Category: Music

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber know exactly which values they hope to model for their 1-year-old son, Jack Blues.

In an Instagram post on Monday (Sept. 15), the pop star shared a photo of the code of ethics he hopes to abide by with his wife and son as they raise their family. Typed out on a framed white sheet of paper titled “The Bieber Family,” the first of 10 rules dictates, “We value Rest as Worship.”

The rest of the list emphasizes the importance of longevity, sustainability and serving humanity, or “making people feel like they can fly,” in the Bieber household. One rule reads, “We value INNOVATION and moving the human experience forward,” while another says, “We value Generosity and graciously giving time, money and respect to people on our path.”

The list ends with the Bieber family’s mindset toward others. “We value HUMAN beings and believe in their dignity and eternal worth.”

The post comes shortly after Justin and the Rhode founder’s son celebrated his 1st birthday this past August. On Instagram at the time, Hailey shared a photo of herself and her firstborn and wrote, “1 year of you my beautiful boy. Happy 1st Birthday Jack Blues, you are joy personified.”

Both Hailey and Jack have been key parts of the rollout for Justin’s Swag albums, the first of which dropped in July followed by a sequel earlier in September. The Canadian singer appeared with his family in heartwarming visuals that appeared on city billboards to promote the surprise releases of both albums, which marked his first full-lengths since 2021’s Justice.

And on one Swag track, “Go Baby,” Justin sings directly about his wife. “That’s my baby, she’s iconic/ iPhone case, lip gloss on it,” he chirps proudly, referencing Hailey’s Rhode products.

See Bieber’s post below.

Jelly Roll is having a big week. In recent updates shared with fans, the singer-songwriter revealed that — in addition to reaching a fashion-related milestone on his weight-loss journey — he has now met the Pope after years of singing about his faith in his music.

In one post on Instagram on Saturday (Sept. 13), Jelly uploaded a photo of himself in Vatican City in Rome, smiling as he shakes Pope Leo XIV’s hand. Formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the current leader of the Catholic Church stepped into the papacy in early May after a two-day conclave, becoming the first-ever American to assume the position.

“From rock bottom to holy ground,” Jelly captioned his post. “‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.’”

The country star’s holy encounter took place as Jelly was in town to perform “Hard Fought Hallelujah” — his 2025 collaboration with Brandon Lake — live from Vatican City for Grace for the World, a clip of which he also shared on Instagram.

Also on social media this week, Jelly posted a photo of himself looking fly in Italy’s capital, modeling a designer outfit while showing off his slim figure. “I can fit in Louis Vuitton now,” Jelly wrote on Instagram on Monday (Sept. 15). “Pray for my bank account.”

The Grammy nominee has certainly come a long way, both in terms of weight loss and in regards to his religious journey. The performer has been open over the years about taking charge of his health, running a 5k in 2024 and revealing in April that, through regular exercise and changes to his diet, he’d lost about 200 pounds at that point.

As for his faith, the musician has long been singing about how important it has been to him as he’s overcome struggles from his past, including time spent in and out of jail during his youth and battling substance abuse issues. “‘Cause God, You’ve been patient/ God, You’ve been gracious,” he sings with Lake on “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which spent 20 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart. “Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing/ So I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt Hallelujah.”

Bobby Hart, a key part of the the Monkees’ multimedia empire who teamed with Tommy Boyce on such hits as “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” has died. He was 86.

Hart died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his friend and co-author Glenn Ballantyne. He had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year.

Boyce and Hart were a prolific and successful team in the mid-1960s, especially for the Monkees, the made-for-television group promoted by Don Kirshner. They wrote the Monkees’ theme song, with its opening shot, “Here we come, walkin’ down the street,” and its enduring chant, “Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees,” and their first No. 1 hit, “Last Train to Clarksville.” The Monkees’ eponymous, million-selling debut album included six songs from Boyce and Hart, who also served as producers and used their own backing musicians, the Candy Store Prophets, as session players.

“I always credit them not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but, as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love,” the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz wrote in a foreword to Hart’s memoir, Psychedelic Bubblegum, published in 2015.

As Boyce and Hart grew in fame and the Monkees took more control of their work, they pursued their own careers, releasing the albums Test Patterns and I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite and appearing on such sitcoms as I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. They also were politically active. They campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy when he ran for president in 1968 and wrote the brassy “L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)” in support of the 26th Amendment, which in 1971 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Their other songs included the Monkees’ melancholy “I Wanna Be Free” and the theme to the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives.

They were covered by everyone from Dean Martin (“Little Lovely One”) to the Sex Pistols (“I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone”).

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Hart managed several hits with other collaborators and even contributed material to another TV act, the Partridge Family. He worked with Austin Roberts on “Over You,” an Oscar-nominated ballad performed by Betty Buckley in “Tender Mercies,” and with Dick Eastman on “My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)” for New Edition. He and Bryce toured with Dolenz and fellow Monkee Davy Jones in the ‘70s, put out the album Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart and received renewed attention when the Monkees enjoyed a comeback in the 1980s.

Boyce, who died in 1994, and Hart were the subjects of a 2014 documentary The Guys Who Wrote ‘Em. Hart was married twice, most recently to singer Mary Ann Hart, and had two children from his first marriage.

