Author: Rap Hooks

Nashville-based music management company Make Wake Artists has launched a new in-house label division, it was announced Monday (Sept. 29).

The division will be led by Alicia Mathews as head of marketing & commercial partnerships, while Brianna Steinitz takes on the role of director of administration and operations and Myles Hoffman serves as marketing manager. Mathews has been with Make Wake since 2019, while Hoffman joined in 2024 and Steinitz joined in June.

The news comes as the Nashville-based music management company celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Music executive Chris Kappy founded Make Wake in 2015 when he began managing country singer-songwriter Luke Combs. Over the past decade, the company has grown to represent artists in genres including country, Americana, folk, rock, pop and more. Among the artists on the roster are two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Combs, Brent Cobb, Flatland Cavalry, Meghan Patrick, Joshua Ray Walker and The Castellows.

“When I started Make Wake Artists in Nashville 10 years ago, my dream was to build a home where artists could thrive; where their music, their values, and their vision would be protected and amplified,” Kappy, Make Wake Artists chief navigation officer (CNO) and founder, said in a statement. “Luke Combs was the first artist to believe in that vision, and together we’ve been able to share his music with millions of fans worldwide. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built, and this anniversary is as much a celebration of our entire roster, and our incredible team as it is of the company itself.”

“My mission for this division is to support our independent artists with major-level execution while allowing them to maintain creative freedom, and the space to tell their story through music on their own terms,” Mathews added. “It’s been a dream to grow this from the ground up during my time here. I’m incredibly grateful to Kappy for championing my vision and for instilling his Fans.F1rst. philosophy into everything we do. I’m so proud of this team and what we’re building, but what truly matters is fostering the connection between an artist and their fans. The fans are the ones who give us the opportunity to do meaningful work in this space.”

Florence Welch is ready to talk about a painful experience she had in 2023 that almost killed her before changing her life forever.

In a new The Guardian profile published over the weekend, the Florence + the Machine frontwoman revealed that she had a miscarriage two summers ago. She had gotten pregnant almost immediately after she and her boyfriend decided to try for a baby, but it ended up being an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in one of her fallopian tubes rupturing.

“The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death,” she told the publication. “And I felt like I had stepped through this door, and it was just full of women, screaming.”

Welch ended up miscarrying shortly before she was scheduled to perform at a festival in Cornwall. Though she was in deep pain and bleeding heavily, she went through with the performance — “I took some ibuprofen and stepped out on stage,” she says — before seeing a doctor.

“I didn’t want to go for the scan,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘I’ve done this show, I’m fine, I can cope.’ But my doctor’s insistence that I come in saved my life.”

During the appointment, Welch learned of the rupture and was rushed into emergency surgery. “I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen,” she reflects, sharing that doctors could not save her fallopian tube.

According to the Mayo Clinic, an ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus, oftentimes growing in a fallopian tube instead. Ectopic pregnancies cannot proceed normally as there is no way for the fertilized egg to survive, and they can cause life-threatening bleeding to a mother’s body if left untreated.

Welch’s experience has since informed her upcoming album Everybody Scream, which is set to drop this Halloween. The project follows 2022’s Dance Fever, on which the musician also examined her frustrations over feeling like she must sacrifice the experience of motherhood in order to pursue her career.

Everybody Scream will also follow Welch’s collaboration with Taylor Swift, “Florida!!!,” which dropped last year as part of the pop superstar’s The Tortured Poets Department. Of performing the track with Swift on the Eras Tour, Welch said, “It was amazing.”

“I will say that, yes, I’m someone who wants to hide from the vague humiliations of fame,” she continued. “But I did step out on that stadium stage with her and I was like, ‘This is pretty f—ing cool. After this, I’m gonna have to make some changes.’”

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have split after 19 years of marriage, Billboard can confirm.

The news was first reported on Monday (Sept. 29) by TMZ, with the publication citing a source that said the singer and actress had been separated since the beginning of the summer.

Urban and Kidman first started dating in 2005. In June the following year, they tied the knot with a ceremony in Sydney, Australia. They would later welcome daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14. The Babygirl actress also shares daughter Isabella and son Conor with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

News of Urban and Kidman’s split comes months after the couple’s house in Beverly Hills, California, was burglarized on Valentine’s Day. Police reported at the time that the place had been ransacked, but fortunately, neither of the stars were home at the time of the incident.

In July, the musician made headlines after he appeared to abruptly disconnect from a radio interview after he was asked about how he feels when watching his wife act out “love scenes” in movies.

One of Urban and Kidman’s last public outings as a couple was to a FIFA Club World Cup game in June. The month prior, they went to the Academy of Country Music Awards together — one of countless awards shows the pair attended at each other’s sides over the course of their relationship.

“What I’ve learned from her is to be more fearless in artistry and go for the curious place that you want to go to as an artist,” Urban said of Kidman in a 2020 interview with Zane Lowe. “It’s pure curiosity. She just goes without questioning it. That’s definitely had a big impact on my music in the last five, six years, particularly.”

In 2022, Kidman told CBS Mornings, “I met him later in life and it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me — that man is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

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With only four days till the release of Taylor Swift’s album The Life of a Showgirl, it’s time to look back on the singer’s most iconic era.

