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29 Aug 2024

SZA Gets a DM From a Fan Asking for Help With Math Homework: Here’s How She Responded

A SZA fan has been struggling in math class, and they turned to the “Snooze” singer for help with their geometry homework. The fan actually received a response to the Instagram DM from SZA, which went viral on social media on Wednesday (Aug. 28), as the R&B star tried to channel her days in geometry class.

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“SZA I’m failing geometry can you give me math tips,” the fan DMed.

“Lmaooo ma’am I’m a math dummy I’m not sure what u expected,” the four-time Grammy winner replied. “Tell me about the shapes chile how can I help?”

The fan sent over a photo of her homework with a “Finding Coordinates” section. “I just can’t do this,” they continued.

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SZA proved to be no match for the geometry questions and couldn’t come up with the answers. “Oh b—h ur cooked,” the TDE artist candidly admitted.

Even though she failed, SZA — born Solana Rowe — posted the exchange to her Instagram Story and appreciated the fan for believing in her intellect. “I appreciate the faith in me,” the star captioned the post.

While her math skills might not be up to par, her songwriting remains elite as she collected another accolade in June when SZA won the Hal David Starlight Award at the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards. She’s the second Black woman to receive the honor behind Alicia Keys.

SZA has laid low on the music side of things after releasing her “Saturn” single in February. Even nearly two years after SOS‘ release, the project has remained a staple on the Billboard 200, where it sits at No. 13 on the Aug. 31-dated chart.

29 Aug 2024

Harry Styles Dances Along to This One Direction Hit at Niall Horan’s Concert: Watch

Close enough — welcome back, One Direction. In a rare and exciting twist of events for fans of the boy band, both Niall Horan and Harry Styles were under the same roof singing one of their old hits, with the “As It Was” musician attending the Irish singer-songwriter’s Manchester concert Tuesday night (Aug. 27). 

In one video filmed by a fan at Horan’s Co-op Live performance, Styles — sporting a scruffy mustache and yellow cardigan — enthusiastically rocks back and forth as the The Voice alum sings 1D’s 2014 track “Stockholm Syndrome,” which the “Watermelon Sugar” musician co-wrote with three other songwriters back in the day. “Oh, baby, look what you’ve done to me,” Horan belts as Styles mouths along, waving his hands in the air. “Oh, baby, you got me tied down.” 

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Horan has been performing “Stockholm Syndrome” solo on his The Show: Live on Tour trek, but it originally appeared on Four, the penultimate album released by his former boy band before the group members parted ways. The song reached No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the LP topped the Billboard 200. 

In other clips from Horan’s Manchester show, Styles dances and chats with other concertgoers while staying close to the walls of the arena, at one point swaying along to “Heartbreak Weather” from the former’s 2020 solo album of the same name. Toward the end of the show, Horan appeared to squint from the stage as he watched his ex-bandmate shake hands, give hugs and make his way out of the venue during “Slow Hands.”

Styles is just the latest special guest Horan’s tour has hosted this month, with Ed Sheeran attending his Dublin show on Aug. 23 and jumping on stage for surprise duets of “Little Things” — which the “Shape of You” artist penned for One Direction in 2012 — and “Lego House.” After the show, Sheeran shared a video on Instagram of him rehearsing the latter track with Horan.

See clips of Styles at Horan’s Manchester concert below.

29 Aug 2024

Marilyn Manson Asks Appeals Court to Revive Defamation Lawsuit Against Evan Rachel Wood

Marilyn Manson has launched an appeal seeking to revive his defamation lawsuit against ex-fiance Evan Rachel Wood, arguing a lower judge who dismissed much of the case ignored key evidence.

Manson (real name Brian Warner) sued Wood in 2022, claiming she had “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured” women to make false abuse allegations against him. But a Los Angeles judge tossed out most of the case in a ruling last year.

