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Suge Knight believes Diddy should be a free man at the conclusion of his sex trafficking and racketeering trial.
While Knight and Diddy were at opposite ends of the contentious West Coast/East Coast rap beef in the ’90s, the Death Row founder joined NewsNation’s Cuomo on Tuesday (May 27), where he detailed why he thinks that Diddy shouldn’t be found guilty.
Knight said he believes Combs had many accomplices who should be in handcuffs with him, while Diddy was the only Bad Boy Records executive to take the fall. “I say this all the time, Puffy and I are not friends. But Puffy should definitely walk,” he explained. “There were other executives involved in Puffy’s life and for Puffy to be the only guy that gets on the stand is a sad day for hip-hop.”
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Host Chris Cuomo asked Knight about his relationship with Diddy’s former assistant, Capricorn Clark, who testified against Combs and claimed Diddy kidnapped her. Knight alleged that Bad Boy’s Reggie Wright Jr. forced Clark to have sex with multiple people.
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“I don’t think this is a case where Puffy should be going to prison … How could every person who’s involved with Puffy not on the stand except for Puffy? At some point, the law gotta be blind,” Knight continued. “We just can’t jump to conclusions and say, ‘throw Puffy under the bus.’ Like I said, him and I are not friends, but Puffy definitely should walk. What’s right is right, wrong is wrong.”
Even if Diddy ends up receiving a lengthy prison sentence, Knight believes that President Donald Trump will end up giving the Bad Boy mogul a pardon.
“I don’t think he has nothing to worry about, and I don’t think he’s worried because he’s gonna be federal, and if he gets convicted, Trump’s gonna pardon him,” he said to Cuomo. “I feel that Puffy is going to be alright and have a fair shot at it. He’s not a dummy. I’m quite sure somebody is going to talk to those jurors and convince one or two of them.”
Diddy’s sex trafficking and racketeering trial is approaching day 10 and is expected to last into July. He faces life in prison if convicted on all charges.
Watch the full clip featuring Suge Knight on Cuomo below:
While Drake and Ye had a mutual respect for each other early on that slowly fell apart over the years. The 6 God’s “Best I Ever Had” music video was actually directed by Ye back in 2009, and Drizzy called the rapper the “most influential” person to his sound. Not to mention they joined forces with Lil Wayne for the incredible Billboard Hot 100 hit “Forever,” and Ye also contributed to production on Drizzy’s Thank Me Later debut.
By the mid-2010s, however, the pair went their separate ways and began sending each other cryptic shots. Drake appeared to take a jab at Ye and Jay-Z as they prepared to deliver Watch the Throne during a 2011 Tim Westwood interview, with Drizzy implying that he and Lil Wayne were getting ready to drop a joint record and that Hov and Ye took the idea from them. Things then escalated in 2011 when Drizzy said he was trying to “surpass” Ye, but fears of an escalating feud were quelled after the latter popped out at The Boy’s OVO Fest in 2013. Yet a year later, Drake clowned some of Ye’s bars on Yeezus, and in 2016 bragged that his pool was bigger then the G.O.O.D. Music leader’s.
While the tensions between the two didn’t appear to run that deep, Ye escalated the feud during a radio interview in 2016 when he criticized Drizzy and DJ Khaled’s song “For Free” dominating radio. The rant caused Drake to respond and express confusion over why Ye was targeting him, but he then still enlisted Ye to appear on his 2017 track “More Life.”
But by 2018, their relationship had completely fractured. Ye produced Pusha T’s “Infared” diss aimed at Drake, and is long believed to have been the one that told Push about Drake’s son Adonis. Push used that information for his killshot diss track “The Story of Adidon.”
Back and forths continued throughout the year, with Ye momentarily trying to broker peace between him and The Boy but to no avail. Eventually, Drake said “it is what it is” in an interview with Rap Radar, adding he has no intention of brokering peace with Ye. The feud then reached a head in 2021 when Ye dropped off Donda four days before Drizzy was set to release Certified Lover Boy. Both albums debuted atop the Billboard 200, but Drake’s effort came on top with 613,000 album units to Ye’s 309,000.
The two titans did then put their differences aside later that year for the Free Larry Hoover Concert, but on his 2023 song “Red Button,” Drake blasted any hope of a truce with the Yeezy leader.
“Every time you need me for a boost, I never hesitated/ Every time that Yeezy called a truce, he had my head inflated/ Thinkin’ we gon’ finally peace it up and get to levitatin’/ Realize that everything premeditated,” Drake raps.
Ye then made his side of the story known when he attempted to insert himself into Kendrick and Drake’s growing feud in 2024. Ye hopped on an unofficial “Like That” remix dissing Drake, before changing his tune in 2025 and showing support for Drake in the wake of the tumultuous feud.
“I’m never finna call Drake out of his name,” Ye wrote in a tweet. “I’m team Drake, 100%.”
