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When the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) comes to a close on Feb. 21, five artists — Warren Zeiders, Dasha, Ashley Cooke, Drew Baldridge and Zach Top — will have 20 minutes apiece to make a lasting impression on programmers at the New Faces of Country Music show.
That 20-minute slot may not sound like much, but it’s significant. In its original incarnation, New Faces allowed artists to perform just two songs, which meant they had about seven minutes to win over a room of professional skeptics. Because of decisions made 25 years ago, this year’s class has nearly triple the amount of stage time to influence programmers from across the country. Many of those gatekeepers will be evaluating these artists’ work for the rest of their careers.
The long-tail importance can’t be discounted. In just the last week, Lee Brice had a conversation with a radio executive who recalled specifics about his New Faces appearance in 2011.
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“I knew that you got to get your face out there, and that people talk about it,” Brice says, recounting the obvious benefits of that appearance. “But they’re still talking about it [14] years later. That I didn’t realize.”
The New Faces show had make-or-break moments in its earliest years, building a reputation as a star-making platform. Alabama in 1980, Randy Travis in 1986 and Tim McGraw in 1994 all impressed the crowd with their two-song sets, solidifying support from broadcasters who inevitably helped them become significant ambassadors for the genre.
Conversely, a few artists snuffed out their possible futures with appearances that ran from amateurish to over the top. In one particular instance, an independent artist thanked the crowd for making her a “star,” though she had never reached the top 25 on Billboard’s country singles chart. The room’s influencers groaned audibly, and she only made one more chart appearance with a single that peaked in the 60s.
More stringent qualifications have since been instituted. The annual lineup was halved in 2000 from 10 artists to five. More recently, CRS instituted a vote of radio employees and other members of the music industry and media to select performers. That has changed the impact of a New Faces appearance. It previously represented an introduction to an artist; now it’s a confirmation of the industry’s embrace.
“The purpose of it is different,” Country Radio Broadcasters executive director RJ Curtis says, “but I still think it has significance and meaning for our event and for the artists’ careers.”
A Billboard study of the 413 artists who appeared at New Faces from 1970 to 2024 underscores the change. During the first 30 years, when the lineup usually featured 10 artists performing two songs apiece, more than half of them — 52% — reached the top 10 on Billboard‘s country singles chart in their careers. Since 2000, when the lineup was reduced to five acts performing for 20 minutes each, a whopping 91% have gone top 10.
The difference is significant, reflecting changes in not only the New Faces show but also the structure of the entertainment landscape. During the early days of CRS, there was no internet or even a country cable TV network. Programmers may not have seen an 8 by 10 glossy of all the artists or, in some cases, even received a 7-inch to sample. A New Faces appearance was literally a chance to make a first impression.
McGraw’s 1994 appearance is a case in point. He had had a polarizing hit with his novelty “Indian Outlaw,” but his second song that night was a still-unreleased “Don’t Take the Girl.” It effectively changed the narrative around his career.
“I’d never heard that song before,” Curtis recalls. “Tim nailed it. It was mind-blowing. The room was beside itself, and rightly so, and Tim has acknowledged that, yes, that was a big moment for him.”
Under current conditions, most attendees have likely met some of the New Faces artists and even had them sing in their conference rooms on radio promotion tours or had them perform for an acoustic, station-sponsored benefit. And with 20 minutes to play, the artists are better able to shape — if they’re so inspired — a set list that represents a musical journey. Curtis points to Eric Church in 2007 as an example.
“It was like an introduction or an autobiography, a statement about who he was as an artist, what he believed in and what his shows were going to look like if you hadn’t seen him live,” Curtis remembers. “To a lot of people who were the big Eric Church fans, it was about the live show. That was an experience — it wasn’t just a concert, it was like a shared experience — and Eric Church came out in 2007 and did a really clever [show], all tied in together. Very strategic.”
The decision to cut the lineup from 10 artists to five was likewise a strategic move by CRS. The late Charlie Monk, one of the seminar’s founders, told Curtis that in the show’s early years, performance slots were based less on the artists’ accomplishments than on their teams’ ability to pull strings.
