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Kelsea Ballerini Opens Up About Respecting ‘Truth-Telling’ With Boyfriend Chase Stokes

Kelsea Ballerini is sharing what it’s like navigating a post-divorce relationship in the public eye.

The superstar, ahead of dropping her newest album, Patterns, dropped by Sunday Today With Willie Geist, and in a preview clip shared exclusively with Billboard, Ballerini says that dating actor Chase Stokes as a celebrity comes with a lot of “trial and error,” adding, “I’m not used to the interest in me as a person, as much as I have been warming up to the last couple of years. For a long time, I was used to being the girl who sings ‘Peter Pan’ to people. I love that, I love that role. As far as the floodgates that Welcome Mat opened up as far as human me, girl me, is different now. I’m still getting my footing on how I share things and how I share and my relationship and all that stuff. It’s not normal so I think it’s fair enough that it’s an ebb and a flow.”

Ballerini and Stokes went public with their romance in Feb. 2023 and since then they’ve walked a number of red carpets together and frequently chronicled their love affair on their socials. That same month, Ballerini dropped her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, in which she detailed the devastation of her divorce from fellow country star Morgan Evans

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“I think the beautiful thing about being with an artist — in a different field but an artist — is that also equates to being with a truth-teller,” she told Geist of dating the Outer Banks star. “When I got into this relationship, I hadn’t put out Welcome Mat to him. I remember I sent that EP to him and I just said, ‘Hey, you’re going to ask eventually. So, I’m just going to go ahead and give this to you.’ He lifted that record up and supported it and stood side-stage the whole time. That takes someone who really celebrates truth-telling, and believes in the person that’s doing it.”

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Watch the exclusive clip with Ballerini below, and the full sit-down airs this Sunday (Oct. 27) on NBC’s Sunday Today With Willie Geist.

Clairo Postpones Three Toronto Shows Due to ‘Extreme Exhaustion’

Clairo apologized to her Canadian fans on Wednesday night (Oct. 23) after informing them that she has been advised to push back three planned shows in Toronto due to exhaustion. “Hi everyone, I’m really sorry to inform you that I will be postponing the next 3 Toronto shows,” she wrote on X about the gigs that were slated to take place at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Oct. 23, 24 and 25.

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“I know this is disappointing to everyone who bought tickets to see me play but I’m struggling with extreme exhaustion and have been advised to go home until our Boston shows,” she added of the first of three shows slated to take place on Oct. 28 at Roadrunner.

“I want you to experience the best show possible, and I’m not in a place to do that right now,” she said. “I will share updates as I have them regarding refunds, a rescheduled show date that will honor your current tickets, etc. please hold on to your tickets! I appreciate your understanding. I will make it up to you!”

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Clairo released her third album, Charm, in July, which debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart, fueled by the singles “Sexy to Someone” and “Nomad.” She kicked off her Charm tour on Sept. 6 with a five-night stand at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, followed by multiple nights in New York and gigs in Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Portland, Denver, Chicago and Columbus, OH; her final date before the just-announced break was at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. on Monday (Oct. 21).

See Clairo’s statement below.

Virtual Music Festival Decentraland Is Returning In November With Mat Zo, San Holo, Whipped Cream & More

Decentralized Music Festival is returning next month, with the virtual event focusing entirely on electronic music for the first time in its four year history.

Happening Nov. 20-23, the lineup for the free event features future bass star San Holo, experimental artist Mat Zo, Canadian bass producer Whipped Cream and fellow bass mainstay Nghtmre along with a flurry of rising producers, including many from the global Decentralized community. See the complete 2024 lineup below.

Decentralized Music Festival is a product of Decentralized, an immersive digital world built using blockchain technology and owned and operated by its users through crypto technology, which differentiates it from corporate metaverses like Fortnite.

Decentralized launched its music festival in 2021 amid the pandemic. Originally called Metaverse Music Festival, in its first three years the event hosted artists including Deadmau53LAU, RAC, Alison Wonderland, Ozzy Osbourne, Dillon Francis and Soulja Boy. A representative for the event says that the event drew roughly 50,000 unique attendees in 2021 and 2022. (In 2023, a smaller version of the event focusing on Decentraland community-based artists took place while the platform was being revamped.)

