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Tetris Kelly & QTCinderella were at the AMA’s on the red carpet, and they asked Kehlani, Megan Moroney, Shaboozey, Becky G and more who they’d want to party in Vegas with.
Who would you want to spend 24 hours in vegas with? Let us know in the comments!
Tetris Kelly:
We’re in Vegas. If you’re going out with anybody tonight, you can pick one person to hit the streets with. Who are you taking?
Shaboozey: Man, I’ll probably take Morgan Wallen.
Okay. That’s gonna be a night.
QTCinderella: You would have to go. I think you might have to leave Vegas for that one. I don’t know Sin City. I don’t know if that’s God’s country.
Kehlani: Oh, my God. Bruno Mars, I watched this compilation video of him yesterday, of him purposely answering all the interview questions hilariously. And I think he’s hysterical. I would love to have a crazy 24 hours.
Two Friends: I think someone that would be able to, like come on stage and do a couple songs with us. I think Eminem would be cool.
Tetris Kelly: What?!
QTCinderella: That’s incredible.
Two Friends: He hasn’t done really anything EDM. Eminem, if you’re watching this, let us know.
Tommy Richman: I mean, people here, I’m trying to meet Janet Jackson, for real. I’m trying to, you know, get a number, make a song with her, man.
Mark Manio & Scott Hoying: Lady Gaga, she’s my favorite. Beyonce. I mean, Ariana, Ariana, it’s just a super group of girls. It would be so cool.
Tetris Kelly: Power group of girls, love that.
Megan Moroney: I mean, I’d probably go with my girl, Lainey.
Keep watching for more!
Alex Warren and Jelly Roll went all the way back to the Middle Ages in a music video for their new single “Bloodline.” Released Friday (May 30), the clip begins with Warren barricaded inside a medieval tavern. According to a brawny extra, there’s apparently a dangerous war raging outside. “The enemy shall be upon us […]
On Friday (May 30), Taylor Swift both announced that she has finally acquired the masters to her first six albums and gave an update on the long-awaited Reputation re-record — but fans suspect that, to top it all off, she also subtly teased her 12th album.
In a letter posted to her website, the pop star revealed that she finally has control over her entire body of work after purchasing back her masters from Shamrock Capital (for somewhere around $360 million, sources tell Billboard). The sale comes six years after Scooter Braun acquired her catalog from Scott Borchetta in 2019, after which the music manager sold his ownership of Swift’s music to Shamrock in late 2020.
Trending on Billboard
“I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow,” Swift wrote in her message, emphasizing how meaningful the acquisition is to her. “A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news.”
But what caught fans’ eye was what the 14-time Grammy winner wrote next. “All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through.”
The statement may seem innocuous — and for all Swifties know, it is — but it’s hard not to focus in on the fact that she included no less than 12 “i”s when writing out the word “thiiiiiiiiiiiis.” Swift has released 11 albums over the course of her career, the last of which, The Tortured Poets Department, arrived in April 2023 and spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. That would make her next LP her 12th, a fact that has fans thinking she just teased the upcoming project with her note.
“THE LETTER HAS 12 I’s TS12 IS COMING SOON TOO OMG IM SO HAPPY FOR TAYLOR,” one fan wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the letter.
“IT’S A TS12 SUMMER!!!” another fan posted, while a third Swiftie shared a screenshot of the letter and wrote, “I feel like ts12 just got so much closer.”
The 12-count “i” situation is just the latest suspected clue fans have picked up on ahead of the “Fortnight” singer’s predicted 12th album. Much fanfare was also made when Swift attended the 2025 Grammys wearing earrings with exactly 12 red jewels apiece, and in March, she used a sequence of 12 “D”s when praising Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s I Said I Love You First album on Instagram.
“I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO MUCH OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDD,” Swift wrote on her Story at the time.
Sharing screenshots of the earrings, the Gomez-Blanco post and the letter about her masters, one Swiftie wrote Friday, “SUDDENLY LIFE IS WORTH LIVING TS12 TRUTHERS RISE.”
But while fans may be excited about the prospect of Swift’s 12th album coming soon, it’s just one of many things they are celebrating. Social media has seen an outpouring of Swifties rejoicing over the musician finally owning her life’s work, something she wrote in her letter is her “greatest dream come true.”
The purchase comes after six years of publicly feuding with Borchetta and Braun over the way the original sale was handled, as well as the re-releases of four of her first six albums: Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989. In her letter, Swift emphasized how thankful she was to fans for sticking with her every step of the way.
