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15 Mar 2023

‘The Masked Singer’ Sends Home Two International Celebrities on ‘Sesame Street’ Night

Sesame Street, that special, friendly place where every door opens wide, was the theme for The Masked Singer on Wednesday night (March 15). For two unlucky contestants, both foreign-born females, those doors slammed shut on the competition.

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Season 9, episode 5 got underway with Elmo, Big Bird, the Count and Co. performing “What’s The Name of that Song,” then lighting the fuse for BTS’ “Dynamite” with judges Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke.

After performing “Just The Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr., Squirrel was the first to go. Under the furry helmet was Malin Akerman, the Sweden-born, Canada-based raised actress and model.

Despite being tapped to leave, Akerman wore a smile that could be seen a mile away. Jeong paid tribute to her talent, remarking “you have an amazing voice, you’re just one of the sweetest people.”

Why enter the zany world of Fox’s The Masked Singer, remarked Scherzinger. Apparently the contestant watches it with her son, who was in the audience, and her dad, who made the trip from Sweden.

“Everyone dreams of being a rock star,” Akerman remarked. “It’s such an honor to be here.”

With Squirrel moving on out, that pitted Fairy (who performed “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt) and Jackalope (who performed “Whenever Wherever” by Shakira) in a “Battle Royale.”

The two tussled with “On Top Of The World,” for an over-the-top performance.

Only one would progress — Fairy. On receiving her marching orders, Jackalope lifted the disguise to reveal Lele Pons, the Venezuela-born singer and social media influencer.

Host Nick Cannon quipped how he couldn’t tell her talents from Shakira. Scherzinger gushed about her “beautiful voice” and how she “really showcased it” on the show.

So, why do the show? “I love to do new things,” Pons remarked. “I don’t like to repeat stuff so I’m here now and I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow.” One thing’s for sure – she won’t be on The Masked Singer.

Akerman and Pons join a growing list of unmasked celebrities, including Michael Bolton (Wolf), Grandmaster Flash (Polar Bear), Debbie Gibson (Night Owl), Howie Mandel (Rock Lobster), Sara Evans (Mustang) and Dick Van Dyke (Gnome).

15 Mar 2023

Here Are Jimmy Fallon’s Best Pranks, From ‘The Voice’ Auditions to ‘Game of Thrones’ Spoilers

Jimmy Fallon loves a good prank. The late night talk show host is known for playing tricks on his fans and famous friends, and most recently made his way into The Voice auditions.

On March 7, Fallon pretended to blind audition for the NBC singing competition’s coaches Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper, delivering a performance of Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).”

Clarkson, Horan and Chance all turn around to take a peek at who the mysterious singer is, but Shelton remained unfazed by the prank. Saturday Night Live alum then walks offstage and presses the country star’s button for him. “You broke the rules!” Shelton jokingly scolds him, grinning when he sees Fallon’s face.

However, The Voice mischief is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Fallon’s pranks. We’ve rounded up five of our favorites, which you can check out below.

15 Mar 2023

MAMAMOO Announce First-Ever U.S. Concerts: See the 9 Cities on Their Arena Tour

Nine years into MAMAMOO‘s career as a leading, chart-topping K-pop girl group, the quartet has announced their first-ever tour dates for the United States.

As the next step in the act’s “MY CON” world tour that traveled across Asia in late 2022 and early 2023, Whee In, Solar, Moon Byul and Hwa Sa will visit nine arenas for their inaugural Stateside tour. The U.S. leg begins in New York on May 16 before wrapping in Los Angeles on June 4. Venue information wasn’t immediately available at press time beyond shows in arenas.

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The tour dates will mark MAMAMOO’s live Stateside return as well. The group has not performed in the States since appearing at the 2019 KCON Los Angeles festival. The trek is presented by Mammoth Inc. and Sugar Monkey Live.