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“Our theme this year, ‘space traveler,’ speaks to this sense of discovery and exploration,” head producer at Decentralized and Decentralized Music Festival Bay Backner tells Billboard. “We also see Decentraland as a “third space” for music experience. It bridges the community fans find at live EDM festivals, like Tomorrowland and Ultra, with the accessibility and immediacy of streaming music at home. It is as easy to enter from your computer, but you’re simultaneously sharing an important, creative, transient experience with others from around the world. And importantly, Decentraland Music Festival is free and open to all.”

Decentralized has users in 159 countries, who, in addition to the music, can check out Decentralized Music Festival offerings like live talks on AI, the future of electronic music and “label round tables” hosted by dance imprints including Monstercat, Coop Records, Hospital Records and more.

“During the pandemic, I started a virtual events company where we were fortunate enough to put on shows with a relatively high degree of production value, and miraculously we were able to provide fees to the artists and staff involved,” Mat Zo tells Billboard. “After the pandemic ended, that fizzled out and I thought virtual events were a thing of the past. So when I was asked to perform at a virtual event this year, I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.  I’m glad someone managed to take the concept further and make it work in a post pandemic context. I have a deep appreciation for the amount of work that goes into these events, and I’m extremely grateful to be a part of one.”

Decentraland Music Festival

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Mariah Carey Drops Her ‘Christmas Time Set List’ on Apple Music in Lead-Up to Tour Kick-Off

Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey is gearing up for her annual Christmas Time tour with a new Apple Music exclusive Christmas Time Tour set list playlist featuring a mix of her holiday classics and some of the singer’s most beloved non jingle-jangle hits.

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The 20-song roster kicks off with the “Magical Christmas Mix” of “Sugar Plum Fairy,” followed by “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/ Gloria (In Excelsis Deo),” “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” “Christmas Time Is in the Air Again,” “Oh Santa!” (feat. Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson) and “Sleigh Ride,” among others.

MC also slipped in a few favorites, including “Emotions,” “Hero,” “It’s Like That,” “Fantasy,” “Always Be My Baby” and “We Belong Together,” ending, of course, with Carey’s titanic holiday No. 1 standard, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

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In an accompanying essay, Carey told Apple Music that the touring show’s over-the-top atmosphere will be “festive, celebratory, joyous, happy, jolly, jovial,” though she added that there will also be some reflection in the mix as well. “There will also be poignant moments, because there’s a variety of moods in my songs and at the holidays,” she said.

And while Carey has reminded us that it’s not time yet to bust out the tinsel, the 20-date tour celebrating of the 30th anniversary of her 1994 hit album Merry Christmas will kick off on Nov. 6 in Highland, CA, with stops in Los Angeles, Atlanta, D.C. and Boston before wrapping up on Dec. 17 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena.

Click here to listen to Carey’s Christmas Time Set List.

Metallica, Linkin Park, Korn to Headline 2025 Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival

The 2025 Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival will feature headliners Korn, Metallica and Linkin Park. The four-day event slated to take place a the historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH from May 8-11 will also have sets from more than 100 other bands, including: Incubus, Rob Zombie, Sevendust, Alice Cooper, I Prevail, Alice in Chains, Chevelle, Mastodon, Ice Nine Kills, Corrosion of Conformity, Testament and more.

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As previously announced, Metallica will close out two nights of the festival — headlining on the 9th and 11th — where they will play two distinct sets with no songs repeated. Korn will top the bill on May 8, with the new-look LP featuring singer Emily Armstrong doing the honors on May 10. There will also be a couple of reunions on the roster, including Crossfade’s first show since 2011, as well as the first gig from sludge metal band Acid Bath in 28 years and Three Days Grace performing with original vocalist Adam Gontier for the first time since 2013.

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Other bands performing at the 2025 fest include: Alien Ant Farm, Orgy, Exodus, Overkill, Hoobastank, Sick Puppies, Quicksand, Cavalera, Motionless in White, Caskets, Suicidal Tendencies, Deafheaven, Jimmy Eat World, Escape the Fate, Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, From Ashes to New, Killswitch Engage, Jinjer, Cannibal Corpse, Hatebreed, Grandson and many more.

The event will also mark the U.S. festival debut of System of a Down bassist Shave Odadjian’s new band, Seven Hours After Violet. Click here for details on ticket packages.

Check out the full poster for the 2025 Sonic Temple Festival below.