“I hate to say this, but back in the day, it was kind of a smoke-filled room,” Curtis admits. “There were deals, there were ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine’ [agreements] — that’s the way the business was back then.”
That meant there were acts appearing on the show who didn’t necessarily warrant the opportunity. The board decided to shrink the field from 10 performers to five in 2000 and institute criteria for the first time, including benchmarks related to airplay charts. (Beginning with the 2026 show, Billboard‘s multimetric Hot Country Songs will figure into eligibility.)
Naturally, requiring a specific level of success led to stronger lineups, and with only five slots, there have been plenty of instances where a worthwhile performer missed one year, but was eligible again the next year and made it. Zeiders, who will perform this year, is a prime example. That also strengthens New Faces, though it also means the showcase experience is different from its original concept. There’s less suspense about the artists, and a surprise breakout is far less likely. Instead, it’s more a celebration of the developing acts that the industry has already generally embraced.
“It was a predictor,” Curtis says, “and now it’s a validation.”
Myke Towers secures his 13th No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart as “Otra Noche,” featuring Darell, surges 13-1 for its first week atop on the chart dated Feb. 22. It’s the biggest jump of 2025 so far, out of the four songs that have ruled the tally.
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“Otra Noche” rallies to the top after a 36% surge in audience impressions, to 7.8 million, earned in the U.S. in the Feb. 7-13 tracking week, according to Luminate.
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The recent airplay boost for “Otra Noche” is perhaps due in part to Towers’ upcoming participation at SBS’ Calibash festival on March 7, with SBS’ WSKQ (New York) among the biggest supporters of the song, with the most plays for the tracking week, while Univision’s WXNY (New York), KAMA (Houston) and KDXX (Dallas), and SBS’ WMEG (Puerto Rico) round up the top five stations by spin count.
As “Otra Noche” takes the lead, it ejects Bad Bunny’s “El Clúb” from No. 1 after two weeks in charge. The latter drops 4-1 with a 17% dip in impressions.
“Otra Noche” gives Towers his 13th No. 1 on Latin Airplay in 2025. He previously reigned with “La Capi” in May 2024. Darell, meanwhile, returns to the summit after five years; “Otra Trago,” with Sech, Nicky Jam, Ozuna and Anuel AA, ruled for one week in 2019.
As “Noche” surges 13-1, it becomes the largest jump out of the four songs that have ruled Latin Airplay, and the only one to jump more than one slot to the top. Shakira’s “Soltera,” Bad Bunny’s “El Clúb” and Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” all rose 2-1. The last song to have a larger jump to No. 1 came on the July 20, 2024, chart, when “Perdonarte Para Qué?” by Los Angeles Azules y Emilia climbed 15-1.
“Otra Noche” was the fourth single from Towers’ fifth studio album, La Pantera Negra, released August 2024 on Warner Latina. The album debuted at Nos. 7 and 2 on Top Latin Albums and Latin Rhythm Albums, respectively, last September.
Rizzle Kicks has learned not to question a bolt from the blue. While working on the lyrics for its mighty new LP, Competition is for Losers, the duo – comprised of rappers Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule – was struck by moments of synergy. The two members had entered the studio with the intention to make “an album talking about exactly where we’re at in our lives,” says Alexander-Sule, 14 tracks of fluorescent-hued pop-rap that celebrate a journey to embracing stillness over momentum, peace over chaos.
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The pair’s freewheeling spirit shines on the record because of how easily its bars dip and traverse through different moods. Tracks like “Everything’s Aligned” and “Javelin” hone in on the realization that something truly powerful can still exist and thrive after years of fear have been pushed aside: for Stephens and Alexander-Sule, it’s a friendship that has withstood everything it has been through.
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Rizzle Kicks formed in Brighton as teenagers in 2008, having attended music workshops together, and then south London’s BRIT School, which also helped to launch the careers of Adele, Lola Young and Olivia Dean. Within three years, it became one of the biggest acts in the U.K. For a moment in time, 2011 debut album Stereo Typical felt omnipresent; it blasted from car windows, it shot over TV montages, it echoed through shopping centres.
The 2011 hits “Down With the Trumpets” and “Mama Do the Hump” both went platinum. A breezy approach to music-making conjured images of giddy misadventures, cider-soaked conversations among friends that would roll until dawn, in-jokes formed from the simple, shared pursuit of a laugh. Rizzle Kicks defined a specific, more innocent time in youth culture, so much so that TikTok has turned to labelling any glimpse of sunshine in the U.K. as “Rizzle Kicks weather”.
Shortly after they released its second LP Roaring 20s in 2013, which landed at No. 3 in the Official U.K. Album Charts, the pair say they had lost a sense of purpose. They started to drip-feed a number of singles and EPs, and diversified into acting, but many of these one-off releases felt like “treading water,” Alexander-Sule notes.
Rizzle Kicks attempted to create another album, which never came out, while a U.K. tour booked for late 2016 was called off before the pair even hit the road. Though Stephens and Alexander-Sule remained close during this period, for a number of years, the question of working together again was scrupulously avoided.
They soon shifted towards solitary creative work, including respective solo material. There was broadcasting and some literary projects (2024 memoir Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs and children’s book The Missing Piece) for Stephens, and for Sylvester, writing with the likes of ascendant British acts Rachel Chinouriri and Tom Grennan.
Rekindling their creative partnership as Rizzle Kicks after more than a decade necessitated an open mind for Stephens and Alexander-Sule, and a willingness to let go. Speaking over Zoom, the pair discuss new beginnings, last November’s comeback gig at KOKO in London, and the greater purpose of their comeback.
Jordan, on Miquita Oliver and Lily Allen’s Miss Me? podcast, you spoke about witnessing “rebellious joy” at your comeback gig. What does that phrase mean to you?
Jordan: I guess I’d be careful about [the energy] being seen as rebellion, but it was incredible. If I’m feeling pumped, I’m thinking of [Irish rap trio] Kneecap – they’re actively doing guerrilla marketing, picking court cases against the government – that’s so serious! But my understanding of the gig at KOKO versus my understanding of the gigs we did 10 years ago is that the joy we’re providing feels a little bit different in these tough times.
It’s hard right now. I really, really hate saying that everything seems like it’s the end of the world. I don’t like being apocalyptic. But we’re seeing the worst of everything in the world right now; the news and social media is just more shocking than ever. The lane in which we exist might be more necessary, as we value community and live music. Being in a place with people who have a mutual interest is hugely important nowadays.
Are there any of your older songs that feel more potent or relevant now when playing them live?
Jordan: I loved playing the older songs [at KOKO]! In my mid 20s, after we put Rizzle Kicks on ice, I spent a lot of time dealing with stuff to do with being in the pop industry; how I felt about my own self-worth and understanding of achievement. In that time, through the work I’ve done on myself, I’ve turned around and realised that [Rizzle Kicks] did so well at such a young age.
I actually really reveled in playing the songs that everybody loves. We made a breakthrough as being carefree, f–king joyful young men, you know? And that’s what we were talking about in the music. Don’t get me wrong, tracks like [2013’s] “Lost Generation” were politically-charged, to an extent. But we weren’t mouthy – ultimately, we just wanted to give people a good time.
Was there anything that shifted in your personal lives that made it the right time to return to music?
Harley: Making music with Jordan is my favorite thing in the world, and I just wanted that feeling back. Before, I was definitely struggling a lot with my mental health, and just over time, that got better. I spent a lot of time with people I love, and eventually, the desire to get back in the studio started to outweigh the pressure of returning to the stage. Other than the initial, overwhelming period after the news was out, I’ve dealt with everything a lot better than I could have anticipated.
Did you ever worry that the public’s reaction to the comeback wouldn’t meet your own expectations?
Harley: “I mean, if anything, when we announced that we were going to come back the response was overwhelming. I remember the day we put the KOKO tickets on sale, I said to my manager, ‘I’d be really happy if we could sell 300 tickets on the first day, that’d be great.’ And then it sold out in 15 seconds!
Jordan has remained in these media spaces over the years, but I’ve definitely been away from the world for a long time, so I found it quite overwhelming at first. There’s quite a lot of schools around where I live, and I was getting hounded for the first couple of weeks because our comeback videos were getting shared loads. I can’t believe how excited people were.
