State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
Page: 755
When Lady Gaga makes a cameo on your show, you best believe it’s not going to be any ordinary day on set.
According to Jenna Ortega, the producers of Wednesday all but rolled out the red carpet for Mother Monster when she came overseas to film her part on the Netflix series’ upcoming second season — but it was all gone as soon as Gaga’s parts were over.
On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, the 22-year-old actress recalled working with the “Disease” singer, saying, “I remember showing up to set and they completely changed everything.”
“We had a normal functioning set, and I remember pulling up to work the day of, and suddenly there was like truck after truck after truck,” she continued. “They had, like, rolled out this walkway for her to exit from the trailer to the tents. I went to my tent to hang out, and they replaced my dirty tent with, like, brand-new tents. I had a barber’s chair. They gave me fancy water. Everything. We really did it up for her guys. We really wanted to impress her.”
Ortega added while laughing, “And then the next day, I went back to my dusty setup. … I wanted her to be on set even more, but part of it was because the water was really nice.”
Trending on Billboard
Though season 2 will mark Gaga’s debut on the show, the 14-time Grammy winner first unofficially entered the Wednesday universe when her 2011 track “Bloody Mary” experienced a renaissance after fans started pairing it with Ortega’s iconic dance sequence from the first season. The phenomenon sparked a TikTok dance trend in 2022 that Gaga herself took part in; two years later, it was announced that she’d be joining the show’s cast.
Earlier this month, the Scream star teased the musician’s role in Wednesday, saying, “She’s great in the show, and I don’t think she’s what people expect her to be.”
On Colbert, Ortega added, “She is so sweet, so humble, just a normal person, and it’s beautiful and amazing … It’s intimidating when someone is so talented but cool at the same time.”
Watch Ortega recount her time filming Wednesday with Gaga on The Late Show above.
Eslabon Armado doubles down on its Vibras era with the release of Vibras de Noche II, the sequel to its chart-topping album Vibras de Noche, which debuts at Nos. 4 and 3 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums charts, respectively (dated March 29).
Vibras de Noche II bows on both lists with 19,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the tracking week ending March 20, according to Luminate. The bulk of the album’s first week sum stems from the streaming sector, representing 27 million official on-demand streams of the set’s tracks, with a negligible amount of album sales and track-equivalent activity.
Trending on Billboard
It’s the group’s first album chart debut since Desvelado opened atop both Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums charts in 2023. The latter holds at No. 47 in its 93rd week on Top Latin Albums.
Vibras de Noche II was released March 15 on Armado Records/ICLG. Its top 10 start marks another significant milestone for the group, following its recent signing with Interscope Capitol Labels Group, a fruitful partnership as the label secures its first top 10 debut on Top Latin Albums in 2025.
Vibras de Noche II was written by Eslabon’s lead vocalist, Pedro Tovar, in its entirety. It comprises 17 tracks and two intros including a cameo appearance by Mexican actress Loreto Peralta. “Esa Noche,” featuring emerging Mexican folk singer Macario Martinez, is the only collab on the album.
The 23-year-old Mexican street sweeper has captured the internet’s attention, going viral on TikTok after sharing a heartfelt video in response for the support of his song “Sueña Lindo, Corazón.” He’s also seen wearing his work uniform while riding in the back of a truck alongside his coworkers in Mexico City –the clip has garnered over 12 million views since Feb. 8. While his song propelled him into the spotlight, Martínez makes his Billboard debut through his first Eslabon Armado team-up, as “Esa Noche” debuts at No. 50 on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, largely from 2 million official U.S. streams in the latest tracking week.
Vibras de Noche II is a follow-up to Eslabon’s second studio album Vibras de Noche, which debuted at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums in 2020. While it ruled for one week on the former, it dominated Regional Mexican Albums for 11 weeks between Aug.-Nov. 2020.
Thanks to Vibras de Noche II, Eslabon earns its seventh top 10 on Top Latin Albums chart, which launched in 1993. Here’s a recap of the group’s collection of entries on the overall Latin albums tally, a count that included two No. 1s:
Peak Position, Title, Peak DateNo. 7, Tu Veneno Mortal, July 25, 2020No. 1, Vibras De Noche, Aug. 1, 2020No. 2, Corta Venas, Jan. 2, 2021No. 5, Tu Veneno Mortal, Vol. 2, July 10, 2021No. 2, Nostalgia, May 21, 2022No. 1, Desvelado, May 13, 2023No. 4, Vibras De Noche II, March 29, 2025
Elsewhere, Vibras de Noche II, opens at No. 30 on the all-genre Billboard 200, Eslabon’s sixth visit and first since 2023.
