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Music News: Paris Jackson gives first in-depth interview

Paris Jackson on January 8, 2017
Paris Jackson on January 8, 2017John Sciulli/Getty Images for InStyle

by Jay Gabler

January 24, 2017

Paris Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson, is now 18 years old and has given her first-ever in-depth interview. She tells Rolling Stone about her warm memories of her father (nine of her 50 tattoos are devoted to him, and one of them is a tribute to Prince).

Jackson opens up about her past drug addiction and suicide attempts, and about how she finds her current modeling work therapeutic. She says that in her view "it's obvious" that her father was murdered. She also says she's certain Jackson was her biological father, and she considers herself to be black.

"If you wanna be bigger than me, you can," Jackson remembers her father telling her. "If you don't want to be at all, you can. But I just want you to be happy."

NYT fuels Prince streaming speculation

Depsite ongoing legal wrangling between Prince&38217;s estate and Tidal, the New York Times reports:

The Grammys ceremony, on Feb. 12, is the focus of a major marketing campaign set up by the music companies that have rights to release Prince's songs, and by the streaming services that have been hungry to carry the music but were blocked from doing so by Prince himself before he died last year at 57. If all goes according to plan, Prince's music will be made available on virtually all streaming services around the time of the Grammys, where an all-star musical tribute to Prince is expected to be one of the show's splashiest moments.

The streaming rollout was previously rumored, but Tidal's claims to an exclusive deal with Prince cast it in doubt. The Tidal litigation, the Times now reports, "does not seem to have slowed down deal activity."

Father John Misty announces new album

Father John Misty has announced his third studio album under that name. Pure Comedy comes out April 7, and a new 25-minute documentary chronicles the album's making. (Pitchfork)

Today's box set news

The forthcoming Ryan Adams album Prisoner will have a super-deluxe box set edition that includes each of the album's 12 tracks as a 7" record (each a different color), with 17 previously unreleased B-sides. The real prize, though: a set of 2D action figures of Adams and his band, complete with pedal-board accessories. (Pitchfork)

No word of any action figures, but Neil Diamond is compiling a box set to mark the 50th anniversary of his first hit, "Solitary Man." Neil Diamond 50 — The 50th Anniversary Collection will be a career-spanning three-disc set with newly written liner notes. The set comes out March 31, and a 50th anniversary tour stops at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center on May 24. (Rolling Stone)

Lily Allen covers Rufus Wainwright to support Women's March

Lily Allen has released a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s "Going to a Town" — with musical accompaniment by Mark Ronson — in the form of a video featuring footage from the Women's March in London. (Pitchfork)

Alice in Chains back in the studio

Alice in Chains are in the studio working on a follow-up to 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Bassist Mike Inez says he expects the band will be putting in their usual 20-hour days while recording the new album. (NME)

New love for a Vampire

Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) has been seen out and about with actor Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation). According to People magazine (which would know), they've been dating since last year. Here's a fun fact you might not know, per Consequence of Sound: Jones, "who is the daughter of legendary music producer Quincy Jones, was previously engaged to Mark Ronson."

Britney biopic gets a trailer

Lifetime has released a new trailer for Britney Ever After, a Britney Spears biopic that will debut on Feb. 18. Needless to say, it's unauthorized. Very unauthorized. (Billboard)