Music

Miley Cyrus and Shawn Mendes are hard at work putting the finishing touches on a new single together ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with the project tell us the song will drop in the coming weeks ... and is likely to end up as a track on Miley's new album. It's the first time the duo has paired up for any type of collab.

Shawn and Miley fans started to connect the dots that something was up Tuesday night when Miley posted a photo from rehearsals for the Grammys. Cyrus posed in front of some guitars and amps ... and some noticed Shawn's guitar in the background. What's more ... his name appears to be marked on another piece of equipment.

Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block still has the right stuff, because he started singing one of his band's classic hits after performing on Broadway ... and the video is amazing!

The awesome scene went down Tuesday night after Joey showed off his acting chops in the new musical, "Waitress." After the show, the cast was doing karaoke -- with Joey hosting -- and after some pressure from the crowd, Joey started belting out the lyrics to the band's big hit, "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."

Check out the clip ... Joey absolutely kills it and his fans go crazy!

Joey is back on Broadway for a limited engagement through April 7 ... but it's clear he's not shying away from his NKOTB roots.

Gloria Allred says there's no way around it -- Michael Jackson's legacy is just as much about being a sexual predator as it is about his music.

We got the famed attorney at LAX Tuesday and asked how people should feel about Jackson as the HBO release of the "Leaving Neverland" documentary -- featuring accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck -- quickly approaches.

Gloria's take? Where there's smoke there's fire.

She says there's a long history of serious allegations and disturbing behavior, as well as millions of dollars paid in settlements. Gloria believes it all adds up to Jackson being a predator.

She says though we might never know the names of Jackson's real victims, she firmly believes he's guilty of molestation.

Jussie Smollett is back to work in Chicago on the set of "Empire," and detectives want to chat with the actor while he's in town ... TMZ has learned.

A production source tells us Smollett flew back into the Windy City Sunday, after his weekend show in Los Angeles. We're told Smollett shot scenes for one of the final episodes of the season Monday and did a table read with the cast Tuesday ... security was present the entire time.

Law enforcement sources tell us cops want to speak with Jussie while he's in town as part of their ongoing investigation.

As for where he's staying while in town ... a source close to Jussie tells us he's back at the same apartment complex where he was living at the time of the attack.

Jussie made his first public appearance at a concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles Saturday, where he very proudly stated, "I couldn't let those motherf*****s win!" The show was supposed to have a meet and greet, which was canceled due to security concerns.

Police revealed Monday they've found additional surveillance footage surrounding the time leading up to and after the incident ... but the new video hasn't been released. Our sources say cops have not found any video of the attack or anyone fleeing after the attack.

R. Kelly's international concerts are an act of desperation, and the countries allowing him to perform are spitting in the faces of alleged victims like Azriel Clary ... according to her father.

Angelo Clary's 21-year-old daughter is one of the alleged sex slaves featured in "Surviving R. Kelly" ...  and he's pissed Kelly will get to perform in Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. He tells us promoters in those countries need to address why they are welcoming Kelly with open arms and, presumably, wallets.

Kelly announced his new King of R&B tour Tuesday ... though, he didn't share specific dates.

Angelo says there's no excuse for supporting the singer in the wake of Lifetime's scathing documentary. He's taking personal offense to the tour, seeing as how Azriel's still with Kelly and NOT in touch with her parents.

It's interesting ... Angelo thinks there's a good chance his daughter and Joycelyn Savage will be highly visible during the tour, and Kelly will make sure they look good to paint a different image from the one in 'Surviving.'

As you know, Azriel, Joycelyn and Dominique Gardner have been front row at Kelly shows in the past. Dominique has fled from Kelly, but Azriel and Joycelyn are still with him.

Bottom line for Angelo ... #MuteRKelly should be a global movement.

2/6 -- Turns out the absurd amount of money spent on strippers at "Stripper Bowl" may have been even more ridiculous than we previously thought, according to one of the strippers working that night. 5 Star Jazzi posted a photo after the fact, claiming that she and her coworkers actually made a cool $3 MILLION Monday ... and split their earnings 25 ways. That's $120k per stripper!!!

However, other strippers there insist she's just fronting for the 'Gram, and that between the 111 strippers working that night, they all left with $2k each.

Big difference but, either way, not a shabby payday for 1 night's worth of work.

Pardon the stupid question, but do you wanna see what it looks like when more than half a million's floating around a club? Welcome to the Stripper Bowl!

ATL's own Quality Control Music, which reps Migos and Lil Baby, threw the ultimate send-off Monday night at the Gold Room club for all the exotic dancers who came to town for Super Bowl Weekend. We say the "ultimate" send-off, because they promised a full downpour of $500k ... and you gotta see how they delivered.

The bash drew a bunch of hip-hop stars -- Boosie Badazz, 2 Chainz, T.I. and Tiny, YFN Lucci, Trey Songz ... as well as Saints superstar Alvin Kamara.

The trophy for best entrance arrival easily goes to Lil Baby, though -- chopper for the win!

We're told QC's Pierre "Pee" Thomas was personally handing out stacks of cash to make it rain on the talent, and in the video you see several bankers boxes full of singles getting ripped open.

When it was all said and done, our sources say close to $600,000 was tossed, and you can see it all lining the club floor and bar surfaces.

Offset was there too, but as we told you, he's under a strict "no groupies" ordinance right now ... so tough environment, we're guessing. He and Cardi B hit up another club together earlier in the weekend but, surprisingly, no sign of her at Stripper Bowl.

Guess the AVNs are more her style.

A$AP Rocky says there's no shame in 21 Savage's true birthplace ... because he's totally down with his brothers from across the pond!!!

We got A$AP at LAX Tuesday, and you gotta hear him professing his love for all things British ... including his fellow rapper.

As you know, it's been revealed that 21 Savage was actually born in the United Kingdom -- despite him repping the ATL -- with the truth coming out after he was taken into custody by ICE for possible removal from the U.S.

It's interesting ... A$AP and 21 have collab'd on songs in the past, and A$AP says he too had no clue he was working with a Brit.

As for 21's ongoing detention ... A$AP says he's hopeful his friend will soon be walking the streets in Atlanta again.

Rapper Blueface says he can point cops in the right direction to prove he's innocent.

Blueface's manager, Wack 100, tells TMZ ... Blueface never had a gun when cops busted his posse last week in downtown L.A. and, for good measure, says there should be plenty of surveillance footage to prove it.

What's more ... Wack says if investigators check for Blueface's prints against the guns cops recovered ... they WON'T find his fingerprints on any of the weapons.

TMZ broke the story ... law enforcement sources told us Blueface and his crew scattered and tossed their guns away after LAPD rolled up on them. But, Wack says Blueface was actually sitting in his car before cops told him to get out. He was arrested for felony possession of carrying a loaded firearm.

We're told the man behind the Bust Down dance craze wants to put this episode behind him and focus on music ... especially because Wack insists Blueface had no knowledge of anyone packing heat.

Wack says Blueface, who is out on bail, did wanna give cops props for this -- they drove his expensive ride from where the bust went down ... and parked it near the station to keep it away from car thieves.

Jake Paul wants to fight Soulja Boy for $20 MILLION ... and he's telling TMZ Sports that he'll cough up his own 20 milli to make it happen!!!

ICYMI -- the social media superstar and rapper traded jabs in an Instagram Live session last week ... with Soulja offering Paul a HUGE chunk of cash to get him to square up in the ring.

Paul tells us this was no publicity stunt -- he really wants a piece of Pretty Boy Swag ... and as for the money, he'll have no problem putting up the $20 milli if Soulja can't swing it.

FYI -- you're sitting down, right? -- Paul can put his money where his mouth is. The dude reportedly made $21.5 million in 2018 alone, according to Forbes.

Of course, Jake knows his way around the ring ... he easily handled Deji in his first YouTube super fight and called out Chris Brown right after taking him down.

Clearly, Jake will happily settle for Soulja Boy.

21 Savage and his people believe his arrest by ICE may be motivated by revenge ... revenge for his new music that condemned the behavior of immigration officials.

21's people just released a stinging statement in which they clearly think ICE's motives are corrupt ... "Many have speculated as to possible ulterior motives for his arrest and detention, including that he released music five days prior to his arrest by ICE, which included new lyrics condemning the behavior of immigration officials for their detention of children at the border."

The song in question, "A Lot," has the following lyrics ... "Been through some things so I can't imagine my kids stuck at the border. Flint still need water. People was innocent, couldn't get lawyers." He performed it on 'The Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon at the end of Jan.

The statement also says ICE knew how to find 21 Savage since 2017, when he applied for a U-Visa and gave his address. So the insinuation ... they weren't going to arrest him until they got pissed off by the new song.

As we reported ... 21 Savage was picked up by ICE early Sunday morning in Atlanta and taken into custody for possible removal from the U.S. We learned the arrest may have been triggered by the rapper applying for a U-Visa ... which led to a background check that discovered his visa had expired.

An ICE agent claimed 21 has been living a totally false public persona ... and had overstayed his visa.

Savage's manager says since he got busted, he's been spending 23 hours a day in lockup, with his only communication being 10-minute phone calls.

The Game went after Tomi Lahren in a big way, going after her for cracking jokes about 21 Savage's ICE arrest ... by going on a raunchy, profanity-laced rant.

The rapper directed a sexually explicit series of insults Tuesday at the conservative Fox News contributor, after Lahren mocked 21's arrest Sunday by tweeting a reference to his hit track, "Bank Account" ... "I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ICE agents ready to deport ya."

Game's clearly not down with Tomi's attempt at humor, saying ... "21 Savage gettin detained by ICE is not funny nor anything for ya middle of the mall clip in wearin’ h** a** to be joking about."

The Game goes on to sling A LOT more mud ... and it's pretty nasty.

He closed out his rant by adding ... "Here's some advice: stay out the tanning salon, you're starting to look like a sick tangerine. #FreeDaReal #21 [Someone please recommend a good burn center for her] #ThanksInAdvance"

Game's not the first to fire back at Tomi -- Cardi B shot back, "Don't make me get my leash."

As you know, the 2 women already had beef.

Nicki Minaj also blasted Lahren, saying ... "Your obsession w/our culture is scary to say the least. I hate giving you the attention you so desperately crave. Laughing @ ppl getting deported as if your ancestors discovered America. Are you Native American? You fkn clown."

9:15 AM PT -- 21 Savage's manager says the rapper's "in lockdown for 23hrs of the day no tv or any communication besides our 10 min phone calls." He says 21's in good spirits, though ... thanks to hearing about the huge amount of support from his fans.

21 Savage was not turned over to ICE by the Dekalb County Police... turns out, ICE was on the scene when they pulled over the car in which the rapper was riding.

21's lawyer was irate over Sunday's arrest for being in the U.S. illegally, saying ICE knew about the rapper's status since 2017, when he filed for a U-Visa. Thing is ... until Sunday, ICE had no interaction with Savage.

What's more ... 21's lawyer says ICE blew it by basing the arrest, in part, on the rapper's previous felony. As we reported, 21 pled guilty to felony drug charges in 2014, but the record was expunged last year. ICE does not have to honor an expungement ... the arrest and conviction can trigger deportation action.

Ironically, 21 Savage's move to become a legal resident may have caused the arrest, because USCIS investigates the application and does a background check, which apparently revealed he was born in the UK, came to the U.S. legally in 2005 with a visa, but it expired the next year and he has been here illegally ever since.

As for why Savage decided to ask for a U-Visa in 2017 ... there's a form of relief available for people who have been in the U.S. illegally for 10 years or longer, who have a qualifying U.S. relative living here. In Savage's case, he has 3 kids who were born here. Problem is ... ICE apparently believes the felony conviction knocks him out of the box.

Another reason he may have wanted the visa ... it would allow him to leave the country to tour.

As for why 21's cousin -- rapper Young Nudy -- was arrested in the same bust ... he had a warrant out, stemming from an incident in 2017. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Nudy is accused of shooting a man twice in the hip and once in the buttocks ... the man survived the attack.

Win the Super Bowl ... party like a BAWSE!!

While Tom Brady and Julian Edelman are havin' lightsaber fights at Disney World ... their teammates got the VIP treatment at a Boston hot spot ... complete with an appearance by Rick Ross!!

Fresh off their 6th Super Bowl title in 18 years, the Pats jetted back to Boston and partied it up at The Grand.

Of course, Rozay LOVES the Pats -- he was at the center of Gronk's dance-off with Robert Kraft back in 2015 ... and the rap star says he "puked his guts out" partying with Gronk when N.E. won in 2017.

R.R. kept the tradition alive on Monday ... linking up with players like Trey Flowers and Ja’Whaun Bentley for the rager ... complete with a bunch of champagne and big cardboard cutouts of Bill Belichick's face!!

The guys loved every second of it ... keeping the party going all the way up to the parade on Tuesday.

Partying with Rick Ross ... that's the Patriot Way.

Soulja Boy vehemently denies attacking the woman who filed a police report against him, alleging kidnapping ... and, we're told he says this is a simple case of a woman scorned.

Sources connected to the rapper tell TMZ, the alleged victim -- Kayla -- is flat-out lying when she says Soulja beat her and then took her in his garage and tied her to a chair for 6 hours.

Our sources say the real story is this ... Soulja had been dating Kayla but ended the relationship, and she was irate. They say Kayla came to Soulja's house on Friday night, heavily under the influence, and crashed her car in his driveway ... hitting the curb.

A crowd of people were partying inside the house and heard the crash. A woman who is Soulja's manager then came outside and told Kayla she was not welcome and she should leave. Our sources say, Kayla then attacked the manager and the 2 began fighting. We're told Soulja never went outside his home and never even saw Kayla.

As for Kayla's injuries ... we're told it was at the hands of Soulja's manager, who was defending herself against the attack.

Soulja's people call Kayla's allegations "100% fabricated."

The police took a kidnapping report Saturday from Kayla and are still investigating.

Black Eyed Peas rapper, Taboo, says Adam Levine & Co. aren't special because everyone who does the Super Bowl halftime show gets destroyed ... so there's no need to hang their heads.

We got Taboo at LAX Monday -- as he returned from ATL -- and he dropped some knowledge about playing at the big game. He calls it an unwinnable situation for ANY artist. Remember, BEP performed 8 years ago at Super Bowl XLV ... so, he speaks from experience.

Taboo says he and his bandmates got eviscerated for, what some critics called, an uninspired performance with a lot of shouting into mics and not enough dancing. TBH, it was a lot of the same criticisms Maroon 5 is now getting.

On top of their music getting picked apart ... Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi had all the added flak from Colin Kaepernick supporters -- not to mention the memes about Adam's tattoos and wardrobe.

So, where IS the love? Not at LAX! Watch the clip to the end to see some edgy travelers giving Taboo the business.

2/5 10:43 AM PT-- PETA held a protest outside CBS Tuesday morning in NYC, holding the network responsible for airing Big Boi's fur-lined Super Bowl performance.

Big Boi's Super Bowl halftime performance is drawing penalty flags -- not for the music (see Maroon 5) -- but for his fur coat, which PETA wants to take off his back and donate to the homeless.

We've learned PETA fired off a stern letter Monday to Big Boi, even addressing him by his real name -- Antwan -- like a disappointed parent. In the letter, the animal rights group tries to convince the Outkast rapper to retire all of his furs and switch to faux.

PETA says it knows exactly what to do with Big Boi's luxury fur -- which it believes to be fox -- offering to distribute it to homeless shelters in America or Syrian refugees.

Taking it a step further, PETA says it's sending him a "gorgeous" faux fur for him to flaunt.

PETA tells us a coat the size of Big Boi's costs an estimated 25 red foxes their lives, and points out the animals are electrocuted or have their necks broken ... purely for fashion.

We've reached out to Big to confirm his coat was genuine fur, but no word back. PETA says it hasn't gotten a response from him yet either.