Country music legend Dolly Parton was laid to rest on Friday in a private service attended by family and close friends, with her estate announcing Monday that plans are already underway for two major public celebrations of the larger-than-life star&#8217;s legacy.
Two events, both titled &#8220;DollyFest: The Celebration of a Lifetime,&#8221; will take place on successive weekends — one in Nashville and another in London, England — in 2027.
Parton&#8217;s estate <a href="https://www.dollyparton.com/news/dollyfest-the-celebration-of-a-lifetime-star-studded-two-day-festival-honoring-dolly-parton-to-take-place-in-2027">announced</a> that even before Parton&#8217;s death on Tuesday, her team had already been planning on hosting DollyFest in Nashville in 2027. Parton herself had planned to participate, but the estate confirmed on Monday that the event will carry on in her memory instead.
&#8220;What was originally planned as a multi-artist event for January 2026 in Nashville and intended to feature Parton as performer and host will now morph into a global double-day, double-weekend, double-continent party of a lifetime,&#8221; the estate said.
Danny Nozell, Parton&#8217;s longtime business partner and founder and CEO of CTK Enterprises, said Parton did not want a public funeral and said that instead, DollyFest would allow her fans to celebrate her life: &#8220;As far as a traditional memorial goes, that is not something Dolly wanted.&#8221;
&#8220;What Dolly started, we will ensure is brought to life. Many people behind the scenes know that DOLLYFEST is a dream of Dolly’s that was intended to take place on her 80th birthday in Nashville,&#8221; Nozell added. &#8220;We had the venue booked and we had the announcement ready to go. And then, in August 2025, Dolly had to take a step back after her initial health challenges. A lot of people always say, WWDD (What Would Dolly Do?), and, well, at this moment, DOLLYFEST is WDWD (What Dolly Would Do!).&#8221;
&#8220;We are not discouraging people from celebrating Dolly in the ways they choose &#8230; it feels more appropriate for us to take a beat, let all the tributes that immediately make sense occur naturally, and then, see through this festival-style concept that was truly dreamed up by Dolly,&#8221; Nozell concluded. &#8220;This is something that is authentic to her, something that feels right to me, and something that artists and fans around the world can participate in, while also giving everyone time to grieve, and giving everyone time to plan.&#8221;
Parton passed away on Tuesday after a brief battle with an undisclosed cancer. She was 80.

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Dolly Parton’s Estate Announces Two-Continent Celebration Of Her Life

Dolly Parton's Estate Announces Plan To Celebrate Her Legacy

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An anonymous user posted an impressionist painting on X a few months back and asked users to &#8220;describe, in as much detail as possible, what makes this inferior to a real Monet painting.” Viewers sounded off on the supposedly AI-generated image, criticizing the framing, choice of color, <a href="https://x.com/artprograce/status/2054306835465715961">and</a> the &#8220;slightly off&#8221; reflection of the trees. There was just one problem: The image was a <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/real-monet-ai-chaos">real</a> painting of Monet&#8217;s water lilies.
Most people are probably less successful at recognizing AI art than they think they are. When it comes to actual computer-generated imagery, people can <a href="https://www.bgsu.edu/news/online-media-newsroom/2023/12/bgsu-research-finds-people-struggle-to-identify-the-difference-b.html">identify</a> AI only about half of the time. Research suggests, however, that people still intuitively prefer human art to AI art.
In a <a href="https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-people-struggle-ai-human-art.html">study</a> conducted by Bowling Green State University, researchers found that when people looked at AI art and human-made art, they still preferred the man-made pieces even though they weren’t sure if the artwork was AI or not. People had “more positive emotions when looking at the human paintings,” according to the study. Something in us still <a href="https://business.columbia.edu/research-brief/digital-future/human-ai-art">prefers</a> human work, and this subconscious preference runs deeper than what some might call “prejudice.”
Yet as AI revolutionizes every industry, including the arts, creatives and consumers alike fear that AI will infect the artist’s world and replace skill, experience, and time with efficiency, sufficiency, and replication. I took this concern to the professionals for some guidance, and their perspectives were more hopeful than I expected.
Man-made music to our ears
Dave Clifford, a musician, publicist, and band manager for roughly 20 years, says he doesn’t generally use AI in his work when it comes to music or artwork for bands. Sometimes he&#8217;ll employ Photoshop generative functions along with simple editing. 
 
“Pretty much all the bands that I work with really kind of cherish their own creativity rather than use something like generative AI to do the creative process for them,” Clifford said.
While Clifford believes people will become more comfortable with AI as time progresses and it improves, he is not generally in favor of AI because it is “so sloppy and bad” and sometimes “disastrous.” Many bands would be affronted by the suggestion of generative AI in their work.
“There have been a couple of bands that I work with who have said outright, whenever there would have been some offers from people to create a tour poster or something like that &#8230; ‘Okay, well, as long as it doesn’t involve any AI in making it, then we’re fine with it,’” Clifford recalled.
Clifford doesn&#8217;t think AI could replace human creativity in music, saying AI is not creative itself but is something that is “doing a very poor job of replicating human creativity.”
“I don’t think that you can replace human creativity with those kinds of systems because we call it AI — it means artificial intelligence,” he said. “What it is, is just an amalgam of things that already exist. So if it’s creating collages and putting things together based upon prompting and based upon all of these other things, it’s actually not really a creative function, but it’s a tool still being used by a person that is doing it.” 
It&#8217;s not just artists rejecting AI; audiences generally don&#8217;t want to listen to computer-generated music. Clifford said he prefers a man-made melody because he enjoys the “mistakes,” which create a “closeness” with listeners.  
“I still really appreciate that human element of things and, like, in my own recordings and work in bands, I’ve always kind of kept in the mistakes that may be very obvious to listeners,” he said. “I haven’t thought like, ‘oh, let’s go back and fix that,’ or ‘do that again,’ because I kind of like being able to hear mistakes in there … it feels more like this was a real moment in time that happened, that there was, you know — you’re not going to repeat the same mistake again.”  
Perhaps AI&#8217;s encroachment into the arts is a bit of a marketing gimmick. Why are AI companies going after creative jobs and not doubling down on work in other areas, like curing cancer? 
“I think it’s because it’s something that you can sell to people a whole lot better than, ‘Hey, this is going to do your taxes for you,’ or something like that,&#8221; Clifford said. &#8220;That’s easy, but there&#8217;s nothing sexy about it, you know?”
The need for human intelligence
Joana Suleiman, the production editor of a weekly print magazine, does not believe AI is anywhere near performing the high-level journalism and custom illustrations required for the publication. She doesn&#8217;t mince words.
“AI can’t do what we do. It can’t verify what we can verify. It doesn’t have the resources and the sources that we’ve been spending years building,” Suleiman said. “It doesn’t provide context, and most modules are trained on social media. And social media is mostly very misinformed, ignorant, emotionally immature individuals, and those people are worthless in terms of training.”
She notes that it can be a research tool for writers but says diving deep into a topic requires more than a surface overview from AI. You need to “get up from the newsroom and walk outside” because most of the work in journalism that is really worth paying for “is not done inside the newsroom.”
“In terms of it being able to replace what any of us do in this industry, it’s absurd to me,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I haven’t witnessed it. I haven’t seen anything that can be replaced by AI yet.”
Where AI can assist
While AI does not have the talents to replace skilled creatives, it is still an incredible tool. Ben Smith, founder of Vandelay Publishing, uses AI to help writers and other artists market their work. Vandelay Publishing works with social media marketers and other content creators to boost engagement with their platforms. 
Using AI to parse through data on Facebook and other social media platforms, Smith is a “one-person shop,” working fewer hours for a client for a good price and still providing better brands and strategies. He recalled the story of a former client who was struggling with book sales. After viewing 12 years of data on her website and analyzing past blog posts to see which did well, “we transitioned over from her blog to reposting them and remaking them and remarketing them on Facebook.” Her audience tripled in 18 months. 
With AI as the backbone of his business, Smith has developed many AI tools that took trial and error to develop. One of the mistakes people make with AI is trusting the output too quickly because AI can “hallucinate,” Smith said. 
“Challenge it, challenge it. The more you work with it, and I’ve been working on it with it on my business for — I mean, I started working with AI before I started my business. That’s how I knew this was the way to go,” he added. “It’s all about prompting. Prompting is 90% of how to use AI.”
While Smith loves OpenAI and is glad it&#8217;s available for serious and casual users, he cannot stand “AI slop,” low-quality mass-produced content that requires little human effort. Users should learn from AI when they use it, not just throw out information they took from it. 
 
“They use it for garbage. They use it for content for content’s sake,” Smith said. “They use it as a replacement for actual people, you know, graphic design, real art, drawing, painting. I’ve used it before to have some funny photos, stuff like that, but I know it’s AI. It’s not real art.”
AI has incredible potential to benefit businesses, support the sick, and explore the unknown, but the arts — music, writing, painting — should not be its focus. It&#8217;s a valuable tool for administrative and background work, but it can&#8217;t engage in artistic expression. A well-done painting has years of experience, failures, victories, and struggles behind it. It is valuable because the person’s effort and skill derived from years of work gave it value. 
That is the human experience. We strive, grow, suffer, fail, and rejoice. We gain wisdom as we stumble through life, which makes the victory all the more sweet. That is what the human soul engages with day in and day out. This soul is expressed through the arts — something sacred, and something AI can never have.
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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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AI Is Taking Over The Arts. But Humans Still Have One Secret Weapon.

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journalism

Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan criticized the White House after it used his song &#8220;American Cars&#8221; in a social media post highlighting President Donald Trump&#8217;s visit to a Michigan auto plant.
The White House posted a slideshow on TikTok and Instagram featuring photos from Trump&#8217;s recent visit to Michigan, using Kahan&#8217;s song from his fourth album, &#8220;The Great Divide,&#8221; as background music.
The song is available for use across several social media platforms — thanks to a 2024 deal between the Universal Music Group and Meta — but that&#8217;s not stopping Kahan and &#8220;American Cars&#8221; co-writer, guitarist Noah Levine, from complaining that the White House used it.
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&#8220;Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration,&#8221; Kahan commented on the White House&#8217;s Instagram post.
Levine, according to a Billboard <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/noah-kahan-slams-white-house-unauthorized-use-american-cars-1236305033/">report</a>, also commented on the post, saying, &#8220;You fat f*ck this song isn’t for you&#8221; — but the comment appears to have been deleted.
The music has since been disabled on the White House Instagram post.
Kahan is far from the first to complain about President Trump&#8217;s use of music for either a public appearance or a social media post.
Just last week, pop star Katy Perry complained that her song &#8220;Firework&#8221; was used in a White House video of military operations in Iran.
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<section><a title="@whitehouse" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@whitehouse?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@whitehouse</a>Iran has been warned. 🎆<a title="♬ original sound - The White House" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7665732646814665486?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound &#8211; The White House</a></section>
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&#8220;I am deeply appalled and angry to see &#8216;Firework&#8217; used on the [White House] TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes,&#8221; Perry wrote on X. &#8220;I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.&#8221;
&#8220;I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments,&#8221; Perry complained. &#8220;To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.&#8221;
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I am deeply appalled and angry to see “Firework” used on the <a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WhiteHouse</a> TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.
I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and…
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) <a href="https://x.com/katyperry/status/2081032309508047136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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As several quickly pointed out, however, Perry&#8217;s music is also available for use on TikTok under the platform&#8217;s licensing agreements with major record labels. The White House later removed the music from that post as well.

MACY’S 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS

A Deal Put Noah Kahan’s Music On Meta. Now He’s Mad Trump Can Use It.

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K-pop singer Jang Won-young surprised fans when she threw the opening ceremonial pitch at the Mets game on Sunday with a “helluva windup.”
On Sunday, the IVE K-pop band, with over six million daily listeners across the globe, was invited to attend the New York Mets game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the entire IVE group was there, Jang had the honor of throwing out the first pitch, and her mechanical windup caused people to question whether South Korea taught basic pitching mechanics to its students. 
“​​To be fair, Jang has a helluva windup, which has me thinking, do they teach pitching mechanics in elementary schools in South Korea and Japan?” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/mets-trot-korean-pop-star-amazing-windup-first-pitch-duties-wemby-plays-soccer-rosie">OutKick Senior Director of Content</a> Joe Kinsey asked.
Kinsey wondered how Jang could come over here and put “our travel ball kids to shame?”
The K-pop group also filmed content with former Korean major leaguer Kim Byung-hyun and former professional pitcher Dustin Nippert. 
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to throw the first pitch at a game watched by baseball fans around the world,” Jang said according to <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/k-pop/20260717/ive-invited-to-mlb-game-jang-won-young-to-throw-1st-pitch">The Korean Times</a>. 
“I’ll do my best to share positive energy with both the players and everyone in the stands,” she added.
The IVE K-pop group participated in the ceremony while on the North American section of its second world tour “SHOW WHAT I AM.” Called an “undeniable force in K-pop&#8217;s next generation” by Billboard, IVE will perform in eight arena shows in both the United States and Canada from July to August. Their world tour launched late in 2025 also includes performances in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.
This is not the <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/bts-soundtracks-mlb-opening-day-2026">first time</a> the MLB has integrated K-pop stars into the league in an effort to appeal to a younger audience. On the league’s opening day, <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/bts-facts-proof-k-pop-butter-dynamite-records-collaborations-songwriters/">BTS</a> — one of the most popular music groups in global history — teamed up with MLB after its album “ARIRANG” debuted shortly before the baseball season began. MLB used the song for a hype video on Instagram.
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BTS band member V threw the ceremonial opening pitch at Dodger Stadium and met baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani in 2025.
K-pop has exploded in popularity in the United States, particularly due to BTS, who <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/03/10/curiosity-why-k-pop-so-popular-united-states">won</a> the Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist in 2017.

