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American Idol leaned into the Easter Sunday (April 20) holiday with a three-hour episode in which this season’s top 20 sang anthems of faith and devotion, with one contestant turning heads thanks to his original song dedicated to a lost friend.

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“No words can describe how I truly feel/ But I hope these will try/ It’s a feeling that I can’t explain/ Deep and endless like the sky,” sang 18-year-old Addis, LA country singer John Foster on “Tell That Angel I Love Her.” He said he wrote the song for his late friend Maggie Dunn, who was killed, along with another friend, on New Year’s Eve in 2022 when a police officer ran a red light during a high-speed chase and slammed into their vehicle.

“Though we may not know the reason/ It’s not for us to understand/ Lord, won’t you tell that angel/ I love her as soon as you can?” Foster crooned before hitting the moving chorus: “Sure the sun will come up/ But it won’t shine on her skin/ And I’d give anything I have/ To talk to her again/ Each tear that falls on my guitar/ Is a hug from afar/ Lord, won’t you tell that angel that I love her?/ As y’all live in the stars.”

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At the end of the performance, Foster said, “I love you Maggie” as his eyes got watery.

“There’s something wonderfully throwback about your voice, about your style. And I think it’s something that’s lacking in country music today, to be honest. I love that you keep it very traditional,” Underwood said of Foster’s old school country balladeering. “I feel like that’s who you are. I love that in this song, we got to hear a sweet, tender side of your voice that honestly I didn’t know you had.” Bryan noted that Foster had been a “wild card” for him from the beginning but that with that song he’d “removed all doubts in my mind that you deserve to be here.”

The episode opened judge Lionel Richie performing his song “Eternity” accompanied by a full gospel choir and the top 24, just before four of those singers — Grayson Torrence, Kyana Fanene, Penny Samar and MKY — were sent packing. In addition, fellow judge Luke Bryan sang “Jesus ‘Bout My Kids” and Carrie Underwood brought down the house with a moving “How Great Thou Art.”

Also performing on the episode were the rest of the top 20: Canaan James Hill, Drew Ryn, Desmond Roberts, Filo, Josh King, Thunderstorm Artis, Amanda Barise, Mattie Pruitt, Olivier Bergeron, Breanna Nix, Victor Solomon, Baylee Littrell, Isaiah Misailegalu, Gabby Samone, Slater Nalley, Zaylie Windsor, Jamal Roberts, Ché and Kolbi Jordan.

The top 20 will be cut down to the top 14 on Monday night’s (April 21) episode, which airs at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Watch John Foster’s performance below.

Happy Easter from Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley. The pair sent a joint holiday greeting out to the world on Sunday (April 20) via Hurley’s Instagram account, where the actress shared a personal photo of an intimate moment with Cyrus. Though neither have publicly commented on their relationship, in the snapshot Hurley leans in […]

Lana Del Rey‘s “Bluebird” tops this week’s new music poll.
In a poll published Friday (April 18) on Billboard, music fans chose the alt-pop icon’s gorgeous new ballad as their favorite new release of the past week.

“Bluebird” captured 62% of the vote, beating out new releases from artists like Morgan Wallen and Post Malone (“I Ain’t Coming Back”), Addison Rae (“Headphones On”), Davido (5ive), Isabel Larosa (Raven), and others.

The lullaby-like “Bluebird” is the second offering from Del Rey’s forthcoming country-leaning studio album, which has yet to be titled or given a release date. Set over soft finger-picked guitar and piano, she gently croons about hope and heartbreak. “Little bird, bluebird/ Fly away for both of us/ For you have wings and I’ve no means to fly,” she sings.

Del Rey recently shared the song’s backstory in a candid video filmed on her way to rehearsal.

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“I started humming this chorus to myself, with the words and the melody, a long time ago when I had been seeing someone for a very long time — and we hadn’t seen each other for a while, and he called,” she said in an Instagram clip. “And he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I was kind of excited, but I didn’t think it was a very good idea.”

She went on to describe the moment that inspired the track’s title. “All of a sudden a bird smacked in the double-pane window doors of my bedroom,” the singer recalled. “I was shocked, and I opened the little door and I saw this little, I think it was a little sparrow, little swallow, right there, and I just was so emotional — because you know when you just know that something is meant for you? Like sometimes I feel like nature has its own way of communicating with you, especially in extremely severe situations — not in a sacrificial way, just in a way just for you to know.”

“Bluebird” follows “Henry, Come On,” which placed second in last week’s fan-voted poll with 12%.

Del Rey is set to bring her country-inspired vision to the stage at this year’s Stagecoach in Indio, Calif., on April 25. The festival has teased her set as “a very special country set,” arriving the weekend after Coachella.

This week’s poll runner-up was Wallen and Malone’s collaboration “I Ain’t Coming Back,” which earned 12% of the vote. The Bible story track is one of 37 on Wallen’s upcoming album, I’m the Problem.

