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Maddie & Tae get glammed up, holiday style, for their “We Need Christmas” music video

• No Comments • Country Music News

Mercury NashvilleCountry duo Maddie & Tae stress the importance of finding joy in the holiday season, particularly during a year when joy has often been hard to come by, in their powerful ballad, “We Need Christmas.”

Now the band’s Maddie Font and Taylor Kerr offer up a music video that celebrates the holiday’s beloved traditions. The Christmas imagery they focus on is grown-up and glamorous: No matching Christmas PJs or mugs of hot cocoa this time around. Instead, the two singers wear gorgeous, floor-length red and green gowns as they perform the song from inside a beautiful home, trimmed with white lights for the holiday season. Toward the end of the video, Maddie & Tae light candles in celebration of the holiday’s message of hope and renewal.

“We Need Christmas” is the title track of the duo’s holiday EP, a six-song mix of originals and Christmas classics. The project dropped back in October.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2W7XhaLFwo&w=640&h=360]

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Brett Eldredge, Gabby Barrett + more add tracks to Hallmark Channel’s 'Christmas Album Vol. 2'

• No Comments • Country Music News

Hallmark Channel/Warner Music NashvilleFor the second year running, the Hallmark Channel teamed up with Music City-based record label Warner Music Nashville to compile some of the best holiday music of the season.

Hallmark’s Christmas Album Vol. 2 features contributions from a healthy sampling of country artists, including Brett Eldredge, Gabby Barrett, Ingrid Andress and many more.

As the modern-day king of country Christmas, Brett drops not one but two tracks into the collection. His renditions of “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” are both featured.

Meanwhile, Gabby and Ingrid contribute newly-released Christmas music, with Ingrid’s original “Christmas Always Finds Me” and Gabby’s 2020 take on “The First Noel” both making the track list.

Elsewhere on the project, fans can find holiday tunes from Randy Travis, High Valley, Jessie James Decker and Shy Carter. Broadway stars Aaron Tveit and Laura Osnes and singer and actor Alicia Witt also add their vocals to the project.

The Hallmark Channel’s Christmas Album Vol. 2 is available digitally now.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwbAZczyqZE&w=640&h=360]

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By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

"I don’t need to prove anything" – Jennifer Lopez credits 'Hustlers' Oscar snub for new attitude

• No Comments • Entertainment News

“Hustlers” – Barbara Nitke/STX(LOS ANGELES) — Jennifer Lopez started 2020 with a brand new mindset when she took over the Super Bowl halftime stage and included a direct homage to her 2019 film Hustlers during her empowering routine.

As for why the 51-year-old singer decided include pole dancing in her performance, which critics later blasted for being too risqué, she says it’s because she finally stopped caring what others think about her.  

“It really came to fruition for me when I got snubbed for an Oscar,” Lopez told Billboard on Thursday, adding that “it did hurt” to hear that Hustlers was completely shut out of last year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

However, she says that moment taught her something invaluable: “I realized I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.”

The “On the Floor” singer, who was crowned this year’s Billboard Women in Music Icon, said she went into the Super Bowl aiming to prove that a woman’s worth isn’t determined by her age, her ethnicity or her looks.

“As a woman, people want to write you off: ‘Who’s the next hot girl?’ When you’re an actress, you’re always waiting for that,” Lopez explains. “I decided I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to keep surprising everybody, and I’m going to keep surprising myself.”

Lopez says that she is also breaking barriers for other women by constantly challenging the public’s perception and standards of worth.

“I’m the people’s icon. I’m the person that you look at and say, ‘I can do that because she did it,'” the Grammy nominee smiled, saying she strives to impart this message to her fans: never put yourself in a box because “You’re limitless.”

Lopez’s full interview will be available in the upcoming December 5 issue of Billboard magazine. 

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Aubrey Plaza says she was initially "terrified" to take on challenging 'Black Bear' role

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Momentum Pictures(NEW YORK) — Black Bear is an unpredictable new indie flick that tackles complicated relationship dynamics and what it’s like to suffer for your art.

Split into two different yet intertwined parts — one of which features a movie within a movie — it stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon in a unique kind of love triangle. 

Plaza’s role of Allison, a filmmaker/actress, was written by director Lawrence Michael Levine specifically with her in mind. Plaza tells ABC Audio she felt the pressure of taking on the project. 

“I was terrified, actually,” the former Parks and Recreation star says. “I mean, even the way that the script was written was so hyperbolic in the sense that it said things like, ‘And then Allison does another take and gives the best performance that anyone has ever seen,’ you know, as the description for the scene. And I’m going like, ‘Larry, how can you write that and expect me to do that?’”

Ultimately, Plaza was drawn to the challenge. 

“It felt like he was kind of going like, ‘Are you up for this? Are you down?’ And I’m a very competitive person,” she says. “I’m always drawn to things that scare me or things that, you know, are challenging. So…I felt very excited when I read it.”

As for the movie’s mind-boggling plot, Plaza is eager to see the theories and discussions that come out of it.

“I really do think it’s the kind of movie that you need to watch more than once, because it could really go either way,” she says. “It’s really interesting for me to hear what people think about how the first part relates to the second part.” 

Black Bear is in select theaters and on VOD today.

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By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dolly Parton finds some extra magic with “I Still Believe,” a just-released bonus track on her holiday album

• No Comments • Country Music News

Stacie Huckeba/Butterfly Records, LLC As we near the end of 2020, Dolly Parton is sticking a little bit of extra Christmas magic in fans’ stockings.

Her newest release is the hopeful “I Still Believe,” a new bonus track on her holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. The song expresses optimism and hope for better times ahead, even during a year that has been difficult on people around the world.

“I believe to my very core / We’ll walk again in the sunshine / By the seashore / That we’ll dance and sing / And be happy again,” Dolly sings in the soaring chorus. “Don’t know how or when / But we will again / You’ll see / I still believe…”

Dolly will perform the new song during her upcoming A Holly Dolly Christmas television special, which airs on Sunday, December 6 at 8:30PM ET on CBS.

The new song comes at the end of a banner year for Dolly, both musically and in terms of her humanitarian contributions. In addition to her Christmas album, she also released a song called “When Life is Good Again” earlier in 2020 as a powerful message of hope for listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This spring, the superstar also offered a $1 million donation to help fund Moderna’s vaccine research. This November, early data from the company revealed that the vaccine that the singer’s contribution helped fund is 94.5% effective, and they’ve already asked the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9j5cxP1GZQ&w=640&h=360]

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.