Music News

30 May 2024

Megan thee Stallion Reflects on Feeling ‘Awful Every Day’ & the Cathartic Release of Hot 100 No. 1 Hit ‘Hiss’

It’s been a turbulent last five years for Megan Thee Stallion. While her star power has grown, she suffered the losses of her mother and grandmother and had to deal with the fallout and trauma that came with the 2020 Tory Lanez shooting and subsequent trial.

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In her bout with depression, Meg turned to alternatives such as therapy to improve her mental health as she dealt with a hate train that her feeling like people were continuing to kick her while she was down.

The Houston Hottie opened up in her new L’OFFICIEL cover story about her mental health battle and the cathartic release that came with dropping her fiery “Hiss” single earlier this year, which topped the Billboard Hot 100.

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“I felt so awful every day,” Meg shared. “It was such a hard place to get out of. I don’t even want to care who hates me, really. What I should be focusing on is the love that I do receive. That’s what I’m trying to get better about now. Everything is not going to be great all the time. If I’m going to be here for the cheers, I got to be here for the boos.”

Thee Stallion claims she didn’t know there would be such a visceral response to “Hiss.” Although, the 29-year-old was happy to get the weight off her shoulders after people had so much to say about her in the recent years.

“I absolutely did not know it was going to do all of that! I had no clue that was going to happen,” Megan added. “I had been holding in feelings for a while. I felt like everybody was kicking me when I was down.

She continued: “It felt good to finally be able to just talk my talk because I was in a place where I was so down, and I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt any kind of peace. I felt like, ‘Oh, Megan Thee Stallion, everybody hates you right now. Don’t you say a word. Just be quiet.’”

“Hiss” arrived in the last week of January and bowed in at the top spot to give Megan her third No. 1 Hot 100 hit and first solo entry at the apex. The track launched with 29.2 million first-week streams, 2.9 million radio airplay audience impressions and 104,000 downloads sold Jan. 26-Feb. 1, according to Luminate.

Megan Thee Stallion’s rebirth-themed album is slated to arrive this summer. She says fans can expect a full cycle of emotions and different sounds throughout the LP.

“This is music I would like if I wasn’t Megan Thee Stallion. I don’t want to say I’m tapping into other genres. I’m just tapping into other sounds. But it’s still very much Megan Thee Stallion. It won’t feel like I went so left. It’ll feel true to me,” she said. “You’ll almost be like, ‘I wouldn’t have thought she would’ve rapped over that, but this sounds great.’”

Meg is currently on the road as part of her Hot Girl Summer Tour, which will rumble through Memphis and Atlanta this week.

Take a look at her L’OFFICIEL cover below.

30 May 2024

Carly Pearce Says Upcoming Shows Will ‘Look a Little Bit Different’ After Heart Ailment Diagnosis

Carly Pearce told fans that her opening slots on Tim McGraw’s Standing Room Only tour will look a bit different than she’d planned due to her recent pericarditis diagnosis. “I have always been transparent and honest about every part of my life, so I feel this deserves the same honesty,” the singer said in a video post on Thursday morning (May 30) in which she revealed that doctors discovered the disorder that the Mayo Clinic says can lead to swelling and irritation of the thin tissue around the heart, causing sharp chest pain.

Noting that she’s been dealing with some health issues lately, Pearce said she’s been working with her doctors and cardiologist to find a way for her to stay on the road. “We have all decided that it is in my best interest as I’m healing to alter my shows a little bit,” she said in asking fans for a “little bit of grace” as she adjusts her performance.

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“So if my shows look a little bit different, just know it’s because I have to keep my heart rate under control right now. And the doesn’t mean I’m not going to be completely fine, it just means right now I’ve got to really take this seriously,” she said of the condition the Mayo Clinic says is often mild and can go away without treatment if caught and treated early.

Noting that she’s a young person (34) who watches what she eats and exercises, Pearce encouraged her followers take care of and listen to their bodies.

