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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura wrapped up her direct testimony against the rap mogul on Wednesday (May 14), telling jurors that Combs threatened to blow up Kid Cudi’s car and revealing the dollar amount of a bombshell settlement that set off the sex-trafficking probe.
Ventura, an R&B singer who dated Combs on and off for 11 years, is the star witness in Combs’ criminal trial. She’s been on the witness stand since Tuesday (May 13), testifying that Combs physically abused her and forced her to have sex with male escorts during drug-fueled events known as “freak offs.”
In her final day of direct testimony, Ventura reportedly told the jury that Combs became enraged when he discovered she was dating Cudi (Scott Mescudi) in 2011, according to The New York Times, which also reported that Ventura testified that Combs lunged at her with a wine opener and threatened to release freak off videos and hurt both her and Mescudi.
Ventura also said that Combs threatened to blow up Mescudi’s car, the Times reports, and that she soon broke things off with Mescudi out of fear.
“Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other,” Ventura reportedly testified.
Ventura alleged in a November 2023 civil lawsuit that Mescudi’s car did, in fact, explode in his driveway a short while after Combs’ threats. Combs has not been officially linked to the incident.
Ventura’s civil lawsuit, the first major public accusation against Combs, was also a key topic during her final day of direct testimony. Though Combs settled with Ventura after a single day, the case sparked the criminal probe that led to the current trial and a deluge of other civil sex abuse lawsuits against Combs.
The dollar amount of Ventura’s settlement was kept confidential and long unknown to the public. But according to the Times, Ventura revealed for the first time during her testimony Wednesday that the settlement amounted to $20 million.
Ventura is scheduled to undergo cross-examination by Combs’ lawyers starting Thursday (May 15). The trial could last up to two months total.
On a Friday night in late February, Tems was having dinner with the owners of San Diego FC, celebrating her new position as a partner in the MLS club. The next day, a video went viral of the 29-year-old Nigerian musician, known for her enviable levels of cool, briefly losing it while watching the club’s first-ever home game, bitterly throwing her arms down when her team missed a free kick and repeatedly yelling, “What the f–k was that?” while clapping her hands to punctuate her every word. Then, on Sunday, she headed to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards, strutting the red carpet in a feathered gown at the Vanity Fair after-party and striking poses with the likes of H.E.R., Victoria Monét and Normani at Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s annual Gold Party. By Tuesday, Tems was overseas at Paris Fashion Week, serving classic elegance while sitting front row at the Courrèges and Dior shows.
Those prime seats offered her a rare opportunity: to be off her feet and catch her breath before hopping on a jet to her next high-profile affair. Because while Tems’ music has become known as the ideal soundtrack for unwinding and vibing out, she never really has time to do either.
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“Every day is something different, which is actually very exciting for me,” Tems insists during an early April afternoon in her home base of London, looking laid-back in a chic “groutfit” (monochromatic gray): oversize zip-up hoodie, tank maxi dress and black leather peep toe heels, her hair slicked back in a bun with laid edges. “I’m always like, ‘Hmm, I wonder how today is going to go. I wonder what’s going to happen.’ ” But even amid her whirlwind schedule, she manages to maintain some grounding daily rituals: “In the mornings, I always do my self-care. I pray and declare that everything is going to be good and whatever comes my way, I’ll be fine.”
Tems will headline THE STAGE at SXSW London on June 5 in an exclusive concert presented by Billboard at London’s iconic music venue Troxy.
That affirmative mindset has served her well. In 2020, Wizkid featured Tems on his summer anthem “Essence,” which hit the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 (partly due to a Justin Bieber remix); earned Tems her first Grammy Award nomination, for best global music performance; and played a pivotal role in ushering in the rise of Afrobeats in the United States. Five years later, the singer-songwriter-producer has become a global sensation in her own right, as well as a secret weapon for Western superstars. She collaborated with Drake on “Fountains” from his 2021 album, Certified Lover Boy, and the two appeared together the following year on Future’s Hot 100 No. 1 “Wait for U,” which samples Tems’ 2020 track “Higher,” from her debut EP, For Broken Ears, and earned Tems her first Grammy, for best melodic rap performance. That same year, she scored a feature on Beyoncé’s Renaissance and co-wrote Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack; the song earned Golden Globe, Oscar and Grammy nods.