It’s time to start donning your best Swift merch, because we’re only days away from the singer’s 12th studio album. What better way to celebrate this new era than by celebrating an older era, that era being 2014’s album 1989 and the 2023 re-up. To prep yourself for an album listening party you won’t forget, might we suggest shopping these 1989-themed slippers via Amazon?

Available in five different colorways, the slippers feature a wool-like plush fabric that’s embroidered with handwriting reminiscent of the font that is found on most Swift’s re-releases of her albums. At only $20, it’s almost worth collecting them all. Fans can choose from slippers that say “1989” in a light blue font, a set that features “1989” on one foot and “(Taylor’s Version)” on the other, as well as sets in a couple of different colors that feature “(Taylor’s,” “Version)” on either foot.

Taylor’s Slippers

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Themed Taylor Swift slippers.

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A multitude of sizes are available for both men and women. In addition to the slipper’s plush texture, they have a terry cloth lining and a high-density memory foam insole that comfortably molds to the wearer’s feet. They also have a non-slip rubber sole that will make it easy to run errands around or just outside of the house.

The titles, of course, are a nod to the fact that Swift began re-releasing recordings of her library of albums after they were sold. For each album, the singer-songwriter released additional tracks from each of the albums’ accompanying studio sessions, as well as updated merch. Each re-release was labeled “Taylor’s Version,” and fans have put those words to use as a rallying cry to support the artist as she took back control over her life’s work.

If you didn’t know, The Life of a Showgirl is a 2025 album by Swift set to release on Oct. 3 through Republic Records. The record was created during Swift’s life on the road, going from show to show during her Eras Tour. The 12th studio album features 12 tracks, including “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Father Figure,” “Honey,” “Wi$h Li$t” and “Ruin the Friendship,” among others. Sabrina Carpenter is said to feature on the album. Swift revealed her new album during an appearance on her fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast “New Heights.”

Taylor’s Slippers

$19.99

Buy Now On Amazon

Themed Taylor Swift slippers.

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Taylor’s Slippers

$19.99

Buy Now on amazon

Themed Taylor Swift slippers.

---

Dolly Parton‘s upcoming concert residency in Las Vegas has been postponed. The country icon is undergoing “a few” undisclosed medical procedures to address health concerns, she revealed on Sunday (Sept. 28).

In a statement posted on her social media accounts, Parton explained that she won’t have sufficient rehearsal time ahead of the shows that were scheduled for The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in early December. She announced rescheduled dates set for September 2026.

“I want the fans and public to hear directly from me that, unfortunately, I will need to postpone my upcoming Las Vegas concerts,” Parton wrote. “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!”

Her message continued, “In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see. You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you. While I’ll still be able to work on all of my projects from here in Nashville, I just need a little time to get show ready, as they say. And don’t worry about me quitting’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet. But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you. I love you and thank you for understanding.”

Parton was set to perform in Vegas on Dec. 4, 6, 7, 10, 12 and 13. She planned to weave “seven decades of classic hits and fan favorites including ‘9 to 5,’ ‘Jolene,’ ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors’” into the limited engagement run at The Colosseum, for which tickets went on sale in June.

The six-show run has been rescheduled for 2026 on the following dates: Sept. 17, 19, 20, 23, 25 and 26.

Original tickets are valid for the new dates, and refunds will be available. Parton and The Colosseum at Caesars Palace said more instructions will be provided to ticket purchasers via email.

The concert residency is Parton’s first extended run in Las Vegas since a short engagement in the early ’90s — at the then-new, but now-closed, Mirage Hotel, where she performed alongside Kenny Rogers.

Dua Lipa paid tribute to a fellow pop star during her Radical Optimism tour stop in Miami.

On Saturday (Sept. 27), during the second of two nights at the city’s Kaseya Center, the 30-year-old British-Albanian singer delivered a faithful rendition of Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time,” from Grande’s 2014 album, My Everything.

Fan-captured footage shows Lipa onstage in a fur-lined, sparkly black jacket over a lacy, see-through bodysuit as she belts out the emotional track, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2015.

Grande, a Florida native, quickly took notice, sharing a clip of Lipa’s cover on her Instagram Story and adding a face holding back tears emoji in appreciation.

Lipa has made a habit of delivering locally inspired covers throughout her Radical Optimism World Tour, which kicked off its U.S. leg earlier this month at Chicago’s United Center.

During her first night in Miami on Friday (Sept. 26), the “Houdini” singer paid homage to local legends Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine with a high-energy performance of “Conga.”

Earlier in the tour, Lipa took her tributes to New York, teaming up with Nile Rodgers for a disco-fueled rendition of Chic’s 1978 classic “Le Freak.” She also honored the Big Apple with covers of Alicia Keys’ “No One” and Blondie’s “One Way or Another.” At the U.S. kickoff in Chicago on Sept. 5, Lipa brought out hometown icon Chaka Khan for a powerhouse duet of her 1983 hit “Ain’t Nobody.”

Lipa will continue the North American leg of her tour with upcoming stops in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, before heading to South America and Mexico.

The Radical Optimism World Tour supports Lipa’s third studio album of the same name, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2024. The album spawned multiple hits, including lead single “Houdini,” which spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.