The revamped show should be on display on Thursday night (May 30) when Pearce kicks off her run opening arena shows for Tim McGraw at the Huntington Center in Toledo. Those gigs will last through a June 29 concert at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, followed by a series of festival dates before she takes her Hummingbird tour overseas to Europe in February 2025. Pearce’s hummingbird album is due out on Big Machine on June 7, just two days before she plays the main stage at the 2024 CMA Festival in Nashville.

Check out Pearce’s video below.

30 May 2024

BLACKPINK’s LISA Surpasses Billion Views on YouTube for the First Time As a Soloist With ‘Money’ Video

Two things BLACKPINK‘s LISA isn’t short on: cash and views. The K-pop superstar’s 2021 music video for “Money” has surpassed the billion-views mark on YouTube, marking her first visual as a soloist to hit the milestone.

In the three-minute clip, LISA exudes confidence as she and a group of backup dancers show off intricate choreography in two locations: an abandoned highway and a warehouse lit up by an enormous electronic screen. The former is backdropped by a flickering sign that reads an unattributed P.T. Barnum quote reading, “Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.”

“I came here to drop some money, dropping all my money/ Drop some money, all this bread so yummy,” the Thai musician sings on the TEDDY-produced track. “Twerking, twerking when I buy the things I like/ Dollar, dollars dropping on my ass tonight.”

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Though “Money” is her first Billion Views Club entry as a one-woman act, LISA has previously earned the honors six times over with her BLACKPINK bandmates JISOO, JENNIE and ROSÉ. Their past entries include “Kill This Love,” “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” “BOOMBAYAH,” “As if It’s Your Last” and “How You Like That.”

LISA’s latest accomplishment is made even more impressive when you consider that the star has only ever released two songs as a soloist, with “Lalisa” arriving alongside “Money” in September 2021. Both of them charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and the latter track went on to become the first solo K-pop hit to cross the 1 billion streams threshold on Spotify in September.

Watch LISA’s billion-times-viewed music video for “Money” above.

30 May 2024

BTS’ RM Unveils Twisty Music Video for ‘Domodachi (feat. Little Simz)’: Watch

BTS‘ RM has released the music video for “Domodachi” featuring Little Simz, and it’s just as twisty and chaotic as the track itself.

The K-pop star never appears in the visual, which instead stars a teenage protagonist who embarks on a feverish journey through underground tunnels in a dark cityscape, encountering a violent crowd riot and a subway full of depressed-looking commuters before escaping over a fence with the help of a friend. The genre- and tempo-bending track finds RM and Simz rapping over a blend of hip-hop beats and jazz instrumentals, its pacing matching the franticness of the video.

“No more goofin’ around, I want cool s–t,” the South Korean artist spits on the song. “I’ma stay calm when they come up with that new s–t.”

“Domodachi” is the fourth track on RM’s new album Right Place, Wrong Person to get the music video treatment, following “Come Back to Me,” “LOST!” and “Groin.” The full album dropped May 24, marking the musician’s second studio LP as a soloist.

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The 11-track set follows RM’s 2022 debut Indigo, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Leading up to its arrival, the “Wild Flower” singer unveiled batches of concept photos to get fans excited for the project, each of the photos capturing him as an “ordinary individual in relatable, everyday settings, enjoying moments of freedom — a departure from the glamorous persona he embodies on stage,” according to a release.

RM is currently serving in the South Korean military, as are his BTS bandmates Jin, SUGA, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook. The country mandates an 18-month military enlistment for all able-bodied men by the time they turn 28, but it hasn’t stopped a few of the members from pursuing various solo projects in the meantime. The full group is planning to reconvene for band activities in 2025.

Watch RM’s video for “Domodachi” featuring Little Simz above.

30 May 2024

Duane Betts Says Playing Late Dad Dickey Betts’ Music Has New Meaning Now: ‘Really Treasure It ‘Cause It’s Precious’

Duane Betts says that he’s been “holding up” since the death of his father, Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts, on April 18 at the age of 80. And while he and Allman Betts Band partner Devon Allman — son of the late Allman Brothers leader Gregg Allman — don’t necessarily need more reason to pay tribute to their fathers’ musical legacy, Betts tells Billboard that there’s a different kind of charge in playing their songs now. 

