Chris Willman-Senior: Last News

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What, in pop music history, is anyone to compare Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour to? If you’re at all flummoxed by that question, join the club, populated by scores of journalists and commentators who’ve tried and failed to find reasonable parallels. “I promise that you’ll never find another like me,” Swift sang a few years ago, and although she meant that as a sing-along, not a superstar’s statement of purpose, truer words really never were spoken On a pure business level, everyone can agree that it’s unprecedented.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Fans’ predictions that Taylor Swift might use her 8/9 date at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium to announce a re-recorded version of “1989” proved correct. Swift took a moment out at the show to reveal that “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is on the way, just before giving a long-awaited performance of “New Romantics” as one of the acoustic “secret songs” of the night. “There’s something that I’ve been planning for a really, really, really, ridiculously embarrassingly long time,” Swift began, teasing the ecstatic sold out crowd.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift has been prolific enough that even the material she’s put out as bonuses — whether that’s added tracks on deluxe editions or Vault songs on her re-recordings — has added up to a whole separate library wing of its own. It’s open to question whether she has ever considered these actual discards, before deciding to bring them before her voracious public, or has greater strategies in mind.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s pop dominance in 2023 is not going unnoticed in this year’s MTV Video Music Awards nominations. Swift came out as the leader in the nods announced Tuesday morning, with eight nominations altogether for her videos, followed by six for the videos of SZA. The competition thickens when it gets down to the six artists tied for five VMAs nominations each: Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Kim Petras, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Sam Smith.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The new collaborative album by Vince Gill and instrumentalist Paul Franklin is not a vocal duets record. But for anyone who believes that there’s something about the steel guitar that’s uncannily akin to the moan of the human voice, in spirit if not sound, maybe it’s close enough.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic One of the questions raised by Taylor Swift’s recent single “Karma” is whether the titular force is something that can be, like, aggressively courted. And, if so, is writing out $100,000 bonus checks to one’s tour truck drivers a form of metaphysical insurance payment? These are the deep thoughts that may woozily cross your mind on the Eras Tour, as the clock nears midnight while Swift is bringing things to a close by performing “Karma” at the end of a 3-hour-and-25-minute marathon set. It’s a weird, funny finale that leaves an audience with the idea that virtue is even better than revenge, or that maybe these can amount to the same thing.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The U.S. will not have seen the last of the Eras Tour next week after all. Taylor Swift will bring her stadium outing back to the United States and Canada in October and November… not of this year, but in 2024.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Deathstars can be temporal things, but a Dogstar, maybe that’s forever. That is the lesson the rock world can learn after the reemergence of the trio of that name after a mere 23-year layoff. There might have been a reasonable assumption in the interim that maybe the group was a hobby that its most famous member, bassist Keanu Reeves, got over as his other gig just grew and grew.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Joni Mitchell FOMO: it’s a real thing. Or it was a year ago, when she made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, and again this summer, when Mitchell booked an appearance as part of a Brandi Carlile mini-festival in Washington state, which was advertised and had tickets sold in advance but instantly sold out.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic With “Austin,” Post Malone has finally gone full pop star — as opposed to partial “Rockstar,” or hip-hop-adjacent star, or anything else he might’ve previously represented or flirted with. The Post Malone we hear here would have been hard to imagine a few albums ago, when he was employing guest rappers by the boatload (there are none on the new record) and embracing trap sounds (also pretty much now absent).

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In the firestorm over Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” video, some attention has been trained on the different sources for the supposed U.S. news footage of protests that was incorporated into the video, some of which has been reported to have come from foreign countries. In the meantime, though, one clip that definitely did come from the U.S.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If you came into the “Barbie” film cold, expecting that if any song was going to get the most play, it might be Aqua’s “Barbie World,” you had a surprise coming. Turns out Barbie is a huge Indigo Girls fan — or, at least like a million women and some men before her, she likes to belt along with the 1989 folk-rock smash “Closer to Fine” in the car. The song pops up three times over the course of the blockbuster film, guaranteeing that there is going to be a huge resurgence in the real world of people singing about going “to see the doctor of philosophy,” even if they’re actually on their way to the beach.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ready to expand your theatergoing experience to encompass “Scottieheimer”? Hip-hop artist Travis Scott has a feature film going into theaters this weekend. He announced the release of “Circus Maximus” through a tweet (or rather, an X), revealing poster art of himself on a motorcycle and taking writer-director credit, although a release about the film also lists five other famous names as “additional directors”: Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding-Refn, Harmony Korine, Valdimar Jóhannsson and Kahlil Joseph.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Pop-jazz singing legend Tony Bennett died July 24 at age 96, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease seven years earlier. His 75-year career followed a classic three-act structure: a rise through the 1950s and early ‘60s that culminated in his biggest hit, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in 1962; the loss of pop opportunities as rock took over, resulting in deeper explorations into jazz; and a return to superstardom in the 1990s as he won the album of the year Grammy for “MTV Unplugged.” Actually, “we had a fourth act, with Lady Gaga, that lasted 10 years,” says his son, Danny Bennett. Danny became his dad’s manager in 1986 and oversaw one of the great comebacks in music, which ended with Bennett and Gaga taping a final special at Radio City Music Hall on his 95th birthday.