December 2, 2023 Noah Kahan makes his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, singing "Stick Season" and "Dial Drunk" from his breakthrough 2022 album, Stick Season.
December 1, 2023 Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé opens in theaters, offering a behind-the-scenes look at her Renaissance tour. It tops the domestic box office the opening weekend with a $21 million take. Like Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour film, it's distributed by AMC Theatres, bypassing traditional studios to allow Beyoncé, who wrote and produced it, to get a bigger cut.
November 23, 2023 Dolly Parton rocks a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit to perform at halftime of the Thanksgiving game between the Cowboys and Washington Commanders, where she also kicks off the Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign.
November 17, 2023 The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes debuts in US theaters. The first prequel film of The Hunger Games franchise, its soundtrack features a rendition of "The Hanging Tree" by Rachel Zegler, who stars as District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the movie, and the folk-rock ballad "Can't Catch Me Now" by Olivia Rodrigo.
November 16, 2023 Daryl Hall files a lawsuit against John Oates, exposing a rift in the famously amiable duo. Hall's suit is an attempt to keep Oates from selling his shares of their publishing royalties, a move he calls "the ultimate partnership betrayal."
November 3, 2023 Sixty-five years after it was first released, Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" gets an official music video, with Trisha Yearwood, Tanya Tucker and Santa Claus all joining Lee. The video helps send the song to #1 a few weeks later.
October 28, 2023 Impelled by her Eras Tour concert film, Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer," first released in 2019, goes to #1 in America.
October 24, 2023 Britney Spears publishes her memoir, The Woman In Me, revealing that she was once pregnant with Justin Timberlake's baby but didn't have the child.
October 23, 2023 Jay-Z weighs in on the long-running "Dinner With Jay-Z Or $500k" debate, telling CBS he'd take the money. "Take the $500,000 and go buy the albums," he says. "It's all there if you piece it together."
October 20, 2023 She's got yule, babe: Cher releases her first holiday album, Christmas, with a cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" featuring Darlene Love. Cher sang backup on Love's original version 60 years earlier in 1963.
October 13, 2023 Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opens in theaters, blowing away box office records to become the top-grossing concert film of all time. The film documents her wildly popular Eras Tour using footage shot during three Los Angeles shows in August.More
September 9, 2023 "I Remember Everything," a duet where Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves play the parts of ex-lovers torn asunder by his drinking, hits #1 in America. It becomes one of the saddest singalong songs ever recorded.
September 4, 2023 Diana Ross makes a surprise appearance at Beyoncé's Los Angeles show to wish her a happy 42nd B'Day. After singing her hit "Love Hangover," Ross leads the crowd in "Happy Birthday."
August 26, 2023 Sean "Diddy" Combs makes a $1 million donation to the Earn Your Leisure fund to help foster financial literacy, then in a show of support for HBCU's, gives the Jackson State University football team another million. Diddy's alma matter is the HBCU Howard University.
August 26, 2023 Oliver Anthony becomes the first artist with no chart history to debut at #1 in America when "Rich Men North Of Richmond," recorded outdoors in one take with his dogs nearby, shoots to the top.More
August 23, 2023 The first Republican debate opens with a clip of Oliver Anthony singing "Rich Men North Of Richmond," his takedown of venal and incompetent politicians in Washington, with the candidates asked, "Why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now?" "It was funny seeing my song in the presidential debate, because I wrote that song about those people," Anthony says.
August 16, 2023 Britney Spears' third husband, Sam Asghari, files for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. They started dating in 2017 after he played her love interest in the "Slumber Party" video, and got married in June 2022. Their divorce is finalized on May 2, 2024.
August 11, 2023 The Hip Hop 50 Live concert goes down at Yankee Stadium, celebrating 50 years since Kool Herc birthed the genre in the Bronx. Performers include Snoop Dogg, The Sugarhill Gang, Lauryn Hill, and Run-D.M.C. in their last performance.
July 28, 2023 Travis Scott releases his highly anticipated fourth album, Utopia. It lives up to the hype, debuting at #1 with all 19 tracks entering the Hot 100 simultaneously. Guests on the album include Beyoncé on "Delresto (Echoes)," Drake on "Meltdown," and Playboi Carti on "FE!N."
July 21, 2023 At the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, The 1975 frontman Matt Healy speaks out against the country's ban on homosexuality and kisses bass player Ross MacDonald in protest. The Malaysian government responds by canceling the last two days of the festival.
July 21, 2023 Tony Bennett dies at 96 after a battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was still making music at 95, when he released his last album, Love For Sale, a collaboration with Lady Gaga.
July 16, 2023 French fashion icon Jane Birkin, who sang with Serge Gainsbourg on the racy number "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus," dies at 76. She's the namesake of the Birkin Bag, a symbol of luxury mentioned in many rap songs, most famously "'03 Bonnie And Clyde" by Jay-Z.
July 8, 2023 Elton John wraps up his farewell tour with a show in Stockholm. The trek started in 2018 and played to over 6 million fans in 22 countries. It sets the mark for highest-grossing tour with over $900 million, a record broken months later by Taylor Swift's Eras tour.
July 4, 2023 At his show in Las Vegas, Usher cozies up to the actress Keke Palmer while singing "There Goes My Baby." It blows up on social media and causes a rift with her boyfriend, Darius Jackson. In August, Palmer stars in Usher's video for "Boyfriend," poking fun at the controversy.
July 4, 2023 Swedish dance-pop singer Robyn surprises fans when she posts a picture of her new baby on Instagram after keeping her pregnancy a secret from the public. The "Dancing On My Own" singer gave birth to her son, Tyko, who was conceived through IVF treatment, in April 2022. Because she used an anonymous sperm donor, she doesn't know who the baby's biological father is.
June 30, 2023 After being cajoled into it on Twitter, Juvenile plays a NPR Tiny Desk concert that's so raucous, he has to reprise "Back That Azz Up" as an encore. His backing band includes fellow New Orleans native Jon Batiste, who flew in for the occasion.
June 24, 2023 At the Glastonbury Festival, Lewis Capaldi struggles to control his Tourette's syndrome and can't make it through his hit "Someone You Loved." He's shaken but visibly moved when the crowd sings it for him in a unified show of support. Capaldi takes a break from music to work on his health, and slowly returns to action in 2024.
June 16, 2023 Re-creating a scene from the "All The Small Things" video, Kourtney Kardashian announces her pregnancy with blink-182 drummer Travis Barker by holding up a sign reading "Travis I'm Pregnant" at the band's concert in Los Angeles.
June 10, 2023 The movie Mary J. Blige's Real Love airs on Lifetime. Based on her 1992 hit, it's followed a week later by Mary J. Blige's Strength Of A Woman, which continues the story of a young woman who must decide if the guy she falls for is worth the sacrifices. Blige is an executive producer on both films, which were made in collaboration with her production company, Blue Butterfly.
June 7, 2023 Pink kicks off her Summer Carnival tour in Bolton, England. It runs well past the summer, going into November 2024. Pink opens and closes each show with an aerial routine, singing high above the crowd while doing flips. Let's see Taylor Swift to that!
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