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Country Music Foundation, Inc., Soulsville Foundation, International Bluegrass Music Association, Louisiana Folk Roots and the Memphis Listening Lab are among 15 organizations or individuals that were chosen to receive grants by the Grammy Museum Grant Program. A total of $200,000 in grants will be awarded this year. This year marks the 37th year of the program.
“Generously funded by the Recording Academy,” to use the Grammy Museum’s phrase, the Grammy Museum Grant Program provides funding annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas for future generations, in addition to research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition.
“The Grammy Museum and Recording Academy have continued their partnership to provide fundamental funding for music research and preservation projects across the United States and Canada,” Michael Sticka, president/CEO of the Grammy Museum, said in a statement. “ … We are honored to support these remarkable projects that continue to shape the future of music, science and technology.”
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In 2008, the Grammy Museum Grant Program expanded its categories to include assistance grants for individuals and small to mid-sized organizations to aid collections held by individuals and organizations that may not have access to the expertise needed to create a preservation plan.
Here are the 2025 recipients:
Scientific Research Grantees
CERVO Brain Research Center — Quebec City, Quebec
Awarded: $20,000
Their goal is to uncover how choir singing impacts communication and auditory cognition in older adults, supporting healthy aging through a randomized training study. This project aims to inform community choirs and music-based interventions, aligning with the foundation’s mission to enhance quality of life through music.
Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital – CISSS Laval — Laval, Quebec
Awarded: $19,500
Stroke typically leads to persistent deficits in arm and hand function. This project will examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a six-week piano training intervention aimed at improving manual dexterity and the functional use of the arm and hand. For the first time, such intervention will be delivered as part of a home-based, early, and intensive rehabilitation program for individuals with stroke.
New York University — New York, N.Y.
Awarded: $9,000
Many people struggle with speech-language disorders due to developmental issues or brain injuries. Although music therapy can help these individuals regain speech functions, its effectiveness varies. By combining neuroimaging and machine learning, this study will explore how the brain can bypass damaged speech language networks by leveraging musical networks to enhance communication.
University of South Florida — Tampa, Fla.
Awarded: $9,000
This randomized trial will examine the effects of a novel woodwind program on neural responses and respiration function in adults 50+ with Long-term COVID (LTC). Adults will complete measures of cognitive processing (EEG) and respiration function (spirometer), pre- and post-10 weeks of either Nuvo jsax lessons or an attentional control task.
University of Toronto — Toronto
Awarded: $20,000
Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) uses rhythmic sound cues to help people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) start and maintain stable movement. This project is the first to examine how these cues impact brain chemistry in PD, revealing the brain’s response to these cues. Their findings could improve the use of RAS as part of PD care, refining clinical applications that work alongside standard medication to support movement and enhance quality of life in PD.
Preservation Assistance Grantees
Lex Gillespie — Washington, D.C.
Awarded: $5,000
The project will preserve 75 interviews from the 10-hour Peabody Award-winning public radio series, “Whole Lotta Shakin’.” It tells the story of rockabilly, the exciting 1950s mix of blues, gospel and country that is the cornerstone of rock and roll. This diverse collection features singers, musicians, producers, DJs, and record company owners. The goal: to digitize these decaying recordings for use by scholars, content providers and the public.
Memphis Listening Lab — Memphis, Tenn.
Awarded: $5,000
Grammy Museum Preservation Assistance funding will enable the Memphis Listening Lab (MLL) to hire an expert consultant to conduct a preservation assessment of MLL’s extensive collection of recorded music. The consultant will provide MLL with a written report detailing their observations and recommendations for preserving MLL’s collection, which is freely accessible to the public.
Preservation Implementation
Country Music Foundation, Inc. — Nashville, Tenn.
Awarded: $20,000
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (CMHFM) sought funding to assess, catalog, re-house, and make accessible a collection of 18,000 12-inch radio transcription discs containing historically significant, non-commercial recordings. This collection features interviews and performances with various country artists. Building on a successful project with 16-inch discs, CMHFM aims to begin Phase 2 of cataloging this larger collection.