He was a minister’s son, born Robert Luke Harshman in Phoenix, Arizona. In his memoir, he remembered himself as a shy kid with a “strong desire to distinguish” himself, as he wrote in Psychedelic Bubblegum. Music was the answer. By high school, he had learned piano, guitar and the Hammond B-3 organ. He also started his own amateur radio station, eventually adding a console, turntables and microphones. After graduating from high school and serving in the Army reserves, he settled in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, hoping first to become a disc jockey, but soon working as a songwriter and session musician. His name shortened to Bobby Hart, he toured as a member of Teddy Randazzo and the Dazzlers, and with Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein wrote “Hurt So Bad,” a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials later covered by Linda Ronstadt.

He also befriended Boyce, a singer and songwriter from Charlottesville, Virginia, with a “very unusual personality, spontaneous and extroverted, yet very cool at the same time.” Boyce and Hart helped write the top 10 hit “Come a Little Bit Closer” for Jay and the Americans and were a strong enough combination that Kirshner recruited them for his Screen Gems songwriting factory: They were assigned to the Monkees. Asked to come up with songs for a quartet openly modeled on the Beatles, they devised a twangy guitar line similar to the one for “Paperback Writer” and wrote “Last Train to Clarksville,” a chart topper in 1966. When Kirshner suggested a song with a girl’s name in the title, they turned out “Valleri” and reached the top 5.

For the show’s theme song, a stroll outside was enough.

“Boyce began strumming his guitar and I joined in by snapping my fingers & making noises with my mouth that simulated an open & closed hi-hat cymbal,” Hart wrote in his memoir. “We had created the perfect recipe for inspiration and started singing about just what we were doing: ‘Walkin’ down the street.’”

With 16 shows already under his belt for the North America leg of his Breezy Bowl XX Tour, Chris Brown landed in Los Angeles Saturday night (Sept. 13) for the first of a two-date stand at SoFi Stadium. And during the two-time Grammy winner’s 2 ½-hour set, Brown proved once more what a consummate artist/performer he’s become as he celebrates 20 years in music with his legion of fans.

From the moment Brown rose up onstage to a standing ovation — buttressed by resounding cheers and shout-outs — to when he triumphantly exited alongside his team of masterful dancers, he kept the audience engaged the entire time. As noted by Billboard and in other media coverage since the tour’s U.S. leg kicked off on July 30 in Miami, Brown’s show is comprised of four acts complemented by various video segments, album cover images and photo flashbacks: Rise, Fall (during which Brown is seen on video addressing his legal issues over the years), Fantasy and Legacy. The most moving montage came towards the show’s end, in which Brown is seen interacting with his three children.

During each of the acts, an indefatigable Brown performs key songs associated with those time periods in his career. Drawing from an estimable catalog of 50+ hits and fan faves, the set list ranges from “Run It!” (his first Hot 100 No. 1 in 2005), “Gimme That” and “Ayo” to “Deuces,” “She Ain’t You,” “Kiss Kiss” and other points in between. Among the songs garnering raves and raucous sing-alongs from Saturday night’s audience were “Loyal,” “She Ain’t You,” “Under the Influence,” “Yeah 3x,” “No Guidance” and “Sensational.”

Brown’s agile tenor-to-falsetto vocals remain just as supple as his still superlative dancing skills. He was in constant motion throughout the show: whirling, twirling and twisting in tandem with maneuvering fleet-footed, endlessly smooth moves that defy the eyes — reminiscent of Michael Jackson, whose Bad album image was featured on one of the T-shirts that Brown wore during his performance. Just as fluid were the moves being made by his team of female and male dancers, who helped maintain the evening’s high energy level.

As did the rabid fans who packed SoFi Stadium from its rafters to the ground floor. Their excitement and pre-show anticipation were palpable prior to the 8:25 p.m. start time. Long lines of fans stretched in front of the merch booth, while others cruised throughout the stadium to their seats and elsewhere in the venue wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Brown’s visage. Also adding to the anticipation: a giant balloon rendering of Brown stationed alongside the stage.

On either side of the stage were giant video screens which gave everyone in the venue a bird’s-eye view of Brown and his crew. Brown made engaging his fans a top priority, playing both the main stage but also working his way up and down a catwalk that midway along stretched into two long side extensions for him and his dancers to do their thing. At one point during the Fantasy act, Brown donned a harness and flew high over the crowd to perform on a platform located at the other end of the venue.

Admirably holding their own — and demonstrating how they’ve leveled up over the course of their own careers — were opening acts Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller. Also playing a key role was DJ Fresh, whose pre-show appearance set the tone for the evening as he took fans down memory lane with tracks by Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Too $hort and Selena while simultaneously pumping up anticipation with the query, “Where are my day-one Chris Brown fans?”

Acknowledging his fans before leaving the stage at 10:55 p.m., Brown said, in part, and to more cheers, “California, I just want to thank you all. I call this my home too. You’ve always come out and showed your support. I’m just really appreciative and thankful for everybody in this building tonight … I love you all so much.”

The one clear takeaway after the show: 20 years later, Chris Brown is still having fun — and has no intention of slowing down.

Marking Brown’s first stadium tour, Breezy Bowl XX kicked off in Europe in early June and wrapped its international leg in Paris in July. After launching its North American leg in Miami on July 30, Breezy Bowl concludes its two-night stand in Los Angeles Sunday, Sept. 14, then heads to San Diego (Sept. 17) and other stops, including Denver (Sept. 24), Atlanta (Oct. 3) and Washington, D.C. (Oct. 8), before closing in Memphis (Oct. 18).