Month: June 2021

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Pop Daypop

Polo G earns his 1st No. 1 album on Billboard 200 chart with ‘Hall of Fame’

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Polo G has earned his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with Hall of Fame in the U.S. for the week ending June 17. The 20-track Hall of Fame was released on June 11, and features the artist’s first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, “Rapstar,” which spent two weeks at No. 1.  The album features collaborations with The Kid LAROI, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Roddy Ricch, Pop Smoke, Rod Wave and Young Thug.

Migos’ Culture III took the No. 2 spot, with Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour falling from 2-3; Lil Durk and Lil Baby’s The Voice of the Heroes drops to No. 4, and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album rounding out the Top 5.

K-pop girl group TWICE’s Taste of Love debuted at No. 6, with Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) jumping up to No. 7, and Maroon 5’s Jordi coming in at No. 8. Rounding out the Top 10 are Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain, and J. Cole’s The Off-Season.

 

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Pop Daypop

Taylor Swift to release re-recorded version of ‘Red’ in November

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Taylor Swift announced on Twitter she will be releasing a re-recorded version of her 2012 album Red on Nov. 19. alongside a note about the album and a photo of herself wearing a red hat, Swift said:  “This will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on Red.”  The original Red contained the singles “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

Swift said about the album, “Musically and lyrically, ‘Red’ resembled a heartbroken person. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Happy, free, confused, lonely, devasted, euphoric, wild and tortured by memories past. Like trying on pieces of a new life, I went into the studio and experimented with different sounds and collaborators. And I’m not sure if it was pouring my thoughts into this album, hearing thousands of your voices sing the lyrics back to me in passionate solidarity, or if it was simply time, but something healed along the way.”

Red (Taylor’s Version) comes after Swift released a re-recorded version of her 2008 album, Fearless, back in April. Swift announced in November 2020 that she will be re-recording all her old music after Scooter Braun sold her master recordings to equity company Shamrock Holdings.

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News Daypop

President Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday

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On Thursday, President Biden signed a bill establishing Juneteenth — the day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States — as a federal holiday, establishing June 19 officially as Juneteenth National Independence Day.  The US Office of Personnel Management announced that many federal workers will observe the holiday today, June 18th, since this year June 19 falls on a Saturday. The holiday is the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

The legislation was passed by Congress on Wednesday, having gained momentum following Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

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House votes to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization

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On Thursday, the House voted to repeal the 2002 war authorization of military force against Iraq. The vote passed by 268-161 in the House, with 49 Republicans and 219 Democrats voting in favor. The repeal was endorsed by the White House and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks argued that the legislation was “vulnerable to being abused” given Iraq’s proximity to other global hotspots, saying during the vote: “Repeal is crucial because the executive branch has a history of stretching the 2002 AUMF’s legal authority. It has already been used as justification for military actions against entities that had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist’s dictatorship.”

The bill must now be considered by the Senate, which is already considering a similar measure, though theirs includes a repeal of the Iraq-focused 1991 authorization. If both bills pass, the two chambers will have to consolidate the bills before laying a final product on the president’s desk.

 

 

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Pop Daypop

Ed Sheeran teases video for upcoming single ‘Bad Habits’

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Ed Sheeran posted a series of teaser tweets hyping the debut of his video for the upcoming single “Bad Habits.”  
The tweets included a brief clip of the singer with the caption “Nothing happens after 2.”  The posts also featured a link to order the limited-edition CD single of the song, as well as a short selfie clip in which he walks around on a sunny day and says, “Hello, everyone, my new single ‘Bad Habits’ comes out on the 25th of June and if you pre-save it before release you can win a video of me dedicating the song to you or a friend.”
Bad Habits is the singer’s first official release since his 2019 No. 6 Collaborations Project. Sheeran said in a statement last week announcing the song: “I’ve been working away in the studio over recent months and I can’t wait for you to hear “Bad Habits.”  I always aim to push myself and my music in new directions and hopefully you’ll hear that on the new single. Feels great to be back!”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/ed-sheeran-dresses-as-a-vampire-in-teaser-clip-for-new-song-bad-habits/ar-AAL752b

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Pop Daypop

Chance The Rapper, Jonas Brothers, Lil Baby, 24kGoldn and more on tracklist for ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy Official Soundtrack’

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Republic Records and Warner Bros. Pictures revealed the tracklist for Space Jam: A New Legacy via a “Pass The Ball” video announcement (which is available to watch: here.)

