State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
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Trending on Billboard Country music has a rich history of incorporating themes of rowdy Saturday nights, evenings spent drinking in bars, heartbreak anthems, cheatin’ songs and romantic odes, but the genre’s artists have also also woven in storytelling that intertwines words of faith and deep-rooted spirituality. Country artists have long sung of their spiritual faith […]
Trending on Billboard Diamonds are still dancing on Drake. The 6 God celebrates his 39th birthday in style on Friday (Oct. 24) with 16 new RIAA certifications, including six diamond plaques. Among the diamond certifications are Take Care and hits like “Nice for What,” “The Motto” featuring Lil Wayne, “Headlines,” “Passionfruit” and “Nonstop.” The OVO […]
Trending on Billboard Megan Thee Stallion is head over heels for Klay Thompson. The Houston Hottie gushes about her NBA boo throughout her new single, “Lover Girl,” and she delivered a stunning accompanying visual on Friday (Oct. 24). Between the stylish ’90s glamour wardrobe, sharp visuals and storytelling, Megan spared no expense in this video. […]
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BOYNEXTDOOR returned this week with their fifth mini album The Action. When the group spent time in Chicago last August for their Lollapalooza performance, fans caught glimpses of them filming a music video — signaling early on that the album would carry a ‘movie’ concept. On the day of release, the group held a showcase event in Seoul to mark their return.
The album’s title draws inspiration from the term “Hollywood Action,” referring to large-scale films — or metaphorically, to bold, exaggerated and daring attitudes. The track “Hollywood Action” is ultimately about taking action itself. During the media showcase, leader MYUNG JAEHYUN said, “We’ve worked hard, making four comebacks over the past year including our Japanese promotions. I hope that people who find it difficult to take the first step will be inspired by our actions to challenge themselves.” The youngest member WOONHAK added, “This song is for anyone who hesitates or feels intimidated about trying something new.” TAESAN elaborated, “If our last album’s keyword was No Genre, this time it’s about breaking all limits and diving right in.”
Released at 6 p.m. KST on Monday, The Action captures the emotions and moments BOYNEXTDOOR’s six members are currently experiencing. Built around the cinematic theme, the album consists of five tracks that vividly translate their present selves into sound. While their previous record No Genre leaned toward smoother, genre-fluid tracks (with the exception of the title song “I Feel Good”), this new release explores a broader range — from acid jazz and hip-hop to ballads. Sonically and thematically, it succeeds in expressing BOYNEXTDOOR’s distinctive emotional world.
The opening track “Live in Paris” reflects the creative struggles of the group, echoing the light self-reflection found in “Twenty” from their EP 19.99. The rock-driven “Bathroom” delves into the pain of a romantic relationship, reminiscent of the poetic metaphors in “Gonna Be A Rock.” Meanwhile, “JAM!” captures the members’ playful energy while keeping things ‘chillin’ within the rules,’ much like the clever self-awareness shown in the line “I never cross the line, trust me” from “Dangerous.”
Knowing how to perform freely while still respecting boundaries — that’s the essence of BOYNEXTDOOR, and it’s what sets them apart in today’s K-pop scene. From the synchronized choreography of “Hollywood Action” to the album’s varied soundscape, The Action offers plenty to see and even more to hear.
All four of BOYNEXTDOOR’s previous albums have charted on the Billboard 200, and fans are eager to see whether The Action will extend that streak. Judging by the strength of this EP, the outlook looks bright — and Billboard Korea has ranked every track on the project.
“Bathroom”
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Muni Long’s former managers are suing the singer for refusing to pay more than $600,000 worth of promised fees, though the Grammy-winning R&B star’s team calls the claims “unfounded.”
Long (Priscilla Renea Hamilton) is facing breach of contract claims from Ebony Son Entertainment, the Atlanta-based management company run by Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon. The duo is best known for managing Ludacris, with whom they started the record label Disturbing Tha Peace in 1998.
