Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez

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Selena Gomez & PLUS1 Launch The Black Equality Fund To Support Racial Justice Organizations

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"It's all of our responsibly to fight for equality & justice for the Black community," the "Rare" singer wrote on Twitter
GRAMMYs
Jun 24, 2020 - 1:49 pm

Selena Gomez has partnered with PLUS1 to launch the Black Equality Fund to raise money and visibility for 10 racial justice non-profits.

"Black Lives Matter," the "Rare" singer wrote on the fund's site. "Everyone needs to have their voices heard and we can do that by VOTING, as well as lending our time, effort and (if able) donations to fight for equality, equity and justice for the black community and other marginalized communities. Join me!"

Read: Lizzo, Lady Gaga & Selena Gomez Lend Their Platforms To Amplify Black Voices

"@plus1org and I have created a Black Equality Fund to amplify organizations on the frontline of ensuring Black voices are heard," the pop star wrote on Twitter last night. "It's all of our responsibly to fight for equality & justice for the Black community. Silence isn't an option, let's all join this fight for equality," she added, along with a link to the new page.

The 10 organizations supported by the fund are the TGI Justice Project, Black Futures Lab, Fair Count, African American Policy Forum, BLDPWR, Color of Change, Know Your Rights Camp, BU Center for Antiracist Research, Equal Justice Initiative and the Movement for Black Lives.

PLUS1 is a non-profit launched in 2014 to help artists fundraise for the causes they hold dear, coming out of with Arcade Fire's desire to support orgs on the ground in Haiti. According to their website, they've raised over $7 million in partnership with 125 artists, festivals and events around the globe.

More: Selena Gomez Drops "Dance Again" Performance Video & Merch To Benefit MusiCares

Earlier this month, the pop queen joined Lizzo and Lady Gaga in passing their Instagrams over to Black activists and orgs. Gomez's Instagram now features stories and messages from Georgia politician/author Stacey Abrams, "Insecure"'s Kendrick Sampson, rapper Killer Mike and others. She currently has 181 million followers on the platform.

On Jan. 10, Gomez dropped her highly anticipated third studio album, RARE, following 2015's Revival.

In March, she donated a portion of the proceeds from the project's "Dance Again" merch to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund to help those in the music community affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Beyoncé at 2020 BET Awards

Beyoncé at 2020 BET Awards

Photo: BET Awards 2020/Getty Images

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Watch Beyoncé Dedicate BET 2020 Humanitarian Award To Those "Marching & Fighting For Change"

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Michelle Obama presented the honor to her friend, saying, "You inspire me, you inspire all of us"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jun 29, 2020 - 1:33 pm

Yesterday, June 28, Beyoncé joined the virtual presentation of the 2020 BET Awards, to accept the Humanitarian Award and offer a powerful speech. The seven-and-a-half-minute segment, which you can view in full below, also included former First Lady Michelle Obama, who presented the award and a video detailing the many philanthropic initiatives the honoree has led with her BeyGOOD Foundation and more.

According to Pitchfork, Chance the Rapper, Nipsey Hussle, John Legend and Quincy Jones have been past recipients of the Humanitarian Award.

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"She's always turning up, looking out and making us a little bit better, a little more fierce and she's doing it all while staying devoted to her children and the loved ones she holds dear," Obama said. "You inspire me, you inspire all of us."

Obama's speech was followed by the video detailing the extensive work Queen Bey has done giving back in her hometown of Houston and beyond. Beyoncé and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, through their nonprofits, collectively donated $6 million to various orgs fighting COVID-19 and supporting mental health, both focused on communities of color. BeyGood's coronavirus work helped open a wing at Houston Memorial Hospital, as well as offer mobile testing and food supplies. It also supported the National Alliance On Mental Health for their on the ground work supporting communities of color in New York, New Orleans, Houston and Detroit.

In the video, we heard from Tina Knowles-Lawson, Treyvon Martin's mother, the director of BeyGOOD, Homecoming Scholarship recipients and others. The scholarships are given to Black students in the U.S., especially those going to HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities). In partnership Global Citizen and Tyler Perry, BeyGOOD has also launched fellowship programs in Africa to support young people there.