The new “MY CON” tour dates follow the group’s latest EP, Mic On, released in November of last year, which included the single “Illella” that peaked at No. 5 on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart. Beyond group activities, the members have remained active with their solo music and projects. Solar and Moon Byul even teamed up as a duo for MAMAMOO+ for 2022 single “Better” and have new music together coming out later this month.

Tickets go on sale on at 10 a.m. local time on March 29 via Ticketmaster. See the full U.S. tour dates below.

MAMAMOO 2023 MY CON U.S. Tour Dates

May 16 – New York, NY
May 18 – Baltimore, MD
May 20 – Atlanta, GA
May 22 – Nashville, TN
May 24 – Fort Worth, TX
May 27 – Chicago, IL
May 31 – Glendale, AZ
June 2 – Oakland, CA
June 4 – Los Angeles, CA

15 Mar 2023

Will Rihanna Get Her Flowers at 2024 Grammys After Oscar Loss?

Rihanna slayed at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday with a classy performance of her soulful ballad “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She didn’t win the Oscar for best original song – the award went to “Naatu Naatu” from RRR – but RiRi will likely have more chances to win for the song at next year’s Grammy Awards.

“Lift Me Up,” which Rihanna co-wrote with Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, is a front-runner for a nomination for best song written for visual media.

“Lift Me Up” could also wind up with record and/or song of the year nominations. Rihanna has been nominated for record of the year three times, for “Umbrella” (featuring Jay-Z), “Work” (featuring Drake) and as featured artist on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.”

If “Lift Me Up” is nominated for song of the year, it would mark Rihanna’s first nod in that category. Her only songwriting nods to date are for “Run This Town,” which won best rap song, and “Kiss It Better,” which was nominated for best R&B song.

“Lift Me Up” will also probably be nominated in a performance category – either best R&B performance or best traditional R&B performance. (The final decision on where to slot performances that seem to be on the border between two categories is made by a large screening committee. They base their decision on the sound of the performance, as they perceive it, not chart position or the artist’s image.)

Rihanna has been nominated in R&B performance categories twice, for “Needed Me” and “Hate That I Love You,” a 2007 collab with Ne-Yo. She has yet to be nominated for best traditional R&B performance.

“All the Stars,” from the first Black Panther, was nominated for Grammys in four categories (though it didn’t win in any of them). The smash by Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA was nominated for record and song of the year, best rap/sung performance and best song written for visual media.

The Recording Academy announced earlier this month that the eligibility year for the 66th annual Grammy Awards will end on Aug. 31, one month earlier than usual. So the eligibility “year” will consist of just 11 months.

Rihanna may or may not release her long-awaited ninth studio album by Aug. 31 – she has another “project” in the works just now – which would change the Grammy conversation around her. Rihanna’s best year at the Grammys in terms of nominations was 2016, when she amassed eight nods. (Alas, she lost them all.)

The early front-runners for record of the year nominations, in addition to “Lift Me Up,” include Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” SZA’s “Kill Bill” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.”

This wouldn’t be the first time “Anti-Hero” and “Lift Me Up” have tangled. By holding at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week last November, Swift’s smash kept Rihanna’s ballad from debuting in the top spot and becoming her 15th No. 1 single. Instead, “Lift Me Up” debuted and peaked at No. 2. “Anti-Hero” went on to log eight total weeks at No. 1 – the record for a Swift single.

15 Mar 2023

Jim Jones & Hitmaka ft. Goldiie “Status Update” Kash Doll ft. Tay B & Babyface Ray “ALL HYPE” & More | Daily Visuals 3.15.23

HipHopWired Featured Video

Jim Jones and Hitmaka is easily one of the unlikeliest partnerships in Hip-Hop history, but with the release of their project Back In My Prime officially out, the duo seems to have a good time making videos for their album cuts.

This time around, Jimbo goes solo for his Goldiie assisted visuals to “Status Update” as he hops on a plane to the Dominican Republic where he enjoys some fun in the sun, a night out on the town and ultimately scuba dives so he can literally swim with some sharks. Even underwater y’all know Jones was packing some heat in case a shark played him too close. Just sayin.’

