Music News

10 Jun 2024

Shania Twain & Our Lady Peace to Headline NHL Concerts for Stanley Cup Final

Let’s go, girls! Shania Twain is headlining the Rogers Festival at the Final Concert Series in Edmonton in honor of the Stanley Cup Final this week alongside Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace.

As announced Monday (June 10), the two free concerts presented by Rogers in partnership with the NHL will begin with Our Lady Peace performing before Game 3 on Thursday (June 13). The “You’re Still the One” singer will take the stage before Game 4 on Saturday (June 15).

Both performances will begin at 4 p.m. MT in Scotiabank Fan Park outside Rogers Place before the 6 p.m. MT games, no tickets required. They’ll serve to hype up hockey fans as the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers go head to head for the best-of-seven in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

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The news comes just hours ahead of Game 2, which will kick off at 8 p.m. ET. The first game — which was attended by Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater — took place Saturday (June 8) in Florida and ended with the Panthers triumphing 3-0 against the Oilers.

Before Game 1, The Kid LAROI performed as part of a similar concert series presented by BODYARMOR. DJ Khaled is set to deliver a musical showcase as part of the same series prior to Game 2.

Twain is fresh off the release of a new single with a surprising new collaborator, Yung Gravy. Titled “White Claw,” the track dropped Friday (June 7). In August, she’ll return to the Bakkt Theater in Las Vegas for a second round of her Come On Over Residency in Sin City.

Our Lady Peace hasn’t released an album since 2022’s Spiritual Machines II. According to a release, however, the “Superman’s Dead” quartet is set to release new music at some point this year.

10 Jun 2024

Watch Ado’s Performance of ‘Aishite Aishite Aishite’ From World Tour Stop in L.A.

Ado shared some live footage of her performance of “Aishite Aishite Aishite” during her global tour entitled THE FIRST WORLD TOUR “Wish.”

The enigmatic singer toured cities in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. starting in February for her Wish world tour. The four-minute clip captures the “Show” singer’s performance at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, where she covered the track by Vocaloid producer Kikuo.

The “New Genesis” artist is set to release her highly anticipated second studio album Zanmu on July 10. This video will be included in the three limited first editions of the project: the BIG Acrylic Stand & Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD versions.

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Check out Ado’s performance of “Aishite Aishite Aishite” below.

10 Jun 2024

Donald Trump Calls Taylor Swift ‘Unusually Beautiful,’ Questions Whether Her Liberal Views Are ‘An Act’

Donald Trump is a fan of Taylor Swift‘s appearance, but not so much her politics. As for her music? He’s pretty indifferent.

The twice-impeached former U.S. president shared his thoughts on the pop star in a new book titled Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, an excerpt of which Variety published Monday (June 10). “I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful!” he says of Swift in the snippet. “I find her very beautiful.”

“I think she’s liberal,” the ex-POTUS continued in conversation with Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, who wrote the book. “She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!”

As Trump has clearly noticed, Swift has been open for years about her left-leaning political views. She first broke her decade-plus-long silence on the matter about two years after the 77-year-old reality star-turned-politician was elected to the White House in 2016, endorsing Tennessee Democratic candidates Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives in a 2018 Instagram post.

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When asked about the endorsement at the time, the then-president told reporters, “Let’s just say I like Taylor’s music about 25% less now, OK?” Bredesen ended up losing to Republican Marsha Blackburn — whom Swift called “Trump in a wig” in her 2020 Netflix film Miss Americana — while Cooper kept his seat.

“She is liberal, or is that just an act?” Trump, who is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records last month, asked Setoodeh in the new interview. “She’s legitimately liberal? It’s not an act? It surprises me that a country star can be successful being liberal.”

Finally, when asked about the “Anti-Hero” singer’s music, Trump simply replied, “Don’t know it well.”

Billboard has reached out Taylor Swift’s representatives for comment.

The interview — which took place in November 2023 — isn’t the only time Trump has spoken about Swift in recent months. In a Daily Caller interview in September, he quipped about the star’s romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “I wish the best for both of them. I hope they enjoy their life, maybe together, maybe not — most likely not,” he said.

A few months later, he bragged on Truth Social about signing The Music Modernization Act during his presidency. “Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will,” he wrote in February, touching on Swift’s support of the current president’s White House bid in 2020. “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”

10 Jun 2024

Rosalía’s ‘Despechá’ Hits 1 Billion Spotify Streams, Becomes First Solo Spanish Artist to Reach Milestone

Rosalía’s “Despechá” surpassed one billion streams on Spotify Sunday (June 9), making her the first Spanish artist to achieve this milestone with a solo song.

“I just found out that ‘Despechá’ already has 1 BILLION plays and the culprits are all of you,” the singer wrote on her Instagram account. “Thank you for having listened to it and danced to it and enjoyed it so many times!!!! Hopefully life will allow me to share many more songs.”

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The 2022 mambo-driven song hitting the one billion mark is a massive accomplishment, especially considering that Spain has birthed superstars such as Alejandro Sanz, Julio Iglesias and Enrique Iglesias.

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Only Spanish rapper Quevedo can boast such a record with his team-up with Argentine hitmaker Bizarrap on their wildly successful “Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52”, which has accumulated nearly 1.7 billion plays, but in this case, thanks to the combined strength of both artists.

Rosalía also teased on her socials that she is working on a new album and can only “say that the wait will be worth it.” So far, the Barcelona native has dropped three studio albums, which includes the Latin Grammy-winning El Mal Querer (2018) and Motomami (2022), and a joint EP with ex Rauw Alejandro, RR (2023).

On the Billboard charts, “Despechá” became her second song to reach No. 1 on Tropical Airplay, after “La Fama.” Additionally, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 63, Billboard Global 200 at No. 6, and Billboard Global Excl. US at No. 3.

Check out the video for “Despechá” below:

10 Jun 2024

Fans Choose Feid’s ‘Sorry 4 That Much’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music Latin

Feid‘s latest single, “Sorry 4 That Much,” has topped this week’s new music Latin poll.

In a poll published on Friday (June 7) — in support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — music fans voted for the Colombian artist’s latest track as their favorite music release of the week.

“Sorry 4 That Much” generated more than 65% of the vote, beating out other new releases that dropped this week, including Natti Natasha’s “Quiéreme Menos,” Christian Nodal’s “Kbron y Medio,” Joaquina’s “Pesimista” and Fariana and Oro Solido’s “El Caballito,” plus a new joint EP by Maluma and Blessd, titled 1 of 1. Coming in second place on the poll was J Balvin and Chencho Corleone’s “Polvo de tu Vida” with 28% of the vote.

The reggaetón hitmaker dropped “Sorry 4 That Much” on Friday (June 7), which showcases a more melancholic side to Feid. In “Sorry,” he explores a romantic relationship that has changed over time, even after doing all he can to make that relationship work. The music video was filmed in the streets of Japan, where Feid launched his sold-out comic book The Green Man back in April.

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Currently on his FERXXOCALIPSIS World Tour, Feid will wrap up the U.S. leg of the trek on July 8 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Last week, music fans voted for Jhayco’s latest single “Torii” as their favorite music release. The song generated nearly 25% of the votes.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below:

10 Jun 2024

Asake Announces Lungu Boy World Tour: Here Are the Dates

Asake announced on Monday (June 10) that he’ll be embarking on the Lungu Boy World Tour across North America and Europe.

The 14-date trek begins on June 26 at Afro Nation Portugal and features more festival performances at Wireless Festival in London and Afro Nation Detroit, as well as major venue stops at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and NYC’s Madison Square Garden before wrapping on Oct. 6 at Promiseland Festival in Gold Coast.

The Lungu Boy World Tour will support Asake’s upcoming third studio album, which is due later this summer. He was recently featured on “Goodbye (Warm Up)” from Ayra Starr‘s sophomore album, The Year I Turned 21, and “Get it Right” from Tems‘ debut album, Born in the Wild.

Tickets for the Grammy-nominated Nigerian artist’s North American dates will be available starting with an artist presale on Wednesday, June 12, at 10 a.m. local time. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale, which starts on Friday, June 14, at 10 a.m. local time at asaketour.com.

Tickets for his and U.K. and European dates will be available starting with a Mastercard presale in select markets (Mastercard cardholders will have special access to presale tickets in France and the Netherlands starting from Wednesday, June 12, at 10 a.m. local time until Friday, June 14, when preferred ticket access becomes available starting at 10 a.m. local time) and an artist presale on Wednesday, June 12, at 10 a.m. local time.

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Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale, which starts on Friday, June 14, at 10 a.m. local time.  

See the Lungu Boy World Tour dates below.

10 Jun 2024

Gamma CEO Larry Jackson Says Drake Is ‘Bigger’ Than All Artists of the ”70s, ’80s & ’90s Combined’

Gamma CEO and last year’s Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players’ Executive of the Year Larry Jackson sat down with Joe Budden for a one-on-one interview that launched June 6. Jackson, who was once Apple Music’s global creative director, had an interesting thought to share about Drake’s streaming numbers. About an hour into the interview, Budden asks whether or not Drake’s business deals are “a point of contention with his peers.” Choosing not to go into detail, Jackson says, “I can’t answer that question, that’s not appropriate of my place, I have to definitely display good cultural etiquette.”

Budden then explains a theory he has about the Toronto rapper’s relationship with Jackson and his label, Gamma. “My wild theory was that Drake had to have some type of hand in Gamma, which is why he’s promoting [Rick] Ross albums and Sexyy Red, and he must have some type of deal that’s not even available to other people to whereas he gets to be the owner and player,” he shared. “Like he’s twofold right now and it seems to be causing a lot of trouble.”

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The executive then asked if Budden wants the truth and began talking about how he and his partner, Gamma president Ike Youssef, knocked on doors because they believed in their idea for their label. “Private equity was investing so much money into catalogues because capital was cheap in 2019, 2020,” he said. “Interest rates were very low so borrowing capital was easy.”

Jackson then said streaming has made it easier for investors to predict “insight into recurring revenue,” but still no one believed in their vision of “investing in the frontline business.”

He finally got to Drake and their relationship, and puts the artist’s streaming numbers into perspective. “The thing I will say to you about [Drake] you just mentioned, is that if you look at his music, he’s bigger than the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s combined,” he said. “I don’t mean like one artist from that era, I mean all of those eras combined.”

“All the things that we achieved when I was at Apple, with the individual that you’re noting [Drake], imbued me with the confidence and the courage of my conviction to go out and do what we’re doing right now,” Jackson continued. “Can you put a price tag on that? No, you can’t.”

Back when Jackson was Apple’s global creative director, he was instrumental in launching Drake’s OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1 in 2015. Also, Drake’s 2016 album Views was an Apple Music exclusive a week prior to the project being available on other streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal. At the time, Views set a streaming record with 1.04 million equivalent album units in its first week, and debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

You can watch the full interview below.

10 Jun 2024

Jason Kelce Says Brother Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s Fame Is One Another Level: ‘You Can’t Be a Normal Person at That Point’

Jason Kelce was a Super Bowl champ, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and retired last year after 13 seasons as one of the NFL‘s most reliable, indomitable centers to ever play the game. But in a recent appearance on comedian Andrew Santino’s Whiskey Ginger podcast, the second-most-famous Kelce said that his, and his family’s life, have definitely been given a make-over thanks to brother Travis Kelce‘s high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift.

Santino asked how Jason’s wife, Kylie Kelce, has been handling the spotlight since her brother-in-law began dating the biggest pop star in the world last summer and if she finds the added scrutiny to be annoying or kind of fun. “I think it’s both,” Jason said, noting that the Prime Video documentary Kelce following her husband’s 2022-2023 season with the Philadelphia Eagles may have helped prime Kylie for the avalanche of attention; the doc debuted in September, right around the time Swift and Travis Kelce made their romance official.

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“I think she’s a little big uncomfortable with, I guess, how much it’s become and our family’s out there, like people know what our kids look like,” he said of the couple’s three young daughters. “We’ve tried to retract from that a little bit. But I think she enjoys the fact that she gets to go and do charitable outings and she gets to give back to the community.”

That said, they both understand that the scrutiny comes with the territory of fame and even if it gets to be “too much” at times, Jason said the microscope on his younger brother is beyond anything he could imagine. “Travis and Taylor have taken it to another level and that’s a whole other side of it,” said Jason. “Kylie and I think we have it bad, and then we go hang out with one of them for a second. This is a whole other situation here. I don’t even know how to, like… you can’t be a normal person at that point.”

Despite the more intense spotlight, Jason said he hasn’t seen Travis turn into someone else. “I haven’t seen him change one bit,” Jason Kelce said of his three-time Super Bowl-winning brother. “I think it’s a compliment. He stayed true to himself. He’s still humble. He treats everyone with the utmost respect, like they’re equals regardless of who they are.”

Travis echoed that emotion in a Good Morning America interview last week, in which he said that he’s always been a “very grounded guy” and that he’s “so fortunate, so grateful” for all the opportunities that have come his way lately.

Watch Jason Kelce talk about fame and navigating the Traylor attention below.

10 Jun 2024

Drake Sports a Preppy Soccer Dad Outfit to Son Adonis’ Game: Here’s How Fans Are Reacting

Drake is fully leaning into the soccer dad persona. The 6 God pulled up to his 6-year-old son Adonis’ soccer game over the weekend to support the little boy while dressed to the nines.

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Drizzy took to Instagram on Sunday (June 9) to show off his preppy fit while he cheered on Adonis, who looked to put on a show on the pitch with his father in attendance. The OVO boss opted for a baggy pair of trousers to go with a cream T-shirt and a sweater tied around his neck. “Goats don’t worry about one trick ponies,” he captioned the set of photos.

Fans, friends and peers had plenty to say about Drake’s wardrobe selections in his comments section. “Drake the type of rapper that hands out orange wedges at his son’s soccer game,” one person joked.

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However, Sexyy Red approved the fit: “Fyreeeee.”

Another person chimed in: “The soccer papi fit is wild!”

The look seems to have struck a cord with fans, as the post already boasts well over 3.5 million likes as of press time, which is the most Drake has gotten on a post currently on his Instagram since March.

Fans have seen Drake support Adonis’ hoop dreams in the past, and that has transferred to soccer as well. While Drizzy loves his basketball, he’s made references to some of the legends who’ve laced up their cleats on tracks, too.

“I’m just all about my goals like I’m Messi,” he raps in an homage to Argentinian icon Lionel Messi on Future’s “I’m on One.” Drake also saluted Cristiano Ronaldo on Scorpion‘s “Blue Tint” in 2018. “Way this s–t set up I live like Ronaldo/ But I never been in Madrid,” he rhymes about CR’s former home.

10 Jun 2024

Ariana Grande & Ethan Slater Attend Stanley Cup Final Together: See the Photos

Turns out Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are hockey fans. The couple attended game one of the Stanley Cup Final Saturday (June 8) in the pop star’s home state of Florida, sitting next to each other among friends at Amerant Bank Arena.

In photos from the game, both Grande and her Wicked costar — who started dating last year while filming the musical duology in the U.K. — sport Florida Panthers gear, the “Thank U, Next” singer topping off her jersey with a pair of black kitty ears. The pair cozies up while talking and giggling, seated behind Grande’s childhood best friend Courtney Chipolone (yes, as in the “Bye” lyric, “Courtney just pulled up in the driveway”).

To the two-time Grammy winner’s right sits Christian Breslauer, who directed Grande’s “The Boy Is Mine” music video. The visual dropped Friday (June 7), co-starring Penn Badgley opposite Ari and featuring apt cameos from Brandy and Monica.

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Breslauer also oversaw Grande’s Paula Abdul-inspired video for “Yes, And?” as well as her Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tribute for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).” Both singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year in support of the vocalist’s Billboard 200-topping album Eternal Sunshine.

The hockey game — which ended with the Panthers beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 — marks a rare public outing for Grande and Slater, who’ve kept their romance low-key following the singer’s divorce from Dalton Gomez, and the actor’s split from estranged wife Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a young son. In April, the “7 Rings” musician attended her boyfriend’s final Spamalot performance on Broadway.

A few days later, the couple and their Wicked castmates flew to Las Vegas for 2024 CinemaCon, where Grande and Slater held hands as they walked around the venue.

See photos of Grande and Slater at the Stanley Cup finals with friends below.

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater look on prior to Game One of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena on June 08, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida.

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Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande reacts prior to Game One of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena on June 08, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida.

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