Los Angeles Dodgers v. New York Mets

K-Pop Singer Takes The Spotlight At Mets Game With Polished Windup

baseball

los angeles dodgers

New York Mets

Driving down Tennessee roads with rolling green fields, a big blue sky, and beautiful 19th-century homes, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my interview with Lakelin Lemmings, but I couldn’t wait to find out. Three years ago, the rising star signed a publishing deal with Quartz Hill Records at 17 and a label deal at 19. Just days before the release of her debut album, the Gen Z singer spoke with me about her music, passion for God, goals of motherhood, and mission to &#8220;remain country.&#8221;
Lakelin arrived at the recording studio in a boot-cut denim jumpsuit and red paisley scarf around her neck, and I knew right away this girl wasn’t someone who takes herself too seriously. When I told her that we share the same birth year and I couldn’t wait to hear from a woman who’s dealing with the same issues as other Gen Z girls our age, she smiled. With Lakelin&#8217;s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/1UnCpJJNyTv1D8nlKVlgiI">first album</a> coming out on Friday, she is excited.
“I&#8217;m feeling like all the hard work and stuff is about to pay off, and that hopefully everybody loves it as much as I do,” Lakelin said. “I think one of the earliest songs in the album I wrote was when I was freshly 16 and the last one when I turned 19. It&#8217;s finally gonna be introduced into the world.”
Many of the songs in the album tackle the topics of young love, relationships, and heartbreak. As someone who loves “How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days” and any good rom-com, Lakelin said she sometimes pulled inspiration from shows she watched, but she has also dealt with a series of her own relationship struggles.
Like other young women her age, Lakelin has had her share of situationships — a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/202403/are-you-in-a-situationship/amp?utm_source=chatgpt.com">term</a> Gen Z uses to describe a romantic relationship without commitment labels. Lakelin&#8217;s song “What Are We Doing” is trying to figure out just that. In “Get Around Boy,” the song lists the places Lakelin hopes to travel to and describes a young man who stays behind in Tennessee as she chases her dreams. Eventually, Lakelin did travel to nearly all the places she mentions, and now says she has a boy “in the back of my mind.”
As the title “19 &amp; Single” suggests, the song touches on the pressure to get married with lyrics like, “I’m all for a Friday night with the girls / &#8216;Cause 19 and single ain’t the end of the world.” Lakelin said she feels pressure when friends get engaged, married, and start having babies. With earnest hopes for marriage and motherhood, Lakelin said she has made sacrifices to be where she is, but still wants to perform her music and pursue her dreams.
Not all of Lakelin&#8217;s lyrics were inspired by what you’d expect. After singing along in the car to Lakelin’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DbHG1muBl1G/?hl=en">“He Ain’t Coming Back,”</a> I had to get the scoop behind this earworm. Another smile.
“Yeah, so everybody thinks that, you know, ‘He Ain&#8217;t Coming Back’ is about some boy that did me wrong and something like that,” Lakelin said. “But the story of it is actually — I was finishing up writing the album and we needed an up-tempo song.” 
Just days before it was time to record the album, Lakelin texted her two favorite co-writers to tell them the emergency: They had to come up with one more track. They convened on a Friday, but the co-writers had to cancel another appointment to make the timing work. 
“We get there, and we’re writing, and we hadn&#8217;t really gotten a title or anything yet, and — a knock on the door. It&#8217;s the guy that they were supposed to write with,” Lakelin said.
After the co-writers explained the rescheduling and the man’s confusion passed, he left. But the situation was “just really awkward,” Lakelin said.
“My co-writer, after he leaves, is like, ‘Man, I hope he comes back,’ and I just look at him, and I go, ‘Oh, he ain&#8217;t coming back.’ And a light bulb and a flip switched, and we were like, ‘We&#8217;re writing that.’”
Throughout Lakelin’s journey, her faith in God has been central. There have been difficult moments, Lakelin said, but she believes “God’s called me to country music.” Lakelin describes herself as a Christian who writes country music, not as a Christian country artist.
“I feel like there&#8217;s a need in country music for somebody that loves country music and can talk about those types of things, but also is rooted in her faith and is genuinely someone who&#8217;s only after God&#8217;s will,” Lakelin said, noting that Christian country singers often sing traditional Christian songs that feel less “country.”
“I love Christian music, and I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll dabble in it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And I have a little bit to keep the faith life of mine, but I&#8217;m always going to remain country.”
As someone who stays with her family whenever she’s not on the road, Lakelin loves seeing her two little sisters — aged one and three — who know her as “Lae Lae.” Lakelin said she’s like their second mother, with a large age gap between them and the three oldest siblings. Lemmings was the middle child for years with her now 23-year-old sister, whom she would compete with in singing, and a 17-year-old brother. However, after the first daughter left the nest, Lemmings said her parents wanted more kids, dreaming of having a family of eight.
Lakelin’s family couldn&#8217;t be more supportive of her burgeoning music career. Since she was little, Lakelin has performed in competitions, and her extended family still recalls when she was performing at their barbecue singing competition. Lakelin said she does wonder what they think watching her grow from small performances to standing on grand stages. 
How does she stay grounded in some sort of routine with a life that is always moving from writing and recording sessions to performances and tours? She named only two things: her coffee in the morning and her Bible in the evening. 
“After a long week or a long day in the music world, I like to just go home and have a cup of coffee, read my Bible, maybe tan a little bit, and just spend time with family and friends,” she said.
Lakelin has a message to other girls who are dreamers with a desire from God but see too many roadblocks.
“If you&#8217;re gonna be a dreamer, you got to be a doer. And I think that if you have a dream, then chase it,” Lakelin said. “If it&#8217;s God&#8217;s will and his plan, then it&#8217;s going to work out just the way it&#8217;s supposed to. It&#8217;s going to be hard at times to trust that and trust in Him, but you just got to keep the faith.”
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

