In the depths of her court-ordered conservatorship, while Britney Spears was performing hundreds of shows for her Vegas residency and raking in millions, the pop star was under a strict budget and intense, 24-hour surveillance that monitored her every move — including a wiretap in her bedroom. Those are some of the stunning claims in
Music
Hip-hop legend Rick Ross shares life lessons and secrets to success (many drawn from his new book, The Perfect Day to Boss Up: A Hustler’s Guide to Building Your Empire) in an interview with Jeff Ihaza on the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “That, to me, is the definition of the boss
John Mayer appeared on The Late Show for the debut live performance of his song “Wild Blue,” off the singer’s new album Sob Rock. Mayer, performing with his live band, offered a soulful, intimate rendition of the song. Mayer released Sob Rock, his eighth album, in July. Sob Rock marks Mayer’s first studio album since 2017’s The
R. Kelly’s defense delivered their closing argument Thursday in the singer’s Brooklyn trial on federal racketeering charges. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux Cannick used his closing arguments to make excuses for Kelly’s behavior, even though it was not what Kelly was on trial for. Cannick acknowledged that some of the singer’s relationships
Brandi Carlile and Sturgill Simpson were two of the night’s big winners at the 2021 Americana Honors and Awards, held Wednesday night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Carlile won the Artist of the Year honor for a second time (she previously won the same award in 2019), while Simpson won Album of the Year
The defense for R. Kelly rested its case Wednesday in the singer’s federal trial on racketeering charges in Brooklyn, with Kelly’s lawyers calling only five witnesses to the stand over the three-day-long defense. However, Kelly opted to not testify in his own defense, avoiding the prosecutors’ cross-examination. According to the Chicago Tribune, After the defense
St. Vincent appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform the title track from her recent film, The Nowhere Inn. The singer gave a soulful rendition of the tune, appearing with her live band, who wore matching Annie Clark wigs. The Nowhere Inn, a mockumentary written by and starring Clark and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, arrived earlier
Drake easily secured a record-extending 33rd week atop the Rolling Stone Artists 500 chart for the week of September 10th through the 16th. Still riding high off the release of his latest album, Certified Lover Boy, Drake pulled in 396.1 million song streams, the fourth highest weekly stream count the chart has ever seen. And
Metallica rocked Metro in Chicago on Monday with a set that included “Seek & Destroy” and “Master of Puppets.” Their intimate performance follows their surprise club concert at San Francisco’s The Independent last Thursday, where they played live last Thursday, delivering a 16-song set. “THAT was way too much fun last week as we finally
Drake easily held the Number One position this week on the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs Chart with “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, as the track collected 35 million streams. An impressive seven out of the Top Ten were tracks from Certified Lover Boy. “Knife Talk” rose from the previous week to
During the 2021 Emmy Awards, Leon Bridges enlisted Jon Batiste to perform a powerful rendition of “River” from Bridges’ 2015 album Coming Home. The musicians teamed up for the In Memoriam segment of the evening to pay tribute to those who died in the last year, including Alex Trebek, Cicely Tyson, Larry King, Jessica Walter,
Olivia Rodrigo performed her “first show” ever with a daytime set Saturday at Las Vegas’ iHeartRadio Festival, a 20-minute gig showcasing five songs off the singer’s Number One album Sour. “This is a really special day for me because this is sort of like my first show,” Rodrigo told fans outside Area 15 in Las
Ahead of the release of the Beatles’ expanded edition of Let It Be, Universal Music has shared four of the unreleased alternate takes and new mixes from the upcoming deep dive into the 1970 LP. On Friday, the Beatles’ YouTube uploaded the reissue’s “Get Back (Take 8),” “One After 909 (Take 3),” as well as
Smashing Pumpkins performed their Siamese Dream favorite “Quiet” for the first time since 1994 during the band’s headlining gig Friday at Chicago’s Riot Fest, their first pandemic-era concert. While “Quiet” was a setlist staple during the Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream-era concerts, Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin and company last played the song together in
Rising Jacksonville, Florida, rapper SpotemGottem was shot in his hip while driving on a highway in Miami early Friday morning, September 17th. SpotemGottem — real name Nehemiah Lamar Harden — was driving a Dodge Charger on I-95 when the car was hit with gunfire, leaving 22 bullet holes on the driver’s side, according to a
“I shouldn’t have come here in the first place, cause folks in here don’t like my kind,” Charley Crockett sings in “Music City USA,” the title track of his new album. The video for the song underscores the cynicism of those lyrics and follows the throwback country singer as he makes his way — anonymously
Lil Nas X and Elton John have teamed up for “One of Me.” It’s the pair’s first collaboration, which appears on Lil Nas X’s debut album, Montero. The LP hit streaming services at midnight on Thursday, with the album’s official release on Friday. John leads the piano ballad, while Lil Nas X sings of conflicting
It’s a shame that the voting for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time had already concluded by the time Drake released his new album Certified Lover Boy. While the record is far from perfect, it does have a song that, in my mind, deserves to be very high on the list. The much-discussed
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a woman who accused Marilyn Manson of raping her as well as threatening her life, per court documents obtained by Rolling Stone. On Tuesday, Judge Gregory Keosian sustained Manson’s objection and dismissed the complaint due to the statute of limitations. The woman, anonymously identified as Jane Doe, claimed
Late-Nineties and early-2000s NYC hip-hop heroes Fat Joe and Ja Rule were the latest rappers to go toe-to-toe on Verzuz. Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed was on hand to document the bout and shared his photographs with Rolling Stone. On Tuesday, September 14th, the pair took the stage at the theater at Madison Square Garden, where they