The Weeknd: ‘I Will No Longer Allow My Label to Submit My Music to the Grammys’

Rihanna is ‘proud’ to show off her bare baby bump as her boyfriend and father of her baby, A$AP Rocky, is making ‘sure she’s comfortable 100 percent of the time’ during her pregnancy.

Kanye West says he takes issue with Kim Kardashian's claim that the rapper's «been putting a lot of misinformation regarding our private matters and co-parenting on social media,» because he says she can't prove he wrote the social media posts.According to new legal documents, obtained by ET, the rapper claims Kim's allegations of «misinformation» is «double hearsay.» He claims that his estranged wife, for starters, never bothered to attached the said social media posts to her declaration and «Kim needed to offer the social media posts into evidence» as well as «show that the posts were written by Kanye.»The rapper claims that had that been done, «the posts would be admissible as statements» but since Kim didn't submit the social media posts in her declaration, it's therefore not in the record. And as such, West wants Kim's «misinformation» statement to be inadmissible at a hearing next week when a judge is set to decide whether to grant Kim's request that she be declared legally single.Kim filed legal docs earlier this week saying Kanye's «misinformation» campaign on social media «has created emotional distress.» Among some of those posts includes attacking her boyfriend, Pete Davidson.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile it was announced during the Grammy Awards on Sunday, the formation of the Recording Academy’s Songwriters and Composers Wing was not done in secret, and the Songwriters of North America, the Black Music Action Coalition, the Music Artists Coalition and the 100 Percenters responded quickly with an open letter to the new organization calling on it to eliminate the Minimum Delivery and Release Commitment (MDRC) requirement in music-publishing deals.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSongwriters and composers have long felt under-recognized by the Grammy Awards — and many have advocated for a Songwriter of the Year award — and today the Recording Academy has made a step toward addressing that by announcing the creation of its Songwriters & Composers Wing, an Academy membership division representing the diverse community of music creators who provide the world with the gift of song. It is similar in theme to the Producers & Engineers Wing, created 20 years ago, which recognizes those vital members of the music community.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMegan The Stallion has won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. “Everybody is amazing,” she said of her fellow nominees during her tearful acceptance speech.“Secondly, I really just want to thank god because thank you for putting life into my body for me to be able to even be here today.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTonight, we come together — virtually — for the Grammy Awards, “Music’s Biggest Night,” and do our best to celebrate the music of the worst year of so many people’s lives. It’s finally spring, and as much as the season will bring back horrifying memories of what happened at this time a year ago, there’s also the pride and cautious elation that we’ve gotten through it, so far.With a similar sense of cautious elation, we can feel pride that the music industry has largely survived the tragic past year, so far.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMusiCares is the Recording Academy’s charitable wing, and its annual concert during Grammy Week is its main source of fundraising virtually every year. The organization distributes money to music people — musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, executives and more — in need, and in the past year they’ve distributed more than $22 million in COVID relief, in addition to their usual aid for medical and financial hardships for any music people who qualify, not just Academy members.Of course, this year’s show was virtual, but H.E.R., Haim and of course BTS dedicated new performances for the show.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWith the Grammy Awards coming up on Sunday, it’s remarkable that interim Recording Academy president/CEO Harvey Mason, jr. has time to talk with the press — although that could have been said at virtually any point in the past 14 months.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTaylor Swift gave a small spoken preview of her Grammy performance on Sunday in a post on CBS’s Twitter account, revealing that she’s reuniting with two of the collaborators who helped her make her nominated album “Folklore.”She revealed that in preparation for the performance, the three have quarantined together in a house for the entire week.“The one thing I can tell you about my Grammy performance that isn’t highly confidential is that my Grammy performance includes my collaborators, Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff,” Swift said, “which is really exciting because this has been an adventure that the three of us have gone on since the very beginning of quarantine and lockdown.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLong-running Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer have parted company with their U.S. label, Interscope, as well as Modest Management, a rep for the label confirmed to Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Grammy Awards considered some 800 people for the “In Memoriam” segment of the 2021 show, first-time executive producer Ben Winston tells Variety.While it was not unexpected that a large number of musicians and executives would be under consideration amid a global pandemic that has killed more than 2.5 million people worldwide, as Winston says, “That is a brutally sad number of people who would be in contention to be featured in the show.” The ones who are not featured “will be featured in some way within other Grammy outlets, their website and elsewhere,” he added.The “In Memoriam” segment was first aired in 2004 and has grown to include around 50 names in recent years; former executive producer Ken Ehrlich