On a song level, thanks to the new album, Eslabon adds five new songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, which fuses weekly streaming data, radio airplay and digital sales. “Dime” leads the pack at No. 35 with 2.4 million official U.S. streams. It joins “Te Odio!” at No. 36, “Otras 24 Horas” at No. 37, and the previously reported Martinez-featured track, “Esa Noche” at No. 50.
Playboi Carti debuted atop the Billboard 200 with Music, earning just under 300,000 total album units in its first week on the chart.
Billboard Unfiltered returned with a brand-new episode on Wednesday (March 26) featuring The Breakfast Club‘s Nyla Symone as a special guest, and the crew debates Carti’s massive debut numbers, Ye’s Bully leak and more.
“I wasn’t surprised at this level of commercial success from Carti,” staff writer Kyle Denis said. “It was really more confirmation of his past five years of how he’s positioned himself as the leader of the new gen. The kids love this man.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Rather Lie” featuring The Weeknd debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been serviced to radio, which could position itself as the longest-lasting hit from Music.
Deputy editor Carl Lamarre compared “Rather Lie” to feeling inspired by Drake and SZA’s No. 1 hit “Slime You Out.” “Weeknd’s verse was very ‘Slime You Out.’ I’m just saying he was inspired,” Lamarre alleged.
The conversation moved to finding the “big three” in rap behind Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. The crew seemed to agree that behind them it’s looking like Playboi Carti, Travis Scott and Tyler, The Creator have solidified themselves as the next superstars.
“Numbers don’t lie,” senior charts & data analyst Trevor Anderson said.
Denis added: “The kids really f— with those two [Playboi Carti and Travis Scott]. We see it in the streams go crazy, the hard sales go crazy when they put up stuff for you to buy, the ticket sales be going crazy, the festival crowds go crazy and they got the cultural pull. Carti wasn’t necessarily getting chart hits the past five years, but was still a bigger cultural presence than a lot of rappers that were getting hits.”
With people complaining about the lack of new stars in rap, Anderson wonders if he’ll receive a true mainstream push in the form of radio play, award show performances and commercial accolades. “Clearly you have evidence millions of people f–k with this dude so why not open the door,” he said.
Ye (Kanye West) returned with the leaked release of his Bully album last week, which drew positive reviews from fans even in the midst of his hateful tirades on X.
“From what I heard, I do like it,” Symone said. “I never doubted Ye couldn’t come back, but as far as being excellent at his craft, he’s never swayed from that.”
Denis believes the “curatorial” and “sequencing” skills have “disappeared” for Ye following 2016’s The Life of Pablo. “I haven’t had a favorable listening experience top-to-bottom in quite some time,” he said.
Lamarre thinks fans are still hanging onto the hope of Ye being able to put everything together once again and have it pay off in the music. “In the last decade, we have seen so many flashes of the old Ye,” Lamarre said before citing Ye’s performance at the Larry Hoover benefit concert and tracks like “530.”
The rest of the episode also finds the crew diving into the hopeful album releases from Cardi B and Saweetie as well as GloRilla versus Doechii. Watch it below.
Mikey Madison and the Saturday Night Live writers still have a little more work to do before the Anora star makes her hosting debut this weekend.
In a new promo video for the episode posted Wednesday (March 26), Madison sits in cast member Sarah Sherman’s eclectic dressing room and points out an intriguing prop: a dark-haired, bikini-clad woman sprouting eight wax candles. “Oh! The Anora Menorah!” Sherman says, revealing that it had been used in a scrapped SNL skit prior to Madison’s visit.
“Yeah, no, I heard about that!” the actress says excitedly. “Did people think it was funny?”
“Yeah, it killed,” Sherman replies unconvincingly after flashing back to a cringe-worthy clip of the cut sketch, in which Andrew Dismukes bombs while showing off the kitschy menorah. “Definitely, people were laughing.”
Trending on Billboard
That prompts Sherman to show off an entirely-different-but-not-really sketch idea for Madison’s episode: the Anora Fedora, the prop for which finds a similar figure of the Scream star piercing through a black hat. “You guys will have other ideas, right?” Madison then asks after a nervous pause.
Not featured in the teaser is Morgan Wallen, who will appear on Madison’s episode as this week’s musical guest. The country star — who is currently gearing up to release new album I’m the Problem on May 16 — previously made his performance debut on SNL in 2020, singing “7 Summers” and “Still Goin Down” from Dangerous: The Double Album, which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
This week’s episode follows Lady Gaga playing double duty as host and musical guest March 8, with past Season 50 musical guests being Tate McRae, GloRilla, Hozier, Gracie Abrams, Shaboozey, Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish and more. In the weeks following the March 29 installment, Lizzo, Elton John and Brandi Carlile will also perform on episodes hosted by John Hamm and Jack Black.
Madison’s hosting debut will follow a spectacular awards season for Anora, for which the leading lady won best actress at the 2025 Oscars earlier this month. The film picked up a total of five awards at the ceremony, including best picture, best director, original screenplay and editing.
Watch Madison’s new SNL promo video above.
HipHopWired Featured Video
@BeanzGotGamez / Erykah Badu
Many believed Erykah Badu was down for the cause. The legendary singer claimed she vandalized her own Tesla in protest of Tesla chief Elon Musk. She was only kidding.
Protests of Musk’s electric vehicle company continue to break out across the nation and globally, with citizens setting fire to the once popular EV, the charging stations and vandalizing Tesla dealerships in response to him ruining government workers’ lives in the name of “efficiency” and “cost-cutting” measures.
Badu revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that she, too, got in on the action but instead did some damage to her own Tesla vehicle.
“Just vandalized my own Tesla. Trying to stay on trend,” the “Bag Lady” singer wrote on Musk’s platform.
Many wondered if she was being serious or was capping as big as the hats she is known for wearing. Turns out she was only kidding.
“Stop playin . This was humor . This stupid . And y’all dumb. If I was even slow enough to participate in the misplaced Tesla debate and smash somethin Id pay a minion to do it . FOH,” she wrote in another post, sharing a photo of an article.
Welp.
We don’t know about the debate being “misplaced.” There is a legitimate beef going on with Phony Stark; we’re just saying.
We hope Ms. Badu is well aware of the millions of people affected by Musk and DOGE’s ridiculous cuts to government agencies and the harm being inflicted on people in this country.
This all comes as she preps to release her first studio album in 15 years. Oh, and we must mention that it will be produced by The Alchemist.
This ain’t the type of stuff to kid about, just saying.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: The Hapa Blonde / Getty
Joe Budden is currently facing a new lawsuit from the neighbors who initially called out the host for public nudity at their complex building where he films his podcast. The new suit alleges that Joe Budden is a nuisance to residents in the New Jersey building and points to instances of noise and marijuana smoke, which they say pose a threat to their young child.TMZ reports that Joe Budden is facing a lawsuit from building residents John and Yuliya Aksoy, who named the host and his co-host Melyssa Ford in their complaint alleging that the pair has carried out a “campaign of intimidation and retribution” against the couple after the Aksoys originally accused Budden of public nudity streaking at their complex. The couple originally accused a naked Budden of trying to enter their residence while their daughter was home.
On his popular broadcast, Budden, 44, addressed the initial dustup which led to the show being recorded at the home of his longtime engineer and co-host, Parks, in Queens, N.Y. Budden also stated that the couple has been racist toward him and guests of his podcast believes that is the root of their complaint against him.
The new complaint singled out instances of Budden’s conduct in the building, including saying heavy weed usage and noise were part of their concerns.
More from TMZ:
John and Yuliya both claim they confronted Budden about the excessive noise from the podcast and complained about Budden and co. smoking weed in the condo’s common area, leaving ashes on the property, and creating a hazardous health situation for their young daughter.
Joe Budden just released a new episode of his eponymously named podcast today (March 26), which was recorded the day prior. As he has done in the past, fans of the show are expecting Budden to address this latest legal jab.
—
Photo: Getty
Ye (formerly Kanye West) is facing a lawsuit claiming he sampled a song by German singer-songwriter Alice Merton despite her refusal to license it — a move she says “shocked and humiliated” her because she’s the descendant of Holocaust survivors.
In a copyright case filed Monday (March 26) in federal court, attorneys for Merton say Ye prominently used clips from her 2022 track “Blindside” in his 2024 song “Gun to My Head” with Ty Dolla $ign and Kid Cudi, even after she had expressly refused to clear the sample.
When contacted by Ye’s reps last year, Merton says she and her publisher told them that they were denying him a license because “the artist’s values are contrary to our values” — a reference to the star’s antisemitic statements over the years.
Trending on Billboard
“Although defendants’ use of plaintiffs’ song could potentially bring in significant revenue, [she] was unwilling to compromise her personal beliefs and wanted not to be associated with Ye in any Manner,” her lawyers write. “Merton is a German resident who has close ties to the Holocaust through Jewish family members who survived its horrors, and as such feels closely connected to it.”
Merton’s new lawsuit is one of more than a dozen such cases filed against Ye during his career over claims of unlicensed sampling or interpolating. The controversial rapper has faced nine such infringement cases since 2019 alone, including a high-profile battle with the estate of Donna Summer that settled last year.
In Monday’s complaint, Merton says she is the “direct descendant of Holocaust survivors” — and that she was thus “understandably shocked and humiliated” when the song was released featuring his music: “Merton’s name was suddenly appearing everywhere, with claims that the song was a collaboration between YE, Cudi, and Merton.”
Making matters worse, Merton says that when the song was not included on Ye’s Vultures 2 album, fans blamed her and began harassing her to approve the sample.
“Plaintiff Merton began receiving death threats and abuse from Defendants’ fan base,” he lawyers write. “Defendant did nothing to stop the abuse, allowing his fans to intimidate and harass Plaintiff Merton.”
A spokesperson for Ye could not immediately be located for comment on Wednesday (March 26).
Shaboozey has a dream collaborator at the top of his list. The “Bar Song (Tipsy)” superstar sat down with Holler recently, where he revealed that he wants to work with Future. “That would be awesome,” he said. “I really think a lot of the Atlanta artists grew up in the same neighborhoods, the same towns, […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Assassin’s Creed Shadows / Getty Images / Elon Musk
Whoever runs the official X account for Ubisoft’s latest video game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, deserves a very nice raise.
The Assassin’s Creed Shadows X account has 0 f**** to give. The person behind social posts on the account let Elon Musk have it after he began complaining about the game.
Last night, Musk, who should be busy ensuring DOGE is productive—spoiler alert: it’s not—took to his platform to talk about the latest game in the famed Assassin’s Creed franchise. He explicitly mentioned streamer Hasan Piker, who flagged his stream of Shadwos as sponsored content.
Musk, of all the people in the world, called Piker a “fraud” before adding “Sell-out’ would be more accurate. Objectively, he is promoting a terrible game just for the money.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1904594321199988935
Ubisoft would not take Musk’s trash talk sitting down and hit him with the hidden blade in the form of a scathing clapback, “Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?”
The X post has amassed over 600K likes and over 60K reposts. Comedian /writer Mike Drucker accurately described the moment: “It turns out the real assassins were the social media managers we met along the way.”
https://x.com/MikeDrucker/status/1904663808921993670
Elon Musk’s History of Cheating
Why is this post so significant? The AC Shadows account alludes to Musk being exposed as a cheater after he claimed to be an expert Path of Exile 2 player after Musk exposed himself during his stream when gamers noticed his lack of skills in the game for having such a high build character.
Gamers immediately accused Musk of “fraudmaxing,” basically paying someone good at the game to play for him. Musk eventually admitted to cheating in the game, and gamers were furious that the game’s developers didn’t take action.
Musk was not the only person who felt the wrath of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows account. Mark Kern, who goes by the handle @Grummz on X and is always bitching and moaning about games being “too woke” and other ridiculous nonsense, got some smoke too.
https://x.com/assassinscreed/status/1904661876681699351
Kern has spent a lot of his time hating on the game, so it should sting to see the game he confidently thought would flop be successful. Ubisoft announced that the game has already hit 2 million players, which could continue to climb as gamers love that the AC ShadowX account has no chill.
One user said on X, “Was gonna wait for a sale but nah y’all have earned this.”
Well, they should enjoy AC Shadows because it is great game, you can peep our review here.
The gallery below also shows more reactions to Elon Musk’s being fried by the Shadows X account.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week: The biggest TV drama on streaming dusts off some old renditions of vocal pop favorites, an ’00s smash goes newly viral and lifts the ’70s classic it samples, and 27 years after Will Smith’s Hot 100-topper, it’s time to get jiggy with it again.