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Beyoncé was up next, looking stunning with natural makeup, a diamond choker and strapless black dress. She used her speech to celebrate those taking action in protests around the country, encouraging everyone to not give up and to please vote.

"I want to dedicate this award to all of my brothers out there, all of sisters out there, inspiring me, marching and fighting for change. Your voices are being heard and you're proving to our ancestors that their struggles were not in vain. Now we have one more thing we need to do to walk in our true power, and that is to vote. I'm encouraging you to continue to take action, continue to change and dismantle a racist and unequal system.

We have to continue to do this together, continue to fight for each other and lift each other up, because there are people banking on us staying at home during local elections and primaries happening in states across the country. We have to vote like our life depends on it, because it does. So please continue to be the change you want to see."

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Her poignant words were followed by the trailer for her upcoming Disney+ film, Black Is King, featuring music from her 2019 Lion King: The Gift album. During the show, the "Formation" singer also earned the BET Her Award for "Brown Skin Girl," a track featuring daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Wizkid and Saint Jhn from the The Gift album.

The broadcast was filled with other powerful moments, including Public Enemy opening the show with a 2020 update on their still pertinent 1989 classic "Fight The Power," with support from Nas, Black Thought, Rapsody, YG and more. Another moving performance critiquing police brutality came from DaBaby and Roddy Ricch rapping "Rockstar," with DaBaby beginning the set on the ground as a white man dressed as a police officer kneeled on his neck, evoking the brutal killing of George Floyd by Derek Chuavin.

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Alicia Keys delivered the first-ever live performance of her touching new track "Perfect Way To Die," Jennifer Hudson brought chills with Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" and Anderson .Paak and Jay Rock delivering "Lockdown," among other epic musical moments. Watch more via BET's YouTube here.

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GRAMMYs

BTS at 2019 GRAMMYs

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BTS Donates $1 Million To Crew Nation To Support Out Of Work Concert Crews

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The generous contribution comes from the K-pop supergroup and their management company, Big Hit Entertainment, and follows a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter earlier this month
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jun 23, 2020 - 1:04 pm

BTS and their management company, Big Hit Entertainment, have donated $1 million to Crew Nation, Live Nation's COVID-19 relief fund for out of work live entertainment staff. The K-pop superstars would've been on tour for the majority of the year, before coronavirus turned live music and the rest of the world upside down earlier this year.

Read: BTS Talk New Album 'Map Of The Soul: 7': "The Genre Is BTS"

"This is one of the largest artist donations that has been raised for the Crew Nation fund since its conception," a statement, shared by Variety on June 22, noted.

The event behemoth launched the fund in March with an initial $5 million, pledging to match another $5 million of donations from employees, artists and fans, according to Variety. Event crew personnel who typically make at least half of their income from live events can apply for one-time grants of $1000 via Crew Nation. Individuals living and working in any city/country can apply.

Related: Metallica Launch Month Of Giving, Asking Fans To Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts Together

Over 70 live concert crew members who were originally scheduled to work at BTS’ concerts before the postponement (or cancellation) due to COVID-19 have received funding so far, 20% of whom are veteran crews who have worked in live performance industry for over 16 years. This contribution will help aid 1,000 live concert crews to receive relief, according to the announcement.

"It is very unfortunate that the music industry has to go through such difficult time at the moment," Big Hit's Global CEO Lenzo Yoon wrote in the statement. "We hope our contribution to Crew Nation could help support many live concert crews around the world."

More: BTS, Big Hit Entertainment And The BTS Army Donate Over $2 Million To Black Lives Matter

"If it weren't for COVID-19, we would have been happily touring across the world with many of our live concert crews by now," BTS added. "We are aware that a lot of communities need help due to COVID-19, and we wanted to support the music industry crews by making a donation. We hope to meet again on stage very soon."

The generous contribution comes just several weeks after BTS and Big Hit donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter Foundation, as well as publicly announcing their allyship with the Black community.  

Earlier this month, on June 14, the talented septet shared a live pay-to-watch virtual concert, BANG BANG CON, with their massive BTS ARMY. They also recently released a new single, "Stay Gold," on June 19.

The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund is also supporting out-of-work crew and all other music industry folks who have been financially affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.

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BTS

BTS

Photo: Raymond Hall/GC Images/Getty Images

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BTS Makes Statement In Support Of Black Lives Matter

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The K-pop stars took to their official Twitter to call out racism and violence in a powerful, rare political statement
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jun 4, 2020 - 5:39 pm

Today, June 4, K-pop superstars BTS shared a statement of solidarity with the Black community. In a tweet shared with their 26.2 million followers, written in both Korean and English, they said, "We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter."

The positive message made news as it is a rare political statement from the group. While BTS has broken many records, trends and barriers, they generally adhere to a clean-cut, non-controversial image (as is typical for many in their genre). For the band to take a stand on such an important human rights issue is significant and will certainly be heard loud and clear by their huge fanbase and fellow K-pop artists.

Read: BTS Talk New Album 'Map Of The Soul: 7': "The Genre Is BTS"

The group's tweet follows many loyal fans of BTS, BLACKPINK and other major K-pop acts taking anti-racist action online, most recently, to flood toxic hashtags with memes and other content to drown out hateful messages. The collective fan armies organized online to take over the hashtags associated with racist responses to #BlackLivesMatter—including #WhiteLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter and #MAGA—on Twitter yesterday, June 3.

Related: K-Pop Fans Unite On Twitter To Take Over #WhiteLivesMatter Hashtag With Messages Of Anti-Racism

In other BTS news, Jungkook surprise released his debut solo song today as JK, a smooth jam called "Still With You." The group had previously teased the release as part of their Festa 2020 online fan celebration, but without specifying any details. Suga also recently dropped solo music; his second mixtape under his Agust D alias came out on May 22.

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SHAED

 SHAED

Photo: Andrew Lee

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Up Close & Personal: SHAED Talk New Music, Allyship & Collabs With ZAYN, Sting & Steve Aoki

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The "Melt" band reveal how fun it was working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 22, 2020 - 12:27 pm

Alt-pop trio SHAED consisting of twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst and Chelsea Lee (who is married to Spencer), had their big break in summer 2018 with their infectious hit "Trampoline." It was followed by a whirlwind 2019, where they played major festivals and shows around the world and dropped some big collabs, including a ZAYN remix of "Trampoline," whose vocals brought new life—and his massive fan base—to it.

Like so many other artists, COVID-19 put a sudden halt on their packed, globe-trotting schedule. The pause and new perspective have proven productive for them, and resulted in a lot of new, yet-to-be-released music.

"We had a group of songs before this whole quarantine situation and we kind of took a deep listen and realized that we wanted to change it up a bit," Chelsea told us. "Most of the songs we've written for this album, we wrote during these crazy months, so it definitely reflects, emotionally and mentally, what we were feeling. These songs really hit home for us and we're super excited to release them."

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Read: Aminé Talks New Album 'Limbo,' Portland Protests And Black Lives Matter

We catch up with the Washington D.C.-based group for the latest episode of GRAMMY.com Up Close & Personal interview video series to learn what they've been up to during quarantine—in addition to creating a new album, they've also protesting with local Black Lives Matter marches and been relaxing in their backyard.

Sharing what he learned about being an ally to the Black community, Max said, "I think it's important to listen. There's all these kind of sub-movements within the Black Lives Matter movement that are really important. Black Trans lives Matter, is super important… I think it's important that all these communities within Black Lives Matter, their voices are being elevated."

The "Melt" band also reveal how fun it was like working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million." Watch the full conversation above!

"Chelsea loves Sting," Spencer said, smiling. "Steve Aoki is a fan of ours, and he reached out and said he'd love for us to feature on a song. So we were listening to some demos and trying to figure out which one made sense. And then he said, 'Hey, actually hold on, I got a song with Sting.' And that's when Chelsea was like 'We're doing this right away!'"

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