Golden Globe Awards 2019
Queen biopic Bohemian
Rhapsody won the coveted award
for Best Motion Picture – Drama
amidst stiff competition while Rami Malek
won Best Performance by an Actor in a
Motion Picture – Drama for his brilliant portrayal of Queen frontman
Freddie Mercury in the same film. A Star
Is Born garnered 4 nominations but
it only managed to win Best Original Song
for Shallow written by Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson. Best Original
Score was won by Justin Hurwitz for
First Man.
Missy Elliot, Cat Stevens and John Prine among 2019 Songwriters Hall of
Fame Inductees
Missy Elliot is making history as the first female rapper inducted
into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Elliot is just the third rapper following
the prior inductions of Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri. Also being inducted are
British icon, Cat Stevens and
country-folk legend, John Prine.
Lady Gaga bags big wins at the 2019 Critics’ Choice Awards
Lady Gaga took home two wins at the 24th Critics’ Choice
Awards where she received Best Actress for A
Star is Born in a tie with Glenn Close for The Wife and Best Song for Shallow,
her duet with Bradley Cooper. Meanwhile,
Justin Hurwitz won Best Score for his work on First Man.
Nominations for 91st Academy Awards revealed
The nominations for the 91st
Academy Awards were announced with A Star
is Born receiving 8 nods including Best Actress for Lady Gaga, the second highest after Roma and The Favourite which received 10 each. Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has received 5 nods including Best
Actor for Rami Malek and Mary Poppins Returns has received 4
nominations. The nominees for Best Original Song are:
-
Kendrick
Lamar & SZA – All the stars (Black Panther)
-
Lady Gaga
& Bradley Cooper – Shallow (A Star is Born)
-
Emily
Blunt – The place where lost things go (Mary Poppins Returns)
-
Jennifer Hudson
– I’ll Fight (RBG)
-
Willie
Watson & Tim Blake Nelson – When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings (The
Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
Women lead 2019 BRIT Award nominations
Anne-Marie, Jess Glynne and Dua
Lipa lead this year’s nominees with four nods each. Anne-Marie is nominated across 4 different categories: Female Solo
Artist, Album of the Year for Speak Your
Mind and Single and Video of the Year for 2002. Jess Glynne was also nominated for Female Solo Artist, Single
of the Year for I’ll Be There and Rudimental collaboration These Days and Video of the Year also
for These Days. Dua Lipa is up for Single and Video of the Year for both IDGAF and Calvin Harris collab One Kiss.
Britney Spears Announces Hiatus
Britney Spears is taking
an indefinite break from music to focus on family. She announced that she would
be putting family first after her father was hospitalized and almost died as a result
of a ruptured colon; he is currently in recovery. The global superstar
cancelled her Las Vegas residency, Britney:
Domination, which was to commence in February at the new Park MGM resort
and her pending collaboration with Pitbull and Marc Anthony may also be on hold.
Daryl Dragon Passes Away
Daryl Dragon, best known as Captain from the group Captain and Tennille has passed away at the age of 76 due to renal failure. The duo is
best known for their hits Love Will Keep
Us Together, Do That To Me One More Time and Muskrat Love.
R.Kelly facing Criminal Investigations over Sexual Misconduct
A formal investigation into
sexual misconduct by US rapper R.Kelly
is underway. Prosecutors are checking whether the artist should face criminal
charges. The case was prompted by a six-part documentary series on Lifetime
titled Surviving R.Kelly, wherein women
who were allegedly abused by Kelly speak out. Kelly has vehemently denied all
allegations and has sworn to sue those involved. Meanwhile, radio stations have
suspended playing his songs and his collaborations have been asked by artists
such as Lady Gaga to be removed from streaming services.
Sony Music drops R.Kelly
Following social media
backlash and protests in front of Sony Headquarters in New York, Sony Music has finally dropped R.Kelly
from the record label. Prior to this a campaign titled #MuteRKelly was
initiated to achieve this objective. R.Kelly has been in the middle of a
massive controversy involving sexual abuse allegations with several artists
withdrawing their collaborations with him on streaming services following the
documentary Surviving R.Kelly being
released on Lifetime.
Michael Jackson is coming to Broadway
The Michael Jackson estate has confirmed the production of a musical
titled Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough,
inspired by the life of the King of Pop. The production is to be directed and
choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon and will premiere in
Chicago this year and make its Broadway debut in 2020.
Playboi Carti found guilty of assault
Jordan Carter more famously
known as Playboi Carti was found
guilty of assault and damaging a tour bus in Scotland in February 2018. He was
fined £800 following a trial at the Dumfries Justice of the Peace Court. While
Carti had denied the assault charges, he had admitted to damaging the tour bus.
Chart News
In the US, Ariana Grande started off January at the
top with Thank, U Next completing 7
whopping weeks but was replaced by Halsey’s
Without Me in the second week. This again was dethroned by Post Malone & Swae Lee’s Sunflower,
off the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
soundtrack. Halsey’s Without Me returned to the top during the last week. During
the month Post Malone’s Wow and Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid’s Eastside
entered the top 10.
In the UK, Ava Max’s Sweet But Psycho was the first
No.1 of the year dethroning Christmas No.1, LadBaby’s
comic version of Starship’s We Built this
City. Max’s formidable 4-week
reign was ended by Ariana Grande’s 7
Rings, a sampling My Favorite Things
from the beloved The Sound of Music
soundtrack. During the month, Pink Fong’s Baby Shark, Zara Larsson’s Ruin
My Life, George Ezra’s Hold My Girl, Gesaffelestein & The Weeknd’s Lost in
the Fire and Sam Smith & Normani’s
Dancing With a Stranger, all entered the top 10 during the month.
Hot New Picks of the Month
1. 5
Seconds of Summer ft. Julia Michaels – Lie to me
2. Sam
Smith – Fire on fire
3. Chris
Brown – Undecided
4. Sabrina
Carpenter – Paris
5. Ozuna
– Baila baila baila
6. Gabrielle
Aplin – My mistake
7. Calvin
Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man – Giant
8. Mike
Shinoda – Can’t hear you now
9. Westlife
– Hello my love
10. Hardwell
ft. Snoop Dogg & Conor Maynard – How you love me
11. The
Cranberries – All over now
12. Vice
& Jason Derulo ft. Ava Max – Make up
13. Twenty
One Pilots – Chlorine
14. City
Girls ft. Cardi B – Twerk
15. Alec
Benjamin & Alessia Cara – Let me down slowly
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
