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Pase a la Fama, Telemundo’s new television series, is set to premiere on Sunday, June 8 featuring a star-studded panel of judges — Ana Bárbara, Adriel Favela and Horacio Palencia — and original music produced by Latin Grammy-winning hitmaker Edgar Barrera.
During the show, participants will compete in a bootcamp-like setting where they will “train, perform and face challenges,” according to a press statement, vying for a $100,000 prize, a record deal with HYBE Latin America and crowned the next regional Mexican band, which will comprised of five participants.
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“The truth is that it’s a project we put our hearts into,” Ana Bárbara tells Billboard during a conversation over Zoom, just days before competition kick off. “I personally feel moved, excited, thrilled and I think it will be a great project.”
The judges will be meticulous about who they choose as finalists. They must have “discipline and respect for the audience and us as judges, all of those are ingredients that for me are very, very important,” Palencia says. “In fact, I tell the new generation that, for me, discipline is actually even more important than talent, because sometimes it doesn’t matter to have talent if you don’t have discipline.”
So, what were the main qualities the judges looked for?
“It’s a band and, at the end of the day, I believe that there are many components that contribute to what brings success to a career,” Palencia adds. “The [right] attitude, preparation and how they accept more than just criticism, but the constructive advice we give them,” Palencia adds. “I believe that the winning band will genuinely work towards achieving all of those characteristics.”
The show is set to premiere at a time when some música mexicana artists are facing bans in Mexico (if they sing narcocorridos in certain public settings) or visa delays and revocations in the United States. “I had no idea that all of this could happen, which is both delicate and strong, yet sensitive, and definitely very sad,” Ana Bárbara says. “Because it affects all of us in some way, it has an impact. We all admire the music of someone who is having problems for various reasons, beyond whatever the reason may be. This show will provide [Mexican] music with a different level of visibility.”
The judges will also focus on emphasizing “clean song lyrics and about love stories,” Favela says. “It is nice to realize that music is giving us a chance to go beyond the musical aspect. To see our individual values, to see young people singing themes that, nowadays, I dare to say, are being lost, perhaps more and more. And that there is validity in rescuing all of this, which at the end of the day is the pure root of our Mexican essence.”
It was previously announced that Lupillo Rivera, Fuerza Regida’s JOP and Gabito Ballestero’s will join the show as mentors. The first episode of Pase a la Fama will premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Telemundo.
Gay-dies and gentle-thems, happy Pride! With the queerest season of the year officially upon us, what better way to celebrate than with some new bangers from your favorite queer artists? Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ+ artists.
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From Ethel Cain’s plaintive new single to Cynthia Erivo’s emotional new album, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
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Ethel Cain, “Nettles”
After taking a brief detour with her droning EP Perverts, Ethel Cain is back to the task at hand with “Nettles,” the long-awaited first lead single off her forthcoming album, Willoughby Trucker, I’ll Always Love You. Taking fans back five years before the narrative of her critically-acclaimed LP Preacher’s Daughter, “Nettles” paints a gentle, melancholy of a young couple, deeply in love with one another for better or worse. The stunning country-blues production and Cain’s echoing, gorgeous vocal, makes “Nettles” yet another song in her growing discography you’ll keep going back for, picking out new details every time.
Cynthia Erivo, I Forgive You
After a career spent bringing others’ characters to life — whether it’s The Color Purple‘s Celie, Wicked’s Elphaba or dozens of others — Cynthia Erivo steps into herself with her stunning sophomore album I Forgive You. Over the course of 20 songs ranging from slinky R&B (early standout “Play the Woman”), touching adult contemporary, (“She Said”), or straight-up power ballads (“Worst of Me”), Erivo lets her voice do the work, showcasing her once-in-a-lifetime instrument at every given opportunity. As she told Billboard in our latest cover story: “People don’t know me as a musician in the way they’re getting to know me now.” So, get to know the real Cynthia Erivo with her lush new LP.
King Princess, “RIP KP”
What better way to kick off your Pride celebrations than with a capital-L Lesbian Anthem? King Princess returned with “RIP KP” this week, and she made sure that her first single back was a certified banger. Slinky guitars and a shuffling drum beat punctuate Mikaela Straus’ playful vocal, as the singer lists all the various ways the object of her affections can take her — “on the floor,” “up against the door,” you name it, KP is down. The title might suggest a passing on, but rest assured; King Princess is back and better than ever.
Big Thief, “Incomprehensible”
With their latest single “Incomprehensible,” Big Thief are touching on a universal theme — getting older — while still giving it enough specificity to make it feel like something brand new. Adrienne Lenker’s voice, in particular, cuts through this shimmering single, as she struggles with her own moratlity, and what that does to her identity. “And as silver as the rainbow scales that shimmer purple blue/ How can beauty that is living be anything but true?” she questions.
Scott Hoying, “PRAY”
How conversion therapy is still a legal practice in this country is beyond us — but Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying is here with a bit of a rebuttal to the folks claiming you can “pray the gay away.” On his infectious new gospel-tinged single “Pray,” Hoying sings (and believe us when we say that he sings) about his own experiences with the anti-LGBTQ+, before making it clear that the only thing we ought to be praying for is the courage to accept ourselves as we are.
Check out all of our picks below on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist:
The Funeral Portrait goes 2-for-2 atop Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, lifting to No. 1 on the June 14-dated survey with “Holy Water.”
The track, which features Five Finger Death Punch vocalist Ivan Moody, is the band’s second Mainstream Rock Airplay ruler in as many entries, following the one-week reign of “Suffocate City,” featuring Ice Nine Kills’ Spencer Charnas, last November.
This time around, The Funeral Portrait’s trip to No. 1 is one week quicker; “Holy Water” rules in its 18th frame on the chart.
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Moody reaches No. 1 on Mainstream Rock Airplay as a solo act for the first time, having exceeded his No. 10 peak as a featured vocalist on Cory Marks’ “Outlaws & Outsiders,” alongside Travis Tritt and Mick Mars, in 2020. Five Finger Death Punch, with him as frontman, boasts 15 leaders, third-most dating to the ranking’s March 1981 inception.
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Concurrently, “Holy Water” places at No. 11 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.5 million audience impressions, up 8%, in the week ending June 5, according to Luminate. The song reached a No. 8 high a week earlier and marks The Funeral Portrait’s first top 10 on the tally, having passed the No. 11 best of “Suffocate City.”
“Holy Water” is the second single from The Funeral Portrait’s 2024 album Greetings From Suffocate City. Released in September, the set has earned 25,000 equivalent album units to date. The collection is the second full-length from the group, which formed in Atlanta more than a decade ago.
All Billboard charts dated June 14 will update Tuesday, June 10.
Eric Church looked back on his unexpected involvement in the lawsuit over Taylor Swift‘s hit single “Shake It Off” in a new interview.
Back in 2017, the superstar got hit with allegations of copyright infringement by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, the songwriters behind 3LW’s 2001 single “Playas Gon’ Play.”
“In her deposition, when [talking about the line] ‘players gonna play, haters gonna hate,’ she says, ‘The first time I heard that phrase was in Eric Church’s song ‘The Outsiders,’” the country singer explained in a sit-down with Rolling Stone published Friday (June 6). “She was saying she never heard it on [the 3LW song], which is what they were suing her for. And two weeks later, I got served by the people that were suing her!”
According to Church, getting slapped with his own legal papers prompted him to reach out to Swift via text. “I was like, ‘Hey, thanks. Next time, let’s just skip that part?’” he said. “And she sent me a text: ‘I’m sorry. It’s the truth, though. That’s when I heard that phrase.’”
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“It’s since been settled,” Church added of his own involvement. However, the “Hands of Time” singer concluded in the interview that the whole experience still had him wondering, “‘How did this even happen?’”
Since an agreement to drop the “Shake It Off” lawsuit was reached between Swift, Hall and Butler in late 2022, Church has released his eighth studio album, 2025’s Evangeline vs. the Machine, which he’ll be promoting this fall with his upcoming Free the Machine Tour.
More recently, Church also collaborated with Morgan Wallen on I’m the Problem album cut “Number 3 and Number 7,” and in the same Rolling Stone interview, defended Bruce Springsteen after the namesake of his hit 2011 single “Springsteen” criticized President Trump and his administration during a concert.
This week in dance music: deadmau5 and Rezz graced the cover of Billboard Canada, talking about their longstanding collaboratove project, Rezzmau5. In the story deadmau5 also spoke about selling his catalog to Create Music Group earlier this year, saying that “it was time to just let it go.” Elsewhere, Italian techno producer Deborah de Luca […]
Laufey shares how Disney has inspired her music, why she chose Suki Waterhouse to go on tour with her, and teases her new album!
Are you excited for her new album? Let us know in the comments!
Tetris Kelly: Hanging out with Laufey at the House of Mouse. How’s it feel to be here tonight?
Laufey: I’m so excited. There’s like, I’m seeing already so much, like, many ears and bows and like-
It’s the merch for me.
It’s always the merch for me.
I mean, what is your Disney experience like? What has the brand meant to you?
Oh, my God. I mean, it’s just my childhood, right? I think growing up, I didn’t really have… I always loved, like, old music, old sounds. I didn’t have much context for it, but I always heard it in movies. And like, the way I told my friends about my music and, like, my musical aspirations was kind of always through the lens of music. It’s like you listen to the music from, like, the old Peter Pan movies, like the old Disney princess movies. It’s that kind of vintage sound is everything that I strive for in my modern project. So it means a lot to me.
I love that you can connect all the lines there. And I mean you’re gonna be taking the music out on the road with Suki Waterhouse. We’re so excited about that. So how did you decide to partner with her? And what’s it gonna be like on the road?
Oh, my God. I mean, I’m such a fan of hers, I kind of, I wanted it to be like a girly show. Like I was like, I need a girl.
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For comedian Dave Chappelle, the opening monologue he gave as the host of Saturday Night Live after the 2016 presidential election isn’t something he regrets. He had the chance to reflect on it during a conversation with comedian Mo Amer for the Actors on Actors series for Variety.
“I haven’t watched it in a while, but I remember it fondly,” Chappelle said at the 27-minute mark of the conversation, which was shared Wednesday (June 4) after Amer asked him about his perspective on it from back then to now. The monologue went viral, as Chappelle declared that “an internet troll” had won the White House, also pointing out his history of sexual assault. He would then segue into how he felt after former President Barack Obama won in 2008. “And it made me very happy about the prospects of our country,” he said then. “So, in that spirit, I’m wishing Donald Trump luck. And I’m going to give him a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one, too.”“Oh, I remember that part,” Chappelle said. “You know what? I look at it like a photograph. That’s what it felt like in that moment. Now, if it ages well or not, I don’t get mad if I look at a picture because it’s not today. That’s what it was at that time.” He continued, “You might look at an old set and cringe, but you could just cringe because of how you were at that time. And in that sense, I’m fine with it.”Chappelle’s conversation with Amer is one of the rare moments he’s opened up for media – he has declined direct interviews in the wake of brushback from jokes he made against the transgender community in his 2021 Netflix special The Closer. But he and the Palestinian comedian bonded during the COVID-19 pandemic, making this a keen opportunity for the two to talk about comedy and their perspectives on the current times particularly with Amer’s hit Netflix show. “As you know, I notoriously don’t like to do press,” Chappelle said, “but today I wouldn’t have missed, because it’s you.”Check out the entire conversation above.
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This week, Jon Bellion returned to center stage after years of remaining behind the scenes: the veteran songwriter-producer released Father Figure, his first album in seven years and a poignant reflection on fatherhood, including his relationship with his own father and his experiences as a dad of three. A deeply personal project that includes a picture of his parents on the album cover and a voicemail from his uncle on the track list, Father Figure also demonstrates Bellion’s status as a gifted collaborator, with Luke Combs, Pharrell Williams and Jon Batiste lending their voices to his story.
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Bellion — who has contributed to hits by Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and Miley Cyrus, and recently co-helmed “Friend of Mine,” Rihanna’s first new single in three years — says that he’s not playing a “numbers game” with the album, and that the metric of success he’d like to reach with Father Figure is more abstract. “If my album can give you one more day, then I’m cool with that — that’s the goal,” he tells Billboard. “To give a listener another day of inspiration? I could live with that.”
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Yet along with its emotional power, Father Figure also offers a fresh industry blueprint, as the rare project in which its credited co-writers will receive a percentage of master royalties, or “points,” on the album. Bellion worked alongside the artists that comprise Beautiful Mind Projects — his management, publishing and label company — including studio whizzes Pete Nappi, Tenroc and Elkan, all of whom also contributed to Rihanna’s “Friend of Mine.”
Bellion says that the decision to provide points to his fellow songwriters was the result of his own “frustrations of being a songwriter and being paid dirt — morally paid dirt — for 10 years. I don’t want to hear people talking about, ‘Oh, he’s made money and he’s successful, so he can’t talk about how songwriters get paid dirt.’ … If you write an entire song with a group of people, and there’s $10 and they only pay you 25 cents, there’s moral injustice there.
“If it’s $10 million and they only pay you $250,000, there’s moral injustice there,” he continues. “It doesn’t matter the way you microscopically change that — it’s an insane thing to say. I’ve always been vocal about that, and I don’t care what people’s perception of that is, because songwriters get paid f—king dirt.”
After self-funding Father Figure, Bellion admits that he does have “a new perspective and a new appreciation for what the label is doing,” but still believes that there’s a way for record labels to allocate less money toward promotional efforts and more towards creative collaborators. To that end, Bellion says that he decided to focus his promotional campaign less on short-form content, and more on proper music videos for four songs from the album — including the title track, which received a moving visual on Friday (June 6).
Bellion says that the album rollout has been an invaluable learning process. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” he says. “I’m understanding the workings of the label, and stumbling through it. And even if I come out losing money — which I think I will on this album — but still getting the writers paid at least a point or two, and giving them the courage to go into the next meeting to say ‘Well, John did it!’ … Someone has to be the guy to be like, ‘I don’t really know how to make my money back while giving out a ton of points if I’m funding the thing myself, but I’m gonna have to jump into the world to put my money where my mouth is.’ I don’t know if this is gonna work out, but at least I tried to do the thing.”
As Bellion gears up to promote Father Figure from the stage — he’ll perform a sold-out intimate show at SOB’s in New York, and headline Forest Hills Stadium on Aug. 23 — he hopes that his unique standing in the industry will turn his gambit with the album into a successful model.
“I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum,” he says. “I’ve been on the label side, I’ve been on the publisher side, I’ve been on the writer side, and I’ve been on the artist side. So there’s more of a holistic angle, and I can try to bring everything in closer, to get to a better place, possibly.
“I’m not trailblazing,” Bellion continues. “I’m gonna go to Capitol Hill and dedicate my life to — I’m not saying that. But putting my money where my mouth is, where it actually counts? It’s a good place to start.”
This week, Billboard’s New Music Latin roundup and playlist — curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — features fresh new music, including a handful of new albums by Belinda (Indómita), Elvis Crespo (Poeta Herío) and Óscar Maydon (Rico o Muerto, Vol. 1). Mexican star Belinda further expands her música mexicana foray with a full-length album, her first música mexicana project […]
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Aeris, rejoice. Baekhyun is going on tour. That’s right. Dust off your light sticks and EXO merch because the band’s lead singer is coming to a city near you with his 2025 Reverie tour. It’s all thanks to the release of Baekhyun’s latest album, Essence of Reverie, his fifth mini album.
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To properly celebrate the release, Baekhyun is going on his first-ever solo tour, titled Reverie. The K-pop star plans to visit 29 cities across North and South America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. The tour will kick off with a bang as Baekhyun will host two nights at Seoul’s KSPO Dome on June 7 and 8. The tour ends on Nov. 1, with six of his stops being in the U.S. Tickets can be snagged now via Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek Ticket Network and GameTime.
Where to Buy Tickets to Baekhyun’s 2025 Reverie Tour
Courtesy of Ticketmaster
best seats
Ticketmaster has a slew of good seating options that are pretty close to the stage, with standard tickets at some venues starting at $83. The ticketing company also offers a Fan Guarantee, which allows for cancellations, refunds or exchanges within 24 hours of booking, subject to certain exclusions.
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best prices
StubHub features some of the best pricing on tickets for Baekhyun’s tour, with some going for just $42. You can shop for all dates and arenas with ease thanks to the ticketing service’s FanProtect Guarantee, which ensures valid tickets or your money back. Plus, if your event is canceled and not rescheduled, you will receive a credit worth 120% of the amount you paid for the impacted event, or the option of a cash refund.
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You can grab seating options through Vivid Seats now, with some venues charging only $70. The ticketing service offers a 100% Buyer Guarantee that vows your transaction will be secure, that your tickets will be delivered before your event and that those tickets will be valid and authentic. Right now, you can use promo code BB30 to snag $30 off of your purchase.
promo codes
With our help, you can grab Baekhyun’s tour tickets with ease. Right now, you can use promo code BILLBOARD10 at checkout to receive $10 off at checkout. The ticketing service features a Buyer Guarantee that ensures smooth ticket purchases every time.
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More savings can never be bad. You can grab Baekhyun’s tour tickets through TicketNetwork with the code BILLBOARD300 to save $300 off orders of $1,000, and BILLBOARD150 to save $150 off orders of $500. Don’t have the funds yet? You can also buy the tickets on the website now and pay later with Affirm. Plus, the website includes all-in pricing that lets you see exactly what you’ll be paying upfront (fees included).
Courtesy of Gametime
seating options
Gametime features a slew of seating options for a range of prices, the most versatile we’ve seen. Some venues have tickets starting at $74. Gametime guarantees the lowest prices, event cancellation protection, job loss assurance and on-time ticket delivery for a smooth ticket buying experience every time, no matter the occasion.
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Dropped on May 19, Essence of Reverie features R&B-esque slow jam songs such as “Elevator” and “Chocolate.” The album was received well, and the charts prove it too.
On the Billboard charts following the release, Baekhyun claimed the No. 1 spot on the Emerging Artists chart, ranked No. 4 on Top Album Sales, No. 35 on the Artist 100, and made a notable debut at No. 121 on Billboard 200.
Baekhyun began his career as the main vocalist of EXO, a South Korean boy band currently consisting of nine members. In July 2019, Baekhyun dropped his first solo release, City Lights, an album full of jazzy R&B hits, cementing him as one of the great vocalists in the K-pop sphere. Since then, the singer has worked to drop four more albums, including Delight, Bambi and Hello World, along with his work as a member of EXO.
