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John Legend is opening up the “descent” of his former friend Ye.
In a new interview with The Times, published on Saturday (May 10), the 46-year-old R&B singer expressed shock over the dramatic changes in Ye (formerly Kanye West) after their close personal and professional bond in the early 2000s.
“Back then Kanye was very passionate, very gifted, and he had big dreams not only for himself but also for all the people around him,” Legend said, reflecting on how West helped launch his career after collaborating on the rapper’s 2004 album, The College Dropout. “He had so much optimism, so much creativity. It does feel sad, sometimes shocking, to see where he is now.”
The EGOT winner signed with West’s G.O.O.D. Music after releasing a pair of self-produced albums early in his career. The two artists collaborated on numerous projects over the years, but their friendship began to fray after West, 47, voiced support for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Their relationship ultimately ended in the aftermath of West’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential bid.
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“I didn’t see a hint of what we’re seeing now, his obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution,” Legend told The Times.
Ye has faced backlash in recent months for his hate-filled, antisemitic rants on social media. The rapper has also expressed support for Diddy, who is currently on trial for sex trafficking charges.
Legend admits he’s not qualified to “psychoanalyze” West, but offers a guess as to why the embattled rapper has changed so much in recent years.
“After his mother passed in 2007 there was definitely a difference,” the singer said. “His descent started then and seems to have accelerated recently.”
West’s mother, Donda, died of a heart attack at age 58 in 2007 following complications from multiple cosmetic procedures. After her death, the rapper released two albums bearing her name: Donda (2021), which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and Donda 2 (2022), which was initially available exclusively on the Stem Player before being released on streaming services in late April.
Elsewhere in The Times interview, Legend reflected on West’s undeniable impact in launching his career.
“Kanye blew up after producing Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint in 2001,” he said. “Then he experienced a buzz as a solo artist and the whole time I was traveling with him, doing shows with him, getting exposure not only as his singer and keyboard player but also as an artist myself. I had been turned down by labels everywhere. Then The College Dropout sold 400,000 copies in its first week, everyone wanted to know what was happening in our camp.”
The singer added, “All those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round.”
It’s been more than a year since Kendrick Lamar upended the rap game and significantly altered the course of popular culture with “Not Like Us,” the five-time Grammy-winning, Billboard Hot 100-topping knockout punch in his monthslong battle against Drake. If the feverish crowd at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Friday night (May 10) was anything to go by, K.Dot’s ongoing domination isn’t likely to subside anytime soon.
Lamar and SZA, former TDE labelmates and both global superstars in their own rights, graced the NYC-area venue for their second of two shows in East Rutherford, N.J., on their blockbuster Grand National Tour. One of the most ambitious treks in hip-hop history, the Grand National Tour is a towering achievement.
From mainstream-conquering smashes (“Luther,” “Humble,” “DNA”) to headier deep cuts from his latest Billboard 200 chart-topper (“Man at the Garden,” “Reincarnated”), Lamar meticulously presented hip-hop as stadium-sized theater. He didn’t do so by relying on flashy production or set design; instead, he stripped hip-hop down to its five founding pillars, laying bare the incomparable art form that is emceeing on a hot mic.
Kicking things off with GNX opener “Wacced Out Murals,” Lamar launched the nearly three-hour extravaganza all on his lonesome. Lamar and SZA traded sets bridged by beloved duets like “Doves in the Wind,” “All the Stars” and the more recent “30 for 30 Freestyle.” Though both artists sourced the bulk of their sets from their most recent releases (GNX for Lamar and SOS Deluxe: LANA for SZA), they also held space for their respective catalogs. Lamar rapped the opening verse of “Swimming Pools” completely a cappella for his “day ones”; SZA frequently shouted out her “Ctrl babies” before performing cuts like “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” and “Broken Clocks,” and she pulled Zacari‘s weight for a sweet rendition of Lamar’s “Love.”
SZA performs on the opening night of the Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar on April 19, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Cassidy Meyers
Across a stage reminiscent of the video game controller setup of Lamar’s landmark Super Bowl LIX halftime show, the Grand National Tour’s set design is largely minimalistic, save for a stair platform placed at the center of the stage. Despite a few levitating mini-platforms and a flying fairy moment for SZA, the true centerpiece of the Grand National stage was the literal GNX that helped the set transition between each set. When Kendrick first hit the stage, the black GNX stood as it does on the album cover, but by the time SZA hit her set, the vehicle transformed into a grassy, fauna-laden ride that nodded to the insect aesthetic of the LANA era. At the show’s close (“Gloria”), Lamar opened the passenger door for SZA like a consummate gentleman and joined her in the car as they wished the packed stadium safe travels home.
Both a wildly impressive victory lap and the progeny of over a decade of grueling work from both Lamar and SZA, the Grand National Tour saw two of the most defining artists of the 2010s operating at the height of their powers while ensuring hip-hop always remains at the center.
Here are the 10 best moments from their Grand National Tour stop at MetLife Stadium.
Prince Easter Eggs
Leon Thomas’ breakthrough hit “Mutt” hits a new peak of No. 15 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 – over nine months since Grammy-winning multihyphenate first unleashed the hazy, bass-driven tune. As he approaches the second summer of the Mutt album cycle at a new career peak, Thomas has meticulously readied a 10-song deluxe edition of his acclaimed record.
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Out on May 30 via EZMNY/Motown Records and subtitled Heel, the deluxe edition of Mutt will include collaborations with several hip-hop and R&B heavyweights, including Marsha Ambrosius, Big Sean, Kehlani and Chris Brown – the latter of whom appeared on March’s “Mutt” remix. Last month (April 18), Halle Bailey lent Thomas an assist on “Rather Be Alone,” a psychedelic rock-tinged soul ballad that served as the first taste of Heel. Featuring reimagined versions of select Mutt deep cuts (“Yes It Is” and “Vibes Don’t Lie” both get updates), Heel also revives songs from studio sessions dating back to Electric Dusk, Thomas’ 2023 debut studio album (“Party Favors,” which now includes a Big Sean guest verse).
Inspired by the juxtaposition of his current career momentum and the space needed to truly experience life — as well as by Michael McDonald’s insights from 2024’s Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary — Heel finds Thomas stepping into his healing era, to better understand his emotional state in the original world of Mutt.
“I think music should reflect life,” he explains to Billboard. “Personally, I’m in a place of being really single right now. I was emotionally in that place while making [“Rather Be Alone”], I wasn’t really in a party mood, yet. Summer’s on the way, but I had a little bit of emotional spring cleaning to do first.”
The announcement of Mutt Deluxe: Heal comes the same week that Thomas earned his first two career BET Awards nominations, as he will vie in the best new artist and best male R&B/pop artist categories at the June 9 ceremony. With viral NPR Tiny Desk and Late Show performances and a headlining tour already under his belt, Leon Thomas’ Mutt era is only picking up steam as its one-year anniversary draws nearer.
In a revelatory conversation with Billboard, Leon Thomas breaks down several new Heel tracks, details funk icon George Clinton essentially knighting him during Coachella and explains why Halle clearly “graduated from the Beyoncé school of vocal production.”
When did you know that you wanted to turn Mutt into a deluxe album?
While I was on my headlining tour for Mutt, I started talking to my manager about everything that’s going on with the Grammys [eligibility cycle], not being able to be nominated [last year] because of the timeline. We were trying to figure out healthy ways to breathe life back into [the record]. We ended up discussing different features, and by the end of that conversation, we were like, “Well, it sounds like it’s deluxe season.”
I was really inspired by [SZA’s] Lana and how she gave us a whole new energy. I even saw a resurgence of “Snooze” right after that drop, on the production and songwriting side, which was really good. It all made sense.
I started digging back in at the top of the year. I went out to the same Atlanta studio that OutKast used to do a lot of records in and linked with [“Mutt” co-writers] Robert Gueringer and David Phelps. We set up hella instruments, wrote a bunch of songs, and none of them made it to the deluxe. But it was a good bonding experience. We were all really excited about the success of “Mutt” and where things were headed.
Did any songs from the original Mutt sessions make it to the deluxe?
Yeah, there was actually a song I wrote the same day I wrote the first track for Electric Dusk, actually. It was a song I always loved called “Party Favors.” I played it for my boy, Big Sean, and he loved it, so I had him hop on that. There were a couple of old gems like that.
Big Sean is on two deluxe tracks. What is it about your relationship with him that makes y’all such fruitful collaborators?
I always do that with artists, if I’m trying to collaborate with them — because sometimes, artists send me just one joint, and I may or may not be into it, even if I’m down to work with the artist. I try to give every artist an opportunity to shoot different things. You never know what they’ll end up getting attached to.
[Sean] ended up writing [verses] to both [“Party Favors” and “Vibes Don’t Lie”], and then he was like, “Well, if you don’t put [“Party Favors”] on the deluxe, I’m gonna drop it tomorrow.” I was like, “Well, no, sir!” [Laughs.] That’s how it is dealing with rappers, man. They’re just like, “Let’s drop tomorrow!” And I’m like, “Let me get a marketing budget first, my boy!”
Marsha Ambrosius is also on the deluxe — which is fitting, since you’ve interpolated Floetry’s “Say Yes” into a few live performances of “Yes It Is.” How did that one come together?
She doesn’t remember, but we wrote a whole song together like seven years ago — but I wasn’t tripping on that when I met her officially at the BET Awards. She was showing so much love to Electric Dusk, and her husband gave me her information, and we stayed in touch. A good friend of mine named Ali [Prawl] — who played keys on “Yes It Is” and produced it with me – used to play in her band, and is a Philly legend, so he reached out to her. Next thing I knew, I had a Dropbox full of vocals from Marsha Ambrosius.
It was really fun to mess around within the mix and try to protect the integrity of “Say Yes.” A lot of it was me playing off the success of the Tiny Desk and how much people loved that mashup. I wanted to give people something on wax that was a bit more polished.
How do you go about maintaining the integrity of the original record while giving audiences something new and fresh?
I think it’s a matter of not adding any extra overproduction to anything, and really staying true to my creative process. I’m known to overthink — in class, I would get a 92% on a test and could have had a 100%, but you could see me erase the right answer because I was overthinking. In music, I put myself in a position to literally just go with my first mind. “Safe Place” was a first take, “I Used To” was a first take with few edits, “Mutt” was a first take, and I just punched in certain things.
I wasn’t overthinking on this record. Even with the way we added features… I didn’t want to have them do a bunch of takes or versions. Just give me your first mind.
What was the “Rather Be Alone” studio session like?
D. Phelps was in the studio with us, and I actually stole him from Halle’s session – I’m real selfish with my guy! [Laughs.] We had no plans of doing a record that day. So, Halle pulls up to the studio, telling everybody to put the blunts out, and we started listening to records. We weren’t frustrated around that time, but we were definitely at a creative wall. I was like, “Okay, we got a label that wants us to do features, but I’m kinda anti-social, so who do I lock in with without it being awkward?”
Then, I had a little light bulb moment, and asked Halle to hop on the song. She really liked the song, but I had to kinda pressure her to get in the booth. She got in there, felt comfortable, wrote her verse very quickly, and really did her thing. You can hear that she came from the Beyoncé school of vocal production in the way she attacks things and enunciates and emotes. That put me in a great headspace as a producer as well.
When it comes to bringing in new voices, like Halle and Kehlani, how do you ensure that the chemistry feels natural and not forced?
Me and Kehlani have been writing together for years. For Ariana [Grande’s] Yours Truly album, we had Kehlani do the demos for some of the songs Ariana ended up cutting. Because we were so tight, we would write all the time. She’s my real friend. Writing with her isn’t even a session, it’s just talking.
