News

After a strong year including the release of her debut album Glorious, a song of the summer, and standout Video Music Awards performance, GloRilla is starting 2025 as the NAACP Image Awards’ most nominated musician. She’s earned six nods, including Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Hip Hop/Rap Song.

Just behind Glo in music nominations are Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, and Usher with four nods each. Doechii joins GloRilla in the Outstanding Female Artist race, alongside Beyoncé, Coco Jones, and H.E.R. Kendrick Lamar is nominated for Entertainer of the Year (along with Cynthia Erivo,...

Leela James welcomes the long-overdue end of a toxic relationship in “Put It on Me,” a new single released on Friday. The track will appear on See Me, the R&b veteran’s seventh studio album, due out July 30.

“Put It on Me” is a driven by pounding pianos and a tick-tick-tick beat in 6/8 time. James sings with her usual gravelly grace. “Heaven knows everything you did to me/Why in the hell did it take so long to leave?” she wonders, squeezing an extra syllable into her question to help drive the point home.

In today’s TV news roundup, Amazon Prime Video released the premiere date and trailer for “Frank of Ireland,” and TV One released a clip from the upcoming season of “Unsung.”

Casting

HBO Max has announced the cast for the upcoming comedy pilot “The Gordita Chronicles” from Sony Pictures Television. The family comedy is about a willful, 12-year-old Dominican girl Cucu (Olivia Goncalves) who struggles to fit into hedonistic 1980s Miami as her family pursues the American dream. The cast will also include: Diana Maria Riva as as “Adela,” Cucu’s mom; Juan Javier Cardenas as “Victor Castelli,” Cucu’s dad; Savannah Nicole Ruiz as “Emilia,” Cucu’s older sister; Noah Rico (“High School Musical: The Musical”) as “Yosmel ‘Yoshy’ Hernandez,” a Cuban refugee and Cucu’s first friend in Miami.

Dates

Amazon released the premiere date and trailer for the upcoming comedy series “Frank of Ireland,” which will begin...

Leela James applies her gale-force voice in precise, leveling blasts in “Complicated,” a bouncy, lavish love song that marks her first release since 2019. This is a track about tearing through, if not obliterating, the red-tape that’s been standing in the way of a romance. James reduces everything to the simplest of equations: “You know I really want you, and you want me too.”

The way James sings, with gruff texture and tree-splitting power, links back to a long tradition in Southern soul. And this song is packed with other...

When Anthony Hamilton, one of the last mainstream singers working in the southern soul tradition, releases his eighth studio album in 2021, it will mark the first time that the 49-year-old R&b veteran owns the rights to his music. “We’ve thought about this day since 2005,” says Eli Davis, Hamilton’s longtime manager. “You’re no longer a ‘slave’ to a system.”

Hamilton, whose tender, tortured “Back Together (Quiet Storm Mix)” is currently climbing at radio, is part of a growing number of R&b acts cutting ties with major labels.

The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has erupted in protests across the country, unleashing demonstrations against police brutality in all 50 states and in several cities internationally.

In addition to the protests and calls for police reform, the public has honored Floyd in memorial services taking place in Brooklyn; in Raeford, North Carolina, near Floyd’s birthplace; and in Minneapolis, where the Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy.

On Tuesday, following a public viewing in Floyd’s former hometown of Houston, a funeral service will be held at the...

Two weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police fueled worldwide protests and calls to action against racial and social injustice, he will be laid to rest in Houston with a celebration of life and private service beginning at 11 Am Ct/9 Am Pt.

The celebration of life will be held at the Fountain of Praise Church, followed by an entombment at Houston Memorial Gardens and Cemetery. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rev. Al Sharpton, Floyd attorney Benjamin Crump, Slim Thug, Leela James, Paul Wall, Jamie Foxx, Floyd Mayweather, Rep. Al Green and Bishop James Dixon are among the guests slated to attend the memorial, which also will feature a taped message by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The day’s events follow several memorials for Floyd that began last week in Minneapolis and included one in his home state of North Carolina.

Leela James is one of the few southern soul singers who can still achieve a hit today. Her most recent example, “Don’t Want You Back,” is an exercise in classic form — a handsome, raspy “good riddance” with a guitar that studiously recreates the sound of Hi Records. But the window-shaking drums updated that style enough to make it a Number One radio record.

James harnesses her vocal firepower for something more gnarled and abrasive on the Are You Ready Ep, due April 12. Lead single “I’m Not That Woman” is a vicious,...

Because no Christmas story would be complete without a few angels — clad in bedazzled lingerie, as it was written — ABC on Sunday brought us the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, yet another traditional display of casual wear for the everyday woman.

Taped in November at New York City’s Pier 94, this year’s show was divided into seven segments, most of which sound like they could double as My Little Pony characters: “Glam Royale,” “Golden Angel,” “Flights of Fancy,” “Pink,” “Heritage,” “Downtown Angel” and “Celestial Angel.” The runway hosted some of the biggest names in modeling — Kendall Jenner, Candice Swanepoel,...

During the 50-odd years that R&B was a central force in pop culture, no other genre celebrated as many fine gradations of the human voice. Few acts could match Otis Redding’s volcanic ache; Smokey Robinson’s exquisite falsetto communicated unrivaled fragility; Aretha Franklin offered an inimitable combination of steely and combustible. These tones (and many, many others) thrived side by side, permitting R&B to embrace a breathtaking range of expression.

But when commercially dominant rappers — including Nelly, 50 Cent and, eventually, Drake — started to incorporate melody into their rapping in the 2000s,...

“So You Think You Can Dance” held its third week of live shows on Monday night, August 20. Jazz dancer Chelsea Hough and tapper Evan DeBenedetto were the first two competitors eliminated by America’s votes, which narrowed down the competition to the Top 8. How did they do in the latest live show, and how many survived the elimination to advance to next week’s show? Scroll down to find out in our live blog with all the minute-by-minute developments as they happen.

The four women who came into tonight’s show were Jensen Arnold, Hannahlei Cabanilla, Genessy Castillo and Magda Fialek. The four men still in the running were Jay Jay Dixonbey, Darius Hickman, Cole Mills and Slavik Pustovoytov. And if our fluctuating odds are any indication this season is still wide open. Going into the live shows DeBenedetto was one of the dancers are readers were most rooting for,...

Before he was an actor starring in blockbusters such as The Dark Knight Rises and Dunkirk, Tom Hardy was an aspiring rapper.

And now, fans can take a listen to his mixtape that was unearthed nearly 20 years since Hardy, known back then as Tommy No 1, co-created it with Edward Tracy, the BAFTA-winning writer and director of the popular Fonejacker and Facejacker television shows.

The 18-track compilation, titled Falling on Your Arse in 1999, was released by Tracy (a.k.a. Eddie Too Tall) on Bandcamp on Jan. 8 with the statement: “Made in a bedroom 1999 these mixtapes were never really finished. Lyrics...

After Team Miley Cyrus took to the stage on Wednesday, The Voice whittled down its roster of contestants from 24 (including a quartet of Comeback Artists) to the 12 for whom viewers will finally be able to vote when the live shows start next week. Based on your responses in TVLine’s polls thus far, Season 13’s likeliest winners would seem to be Davon Fleming (Team JHud) and Jon Mero (Team Adam Levine). Based on iTunes sales, Noah Mac (Team JHud) tops Davon, and Addison Agen (Team Adam) tops Jon. And, given your impassioned defense of Chloe Kohanski, she can’t be discounted as a contender,...

Celebrities like Lady Gaga, John Legend, and Lin-Manuel Miranda have taken Donald Trump to task after the president criticized San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and other Puerto Rican officials who have been pleading for aid in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

On Saturday morning, the president — while at his golf course in New Jersey — lashed out at what he claimed was “poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help” with hurricane relief efforts in the U.S. territory.

“They want everything to be...

This article originally appeared on Essence.com.

Where can you find a 2017 Grammy winner, a dedicated community activist and a future young music mogul all in one?

Essence Fest 2017, of course!

Adding to this year’s already star-studded Essence Fest lineup, Chance the Rapper will bring his many musical talents to New Orleans this July, where he will headline an unforgettable night on the Essence Fest mainstage for the very first time among some of the other biggest names in music today.

Essence Festival 2017 ticket packages are on sale now! For more info about tickets, accommodations and the latest news,...

TV One and Lexus have announced the return of the network's variety show "Lexus Verses and Flow," premiering on July 30, and airing on Thursday nights.  Blending musical and spoken word performances, the 8-episode season will feature stars like Charlie Wilson, Jussie Smollett, Sevyn Streeter, Jazmine Sullivan, Melanie Fiona, Avery Sunshine, Leela James, Chrisette Michelle and Assassin alongside more than 24 of the best up-and-coming poets. Laz Alonso returns for his second season as the series' host. "TV One is excited to partner with Lexus for season five of the innovative series that captures the...

TV One announced today that production on season two of its wildly popular reality series R&B Divas La will begin this month on-location in Los Angeles. In addition to returning cast members Chanté Moore, Lil' Mo, Michel'le and Claudette Ortiz, the second season will feature new divas Chrisette Michele and Leela James.  The series is scheduled to premiere in the spring of 2014. "The debut season of R&B Divas La set the tone as a series all about glamour and high-stakes drama," said D'Angela Proctor, Svp Programming and Production, TV One. "As we gear up to shoot season two, we anticipate that the addition of two lovely and respected solo artists, Chrisette and Leela, will...