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Takeoff’s Cause of Death Revealed

Following the death of 28-year-old Migos rapper Takeoff, the Harris County coroner’s office confirmed to Billboard that the late star’s primary cause of death was “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm.”

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Takeoff was shot and killed early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) in Houston, Texas. The rapper— who was one third of the Migos trio alongside his uncle, Quavo, and cousin, Offset — was at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with Quavo around 2:35 a.m. when investigators say shots rang out during an afterparty attended by around 40 people. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other victims — a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female — checked themselves into a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

During a press conference, the city’s police chief, mayor and homicide investigation committee noted that much of the situation is currently under investigation, and urged witnesses to come forward with any information to help authorities solve the case.  “Anyone who has information on the shooter, let us bring justice to this family,” Mayor Sylvester Turner added during the conference. “We will solve this case. We will find the shooter.”

Following the devastating news, Migos’ label Quality Control Music, took to Instagram to mourn Takeoff’s death. “It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved brother Kirsnick Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff,” a statement posted to the label’s social media reads. “Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated.”

The statement concluded by asking fans to “respect his family and friends as we all continue to process this monumental loss.” The post was captioned with a dove and broken heart emoji.

Music Companies Must Now Include Salary Ranges on New York Job Postings

A new New York City law requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings has officially gone into effect this week, with music companies hiring in the city mandated to comply. On the first day of the law, a picture of at least one of the major music companies’ salary ranges has come into focus.

The day the law went into effect, several companies were criticized for overly-broad salary ranges that effectively subverted the point of the regulation, which was designed to give prospective employees insight into what they could be expected to earn at different companies in the city and address salary discrepancies between men and women and for people of color. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, posted reporting and producing jobs with ranges between $40,000 to $160,000; tech jobs at Amazon were anywhere from $88,400 to $185,000; while Citigroup initially posted some job openings as between $0 and $2 million, before revising them to a range of $59,340 to $149,320.

Among the three major labels, only Warner Music Group (WMG) seems to have complied with the law as of yet. The company has 11 listed job openings on its website across its three locations in New York City, though 10 of them relate to its Spring 2023 WMG Emerging Talent Associate Program, a part-time paid internship program that lists a range from $15 to $30 an hour for between 20 and 25 hours per week. Its final opening, for a digital marketing and content creation manager, is listed at between $58,500 and $70,000 annually.

Sony, meanwhile, has more than 40 openings in its New York locations across all its operations, though not all positions appear to have salary ranges listed; most appear to ask the applicants for a desired salary target, as part of a standard-issue form through LinkedIn. (The law allows companies 30 days to comply after a complaint is registered before facing penalties. A rep for Sony tells Billboard the company will be complying.) It does list starting salaries for its fellowship program, a 24-month position with a starting salary of $70,000 per year.

Universal Music Group has some 16 openings across various divisions in New York, many at its merchandising division Bravado. Though each posting promises a “competitive compensation package including salary, benefits and generous 401k savings plan with company matching,” none lists a salary range. (A rep for UMG did not respond to a request for comment.)

In the independent sector, several New York-based companies have also listed ranges. Concord, for example, has three non-internship positions available in New York: a publishing paralegal ($70K-$80K); a publishing sync manager ($55K-$65K); and a director of business and legal affairs for publishing ($100K-$125K). BMG has two open New York-based positions: an investments/M&A manager ($80K-$90K) and a senior marketing manager ($70K-$80K). Roc Nation has two music-related New York-based openings: one for a senior director of event sponsorships ($135K-$180K) and one for a senior director of music partnerships ($135K-$170K). A senior coordinator position overseeing royalties and income tracking at Kobalt pays between $45,600 and $57,000 in New York City.

Businesses with three or fewer employees and temp agencies are not subject to the new requirement.

Gabby Barrett Gives Birth to Baby No. 2 With Cade Foehner: ‘What a Precious Gift’

Gabby Barrett and her husband Cade Foehner have welcomed their second child, son Augustine Boone Foehner, born on Oct. 27. They are also parents to daughter Baylah May Foehner, who was born in January 2021.

