Ariana Grande's Sexy Act Criticized By Bette Midler

In an interview with The Telegraph in the U.K., Midler says it's surprising to see Grande, with her "silly high voice, a very wholesome voice, slithering around on a couch looking so ridiculous." Midler even suggests she finds some better management.

"I mean, it's silly beyond belief and I don't know who's telling her to do it. I wish they'd stop," she tells the paper. "But it's not my business, I'm not her mother. Or her manager. Maybe they tell them that's what you've got to do. Sex sells. Sex has always sold."

Midler also goes on to question the booty obsession pop music seems to have right now. "Apparently people really like to pretend they're having sex," she said. "They really like to slap each other's butts. I mean, don't ask me. It's beyond me. I'm too old. I don't know what the end game is going to be. I don't know where you go from all that sex in your 20s. I don't know how you sustain it."

In the end, she has a simple word of advice for all young female pop stars like Grande: "Trust your talent. You don't have to make a whore out of yourself to get ahead. You really don't."

Read more here.

Joni Mitchell Stopped Biopic Due To Taylor Swift's Involvement

The movie was to be an adaptation of Sheila Weller's book Girls Like Us. The three singers were to have been portrayed by Jessica Pare (Mad Men) as Simon, Alison Pill (The Newsroom) as King, and the new queen of New York, Taylor Swift, as Mitchell.

That last one was a step too far. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mitchell describes why she chose to put the kibosh on the project. "I squelched that!" Mitchell said.

"I said to the producer, 'All you've got is a girl with high cheekbones'. It's just a lot of gossip, you don't have the great scenes. There's a lot of nonsense about me in books, assumptions, assumptions, assum�p�tions." Read more here.

Mary J. Blige Streaming New Album Online

Blige worked with some of the biggest names in the United Kingdom for The London Sessions, including such luminaries as Sam Smith, Disclosure, Eg White, Emeli Sand�, Jimmy Napes, Naughty Boy and Sam Romans.

"It's all about the London music scene and I'm so excited to have been part of it, to record my album," Mary said in a press statement, describing her first non-holiday release since 2011's My Life II�The Journey Continues (Act I). Read more here.

Rihanna Teases New Album

Her next LP will be her 8th, and is following up 2012's Unapologetic. On Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 25), the pop icon took to Instagram to let fans know she was "P--n roun in da studio" (via Miss Info).

The 15-second snippet has the singer singing "Ain't none of this s-t promised, ain't none of this promised," with the backing of sirens and frayed texture.

The song does not sound like one of her radio-ready jams, but more artistic in concept. Whether or not this is indicative of what is to come for the artist remains to be seen.

Check out a taste of what is perhaps Rihanna's next album here.

Aretha Franklin Says New Biography Is Full of Lies

Not content with the way in which it portrays her love life and promiscuity, jealousy of other performers, and alcoholism, Franklin has issued a statement, tackling the book's salacious allegations head-on.

"As many of you are aware, there is a very trashy book out there full of lies and more lies about me," she wrote (via New York Daily News). "Clearly the writer has no class, no conscience or standards!"

"To say I was jealous of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Whitney Houston is just plain crazy!!!," she writes. "After 50 years of great family, friends, fans, music and concerts; 18 GRAMMY Awards-a record number, the National Medal of Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom-the highest civilian award in the country, and too many other awards for which I'm thankful. Please give me one reason why I would be jealous? I appreciate and enjoy them all!"

Read more here.

Prince Leaves Social Media

The enigmatic Purple One, who's become notorious in recent years for his battle against post-Internet times-refusing to even carry a cell phone-made these recent moves without as much as leaving a note explaining his decision. Though in an interview with The Mirror in 2010, he did say, "The Internet's completely over."

When NME reached out to his team for an answer, his representative refused to comment. Prince's mysterious withdrawal from the Internet also comes shortly after he invited his Facebook fans to send in questions for him to answer. Read more here.

Toby Keith Celebrates Drunk Americans In New Video

And in the video for his new single "Drunk Americans," Keith is now� well, a bit of a goofball. The song itself is about finding joy in celebrating our differences. As Americans, we may be all over the place "prom queens," "preachers or kingpins"-but in Keith's song, it's not peace, love and understanding that brings us together, it's the fact that we all like getting drunk.

"We wanted to write it sort of like a modern day 'Piano Man,'" cowriter Brandy Clark told Rolling Stone, referring to the classic Billy Joel ballad where the narrator describes the scene of regulars inside a local bar. She cowrote the track with Shane McAnally and Bob DiPiero. "It's like, 'When we're in here drinking, who cares what we are outside of this?'"

The new video for "Drunk Americans" maintains the positive message at the heart of the song, but it also goes further to emphasize its nutty side-with Keith right there front and center. Wearing a white apron and black ballcap, Keith is first seen as a bartender pouring drinks for a wide range of folks, from "mud flap suburbans" and those wearing "turbans" to "prom queens and strippers" and everyone in between.