Forgotten Futures Fund Inc. — Brooklyn, N.Y.
Awarded: $20,000
Louis and Bebe Barron were American electronic music pioneers. This project digitizes nearly 800 magnetic tapes. It will make available to the public, for the first time, their sci-fi, experimental and commercial sounds. The Barrons, moving in parallel to European composers of musique concrète, were DIY artists who lacked institutional support.
International Bluegrass Music Association — Nashville, Tenn.
Awarded: $20,000
The “Preserving the Legacy of Bluegrass Music” project will digitize and make accessible audio and visual materials from the 40-year history of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). Recordings include industry awards show performances and speeches, special performances, conference presentations, workshops, and other IBMA events, featuring first-, second- and third-generation bluegrass musicians from 1985 to the present day.
Louisiana Folk Roots — Lafayette, La.
Awarded: $15,000
Louisiana Folk Roots (LFR) will digitize and preserve at-risk audiovisual tape recordings of Cajun and Creole heritage folk music performances and presentations that occurred from 2001-15. This LFR archival collection of analog formats is not currently available online. Following digitization, this collection can become publicly accessible in partnership with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Library and Institutional Repository.
Matthew White — Columbia, S.C.
Awarded: $10,000
Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz stands as NPR’s longest-running cultural program, airing from 1978 to 2011. Currently, those programs exist on a server at SCETV (where the show was produced), along with more than 5,000 physical documents, including McPartland’s notes, photos, sheet music, and promotional materials. This proposal is to complete the digitization of these materials and create a free website where these materials can be accessed by the public.
Painted Bride Art Center, as fiscal sponsor for Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Project — Philadelphia, Pa.
Awarded: $10,000
Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Project, through its fiscal sponsor Painted Bride Art Center and in partnership with Temple University Libraries, sought a Grammy Museum Grant to digitize, preserve and make available several dozen interviews with Philadelphia jazz musicians. Conducted from the early 1980s to early 2020s, the interviews document the lives and careers of both world-famous and local Philadelphia jazz musicians.
Soulsville Foundation — Memphis, Tenn.
Awarded: $12,500
Acclaimed Memphis historians have donated interviews of Memphis music legends. These unstable digital tapes represent the richest collection of Black music history interviews ever received by the Stax Museum. The interviews will allow for enhanced storytelling in future exhibitions and online presentations.
T. Christopher Aplin — Pasadena, Calif.
Awarded: $5,000
American Indian Soundchiefs was a record label owned by Kiowa Linn D. Pauahty—the earliest, longest-running label launched with an ear toward Indigenous aesthetics. This project will help Pauahtyʼs granddaughter Mary Helen Deer, the Linn D. Pauahty Foundation, and Kiowa tribe digitize surviving American Indian Soundchiefs instantaneous discs, reel-to-reels, and cassettes featuring Kiowa-language songs for cultural revitalization purposes.
It’s impossible to overstate just how influential Too Short is to hip-hop culture. He is the only rapper to have worked with all of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and 2Pac, and over the span of his career, he’s dropped dozens of acclaimed projects. He is former Vice President Kamala Harris’ favorite rapper, and perhaps the only MC to have released albums across five different decades, starting in the ’80s.
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While these are all groundbreaking accomplishments in their own right, the kicker is that the music is still awesome. On his latest project, Sir Too $hort Vol. 1 (Freaky Tales), his new records carry a youthful urgency, and include plenty of pockets where Short still raps like the rent is due.
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“And out of all rappers since the beginning of hip-hop/ Who got more platinum albums than me?” he raps on “Check the Stats.” “And don’t count greatest hits, let’s go/ Jay-Z, Eminem, 2Pac, OutKast, Nas, Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye/ Who got more platinum albums than Too $hort?”
The answer is: nobody. Considering one of the biggest records of his career — “Blow the Whistle,” which turns 20 next year — didn’t pop off until Short was 40 years old, he’s long been known as someone who probably has a smash hit still tucked away in his back pocket.
