Naya Rivera Among The Celebrities Featured in Chris Barker’s Annual Beatles-Style Tribute to 2020’s Biggest Losses

Naya Rivera is getting a special tribute…

British artist Chris Barker‘s annual Beatles-style tribute to lost celebrities features some of 2020’s biggest losses, including the late half-Puerto Rican actress/singer and Glee star, who drowned in July while on an outing with her son on California’s Lake Piru, as well as soccer legend Diego Maradona, Little Richard, Chadwick Boseman and Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen.

Naya Rivera

Barker, who has been meticulously crafting his homage to the infamous cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band since 2016 as a tribute to dearly departed pop culture icons and newsmakers — said his initial idea was to start with a blank slate in January and just add faces as the year went on.

The approach would’ve simply meant swapping out some images for more prominent ones as the year went on for a more “interactive” art project. But as this year just kept getting worse, he was glad he didn’t switch up his style.

Chris Barker's 2020 Sgt. Peppers Tribute

“Early spring I thought the devastating wildfires in Australia would be the defining moment of the year but, goodness me, 2020 just kept piling it on,” he tells Billboard. “So I had a couple of options of how to show this year was a year like no other. My immediate thought was social distancing; to have the characters all really spread out. But that would have proved really impractical.”

Instead, he stuck to the template of cramming as many singers, actors, athletes, public figures and news events as possible into the image, which this year includes everyone from police violence victim George Floyd to actors Kirk Douglas, Dave Prowse (Star WarsDarth Vader), Sean Connery, Diana Rigg, Monty Python‘s Terry Jones, Fred Willard and Jerry Stiller, as well as musical icons Florian Schneider (Kraftwerk), Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Kenny Rogers, Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), reggae great Toots Hibbert, Neil Peart (Rush), Ronald Bell (Kool & the Gang), DJ José Padilla, Bonnie Pointer (Pointer Sisters) and Afrobeat star Tony Allen, among many others.

Barker’s next idea was to include a nod to how important masks were this year during the pandemic, but that would have made the concept way too complicated to pull off. After starting work a month earlier than usual (in September), he realized masking the figures would make many of them unrecognizable, and posting it around the American election as he usually does would likely leave too many important figures off in a year when the devastating hits just kept on coming.

“Who knew what else could be just around the corner? It has been such an awful, bleak year,” he said, revealing that his original background was a red sky with burning forests in a nod to the devastating Australian and American wildfires. But with Joe Biden‘s victory over one-term President Donald Trump last month and talk of a COVID-19 vaccine right around the corner, suddenly there was a glimmer of hope. And instead of sticking the Biden/Harris logo “in the middle of a burning hellscape,” the Trump campaign gave him an unexpected gift with lawyer Rudy Giuliani‘s legendarily disastrous presser at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

“The surreal backdrop perfectly encapsulates the final nail in the coffin of the nightmarish Trump administration that inspired this whole project,” Barker said. “When I first did the 2016 montage, the loss of such an overwhelming number of iconic heroes was undoubtedly one of the defining stories of the year — even overshadowing Brexit and Trump. But this year, obviously the huge number of deaths from coronavirus is far more significant.”

With the real human cost of losses from COVID-19 piling up every day, Barker decided that the chalky floor of the Four Seasons parking lot was the perfect backdrop for an homage that also includes the losses of nearly 1.5 million worldwide to COVID, Trump’s presidency, Spencer Davis, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, drag queen Chi Chi DeVayne, directors Alan Parker and Joel Schumacher, magician Roy Horn, Glee‘s Rivera, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, Vera Lynn, Kelly Preston, and Gone With the Wind star Olivia de Havilland.

“Every line a reminder of a life taken, a family ripped apart. Every time I do this montage it is an emotional journey, however detached I may get from the subject matter while I’m in the thick of the Photoshop, when I put the list together for the key at the end and look at it, it is a quite sobering moment,” he said. “I know a lot of people who have lost family members this year and I always try to remember that all the people I am including have left people behind too. I have to try to be respectful to everyone and to pay tribute to them and the way they lived their lives.”

There are always a few losses that hit Barker the hardest, and this year for him it was Kraftwerk’s Schneider, Game of Thrones star Rigg and Python’s Jones.