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Ebony Son claims in a Thursday (Oct. 23) federal court complaint that Zulu and Dixon’s hard work was instrumental to Long’s success, including her win for Best R&B Performance at the Grammy Awards this year. But Long fired her managers in January and now owes hefty commissions from live shows and recording and writing gigs, according to the complaint.
“Defendant Priscilla Renea Hamilton is publicly known as the musical artist ‘Muni Long’ but her less well-known performances are as a serial grifter,” reads the lawsuit. “After taking the benefit of plaintiff’s elite and highly sought-after management services for more than a year, Muni Long shamelessly reneged on her promises to pay plaintiff the agreed-upon, customary percentage of revenue she earned, and only earned because plaintiff assisted in obtaining those engagements.”
Long’s team denies the claims as “unfounded” in a statement to Billboard on Friday (Oct. 24). The team says it’s “deeply unfortunate that the matter could not be resolved privately and professionally,” claiming Long made “good faith” settlement offers even though “no formal contract ever existed” with Ebony Son.
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“The situation has been particularly distressing, as it involves the same team that took possession of the artist’s phone and sought to have her involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, despite medical confirmation that she was suffering from a Lupus flare-up,” says Long’s team in the statement. “All appropriate avenues are being pursued to ensure that the truth is fully and fairly defended. The artist hopes this underscores the importance to all those in creative fields to safeguard their personal and professional boundaries and be discerning about those they trust to represent them.”
Zulu and Dixon have been battling with Long in court since July, when the managers first leveled allegations over the unpaid commissions in a California state court complaint. That state court case was withdrawn just days before Ebony Son took the claims to federal court.
Long broke onto the R&B scene in 2022 with her hit single “Hrs and Hrs,” which spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 16 on the chart. She signed with Def Jam Recordings that year, and “Hrs and Hrs” won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance at the 2023 ceremony.
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According to Thursday’s lawsuit, Long had her first meeting with Zulu and Dixon at New Orleans’ ESSENCE Festival of Culture in July 2023. During this meeting, the managers say, Long allegedly agreed to pay the duo 20% of all her gross revenue and reimburse all management-related expenses.
Zulu and Dixon say they began putting in work for Long “within days of being hired,” ensuring that her 2024 album Revenge was released before the Grammys cutoff date. This made it possible for Long to win another Best R&B Performance Grammy that year for her song “Made for Me,” the lawsuit claims.
The managers allege Long paid her required commissions and reimbursements for over a year, but that she “purportedly became unhappy” with the amount of the fees and ultimately stopped all payments in October 2024. In January, they say she officially cut ties with Ebony Son.
“Plaintiff, who worked tirelessly to advance Muni Long’s career, [has] secured over $5 million in revenue for defendants to date,” says the complaint. “But as to a significant percentage of this revenue, defendants have failed to pay plaintiff the corresponding commission payments as required by the agreement.”
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Zulu and Dixon claim Long owes more than $600,000 worth of commissions and expenses from the money she made via live shows, a $1 million ASCAP publishing deal, songwriting agreements with Shenseea and Tiwa Savage, and features on tracks by Teddy Swims and Toosi.
The lawsuit says Long also owes fees on other sources of revenue that Zulu and Dixon have not yet been able to fully audit, including the money she made opening for Chris Brown on the 11:11 Tour in 2024.
Unrelatedly, Zulu was criminally charged with murder in 2022 for shooting a man during an altercation in Atlanta. The charges were later dropped after prosecutors determined that Zulu was acting in self-defense.
The Rolling Stone-hosted event took over the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
10/24/2025
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With just one week to go before Halloween weekend, a wide range of artists fired off new music releases just in time for spooky season.
Megan Thee Stallion unveiled her second single of 2025, “Lover Girl,” a Total-sampling ode to her basketball star boyfriend, Klay Thompson. The new track leads a busy week for hip-hop and R&B releases, including new projects from Bruce Springsteen (Nebraska ’82), Miguel (Caos), Daniel Caesar (Son of Spergy), Leon Thomas (Pholks) and Halle Bailey (Love?… Or Something Like It).
Notably, Bailey’s album marks her debut solo full-length efforts following years of solo singles such as “In Your Hands” and the Grammy-nominated “Angel,” as well as acclaimed turns in movie musicals including 2023’s The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple. Thomas’ Pholks EP arrives on the heels of his “Mutt” success — and a week before his Mutts Don’t Heel Tour launches — while Caesar’s latest LP is the follow-up to 2023’s Never Enough, which became his highest charting effort on the Billboard 200 (No. 14). As for Miguel, Caos marks his first album in nearly eight years.
To coincide with Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere finally hitting U.S. theaters, The Boss shared an expanded edition of his landmark 1982 Nebraska album. The record, whose conception the Jeremy Allen White-led film chronicles, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 during its original chart run. This new 4LP version of Nebraska features acoustic demos, little-known B-sides and the six long-rumored, E Street Band-assisted “Electric Nebraska” tracks.
On the pop side, Demi Lovato returned to dance-pop stomping grounds with her new album, It’s Not That Deep, and Alessia Cara issued a deluxe edition of her Love & Hyperbole LP. Brandi Carlile is also back with a new solo album, Returning to Myself, months after sharing a joint album with Elton John, and Shenseea, Hayley Williams, Sampha, Tee Grizzley and Samara Cyn all shared new tracks.
That’s a lot of new music to digest as we enter the penultimate month of the year, but Billboard still wants to know which new release you can’t get enough of. Tell us by casting your vote in the poll below.
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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Trending on Billboard Say goodbye to those big ‘ol monthly internet bills. If you’re looking for fast, reliable 5G coverage in […]
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AI (artificial intelligence) is still a boogeyman in the gaming space, but EA (Electronic Arts) is all-in on it.
After their eye-watering $65 billion buyout at the hands of the Saudis and Affinity Partners, which was founded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, there is more news coming out regarding the popular video game publisher that will make the stomachs of gamers turn.
Electronic Arts announced a partnership with Stability AI, the creator of the AI image generation tool Stable Diffusion.
According to EA, the main goal of the partnership is to “co-develop transformative AI models, tools, and workflows” to help game developers speed up development while maintaining quality.
“I use the term smarter paintbrushes,”Head of Technical Art for EA SPORTS, Steve Kestell, said in the announcement. “We are giving our creatives the tools to express what they want.” To start, the “smarter paintbrushes” EA and Stability AI are building are concentrated on generating textures and in-game assets. EA hopes to create “Physically Based Rendering materials” with new tools “that generate 2D textures that maintain exact color and light accuracy across any environment.”
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EA also claims that its partnership with the company will allow them to use AI to “pre-visualize entire 3D environments from a series of intentional prompts, allowing artists to creatively direct the generation of game content.”
EA Wants To Cut Game Development Time With Its New Partnership
The move isn’t surprising, as the gaming industry is increasingly integrating AI into game development.
With EA on the verge of being bought out, the company will be saddled with a lot of debt, so using AI could be a cost-effective way to deliver AAA games without the bloated development costs.
Also, game development times have increased significantly, with many gamers complaining that it takes too long for these big-name titles to hit shelves, so finding a way to cut that time in half without sacrificing quality is always welcome.
BUT —and this is a huge BUT —no one wants to see humans replaced by AI to accomplish this goal.
Trending on Billboard The All-American Rejects have dropped off their new song, “Eggshell Tap-Dancer,” the third single off their upcoming album. The indie rock sweetheart playful new track follows the singles “Search Party” and “Easy Come, Easy Go,” which all dropped earlier this year. “‘Eggshell Tap-Dancer’ is about performing tenderness until your feet bleed,” lead […]