That ruling came under California’s anti-SLAPP statute — a law that aims to make it easier for judges to quickly dismiss cases that threaten free speech. Wood’s lawyers claimed Manson’s case was exactly that: a prominent musician using a lawsuit to try to silence someone speaking out about alleged abuse.

But in an appeal lodged on Tuesday, Manson’s lawyers argued that a lower judge had repeatedly misapplied that statute to prematurely end a valid lawsuit that had been aimed at exposing a “malicious campaign” by Wood and others.

“This is an appeal of an order granting two anti-SLAPP motions, in which the trial court rubber-stamped Defendants’ assertions of ‘protected activity’ before weighing and disregarding evidence to conclude that plaintiff Brian Warner could never prevail,” his attorneys write.

Manson also claims that the judge ignored key elements of the case, including “bombshell” testimony from another Manson accuser named Ashley Morgan Smithline, who says she “succumbed to pressure” from Wood to make “untrue” accusations against the singer.

Wood strongly denied those allegations, and the judge ultimately refused to consider Smithline’s testimony because it had been filed far past a key deadline for submitting evidence. In Wednesday’s appeal, Manson’s lawyers say that was a clear and reversible error.

“The trial court prioritized convenience over the core function of the anti- SLAPP statute, which is to dispose of truly meritless suits before discovery,” Manson’s lawyers write.

Wood is one of several women to accuse Manson of serious sexual wrongdoing over the past several years. Manson has denied all of the allegations, and many of the lawsuits filed against him have since been dropped, dismissed or settled.

Manson filed the current lawsuit against Wood in March 2022, accusing her and a woman named Illma Gore of launching an “organized attack” that had derailed his career. His lawyer said the women had carried out “a campaign of malicious and unjustified attacks.”

But Wood quickly fought back, moving to strike Manson’s case under the anti-SLAPP law: “For years, plaintiff Brian Warner raped and tortured defendant Evan Rachel Wood and threatened retaliation if she told anyone about it,” her attorneys wrote. “Warner has now made good on those threats by filing the present lawsuit.”

In May 2023, Judge Teresa A. Beaudet largely granted that motion, ruling that Manson had not sufficiently shown that he would ultimately be able to prove many of those accusations against Wood, including that she had been “pressuring multiple women to make false accusations,” as well as the allegation that she had forged a letter from the FBI.

Anti-SLAPP laws, which exist in states across the country, work by putting more burden than usual on defamation plaintiffs like Manson, forcing them to clearly show at the outset that their case is legitimate. In last year’s decision, Judge Beaudet said Manson had failed to do so.

“The court does not find that plaintiff has demonstrated a probability of prevailing on his [intentional infliction of emotional distress] claim based on the FBI Letter,” the judge wrote, referring to one of Manson’s specific legal claims.

29 Aug 2024

Supreme Dropping New Air Force 1 Mid’s

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Supreme Dropping New Air Force 1 Mid

Source: Supreme / Supreme

For the past few years the Supreme x Air Force 1 Low‘s have been a hot commodity in the sneaker world as they tend to sell out as soon as they restock on the streetwear brand’s website. But will their new Mid’s experience the same amount of hype as the Low’s?

Supreme Dropping New Air Force 1 Mid

Source: Supreme / Supreme

On Thursday (August 20), Supreme will be dropping their new Air Force 1 Mid’s in both the all-black and all-white color ways with the box logo on the heels. Though Air Force 1 Mid’s haven’t been thee most popular Nike silhouette in, well, decades probably, adding that little Supreme logo on the side may actually be enough to move some merchandise as hype beasts tend to flock to damn near anything that the legendary street brand releases out in these streets.

Per Supreme, the shoe is outfitted with a “full-grain leather upper with perforated leather toe panel, DURAPLUSH lining, co-branded footbed, lace lock, tongue label, embroidered logos at eyestay and debossed printed logo at side.”

If you’re hoping to resell these for a profit, we’d advise against copping these as they’re almost sure to brick. These kicks really are for the heads who grew up loving the Air Force 1 Mid’s and were probably clowned by their friends for doing so. Let them rock, b.

