Latest news with #MarenMorris
Time Out
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Everything you need to know about the WeHo Pride Parade
Looking forward to Pride Month? Well now you have two blockbuster events to look forward to, with a pair of Pride parades and festivals in both West Hollywood and Hollywood. Here's the deal: The L.A. Pride Parade, the long-running LGBTQ+ event produced by Christopher Street West that traces its history back to the 1970s, moved east into Hollywood starting in 2022. Meanwhile, back at the event's familiar location from the past few decades, West Hollywood now stages its own inclusive festival, WeHo Pride, complete with a parade that draws tens of thousands of spectators and a ticketed music festival, OUTLOUD, at West Hollywood Park (which will follow a free Friday-night concert headlined by Maren Morris). Here we'll be focusing on the WeHo Pride Parade—but if you want info on L.A. Pride, we have a separate guide dedicated to that fest. Each one takes over a separate weekend, so you thankfully won't have to choose one over the other. With that bit of intro info out of the way, here's everything else you need to know about this year's WeHo Pride Parade. When is the WeHo Pride Parade? The WeHo Pride Parade will be held on Sunday, June 1 (the day after the Dyke March and Women's Freedom Festival and amid the ongoing street fair and OUTLOUD fest). When does it start? This year's parade kicks off at noon at Santa Monica Boulevard and North Crescent Heights Boulevard. Who are the special guests? Model and actor Cara Delevingne tops this year's list of WeHo Pride Parade Icons, and the Guardian Icon will be joined by actress Nava Mau (Trailblazer Icon), Love on the Spectrum star Pari Kim (Next Gen Icon) and former NFL player Chris Kluwe (Ally Icon). The Parade Icons are chosen for their contributions to the LGBTQ+ community, visibility and advocacy. Where can I watch the parade? The parade runs along Santa Monica Boulevard, starting at North Crescent Heights Boulevard and then heading west to North San Vicente Boulevard, right near West Hollywood Park, so find a spot anywhere along the route to see the floats, performances and special guests pass by. If you can't make it in person, KTLA 5 will air a special two-hour broadcast of the parade at 8pm on Sunday night. You can also stream it via KTLA+, the station's app. What street closures will be in place? Between the parade and the street fair, you can expect shutdowns on stretches of Robertson, Santa Monica and San Vicente Boulevards all weekend. Here's the full list of street closures: – N San Vicente Blvd from Melrose Ave to Santa Monica Blvd (Thu, May 29, at 7pm through Mon, June 2, at 10am) – Santa Monica Blvd from N La Cienega Blvd to N Doheny Drive (Fri, May 30, at noon through Mon, June 2, at 7am) – N Robertson Blvd from Santa Monica Blvd to Melrose Ave (Fri, May 30, at noon through Mon, June 2, at 7am) – N San Vicente Blvd from Santa Monica Blvd to Cynthia Street (Fri, May 30, at noon through Mon, June 2, at 7am) – Santa Monica Blvd from N Fairfax Ave to N Doheny Drive, including side streets one block north and one block south of Santa Monica Blvd (Sun, June 1, at 5am through 5pm); Santa Monica Blvd from N La Cienega Blvd to N Doheny Drive will remain closed though Mon, June 2, at 7am
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Marren Morris Misses The Albums Chart For The First Time
Maren Morris's Dreamsicle debuts at No. 28 on the Top Album Sales chart but misses the Billboard ... More 200, marking a commercial low in her major label career. INDIO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 13: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Maren Morris performs with Zedd at the Outdoor Theatre during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2025 in Indio, California. (Photo byfor Coachella) It was almost a decade ago that Maren Morris broke out as one of the most exciting new names in country music. She did so with her major label debut album Hero and its singles "My Church" and "80s Mercedes," which both hit the Billboard charts and made a significant impact in 2016. Lately, Morris has been shaking things up, trying new styles and even stepping away from the country space where she got her start. The plan hasn't worked out as she hoped, and her new album Dreamsicle has turned out to be something of a commercial disappointment — the first of its kind for the singer-songwriter. Dreamsicle was released earlier in May and reaches just one Billboard chart this week, now that its first full tracking frame has concluded. The set opens at No. 28 on the Top Album Sales chart. Luminate reports that it sold a little over 2,900 copies in its first tracking period. Sadly, that's the only roster in the United States where Morris launches her latest project. Dreamsicle is now the first major label album by Morris to miss the Billboard 200, which ranks the most consumed albums in America. Her first three full-length projects with Columbia — Hero, Girl, and Humble Quest — all debuted on the list when they were brand new. She peaked at No. 4 with her sophomore effort Girl in 2019. Three years ago, Humble Quest brought her to a new low of No. 21, but her latest set doesn't even manage to crack the ranking. Since the album veers away from country stylings and into a more adult contemporary pop sound, it didn't leave a mark in the country space either. Morris also misses the top 10 on the Top Album Sales chart for the first time in her career with a new full-length major label release (she did share several albums as an independent artist that didn't chart). Girl stands out as her highest-rising win, as it missed out on hitting No. 1 by just one space. Hero peaked at No. 4, while Humble Quest counted No. 9 as its high point. Morris collects the thirteenth-highest-rising debut on the Top Album Sales chart this frame. The list is dominated by Even in Arcadia by metal act Sleep Token. Also new to the tally are just-released offerings from musicians like Kali Uchis, Forrest Frank, Blake Shelton, Arcade Fire, and Counting Crows.
