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Rapper GloRilla made a huge impact on her old high school, Melrose High School, by giving back in a big way. The Memphis-born artist recently returned to her alma mater and surprised students and staff with a generous donation of $25,000. GloRilla’s visit wasn’t just about handing over a check—it was a way to inspire and show love to the school that helped shape her.
Growing up in Memphis, GloRilla has always stayed connected to her roots. She took to social media to share the moment, telling her fans how important it was to give back to the place where it all began for her. The money will likely be used to support various school programs and help students who are working hard to chase their dreams, just like GloRilla did.
The rapper’s gesture is a reminder that no matter how far you go, it’s important to remember where you come from and support the next generation. GloRilla’s donation wasn’t just about the cash—it was about showing that success can be shared and that dreams are possible with hard work and dedication. Melrose High School and its students now have even more motivation to keep pushing for greatness.
In 2024, GloRilla dropped her debut studio album, GLORIOUS, and it’s already making waves. After blowing up with hits like “F.N.F.” and “Tomorrow 2,” the album shows off her unique style and storytelling. Fans love how the project sounds, giving them a glimpse into her journey from Memphis to fame. GLORIOUS is packed with tracks that reflect her hustle, struggles, and successes. With this album, GloRilla’s proving she’s not just a one-hit wonder—she’s here to stay and show the world what she’s really about.
Dualtone Music Group president and partner Paul Roper died on Tuesday (Dec. 17) following a battle with cancer. Roper was 45. A statement from Nashville-based Dualtone Music Group noted, “Paul’s vision and unwavering commitment continues to define the heart and soul of Dualtone. He led Dualtone and his team with dedication, authenticity, humor, and kindness […]
For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 all this week — you can see the artists we’ve already counted down, plus our Honorable Mentions, Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all right here. Now, at No. 4, we remember the year in Chappell Roan — who after many years of knocking on the door of pop stardom, finally broke it down in spectacular and uningnorable fashion.
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Back in 2023, while filming her “HOT TO GO!” music video in her native Missouri, Chappell Roan told a curious onlooker, “I’m just a singer, nothing crazy.” While that statement would seem like a wild undersell now, at the start of 2024, it still tracked. While her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, dropped in late September and drew rave reviews from numerous critics (including our own), it moved a modest 77,000 album equivalent units by 2023’s end, per Luminate.
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What a difference a year makes. Not only has Roan earned her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 since then, but she’s placed seven singles on the chart, including one No. 4-peaking smash (“Good Luck, Babe!”); she netted six Grammy nominations at the 2025 ceremony, including in each of the Big Four categories; drew record-setting crowds at festivals; and saw Midwest Princess reach No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, earning a whopping 1.88 million album equivalent units in the U.S., through Dec. 12, according to Luminate. Since then, it’s been all rise, no fall.
As with many who seemingly enjoy overnight success, it took Roan years, tears and hard work to get where she is now, which she tipped to in her acceptance speech for Top New Artist at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards. “This has taken a long time to be a new artist,” she quipped with a chuckle.
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True enough. Roan originally signed with Atlantic in 2015, dropping one EP in the course of her five years on the label before being dropped from its roster. Continuing to hone her craft while working a variety of day jobs (barista, nanny), Roan began to realize that her differences from the pop pack actually made her stronger. “Once I let go of trying to be this very well-managed, put-together pop girl, it felt like everything just fell into place,” Roan told Billboard in 2022. “I leaned into the fact that my looks were tacky, and very obviously using fake diamonds and Gucci knockoffs. I leaned into my queerness for the first time. When I did that, the songs got easier to write, the shows got easier to design, and my aesthetic was finally there.”
If Roan’s campy, liberated DIY aesthetic was calcified by 2022, then 2023 saw her songcraft reach rarefied levels of confessional rawness, queer joy and delicious bawdiness – which attentive pop fans and critics caught on to (we placed Midwest Princess in the top 15 of our year-end staff picks album list). And 2024 was the year the world finally caught up to what she was doing.