712844759_18468127816106889_5214607018557455055_n

The Country Star Bringing Faith To Center Stage

country music

interview

tennessee

upstream

It has become something of a cliché to proclaim that “rock and roll will never die,” but the Rolling Stones — a band formed when my grandfather was a sprightly youth — seem intent on keeping it alive until I am a grandfather myself. It is 2026, and we have a brand-new Rolling Stones record: their 25th studio album in 64 years together, and their first since 2023’s &#8220;Hackney Diamonds.&#8221;
Whether jolted by the passing of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021 or simply less inclined to believe that “Time Is on My Side,” the 82-year-old Mick Jagger has summoned the troops, written some songs, and, together with producer Andrew Watt, created a remarkable late-late-era record. Which brings us to &#8220;Foreign Tongues.&#8221;
I will spare you the trite sophistry of declaring it “the best Rolling Stones record since” — insert some arbitrary benchmark such as &#8220;Some Girls&#8221; or &#8220;Tattoo You.&#8221; Mick Jagger is not granting me an interview anytime soon, and I doubt he believes such plaudits himself. But &#8220;Foreign Tongues&#8221; is a great, energetic, and joyous record on its own terms, and an even better one than &#8220;Hackney Diamonds.&#8221;
The opening track, “Rough and Twisted,” begins with a gritty and bellicose blues in E, chugging on an E7 chord while threading playful licks through the arrangement. Jagger’s howling vocals arrive with the force and ferocity of a far, far younger upstart eager to make his mark. He also plays harmonica throughout the record — perhaps his most underappreciated virtuosity — and it acts as an extension of his voice, lending the arrangement a soulful, rhythmic pulse.
The Rolling Stones have long maintained a playful tension between the modern and the traditional. Jagger’s appetite for momentum and new sounds has driven the band forward, while the purist instincts of Keith Richards and the late, jazz-trained drummer Charlie Watts kept it firmly rooted in the blues.
My favorite Stones record has always been &#8220;Exile on Main St.&#8221; for its maximalist arrangements, replete with gospel singers, brass instruments, and piano frills. Many of my favorite Stones recordings feature Nicky Hopkins on piano; on &#8220;Foreign Tongues,&#8221; that role is served by Steve Winwood, who plays both organ and piano throughout. If I could offer one criticism of Watt’s production, it would be to turn up the piano tracks. On recordings such as “Let It Loose” or “Loving Cup,” each instrument occupies a distinct place in the mix; here, Winwood’s piano is too often buried beneath it.
The tension between old and new is especially apparent on “In the Stars.” Its opening bars evoke a polished pop aesthetic, driven by piano chords and high-production vocables. Soon afterward, Steve Jordan’s drums go into full throttle and Richards begins strumming his signature open chords, which ring out like the exhaust note of a V-12 sports car. The Stones sound as energetic and lively as they did on &#8220;Tattoo You.&#8221; Fans of the band’s later catalogue will also recognize a verse structure resembling “Doom and Gloom.”
The Stones have been around for so long that much of popular music’s evolution can be traced through their catalogue, from American blues and country rock to disco and beyond. “Jealous Lover” sounds like an outtake from &#8220;Some Girls&#8221; and features some of Jagger’s finest falsetto vocals since “Emotional Rescue.” I promised to spare you the “finest since” plaudits, but Jagger’s extraordinary performance cannot be overstated.
Similarly, on “Mr. Charm,” Jagger sings in a rapid-fire, rap-pastiche cadence, delivering biting lyrics over a track that harkens back to “Shattered” while remaining unmistakably modern. Watt’s production pulls the vocals to the forefront and sharpens the instrumental tracks. Amid its wry jabs at tech billionaires, Jagger lauds Elon Musk for saving the astronauts, singing: “Who would you really trust? / Is it Boeing, is it NASA / Is it mad mogul Mr. Musk?”
For “Ringing Hollow,” Jagger revives his country drawl for a Gram Parsons-inspired ballad redolent of the twee “Far Away Eyes.” There is a great deal on this album that leads back to &#8220;Some Girls.&#8221; Reluctant to traffic in specific political references, Jagger instead paints a broader malaise across the political spectrum. “Lady Liberty don’t look so good / When there’s a tear in her gown,” he sings, before turning to the fentanyl crisis — with some irony for a Rolling Stone who has encountered more drugs than the average pharmacy — with the lines “So pass ’round the fenty / Pass ’round the coke.”
Yet his profound love for America and its virtues remains resolute and palpable: “I drove through the suburbs / And I lounged in the malls / Let the dreamers get the dream they want.” It is because Jagger loves America and believes in its greatness that he pines for it.
Alongside this stellar track list, we have been treated to a generous press tour featuring a more open and candid Jagger than we have encountered before. For possibly the most famous man on the planet over the past five decades, he has remained something of an enigma in the public eye. Decidedly too old now for such artifice, he has given longtime Stones fans a treat in his recent interviews.
In one segment, he concedes his reluctance to opine on politics. “My job in the live music world is just those people that come have the best time they possibly can … to forget all their problems and the problems of the world and their mortgages and their whatever.” Contrast this with Bruce Springsteen, whose recent $300-plus concerts have been dedicated to tirades about immigration enforcement and whatever nonsense “No Kings” entails.
The Rolling Stones have always been a band of dualities: Mick and Keith, classic and modern, up-tempo rock and roll balanced by tender ballads. Think of “Start Me Up” and “Waiting on a Friend,” among countless other examples. On &#8220;Foreign Tongues,&#8221; that tender side arrives with “Back in Your Life,” the longest song on the record.
Its melody and atmosphere evoke the Beatles’ wistful “In My Life,” inviting us to reminisce. It features a beautiful guitar solo from Ronnie Wood, which the guitarist explained he recorded in a single take after learning of Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson’s death, hoping to convey a tribute to the American genius. And what an inspired tribute it is.
It is fitting that the record ends with “Beautiful Delilah,” a Chuck Berry cover. The Stones’ lo-fi interpretation reaches back to the country-blues textures of their &#8220;Beggars Banquet&#8221; days, awash in Richards’s acoustic strumming and slide guitar from Wood, painting a melancholy vignette of desolate, arid plains.
Jagger has already confirmed that he is working on another album, with a possible tour planned for 2027. Whatever fire has ignited in the venerable frontman, we can only hope it burns for as long as it can.
Formed in the tradition and image of American blues and R&amp;B, the Rolling Stones adopted that uniquely American export and spent the ensuing decades infusing it with new styles and sounds. That they continue doing so on &#8220;Foreign Tongues,&#8221; more than six decades later, is remarkable. The record is a mosaic of their past that still points unmistakably forward. To borrow a title, “Time Waits for No One,” but we should all be grateful it continues waiting for the Rolling Stones.
***
Harry Khachatrian (<a href="https://x.com/harry1t6">@Harry1T6</a>) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner. He is a software engineer, holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at <a href="https://www.betweenbottles.com/">BetweenBottles.com</a>.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