Check out pics of the Supreme x Air Force 1 Mid’s and let us know if you’ll actually be trying to cop a pair when they drop in the comments section below.

Supreme Dropping New Air Force 1 Mid

Source: Supreme / Supreme

29 Aug 2024

See First Look at Scott Stapp Playing Frank Sinatra in Ronald Reagan Biopic

Scott Stapp is set to make a cameo as Frank Sinatra in the Ronald Reagan biopic Reagan, and Billboard has the first look at the Creed frontman as the beloved singer before the film hits theaters Friday.

In the photo, Stapp is seen dressed as Sinatra in a sleek black-and-white suit, singing into an old-school microphone. The project includes a scene in which Stapp performs as Sinatra at Hollywood’s famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub, at a time when Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Dennis Quaid is set to play Reagan in the film.

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Scott Stapp

Scott Stapp

Rawhide Pictures

Stapp will also be featured on the movie’s forthcoming soundtrack, covering “Swinging on a Star,” originally introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way and later recorded by Sinatra for his 1964 album Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners. The pop standard, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for Going My Way, won the 1944 Oscar for best original song.

The star-studded cast also includes Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Mena Suvari as Reagan’s first wife Jane Wyman, Kevin Dillon as Jack Warner, and Jon Voight as a KGB agent who tracked Reagan for decades.

“Sinatra in performance mode was an exercise in restraint,” Stapp previously said in a statement. “He had this steely, stylish swagger and his sheer presence commanded a room. I was excited to join the cast and blown away by the on-set attention to detail, style, and overall production.”

29 Aug 2024

NCT’s Jaehyun Says Having Babyface Write ‘Can’t Get You’ For His Debut Solo Album Was ‘Huge’

When he was working on his just-released debut solo LP, J, NCT member Jaehyun was striving for a “classic” vibe with the hope that “as time passes by, you could still listen to the [whole] album,” the 27-year-old singer told The Hollywood Reporter.

The eight-track collection available now on all streaming platforms includes the slinky R&B single “Smoke,” along with the previously released songs “Dandelion” and “Roses” and one that Jaehyun said connected him with one of his musical heroes. “Can’t Get You” was composed and written by R&B powerhouse Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, whose participation was a high point for the K-pop star.

“I used to listen to his songs,” said Jaehyun. “[From] the old albums to the recent one where he had all the female vocalists with him,” he added in reference to Babyface’s 2022 LP Girls Night Out, which featured collaborations with Angie Martinez, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Ella Mai, Muni Long, Doechii and more. “Participating in his song, and having a track [on] my album of his song, it was huge for me.”

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Earlier this week, the singer from SM Entertainment’s 26 member supergroup — which is broken into six sub-NCT units, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT U, NCT DoJaeJung and WayV — released the dramatic video for “Smoke,” in which he battles an unseen enemy. Jaehyun told THR that “Smoke” is his favorite track right now, but that his pick-to-click “changes every 10 minutes.”

Excited and also understandably nervous about going it alone, the singer said his conflicted feelings while making J can be experienced in the recently released 21-minute mini doc The Journey of ‘J’. “[It’s] definitely a motivator because yesterday the album released,” he said of his fans’ rabid anticipation for the LP. “All the love and all the comments from my fans… I feel thankful to see them loving the album and feeling the same way as I do, or vibing with the songs that they like.”

29 Aug 2024

Coldplay Tops July Boxscore Report As Tour Surpasses $1 Billion in Grosses

Coldplay’s sprawling Music of the Spheres World Tour – 156 shows on four continents over two and a half years so far – continues, taking the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s monthly Top Tours chart. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Brits brought in $72.2 million and sold 575,000 tickets over 11 shows in July.

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It’s the fourth time that Coldplay has led the monthly review, all of which happened during its current tour (the monthly Boxscore charts launched in February 2019), following victories in July 2022, March 2023 and January of this year. The first of those was while the band played in Europe. The second was for shows in South America, and the third in Asia.