She told me she was really feeling [Mutt] and wanted to make something for her own record. I wasn’t even sure if “Dirt on My Shoes” would be for my deluxe; I was just writing from the standpoint of either of us singing it. It was a very open-ended session. My boy, Khris Riddick-Tynes, also added some things to make it fit the sonic space of the Mutt album. Me and Kehlani are always gonna be super tight and supportive of one another.
Did you pull from your whirlwind past six months while writing these deluxe tracks? Or did you have to put yourself back in the mental space of the original Mutt sessions?
It’s funny, life is moving really fast, but I haven’t been living a lot of life. It’s been very: wake up, get to work, go to sleep, repeat. I’m not really pulling from too much emotionally. If anything, the absence of real emotional growth has been something that I can pull from. Also, the longing for something real – not that I haven’t had it, but I’m trying to figure out how to take care of it in the midst of a very busy schedule. I’m looking forward to looking back at these records because it’s a time stamp of my mental space.
Would you say this deluxe is a general expansion of the world of Mutt, a specific extension of the story the original tracklist tells, or something else entirely?
I almost feel like Heel is a bit of a meditation. I’m looking back at a lot of things and seeing where I was in my life during the Mutt era. It was pretty chaotic. The title of the deluxe has multiple meanings. From the “heel” command of learning to follow to healing in real life – that’s why a lot of the records aren’t bop-y, straight Power 106 vibes. Right now, I’m in a space of healing and learning… how to be a good boy. [Laughs.]
“Mutt” is right outside the Hot 100’s top 10 (No. 15). Did you expect to be here in April 2025 when you dropped this song in August 2024?
I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but like when I made the record, it was the first time I’ve ever been like, “I’m making a single today.” I didn’t let anyone talk me out of rolling with it as the first single. And there was a moment where everybody thought I should lead with “Far Fetched,” and I was like, “I love Ty, I love the song, but I really feel like we should lead with ‘Mutt.’” There was this feeling I had about it.
Did I think we would still be seeing it on the charts right now? N—a, to be real, no, I didn’t know that! We were pretty hyped when it got to 15 million streams; we were like “Oh s–t, we’re not failures.”
I was at Coachella, and when I finished performing, my homie told me that Tyla was singing my song word for word. I know what we have is definitely contagious and good for the culture. I’m glad that people are supporting that because it doesn’t always happen.
Tell me more about your Coachella experience this year.
It was awesome. My big bro, Ty Dolla $ign, brought me out there to perform on his stage. He’s a gracious artist who’s always chosen to support me and put me on a pedestal. Shoutout to Muni Long, who also gave me an opportunity to share her stage. She had no incentive to do that, outside of just really enjoying the music and being an awesome human.
On Sunday, I performed with George Clinton, and it was this whole moment… It’s 4/20, and I get a knock on my trailer and it’s Ty. He’s like, “George wants to talk with you.” We get into the trailer, and it’s literally a cloud of weed smoke, fam. Mind you, I don’t really smoke weed like that no more! So, I’m just in there, hotboxed to hell as George Clinton does this whole speech.
He’s like, “I’ve got a present for you, man. You the kid with the dog song, right? Yeah, I like that joint. I made you this hat.” And it’s an all-white hat with rhinestones, a dog face on it and a fox tail at the end of it. I’m like, “Wow, this is really elaborate and amazing.” He said, “Before I come out and perform ‘Atomic Dog,’ I’m going to give you the crown.” My parents were in a wedding band playing “Atomic Dog,” so I know it. I’m really tapped in!
That was an amazing moment for me, because I feel that funk can find its way back into popular culture right now. “Mutt” isn’t a super-Ohio-Players, funk-driven record, but it’s got those notes with the Bootsy Collins bass and real live drums. I really respect George Clinton, and I’m thankful that he even thought of me in this way.
It’s (still) like that, y’all! Mariah Carey took to social media on Friday (May 8) to continue the festivities surrounding the 20th anniversary of her landmark 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi.
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“Reliving the splendor of The Emancipation of Mimi with a few more of my favorite moments!” the icon captioned a carousel of memories from the era, adding the hashtag “Mimi20” along with a butterfly and red heart emoji.
Among the photos in Carey’s post were snaps of the R&B legend performing on stage in a glittering silver gown with mic in hand and walking her beloved Jack Russell terrier, Jack, in a yellow bandage dress, as well as a behind-the-scenes shot with Snoop Dogg from the set of the “Say Something” music video.
Mimi also included throwback clips of her performance of lead single “It’s Like That” alongside Jermaine Dupri and Fatman Scoop to open VH1 Save the Music’s 2005 benefit concert and an interview where she broke down the album’s many vibes on the press tour.
“I think each song on the album, Emancipation of Mimi, not necessarily has a different message, but has a different mood and has a different feeling — you know, evokes something different depending on who’s listening to it and at what time,” the superstar lays out in the latter video. “‘Don’t Forget About Us’ could kind of give you a good, happy memory or you could be miserable crying, listening to it over and over.
“But I think all in all, it’s always good to have music that you can sort of live vicariously through, and that’s what a lot of people have told me this record is for them,” she concluded.
Speaking of “Don’t Forget About Us,” Carey marked Mimi‘s major milestone in April by releasing a new remix of the No. 1 hit by Kaytranada. The re-envisioned version of the smash will be featured on the massive 40-track 20th anniversary reissue of the album, which is scheduled for release May 30.
Check out Mariah’s latest Emancipation of Mimi-era memories here.
Drew Afualo gives Summer Walker her flowers and she shares that she went to the same high school as Playboi Carti and Usher at Billboard Women in Music 2025. Drew Afualo: Team, here we are with the iconic, the legendary, the unbelievably beautiful, Summer Walker. We’re so happy to have you here. How are you […]
Drew Afualo gives flowers to Muni Long and she shares who has inspired her music, her knowing how to use a bow and arrow and more at Billboard Women in Music 2025.
Drew Afualo:
Team, here we are backstage at Billboard Women in Music with the one and only, Muni Long. Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to have you.
Muni Long:
I love that you’re a tall girl.
Period. You’re a tall girl, too.
I am.
Yes, I can tell that about you. Other than physically, seeing you, aura.
I got a tall aura. Yeah, I’m 5’10 by my aura 6’4
Love and I’m six feet, but my aura 6’9.
Period.
69.
Oh, is this a family show?
I don’t know. They’ll cut it, but thank you so much for being here. How does it feel being here at Billboard Women in Music?
Post performance feels amazing, pre performance, anxiety. What’d Doechii say? It’s my anxiety somebody’s watching me.
But all is well that ends well, yes?
Yes.
Amazing, fantastic. So to start off our fun little questions, I’m actually gonna give you some flowers.
Thank you very much appreciated.
So I would like to know who do you give flowers to for getting you where you are now?
My incredible team, my mom, my glam because I’m not the easiest person to glam. I’m very picky, I’m like I don’t like this, can you do it like this? Let me just get the pencil.
You’re so me. You’re so me.
Yeah, so everybody who helps me get pretty.
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Just as Kendrick Lamar leads the 2025 BET Award nominations, which were announced on Thursday (May 8), he is likely to also lead the Grammy nominations when they’re announced later this year.
Lamar has been the leading Grammy nominee twice before. He had 11 nominations leading up to the 2016 ceremony, and eight nods leading up to the 2019 ceremony. He has finished second (or in a tie for second) four other times — twice behind Jay-Z and twice behind Beyoncé. If Lamar amasses 11 nominations, he’ll match his personal best. If he garners 12, he’ll tie Michael Jackson (1984) and Babyface (1997) for the most nominations by anyone in any one year.
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The Grammys and BET Awards operate on different timetables. The eligibility year for this year’s BET Awards was March 16, 2024, through March 15, 2025. The eligibility year for the upcoming Grammys is Aug. 31, 2024, through Aug. 30, 2025. And, of course, the Grammys cover all genres, while the BET Awards focus on various forms of Black music. But the BET Awards offer some clues about which way Grammy voters may be leaning.
Three of the BET nominees for album of the year won album awards at the Grammys on Feb. 2. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won both best country album and album of the year, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal won best rap album and Chris Brown’s 11:11 Deluxe won best R&B album. A fourth BET album of the year nominee, Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You, was nominated for a Grammy for best rap album.
The other four BET nominees will be eligible for the 2026 Grammys — Lamar’s GNX, The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, GloRilla’s Glorious and the Drake-Partynextdoor collab Some $exy $ongs 4U.
GNX seems virtually certain to be Grammy nominated for album of the year. It would be Lamar’s fifth album of the year nomination as a lead artist, which would allow him to break out of a tie with Ye (formerly Kanye West) for the most album of the year nods by a rapper.
Two of the BET nominees for best new artist — Shaboozey and Teddy Swims — were Grammy nominated in that category at this year’s show. Two other BET nominees in that category are presumed to be ineligible for Grammy nominations in that category. Leon Thomas won a Grammy two years ago for co-writing SZA’s “Snooze,” which was voted best R&B song. Ayra Starr was nominated as a performer two years ago for best African music performance for “Rush.”
The five other BET nominees — 41, BigXthaPlug, BossMan Dlow, Dee Billz and October London — are likely to be eligible to compete for the Grammy in that highly competitive category later this year.
Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” which won a Grammy for best music video on Feb. 2, is nominated for BET’s video of the year. Future, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott and Playboi Carti’s “Type Shit” was also entered in that Grammy category, though it wasn’t nominated.
Luther Vandross is the subject of three BET Awards nominations. Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” now in its 11th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, is up for both best collaboration and the viewers choice award. And the documentary Luther: Never Too Much is nominated for best movie.
Vandross didn’t receive a lifetime achievement award from the BET Awards. He died in 2005, just four years after the show originated. Vandross, who is widely considered the leading R&B male balladeer of his generation, has yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, either.
In other BET nominations news, Blue Ivy Carter, the 13-year-old daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, is nominated for the Young Stars Award, an award she won last year. The BET allows multiple nominations and wins in that category. Blackish co-star Marsai Martin won it five times. Yara Shaidi and Keke Palmer each won it twice.
Wicked was passed over for a nod for best movie, but Cynthia Erivo is nominated for best actress for her performance in the film. And “Defying Gravity,” by Erivo featuring Ariana Grande, is up for the BET Her award. At the Grammys, Wicked can compete for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, while “Defying Gravity” can compete for best pop duo/group performance.
The 25th BET Awards will be held on Monday (June 9) at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. Comedian Kevin Hart is set to host for the second time.
Usher has jokingly apologized to Sabrina Carpenter’s dad following a viral photo from the 2025 Met Gala that showed the R&B star feeding the “Espresso” singer a cherry during his performance. “Apologies Mr Carpenter,” Usher commented Wednesday (May 7) on Carpenter’s Instagram post in apparent tongue-in-cheek fashion alongside sweating and cherry emojis. The apology was […]
The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow film hits theaters on May 16, and he revealed that his sleep paralysis diagnosis played a role in inspiring the movie.
Ahead of the film’s arrival, the singer spoke with The Fader earlier this week, when the superstar revealed that his suffering from sleep paralysis played a major role in inspiring Hurry Up Tomorrow. “There are no antagonists in this film,” he said. “I think that sleep paralysis is the enemy. One of the main concepts of this film is sleep paralysis.”
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The Weeknd added that he has since gotten his sleep paralysis under control with better sleeping practices limiting his lucid dreaming.
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“That is something that I was really dealing with, still am to this day, not as much as before, but they’re very vivid nightmares where you’re in bed and you’re half asleep, half awake,” he explained. “You’re aware of your surroundings, but you can’t move. You’re paralyzed for almost a minute. Sometimes you see a shadowy figure in the corner and you hear voices, sweet nothings. It’s saying nothing, but they’re voices.
The Toronto singer continued to say that lack of sleep was the biggest contributor to his sleep paralysis. “I did my research on it and it’s just a lack of sleep,” he concluded. “Your brain is still awake when you’re asleep. So my biggest medicine for it is just turn your phone off, turn the TV off, turn all the lights off. And yeah, you won’t get it. The irony is it’s got to all be dark and scary for you to sleep through the night.”
Hurry Up Tomorrow finds The Weeknd playing a fictionalized pop star version of himself while starring alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan in the psychological thriller directed by Trey Edward Shults.
The star gave fans a sneak peek into a scene from the film on Wednesday (May 7) on Instagram. The clip finds The Weeknd osing his voice, but he learns it was due to a psychological condition and not from physical harm.
The clip direclty mirrors the Weeknd’s real life, as Tesfaye was forced to cancel a show after he lost his voice while performing “Can’t Feel My Face” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in September 2022.
Before the film’s arrival, The Weeknd will embark on his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. The North American trek kicks off on May 9 in Phoenix. Playboi Carti and Mike Dean are slated to serve as the tour’s special guests.
Watch a Hurry Up Tomorrow trailer below and look for the movie in theaters on May 16.
PinkPantheress is ready to step back into the spotlight after taking a few months to herself. You might recall that last August the 24-year-old British singer born Victoria Walker canceled all of her remaining 2024 tour dates — including festival shows and slots opening for Olivia Rodrigo and Coldplay — to focus on her physical health after saying she’d “hit a wall.”
Now, in a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the singer says that despite the pushback from her team on hitting pause when things were really starting to hit for her she knew it was the right thing to do.
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“100%. But not even just because things are rolling, but more because of financial reasons why,” she told Lowe. “If you agree to do shows and you don’t follow through, there’s a lot of money being missed out on. There’s also a lot of… the opportunity for backlash to be. Really the least of my concerns, was the money.”
Pantheress said she’s naturally someone who is prone to not looking after herself in an effort to “push through” difficult times, which has caused problems in the past. “And that’s honestly one of the reasons I lost my hearing this ear because of that,” said the singer who in 2022 called off a performance at Spain’s Primavera Festival due to “partial hearing loss” that left her 80% deaf in her right ear. “So after that happened, I don’t know what it was. I think it was when I started cutting my hair with razor blades where I realized, you know what? I’m actually going to stop now.”
The singer who moved to Los Angeles two years ago and now spends her time bouncing between L.A. and London debuted a chopped bob earlier in January and told Lowe that when she cut her hair off she had an epiphany. “I was like, ‘you know what? I’m going to probably take a step back and chill,’” she said. “And I’m not someone that generally… I don’t really suffer with any kind of lapse in judgments when it comes to myself usually, but that’s when I knew… I had an impulse to literally get follicles of hair off of me. So I needed to… I was full up.”
That’s whey she made a decision to step out of the spotlight, something she has no regrets about. “There was something that I needed to address and so I had to leave,” she said. “And I did that for my own good. And obviously it was a very sad moment for people that wanted to see me but couldn’t see me. But obviously, what goes around comes around, and I’ll be back again.”
At the time she hopped off the tours, PinkPantheress told fans, “It is with the heaviest heart that sadly have to announce that i will not be able to continue with the rest of my live shows this year in order to focus on my physical health and overall wellbeing. It appears i have reached a wall which i am struggling to penetrate through. this will include my GUTS tour, Field Day, Summer Sonic, FORM, III Points, and Australia/NZ appearances.”
In January, she was featured on Shygirl’s “True Religion” single, which she followed up in April with her own songs, “Tonight” and “Stateside,” which will appear on her upcoming nine-song sophomore mixtape Fancy That, due out Friday (May 9).
Watch PinkPantheress describe her break to Lowe below.