We’re not trying to base this whole comeback on nostalgia, however. We want this to be something that can grow from here. We want to be in a space where we can continue to make albums and tour; we want this to be consistent, not just a ‘flash in the pan’-type situation. We could have easily released a song, done a tour, made a bit of cash, and then f–ked off again. The fact that this album has been in the works for four or five years is testament to how seriously we’re taking this era. We really want to push ourselves and progress.
How different does it feel to be writing from a place of acceptance in your life?
Jordan: For me, personally, I was so chaotic on the last album. This is the complex thing of mixing drugs with creativity, is that we have this whole historical notion around being a ‘tortured genius.’ I was messed up by crazy ideas, I needed grounding – but at the time, even Harley struggled to do that with me. I don’t have any real vivid memories of that time, other than I know where I recorded it, and I know I involved a bunch of my family in the process.
In the past, I would have been eating loads of sugar, doing drugs and drinking [during recording]. Now I’m just drinking maybe one coffee. I’m thinking more logically and rationally; I’m a better rapper; I’m more relaxed and comfortable in the studio. I had great lyrics back in the day, but nowadays, I deliver bars with a little bit more confidence.
But also, I write so much slower than I used to! That’s one thing, I guess, that’s a blessing and a curse in a way. When I was younger, I used to think so fast, and sometimes I’d only be able to think in rhyme. But now, I only have one or two thoughts at a time. Sometimes they trouble me, but they’re calmer. So if I’m writing a rap, I don’t just write rap verses for no reason. I’m there for three or four hours writing a 16-bar verse, just because I’m chilling!
Warner Records has partnered with respected hip-hop and R&B executive Tim Hinshaw to launch Free Lunch Records, an extension of his creative and touring firm Free Lunch Agency, the companies announced on Wednesday.
The collaboration aims to provide Warner artists ready access to Free Lunch’s creative, touring and sync services while serving as a new platform for emerging talent. Warner Records senior vp of A&R Ericka Coulter has been named general manager of the upstart label, which also announces its first two signings in Syd and Alex Isley. Coulter will keep her continue her role at Warner, the label noted.
Hinshaw announced Free Lunch Agency in August 2023 while still head of hip-hop and R&B at Amazon Music, a role he held five years. At launch, Free Lunch said its goal was to “authentically connect brands with artists and culture through bespoke storytelling and real-life experiences.” The agency’s name is a nod to the free lunch programs provided by public schools and parks in underserved communities nationwide.
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While at Amazon, Hinshaw played a key role in securing major partnerships, including the exclusive livestream of Kendrick Lamar’s The Big Steppers Tour and Amazon Music Live performances featuring Lil Baby, A$AP Rocky, and 21 Savage. He also spearheaded deals for high-profile events, including for Tyler, The Creator, J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival and Summer Walker.
As Amazon executive Steve Boom said at the time, Hinshaw put Amazon Music into the conversation among the hip-hop and R&B community “in a way, frankly speaking, we were not.” His efforts there earned him executive of the year honors in Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list in 2022.
Prior to joining Amazon Music, Hinshaw built the urban music division at Fender Guitars, worked in music marketing for Vans and co-managed his brother, songwriter Prince Charlez, leading to a joint venture with Island Def Jam and a global publishing deal with Universal.
Warner Records co-chairman and CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck praised Hinshaw’s ability to create impact beyond music.
“Tom [Corson] and I are thrilled to welcome Tim and his Free Lunch team to the label,” said Bay-Schuck. “His expertise stretches far beyond finding and nurturing talent – he knows how to make sure his artists are making an impact. Early on in our conversations, it was clear bringing Tim and Free Lunch into the Warner fold would be a perfect synergy. Tim is immersed in the vast culture of hip-hop and R&B, across music, sports, fashion, and live entertainment, and together we’ll work towards our shared goal of uplifting the best and brightest in the genre.”
Hinshaw added that “by uniting Free Lunch Agency with Warner Records, we can combine our expertise in creative, music, and brand building to elevate the first-class roster,” saying, “together we’ll expand the scope of artist narratives to connect even more deeply with fans across the globe.”