The Music of the Spheres World Tour clinches its most recent monthly victory with a return to Europe, marking the third continental leg of the tour. Stops in Rome, Dusseldorf and Helsinki packed the July calendar, peaking in the former with $29.4 million and 252,000 tickets at Stadio Olimpico July 12-13 and 15-16. That’s enough to take the No. 1 spot on Top Boxscores as well.

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Beyond the chart triumph on July’s Boxscore report, Coldplay’s tour has now reached record-breaking heights. Since its kick-off in March 2022, it has eclipsed $1 billion in concert grosses and sold almost 9.3 million tickets through Aug. 25. That makes it the highest grossing and bestselling rock tour in Boxscore history, surpassing Elton John in the former metric and U2 in the latter.

Four dates remain to be reported in Dublin, plus 11 in Oceania later this fall. Having averaged more than 50,000 tickets on all nine legs of the world tour so far, it’s likely that the Music of the Spheres World Tour will surpass 10 million tickets.

The $1 billion gross and 10 million ticket thresholds are both unprecedented in Boxscore’s almost 40-year history. The obvious asterisk is unreported figures for Taylor Swift’s ongoing The Eras Tour, likely closer to $2 billion than one now that its own 48-date European leg has wrapped, and approaching 10 million tickets itself.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are No. 2 on July’s Top Tours ranking, pulling in $65.4 million from 500,000 tickets over nine shows. The Boss also earns his chart rank from shows in Europe, specifically playing in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and others, before closing out the run with two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Springsteen’s London dates grossed $25.2 million and sold 154,000 tickets, mirroring his No. 2 rank over on Top Boxscores. A double header at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden followed with $9.7 million and 108,000 tickets, landing further down the list at No. 23.

Since kicking off in May, the ’24 European leg of Springsteen’s tour brought in $158.5 million and sold more than 1.2 million tickets over 22 concerts. Though he has wrapped overseas, The Boss made his way over the pond, launching another leg of U.S. shows last week and ensuring a return on the August recap.

Europe fills out the top four spots, with Travis Scott and P!nk at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. It was the first extended European tour for Scott, who was met with a well of pent-up demand. From June 28 through Aug. 4, he grossed $58.9 million and sold 520,000 tickets in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, and more. It’s the most that a solo rapper has earned on tour outside of the United States.

Combined with the North American shows from autumn 2023 and winter 2024, the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour has brought in $154.7 million and sold 1.2 million tickets over 63 shows. Scott has a slate of shows in Latin America and Oceania before closing for good on Halloween in Auckland, New Zealand.

For P!nk’s part, the Summer Carnival Tour continued with a second leg of European stadiums. Reaching a monthly high at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena, she totaled $46.8 million and 377,000 tickets during July. Since its launch last June, the entire tour has grossed $469.3 million and sold 3.6 million tickets – not including the Trustfall Tour, which interrupted the stadium run with a swing of North American arenas, adding $60.8 million and 257,000 tickets to Pink’s enormous post-pandemic return to the stage.

On Top Boxscores, Europe takes up the top six spots with engagements from Karol G and Metallica in addition to Coldplay and Springsteen. There’s two more in the top 10 (Luis Miguel and P!nk), and eight more on the chart, including The Killers with six shows at London’s O2 Arena and Ed Sheeran at Polsat Plus Arena in Gdansk, Poland.

On Top Stadiums, European venues make up seven of the 10 spots, including the entire top five. Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu rules with $37.2 million and 309,000 tickets, thanks to two shows from Luis Miguel ($13.6 million on July 6-7) and four from Karol G ($23.6 million on July 20-23). The latter closed out her yearlong world tour at the chart-topping stadium, re-setting her own records among women in Latin music.

Stateside, Las Vegas dominates the biggest and smallest venue charts. Sphere is No. 1 among rooms with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas is tops among venues with a cap of 2,500 or less.

