Selena Gomez Starring as Linda Ronstadt in Biopic Based on the Singer’s “Simple Dreams” Memoir

Selena Gomez is heading to the Blue Bayou

The 31-year-old Mexican American actress/singer will portray Linda Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic based on the superstar singer’s 2013 memoir Simple Dreams.

Selena GomezGomez, who stars in and executive produces Hulu’s The Only Murders In The Building, gave credence to the months-old internet rumors about the project by posting a photo of the memoir as an Instagram Story. Rolling Stone later confirmed the casting.

In pre-production, the film is being co-produced by James Keach and Ronstadt’s longtime manager John Boylan.

Additional casting and release date have not been announced.

An unconfirmed report of Gomez’s involvement in the biopic surfaced last July, but the IG Story today moved the possibility into the definite.

Keach directed the 2020 film Linda and the Mockingbirds, a documentary chronicling a road trip undertaken by Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and a group of younger musicians to the Mexican town of Banámichi in the state of Sonora, the birthplace of Ronstadt’s grandfather.

Linda Ronstadt Heart Like a WheelLike Gomez, who has had a successful music and acting career, Ronstadt is of Mexican descent. Ronstadt wrote at length about her heritage in the 2013 memoir. The singer returned to the subject in the 2022 book Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands.

Despite her 2012 retirement following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease – the diagnosis was revised seven years later to progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative disease similar to Parkinson’s that has left Ronstadt unable to sing – Ronstadt and her music have returned to the spotlight in recent months. Last year her 1970 recording of “Long Long Time” was featured prominently in an episode of The Last of Us, and trailers for Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans make heavy use of Ronstadt’s smash 1974 hit “You’re No Good.”

The 2019 documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, offered an in-depth retrospective of her life and career, featuring on-screen appearances by and interviews with Ronstadt and her many musical friends and colleagues, including Browne, Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Kevin Kline, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther.

If even a fraction of the many rockers and celebrities who’ve crossed paths with Ronstadt over the years make it into the biopic as characters, Hollywood will be very busy in coming months with actors vying for plum roles.

Bad Bunny Confirms New Collaboration with Travis Scott Due Soon

Great Scott! Bad Bunny has a hot new collaboration on the way…

After dominating the past year with his blockbuster, Grammy-winning album Un Verano Sin Ti  and a slew of follow-up singles and collaborations, the 29-year-old Puerto Rican superstar is shifting his attention to new music.

Bad BunnyIn an interview with Rolling Stone, published on Wednesday, Bad Bunny confirmed that a collaboration with Travis Scott is on the way.

“We worked on that a while back — and I think Travis has been working on his project for a minute,” remarked the “Me Porto Bonito” singer. “I don’t know if maybe I’ll release a song [this year] if I like it enough, but I don’t think so. I said this year was for resting.”

The song would mark the first collaboration between the two artists.

Last month (May 29), a video surfaced of an alleged snippet of a song users attributed to Bad Bunny and Scott.

The very same day, BNYX, the producer behind Drake’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Search & Rescue,” quoted the tweet and played into the speculation with a couple of peeking emojis.

Regardless of when the song arrives, the collaboration is almost certain to be a massive success.

Bad Bunny’s 2022 release, Un Verano Sin Ti, spent a whopping 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned four Hot 100 top ten hits: “Moscow Mule” (No. 4), “Tití Me Preguntó” (No. 5), “Después de la Playa” (No. 6) and the Chencho Corleone-assisted “Me Porto Bonito” (No. 6).

Just last month, Bad Bunny earned his milestone tenth career Hot 100 top ten with the No. 8-peaking “Where She Goes.”

Mariah Carey Talks Recording Multiple Projects Worth of New Music

It appears new Mariah Carey music could be on the horizon…

During a conversation with Rolling Stone‘Rolling Stone Music Now, the 53-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning singer/songwriter revealed that she’d recorded multiple projects in her Butterfly Lounge studio during the pandemic.

Mariah Carey“It’s about three or four different things,” Carey said. “One is a project that I’m almost finished with that I was doing some background vocal tweaks on. One is [new] songs that could be for the scripted series [by Lee Daniels] or a documentary. And then there’s a themed album. It’s something that people have been asking me to do for years, but it’s not done in the traditional sense. It’s not done yet, but I’m really excited about it. I’m working [on that album] with some very eclectic, newer artists, as well as some legendary folks.”

For the 25th anniversary of her sixth studio album Butterfly, Carey is releasing an expanded version of the LP with eight new bonus tracks, including a remake of “The Roof (When I Feel the Need)” with Brandy. However, she still looks back on the 1997 album and feels its single “Breakdown” wasn’t appreciated or supported by the label at the time.

“People did not believe in it, or believe in me in that genre and that moment,” she said, recalling that the label feared her change in sound was “too urban.” “By people, I mean the corporate morgue, the entities that run things. I mean, Tha Crossroads was such a big record!”

Meanwhile, any new album would be a follow-up to Carey’s 2018 fan favorite studio set Caution, which featured singles “GTFO,” “With You” and “A No No.”

Stream Carey’s’s complete interview about her upcoming music and more on Apple Podcasts.

DaniLeigh Releases New Single “Dead to Me” While Moving Past DaBaby Drama

It’s life after dead to DaniLeigh

The 27-year-old Dominican American singer, who is attempting to move on from her turbulent relationship with ex-boyfriend DaBaby, has released the new single “Dead to Me” as she focuses on her music career.

DaniLeigh“You know you dead to me/ Never kept your word with what you said to me / You know you dead to me/ I ain’t got no more time for toxic energy,” she sings in the chorus.

In a moving new interview with iHeartRadio’s Angie Martinez that premiered on People, DaniLeigh — born Danielle Leigh Curiel — opened up about motherhood, DaBaby and “Dead to Me.” Most notably, she reflected on the Instagram Live she had with the “Rockstar” rapper in November, which she described as a “very bad time” in her life.

In the since-deleted video, the former couple were seen having a heated argument while DaniLeigh nursed their newborn daughter, who is now eight months old.

According to Rolling Stone, DaBaby and DaniLeigh exchanged insults, with the latter claiming that the rapper hadn’t been around since their daughter was born, and that he was now trying to make her leave his apartment.

The next day, DaBaby went on Instagram Live again, where the duo continued to argue about their relationship. According to Rolling Stone and local CBS affiliate WBTV, the rapper told law enforcement on both days that Curiel had assaulted him; she was charged with simple assault.

“It was very triggering, very sad,” the 27-year-old star told Martinez of the situation. “I wish it didn’t happen because I don’t want my baby to see that later on in life.”

The “Easy” singer says the way she’ll explain the video to her child “depends on the type of person she grows up to be.”

“The only responsibility I have is to raise her to be a strong woman. She’ll feel how she feels, she’s her own person,” Curiel explained. DaniLeigh also shared that it was “very selfish” to get into that fight, and that DaBaby has not apologized. “He’s like that though,” she said of her ex-boyfriend.

“I’ve learned to love myself so much more,” she said of her mindset since the end of the relationship. “Because I feel like I really did love him so much that I was just giving it all to him … I didn’t even focus on my career.”

“Dead to Me” is set to appear on her upcoming EP, My Side, which doesn’t have a release date yet.

Showtime Releases Teaser for 6ix9ine Documentary, “The Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine”

It’s showtime for Tekashi 6ix9ine

Showtime has released a teaser for The Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine, which takes a deep dive into how the 24-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American rapper, real name Danny Hernandez, came tobecome one of music’s most controversial artists of the moment.

Tekashi 6ix9ine

The teaser gives music fans a glimpse into the rainbow rapper’s rise to notoriety and his fall as a convicted criminal.

“If I was to die today, I’d be a legend. I know that for a fact,” Hernandez says in the trailer.

The teaser splices together footage of Hernandez hyping up crowds at his concerts, appearing in various talk shows and pleading his way in court amid a plethora of controversies. The Brooklyn rapper faced federal prosecutions in 2019 after he pleaded guilty to nine crimes.

Karam Gill directs the three-part series, inspired by Stephen Witt’s Rolling Stone story. Giancarlo Esposito narrates the music-crime series.

Supervillain is produced by Imagine Documentaries, Rolling Stone and Lightbox. Brian Grazer executive produces.

The docuseries will premiere on Showtime on Sunday, February 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with new episodes airing every Sunday through March 7.

Bad Bunny Lands Top Spanish-Language Album on Rolling Stone‘s Year-End Top 200 Albums Chart

Bad Bunny is the lider of the pack…

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer/rapper has the highest-charting Spanish-language album on Rolling Stone‘s Year-End Top 200 Albums Chart.

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny comes in at No. 14 on the list with YHLQMDLG, with 1.3 million album-equivalent units reported.

 

The year-end Rolling Stone 200 Albums chart covers streams and sales from January 3rd, 2020, through December 31st, 2020.

In all, five Latin albums — four of which were Bad Bunny albums — made this year’s RS 200, up from last year’s two.

Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG comes in at No. 8 on the Top Albums — On Demand Audio Streams chart with 1.6 billion streams.

Showtime to Release New Tekashi 6ix9ine Documentary Series in 2021

There’s another Tekashi 6ix9ine documentary headed your way…

Showtime will be releasing a new three-part documentary series, Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine, that centers on the 24-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American rapper, who was born Daniel Hernandez.

Tekashi 6ix9ine

6ix9ine is one of the most fascinating characters in the current world of hip hop. A controversial figure with rainbow-colored hair and a penchant for online trolling, he has had his fair share of celebrity feuds, gang issues and legal battles, including pleading guilty to a felony count of use of a child in a sexual performance and being arrested on racketeering, weapons and drug charges.

This will all be explored in the documentary series for Showtime, which is fast becoming one of the key homes for music documentaries.

The series is directed by Karam Gill, who scored an exclusive interview with the rapper after he was released from prison earlier this year, differentiating it from Hulu’s recent film 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez.

The docuseries is inspired by Tekashi 6ix9ine: The Rise and Fall of a Hip Hop Supervillain, written by investigative journalist Stephen Witt and published in Rolling Stone, which produces alongside Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries and Tina Turner producer Lightbox.

The docuseries is expected on the cable network in 2021.

Rodrigo Prieto: The Cinematographer Behind the Lens of Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” Video

Everything’s o-Tay for Rodrigo Prieto

The 54-year-old three-time Oscar-nominated Mexican cinematographer is earning rave reviews for his work on Taylor Swift’s music video for the pop star’s latest single “Cardigan.”

Rodrigo Prieto

The top-secret music video, written, directed and styled by Swift, was filmed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dreamy video, released on Friday, July 24 alongside Swift’s new album Folklore, presents a cottagecore aesthetic and features Swift in three different settings.

The “homespun” and “dreamlike” video starts out with Swift sitting in a candlelit cottage in the woods, wearing a nightgown and playing a vintage upright piano. When the soundboard starts glowing, she climbs into it and is magically transported to a moss-covered forest, where she plays the song on a grand piano producing a waterfall. The piano bench starts to glow and she climbs into it. She gets transported to a dark stormy sea, where she holds on to a floating piano. The piano soundboard glows and she climbs in, and she returns to the cottage, where she dons a cardigan.

Taylor Swift Cardigan Video

“She had the whole storyline – the whole notion of going into the piano and coming out into the forest, the water, going back into the piano,” Prieto tells Rolling Stoneof hisfirst phone call with Swift.

Their last collaboration, on the music video for “The Man,” saw Swift adopting a male alter ego to satirize gender inequality.

From the beginning, though, Prieto says “Cardigan” was always going to be more ambiguous, and more personal: “When she called me and told me that this was more of a fantasy, I found that really appealing.”

This was in early July, when Prieto had simultaneously begun serving on a committee for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) to conceive solutions for safely resuming film production during the ongoing pandemic.

Prieto had just finished filming a PSA for a healthcare company when Swift asked him to work on “Cardigan,” and he was well aware of the many, many layers of risks involved in the project.

“We needed to be safe, for her sake and for our sake as a crew during the shoot, but also for the future of filmmaking,” he says. “Because we want to keep working and doing what we do, and if, God forbid, someone got sick on one of the first jobs that was filmed, it would probably close down [the industry].”

The extensive safety protocols for the shoot ranged from standard – everybody had to get tested, and every member of the crew wore a mask – to outlandish: Because Swift would need to spend a large part of the shoot not wearing a face covering, the crew used a colored wristband system, determining which members of the team were permitted to stand closest to her. (Prieto, assistant director Joe Osborne, and set designer Ethan Tobman all wore one color, lighting designers and gaffers wore another, and so on.)

Prieto actually wore two face coverings – a mask and an acrylic shield – for most of the day-and-a-half-long shoot. And just to ensure that crew members crossed within a six-foot range of Swift as little as possible, the entire “Cardigan” video was shot by mounting the camera to a robotic arm, which was then controlled by a remote operator.

The “techno arm,” as Prieto calls it, is typically only used in the industry for crane shots and other establishing visuals.

“We were going to use the crane for the ocean scene,” Prieto explains, referencing the shot where the image zooms out on the wide expanse of the water before honing back in on Swift. “So then I said, let’s have it both days.”

Hooking the camera up to a giant robot was the safest way to get close-ups on Swift’s face, Prieto explains. And as unwieldy as that sounds, you’d never know from watching the video that a human being wasn’t behind the lens at all times.

There was, of course, the added tangle of secrecy – the filmmaking had to be done indoors to avoid crowds, and Swift wore an earpiece throughout the shoot to lip-sync to the song without any of the crew hearing it.

The crew built three sets on two stages across one large studio, and in order to create the illusion of natural light for the outdoor scenes, Prieto and his crew draped giant stretches of white bouncing fabric on the walls and ceiling. The process took longer than usual due to COVID, with the lighting crew working in small groups and frequently taking breaks so they could remove masks and catch their breath.

“Filmmaking is a gregarious endeavor by nature,” Prieto says. “People are close to each other, so it’s really hard to remember to keep to yourselves.” Given the distancing on set, it was sometimes tricky for crew members to communicate over reference points and documents – “we had to kind of point at each other” – but Prieto attributes Swift’s clear vision for the project as a guiding light.

Ahead of the shoot, she sent him and Tobman numerous visual references for each scene – a mix of photographs for the dark ocean water and drawings for the fantastical forest sequence. One illustration, of a sword lodged into a rock formation overlooking a creek, was particularly inspiring: “That became our focal interest – we didn’t imitate it, but the feeling of it was what we went with.”

On top of that, Swift came up with a detailed shot list for the video ahead of time, with each visual accompanied by a time sequence within the song.

“The ocean water, the fingers on the piano, whatever it may be, she knew what she wanted for each section,” Prieto says. Unlike with “The Man,” Swift couldn’t be as hands-on with her direction on set – she viewed each take through a video monitor after it was shot – but Prieto was impressed by her ability to “talk with the camera” and utilize cinematic language without formal training, like with the unorthodox, zoom-out-and-in shot over the ocean. “I was blown away, because it’s all metaphorical,” he says. “This video is not just pretty images of things; she’s telling a personal story through her lyrics, her music, and now through the video.”

The video has already been viewed more than 40 million times on YouTube since its release.

Prieto previously earned Academy Awards for his lensing work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2006), Martin Scorsese’s Silence (2017) and Scorsese’s The Irishman (2020).

His other film credits include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel (2006) and Biutiful (2010), Francis Lawrence’s Water for Elephants and Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo.

Shakira Teams Up with Camilo & Pedro Capo on “Tutu (Remix)”

Shakirais plié-ingwith fuego… 

The 42-year-old Colombian superstar has joined voices with Camilo Echeverry, simply known as Camilo, and Pedro Capó on the dreamy new remix of “Tutu.”

Pedro Capo, Camilo, Shakira

Shakira shared the news on her Instagram account, just before the remix was released to the public. 

“You asked for it, and whatever you want from me, you got it,” write Shakira. 

“It’s like a dream come true,” Echeverry tells Rolling Stone of working with Shakira. “I tried to be the most professional that I could, but I was like fangirling all the time. The first cassette that I had in my life was Shakira’s ¿Donde Están Los Ladrones?.”

Last week, Shakira posted a video of herself singing along to “Tutu” on Instagram — “I can’t get this song out of my head!” she wrote — then privately messaged Echeverry, asking to jump on the track. 

Shakira lends the remix an airy, feminine touch, treating Echeverry’s lyrics with the utmost care. 

“Tutu (Remix)” marks Shakira’s first release since she announced her upcoming Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez.

The “Tutu (Remix)” will be released on October 15.

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Give High-Octane Performance of “Despacito” at the Grammys

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee may not have taken home a gramophone, but they did leave a lasting impression..

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican singer and 40-year-old Puerto Rican wowed the crowd with a high-octane performance of their record-smashing international hit “Despacito.

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee

Fonsi and Yankee performed the worldwide smash flanked by a collection of dancing, scantily clad women. The audience vigorously danced and bopped their heads along to the dance hit. Former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera runway-walked onto the stage in a gold and nude bodysuit before twerking between the pair.

By the end, male and female dancers were grinding all over the stage to the song as Rivera sauntered off.

The remixed version of the reggaeton-pop track featuring Justin Bieber was up for three awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The remix won Best Urban/Fusion performance at the 2017 Latin Grammys, and the original version earned Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video.

“Despacito” – which Rolling Stone named the seventh-best song of 2017 – helped spark a Latin-pop revolution last year: The song’s video became the top-viewed clip in YouTube history, racking up nearly 5 billion views – and six of the site’s top 10 most-viewed music videos were from Latin artists.