LIAM PAYNE’S EP ‘FIRST TIME’ GETS RELEASE DATE & TRACK LISTING: Liam Payne’s upcoming EP, First Time, now has an official release date and track listing. Payne will drop the EP this Friday. The lead single and title track, “First Time,” will feature French Montana. The other three new songs are “Home With You,” “Depend On It,” and “Slow.” Liam recently let fans know that he would be putting his debut album plans on the back burner, opting for this shorter EP instead.BACKSTREET BOYS FANS TREATED FOR INJURIES AFTER STORM: An Oklahoma casino says 14 people suffered cuts and bruises when a powerful rainstorm toppled entrance trusses and disrupted the start of an outdoor concert by the Backstreet Boys. Kym Koch-Thompson, spokeswoman for the WinStar World Casino and Resort, says the concertgoers were treated at the scene following Saturday’s storm, then taken to hospitals in Oklahoma and Texas. She says they were all treated for minor injuries and released. The casino says a storm packing winds of up to 80 mph struck the venue about 5:30 p.m. and blew down entrance trusses on about 150 concertgoers who didn’t heed earlier evacuation warnings. The concert was postponed. A new date hasn’t been set yet.
MEGHAN TRAINOR’S CHILDHOOD HOME IN NANTUCKET UP FOR SALE: Meghan Trainor’s parents are selling their house on Nantucket, Massachusetts. According to Page Six, Meghan’s parents are selling the place so they can move to Los Angeles to be closer to their daughter and two sons. The four-bedroom, five and a half bathroom home has a price tag of $1.68 million. It features a vaulted ceiling, a dining room with French doors, a deck, a master bathroom with a walk-in closet and a Jacuzzi tub in the attached bathroom, an eat-in kitchen, an outdoor shower and a finished basement with a billiards room and a separate playroom. Meghan’s new album Treat Myself will be out later this year.
OMI RETURNS WITH A NEW SONG, ‘MASTERPIECE’: OMI, the Jamaican artist known for his Billboard No. 1 Hot 100 record, “Cheerleader Remix,” is back with new music. The singer has released another collaboration with Felix Jaehn, the same German producer who remixed “Cheerleader” into a No. 1 hit. The new upbeat track “Masterpiece” is all about encouraging women to love themselves for who they are. OMI’s follow-up album to his album Me 4 U is on the way, though he has yet to reveal its release date or title. But he says that fans will really see his “growth and development” on the project.
ARIANA GRANDE BREAKS A RECORD ON ‘SWEETENER’ RELEASE DAY: Ariana Grande’s new album Sweetener, released on Friday, is already breaking records. She now holds the U.S. Spotify record for the biggest opening day for a female artist. Sweetener received 15.1 million album streams on August 17th. This is her fourth studio album following 2013’s Yours Truly, 2014’s My Everything, and 2016’s Dangerous Woman. You can watch Ariana perform a song from the album live tonight during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. Meanwhile, Ariana included a subtle tribute to the Manchester bombing victims on Sweetener. Fans noticed that at the end of the album’s final track, “Get Well Soon,” Ariana included 40 seconds of silence, which brings the song’s run time to 5 minutes and 22 seconds. The significance? May 22 – 5/22 – is the date the terror attack took place last year. Ariana previously said “Get Well Soon” was a track about her anxiety following the attack – which took place after her concert in Manchester, England. 22 people were killed.