All he asks is that if you are moved by his work, donate to the UK’s NHS charities this year.

Bad Bunny Speaks Out on Racism, Poverty & More in Surprise New Single “Compositor del Año”

Bad Bunny is back… And, he’s using his music to send a message to the haters.

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer, who was named Songwriter of the Year at this year’s ASCAP Latin Music Awards, has released the surprise single “Compositor del Año.”

Bad Bunny

The single addressed the social media chatter from people who questioned his win due to his sometimes explicit lyrics.

Via the track, Bad Bunny sends a message to his haters, saying there are more important issues going on in the world.

“They fight because they gave me composer of the year but not for what matters,” he belts in the song.

In the song, which has a Soundcloud link that ends in “f–k2020”), Bad Bunny opens up about the ongoing social issues affecting the United States, including racism, immigration, the importance of voting and more.

Sampling Little Richard’s 1955 classic “Tutti Frutti,” Bad Bunny’s 2-minute, 34-second song is a rap freestyle in which he first and foremost reminds fans that he went from an altar boy to a trap star. He then mentions the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, “It’s 2020 and racism is worse than COVID/ A black man with a gun, that’s a criminal, but if he’s white, they say that’s a hobby.”

“There are more important things than sitting down to criticize the achievements of an artist,” he continues, like encouraging the youth to vote.

“There are more important things like fighting for the rights of immigrants.”

At the end of the track, the “Yo Perreo Sola” singer expresses his dream to change the world and end poverty.

“But I can’t; it’s not my fault,” he says. “Before being born, all of this already existed. We only have to teach and learn, live and grow. Understand that we will always see something that will hurt us. To have faith, to believe that it is going to be possible.”

The song can be found on Amazon under the name Bad Bunsy.

Bad Bunny Becomes First Latino to Achieve No. 1 Album Debut on Apple Music

Bad Bunny’s making Apple Musichistory…

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer’s Los Que No Iban a Salir is currently the No.1 album on Apple Music, making Bad Bunny the first Latino artist to achieve a No.1 debut on Apple’s All-Genre charts.   

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny posted the news to his Instagram Stories on Monday. 

The 10-track collection arrived as a massive surprise on Sunday, even though he’d revealed bits and pieces of the record during his epic IG live performance the night of May 2.

Bad Bunny’s ahead of Kehlani’s It Was Good Until it Wasn’tLittle Richard hits comp that’s soaring in the wake of the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer’s passing, as well as the solo debut of Paramore’s Hayley Williams.

Only two of the cutting-floor tracks on the album, “Bad Con Nicky” and “Pa’ Romperla” (with Don Omar) have landed in the top 200 songs on Apple Music’s top songs chart, though. That means that Bad Bunny fans are listening to his album of resurrected gems from start to finish—over and over again.

Carey to Receive BMI Icon Award

She’s scored more No. 1 singles than any other solo artist in history… And, now Mariah Carey will be recognized for her musical feats.

The 42-year-old part-Venezuelan American songstress, rumored to be a lead contender to replace Jennifer Lopez as a judge on American Idol, will be honored this fall as a BMI Icon at the BMI Urban Awards.

Carey will join a group that includes the Jacksons, Snoop Dogg, George Clinton, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Little Richard, Al Green, the Bee Gees, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton — selected because of their “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.”

During her illustrious career, Carey has co-written most of her biggest hits, a lengthy list that includes 30 BMI Urban and Pop Award-winning songs  like “Fantasy,” “Vision of Love,” “Emotions,” “Shake It Off,” “We Belong Together” and “All I Want for Christmas is You,which she re-released with Justin Bieber last year.

A whopping 17 of her songs have amassed more than 1 million performances each, including “Always Be My Baby,” “Dreamlover” and “Hero,” which have each earned more than 3 million performances.

Carey has scored more No. 1 singles than any other solo artist in history; and she’s second only to the Beatles on the all-time list. She also holds the record for the female songwriter with the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles in the rock era, totaling 18.

Carey is currently in the studio, writing and recording her next album for Island Def Jam.

The BMI Urban Awards are scheduled for Friday, September 7 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.