A$AP Rocky was full of emotions in the moment a jury ruled he was not guilty in his 2021 felony shooting case Tuesday (Feb. 18). So much so, he leapt straight over a courtroom barrier into the arms of the first person he wanted to celebrate with: Rihanna. In a news clip from a […]
Source: HipHopWired.com / iOne Digital
Hip-Hop icons Ja Rule and Juvenile catch up and trade stories on the latest episode of HipHopWired’s popular digital series, I Got Questions.
In the latest episode of the I Got Questions digital series from HipHopWired, two MCs who ruled rap music in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Juvenile and Ja Rule sit down to discuss their careers and perspectives in shaping the culture. After indulging in a sip of the Murder Inc. veteran’s new honey botanical whiskey Amber and Opal, Ja Rule shares the story of how Juvenile and Cash Money Records’ rise coincided with the appearance of his first group, Cash Money Click.
The “Holla Holla” rapper also shared how while on tour with Jay-Z and listening to Juvenile’s hit “Ha” from his 400 Degreez album, he witnessed Jay-Z come up with the verse for the eventual remix in his head. “Oh I got a verse for this, I’m gonna have to reach out to them,” Ja Rule said. Juvenile confirmed how he and Jay-Z connected to do the remix, and revealed that some down in his hometown weren’t too pleased. “Boy, a lot of people in New Orleans, the Hip-Hop heads were going crazy,” he began laughing as he reminisced, “but the hood, they were like “Man, why you did that? You sellin’ out!!” Juvenile also spoke about the Hot Boys reunion with Lil Wayne, B.G., and Turk, expressing how emotional it was for him. “If people watch it, they see me turn around a lot and I was turning around a lot because I was wiping my face,” he said. “I wondered if people realized what I went through to get my brothers on this stage together.”
Both rappers spoke about how hard it was to get the love from fans in New York, which led to Juvenile reminiscing about his legendary night at the Tunnel nightclub. Ja Rule then spoke about witnessing Ice Cube’s iconic performance at The Apollo Theatre in Harlem after his break with N.W.A. “When he took the hat off, and we saw he cut the Jheri-Curl off, we were throwing knots of money at the stage!!! Like, “Yeah, we got him! He’s with us!!”, he said.
They also shared stories about working with two historic producers like the late Irv Gotti and Mannie Fresh, and welcoming newer artists who sample his hits. “Don’t take the record and redo what I did. Take it in another direction, and reinvent it,” Juvenile stated.
Check out the entire interview above.
“I’ve been bursting at the seams to be able to talk about this stuff,” Chloe Moriondo tells Billboard of her upcoming album, Oyster. The singer-songwriter shifted her aesthetic across her three previous albums, from the ukulele twee on 2018’s Rabbit Hearted. to heartfelt pop-punk on 2021’s Blood Bunny to fuzzed-out, radio-ready melodies on 2022’s SUCKERPUNCH.
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Oyster, due out Mar. 28 on Public Consumption/Atlantic Music Group, functions as an amalgamation of those sounds, while also featuring the 22-year-old’s most vulnerable lyrics by far. “This feels like a very special project,” says Moriondo. “I’m nervous, as I always am before releasing things, but especially because this one’s so personal.”
On Wednesday (Feb. 19), Moriondo released the second preview of the album with “Hate It,” a gleefully unhinged pop track with a creeping bass line and an obsessive protagonist (“Wanna wear your body and trade places / Everybody loves you, and I hate it,” Moriondo sings on the chorus). After showcasing a sardonic streak on SUCKERPUNCH, Moriondo lets the dark humor simmer on the track while the listener is urged to hum along.
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“It’s one of the only non-aquatic songs off the album,” Moriondo says of “Hate It,” which is surrounded by songs titled “7 Seas,” “Abyss” and “Shoreline” on Oyster. “I did stick very thematically with the ocean, water and all things aquatic in general. But ‘Hate It’ was an oddball, and it just proved to me that I’m going to continue writing murderous pop love songs till I die, I’m pretty sure. And we just couldn’t leave her off the album.”
