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Billboard cover star & the ‘Future of Latin’ singer Xavi is making his mark. The young singer is sacrificing his youth to put in the work to take over the Latin music, and he shares how he first started getting into music, how he created “La Diabla,” why he’s putting love and passion into his music and more!
Xavi:
Yes, sir. We speaking English today. Hey Phoenix, Arizona, is where we at. Billboard! I grew up listening to Vicente Fernandez, Selena, you know, the typical music where like, that’s what my mom would wake me up to, you know, like she would be cleaning and she would put on Selena, Vicente. You know, I feel like I just grew up with all that music and then going to the U.S., there was a whole different world, you know. And I got to, like, hear Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and a lot of other ones, you know. I was, like, I was a little kid, so I would, like, dress up, yeah, I don’t know. I just really liked his music and like style. Instead of, like, expressing my emotions, I expressed it through music.
Lyndsey Havens:
Do you remember the first time that you actually started writing out lyrics for your own music?
Oh my gosh, it was a long time ago, but yeah, I do remember. I was 12, and I remember I would just like freestyle songs and stuff, and so, like, I got to a point where I was like, Wait, why am I not writing this, you know? So I started writing it, and I didn’t have the best handwriting, you know, but we made it work, and we wrote a little song, but it’s an old, old, old song. I don’t even remember it, but yeah, I was told when I wrote my first song.
Keep watching for more!
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A TikTok clip went viral showing Hunxho’s dad driving an Uber, and people started talking. Some fans felt that, since Hunxho’s making big money with cars, jewelry, and houses, he should be taking care of his pops so he doesn’t have to work.
Hunxho came out and addressed it, saying his dad is his own man and does what he wants. He said, “My pops his own man he choose to do what he want to do, was he around? No. I was raised by all women. Do I hold dat against him? No. Still bought him what he asked for, a new Cadillac truck, way before dat old a** video came out. I don’t owe nobody nun. I take care ALL my people.”
Hunxho’s dad was seen working as an Uber driver by a fan 👀
pic.twitter.com/QOzxtJqW1d
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) January 13, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Hunxho made it clear that he doesn’t hold any grudges against his dad, even though he wasn’t around growing up. He said he’s still been supporting his family, buying his dad a new Cadillac, and he’s not worried about what people think. Basically, he’s got love for his people, but he’s not obligated to take care of grown folks who make their own choices.
This is the first time we’re hearing anything outside of rapper Hunxho’s roller-coaster relationship with R&B legend Keyshia Cole. Recently, Keyshia bought a new ring that symbolized a broken heart, sparking rumors that the couple had broken up. Fans went wild with speculation, but just a day later, Hunxho shut down the rumors. He posted a message confirming that everything was good between them, and they’re still very much together. The back-and-forth drama had everyone guessing, but it seems like Hunxho and Keyshia are still solid, despite the internet trying to stir things up.
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What does it say about a person that attaching their name to a product instantly increases the likelihood that the product’s value and saleability will plummet?
Apparently, this is a question for Elon Musk.
Not only has the platform formerly known as Twitter done virtually nothing but tank in every possible sense of the word since Phony Stark took the reins, but a recent study has shown potential Tesla buyers are shopping elsewhere for their automotive needs ever since Musk outed himself as an enthusiastic MAGA cultist who wears Donald Trump’s hind parts as a hat.
According to a new study published by Clean Technica, an independent journalism site focused on green and clean energy, researchers for JW Surety Bonds found that approximately 1 in 4 Americans “avoid Tesla’s technology due to their opinions on Elon Musk.”
Imagine that: Tesla’s latest innovation, the Cybertruck, is an $80,000 vehicle (that’s the low-end price tag) that has been rife with malfunctions and subsequent recalls and looks like it was designed by Homer Simpson for children who still participate in soap boxcar racing — but that might not be why a consumer won’t buy it. Basically, a company could be selling an authentic spaceship for cheap and folks still might not shell out a dime for it because Musk’s name is on it. That’s a damn shame, especially for a CEO who is supposedly a tech genius. (I mean, we all know Elon is a tech pro like Ronald McDonald is a fry cook, but still.)
The only thing particularly surprising about the results of JW’s study is that it’s not young people who are likely to reject a product attached to Musk, it’s also the older generations that Trump has relied on for votes.
From Clean Technica:
Perhaps surprisingly when you consider values and norms they are known for, but perhaps unsurprisingly when you consider how popular Tesla has gotten among young people, the age group most likely to avoid Tesla technology due to Elon Musk is Baby Boomers (people born people 1946 and 1964). Despite stereotypes, though, Baby Boomers came of age in the massive cultural change era of the 1960s and 1970s. They were extremely involved in busting up conservative and closed-minded cultural norms and charting a new course forward for American culture and the world. So, it’s also not that surprising that many in the generation are offended by the strong push to “go backward” and be more closed minded and deeply traditional again. That generation also appreciates more the efforts required to change society, and are more aware of what life was like before those changes.
Tesla sales declined in 2024 compared to 2023. It was the first annual decline for the company since the Model S was launched in 2012. There are many reasons for that, but Tesla definitely took a sales hit in the key market of California, as well as elsewhere, because of Elon Musk’s more and more involved and more and more extreme political engagement. There was already strong research on that as well as a wicked drop in Tesla sales in California. However, the situation surely grew as the year went on and reached new heights in November when Donald Trump was elected president instead of Kamala Harris and Elon Musk was by Trump’s side along the way, during Thanksgiving, during Christmas, and on New Year’s Eve.
It’s almost as if no one really benefits from being a Trump supporter besides the orange man himself. (Just ask Rudy Giuliani.)
My Morning Jacket announced on Wednesday morning (Jan. 15) that their 10th studio album, Is, will be released via ATO Records on March 21. The group’s first new full-length LP in more than three years was produced by Grammy-winner Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam).
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The Louisville-bred group that has typically self-produced their albums in the past mostly recorded Is at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles with O’Brien. Lead singer/guitarist Jim James — who has produced or co-produced all of their studio albums since 1999 — explained in a statement that their interest in working with the acclaimed producer came from a “newfound willingness to open up their process and involve an outside creative force.”
“Up until now I’ve never been able to let go and allow someone else to steer the ship,” James said in the statement. “It almost felt like an out-of-body experience to step back and give control over to someone who’s far more accomplished and made so many more records than us, but in the end I was able to enjoy the process maybe more than I ever have before.”
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The first fruits of those efforts is available now via the gauzy lead single “Time Waited,” which dropped on Wednesday along with a Danny Clinch-directed video. The impressionistic clip from the photographer/director known for his work with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam features a mix of performance footage and floating flowers with archival photos from throughout the band’s quarter-century-plus history.
“I made a loop of that piano intro and listened as I went for a walk, and all these melodies started coming to me,” said James about the song that was inspired by a sample of a piano part the singer found on pedal steel master Buddy Emmons’ classic 1969 Emmons Guitar Inc. album.
“For a long time, I didn’t have lyrics, but then I had a dream where I was in a café and a song was playing, and the lyrics to that song became the lyrics to ‘Time Waited’ – the melodies just fit perfectly,” he added. “And the lyrics are about how flexible time is, how we can bend and warp time, especially if we are following our hearts, the universe and time itself can flow to work with us.”
“Well they say time waits for no one dear/ And it takes near death to show one, yeah/ But time waited… for you and me,” James sings over a hypnotic piano and gentle drums in the first verse before the track expands into one of the group’s patented psychedelic pop slow-burns.
According to the release, before teaming up with O’Brien for the sessions for their follow-up to 2021’s self-titled ninth album, they had recorded more than 100 demos to land on the final 10 that made the cut.
The final list includes: “Out in the Open,” “Half a Lifetime,” “Everyday Magic,” “I Can Hear Your Love,” “Time Waited,” “Beginning From the Ending,” “Lemme Know,” “Squid Ink,” “Die For It” and “River Road.”
