Big music news this week!
From some very exciting new music releases to news about the Billboard Music Awards, and even news about the late, great Louis Armstrong, check out what’s coming up on the horizon.
Billboard Music Awards officially have a date
Great news for all of those that still value music awards – the Billboards Music Awards officially have a real date for 2021, and it’s not even that far away!
It was just announced that the show will air May 23, 2021, though we’re hoping to see some improvement from 2020’s show.
Last year’s Billboard Music Awards ceremony was… not quite what we’re all used to, let’s be honest. Kelly Clarkson hosted for the 3rd time in a row, and the event took place in LA’s Dolby Theater… with no audience, of course. This was after it was pushed back, too – the original show was scheduled for April, but didn’t actually happen until October.
It was… real awkward, I’ve got to say. I’m glad social distancing was happening, but with awards being sort of ‘shuffled’ to the winners, it felt very forced.
Hopefully, the 2021 show will be conducted safely – and all the awkward bugs will be ironed out.
As of now, we don’t have any information on who is going to be hosting (can Clarkson nab a fourth? Should she?!), or performing, but that’s standard. In the coming months, more information should be released.
Louis Armstrong documentary coming this year
If you’re a fan of Louis Armstrong, I’ve got great – and sort of terrible – news. The great news is that there is a new documentary in the works, and it should hit film festivals and public television sometime this year.
The bad news is that it’s really going to pull at your heartstrings. Why? Because the documentary, Little Satchmo, follows the story of Armstrong interacting with his only child.
Sharon Preston-Folta is Armstrong’s only daughter, fathered through an affair with a dancer at a nightclub, Lucille Preston. The documentary, based on the memoir Little Satchmo: Living in the Shadow of my Father, Louis Daniel Armstrong, shares secret recordings Armstrong made for Preston-Folta, plus letters he wrote to her and more.
“He always wanted to be a father.” Preston-Folta shared in an interview. “But we had to keep it all a secret.”
Seriously great music coming out next month
2021 might not be looking up in the way we all hoped it would, but there is some seriously great music going to be released next month that should help ease the pain some.
The Foo Fighters recently announced that despite the whole global pandemic, they have reunited for their 10th studio album, which is going to drop on February 5th. Dave Grohl has rarely let us down, and the music that has come out of the album, titled Medicine at Midnight, sounds great so far.
Fair warning, though: the music video for Shame Shame (linked above) is giving me serious Blair Witch Project vibes, but by the end I was totally feeling it.
If you’re an alt-rock fan, you probably remember Switchfoot. While they technically are still active, and even released an album in 2019, they haven’t had many chart toppers in a while.
Frontman Jon Foreman is hoping to change that, though, when he releases his solo debut album titled Departure on February 5th (big day for music you guys!).
This isn’t really a surprise, as Foreman has dropped at least a dozen solo EPs dating back to around 2007, but this is his first full-length album ever by himself, without the band backing him. I’ve never been a huge Switchfoot fan but I’m digging his solo style. This is going to be a good discussion: can aging ‘rock stars’ continue to thrive in the music scene?!
Finally, we have Bonnie Tyler out at the end of the month – February 26th – with… a new CD. Yeah, that Bonnie Tyler, of Total Eclipse of the Heart vampire fame.
Titled The Best is Yet to Come, the album seems full of the power-pop style that Tyler has always been exceptionally great at. Who knew at 69 years old (!!!) Tyler still had a pop album in her!