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On Nov. 2, the couple shared a photo on social media of Baylah May looking at her newborn baby brother, who is dressed in a blue onesie and wrapped in a blue blanket. The photo was captioned, “Soaking up newborn days with baby brother. What a precious gift from our Lord!” The couple also revealed his name — as well as its pronunciation — and the little guy’s birthday in the caption.

Barrett and Foehner met while each was competing during the 16th season of American Idol. Barrett went on to finish in third place. The couple wed on Oct. 5, 2019, and recently celebrated their third wedding anniversary, with Foehner decorating the bed of a pickup truck with lights, hay and blankets.

Barrett’s breakthrough song “I Hope” earned her a label deal with Warner Music Nashville. The song went on to reach No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020, and topped Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. Last year, she followed it with the sweetly romantic “The Good Ones,” a tribute to her husband. The song became a three-week No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart. At the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, Barrett won three trophies, including top country female artist and she was named Billboard‘s Rising Star in Music recipient in 2022.

In 2020, Barrett released her debut album, Goldmine. Earlier this year, Barrett told Billboard she is working on new music and still determining how it will shape up.

“I don’t know what the theme exactly is going to be,” she said. “I do know that I’m a country gal at heart, and that’s definitely always the kind of music I’m going to make.”

See the birth announcement for baby Augustine below:

Trending Up: Rihanna and Meghan Trainor Make Two Very Different Pop Comebacks

Rihanna’s Catalog Gets ‘Lift’ed With Comeback

Just one week after Taylor Swift’s Midnights was released to historic impact, we got an even longer-anticipated return from a global pop icon: Rihanna, who released her first new single in six years with the Def Jam-released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ballad “Lift Me Up.” The song debuted with nearly eight million official on-demand U.S. streams and 16,000 in sales on Oct. 28, and racked up another 6.9 million streams and 11,000 sales over the next two days, all according to Luminate. Those numbers should portend a major Billboard Hot 100 debut for the single, though how deep it can strike into the Swift stronghold atop the chart currently remains to be seen. (A strong radio showing should also help: “Lift Me Up” registered 26.3 million in radio audience on pop, adult, rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop stations combined in its first three days (Oct. 28-30), 10 million better than even Swift’s Hot 100-topping “Anti-Hero” over the same period the prior week.) 

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In the meantime, “Lift” has also raised the rest of Rihanna’s catalog, with her non-”Lift” streams bubbling up from 5.8 million last Monday (Oct. 24) to 6.8 million that Thursday as anticipation for the new song grew – then spiking another 24% to 8.4 million on Friday, after the song’s release. Gains for those songs – along with a Halloween-themed hike for her spooky smash “Disturbia” – should result in an increased presence for the Bad Gal on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart, including a likely gain for 2016’s ANTI (No. 122 this week) and a possible re-entry from 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER


Meghan Trainor’s New ‘Look’ Is Beguiling Listeners

With all the big pop names making splashes the last couple weeks, you might have missed that Meghan Trainor has enjoyed solid returns as well. As her new album on Epic Takin’ It Back debuts at No. 16 on the Billboard 200, giving the pop singer-songwriter her best showing since 2016’s Thank You started at No. 3, recent single “Made You Look” also becomes her first solo Hot 100 entry in four years as it starts at No. 95. Trainor is no stranger to the Hot 100 — her debut single “All About That Bass” topped the chart in 2014 — but “Made You Look” could become her biggest hit in a half-decade, thanks in part to a body-positive trend that is gaining traction on TikTok.

Upon the album’s release on Oct. 21, Trainor launched a dance challenge for the call-and-response doo-wop hook that highlights natural beauty regardless of style. Yet some TikTok users have gone viral for cleverly deploying “Made You Look” to soundtrack a rejection of the male gaze and society’s sexualization of female bodies. No matter which trend they’re encountering, listeners are responding to “Made You Look,” with its daily U.S. on-demand streams crossing the 1 million mark for three straight days beginning last Friday (Oct. 28), according to Luminate. Keep an eye on how top 40 radio, which was key in breaking Trainor with “Bass” eight years ago, adopts her latest offering: “Made You Look” is currently bubbling under Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay, with 266,000 in audience in its first three days. – JASON LIPSHUTZ


Get Down “Ton1ght” With Exøtix, j4m and Ludves

With the way TikTok trends have evolved toward addressing more serious issues, it almost feels like a refreshing throwback when a fun song unexpectedly gets popular on the back of a simple dance challenge. That’s basically what happened with rappers Exøtix and j4m’s haunting jam “Ton1ght,” with the song’s remix (featuring additional vocals from singer Luvdes) taking off on TikTok thanks to a series of videos of users doing a tricky and fast-paced footwork dance to it. The song, originally self-released via DistroKid on ExøtixWørld in October, racked up 615,000 on-demand U.S. streams on the week ending Oct. 27, a 664% gain, according to Luminate, topping Spotify’s Viral 50 – USA chart and making it feel like 2020 all over again – the more enjoyable parts, anyway. – AU

Which Song Do You Want Taylor Swift to Perform at The Eras Tour? Vote!

Taylor Swift is heading out on her The Eras tour next spring, and the celebration of her legendary career has got Swifties wondering how the 32-year-old pop star will fit all her albums into one setlist.

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Swift has also dropped six No. 1 albums totaling 86 new or previously unreleased songs since her last roadshow, the Reputation Tour, in 2018. 

Over here at Billboard, we’ve already compiled our dream setlist for the upcoming The Eras tour, and now, we want to know what you think. Check out our setlist here, and let us know which of Swift’s hits you want to see her perform during the 2023 tour. Vote below.

I Prevail Scores Second Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 With ‘Bad Things’

I Prevail hits No. 1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for the second time, as “Bad Things” tops the Nov. 5-dated survey.

The song follows the two-week ruler “Hurricane,” the Michigan band’s first leader, in March 2020.

In between “Hurricane” and “Bad,” the band notched an additional Mainstream Rock Airplay entry, the Delaney Jane-featuring “Every Time You Leave,” which reached No. 3 in November 2020.

I Prevail first hit Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2015 with its amped-up cover of Taylor Swift‘s “Blank Space,” and boasts five top 10s to date.

Concurrently, “Bad” lifts 11-10 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.3 million audience impressions, up 6%, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s first top 10, having exceeded the No. 13 peak of “Hurricane.” In addition to its mainstream rock radio support, the song is receiving airplay on select alternative stations.

“Bad” also jumps 10-7 on the multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs list, after reaching No. 5 in September. Along with its radio airplay, the song earned 818,000 official U.S. streams in the Oct. 21-27 tracking week.

True Power, from which “Bad” is the lead single, debuted at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Top Hard Rock Albums chart dated Sept. 3 and has earned 53,000 equivalent album units since its release.

Here’s How Offset Subtly Paid Tribute to Takeoff

Offset is paying tribute to Takeoff in a subtle but powerful way. The “54321” rapper changed his Instagram profile picture to a photo of the latter Wednesday (Nov. 2), one day after the 28-year-old rapper — Offset’s cousin and fellow Migos member — was killed in a shooting in Houston.

The photo change marks the first time Offset, 30, has publicly addressed the death of his cousin, who was attending a private bowling alley party Tuesday (Nov. 1) with Quavo — Takeoff’s uncle and the third rapper in the Migos trio — when fatal gunfire rang out around 2:35 a.m., according to law enforcement. Takeoff’s death came just hours after he and Quavo had released their “Messy” music video together as Unc & Phew, their side project.

Offset’s new profile picture shows a grinning Takeoff wearing dark sunglasses. A small white heart emoji is pasted onto the photo’s top right edge.