“You’ll never know how much it means to me that you cared,” she wrote. “Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here. Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are.”
Most people don’t have to worry about hiding a growing baby bump while modeling in a seductive lingerie shoot. But then again, Rihanna is not most people.
The superstar took to social media on Friday (May 30) to share a look at the creative ways she kept her pregnancy a secret while shooting Savage X Fenty’s latest campaign.
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“It’s me playing ‘hide the baby bump’ whole shoot!” the megastar captioned the carousel showing off her menagerie of clever poses before adding, “Boutta be a cheeky summer” with a pair of sun and peach emojis.
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In one snap, RiRi poses with her stomach flat against a wall made up of vibrant, blue pool tiles; in several others, she stands with her back to the camera altogether, offering a series of tantalizing smizes from over her shoulder. Still, the mom of two couldn’t avoid taking pictures from the front for the entire shoot, so when the time came, she opted to lean back in a plastic chair, wisely covering her stomach with her right arm while slinging the opposite leg across her right knee.
Naturally, the mogul also used the post to plug the gorgeous lingerie she was sporting in the photo shoot, adding, “New mosaic floral lace @savagexfenty just dropped!”
Many members of the Navy were quick to hype up their queen in the comments section, with one writing, “And the body stay bodying, even if it’s growing another body” while another declared, “My phone is overheating now.” Others couldn’t help but joke about the singer’s elusive ninth album, commenting, “R9 is winning the hide and seek though.”
Earlier this month, Rihanna announced her third pregnancy with partner A$AP Rocky on the carpet of the 2025 Met Gala, where she put her sweet baby bump on display in a custom tailored ensemble by Marc Jacobs. Since then, she’s also released “Friend of Mine,” her first single in three years, off the Smurfs soundtrack.
Check out Rihanna’s cheeky, pregnancy-hiding photo shoot here.
Fat Joe claims he bailed Justin Bieber out of jail following the pop star’s 2014 arrest in Miami Beach, but shared a conversation that followed between the stars that the rapper believes ruined their relationship.
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On the Thursday (May 29) episode of Joe & Jada, Joey Crack recalled receiving a call about a 19-year-old Bieber needing to be bailed out after being arrested in Miami Beach on charges of driving under the influence, driving with an expired license and resisting arrest.
“It wasn’t no money. It was nothing,” Joe begins about the bail amount. “Couple of hundred dollars, a thousand dollars. We used Rich Playa’s girl to bail him out. So we bail out Bieber, $100.” (The pop star’s bail was actually $2,500.)
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“The problem is he calls me to thank me and he starts saying, ‘I’m a gangster now.’ … He starts telling me he’s a gangster, I went to jail. I said, ‘Yo, Justin. Listen, bro. You gotta stop. We don’t want you gangster.’ We want you singing ‘Baby, baby.’”
Joe thinks that giving him some mature fatherly advice destroyed his relationship with Bieber, rather than going along with his rebelliousness at the time, as some others may have. They haven’t spoken much since the incident, according to the rapper.
“We don’t want you on the news. We don’t want you getting arrested. We want you to succeed. You’re Justin Bieber,” he continued. “My daughter worships you! We all love you! And that kinda messed up my relationship with him at that moment … He felt like I’m the fun killer. I f–ked up the moment.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Justin Bieber for comment.
Seven years later, Bieber reflected on his 2014 arrest with some perspective and clarity on one of the low moments in his life as a teen.
“7 years ago today I was arrested, not my finest hour. Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, mislead, misunderstood and angry at God,” he wrote to social media before mocking his fashion choices on the night of his arrest. “[I] also wore too much leather for someone in Miami. All this to say God has brought me a long way. From then til now I do realize something.. God was as close to me then as he is right now.”
Watch Fat Joe’s interview below. The Bieber bailout talk starts around the 18:50 mark.
Taylor Swift fans are very, very used to the pop star surprising them — but she might have just outdone herself with the announcement that she’s purchased back the masters to her first six albums, following an arduous six-year fight to do so.
The news comes after a bitter public feud with her old label boss Scott Borchetta, who in 2019 sold his Big Machine Label Group — along with Swift’s catalog — for upwards of $300 million to Scooter Braun, a situation the 14-time Grammy winner said at the time was her “worst-case scenario.” Also in a message posted to her Tumblr after the sale, she wrote that she’d learned about the deal “as it was announced to the world” and added, “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.”
Braun would later sell his ownership of Swift’s music to Shamrock Capital, and the musician would busy herself on a mission to re-record the albums she made with Big Machine. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) all sprung from this venture, topping the Billboard 200 each time and fueling the success behind Swift’s blockbuster Eras Tour.
Trending on Billboard
So when the “Fortnight” singer revealed in a letter on her website Friday (May 30) that she had finally won control over her masters, purchasing them from Shamrock for an amount that sources tell Billboard was about $360 million, fans were shocked — not just because of how long the journey has been up until this point, but also because of what it means for the long-awaited Taylor Swift and Reputation re-records. (In her letter, Swift shared that she’s already finished re-doing the former, but hasn’t even completed “a quarter” of the latter. “To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first six that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it,” she wrote, adding that “there will be a time … for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.”)
The day has been full of mixed emotions for Swifties, as many are sad to hear that Reputation may not get the full Taylor’s Version treatment after all. But more than anything, the overwhelming feeling in the fanbase’s online community has been elation since Swift shared her news. “THIS IS BETTER THAN REP TV,” one fan wrote on X. “THIS IS REPUTATION!!!!!!! THE WHOLE THING!!! RECLAIMING HERSELF!!!!! ALL. OF. IT.”
“the moral of the story is taylor ALWAYS wins in the end,” another person posted, while a third Swiftie wrote, “oh taylor you are so loved. the whole world was rooting for you.”
Many fans have also been rejoicing in the fact that they can now stream the original versions of Swift’s first six albums without having to worry anymore about supporting her competitors. “I’m so happy for Taylor Swift!” wrote one happy camper on X. “She owns all of it!!!!!! I can now go back and listen to all of her original albums and not feel guilty 😭 TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!!!!!”
See how Swifties are reacting to the singer’s big purchase below.
I’m so happy for Taylor Swift! She owns all of it!!!!!! I can now go back and listen to all of her original albums and not feel guilty 😭 TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!!!!! pic.twitter.com/vPiw5HCTzi— 💫 (@heyjaeee) May 30, 2025
THIS IS BETTER THAN REP TV THIS IS REPUTATION!!!!!!! THE WHOLE THING!!! RECLAIMING HERSELF!!!!! ALL. OF. IT.— LYDIA ⋆⭒˚.⋆🪩 (@mirrorballydia) May 30, 2025
I can’t even find the words to comprehend how happy I am— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftNYC) May 30, 2025
she’s so right reputation was an album that you really just had to be there for— mason (@larkieswiftie) May 30, 2025
not just the music but the music videos, concert films, album art & photography, unreleased songs from every single era now fully belong to taylor im so so so happy for her 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/mGOw2W1uuo— kaia! (@kaiamal13) May 30, 2025
btw pls don’t be too mad that we *may* not get rep tv. her owning the masters > > > > > > > > rep tv like this was the whole point— tushar (@reputushion) May 30, 2025
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is back at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart for a fifth non-consecutive week on Friday (May 30). The “Espresso” star first hit the top spot upon release back in August 2024, and the LP has returned to the summit intermittently ever since; Short n’ Sweet was last […]
Watch out, Fockers! Ariana Grande is adding another role to her big-screen resumé by joining the cast of Meet the Parents 4. According The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the superstar will show off her comedy chops opposite Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, both of whom have starred in the hit franchise since Meet the […]
After six long years and four album re-records, Taylor Swift has finally won back control of her masters. But what does that mean for the long-awaited, highly anticipated Reputation (Taylor’s Version)?
In a letter on her website announcing that she’d finally been able to purchase back the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Capital Friday (May 30), the pop star addressed just that. “I know, I know. What about Rep TV?” Swift began in her note.
“Full: transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it,” she continued. “The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first six that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it.”
Trending on Billboard
For those reasons, Swift says she “kept putting it off” when it came time to re-record Reputation. Now that she owns the masters to the original album, she doesn’t technically need to remake it — but she did add, “There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.”
After releasing new versions of her Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989 albums over the past few years, Reputation was one of two albums left for her to re-record in the series of six LPs she’d made while still signed to Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group. One of the biggest feuds in music history erupted into the court of public opinion in 2019 when Borchetta sold the company — along with Swift’s catalog — to Scooter Braun, something the “Fortnight” singer at the time called her “worst case scenario” due to Braun’s “incessant, manipulative bullying” she accused him of directing her way over the years.
Her catalog later traded hands again when Braun sold it to Shamrock in late 2020, while Swift has kept fans on their toes with the unveilings of each Taylor’s Version album — each of which has featured a handful of “From the Vault” tracks written in years past that were never previously released. Besides Reputation, the only other album she still had left to re-record was her 2006 self-titled debut, about which she wrote in Friday’s letter, “I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now.”
“Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about,” she wrote of Reputation and Taylor Swift. “But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
Taylor Swift announced on Friday (May 30) she has regained ownership of her master recordings from Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm that purchased them from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in late 2020. According to sources, Shamrock sold Swift’s catalog back to her for an amount relatively close to what they paid for it — which sources tell Billboard was around $360 million.
In a message on her website, Swift says: “All the times I was this close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now… I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs to me. All of my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work.”
In her announcement, Swift expressed gratitude and praised Shamrock for how they handled the deal, noting they understood the deeply personal meaning behind the transaction. “My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,” she writes. “I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”
Trending on Billboard
The saga of Swift’s masters goes back to June 2019, when Ithaca purchased Big Machine Label Group, which owned the master recordings to Swift’s first six albums, for an estimated $300 million. Swift’s catalog was worth at least half of that amount, according to estimates at the time. Over the years, Swift has very publicly declared her displeasure with the shuffling around of her masters and, in 2019, began re-recording those Big Machine albums in order to restore control over her songs from a commercial standpoint.
Her re-recording journey began with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April 2021, followed by Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021. In 2023, she released Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version), each topping the Billboard 200 chart. Fans are still anticipating the re-recording of her self-titled debut and her final Big Machine LP, Reputation. Since leaving Big Machine in November 2018, she’s released five additional albums on Republic Records: Lover (2019), Folkore (2020), Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024). She also embarked upon and completed her career-defining Eras Tour, which rewrote the rules of what a concert tour could be, and massively boosted streams and sales of her entire catalog, including the re-recordings.
Swift was not involved in Shamrock’s 2020 purchase of her music. “This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge,” she said at the time.
Shamrock’s 2020 statement about acquiring Swift’s catalog from Ithaca emphasized their admiration for her artistry and the value of her music. They described Swift as a “transcendent artist” with a “timeless catalog” and said their investment was driven by belief in the long-term potential of her work. While they had hoped to partner with her directly, they acknowledged and respected her decision not to be involved. Shamrock expressed appreciation for Swift’s professionalism and conveyed interest in collaborating with her in the future.
Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, given that sources close to the negotiations say Swift paid a price close to the $360-million price tag Shamrock paid back in 2021, that would imply Shamrock did not make much, if any, profit off the sale of the assets. However, the financial firm with ties to Disney still made a profit of around $100 million in total over the three plus years it owned the records. The six albums and two live albums that Swift recorded when she was signed to Big Machine generated roughly $60 million a year on average globally from 2022 to 2024, according to Billboard’s estimates based on Luminate data. Distribution, marketing and royalty payments to Swift likely consumed about 50% of that revenue, leaving Shamrock with an annual profit of around $30 million a year.
In 2023, Billboard reported that the re-recordings of Swift’s albums Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) were vastly out-streaming their originals since the new versions were released, with the new Fearless earning three times the equivalent album units as the original, and the new Red as much as 10 times the original.
As of May 22 according to Luminate, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has racked up 2.3 million equivalent album units to the original’s 8.6 million U.S. units, despite the latter having a more than 12 year head start; Red (Taylor’s Version) has accumulated 5.18 million equivalent album units to the original’s 9.16 million U.S. units, despite the latter having been released nearly 10 years prior to the re-recording; Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has accrued 3.0 million equivalent album units to the original’s 11.7 million U.S. units, the latter having had a 13-year head start; and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has earned 4.87 million equivalent album units to the original’s 14.6 million, with a nine year gap in release dates.
Overall, Swift’s catalog has racked up 116.77 million equivalent album units in the United States over the years, according to Luminate, stretching back to her self-titled debut album in 2006. She has sold 54 million albums in the U.S. and generated 70.746 billion streams.
Read Taylor’s full message on reclaiming her masters:
Hi,
I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words:
All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.
And all my music videos.All the concert films.The album art and photography.The unreleased songs.The memories. The magic. The madness.Every single era.My entire life’s work.
To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.
I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in the first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch. I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.
I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You’ll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.
Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are.
Elated and amazed,
Taylor
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and Dan Rys.