“It feels really great to have a collection of songs we all love this much, and to know that we worked as hard as we possibly could on them,” James said. “Hopefully those songs will be helpful to people and give them some kind of peace as they try to deal with the insanity of the world – because that’s what music does for me, and doing the same for others is always my greatest dream come true.”
The band also said they will announced tour dates in support of the album soon. Before that, they will head down to Florida for the next edition of their three-night My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday festival at Miramar Beach’s Seascape Resort from April 3-5.
Watch the “Time Waited” video and check out the band’s album announcement below.
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If you want to experience the new Bad Bunny album you will have to take a trip to the Island of Enchantment. He has announced a residency in Puerto Rico, and the first couple of shows are open to only locals.
As spotted on Variety, the promotional roll out for performer’s newest project DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (transl. I Should Have Taken More Photos, shortened to DTMF) will shine a light on his hometown. This week, he announced a 21-date residency in Puerto Rico. Titled “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí” (I Don’t Want to Leave Here), a lyric from his hit “El Apagón,” the series will take place at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. To ensure that residents don’t get priced out, the first nine shows (July 11 to July 27) will be exclusive to those that live on the island.
On Monday (Jan. 13), Bad Bunny released a promotional trailer to his social media accounts announcing the Puerto Rico residency. Here he is seen walking past framed posters of his previous tours and explaining that while he has visited several countries he has yet to visit some on his bucket list and return to some cities he has not returned to in many years. At the end of his walk he says that he is returning home and would like his fans to meet him at his “Casa” (trans. House) and unveils the framed tour posted for the residency.
According to an AI-powered playlist name generator Playlist Name AI, Google searches for the term “Bad Bunny Tour” have surged 809% while “Puerto Rico Flights” have increased by 191% since the announcement.
You can read more about the No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí tour here.
Just 72 hours after launching an emergency fund to support families who’ve lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires, Paris Hilton announced on X on Tuesday (Jan. 14) that her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit has raised $800,000 for relief efforts. “Thank you. This community is incredible,” she wrote. “Help me reach my goal to continue supporting those impacted by wildfires in LA.” Click here to support the fund.
Last week, Hilton revealed that she’d lost her home in Malibu, posting video of the burned-out shell of her family’s house. “This house wasn’t just a place to live— It was where we dreamed, laughed, and created the most beautiful memories as a family,” she wrote. “It was where Phoenix’s little hands made art that I’ll cherish forever, where love and life filled every corner. To see it reduced to ashes… it’s devastating beyond words.”
Days later, she said as a mom of two she could not imagine the “pain and fear of not having a safe place for your babies,” in announcing the fund to support displaced families with young children. She pledged at the time to match the first $100K and then personally contribute $100K to the effort that will help families through the emergency relief organization CORE, including short-term housing and hotel stays for displaced families, as well as supporting local animal shelters.
Hilton also chronicled her volunteer work at Baby2Baby and the Pasadena Humane Society this weekend. At the latter, she agreed to foster a little dog named Zuzu. “As an animal lover, I am heartbroken by those who have lost their furry friends or have had to give them up due to being displaced,” Hilton wrote. “🥹 I want to do my part and take care of Zuzu and I encourage others who are able to to reach out to their local shelter to see how they can support them!”
At Baby2Baby, Hilton said she and her team helped pack essential supplies for babies and young children.
The historic fires have killed 25 people to date, with the two largest blazes burning nearly 40,000 acres to date. Officials warned that expected high winds on Wednesday (Jan. 15) could hinder efforts to contain the two largest fires, the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which are, respectively, only 18% and 35% contained.
A number of resources are available for those who have lost their homes or need assistance in other ways. The MusiCares and the Recording Academy Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort will help music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to kick off the efforts. People who have worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.
See Hilton’s post below.