Born in Lawrenceville, Ga., in 1994, Takeoff formed Migos with Quavo and Offset in 2008. They released their debut mixtape Juug Season in 2011 and became rap music game-changers when their single “Versace” took off in 2013. They would go on to drop “Bad and Boujee,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 2017, as well as top 10 hits “Stir Fry” and “MotorSport.”

The group released four studio albums together, the last of which was Culture III in 2021. In the months leading up to Takeoff’s death, however, many suspected that Migos was headed toward disbandment due to Offset seemingly turning his focus to solo projects, as Takeoff and Quavo worked on Unc & Phew.

As Quavo, Offset, fans and fellow hip-hop artists mourn Takeoff, the future of Migos remains unclear. Many, though, will remember the 28-year-old as the heart and soul of the group for years to come.

“He always been workin’ on his craft,” Quavo once said of Takeoff, praising his nephew 2018. “He just masterminded his craft.”

Future, Burna Boy & More Featured on ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Soundtrack

The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By soundtrack is just days away from release, and the star-studded track list unveiled on Wednesday (Nov. 2) features songs from Tems, Fireboy DML, OG DAYV, Future, CKay, PinkPantheress, E-40 and many more.

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The soundtrack, of course, also features Rihanna‘s “Lift Me Up,” released just last week as a tribute to the late Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died from colon cancer in 2020 at 43.

Given the upcoming film’s story is inspired by both Nigerian and Mesoamerican cultures, recording sessions were set up in Lagos, Nigeria; and Mexico City, Mexico; as well as Abbey Road Studios in London. Producers worked with global artists from Lagos including Tems, plus emerging rappers and artists from Mexico City, including rapper Pat Boy, who raps entirely in Mayan. Over the course of the film, the audience will hear over 250 musicians, two orchestras, two choirs and over 40 vocalists, per a press release.

“Ryan [Cooler] and I talked about the importance of creating an immersive journey of sound and voice,” said co-producer Ludwig Göransson. “If we used a song in the film, we wanted it to be the entire song, and to be connected to the story. Thematically, we wanted to move the audience from grief to celebration. When you listen to the soundtrack, you can close your eyes and relive the experience of the movie. That was the intention.”

See below for the full track listing for the soundtrack, out on Nov. 4 via Roc Nation Records/Def Jam Recordings/Hollywood Records. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on Nov. 11.

Selena Gomez Plays Down Those Photos With Hailey Bieber: ‘It’s Not a Big Deal’

Selena Gomez is all good with Hailey Bieber. After years of discourse pitting the two against one other over Justin Bieber, the women recently shut down the chatter by posing for photos together at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 2nd Annual Gala. And on Wednesday (Nov. 2), Gomez addressed their decision to snap the pics in the first place.

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. It’s not even a thing,” she told Vulture at the tail end of a joint interview with filmmaker Alek Keshishian promoting her new documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, which premieres Friday (Nov. 4) on Apple TV+.

During the chat, the pop star also teased that she’s been hard at work “for years” on the follow-up to 2020’s Rare. “Only because I want to be able to grow through my music,” she said. “I am the person who’s terrified of what will happen once it’s out, so I want it to be really well done and representative of where I am. There is a bunch of fun stuff that I’m so eager to leak, if I’m being honest. I shall not. But I’m so excited. It’ll be fun and refreshing, I think.”

The documentary exploring Gomez’s mental and physical health journey since canceling the latter half of her 2016 Revival Tour does contain one new song by the singer titled, appropriately, “My Mind and Me.”

“It happened in a really organic way,” she teased to the publication of the track. “I  went through this moment where I was allowing people into my life through my journal, these producers who worked on the song and know me very well.

“I remember releasing all of this stuff to them, and I was scared of what they were going to think,” Gomez continued. “But ‘My Mind and Me,’ the idea and the chorus, came up, and it was really moving to me. These people took my story and made it something bigger than me.”