Posted on Tuesday (May 21), O’Brien prefaced his video response to Swift’s “22″ by saying, “Taylor Swift is great. She’s very popular and talented but I know what it’s like to be 22.” He went on to say her video isn’t an “accurate representation of what it’s like to be 22.”

“When you’re 22 you’re not living in that apartment. You’re living in a really crappy $380 apartment in the Mid-Wilshire district in Los Angeles,” he said. “I didn’t see any Ramen Noodles in that video ’cause that’s all you’re eating when you’re 22.”

O’Brien went on to vent about what life as a 22-year-old was like for him.

“I didn’t see her having bad skin or being way, way too skinny,” he said. “When you’re 22 you don’t even go outside. There’s nowhere to go, there’s no one to talk to. You don’t have a girlfriend. People are like, ‘What are you, 6’4 and you have orange hair. What kind of name is Conan?’ You’re a freak so no one talks to you.”

Conan isn’t the first to react to Swift’s video. Fuse posted a parody of Swift’s “22″ with a slightly different approach.

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This week’s only visible blip, it seems, has been a comment Rucker received on Twitter. It wasn’t just any old rant from a disgruntled fan — it was overtly racist, saying, “Leave country to the white folk.”

Darius chose to reply and bring the issue to light.

“@pqkullman: @dariusrucker Leave country to the white folk”. WOW. Is this 2013 or 1913

— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) May 19, 2013

“@pqkullman: @dariusrucker Leave country to the white folk”. Ill take my grand ole Opry membership and leave your racism. Wow

— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) May 19, 2013

As Rucker told USA Today, this kind of thing luckily “doesn’t happen often.” He adds that he wouldn’t necessarily have taken the bait, except that when he checked out the person’s account, he found he wasn’t the only person being attacked (the account has since been deleted and re-registered). And besides, Rucker should not need to justify why he called out someone who was attempting to spread such bigoted stereotypes.

“I don’t know who it was — some kid thinking he was cool, I guess,” Rucker said. “I read a couple of his tweets and was like, ‘This guy’s a real racist; he ain’t kidding.’” And so he concluded, “I have to expose this idiot.”

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He drew a blank, spit out a few lines, made excuses . . . and then finished by saying he couldn’t wait to see it again when it goes viral.

1. 78% of us have never been to the Space Needle in Seattle.

2. 73% of Americans have never visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

3. 70% have never seen the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

4. 69% of us have never seen the Hollywood Sign.

5. And 57% have never been to the White House.

The only landmark on the list that more than HALF of Americans have visited was the Las Vegas Strip. Only 45% of us haven’t been there.

The first track, “Southern Girl”, will be available tomorrow at TimMcgraw.com. The other four will be released one at a time . . . on June 7th, June 21st, July 12th, and July 26th. You can buy each song individually or wait and get all five at once. Who knows, maybe Tim will be feeling generous and want to release a 6th live recording from his show when he comes to the valley August 10th!

Vampire Weekend sold 134,000 copies of its third album Modern Vampires of the City, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan, while Strait’s 28th studio album sold 120,000.

According to Billboard, Love Is Everything is Strait’s 18th release that has landed in the top ten, putting him in a tie with Paul McCartney for fourth-most top tens among male artists (Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley are the only men with more).

Love Is Everything also peaked at No. 1 on the Country Albums chart, extending Strait’s record of such albums to 25. Strait also scored his 60th No. 1 single on any chart across all genres — a major chart feat, though he was already holding the record for most singles — this past week, just before his 61st birthday (on May 18).

Another interesting tidbit reported by Billboard is that Vampire Weekend’s album is the 19th independently distributed record to reach No. 1 on the chart since SoundScan data was first recorded in 1991. The last indie album to top the charts was Jason Aldean’s Night Train last fall (released by Broken Bow).

The top five is filled out by Demi Lovato, who notches third place with Demi; The Great Gatsby soundtrack, which falls from second to fourth; and Lady Antebellum‘s Golden, which debuted in the top spot last week but now drops to a still-respectable fifth.

Country music closes out the top 10, too, with Pistol Annies‘ Annie Up hitting No. 9 and Blake Shelton’s Based on a True Story… notching No. 10.

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As he told Billboard after Tuesday’s edition of The Voice, he’ll have more information on what he’s planning “in the next 24 hours” and that “it will raise a lot of money.” He added, “Obviously it will be televised and will happen really quickly.” Billboard reports that he then pointed to his fellow Voice coach Usher and said, “I can call in some really big favors.”

Shelton’s event is reportedly being planned to take place in Oklahoma City.

Blake and his wife Miranda Lambert (who originally hails from Texas but currently has a home and retail store in Oklahoma) also performed their ACM-winning “Over You” as the opening song on The Voice last night, in a tribute to those affected by the tornado.

“I think it was the perfect song for this situation,” Shelton said of including “Over You” on The Voice. “The moment was right and I wish things would’ve been different and I wouldn’t have been thinking about performing a song like that.”

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There’s been so much country rap collaboration going on lately, with Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, or Florida Georgia Line and Nelly. Now, Brad Paisley said he wants to collaborate with Kanye West. Brad said, “I toyed with approaching Kanye with something, but I don’t know if our camp would go for that. Our format might still be mad at him…I don’t know.” Then Brad said if not Kanye, maybe Jay-Z.

Taylor Swift’s helping a friend get over her ex. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have been together for a couple years now. Well they broke up, and Kristen Stewart went to Taylor Swift’s house to cope and get advice.

Kellie Pickler has been named the winner of season 16 of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ It was a two hour finale. Wynonna Judd, Psy, and Pitbull all performed. Derek Hough, Kellie’s partner, even said to Kellie’s grandpa, “Grandpa Ken we got you the trophy buddy!”

The 26-year-old country singer won the show’s mirror ball trophy Tuesday.

“This is amazing!” she beamed to her professional partner, Derek Hough.

The pair earned two sets of perfect scores Monday night and another on Tuesday. Judges’ scores combined with viewer votes determine the winner.

Because there were problems with voting on the ABC website during Monday’s East Coast broadcast, host Tom Bergeron said Tuesday those votes weren’t counted. Only votes cast by phone, text and Facebook factored into the final count.

Teen Disney Channel star Zendaya danced perfectly during the final two episodes, collecting the most points from the judges, but she fell short of the title.

“I’m very proud and I’m very happy,” the 16-year-old said after the results were read. “And I get to leave here with an amazing experience.”

Football pro Jacoby Jones finished in third place. Fellow finalist Alexandra Raisman was axed at the beginning of Tuesday’s episode.

“This has been the best experience of my life,” the gold medalist said. “My whole life, all I’ve ever known has been gymnastics, so to try something new has been amazing.”

The two-hour finale featured the return of the season’s already-eliminated contestants: comedians Andy Dick and D.L. Hugely, Olympian Dorothy Hamill, actor Ingo Rademacher, reality stars Lisa Vanderpump and Sean Lowe, singer Wynonna Judd and boxer Victor Ortiz.

Judd opted to sing rather than dance on the final episode, while Hamill celebrated another chance to hit the ballroom floor.

The Olympic skater, who said she was motivated to join the show after watching fellow skater Kristi Yamaguchi, had to withdraw from the competition early in the season because of an injury.

Hamill danced again Tuesday, and Yamaguchi joined her.

“It’s such an honor to join my idol out here on the dance floor,” said Yamaguchi, the Season 6 “Dancing” champ.

Korean pop star Psy brought his unique moves to the ballroom by dancing along with his new single, “Gentleman.” Pitbull and Jessica Sanchez also performed.

ABC announced earlier this month that the next season of “Dancing With the Stars” will air one night a week instead of two.

Article Courtesy of cbsnews.com Los Angeles

Pickler shared her win with her professional dance partner Derek Hough. During Tuesday night’s finale, they were competing against Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman and Val Chmerkovskiy.

When season 16 began, Kellie was one of two country artists on the program. Fellow dancer Wynonna Judd, though, was voted off in April.

Other stars competing this season included actor Andy Dick, figure skating champ Dorothy Hamill, football star Jacoby Jones, and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman.

I’ll never ever forget this night!! Love y’all so much!!! Thanks so much for voting!!!! #DWTS twitter.com/kelliepickler/…

— kellie pickler (@kelliepickler) May 22, 2013

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He was asked to name the best LOOKING country singer, and the best country singer ALIVE . . . and gave Carrie’s name each time.

And check this out: When they asked what rapper he’d like to collaborate with, Brad said, quote, “I toyed with approaching KANYE (WEST) with something, but I don’t know if our camp would go for that.

“Our format might still be mad at him. So, maybe JAY-Z.”

#1) Tim McGraw “Truck Yeah”

#2) Kip Moore “Somethin’ Bout A Truck”

#3) Toby Keith “Big ‘Ol Truck”

#4) Brad Paisley “Mud On the Tires”

#5) Lee Brice “I Drive Your Truck”

#6) Joe Diffie “Pickup Man”

#7) Dierks Bentley “Cab of My Truck”

#8) Luke Bryan “We Rode In Trucks”

#9) Trace Adkins “Rough and Ready”

#10) Brooks And Dunn “Hillbillie Deluxe”

Though Nettles recently announced that she will release a solo album this fall, during an interview Sunday at the Billboard Music Awards she was quick to clear the air regarding the future of her band Sugarland.

“Oh, god no!” she exclaimed, when asked if she and Kristian Bush would be breaking up the band. “Nobody panic,” she said, mugging for the camera. “We’re just taking time to do things individually–personally and professionally. And we’re super supportive of each other on both those fronts.”

Nettles was interviewed by Billboard on the red carpet before Sunday’s award ceremony. It was her first public appearance since her son Magnus was born five months ago.

During the interview she was practically giddy about her upcoming solo album; however, she didn’t want to go into much detail about the songs or the sound, as she didn’t want to “give everything away.”

Read more and watch the video on Radio.com

Rucker knows this firsthand, as he grew up entrenched in country music and is releasing his third country album, True Believers, today (May 21). In our Radio.com Essentials profile, Rucker broke down country music stereotypes and explained the stories behind many of the songs on his new album, while Entertainment Weekly‘s Grady Smith provided some back story on the former Hootie & the Blowfish singer. Watch below.

It’s a common answer to the question, “What type of music do you like?”: “I like everything but country.” But Rucker, who himself encountered great success in the mainstream with rock before segueing to country, pleas with music fans who respond this way.

“To have that stereotype of my dog died or my wife left me, that whole stereotype that they love to live with,” he explained, “every time I hear somebody say that ["I like everything but country] I say, ‘Take one day and listen to country.’”

As for those who claim country music is all about the same tired lyrical themes of Southern living, Rucker counters that he sings about what he knows.

“For me, I don’t sing about pickup trucks and stuff like that because that’s not a life I lived,” he said. “Clichés are clichés, there are a lot of guys that don’t write about that stuff but there are a lot of guys that do and it works.”

Instead, Rucker’s goal is to relate, with the added hope of pushing the envelope this time around. Though he partnered again with producer Frank Rogers, who also worked on 2008’s Learn to Live and 2010’s Charleston, SC 1966, the two tried to step away from the last two albums and simply find the best songs they could to create a new sound.

“I think this is the best record I’ve ever recorded,” Rucker said. “I’m excited for people to hear it, for country music fans and music fans in general to hear it. I hope they get a song or two or three that makes them go, ‘Man, that’s my life.’ That’s why I write songs.”

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Oklahoma was hit with a severe tornado yesterday (May 20) in the community of Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb. Country singer Toby Keith grew up in the neighborhoods that were hit, and he spoke with CNN‘s Anderson Cooper about hearing the news.

“So many tornadoes come through there but I don’t ever remember one hitting an elementary school right square on the button like this one did,” he said, his voice shaky with emotion. “It’s devastating. My sister’s house got hit. It’s a mile north of my mother’s house on the farm where I was raised.”

Keith took to Twitter to bring awareness to the tornado that struck his hometown.

Hometown got hit for the gazillionth time. Rise again Moore Oklahoma. Godspeed.Prayin – T

— Toby Keith (@TobyKeithMusic) May 20, 2013

“This storm has devastated the community that I grew up in,” he continued. “I rode my bike through those neighborhoods. I have family and friends in Moore. My heart and prayers go to those that have lost so much. But Moore is strong and we will persevere. God be with you all.”

The tornado took 24 lives, including at least seven children when it hit a local elementary school, CBS News reports.

“You just gotta hope that everyone takes cover,” Keith said. “Oklahoma has great meteorologists and they prepare you for this. Oklahoma people are just so resilient and are used to dealing with this in the springtime. They did the best they could do, I’m sure.”

Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood also voiced her prayers on Twitter as did Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton and Joe Diffie.

Growing up in tornado alley, you always know what could happen…it doesn’t change how devastating it is when something does happen. #pray

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) May 21, 2013

I’m thinking about and praying for my beautiful home state and the people in it tonight.

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) May 21, 2013

Pray. That’s all we an do. Pray for peace for Oklahoma.

— Miranda Lambert (@mirandalambert) May 20, 2013

Just landed in LA and hearing about all the tornados in Oklahoma right now… Get somewhere safe!!!

— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) May 20, 2013

So sad to hear of all the devastation and deaths in my home state. Can’t imagine what the folks who lost loved… fb.me/G0IA0zx5

— Joe Diffie (@JoeDiffieOnline) May 21, 2013

Many more country artists chimed in as well, including Willie Nelson, Ronnie Dunn, and Trace Adkins, who each showed fans wanting to help easy ways that they can donate to the Red Cross and other organizations.

You can support #Moore response & other disasters by txting REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10, or online at redcross.org- Team Trace

— TraceAdkins (@TraceAdkins) May 21, 2013

Oklahomans… Texts get thru better than calls.Verizon lost 1 tower in last night’s twister…20 TODAY !

— RONNIE DUNN (@RonnieDunn) May 21, 2013

Add’l ways to help & donate to OK text STORM to 80888 for Salvation Army REDCROSS to 90999 FOOD to 32333 for Regional Food Bank #OKTornado

— Willie Nelson (@willienelson) May 21, 2013

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This extends Strait’s record for holding the most No. 1 songs on all charts of any artist in any genre (Conway Twitty previously held the record with 55). It also means that the Sixty for Sixty campaign, to help Strait earn his 60th Number One while he was still 60 years old, was a success (Strait turned 61 on May 18).

George offered his thanks to fans in a message on his website:

“I didn’t realize we were making history — I just hoped we were putting out music that my fans would enjoy. As always, I’m thankful to the fans and country radio for their support on all 60 of these number one songs as well as my entire career. They are the ones who made this happen.”

It’s official, George makes history with his 60th #1 single!!! Thanks to all of YOU for your hard work and support! youtu.be/NFbCgcxd2XE

— George Strait (@GeorgeStrait) May 20, 2013

Fans and artists alike have been rallying for months in support of the song and Sixty for Sixty. Many of George’s friends and fellow artists, in fact, created videos honoring “King George” and his music.

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It’s got white sand, blue water and tiki bars, along with plenty of drumming and dancing–but it also involves such antics as hatchet tossing, jet pack flights, and human catapulting. While it’s not exactly Jackass, the idea of being shot out over the water by catapult (with or without beer in hand) will certainly give the saner minds among us pause.

Read more at Radio.com

A recent statement from Toby:

God pray for those in Oklahoma. I couldn’t sleep thinking about all those lost, and those kids, those babies, in the elementary school. My heart is heavy and grieving with everyone in Oklahoma.
I’ll be getting some audio from Toby today on how to help. I’ll send that to you as soon as possible.

Toby’s Facebook post last night after the reality of the devastation that had hit his childhood home:

Toby also Tweeted out last night after the reality of the devastation that had hit his childhood home:

Darius Rucker was slammed with a racist tweet. Someone was claiming that he’s a racist because of his song “Wagon Wheel.”
The person tweeted quote “Leave the country to the white folk.”
Darius replied back by saying “Wow is this 2013 or 1913?” He also added, “I’ll take my grand ole opry membership and leave your racism. Wow. If any hater thinks I care what you think. I don’t make music for you. So don’t listen.”
Darius told us he felt defiant when making his True Believers album. which comes out today.

Jake Owen ripped his pants while performing on stage in Charleston, S.C. He admitted on twitter that he had gone commando that night, so he had to improvise a little bit. He had to use his t-shirt as an emergency sash to hold his pants together.

According to Mediabase, George Strait’s “Sixty for Sixty” campaign WAS a success. His song “Give it all we got tonight” was the most played song on country radio last week, which was enough to make it his 60th Number One single on that chart. And, of course, it happened while was still 60 years old. George talked to us about his latest number one.

And now here is the video of the pant ripping festivities!

Check out the photo of Jake!

Photo courtesy of tasteofcountry.com