Canadian R&B artist leading Billboard Music Awards
Weeknd warriors: Turn on the television and get ready to see some “Blinding Lights” at this year’s Billboard Music Awards, airing Sunday, May 23, on NBC.
With 113 artists nominated across 51 different categories, music fans and awards show lovers might “Feel It Coming,” but they’ll have to wait to see if they “Call Out [his] Name” as many times as he has been nominated. OK, so we may have overdone it a bit with the not-so-subtle song title dropping, but you guessed it correctly: The Weeknd has been leading the list of nominees this year, having garnered a total of 16 nods, including Top 100 Artist, Top R&B Artist and Top Streaming Song, to name a few.
Artists trailing not too far behind The Weeknd for number of nominations are “Rockstar” rapper DaBaby, with 11 nods; late rapper Pop Smoke, with 10 posthumous nominations; Country artist Gabby Barrett, raking in a total of nine nominations; and Bad Bunny, Chris Brown, Megan Thee Stallion, Drake and the late Juice WRLD all coming in with seven nominations apiece.
To be hosted by musician, actor and TV personality Nick Jonas — who is accepting the torch from his “The Voice” co-star, Kelly Clarkson, who hosted the show for the past three years — the 2021 Billboard Music Awards continue to honor the best in the music industry, from solo artists and groups to albums and songs across a wide range of genres.
The winners, to be announced by Jonas, are decided by metrics as gathered by Billboard and its data partners and based on fan interactions with the artists’ content, sales, streaming numbers, overall radio play and social engagement. This year’s awards will take into account content released between March 21, 2020, and April 3, 2021, making this year’s Billboard Music Awards the first all-pandemic celebration in its 30-year history.
Other artists sure to make a splash are seven-time Top Artist nominee Taylor Swift, Top Rock Album nominees Miley Cyrus and Machine Gun Kelly, and rock veterans Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC, also both nominated in the category of Top Rock Album.
Don’t miss the 2021 Billboard Music Awards when the show is hosted by Nick Jonas for the first time ever this Sunday, May 23, on NBC.
Going Mental: Move over “Jeopardy” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” there’s a new show in town! (Well, a new season of a show, at any rate.) Don’t miss “Mental Samurai” when it returns for a second season on Tuesday, May 25, on Fox.
Once again hosted by “9-1-1: Lone Star’s” Rob Lowe, Season 2 will continue the circus of mental gymnastics first established in the game show’s first season, released April 2020.
Broken into two rounds, Round 1 sees a contestant atop a mobile robotic arm named Ava as they answer questions from the four towers before them: each one dedicated to either knowledge, sequences, puzzles or memory. Should the contestant answer all questions correctly in Round 1, they move on to the second round for the chance to win $100,000. If not, they are out of the game entirely.
In Round 2 — where the big bucks are — contestants must now face the Circle of Samurai. Here, the player takes on up to four questions (one for each tower) and is given 90 seconds to answer each question. Any time remaining from the previous question will be tagged on to the next as the player hopes to add more money to their total win. With every correct answer in this round, the contestant’s take-away money pot increases by $25,000. A missed or incorrect answer means the contestant’s run on the show is finished, but they walk away with whatever money has already been banked. (Not bad!)
The game show has become a favorite around the world, with international versions popping up in Chile, Colombia, Portugal, Finland and in the Middle East and North Africa on Dubai TV.
Don’t miss Rob Lowe’s return to the game show podium when Season 2 of “Mental Samurai” lands on Fox this Tuesday, May 25.
Relive the ‘Apocalypse’: Step back into history with the visual experience of “Apocalypse ‘45,” coming to discovery+ on Thursday, May 27.
This moving documentary from director Erik Nelson (“A Gray State,” 2017) chronicles the last few days of World War II from the perspective of 24 men who lived through the events. Using never-before-seen footage and interviews, the feature length film was first released to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VJ Day on Aug. 15 of last year.
From the flag raising at Iwo Jima in February 1945 to the desert bomb tests in New Mexico and air raid over Japan that summer, Nelson, a longtime collaborator of acclaimed German director Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man,” 2005), beautifully tells the story of the end of the war with the strength and tenderness it deserves.
Upon the film’s debut on Discovery Channel last year, Richard Abramowitz and Karol Martesko-Fenster of distribution and marketing partners Abramorama said, “We are honored to be partnering with Discovery to release Erik’s astonishing film to mark this momentous time in our history. Now more than ever we need the kind of heroes who understand the consequences of their actions.”
Don’t miss the discovery+ launch of the momentous documentary “Apocalypse ‘45” this Thursday, May 27.