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As Spiritbox prepare to release their second album, vocalist Courtney LaPlante has gone on record to decry the unapproved release of their latest single.
The news comes just days away from the arrival of Tsunami Sea, Spritbox’s new record which is currently scheduled to drop on Friday (March 7) via the band’s own Pale Chords label and Rise Records. The album has been previewed since September, with the release of first single, “Soft Spine.” In November, this was followed by “Perfect Soul,” and again in February with the release of “No Loss, No Love.”

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Eager fans of the band may, however, have noticed the release of a new single titled “Crystal Roses” appearing on streaming services on Monday (March 3). According to a post shared on social media by LaPlante, issuing a new single in the week of the album’s release was not part of their approved rollout plan.

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“I don’t normally like to air out behind the scenes things like this, but we did not approve putting out another single today,” LaPlante wrote. “None of us were aware this was happening. I am extremely disappointed and only found out about it late last night, by chance. Trying to take it down asap.”

“Crystal Roses” has since been removed from streaming services, with only the previously-released singles available for listening ahead of the album’s official release.

This isn’t the first mishap which has befallen Spiritbox in recent months, with the band having recently been thrust into the spotlight thanks to a case of mistaken identity.

Appearing at the Grammys on Feb. 2 where the band were nominated in the best metal performance category, LaPlante spoke to an interviewer who had mistaken her for Poppy (whose “Suffocate” collaboration with Knocked Loose was up for the same award). Offering a slightly confused look to the off-camera interviewer, LaPlante decided instead to roll with it and continued the conversation as her fellow nominee.

“I am Poppy, and I am really happy to be here, nominated with Knocked Loose,” LaPlante replied slyly. “I really hope we win.”

Noting she had just finished chatting to Judas Priest, the interviewer went on to mention it wasn’t Poppy’s first time being nominated, referencing her nod for “Bloodmoney” in 2021.

“Really happy to be here again, would love to take home the Grammy for Knocked Loose and myself because I would be the first woman to win this award,” LaPlante added. “I actually haven’t looked at [how many women have been nominated previously] but I just always know that it’s time for one of us to win. I hope it’s me, or Spiritbox and Courtney.”

Ultimately, the award was won by French band Gojira, whose performance of “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)” (as heard at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony) was a collaboration with Swiss soprano Marina Viotti and Victor Le Masne.

Carl Dean, a Nashville businessman and beloved husband of Dolly Parton for nearly 60 years, died on Monday (March 3). He was 82 years old.
The news of his death was announced via Parton’s Instagram page, along with a statement from the country superstar. “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” the statement reads. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

The statement ends with requests for privacy from the family. A cause of death has yet to be revealed.

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Dean and Parton met outside a laundromat in Nashville as young adults, the same day Parton arrived in Music City at 18 years old to pursue her dreams of a music career (at that point, Parton had released a handful of non-charting singles; she first entered the Hot Country Songs chart with “Dumb Blonde” not long after their marriage).

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“We had the car radio on,” Parton told Billboard of the day she met Dean. “I don’t remember what it was playing, but it was loud and it was rock ’n roll.”

Parton and Dean wed on May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia. They renewed their vows in Nashville on their 50th anniversary in 2016.

Dean has famously been averse to the spotlight. Only rarely do photographs of the couple emerge, and Parton has said that Dean has only ever seen her perform live once. At various times during her career, she has even had to debunk rumors that her husband doesn’t exist. “A lot of people have thought that through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all,” Parton told Entertainment Tonight during an interview in 2020.

Parton recently discussed her relationship with Dean during an interview with Bunnie XO on the latter’s Dumb Blonde podcast in December, sharing the secret to their long-lasting marriage. “He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny,” she explained. “Oh, he’s hilarious. And I think one of the things that’s made it last so long through the years is that we love each other [and] we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun.”

She added, “Anytime [there’s] too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it go so far. We never fought back and forth. And I’m glad now that we never did, because once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing.”

Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.

The Oscars might be the biggest night for the film industry, but the 2025 awards show included some pretty epic music moments as well. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie tells Keith all about her night inside the Dolby Theatre for the 97th Academy Awards, where the Wicked duo of Ariana Grande and […]

The late Joe Cocker is a contender for this year’s class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and Paul McCartney is on his side.
The Beatles star wrote a letter to the Rock Hall — an international voting panel composed of more than a thousand artists, historians and music industry professionals — suggesting that Cocker be chosen for induction. “Joe was a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances,” McCartney wrote of the “Woman to Woman” singer in the letter obtained by Billboard. “He sang one of our songs ‘With a Little Help From My Friends,’ a version produced by Denny Cordell which was very imaginative.”

He continued, “All the people on the panel will be aware of the great contribution Joe made to the history of Rock and Roll. And whilst he may not have ever lobbied to be in the Hall of Fame, I know he would be extremely happy and grateful to find himself where he deserves to be amongst such illustrious company.”

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The “Let It Be” singer sweetly signed the note, “Paul (McCartney).”

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McCartney is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree, as he was inducted in 1988 as a member of The Beatles and in 1999 as a solo artist.

Cocker, who died in 2014, is a first-time nominee. He’s up for the Rock Hall’s Class of 2025 alongside 13 other musical greats, including Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes.

The Class of 2025 will be revealed in late April, and this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in Los Angeles this fall, with more details to be announced in the coming months.

It looks like Playboi Carti is finally ready to release his long awaited third solo album I Am Music.
The enigmatic Atlanta rapper took to his finsta account @opium_00pium to post a photoshoot carousel of images with the caption: “@spotify What we doin Lets gone clear dese ho ahh nig out.”

The streaming service responded on X by posting a series of hourglass emojis and @’d the rapper.

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Carti then responded by posting a screenshot in his Instagram Story and wrote, “Yal boys push up my n—a.”

And when a fan commented, “bro we get it u trim just drop the album already,” Playboi agreed and replied, “Fasho.”

He then posted another screenshot from X of a fan tweeting, “I genuinely think this is the most anticipated album in the history of music,” and suggested that the project will be well worth the wait, writing, “[And] the replay [value] on 10.”

Fans can pre-order I Am Music for $9.99 on Carti’s website and promises to be made available this month according to the disclaimer made available under the “Add to Cart” widget. “Album release date to be announced,” the disclaimer reads. Digital album will be available near the release date, no later than six months from September 12, 2024.”

Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.

We can thank Kai Cenat if he meets the deadline. The popular streamer pleaded with Carti to release the project while being interviewed on the red carpet during the Grammys. “The Playboi Carti album,” Cenat answered after Access Hollywood asked him what music was missing in 2025. “He needs to drop, for real. Carti gotta drop. I know Carti gon’ see this. Carti, just drop! I’m on national TV. Drop, gang! You feel what I’m saying? So yeah, that’s what we missing. In my world, a lot of people need that, so we need to make sure that happens.”

Playboi caught wind of the clip and reposted it on his IG Story with the caption, “Realest video I seen in 2025… BX yal got 1 with Kai. Dis video might be da one to do it.”

PLAYBOI CARTI SPEAKS ON KAI CENAT TELLING HIM TO DROP THE ALBUM 🚨 “REALEST VIDEO I SEEN IN 2025”“BECAUSE YALL GOT 1 WITH KAI THIS MIGHT BE THE ONE TO DO IT” pic.twitter.com/Lp8Cy5XIZ3— ⛤ (@unseenopium) February 4, 2025

Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.

Jay-Z is filing a lawsuit against the unnamed woman who accused him of rape last year, claiming she has now directly admitted that she fabricated those explosive allegations.

The new case, filed weeks after the lawsuit against Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) was abruptly dropped last month, alleges that the Jane Doe accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, carried out an “evil conspiracy” to extort a settlement from the superstar by making “false and malicious” allegations against him.

Notably, the new lawsuit says the Doe accuser has now “voluntarily admitted” directly to Jay-Z’s team that the star did not assault her and that Buzbee “pushed” her to make those allegations.

“Mr. Carter does not commence this action lightly,” his lawyers write in a complaint filed Monday (March 3) in Alabama federal court. “But the extortion and abuse of Mr. Carter by Doe and her lawyers must stop.”

In a statement to Billboard, Buzbee sharply denied the allegations: “This case is baloney and has no legal merit. Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course.”

The blockbuster case against Jay-Z, filed in December, claimed that he and Sean “Diddy” Combs drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl at an after-party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It represented a shocking expansion of the already-sprawling claims against Combs and came amid speculation that other stars might be implicated in Diddy’s alleged decades of abusive behavior.

Jay-Z forcefully denied the allegations, calling them a “blackmail attempt.” He accused Buzbee of trying to extort settlements from innocent celebrities by falsely tying them to Diddy and vowed to fight back and never pay his accuser.

Last month, Doe abruptly dropped the case — without explanation and without any kind of payment from Jay-Z. Though he celebrated it as a “victory,” the star hinted he would seek to further clear his name: “When they quickly realize that the money grab is going to fail, they get to walk away with no repercussions. The system has failed.”

In filing Monday’s lawsuit, attorneys for the star are essentially seeking to impose those kinds of repercussions. They accuse Doe and Buzbee of counts of malicious prosecution, abuse of process and civil conspiracy, claiming they teamed up to abuse the court system to “assassinate the impeccable and lifetime-earned character of Shawn Corey Carter” in an effort to score a payday.

“Defendants devised and executed their plan to accuse Mr. Carter of sexual assault and used national news and media outlets to disseminate the fabricated accusations to millions despite the falsity of the accusation,” his lawyers write. “Defendants’ actions were willful and purposeful in order to maximize the reputational harm to Mr. Carter and induce Mr. Carter to pay them.”

The new lawsuit is most notable in that it claims the accuser herself has admitted the allegations against Jay-Z are false. A headline-grabbing interview with NBC News exposed serious inconsistencies in her story, and Jay-Z’s team repeatedly argued the lawsuit was frivolous. But in Monday’s complaint, his attorneys now say Doe herself has confirmed to them that the bombshell charge was not true.

“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story,” the lawsuit says. “She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday.”

It’s unclear from the complaint when exactly Doe made such admissions to Jay-Z’s representatives or in what context. Reps for his attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.

In addition to focusing on the old lawsuit, Jay-Z’s lawyers also say the star is now facing new “extortionate threats” from Buzbee. They claim Doe’s attorneys warned them last week that if they reveal Doe’s statements admitting her story was false, they’ll issue a press release claiming she’s been “harassed” by Jay-Z’s team and that she “dropped the lawsuit only because she was afraid for her life.”

 “Thus, the threats of extortion and further defamation continue to this day, necessitating that Mr. Carter take action to prevent unscrupulous actors from further preying on him,” his attorneys write.

The new case isn’t the first time Jay-Z has gone on the legal counteroffensive. Weeks before the headline-grabbing rape case was filed against him in December, attorneys for the star secretly filed a preemptive lawsuit under a John Doe pseudonym accusing Buzbee of extortion and defamation. Jay-Z’s role as the mystery plaintiff in that case was later revealed after Doe filed her rape lawsuit.

At a hearing in that case last week, a Los Angeles judge said he would likely dismiss the star’s extortion claims against Buzbee but that he would likely allow the defamation claims against the lawyer to proceed toward trial.

Abbott Elementary is halfway through its fourth season, but Sheryl Lee Ralph is teasing fans about an exciting guest star in the finale. The superstar joined Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at the annual The Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party on Sunday (March 3), where she mostly kept her lips sealed about […]

Cam’ron and Mase had an interesting theory as to why Gervonta Davis didn’t win his fight against Lamont Roach Jr. over the weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and instead left with a draw.

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To open up the latest episode of their sports talk show It Is What It Is, the first topic was about Davis walking out to the ring with Dipset members Jim Jones and Juelz Santana as they performed 2004’s “Crunk Muzik” and how that might’ve spelled bad luck for the Baltimore fighter.

“I just want to say something, to your credit,” Cam began as Mase enjoyed a big bucket of popcorn. “A lot of times I’ll be like, ‘This n—a Mase, he be bugging.’ I don’t say it out loud, because your opinion’s your opinion. Mase always says, ‘Yo, don’t bring this n—a out with you, ’cause they’re not going to win if you bring this n—a out with you.’ Talking about football games, basketball games. And I be sitting here, like, ‘I don’t really know.’ But then I got it, when the fight went on. When you got that type of energy and you breathing that energy when everybody’s sad and mad and depressed, [trying to] look happy but they really not happy. It gets into you.”

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Cam continued to elaborate on Mase’s theory, saying, “The people you with could possibly f— your energy up for some sh– that you supposed to do. You can’t come out with that energy, man, it’s bad energy, man. Nobody’s happy over there. … Tank, get outta there,” he added, referencing Davis’ nickname.

Mase then added that if Meek Mill had performed during the Philadelphia Eagles recent playoff run they wouldn’t have gone on to win their second Super Bowl in franchise history. “If Meek Mill walked them out,” he said, “They’re not going to win a championship.”

They aren’t the only ones with this theory. Former NBA player Nick Young said the same thing on social media, joking that, “Tank fight was a draw soon as I seen Juelz.”

Cam and Jim Jones have been going back and forth for weeks now, stemming from a 50 Cent appearance on Cam’ron’s interview series Talk With Flee where the two legends reminisced about their past issues.

You can watch the full episode below.

Tate McRae is more than OK following the reveal of this week’s Billboard 200, which puts her new album So Close to What at No. 1 — her first time ever reaching the chart’s summit. And in a couple of posts on social media Sunday (March 2), the Canadian pop star reacted to the news […]

Venesti is on a roll as he secures his third straight No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart, all within a little over a year, as “Fuera de Lugar” rises from No. 2 for its first week atop the March 8-dated chart. The single’s coronation comes after a 37% gain, to 7 million audience impressions, during the tracking week of February 21-27, according to Luminate.
“‘Fuera de Lugar’ is a song that connects with a lot of people because we’ve all been through that moment of giving up on a relationship out of pride and say things that we later regret,” Venesti tells Billboard about his third consecutive No. 1 on the Latin pop radio ranking. “But in this case what I want to convey is that sometimes you can put that pride aside and have at least one more day with that person; that story has made it stay in people’s hearts.”

Venesti’s “Fuera de Lugar” trades places with fellow Colombian Maluma, whose song, “Cosas Pendientes,” dips 1-2 after a 13% decline in impressions, to 6 million.

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Venesti’s winning streak on Latin Pop Airplay began as “No Es Normal,” with Nacho and Maffio, landed at the summit in January 2024, where it dominated for 10 weeks, the second-most that year, after Shakira’s “Soltera,” which crowned for 11 consecutive weeks in 2024. (The latter ruled for a total of 18 weeks, with seven of those frames in 2025).

Vensti’s “Es Normal” arrived at the summit six months later, to rule for four weeks starting the July 20-dated list.

Concurrent with its Latin Pop Airplay triumph, “Fuera de Lugar” surges 17-4 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, for Venesti’s fourth top 10 there.

 All charts (dated March 8, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, March 4. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.