Alicia Keys has been announced as the host of the 2019 Grammy Awards, and we seem to be MUCH more excited than her own family! She announced the news to her mom, husband Swizz Beatz, & sons on social media with… mixed results.

We also got news about who’s performing! Cardi B, Post Malone, and Camila Cabello are all set to take the Grammy stage for the very first time!

Get hype for the awards with Slacker’s Grammy Awards 2019 station - where our curators look at nominees from all genres and make our predictions!

Alan Jackson has been pretty vocal about his opinion on modern country music. In an interview with GQ last year, he said, "There’s some good music out there, but there’s not really much at all that’s real country music anymore on the mainstream country charts — what is nominated for awards." But he’s not one to just sit around and complain. He’s doing his part to get more of the traditional sound back in modern country music (which, by the way, always happens in a cycle, so everybody calm down).

Alan’s got a bar in downtown Nashville called AJ’s Good Time Bar, and he’s got a full slate of up-and-coming artists who perform there. Now, he plans on taking a few of them on the road with him for his 2019 Tour. Randy Houser and William Michael Morgan are already set as openers, but on select dates through September, he’ll bring along some of the acts from the bar, too. You get to pick them.

There are 21 choices, with videos of each performing a song at AJ’s, and you have until February 8 to pick your favorite. The top two will be announced on social media. How can you even stand all this power you have?

Vote here.

Here’s just one of the choices.

Lauren Jauregui has a new song out, More Than That, and with the track she’s ready to fully launch The Year of Lauren.

Looking back on her time with Fifth Harmony, she points out that she was in the group from ages 16 to 22, saying “That’s 6 years of my life that I dedicated.. 6 very transformative years. Like, of adolescence, where I’m supposed to be discovering myself. And I realized, this year, that I was so consumed by working, and being part of a group, that I didn’t at all get to figure out who I was as an individual.”

But now she’s got that time, and a whole world of solo music is opening up to her. Lauren says she’s been writing poetry and stories her whole life, but only began writing music this past year, and that some of her new songs are inspired by "relationship energy", and "the state of the world & my personal expression in it."

Lauren also talks about wanting to get into the same room as Beyonce or Pink, two artists who inspire her, and shares the best career advice she’s gotten to date - “Never take more than you give or give more than you take.”

So what’s up for LJ in 2019? An album for one. And a tour! She’s also set goals to learn how to produce music and how to play an instrument. Sounds doable.

We’re really looking forward to everything Lauren has to offer! Check out her new song alongside other up and coming artists on Slacker’s New Pop Now station!

Dierks Bentley is pretty well-known by now for his pre-tour shenanigans. Remember that time he surprised his tour mates Kip Moore and Maddie & Tae by taking them out on his boat in January and making them do the polar plunge with him? Kip Moore was maaaaaaaaad.  I hope his Burning Man Tourmates Jon Pardi and Tenille Townes recognize how good they’ve got it.

This might be Dierks’ funniest tour promo yet. And it’s got the thumbs up from Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon on Twitter too, which is obviously a bonus. Pro tip: don’t drink any beverages while watching this. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After performing their brand of synth-funk for indie music fans for over a decade, Chromeo are ready to break into the world of pop music with their new record, "White Women." We sat down with Dave 1 and P-Thugg to create a radio station featuring their favorite artists, stories, and songs. From A Tribe Called Quest to Phoenix, this "Chromeo: I Am The DJ."

Congratulations to Lady Gaga, who took home her second Golden Globe for Best Original Song at last night’s awards – winning for “Shallow" from 2018's version of "A Star is Born" with Bradley Cooper.

And how’d she fuel up for that big win? According to her Instagram story, it was with a burger, fries, and a bowl of Fruity Pebbles cereal!

But that’s not all – she also revealed to Access that she ate Thai food as well, telling them "I really had to pack it before a long evening,” with the advice "You know what, women? Eat. Eat what you want. Do what you want, be who you are, do not starve yourself, live your life.”

Amazing advice from a lady who clearly has a taste for Fruity Pebbles – according to her fiancé, Christian Carino’s instagram, she celebrated with a bowl of fruity goodness after her win too.

Celebrate Gaga’s win with the soundtrack to A Star Is Born on Slacker!

For the third year in a row, Keith Urban headlined Nashville’s New Year’s Eve celebration, and for the third year in a row he took the opportunity to put together a really cool medley in tribute to the musical artists who left us in 2018.

This year’s included “Zombie” for The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan, “Respect” for Aretha Franklin, “Rolling In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” for Roy Clark, “Wake Me Up” by Avicii, and “Sweet Home Alabama” for Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King, and he’s joined by none other than Peter Frampton for a guitar jam you HAVE TO SEE.

Put everything down for 8 minutes, and WATCH.

2018 is almost over, so it feels like a good time to look back at some of the biggest things that happened in country music this year, in no particular order.

Like that time Reba showed up in a KFC commercial as Colonel Sanders. Yes, THAT Reba. She was the first woman to ever wear that costume, and yeah, it was a little weird, but a little awesome in its weirdness, no? BRB. I’m craving chicken now.

Or when Carrie Underwood came back after her end-of-2017 accident looking flawless at the ACM Awards in April, even as she had warned us on social media that she might look… different. In her defense, with a ton of stitches in her face when she said it, she really didn’t know what her face would look like, and it turns out she’s human and falters in self-confidence every once in a while, just like the rest of us. She also revealed this year that she’d suffered several miscarriages (unrelated to her accident) before announcing she was pregnant with her second son. She’s due in a few weeks. Hey Carrie – Jess is a good name. Hint, hint.