The Rolling Stones Announce New Album Foreign Tongues – Inside

Mick Jagger’s Latest Move Leaves Other Rock Icons In The Dust

culture

Rock and Roll

Longtime Journey band member Jonathan Cain shared some strong criticisms about far-Left activist Bruce Springsteen, basically telling him to stop talking politics and perform.
“Guys like Bruce Springsteen should shut up, you know,” the keyboardist told The Complete Disaster Network podcast. “Honestly, shut up, Bruce.”
Cain, who is conservative, did the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdHnBWt_hDc">interview</a> back in May but is just now going viral with his comments after it was featured on Blabbermouth and Ultimate Classic Rock over the weekend. Springsteen has been making headlines recently for aggressively anti-Trump rhetoric during his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour.
“Bruce, I mean, what the heck? I used to like him, and now he’s just annoying,” the “Don’t Stop Believin’” co-writer added. “He’s an annoying, bitter old man. I mean, stop it.”
Cain may be conservative, but he said it’s not something that comes up during performances.
“Now, people say, ‘Well, you’re Christian, and you’re conservative,’” the musician said during the podcast appearance. “And I’m like, ‘So what?’ I don’t preach it on stage. I don’t spend 10 minutes talking about it.”
“You know, you were ‘Born in the USA,’ weren’t you, dude? So act like it,” Cain went on. “But even that song, if you look at the lyrics, I mean, it’s a kind of a diss to our country.”
The far-Left singer, 76, made <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-doubles-down-on-trump-bashing-calls-it-patriotic">endless political statements</a> during the tour, both on and off the stage. “There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous sh*t going on out there right now,” Springsteen said during his Manchester stop.
“In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death.”
He also criticized the Trump administration’s handling of illegal immigration and claimed they were “taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
President Trump shot back with a social media post laying out exactly how he felt about Springsteen’s endless tirades.
“Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS,” the president wrote, echoing what many on social media were saying. “The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America.”

Jonathan Cain

Journey Star Slams Bruce Springsteen As ‘Bitter Old Man’ Over Anti-Trump Rants

Musician Slams Leftist Agitator Bruce Springsteen: 'Annoying, Bitter Old Man'