Celine Dion paid loving tribute to her late husband, René Angélil, on Tuesday (Jan. 14) on the night anniversary of his death. “René, we can’t believe you’ve been gone nine years already. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel your presence, RC, Eddy, Nelson and I,” Dion wrote in an Instagram post featuring her and the couple’s three children, sons René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 14.
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“You were my greatest champion, my partner, and the one who always saw the best in me,” she added. “I honor you and you are forever missed mon amour…. We love you.” Angélil died of throat cancer in 2016 at 73. Dion and Angélil met when the singer was 12 and he was 38 and he later mortgaged his home to fund her debut album, 1981’s La voix du bon Dieu. The couple married at Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal on Dec. 17, 1994.
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Back in December, Dion marked another milestone when she honored Angélil on what would have been their 30th wedding anniversary. She posted a throwback black and white picture of the two from their wedding day, writing, “You still fill our hearts, every day. You are everything to us. We miss you so much. Happy 30th anniversary, mon amour!”
Earlier this week, Dion sent her thoughts and prayers to those suffering during the historic L.A. wildfires. “My heart goes out to everyone in Los Angeles affected by these devastating fires. In moments like this, it’s so important for us to come together and help,” she wrote on Instagram, where she included a list of resources for those who’ve lost their homes or been forced to flee the conflagrations that have killed 25 people to date. Officials are warning that high winds on Wednesday (Jan. 15) could hamper efforts to contain the two largest fires, which have burned nearly 40,000 acres to date.
For a longer list of organizations providing relief to those impacted by the fires click here.
Drake has dropped his legal action accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify of artificially inflating the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” less than two months after he first filed it.
The action, filed in November, accused UMG and Spotify of an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar’s song — a track that savagely attacked Drake amid an ongoing feud between the two stars.
But in a filing Tuesday (Jan. 14) in Manhattan court, Drake’s company Frozen Moments LLC said it would voluntarily withdraw the action “without costs to any party.” Another similar petition, filed in Texas against UMG and iHeartRadio alleging Lamar’s song was defamatory, remains pending.
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An attorney for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment on why the case was dismissed. A spokesman for UMG declined to comment. A representative for Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Drake shocked the music industry in November when he went to court — a remarkable twist in a high-profile beef that saw Drake and Lamar exchange stinging diss tracks over a period of months earlier in the year. That a rapper would take such a dispute to court seemed almost unthinkable at the time, and Drake has been ridiculed in some corners of the hip-hop world for doing so.
The actions also represented a stunning rift between Drake and UMG, where the star has spent his entire career — first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, then by signing directly to Republic.
The New York petition accused UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often used against organized crime. He accused Spotify of participating in the scheme by charging reduced licensing fees in exchange for recommending the song to users. A day later, he filed a similar action in Texas, suggesting that UMG had legally defamed him by releasing a song that “falsely” accused him of being a “sex offender.”
The filings were not full-fledged lawsuits, but rather “pre-action” petitions aimed petition seeking to secure information so that a full lawsuit can be filed.
UMG had not yet responded to either action. But in a stinging response last month, Spotify called the allegations “false” and flatly denied that it struck any deal with UMG to support Lamar’s song. And the company took aim at the unusual way he filed the allegations, saying he had done so because his allegations were too flimsy to pass muster in an actual lawsuit and would have been quickly dismissed: “This subversion of the normal judicial process should be rejected.”
In Tuesday’s filing, attorneys for Drake said they had met with both UMG and Spotify ahead of the withdrawal. Spotify had “no objection” to the dismissal, according to the filing, but the record “reserved its position” about whether it would challenge the move in some way.
R&B singer-songwriter SZA has opened up about her complicated relationship with fame.
In a candid conversation during One of Them Days alongside Issa Rae and Keke Palmer, SZA (real name Solana Imani Rowe) admitted that even after over a decade in the spotlight, she still finds being in the public eye “weird.”
“Some people are very well acclimated in being perceived and also have a different mechanism to approach that,” she explained. “Keke has this crazy network of a mechanism where it’s like, everything just kind of like flows, even when the cameras are on.”