“Now that he’s gone it changes it a little more,” acknowledges Betts, who was named after the late Duane Allman and played at times in his father’s post-Allman Brothers band, Great Southern. “I think the spirit is always with me, whether I’m playing those particular songs or I’m playing my own songs. He had kinda been in poor health for awhile, so I was already playing for him and getting a lot of inspiration (from) thinking about him and what his legacy means to me, personally. I love playing that music and really treasure it ’cause it’s precious. so it’s nice to play a few of their tunes and mix ’em with our originals I do with the Allman Betts Band or a Duane Betts show. 

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“And now that he’s moved on to the next level it’s kind of put the exclamation mark on that idea of showing love and appreciation for the music.”

Allman Betts has been mixing a variety of Allman Brothers Band tunes into its current spring tour, including selections such as “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” “Blue Sky,” “Jessica,” “Melissa,” “Midnight Rider,” “Dreams,” “Seven Turns” and “Sailin ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea,” as well as Allmans-popularized covers like Sonny Boy Williamson’s “One Way Out” and Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues.”

“That’s been rotating; it depends on what night it is, what you’ll hear,” Betts explains. “Y’know, I play the way I play; when I’d ask my dad, ‘Do I sound too much like you?’ he would say, ‘Well, you like the same food as me. You walk like me. You cough like me. You look like me. So why are you trying to not be you? Just be you and don’t worry about it.’”

Allman Betts’ tour runs through June 9 and is the band’s first since the 2023 death of drummer R. Scott Bryan, which brought Roy Orbison’s youngest son Alex “Orbi” Orbison — who played in two previous bands with Betts — into the lineup. (The group also includes another Allman Brothers progeny, bassist Berry Duane Oakley.) Betts says the septet has made a conscious effort to dig deep into its two album catalog for this trek. 

“We’re really enjoying switching up the set list quite a bit and throwing different things in there we haven’t played in awhile, so it’s been really fun,” he notes. “We’ve done songs off our records we haven’t played in years, ’cause we haven’t really been on tour.”

Another Allman Betts Band album — a follow-up to 2020’s Bless Your Heart — is another matter, however. 

“We haven’t really gotten that far,” says Betts, who released a solo album, Wild & Precious Life, last July. “I think right now we’re just keeping it as this, a live thing. We’re really grateful to be out there on the road, and being all together again is really fun. We have a few more shows later in the summer, and we’re just having a great time on tour and not thinking about anything else yet.”

The band’s next date is a show Thursday night (May 30) at The Fillmore in Detroit; click here to see their summer tour schedule.

30 May 2024

Randy Rainbow Mocks ‘Lunatic’ Marjorie Taylor Greene With ‘Grease’ Parody

As a jury enters day two of its deliberations for Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, comedian Randy Rainbow is training his sights on one of the former president’s most vocal allies — Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In his latest video, Rainbow pulls clips from Greene’s 60 Minutes interview from April 2023, hosting his own fake version of the show titled 60 MAGATS to “interview” the GOP firebrand. “It’s rare for a member of the House of Representatives to become nationally well-known,” Rainbow states in the introduction of his clip. “Unless, of course, that member is a f–king lunatic like my next guest, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or MTG as she more commonly refers to herself when she can’t remember her full name.”

After calling Greene a “Q clown insurrectionist” and “bleach-blonde bad-built butch body” in their faux conversation, Rainbow launches into his newest song called “Look at Me, I’m MTG,” parodying “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from Grease. Wearing a crunchy blonde wig and a pink Trump hat, Rainbow mocks Greene by listing of her lack of credentials: “Trashy as hell, I can’t math, read or spell/ Oh well, I’m MTG,” he croons.

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As the song goes on, Rainbow takes shots at Greene’s history of antisemitic and transphobic antics, her past support of conspiracy theories such as QAnon, and her ongoing partnership with fellow GOP representative Lauren Boebert. By the time the song reaches its climax, Rainbow is wearing a red clown nose to send home his point about the representative.