Bruce Springsteen

Celebrities

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Rapper Boosie BadAzz is demanding money back after two lobbyists allegedly charged him $600,000 in exchange for a Trump pardon that never came.
The 43-year-old hip-hop artist has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement over the years and was most recently facing prison time for felony possession of a firearm, which could result in up to 10 years in prison, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/us/boosie-badazz-pardon-lawsuit.html">reported</a>. 
He had previously pleaded guilty to a third-offense marijuana possession charge in 2009 and was sent to prison in Louisiana.
Boosie, whose real name is Torrence Ivy Hatch Jr., was reportedly approached by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl with a promise that they could help secure a pardon. But they didn’t, so Hatch is requesting half his money back, the outlet noted.
“I was in a bad position, and they preyed on me, bro,” Hatch told NYT in an interview. The lobbyists disagree, saying the fallout has tarnished their reputation. Burkman wrote in an email that the rapper “has smeared us unfairly.” 
Burkman added that the duo had conducted a “massive, highly tailored advocacy campaign across Congress, the executive branch and leading political influencers and media figures” as they attempted to secure the promised pardon. “In 25 years, we cannot think of a single client for whom our firm has done more work than Boosie,” he said. 
The outlet reported that a signed contract states that if a pardon was not secured by a certain date, Hatch was entitled to half the money back, which is what he is requesting. But NYT noted that there appears to be a typo, as the pardon was promised by January 2025, but the contract was signed in September 2025. 
The rapper was sentenced to three years of supervised release and 300 hours of community service in January 2026.
While he’s not back behind bars, Hatch is unhappy with his sentence as it keeps him from performing in other countries. “I’m loved all across the world and I can’t even go overseas and make money,” he told the outlet.
Rappers seeking presidential pardons from Trump are a hot topic lately. Last week, convicted sex offender R. Kelly submitted a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-issues-response-after-random-r-kelly-pardon-request">“random” pardon request</a>, prompting a response from the White House confirming the submission without indicating whether it would be approved. Kelly is currently serving a 31-year sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking, and child pornography.
The White House shot down rumors last fall that a presidential pardon for rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was imminent. As of now, Diddy is still behind bars, serving a four-year sentence for soliciting prostitution after being acquitted of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.

Boosie Badazz

Rapper Seeks $300K Refund After Bid for Presidential Pardon Falls Apart

Rapper Requests $300K Refund After Lobbyists Fail To Secure Presidential Pardon

Pardon

Rapper

Singer and convicted sex offender R. Kelly made an official request to President Trump to have his 31-year prison sentence commuted, prompting a response from the White House.
The Chicago Tribune first <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/14/r-kelly-trump-sentence/">reported</a> this week that the request was made and that Kelly was seeking a reduced sentence rather than a full pardon. The disgraced R&amp;B singer was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in 2021, then convicted of producing child pornography in a separate 2022 federal trial in Chicago.
A White House rep confirmed the request was made but did not indicate if or when it would be approved.
“This appears to be a random submission through the public portal which anyone can submit an application through,” the spokesperson said in a statement, as <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/r-kelly-trump-commute-prison-sentence-sex-abuse-1235594301/">reported</a> by Rolling Stone. “The submission of a pardon request should not be interpreted to mean anything other than an individual has chosen to submit a request. The team that reviews clemency requests at the White House is not tracking this request at this time. The White House has a thorough review process for all clemency requests, with the President being the ultimate decider.”
Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, has been seeking Trump’s help in reducing his client&#8217;s sentence since last year, and specifically asked that the singer be removed from prison and put on house arrest due to alleged safety concerns.
The singer’s legal rep claimed that three prison officials recruited a terminally ill inmate to kill the singer, promising him early release if he complied.
“The only thing that can protect Mr. Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that now the world is watching,” Brindley wrote in a statement last year. “We will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr. Kelly’s life.”
The motion was denied, as The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/16/r-kelly-donald-trump-appeal-commute-prison-sentence-ntwnfb">noted</a>.
Kelly isn’t the only recording artist seeking Trump’s help to get out of jail. The White House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-denies-rumors-of-an-imminent-pardon-for-diddy">shot down rumors</a> last fall that a presidential pardon for rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was imminent.
Diddy is currently serving a four-year sentence after being found guilty of two prostitution charges. He was facing up to 20 years in prison following a high-profile trial in New York, but was acquitted of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
TMZ broke the story of the pardon in October and said it stood by the story even after the White House denied it. As of now, Diddy is still in prison.

R Kelly

White House Issues Response After ‘Random’ R. Kelly Pardon Request

crime

Bonnie Tyler — the smoky-voiced Welsh belter who turned heartbreak into arena-sized bombast with &#8220;Total Eclipse of the Heart&#8221; — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bonnie-tyler-singer-died-11b043ebdb4fa946daa42aad804ce4a1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died Wednesday</a> in a Portuguese hospital. She was 75.
The singer, born Gaynor Hopkins in the coal-mining village of Skewen, Wales, had been battling an illness and passed away in Faro, where she&#8217;d made her home for decades, her family confirmed in a Facebook post.
Her road to that final night was tough. Back in May, Tyler underwent emergency surgery on a perforated intestine, was placed in an induced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-singer-wakes-up-from-coma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coma</a>, and spent weeks fighting for her life in intensive care before doctors believed she was turning a corner.
Tyler&#8217;s raspy, whiskey-and-cigarettes voice — the product of throat surgery she had in 1977 to remove vocal nodules — became one of pop&#8217;s most distinctive instruments, and she leaned into it hard. &#8220;I can&#8217;t help it if I&#8217;ve got a husky voice,&#8221; she once <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/arts/music/bonnie-tyler-dead.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot back</a> at critics who compared her to Rod Stewart.
That voice found its perfect vehicle in 1983&#8217;s &#8220;Total Eclipse of the Heart,&#8221; a Jim Steinman-penned monster originally dreamed up for a Nosferatu musical. The song was practically destined for Meat Loaf — until he lost his voice during recording and Tyler swooped in. The track shot to No. 1, sold millions, and hasn&#8217;t left the culture since, still racking up karaoke nights and eclipse-season streaming spikes more than four decades later. &#8220;
“After it was a hit,” she remembered, Meat Loaf “always used to say: ‘Dang. That song should have been mine!’” She told The Telegrapgh last year, “How can you ever possibly imagine it would still be so big today and people who weren’t even born then would be singing it at karaoke?”
Tyler followed up with &#8220;Holding Out for a Hero,&#8221; the synth-pop banger that soundtracked &#8220;Footloose&#8221; and blared out of gyms and movie screens throughout the &#8217;80s. She racked up three Grammy nominations along the way, though she never took one home.
The daughter of a coal miner and one of six kids, Tyler credited her mother with instilling the grit that carried her out of Wales and onto the world stage, once recalling her mom&#8217;s blunt advice: believe in yourself, because nobody else will do it for you.
She went on to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision in 2013, released more than a dozen albums across her career — her last, &#8220;In Berlin,&#8221; dropped in 2024 — and was honored with the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her contributions to music.
Tyler is survived by her husband, Robert Sullivan, a former Olympic judo competitor turned property developer, whom she married back in 1973. A full list of survivors was not immediately available.