Moriondo began working on the new album in early 2023, tinkering on songs for weeks at a time in London and Los Angeles, while also processing the worst breakup of her life. Heartbreak, and how to manage its aftereffects, serves as the undercurrent of Oyster, from the mournful piano ballad “Pond” to the reflective bedroom-pop track “Raw” to the breathtaking “Siren Calling,” which offers closure within the final track.
“It was very cathartic to be able to pour out everything that had been going on in my brain and in my life,” Moriondo notes. “It was nerve-wracking, in some ways. I kind of felt like a baby sea turtle — flopping around, confused — for the first couple sessions and the first couple songs. I felt a little bit nervous, but it also felt like an outpouring of pent-up energy and emotion that I was excited to finally be able to release.”
Not only does Oyster represent the cohesive front-to-back listen of Moriondo’s career, but the singer-songwriter says that she wants every aspect of this album campaign to feel part of a whole — and that she became more hands-on with the planning of execution of this rollout than she’s ever been.
“With this album, I’ve just learned how crucial it can be to be as involved as possible creatively, with every facet of the album,” she says. “With an album like Blood Bunny or Rabbit Hearted., I was so young, and I say this as a term of endearment, but I was still very ignorant to a lot of things. I don’t think I poured as much of myself as I could have into a lot of my previous stuff, in terms of the touring, the vinyl packaging, just the life and blood of it. So I think I’m much more connected creatively to this album than I have been.”
After releasing “Shoreline” as the first taste of Oyster last month, Moriondo also announced a spring headlining tour, which kicks off on Apr. 24 in Detroit. She says that ideas for performing these new songs live have dominated her thoughts for months, and she hopes that her shows are as freeing for her fans as making this album proved to be for her.
“The people who come to my shows, whether they’re longtime fans or new fans or boyfriends or parents of fans, can expect to experience a very immersive show,” Moriondo says with a laugh. “A lot of dancing, a lot of potential crying, and something reminiscent of the Jellyfish Jam from Spongebob.”
How you like that! BLACKPINK announced its highly anticipated 2025 world tour dates on Wednesday, Feb. 19, revealing that the global trek will kick off in July.
The K-pop supergroup consisting of JENNIE, ROSÉ, JISOO and LISA revealed that the limited run of shows will begin with a pair of shows July 5 and 6 at the Goyang Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, followed by stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Barcelona and more. The tour ends Aug. 15 with a stop at London’s famed Wembley Stadium, which will also mark the first time that a K-pop girl group has ever headlined the venue.
Though not mentioned in the press release, the group’s Instagram post announcing the tour dates also revealed that 2026 shows are also coming to the Tokyo Dome in mid January.
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Tickets for the shows go on sale Feb. 27 via Live Nation. Onsale start times will vary by market.
The 2025 world tour will be the first time BLACKPINK has gone on the road as a group since the Born Pink World Tour, which ran from 2022 to 2023. That trek landed the K-pop group on the Billboard‘s 2023 Top Tours chart, having sold 703,000 tickets over 29 shows during the period of eligibility; the trek grossed $148.3 million.
The group first teased the upcoming tour on Feb. 5. At the time, little information was revealed, with BLACKPINK sharing just a quick teaser video of fans screaming in massive venues, the four women on stage and the clip ending with the message “2025 World Tour” in pink lettering over a black background.
Over the past year, JENNIE, ROSÉ, JISOO and LISA have taken a break from group duties to focus on their own solo projects. LISA’s solo effort, Alter Ego, arrives at the end of the month on Feb. 28, while JENNIE‘s Ruby arrives a week later on March 7. JENNIE is also dropping a collab track with Doechii titled “ExtraL” this Friday (Feb. 21). And just last week on Valentine’s Day, JISOO dropped her mini solo album, AMORTAGE. ROSÉ’s solo album rosie arrived in early December, and also features her Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 hit “APT.” alongside Bruno Mars.
LISA, who also confirmed that a BLACKPINK tour was coming this year in her November Billboard cover story, expressed excitement about the trek at the time. Said the pop star: “I can’t wait.”
See BLACKPINK’s 2025 World Tour dates below:
Justin Timberlake, BTS’ J-Hope, Gracie Abrams, Raye and Benson Boone are among the headliners for 2025’s Lollapalooza Berlin. Among the other acts slated to perform on July 12 and 13 at Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium in Berlin are: Armin Van Burren, Brutalismus 3000, Ive, The Last Dinner Party, Dom Dolla, John Summit, Artemas, Shaboozey, Royel Otis, Ashnikko, Magdalena Bay, Sofi Tukker, Bigxthaplug and Mark Ambor, among many others.
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Tickets for the festival are on sale now.
Lollapalooza Berlin was the first European extension of the beloved Lolla brand, first touching down in 2015, shifting between a series of different venues before finding its permanent home in the Olympic Park in the heart of Berlin.
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Last year’s fest featured a similarly eclectic lineup topped by Sam Smith, Martin Garrix, Burna Boy, OneRepublic, Seventeen, The Chainsmokers and solo sets from former One Direction band mates Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
The 2025 Berlin edition will also host Mother Mother, Mahmut Orhan, Argy, Mark Ambor, Bunt., Nora En Pure, Miss Monique, Anna, Flo, Joey Valence & Brae, Neil Frances Present Club NF, Benjamin Ingrosso and Wasia Project, among others. The set from J-Hope will come following the conclusion of the K-pop superstar’s Hope on the Stage 2025 solo world tour, which will kick off on Feb. 28 with the first of two shows at KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea before jumping to the Barclays Center in New York and winding down on June 1 with the second of two shows at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan.
Check out the poster for the 2025 Lollapalooza Berlin festival below.
On the heels of his first book, Dark Days: A Memoir, in 2015, Lamb of God frontman Randall Blythe did not want to follow it up with another non-fiction book. But he was counseled otherwise.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I never want to write non-fiction ever again,’” Blythe tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Richmond, Va. “But my literary agent was like, ‘No, you need to write another non-fiction book to prove to publishers that you’re not just a one-trick pony, contingent on this very kind of bizarre and unfortunate story.’ And I was like, ‘OK, he’s the literary agent, so I’m gonna follow his advice.’ But I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. This book was more difficult to write than my first one.”
Dark Days focused on Blythe’s legal battles in the Czech Republic, where he was arrested in 2012 and hit with manslaughter charges over the death of a fan at a 2010 Lamb of God show in Prague; he was acquitted in 2013. “(Dark Days) had a classic three-act narrative structure provided by that unfortunate even in my life. This one it was more, ‘Here’s an idea. Let’s see what happens.’ So it was a different experience.”
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In Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace With the Wars Inside Our Head (Grand Central) — which published Tuesday (Feb. 18) – Blythe offers a series of essays about what Blythe calls “perspective” on mortality, sobriety, creativity, mental health, the environment and other issues. “I knew I wanted to write about death. I knew I wanted to write about surfing — that’s another thing that has broadened my perspective in life and really made my life better,” Blythe says. “So death and surfing, which I thought would be a good book title. And I just kinda went from there.”
Just Beyond the Light begins with a chapter devoted to Blythe’s relationship with Wayne Ford, a Lamb of God fan dealing with terminal leukemia who passed away at 33.
“The ultimate fear of every human is our mortality, really,” Blythe explains. “I befriended (Ford) during the last month or two of his life, and the way he handed his mortality was extremely…I hate to use the word inspiring, but it was. I had this honest, open sort of relationship with him when we were talking, and to see this young man handle it with such grace and dignity, it really altered my perspective.
“I’m almost 54 years old now. Mortality is staring me more and more in the face, and it’s something I think about a lot. And it doesn’t freak me out; I view it as something not to be afraid of because it’s going to happen to us all inevitably. But I knew I wanted to write about that.”
Mortality provides a thread throughout the Just Beyond the Light, as does discourses on sobriety, which Blythe achieved more than a decade ago. “I wouldn’t have these perspectives if I wasn’t sober now,” he notes. “I wouldn’t have any perspective, period, because I think I’d be dead by now — to bring it back to mortality. My drinking, it got in the way of everything because I bought into the sort of cultural mythos of the hard drinking, hard drugging, hard partying artist for awhile.
“I didn’t become an author until I got sober. I talked about being a writer. I did all the things that (Charles) Bukowski and (Ernest) Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson did. I drank and partied and womanized, got in a few fights. I did all the things those great writers did — except writing. I was practicing to be a writer I suppose, but when I got sober I was able to become the writer I’m supposed to be.”
In other parts of Just Beyond the Light, Blythe uses a stay at the Chelsea Hotel in New York to ruminate on songwriting and other forms of creativity, while the chapter before laments the epidemic of school shootings in the United States and the lack of effective measures to prevent them. There are plenty of viewpoints in the book that may butt up against social and political sensibilities that have surfaced in the country during the past month, but Blythe (acknowledging that “I’m strapped in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride”) is ready to have those conversations when he begins a 15-date speaking tour to promote the book.
“I’m very much interested in conversations,” he says. “I think that is a problem within our culture now, that lack of dialogue. And for me, I think that dialogue can only effectively occur in a face-to-face setting, because I think that within the confines of the Internet there’s a tendency towards tribalization…and to view others almost as less than human. It’s us and them, and our common humanity is lost and people are just typing slogans at each other — from both the left and the right, as far as I can tell. There’s no discourse, and that’s extremely distressing to me.”
Those appearances will be anything but rote, Blythe promises.
“I’m not gonna be reading; they could just stay home and do that,” he says. “I’m gonna get up there and tell stories from outside the book. I want all the stories to service the main theme of the book, which is perspective. I’ve never done it before, so it’s gonna be an interesting experiment for me. We’ll see what happens.”
Beyond the book, Blythe says Lamb of God — marking its 30th year since he joined the band, then known as Burn the Priest, and independently released its first demo tape — is headed for a “light” year after heavy touring in the wake of 2022’s Omens album. Guitarist Mark Morton also wrote a memoir, Desolation: A Heavy Metal Memoir, for which Blythe provided assistance as well as a cover photo. (“His book is more of a Lamb of God retrospective,” Blythe says, “which I think is cool ’cause I don’t want to write that. I’m glad he did the heavy lifting.”) Blythe also made guest appearances on recent albums by P.O.D. and Lacuna Coil.
The band, meanwhile, will be playing festivals — Inkcarceration in Ohio and Louder Than Life in Kentucky — but Blythe and company are most excited about being on the bill for the Back To The Beginning on July 5 in Birmingham, England, where Ozzy Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath will play its final show supported by a who’s who of heavy metal and hard rock acts.
“It’s an incredible honor to be asked to do this,” says Blythe, adding that Lamb of God will be performing one of its own songs and one Black Sabbath song, which is already chosen, though he won’t reveal what it is. “Black Sabbath was the first metal band, and we are going to their home town, which is the birthplace of heavy metal, to give them the best send-off we can. And it’s awesome it’s going to charity. I think all the bands are pretty emotional about it. All of us have Black Sabbath’s DNA in our music. They are the tree from which we have all fallen. And this is the last one; Ozzy has Parkinson’s, so it’s not like the endless Kiss farewell tour. This is it. So we want to go and give them the best send-off as possible and just show respect and thank them.”
Just Beyonce The Light
Courtesy Photo
The dates for Blythe’s book tour supporting Just Beyond the Light include:Feb. 19 – Philadelphia, Pa, Underground ArtsFeb. 21 – Harrisonburg, Va., The Golden PonyFeb. 23 – Somerville, Mass., Arts at the ArmoryFeb. 25 – Montreal, Quebec, Théâtre FairmountFeb. 26 – Toronto, Ontario, Red Room at The Concert HallFeb. 28 – Lansing, Mich., Grewal Hall at 224March 01 – Joliet, Ill., The ForgeMarch 03 – Nashville, Tenn., The Basement EastMarch 04 – Dallas, Texas Granada TheaterMarch 05 – Austin, Texas, ParishMarch 07 – Denver, Colo., Meow WolfMarch 09 – Seattle, Wash., El CorazonMarch 12 – San Francisco, Calif., The IndependentMarch 13 – Los Angeles, Calif., El Rey TheatreMarch 14 – San Diego, Calif., House of Blues