As Beyoncé fans gear up for her latest dates on the Cowboy Carter tour, Drag Race superstar Trixie Mattel is sharing her own glowing review of the pop superstar’s latest trek. On the latest episode of her podcast The Bald and the Beautiful with fellow Drag Race star Katya on Tuesday, Mattel shared her unabashed […]
Lindsay Lohan is reprising one of her most iconic roles, but according to her, stepping back into one facet of the character was a little, well, freaky.
In a conversation with Freakier Friday costar Chloe Fineman for an Elle cover story published Tuesday (May 27), the actress opened up about what it was like to sing again while playing Anna Coleman for the second time in Freaky Friday‘s upcoming sequel. Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the original 2003 flick found Lohan’s character — a teenage rebel who fronts a rock band called Pink Slip — magically switching bodies with her mother.
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“It was good,” Lohan began. “Well, it was kind of nerve-racking at first, because I’m not singing as me. When I was doing [Freaky Friday], I was also recording an album, so it was part of my life at the time. In this movie, I was singing it as Anna, whereas before felt more like Lindsay singing.”
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The Parent Trap star also confirmed that everyone in the original Pink Slip lineup returned for the sequel. “The whole band came back,” she told the Saturday Night Live comedian. “And it’s so funny, because Christina Vidal [who plays Maddie] had just had a baby, and we were like, ‘How weird is this? Are we still cool?’”
The interview comes just a couple of months ahead of the premiere of Freakier Friday, which hits theaters on Aug. 8. It’ll mark the latest project in Lohan’s onscreen renaissance that has taken place over the past few years following a long hiatus, during which the actress started a family. In 2022, she married finance executive Bader Shammas, and the pair welcomed a son, Luai, the following year.
According to Lohan, her little boy doesn’t fully understand her job as an actress yet — although he did recognize her on screen when she watched the original Freaky Friday to study her own guitar playing. “In my trailer, one day I was watching the original guitar scene and practicing movements,” she recalled to Fineman. “And he was there and he was like, ‘Mama,’ pointing at the screen.”
See Lohan on the cover of Elle below.
Another new album, another historic week on the charts for Morgan Wallen.
On this week’s Billboard 200 (dated May 31), Wallen’s new album I’m the Problem follows his previous releases Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing at a Time to a No. 1 debut — this time with a 2025-best 493,000 units moved, according to Luminate, falling just 8,000 short of the 501,000 posted by One Thing upon its 2023 bow. (The latter album, which spent a 2020s-best 19 weeks atop the chart, holds at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 this week, while Dangerous slides from No. 11-12.)
Meanwhile, it launches 29 new tracks onto the Billboard Hot 100, joining eight returning Wallen Hot 100 hits for a record-setting 37 simultaneous entries on the chart, breaking his own record of 36 from One Thing‘s debut week. The 37 tracks are led by the Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want,” which debuts atop the chart — marking Wallen’s fourth No. 1 on the listing, and McRae’s first.
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How do these incredible numbers compare to our pre-release expectations? And will I’m the Problem end up lasting on the chart the way its predecessors have.
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1. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem debuts at No. 1 with 493,000 units moved – the biggest first-week number of 2025, and just 8,000 off the total One Thing at a Time bowed with two years earlier. Is that number higher, lower or about what you expected?
Elias Leight: That count seems right on target. Streams fell off a little from One Thing at a Time, but sales increased. And Wallen had his best sales week ever on vinyl, with 48,000 copies sold.
Jason Lipshutz: About what I expected. Morgan Wallen’s sky-high popularity with country fans has remained more or less consistent over the past few years, and while none of the singles from I’m the Problem have been as chart-dominant as “Last Night” from One Thing at a Time (yet), he’s still been able to rattle off No. 1 hits in the interim, including “Love Somebody” from the new album. Multiply that maintained success with another sprawling track list, and it’s no surprise that I’m the Problem bowed with a similar stat line to his previous 30-plus-song full-length.
Melinda Newman: It feels downright petty to say I’m surprised it didn’t surpass One Thing at a Time’s opening week — though 8,000 down is a blip when you’re in the half million range. However, Wallen’s star has only continued to ascend, and the huge pop success of “I Had Some Help” with Post Malone for sure introduced him to new fans, which made me think his first week would have been higher.
Jessica Nicholson: That number is slightly lower than what I would have expected, given that the length of this album (just barely) exceeds the length of One Thing at a Time, and this album includes many of the same collaborators, including Eric Church and ERNEST, as its predecessor, in addition to another Post Malone collab.
Andrew Unterberger: Almost exactly what I predicted, maybe a tiny bit higher. The trending of the streaming numbers for Wallen’s latest round of pre-release tracks indicated that he might have been in for a bit of a dip there from One Thing at a Time, which the vinyl release predictably mostly offset anyway. The Morgan Wallen rocket ship may have finally hit its peak, but we still probably have some time before it defintively starts heading back down to earth.
2. All but one of the 37 of the tracks hit the Hot 100 this week, led by the brand new Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want” at No. 1. Does the song sound like the obvious breakout hit of the non-previously-released tracks on the set, or do you think another will ultimately pass it?
