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07 May 2024

Met Gala 2024: Photos From the Star-Studded Afterparties

The annual Met Gala took over New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night (May 6), with some of today’s biggest stars ascending the iconic white staircase in creative and jaw-dropping looks to capture the “Garden in Time” dress code.

While the Met Gala looked like a blast itself, the real fun happens after hours, when celebrities hit the town to party the night away in celebration. Among the hottest afterparties was the Après Met 2 Met Gala Afterparty hosted by Carlos Nazario, Emily Ratajkowski, Francesco Risso, Paloma Elsesser, Raul Lopez and Renell Medra — which was notably attended by reported exes Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny, who looked cozy as they smiled and chatted on one of the couches together. 

Richie Akiva hosted his 10th Annual “The After” Met Gala Afterparty held at Casa Cipriani, which was attended by another pair of reported exes, Cardi B and Offset, who have been spotted together often recently despite the “Bodak Yellow” rapper declaring that she’s single back in December.

Usher also held his own Secret Garden Met Gala Afterparty at The Times Square Edition, while The Boom Boom Room also hosted an event celebrating the Met Gala.

We’ve compiled some of the best photos from all the Met Gala afterparties for you to check out below.

07 May 2024

Here Are the 2024 Met Gala Musician Looks Ranked

The first Monday in May means it’s one of the biggest fashion days of the year, the Met Gala. Some of the biggest stars walked the red — or white, rather — carpet on Monday night (May 6), showing off some of the most creative looks to capture the evening’s theme.

This year’s theme, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, is set to feature 250 items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, according to an Instagram post announcing the theme back in November. “From a 17th century English Elizabethan-era bodice and Christian Dior’s famous Junon and Venus ballgowns, to 21st century acquisitions by designers including Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, and Conner Ives, the core exhibit will span 400 years of history,” the caption reads. See the full post here.

Additionally, the event’s dress code was “The Garden of Time,” inspired by a 1962 J.G. Ballard short story of the same name.

Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez served as co-chairs of the 2024 Met Gala on Monday (May 6) as will Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth and, as usual, Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Many artists embodied the dress code by utilizing texture, color and, of course, floral accents, but others completely missed the mark. See below for our full ranking of the 2024 Met Gala looks worn by musicians specifically, judged primarily on how well they followed this year’s dress code.

07 May 2024

Ava Max on Why ‘My Oh My’ Is the Start of Her New Era & More | Billboard News

Ava Max shares her creative process behind some of her singles including “My Oh My,” “Whatever” and “Sweet But Psycho.” She dives in-depth about her collaborations with Kygo, David Guetta and Tiësto and why she emphasizes the importance of vulnerability and authenticity in creating her music. She explains her new era, what it was like to make a track for Barbie, how she handles criticism along with her mental health, dream collaborations with Bad Bunny, J Balvin and more!

Ava Max: 

My music heals. That’s my number one, number one goal always. I just really hope my music continues to heal. Hey, I’m Ava Max and you’re watching Billboard News.

Tetris Kelly:

The song is out, “My Oh My.” Tell me why this was the one to establish this new era.

Ava Max:

I wanted to start this era with no heartbreak attached and no man attached to it because this is the beginning, I feel like, of me. It almost feels like my first album coming out.

Tetris Kelly:

That is a heavy statement. And what do you feel like this era, or this new form of music, is going to say about the new you?

Ava Max:

I mean, for the first time, I’m really finding myself honing in on like, healing. I mean, it’s funny we see like healing era all over like TikTok and Instagram. I really feel like this is everyone’s healing era and, and so I just wanted to release a record that made everyone feel incredible and have fun and just feel like they can just go out with their girlfriends or their guys and not think about anything relationship-related and just be their best selves.

Tetris Kelly:

I mean, you heard me already, I had it stuck in my head when you walked in. I’m like, “’90s paparazzi.” Like the lyrics are so fun. So tell me what was the inspiration. Was it a night you went out? Or what? What helped you write those lyrics?

Keep watching to learn more!

06 May 2024

Drake Drops ‘The Heart Part 6’ in Ongoing Kendrick Lamar Feud, Dua Lipa & Usher Host Surprise Concerts & More | Billboard News

It’s Monday, May 6th, and the saga between Drake and Kendrick Lamar continued throughout the weekend. Drake released “The Heart Part 6” on Sunday as a response to Kendrick’s “6:16 in LA,” “euphoria,” “meet the grahams” and “not like us,” all released last week. Meanwhile, the Queen of Pop, Madonna, wrapped up her Celebration Tour in Rio de Janeiro breaking the attendance record. After her release of ‘Radical Optimism’ this past Friday, Dua Lipa had a surprise pop-up concert in Times Square. Despite the Lovers & Friends Festival being canceled, Usher still performed a show in Las Vegas with a surprise appearance from Lil Jon. After last week’s success on the Hot 100, will Taylor Swift still manage to hold all top 10 spots? Keep watching to find out! Plus, Billboard gives you All Access to the Project GLOW Festival, where we give you an exclusive look into performances and more.

Tetris Kelly: 

Madonna’s insane crowd, Dua’s pop-up performance and Usher’s surprise. We’re still talking Drake and Kendrick Lamar. We run down the Billboard Hot 100 and take you to Washington D.C. for an EDM festival. Happy Cinco de Seis. Our first story is the story that keeps on giving. If you can keep up, let’s dive in. The Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud is still going strong, with a weekend full of new diss tracks to run through we’ve got you covered. Over the weekend Kendrick and Drake beef continue with Kendrick releasing a one-two punch. On “meet the ghrahams,” he attacks Drake alleging he he’s gotten cosmetic surgery. And on “Not Like Us,” he says this about Drake. Then Drake fired back on “The Heart Part 6.” Responding to Kendrick’s previous track, where he claimed he had people working inside Drake’s company OVO, and Drake says he made up a fake child to see if the rumor would get back to Lamar. That brings us to a total of nine diss tracks in a little over a month. I’m sure this is far from over, so stay locked in to Billboard for the latest. And the guys are giving us beef, while the ladies are giving us life. Plus, an update from Usher. Here are three things to know in music news. Madonna closed out her Celebration World Tour in Brazil, playing a free show in Rio de Janeiro. More than 1.6 million fans flocked to Copacabana beach, making it the most-attended concert of all time.

Keep watching to find out more!

06 May 2024

Met Gala 2024: Photos From the Red Carpet

The first Monday in May is officially here, which means that today’s biggest stars, artists and professionals will take the luxurious white carpet at the 2024 Met Gala.

Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez served as co-chairs of the event at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, as did Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth and, as usual, Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. All five co-chairs stepped onto the carpet upon its opening, rocking jaw-dropping colors and textures to capture the “Garden of Time” dress code. The whimsical dress code is inspired by a 1962 J.G. Ballard short story of the same name.

This year’s exhibit theme, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, is set to feature 250 items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, according to an Instagram post announcing the theme back in November. The exhibit will appear at the museum beginning on May 10. “From a 17th century English Elizabethan-era bodice and Christian Dior’s famous Junon and Venus ballgowns, to 21st century acquisitions by designers including Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, and Conner Ives, the core exhibit will span 400 years of history,” the caption reads.

The works will be displayed at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in new ways, including elements such as video animation, CGI, AI and more.

See below for all the red carpet photos from the 2024 Met Gala.

06 May 2024

Paul McCartney Unveils Archival ‘Beatlemania’ Exhibit at Brooklyn Museum: See His Personal Photos

When Beatlemania first swept the United States in 1964, a moment pinpointed in time by the band’s first-ever televised performance on The Ed Sullivan Show that February, only four people knew exactly what it was like to be at the center of such a revolutionary cultural frenzy: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Now, almost exactly 60 years later, American fans are getting the rare chance to see behind the curtain of The Beatles’ unprecedented rise to fame, all thanks to McCartney documenting the period with his personal Pentax film camera more than half a century ago. Upon being recovered from the living legend’s archives, more than 250 of his photographs were put on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London last year – and now, they’ve made their way to the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

Unveiled Friday (May 3), Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm takes outsiders into the Liverpool native’s surreal reality when he was just 21 years old, on the precipice of becoming one of four of the biggest music stars history has ever seen. The immersive exhibit — a sample of which you can see below — also features video footage and archival materials and traces The Beatles’ ascent from touring at small concert halls in England to dodging hordes of rabid fans and paparazzi in the States.

“Since first arriving in New York in February 1964, Paul McCartney has built a strong, everlasting connection to the city,” says Catherine Futter, the Brooklyn Museum’s director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of decorative arts, in a statement. “His vibrant photographs from The Beatles’ first visit capture the energy of the city, the excitement of the American fans, and the frenzy of the band’s status as celebrities.”

“Yet the images also record The Beatles’ fun and delight with each other,” Futter adds. “Through McCartney’s lens, we feel the intensity of being at the center of such extraordinary events.”

The collection is now available to visit at the Brooklyn Museum through August 18, 2024. Check out a selection of McCartney’s rare photographs below.

06 May 2024

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 Countdown for May 11, 2024 | Billboard News

Tetris Kelly:
Can Sabrina Carpenter or a new country bop dethrone Taylor Swift’s monster week? This is the Billboard Hot 100 for the week dated May 11th.

“Down Bad” is down to No. 10, with another Tay track at No. 9.

“Like That” is No. 8.

“Too Sweet” is back up to No. 7, while Teddy Swims is at No. 6.

Benson Boone is at No. 5.

“Espresso” percolates to a new No. 4 high.

Shaboozey reaches No. 3.

“Million Dollar Baby” debuts at No. 2.

For the second week, “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone is at No. 1.

Watch the full video above!

06 May 2024

Scooter Braun & Survivors Take Billboard Behind the Scenes of Nova Festival Exhibit | Billboard News

Six months after hundreds of concertgoers were killed at Nova Music Festival, remnants left behind are on display in New York City as part of an immersive exhibition titled The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: October 7th 06:29 AM. Billboard News interviewed a few survivors at the exhibit before its April 21 opening.

Scooter Braun:
This could have been any festival in the world, and there’s been so much going on there that people don’t understand what happened here.

Ofir Amir:
We want to show the world that we are strong and we will band together.

Daniel Dvir:
Music is my life. Music is everything for me. I was at The Nova Festival on Oct. 7. It was Friday night, I went with some friends to the Nova Festival in Israel — it was a holiday for us. And we went to celebrate, celebrate life, celebrate music.

Lee Sasi:
I went to Israel on vacation, and it was going to be my first nature party. So I went with my family members, we were a group of seven. And we all had the best night ever. Everyone was so friendly with one another, coming up to you just talking to you like we all knew each other. But really, we didn’t. And the music was wonderful and spectacular.

Natalie Sanandaji:
Me and three friends arrived at the festival around 1 a.m. At around 3, we decided to take a rest at our campsite, which is right by the dance floor. You can still hear the music. And we decided to rest and wake up for the sunrise set, which is supposed to be the best part of the festival. And instead of waking up to the sound of the sunrise set music, we woke up to the sound of rockets.

Daniel Dvir:
Thousands of rockets over our heads, suddenly they turn off the music.

Watch the full video above.

03 May 2024

Kendrick Lamar Drops 2nd Drake Diss, Dua Lipa on ‘Radical Optimism,’ WILLOW’s New Album ‘empathogen’ & More | Billboard News

It’s Friday, May 3rd, and we have lots of new music to get through. Kendrick Lamar hits back at Drake again this week with a second diss track, “6:16 in LA.” The track comes out days after releasing “euphoria.” Dua Lipa released her new album ‘Radical Optimism,’ and she shares the meaning of it and more when she dropped by the studio. Sia drops the new album ‘Reasonable Woman’ after five years since her last album and WILLOW released her highly anticipated album ‘emphathogen.’ We give you a behind the scenes look at WILLOW’s private concert. We sat down with Rapsody, and she shares How It Went Down behind the creation of her latest single “3:AM” with Erykah Badu. J Balvin & Imagine Dragons just launched their new single “Eyes Closed,” Mckenna Grace releases “Gentleman” and more.

Tetris Kelly: 

The Kendrick and Drake beef continues. We’re talking to Dua Lipa. We take you inside WILLOW’s album release party, and Rapsody shows us How It Went Down. It’s Friday, May 3rd, but before you enter the streets, let’s get into this entertainment news, starting with your Friday Music Guide. Dua Lipa is injecting us with some ‘Radical Optimism’ and it’s gonna make you move. More bops later in the show but now your top story. The Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef just won’t end after K.Dot fired off a second explosive track, we’re breaking down some of the top moments. It keeps on going. After so much back and forth like Drake’s “Push Ups” and the just released “euphoria” from Lamar, most fans have crowned their winner, but Kendrick’s gun was still loaded he dropped “6:16 in LA” with some pretty lethal bars towards Drizzy. The Internet is really latching on to the section about OVO. Kendrick at this point seems to be giving advice to Drake, making the Toronto rapper question if his own team even has his back. After Kendrick’s one-two punch is the beef over? Or are we expecting another track from Drake outside of a questionable IG post? Let us know your pick. Sia is back with ‘Reasonable Woman’ and the album’s got all the good stuff you’d expect from her. She’s even recruited the queen Chaka Khan. Dua Lipa might be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever sat down with.

Keep watching to learn more!

03 May 2024

Rapsody Shares How She Made the ‘3 AM’ Music Video With Erykah Badu | How It Went Down | Billboard

In today’s episode of “How It Went Down,” Rapsody shares why she decided to name her new song “3 AM,” how she filmed the live performance music video with Erykah Badu and more!

Rapsody
I’m Rapsody and this is how it went down with my new single “3 AM.”

Rapsody
Getting to the final lyrical version of “3 AM” was a process. The first verse was actually lyrics that I pulled from another song that I had. Regardless, when I was talking about love, I wanted to pull from a real authentic place: “You made me feel like a virgin, a new person, you made me pull back the curtains. I’m not afraid to share what you were hurt me.” You know, I was really thinking about a relationship that I was in and the emotions that I was feeling. It was just really raw and real. And it just, it just kind of poured out. I took those lyrics and spit them over the version of the “3 AM” beat, and it just felt really good. The last verse, which is actually performed as a spoken-word piece, I wanted to talk about the whole journey of falling in love and then you fall out of love, what that feels like — where you can appreciate the experience, you can appreciate how you feel at the same time, sometimes you have to put yourself first and it requires letting go. And that was just really the approach of it. You know, the last verse is super emotional, though, you know, like my second adolescence. Like, come on.

Watch the full video above!