NZ Herald
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Kiwi producer and songwriter Joel Little on life, Lorde, legacy and the power of giving back
'When my wife and I moved back from LA, we were in a position where we could do something,' he tells the Herald of the inception of Big Fan, which opened as an all-ages performance space and studio in late 2022. 'I feel like for me in my career, I wouldn't be where I am if there hadn't been certain people along the way that had said the right thing or given me a little opportunity. We wanted Big Fan to provide opportunities for people to upskill, to connect with other like-minded people, and to learn.' While Big Fan and helping support rising stars has been one of Little's main passion projects of late, he's still writing and producing for some of the industry's biggest stars, albeit trying to do it from his home turf as much as possible. 'I was doing, like, three weeks here, two weeks in LA, like back-and-forth travelling way too much,' he says. 'Now I've got a little 4-year-old as well as our two older kids, and so I'm trying to just keep the balance a bit more, leaning a bit more towards New Zealand.' While he notes that his kids also liked to dabble in music, he jokes that his 17-year-old once told him that 'the legacy dies with you Dad'. Recently, he's worked with country-pop superstar Maren Morris on some songs on her album DREAMSICLE, and in 2023 struck up a great creative friendship with former One Directioner Niall Horan, collaborating with him on his hit album The Show. 'He'd sent me a song of his called The Show, where he just had, like, a piano and a vocal, and I thought it was a great song,' Little recalls, noting the process started during the pandemic. 'So I just, at home here, produced the rest of the track, played all the instruments on there, and sent it back to him and he was like, 'Oh crap, this is awesome'.' Working in collaboration and figuring out how to manage different creative processes is a skill Little said he's learned over more than a decade in the music business, and it wasn't something he could do 'right off the bat'. 'Sometimes an artist will come in with the start of an idea and other times they'll want to hear some sounds or some music, so I have ... a bunch of tracks that we can work off of,' he reveals. 'Other times they just want to play, like pick up guitars and play that way or jump on a piano. There aren't really any rules, it's just whatever people need to do to feel inspired that day.' Most Kiwis would naturally link Little's name to New Zealand's biggest musical export: Lorde. The pair gained international acclaim after Little produced and co-wrote her EP The Love Club (with Royals winning the 2014 Song of the Year Grammy) and her album Pure Heroine. 'I'm always so grateful for that. It genuinely changed both of our lives and the lives of everybody around us,' he says. 'We were just making music in my studio, Golden Age, which is actually just a few hundred metres away from here, and we just had zero expectations. We were just trying to make something that we liked and that we thought was interesting, but obviously it took on a life of its own.' With the superstar about to release a new album, Little says he can't wait to see what impact it makes. 'It's always nice when she's releasing new music and comes back and saves pop music every three to four years,' he says. Before his stint as a fulltime producer, Little was also the lead vocalist for pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse, an experience he said helped him appreciate the value of live music. 'A song can bring people from so many different walks of life together,' he says. 'Live shows in particular create a way for people to feel connected with the music and then connected with each other at the same time.' After not playing live for 13 years, he and the band reunited to open for My Chemical Romance in Auckland in 2023. 'To go out, and in front of 17,000 people, and play, it was such a powerful thing,' Little says. 'Just reconnecting with the guys in the band and seeing fans that had been Goodnight Nurse fans when they were teenagers, all that kind of stuff is really powerful.' Fittingly, for New Zealand Music Month, he's also shifting his efforts towards another powerful cause, the local charity MusicHelps. 'I've been a board member for maybe five years,' he says. 'They fund hundreds of projects across the country every year that use music in various ways to help people out, whether that be music therapy, providing instruments to community groups, or helping people who are in palliative care or rest homes.' Just like Little's work at Big Fan, the charity also helps provide support services for working musicians and those in the industry. 