Music

Billie Eilish is a newly-minted millionaire, because we've learned the 16-year-old singer is raking in $2.6 million for an advance on her music. We've obtained her minor's contract that was filed in L.A. County Superior Court. It says she inked a deal with Universal Music Corp. According to the contract, the advance is for a minimum of 5 new songs. According to the deal, Billie gets $1.5 million within days of the time the deal is signed. It gets even better ... if Universal extends the deal beyond the initial 3-year term, she'll get up to a $7 million advance. Billie started on SoundCloud when she was just 14 and gained a huge following. She's now on tour with Florence + the Machine. She also has a song on the second season of the "13 Reasons Why" soundtrack with Khalid. And she has a single in next year's 'Men in Black' movie. And there's this ... from what we can tell she's working on a song with Danielle Bregoli. (TMZ)

Ronnie Dunn, K.T. Oslin to Join Nashville Songwriters Hall. Ronnie Dunn of powerhouse country duo Brooks & Dunn and singer-songwriter K.T. Oslin will join the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. The organization announced its newest inductees Tuesday. They also include songwriters Byron Hill, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Joe Melson. They will be formally inducted in October. Dunn wrote many Brooks & Dunn hits by himself including "Neon Moon," ?Hard Workin' Man," ?Little Miss Honky Tonk" and "Boot Scootin' Boogie." Oslin was the first female writer to win Country Music Association's song of the year in 1988. Hill wrote songs for George Strait and George Jones, while Kirkpatrick co-wrote the Grammy-winning "Change The World" with Eric Clapton. Melson got his start writing hits with Roy Orbison including "Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)" and "Crying." (Billboard)

Teen Rapper Flau'jae, Daughter of Slain Hip-Hop Artist Camoflauge, Earns Golden Buzzer on 'America's Got Talent'. She may not be world-weary, her craft chiseled over many years. But Flau'jae's message is loud and clear. Aged just 14, the Savannah, Georgia rapper hit the stage for America's Got Talent where she performed an original work based on her own difficult journey, titled "I Can't Lose." On the prompting of Simon Cowell, Flau'jae shared the sad story of her father, the rapper Camouflage (real name Jason Johnson), who was murdered in 2003 just days before signing a contract with Universal Music. Flau'jae was not yet born. Now, she uses the power of song to call for gun reform. "My whole goal is to continue my father's legacy. I feel like, he died too early. That's what I feel. And I feel he had a dream and he had things he wanted to do, so I'm going to do them form him." With her flow and mature lyrics, the teen sent shockwaves through the judges. "You are a wow," Howie Mandel enthused. "It's not somebody who wrote a song, it's not somebody who sings a song, it's somebody who lives a song, and teaches us a lesson. You're a star." Cowell chimed in, "I'm not an expert (in hip-hop), but I think you, the lyrics, the tracks, everything feels real." Guest judge Chris Hardwick confessed he had goosebumps and was blown away by the audition. He proved it, by hitting the golden buzzer, and triggering an outpouring of emotion. Mentored by Master P and Birdman, both friends of her late father, Flau'jae now has a guaranteed spot on the live AGT shows later this month. (Billboard)

Fresh off his shot at rappers, Eric Benet says black R&B artists are getting shaded ... by white singers and the music biz, in general, and he calls it a clear case of history repeating itself. The singer was on Van Lathan's 'The Red Pill' podcast when he broke down the current state of his genre. Eric says R&B's still a big draw, but mostly when the songs don't come from black singers. While Sam Smith and Adele get the "genius" label, Eric says established black singers, like Kenny Lattimore, don't get nearly as much attention. He says it's the same crap that's been going on since Elvis got more shine than his black peers. Benet's full of hot takes -- he just ripped some hip-hop artists for promoting white supremacy through their lyrics. Fat Joe's already fired back on that one. Maybe Adele wants next? (TMZ)

Argentine Artists Sing Version of 'Bella Ciao' for Abortion Rights. A group of well-known female artists recorded "Vamos Ya" to support legal abortion in Argentina, which goes to vote Wednesday (Aug. 8) after mass "Handmaid's Tale"-inspired demonstrations. This past May, as mass demonstrations calling for the decriminalization of abortion were held around Argentina, a group of well-known artists adapted the Italian resistance song "Bella Ciao" as a call for the right to choose. Hilda Lizarazu, known as half of the rock duo Man Ray and as a former vocalist with Charly Garcia's band, singer and actress Gloria Carr and singer Marilina Ross, as well as half a dozen other musicians, released a video of their song "Vamos Ya" ("Let's Go Now"). "Today we fight for our bodies...we are here singing together for legal abortion," proclaim the Spanish lyrics of the song set to the tune of "Bella Ciao," a WWII Anti-Fascist anthem later recorded by Mercedes Sosa, Yves Montand and other artists. The song has lately become familiar to current audiences through the popular Spanish series "La Casa de Papel," ("Money Heist"), which is now showing on Netflix. On Wednesday, Aug. 8, the Argentine Senate will vote on a law decriminalizing abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. In advance of the historic abortion vote, protestors again crowded the streets, many dressed in The Handmaid's Tale-inspired costumes; the red cloaks and bonnets which have recently become a symbol of feminist dissent around the world. Abortion opponents have demonstrated wearing blue bandanas that read "Save Both Lives." A "Mass for Life" is planned in Buenos Aires Wednesday as government representatives debate the bill, according to CNN. As the comments in the YouTube video for "Vamos Ya" attest, the clash between abortion activists and anti-abortion supporters over Argentina's proposed Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy law supports is contentious. Six abortion bills over 13 years have previously been presented to Congress in Argentina, where, according to Amnesty International, more than 3,000 women have died in the past 25 years as the result of unsafe procedures. The current legislation proposal was narrowly passed by the lower house of Congress in June. (Billboard)

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