“Ain’t got no class, I’m moronic and crass/ True, I’m profane, all I do is complain/ Just a hot mess, Alex Jones in a dress,” Rainbow belts in the song’s final chorus. “MT, she’s MT, her brain is so empty/ P–s off, I’m MTG!”

Check out Rainbow’s full video for “Look at Me, I’m MTG” below:

30 May 2024

Notorious B.I.G.’s Mom Voletta Wallace Says She Wants to ‘Slap the Daylights’ Out of Diddy

The late Notorious B.I.G.‘s mom, Voletta Wallace, was one of many people who was disturbed after a video of Sean “Diddy” Combs physically assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016 surfaced earlier this month.  

And in a new interview published Thursday (May 30), the Biggie’s mother told Rolling Stone that the clip — compounded with the barrage of sexual abuse accusations against her son’s former label boss — have made her “sick to [her] stomach.” “I’m praying for Cassie,” she said. “I’m praying for his mother.”  

“I don’t want to believe the things that I’ve heard, but I’ve seen [the video],” Wallace continued. “I pray that he apologizes to her. I hope that I see Sean one day and the only thing I want to do is slap the daylights out of him.”  

“And you can quote me on that,” she added. “Because I liked him. I didn’t want to believe all the awful things, but I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.” 

But Wallace didn’t stop there. “He needs to apologize to his mother,” she told the publication. “I hope to God he sits her down and spills his guts and apologize to her.”

Wallace’s comments come days after the magazine published an investigative piece in which several of Diddy’s accusers spoke out for the first time. The Bad Boy Records founder currently faces multiple lawsuits, including the most recent one filed May 21 by former model Crystal McKinney accusing him of sexual assault. He has strongly denied all allegations made against him. 

After CNN shared the hotel footage of him hitting, kicking and shoving Cassie during a 2016 hotel stay, he posted an apology video on Instagram.  

“I was f—ed up,” he said in the self-filmed clip. “I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.” 

30 May 2024

Here’s Why Lil Wayne Tweaked the Lyrics to His ‘A Milli’ Anthem

Many rappers remixed Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III banger “A Milli,” but now, Weezy himself is tweaking the six-times platinum anthem.

With Wayne partnering with Uber Eats in honor of its new union with Domino’s pizza, “A Milli” is growing to “10 Milli.” Domino’s is celebrating coming to the Uber Eats app by gifting customers with $10 million in free pizza, the chain and the app announced on Thursday (May 30). Now, any customer who meets the delivery minimum on Uber Eats from Domino’s will be eligible to receive a free medium, two-topping pizza with their order.

Wayne stars in a 30-second ad, in which he debuts the rework of his 2008 smash hit for Uber Eats/Domino’s. “What’s up with all the pizza,” he says while surrounded by boxes of Domino’s.

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“I like that. That’s a lot of milli’s,” Wayne continues after hearing about the aforementioned giveaway deal from Domino’s, and his “10 Milli” version begins to soundtrack the commercial spot. “Get that bag!”

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People caught up with the New Orleans rapper about his latest partnership, and he shares that Domino’s was long part of his diet while on the road to stardom. “I spent a lot of time on the road throughout my career, and Domino’s was always around holding it down on those long nights,” he said.

As far as Weezy’s signature Domino’s order, he’s added that you “can’t go wrong with the Ultimate Pepperoni or Memphis BBQ.”

“A Milli” arrived in 2008 as the second single from Lil Wayne’s highly anticipated Tha Carter III album and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fans can purchase a new 7″ vinyl released by Republic Records of “A Milli” on the label’s website.

Watch the ad below.



30 May 2024

Tommy Richman’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’ Holds TikTok Billboard Top 50 Lead, Billie Eilish Jumps to Top 5

After succeeding Lay Bankz’s “Tell Ur Girlfriend,” a three-week No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” also strings together its third frame atop the tally, ranking at No. 1 on the June 1-dated survey.