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For SZA, who last month dropped SOS Deluxe: LANA, fame is a foreign concept. “I don’t really know what is happening. I don’t know what the hell going on,” she continued.
“I didn’t grow up famous, I grew up in the ‘burbs, I went to regular school, went to regular college, did regular odd jobs until everything popped off.”
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The four-time Grammy winner elaborated, “I’ve never been examined in this way. … I get just a comfortability with letting my shoulders down and knowing that I’m not in danger just because I’m being perceived by people that I don’t know.” She echoed Keke Palmer’s sentiment, describing fame as “weird” and admitting that people often assume she’s more at ease with it than she truly is.
SZA also reflected on her unexpected rise to superstardom: “They be like, ‘That’s what you signed up for,’ and then I’m like, ‘I didn’t even know what I was signing up for, actually.’ I just made a couple songs and I was grateful that they were liked, and then I kept going.”
In a recent social media post in January, SZA shared her intention to create two children’s albums, describing the move as a way to channel her creativity while contemplating a future outside of mainstream music.
“Every day I grapple with, ‘Am I done with music?’ Maybe I’m just not meant to be famous – I’m crashing and burning and behaving erratically,” the singer told British Vogue last year.
“It’s not for me because I have so much anxiety. But why would God put me in this position if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this? So I just keep trying to rise to the occasion. But I’m also just like, ‘Please, the occasion is beating my ass.’”
SZA’s recent accomplishments suggest otherwise. Her latest album, SOS Deluxe: LANA, released on December 20, 2024, builds upon the monumental success of SOS,” which spent multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. SOS returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in December after 22 months, thanks largely to activity generated by the album’s deluxe reissue.
In addition to her solo work, SZA’s collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on “30 for 30” from the SOS Deluxe: LANA album debuted at No. 1 on Hot R&B Songs Chart, with the two artists set to embark on a joint tour in 2025.
City and Colour frontman Dallas Green has dropped a bombshell for fans of his folk collaboration You + Me with pop icon Pink.
The Canadian musician, currently on tour in Australia with his band, revealed that the duo has completed a long-awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2014 debut Rose Ave.
“We started writing and recording some songs in 2018 and recorded some more in 2022 and in April last year, we wrapped it up,” Green said, as per News.com.au. “I would hope that it comes out sooner than later but there’s a lot going on; she’s just finished the feat of doing back-to-back stadium tours and I’m just about to finish two and a half years of touring myself.”
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In another interview with The Plug podcast, Green noted that Moore also made the surprise announcement during a recent charity show.
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“She announced it on stage and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re talking about this? I’m gonna talk about it!’”
Pink first met Green through her husband Carey Hart and felt an immediate creative connection. She then invited the singer-songwriter to Los Angeles, where they recorded the majority of their debut, Rose Ave., in one week.
The two artists had worked together on one previous occasion. In 2014, Moore “sang with [Green] once at another show,” and she told Billboard she “knew that we didn’t sound horrible.” So when “the stars aligned” and both artists had some time off, they decided to try to recreate that magic.
Their album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, reached No. 1 on the Folk Albums chart peaked at No. 2 on the Digital Albums chart. It also peaked at No. 2 on the Australian charts and No. 1 in Canada. The album’s lead single “You and Me” also charted in several countries.
The announcement comes as Green navigates the emotional terrain of his latest City and Colour album, The Love Still Held Me Near, written after the tragic loss of his producer and close friend Karl Bareham in 2019.
Beyond the stage, Green told the publication he had also recently collaborated with Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana. “They had a song they wanted me to possibly help finish, so I came out early and went to the studio for two days and it was amazing, a lot of fun,” Green shared.
For Green, the parallels between his connection with Sultana and his partnership with Pink are unmistakable. “The only other time someone actively reached out to collaborate like this was Alicia [Pink],” he said.
City and Colour’s tour continues through Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth this January, with Green returning Down Under in March for a series of shows with his post-hardcore/screamo band Alexisonfire.