Elias Leight: There are a few songs that sound like potential hits: “TN,” co-written by Ashley Gorley, the man with 75 No. 1s on his resume, has stadium singalong ambitions and a strikingly memorable chorus, all staccato state abbreviations and slippery assonance, while “Kick Myself” takes the self-recrimination that courses throughout the album and dresses it up as sunny pop-rock.
That said: On One Thing at a Time, the obvious breakout was not necessarily the massive hit. The title track, which translated late 1970s Fleetwood Mac into commercial country gold, seemed like a slam dunk; it peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100. Meanwhile, the more muscular country hip-hop hybrid “Last Night” spent 16 weeks at No. 1.
Jason Lipshutz: While “What I Want” isn’t the most immediate song on the I’m the Problem track list, the combined star power of Wallen and McRae is too sizable to deny, or bet against. Wallen has linked up with McRae at the exact right point for maximum commercial gains, considering the hot streak that the ascendant pop star has been on over the past two years; following hits like “Greedy” and “Sports Car,” and by far the biggest album debut of her career with So Close to What, McRae is enjoying a sharp upward trajectory, with plenty of attention paid to any new music. Considering that Wallen’s core fan base remains country listeners, McRae’s appearance on “What I Want” should continue to corral curious pop fans, and power the song to a sustained chart run.
Melinda Newman: In terms of the Hot 100, it felt like the immediate go-to since it paired Wallen with a rising pop star and was his first duet with a woman (which was a goal of his after releasing several duets with male artists). The song feels a little ephemeral and unlikely to best the six weeks “I Had Some Help” spent at No. 1. As far as a song surpassing it, that really depends upon what that the label decides to push at radio. They’ve released some of the top selections already and the Post Malone collaboration on this set, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” doesn’t have the zest of “I Had Some Help” (and has already been released weeks ago to streamers).
Jessica Nicholson: Cross-genre collabs tend to do pretty well in garnering Hot 100 hits and this song has definitely raised its hand as a fan favorite. I feel like this is likely the Hot 100 breakout hit of the non-previously released songs.
Andrew Unterberger: I think its primary competition at the top of the charts in the weeks to come isn’t from any of the other new tracks, but from “Just in Case,” the advance track that still seems to have the most juice among his fans (and for my money is the best of the ITP singles thusfar). It might come down to which radio gloms onto first, though certainly with the built-in pop appeal of “What I Want” — thanks to the presence of another already-minted radio star in McRae — it should have the higher ceiling there.
3. Wallen’s 37 simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 (also including his feature appearance on Post Malone’s 2024 Song of the Summer “I Had Some Help”) breaks a record he had previously set with the One Thing release week. Do you think this will be his last time breaking that record, or do you see his albums getting even bigger in size and/or popularity in the future?
Elias Leight: As big as he is, there are still pockets of listeners who don’t listen to much country and seem to be finding out about him for the first time (several of them appear to be music critics). And in a streaming-happy world, there is nothing preventing Wallen from releasing a 50-track album next time — though the vinyl copies would start to get a little unwieldy. He could put out a call for songs tomorrow and get bombarded with 100 top-shelf demos.
But even if he breaks the record again, at a certain point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in; adding tracks 40 to 45 has a lot less impact than adding tracks 15 to 20. And as Wallen told Theo Von, when writing that many songs, it becomes “hard to not say the same things I’ve said before.” “A lot of things that were successful and easy in the past were just whiskey, drinkin’, all that stuff,” he explained. “I’ve almost explored every angle of that that’s possible.”
Jason Lipshutz: I mean, never bet against Morgan Wallen releasing a hit album with an improbably long track list — maybe the next one has 40 songs, or 50! — but 37 is a LOT OF simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 chart. I’m going to go against conventional wisdom and say that this is a high-water mark that Wallen either won’t try to top, or won’t be able to top, on his next effort, and that no one else will, either; I could see this record standing for quite a while.
Melinda Newman: He’s created a monster of his own doing. His fans have rewarded him for the mega-packages with huge streaming numbers so there’s no real reason to stop now. He’s proven critic-proof and for good reason. Almost every review, including Billboard’s, criticizes the number of tracks and the sheer number tread the same heartbreak road, but our opinion doesn’t mean squat to him (and shouldn’t). On the other hand, he’s set enough records that I’m not sure he needs to keep chasing them, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the next album is less. He could cut back to 15 now and simply say that was how many he was inspired to record, or he could go to 50 and say the same. He’s writing his own rules at this point.
Jessica Nicholson: It is possible that this could be his last time breaking that record, as fans could eventually get fatigued by super-sized albums. However, his most recent albums have been blockbusters and his fans are fervent about any new music he releases, so I could certainly see his next release being as lengthy or even longer.
Andrew Unterberger: I feel like the streaming numbers dipping slightly for this release despite the even-more-packed tracklist means that Wallen and his team have basically taken the volume approach as far as it’ll go. That doesn’t mean that his next album will only be 12 tracks or anything — nobody wants to risk their numbers potentially being cut in half, or worse — but I’d best this arms race he’s been waging with himself over the past couple albums’ tracklists might be coming to an end, at least.
4. If you could have Wallen go further into any particular direction that he explores on I’m the Problem – either musical or thematic – where would you have him go?
Elias Leight: He’s rightly gotten a lot of credit for his easy way with genre hybrids. This savvy blending defines some of his biggest hits, including “Last Night” and “You Proof”; strip the guitar off “Just in Case” and it could be a song for Drake or SZA, while “Miami” would barely need any adjustments to fit onto RapCaviar. But there’s also Wallen’s buoyantly tuneful side, the stuff of “One Thing at a Time” and “Single Than She Was” on the last album and “TN” on this one. On a long album full of romantic vitriol and emotional desolation, songs in this mode provide brief eruptions of uplift — a necessary counterbalance.
Jason Lipshutz: Regardless of style or quality, any 37-song album is going to feel less focused than a full-length with a more traditional track list. I would love for Wallen to try and make his next project a 10-track affair — whittling down his collection to his strongest material, and presenting his most cohesive artistic statement. Wallen has conquered his genre with these sprawling, stream-happy albums, but such a move could prioritize creative growth in a bold new way.
Melinda Newman: The songs that are the most compelling on the album are the ones where he gets away from woe-is-me love songs (though he’s got that down) and looks at the world around him like “Working Man’s Song.” Hands down, the best song on the album is album closer “I’m a Little Crazy,” where he — like most of us — feels burdened by the insanity he sees around him, and yet is unable to look away. The world-weary tone of his vocals suits the song’s message perfectly and he manages to record and issue-oriented song without taking a political stand, which is not an easy feat these days.
Jessica Nicholson: At least one song on the album, “Working Man’s Song,” finds Wallen digging into twangy Southern rock territory and lets him display a gravelly side to his voice that we don’t often hear. Also, songs such as “Jack and Jill” are a departure from the heavy string of heartbreak songs on this album, and it would be nice to hear him continue delving into other such topics.
Andrew Unterberger: In my opinion, the most consistently engaging Wallen material always comes when he takes a real hard look at himself — not in the sense where he allows that he occasionally drinks too much and behaves poorly in relationships, but in the sense where he acknowledges that his fundamental impulses are self-destructive in a way that he legitimately doesn’t know if he can (or would) get away from. “Kick Myself” is the perfect example from this album, and perhaps the best song on here; I wish he returned to the subject as often as he returns to whiskey and romantic toxicity.
5. As I’m the Problem debuts, One Thing at a Time remains in the Billboard 200’s top five, and even 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album is just outside the top 10. By the time of Wallen’s next album, do you expect I’m the Problem will have shown similar chart endurance?
Elias Leight: Dangerous: The Double Album is the top Billboard 200 album of the 21st century, while One Thing at a Time broke Garth Brooks’ record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a country album. Both those releases spent at least 100 weeks in the top 10, making Wallen the first artist to ever accomplish that feat. Barring a comet hitting the earth or a zombie apocalypse, I’m the Problem will be in circulation for a long time.
Jason Lipshutz: Sure. What evidence is there to doubt him? Over the past half-decade, Wallen’s superpower has been his ability to release albums that linger around the top of the Billboard 200 for years and years, in a way that has become singular in its might. I’m the Problem could be more or less potent than his previous albums, depending on who you ask — but its one inarguable commercial quality is that it will be on the charts for a long, long time.
Melinda Newman: Yes. He’d already had three No. 1s on Country Airplay with songs from the set before its release and the one thing we’ve learned is there seems to be no burn-out on Wallen’s music with his fans. They soak up whatever he is putting out and can’t seem to get enough. There are several more songs that are sure to be released to radio which will bring in casual fans who haven’t already worn a hole in the album yet. His music wears well and it wouldn’t surprise me if two years from now when we have a new Wallen album that he has two or three albums still in the top 15.
Jessica Nicholson: It likely will. There are already some sharp fan-favorites on this album, like “Just in Case,” “Love Somebody” the Eric Church collab “Number 3 and Number 7” and the McRae duet. With his upcoming tour dates sure to feature many songs on this project, it will give fans even more reason to keep streaming its many songs.
Andrew Unterberger: I expect its endurance relative to One Thing will be like its first week numbers — maybe not quite as potent, but close enough you’d have to really squint to see much of a difference.
Kool & The Gang‘s Michael Sumler passed away over the weekend at the age of 71. As reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, Sumler — known by fans as “Chicago Mike” — died in a car crash in Georgia’s Cobb County just after midnight on Saturday (May 24) when he collided with another vehicle on Veterans […]
Japan’s FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL ’25 will return to the Naeba Ski Resort in Yuzawa-cho, Niigata Prefecture again this summer, with dates set for Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27.
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Fred again.. will headline Day 1, and Vulfpeck Day 2. These festival slots will be the first time either act performs in Japan, and for the latter, one of the three shows announced for this year. On the final day, Vampire Weekend returns to Fuji Rock for the first time in three years as headliner.
Now in its 26th year in Naeba, FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL takes place in an expanse of land 4 km long dotted with stages of various sizes, featuring over 200 artists of various genres from around the world each year. The scheduled acts from Japan this year include Ichiko Aoba, Answer to Remember, BRAHMAN, Creepy Nuts, DYGL, EGO-WRAPPIN’, Hitsujibungaku, kanekoayano, Kimishima Ohzora Gasso Keitai (“ensemble form”), jo0ji, MIYAVI, Otoboke Beaver, RADWIMPS, Shintaro Sakamoto, Suchmos, Vaundy, Tatsuro Yamashita, and more.
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From outside of Japan, Balming Tiger, Barry Can’t Swim, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Confidence Man, Ezra Collective, Faye Webster, Fermin Muguruza, Four Tet, James Blake, Haim, HYUKOH, Mei Semones, Mdou Moctar, Night Tempo, OK Go, Perfume Genius, Royel Otis, Sunset Rollercoaster, The Hives, Tycho and more are set to perform. As in previous years, the lineup ranges from veterans to newcomers, making this a festival of music that transcends borders and genres.
The recently announced fifth lineup also includes new additions Joy Anonymous, Us, Ginger Root, Jane Remover, YHWH Nailgun, and Little Sims. ROUTE 17 Rock’n’Roll ORCHESTRA, a special band at FUJI ROCK that features unique guests each year, will include Kumiko Yamashita, Hiroto Komoto, Gen Kugiya, Us, and Liam Ó Maonlaí this year.
Tickets are 59,000 yen (approx. 413 USD) for a three-day ticket and 25,000 yen for a one-day ticket (approx. 175 USD). Friday night tickets, good from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until 5:00 a.m. the next morning, are 16,000 yen (approx. 112 USD), and Under 22 one-day tickets are available for 18,000 yen (approx. 126 USD). Fans from outside Japan can purchase tickets through e+ (e plus), FRF OFFICIAL SHOP GAN-BAN, Ticket PIA, tixCraft, Ticketmaster Singapore, ticketflap, KKTIX, and interpark. Additional informationa can be found on the festival’s official website (https://en.fujirockfestival.com/ ).
An admission-free event is also scheduled for July 24, on the eve of the festival. There will be a bon dance event, a raffle, a fireworks display, a competitive eating contest, and a special gig at the RED MARQUEE stage. Check out the after movie from 2024 below.
FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL
Billboard Japan
It’s a hot Saturday afternoon during the first weekend at Coachella 2025, and backstage Mau P arrives 30 minutes behind schedule after getting stuck in festival traffic. He’s got the de facto DJ entourage — agent, manager, content team — in tow, and after they locate his trailer in the artist compound, the Dutch producer sits on a couch outside it and smokes a cigarette, an ostensible moment of repose amid the chaos.
This is Mau’s second time playing Coachella. Last year, he was added to the bill a month before the festival as part of the lineup for the new Quasar stage, where he played b2b with Diplo. You can read the tea leaves and see that his star has only since risen, as Mau is back this year with his name in the most hallowed of set times: the Saturday 10-11 p.m. peak time party slot on the Sahara stage.
The meaning isn’t lost on the 28-year-producer, who is tall, has blessed bone structure and is wearing a t-shirt printed with an image of his dad, the late Dutch saxophone player Gerbrand Westveen, who is shown in his own moment of musical brilliance while playing two saxophones simultaneously. This image will reappear later tonight when Mau ends his set by flashing it on Sahara’s giant video screens above the words “In Honour of Gerbrand Westveen.”
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One has to believe the elder Westveen would be proud of his son, and certainly Mau is approaching it all with gravitas. “I feel like I have this responsibility,” he says while sitting at the table in his dimly lit trailer, a space crowded with stacks of Coachella branded water bottles, “because I love everyone that listens to my music so much, and they put me up front, so I better live up to it.”
Still, if you’ve not yet heard of Mau P, you are forgiven. While he hasn’t quite reached the mainstream ubiquity of peers like John Summit or Dom Dolla, the producer has been making chess moves through the dance scene over the past three years, and it’s hard to overstate how impressive the producer’s growing portfolio is and how influential he’s become amongst fellow underground artists and fans. Since playing b2b2b2b with Solomun, Four Tet and Chloé Caillet at Ultra 2025, he’s even been dubbed by dance fans as one of “The Avengers.”
But if he’s sweating the pressure, he hides it well, answering questions and making casual conversation (“Do you have an accent?” he asks me. “How old are you?”) like he has all the time in the world. Meanwhile, five hours from now, he’ll play for a sea of people in an area just slightly smaller than a football field. There’s no exact count of how many people fit inside Sahara, but to the naked eye, there appears to be roughly 20,000 people here to see him, with the crowd spilling out of the tent and extending up the adjacent hillside viewing area.
Onstage, Mau’s hour-long set includes his string of hits, which along with increasingly higher profile shows like this one, cement his status as one of the moment’s essential next-gen dance producers. The crowd bumps and shimmies, altogether bucking the stereotype of stiff Coachella crowds. Mau also bumps and twirls (the cameras hone in on him while the screens flash with the words “Mau P is dancing”) as he builds a set from his own music along with his remixes of Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” and his show-closing edit of Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place.”
Predictably, everyone goes especially hard for his 2022 breakout hit “Drugs From Amsterdam,” with the screens in tandem flashing a message at once gracious and true: “THIS IS THE SONG THAT CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.”
Mau P plays weekend one of Coachella 2025.
Deanie Chen
“Drugs” indeed marked a turning point for the artist born Maurits Jan Westveen. He’d been making big room house as Maurice West since he was a teenager and in that era was just “really wanting to do what other people were already doing, which is sort of the safe option, but it worked for me for like, six years.”
Then he made the darker, woozier, tech house track, and it became a global club hit that’s aggregated 259.2 million official on-demand global streams and 39.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. He changed his artist name to Mau P (a play off his “Maupie” nickname) and everything he’s subsequently done has been “an experiment of, ‘Okay, now I have the audience because of ‘Drugs From Amsterdam, and I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do, so might as well do some crazy s–t.’”
Such crazy s–t has included “Merther,” which samples Jamaican legend Ini Kamoze and came out last year on revered U.K. house label Defected. The track demonstrates his ability to Frankenstein together styles that might not intuitively work, with the song made, he says, of “’90s rave breakbeats, combined with tech house, combined with bass that could be like, Metro Boomin, or rap,” he explains. “Then, in the structure, it just goes into banging breakbeats instead of just the house beat that was going on.” He’s also worked with hip-hop royalty including Gunna (on 2024’s “Receipts” with Diplo) and Mike Dean, who worked on 2024’s “On Again,” which was also the first song Mau put his own vocals on.
Meanwhile his official remix of Tame Impala‘s 2015 song “The Less I Know the Better” came out on Nervous Records in February, and is currently in the top spot on Dance Mix Show Airplay, giving Mau his first Billboard No. 1. Last week he released two driving singles on the Diynamic Imprint from Solomun, who Mau says “is like a dad to me. We talk for hours about life and our careers and how everything went for him, and I think he sees himself in me and that’s why he’s so protective and has always taken me in.”
Solomun’s advice for the young dance Jedi? Never change your style for anyone. In following this wisdom, Mau says his work is “combining multiple sounds and genres that people don’t necessarily think of would work. I listen to a lot of older music. My parents brought me up listening to jazz, and soul and Chaka Khan and Sade. My dad played the saxophone, so all of my knowledge of older music combines with how I see modern music and dance music.”
Releasing music across roughly ten labels has also been strategic. “I definitely chose [each label] because they all have their own community,” Mau says. “I’ve been around house and techno for so long, but I never really had a connection with [some of the] communities, so I was just trying to get everyone in and show them like, ‘Hey, I’m here.’” He’s also preparing to announce the launch of his own label.
Altogether, his approach has earned his catalog 463.6 million official on-demand global streams (through May 22), along with increasingly bigger shows that include upcoming festival bookings like Lollapalooza, Miami’s III Points, San Francisco’s Portola, his Pacha Ibiza residency and a host of European events. In November, he’ll play Colorado’s Red Rocks — a rite of passage for rising dance artists — and yesterday (May 27) he announced a headlining show at the Los Angeles State Historic Park, a venue reserved for only the biggest name DJs. It’s all a quantum leap from 2023, when Mau was first touring the U.S., playing 300-capacity clubs.
The reason for his success? His agent, CAA’s Roger Semaan, attributes the rise to Mau arriving at a moment when house was reaching new levels of popularity in the U.S., and him making music that “wasn’t copying anyone… The way he presents himself on stage and the way he controls the room is truly like no other. He is someone that loves the art of deejaying and knows his library so well that it allows him to stand out.”
Mau agrees he’s “exploded faster and bigger” in the U.S. than in Europe, saying that in his homeland, “you have to kind of win them over a bit more, and it takes a while.” As such, the States “sort of feel like another planet that I go to, and a lot of people recognize me in the streets. Then when I go back to Amsterdam, I can go grocery shopping and it’s not a problem.”
Still, DJ stardom ain’t easy. He says the hardest part is “navigating mentally, because this s–t is not normal.” He’s humble enough to say the fame he’s experienced is “a little breadcrumb of what Justin Bieber has done in his life,” and says he feels for Martin Garrix — who had a breakout hit when he was 17 and has subsequently grown up in the industry. While he’s grateful his career blew up after “my brain was fully developed,” navigating the demands “is incredibly hard… I try to be nice to everyone.”
Certainly he’s very nice — warm, funny, conversational and generous with his time. He’s also found comfort in keeping his inner circle small. “I never liked that saying, because it sounds so negative… I work with the people I know well.” To wit, he’s known his manager since they were both 16 and has also known his photographer since the days “we used to just tour with the two of us and sleep in the same bed to save money.” The rest of his team has been with him since the start of the Mau P project.
He’ll be surrounded by these trusted allies as he crosses progressively large shows off the list through the end of the year. Beyond that, he’d love to make an album — although he says the idea “is scary,” given that he’s never released anything longer than two songs.
And right now, he just doesn’t seem to have time. He’s got to get to the stage.
Smokey Robinson has filed a countersuit against four longtime housekeepers who accused him of rape earlier this month, claiming the allegations were part of an “extortionate scheme” by the women and their attorneys.
The new cross-complaint, filed in Los Angeles court Wednesday (May 28), came three weeks after the unnamed housekeepers filed a $50 million civil lawsuit over allegations that the legendary Motown singer repeatedly raped them over nearly two decades in his employ.
In filing the countersuit, defense attorneys for Robinson went on offense — accusing the four women and their attorneys (John W. Harris and Herbert Hayden) of defamation, invasion of privacy, civil conspiracy and even elder abuse over the “fabricated” allegations.
“The depths of plaintiffs’ avarice and greed knows no bounds,” Robinson’s attorney Christopher Frost writes, according to a copy of the submitted complaint obtained by Billboard. “During the very time that the Robinsons were being extraordinarily generous with plaintiffs, plaintiffs were concocting an extortionate plan to take everything from the Robinsons … and wrongfully destroy the Robinsons’ well-built reputations.”
Allegations made during court cases, such as those against Robinson, are typically shielded from defamation lawsuits by the First Amendment. But Robinson’s attorneys say the accusers and their lawyers stepped outside those protections by holding a press conference in which they “paraded themselves in front of the media” and created a “media whirlwind.”
“While the law protects plaintiffs’ ability to concoct whatever fiction they may wish to create in a legal pleading … it does not allow plaintiffs to make gratuitous and slanderous allegations in media circus-type press conferences,” Frost wrote in the cross-complaint.
Attorneys for the accusers did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday. Frost confirmed that the cross-complaint was filed with the court on Wednesday but declined to comment otherwise.
Robinson was sued on May 6, accused of forcing the housekeepers to have oral and vaginal sex in his Los Angeles-area bedroom dozens of times between 2007 and 2024. The singer’s wife, Frances Robinson, was also named as a defendant over claims that she didn’t do enough to stop the abuse, despite knowing that he had a history of sexual misconduct.
In addition to the sexual abuse allegations, the lawsuit also claimed that the Robinsons paid their employees below minimum wage, and that Frances Robinson created a hostile work environment replete with screaming and “racially-charged epithets.” The accusers also filed a police report, leading the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to open a criminal investigation.
In Wednesday’s countersuit, the Robinsons’ attorneys told a very different story. They said the housekeepers had “stayed with the Robinsons year after year” because the couple had treated them as “extended family,” including financially helping them and celebrating holidays together. The complaint quoted alleged text messages in which the accusers wished Robinson a happy birthday and told him “love you.”
“The Robinsons did not abuse, harm, or take advantage of plaintiffs,” Frost wrote. “They treated plaintiffs with the utmost kindness and generosity.”
According to Wednesday’s new filing, the housekeepers and their lawyers made “pre-litigation demands for $100 million or more” before filing their case. When that failed to work, the new filing says the accusers went public with the allegations as loudly as they could.
“The resulting media whirlwind was swift and severe, being picked up by virtually every major media outlet worldwide, and the harm to the Robinsons’ reputation [is] palpable,” Frost wrote. “The Robinsons are afraid to open the newspaper, read the internet, or even go out in public for fear of what they may hear or see next, no matter how fabricated.”
The filing focused on statements by Harris, the attorney, at a May 6 press conference calling Robinson a “serial and sick rapist” and a “serial assaulter” — statements that Robinson says are fair game for a defamation case: “Plaintiffs may be able to make slanderous statements in a legal pleading (for now), but they are not entitled to do so in gratuitous, self-serving press conferences.”
In addition to defamation and other wrongdoing, the Robinsons say the accusers tried to “hide, conceal, and destroy evidence exposing their illegal scheme,” including by taking Frances Robinson’s phone and deleting text conversations. The filing hinted that the Robinsons would seek additional penalties for such “spoliation” of evidence.
Billboard Japan’s Women in Music initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and entertainment and inspired other women through their work, following the footsteps of Billboard’s annual Women in Music honors since 2007. This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project.
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U.S.-based dancer Shiori Murayama spoke with writer Rio Hirai for the latest installment of the series. Murayama started dancing when she was 6 and built her career in the U.S., performing in some of the most prestigious events in today’s entertainment including the Super Bowl halftime show and Coachella. She shared her thoughts on the cultural differences she experienced in the U.S., the challenges she faced as a female dancer, and her dreams for the future.
You started dancing at the age of 6 and moved to the U.S. by yourself after graduating high school. What were some of the differences you felt when you went abroad from Japan?
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I was impressed by how friendly and unpretentious everyone was. I started taking classes without knowing much English yet, but my classmates were much more open in sharing praise and telling me what they thought was good, which felt new to me. The atmosphere during classes and even during rehearsals is really relaxed, but when it’s time to run through the routine, they go full out. Obviously I don’t mean to say that dancers in Japan do things halfway, but people here are very focused on the actual performance and put lots of energy in rehearsals.
Would you say that difference in stance is something anyone who has been dancing all their lives in Japan would feel when they go to the U.S.?
Yes. I also feel that there’s less hierarchy in the U.S. I came here on an artist visa in July 2023, so it’s been less than two years. When I got a job and went to the studio, there were some famous dancers that I knew about through the media, but even they would treat me in a friendly manner without making me feel like I was beneath them. There are lots of projects that are short-term, ranging from a week to a month, and even in that short period of time, there’s good teamwork and everyone treats me kindly for the most part. People are just nice.
You’ve performed on some of the most sought-after stages in entertainment, like the Super Bowl halftime show and Coachella. Has it hit you that it’s pretty amazing to have accomplished these feats as a dancer from Japan?
I didn’t really feel it immediately after the performances, but when I received warm messages from everyone and when I watched the videos of my performances, it hit me that I had really done those things.
Are you seeing a trend toward Asians being able to perform on such stages?
I’d say it depends on the artist, but there are many projects that are culturally, racially, and gender mixed these days. Maybe Asian dancers are being hired intentionally because of the current popularity of K-pop in the music industry. I’ve never felt any barriers based on race or gender in the projects I’ve participated in. I suppose there might be instances where an artist goes, “I only want black dancers for this song” or “Only white dancers for this song,” but I feel that the range of activities available to Asian dancers like myself has expanded since I came to the U.S.
Still, it’s true that there are differences in body shape and appearance between Japanese and Americans. When I don’t make the cut, I sometimes wonder, “Maybe I was judged on my appearance?” But there’s a limit to how big I can get by training at the gym, and there’s nothing I can do about the difference in physique I was born with. I try to leverage my strengths that aren’t in that area.
What do you think are your selling points, as you work in your current environment?
I have very fair skin to begin with, which I take in a good way because it makes it easier to recognize me onstage. And I have very long hair at the moment, so I often get complimented on my hair. People also tell me that my dancing is really powerful. Despite having a thin build, people are often surprised by the power I bring to my performances, and I think that’s one of my key strengths.
How do you think being a woman has affected you?
I believe that the female body has its own unique movements and expressiveness. I’m always trying to explore expression by imagining myself dancing to a song, like, “I could make this part more supple,” or “I could make it more feminine, attractive, and sexy.”
When I performed LISA’s song “Elastigirl” at Coachella recently, the choreography expressed the sexiness and strength of women. I wore heels, and tight clothes from rehearsals to be conscious of the shape of my body, paid attention to the angle of my neck, things like that to present myself and give a performance in a way that only a woman can, in my unique way of expression.
In what ways do you feel that dancing in the U.S. suits you better than back home?
My powerful style works better here. In Japan, women are often appreciated for their flexibility, but since my dance is powerful, I can express the many facets of a woman. I feel that I have more opportunities in the U.S. to showcase my powerful moves and stylish choreography with intricate footwork. Also, Japanese people tend to prefer being like everyone else, but I like that there are many opportunities to express my individuality in the U.S.
Have you ever experienced any setbacks or come up against a wall in your long dancing career?
To be honest, I don’t remember any major setbacks, but I did experience some difficulties. After I completed my dance major in college, I was able to work in the U.S. for a year on OPT (Optional Practical Training, an internship-like visa). Until then, I wasn’t allowed to earn money as a student, so although I had connections with choreographers, I couldn’t work. I saw the people around me getting hired and wanted to be like them.
My dream was to switch to an O1 visa, so when I made it to the final round of an audition I participated in, I was elated, thinking, “If I get this job, I might be able to switch visas.” But in the end, a Japanese dancer who was a good friend got the job and I didn’t. Of course I was happy for my friend, but it was still a shock. The same day, I was scheduled to work as an assistant for a workshop, but was told that I didn’t have to come in because their usual assistant was available. It was quite hard when things like that happened simultaneously.
Some people, when they’re young, can be afraid of making mistakes or hesitate to take on challenges because they think they need to become better at it first. What would you say to encourage someone like that?
The other day, my mother said to me, “You won’t succeed unless you take on challenges” and I totally agree with her. If you like (dancing), I’d like you to have fun doing it before anything else. Of course, you’d need to train to improve your skills if you want to make it your career. Dance is such a deep field and taking hip-hop for example, there are many different styles within that genre. Watch different people, be influenced by them, and challenge yourself as much as possible.
A lot of times, things turn out all right when you take that first step even though you’re afraid to. I’d rather you regret doing something than regret not doing it.
What are some challenges you’d like to take on in the future?
For a long time, I’ve wanted to become a dancer who works on a global scale. I want to participate in a world tour and perform in Japan as well. Also, my family has supported me since I started dancing… no, since I was born, so I want to give back to them through the stage.
—This interview by Rio Hiral (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