'Another arm of it is to do with helping those with mental health issues or who are struggling in various ways. There's a wellbeing service that people in the industry can access, and also things like counselling and access hardship grants.' Those who want to support the cause can do so in various ways, but one of the biggest is through the New Zealand Music T-Shirt Day on May 30. All net profits of official New Zealand Music Month T-Shirts are donated to the MusicHelps Grants programme. People can also text Music to 2448 to donate $3. 'I have, like, an embarrassingly small collection of music T-Shirts and I always wheel out the same ones,' Little admits, saying it would be poor form to wear a Goodnight Nurse one.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘You need to let people know where you stand': Maren Morris on being country music's most outspoken star
'Sitting on the fence feels good between my legs' sings Maren Morris on Push Me Over, the best song on the country star's new album Dreamsicle. Co-written and produced by the queer pop band MUNA, the song is a flirtatious statement of intent for Morris, who publicly came out as bisexual last June. For someone who's made a career out of righteously aggravating country music's conservative base, it's also typically provocative. Singing so slyly about same-sex lust in Nashville, the heart of the country music establishment, where Christian values still reign supreme: does it still feel taboo? 'I mean, less so than it used to. But maybe that's just because I've removed myself a bit from the machine of all that,' says Morris from her home in Nashville. Despite the assumptions of outside onlookers, Nashville is more than just the 'mechanism of mainstream country music,' the 35-year-old says. 'It is that, but there's also so much diversity here and it's always been that way. It's a progressive dot in the middle of a really conservative state, and it has to be because it's a music town. It has to lend itself to open-minded ideals, because we're making music here and we're empaths and we feel deeply.' It's why Morris has never left the city, even if country music's more conservative forces have tried hard to excommunicate her. 'There's a heartbeat here that's very free and accepts people, and that's why I've chosen to remain here and make this my home. I have my community here that I love, but I also want to help make it better and redefine what people maybe think of the South or of country music.' The same sentiment that seeps through Chappell Roan's The Giver, her '90s-flecked country hit about sapphic generosity, lives in Morris' Push Me Over. More than just a lavender moment for mainstream country, it's country outcasts staking their territory. We're as country as Mr All-American Blue Jeans, they seem to be saying, you can't tell us we don't belong. 'I'm such a fan [of Chappell] and I think what she's advocating for and doing musically is so important,' says Morris. 'You just know when you're watching a true artist be themselves, fully be themselves, and not follow a script or a paradigm. I don't want perfection from the artists I love; I want real, I want authenticity, and she's definitely that.' I'm speaking to Morris over Zoom, but with some foresight I might've caught her in person. Last month I noticed a Reddit commenter wonder aloud if they'd really just spotted Morris in Sydney. 'Yeah, that was me, I was on vacation,' Morris laughs. 'I had a week off and I was like, I really want to have a little adventure before all the tours and album stuff kicks in. I'd always wanted to go to Sydney and just explore, be a random person. The only plan on the schedule was to get a tattoo.' She lifts her forearm to show me the martini glass inked there by Sydney tattooist, Lauren Winzer. In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) Loading In an interview with New York Times ′ Popcast in 2023, Morris decried an ugly strain of 'hatefulness' in country music at the time, a period dominated by MAGA-fied culture wars around Jason Aldean's Try That In a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond, and Morgan Wallen's post-slur comeback. That same year she told the Los Angeles Times she'd 'take a step back' from the country industry amid conservative backlash and death threats. With some dust settled, does country feel less hateful now? 'I mean, I'm so out of the loop. But the people I hang around with here in Nashville and make music with are my best friends for a reason,' says Morris. The backlash just let her know who's really onside, anyway. 'I've always been rebellious and risky, and it's totally fine if people don't get it, not everyone is supposed to. Of course, you're going to lose some people along the way, that's life. But you need to let people know where you stand. 'That's why the fan base I do have is so diverse and safe,' she adds. 'It's because I've stuck my neck out for them and vice versa. It's not been me just towing the line and keeping my mouth shut to keep coins in my pocket. I really believe in what I'm saying and what I'm writing, and I think that's only been a benefit to my work. I've just never had it in me to be a fence-sitter.' Pun completely unintended.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘You need to let people know where you stand': Maren Morris on being country music's most outspoken star
'Sitting on the fence feels good between my legs' sings Maren Morris on Push Me Over, the best song on the country star's new album Dreamsicle. Co-written and produced by the queer pop band MUNA, the song is a flirtatious statement of intent for Morris, who publicly came out as bisexual last June. For someone who's made a career out of righteously aggravating country music's conservative base, it's also typically provocative. Singing so slyly about same-sex lust in Nashville, the heart of the country music establishment, where Christian values still reign supreme: does it still feel taboo? 'I mean, less so than it used to. But maybe that's just because I've removed myself a bit from the machine of all that,' says Morris from her home in Nashville. Despite the assumptions of outside onlookers, Nashville is more than just the 'mechanism of mainstream country music,' the 35-year-old says. 'It is that, but there's also so much diversity here and it's always been that way. It's a progressive dot in the middle of a really conservative state, and it has to be because it's a music town. It has to lend itself to open-minded ideals, because we're making music here and we're empaths and we feel deeply.' It's why Morris has never left the city, even if country music's more conservative forces have tried hard to excommunicate her. 'There's a heartbeat here that's very free and accepts people, and that's why I've chosen to remain here and make this my home. I have my community here that I love, but I also want to help make it better and redefine what people maybe think of the South or of country music.' The same sentiment that seeps through Chappell Roan's The Giver, her '90s-flecked country hit about sapphic generosity, lives in Morris' Push Me Over. More than just a lavender moment for mainstream country, it's country outcasts staking their territory. We're as country as Mr All-American Blue Jeans, they seem to be saying, you can't tell us we don't belong. 'I'm such a fan [of Chappell] and I think what she's advocating for and doing musically is so important,' says Morris. 'You just know when you're watching a true artist be themselves, fully be themselves, and not follow a script or a paradigm. I don't want perfection from the artists I love; I want real, I want authenticity, and she's definitely that.' I'm speaking to Morris over Zoom, but with some foresight I might've caught her in person. Last month I noticed a Reddit commenter wonder aloud if they'd really just spotted Morris in Sydney. 'Yeah, that was me, I was on vacation,' Morris laughs. 'I had a week off and I was like, I really want to have a little adventure before all the tours and album stuff kicks in. I'd always wanted to go to Sydney and just explore, be a random person. The only plan on the schedule was to get a tattoo.' She lifts her forearm to show me the martini glass inked there by Sydney tattooist, Lauren Winzer. In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) Loading In an interview with New York Times ′ Popcast in 2023, Morris decried an ugly strain of 'hatefulness' in country music at the time, a period dominated by MAGA-fied culture wars around Jason Aldean's Try That In a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond, and Morgan Wallen's post-slur comeback. That same year she told the Los Angeles Times she'd 'take a step back' from the country industry amid conservative backlash and death threats. With some dust settled, does country feel less hateful now? 'I mean, I'm so out of the loop. But the people I hang around with here in Nashville and make music with are my best friends for a reason,' says Morris. The backlash just let her know who's really onside, anyway. 'I've always been rebellious and risky, and it's totally fine if people don't get it, not everyone is supposed to. Of course, you're going to lose some people along the way, that's life. But you need to let people know where you stand. 'That's why the fan base I do have is so diverse and safe,' she adds. 'It's because I've stuck my neck out for them and vice versa. It's not been me just towing the line and keeping my mouth shut to keep coins in my pocket. I really believe in what I'm saying and what I'm writing, and I think that's only been a benefit to my work. I've just never had it in me to be a fence-sitter.' Pun completely unintended.