Check out the full results of this week’s poll below and visit Billboard’s Friday Music Guide for more must-hear releases.

LE SSERAFIM teamed up with Jade, TWICE nabbed Coldplay, and Morgan Wallen is back with Post Malone. Keep watching for the latest and hottest music collabs that have dropped this week! What’s your favorite collab? Let us know in the comments below! Tetris Kelly: There are so many epic collaborations this Friday, and we’re breaking […]

Country Music Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn, who have collected 25 ACM Awards wins over the course of their decades-long career, will be feted on May 7 at the Omni PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas, during the “Play Something Country” gala hosted by the ACM and ACM Lifting lives. The event comes one […]

Post Malone is one of Coachella’s headliners for 2025, and we’re breaking down his journey to Coachella. Keep watching to learn more! Tetris Kelly:Post Malone is heading back to Coachella, but this time he’s a headliner! This isn’t Post’s first time at the fest — he performed back in 2018 and again in 2023 as […]

Morgan Wallen banks his 17th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “I’m the Problem” ascends a spot to the top of the list dated April 26. The song increased by 7% to 28.8 million audience impressions April 11-17, according to Luminate.
The co-write by the 31-year-old from Sneedville, Tenn., reaches the penthouse in 11 weeks. It completes the quickest trip to No. 1 since Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen, needed just seven frames to reign last June.

“I’m the Problem” is Wallen’s third Country Airplay No. 1 from his album of the same name, ahead of its May 16 arrival. “Love Somebody” dominated for three weeks in February, after “Lies Lies Lies” led for a week in November. He scored his initial No. 1 in June 2018 as featured on Florida Georgia Line’s “Up Down.”

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Wallen’s new LP bulges with 37 tracks, one more than on his 2023 blockbuster, One Thing at a Time. That set has ruled the Top Country Albums chart for 82 weeks, the second-most in the chart’s history, after only his own Dangerous: The Double Album, which ran up a record 97 weeks at No. 1 beginning in January 2021.

Wallen also surges 30-22 on Country Airplay with his newest single from I’m the Problem, “Just in Case” (6.6 million, up 53%). Plus, the album’s “I Ain’t Coming Back,” his second collab with Post Malone, was released Friday (April 18).

‘Holy’ Lands in Top 10

Bailey Zimmerman nets his fifth consecutive career-opening Country Airplay top 10 as “Holy Smokes” lifts 11-10, up 2% to 15.9 million in reach. His first four entries all hit No. 1: “Where It Ends” (last October, for two weeks); “Religiously” (September 2023, one); “Rock and a Hard Place” (beginning in April 2023, six); and “Fall in Love” (December 2022, one).

Zimmerman earned his first No. 1 on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart (dated April 19) as featured on rapper BigXthaPlug’s “All the Way,” which soared in at the summit. (The single is not currently being promoted to country radio.)

Singer-songwriter Vincent Mason has caught fans’ attention in a major way thanks to his vulnerable, emotive takes on love and heartbreak, such as his somber, acoustic-guitar driven 2024 hit “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” which has earned 98.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams through April 10, according to Luminate. The song, on which Mason is a co-writer, was recently named publisher pick of the year at the recent AIMP Nashville Awards.

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Signed with Interscope/UMG Nashville/Music Soup, Mason recently made his first push to country radio with “Wish You Well,” a rare outside cut for the singer-songwriter. “Wish You Well” was written by Blake Pendergrass, Jessie Jo Dillon, Chris LaCorte and Geoff Warburton.

“I’ve never recorded an outside song before, just because there was always one line that didn’t feel like me. There’s a lot more stuff I’ve written that I think we’ll send to radio, but this just turned out so good and I loved it from first listen,” Mason tells Billboard. “It lands on the hook great and I loved the back half of the melody, when it goes into the [lyrics] ‘My heart hit rock bottom shelf, we didn’t last like a last call bell.’ When that melody went into that b-section, I was hooked on the song.”

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Over the past year, Mason has swiftly amassed milestones, issuing the six-song EP Can’t Just Be Me, opening shows for Riley Green and collaborating with Gavin Adcock on the song “Almost Gone.” In September, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut, and has been playing to packed venues on his sold-out Hell Is a Dance Floor Tour.

Growing up in Roswell, Georgia, Mason gleaned his work ethic from his father, an interior designer who owns his own firm, and his mother, a pediatric dentist. “They were always hardworking, and that’s kind of what they brought us up on,” Mason reflects. “But we weren’t necessarily held to a whole bunch of rules as long as we were working hard and had a passion.”

For Mason, that passion has always centered around two things: sports and music.

“I was always walking around the halls, singing. My teachers tried to sign me up for choir a few times, but I would just play football and basketball instead. My parents weren’t into country music, but I found it on my own. I started hearing it in middle school and high school because some of the kids were into it,” Mason says, citing songs such as Jon Pardi’s “Head Over Boots,” Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids,” and Thomas Rhett’s ‘T-Shirt.” “I thought, ‘Oh, country songs are catchy and happy,’ and then I heard, on the rock side, John Mayer doing this heartbroken, deep singer-songwriter stuff.”

Before relocating to Nashville, he briefly attended the University of Mississippi, an experience that further broadened his palette of musical influences to artists such as Koe Wetzel, Flatland Cavalry and Zach Bryan.

“I felt like there was this middle ground of country sonics and the heartbroken singer-songwriter aspect,” he says. “I found that lane and felt like I could take a stab at it.”

This year, Mason will open shows for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour, and has been in the studio, writing and recording new music.

Mason, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for April, opened up about adapting to life as a touring singer-songwriter, his must-haves on the road, and the songwriting legend he couldn’t wait to write with.

Have you felt any pressure to follow up on that success of “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” and if so, how are you handling that?

If I’m being honest, I feel like the PR answer would be to say “No.” But I do feel the pressure, for sure. I just don’t want to have one song [hit] and that be it. I feel good about the songs we’ve put out after “Hell is a Dance Floor,” but I write a bunch of songs and I want our set to get better. A year into this record deal, I just want to keep making music I’m proud of.

You just released “Wish You Well.” Are there plans for an album this year?

Yes, at some point this year, hopefully. I don’t think we have a hard release day, but we just cut a handful of [songs] last week. I think we’re just going to kind of keep cutting songs and trying to get ’em ready.

Has the singer-songwriter life been different than what you anticipated?

I think it’s wild that it feels normal to me now, because for the last year, everything was so new, and now I feel like I found a little bit of a rhythm. So, I think it’s just kind of “Hang tight and try to make the best songs you can.” I’m enjoying having a grip on what’s happening lately. It doesn’t feel like everything’s just flying a thousand miles an hour. It does feel like it’s kind of slowed down in a way, even though we’re traveling all the time and doing just as much. I feel like I’ve found a way to be comfortable.

Who are the “bucket list” writers you wanted to collaborate with?

I remember Luke Laird was one. He wrote four of the first five country songs I ever loved, like “American Kids,” “Head Over Boots,” and “Drink in My Hand.” Every time I liked a song and looked at the credits, it seemed like Luke Laird was on there and all those Eric Church songs like “Over When It’s Over.” That was a name I asked about specifically. I wanted to write with Jessie Jo Dillon after I found out she was on there–all the writers on “Wish You Well,” I wanted to write with. But I remember Luke was probably the biggest legend where I was like, “I really want to write with Luke.”

To this point, you have been known for some sadder songs, such as “Heart Like This.” Will we see happier songs on a new project?

We do have some happier songs on there, not always just heartbroken, and sad all the time. [Sadder songs] are what sparked my interest and that’s just what I learned how to write. I kind of felt like I had to learn how to write happier songs when I was first writing those heartbreak songs. I remember being like, “Can we go deeper or get really detailed with this?” I felt like it’s a little bit harder to do that with the upbeat, happier songs. I wanted to pile up different sides of life, because you also want to hear the love side of it, or the fun side of it. So, I’m trying to make it a bit more [of a] complete scope of my life I guess. Even on the heartbreak side, there’s some more upbeat heartbreak songs, too.

You will be opening for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour this year. What are you most looking forward to about that tour?

It feels like every artist that I’ve talked to — more than one — just always say that Jordan’s [touring] camp is the best. So we’re excited to get out there and be a part of that. Then on the musical front, I always just try to learn from anyone that’s had success that long. He’s had hit after hit, and has moved with the way things are going, but has never abandoned what he’s doing.

What are some of your must-haves on the road?

We bring an Xbox everywhere we go to pass the time, and I definitely need some kind of energy drink, preferably Celsius. That’s what keeps me rolling. Other than a guitar, but those are the main two things we always try to bring. We just switched to the bus, so I think we’re going to save one of the bays on the bus to set up a little TV for football season, and chairs and cornhole. There’s talk of a little fire pit that we might bring. So we’re going to bring a little tailgate set up. I think.

What is your favorite sports team?

My mom’s whole family went to West Virginia, so I typically root for them; that’s the family school. I always like to see Ole Miss do well, even though I was only there for a minute. And then, the Falcons and the Braves.

Is there an artist whose career arc that you admire?

I think Eric Church is kind of my answer for that. I do think he’s one of the best songwriters ever, especially best country songwriters ever. I want to do it my own way, but I think he did such a good job of making songs that he loved. And then the hit songs are so unique that they don’t sound like anybody else’s hit song. And artists like John Mayer, they put out this whole discography of stuff they love and people still show up, so that’s what I want to build.

What song or album are you currently obsessed with?

Kansas Anymore by Role Model. I think the songwriting is so dialed in and the sonics are really cool. There’s a lot of stuff that feels really Tom Petty, which is cool. I’ve been wearing that album out a ton.

Is there a TV show or podcast you are into?

I always listen to Theo Von’s podcast [This Past Weekend]. Anytime he has someone on, I usually tune in.

Luke Bryan has heard the jokes before. So when Jennifer Hudson asked him about their mutual friend and fellow country singer Blake Shelton on her syndicated talk show on Friday (April 18), American Idol judge Bryan had to first issue her a stern warning.
“I could recommend you not be his buddy,” Bryan said after Hudson gushed about her pal and former judge on The Voice. “I could steer you in other directions,” Bryan added, before giving up the bit and saying he was just kidding.

“Is it true that sometimes people get y’all mixed up,” she asked. “It is very true really,” Bryan began saying as Hudson threw up two handsome side-by-side images of the men on the screen behind her, noting that the confusion might be coming about because both country stars are “so lovable.”

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“Well, I like that, but I’m a little mad at how Blake’s eyes look so purty right there… I gotta get me some blue eye… things,” Bryan laughed before telling a story about a time he and his 14-year-old son Tate stopped to get some snacks for the boat before going on a fishing trip. “So Tate’s over there buying his Sweet Tarts and all that stuff and the guy behind the counter is like, ‘You’re Blake Shelton.’ And I said, ‘really?’ And he said, ‘I know it, you’re Blake, you’re Blake.’ And he goes, ‘Are you Blake?’”

Bryan said he assured the man he wasn’t the “Purple Irises” singer, then asked what made him think he was. “He goes, ‘well, you’re just Blake Shelton’s doppelganger.’ And he kept going on and there were several people in the line and my son’s sitting there watching this go down,” Bryan said. “And he goes, “‘Well, there’s no way you’re Blake, because Blake wouldn’t be here shopping at this gas station.’”

So, Bryan gathered up his purchases and got ready to leave as the man looked at him and added, “‘Could you imagine having Blake Shelton’s money?’ You know, I didn’t want to go into it that I have more money than Blake…” Bryan also said that people in the little town where he lives and goes fishing know he’s around there a lot and that they probably let the cashier know afterwards that he’d misidentified the singer.

“But my son just had a blast with it,” Bryan said. “Because your children are always watching how you handle the good part of fame, and some of the other stuff of fame. So a couple days later we were at a restaurant and this guy walks up and he looks at Tate and he goes, ‘Well how old are you little buddy?’ And Tate’s like, ’12.’ And the guy walks off and I’m like, ‘Tate, why did you tell the guy you’re 12? You’re 14.’ And he goes, ‘that guy don’t need to know everything about me.’”

Watch Bryan on the Jennifer Hudson Show below.

Most of the time, Jelly Roll has a happy wife, happy life. But when he does this one thing, Bunnie XO definitely isn’t having it.
While guesting on The Jennifer Hudson Show Friday (April 18) alongside American Idol judge Luke Bryan, the “Son of a Sinner” singer revealed that a certain bad habit of his drives his spouse crazy. “I feel bad for her,” Jelly began.

“I have this problem I do where I leave a trail of clothes from the front door to the shower,” he continued, laughing, as people in Hudson’s audience groaned. “Everybody’s like, ‘We hate you.’ I just heard women shake their fists at me. I know — I’ve been trying to break this habit, y’all! It annoys her to no end.”

The revelation is far from the first time Jelly and Bunnie have been open about the ins and outs of their relationship. The musician and podcaster are currently trying to expand their family through IVF treatments — a challenging process on which Bunnie in particular has been keeping fans updated — and in March, the Dumb Blonde podcast shared something about her husband that’s been driving her wild in a good way: his chest hair.

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For the “Drunk on You” crooner’s part, he says wife Caroline Boyer can’t stand when he snores — much less when he leaves dirty spoons lying directly on tables in their home. Bryan — who’s a judge alongside Carrie Underwood and Lionel Richie on this season of Idol, meanwhile Jelly is the show’s first-ever judge in residence — also joined the “Need a Favor” musician in confessing to Hudson their most embarrassing onstage moments.

“I pooped myself one time,” Jelly said frankly. “I did, I’m sorry. I was coughing, and it was all there … I’m so sorry, I just watched this crowd go from loving me to just completely out. I overshared again.”

For the record, Jelly isn’t the only star who’s done so. Joe Jonas has also shared that he once put a little more trust than he should have in what he thought was just gas passing through during a concert — and on Hudson’s talk show, Bryan joked, “My problem is I didn’t really get embarrassed by it when I did it,” sending Jelly into fits of laughter.

Watch Jelly and Bryan open up to Jennifer Hudson below: