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16 Apr 2024

Ariana Grande Celebrates Her ‘Most Beautiful’ Nonna’s History-Making Hot 100 Chart Achievement

Ariana Grande loves her Nonna! The pop superstar took to Instagram on Tuesday (April 16) to celebrate her grandmother Marjorie Grande’s history-making chart achievement.

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“Celebrating the one and only, most beautiful Nonna who has now made history for being the senior most person to ever appear on the @billboard Hot100,” Grande wrote alongside a photo of Nonna holding her Hot 100 plaque. “We love and thank you.”

Nonna, Ariana Grande

Nonna

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With the arrival of “Ordinary Things” (from Grande’s album Eternal Sunshine, at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100, 98-year-old Nonna becomes the senior-most artist ever to have appeared on the tally, dating to the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, start.

Nonna, billed as a featured artist on “Ordinary Things,” claims the record from the late Fred Stobaugh, who was 96 when “Oh Sweet Lorraine,” billed as by Green Shoe Studio featuring Jacob Colgan (the song’s vocalist) and Stobaugh (its writer), spent a week on the Hot 100 dated Sept. 14, 2013, at No. 42.

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“Ordinary Things” closes with a clip of Nonna sharing life advice, while reflecting on her relationship with her late husband, Frank. “Never go to bed without kissin’ goodnight,” Nonna – also credited as a co-writer of the song – shares. “That’s the worst thing to do; don’t ever, ever do that. And if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, you’re in the wrong place – get out.”

16 Apr 2024

Busta Rhymes Recalls Notorious B.I.G. Dissing 2Pac In Studio Session [Video]

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Tupac Shakur At Club Amazon

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It seems there is more to learn about 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G.’s story. Busta Rhymes reveals that a popular Biggie Smalls verse was actually going at Pac.

As spotted on Vibe, the Rap legend recently paid a visit to the All The Smoke podcast. While the “Touch It” MC discussed a variety of topics, ranging from his storied career to current events, it was a story he told about a studio session with B.I.G. that has since gone viral. Back in the mid-’90s Busta Rhymes was aiming to secure Biggie, Method Man and Nas as features on one song. While the track didn’t come together like how he originally intended, it birthed a very memorable performance by the King of New York.

“So there’s a song in the middle of the Biggie and 2Pac beef and he [Biggie] recorded the verse in my studio session. At the time I thought it would be brilliant to have these three MC’s on a J Dilla beat. I think B.I.G. just got into the car accident with [Lil’] Cease and his leg was messed up and the elevator wasn’t working,” Busta explained. “I got to Soundtracks [on] the third day. Elevators fine,” Busta continues. “Big and [Lil’] Cease come. They pull up. Meth and Nas came two days in a row now. No Biggie. So, they was not coming on the third day.”

The former Leaders of the New School member would go on to detail seeing B.I.G.’s creative process for the first time ever. “One hour, two hours; he just smoking. He ain’t writing nothing. About three hours in I’m like ‘My ni**a you ain’t going to do this verse my ni**a?’ That ni**a said, ‘I’m ready Buss.’”

Busta Rhymes would go on to recite the verse and emphasize the lines directed at 2Pac via his cadence and pitch. “Diamonds on my neck, chrome drop-top / Chillin’ on the scene, smoking pounds of green / Oooh-wee, you see, the ugliest / Money-hungriest, Brooklyn Loch Ness / Nine millimeter cock test, wan fi’ test? / And the winner is, not that thinner kid / Bandanas, tattoos, my fists never bruise / Land still cruise.”

At the time, Bus was good friends with 2Pac thus he told B.I.G. he would not be releasing the song. Years later, the verse would reappear on the posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album Born Again on “Dangerous MC’s.” You can hear the original verse below.



16 Apr 2024

From Taylor Swift to KISS, the Bootleg Music Merch Business Is Hurting Artists — And It’s Getting Worse

Seventeen cartoon renditions of Taylor Swift — wearing pink sunglasses, posing in her purple Speak Now dress, posing in a “Not A Lot Going On At the Moment” t-shirt — are stamped onto an Amazon page for a 24-piece cupcake-topper set. “Our Singer cake decorations are made of high-quality food-grade cardstock,” reads the description. “Can be applied safely!” The $12.99 birthday party set, listed by the brand wgzftrys, which is headquartered in Guangdong Shen, China, is among the hundreds of Swift products available on Amazon — some bearing the megastar singer’s name and likeness, others using “TS” or a generic Taylor-ish young-blonde-woman image.

They’re mostly illegal bootlegs, according to music industry sources — a form of international intellectual property rights infringement that costs clothing, electronics, toy and sporting goods companies billions of dollars annually. In 2023, U.S. Border and Customs Protection seized nearly $2.8 billion in copyright-infringing goods shipped from multiple countries — most prominently China, Turkey and Canada. Jeff Jampol, CEO of Jam Inc., which manages the estates of the Doors, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and others, says that his lawyers serve “dozens and dozens” of cease-and-desist orders monthly to suspected bootleggers on a variety of e-commerce sites and other webpages who cost artists roughly $20,000 to $50,000 for every $1 million in annual t-shirt sales.

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“In terms of how much money we lose, who knows?” says Steve Culver, president of Dreamer Media, a Nashville merchandising company that works with Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Melissa Etheridge and others. “It’s just so easy to set up an Amazon store — if you get shut down, you just put it back up again.” 

Reps for Swift and her label, Republic Records, didn’t respond to requests to comment for this story as they prepare to release her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19. But music merch companies have been battling this kind ofonline bootlegging for years, and they say the problem is getting worse. In 2021, Global Merchandising Services, citing rampant Motörhead trademark violations and counterfeiting, filed a lawsuit against 278 companies that “employ no normal business nomenclature and, instead, have the appearance of being made up.” These online stores sell knock-off t-shirts and other products, according to the suit, and each seller is “likely to cause and has caused confusion, mistake and deception by and among consumers.”

“It’s a game of Whack-a-Mole, and it’s a constant every day,” says Barry Drinkwater, executive chairman for the 15-year-old merchandiser, which handles products for Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Niall Horan and others. He estimates that the company issues “hundreds of thousands” of takedown notices annually: “All we can do is keep on top of it and spend some dollars,” he adds

Swift’s popularity is so immense that companies everywhere have co-opted her name, likeness and song titles to market and sell products big and small, from a Royal Caribbean International cruise for Swifties to “Tayl-gating” donuts to Swift flashing double middle-fingers on a t-shirt sold on eBay to the more than 1,000 Swift-themed items on handmade retailer Etsy. “There’s definitely bootleg and unauthorized stuff sold on Etsy, too,” says a representative for a major artist. “But are you going to go after the person who makes a necklace? No, you don’t want to be that guy.”

The Swift-branded knock-off products on Amazon — clearly different than those sold on her official store — include pillows, socks, pantyhose and keychains. A 14-piece friendship bracelet set, sold for $12.98 from GOIPKO, lists several of her albums and “I ❤️ TS”; a “Tay Tay Cheerleader Costume” for women, priced at $32.99 from Mokkin, bears the initials “TS.” A knit hat with the Nirvana logo (but not the Nirvana name), sold by a China-based company, goes for $9.99, while a pair of purple “Best Gaga Ever” socks, from the Chinese store ZJXHPO, is $14.99. 

Some of these products brazenly use the artists’ names and likenesses, while others are more ambiguous. Regarding a t-shirt with an “It’s Me Hi I’m the Birthday Girl It’s Me,” intellectual property attorney Michael N. Cohen says, “It invokes a Taylor Swift lyric, but it is modified, so is it transformative enough? Possibly.” A Swift representative could send a take-down notice, in which case Amazon could answer that question – or, in the case of a lawsuit, a jury could decide.

(Several companies listing these kinds of Swift products on Amazon did not respond to interview requests by email, although one seller responded “sorry” and another wrote, “Sorry. We are not interested in it.”)

Amazon declined interview requests, but a representative cited its intellectual property policy for sellers, which prohibits violating the rights of “brands or other rights owners” and advises consulting a lawyer. Amazon has algorithms that suss out unauthorized or illegal products posted by sellers, but they can take time to detect and take down, especially if they’re ambiguous, like a t-shirt image that somewhat resembles Taylor Swift containing words that somewhat recall lyrics from her songs. Since 2020, according to the company, Amazon has spent $1.2 billion and employed 15,000 people to combat counterfeit and fraud on the site, and “valid notices of infringements submitted by brands” have declined 30% despite overall sales growth at the company. Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit is the department responsible for removing “bad actor accounts,” according to the company’s website.

Retail apparel bootlegging — as opposed to the separate problem of unauthorized t-shirts sold in concert parking lots — has increased over the last 15 years, Jampol says. During that period, three-dimensional printers have become more sophisticated and enabled the print-on-demand industry. “One of the barriers to entry for doing apparel is, ‘I’ve got to have five designs and four colors each both for men and women, in extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large,’ then have a place to store it,” he says. “Now, with print-on-demand, I can put out 5,000 designs in 182 colors, and when somebody orders an extra-small in pink, of this style, I just print it.”

The bootleg merch is prevalent on many retail sites, including “fake e-commerce storefronts,” as the Motörhead suit alleges, which counterfeiters have set up to match artists’ official websites. With reputable retailers like Amazon, artists can file takedown notices — but it helps, Cohen says, for artists to trademark their names in advance. “Whatever platform it is, they’ll do their own formal review and make a decision whether to take it down,” Cohen says. “That’s why filing is so critical. That proves there’s validity. Amazon and platforms like that want to see: ‘Do you have the registration number?’”

In the United States, solo artists and bands have “trademark rights” for their names and likenesses, so they can send cease-and-desist letters or file lawsuits against unauthorized merchandisers. The process is trickier in a different territory. “You can own rights in one country, but not in another country,” says Douglas Masters, an intellectual property attorney in Chicago. “It’s a big world.” And even for artists who are aggressive about pursuing international copyright infringers, “People are sometimes hard to find,” Masters adds.

That’s why Gene Simmons, bassist for KISS, contacts his management company roughly every other day to flag an infringer on the band’s trademarked merch. “Gene is online all the time and comes up with more of them than anybody,” says Doc McGhee, the band’s manager. “It certainly is a big problem. We go after them. We have a team of lawyers. It’s just stealing.”

16 Apr 2024

Festival Glam: Tems Used This Bestselling Setting Spray for Her Coachella Debut – Shop It Here

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.

Looking for a setting spray that goes the distance? Whether you plan to brave Coachella’s desert temperatures or another outdoor music festival, Tems might have perfected a setting-spray technique that delivers maximum hold – even onstage.

Makeup artist Kayla Perez posted footage of the “Essence” singer’s Coachella glam session on TikTok on Tuesday (April 16), and it featured a trio of viral beauty products including Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Setting Spray, One/Size On ‘Til Dawn Setting Spray and Kryolan Professional Fixing Spray.

In the video, Perez starts off with Charlotte Tilbury, followed by One/Size and Kryolan Fixing Spray to finish off the look. And it worked like a charm, according to Tems.

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“Makeup didn’t move!” she proclaims in the video.

While the average makeup girlies probably won’t need to use three settings sprays at once, Tems proves just how good each product works and how well they complement each other.

Tems Used This Viral Setting Spray for Coachella Glam: Shop It Here

ONE/Size by Patrick Starrr On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray

Patrick Starrr’s One/Size On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray earned Beyoncé’s stamp of approval and Tems can now vouch for its powerful, all-day hold and matte finish.  

Tems Used This Viral Setting Spray for Coachella Glam: Shop It Here

Charlotte Tilbury

Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Setting Spray

Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray is an alcohol- and oil-free spray that hydrates and holds for up to 16 hours. The setting spray is available at retailers such as Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Charlottetilbury.com.

Tems made her Coachella debut over the weekend with surprise appearances from Wizkid and Justin Bieber. The 28-year-old recording artist also announced that her debut album, Born in the Wild, drops in May.

As for Coachella, the annual music festival wraps up this weekend. Get tickets to here.

16 Apr 2024

Bae & Baddies: Nyla Green Has The Curls & Curves That Will Definitely Turn Heads

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It’s been a minute but we’re back with an update to our running Baes & Baddies segment where we feature some of the most beautiful women we’ve discovered on social media. Our latest feature is the beautiful Nyla Green and she has curves and curls that’ll certainly turn heads for sure.

We don’t know much about Nyla Green but she’s been making moves on Instagram and other spaces across social media with her fun and flirty Reels and various looks that she shares on her pages.

What we can share is that she’s got quite a nice movement happening on X (formerly Twitter) and many of those visuals are a lot more revealing than what she shares on IG.

Nyla Green also has an active OnlyFans page and we’re pretty sure things get more risque over there. Other details about Ms. Green is that she’s sporting a 34KK bra but it’s not just the top portion that would get attention, if you catch our drift.

As we put together the gallery, we’d like to say that if you venture into the lovely model’s other digital haunts, you’re bound to see a lot more than you bargained for but we don’t think those in seek of such treasures will be disappointed by what they discover.

Nyla Green X Baes & Baddies

For now, please enjoy our latest Baes & Baddies feature, Nyla Green, and hit the link in the bio on her Instagram page for all the other spaces she’s occupying.

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Photo: @nylagreen_ / Instagram

16 Apr 2024

Pandora Hits Back at MLC Lawsuit Over Streaming Royalties: ‘Legally Incoherent’

Pandora is firing back at a lawsuit filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC) that claims the company has failed to properly pay streaming royalties, calling the case a “gross overreach” based on a “legally incoherent position.”

The MLC — the group created by Congress in 2018 to collect streaming royalties — filed the lawsuit earlier this year, accusing Pandora (a unit of SiriusXM) of misclassifying the nature of its streaming service to avoid paying the kind of higher royalties owed by “interactive” platforms like Spotify.

But in its first response to the case filed on Tuesday (April 16), Pandora calls the MLC’s lawsuit a “wild overreach” that “distorts the Pandora experience” — and one filed by an entity that is not even legally empowered to bring such cases.

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“The MLC … was intended to be a neutral intermediary charged with collecting and distributing royalties under the blanket license,” Pandora writes. “It is not authorized to play judge and jury over a streaming service’s legal compliance, nor was it created … to pursue legal frolics and detours such as this one.”

Pandora’s lawyers also say the lawsuit is based on a “a legally incoherent position” that has never been raised by the music companies for whom the MLC is collecting royalties: “The MLC seems to think it knows something the entire music industry does not.”

A rep for the MLC did not immediately return a request for comment.

At the heart of the lawsuit against Pandora is the distinction between “interactive” platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, which allow users to pick their songs on demand, and “noninteractive” platforms that provide an experience more like radio. It’s a key dividing line since interactive and noninteractive services pay very different royalties under different systems.

Though Pandora offers a premium tier with on-demand functionality, it has long treated Pandora Free — the core radio-like product that fueled the company’s rise in the late 2000s — as a noninteractive service, since it largely serves users a mix of songs based on their preferences.

But in a February lawsuit, the MLC argued that Pandora Free had crossed the line into “interactive” status by offering so-called “Sponsored Premium Access” sessions, which allow users to briefly play specific songs in return for watching ads. As a result, the MLC argued that Pandora owed the same kind of royalties for Pandora Free as services like YouTube or Spotify pay.

“Pandora provides even greater interactive access and functionality than these other ad-supported interactive streaming services,” the MLC wrote. “Despite the interactive functionality of Pandora Free, Pandora has failed to report in full Pandora Free usage to The MLC.”

In Tuesday’s response, Pandora’s lawyers argued that the MLC’s lawsuit “badly distorts reality” by making a “blatant mischaracterization of Pandora’s offerings.”

In their telling, the disputed “Sponsored Premium Access” sessions are merely brief previews of the company’s on-demand tier with “strict caps” on usage — not a wholesale feature that would “transform” Pandora Free “into an interactive service like Spotify or Apple Music.”

What’s more, Pandora says that feature was explicitly negotiated with music companies, who have never once objected to it or argued that it required Pandora to “fundamentally change its approach to licensing.”

“The MLC apparently thinks it knows better than the entire music publishing industry,” Pandora wrote. “Not only is the MLC operating far outside its administrative bounds, but it is also completely wrong on the law.”

Speaking with Billboard on Tuesday, George White, senior vp of music licensing at SiriusXM and Pandora, echoed the claims made by Pandora in the legal response.

“The lawsuit is really a gross overreach, especially when you consider that Pandora is such a well-known and well-established non-interactive music streaming service,” White said. “There are no checks and balances on the MLC. We believe that’s something, as part of the MLC redesignation, that the Copyright Office really needs to consider.”

White was alluding to the Copyright Office’s ongoing “redesignation process” of the MLC — a five-year check-up required by Music Modernization Act to ensure that the organization is functioning effectively. The first-ever redesignation started in January and is set to wrap up later this year.

16 Apr 2024

Huey Lewis Calls Musical Inspired by His Band’s Songs a ‘Creative Outlet’ After Losing His Hearing

You may not think of Buddhist philosophy and Huey Lewis as the same time very often, but it works for him when considering The Heart of Rock and Roll, the jukebox musical inspired by the song catalog of his band, the News.

“Y’know, Zen Buddhists say you need something to love, something to hope for and something to do — so for me, thank God for this show,” Lewis tells Billboard from New York City. The musician has been residing in the Big Apple to help prepare the musical comedy — which was first staged during 2018 in San Diego — for its April 22 opening at Broadway‘s James Earl Jones Theatre.

“This is, like, bonus time for me,” he continues. “It wasn’t something I’ve ever aspired to. I never thought about having a Broadway show. But it’s been a real kind of gift for me and a blessing for me because I don’t have anything else. It’s given me a creative outlet since I lost my hearing.”

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Lewis revealed his hearing struggles back in 2018, after he was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, an inner-ear disorder that’s rendered him unable to sing with the band, scuttling any hopes of live performances for a group that was a dependable annual fixture on the touring circuit. And, Lewis reports, things have not been getting any better. “My hearing’s collapsing,” he laments, although he’s still fighting via a variety of therapies and a recent ocular implant.

The News dug into its vaults for a new album, Weather, in 2020, but his creative focus has been The Heart of Rock and Roll, which has been in previews since March 29. A love story and comedy in which the lead character, Bobby (portrayed by Corey Cott), grapples with his continuing rock n’ roll dreams within a comfortable corporate life, was written by Jonathan A. Abrams from a story he crafted with Tyler Mitchell of Imagine Entertainment. Brian Usifer arranged the songs for the stage.

“He sort of reimagined all the songs in kind of a wonderful way,” Lewis explains. “Rearranging them is more what he did, although more than that because he sort of zigs where the song zags and stays away from our version of things. It’s very interesting, and it’s gratifying to see the songs live this other life. You’re kind of happy for the songs, really.”

Some of the lyrics have been changed — with permission and buy-ins, Lewis says — “to push the story forward.” But he was conscious of maintaining a balance between the songs’ stage life and their original versions.

“It’s a balancing act; you don’t want to lose the credibility of the songs,” Lewis says. “That’s one of the problems these jukebox musicals have. In the old days, you write for a musical, and then those songs became popular when Sinatra or Dean Martin or somebody covered them. Nowadays, they’re wrapping whole shows around popular songs. But one of the reasons that’s happening is you need recognizability to open these shows, ’cause it’s so competitive.”

The idea for The Heart of Rock and Roll came up during a conversation with Mitchell’s in-laws, who are Lewis’ neighbors in both Montana and Ross, Calif. “They had me over for dinner for my birthday, and Tyler was there as well, and we started talking about Mamma Mia, ’cause I love Mamma Mia,” Lewis recalls. “And [Mitchell’s father-in-law] said to him, ‘You should do a musical on Huey’s music.’ I didn’t know about this at the time, but Tyler was a huge fan. He knows our music really well. He knows the lyrics better than I do! So he and Jonathan Abrams printed out all of our lyrics and put ’em on the wall and they immersed themselves, and this story emerged. They came to me with their very first draft, and it was very good.

“Of course, that was seven years and nine drafts ago,” he adds. “It’s only gotten better.”

Lewis says the show has changed “significantly” since its 2018 stagings at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. “There are probably four new songs, some different scenes,” he notes. The story is set in the ’80s, which Lewis says allows it to “poke fun at Sony Walkmans and cassettes, a bunch of material there.” And while it’s not biographical in any way, there are elements of the book that related to Lewis’ own life.

“It’s actually got a lot of parallels, even though the story is not about me at all, or my band,” Lewis says. “Bobby’s 28, the same age I was when I formed Huey Lewis and the News. We’d been playing in bars for 12 years, and I had [the band] Clover that didn’t work out. So [the News] was my last shot, probably, at the ripe old age of 28, 29.”

Lewis drew on that to write the musical’s sole original song, “Be Somebody,” with Usifer and News bandmate Johnny Colla.

“Barry [Edelstein], the director in San Diego, said it’s customary in a musical to have the lead character sing a song early in the show, which articulates all of his or her aspirations, hopes, goals, etc.,” Lewis says. “Bobby’s got a day job, so I understood the anxiety he felt. So we wrote a song in which I kind of channeled that stuff a bit. I sang the melody, verse chords and words into my iPhone. Johnny tweaked the chorus, demoed it up, and Brian wrote the bridge chords.

“It’s fun to write for characters,” Lewis adds. “It’s liberating. You don’t have to write something that’s true to yourself. You can write for the character, and that fosters creativity.”

A Broadway cast album has already been recorded, according to Lewis, and is currently being shopped for a label deal. He’d love to record a News version of “Be Somebody,” too, but is uncertain about his ability to sing it. Regardless, the other News members will be on hand for a celebration April 19 in New York, and during his red carpet moments, Lewis will be sporting a new suit courtesy of good pal Jimmy Kimmel and his wardrobe director for Jimmy Kimmel Live!

“We’re texting, and he said, ‘I’m buying you a suit for the premiere,’” says Lewis, who hosts Huey’s ’80s Radio for Apple Music. “I said, ‘That’s strange … Where did you get the notion to buy me a suit? Is it the fact that you’ve seen me in those same two suits I wear all the time, over and over?’ And he nods his head, ‘Yep.’ [laughs] That’s a friend, right?”

16 Apr 2024

Taylor Swift Unveils a Bold New Lyric From ‘Tortured Poets Department’: ‘Even Statues Crumble’

Another piece of Taylor Swift‘s The Tortured Poets Department has fallen into place. With just three days left until the new album arrives, the 34-year-old pop star unveiled another lyric from the 16-track set in partnership with Spotify on Tuesday (April 16) — and it’s a loaded one.

The streaming service premiered the snippet of an unknown track at its Swiftie library installation in Los Angeles Tuesday, the first of three days the pop-up is set to take place. A display case resting on pressed flowers and a lacy white veil at the event finds an open book of “Tortured Poets Department” stationary reading the new lyric in all-caps: “Even statues crumble if they’re made to wait.”

Around the same time, a video appeared on the Spotify page for Tortured Poets showing Swift herself sitting at a typewriter, hammering out the same phrase.

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The revelation isn’t the first time the metaphor-loving Grammy winner has given fans a taste of the new album, which follows her 2022 Billboard 200-topping LP Midnights. On April 8, the day of the 2024 total solar eclipse, she shared the topical lyric on social media: “Crowd goes wild at her fingertips. Half moonshine, full eclipse.”

Then, on Sunday (April 14), Swift celebrated the news that Target would be carrying special vinyl variants of Tortured Poets by posting another fragment: “I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all.”

It’s also possible that the taglines assigned to each deluxe edition of the record double as lyrics. For instance, the backside of “The Manuscript” version of the project features the phrase “I love you, it’s ruining my life,” while “The Bolter” carries the message, “You don’t get to tell me about sad.”

The very first piece of the album Swift gifted to fans, however, came on the day she announced Tortured Poets at the 2024 Grammys. Shortly after breaking the news during her best pop vocal acceptance speech, the superstar posted on Instagram: “And so I enter into evidence my tarnished coat of arms/ My muses, acquired like bruises, my talismans and charms/ The tick, tick, tick of love bombs/ My veins of pitch black ink/ All’s fair in love and poetry …”

See how Spotify unveiled the new Tortured Poets Department lyric below.

16 Apr 2024

Michael J. Fox Gushes Over ‘Amazing’ Taylor Swift: ‘She Changes the Way the World Works’

Michael J. Fox has been added to the list of celebrity Swifties.

The Back to the Future star sat down with People recently, where he named Taylor Swift as someone who will have an even greater impact in the next 50 years. “I think she’s going to be a really important person. I think she moves economies, she changes the way the world works, and that’s amazing,” he said, noting specifically what she’s “said publicly about issues,” including everything from voting rights to LGBQIA+ allyship.

While he’s a fan now, Fox admitted that he “didn’t have an opinion about Taylor Swift when I first heard of Taylor Swift. Now I have a wife and four kids who worship her.”

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Swift is gearing up to release her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19. The album will be the pop star’s first album of new material since October 2022’s Midnights, which won album of the year and best pop vocal album at the 2024 Grammys. She also put out (Taylor’s Version) re-recordings of Speak Now and 1989 in 2023, as she embarked on her career-spanning Eras Tour.

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Swift has already announced the track list, as well as three variants of the 16-track album, each featuring a different bonus track: “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter” and “The Albatross.” The Tortured Poets Department also features two major collaborations: Post Malone, who is featured on the first album, “Fortnight,” as well as Florence + The Machine on track eight, “Florida!!!”

16 Apr 2024

Is J. Cole’s ‘Might Delete Later’ Debut a Win or a Loss for the Conflicted Rapper?

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for J. Cole.

He was roped into the most buzzed-about beef in recent rap history last month when fellow superstar Kendrick Lamar sent apparent shots at him and collaborator Drake in his own Billboard Hot 100-topping Future and Metro Boomin teamup, “Like That.” Two Fridays ago (Apr. 5), he responded with his new mixtape Might Delete Later and its climactic answer diss, “7 Minute Drill” — before publicly backing off the rejoinder at his own Dreamville Festival the following Sunday, explaining that feuding with Lamar didn’t sit right with him, and announcing his intent to remove the response cut from streaming.

The backlash from the internet and the larger hip-hop community was swift, with fans first dismissing “Drill” as lukewarm and uncommitted, and then largely mocking Cole for bowing out of the beef rather than standing behind his response. Nonetheless, Might Delete Later debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 this week with 115,000 units — down from Cole’s usual first-week totals for new albums, but still a strong showing by most other artists’ standards, particularly for a mixtape — while “Drill” bows at No. 6 on the Hot 100, though Cole made good on his promise to take the song off streaming on Friday (Apr. 12), following the end of its first full tracking week.

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What should we take away from Cole’s Might Delete Later showing? And will the sour taste this era has left in many rap fans’ mouths end up following Cole to his long-anticipated The Fall Off release? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.

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1. J. Cole debuts at No. 2 this week with 115,000 units for Might Delete Later. On a scale of 1-10, if you’re J. Cole, how satisfied are you with that first-week performance?

Kyle Denis: If I’m J. Cole and I really am orchestrating all of this as an elaborate roll out for The Fall Off, 10. If I’m J. Cole and this has nothing to do with The Fall Off at all, probably around a 6. A six-figure opening week units total in 2024 is never anything to scoff at, but after six consecutive studio albums hitting No. 1 and debuting with over 200,000 units, these numbers certainly leave more to be desired. Of course, Beyoncé is Beyoncé, but the fact that Cowboy Carter’s second week pulled ahead of Delete’s first — despite the latter initially leading predictions – speaks to how quickly consumers decided Cole’s latest offering wasn’t worth their time. 

Angel Diaz: If I’m Cole, I’ll be at a 10. The second spot on the 200 isn’t too shabby for a mixtape that was overshadowed by an unfortunate apology amid one of the more intriguing rap feuds in recent memory. 

Carl Lamarre: A 5. If I were Cole, half of me would be proud that I cracked six figures with little to no promotion. Based on my surprise drop, I can’t be upset if I lost to Beyonce. The other half is sick because the rap community is bullying me over that one record.

Jason Lipshutz: An 8. Might Delete Later was a surprise release arriving in an absolutely stacked portion of the release calendar, amidst a hip-hop superstar civil war outshining a lot of the actual music, and headlined by a diss track that was regretted and removed from streaming services… and it still did six figures in its first week. This project didn’t receive a traditional rollout and has been defined more by where it fits into a Larger Beef Narrative than Cole’s greater discography, so its final total should be a sign that he’s still a commercial force.

Andrew Unterberger: Maybe a 4. Yes, it’s just a mixtape, surprise release, whatever: If hip-hop fans were genuinely excited about this release (and “Drill” in particular) it would’ve still done big business. Cole coming in second for a full-length project, with well under half of the first-week units for 2021’s The Off Season — with all the eyes and ears of the hip-hop world set upon him — is a disappointment by his standards, straight up.



2. Cole seems to have hedged expectations with just about everything regarding this set, from calling it a mixtape to repeatedly referencing it as the prelude to his upcoming The Fall Off project to titling it something non-committal to *actually deleting* one of its tracks from streaming this weekend. Given all of this, do you think it’s still fair to judge it as a proper J. Cole body of work, or do you kinda give it an asterisk there? 

Kyle Denis: I think all those caveats warrant an asterisk. Nonetheless, Delete is still an 11-track set released under the J. Cole moniker – it’s undoubtedly a body of work, just far from his best. 

Angel Diaz: I’m going to take it for what it is: a mixtape, a body of work, whatever you want to call it these days. Even if he decides to delete the entire tape eventually, the Internet is forever, and it’ll be floating around somewhere. He should throw it up on Dat Piff and really bring the feeling back. 

Carl Lamarre: It’s a body of work in which he was demonstrative about his rap standing and had no shame talking s–t. If you subtract the Dipset-flip for “Ready 24,” this was all original music with some creative touches. Even if it wasn’t up to Cole’s standards, Might Delete Later was packaged like an ordinary rap album. 

Jason Lipshutz: An asterisk, for sure, which makes its No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200 so impressive. If this is the prelude to a major new Cole project, based on its 115,000 unit start, I’d expect The Fall Off to score one of the biggest debuts of the year. And yes, if you’re literally deleting songs from a project once it’s released, chances are you don’t want that project to function as a defining work.

Andrew Unterberger: There’s a bit of an asterisk, sure, but not one nearly as big or as definitive as Cole’s hoping for.

3. “7 Minute Drill” debuts at No. 6 this week, and will most likely only get the one week in the top 10 after Cole removed it from streaming services on Friday. Do you think the lone week in the top 10 — particularly as “Like That” enjoys its third week at No. 1 — is more than the song deserves, less, or about right? 

Kyle Denis: Instinctively, I want to say it deserves less because of how limp of a response it is. But part of me thinks this is exactly what “7 Minute Drill” deserves. A single week in the top 10 is emblematic of the initial curiosity the song courted, and plummeting from that region as quickly as it got there is the perfect parallel to the lukewarm reception the song received once those first listens were complete. 

Angel Diaz: I’m not sure what’s going on with this track because it still shows up in my Apple Music downloads on my phone but isn’t available on Spotify or the desktop version of Apple Music. I think it makes sense that it would creep into the top 10 when you factor in all the drama surrounding it. Cole must really be apologetic because he’s leaving some money on the table, so I guess it’s about right. 

Carl Lamarre: Out of sheer anticipation, this is right where it should be. Cole isn’t a battle rapper — as proven by his swift exit from the ongoing rap civil war — but because of his high-level MC status, grit, and charisma, there was hope that Cole would at least try to even the score against Kendrick. Sure, scrubbing the record from streaming cleanses your spiritual energy — and waiting as long as he did to do it ensures it will still be forever deemed a top 10 record — but we all know the chatter that’s going on in hip-hop circles about that song and apology.

Jason Lipshutz: Sounds about right to me. Even if Cole hadn’t hastily removed “7 Minute Drill” from streaming services, I’d expect the track to attain an explosive chart debut and quick drop-off, since most listeners stopped by to hear the Kendrick disses without absorbing the actual song. While “Like That” stands on its own as a scorching-hot single surrounding Kendrick Lamar’s guest spot, “7 Minute Drill” sounds haphazardly constructed as a platform for a lukewarm takedown. It was always going to pique curiosities upon its release, and never going to last after that.

Andrew Unterberger: It’s about right. I was more positive on “Drill” that most — I feel it got some decent digs in there, and to be honest, I respect that he kept his attacks kinda practical and not that hyperbolic. But is it as good a song as “Like That”? Of course not. Even without the rapper Deleting Later, it probably would’ve fallen off the Hot 100 in a few weeks once the curiosity listens died down, and almost certainly would’ve spent just the one week in its top tier. That’s fine.

4. While “Drill” and its subsequent Cole about-face will likely make up the majority of the Might Delete Later legacy, is there anything elsewhere on the mixtape that you think is particularly notable/memorable/interesting for this Cole period? 

Kyle Denis: None of the music on Delete is interesting or impressive enough to rise out of the shadow of Cole’s decisions during this period – and that’s perfectly okay. I think his exit from the “Big Three” battle will easily stand as the most notable component of the Delete era for better and for worse. We’ll definitely look back on this entire back-and-forth – and Cole’s role and performance, in particular – as a key inflection point for the evolution of mainstream rap beef post-Hip-Hop 50. 

If anything, most of the mixtape’s collaborations were welcome, but unnecessary, reminders of how great the chemistry is between Dreamville artists.

Angel Diaz: J. Cole blacked on a couple of these records, man, that’s what makes his apology so frustrating and I’m not even the biggest Cole fan. “Huntin’ Wabbitz,” going bar-for-bar with Killa on “Ready ‘24,” and getting his lyrical miracle on with battle rap veteran Daylyt and TDE’s Ab Soul on “Pi” show that he belongs in the Big 3 conversation. For a surprise mixtape, Might Delete Later is a solid offering from a solid rapper.  

Carl Lamarre: I can’t lie; the erasure of “Drill” and his Dreamville Fest apology killed my listening experience post-release. Ironically, I wasn’t even a fan of “Drill” and thought “Trae The Truth in Ibiza” could have served as the project’s ideal send-off. But after he dismissed “Drill,” I tried listening again, and it hurt me because Cole spent the tape boasting about his lyrical prowess — most notably on “Ready 24.” I can’t even play that record back, because some of Cole’s first words are: “Ain’t no n—a better than me in this f–kin’ planet, I swear to God.” The about-face at Dreamville Fest killed any positive motion I had for his project, and I’m a devout fan.

Jason Lipshutz: The Central Cee team-up on “H.Y.B.” is intriguing, and my ’00s hip-hop-loving heart was overjoyed to hear both Cam’ron (!) and Young Duo (!!!) on this project. But the most interesting moment on Might Delete Later was “7 Minute Drill,” as well as how Cole handled the song following its release. We’ll see how calling an audible on the diss track affects his artistic perspective moving forward, but the move will define Might Delete Later, even though the song itself no longer exists on the project.

Andrew Unterberger: The collabs are good! I’ve never heard Cole sounding this versatile, meeting collaborators as wide-ranging as Cam’Ron, Central Cee and Ab-Soul mostly on their home terrain, without ever sounding like he’s stretching too far outside his own lane. I truly cannot remember the last time I’ve advocated for a rapper to take on MORE name guests on their album, but for the Patron Saint of Platinum With No Features, maybe the switch-up could help keep things a little fresh for him on The Fall Off.



5. Cole has taken a near-unanimous L in general debate and on social media for “7 Minute Drill” and his subsequent Dreamville apology. Do you think it will actually affect perception and/or reception for Cole on future projects, or will this all become yesterday’s news for him and his fanbase pretty quickly? 

Kyle Denis: Both. And that’s the exact reason why this “beef” will have no verifiable victor. Cole’s fans already decided that they were rocking with him through thick and thin back in 2011, if not earlier. They survived the Noname battle and other controversies; this is not going to substantially shift the mindset of his fanbase. When it comes to those outside of Cole World, however, Cole’s exit and apology have blown up the once-solidified “Big Three” of the blog era. Like Drake and Lamar, reception for Cole’s projects have always had a built-in sheen because of how he’s revered in hip-hop circles. Based on the varied reception to his “Red Leather” verse, that’s already started to change a little bit. Ultimately, I think Cole will be just fine – but he should probably prepare himself for The Fall Off to be his most meticulously analyzed and critiqued album yet.  

Angel Diaz: I think this has already negatively affected his career. Fans will eventually forgive and forget, but for now he’s basically Switzerland as a band of American rappers clique up to take down the behemoth in the North. He had to stand 10 toes down after this song dropped because, like I said earlier, the Internet is forever. The disses weren’t even that personal and he’s rapped too many slick lines about being the best for too many years. His biggest mistake was dedicating a track to Kendrick, when Dot just sent a couple subs his way, while taking direct aim at Drake.

I understand his sentiments, but I wonder if he feels like he’s missing out on the history being made right now. The Fall Off most definitely needs to be a unanimous classic or at least close to it for borderline fans such as myself to take him seriously again. He put himself in a hole for absolutely no reason. I don’t think his career is over, but the convo about him being the best rapper in the game is over for now. 

Jason Lipshutz: Depending on how this genre-encompassing diss parade plays out, Cole releasing “7 Minute Drill,” pulling a “whoopsie” and bowing out of the contest altogether… might have been the best thing for him. For better or worse, we now know where he stands on this matter, and now he can view the fracas from afar while moving on to his next projects. Cole already released The Sideline Story more than a decade ago, and maybe it’s best that that’s where he’ll be during this free-for-all.

Andrew Unterberger: I think the folks who are calling Cole “finished” are on an altogether different planet, but could it have a residual long-term effect? Not impossible, but considering all the “rap is a competitive sport” takes that have surrounded hip-hop discourse lately, folks would do well to remember that in rap, as in pro sports, fans have short memories. Joel Embiid had an embarrassing playoff showing last year against the Celtics, but if he leads the Sixers past Boston and to the finals this year, most people will forget about 2023 real quick. Same thing with Cole — at least, if his next album is as good as he’s hyping it to be.