New York Nightclub Complex Avant Gardner Hires Josh Wyatt as New CEO

After opening its doors in early 2018, It didn’t take long for multi-venue dance destination Avant Garder to dominate New York’s nightlife scene. Each year, the indoor/outdoor complex that includes Brooklyn Mirage, the Kings Hall and Great Hall has attracted some of the biggest names in dance, including a busy 2024 season that saw sellouts by Black Coffee, Swedish House Mafia, David
Guetta
, Gesaffelstein, Diplo, Anderson. Paak, Carl Cox, Deadmau5 and Three 6 Mafia.

That success comes in spite of the high-profile September 2023 collapse of the Electric Zoo festival — the Randall’s Island EDM festival purchased by Avant Gardner co-founder Billy Bildstein and the company’s former chief creative officer Philipp Wiederkehr the year before. Once a staple of the New York festival scene, the 2023 version of Electric Zoo was marred by missed permit deadlines, rampant overcrowding and safety violations later cited by former ally turned critic, Mayor Eric Adams.

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“It’s something I wanted to address head-on,” says Josh Wyatt, Avant Gardner’s new CEO, who officially begins his new role on Wednesday (Oct. 23) but has spent the last several months working behind the scenes to settle any lingering issues in the aftermath of the Electric Zoo debacle. “If I were to make a constructive criticism of the company in the past, it’s that they have not always done a good job of communicating with the various [Electric Zoo] stakeholders.”

“Over the last eight weeks, I have reached out to every key stakeholder in Electric Zoo and I’ve made them whole,” Wyatt added of refunding ticket holders, settling with vendors and managing small litigation issues. “I’m proud of that.”

Wyatt counts two decades of experience in the hospitality and nightlife sectors, including his most recent tenure as CEO of the members-only social club NeueHouse and its sister company, the photography museum Fotografiska. He also served as president of Equinox Hotels and as co-founder/managing partner of Generator Hostels.

Wyatt joins Avant Gardner after the company brought on a new unnamed investor, which has “inject(ed) the company with growth capital to allow myself as the new CEO to really operate the company,” he says, adding that Bildstein will serve as “my partner in this journey” as founder/creative director. Together, the two will explore the first phase of experiential evolution inside Avant Gardner with a handful of new initiatives including the launch of a music venue/mocktail bar, as well as new community spaces like a hi-fi listening room for audiophiles and immersive art and visual studios for guests.

“That’s the trend that’s happening right now and It’s something that we see a lot of our guests asking for — places to chill out and refresh,” Wyatt says.

Zayn Malik Reschedules U.S. Stairway to the Sky Tour After Postponing in Wake of Liam Payne Death

Zayn Malik has rescheduled his Stairway to the Sky tour after previously postponing the U.S. dates of the outing following the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne. Zayn will now pick up the dates beginning with a Jan. 21 show at the Anthem in Washington, D.C., followed by two gigs at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, as well as dates in Los Angeles and Las Vegas before winding down with a Feb. 3 concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

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The U.S. leg of what was to be Malik’s first-ever headlining tour — in support of his fourth solo album, Room Under the Stairs — was originally scheduled to take place in October and November of this year. But on Saturday, the “Pillowtalk” singer told fans that he was delaying the U.S. run that was originally scheduled to launch on Wednesday (Oct. 23) in San Francisco.

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“Given the heartbreaking loss experienced this week, I’ve made the decision to postpone the US leg of the STAIRWAY TO THE SKY Tour,” Malik wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The dates are being rescheduled for January and I’ll post them as soon as it’s all set in the next few days. Your tickets will remain valid for the new dates. Love you all and thank you for your understanding.”

Malik is still slated to hit the road in the U.K. next month, kicking off with a pair of shows on Nov. 20-21 at the O2 Academy Edinburgh, followed by stops in Leeds, Manchester, London, Wolverhampton and Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The postponement of the U.S. dates came after Payne’s death in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct. 16 at age 31 following a fall from the balcony of his hotel room. An initial toxicology report found that Payne had a number of drugs in his body at the time of death, including a recreational drug referred to as “pink cocaine,” a mixture that often contains ketamine combined with MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and/or psychoactive substances.

Payne had openly discussed his struggles with addiction in the past. In May 2023, he celebrated 100 days of sobriety. “I feel really, really good, and support from the fans and everything has been really, really good. So, I’m super happy,” he said at the time. The loss has hit Directioners and fellow artists hard, perhaps none so much as Payne’s former bandmates in 1D, who issued both a group statement, as well as their own individual comments about their late brother in song.

“I can’t help but think selfishly that there was so many more conversations for us to have in our lives,” Malik wrote in his remembrance alongside a photo of himself laying in Payne’s lap when the two were world-beating teenager pop stars. “I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life. When I was missing home as a 17 yr old kid you would always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and I was loved.”

Click here to see Zayn’s full run of rescheduled U.S. dates.

Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan to Headline 2025 Primavera Sound Festival

Primavera Sound has announced a stacked lineup for its 2025 edition, including headline slots for Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. The festival will take place at Barcelona’s Parc Del Fòrum (June 5-7) and also feature sets from LCD Soundsystem, FKA Twigs, Fontaines DC, Clairo, Haim and Turnstile.

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The announcement Thursday morning (Oct. 24) also included confirmation of acts including TV On The Radio, Wet Leg, Beach House, Waxahatchee, Beabadoobee, Caribou, Anohni, Denzel Curry, Chat Pile, Parcels and more.

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Elsewhere on the lineup, there will be sets from The Dare, Floating Points, Stereolab, Yaosobi, Spiritualized, Hinds, Glass Beams, Kim Deal and MJ Lenderman.

Fans can register for a presale which takes place on Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. CET. The general sale will take place on Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. CET. Passes for all three days will cost $286 and you can register for access on the festival’s official website.

2024’s edition of Primavera Sound included sets by Blur, Lana Del Rey, Pulp, SZA, Justice, The National, Mitski and Charli XCX.

Primavera Sound had expanded its offerings in recent years and included sister events in Madrid, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Asunción and Buenos Aires. In August, the festival confirmed that all their Latin American editions would not be going ahead in 2024.

Primavera Porto in neighboring Portugal will take place on June 12-14, though a lineup has not been announced.

See the first lineup announcement for Barcelona’s Primavera Sound below.

‘I’m Pissed’: Megan Thee Stallion Only Just Discovered ‘Sex and the City’

Megan Thee Stallion is still in shock that nobody told her how great Sex and the City is.

The rapper and singer shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday (Oct. 23) that she just recently started watching the iconic series starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattral.

“Nobody told me Sex and the City was this good?” Stallion quipped. “I’m pissed. Nobody said, ‘Megan, you should be watching Sex and the City. Girl, this for the culture. Watch it! I don’t even know how I like stumbled upon it. I think I just kept seeing like pictures of Sarah Jessica looking pretty as f—.”

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She continued, “Her hair, her shoes, her outfits were always so beautiful. And I was like, what is this show? Let me just watch it, let me get into it because nobody put me on. So I started watching the show and I’m like, I cannot look away. This is the best thing! I’m watching it while I’m working out, I’m watching it while I’m in glam, I’m watching it when I don’t have nothing else to do, and I’m a busy girl. I’m like squeezing Sex and the City in there. And I’m like asking everybody, ‘Have you seen Sex and the City?”

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The “Body” artist later informed host Jimmy Fallon that she has yet to see the 2008 Sex and the City movie as well as its 2010 sequel.

“The way Sex and the City ended, you know, I was a little upset, and they said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, you have to watch the movie.’ And I say, ‘OK, take me there because I don’t understand what’s happening,’” she said.

Fallon also asked Meg if she would be open to sharing her reviews for each of the show’s characters, including Carrie [Parker], Samantha [Cattral], Charlotte [Davis] and Miranda [Nixon], and she didn’t hold back on her thoughts.

Up first was Samantha: “When Sex and the City first started for me, I said, ‘Oh, I hate this character.’ Like why are y’all making her like, oh my God, sex is like the ruler of my life. And it’s like, I’m just so desperate. I was like, this is horrible, this is a horrible character. But then as the show kept going, I was like, ‘OK, hold on. Wait a minute.’ I’m glad I hung in there, because she runs men. Like she does not let men run her and she keeps trying to tell the girls, like stop making the man the center of your life. Like go shopping, have a good time, make your money and then have fun with your little toys. And I’m like, yes, I did that.”

