille O’Neal, as his music persona Diesel. Hangout is marked by its bustling oceanside venue footprint and there will be plenty of sunshine to go around next summer at the festival.

The complete lineup includes, in alphabetical order, 347aidan, Audrey Nuna, Bankrol Hayden, Beabadoobee, Blu DeTiger, Breland, Bren Joy, Briston Maroney, Chelsea Cutler, Dayglow, Diesel (Shaquille O’Neal), Doja Cat, Ericdoa, Fall Out Boy, Fletcher, Flipturn, Flo Milli, Gabriel Black, Halsey, Hastings, Hugel, Illenium, Jvna, Jack Harlow, Joy Oladokun, Kane Brown, KennyHoopla, Koffee, LP Giobbi, Leon Bridges, Lil Yachty, Louis The Child, Lucii, Luttrell, Madds, Madeon, Maren Morris, Megan Thee Stallion, Montell2099, Moon Taxi, Notd, Neal Francis, Nightly, Oliver Tree, Paul Cauthen, Petey Martin, Phoebe Bridgers, Post Malone, Remi Wolf, Renforshort, Role Model, Sidepiece, Slander, Snbrn, Ship Wrek, Still Woozy, Sublime With Rome, Surf Mesa, Surfaces, T-Pain, Tame Impala, The Band Camino, The Blossom, The Brook & The Bluff, The Head And The Heart, Tre’ Amani, Tyla Yaweh, Vnssa, Zach Hood, and Zedd.

Presale tickets are live on 12/10 at 10 a.m. CT. Register for early access here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rihanna Has New Music Coming ‘Soon, Soon, Soon’

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Currently (and also for the past half-decade), Rihanna anxiously fans wait for the follow-up to her 2016 album Anti. Therefore, they eat up any sort of update about new music from Rihanna, no matter how minor it may be. Well, the latest Rihanna dispatch is certainly minor but is exciting regardless, as she suggested to a paparazzo recently that new music is quickly forthcoming.

In a video of the encounter, Rihanna emerges from a car and the person behind the camera asks her, “Any new music, anything?” The singer responded as she walked away, “Soon, soon, soon.”

In September, she said of her upcoming music, “You’re not going to expect what you hear. Just put that in your mind. Whatever you know of Rihanna is not going to be what you hear. I’m really experimenting. Music is like fashion: you should be able to play. I should be able to wear whatever I want, and I treat music the same way. So, I’m having fun and it’s going to be completely different. That’s it.”

Meanwhile, the last month has been full of honors for Rihanna. Last week, she was declared a “national hero” of Barbados, she found herself in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Greatest Of All-Time Hot 100 Artists chart, and Ed Sheeran noted that he always thinks about Rihanna when he’s making decisions in the studio.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Nas X Turned In A Celebrity-Filled TikTok Parody Of @SideTalkNYC’s One-Minute Interviews

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Every year Variety compiles a list of the teams behind songs they think were the most impactful of the year, dubbing those honored as “Hitmakers.” During the magazine’s annual brunch, musicians involved with songs that were honored come together to give speeches and receive awards for their work. But what might’ve just been another boring industry brunch was ramped up to eleven by 2021’s class of young artists, who know how to use TikTok to turn pretty much anything into content. And with a powerhouse cast of stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Chloe Bailey, Jack Harlow and Normani in the house, what choice did Lil Nas X have, really, but to turn in a hilarious parody video that quickly started going viral on multiple platforms.

Hopping on the rather infamous one minute TikTok interviews that @SidetalkNYC has been doing with colorful New Yorkers, each musician took a different viral snippet to lip sync, and spliced all together the parody clip was a brand new bit of content that anyone who has enjoyed the “bing bong” videos would obviously enjoy. And this video just goes to prove, once again, that nobody — nobody — understands TikTok like Lil Nas X. Take a look at the celebrity-filled parody clip below, along with a few of the original SidetalkNYC videos for context if you haven’t seen them.

@lilnasx

BING BONG!

♬ original sound – yvngwrld

@sidetalknyc

♬ BYRON KISS – Sidetalk

@sidetalknyc

♬ BING BONG – Sidetalk

@sidetalknyc

BYRON 😻 – FULL EPISODES ON IG @sidetalknyc #fyp #foryou #viral #newyork #nyc #newyorkcity #sidetalk #sidetalknyc #byron #coneyisland #nems

♬ BYRON – Sidetalk