Not all the big stories were fun or happy. It was February 12^th when we lost ‘90s country singer Daryle Singletary (“Too Much Fun,” “Amen Kind of Love”). He was only 46, and apparently he had a blood clot that was discovered too late.

Gretchen Wilson made the news in August when she was arrested for being “belligerent” after what was called a “minor disturbance” on a flight to Connecticut. I maintain that her so-called belligerence was probably Gretchen standing up for herself, and when a woman does THAT, well… she’s obviously a problem (I’ve got your belligerence right here). A few months later when she was able to talk about it, Gretchen said there was no disturbance on the plane, and at her court appearance in September, all charges against her were dropped.

Luke Bryan share with his fans that his mother’s house in Mexico Beach, Florida was destroyed by Hurricane Michael in October. There are photos of her walking through the rubble, obviously devastated. She moved into a trailer temporarily, and Luke said she’s leading efforts to rebuild, not just her own place, but her neighbors’ as well. He said, “every day I call her and it sounds like she’s the foreman of a construction site down there.”

Even Keith Urban was surprised when he was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in November. It had been 13 years since the only other time he won that trophy, and it’s not that he wasn’t deserving of it, it’s just that there were some other heavy hitters in the nominations, and he assumed it would go to one of them. Keeping it real, I think we were all a little surprised, but absolutely thrilled for Keith.

Carly Pearce and Michael Ray revealed over the summer that they were dating and had been for a few months, and then preceded to demonstrate their delirious happiness all over Instagram. Carly said she got advice on dating a fellow artist from her besties Kelsea Ballerini (who has married to Morgan Evans since last December) and Maren Morris (who married Ryan Hurd in March). Well, Michael liked it, so just before Christmas he put a ring on it.

Kane Brown made history in 2018 – in fact, several times. He was the only artist to top five different Billboard charts at once he was the most awarded debut country artist at the AMAs, and when he released his second album Experiment this year, it had the most first-day streams of any country album ever.

Jimmie Allen became the first black country artist to get a #1 with his debut single “Best Shot.” Technically, Darius Rucker did it too when he crossed over to country, but his actual debut single was years earlier with Hootie & The Blowfish, so Jimmie gets the crown.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to big things – and hopefully all good ones --  in 2019. And I’m wishing you a year of health, success and lots of live music!

--Jess

Last weekend the world was tuned in as Cardi B headlined night two of the biggest hip-hop music festival in the world, Rolling Loud. Amongst the capacity crowd who had to witness the Grammy nominated vixen up close was legendary executive Mona Scott Young. 
 
Cardi, as you may recall, appeared on Young’s “Love & Hip-Hop” during seasons six and seven, then departed to pursue music.
 
“This was always in her right,” Scott-Young said after Cardi’s performance. “She was determined, she was fierce, this is what she wanted. I’m so happy to see her get it and get it big. It’s a proud feeling man.”
 
Mona has a legacy of working with of the best hip-hop artists from Mobb Deep, to Busta Rhymes to Missy Elliott and enjoyed seeing new artists at Rolling Loud.”
 
“The culture has changed tremendously,” she marveled. “What we’re seeing now is  a different wave, but the music is there. The artistry is there. The artists are there. We just have to keep supporting it and keep the culture alive.”
 
Rolling Loud had tons of new artists and current stars such as Lil Skies, Jay Critch, Trippie Red, Reason, Lil Baby, Gunna, Ski Mask The Slump God, Fat Nick and much more.  Meanwhile, “Love & Hip-Hop” is in season nine and features couples Joe Budden and Cyn Santana, Juelz Santana and Kimbella, new parents Papoose and Remy Ma and Safaree and Dreamdoll.

Offset is obviously into doing things unannounced. Last weekend during the “Rolling Loud” music festival, the man XXL Magazine dubbed as Migos’ "Certified Star” on its latest cover, popped up onstage and shocked everyone, especially Cardi B. He brought out flowers and asked his estranged wife to forgive him. While his stunt was talked about in the following days everywhere from Twitter to “WWE Raw,” one facts was lost in the hoopla: 'Set looks like he’ll miss the scheduled drop of his solo album this December. His Migos group members Quavo and Takeoff released projects in October and November respectively, with Offset schedule to take on December. On the night prior his headline-making stage turn, Offset talked a little about why his album hasn’t dropped yet. 
 
“You know, it’s the element of surprise man,” he offered about when to expect his project. “I love y’all just know it’s on the wizzay.”
 
Regardless of whether the release comes out this month, Offset has certainly had a banner year.  The Drake headlined “Aubrey & The Three Migos” outing was a milestone success, grossing a reported $79 million dollars.
 
“Biggest one of the year, no cap,” Offset said about the tour.
 
And of course, The Culture II LP did over a billion a streams within a month of its release and has since been certified double platinum. Surprisingly, though, 'Set, Takeoff and Quavo didn’t garner any Grammy nominations. A glaring omission if you ask most.
 
“They snubbed us for the Grammys,” Offset said. “Salute everybody who did get [nominated], but a lot of the n****s, we had more numbers than them n****s. But I guess they don’t go out to numbers. But you know how it is, we gonna keep going and keep going hard.”