Bonnie Tyler In Montreux

Bonnie Tyler, Famed For ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart,’ Dies At 75

Bonnie Tyler

death

Notorious anti-Trump singer Bruce Springsteen claims that criticizing President Trump actually makes him a patriot.
“I believe in critical patriotism,” the New Jersey-based entertainer said during his recent PBS special, “Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song.”
He added, “I believe that’s the definition of a patriot, you know, that you love your country so much that you are willing to look at it clearly, recognize its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting.”
Springsteen recently ended his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour, which was filled with political protest and Trump-bashing galore, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nobody-cares-bruce-springsteen-mocked-for-tirade-against-trump">reported</a>.
The far-left singer, 76, made endless political statements during the tour, both on and off the stage. “There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous sh*t going on out there right now,” he said during his Manchester stop.
“In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death.”
On the topic of the Trump administration targeting illegal aliens for deportation, Springsteen said, “They are removing residents off American streets and without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons.”
“In my country they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that has led to a more just and plural society,” the singer said at another point. “They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands.”
But Trump has not accepted the criticism in silence. Recently, the president made his opinion known, calling for a MAGA boycott against Springsteen and his shows.
“Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS,” the president <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116334990675013056">wrote</a>, echoing what many on social media were saying. “The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America.”

Bruce Springsteen’s Trump Obsession Gets A New Excuse

Springsteen Insists His Trump Bashing Is 'Patriotic'

Country music&#8217;s biggest stars packed Nashville&#8217;s Nissan Stadium on Saturday night to celebrate Alan Jackson as he performed the final concert of his legendary career.
The 67-year-old singer-songwriter put on his last set alongside George Strait, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Jon Pardi, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, and other artists who gathered to honor Jackson. The event was filmed for an NBC concert special celebrating Jackson ahead of his retirement. 
Jackson performed many of his well-known hits, including singles “Gone Country,” “Livin’ on Love,” “Summertime Blues” and “Midnight in Montgomery.” He also played “Little Bitty,” “Country Boy,” “Good Time,” and his post-9/11 anthem, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” Fireworks lit up the sky during “Chattahoochee,” according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/alan-jackson-final-concert-george-strait-72ebb2f87fdca2c2ae8a7308278c9b9b">Associated Press</a>.
Jackson addressed the crowd, saying the experience was “overwhelming” before joking that he wouldn&#8217;t spend much time on “last show stuff” because he’s “not dead.”
Jackson announced last year that he would retire from touring, telling fans during a concert in Milwaukee that it would be his &#8220;last roadshow.&#8221; 
“It’s been a long, sweet ride; it started 40 years ago this September. My wife and I drove to Nashville with an old U-Haul trailer and chased this dream,&#8221; Jackson said. &#8220;It’s been a crazy ride. I lived the American Dream, for sure. So blessed. Thank you all so much for all your support of my music and attending my shows.” 
The announcement came four years after Jackson revealed that he had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder.
“I’ve been reluctant to talk about this publicly and to my fans, but it’s been a while, and it’s starting to affect my performance onstage a little bit where I don’t feel comfortable,” Jackson said in 2021.
“I just wanted the fans and the public to know if they’ve come to see me in the last few years or if they come to see me in the future if I play anymore, what’s going on. I don’t want them to think I’m drunk onstage because I’m having problems with mobility and balance.” 
While Jackson said the condition is not fatal, he acknowledged it would eventually make performing more difficult.
“This is not a condition that I would be complaining about typically, but it is going to affect me performance-wise onstage, and I don’t know how much I’ll continue to tour,” Jackson said at the time.
Jackson is known for blending traditional honky-tonk with mainstream country, creating a signature sound. With more than 60 million albums sold, 35 number-one hits, and numerous awards, including Grammys and CMA honors, he’s one of country music’s most enduring and respected artists.

Alan Jackson

Country Legends Unite For Farewell Show

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