Music News

04 Jun 2024

Gwen Stefani, Camila Cabello, Doja Cat & More Set for 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival

The iHeartRadio Music Festival is returning to heat up Las Vegas on September 20 and 21, and iHeartMedia revealed the star-studded lineup on Tuesday (June 4).

The Ryan Seacrest-hosted event, which is presented by Capital One and will take place at T-Mobile Arena, is set to feature performances by Big Sean, Camila Cabello, Doja Cat, Gwen Stefani, Hozier, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block, Paramore, Shaboozey, The Black Crowes, Thomas Rhett, Victoria Monét and more. 

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For those who won’t be able to attend the fun in person, both nights of the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival will be broadcast live via iHeartMedia radio stations throughout the country. Additionally, Hulu is this year’s official streaming destination for the festival, and performances will be streamed live each night exclusively to all Hulu subscribers at no additional cost.

“The iHeartRadio Music Festival is the one time each year when the best-in-class superstar artists from all genres of music come together to share one stage for a weekend of live music,” said Tom Poleman, chief programming officer and John Sykes, president of entertainment enterprises of iHeartMedia in a press statement. “And with Hulu as the Official Steaming Destination, the festival will reach even more fans across the country.”

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Capital One cardholders will have priority access to presale tickets for the iHeartRadio Music Festival starting on June 12 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET through June 14 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET or while presale tickets last. Tickets go on sale to the general public on AXS.com beginning June 14 at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET.

For more details about the iHeartRadio Music Festival visit iHeartRadio.com/festival.

03 Jun 2024

2 Live Crew’s Brother Marquis Dies at 57

Brother Marquis, integral member of the influential, yet controversial rap group 2 Live Crew has died at age 57. While no cause of death has been officially confirmed, TMZ reports natural causes.

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Born Mark Ross, Brother Marquis joined 2 Live Crew in 1986—two years after the late Fresh Kid Ice and DJ Mr Mixx relocated from Riverside, California to Miami to link up with local promoter Luke Skyywalker. Already starting to pioneer the Miami Bass sound with songs like “Throw the D,” Brother Marquis added his comedic wordplay to the mix and made appearances on the group’s 1986 debut album The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are with the album’s intro being the first song he recorded with the group.

Brother Marquis also appeared on some of the group’s biggest and most controversial songs like “Me So Horny,” “Pop That P—y,” and “Banned in the U.S.A.”

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DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won), Brother Marquis (Mark Ross), Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell) of the rap group “2 Live Crew” pose for a portrait session on January 30, 1989.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

After the group broke up during the early ’90s, Brother Marquis went on to form a group with Atlanta’s DJ Toomp, releasing the album Indecent Exposure in 1993. He also featured on the original version of Ice-T’s “99 Problems,” whose remake became a massive hit in 2004 thanks to Jay-Z.

Brother Marquis reunited with Mr. Mixx and Fresh Kid Ice over the years, releasing music and touring as the 2 Live Crew. Unfortunately, Fresh Kid Ice passed away in 2017, a year after leaving the group for good. Mr. Mixx and Brother Marquis released the Christmas rap song “One Horse Sleigh” during the 2016 holiday season as The 2 Live Crew.

03 Jun 2024

Cyndi Lauper Reveals How She Came Up With That Iconic ‘Time After Time’ Lyric

Cyndi Lauper is baring her soul in her new documentary, Let the Canary Sing, and in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard, the beloved icon opens up about the backstory behind a popular lyric in her 1983 classic, “Time After Time.”

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In the first pre-chorus, Lauper sings, “I fall behind/ The second hand unwinds,” which she recalls was sparked from overhearing a conversation with the song’s producer, Rick Chertoff. “I actually was listening to a conversation,” the star shared. “Rick was just standing there and his watch — he kept looking at his watch going, ‘Hm, my watch is going backwards. I’m not kidding. Look at this. The second hand’s unwinding. The second hand unwinds!’ And I’m thinking, ‘The second hand unwinds,’ what a great lyric.” 

“Time After Time” ultimately topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for two weeks in 1984, marking her first leader on the tally.

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The feature-length Let the Canary Sing film that debuted at last year’s Tribeca Festival in New York was directed by Emmy-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood (Laurel Canyon) and will debut on Paramount+ on Tuesday (June 4). “Over the years I’ve been asked to do a documentary about my life and work, but it never felt like the right time,” Lauper, 70, said in a statement about the film. “Until now. When I first met Alison Ellwood, I knew right away I could trust her to tell my story honestly, which was incredibly important to me, and she succeeded in that. I’d like to thank Alison, the producers, and all of the amazing documentary participants who agreed to be interviewed!”

Lauper is also gearing up to embark on her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, a 23-city North American trek that kicks off on Oct. 18 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and wrap Dec. 5 at the United Center in Chicago. 

Watch Lauper discuss the backstory of her “Time After Time” lyric in the clip below.

03 Jun 2024

Bebe Rexha Kicks Out Concertgoer for Throwing Things at Her, Jokes About Pressing Charges

In 2023, Bebe Rexha sustained a serious facial injury after a concertgoer threw a phone at her during a show. One year later, the pop star isn’t playing around when it comes to poor audience behavior.

During the singer’s Saturday show in Green Bay, Wisconsin, fan cameras captured Rexha matter-of-factly directing security to escort a fan out of the venue. “Out, out,” she says in one clip posted on TikTok. “Or, if you wanna hit me in the face, I had to press charges for the other guy — I’d love to become richer.”

As fans cheered, she clarified: “I’m not inviting that, please. It was just a joke.”

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The fan who posted the video wrote that the “I’m a Mess” artist was forced to stop her performance two separate times because of attendees throwing things at her. “Like 10 people were escorted out because [of] it throughout the show,” they added.

By “the other guy,” Rexha was referring to Nicolas Malvagna, whom police arrested last year for hurling his cell phone at the musician’s face while she was performing in New York City. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office later reported that the assailant had said in his confession, “I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.”

Malvagna was reportedly charged at the time with two counts of assault in the third degree, as well as one count of harassment in the second degree, one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree and a count of attempted assault in the third degree. Meanwhile, Rexha dealt with a gnarly injury to her eye, photos of which she shared on Instagram shortly after the attack.

“I’m good,” she wrote at the time, showing off her deep purple bruise.

Rexha is fresh off the May 17 release of her new single “Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da).” In 2023, she released her album Bebe.

Watch Rexha kick out unruly concert guests in Wisconsin below.

03 Jun 2024

Hot 100 First-Timers: Cash Cobain Scores First Entry With Don Toliver & Charlie Wilson Collab ‘Attitude’

Emerging New York City rapper Cash Cobain scores his first career entry as a billed recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated June 8), thanks to his new collaboration with Don Toliver and Charlie Wilson, “Attitude.”

Released May 22 on Cactus Jack/Atlantic Records, the song debuts at No. 96 almost entirely from its streaming sum: 5.7 million official U.S. streams in its first full tracking week (May 24-30), according to Luminate. It also starts at No. 25 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 29 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

The song is slated to appear on Don Toliver’s fourth album, Hardstone Psycho, due June 14. It samples Snoop Dogg’s No. 6-peaking 2003 Hot 100 hit “Beautiful,” featuring Pharrell and Wilson.

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Cash Cobain, from The Bronx, has had an eventful year so far. After Billboard named him among the R&B/Hip-Hop Artists to Watch in 2024, the MC scored his first chart appearance as a recording artist when his viral breakthrough track “Fisherrr,” with Bay Swag, debuted on the May 4-dated Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay ranking. It hits a new No. 16 high on the latest list, while rising to No. 15 on Rap Airplay and No. 19 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. It also reached No. 33 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

The song has been boosted by a viral dance trend on TikTok, “The Reemski,” helping it soundtrack over 75,000 videos on the platform to date. In April, Cash Cobain released a remix of “Fisherrr” with Ice Spice.

On the June 1 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Cash Cobain tallied his second entry, via his featured turn on A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s “Body” (No. 46).

Before debuting as a billed recording artist, Cash Cobain produced two tracks that charted on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: B-Lovee’s “My Everything” (No. 37, December 2021) and Drake’s “Calling for You,” featuring 21 Savage (No. 5, October 2023); the latter likewise hit No. 5 on the Hot 100. He has also produced songs for Central Cee, PinkPantheress, LUCKI and Trippie Redd.

Last month, Cash Cobain teamed with J. Cole on “Grippy,” a reworked version of the former’s song “Dunk Contest,” as well as Jay Critch on “Kick It” and Lancey Foux and Teezo Touchdown on “Daylight.”

Billboard named Cash Cobain its R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month for April. He has teased upcoming collaborations with Lil Yachty and Frank Ocean, after releasing six solo projects to date: Sliick Cobain, 719, Nirvana, Slizzy Timing, 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy and Pretty Girls Love Slizzy.

03 Jun 2024

Hot 100 First-Timers: Ashley Cooke Debuts With Breakup Ballad & Country Hit ‘Your Place’

Ashley Cooke is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist.

The singer-songwriter debuts at No. 95 on the latest chart (dated June 8) with her single “Your Place.”

Released in July 2023 via Back Blocks/Big Loud, the track debuts on the Hot 100 with 23.3 million radio airplay audience impressions and 2 million official U.S. streams May 24-30, according to Luminate. It also holds at its No. 7 high on Country Airplay and climbs 25-23 on Hot Country Songs.

Cooke is just the second woman to reach the top 10 of Country Airplay in 2024, after Lainey Wilson, whose “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” hit No. 5 in May.

In a December interview with Billboard, Cooke shared her experience of dumping a boyfriend after discovering that he had cheated on her and how that inspired her current hit. “In a weird way, writing ‘Your Place’ was kind of my line in the sand of, ‘Hey, I’m going to turn a new leaf and not deal with those kinds of relationships anymore,’ ” she said. “Singing that song every night on tour, you feel that power kind of being put back into who you are and your worth and your respect for yourself. And it’s cool to see people in the crowd also responding to that.”

Cooke’s relationship experiences are further detailed on her sophomore LP and major-label debut, Shot in the Dark, which includes “Your Place.” Released in 2023, the set reached No. 14 on Heatseekers Albums (which ranks the most popular albums each week by new or developing acts) last August.

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“As a young person growing up and falling in and out of love — and what you think is love, and what actually isn’t love — I think it’s easy to get so caught up in it,” she shared. “I put up with a lot of stuff in different relationships that, if you listened to my whole debut album, it’s a lot about relationships and about toxicity.”

“Your Place” was produced by Jimmy Robbins, who earns his second Hot 100 entry in that role, following Kelsea Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown,” featuring Kenny Chesney (No. 53, 2022).

Cooke scored her first overall Billboard chart appearance in April 2022 when “Never Til Now,” with Brett Young, debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Country Digital Song Sales, No. 14 on Digital Song Sales and No. 46 on Hot Country Songs. The track also hit No. 49 on Country Airplay that December. She followed with “It’s Been a Year,” which hit Nos. 2 and 6 on the respective sales surveys.

03 Jun 2024

Millie Bobby Brown Is in Her ‘Wifey’ Era in First Instagram Since Marrying Jake Bongiovi

The newlyweds are enjoying married life! Millie Bobby Brown took to Instagram on Monday (June 3) to share a series of photos from her trip to Universal Studios with husband Jake Bongiovi.

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“Who wants to go to @universalorlando ???? ussssssssss,” she captioned the snaps, which featured the star in a slew of bride-themed attire — including a pair of jean shorts with “Wifey” on the behind and a hat that reads, “Wife of the party.”

People reported last weekend that 20-year-old Brown and 22-year-old Bongiovi were wed in an intimate ceremony in the United States with their parents in attendance ahead of a larger ceremony planned for later this year. 

The marriage comes just over a year after the Stranger Things actress confirmed her engagement to Bongiovi last April, posting a photo of her ring and quoting Taylor Swift’s “Lover”: “I’ve loved you for three summers now, honey, I want ’em all.” The couple first sparked dating rumors back in June 2021.

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In August, Brown revealed that she and the actor first chatted over social media. “I was interested in him and wanted to know more,” she told the Sunday Times. “As soon as we spoke I knew he was going to be a huge part of my life. After we met we knew we never wanted to leave each other’s side.”

Bongiovi’s rockstar dad, Jon Bon Jovi, has also been supportive of the duo from the beginning. “I don’t know if age matters,” Bon Jovi told Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show last year, noting that his wife Dorothea was his high school sweetheart. “You know, if you find the right partner and you grow together — I think that would be my advice really, is growing together is wise. So I think that all of my kids have found the people that they think they can grow together with and we like them all.”

03 Jun 2024

Common Opens Up About Origins of Drake Beef: ‘Wars Happen Over Women’

Before the Kendrick Lamar and Meek Mill rap battles ever transpired, Drake exchanged blows with Common in the early 2010s.

Common pulled up to Drink Champs alongside Pete Rock ahead of their collab album’s arrival last week when the Chicago-bred MC was asked about the origins of his feud with Drizzy.

Common explained he felt Drake was subliminally dissing him, which prompted him to fire back at the 6 God on 2011’s “Sweet.”

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“I felt like Drake was sending me a couple of shots, subliminals,” he said. “I don’t know what motivated him to send me some shots but I think what for sure had me, if I’m just being real, like you know, we mess with one of the same girls.”

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N.O.R.E. then alluded to how Drake was allegedly also romantically involved with Serena Williams, who Common dated circa 2007 to 2010.

“You know, wars happen over women,” Common admitted. “That’s just what it is. But I ain’t going to get at you if you with somebody I was with. But if you start throwing me a couple little, you know, you trying to throw some jabs, you know, and I’m like, ‘Come on man, OK.’”

Drake responded by eviscerating Common with subliminal jabs on Rick Ross’ “Stay Schemin’” in 2012 featuring French Montana. The track peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It wasn’t until a face-to-face meeting at the 2013 Grammy Awards and Common having a conversation with Drake’s father, Dennis Graham, that actually helped the two sides reach an armistice.

“I eventually saw Drake face to face. It was at a point where I was like, ‘What’s up?’ And we had little words,” Common detailed. “And then his father was there and was like, ‘Y’all need to squash this.’ And I was like, ‘Man, this an elder talking to me. This this man’s father. Let me chill out.’”

He added: “And then Drake just was like, ‘I ain’t on this.’ So we just squashed it. I was like, ‘Listen, if we face to face, then a’ight, I’m done with it. Even if it was some subliminal disses, I said what I had to say. Right now, we saying we squashing it. We good.’”

Watch the clip starting at the 32-minute mark below.



03 Jun 2024

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Calls Taylor Swift ‘Gifted,’ Defends Length of ‘Tortured Poets’

The length of Taylor Swift‘s two-hour The Tortured Poets Department album is just smashing, as far as Billy Corgan is concerned.

In an Irish Times interview published Monday (June 3), the Smashing Pumpkins frontman defended the pop star’s polarizing decision to include a whopping 31 songs on her latest project, giving her high praise in the process.

“Taylor Swift is one of the most gifted pop artists of all time,” he told the publication. “How is it a bad thing that she’s releasing more music? I can’t follow that … You can go on Spotify and just skip it.

“People complained about the length of my last album, Atum,” he added, citing his band’s own two-hour-plus record released in 2023. “I thought, ‘Well, just go make your own playlist. Just listen to the record one time – rag over the six or 10 songs you like and make your own record.’ Why is this such a strange concept?”

The interview comes amid Swift’s sixth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Tortured Poets, which the 14-time Grammy winner had originally promoted as being just 16 tracks long. Two hours after it dropped at midnight on April 19, however, she unveiled 15 more songs as part of a surprise “Anthology” double album.

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The project went on to sell 2.61 million equivalent album units in its first week, blowing the singer’s previous personal benchmark of 1.653 million for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) out of the water. It also made Swift the first artist to ever occupy every spot of the Billboard Hot 100 top 14 at once, led by chart-topper “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone.

While making his case for Tortured Poets‘ run-time, Corgan also spoke about his late friend Sinéad O’Connor. The Irish singer-songwriter died of natural causes at age 56 last year.

“Let’s go back to Sinéad for a second,” the “1979” singer told the publication. “Now that Sinéad’s gone, would it be a bad thing if somebody turned up tomorrow and said, ‘Hey, I just found this tape, and there’s enough for 20′ – or 30 or 50 – ‘Sinéad songs.’ Would that be a bad thing?”

03 Jun 2024

Illa J Thinks Ye Wouldn’t Be as Big If His Brother J Dilla Were Still Alive

The late J Dilla’s younger brother Illa J sat down with AnecDope to talk about a bunch of topics, including his older brother and his latest self-produced solo album No Traffic. Toward the end of the 42-minute convo, Marco Mello asks Illa if he ever thinks what type of beats Dilla would be making today.

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Illa suggests that his brother would “be making some crazy trap beats,” before acknowledging the late producer tried to listen to all types of rap music despite his reputation as a backpack producer. Adding, “Even when I was younger, he would ask me what I was listening to.”

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He then says, “If [J Dilla] were still here, music would’ve took a different turn,” before giving his opinion on rapper and producer Ye. “I don’t think Kanye is as big as he is if my brother stayed alive. I’m sorry, Kanye needs seven producers. If you look at the credits, there’s like 20 producers on one track,” Illa said of the Chicago artist.

Ye has shown J Dilla love over the years. In 2013, while appearing in the documentary Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton (This Is Stones Throw Records), Kanye says every artist should make music with the late Detroit producer in mind. “We gotta think, ‘If Dilla was alive, would he like this?’ I have to work on behalf of Dilla.” Adding, “The best respect that we can pay to great artists that have inspired us is to never sell out.”

You can watch the full Illa J interview here.