Kash Doll meanwhile rounds up a gang of strippers to get it poppin’ and in her Tay B and Babyface Ray featured clip to “ALL HYPE,” Kash has her team twerking everywhere from the stage to the laundromat, because hygiene is as important as anything else when you in the stripping game.

Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Albee Al, Fetty Luciano featuring Sha EK and more.

JIM JONES & HITMAKA FT. GOLDIIE – “STATUS UPDATE”



KASH DOLL FT. TAY B & BABYFACE RAY – “ALL HYPE”



ALBEE AL – “FOLLOW THE LEADER”



FETTY LUCIANO FT. SHA EK – “FEEL A WAY”



CITIZEN QUEEN – “SO SPECIAL”



GLOSS UP FT. ICEWEAR VEZZO – “FROM CROSS DA WAY”



RONDO – “NEW YORK”



15 Mar 2023

Live Music Experts Reveal Best Strategies and Biggest Threats To Touring At SXSW 2023

On Wednesday, March 15, Billboard editor Taylor Mims moderated a panel at SXSW that discussed the touring industry’s post-pandemic status. Featuring panelists Sara Mertz (VP of music partnerships at Tixr), Liz Norris (manager at Activist Artists Management) and Sarah Tehrani (music touring agent at WME), the panelists voiced concerns about saturation on the road, rising touring costs and the increase in specialized live experiences.

Mertz recalled how as quarantine restrictions lifted and tickets went back on sale, there was “lots of excitement” and a massive rush back to get back the road. But then the industry was then hit with subsequent variants, leading to cancellations en masse. “What we’ve been experiencing the last few years is a pendulum,” she explained.

And while Tehrani added that she has hopes for the industry to level out next year — for which agents at WME are already booking now — Norris explained that “nothing will be the exact same as it was in 2019,” given consumer behavior has changed over the last few years, along with other factors.

“People want a more specialized, curated experience than ever,” said Tehrani. “Rather than these big, throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks festivals that are focused on going and discovering new music, we’re seeing more interest in boutique festivals.” For example, music fans seem more interested, in Tehrani’s approximation, to see a one-day legacy hip-hop festival than ever, and meanwhile larger-scale, broad appeal festivals are struggling to get the same sales as they once did.

Some artists Tehrani works with, like R&B singer-songwriter UMI, have even tried incorporating new elements to make their tours stand out, like adding in a meditation practice offered as a VIP experience at her shows to boost fan engagement and spread her passion for wellness.

Such experiences are becoming more crucial as the cost of touring continues to rise with inflation — and as a result of cutbacks on positions like bus drivers and sound engineers — leaving consumers to be pickier about which shows they attend.

But still, this strategy is challenged by a high no-show rate. “Attrition remains an issue,” said Mertz. “I don’t know what it is. I was just meeting with a couple of clients last night and they’re like, ‘We don’t understand it, at our sold-out shows, still 20-25% of people are not showing up. Why?’”

In 2021 the issue was attributed to lingering pandemic concerns, but now one of the only explanations the panelists provided was the possibility of increasingly cunning scalpers. “I do think that scalper activity has increased a lot over the last few years,” said Mertz. “It’s a business now.”

For Norris, whose management firm represents Dead & Company, Michael Franti, and the Lumineers, she said one of the industry’s most pressing concerns is “to do a lot of work to make sure the fans aren’t the ones that pay the price” of today’s higher touring costs.

At the same time, the panelists did identify some positive changes that have emerged in live music over the last few years. “Mental health is now at the forefront,” said Norris.

“Having a therapist and physical therapists on the road is new,” added Tehrani. “We’ve always had vocal coaches and stuff like that, but people are definitely thinking about how to take better care of each other. That’s a very good thing”

15 Mar 2023

Copyright Report Says AI-Assisted Works Can Be Protected – But Only If A Human Was Still In Charge

A new policy report from the U.S. Copyright Office says that songs and other artistic works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence can sometimes be eligible for copyright registration, but only if the ultimate author remains a human being.

The report, released by the federal agency on Wednesday (March 15), comes amid growing interest in the future role that could be played in the creation of music by so-called generative AI tools — similar to the much-discussed ChatGPT.

Copyright protection is strictly limited to content created by humans, leading to heated debate over the status of AI-generated works. In a closely-watched case last month, the Copyright Office decided that a graphic novel featuring AI-generated images was eligible for protection, but that the individual images couldn’t be protected.

In Wednesday’s report, the agency said that the use of AI tools was not an automatic ban on copyright registration, but that it would be closely scrutinized and could not play a dominant role in the creative process.

“If a work’s traditional elements of authorship were produced by a machine, the work lacks human authorship and the Office will not register it,” the agency wrote. “For example, when an AI technology receives solely a prompt from a human and produces complex written, visual, or musical works in response, the traditional elements of authorship are determined and executed by the technology — not the human user.”

The report listed examples of AI-aided works that might still be worthy of protection, like one that creatively combined AI-generated elements into something new, or a work that was AI-generated that an artist then heavily modified after the fact. And it stressed that other technological tools were still fair game.

“A visual artist who uses Adobe Photoshop to edit an image remains the author of the modified image, and a musical artist may use effects such as guitar pedals when creating a sound recording,” the report said. “In each case, what matters is the extent to which the human had creative control over the work’s expression and ‘actually formed’ the traditional elements of authorship.”

Under the rules laid out in the report, the Copyright Office said that anyone submitting such works must disclose which elements were created by AI and which were created by a human. The agency said that any AI-inclusive work that was previously registered without such a disclosure must be updated — and that failure to do so could result in the cancellation of the copyright registration.

Though aimed at providing guidance, Wednesday’s report avoided hard-and-fast rules. It stressed that analyzing copyright protection for AI-assisted works would be “necessarily a case-by-case inquiry,” and that the final outcome would always depend on individual circumstances, including “how the AI tool operates” and “how it was used to create the final work.”

And the report didn’t even touch on a potentially thornier legal question: whether the creators of AI platforms infringe the copyrights of the vast number of earlier works that are used to “train” the platforms to spit out new works. In October, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) warned that such providers were violating copyrights en masse by using existing music to train their machines.

“To the extent these services, or their partners, are training their AI models using our members’ music, that use is unauthorized and infringes our members’ rights by making unauthorized copies of our members works,” the RIAA said at the time.

Though Wednesday’s report did not offer guidance on that question, the Copyright Office said it had plans to weigh in soon.

“[The Office] has launched an agency-wide initiative to delve into a wide range of these issues,” the agency wrote. “Among other things, the Office intends to publish a notice of inquiry later this year seeking public input on additional legal and policy topics, including how the law should apply to the use of copyrighted works in AI training and the resulting treatment of outputs.”

Read the entire report here:

15 Mar 2023

Top Creative Strategists Discuss Artist Authenticity On TikTok, Compare App To Stock Market at SXSW 2023

To TikTok, or not to TikTok, that is the question.

Plus, many more regarding the app’s instrumental role in making hits — and how an artist can participate in the process meaningfully — were addressed during “The Fight for Artistic Authenticity on TikTok” panel at SXSW 2023.

Moderated by Billboard‘s Lyndsey Havens, the panel featured experts Ash Stahl, CEO of TikTok-first creative studio Flighthouse; Alana Dolgin, head of influencer strategy at independent record label and influencer management company Homemade Projects; and Mekaila Morris, senior manager of creators & content at Interscope Records.

The conversation opened with stories of successful TikTok campaigns each panelist had worked on. Stahl remembered working on Surface‘s “Sunday Best,” the electro-pop duo’s vibrant 2019 track that became part of the first crop of TikTok smash hits the following year. “We had a team member just add in a little ad-lib at the beginning that was like, ‘2020 rewind’ and then just put this song at the end of it,” she said. “You can see this huge spike of millions of new listens on Spotify that, one year later, really reinvigorated the song.”

Dolgin described SAINt JHN‘s “Roses” (which was originally released in 2016 and later remixed by Kazakh producer Imanbek at the end of 2019) as being in the “first class of viral hits on TikTok” and mapped out the song’s trajectory to becoming a global anthem, starting in Russia and then spending $2,000 — “which obviously now we know is absolutely nothing in this space,” she said — to move it through the U.S. and ultimately around the world.

Dolgin explained that part of the artistic authenticity element on the platform is knowing when it’s not the right move to have the artist behind a trending song hop on TikTok and participate in whatever fanfare is elevating its exposure through UGC (user-generated content) and streams. “You don’t necessarily need to be on TikTok if you’re an artist. There’s so many songs that are going viral constantly that have nothing to do with the artist that when you try to bring the artist in it truly doesn’t make sense, I think it does more harm than good,” she said.

Having also had success working Cardi B’s “Up,” Dolgin added: “We use her voice all the time with ad-libs that go viral. Sure, she posts on TikTok sometimes, but she approves every sound snippet.”

Morris continued that thought, speaking about Machine Gun Kelly‘s 2022 single “Emo Girl,” featuring Willow, and how she worked closely with him to determine the most authentic ways for him to be on TikTok. “[With] taking the artists’ vision and learning how they want to represent themselves online, you have to understand the nature of the platform and what makes sense.”

Compared to labels’ close working relationships with artists, Stahl described Lighthouse as being “two degrees separated” from them. “I prefer working with artists that aren’t really looking to get on platform because it’s kind of difficult when we’re so separated,” she explained. “We’re not looking to make content, we’re looking to create success with music.”

“You can do both,” she continued. “You can find avenues to create really successful content, and sure, there might be a song that’s a really good fit for the platform as is, or you might need to throw in an ad-lib or make a little mash up. You can do that with the artists where it’s coming from their profile, or you can do that from finding an influencer that has a good fan base and have them launch the sound from their page or from the DSP release on platform.”

Stahl gave a compelling example. During the pandemic, she got her client — EDM producer Said the Sky, whom she’s been managing for the last nine years — to practice making TikTok videos. The result was a now-viral snippet (featuring an ad-lib that goes, “Wait, I can do that better,” followed by dubstep music), which, despite Said the Sky never wanting to officially distribute it, has now soundtracked more than 100,000 TikTok videos, according to Stahl.

When it comes to knowing when’s the right time to invest in a TikTok campaign, Morris discussed tapping into one’s intuition. She recalled how client Gracie Abrams‘ performance of “I Know It Won’t Work” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! went viral on TikTok. “Instead of focusing on what the single is for the project, it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re seeing internet culture touch this track and really, really resonate with it,” she said.

“If it’s moving, put f—nig money into it. That’s the best advice I could give to someone,” Stahl added. “Don’t be like, ‘Oh well, it’s already moving. We’ll just let it ride out.’ My advice would be if it’s moving, take full advantage. We know that it’s working in this specific niche or community on TikTok, let’s take that and try to do it in another niche, or let’s go find that community on a different platform and go for it again.”

From Dolgin’s perspective as someone who works exclusively with creators, it’s all about pairing the right influencers with song campaigns and “never about making the song go viral,” she said. “But, I will always guarantee that you’re getting the best influencers possible for the song and for the sound.”

Morris ultimately compared working in TikTok to working in stocks because of they’re constantly watching how songs and sounds are peaking and falling on the platform. “But you have to take the whole market into account,” she said. When it comes to forecasting trends regarding TikTok and the future of artists and their music on the platform, Stahl predicted there will be more “made by, made for TikTok” independent artists like JVKE who have no barrier to entry, while Dolgin said TikTok will champion specific creators and give them more resources to become successful like Alix Earle. Meanwhile, Morris explained how TikTok is culturally shifting to a more community-focused place.