The 16-track album contains new music and collaborations including 24kGoldn’s “Control The World” [feat. Lil Wayne], Chance the Rapper’s “See Me Fly” [feat. John Legend & Symba], Saweetie’s “Hoops” [feat. Salt-N-Pepa & Kash Doll], Joyner Lucas’s “Shoot My Shot,” Lil Tecca & Aminé’s “Gametime,” Cordae & DUCKWRTH’s “Settle The Score,” and Dame D.O.L.L.A. x G-Eazy x P-Lo x White Dave’s “About That Time.”

Lil Baby and Kirk Franklin’s lead single “We Win (Space Jam: A New Legacy)” has already hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs Chart, with over 5 million streams and counting. The follow-up single, SAINt JHN’s “Just For Me” [feat. SZA] also was recently dropped, as well as Lil Uzi Vert’s “Pump Up The Jam” and Cordae & Duckwrth’s collaboration “Settle The Score”

Pre-orders for Space Jam: A New Legacy Official Soundtrack are available at the link here. The soundtrack hits stores and all digital retailers on July 9, 2021, one week ahead of the movie’s release on July 16.

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U.S. President Biden, Russian President Putin to resume diplomatic operations, agree to return ambassadors to posts

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After their summit in Geneva on Wednesday, President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they have agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks and return their ambassadors to their foreign posts. Currently, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, and Washington’s ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, are not stationed at their posts. Both men were recalled this spring after Biden announced U.S. sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for a massive cyberattack last year on American government agencies.

Putin said at a press conference that his talks with Biden were “very productive” and “there has been no hostility” between the two.  At his own press conference, Biden called the talks “good, positive” and added that the talks were not “done in a hyperbolic atmosphere — that is too much of what is going on.”

On Wednesday, Putin and Biden reached an agreement that consultations on “strategic stability,” shorthand for nuclear arsenals, would resume between the two nations. Working-level officials, not the two presidents, will decide the composition, location and frequency of these talks. Biden said that in practical terms this means “get our military and diplomatic experts together to gain control over new and dangerous weapons systems.”

 

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U.S. Education Department to protect students based on sexual orientation and gender identity

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On Wednesday, the Education Department announced its plans to enforce elements of Title IX that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The move comes one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal civil rights law protects LGBTQ workers from being fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said: “The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination — and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections. I’m proud to have directed the Office for Civil Rights to enforce Title IX to protect all students from all forms of sex discrimination. Today, the department makes clear that all students — including LGBTQ+ students — deserve the opportunity to learn and thrive in schools that are free from discrimination.”

Under the June 15, 2020, Supreme Court ruling, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that Title VII makes it illegal to discriminate based on a person’s sex and the landmark law covers gay and transgender Americans. The justices ruled that sexual orientation and transgender status applies in that description.

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Pop Daypop

BLACKPINK to release ‘Blackpink The Movie’ documentary as part of 5th anniversary celebrations

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BLACKPINK is celebrating their fifth-anniversary with a celebration project titled ‘4+1 PROJECT.’
YG Entertainment shared on Wednesday that the first part of BLACKPINK’s 5th-anniversary project will be the release of ‘BLACKPINK THE MOVIE’ that will be released in August, coinciding with the debut of BLACKPINK on August 8. The film will be released in over 100 countries worldwide.

According to reports, the movie will include various segments like “the room of memories,” which will have the girls share their memories during the past five years, and will highlight the distinct personalities of each member of BLACKPINK — Jennie, Rose, Lisa and Jisoo.

BLACKPINK previously released the ‘BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky’ documentary film in 2020, which detailed their rise to fame.

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Pop Daypop

Twenty One Pilots announce global ‘Takeøver Tour’

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Twenty One Pilots announced they will be hitting the road in 2021 and 2022 with stops across the U.S., Mexico, and the U.K.   “The Takeøver Tour” will run for 26 dates, where they’ll perform four shows in each city they arrive in, with each night’s venue getting increasingly larger every night.

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun made the announcement on Instagram, saying: “we come for you ψ starting this fall. the TAKEØVER TOUR spends one week in each city, moving venue to venue, from the small club to the arena. register for access to tickets at twentyonepilots.com/tour”

Fan club pre-sale registration is open now through Saturday, June 19 at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. General ticket sales begin Wednesday, June 23 at 10AM local time. For more information, click the link – here.

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