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Day in Pop Report for 04/29/2016


Today's Top Stories


Drake Releases 'Views' Album

(Radio.com) Drake fans gathered around their Internet radios on Thursday (April 28) at 10:00pm ET to hear what they believed was going to be the premiere of his fourth studio album Views.

When they arrived, however, they learned the interview was delayed 45 minutes, and when 10:45pm came and went, Drake still didn't appear. Lo and behold, he surprised everyone by releasing Views one hour before its intended 12:00am ET time on April 29.

Available exclusively on iTunes, the 20-track album features Future, Rihanna, PARTYNEXTDOOR, among many others.When Beats 1 finally did broadcast Drake's interview with Zane Lowe at 11:15pm ET, he said of Views, "This album is probably my highest level of vocal performance, I'd say." He mentioned listening to Stevie Wonder and Alabama Shakes for inspiration, and that he very much wanted to shift direction from the past two mixtapes he released. "This was more about what is a cohesive incredible listening experience from me," he said. Read more here.

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Keith Urban Releases 'Wasted Time' Music Video

(Radio.com) Keith Urban has release a new music video for the song "Wasted Time." The track is the third single from Urban's ninth studio album RipCORD, which will be released on May 6th.

The song was co-written by Urban, Greg Wells, and James 'JHart" Abrahart and was co-produced by Grammy Award winning producer Greg Wells (Adele, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams) and Urban.

"I worked with a lot of new people on RipCORD, and Greg was one I'd wanted to work with for a long time," Urban says in a press release. 'He'd been writing a lot with J., and so the three of us spent a couple days at Greg's studio to jam and see if we clicked.

"Greg had this cool chord progression, and I grabbed my guitar and started singing a melody. J. suggested the title, and before we knew it, we were talking about growing up and all the things you do, no matter where you are in the world, and the song just took off from there." Watch the video here.

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Zedd And Kesha Release 'True Colors' Collaboration

(Radio.com) Zedd and Kesha have released their collaboration 'True Colors." The pair performed the song, which is the title cut from Zedd's 2015 LP, live during Coachella's first weekend and today we get the official studio version.

Zedd had publicly supported Kesha in the wake of her ongoing legal battle with Dr. Luke, offering to collaborate with her on a track. While he is collaborating with Kesha, Zedd wants fans to know that he is playing by the rules.

"Just to clarify: We didn't use any loop holes. Kemosabe/RCA gave us permission to release this song!" he tweeted. Dr. Luke responded, politely enough, "Thanks for the clarification @Zedd �" Check it out here.

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Phil Collins Announce Two New Reissues

(Prog) Phil Collins will continue his solo reissues series this summer with two more releases. He'll launch 1989's �But Seriously and an amended version of his most recent album, 2013's Going Back, entitled The Essential Going Back on June 10.

Collins says: "I decided to call this version of Going Back, The Essential Going Back. In retrospect, I included too much music on the original version � and I believe that too much is not always a good thing. Hence this trimmed down selection of my favourite Motown songs."

Collins has curated and complied all the albums in the series, with each presented with updated artwork and featuring extra live tracks and demos � many of which have never been issued on CD before. See the track details here.

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Imagine Dragon Streaming New Song 'Not Today'

(Radio.com) Imagine Dragons released their romantic song, "Not Today," which appears on the soundtrack for the film Me Before You. The production features a piano and acoustic guitar building a soft, sentimental feel in the opening measures. A string orchestra joins in at the chorus to build out the song's overall swelling feel.

"We finally fall apart and we break each other's hearts/ If we wanna live young love, we better start," lead singer Dan Reynolds sings. The song promises that things will get easier thanks to love, but the title "Not Today" hints that it's not going to happen just yet.

"Not Today" reflects the film, wherein a young woman forms a strong connection with the recently-paralyzed man she's been hired to take care of. Starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Clafin, Me Before You hits theaters on June 3rd. Check out the song here.

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Authorized Whitney Houston Documentary Coming

(Radio.com) Hollywood loves its music icons, and Whitney Houston is no exception. She now joins the growing list of major music names to either have a documentary or biopic made about their life.

Scottish director Kevin Macdonald will oversee the project, which was announced today (April 28), and will provide an "unvarnished and authentic" at Houston's rise. Sources say he has been involved in mounting a film about her life for some time. The documentary is said to be the only one to have receive approval from her estate (via The Hollywood Reporter).

"The story that is never told about Whitney is just how brilliant she was as an artist; by many measures she had the greatest voice of the last 50 years," Macdonald said." Read more here.

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'Coach Snoop' Series Preview Released

(Radio.com) Fans of legendary rapper Snoop Dogg will get to see a much different side of the man in his new series Coach Snoop. The nine-episode documentary will premiere next month on AOL.

Coach Snoop features the superstar MC, who coaches a team of inner city kids at the highest level of youth football. The icon trades a mic for a whistle, as he mentors and coaches a team of 11 and 12 year old kids from south central Los Angeles.

Through the season they deal with on the field and off the field issues, while traveling to Northern California, Texas and Florida to play football. In the trailer Snoop says, "Music was a great way for me to introduce myself to the people, but my true calling is being a mentor." Watch the trailer here.

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Paul Simon Streams New Song 'Cool Papa Bell'

(Radio.com) Paul Simon revealed a new song off his upcoming album Stranger to Stranger. It marks the second song he's shared prior to the album's release on June 3rd.

Titled "Cool Papa Bell," the song has a stream-of-consciousness factor to it. Simon sings about "Cool Papa" Bell or James Thomas, the early 20th century baseball player.

Simon's lyrics evoke a whimsical quality as he describes his current outlook as one people might call a new age fad, or his tattoo which reads "wall-to-wall fun." Simon even gets flippant, dropping a few "mother f-ckers," including one aimed at a squirrel.

"Cool Papa Bell" in some ways harkens back to his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon, at least in terms of melody and pop-folk rhythms. But it features certain updates like a tuba that peppers the light-hearted song with a weightier feel. Read more and listen to "Cool Papa Bell" here.

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Dolly Parton's Homecoming Parade to Stream Online

(Radio.com) Year after year, tens of thousands of Dolly Parton fans make their way to Pigeon Forge, TN for the city's annual salute to hometown superstar Dolly Parton for Dolly's Homecoming Parade.

The viewing audience is expected to increase exponentially this year, with the addition of live-streaming on Facebook. The parade video footage will air from both Dolly Parton and Dolly Parton's Lumberjack Adventure Dinner & Show's Facebook pages.

The parade is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 6 and will meander through three miles of the Parkway to the hearts of Pigeon Forge and Dolly fans everywhere. It will also include Dolly Parton's brand new Lumberjack Adventure Dinner & Show as part of the streaming. Read more here.

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Calvin Harris Announces New Single Featuring Rihanna

(Radio.com) Calvin Harris has delivered a new single titled "This Is What You Came For" featuring Rihanna which was released early this morning (April 29th) on iTunes.

The track is the first release from Harris since his Disciples assisted "How Deep Is Your Love." Harris' official Facebook page posted this link to stream the track.

Perhaps this announcement, coupled with Harris' Coachella headlining sets, signal that a new album is coming soon. His most recent release Motion dropped back in October of 2014. Read more here.

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DJ Khaled And Chance the Rapper Tease Collaboration

(Radio.com) DJ Khaled is the King of Snapchat, so what better place to announce a hot upcoming collaboration than on his platform of choice? The DJ released a clip with Chance the Rapper, teasing the news that they're working together on something "super boomin'."

No other details are available, but the collab could appear on Khaled's forthcoming Major Key, which reportedly will feature guest spots by Jay-Z and Future.

The move reunites Khaled with famed producer L.A. Reid, who said "Khaled is a supremely gifted artist and social media guru whose music has defined hip-hop and R&B for the past decade." Read more here.

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Trace Adkins And Kris Kristofferson Star In New Movie 'Traded'

(Radio.com) Trace Adkins will be everywhere this summer, and not just on tour. Starting June 10, Adkins will be featured along with Kris Kristofferson in the new film, "Traded."

The movie is a western directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. "As a small-town boy growing up in South Carolina, I was weaned on all the classic Westerns," Woddward, Jr. told TheBoot.com. So, to have the opportunity to helm an emotionally freighted story of frontier revenge set in the 19th century was more than a dream come true.

The highlight, obviously, for myself and the entire cast and crew was to watch a true legend, Kris Kristofferson, ply his trade in the same boots he wore in one of his first starring roles in 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.'" Read more here.

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Selena Gomez Joins Shareacoke Campaign

(Radio.com) Selena Gomez has joined the team of artists whose lyrics will be printed on Coca-Cola bottles and cans. "Instead of putting names on the bottles [this year] they're going to put lyrics," she Tweeted. " I'm so honored to be a part of share a Coke and a song."

This summer the lyrics of more than 70 songs will be featured on packages of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coca-Cola Life. The campa-gn will begin in a few weeks and last through the summer.

The nationwide roll-out will include lyrics ranging from recent chart toppers to classic hits like 'Put a little love in your heart," 'Always on my mind," 'Lean on me" and 'We are the champions," plus newer hits including 'This is how we do it" and 'All I do is win."

"We wanted to use the lyrics that connect people, and create those moments of sharing," Joe Belliotti, Coke's global head of music, tells Billboard. 'This was not about finding the most popular songs of today. This was about finding lyrics that can help you connect with someone. Because at the end of the day music and the lyrics in songs help you express what you sometimes aren't able to out into words yourself." Read more here.

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Amy Grant Teams With Tori Kelly For 'Baby Baby' Remake

(Radio.com) Amy Grant's 1991 hit "Baby Baby" turns 25 this year, and to commemorate the occasion she's decided to remake the song. To give "Baby Baby" a bit of an update, Grant tapped none other than rising young pop star and GRAMMY Best New Artist nominee Tori Kelly to help her.

"I was thrilled to hear that Tori was on board to record it," Grant said. "Although I had not met Tori at that point, my 15-year-old daughter, Corrina, is a big fan of Tori's and so I was very aware of her incredible talent and was honored she would sing this song" (via People).

Producer Dave Garcia kept Grant's original vocals as-is and brought Kelly into the recording studio to do a fresh take. He then merged the two tracks for the updated version. Read more here.

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Neil Young Announces New Album 'Earth'

(Radio.com) In March, Neil Young shared that he was back in the studio working on a new album, and now we finally have details about what the project will entail. Titled Earth, Young's newest album pulls together songs from albums old and new, as well as a previously unreleased song "I Won't Quit."

The album was recorded over the course of Young's 2015 tour, The Promise of the Real, and features performances that include his sons, Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson.

The tracks mainly come from After the Gold Rush (1970), Ragged Glory (1990) and The Monsanto Years (2015). The 11-track album totals 98 minutes of music that will be presented as an "uninterrupted flow." Read more here.

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Beyonce Tributes Prince At 'Formation' Tour Opener

(Radio.com) During the opening of Beyonce's Formation World Tour in Miami, she issued a heartfelt tribute to Prince. Between Lemonade tracks, she led the packed arena in a "Purple Rain" singalong, and later performed "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6--a group Prince formed with his proteges.

Bey ended the evening with perhaps her most stirring ballad: "Halo," dedicated to her husband Jay-Z. Their marital struggles and reconciliation are front and center on Lemonade, so a closing sign of solidarity was a nice touch.

"I want to dedicate this song to my family, thank you guys for supporting me," she told the crowd. "I want to dedicate this song to my beautiful husband. I love you so much." Read more here.

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