As for Charlotte, Stallion said, “She is a little delulu, but it’s cute. She would be my bestie because she’s so emotional and I feel like it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to be a little crazy. She might be a cancer in the show, her character has to be a cancer… I’m sorry, cancers, but y’all are very emotional and I feel like caners and Aquarius go together very well.”

Miranda was next on the list: “Miranda, this is the worst character on the show. I cannot stand Miranda. She never got nothing good to say. She’s so sad all the time … How could anybody even fix their lips to be mean to Steve [David Eigenberg] and Miranda figured out a way to be mean to Steve. The only thing Steve ever wanted to do was love this crazy lady.”

And for Carrie, Stallion added, “Her hair is good, her makeup is great. I’m pretty sure this dress is great paired with a pair of Manolos. Like she’s always attractive, doing these sick old things. She’s nuts. But you know what [Laughs]? I see a lot of myself in this character, like Carrie really loved drama. Like she would literally wake up and figure out how can I mess up everybody’s day? How can I be my cutest messing up everybody’s day? How can I make my life more complicated? Simply, she could have always made the right choice. She could have chosen sanity, but she always chose insanity. And then I had to wonder, is that me?”

Sex and the City, which ran from 1998 to 2004, follows the lives of four women living in New York City as they navigate love, friendship and sex in the big city, all while remaining inseparable and confiding in each other. A series spinoff, And Just Like That, which sees Parker, Davis and Nixon return, has also been renewed for a third season.

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

Global Public Performance Collections Grew 7.6% to New High of $10.9B in 2023

Global royalty collections for song rightsholders grew 7.6% last year, to a new high of 11.75 billion Euros ($10.9 billion, based on the average exchange rate for 2023), according to CISAC (the Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d´Auteurs et Compositeurs), the Paris-based collecting societies trade organization. Much of the growth was driven by two categories: Digital collections rose 9.6% to 4.52 billion Euros ($4.18 billion), while live and background music royalties grew 21.8% — fueled largely by the concert business — to overtake the pre-pandemic total from 2019. 

The big collecting societies all had good years, but the CISAC report offers unparalleled insight into a complicated but important part of the music publishing business. (CISAC includes other collecting societies from outside the music business, but publishing accounts for most of these royalties, which are, in turn, more important to music than to other businesses. CISAC breaks out music royalties, but its figures only include those that go through CISAC member societies rather than direct deals.) There are no big surprises here: Digital has been the main driver of growth recently, more than doubling in five years from 2.06 billion Euros ($1.90 billion) in 2019 to 4.52 billion Euros ($4.18 billion) last year — although last year’s growth of 9.6% was lower than in any of the preceding four. Digital now accounts for 38.5% of collections, more than any other category.  

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Collections for broadcast and live concerts and background music represent the two other major sources of revenue, accounting for 28.7% and 26.1%, respectively. (Background music refers to compositions played in public, at restaurants, stores or bars, for example.) Royalties from TV and radio declined 5.3% to 3.37 billion Euros ($3.11 billion) after a significant jump the previous year. They have stayed fairly steady over the past half-decade. 

The live and background music figures are more complicated because of the disruption from the pandemic. Last year those categories grew to 3.06 billion euros ($2.82 billion), fueled mostly by the return of live music revenue, which in some regions may lag live music events. More significantly, that represents a 12.7% jump from 2019. 

Collecting societies take in most of their business in Europe and the U.S.; CISAC has one category for Western Europe and another for the U.S. and Canada. Western Europe collections rose 8.2%, while those in the U.S. and Canada rose 7.8%. Taken as a whole, Europe accounts for more than half of total collecting society revenue, and the U.S. and Canada together account for another 27.1%. Asia-Pacific royalties shrank by .3%, largely due to currency fluctuations in Japan, without which the region would have seen 6.8% growth. The fastest growing region is Latin America, up by 26.2% — and by 108.2% over the past two years – although it only accounts for 5.9% of the overall market. Africa, where executives have seen massive potential for years, is still growing very slowly – up 3.2% to .6% of the overall market. 

General CISAC collections are also up 7.6%, to 13.09 billion Euros ($12.1 billion), also an all-time high, with digital up 9.6% to 4.62 billion Euros ($4.3 billion). (This includes collecting societies for other media, such as writing and visual art, which many countries in Europe have.) 

Billboard will follow this news story with a more extensive analysis of growth sectors, the future of various markets, and how this business might grow in the years ahead.