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24 Sep 2024

Grace VanderWaal’s New Music & Movie, Says “I Like Being In Pain,” Presidential Election Take | Billboard News

America’s Got Talent season 11 winner Grace VanderWaal talks about her new music, “Call It What You Want” and “What’s Left of Me,” how she uses pain as her inspiration, how her perception of fame was shattered at a young age, her take on the presidential election, her role in Megalopolis and more!

We’re here today with former America’s Got Talent winner, former Billboard 21 Under 21 recipient, singer-songwriter and actress Grace VanderWaal. Grace, welcome. 

Wow, thank you. 

You’re releasing two new singles.

Yes.

And you’re going to be in a movie. So we have a lot to talk about. 

Oooh yeah, girl.

Let’s get into it. 

Let’s do it. Let’s crack the egg. 

You achieved incredible success at a really young age. How has that affected you as you continue to work today? 

Instead of describing it as, like, experiencing success at a young age, I would like describe it as like the facade of fame being shattered for me, very, very early, which I’m eternally grateful for. Unreachable fame is the one thing that you can absolutely promote so that people are constantly and it’s like meeting God and then he’s like, meh. You know, you would have an existential crisis. And so, like, I very much discovered at an early age, I was like, “Oh this is completely hollow.” And like, you just need to, like, love the art, and like, I will never chase, you know that fulfillment or facade at all, you know what I’m saying?

It like, separates you and your work from your ego. 

Yes, exactly, at a very early age, too. Yeah.

Keep watching for more!

23 Sep 2024

Luis R Conriquez Plays Fishing for Answers | Billboard Cover

Luis R Conríquez answers some questions during his Billboard cover shoot, including how his “Siempre Pendientes” with Peso Pluma came about and how the performance of “Martes 13” with Canelo came to life.

Luis R Conriquez:

Hi! I am your friend Luis R Conriquez, and I’m gonna be fishing answers with Billboard. Ideal vacation spot and why? I really like going to Puerto Vallarta, it’s calm. Going to the beach. I go on the yacht. I go to have dinner at a chill place, and I like the view of the hills, it’s very calm and chill. What was it like to sing “Martes 13” with Canelo Alvarez and how did that come about? This corrido was made after everything that was said in the previous fight of my friend Canelo. I was at the after party and we had met there, we hanged out and sang some songs, and the friendship continued. And he said to me, “You’re going to sing at my fight next year.” And I told him, “Okay, I’ll make a corrido for you. A good corrido for you.” We started working on it and released “Martes 13” with violin and everything. It was his most bélico exit, he says. So, Viva the Mexicans. Let’s see what’s next. Where do I see myself in 5 years? Well, over there in Paris, right? In Paris, buying some Louis Vuitton. What’s your dream collaboration? The truth is I don’t have any collaboration that I say, “Oh, I would like to do this.” I feel I admire all the artists I’ve recorded with. And if there is anyone who I feel I would like to… I greatly admire Marco Antonio Solís, and I really like his music, but I don’t see myself singing a song with him.

23 Sep 2024

John Mellencamp, Margo Price & More Attend Farm Aid 2024 | All Access | Billboard News

Some of musics biggest stars went out to perform at Farm Aid 2024 in support of family-centered farms. Keep watching for the details!

Tetris Kelly:

From Nelson to Young, Matthews to Mellencamp, some of music’s biggest legends teamed up for Farm Aid to help family-centered farms and Billboard was there to bring you all the access. Willie Nelson brought out the whole family for his set while Dave Matthews kept it sweet and simple. They, along with fellow Farm Aid board members, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, did some major work for family-centered farms, hosting the third year of the festival in Saratoga Springs, New York. Governor Kathy Hochul was on site to welcome the 21,000 attendees. It was a night to remember. Full of great food and amazing music with performances from acts like Margo Price and American Icon Mavis Staples. Who doesn’t love epic performances with your locally grown produce.

23 Sep 2024

Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block & More Photos From 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival

The 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival brought the biggest voices on radio to the stage for two music-packed nights on Friday and Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and Billboard was backstage and in the pit for all the action.

Night 1 saw Dua Lipa and Camila Cabello hit the stage, and Billboard‘s camera caught the pop powerhouses backstage for a sweet embrace, as well as Cabello’s meet-up with fellow Friday performer Gwen Stefani. We also captured Shaboozey walking the halls backstage after performing his now-11-week Billboard Hot 100-topping breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

Night 2 kicked off with New Kids on the Block, who just announced last week that they’ll launch their first-ever Las Vegas residency on June 20 at Dolby Live at Park MGM. So was the iHeart set a good preview of what fans can expect? “A really small preview, because this was 20 minutes,” Donnie Wahlberg told Billboard backstage. “We’re going to do a very long, very intricate, hopefully very exciting and fun and energetic set with a lot of songs, a lot of hits, a lot of feels. But it was also a sample for us of the audience. Because it’s a real good example of what it might be like. A lot of New Kids fans showed up, and a lot of fans who were experiencing us for the first time. We pride ourselves on the fun and the energy that we bring to a show, and this was a great opportunity for us to share that with this crowd.” We also caught up with Donnie’s wife, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, backstage who is ready to house-hunt in Sin City: “Now I just get to come to Vegas and find a place to live, because we’re absolutely going to be finding houses to station ourselves here for a few months — or a few years, maybe.” The New Kids also invited Flavor Flav out onstage for their “Hangin’ Tough” finale, and we caught the Public Enemy hype man backstage with Wahlberg and bandmate Danny Wood.

Keith Urban also played on Saturday night, making the most of a brisk 20-minute set by playing three songs from his just-released High album: “Messed Up as Me,” “Wildside” and “Straight Line.” “We just packed ’em in as quick as possible,” Urban laughed backstage, adding that fans have been quick to embrace the new material. “It’s been immediate, which i haven’t seen that in a long time. It is what it is with songwriting — you write songs and some connect immediately and some take awhile — but when we did ‘Messed Up as Me’ from this record, it was immediate, because we were playing festivals, and it was immediate. ‘Wildside’ was immediate, the first night we did that. ‘Straight Line’ — it’s a different record.”

Before night 2 kicked off, Billboard caught up with OBB Media CEO Michael D. Ratner, whose team produced the festival livestream, which broadcast both nights on Hulu in real time. After teaming up with iHeart for livestreams of the New York and Los Angeles stops of Jingle Ball late last year, Ratner said his team was able to jump in seamlessly to take the reins of the iHeartRadio Music Festival for the first time in the fest’s 14 years. “The reason we work so well together is iHeart knows music,” he said on Saturday. “They have amazing talent relationships, as do we, but the idea that we’re able to storytell and make these shows more layered … it’s not just watching performance after performance after performance.” One key to that was adding some Vegas-specific touches, like teaming up mentalist Max Major with Cabello or enlisting the Blue Man Group for an intro. “You get these fun moments, and it’s embedded in the history of Vegas. … You mix that with what Vegas is today, which is residencies and EDM and lights and day parties and the Sphere, I think making it new and fresh while having a nod to old Vegas is cool. It’s a really good balance and team that makes the show very unique.”

If you weren’t in Vegas or just want to relive the two days of hits over again, find Billboard‘s best photos from backstage and onstage below.

23 Sep 2024

Usher Explains X Account Wipeout Was Actually a Hack | Billboard News

After Usher’s X account was cleared over the weekend, the singer explained his account got hacked. Keep watching for the full story.

Tetris Kelly:

Did Usher let it burn on his social media? Well, he’s saying not so fast, as fans were speculating about the reason his X page went away. Here’s the story: Billboard chart-topper Usher was caught up in conversation Sunday as his X account was cleared and the good ol’ social media conspiracy theorists debated why, ranging from his connections with Diddy to maybe releasing new music. Usher cleared the air, posting, “Account got hacked and d*mn y’all ran with it! See you tonight at Intuit Dome.” The prolific artist is in the middle of his highly successful ‘Past Present Future’ tour and has several dates at LA’s new Intuit Dome this week.

23 Sep 2024

Gracie Abrams: Intimate Behind-the-Scenes Look at Her The Secret of Us Tour | Tour Stop | Billboard

Gracie Abrams sold out three nights at the Greek Theatre in L.A., and she’s giving Billboard a personal, behind-the-scenes look at the must-haves in her dressing room, how she prepared for the tour, the relationships she has with her team and more!

Buy your tickets here!

Gracie Abrams:
Hey, Billboard, I’m Gracie Abrams. Welcome to my tour stop at the Greek in L.A. This is our third night. We’re stoked. This is a matcha because everyone keeps telling me to stop drinking Celsius because I was doing, like, three a day during rehearsals. And I know that that’s really not good for your heart, probably not good for your soul, so matcha, love it. Yeah.

These are our signs, and this is how we know where things are on tour. It’s like following the yellow brick road or something.

Welcome to my dressing room. Important part of the dressing room, in my opinion, is the makeshift bed with the heating pad. I feel like there’s a heating pad in every space that I occupy on tour. I keep my guitar back here before shows because I like to practice. If you can believe it, we have this book that has all of the looks for tour that me and Spencer Singer, who’s my stylist, and one of the great hearts and souls that we have in this world. We got, like, very organized about it this time. So there’s, like, all these different looks with … I’ll, like, block my face out, because I look like, actually, a true zombie in these pictures. But, you know, lots of details like, I love, I’m a very visual person, and so having everything organized in a book is like the dream of my life pretty much. 

23 Sep 2024

Janet Jackson Claims Kamala Harris Is ‘Not Black’ & More | Billboard News

In an interview, Janet Jackson claimed Kamala Harris isn’t Black and predicted the aftermath of the election. Keep watching to see what she said.

Tetris Kelly:
Janet Jackson’s rep shut down an apology issued on her behalf after she mistakenly claims Vice President Kamala Harris is not Black. In an interview with The Guardian, a reporter brought up the U.S. election, saying to Janet that Kamala Harris could be the first Black female president of the United States, to which Ms. Jackson replied, “She’s not Black. That’s what I heard, that she’s Indian.” Continuing, “Her father’s white, that’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”

She didn’t let the reporter know where she heard this false information, but did say about the election, “either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”

After that interview, a man named Mo Elmasri issued an apology on her behalf, saying her comments on the vice president were “based on misinformation.” Janet’s rep stepped in and told People mag that Elmasri is not Janet’s manager, nor is he affiliated with her camp. The rep says Randy Jackson is Janet’s manager. Elmasri spoke to Variety saying, “I no longer work for her. I was fired by Janet and Randy after attempts to improve her image in front of public opinion and her fans, and this is something I do not deserve.” But sources close to Janet’s team told Variety Elmasri is not known to have been directly associated with the singer. 

23 Sep 2024

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 Countdown for Sept. 28, 2024 | Billboard News

Will Shaboozey rule at No.1 for his 11th week?

Tetris Kelly:
This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated Sept. 28. Staying put at No. 10 is “Not Like Us.” “Please Please Please” slips to nine, while “Taste” falls to No. 8. “Lose Control” moves up to seven, as Billie comes in at No. 6, and “Die With A Smile” is at five. Chappell Roan climbs to No. 4, as “Espresso” keeps the No. 3 spot. Post and Morgan stay at No. 2, and for the 11th week, Shaboozey is at No. 1 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

If you want more Billboard, make sure you hit the subscribe button and ring the bell to be notified on all our latest videos.

20 Sep 2024

Big Ocean: See Exclusive Photos of the September 2024 K-Pop Rookie of the Month

HyunJin, ChanYeon and JiSeok came together as Big Ocean to debut in April this year as the first Deaf/Hard of Hearing group in K-pop. The group’s warm embrace onto the scene by superstars, production and executives across Korea points towards a more inclusive global music scene.

Brought together by Korea’s only agency representing talent with disabilities Parastar Entertainment, Big Ocean sees three stars with different backgrounds and hearing abilities as a sign of hope and possibility.

The group’s main vocalist Park HyunJin lost hearing in his left ear after a childhood accident, but a cochlear surgery led him to learning to play the piano, speak some English, and break out as a YouTube creator and TV personality educating viewers about hearing disabilities. Main rapper Lee ChanYeon, who underwent cochlear implant surgery for both ears, developed his musical interest after experiencing the positive side effects of music therapy. Meanwhile, youngest member and main dancer Kim JiSeok was born Hard of Hearing and attended a special school for those with disabilities before becoming a professional ski racer for Seoul skiing team.

Big Ocean admits that the members’ varying auditory perceptions can present challenges when it comes to learning choreography, singing in rhythm and performing live, but it’s inspired innovative ways for the group and their Parastar team to find new ways to rehearse successfully like utilizing vibrating smartwatches as metronomes or flashing lights for rhythmic counting.

Get to know the rookies more with exclusive photos by Billboard Korea and fun questions below.

20 Sep 2024

Predicting Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance Guests | Billboard News

As football season is underway, and the Super Bowl headliner, Kendrick Lamar, was announced, we’re hyped to see who he’s going to bring out as his surprise guests, from his various features with Taylor Swift, SZA, Lil Wayne and more! Who do you think he’s going to bring out and who would you like to see? Let us know in the comments!

Tetris Kelly:
Kendrick Lamar is heading to Super Bowl 59, and to celebrate, we’re breaking down the special guests we hope appear on stage with the superstar. With the Super Bowl taking place in New Orleans, it’s no surprise that Lil Wayne is a lot of people’s top choice. The New Orleans native told Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks that he really wanted to headline the Super Bowl in his city. Lil Wayne admitted recently that the halftime show snub “broke him” and “hurt a lot.” The two do have a collab on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V album called “Mona Lisa” that they could perform together on the Super Bowl stage.

Next up, could Kendrick’s “All the Stars” collaborator and former labelmate SZA make an appearance? Kendrick had one of his most iconic features this year alongside Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” Although the song has become one of the biggest hits of the year, we have yet to see all three perform the song together. Could we see it happen at the Super Bowl?

Up next, although she has already performed at her own Super Bowl, a Kendrick and Rihanna pairing is one we’d love to see. They last collaborated on Kendrick’s track “Loyalty,” and it seems like they haven’t performed the song together since 2017. So the Super Bowl would be the perfect time for them to perform it again.

Another superstar we’d love to see during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show is Taylor Swift. Although the two have never performed it live together, Kendrick’s verse has become a famous chant on Taylor’s Eras Tour during “Bad Blood.”

Keep watching for more!