A version of this story appears in the Aug. 31, 2024, issue of Billboard.

29 Aug 2024

‘Gata Only’ Producer Yamil Inks Global Publishing Deal With Kobalt

Kobalt announced it has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Yamil, the Colombian hitmaker behind FloyyMenor and Cris MJ’s “Gata Only,” Billboard can announce today (Aug. 29).

“Yamil is one of the most creative and successful producers/songwriters making music today,” Nestor Casonu, president of Latin at Kobalt, said in a press statement. “We are so happy to welcome him to the Kobalt family.”

“I am so happy to join the Kobalt team,” Yamil added. “When I met with Nestor and Leslie Ahrens, I knew that with all their knowledge and contacts in the Latin market is what I need to push my career even further. On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, Leslie connected me with many of today’s top songwriters and producers for possible collaborations! This is my first publishing deal and after meeting with all the others, I felt Kobalt was the right choice for me.”

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In April, the sly reggaetón number about online flirtation, secured the Chilean newcomers their first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, where it dominated Hot Latin Songs for 14 consecutive weeks. They made history along the way. The last time a Chilean artist had hit No. 1 on the chart was in 1991, when singer-songwriter Myriam Hernández’s “Te Pareces Tanto a Él” ruled it for four weeks.

“Gata Only” — which counts over three million video creations on TikTok and a star-studded remix with Ozuna and Anitta — also entered the Billboard Hot 100, Latin Airplay and both Billboard Global charts.

“For us, this is very important. It’s a pride for all Latinos to be on that chart,” Cris MJ previously told Billboard. “In fact, before we released the song, I knew it was going to be a global hit. I’m proud because it’s not only helping my career but also the one of my colleagues.”

Yamil, who also produced Cris MJ’s “Si No Es Contigo,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Latin Songs chart this year, is working on an EP with his longtime collaborators, as well as on a forthcoming joint album with Cris and Floyy.

29 Aug 2024

Spotify Blasts MLC’s Audiobook Royalties Lawsuit As ‘Nonsensical’ and ‘Wasteful’

Spotify is demanding that a federal judge toss out a lawsuit filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective over royalty rates, calling the case “nonsensical” and “wasteful.”

The MLC sued earlier this year, claiming Spotify had “unilaterally and unlawfully” chosen to cut its music royalty payments nearly in half through bookmaking trickery – namely, by claiming that the addition of audiobooks to the service entitled the company to pay a lower “bundled” rate.

But in a motion to dismiss filed in court Tuesday, Spotify calls those claims “meritless and wasteful” – arguing that making hundreds of thousands of audiobooks available to subscribers was not a “token” gesture aimed at reducing music royalties.

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“MLC’s position is nonsensical and factually unsupportable,” Spotify’s lawyers write. “And it profoundly devalues the contributions of the tens of thousands of book authors whose works are available with a Spotify Premium subscription—from literary luminaries, to mainstays on best sellers lists, to up-and-coming writers who are finding their audience.”

The MLC, which collects streaming royalties for songwriters and publishers, filed its lawsuit in late May — a week after Billboard estimated that Spotify’s move would result in the company paying roughly $150 million less over the next year. In its complaint, the MLC claimed Spotify was “erroneously recharacterizing” the nature of its streaming services to secure the lower rate.

“The financial consequences of Spotify’s failure to meet its statutory obligations are enormous for songwriters and music publishers,” the group’s attorneys wrote at the time. “If unchecked, the impact on songwriters and music publishers of Spotify’s unlawful underreporting could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

At issue in the lawsuit is Spotify’s recent addition of audiobooks to its premium subscription service. The streamer believes that because of the new offering, it’s now entitled to pay a discounted “bundled” royalty rate under the federal legal settlement that governs how much streamers pay rightsholders.

In Tuesday’s motion, Spotify’s lawyers strongly defend that interpretation. They argue that the market for audiobooks has attracted “billions in consumer dollars” and that adding books was the kind of valuable new perk that had been intended to be covered by the lower bundled rate.

“At the heart of this dispute is an easily answered question: Is audiobook streaming distinct from music streaming, offering greater than token value?” the company’s lawyers write. “The answer is indisputably yes, and there is no need for federal court litigation to confirm it.”

The rule at issue says that streamers can use the bundled rate if they offer “one or more other products or services having more than token value.” Claiming that more than 200,000 audiobooks does not qualify under that rule is “baffling,” Spotify’s lawyers write.

“The creative output of these authors is not merely of ‘token value’,” Tuesday’s filing says. “Acceptance of that unassailable, commonsense proposition should end this meritless and wasteful litigation.”

MLC’s attorneys will file a formal response to the motion in court in the coming months. In a statement to Billboard on Thursday, the group said: “The MLC’s general practice is not to comment publicly on pending litigations. That said, we would reiterate that we take the enforcement obligations assigned to us by Congress extremely seriously and would refer you to the complaint we filed in this matter for more details regarding our position on this matter.”

29 Aug 2024

Christine McVie’s Fleetwood Mac Treasures to Be Featured in Museum Exhibition & Charity Auction

Fleetwood Mac fans will soon have the chance to peruse Christine McVie’s treasures in a museum exhibition honoring the late legend — and if they like what they see, they may be able to take something home in an auction later on.

As announced exclusively by Billboard Thursday (Aug. 29), highlights of McVie’s personal collection will become available for people to see up close at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville starting Friday (Aug. 30) and running through Tuesday, Oct. 15. The day after the exhibition concludes, a two-day auction dubbed “Property From the Life and Career of Christine McVie” will take place at the same venue and online via Julien’s Auctions, marking the first time the items have been offered to the public.

More than 650 of the “Songbird” singer’s belongings will be available to bid on in the auction, including the Hammond XK-5 organ she played on tour with Fleetwood Mac (pictured above; estimated $6,000-$8,000), a Yamaha CLP-470PE digital piano from her London home ($3,000 – $5,000), a model KP-180-122 Leslie speaker in a red road case labeled “3rd Encore Christine’s Locker ($2,000 – $4,000), Tusk chord sheets with unknown handwritten lyrics ($800-$1,200) and two setlists annotated by McVie ($600-$800). Pieces of fine art and jewelry will also be for sale.

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Fleetwood Mac 'Tusk' chord sheets

Fleetwood Mac ‘Tusk’ chord sheets

Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions

The proceeds of the auction will benefit MusiCares as well as other charities in the U.K. “Christine McVie was a legendary artist and a beloved member of the MusiCares family, always showing deep compassion for those in the music community,” said the organization’s executive director, Laura Segura, in a statement. “The proceeds from this auction will continue her legacy of giving back, ensuring that musicians receive the support they need. Her love for music and for those who create it will continue to inspire us all.”

Julien’s Auctions CEO David Goodman added, “As one of the musical greats of her generation and of all time, the world loved Christine McVie for her perfect voice, her beautiful songs, and her brilliance that she produced throughout her extraordinary life and musical career that Julien’s is honored to represent in this exclusive auction celebration.”

Christine McVie's London home

“St. Cecilia” painting left in Christine McVie’s London home.

Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions

McVie died in November 2022 at the age of 79. A few months later, her cause of death was revealed to be a stroke.

At the time, Fleetwood Mac shared a band statement. “She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure,” wrote the group, which also consisted of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. “She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her.”

In October, Nicks said that the band likely wouldn’t continue performing in the absence of McVie. “You can’t replace her,” she told Vulture. “You just can’t. Without her, what is it? You know what I mean?”

“She was like my soul mate, my musical soul mate, and my best friend that I spent more time with than any of my other best friends outside of Fleetwood Mac,” she added at the time. “Christine was my best friend … Who am I going to look over to on the right and have them not be there behind that Hammond organ? When she died, I figured we really can’t go any further with this. There’s no reason to.”

Watch Julien’s video of the auction items below: