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13 Dec 2023

Dyn-O-Mite!: JB Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown & Jay Pharoah Will Star In Netflix’s Animated ‘Good Times’ Reboot

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Source: Bobby Bank / Getty / Good Times

Rejoice, the Netflix animated reboot of the classic television sitcom Good Times, has its showrunner and voice cast.

Spotted on Deadline, JB Smoove, recently engaged Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, Slink Johnson, and Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola will be voicing characters in the animated version of Good Times.

For Pharoah, it will be his second time involved with something tied to Good Times. The actor/comedian portrayed J.J. Evans, portrayed initially by Jimmie Walker in ABC’s Academy Award-winning Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All In The Family and Good Times.

The late Norman Lear, the architect of Good Times, a spinoff of his other sitcom, Maude, a spinoff of All In The Family, will have a guest appearance in a season 1 episode.

According to the website, Ranada Shepard (Young Love, Diary of a Future President) will share co-creator duties alongside Carl Jones. Shepard also serves as executive producer and showrunner on the animated comedy.

Per Deadline:

The animated Good Times series finds the fourth generation of the Evans family living in apartment 17C of the last remaining housing projects in Chicago. It turns out the more things change the more they stay the same and keeping your head above water is as challenging as ever. The only thing tougher than life for this family is love, and there’s more than enough to go around.

The Netflix and Sony Picture Television comedy has no confirmed release date but sources reveal they’re targeting a Summer 2024 premiere. Netflix and Sony PT declined to comment on this story.

Deadline also notes that Norman Lear and Brent Miller will serve as executive producers under their Act III Productions banner, plus Stephen Curry, Erick Peyton, and Jeron Smith for Unanimous and Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins for Fuzzy Door.

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Photo: Bobby Bank / Getty

13 Dec 2023

‘The Voice’ Reveals Season 24’s Top 5 Contestants

The Voice has whittled down the competition to its last five contestants of season 24 during its Tuesday night (Dec. 12) episode.

Lila Forde (Team Legend), Huntley (Team Niall), Ruby Leigh (Team Reba), Mara Justine (Team Niall) and
Jacquie Roar (Team Reba) will be continuing in the competition, the show revealed Tuesday. Monday night’s semifinals episode saw the then-nine remaining hopefuls performing individual solo tracks and doing a second group performance for covers of three Taylor Swift songs: “Don’t Blame Me,” “Mean (Taylor’s Version)” and “Exile (feat. Bon Iver).”

Forde took the stage Monday to perform a serene, piano-driven rendition of “River” by Joni Mitchell, Leigh put an upbeat, country twang on John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Road,” Justine delivered a soulful rendition of “Parachute” by Chris Stapleton and Huntley enlisted the help of a small choir for a rollicking take on KALEO’s “Way Down Below” to secure their spots in the competition.

The fifth and final spot was determined by a series of last-chance performances Tuesday, with Roar clinching her spot in the top five after singing several soaring high notes in her cover of “Alone” by Heart as her last-chance performance.

The Voice‘s season 24 finale is set to air on NBC Dec. 19 at 9 p.m. ET, during which this season’s champion will be crowned. In addition to performances from coaches Niall Horan, John Legend, Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani, who will all join forces for the holiday classic “Let It Snow,” several Billboard chart-toppers including Jelly Roll, Tyla, Earth, Wind & Fire, AJR, Keith Urban and season 25 coaches Dan + Shay will take the stage for the televised event.

Watch Lila Forde, Huntley, Jacquie Roar, Maya Justine and Ruby Leigh’s latest performances below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=21KOUTT5K_0&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent


https://youtube.com/watch?v=aDOVIvWygHY&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent




https://youtube.com/watch?v=SXyNvv3vLWM&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent


https://youtube.com/watch?v=SDeEh_C8gwo&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

13 Dec 2023

Taylor Swift Grossed Almost $2B This Year From Her Music, Movie, Touring and Concert Merchandise

Most corporations would love to rake in revenues well over $1 billion in a single year. In 2023, Taylor Swift has done it — and plenty more — by herself.

Billboard estimates that the 2023 Time Person of the Year honoree has grossed approximately $1.82 billion in music sales and royalties, concert tickets, merchandise sales at concerts and movie ticket sales in 2023 through Dec. 7.

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That figure represents the total amount generated in these handful of segments of Swift’s business career, not the amount she personally pocketed. Because none of this financial information is publicly available, Billboard calculated music royalties based on data from Luminate, concert ticket sales using publicly available information and her concert merchandise revenue was estimated based on Billboard’s reporting.

While impressive, $1.82 billion isn’t even the entirety of the income Swift has derived from her music career. Billboard left many items out of the calculations due to the inaccessibility of data, including synchronization royalties for her music’s use in advertisements, films and television shows, sponsorships, and merchandise sales from her website and licensing deals.

To put Swift’s year in perspective, she took in more than the $1.4 billion global gross of the motion picture Barbie. She exceeded the $1.6 billion fetched last year by the auction of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s art collection of works by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat and Gustav Klimt. And it’s almost four times the 2022 annual revenue of Deezer, a publicly traded music streaming company with 9.4 million subscribers. In fact, she grossed more than every record label besides the three majors.

Spending on tickets and concert merchandise accounted for the lion’s share of Swift’s business this year. Swift’s The Eras Tour generated approximately $900 million in ticket sales in 2023. That figure is based on Billboard’s estimate that Swift sold 3.3 million tickets to 53 concerts in the U.S. at about $250 per ticket. An additional 13 shows in Latin America likely earned another $60 million to $75 million from 750,000 ticket. At those concerts, Swift sold an estimated concert merchandise sales of $132 million of merchandise. Her per-show average merchandise sales at roughly $2 million, based on Billboard’s reporting.

Swift’s music grossed an estimated $536 million from streaming royalties, purchases — tracks, digital albums, CDs, LPs and cassettes — and broadcast radio play through Dec. 7. Swift is this year’s leading U.S. artist in terms of on-demand audio streams, album sales and track sales.

Sales and streams accounted for roughly 86%, or $461 million, of her recorded music revenue. Most of that money was collected by her label, Republic Records, and the owner of her Big Machine Music Group catalog, Shamrock Capital. These amounts include the gross amount from music purchases (CDs, LPs and downloads) and includes mechanical royalties paid by record labels to songwriters and music publishers.

Swift’s songwriting catalog generated an estimated $75 million from streaming and radio play. (Publishing royalties from streaming are not counted in the recorded music gross revenue. Unlike the mechanical royalties from purchases, mechanical royalties from streams are not passed through record labels.) The radio royalties are paid to Swift’s performance rights organization, BMI, and will be distributed to Swift, her co-writers and the various music publishers and administrators that have rights to the compositions.

Additionally, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie has an international gross of $250 million, according to Box Office Mojo. In the U.S., the movie grossed $179 million and debuted at No. 1 with first-week ticket sales of $95 million to $97 million. Depending on the production costs, the movie could be a financial boon for Swift considering she circumvented the traditional Hollywood distribution system and made a deal directly with AMC, the country’s largest movie theater chain. Additionally, the film is now available to rent on streaming and Swift retains the rights to license to a streaming service — both of which will earn her even more money.

Swift’s true economic impact is far larger than her gross sales outlined here. Many experts have been thinking of Swift’s business as the center of a larger economic impact that expands like concentric circles around her fans’ insatiable demand and willingness to travel to experience her concerts. The U.S. Travel Association stated in September that it believed The Eras Tour’s total economic impact will exceed $10 billion. Swift’s tour reached 20 U.S. cities and her fans averaged $1,300 of spending on travel, hotel stays and food. The association figures Swift’s fans spent about $5 billion in those destinations. Including indirect spending by others “who came to join the action around the events but did not actually attend the shows,” the association estimates the total economic impact is twice the $5 billion of direct spending. Another estimated found that her six sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, alone brought an estimated $320 million to the Los Angeles area’s gross domestic product, according to the California Center for Jobs & The Economy and California Business Roundtable.

13 Dec 2023

Kate McKinnon’s ‘SNL’ Christmas Wish Is Granted in New Promo

For Kate McKinnon, it’s a Christmas miracle to be hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend.

The comedian and SNL veteran appears in a new promo released on Wednesday (Dec. 13), standing in front of the iconic Christmas tree in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza. “I know you’re probably feeling a lot of Christmas wishes right now, but I’d like to add one myself if that’s OK,” she asks the lit-up tree. “I’d really love to host SNL this week with musical guest Billie Eilish. I know! I know it’s a big ask.”

While expressing how much she misses performing at the iconic sketch comedy show, cast member Kenan Thompson opens the door to 30 Rock, where SNL is filmed. “We’re waiting for you so we can start rehearsing,” he tells a confused McKinnon, before clarifying, “For the show that you’re hosting this week.”

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While McKinnon couldn’t believe that her wish “actually f—ing worked,” Thompson asked McKinnon why no one informed her sooner of her hosting gig. “I dropped my phone in the toilet in September,” she replied.

SNL alum and Barbie star McKinnon — who in the past has delivered hilarious impressions of everyone from Justin Bieber to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg — returns to Studio 8H to host for the first time on Dec. 16. Eilish, whose song “What Was I Made For” for the Barbie soundtrack has been nominated for several 2024 Grammy awards — will be the musical guest for the third time.

Saturday Night Live airs on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET, and streams live on Peacock. Watch the new promo video below.

13 Dec 2023

Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday 2’ Spurs Gains for Junior Senior, Billie Elish & Original ‘Pink’ Album

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 release sends fans to some of its sampled hits — and to the sequel album’s predecessor — while Netflix’s Leave the World Behind takes over the Shazam charts, and we haven’t heard the last from HBO‘s The Idol yet.

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Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday 2′ Brings Billie Eilish & Junior Senior to Gag City with Big Streaming Gains



Not even the holiday season can stop a queen. As Brenda Lee and Mariah Carey solidify their stronghold atop the Billboard Hot 100, Nicki Minaj looks primed for a few splashy debuts on next week’s ranking thanks to her brand new fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2.

Serving as the sequel to her Billboard 200-topping 2010 debut studio album, Pink Friday 2 features collaborations with Drake, J. Cole, Future, Skeng, Skillibeng, 50 Cent, Tasha Cobbs Leonard and more, as well as the Hot 100 hits “Super Freaky Girl” (No. 1), “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (No. 13) and “Last Time I Saw You” (No. 23).

Upon release, the 22-track album, which Minaj is expected to expand each day this week, made a splashy streaming debut, with two new songs earning considerable early traction: “Everybody” (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) and album opener “Are You Gone Already.” Both tracks heavily incorporate samples, and those sampled tracks have already shown a spike in streams since Minaj dropped us off at Gag City.

“Everybody” heavily samples Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet,” a 2002 dance track from the Danish pop duo’s debut album. According to Luminate, during the period Dec. 8-10, “Move Your Feet” collected a little over 130,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 40.9% increase from just over 92,000 steams the prior weekend (Dec. 1-3). As for “Are You Gone Already,” Minaj’s emotional album opener pulls from Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over.” Eilish’s track has always been a consistent streamer, but it did see a 15% jump in streams this weekend (1.074 million on-demand U.S. streams during Dec. 8-10) versus last weekend (934,000 streams during Dec. 1-3).

Naturally, the release of Pink Friday 2 also spurred notable gains for the OG Pink Friday album. Minaj’s debut racked up 4.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams during its sequel’s release weekend. That’s a 16.9% jump in streams from the previous weekend (3.6 million) for the Grammy-nominated LP, which features hits such as “Super Bass,” “Your Love” and the Drake-featuring “Moment 4 Life.” As for Pink Friday 2, the long-awaited record clocked 90.8 million streams during Dec. 8-10. — KYLE DENIS

‘Leave the World Behind’ Needle Drops Spur Gains for Joey Bada$$, Blackstreet & More

Last Friday (Dec. 8), director Sam Esmail’s film adaptation of the acclaimed Rumaan Alam novel Leave the World Behind hit Netflix, with the story of a chance encounter during an ominous technological breakdown brought to life by a star-studded cast headlined by Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Myha’la. The psychological thriller finds some levity within its music synchs, as Esmail has peppered the film with hip-hop and rhythmic pop hits — all of which are enjoying significant streaming upticks since the film hit the streaming service, and landing near the top of Shazam’s U.S. Top 200 chart.

The Joey Bada$$ song “The Rev3nge,” which opens the film, has earned the biggest bump so far: from Dec. 8-11, the track earned 153,000 U.S. on-demand streams, a 267% gain from its streaming total from the previous Friday-to-Monday period (41,000 streams), according to Luminate. Meanwhile, Next’s Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Too Close,” which Roberts’ character dances to in the film, is up 12% to 474,000 streams from Dec. 8-11; Blackstreet’s “Never Gonna Let You Go” soars 214%, to 60,000 streams over that period; and Kool + The Gang’s ’80s smash “Misled” is up 263%, to 66,000 streams. One month after David Fincher’s The Killer sent Netflix viewers searching for The Smiths’ discography, Esmail’s Leave the World Behind has a more wide-ranging set of needle drops, and it’s proven equally effective at yielding streaming gains. — JASON LIPSHUTZ

The Idol Gives Us “One of” 2023’s Latest-Breaking Viral Hits



We may be through with The Idol, but The Idol isn’t through with us. HBO may have pulled the plug on the Sam Levinson-directed controversial music-biz melodrama — starring and co-created by real-life pop superstar The Weeknd — but one of the songs released for the series continues to grow months later. “One of The Girls,” performed by The Weeknd along with BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Lily Rose-Depp (both of whom also star in the series), has long been one of the best-performing songs from the show’s extensive soundtrack, and has doubled in streams over the past six weeks.

According to Luminate, the track has grown from 1.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Nov. 2 to 4.1 million for the week ending Dec. 7. Much of the track’s growth is likely due to continued TikTok virality for the song, largely stemming from BLINK support for the Jennie-sung parts of the song, with fans praising her enchanting vocals. If “One of the Girls” continues growing at the rate it has, it could very well become her first Hot 100 hit in the months to come — it even debuts at No. 17 on the Bubbling Under chart this week. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

13 Dec 2023

Rauw Alejandro and Manager Eric Duars Split

Rauw Alejandro and his longtime manager, Eric Duars, have officially parted ways, sources tell Billboard. For the past several months, lawyers for the Puerto Rican superstar and the Puerto Rican impresario have engaged in conversations to wind down a relationship that began in 2017 when Alejandro (born Raul Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz) was 23 years old and Duars signed him as an emerging talent

Aside from being managed by Duars, an experienced promoter, Alejandro was also signed to his independent label, Duars Entertainment, with his music released via a licensing agreement with Sony Music Latin. Duars also promoted many of Alejandro’s tour dates via the tour promotion arm of his company, Duars Live.

In a crowded world of new reggaetón acts who came up in the mid and late 2010s, Alejandro stood out as an artist who also performed dazzling choreography and who was willing to experiment with genres like dance. That mix has continued to yield hits; to date, Alejandro has placed 47 songs on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including two top 10s, as well as seven hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

On the touring front, 2023 was the year Alejandro consolidated as a major touring act. His Saturno tour, produced by Duars Live in partnership with Outback Presents, sold 551,000 tickets across 36 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore, grossing $50.1 million. It landed as the sixth highest-grossing tour on Billboard’s year-end Latin tally and at No. 46 overall, breaking 15,000 tickets in Miami, New York and San Jose, Calif., among many others. It also sold 58,000 tickets in Mexico City’s Foro Sol.

Duars will no longer promote Alejandro’s tours.

Several sources say there are active conversations regarding new management for Alejandro with an established Latin manager, but nothing has yet been announced or confirmed to Billboard.

Duars will continue to manage a roster that includes Baby Rasta & Gringo, Cauty, Sie7e, Eix and Sanchz.

Neither Alejandro’s attorneys nor Duars’ attorneys replied to requests for comment.  

13 Dec 2023

Beyoncé Drops ‘Grown Woman’ on Streaming to Celebrate 10 Years of Her Self-Titled Album

It’s a big day for Beyoncé and the Beyhive. On Wednesday (Dec. 13), Queen Bey commemorated 10 years of her self-titled surprise visual album, and she’s treating fans to some new music — kind of — to celebrate.

When Beyoncé arrived on iTunes with no pre-release announcement or promotion in the wee hours of Dec. 13, 2013, the 14-track record came complete with 17 music videos. While certain songs on the album — namely “Partition” and “Haunted” — got two music videos to honor their long-winding structures, there was a bonus music video that did not accompany an audio track.

For a decade, Beyoncé fans have only been able to stream “Grown Woman” as a music video. On YouTube — where the clip was uploaded to honor the album’s one-year anniversary and the release of its platinum edition — the Jake Nava-helmed video has amassed over 145 million views. Before that, however, Beyoncé first teased a lengthy snippet of “Grown Woman” in a career-reflecting Pepsi ad that debuted just a few months after she rocked the Super Bowl Halftime Show stage in 2013.

Now, fans can enjoy the track as they would any other Beyoncé song. The Afrobeats-tinged single finally arrived on streaming platforms on Dec. 13, marking the second gift from Queen Bey following an Instagram video montage acknowledging the album’s anniversary.

“Grown Woman” is co-written by Beyoncé, The-Dream, Timbaland, Kelly Sheehan, Garland Mosley, Chris Godbey and Darryl Pearson, with production contributions from Timbaland and J-Roc.

Despite dropping in the middle of the tracking week, Beyoncé debuted atop the Billboard 200 with just three days of sales, becoming the fastest selling album in iTunes history at the time. The three-time Grammy-winning LP housed the Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Drunk in Love” (with Jay-Z), as well as “7/11” (No. 13), “Partition” (No. 23) and “Flawless” (No. 41).

Listen to “Grown Woman” via YouTube above.

13 Dec 2023

Luminate to Move Ahead With Plan Changing How Indie Record Store Sales Count on Billboard Charts

Luminate — which provides data to the Billboard charts — is proceeding with a previously announced plan to retire its weighted data modeling used to measure physical sales in the independent retail sector, according to a note sent Wednesday (Dec. 13) to industry partners and indie retailers.

The change will take effect Dec. 29, the first day of Luminate’s 2024 calendar; and will apply to both the U.S. and Canadian markets, which are measured separately within the Luminate system.

For over 30 years, Luminate and its predecessor companies have relied on sampling of independent stores to extrapolate sales of CDs, vinyl and cassettes for the entire U.S. marketplace. 

According to the note to the industry on eliminating weighting, “the goal of this change is for us to present the most accurate data possible to the industry, which is always our primary goal.”

Luminate said that after discussions with all facets of the industry, including retailers, labels, distributors and industry bodies, it decided to proceed with its planned new way of counting indie store sector sales because there was “a consensus that the current weighted modeling should be retired.”

That “consensus” apparently is a new development because Billboard’s reporting over the last six weeks has so far found widespread industry resistance to Luminate’s planned changes for the indie sector. 

Going forward, as of Jan. 29, Luminate will count only actual sales from indie stores without extrapolating to measure sales in the entire U.S. market. As of Nov. 15, Luminate stated that it already has 93% coverage of the total U.S. physical market; and was receiving data from 95% of U.S. independent retail stores that reach over 1,000 sales per week.

Luminate’s note says it will work with the entire music industry to find solutions that make the most sense collectively for all parties. Consequently, it said there is agreement that the industry should work to increase the number of retailers reporting sales to Luminate. The company says stores not already reporting its sales can learn more at luminatedata.com or email music.merchantservices@luminatedata.com.

Luminate said it would work with retailers and their point-of-sales systems to streamline the reporting processes; and will assign resources to liaise with indie stores to address questions and provide feedback. 

Moreover, Luminate says it will share free weekly physical sales data to all indie reporting stores in the U.S. and Canada that will reflect the best-selling titles for only the indie store sector.

The Luminate note concluded that the data company is confident that its change to actual sales without weighting “is the best way for the industry to access the highest-quality data.”

Note: Luminate is an independently operated company owned by PME TopCo, a PMC subsidiary and joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Billboard is an independently operated company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.

13 Dec 2023

Luke Combs Accidentally Sued a Fan For $250,000. Now He’s Apologizing and Sending Her Thousands

Luke Combs apologized Wednesday after he accidentally sued one of his fans in federal court and won a $250,000 judgment against her, saying she had been caught up in a lawsuit aimed at “illegal businesses” and that she was “never supposed to be involved.”

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The apology came a day after news broke that lawyers representing the country star had sued a woman named Nicol Harness for selling Combs-themed mugs on Amazon. Harness, who suffers from congestive heart failure, sold only 18 tumblers for a total of $380 but was ordered to pay a whopping $250,000 in damages for infringing Combs’ intellectual property — all before she ever realized she had been sued.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Combs said he had just learned about the situation and that it “makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.” He said he had already contacted Harness directly and apologized for the incident.

“I spent the last two hours trying to make this right and figure out what’s going on, because I was completely and utterly unaware of this,” Combs said in the video. “We do have a company that goes after folks only, supposedly large corporations operating internationally that make millions and millions of dollars making counterfeit tee shirts, things of that nature, running illegal businesses. Apparently, this woman, Nicol, has somehow gotten wrapped into that.”

The lawsuit against Harness, filed in June in Illinois federal court, accused more than 200 online entities of selling unauthorized Combs merchandise on the internet. It included screenshots of unauthorized t-shirts sold on Amazon that directly copied real apparel the country star sold on his own site.

“This action has been filed … to combat online counterfeiters who trade upon the reputation and goodwill of the American artist Luke Combs,” his lawyers wrote. “The aggregated effect of the mass counterfeiting that is taking place has overwhelmed the plaintiff and his ability to police his rights against the hundreds of anonymous defendants which are selling illegal counterfeits at prices.”

The case highlights a common legal tactic used by big brands like Nike and Ray-Ban to fight fake products on the internet. Filed against huge lists of URLs, such actions enable brands to shut down pirate sellers en masse, win court orders to freeze their assets, and continue to kill new listings if they pop up. They usually result in large “default judgments” against many defendants who never even saw the lawsuit, ordering them to pay large sums in damages.

Though they’re more often employed by retail brands, artists and bands have increasingly turned to such lawsuits to combat counterfeit merch. Nirvana sued nearly 200 sites for selling fake gear in early 2022; a few months later, the late rapper XXXTentacion’s company filed a similar case; in January, Harry Styles filed one.

Such lawsuits are effective at combating a difficult problem, but they’re also increasingly controversial. In a study released last month, professor Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University’s School of Law called the mass-defendant counterfeiting cases “abusive,” saying they allow rightsholders to bypass “basic procedural safeguards” like making sure each defendant is properly served with notice of the lawsuit.

Harness says that’s what happened to her. As reported by Tampa’s local NBC outlet WFLA, she says she had no idea she had been sued until she returned from a hospital visit and saw her Amazon account had been frozen. Harness says she later found an email from Combs’ lawyers, sent to an address she rarely uses and stuck in her spam folder, notifying her of the lawsuit. By the time she was fully up to speed, she says the case had been closed and a judge had granted a default judgment ordering her to pay Combs $250,000.

Though the lawsuit was filed directly in his name, Combs’ Instagram post on Wednesday suggests that it was handled entirely by outside attorneys or other entities empowered to enforce his rights. The attorney who filed the case, Keith A. Vogt, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Combs’ manager Chris Kappy declined to comment on how the case came to be filed, but confirmed that Combs had absolved Harness of any legal debt. And in his Instagram post on Wednesday, Combs said he was committed to making things right.

Since a total of $5,500 was still frozen in her Amazon account, he said he was “going to double that, send her $11,000 today, just so she doesn’t have anything to worry about.” Combs also said that he was going to make his own tumblers to sell in his official online merchandise store and that money from sales of those tumblers will also go to Harness to help with her medical bills.

“This is not something I would ever do,” Combs said. “This is not the kind of person I am, greedy in any way, shape or form. Money is the last thing on my mind, I promise you guys that. I invited Nicol and her family out to a show this year so I can give her a hug and say sorry in person.”

13 Dec 2023

Will It Be a ‘Pink’ Christmas for Nicki Minaj Atop the Billboard 200?  

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Dec. 23), only two new albums seem set to make a major impact near the top of the charts: Nicki Minaj’s latest installment from her Pink Friday series, and the sophomore album from rising pop fixture Tate McRae. 

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Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday 2 (Young Money/Republic): It’s been five years since the public last got a new studio album from veteran superstar Nicki Minaj, but after an endless stream of rumors and seeming false starts, the album fans had been waiting for finally arrived on Friday (Dec. 8): Pink Friday 2, the official sequel to her beloved 2010 debut album. The 22-track set features appearances from fellow A-listers Drake, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, Future and Lil Uzi Vert – the latter on the Junior Senior-sampling “Everyday,” which is off to an early lead as the set’s breakout hit – and also includes such previously released stand-alone singles as “Last Time I Saw You,” “Red Ruby da Sleaze” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping smash “Super Freaky Girl.”  

The album is also available in a variety of physical variants, with four vinyl editions — including three retailer-exclusive versions, all with different covers and color vinyl – as well as two CDs, one standard and one signed (being sold through her webstore). Though the digital and streaming versions of Pink Friday 2 have 22 tracks, the physical releases only feature 10, with some fans theorizing that the remainder were perhaps not fully finished in time to make deadlines for pressing and release. A digital deluxe edition of the album was also released through her webstore on Monday, on sale for $5 and featuring a bonus 50 Cent-assisted remix of the album’s “Beep Beep.” Another digital deluxe edition dropped exclusively through her webstore on Dec. 13, also for $5, this time including the new bonus cut “Love Me Enough,” featuring R&B hitmakers Keyshia Cole and Monica. (Minaj previously teased that she would release one new Pink Friday 2 bonus track a day from Monday to Thursday this week.)

With the album off to a good start at streaming services (especially Apple Music, where it still holds five of the top 10 spots on the real-time charts five days after release) and strong physical sales expected, Pink Friday 2 should have a good chance at contending for the Billboard 200’s top spot next week. That would certainly be good news for Minaj, who’s had to settle for the runner-up spot with her last two sets (2014’s The Pinkprint and 2018’s Queen) after being held off by blockbusters from Taylor Swift and Travis Scott, respectively. But history is on her side here: Both of Minaj’s No. 1 albums have come with Pink Friday series releases, with the original topping the Billboard 200 in early 2011 and its Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded follow-up hitting the top spot in April 2012.  

Tate McRae, Think Later (RCA): One of the breakout stories of late 2023 has been rising pop hitmaker and onetime competitive dancer Tate McRae. While McRae found success earlier this decade with the moody singles “You Broke Me First” and “She’s All I Wanna Be,” she hit the top 10 for the first time this fall with the crossover smash “Greedy,” which (along with its hockey rink-set music video) refashioned her as more of a classic triple-threat pop star. The increased attention led to new opportunities for McRae, including her first Saturday Night Live performance and first Billboard cover story in late November.   

Now, she hopes to capitalize on the forward momentum with the release of her sophomore album Think Later. The 14-track set features both “Greedy” and follow-up hit “Exes” (which debuted at No. 34 on the Hot 100 earlier this month), as well as “Grave,” which she played as one of her two songs on SNL, and many other songs co-helmed by writer/producer Ryan Tedder, one of the primary architects behind those two singles.  

The album should stream well, especially with the help of those two pre-established hits, and seems likely to pass the No. 13 bow of her 2022 debut LP I Used to Think I Could Fly and contend for a top 10 spot on next week’s Billboard 200. One thing that may hold it back a little: The set is currently only available in digital and signed CD editions, with other variants being pre-sold on her webstore – including a CD box set and a white opaque vinyl edition – not set to ship until next February.