Read more here.

Jamey Johnson Releases Surprise Christmas EP

The five-song set includes holiday classics like "Baby It's Cold Outside" featuring Lily Meola, and "Mele Kalikimaka" featuring the Secret Sisters. It also includes "South Alabam Christmas," the first Johnson original we've heard since 2010.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Country, Johnson opened up about the EP, his new label Big Gassed Records and when we can expect more music from him.

"We're gonna start putting it out now, starting with this Christmas EP," he told Rolling Stone Country. "And then you can look for another release from me after the start of the year. And you can look for more releases from me as the year progresses. We don't have to go through the same waiting process that other artists might have to, stand in line and wait to get their music out. We'll just kind of fall in line where we fit for retail-and if we don't fit there, we don't fit there. It's not a problem to me."

He added that he's looking to supply music to his fans and not keep them waiting. Read more here.

Josh Turner Releases Lay Low Video

Directed by Trey Fanjoy, the couple in the video are seeing doing just this as well. Driving out of town, the two enjoy being alone hiking, canoeing and setting up a campfire before the rain comes and they spend time hearing "rain drops falling down on an old tin roof " as Turner sings.

In September, Turner told Rolling Stone Country that when he first heard the track he was transported to his cabin in South Carolina where he can do just that.

"[The song] painted a mental picture of our cabin and how secluded it is," he said. "It's where we go to get away from it all and reconnect with each other, to be reminded of what's most important. Laying low is something Jennifer and I love to do. We most always have to make the time to do it, because as you can imagine, we don't just have ample amounts of idle time."

Watch the video here.

Rihanna Reveals Details For New Fragrance

WWD reports that Rogue Love, the latest in Rihanna's line of fragrances that also includes Rogue, Rogue Men and Nude, will be available in December and estimate it could make $5 million in retail sales during its first year in stores.

They go on to describe the scent as "meant to evoke feelings of falling in love" and say it contains "fruity notes of mandarin, berry and peach and settles into jasmine, coconut and vanilla."

The Rogue Love campaign, revealed on Rihanna's Twitter account, was shot by Mario Sorrenti. Check it out here.

One Direction Add New Member At AMAs

The UK group brought in Ray Fraker, the AMAs' RV guru who was working during the show, to join them and even gave him one of their awards to hold.

Liam Payne said, on behalf of them all, that it was such an honor to be nominated and that they were floored to have won so many awards that night.

Payne went on to say, "It would feel weird if we didn't have our whole year planned out for us over and over again," and that the guys were already looking forward to returning to the AMAs in 2015. Read more here.

Jack White Covers Dead Weather Bandmate

White has released a 7-inch for "Would You Fight for My Love?," the latest single from his new solo album, Lazaretto, and the B-side is "Parallel" from Hello=Fire, a Dean Fertita solo project from 2009.

Fertita's version was an electric guitar-driven track, where White's take has more of a bluegrass/country feel. Fertita came into White's orbit via Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs; he'd played on Benson's 2005 track "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" and later joined the Raconteurs as a touring keyboardist. Read more here.

Fifth Harmony Release Sledgehammer Video

The ladies-Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui, Camila Cabello and Dinah Jane-perform their second single from their upcoming debut album Reflection while wearing matching outfits, white suits and gowns galore, and pulling out their best coordinated dance moves.

There's a lot of silhouette action, which includes a man bearing, yes, a sledgehammer. They also appear on scaffolding in colorful gowns-which doesn't seem like the safest move, but they pull it off without any trouble.

"It's cool because we've never released a single that's about love -a happy, cute love song," Cabello told Billboard about the single. "It's about being with the person you like and feeling the beating of the heartbeat that beats like a sledgehammer." Watch it here.

Jeezy Remixes Tinashe's 'Pretend'

The rapper, fresh off the release of his Seen It All album, kicks off the song with an all-new verse. "Black eskimo baby, chinchilla, black llama, with the arguing with the drama/ that's the ego and the drama," he raps.

Tinashe's verses and chorus are unchanged, but Jeezy gets a second verse near the end of the song, where Rocky's was in the original. "Ballin' at the Amoco, as an adolescent/ See me at the club, plenty b***hes in my section," he spits.

Jeezy's gruff, hoarse vocal timbre perfectly complements Tinashe's buttery chops, and the song's honeyed melodies. Listen here.

Dej Loaf Performs On The Tonight Show

Not that we're surprised she's got such swagger, Eminem did recruit her for his new track "Detroit Vs. Everybody." Dej Loaf told Radio.com the surprise hit off her recent mixtape, Sell Soul was actually inspired by a trip to the mall.

"I was walking around shopping and I saw people staring at me and recorded the chorus on a voice memo. It was playful," she explains, "like, 'Why do you keep looking at me like you want to kill me?'�I didn't want it to promote violence or negativity, but it was something I felt. Music to me is my diary. It lets me express how I feel."

Watch it here.

Nick Jonas Recalls His First Times

For the first time in his life, Nick Jonas is all on his own. Since he was just 13 years old, Nick was one third of the Jonas Brothers, an actual band of boys who played their instruments and made young girls say things like "OMJ!"-a clever replacement for "OMG" meaning "Oh My Jonas!"-anytime they heard the brothers sing their biggest single, "Burnin' Up."

But after Nick and his two older brothers, Kevin and Joe, decided to call it quits, at least for now, last year, the youngest JoBro felt a little lost. "I think after I closed that chapter in my life I took some time for me to realize that I could keep going and do it my way," Jonas tells Radio.com, speaking by phone from Atlanta. "What I wanted was to try to evolve as an artist. To make music I'm really proud of. I really wanted to push myself, but I didn't want to jump into it."

Jonas was also well aware that the world isn't always so kind to teen stars who try to grow up. Fortunately, his fans seem on board with his new adult transformation. Especially if that transformation leads to more crotch-grabbing photo spreads like the one he did for Flaunt. Those risque photos had Iggy Azalea tweeting about the Nick Jonas "crush epidemic," which, for the record, is in full swing.

"It does take people time to sort of be educated on who you are now," he admits. "But, a lot of people have really responded. It's just amazing to be in this position now, at 22 years old, I've pretty much had a full career. Now, I get to sort of start all over and do it again."

Since Jonas is kicking off his solo journey with his new and very sexy self-titled album-and a new DirecTV show, Kingdom, where he gets to show off his abs playing an MMA fighter-we were curious about other 'firsts' in his life.

To be clear, even though he's admitted the purity ring is off, we did not ask about that first time. Instead we spoke to him about his first celebrity crush, the first rumor he remembers reading about himself and the very first time he met Demi Lovato.

First Teacher Who Inspired You: I think my dad is one of my biggest teachers. He's an amazing musician himself and inspired me in a lot of ways to be who I am now. You know, I feel like my biggest teachers were just people who saw me grow up. I was really lucky to be around some amazing people who pushed me.

The song "Teacher" was one of the last ones I added to the record. It sort of helped me build the sound of the record and figure out what all the pieces were. It's such a fun song, you have no choice but to get up and dance.

First Hip-Hop Artist You Remember Loving: I was really influenced by Kanye when I started discovering hip-hop. He just shows how creative hip-hop can be. And, obviously, he just pushes the envelope. He just does some amazing things. College Dropout was a big one for me, even 808s and Heartbreaks I love. Just great records. A couple of my favorites. I think the "Good Life" is my favorite and for 808s and Heartbreaks I think "Robocop."

First Celebrity Crush: Shania Twain was definitely my first celebrity crush. I love Shania Twain. I'm just a big fan of her music. I remember watching this concert DVD of her in Chicago, I think it was for like 120,000 people, I was just blown away by what an amazing performer she was and just the whole thing. I'm a big fan still. I got to go see her in Las Vegas; she's still really awesome.

Read more here.

Sara Evans Releases Put My Heart Down Video

"This kind of love is dangerous," she sings as she navigates a room of lightbulbs. Meanwhile, in an abandoned building across the street those very light bulbs are shown exploding.

"Put My Heart Down" is the second single off Evans' seventh studio album Slow Me Down. The song was written by Nathan Chapman, Andrew Dorff and Elizabeth Huett. Evans explained in a press release that what first attracted her to the song was the fact that it's a sad song with a happy melody.

"I like the contradiction and I think it makes for a really interesting overall song," Evans said. "[Director] Peter [Zavadil] found a great way to bring that contradiction to the screen with the light bulbs and showing them eventually exploding. You have such beautiful and pretty scenes with the soft lighting and beautiful mansion, contradicted by the exploding bulbs. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out." Read more here.

Ariana Grande Reacts To Bette Midler's Comments

Never the shy type, Grande has responded to Midler's statement. And, predictably, Grande is not happy. "Bette was always a feminist who stood for women being able to do whatever the F they wanted without judgement!" Grande said on Twitter, "not sure where that Bette went but I want that sexy mermaid back!! always a fan no matter what my love."

Grande went on to say that "I will still quote first wives club every single day of my life," in reference to the popular movie from 1996 that starred Midler. Read more here.

Singled Out: Tyler Hilton's This Is Where My Heart Breaks

"This Is Where My Heart Breaks" is a tune I wrote in this cabin way outside Nashville where I've written a lot of my songs. Half of it is set up as a studio for an artist who works there to paint. This song just unfolded in the easiest way one afternoon.

"I recorded it back in LA where I had my fianc� sing on it with me. So many songs have been written about heartbreak but acts like the Everly Bros used to nail it so simply. That's what I wanted to capture here. That first moment it hits you that, oh my god, this is where my heart breaks, isn't it?

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

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