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By Andy Greene Kiss, Sylvester Stallone & George Strait President Donald J. Trump has announced  the first Kennedy Center Honors recipients since he took over earlier this year as the chair  of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. President Trump selected country musician George Strait , rock band Kiss , disco icon Gloria Gaynor , British actor Michael Crawford and American film star Sylvester Stallone. The president has said that he plans to host the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in December. Gaynor is best known for “I Will Survive,” the 1978 single that is considered an anthem of the gay rights movement. Her selection comes as the Trump administration enacts policies  that have endangered transgender people and limited resources for LGBTQ people. When announcing Gaynor’s selection, Trump called  “I Will Survive” an “unbelievable song.” Kiss is fronted by a longtime  Trump supporter in Gene Simmons. The musician also appeared on Trump’s reality series, The Apprentice , in 2008. Sylvester Stallone has also shown his support  for Donald Trump.

The highly anticipated mockumentary sequel reunites Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer with director Rob Reiner… and some very special guests ! By Madison Bloom Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls, and Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues Three years ago, the world learned that a sequel to This Is Spinal Tap  was finally in the works . Now, Bleecker Street has unveiled the first trailer for the film which reunites Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer with director Rob Reiner… and some very special guests . The teaser for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues features appearances from Paul McCartney, Elton John, Questlove, and others, while Reiner reprises his role as director Martin “Marty” Di Bergi, and Guest, McKean, and Shearer slip into aging versions of their original characters Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, respectively. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues  hits theaters on Friday, September 12—41 years after the original film was released. The sequel follows Spinal Tap members—all of whom are white-haired and languishing in small-time bands—as they attempt to join forces for one more gig. Di Bergi captures the rockers as they seek out a 12th drummer (their 11th drummer sneezed himself to death), reckon with their past, and prepare for the ultimate farewell concert. What could go wrong? The new film was written by Reiner, McKean, Guest, and Shearer. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues also marks the first narrative feature film that Reiner has directed since 2017. Reiner produced the movie alongside Michele Reiner and Matthew George.

The Disney+ film Beatles ’64  captures the Fab Four’s iconic first visit to the United States By Eric Torres The Beatles  are getting a new documentary. Beatles ’64 , produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by David Tedeschi, will premier November 29 on Disney+. The film features never-before-seen footage by documentarians Albert and David Maysles and will focus on the band’s first trip to the United States in February 1964 when they appeared on The   Ed Sullivan Show  and performed at the Washington Coliseum. Beatles ’64 , which is co-produced by Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr, is also being released alongside The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono , a box set of seven Beatles album reissues analog cut from their original mono master tapes, including Meet the Beatles! ;  The Beatles’ Second Album ;  A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) ;  Something New ;  The Beatles’ Story  (2xLP);  Beatles ’65 ; and  The Early Beatles . The new film follows The   Beatles: Get Back , Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series on the making of Let It Be .  Earlier this year, it was announced that each member of the Beatles will be the subject of his own biopic in a new tetralogy directed by Sam Mendes and set for release in 2027.

By Nika Shakhnazarova Quincy Jones with Michael Jackson Legendary music titan Quincy Jones has died at age 91. The 28-time Grammy winner’s publicist, Arnold Robinson, said the music icon died Sunday night (November 3rd) surrounded by his family at his Los Angeles home. “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” Robinson said in a statement. During his glittering career, Jones produced Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album, wrote prize-winning film and TV scores and collaborated with stars like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Ella Fitzgerald. Jones is the third-most-decorated Grammy winner, with a whopping 28 awards to his name. Jones also earned his stripes in the music world for his work with Michael Jackson. He worked with the late King of Pop on “Thriller” and tracks such as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” “Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and is widely regarded as the best-selling album of all time. In addition to Jones’ 28 Grammys, he boasted two honorary Academy Awards, and an Emmy Award for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. His success was highlighted in a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones,” as well as a 2018 film made by his famous daughter, Rashida Jones. Jones is survived by his seven children.

Fleetwood Mac By Jazz Monroe A new Fleetwood Mac documentary is on the way via Apple Original Films. The members will tell the story of the band in their own words which bills the documentary as the first to be authorized by the band. (Archival interviews with the late Christine McVie  will also feature.) The as-yet-untitled film will be directed by Frank Marshall who also headed up the recent Beach Boys film  for Disney+. He previously directed the Bee Gees documentary How Can You Mend a Broken Heart . “I am fascinated by how this incredible story of enormous musical achievement came about,” Marshall said in Apple press materials. “Fleetwood Mac somehow managed to merge their often chaotic and almost operatic personal lives into their own tale in real-time, which then became legend. This will be a film about the music and the people who created it.” No release date for the new movie has been set.

Lady Gaga By Matthew Strauss Lady Gaga , Chappell Roan and Dua Lipa took part  in the new Apple TV+ holiday special A Carpool Karaoke Christmas . As part of the special, Gaga debuted a new cover of the Christmas classic “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” Listen to the new track below, and scroll down for the trailer for A Carpool Karaoke Christmas . Head to Apple TV+  to watch the full episode. Lady Gaga’s new cover song follows her singles “ Die With a Smile ” and “ Disease .” She also recently starred, with Joaquin Phoenix, in Joker: Folie à Deux  and shared the companion album Harlequin .

Lady Gaga By Jazz Monroe Lady Gaga  has finally announced her new album. Mayhem , the 14-track album formerly alluded to as LG7 , is due out March 7 via Interscope . A new song will debut on Sunday, February 2 with a music video premiering during a commercial break at the 2025 Grammy Awards . Gaga said in a press release that the album “started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved,” likening the process to “reassembling a shattered mirror: Even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way.” Lady Gaga executive-produced the album alongside Michael Polansky and Andrew Watt with individual producers including Watt, Cirkut and Gesaffelstein. Speculation about the Chromatica  follow-up—she jokingly calls her 2024 record Harlequin   LG6.5 —ramped up last September, when Gaga revealed, during promotion for Joker: Folie à Deux , that the new album would be out in February 2025. (Close enough!) She followed the news with a song and video, “ Disease ,” and a series of teasers including a Times Square billboard and a countdown clock on her website  with the announcement. Her 2024 Bruno Mars  collaboration, “ Die With a Smile ,” will also feature on the new album; that song and “Disease” bookend the otherwise unannounced tracklist.

By Matthew Strauss Miley Cyrus  has announced a new album. Something Beautiful , the pop musician’s ninth solo studio album out May 30 via Columbia . Cyrus and Shawn Everett  are the new album’s executive producers. Something Beautiful will be released alongside a companion film, directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter. Cyrus’ new album will follow 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation , which featured the hit song “ Flowers .” Cyrus has said  that Something Beautiful  was inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall . “My idea was making The Wall but with a better wardrobe and filled with pop culture,” she told Izzy Grinspan for Harper’s Bazaar .

by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2025 class of inductees. The group of performers receiving the honor include a 1960's hitmaker who spent decades advocating for his own induction, a trailblazing Southern rap duo and a 1980's flamboyant pop superstar currently on her farewell tour.     "Each of these inductees created their own sound and attitude that had a profound impact on culture and helped to change the course of Rock & Roll forever," said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in a press release. "Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps." Here is the 2025 class of inductees:     Performer Category     According to the Rock Hall, this category recognizes "artists who have created music whose originality, impact, and influence has changed the course of rock & roll."     Bad Company     The English rock band released its self-titled debut album in 1974, which included its hit song "Can't Get Enough." The supergroup's original lineup featured vocalist Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, who'd both been in the band Free, as well as former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and former King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Though they've been eligible since 1999, Bad Company won induction on its first-ever nomination for the Rock Hall. Chubby Checker      Chubby Checker's 1960 cover of "The Twist" (which had been a minor hit for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters two years earlier) landed him at the top of Billboard 's Hot 100 chart on two separate occasions. It's a definitive hit of the early rock era but Checker spent decades feeling underappreciated for his contributions to the genre. In 2001, he took out  a full-page ad in Billboard magazine requesting not only induction to the Rock Hall, but also a separate courtyard statue in his honor. "I want my flowers while I'm alive," he wrote. "I can't smell them when I'm dead." It took a while for the Hall to prepare that bouquet — but like Bad Company, Checker is getting in on his first nomination.     Joe Cocker     The late English musician became a star in the U.S. with his raspy rendition of "With a Little Help from My Friends" at Woodstock in 1969. But he spent decades releasing albums and major hits, including "Feelin' Alright," "Up Where We Belong" and "You Are So Beautiful," which he told  NPR in 2012 was among his favorites. Cocker was another first-time nominee this year.     Cyndi Lauper     Cyndi Lauper became a household name in the 1980's with a remarkable string of hits like the off-kilter girl power anthem "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and the pop ballad "Time After Time." But the eccentric, rainbow-haired Lauper reinvented her sound and image over the course of several decades, dabbling in genres like country, blues and rock and establishing herself as an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights. Announcement of her induction coincides with her ongoing farewell tour across the U.S. and Europe, and follows her second nomination for the Rock Hall. Whereas several members of Lauper's cohort of '80's hitmakers — like Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson — were inducted more than a decade ago, several of her contemporaries (George Michael, Duran Duran) did not make the cut until recently. OutKast     When much of hip-hop's attention in the mid-1990s was focused on the west coast vs. east coast rivalry, OutKast turned heads in a completely new direction: towards the South. The groundbreaking duo made up of Big Boi and André 3000 released its debut album in 1994, when they were still teenagers, and marked Atlanta as an epicenter of musical innovation with albums like ATLiens , Aquemini  and the Grammy-winning Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Over the last few years, the Hall has been admitting one hip-hop act each year — A Tribe Called Quest last year, Missy Elliott and Eminem and LL Cool J before that. But the Rock Hall isn't the only pop music institution who has failed to adequately reward the genre: In the 21 years since OutKast took the prize, no other rap album has won the Album of the Year prize at the Grammys. OutKast has been eligible since 2019. The group received its first nomination this year.     Soundgarden     Three-time Rock Hall nominee Soundgarden is finally being awarded for taking the Pacific Northwest's grunge scene with songs like "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days." The Seattle-born band stood out for singer Chris Cornell's aggressive vocal style and a tortured edge that worked in the group's favor as metal turned grunge towards the late 1980's. Soundgarden broke up and reunited over the course of several decades and was reportedly working on new material at the time of Cornell's death in 2017.     The White Stripes     The White Stripes led the garage rock revival of the early '00's with songs like "Seven Nation Army" and "Fell in Love With a Girl." The guitar, drums and vocal duo made up of Jack and Meg White — who initially pretended to be siblings but were actually married, then divorced — are being inducted after their second nomination to the Rock Hall of Fame. Although the group achieved modest commercial success by Rock Hall standards, their influence remains monumental. The guitar riff in "Seven Nation Army" has become one of the most recognizable pieces of music released in the 2000's thanks to its widespread popularity as a soccer stadium chant . The official induction ceremony will take place on November 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and will be streamed live on Disney+ with an ABC special to follow.

The musical will premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, on June 2026. by Rainia Aniftos TLC’s story is heading to the stage. Bill Diggins’ Diggit Theatrical Group is producing a musical about the beloved Grammy-winning trio that will premiere in 2026. CrazySexyCool – The Musical  will tell the “mostly true” story of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas as they formed TLC and broke down barriers as women in the music industry. Diggins is producing the musical with Stephen Gabriel serving as executive producer. Kwame Kwei-Armah ( One Love: The Bob Marley Musical ) wrote and directed the piece while Chloe O. Davis created the powerful choreography to some of TLC’s biggest hits including “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” “Waterfalls,” “Creep,” “Unpretty,” and “No Scrubs.” “TLC completely changed the game,” Diggins said in a press statement. “Their music gave a voice to women everywhere, empowering them to be confident and unapologetic. But this isn’t just a story about the music; it’s about the sisterhood between these women and what kept them together through both unimaginable challenges and chart-topping success.” T-Boz added, “Bringing this story to the stage is a dream come true. We have performed in a lot of different venues all over the world throughout our career but bringing our story and music to the theater  is a totally new and exciting challenge.” Chilli agreed, noting, “We have some of the best people in the business working on this project. Audiences will get to hear our story – mostly fact with a sprinkle of fiction – told in our own way, and of course it’s set to all your favorite hits!” CrazySexyCool   – The Musical  will host its world premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, June 2026 for eight weeks as part of the venue’s 75th anniversary season. For more information on the show, check out the official website here.

Just six years after Scooter Braun infamously took control of Swift’s back catalog, the superstar musician now owns the rights to all of her own music. By Matthew Strauss Taylor Swift Taylor Swift  has bought back her master recordings. She made the announcement with a note  on her website , sharing happily, “All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.” It’s the first time she has ever owned the rights to all of her own music. Infamously, in 2019, Scooter Braun’s media holding company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, acquired Big Machine Label Group. With that acquisition came the rights to Swift’s first six studio albums. Swift denounced the acquisition and criticized Braun and his “bullying.” She also said, “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.” (In a new statement, regarding Swift’s acquisition of her masters, Braun said, “I am happy for her.”) Following the acquisition, Swift—who left  Big Machine Label Group in 2018 to sign a deal with Universal Music Group— pledged to re-record her albums so that she could own the new master recordings. She made it two-thirds of the way through, releasing new editions of Fearless , Red , Speak Now , and 1989 . According to her announcement, she finished the new version of her self-titled debut , but is not yet sure when it could be released. She also said she did not yet finish re-recording Reputation —a re-recorded album that was widely expected to come out soon due to her previewing of “ Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version) .” Before Swift released any of her Taylor’s Version  albums, however, Braun and his company sold the musician’s masters to the Los Angeles investment firm Shamrock Capitol. At the time of the acquisition, Shamrock said, “Taylor Swift is a transcendent artist with a timeless catalog. We made this investment because we believe in the immense value and opportunity that comes with her work.” In her statement, Swift thanked “everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair and respectful. Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are." Elated and amazed, Taylor

By Mark Savage BBC Music Correspondent Sir Paul McCartney says he has employed artificial intelligence to help create what he calls "the final Beatles record". He told BBC Radio 4's Today program the technology had been used to "extricate" John Lennon's voice from an old demo so he could complete the song. "We just finished it up and it'll be released this year," he explained. Sir Paul did not name the song, but it is likely to be a 1978 Lennon composition called "Now And Then". It had already been considered as a possible "reunion song" for the Beatles in 1995, as they were compiling their career-spanning Anthology series. Sir Paul had received the demo a year earlier from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. It was one of several songs on a cassette labelled "For Paul" that Lennon had made shortly before his death in 1980. Lo-fi and embryonic, the tracks were largely recorded onto a boombox as the musician sat at a piano in his New York apartment. Cleaned up by producer Jeff Lynne, two of those songs - Free As A Bird and Real Love - were completed and released in 1995 and 96, marking the Beatles' first "new" material in 25 years. The band also attempted to record "Now And Then", an apologetic love song that was fairly typical of Lennon's later career, but the session was quickly abandoned. "It was one day - one afternoon, really - messing with it," Lynne recalled. "The song had a chorus but is almost totally lacking in verses. We did the backing track, a rough go that we really didn't finish." Sir Paul later claimed George Harrison refused to work on the song, saying the sound quality of Lennon's vocal was "rubbish". "It didn't have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it," he told Q Magazine. "[But] George didn't like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn't do it." There were also said to have been technical issues with the original recording which featured a persistent "buzz" from the electricity circuits in Lennon's apartment. In 2009, a new version of the demo, without the background noise, was released on a bootleg CD. Fans have speculated that this recording may not have been available in 1995, suggesting it was stolen from his apartment, along with other personal effects, after his death. In the intervening years, Sir Paul has repeatedly talked about his desire to finish the song. "That one's still lingering around," he told a BBC Four documentary on Jeff Lynne in 2012. "So I'm going to nick in with Jeff and do it. Finish it, one of these days." It would seem that technology has now afforded the musician a chance to achieve that goal. The turning point came with Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary, where dialogue editor Emile de la Rey trained computers to recognize the Beatles' voices and separate them from background noises and even their own instruments, to create "clean" audio. The same process allowed Sir Paul to "duet" with Lennon on his recent tour and for new surround sound mixes of the Beatles' Revolver album to be created last year. "He [Jackson] was able to extricate John's voice from a little bit of cassette," Sir Paul told Radio 4's Martha Kearney. "We had John's voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, 'That's the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar'. "So when we came to to make what will be the last Beatles' record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. "Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway." However, the musician admitted that other applications of AI gave him cause for concern. "I'm not on the internet that much [but] people will say to me, 'Oh, yeah, there's a track where John's singing one of my songs', and it's just AI, you know? "It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future. We'll just have to see where that leads." The star was talking to Radio 4 ahead of the launch of a new book and accompanying photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.