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On Thursday (June 5), Avex Music Group announced it has signed Justin Bieber’s longtime backing band and collaborators, We The Band. We The Band includes Harv (bass), Tay James (DJ), Julian Michael (guitar), Devin “Stixx” Taylor (drums) and O’Neil Palmer (keys). Tay James has worked as Bieber’s longtime A&R and DJ since 2009; Harv joined […]
Joe Jonas scores his first solo top 10-charting effort on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart as his second solo album, Music for People Who Believe in Love, debuts at No. 3 on the chart dated June 7. The set sold 17,000 copies in the United States in the week ending May 29, according to Luminate. Of that sum, vinyl purchases comprise 4,000 – a personal best sales week for Jonas as a soloist on vinyl.
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Jonas has issued one solo studio album previously, 2011’s Fastlife, which debuted and peaked at No. 15 on Top Album Sales. Jonas is also a member of Jonas Brothers, and that trio has logged seven top 10s on Top Album Sales (including four No. 1s). DNCE also counts Joe as a member, and that group has reached Top Album Sales once, with its self-titled project, reaching No. 14 in 2016.
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Elsewhere in the top 10 of the Top Album Sales chart, Playboi Carti, BAEKHYUN and Stereolab all shake-up the region with moves reentries and debuts.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem holds at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart for a second week (28,000; down 79% from its debut of 133,000). Playboi Carti’s MUSIC reenters the list at No. 2 with nearly 18,000 (up from a negligible sum the week previous) following the fulfillment of deluxe boxed sets, exclusively sold via his webstore, to customers during the tracking week. BAKHYUN’s Essence of Reverie debuts at No. 4 with nearly 10,500. Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX rises two spots to No. 5 with 8,000 (up 16%).
Rounding out the rest of the top 10: Jin’s Echo falls 2-6 in its second week (just over 6,000; down 82%), BOYNEXTDOOR’s 4th EP: No Genre dips 3-7 in its second week (6,000; down 57%), Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet rises 11-8 (nearly 6,000; up 2%), Stereolab’s Instant Holograms on Metal Film debuts at No. 9 (almost 6,000) and Sleep Token’s former leader Even in Arcadia falls 4-10 (5,500; down 29%).
“My mother always wanted me to be a doctor,” Barry Manilow quipped on stage Tuesday (June 3) night at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. “She would be so proud!”
Manilow indeed became a doctor during his Detroit tour stop, when six cap-and-gowned faculty members from Chicago’s VanderCook College of Music (the only U.S. school that specializes in teaching music educators) presented him with an honorary Doctor of Music Education honoris causa. The honorary degree, according to VanderCook President Kimberly Farris, recognized “your enduring dedication to music education,” which, she added, “resonates deeply with our mission.” The degree specifically saluted the Manilow Music Project, which he says has spent $10 million during the past 15 years providing musical instruments to schools and honoring music educators. On Tuesday, Manilow presented a $10,000 grant to a teacher from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School.
Donning his own cap and gown and accepting the degree, Manilow explained that “the VanderCook College stands for everything I believe in. Their commitment to music teachers and my passion for getting playable instruments for young people go hand in hand. That’s why it really speaks to me.” He gave special thanks to his drummer, Yolandus “YL” Douglas, for spearheading the honor.
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“This is such a meaningful honor,” Manilow continued. “I’ve gotten awards before — Emmys, Grammys, People’s Choice Awards. Most of them were always honoring me as a singer, songwriter and performer, and they were always great. I’m always so grateful for them. But this is the first time that anybody has acknowledged me as being a musician, so thank you all…I’ll never forget this.” Manilow then tossed his mortarboard into the crowd as his band played “Pomp and Circumstance.”
The show was part of the 81-year-old Manilow’s continuing The Last Concerts series he’s playing in “these cities that have been so supportive” during his 52-year recording career. Prior to the Detroit stop he told Billboard that the endeavor has put him in a reflective space. “It’s like, ‘What? Am I the only one left?’” he says. “It’s Billy Joel, and Elton (John) is not well and Rod (Stewart) and Neil (Diamond). Diana Ross is still in great shape I think. There must be only a handful of people in my world that are still there. I’m still healthy. I’m strong and I’ve still got my voice and my energy. The night I can’t hit the F natural on ‘Even Now,’ that’s the night I throw in the towel. But I can still do it.”
Though he “never got to know” Joel, Manilow adds that he wishes that Piano Man well in his struggle with the brain disorder Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) that has taken him off the road. “Oh, it’s so horrible, so horrible,” Manilow says. “It just broke my heart when I heard about Billy Joel. I’m such a fan of his work. I really hope he’s able to get back to it.”
Manilow’s work, meanwhile, isn’t just onstage these days. By the end of the summer Manilow hopes to release a new album, his first since Night Songs II in 2020. “This’ll probably be my last album,” he notes, adding that, “I’ve been working on it for a long time…for so long that the style of music has changed. [laughs] I had to go back and redo (the songs) so they sounded a little more contemporary. I had to take all the strings out, all the background vocals out ‘cause they don’t do that anymore. They don’t use strings and background vocals and all that. Even I heard that it sounded dated, so we had to go back and redo it.”
The result, he says, is “a Barry pop album. I think people who like what I do will like this album; I don’t know about everybody else who likes today’s music, but it’s a solid album.” Manilow adds that he’s not trying to compete with the current crop of chart toppers and Grammy winners.
“The songwriting has changed,” he notes. “Young people don’t write the way I was trained to write. There’s no verse which goes into the chorus which goes back to the verse which goes to ending, and you change keys. They don’t do that. They start the song and then they just…it feels like a run-on sentence to me. I can’t find the hook. I can’t find the chorus. It just keeps on going, and then it ends. That’s not what this album is, and that’s not the way I know how to write, and I think my contemporary songwriters and people I work with would say the same.”
This year, in fact, marks 50 years since Manilow scored his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit, “Mandy,” while January will mark 50 years since his second No. 1, “I Write the Songs,” which was penned by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. Both were recommended to him by Arista Records then-chief Clive Davis, and Manilow laughs as he recalls their professional relationship. “Every time Clive gave me an idea I would turn it down — every single time I would turn it down.” His objection to that one, in particular, was pointed: “I can’t sing a song where it says, ‘I write the songs’; people will think I’m this egomaniac. I won’t do it! Same thing with any of the other ones. I turned them all down. But Davis was relentless; ‘You’ve got to try it. You’ve got to try it!’ So I would put my arranger hat on and crawl into these songs and figure out how I can do these songs so I can be proud of it.”
“I Write the Songs,” of course, remains cemented into Manilow’s setlists, including his “lifetime” residency at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, which resumes on June 12. There’s no end date in sight, he insists, but having already done a One Last Time! tour back in 2015 Manilow insists that he’s not kidding about each stop being the final performance in each city.
“It’s a bittersweet experience for me because I know that I’m not coming back here and (the fans) know I’m not coming back here. And when I finish and I say ‘goodbye’ it is goodbye,” he says. “I’ve never felt that before. Usually I know that (on) the next tour, I’ll probably come back here. But this time I know I’m not coming back to these cities. I’ve been doing this for so many years, and I’ve done these cities over and over and over, but this is it.”
It’s an understatement to say it was a dream come true for Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying to write and record the new song “Great Rainbow” for the 70th anniversary of the Disneyland Resort.
The Grammy winner tells Billboard he’s a “Disney stan, deep down.” But Hoying didn’t stop with one song: He can be heard throughout the new Disney California Adventure Park nighttime spectacular World of Color Happiness!, including harmonizing on new renditions of familiar Disney favorites like “I 2 I” (from A Goofy Movie) and “Nobody Like U” (from Turning Red).
World of Color Happiness! is a razzle-dazzle show that, per Disney, “explores happy through a kaleidoscope of emotions,” as told through visual projections on choreographed fountains enhanced with lighting, lasers, flames and of course, a musical soundtrack.
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The entire show, staged on Paradise Bay, is hosted by Joy and the other Emotions from the animated film Inside Out 2, while a pre-show moment kicks off with The Muppets – who, like Disneyland, celebrate their 70th anniversary in 2025. (In the show, Boyz II Men are heard singing The Muppets’ iconic tune “The Rainbow Connection.”) Then, following the show, Hoying’s soaring “Great Rainbow” is heard in full while the fountains and lights in the Bay dance along to the tune. The track was created by an army of more than 100 musical individuals – including an orchestra, choir and a team of production technicians and wizards.
Much of the music from World of Color Happiness!, including “Great Rainbow,” can also be found on the recently released album from Walt Disney Records, Music From Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration.
So what does it feel like for Hoying to quite literally be part of a show at a Disney park, where his voice is heard by guests most every night?
“I don’t even have the words to accurately explain. It is such a dream of mine. There’s videos of me at [age] 3 singing ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ [from The Lion King] for anyone that would listen. I am such a Disney stan, deep down. I know the catalog through and through.
“To help create the soundtrack to such amazing memories that kids get to have – it’s just a dream,” he adds. “It gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment that’s really, really meaningful.”
Hoying found his way to World of Color Happiness! thanks to his work on Walt Disney World’s Epcot spectacular Luminous: The Symphony of Us. That show, which premiered in December 2023, featured a song Hoying co-wrote (with A.J. Sealy and Sheléa, performed by Sheléa) titled “Heartbeat Symphony.” Perhaps surprisingly, the song was selected for the show in a “blind” audition, so to speak, where the writers were not revealed during the initial selection process.
Stef Fink – who was the music producer for Luminous and World of Color Happiness! – invited Sealy and others to “blind submit” songs for Luminous. Sealy called up Hoying (whom Fink did not know personally at the time), and the pair submitted a track, which was among the songs the Disney team initially selected for consideration. Then, Sheléa teamed with Hoying and Sealy, and the three tinkered with the track and added Sheléa’s vocals to the demo, and Disney ultimately selected the song for the show.
So when it came time for World of Color Happiness! to begin production, the relationship Hoying and Fink had built with Luminous graduated to a new level. Knowing that World of Color Happiness! was going to be a “more vocal-forward and a more pop-forward show,” Fink thought of bringing Hoying into the creative process. “I like to surround myself with people who are smarter and musically better than I am, so I was like, ‘Scott, what are you doing?’”
On this show, Scott “stepped into so many different roles creatively, by himself and alongside me,” Fink says. “He’s not just a singer on the show and he’s not just a vocal arranger – he really informed a lot of our fun decisions, along with our incredible creative director Steve Davison and our entire team over at Disney Live Entertainment.”
The creative synergy between Fink and Hoying extended to the new song “Great Rainbow,” which the pair wrote and produced together, with Hoying singing the track alongside an orchestra and choir.
Recording the song with a live orchestra was “one of the best parts of the whole experience and why I have so much respect for the Disney Music team, because they don’t cut corners,” Hoying says, stressing the lengths Disney will go to for authenticity and accuracy in their music production.
“It’s so cool to work on a project that has so much integrity for music. … I don’t get to record with an orchestra very often – obviously, Pentatonix is a cappella – and it was so magical. As magical as you’d think it’d be. I was just bawling [in the studio] to the point where I was like, ‘All right, it’s kind of cute to cry for a second, but now it’s kind of getting crazy.’ [Laughs] I was just so moved. It was the most beautiful thing I ever heard.
“And the concept of the show is about connection, and to see 70 people who all dedicated their life to their instrument come together and play an arrangement that I worked on and they loved to play, and it made this beautiful sound… and I was like, ‘Humans, we’re all connected!’ I was just in my feels and just going through it. It was just magical.”
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated June 14, we look at a handful of albums likely to impact the top tier of the chart – a couple brand new, and a couple recently revitalized, led by a likely rebound from the biggest pop star in the world.
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Taylor Swift, Reputation (Big Machine): On a day of big new releases, last Friday (May 30) was still dominated by the news that Taylor Swift had officially acquired her own masters. Billboard reported from sources that she paid around $360 million for the acquisition from private equity firm Shamrock Capital, which had acquired the catalog in late 2020 from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, after Braun had bought Swift’s old label Big Machine the year before. Braun’s initial purchase, and Swift’s negative reaction to her professional adversary having such a big stake in her history, had of course inspired the entire Taylor’s Version project — which led to Swift re-recording four of her first six albums over the course of 2021-2023, along with a number of period-appropriate rarities. That endeavor not only proved wildly successful for Swift, but played a major part in her 2020s ascension to a level of solo superstardom not seen before this century.
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One of the two Big Machine-era albums she had yet to get to with her Taylor’s Version series was Reputation, the divisive 2017 album that followed both her ultimate pop breakthrough with 2014’s 1989 and the backlash that ensued, particularly after her back-and-forth feuding with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Along with the announcement of the acquisition of her masters, Swift also revealed that Reputation (Taylor’s Version) had been the most challenging of the series for her to put together, as she found it difficult to get back into the headspace of that album era — and thus had not even finished re-recording a quarter of it. Fans could infer from her letter that now that Swift’s back catalog was once again her own, she would be unlikely to finish re-recording the rest of it anytime soon.
But while some fans may have been disappointed that they would not get the full Reputation (Taylor’s Version) package anytime soon — which was so long-anticipated that the original album got a consumption bump a couple weeks ago merely based on rumors that she might reveal something about it on the AMAs — most were ready to revisit the original album anyway. With no re-recording imminent, and Swift once again the owner of her back catalog, fans flocked to the original Reputation, resulting in it leaping to the top of the iTunes albums chart, and launching five of its tracks back onto the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart for Saturday (May 31).
The major bump in sales and streams, for an album that was still ranking at No. 78 on the Billboard 200 in its 349th week on the chart, could see the album make a major rebound next week. It’s unlikely to supplant Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem — but no album is, as Problem posted 286,000 units this week (according to Luminate) in its second week atop the chart, and is likely to still be comfortably in the six figures in its third week, thanks to the 37-track set’s gargantuan streaming numbers. But it could get as high as the top five, maybe even to the runner-up spot, if fan enthusiasm maintains the further we get away from Swift’s Friday announcement. (Swift could also perhaps give sales a boost if she made the album available for sale on her webstore — as of publishing, it was still not listed there.)
Miley Cyrus, Something Beautiful (Columbia): Perhaps Swift’s main competition for the biggest chart-crasher this week is her old Hannah Montana: The Movie co-star Miley Cyrus. The veteran pop superstar returned on Friday with her new LP Something Beautiful, the audio part of a visual album project whose film accompaniment is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this Friday (June 6).
Something Beautiful follows 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation, and its galactically successful lead single “Flowers,” which became the biggest chart hit of Cyrus’ career and won her her first two Grammys. So far, none of the advance releases from Something Beautiful appear to be on anywhere near a “Flowers” trajectory, however — the only one of them to even reach the Billboard Hot 100 so far was official lead single “End of the World,” which debuted at No. 52 and fell off the chart after just four weeks.
While Something Beautiful is unlikely to be an immediate streaming blockbuster — as of midweek, none of its tracks appear on either the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA or the Apple Music real-time charts — it should sell relatively well. To help with that, the album is available in six different vinyl variants (including an artist webstore-exclusive signed version), as well as standard and signed CDs and two deluxe branded boxed sets with the CD and branded merch. At the very least, the set should extend Miley’s streak of top five albums on the Billboard 200 — which encompasses every one of her official studio releases dating back to 2007’s Meet Miley Cyrus, excepting 2015’s Miley Cyrus & Dead Petz, which was not initially given a commercial release.
SEVENTEEN, SEVENTEEN 5th Album ‘Happy Burstday’ (Pledis/YG Plus): Also aiming for the top five next week is an act with less stateside household-name recognition as Swift and Cyrus, but nearly as much of a presence on the albums chart. SEVENTEEN has reached the Billboard 200’s top 10 six times already in the 2020s, and even gotten as high as No. 2 with two 2023 releases, the EP FML and the mini-album Seventeenth Heaven.
The 13-member group is likely to return to the top 10 next week with its fifth full-length album, Happy Burstday — a 16-track effort that includes contributions from two of the biggest U.S. hitmakers of the early 21st-century in Pharrell and Timbaland. While SEVENTEEN has never been a major force on streaming in the U.S., the group are reliable high-sellers, and Burstday is available for purchase in a whopping 14 CD variants — all of which contain collectible branded paper ephemera, some of which is randomized. It should be enough for Burstday to be a real contender for the Billboard 200’s runner-up spot, along with the Swift and Cyrus sets.
Travis Kelce is interested in joining the DJ scene — and he knows exactly who he’d open for if he does. On the latest episode of New Heights posted Wednesday (June 4), he conversed with this week’s guest, Shaquille O’Neal, about wanting to get behind the turntables, with both athletes agreeing that the tight end would be the perfect “hype man” at Taylor Swift‘s concerts.
The topic first came up shortly after Travis and his brother/cohost, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, introduced the basketball icon. Praising Shaq for his DJing skills, the Grotesquerie star asked him to “teach me your ways.”
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“Bro, I got you,” replied O’Neal, who performs under the moniker DJ Diesel. “You know what [would be] crazy? You opening up with your girlfriend. Bro, you’d be a f–king star. Ten minutes hyping up the crowd, oh my God.”
Travis then laughed with excitement at the prospect. “Come on, you know I’m a hype man,” he said as Jason cackled. “You know I’m a hype man. Get it rocking in there. Have the Swifties bouncing off the walls before T gets out there.”
With the “Fortnight” singer’s global Eras Tour ending last December, the Kansas City Chiefs star will have to wait until the next time she hits the road to put his own DJ skills to the test. He did, however, get a taste of what it’s like to perform alongside Swift before her last tour wrapped, making a surprise onstage cameo during one of her Wembley Stadium shows in June last year.
As far as being Swift’s “hype man” goes, Travis has plenty of experience in that department. The NFL star often publicly praises his famous girlfriend, from celebrating the release of her Billboard 200-topping The Tortured Poets Department album in April 2024 to commending her athleticism on the Eras Tour.
The latest episode of New Heights was also no exception. Following their chat about his DJ ambitions with O’Neal, Travis later celebrated the 14-time Grammy winner’s recent headline-making purchase of the master recordings to her first six albums, finally securing ownership of her back catalog after years of fighting to do so. After Shaq played Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” on his phone, the football player cheered, “Shout-out to Tay Tay!”
“Just got that song back, too,” he added with a big smile. “Just bought all her music back. So it’s finally hers.”
Watch Travis and Shaq’s conversation on New Heights above.
In the animated realm of Toca Boca World, anything is possible — from changing your hair color at the drop of a hat to becoming the next member of KATSEYE.
As announced Wednesday (June 4), the six-piece girl group is joining the digital universe of the Swedish children’s game, where the band’s signature diversity will go hand-in-hand with Toca Boca‘s mission to encourage play through imagination, creativity and self-expression. With members Manon, Sophia, Daniela, Lara, Megan and Yoonchae each getting their own avatars within the game, EYECONS who play along will be able to unlock a KATSEYE style pack, download the band’s music, and win free digital gifts once the partnership launches on Tuesday (June 10).
In an exclusive interview with Billboard‘s Delisa Shannon celebrating the collaboration, Sophia said her favorite part is how fans will be able to combine their favorite traits of each KATSEYE member to become an honorary member of the squad. “When you’re creating your character, you get to take different parts of us and also parts of you — you can literally make it look exactly like you — and I think it’s so beautiful,” she gushed over Zoom as her bandmates nodded.
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“Just like how we always say with KATSEYE, the beautiful part of it is the diversity and the global-ness of it, and the ability to see yourself in us,” Sophia continued. “Whether it be, ‘Oh, I love Dani’s style, but I look like Sophia’ — you can fully become that in this world. It’s kind of like becoming a seventh member of KATSEYE.”
“I think it’s very cool that within this game, we’ve been able to express our diversity and the difference and uniqueness between all six of us,” added Lara. “But then also being in this one world together, being friends, being sisters, I think that’s so beautifully reflected in the game.”
The ways in which each KATSEYE member is unique will be represented down to small details in their avatars, from Lara’s bindi to the birthmark above Daniela’s eyebrow. Serving as Toca Boca World‘s first-ever “guest characters,” the ladies will also contribute music to the game; a custom player will let fans listen to tracks “Touch,” “Debut” and “I’m Pretty,” as well as new single “Gameboy” after it drops later this summer.
Plus, the animated KATSEYE avatars will also take part in an in-game Voxella Festival Stage Takeover, descending one-by-one on the virtual venue and unlocking a song after they’re united. For Yoonchae and Daniela, however, the most exciting parts of the game are its opportunities for self-expression and customization.
“I would change my face every day,” the former gushed when asked how she’d spend her time in Toca Boca World if it were a real place, while the latter said, “I would just go shopping and buy the whole mall, and just customize different outfits.”
KATSEYE’s partnership with Toca Boca comes as the group is bigger than ever before. In the months since dropping debut EP SIS (Soft Is Strong) in August, the sextet has amassed millions of listeners and scored its first-ever Billboard Hot 100 hit with the viral single “Gnarly,” which debuted at No. 92 in May.
As hype around the track continues to heat up in tandem with the temperatures outside, the members of KATSEYE — who also have a new EP, Beautiful Chaos, coming June 27 — think it’s pretty clear what this year’s song of the summer is going to be. “It’s a ‘Gnarly’ Summer,” said Megan, as her bandmates smiled in agreement.
But after Brat Summer and Hot Girl Summer, what does a “Gnarly” Summer entail? “Not being afraid of being cringe … letting your intrusive thoughts win,” Megan elaborated, while Lara said it’s all about “being very wild — and a little bit messy.”
ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus is working on a new musical using artificial intelligence. According to Variety, during a talk at SXSW London on Wednesday (June 4), the 80-year old Swedish pop legend said he’s tapping into AI because he believes it is an excellent creative tool.
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“Right now I’m writing a musical, assisted by AI,” Ulvaeus said, noting that he’s about three-quarters of the way through the creative process on the unnamed project, the follow-up to the hugely successful pop quartet’s avatar stage show, Voyage.
“It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool,” Ulvaeus raved of AI. “It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.” Unlike many in the industry who fear that AI is an existential threat to their existence and the traditional creative process, Ulvaeus is aware of the bugs in the system, which he said have helped him to merge AI with his already formidable songwriting skills.
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“It’s lousy at [writing a whole song]” and “very bad at lyrics,” he said about his AI helpmate, which has allowed him to navigate through some creative dead-ends. “You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,” he said. “You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea.”
Ulvaeus is part of an eclectic lineup for 2025 SXSW London, whose lineup includes Erykah Badu (as DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown), Tems, Mabel, Alice Glass and many more. Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard) and the film and production company MRC invested in SXSW in 2021 following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic; two years later, Penske took majority ownership of SXSW.
The AI project, whose ultimate form has not yet been announced, is part of Ulvaeus’ ongoing partnership with Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the ABBA Voyage production. The Voyage virtual residency opened in London in May 2022 and is slated to run through January 2026. The show is a combination of 10 live performers and digital avatars of the four ABBA members, who have not performed live since their split in December 1982; the group, which also features Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released their first album in 40 years, Voyage, in November 2021.
Though Ulvaeus is happy to use AI in the creative process, he is also adamant about fighting for artists’ rights in the rapidly evolving digital age. “These AI models wouldn’t exist without the songs that we wrote,” he said.
Mariah Carey likes living on the edge. In a teaser announcing her new single Wednesday (June 4), the Songbird Supreme beats around no bushes when describing her type: dangerous. In a video posted to her social media accounts, Mimi sits behind the wheel of a luxurious car and poses in a “Type: Dangerous” tank top […]
KATSEYE, which recently notched their first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Gnarly,” is set to perform that feisty song on the 2025 Kids’ Choice Awards. The show, with Tyla hosting, is set to air live on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.
KATSEYE, a Los Angeles-based girl group (Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae), has been steadily building its fanbase over the past two years. With members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the U.S., KATSEYE is often described as a “global girl group.”
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The group first formed through HYBE and Geffen Records’ The Dream Academy competition and artist development program, later chronicled in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group received two nominations at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards: favorite K-pop dance challenge for “Touch” and favorite on screen for Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group made Billboard’s 21 Under 21 list for 2025 and has been named an Artist to Watch for 2025 by VEVO, DSCVR and TIDAL.
In September, KATSEYE attended New York Fashion Week for the first time. In November, joined by the L.A. Rams Cheerleaders, they performed on the MAMA Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. In December, they performed on select dates of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert. This year, they were added to the performance lineups for L.A.’s Wango Tango in May and Lollapalooza, scheduled for August in Chicago.
“Gnarly” is set to appear on KATSEYE’s second EP, Beautiful Chaos, which is due June 27 via HYBE x Geffen Records. The group’s first EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong) — which featured contributions from such A-listers as Ryan Tedder, Omer Fedi and Blake Slatkin — reached No. 119 on the Billboard 200.
Now, they’re the first performers announced for an awards show whose young teen fanbase will overlap to a large degree with their own EYEKON fan army.
Nickelodeon is calling the show the biggest party of the summer. It is certain to have more epic slimings than any other show. Kids’ Choice Awards 2025 will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.
Leading the pack with four nominations each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three apiece.
First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani and Florence Pugh, among others.