A Streaming Waffle Party for Severance Finale-Bumped Pop Standards
Did you manage to see the Cold Harbour project through to its completion in the Severance Season Two finale last Thursday (Mar. 20)? If so, you probably heard a number of pop standards in the episode, soundtracking all the innie-and-outtie drama in the action-packed season-ender. While Apple TV’s hit sci-fi workplace drama has resulted in minor gains for some of the more high-profile synchs of its second season, the finale saw a couple songs who were previously racking up weekly streams in the triple or low-quadruple digits exploding to five and even six figures.
Trending on Billboard
The biggest bump was, unsurprisingly, for “The Windmills of Your Mind,” the late-’60s pop standard originally recorded by Noel Harrison for the soundtrack to late-’60s heist flick The Thomas Crown Affair. In last Friday’s Severance, “Windmills” was featured (as performed by legendary crooner Mel Tormé) during the episode’s emotionally heightened-but-ambiguous closing sequence – with viewers rushing to Shazam the mysterious pop ballad. The song has racked up 215,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams in the four days since the finale aired (Mar. 20-24), up over 30,000% from the negligible number of streams it amassed in the equivalent period the prior week, according to early data provided by Luminate.
Similarly gargantuan were the percentage gains for late-’50s and early-’60s hitmaker Bobby Darin’s version of “Work Song,” a jazz-pop standard originally penned by Nat Adderley (with lyrics added by Oscar Brown Jr.), and recorded by Darin for his 1963 album Earthy! After playing over the end credits to the Severance season finale, the relative pop obscurity jumped over 35,000% in streams to over 20,000 for that same four-day period.
Much more modest were the gains for a song featured in the finale that’s never that far removed from American popular culture: The Alan Parsons Project’s spectral prog-rock instrumental “Sirius,” which became an all-time jock jam after being used by the ‘90s Chicago Bulls for their pre-game player intros. After seeing similar usage from Mr. Milchick on Severance, the song jumped 16% to just under 125,000 streams for the same four-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Nearly 25 Years After Release, TikTok Revives Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover”
Janet Jackson is an indisputable music icon, but her 2004 Super Bowl halftime show controversy effectively railroaded her crossover to younger listeners. Luckily, in the TikTok era, anyone can have a comeback at any time.
Bolstered by a natural love for breezy, springtime pop songs by Black women – the same general trend that’s boosting Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” — Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover” has started to explode on streaming. According to Luminate, streaming activity for “Someone” has risen over 606% over the past four weeks. During the week of March 14-20, the song earned 1.14 million official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a 75% increase from the 651,200 streams it pulled the week prior (March 7-13).
The song originally earned a series of viral X posts and TikToks last fall, and as the weather started warming up, users started gravitating towards “Someone” to capture the mood of the season. The official “Someone to Call My Lover” TikTok sound has earned over 64,200 posts, with that number growing each day.
“Someone” lifts its signature guitar riff from America’s ’70s pop-rock smash “Ventura Highway,” which has also seen a boost in streaming. Activity for “Ventura” has risen over 56% over the past four weeks; during the week of March 14-20, the song earned 2.45 million official on-demand U.S. streams, marking an 8% increase from the 2.26 million streams it pulled the week prior (March 7-13).
A quarter century after it reached No. 3 on the Hot 100, “Someone to Call My Lover” has enraptured a whole new set of listeners. — KYLE DENIS
Zeddy Will Racks Up Another TikTok-Fueled Hit With “Get Jiggy”
Zeddy Will is as much of a regular as an artist can be in this column, and he’s back this week with another one.
Zeddy first teased “Get Jiggy,” a collaboration with B Jack$, back in January, and, the following month (Feb. 6), he shared another snippet with the now endlessly recreated neck-jerking choreography. The first snippet earned 113,000 views, while the second has since topped out at around 575,000 views. The song finally hit streaming on Feb. 27, clocking over one million official on-demand U.S. streams in its first full week, according to Luminate.
That figure leapt 95% to over 2.2 million streams during the week of March 7-13. The next week (March 14-20), “Jiggy” rose a further 26% to over 2.81 million streams. Over the past two weeks, streams for “Jiggy” have soared nearly 148%. The official “Get Jiggy” TikTok sound has garnered nearly 400,000 posts, showing that Zeddy Will is more than validating his status as one of Billboard staff’s 15 Hip-Hop, African and R&B artists to watch in 2025. – KD