And since “Essence,” Tems’ distinguished solo releases have helped her remain at the forefront of African music. As “Wait for U” propelled “Higher,” For Broken Ears yielded another sleeper hit in 2022, “Free Mind,” which became her first solo Hot 100 entry (peaking at No. 46) and a radio fixture, spending 22 weeks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and nine weeks atop Adult R&B Airplay. For Broken Ears has earned 853.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate — and “Free Mind” accounts for 434 million of them.
Her A-list assists and limited but impactful solo output built expectations for Tems’ first full-length, Born in the Wild, an 18-track opus that secured three Grammy nominations, including for best global music album, and peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard 200 following its release in June 2024 through RCA Records and Sony U.K. imprint Since ’93.
“Tems is such an important voice for our times, bringing the experience of her life and music to a global audience,” RCA chairman/CEO Peter Edge says. “It is so special that RCA has been able to partner with her on her journey.”
Ferragamo dress, Justine Clenquet earrings, Mi Manera ring.
Zoe McConnell
Tems didn’t have much faith in her chances at the Grammys, and she’d thus planned a swift exit. “I was convincing myself it’s probably not me anyway. I was like, ‘Let me just sit at the back. If they don’t call me, I’ll just quickly leave,’ ” she says. So when the album’s jovial hit single “Love Me JeJe” won best African music performance during the awards show’s premiere ceremony, she “had to run to the stage,” she recalls. But she says her real “prize” that evening was witnessing the joy of her plus-one, her mother, who later spotted a certain celebrity. “She saw Will Smith and she was like, ‘Will Smith, wow!’ ” Tems says, bursting into laughter. “He was sitting at a table and was like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you!’ He was talking to her. Just giving her that experience was amazing.”
She has given her mom plenty more reasons to be proud this year, with an awe-inspiring series of firsts: Not only is Tems the first Nigerian artist to win two Grammys, but she’s also the first African-born woman to be involved in MLS ownership and the first African female artist to hit 1 billion Spotify streams for a song, with “Wait for U.” Tems can hardly keep up with them all. When I ask her where she was when she found out about her recent Spotify accomplishment, she pauses before hesitantly admitting with a laugh, “It’s very possible that I’m just learning of this.” But she’s not taking any of her historic feats for granted: “It feels good to be able to do this on this scale. My life is a dream.”
She uses the same word in “Burning,” Born in the Wild’s other Grammy-nominated track, when describing the surreal trajectory of achieving and acclimating to her newfound fame. The extra eyeballs scrutinizing her made her feel especially “uncomfortable” in the beginning, she says, but they also proved how the tides have turned for African artists. Nigerian singer-songwriter Seyi Sodimu — who sings the 1997 Afro-soul classic “Love Me JeJe,” featuring Shaffy Bello, that Tems interpolated in her Grammy-winning song of the same name — said in a 2004 interview that he pitched the original record to multiple U.S. labels, only to be told it “was hard to market me because I look ‘American’ but I sound ‘African.’ ” Wale Davies, one of Tems’ managers who is also one-half of the Nigerian rap duo Show Dem Camp, says “it wasn’t cool to be African” back then.
But now, artists like Tems are rewriting that narrative while still honoring those who preceded them. Tems thanked Sodimu on X for clearing her song’s sample: “I’m glad that it’s getting its flowers today”; she also posted photos of them on the set of her self-directed “Love Me JeJe” music video, which features the two singing the bridge together.
“The responsibility an artist like Tems has is that you’re going to be the portal through which people see Africa,” Davies says. “We have to show them that you can operate at a global level.” As she declared when accepting the Breakthrough award at Billboard Women in Music in 2024: “I’m standing with a continent behind me.”
Despite growing up in the “hustle and bustle” of Lagos, the artist born Témìládè Openiyi prefers peace and quiet. Today, she calls her sacred silent time her “energy-saving mode.”
Tems didn’t speak until she was 3 years old and found music to be a more effective means of expression. As a kid, she fell in love with the sentimental balladry and powerhouse pipes of Céline Dion, Mariah Carey and the members of Destiny’s Child and says she aspired to create music with that same level of “soul and realness.” But she felt insecure about her deep natural voice and opted for a more delicate falsetto. The music teacher at her secondary school, Mr. Sosan, encouraged her raw, unfiltered talent and offered his music room as a safe space. But as she honed her craft, her mother had other plans: She wanted Tems to attend college.
“I tried to miss all the deadlines, [but] she enrolled me to school in South Africa last minute,” she recalls. While studying economics at IIE MSA in Johannesburg, Tems taught herself to produce and engineer her own music through YouTube tutorials. When she returned home upon graduation, she started a digital marketing job — but her real postgrad goals didn’t involve sitting behind a desk.
“It just got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore… Spiritually, I was aware that this is not my path. It felt like life or death, like this can make or break your destiny and you need to make a decision right now,” Tems says. “And I chose to take that leap.”
Alexandre Vauthier coat.
Zoe McConnell
Tems figured once she was able to hand her mother her degree, “everyone should just leave me to be and let me do my music.” And her mom, whom Tems was caring for after she had broken her leg, gave her an extra push to pursue her true passion. “We were going through a lot at the time, and we needed that job. And she said, ‘I think you should go and chase your dreams and try this music thing. You can do it and I believe in you. Don’t worry about me. I’m here for you,’ ” she remembers with tears in her eyes. Tems quit in January 2018, and that July, she independently released her debut single, “Mr Rebel,” a buoyant, reflective track about standing firmly in her purpose.
“Immediately, I felt like, ‘I don’t know who this person is, but this person is singing for their life,’ ” Davies recalls of the first time he heard “Mr Rebel” soon after its release. It became an underground hit despite deviating from the feel-good, dance-driven Afrobeats popular at the time, which producers in Nigeria had always told Tems she needed to make if she ever hoped to succeed. But in the mid-2010s, the alternative alté movement was gaining popularity in the country, empowering a new generation of creatives to express themselves freely in their sound and style. “No one sounded like her. No one thought emotional, truthful, honest, no-filter music would work in Nigeria,” Davies says. And when Tems released “Try Me” in 2019, he continues, “everything changed. That song went crazy because so many people were like, ‘Ah, finally, a woman who can share our frustrations and say how we really feel.’ ”
“Try Me” and its gripping music video caught the attention of label executives from around the world, including Sarah Lorentzen, then an executive assistant at RCA (where she’s now an A&R executive) who was dedicated to “[supporting] music from back home” in Nigeria. She flew to London in October 2019 to meet Tems, who was slated to perform at Show Dem Camp’s Palmwine Festival (visa issues ultimately prevented Tems from appearing). Two months later, Lorentzen flew to Lagos for Tems’ In the Garden concert. “I just jumped in and started helping her build the stage, breaking palm leaves and sticking them in the stage,” she recalls. “We bonded throughout the night, and that was the start of a yearlong journey before she actually signed with RCA.”
Tems’ managers, Davies and Muyiwa Awoniyi, cite Lorentzen’s Nigerian heritage as a key factor in their decision to sign with RCA, as well as fellow Nigerian executive Tunji Balogun, then-executive vp of A&R at RCA (now Def Jam chairman/CEO), and his crucial work with the label’s Afrobeats and R&B acts. Before Lorentzen and Balogun signed Tems in 2021, they got her to hop on the Afrobeats remix of Khalid and Disclosure’s dance-pop track “Know Your Worth” alongside Davido, who had signed to RCA in 2016. Wizkid, who joined the label in 2017, invited Tems through Awoniyi to a recording session for his 2020 album, Made in Lagos. “[Awoniyi] called me and was like, ‘We’re at Wiz’s place, we just recorded two bangers.’ And one of them ended up being ‘Essence,’ ” Davies says.
The same weekend Tems and Wiz shot the “Essence” music video, she recorded “Me & U” with GuiltyBeatz during their first session together, in Ghana. Within a few weeks, they’d also made “Crazy Tings” and three other tracks that would appear on her first major-label EP, If Orange Was a Place. Music frequently flows out of Tems, who has recorded 7,000 voice memos worth of freestyled song ideas on her iPhone. (“I’ve saved every voice note I’ve ever had since 2016,” she adds.) But even as “Essence” blew up globally, Tems was already focused on what was ahead. “I’m so obsessed with the songs that I’ve not shared that I’m not even thinking about the outside world,” she says. “I’m more concerned with the creation of the art than the acknowledgment.”
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Zoe McConnell
Lorentzen believes Tems’ humble approach helps her make quality music that naturally resonates with fans. “When it comes from a pure place like that, a place without any specific intention to blow [Nigerian slang meaning “to be successful”] or for it to be a hit, it allows you to enter a different kind of flow state as an artist and really deliver what’s genuine and authentic and unique to you,” she says.
It helps that lightning also tends to strike right before she hits the booth. After a “lit night out” in London with her friends Dunsin Wright and Yvonne Onyanta, Tems took them back to the studio, where her producers Spax and GuiltyBeatz were making the beat for “Love Me JeJe.” Guilty says he and Spax initially didn’t have Sodimu’s hit in mind. “She walks in the studio and literally started singing, ‘Love me jeje, love me tender.’ We were like, ‘Yep, get on the mic and record this now,’ ” he recalls, adding that “Love Me JeJe” was the “easiest song” to make on Born in the Wild, taking under an hour to finish.
Kayla Jackson, then Tems’ project manager at RCA (and now marketing consultant), proposed debuting it during her set at the 2024 Coachella festival, where fans at the Mojave Tent instantly picked up on the nostalgic call-and-response track. For Guilty, the crowd’s reaction “reconfirmed what I believe — and that is whatever feeling you have while making music in the studio is going to translate to people.”
“Do you know this song?”
Tems is surveying the front row of New York’s Radio City Music Hall, searching for a lucky someone to serenade with a freestyle based off their name, as she did during every stop of the 2024 Born in the Wild world tour. Her security guard lifts a 9-year-old girl, coincidentally named Africa, onto the stage as “Found,” the Brent Faiyaz-featuring track from If Orange Was a Place, starts playing. Tems asks her a couple of times if she knows this song before she shyly nods her head and proceeds to surprise the singer — and 6,000 concertgoers — by not missing a single lyric.
“Everybody erupted,” Joe Harris, her agent at CAA, remembers from that night. “In that moment, I realized this woman has not only been able to touch people her age and older, but the youth of the world has fallen in love with her voice and her tone.”
And her team has made sure her voice can travel to as many corners of the planet as possible, especially on her native continent. When Tems originally announced her 31-date international tour last May, she had two unspecified African stops scheduled. Awoniyi says it’s difficult to find the right venues that will “match the standard” of the kind of show she wants to deliver, and Harris adds, “It takes a bit of groundwork to try to pull those shows together because of the infrastructure and politically whatever’s going on in each one of those different countries.” In January, after receiving backlash online for promoting her show in Kigali, Rwanda, that was scheduled for March, Tems canceled it due to the country’s ongoing conflict with the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I never ever intend to be insensitive to real-world issues, and I sincerely apologize if this came across that way,” she wrote on X.
But aside from occasional roadblocks, she has also secured major opportunities in Africa. In March, Tems became the first artist to perform at The Dome, the new, 10,500-capacity venue in Johannesburg that Live Nation launched with Stadium Management South Africa and Gearhouse South Africa earlier this year. “We’re always looking to create epic moments,” Awoniyi says. “Live Nation let us know about the venue that they were building. Our agents spoke to them, and because we are very moments-focused, for her to be the first artist to perform there is cool.” Her team is carefully planning on rescheduling her show in Rwanda while adding new stops in Kenya, Ghana and, of course, Nigeria.
Bringing the fruits of her success back home remains fundamental to Tems’ mission. Pave Investments — an African private investment firm that backs platforms creating opportunities to develop and support African talent globally, such as Tems’ company, The Leading Vibe — reached out to her camp with the opportunity to join the San Diego FC ownership group. “I grew up around my uncles and brother watching matches, and because they’re so loud, I’m forced to pay attention. I always wondered about being able to be in the business of it because it’s a man’s world,” Tems says. In her role, she’ll work closely with the Right To Dream Academy, a youth association football academy that started in Ghana and has since expanded with branches in Egypt, Denmark and the United States. “That’s something that piqued my interest, being able to build other Africans up, build other children up and give them more opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise seen,” Tems says.
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Zoe McConnell
Her historic entrance into the sports realm aligns with the ethos of The Leading Vibe, which she established in 2020 and where she serves as a director. Named for a lyric from “Mr Rebel” — “I’m the crown, I’m the vibe, I’m the leading vibe” — it allows her to “[lead] by example” and make a “difference in the world” by holding and managing her assets (she fully owns her masters for For Broken Ears and co-owns the masters for If Orange Was a Place and Born in the Wild) while serving as an incubator for investment, philanthropy and new business ventures. Through The Leading Vibe, she’s working on an initiative to support young African female artists, songwriters and producers.
“The way her brand is constructed is not limiting. You can see her at a football match today, you can see her at Formula 1 tomorrow,” Awoniyi says. In February, Aston Martin reported that 15,000 people watched her perform “Higher” at the unveiling of its new car design for the 2025 F1 season at London’s O2 Arena. She’s yet to headline her own show at the famed venue, but Awoniyi says they “haven’t been trying to rush” her growth as an artist to ensure the longevity of her career.
Tems says she’s currently making music “that I’m really excited about that sounds nothing like Born in the Wild,” and that after contributing to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, she wants to hear more of her music in film — maybe even in the form of an original score — and possibly get in front of the camera. But while her universe may be continually expanding, Tems still wants her impact on the world to be fulfilling.
“My 20s, they’ve been eventful. I’ve gotten used to the uncertainty,” says Tems, who turns 30 in June. “I hope it stays that way. I hope it doesn’t slow down.”
This story appears in the May 17, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Billboard cover star Tems is diving into the trajectory of her career, balancing her personal life and breaking records. Plus, she teases new music, lists her favorite songs she’s put out, talks her involvement with San Diego FC, how representation has evolved in the music industry, the challenges of fame, her future goals and more.
What’s your favorite Tems song? Let us know in the comments!
Heran Mamo:
Well, I’m so excited to be here with you.
Tems:
Me too.
I mean, this is the fourth time we chatted. But you know, much bigger occasion. Super happy. In person, in London, where you live.
In London, yeah.
So how long have you lived in London?
I’ve lived in London for about three years now.
And your family moved here when you were a baby, correct?
Yes. My dad still lives here. Actually, I was raised in Lagos. Still. I didn’t stay here too long when I was a baby.
Obviously Lagos is still considered home.
Oh yeah, for sure.
I remember, I think I was watching your Vogue France video when you’re getting ready for the Jacquemus show, and you’re talking about, like, your Pilates class and how, like, you have to keep changing them, because of people recognizing you and you’re like, not even booking under your real name. How do you maintain a sort of normal-ish routine?
The way I am naturally is, I wouldn’t say it’s routine-based, but I find joy in, you know, quiet and having my own time, and I just keep my life private, like my private life private and my public life public.
How has your relationship with your fame evolved over the years and making sure you’re still maintaining that peace?
At least when I first started, there’s a lot of things I wasn’t comfortable with. I’m hypersensitive to a lot of things, so everything was uncomfortable. I just love music. You know, I was always focused on my art and just putting on music.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura took the witness stand Tuesday (May 13) at the rap mogul’s sex trafficking trial, telling jurors that Combs “controlled a lot of my life” and subjected her to repeated “physical abuse.”
Ventura, an R&B singer who dated Combs for 11 years, is at the very center of the case against him — in which prosecutors say the superstar used his music empire “feed his every desire,” including by forcing Ventura and other women to have sex with male escorts — events allegedly known as “freak offs.”
Just a day after the trial began, Ventura took the witness stand to tell jurors she felt she had no choice but to participate in those sexual encounters — at times because she was in love with Combs and wanted to please him, but also because she feared blackmail, physical violence and other blowback.
“Sean controlled a lot of my life, whether it was career, the way I dressed — everything,” Ventura, visibly pregnant with her third child, testified. “I just didn’t have much say in it at the time.”
Sometimes emotional, Ventura testified that “violent arguments” with Combs “too often” led to “physical abuse” that included him punching, kicking and dragging her. She also offered more details about the freak offs, including that some lasted days: “The freak offs became a job,” she said, “where there wasn’t any space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel like normal again.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating the elaborate freak offs, in which Combs and others would allegedly ply Ventura and other victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex with escorts while he masturbated. Prosecutors also claim the star and his associates used violence, money and blackmail to keep victims silent and under his control.
It was Ventura’s civil lawsuit, filed in November 2023, that first raised those allegations against Diddy. Her case, which accused the star of rape and years of physical abuse, was quickly settled with a large payment from Combs, but it sparked a flood of additional suits from other alleged victims and set into motion the criminal probe that led to his indictment.
Once one of the music industry’s most powerful men, Combs is formally accused in the case of racketeering conspiracy (a so-called RICO charge), sex trafficking and violating a federal prostitution statute. If convicted on all of the charges, he faces a potential life prison sentence.
The trial, expected to last two months, kicked off Monday (May 12) with opening statements, during which prosecutors told jurors that Combs and his associates used “coercive and criminal” conduct to make the freak offs happen: “For twenty years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime,” prosecutor Emily A. Johnson told the jury. Prosecutors also quickly played a 2016 surveillance video of Combs beating Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel.
When it was their turn, defense attorneys told jurors that Ventura and other victims had consensually taken part in the sex parties. They admitted that Diddy committed domestic violence during “toxic” relationships with the women and that he certainly had unusual sexual preferences, but said those did not amount to racketeering or sex trafficking: “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,” said defense attorney Teny Geragos.
Following Tuesday morning’s testimony, Ventura is expected to testify more in the afternoon and for several days after that. When prosecutors are finished questioning her, Combs’ attorneys will have a chance to cross-examine her. They will likely seek to cast doubt on her credibility and portray her as a willing participant in the freak offs.
After Ventura’s testimony is complete, prosecutors will continue to call other witnesses, including a second alleged freak off victim identified by the pseudonym “Jane” and an alleged employee victim identified by the pseudonym “Mia.”
Janet Jackson will receive the ICON Award at the 2025 American Music Awards, which will air live from Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26. The 11-time American Music Awards winner will also perform on the show, marking her first television performance since 2018.
There have been two previous recipients of the ICON Award: Rihanna in 2013 and Lionel Richie in 2022. The honor is bestowed upon an artist whose music has had undeniable cultural and global influence over the music industry. Jackson received a similar award, the Ultimate Icon Award, at the 2015 BET Awards.
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This year’s American Music Awards will kick off summer with host Jennifer Lopez, who is also set to perform on the show. The 51st AMAs will air live coast-to-coast at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the CBS, and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. Tickets are available now on Ticketmaster.
Jackson, 58, has been a recording star since 1982, when her debut album was released on A&M. She has amassed 10 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200.
She’s also set to kick off yet another leg of her popular Las Vegas residency, JANET JACKSON: LAS VEGAS, returning to the Resorts World Theatre stage on May 21 for a six-show run through May 31.
Jackson has won five Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for best original song, along with multiple MTV Video Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
Jackson has set many Billboard chart records over the years. Her 1986 album Control was the first by a woman to yield five top 10 hits on the Hot 100. Her 1989 album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 is, to this day, the only album to generate seven top five hits on the Hot 100. Her 1993 album janet tallied six top 10 hits on the Hot 100, making her the first artist to notch five or more top 10s on the Hot 100 from three different albums.
Jackson stands as one of only four artists to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in the 1980s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s — alongside Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and U2.
In 2019, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (with Janelle Monáe doing the honors), joining her brothers, The Jackson 5, who were inducted in 1997. Michael Jackson received a solo induction in 2001.
Kendrick Lamar leads this year’s American Music Awards nominations with 10 nods, followed by Post Malone with eight; and Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Shaboozey with seven each.
Fan voting for the 2025 American Music Awards is now open via VoteAMAs.com and the @AMAs Instagram profile in all award categories. Voting closes Thursday, May 15, at 11:59:59 p.m. PT, with the exception of collaboration of the year and social song of the year, which will remain open for web voting through the first 30 minutes of the AMAs broadcast.
The American Music Awards is the world’s largest fan-voted awards show. The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions and will broadcast globally across linear and digital platforms.
This Memorial Day, the AMAs will pay special tribute to U.S. troops and veterans.
The AMAs and Easy Day Foundation, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization committed to helping Veterans transition to civilian life, will partner to present several special in-show moments that celebrate veterans while raising funds for a variety of national and local organizations. The American Music Awards x Easy Day moments will include two performances and the presentation of a special award honoring a marquee talent who uses their platform to make meaningful contributions to the veteran community, as well as inspirational stories from active-duty service members and veterans.
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
After a recent press trip to New York, London upstart Nippa is already toying with the idea of relocating. He trekked through Queensbridge — once the stomping ground of Nas and Mobb Deep — before soaking up the city’s energy, meeting fans at random, and enjoying backroom bites at Sei Less, New York’s famed hip-hop haunt.
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“Since I’ve been here, mans been in Queensbridge,” he says, his thick U.K. accent cutting through the air. “Some of the mans came up to me like, ‘Yo Nippa.’ That’s love. Now that I’m here, I understand where the love is in New York for me — or stateside — because you’re unable to compare the love without being there.”
He adds: “It’s different because you’ll always get more love from somewhere that’s not your home, and that’s how the game goes. That’s not to say I don’t get love in London, because I do feel the love in London. I just know New York is quite big for me because I’m not always out here.”
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Nippa, the twenty-something singer/songwriter, is experiencing a volcanic rise in the R&B scene, powered by his slick swagger and radio-ready voice. From the Larry June-assisted “Sugar,” to the breezy Odeal collab “Take Me,” and the vulnerable slow-burner “Pride,” Nippa has quietly built a formidable discography that rivals many of his peers. Still, it’s his debut project, Hope She Hears This, that stands out as his crown jewel. The nine-track offering strips Nippa down to his core, showcasing raw truths. From the emotional wreckage of “Unfair” to the searching tenderness of “Kiki’s Brown Eyes,” Nippa’s searing lyrics pierce through harder than before.
“I had to understand the love of making music again, rather than just catching a hit or something viral or trendy,” he says of the project. “I wanted to say things coming from me and my heart, and put a piece of Jordan into the music. That’s what I’ve been doing. That’s why this tape is personal. Whoever feels it, feels it. I’m just talking about real-life situations I’ve gone through. Do things on my terms. It’s who I am. Treat it like therapy and let the emotions out.”
Nippa sat down with Billboard to chat about his debut project, Hope She Hears This, working with Craig David and Larry June, and how he found closure from a failed relationship.
You’re from North London. How did the music scene inspire you? I feel like Tottenham didn’t really inspire me to go into R&B ’cause the scene out there, there’s a lot of rap, drill, [and] grime. You got the Skeptas, the Headie Ones, so it never kinda positioned me to go into R&B. That came from my family. My mom is an old school R&B head. My grandma was a Motown head, blues and reggae. That’s where the singing came from, but even still, I didn’t wanna be a singer — I wanted to be a rapper. In “The Endz”, you’re not really respected for singing. I wanted to be a rapper, but I’m not a good rapper.Was it a thing where you wrote a rap verse and you realized you weren’t good enough?Not really, I was just freestyling with my friends, freestyling on the strip and it was only really when my manager took me to a studio. That’s because sometimes in the freestyles, I’d be singing in-between, but it’s not like the singing was the main focus — that was just the bonus. My manager took me to the studio and we made our first song. The mandem liked them and everyone was like, “This is hard,” and we just kinda started pushing forward. We started making a little bit of noise and from then, I was kind of like, “F–k it. Let’s see where it goes.” And the situation took off. What was your mom and grandmother’s take on your decision to pursue music full-time?I don’t think they really wanted that at first — but that was out of fear, man. When your parents don’t want you to do something, it’s the fear of the unknown. My mom and grandma know the straight and narrow road: education into a well-respected job. That’s what they know. I feel like when you’re doing something daring like music, you’re taking a gamble on yourself. If you f–k up, that’s on you. There’s no kind of safety net and I think that’s what my mom and grandma kind of feared with me going into that. It was only really this year too when they saw my headlining show that people will come out for Nip. From there, that’s when they were like, “OK. What can we do to help you be able to facilitate yourself into the next part of your journey in music?”You tapped in with a U.K. great and legend in the R&B world Craig David when you did “G Love.” What it was like teaming up with him in the studio?I still feel like to this day that I haven’t really accepted that. Craig David is a legend, man, especially in the U.K. If he’s a legend here, you can only imagine in the U.K. With Craig, there was no industry s–t with that. No label set that up. I just saw him at Blxst’s concert. He rocked with my music, and he said, “Link me. Let’s get in the studio.” From there, that’s how it went. Craig has just been a good mentor. He put me on when I was in Uni. He put me on his support tour, paid me for that, as well. As a young n—a coming up who’s independent, that goes a long away. That exposure goes a long way. So Craig, I have nothing but good things to say about that guy. He’s a legend from the music aspect, but as a person, he’s a legend, as well.
You mentioned Blxst and how he brought you out doing his U.K. show. What did you gain from that experience?Boy, that was my first performance. I had to battled stage freight, but what it gave me? It gave me awareness, man. It gave me a good co-sign from early. When people heard I came out for Blxst’s show out here in my hometown in London, it was like, ‘Oh, they f–k with him.’ It’s not like a U.K. rapper brought me out to show some local love, it was someone coming from overseas showing me love. So shout-out to Blxst for that. We’ve been tapped in ever since. That was two years ago. Big up Blxst for that. Speaking of co-signs, you earned another stateside when you linked with Larry June on “Sugar.” I’m sure the energy from back home went crazy after that. You know what it was, man? The Larry June s–t was just on some real n—a s–t, man. Mandem listen to Larry June. A lot of them f–k with him. Knowing that Larry June jumped on a song with man and it’s not even like man is the biggest R&B artist, but he just respected the art and it was all straight organic, that had the mandem happy. That’s why I had to do a video with the mandem on the block as well to just show where we’re from. Larry June is a real one. We’re working on some s–t. Then you take it back home working with a rising star in the space like Odeal on “Take Me.” Talk about the intentionality behind working with someone back home with a more expansive sound. Yeah, Odeal is from London. That’s the family. Our group and his group are all tapped in. I wouldn’t say it was moreso intentional. That was more like, “I respect your art. You’re my brother. I really think you would sound good on this song. There’s a community there.” I think what Odeal is doing is amazing. He was able to grow his audience internationally, but that was the intention when I was doing the song.
I thought it was interesting because that’s not even his normal bag. That sound was brighter than usual for him.I just like making music. Me and my brother Benji Flow made that song and I thought Odeal would sound amazing on it. Let’s make the greatest art possible and I felt like his work I respect. Him adding his touch on “Take Me” made it an amazing song.Let’s talk about the project. I love “Unfair” and the realism that came from you being hurt. How were you able to channel that pain and flip it sonically? I was just going through a bad place in my relationship. As men, you tend to mask the insecurities with toxic masculinity and bravado. Being the Mandem from The Endz, we have so much of that. So much pride, so much bravado. I just had to drop that when I was doing the song. I had to really drop that and say what’s really irking my spirit. I needed to get it off.
Sometimes, n—as do feel like they’re getting take a piss out of. Sometimes, I do feel like I’m giving everything I can to a woman and she’s just giving me nothing but stress and she’s not seeing stuff that I’ve done for her. She’d rather just look at the bad things. I don’t know, man. It just gets like that and I just wanted to put that out in the music because I know someone out there is probably in their car on their way to their girl’s thinking ‘F–k sake, man.’ Mans just has to be real. That’s what I was going through.
Did she hear the record?I don’t know, man. I’m blocked. [Laughs.]When you go back and listen to songs like “Unfair” and “Pride,” do they hit differently for you now?Nah. If anything, I don’t like to listen to them because they take me back and I’m trying to move forward. I’m always onto what’s next. I think “Unfair” was one of the songs where I was like, ‘Oh. This is hard.’ So I streamed “Unfair,” but most of the songs, I don’t like to go back because they take me back to that time. Once I release a song, that’s not even me anymore. You have to understand, as an artist, when you’re singing these things, you’re kind of letting go of something. Whether it was closure with your ex, you’re letting go of that. Whether I hate my ex on “Unfair,” I’m letting go of that hate. I don’t really listen all the time unless I’m going through it again. I think if I get another heartbreak, “Unfair” might get ran [again]. For now, I’ll go back to the happy songs ’cause that’s where I am.
For Hope She Hears This, was it a more therapeutic for you and was there room to have some happy songs on the project? Every song is therapeutic, but the vibe def changes for certain songs. For example, “Regular Girl” and “Kiki’s Brown Eyes,” are two songs that I think have the same topic, but are explained in different ways and give a different vibe. “Regular Girl” is showing this girl is beautiful, she’s the sexiest girl in the world and she got a fat bum. “Kiki’s Brown Eyes” is the same thing. This girl is not regular but it’s ’cause of her soul and her brown eyes. It’s ’cause of the way that she thinks, she speaks, and her process.
All of the things that aren’t lustful that you’re noticing about someone that you genuinely love. I feel like those two songs were very therapeutic for me because when you initially find someone attractive, you go through “Regular Girl.” When you’re a fool for her, you go through “Kiki’s Brown Eyes.” I think the song that probably gives off the most joyous [energy] is “One More.” That’s the bonus track. Even that song, it’s not even the happiest, but I feel like the feeling and the sonics matters when it comes to determining the vibe. When someone reads the pen of the song, that’s when you get to know the artist and think, “Damn. What was the artist going through?”
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Can Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” take over No. 1 from Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s “Luther”? Tetris Kelly: This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated May 17th. Hanging in the top 10 is Morgan Wallen. “ANXIETY” is up a spot to nine, as is “Beautiful Things” to No. 8. “Lose Control” is […]
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.
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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.
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