After shifting release dates multiple times due to sample clearance issues, Nicki Minaj released her new album Queen today. The record was expected out next Friday, but the rapper announced on her debut show on Apple‘s Beats 1 channel last night that it would arrive today.
In related news, Minaj has been added to the lineup of the MTV Video Music Awards. She will perform a song off Queen from what MTV is teasing as “an iconic location in New York” and that “It will also be the first time a major awards show will televise a performance from the surprise location.” The VMAs will be handed out on Monday, August 20.
Demi Lovato has canceled the rest of her “Tell Me You Love Me” fall tour dates, following her recent hospitalization for a reported overdose. Lovato had two dates in Mexico slated for September as well as a short tour of South America in November. In a statement, Live Nation said that “Unfortunately, Demi Lovato has canceled her upcoming ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ tour dates in South America, as she is focusing n her recovery.”
Drake and Migos have delayed their “Aubrey & The Three Amigos” tour once again. After recently rescheduling the tour to kick off in Kansas City, MO, on August 10 (today), but the tour has been rescheduled once again. Now it will begin this Sunday, August 12 with the previously scheduled August 12 date in St. Paul, MN, to be rescheduled down the road. TMZ reports that Drake’s production team had their bus towed from a parking lot in Kansas City yesterday, which may be the reason for the new delay.
The continued back-and-forth between Weezer and Toto continues. Now that Weezer has scored a massive hit with their cover of Toto’s ’80s classic “Africa,” the group has returned the favor. Toto’s cover of Weezer’s 2001 single “Hash Pipe” was released this morning.