Although several of her future Hot 100 entries had already been released as singles before 2024 started (“Pink Pony Club” dropped in 2020), it was her April single “Good Luck, Babe!” that put her over. Co-written with queer pop whisperer Justin Tranter (Halsey, Janelle Monae) and previous collaborator Dan Nigro (whom she’d met during her time at Atlantic, way before his breakthrough with Olivia Rodrigo), it’s a sublime, sophisticated piece of sapphic catharsis that appealed to seemingly everyone. Whether you like your pop songs belted from stadiums, rumbling throughout a sweaty warehouse or seeping out of a cellphone while you lie in bed, you were probably vibing to this song at some point this year.
New converts quickly sought out Midwest Princess for more, and Amusement Records (an Island imprint) wasted little time trotting out follow-up singles culled from it, with six of its tracks gradually infiltrating the Hot 100 this year. Two of them, “HOT TO GO!” (No. 15) and “Pink Pony Club” (No. 26), became essential 2024 anthems, with the former spawning parodies from Saturday Night Live, “Weird Al” Yankovic and this year’s touring production of The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show. More importantly, its “Y.M.C.A.”-esque choreography inspired throngs of fans to gleefully dance along at festivals from San Francisco to Chicago to New York City.
Speaking of, when was the last time you can remember a pop singer delivering a music festival performance that had the entire internet talking? While her Coachella set created buzz in April (hard to beat leopard-print tights and an “Eat Me” shirt), Roan’s Governors Ball spot in June was a fitting fantasia for Pride Month. Decked out in Lady Liberty drag (she’s been vocal about drawing inspiration from drag queens), Roan performed an instantly iconic set that had folks in a FOMO coma for days. She followed it up by (NBD) setting an all-time attendance record for a day crowd at Lollapalooza in August – and she wasn’t even a headliner.
Televised performances at the 2024 VMAs and on SNL demonstrated to those at home that Roan has an impressive set of pipes, an inventive aesthetic and a visual clarity that we haven’t seen from a new pop star since Lady Gaga burst onto the scene in the late ‘00s. Perhaps that’s no coincidence. Like Mother Monster, Roan grew up inspired by queer culture, found liberation in gay bars and has used her platform to speak out on LGBTQ rights when they’re under fire. But even Gaga never went quite as far as the magic trick Roan pulled off on “Red Wine Supernova.”
As is true for many pop stars (but women in particular), with increased visibility came increased scrutiny – and creepiness. On Aug. 23 via her socials, Roan criticized some fans for “predatory behavior” and “nonconsensual physical and social interactions,” begging people to respect her space. “If you’re still asking, ‘Well, if you didn’t want this to happen, then why did you choose a career where you knew you wouldn’t be comfortable with the outcome of success?’—understand this: I embrace the success of the project, the love I feel, and the gratitude I have. What I do not accept are creepy people, being touched, and being followed.”
Despite Roan anticipating potential backlash to her statement and preemptively shooting down that logic (as well as turning off the comments section on that Instagram post), some folks still took umbrage. It seems that despite a solid decade of conversation about the ways in which news media, entertainment media and social media can (and often do) negatively affect an artist’s well-being, there’s no shortage of individuals who view celebrities predominantly as punching bags or punchlines and not people.
Roan also caught some flak for – gasp – refusing to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president (although that didn’t stop the Harris-Walz campaign from trotting out a camo hat suspiciously close to her own merch). Although she soon clarified that she fully intended to vote for the Democratic candidate in the November presidential election (“Obviously, f–k the policies of the right, but also, f–k some of the policies on the left! That’s why I can’t endorse”), some commentators faulted her for not enthusiastically endorsing Harris considering the election stakes. But let’s be real: a Roan endorsement was never going to make any difference (many celebrities did endorse Harris with little to no demonstrable payoff), and she is far from the only Gen Z liberal who voted Democrat despite feeling let down by the party. (If pressuring pop stars into feigning fealty to the Democratic Party – instead of inspiring them to get excited over a candidate — continues to be an election year strategy? Well, good luck, babe!)
All that being said, for every online commenter with a complaint (and the more popular a musician gets, there will always be people with gripes and grievances) there were plenty of fans, artists and supporters who had her back. When Roan pulled out of both All Things Go festivals, explaining that “things have gotten overwhelming” and “I need a few days to prioritize my health,” the response from ticket holders was bummed but empathetic. As an attendee at ATG at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, everyone I spoke to was disappointed but fully in support of her decision to place her well-being above a concert. And the drag queen dance party that took over her time slot – which included RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Yvie Oddly and NYC queen Beaujangles – turned an otherwise rainy, dreary day into an unfettered explosion of LGBTQ joy.
Beyond drag shows (and there were a LOT of Chappell Roan lip syncs at drag shows this year), Roan’s influence on LGBTQ culture was inescapable in 2024. Like Pat Benatar look-alikes at Ridgemont High, people in Chappell Roan-inspired looks held space at countless LGBTQ clubs, concerts, parades and festivals this year. (My favorite was a group of 15 people rocking 15 different Roan looks at a Greenwich Village gay bar for their friend’s 20-something birthday). Hell, sometimes the Chappell Roan look-alike in a gay bar was Chappell Roan, as was the case when the “Pink Pony Club” singer swung by Manhattan’s Pieces to catch a Queen 4 Queen drag show in June.
From the Billboard charts to countless memes to karaoke rooms, Roan’s music seemed everywhere in 2024 – but even after the 100th time, “HOT TO GO!” remains fun as hell, “Pink Pony Club” still gallops away with your heart and “Good Luck, Babe!” soars to the stratosphere. These songs are built to last, and that’s a testament to her hard work and distinct artistic vision.
With that in mind, it’s crazy to think that we haven’t even been gifted with a brand-new Chappell Roan single since she’s reached this level of success. On SNL in November, Roan debuted “The Giver,” an as-of-yet unreleased song with a country lean. (No shocker there: slow it down and toss in a steel guitar and “Casual” is a honky-tonk weeper.)
Was it a taste of what’s to come — is Roan joining the stampede of pop stars going country? Or is it a total outlier, a sonic feint before she strikes out elsewhere? Who knows! But if 2024 is any indication, next year should prove to be a lot more interesting for having Chappell Roan camping up our popular culture. But then again, she’s just a singer. Nothing crazy.
Check back later today for our No. 3 Greatest Pop Star — and then come back for the announcement of our top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 on Monday, Dec. 23!
Mario has returned with his sixth album, Glad You Came, and the R&B crooner made his debut on The Masked Singer. He shares what it was like to create the iconic “Let Me Love You,” the breakdown of “Spaces,” being reintroduced to the world by Drake and Nicki Minaj, going on Dancing With the Stars and more!
Carl Lamarre:Yo, yo, yo. What’s going on, y’all? I am Billboard Deputy Director of R&B/Hip-Hop, Mr. Carl Lamarre. Got an R&B star, R&B legend.
Mario:Let’s go. Let’s go.
Grammy nominated.
Let’s go.
In case you didn’t know. Mr. Mario, how you feeling my brother?
What’s up, my boy. You good?
I’m good. You’re here. So it’s even better.
Hold on, Mario. You feel me… That’s my… I had to, you know, tap in one of the voice ups.
I don’t even think you remember this. You came to Power Players, and we were chilling backstage, and we all just happened to be sitting there, and I just happened to belt out a little “Mario.”
It’s like the Batman call, man.
Like, do you normally get that publicly? Like, fans just come up to you and …
Now because I’ve been doing it more, you know, since the last couple years that I’ve been tapping back in.
Right. Well, you’re officially tapped back in because you got a new album, Glad You Came, your first album in six years, man. Talk about some of the stories you were able to tell on this album that fans have never heard from you before.
Absolutely. I mean, we can start with “Space,” which was the warm-up single that I put out for the for the album. “Space” is a retro futuristic vibe produced by my boy Benny X, written by me and James Fauci Laurie.
Keep watching for more!
The 2024 Latin Grammys brought together a memorable performance that meshed traditional salsa with the new generation’s style — among the star-studded lineup that included a Marc Anthony and La India reunion was Christian Alicea. The lattermost was also a first-time nominee for best salsa album.
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“When you make music you don’t think about winning an award. For my first album, I focused on finding my sound and who Christian Alicea was,” he tells Billboard of his Yo Deluxe set. “A Grammy is a goal for any artist. Being nominated fills me with pride because this road is a roller coaster and you always want to give your best.”
Alicea kicked off his music career in 2019, first testing the waters in urban music and later going full-blown into salsa music.
“My father and two brothers are musicians,” he explains. “My first musical inspirations have always been very tropical: Elvis Crespo, Hector Lavoe, Toño Rosario, Marc Anthony, La India, Juan Luis Guerra, Carlos Vives, Romeo Santos. I grew up with that hybrid of tropical music.”
After going viral on social media with his own version of Pedro Capó’s “Calma,” the Puerto Rican artist debuted on the Billboard charts in 2022 with “Cobarde” entering the Tropical Airplay chart in March. He’s since placed seven titles including “Es Un Secreto” with DJ Buddha, which peaked at No. 6 and also landed on the Latin Airplay chart in September.
Christian Alicea
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But prior to becoming a breakthrough artist, Alicea dedicated himself to saving lives as a firefighter on the island.
“It was a public service,” he notes. “In music, we also owe it to the public and work for them every day. As a firefighter I was part of a musical band, and I always try to give the best show, the best work in music. The sacrifices. Firefighters don’t have a fixed schedule. Many times I missed my mother’s birthday, I couldn’t share with my family on important dates, and music is the same. I have to do my part for my people.”
As he welcomes 2025 packed with new goals and projects, Alicea is excited for the future of salsa music.
“Being Boricua influences many things: how we were raised, how we communicate, the music we listen to — thanks to music, our Boricua color has been recognized as a very cultural thing. Meanwhile, salsa will always represent us as Latinos, and I am contributing to making beautiful things happen with the genre.”
Below, learn more about this month’s Latin Artist on the Rise:
Name: Christian Alicea
Age: 28
Recommended Song: “‘En PR’ — It’s the first song that I dare to create. It talks about my beloved island, the culture, my friends, the bad situations but we keep moving forward.”
Major Accomplishment: “Trust 100% that I can do it. Many of us have insecurities, but thank God for giving me the power to dare. I have a team that took risks with me and I think that has been the greatest achievement, having confidence in myself.”
What’s Next: “Hit the stage! What I most want is to be able to continue performing in different countries. More collaborations and more music. The Latin Grammy nomination made me even hungrier to continue growing and learning.”
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Lil Durk will spend the holidays behind bars in California and it appears that his time in prison is already marred by reported infractions and rule-breaking. A new report breaks down why prosecutors want Lil Durk held in detention and also reveals that the Chicago artist is breaking prison rules connected to his phone privileges.
As seen on Law & Crime’s Sidebar with Jesse Weber YouTube program on Tuesday (Dec 17), an exhibit filed by prosecutors in Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire case pointed to the Only The Family (OTF) figure’s alleged criminal interference. That same brief also unveiled that Durk has been breaking the rules at Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).
Despite clear instructions to not engage in three-way calls, defendant repeatedly abused the phone system at MDC to engage in such conduct,” Weber shares in his video report. This was used by the state to illustrate that Durk can’t be trusted to follow the rules if he’s released on bond if he can’t follow the rules while imprisoned.
Durk’s legal team attempted to gain bond for their client earlier this month, offering a bond package that included a pair of homes the rapper owns in Georgia along with $1 million from the Sony Music recording label.
Lil Durk was arrested in October while appearing to flee the country en route to a Florida airport, and was extradited to California to face charges in connection to the murder-for-hire plot originally meant to target Quando Rondo but resulted in the shooting death of Rondo’s cousin in Los Angeles instead.
Durk’s trial will take place on Jan. 7 of next year.
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Save this storySaveSave this storySavePitchfork continues to celebrate the Year in Music with a club night tonight (Thursday, December 19). The event, presented by AdHoc, features RP Boo, Dazegxd b2b Intimacy Simulator, Anysia Kym, DJ Ess, Alphonse Pierre, and Mano.Due to delays with original venue Night Club 101 the event will now take place at the Brooklyn venue Paragon, located at 990 Broadway. Doors for the show open at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Take a look at the set times below. Tickets are still available here.Pitchfork Year in Music Club Night:09:00 p.m.: Alphonse Pierre • Mano09:45 p.m.: Anysia Kym10:30 p.m.: New York11:00 p.m.: RP Boo12:00 a.m.: DJ Ess01:00 a.m.: Dazegxd b2b Intimacy Simulator
Benny Blanco has had a week to process his engagement to Selena Gomez, but he’s still in disbelief. Seven days after the couple announced that the producer had popped the question — to which the singer-actress, of course, said “yes” — Blanco said he’s still reeling from the news. Reposting Gomez’s week-old Instagram post about […]
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Just days after running into each other at a club, Cardi B and Offset are once again going at it on social media. This time around Cardi is demanding that her former hubby man up and sign their divorce papers so she can get on with her life.
According to Page Six, the former Hip-Hop lovebirds have again engaged in a public feud for all to indulge in. Cardi B took to X to call Offset a “Babymomma acting a*s b*tch.” Needless to say Offset took the bait and responded in a now-deleted tweet saying, “I’m baby mama now cuz u lied for no reason used me as a sacrifice off a comment from a stranger” and went on to accuse Cardi of making herself look like a “h*e” who’s only concerned with getting “d*ck.”
Y’all knew that wasn’t going to go unanswered.
Clapping back as quick as her cheeks do in her videos, Cardi B responded saying, “So dating because I’m single means I’m just worried about d–k?? You sound like a dummy.. trying to be fake nice after you did what you wanted from the beginning trying to push a narrative to these people.”
Surely it didn’t end there.
Per Page Six:
The mom of three then told her estranged husband to “f–k off” and sign their divorce papers “TODAY.”
The “Versace” rapper replied, calling Cardi “single and miserable” and said she has mentioned him in all of her live chats on X Spaces.
The “I Like It” emcee shot down her ex’s shade, writing that he is “just mad” because she is enjoying her life and men are interested in her — despite her having three kids and being in her 30s.
“I don’t bother none of the hoes you f–k but every guy I talk to you dming and talkin s–t about me like let’s not!” she tweeted and deleted.
Responding to her tweet, Offset said he’d sign the divorce papers once she “splits the custody” of their three children.
“When u split the custody I will u ain’t worried bout music u worried about d–k everybody can see it all u talk about [is] d–k and in clubs burnt no music no nothing just drama,” he tweeted and deleted.
We still feel these two will reconcile at some point, have another baby, and end up bitter enemies all over. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think about Cardi B and Offset once again going at each other’s throats on social media? Let us know in the comments section below.
Universal Music Group, the owner of Republic Records, has reached a settlement to resolve a trademark lawsuit the music giant filed against a music investment platform called Republic.
The deal will end a case in which UMG accused the smaller company of confusing consumers by expanding into music royalties investing – a move UMG warned could dupe people into thinking Republic Records was involved in the project. But a judge later ruled that the case would be difficult to win.
In an order last week (Dec. 13), the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit said that all claims had been “settled in principle” and ordered the case dismissed. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and neither side immediately returned requests for more details.
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Launched in 2016, OpenDeal Inc.’s Republic platform lets users buy into startups, cryptocurrency projects and other investments across a wide range of sectors. In October 2021, the company announced it would start allowing users to invest in music royalties by purchasing NFTs (non-fungible tokens), calling itself the first to “bring music investing to the masses.”
That quickly sparked the lawsuit from UMG, which acquired Republic Records in 2000 and now operates it as one of its top imprints, home to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Drake, Post Malone and many others. In a November 2021 complaint seeking an immediate injunction, UMG called OpenDeal’s new service a “wanton effort to usurp plaintiff’s Republic name and trademarks for itself.”
“The artists, labels, managers, agents, and fans who currently know of plaintiff’s Republic label would be presented with two different companies offering identical services under identical names in the same industry,” UMG’s lawyers wrote at the time. “Confusion is inevitable.”
But in July 2022, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that that UMG was unlikely to be able to prove such allegations in court. She said the evidence of potential confusion was “extremely minimal,” since the services and consumers of the two companies “differ significantly” — and that a shared connection to the music industry was “not enough.”
“It is conceivable that there may ultimately be some overlap between the parties’ consumers—for instance, fans of a popular artist may both purchase that artist’s music through Republic Records, and make crowdfunded investments in recordings by that artist through the Republic Platform,” the judge wrote. “But, such scenarios remain hypothetical.”
That ruling – denying UMG’s request for a so-called preliminary injunction that would have forced OpenDeal to change its name while the case was litigated – was not a final decision on the case. But it indicated that UMG was unlikely to win, and such trademark cases often settle after such early skirmishes.
After that decision, UMG later filed an updated version of its allegations, and the case proceeded into discovery – the process of exchanging evidence in a civil lawsuit. But the lawsuit has largely been paused for more than a year as the two sides engaged in settlement talks that ultimately resulted in last week’s agreement.