“How long can a rapper rap?” Short asks Billboard. “How long can a rapper rap and release relevant music? To what age is it appropriate to rap on stage and actually put on a good performance? What are the limitations of hip-hop? It hasn’t been written yet.”
Short will be turning 59 next week, and he openly discusses his age on his latest album, flexing it like a veiny bicep after a good pump. “I thought you knew, I’m still rappin,” he spits on opener “Still Mackin.” “I thought you knew, b—h, I’m still mackin’/It’s the 2020s and I’m still rappin’.”
Short spoke with Billboard about his new album, ageism in rap and what it felt like stepping into the production chair for the film Freaky Tales.
“I won’t stop” are the first words uttered on Sir Too $hort Vol. 1. You’ve had an unbelievable career, but do you ever feel pressure to stop rapping because of your age?
That ageism is biased on both ends. ‘Cause the older guys think that the younger guys aren’t skilled enough to be in their game, and the younger guys are like, “C’mon OG! It’s my turn.”
I’m comparing my activity to B.B. King and The Temptations — like, people who aren’t in my genre, that went well beyond their senior citizen years and kept performing and satisfying audiences. I’m not measuring this towards other rappers, because rap has not all the way gone there yet. When it’s all said and done I would love for a younger rapper, just one, to say, ‘Man, I wanna stick around like E-40 and Too $hort’. Motivation!
The ageism is there — but at the same time I’m in that battle of just making the narrative. This is what I’m doing, and nobody in there is dictating what it should or shouldn’t be. It’s just me figuring it out.
It’s been five years since your last album, a notable break for you. What inspired this break and why did now feel like the right time to get back in the studio?
I make a lot of songs, and a lot of the songs I make are really good songs — I just haven’t been releasing them. Sort of because of how the industry is. Like, are you gonna be independent? Are you gonna try to get a deal with a major? What’s gonna happen with the marketing and the singles and stuff? It just changed a lot from the OG way I used to do it — and then the results I would get, I wasn’t really feeling like I needed to prove anything.
How has your love for hip-hop deepened over the years? What about the artform keeps you here at almost 59 years old?
It’s just painting pictures. I think I have some of a pre-music video mindset approach to writing songs. When I say pre-video, I mean everything before MTV, where you listen to how songs were written and a lot of songs before videos were made, you actually see a picture when you listened to the song. You see the movie, you see the scenes, because they’re explaining it to you in such a way that there’s no need for a film. It’s songwriting! I like to write visual songs, and I’m a part of that old guard.
What are your thoughts then on the use of social media and TikTok now? For someone who’s been around since rap’s early days, how are you feeling about the state of the genre now?
I’m jealous of the new artists! I’m jealous of the tools they have and opportunities they have. What you can do with popularity now was definitely not available to me, and definitively the tools to market and even make music were not available to me, either. As in sports, you have to survive your era. You have to be on the top of the game in your era, whatever that is. Just maximize it. I’m very curious to see where [hip-hop] is goin’, in a positive way. I know it never stays in one place and I think hip-hop is in good hands — because as a business it did not collapse. A lot of people come in the game every year and get a lot of money, and if they weren’t, I would say it’s a problem.
How are you feeling about West Coast music right now, specifically?
When you have artists that continually break out, fom the G-Eazys to the YGs and Kendricks, you’re proud of your region. As the OG’s, when our youngsters emerge we have to support them, and we do that. The West Coast is a unit that rides for each other. I think the state of West Coast rap is wonderful. One of our guys just survived something nobody else has ever survived, and that’s an onslaught from Drake.
“Blow the Whistle” turns 20 next year. Tell me about how you feel about that record now.
It’s like a parent who has three, four, five kids — and you clearly love one of your kids more than the rest. It’s that kid. You can’t even hide it. I made that song when I was 40, I’d already had multiple platinum albums and gold albums — and it turns out [“Blow The Whistle”] is gonna be my signature song. You couldn’t find one artist who strung a bunch of top-selling albums together in a row and after making all of that albums made their signature song. Nobody did that. Zero. Zilch. Nobody. That’s a Too Short thing!