“As genres start to merge as well, we’re going to start to lose these like clear identifiers, which is going to require people to really hone in on what they like and who they want to be and who they want to speak to,” she said. “And as more people get on TikTok, I think we’re going to have less of those big, big moments, but we’re going to have really valuable smaller moments within the communities with these artists, where they’re truly deeply connecting with people. Then it’s our job to bring those forward and become more consumable to the mainstream.”

Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.

15 Mar 2023

Oscar-Winning Song ‘Naatu Naatu’ Posts 260% Streaming Gain in U.S.

Boosted by its high-energy performance on the Academy Awards (March 12), best original song winner “Naatu Naatu” scored a 260% increase in on-demand official streams in the United States, according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate (whose information powers Billboard’s weekly charts).

On March 12 and 13 combined, “Naatu Naatu,” performed by vocalists Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, garnered 176,000 official on-demand streams in the U.S. – up 260% from the 49,000 that the track collected in the two previous days (March 10 and 11).

In terms of digital song sales, the song sold a little over 1,000 on March 12-13 – up from a negligible sum in the two days prior.

The best original song Oscar is awarded to the writers of the song. “Naatu Naatu” was written by M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose, who both accepted the Oscar onstage during the live ABC-TV broadcast.

“Naatu Naatu” had the third-most streams of the five nominees for original song, all of which were performed on the Oscars, which aired live on ABC. Here’s a recap of the other four nominees and their streams on March 12-13, versus March 10-11: Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” (1.447 million vs. 1.446 million; up less than 1%), Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” (580,000 vs. 389,000; up 49%), “This Is a Life” (84,000 vs. 38,000; up 121%) and Sofia Carson’s “Applause” (37,000 vs. 5,000; up 593%).

In addition, Lenny Kravitz’s “Calling All Angels,” which he performed for the In Memoriam portion of the broadcast, collected 35,000 streams on March 12-13 – a gain of 3,449% compared to the 1,000 streams that it garnered on March 10-11.

Collectively, the six performances helped generate 2.359 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. on March 12-13 – a gain of 22% compared to the 1.929 million on March 10-11.

News of further significant streaming and sales gains will be reported in the coming days on Billboard.com. Streaming, sales and airplay activity generated in the week ending March 16 will be reflected on the weekly Billboard charts dated March 25.

15 Mar 2023

Justin Bieber Gives a Smiley Facial Mobility Update After Ramsay Hunt Diagnosis

It’s been nine months since Justin Bieber revealed that he’s suffering from partial facial paralysis due to Ramsay Hunt syndrome, and the star seems to be recovering well.

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In a video shared to the “Love Yourself” singer’s Instagram Stories on Wednesday (March 15), Bieber is seen jamming along to Tems’ “Ice T,” urging fans to “wait for it.” At the end of the clip, the superstar smiles from ear-to-ear, proving that he has regained mobility in his face. Watch the video before it disappears here.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Ramsay Hunt syndrome happens when a case of the shingles impacts the facial nerve near the ear. It can cause a painful rash as well as paralysis and hearing loss. The medical center also explains that Ramsay Hunt is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, but that quick treatment can reduce the risk of complications.

Last summer, Bieber paused his Justice World tour as a result of the diagnosis.
“I wanted to update you guys on what’s been going on,” he explained in a video at the time, pointing out that he couldn’t blink from one eye, move his nostril or smile from one side of his face. “Obviously, as you can probably see from my face, I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome. And it is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear and my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis.”

He continued by assuring that he will recover. “I’m doing all these facial exercises to get my face back to normal and it will go back to normal,” he shared. “It’s just time, and we don’t know how much time it’s gonna be. But it’s gonna be OK, I hope. I trust God. I trust that this is all gonna … it’s all for a reason, I’m not sure what that is right now.”