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“I would have driven her anywhere, because I thought she was really good and needed to get some performing experience,” says Phoebe Bridgers’ mother, Jamie, who is a real-estate agent and standup comic, but as we see below, also the best kind of stage mom. Phoebe, who is up for four Grammy Awards at Sunday’s big show, spent much of her teen years performing — and being driven to performances all over Los Angeles by her mom.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBTS’ “Map of the Soul: 7” album has been announced as the first-ever winner of IFPI’s newly-launched Global Album All Format Chart, following a countdown of the top ten biggest albums globally, IFPI is the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide.The chart, an addition to IFPI’s existing global awards, celebrates the best-selling albums of the year across all consumption formats, spanning physical sales, digital downloads, and streaming platforms.After its February 2020 release, the fourth studio album from the K-pop superstars topped the charts in the group’s home country of Korea, where the album broke the all-time sales record, as well as the world’s five largest music markets (USA,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVerzuz, the popular livestream music platform created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, has been acquired by Triller Network, the parent company of the app. The agreement marks the end of Verzuz’s relationship with Apple Music.According to the terms of the agreement, the pair will join the Triller management team and become large shareholders in Triller Network.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Publishing has signed Grammy-winning songwriter/ DJ/ producer J. White Did It, known for his collaborations with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, among others, to a worldwide deal.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” has been smashing records practically since it was first released late in November of 2019 — and on Monday it broke what might be the most momentous one of all: It became the first song to spend a full year in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.That dwarfs the previous record, for Post Malone’s “Circles,” which hung in for 39 weeks (it’s a bit of an inter-family record, since Post happens to be the Weeknd’s labelmate on Republic Records).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNeedless to say, the 2021 Grammy Week will not be like ones we’ve known in the past. While it’s ordinarily a week of socializing, celebrating, parties, concerts and (most of all) networking, this year we’re going to have to do all of it from home, like we’ve had to do virtually everything else for the past year.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen it comes to Zoom backgrounds, Grammy Awards executive producer Ben Winston has one that’s tough to beat. Along with the requisite photos and tchotchkes, there’s a piece of a bridge from David Letterman’s old set, an autographed album cover with a (sadly illegible) inscription by his former roommate, Harry Styles, and … is that actually a puppet of himself? Six of Winston’s top team members, who are also on the call, immediately chime in with laughter and jovial mocking in a cacophony of American and British accents.“Yes, I have a muppet of myself,” Winston confesses.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBad Bunny, Black Pumas, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift will perform at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, March 14, the Recording Academy has announced.Nearly all of the artists are nominees, and several — including Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, Bad Bunny, DaBaby, Doja Cat and Guyton — will be making their debut as Grammy performers.The ceremony takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, under strict COVID protocol.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSteve Greenberg, founder of S-Curve Records, is leaving the company, which he founded two decades ago and sold to BMG in 2015, he confirmed to Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, who announced last week that they’ve come together as a project called Silk Sonic, have released the first song from their forthcoming album, and it’s a glorious blast of vintage R&B called “Leave the Door Open” that could be a Best R&B Song Grammy winner from 1974.Even though the classic R&B sound the pair evokes is a decade older than they are, both the song and the arrangement are pitch-perfect, with swooning strings, honeyed backing vocals and even a glockenspiel — think Delfonics, the Chi-Lites and basically everything on the Philadelphia International label.The duo announced the Silk Sonic project last week. “We made an album!!” enthused .Paak on Instagram.