What was the recording process like? Did you know it was gonna be a smash?
I can’t say I can pick hits. I don’t know how to pick hits, not yours or mine or anybody’s. I feel like that’s a jinx, to name a song a hit before it leaves the studio. “Blow the Whistle” was originally made in 2005. Lil Jon produced it and he was really into Crunk Rock at the time. “Blow the Whistle” — at some point there were rock guitars that were added to the song, and when it was mixed and mastered it was mixed with the guitars. I had a conversation with Jon about not using the guitars, and he’s like, “Nah man, that’s hot!” He assured me the new way with the guitars was the best way. So I just went in the studio and muted out all the guitars and that’s the version we all know and love.
Was Lil Jon upset?
At some point — after a while, he came and said, “You won this one.” We had disagreements in the studio prior to that where he would be right. He held his opinion firm — and I don’t know if he felt some kind of way for a while, but when it was successful, those feelings went away. I do just wanna add that my next album, Sir Too $hort Vol. 2, is 100% produced by Lil Jon.
How did you get into the producing chair for Freaky Tales?
It didn’t take me long to say yes. I read the script before they did any filming. I knew about the chapter that was focused on me. They were asking me to, “Please attach yourself to this project,” and I was like, “Please attach me to this project!” It was mutual. At some point, they fit me in the script as the narrator. I don’t even know if that was their plan or not, and they gave me a cameo. It’s an Oakland movie, shot in Oakland, named after one of my songs. I’m on Cloud Nine right now, bruh.
To add to that, you were also put on the bill for the Rock the Bells Festival. How does that feel?
Oh you just told me, I didn’t even know, s—t. I consider myself 100% to be part of the Rock The Bells family. The motivation for the people over there is really just to uphold the legacy of hip-hop and to not let you forget, and I’m just really proud to be a part of that. I receive a salary for the [radio show] I do, but I promise you I do not do that show for the salary. I do it because I really signed up to be a part of what LL Cool J is preaching over there.
LL was very, very arrogant and very unapproachable as a young rapper — but as an old rapper, OG rapper, he is a hell of an ambassador. Open heart and a whole different L. He played his rap persona to a T… but now It’s nothing but love to all of hip-hop.
Next year will also mark the 15th anniversary of Wiz Khalifa’s “On My Level,” which I feel like introduced a whole new generation of Too Short fans.
That was another one of those bridges. I’m an OG rapper in ’05, ’06 and I’m just riding my wave. I’m out there doing what the game gives me and another bridge comes along. It turned out to be a song because of the new look it gave me, I used to open my show with that song! It would reel the crowd in. I love Wiz for that man. He put me on a gooooood song.
What are some tips you have for younger artists that wanna have longevity like Too Short?
I think loyalty in this game has a lot to do with longevity. Sticking with the people who are really your friends that you started with, who really know you and love you and tell you you ain’t s—t — cause at that moment you really ain’t s—t. I think a lot of our young artists are turned off by the industry because it’s not instant enough, it’s not Folger’s coffee. The one’s who are supposed to be here will be here, cause they’ll endure.
Everybody that’s had a long career, it wasn’t just one long run. Big f—ing dry spots in the middle where you gotta figure it out. Big moments of doubt. The crossroads come, I wouldn’t say often but they continuously come and when you stand at that crossroads you have options. So you might make a wrong turn. So what? Find your way back on track.
Bad Bunny is hopping back over to 30 Rock to make his grand return to Saturday Night Live, with the show announcing Thursday (April 24) that the Puerto Rican rapper will perform on its season-ender episode following a musical guest debut from Benson Boone two weeks prior. SNL‘s 50th season will officially wrap May 17 […]
There’s a nostalgia to Jeanette’s ’80s hit song “El Muchacho de los Ojos Tristes” that has transcended generations. Most recently, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco tapped The Marías for a reimagination of the ballad, titled “Ojos Tristes,” that is part of the couple’s collaborative album, I Said I Love You First. “I am very proud […]
Three nominees for entertainer of the year at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards — Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson and Kelsea Ballerini — are among the 10 performers who were added to the lineup for the May 8 show. Also added were Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Clint Black, LeAnn Rimes, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts and Wynonna Judd.
They join previously announced performers Reba McEntire (who is also set to host the show), Blake Shelton, Eric Church and Lainey Wilson.
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Five of these 14 performers are past winners of entertainer of the year at the ACM Awards. McEntire won in that top category in 1995; Brooks & Dunn in 1996, 1997 and 2002; Lambert in 2022; Stapleton in 2023 and Wilson in 2024.
Of these 14 performers, all but Johnson are past ACM winners in at least one category. And Johnson may win his first ACM Award this year — he has seven nominations, a total topped only by Ella Langley with eight. Morgan Wallen and Wilson also have seven.
More performers will be revealed next week.
The 60th ACM Awards will stream live for a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The show will be expanded from two to two-and-a-half hours, and celebrates six decades of country music.
The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions. Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Jay Penske and Barry Adelman serve as executive producers for DCP. John Saade will also continue to serve as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
Kapoor is among the most successful executive producers in TV. He has served in that capacity on the last four Grammy telecasts (alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins) and the last two Oscar telecasts (alongside Katy Mullan).
This will be the 18th time McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the ACM Awards. She first co-hosted the show in 1986 with John Schneider and the late Mac Davis. McEntire is fast closing in on Bob Hope’s record as the most frequent host of any major awards show. Hope hosted or co-hosted the Oscars 19 times between 1940 and 1978.
This year’s show is presented by Carnival Cruise Line. A limited number of tickets to the show are available for purchase on SeatGeek.
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest running country music awards show. It made history in 2022 as the first major awards ceremony to exclusively livestream.
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveEarlier this month, it was announced that Kehlani would perform at Slope Day, Cornell University’s annual spring concert to celebrate the final days of undergraduate classes. Her concert invitation has now been rescinded, however, due to her opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.“Slope Day is a cherished tradition at Cornell—a time for our community to come together to celebrate the end of classes. For decades, student leaders have taken the helm in organizing this event, hiring performers they hope will appeal to the student body,” the university’s president, Michael I. Kotlikoff, wrote in an email to students that was posted online.“Unfortunately, although it was not the intention, the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord into Slope Day,” he continued. “For that reason, I am rescinding Kehlani’s invitation and expect a new lineup for a great 2025 Slope Day to be announced shortly.”Explaining his decision to remove Kehlani from Slope Day, Kotlikoff said: “In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt, and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media. While any artist has the right in our country to express hateful views, Slope Day is about uniting our community, not dividing it.”Kehlani has long opposed Israel’s war in Gaza and shown support for Palestinians. Israel’s war in the territory escalated after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 Israelis. A ceasefire took hold in January 2025, but ended in March, as Israel accused Hamas of violating terms of the agreement. According to recent numbers from Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s offensive has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians.According to The Cornell Sun, students from Cornellians for Israel launched a petition against the selection of Kehlani not long after she was announced for Slope Day. The group took issue with some of her social media posts and cited the singer’s “Next 2 U” music video, which opened with the message “Long Live the Intifada.” The term “intifada,” an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising, is used by pro-Palestinian demonstrators to signal support for the region’s liberation from oppression. It has also been used to describe periods of violent protests by Palestinians against Israelis. Representatives for Kehlani did not immediately respond to Pitchfork’s requests for comment.Cornell’s decision to remove Kehlani from its spring concert arrives as President Donald J. Trump and his administration crack down against free speech on college campuses. The administration has particularly targeted schools that have dealt with student protests against Israel and the war in Gaza. Cornell, for example, recently, had more than $1 billion frozen by the Trump administration as the government investigates allegations of antisemitism on campus.
On the eve of the 2025 Billboard Latin Women in Music, a group of women – many of them included in the Latin Women in Music executive list – gathered to celebrate each other at Telemundo Center on Wednesday, April 23, in Miami.Hosted by Sonia Clavell, manager to reggaetón icon Ivy Queen, the executive also announced the launch of Bravas Entertainment, set to offer professional training, mentoring, creative production, music distribution and support networks for emerging female artists in the industry.
The event kicked off with a poignant speech by Billboard’s Leila Cobo, who expressed the importance of representation.
“When we created Latin Women in Music, the goal was to honor the Latin artists who made an impact that year, but the heart of Women in Music has always been the executives who are at the side of those artists,” Cobo said. “When we talk about how to expand the role of women in music it’s a perpetual conversation. For me, the most important way to do that is to set an example, and to allow those coming up to dream because it’s hard for you to break through when there is no path.”
Ivy Queen also took the stage to share a few words about her fierce manager and talk about her rise in a male-dominated industry. “In the industry, we need friends,” the hitmaker said in her powerful speech. “True empowerment is not a hashtag, but a friend who reaches out to us and asks us if everything is OK. We need women who believe in our projects. Sonia is strong, and the important thing is to create a bond that you feel in your heart that they are supporting you.”
Clavell went on to invite the women present to collaborate with her and her new company. “We understand what it takes and what it hurts, but we also know how healing it is to have someone who believes in you. I would love along the way to be able to meet with you all and develop spectacular things for the new generation.”
The third annual Billboard Latin Women in Music special will air live at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on Thursday, April 24, exclusively on Telemundo, Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Below, see photos from the special event.
Ana Bárbara
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Ana Bárbara at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Yailin La Más Viral
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Yailin La Más Viral at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Leila Cobo
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Leila Cobo at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
EL DIVO DE CUBA
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Eduardo Antonio a.k.a. EL DIVO DE CUBA at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Sonia Clavell
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Sonia Clavell speaks onstage at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Ana Rosa Santiago, Cris Falcao & Alexandra Lioutikoff
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Ana Rosa Santiago, Cris Falcao and Alexandra Lioutikoff at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Sophia Talamas
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Sophia Talamas at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
DARUMAS
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Ceci León, Vedala Vilmond and Aldana Aguirre of the DARUMAS at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Paula Cendejas
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Paula Cendejas at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Genesis Diaz
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Genesis Diaz at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Jessica Roiz & Griselda Flores
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Jessica Roiz and Griselda Flores at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Ivy Queen
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Ivy Queen speaks onstage at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Manuela Ferradas & Juana Ferradas
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Manuela Ferradas and Juana Ferradas at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Veronica Vaccarezza
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Veronica Vaccarezza at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Rosela Zavala & Ana Bárbara
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Rosela Zavala and Ana Bárbara at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Sonia Clavell
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Sonia Clavell at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Ivy Queen & DARUMAS
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Ceci León, Ivy Queen, Vedala Vilmond and Aldana Aguirre at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Daniela Darlin
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Daniela Darlin at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Azu Olvera
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Azu Olvera at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Rosela Zavala
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Rosela Zavala at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Pamela Bustios, Marcia Olival, Leila Cobo, Griselda Flores, Ingrid Fajardo & Sigal Ratner-Arias
Image Credit: Jose “Chepe” Devillegas
Pamela Bustios, Marcia Olival, Leila Cobo, Griselda Flores, Ingrid Fajardo and Sigal Ratner-Arias at the Billboard and BRAVAS Entertainment Honor Latina Music Executives event held at Telemundo Center on April 23, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Five For Fighting‘s Grammy-nominated “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” became an anthem of solidarity and a No. 14 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 2001 after it was repurposed as a tribute to the victims and first responders of the horrific Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The gentle piano ballad on which band mastermind John Ondrasik sings “I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane/ I’m more than some pretty face beside a train/ And it’s not easy to be me” in his homage to heroes who have the right to bleed provided succor at a time when Americans were wounded to their souls over the deadly assault.
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Now, Ondrasik’s song has gotten a second life as a means to call attention to the estimated 59 Israeli hostages still being held hostage in Gaza in the wake of militant group Hamas’ murderous Oct. 7, 2023 attack in which around 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 250 were taken hostage.
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Ondrasik told NPR on Wednesday (April 23) that he re-wrote some of the song’s lyrics at the behest of the mother of 24-year-old hostage Alon Ohel. “When they reached out, I’m like, ‘of course. I’m honored to do this.’ And very quickly, it became clear that ‘Superman’ should be the song,” Ondrasik said, noting that some original lines, such as “Find a way to lie about a home I’ll never see” didn’t fit the assignment.
“I couldn’t have that line, ‘a home I’ll never see,’ because we all hope and pray they will see – and many of the hostages have come home,” said Ondrasik, who traveled to Israel last April to perform the song in Tel Aviv’s so-called “Hostages Square” on Ohel’s piano; he also released another song, “OK (We Are Not Okay)” last year to honor the hostages. The new “Superman” lyrics find him singing: “Found a way to fly to a home I will soon see.”
Ondrasik, 60, who is not Jewish, told NPR that for him, “this is a moral issue. It’s not political. It’s not religious. Everybody should be demanding to release the hostages. It’ll put much more pressure on Israel to end this war.”
The singer uploaded a new video for the song to YouTube on April 14 — two days after the start of the Passover holiday — with a message of hope, writing, “The strength and perseverance of our hostage families, while enduring over seventeen months of unimaginable torment and devastation, often seems Superhuman. I am honored to collaborate with current hostage Alon Ohel’s mother Idit, brother Ronen, and family and friends with this new version of ‘Superman’ to support Alon and all hostages and their families.”
Check out the new video Ondrasik recorded with footage from Hostage Square below.
Miami’s long-running festival III Points has announced the phase one lineup for its 2025 edition.
The two-day fest will feature sets from artists including 2Hollis, Michael Bibi, Peggy Gou, Darkside, Barry Can’t Swim, Indira Paganotto, Nina Kraviz, Sean Paul, Anotr, Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, Denzel Curry, L’Imperatrice, Mk.Gee and Turnstile.
III Points 2025 will happen Oct. 17-18 at its longtime site at Miami’s Mana Wynwood. Tickets go on sale Thursday (April 24), with lineup additions to be announced in the coming months.
2025 will mark the festival’s 11th edition since it launched in 2013. The festival was founded by a trio of Miami natives, and over the last decade, has become a standout event on the U.S. electronic festival circuit, while also helping elevate Miami as one of the crown jewels cities in the country’s electronic scene.
The festival, which partnered with Insomniac Events in 2019, has a strong focus on local culture, typically booking many acts from the Miami scene and bringing in food and craft vendors who reflect the city’s thriving local culture.
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“I think it’s just very authentically Miami, and a real time capsule of Miami sonically and visually right now,” III Points co-founder David Sinopoli told Billboard in 2023. “I think people feel that when they come.”
“We’re thrilled to be bringing III Points back to Miami for its 11th installment”, Sinopoli adds in a statement. “It is not easy navigating a forward-thinking, multigenre festival in the North American music landscape nowadays 一 but I believe our commitment to our Miami music community has been the guiding force for us.”
See the III Points phase one lineup below:
III Points 2025
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Save this storySaveSave this storySaveDavid Thomas, the founder and frontman of the influential, avant-garde rock band Pere Ubu, died yesterday (April 24) at his home in Brighton, England, the band wrote on Facebook. The statement attributed his death to a long illness, adding, “MC5 were playing on the radio. He will ultimately be returned to his home, the farm in Pennsylvania, where he insisted he was to be ‘thrown in the barn.’” Thomas was 71 years old.During their initial run from 1975 to 1982, Pere Ubu were an untamable band, merging the loose energy of garage rock with 1960s rock, as well as funk bass, unwieldy saxophones, and Thomas’ commanding presence. Though they predated the surge of the post-punk genre, Pere Ubu embodied that sound in all of its sharp, pent-up, and unpredictable nature, largely thanks to Thomas’ wild spirit and exclamatory delivery of tirades about rejection, war, and defiance. Once alt-rock started taking off in the 1980s, Pere Ubu’s artful absurdity inspired other bands in their wake, including Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Pixies, and R.E.M.Though born in Miami, on June 14, 1953, Thomas primarily grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where the city’s burgeoning rock scene would impact his passions. After toying with the idea of starting a band, Thomas finally started his first formal project, Rocked From the Tombs, in 1974. Their raucous punk take on rock never materialized into a record deal, and the band chose not to enter a studio to record their original songs. Barely a year later, Rocket From the Tombs fizzled out, with Thomas feeling particularly disheartened by his bandmates’ desire to play cover songs.Eager to continue pursuing original music, Thomas funneled his adventurous nature into the formation of a new band, Pere Ubu, with Rocket From the Tombs guitarist Peter Laughner, as well as bassist Tim Wright, drummer Scott Krauss, and synthesizer player Allen Ravenstein. Lifting their name from a character in an Alfred Jarry play—“I wanted to create a band that Herman Melville, William Faulkner or Raymond Chandler would have wanted to be in,” Thomas later said—Pere Ubu debuted with the sprawling, noisy, avant-garde single “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” and followed it with the sneaky jam “Heart of Darkness” and the explosive rock song “Final Solution,” the latter of which would become perhaps their most popular single in underground circles.After dropping a few more singles, Pere Ubu signed to Blank Records and released The Modern Dance, their debut album, in 1978. Though never a commercial success, the LP made its way into the hands of oddball punks and art-rock weirdos in the Midwest, intriguing many with its aloof approach to merging rock, punk, new-wave, and experimental prog.A few lineup changes and a brief disbandment later, Pere Ubu had dropped four more albums in a creative frenzy. Song of the Bailing Man briefly served as the band’s final album when they broke up in 1982. For their 1987 comeback, Pere Ubu recorded The Tenement Year the following year and picked up major label support, spawning an MTV hit in the shape of “Waiting for Mary” from 1989’s Cloudland. Pere Ubu reunited in fits and spurts over the ensuing decades in the hands of Thomas, who remained the only original member throughout the band’s tenure, and released 14 albums, not including live records. Pere Ubu’s final full-length album with Thomas would be 2023’s Trouble on Big Beat Street.“We aren’t experimental—we know what works and what doesn’t,” Thomas told Louder Sound in 2024. “If you sit down and really analyse Pere Ubu songs, they don’t make a speck of sense, but there is this organic wholeness to it – some of the beats have been flipped around, dropped and picked up again later and you have to remember all that, but it all sounds natural. I think that’s a prog rock idea. But I wouldn’t want to go out and [be] ‘pastiche.’ It would be as false as some white band from Birmingham playing reggae.”The statement announcing Thomas’ death noted that he and his band had been recording a new album. “He knew it was to be his last,” the statement read. “We will endeavour to continue with mixing and finalising the new album so that his last music is available to all. Aside from that, he left instruction that the work should continue to catalog all the tapes from live shows via the official bandcamp page. His autobiography was nearly completed and we will finish that for him. Pere Ubu’s Patreon will continue as a community, run by communex.”The statement concluded, “We’ll leave you with his own words, which sums up who he was better than we can: ‘My name is David Fucking Thomas… and I’m the lead singer of the best fucking rock n roll band in the world.’”Upon learning of Thomas’ death, numerous artists have shared tributes online in his honor, including David Grubbs, Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner, and more. “Such sad news of the passing of the darkly brilliant David Thomas of Pere Ubu. singer and larger-than-life persona,” wrote Elliott Sharp. “I had been a huge fan of the EP Datapanik In The Year Zero, and LPs The Modern Dance, and Dub Housing. In 1979, the Scientific Americans opened for Pere Ubu at Rahars in Northampton MA. I would guest on tenor sax with the SciAms and on this gig, met and hung out with the Ubus and especially bonded with bassist Tony Maimone, the beginning of many years of friendship and collaboration. Touring in Germany in 1983, I opened for David Thomas with Chris Cutler and Lindsay Cooper. Thomas was stellar and hilarious, firing Cutler onstage with a slow burn. Later, we met in various European festivals. David Thomas & Two Pale Boys was an incredible group and one of my favorite situations to see and hear David.”