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jason Aldean played his first concert Friday since his vigilante anthem “Try That in a Small Town” stirred up a national firestorm, soaking up a Cincinnati crowd’s adoration Friday night as he railed against “cancel culture” being responsible for the opposition to his divisive, violence-threatening song and video. “It’s been a long week. I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that,” Aldean said, as the audience at the Riverbend Music Center booed the opposition he’s faced. “I feel everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true. What I am is a proud American… I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us. I love my country. I love my family. And I will do anything to protect that,” he declared, as the crowd began chanting “USA! USA!”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Move over, Taylor Swift — Roger Waters has re-recorded the most famous of the albums he made with Pink Floyd in the 1970s for its 50th anniversary. The project, titled “The Dark Side of the Moon Redux,” comes out Oct. 6. The album’s first single, “Money,” a fresh take on the 1973 song that was the band’s biggest hit, was released today as an audio track and lyric video. Any similarities to Swift’s re-recordings end with the most basic concept, as Water says he does not mean the new version to supplant the old one, but to complement it as a more mature take on the material. As for the big question of who will replaced his estranged former partner David Gilmour’s lead vocal and guitar parts, the seven-and-a-half minute “Money” seems to at least partially answer that. Taking over Gilmour’s role on the mic in the song, Waters “sings” the song in a spoken whisper, and the guitar solo has been replaced by what seems to be a new, lengthy poem set in a metaphorical boxing-ring. The tune has been significantly transformed in other ways; it’s bluesier and less rocking, with no cash registers or random voices or other sound effects. Some of the first listeners to hear it after it came out in the wee hours compared it to a Leonard Cohen recitation.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Four senior executives at Interscope Geffen A&M just got a little more senior, as the company has boosted four execs that have already proven integral up to the president or general manager level. The promotions find Michelle An being named president of creative strategy; Gary Kelly becoming general manager of Interscope and EVP and chief revenue officer of Interscope Geffen A&M; and new roles for Sam Riback and Nicole Wyskoarko as presidents of A&R, with the former exec assigned to pop and rock genres and the latter charged with on urban music. John Janick, chairman-CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, said in a statement: “Each of these four executives has played an integral role in propelling Interscope Geffen A&M to become one of the most consistently successful music and culture companies in the world. In doing so, they and the amazing teams that they lead have made IGA a magnet for some of the world’s most talented artists. These promotions recognize their innumerable contributions and ensure our success for years to come.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Reading between the lines of country superstar Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” has mostly been up to media commentators and social media participants so far, but one country/Americana singer has taken up the duty of writing a satirical number that spells out some of what Aldean’s critics believe are undertones implicit highly contentious hit. A criticism that has come Aldean’s way has been that the ominous language of “Try That in a Small Town” echoes the coded or uncoded threats that have historically been associated with the South’s “sundown towns” — places where, in the most dangerous eras of segregation, people of color and other outsiders were advised to get out of before dark. Now the singer known as Adeem the Artist has made that interpretation of Aldean’s “See how far ya get down the road” lyrics explicit with a parody song posted on social media called “Sundown Town.” (Hear the song embedded in the artist’s tweet, below.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Landing a first headlining slot at the Hollywood Bowl is a cherished milestone for any major musical acts who claim Los Angeles as their home base. It can even mean a little more, probably, when it’s a sibling jubilee. Last summer, it was a homecoming-queens coronation for the Haim sisters, who got the honor a mere nine years into their professional career. This year, the Bowl debut honor for cherished locals goes to the Mael brothers, who only had to wait 52 years for their own crowning gig. What’s five decades among friends and family … everybody loves a slow build, right? The brothers would never be mistaken for rank sentimentalists, but Sunday night’s Sparks show might have brought a hint of a tear to a waggish eye, knowing it was a boyhood dream. Or at least when Ron and Russell Mael’s mom brought them to see the Beatles at the venue in 1965, it was “probably some good education,” as Russell allowed near the beginning of the show. At the Bowl Sunday, Mom was likely not around, but they did have the closest thing they’ve probably had lately to a surrogate parent, director Edgar Wright, whose consciousness-raising documentary “The Sparks Brothers” can be loosely said to have kind of nurtured them across a sort of finish line. (The show-closing photo seen above, plus some video snippets below, are courtesy of Wright’s backstage camera.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic CMT has confirmed that, after initially airing Jason Aldean’s highly controversial music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” the network pulled the contentious clip from the air on Monday, even before the furor over the tune grew greater on Tuesday. A CMT spokesperson had no further comment on the video being yanked. Reps for Aldean’s label, BBR Music Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Billboard was first to report the video being removed by the network. Meanwhile, Aldean took to his social media Tuesday afternoon to defend the song from its many critics, taking a much softer tone in his messaging than he does in the hostile single itself, or a video that projects images of demonstrators onto a courthouse that was the site of a famous lynching.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If country music used to pride itself on being about “three chords and the truth,” the increasingly belligerent superstar Jason Aldean has a different idea of what the genre should represent: two chords and a beating, or maybe a shotgun blast. Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” is close to being the most cynical song ever written about the implicit moral superiority of having a limited number of neighbors, which is saying something, given how many attempts to write the Great American Small Town Anthem are generated in a single year. At least most of the others at least put up the appearance of celebrating local pride, not prejudice. But for Aldean, it’s about how tiny burgs are under the imminent threat of attack from lawless urban marauders who will have to be kept at bay by any means necessary — meaning, pretty explicitly, vigilantism.