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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity May 20-26. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

“Million Dollar Baby” is the fifth song with at least three weeks at No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 since its September 2023 inception. Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” is the all-time leader with a six-week reign.

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“Million Dollar Baby” concurrently ranks at No. 3 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100 via 55.9 million official U.S. streams, 15.2 million radio audience impressions and 7,000 downloads in the week ending May 23, according to Luminate.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” which spent its first week in the top five of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 dated May 25, jumps to a new peak of No. 2 on the latest list, followed by Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” which debuts at No. 3.

As for “Birds of a Feather,” the song marks the second week of debuts from Eilish’s newly released album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. “Blue” led the pack on the May 25 tally with a No. 13 bow, with “Chihiro” also appearing at No. 49.

More songs from Hit Me Hard and Soft populate the June 1 list, but “Birds of a Feather” is far and away the top performer so far with its No. 3 debut. The song’s main trend features friends posting videos together, either past or present, highlighting their friendship. Eilish’s “birds of a feather/ we should stick together” chorus soundtracks the footage.

“Birds of a Feather” concurrently bows at No. 13 on the Hot 100 thanks to 25.3 million streams and 3,000 downloads. The album’s top-performing tune on the Hot 100, “Lunch” (No. 5), is one of the other Eilish tunes to reach the TikTok Billboard Top 50, starting at No. 13, led mostly by lip-synch content.

Below “Birds of a Feather,” Lay Bankz’s “Tell Ur Girlfriend” and Future, Metro Boomin, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott’s “Type Shit” rounds out the top five.

“Birds of a Feather” isn’t the only song to hit the top 10 for the first time. Tinashe’s “Nasty” leaps from No. 12 to No. 7, and Cayo’s “Close” shoots 28-9 while Luis R Conriquez and Neton Vega’s “Si No Quieres No” jumps 18-10.

“Nasty,” originally released April 12, has accelerated in recent weeks thanks to a dance trend on TikTok, as has “Close,” premiered in March. While “Nasty” has a few additional appearance on the Billboard charts under its belt, paced by a No. 10 debut on the Hot R&B Songs ranking dated June 1 (2.9 million streams), the TikTok Billboard Top 50 is the only chart appearance so far for “Close,” though it enjoys a 104% jump in streams to 385,000 in the week ending May 23.

As for “Si No Quieres No,” the duet’s TikTok rise (soundtracking a variety of content with no major throughline trend) coincides with a continued spike on other streaming services, rising 10% to 9.6 million streams.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

30 May 2024

Ariana Grande Will Give ‘The Boy Is Mine’ Its Live TV Debut on ‘The Tonight Show’

When Ariana Grande sang “We Can’t Be Friends,” she certainly wasn’t talking about Jimmy Fallon.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon announced Grande as the talk and musical guest for the June 6 episode of the Emmy-nominated late-night show on Thursday (May 30) via the show’s official Instagram page.

Grande’s upcoming appearance is particularly special. This will mark the “7 Rings” singer’s 11th guest spot on The Tonight Show, as well as her first late-night interview since 2021. Grande will perform “The Boy Is Mine,” the latest single from her Billboard 200-topping Eternal Sunshine, and discuss her latest LP. The official music video for “The Boy Is Mine,” which some fans speculate will star You actor Penn Badgley is set to arrive the following day (June 7).

2024 has already been a banner year for Grande, and some of her biggest moments are still yet to come. At the top of the year, she earned her eighth Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single with the house banger “Yes, And?” (chart dated Jan. 27), helping her tie Beyoncé for the eighth-most Hot 100 chart-toppers among female soloists. The Max Martin-helmed track, which Mariah Carey blessed with a remix, also extended Grande’s record for being the first artist in Billboard history to debut in the top 10 on the Hot 100 with each lead single from her first seven studio albums.

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The same week Eternal Sunshine became Grande’s sixth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, second single “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which received an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-inspired music video starring Evan Peters, debuted atop the Hot 100, marking her ninth No. 1 single and making her the female artist with the most No. 1 debuts in history alongside Taylor Swift (seven).

Of course, music isn’t the only field in which the singer-actress has shined this year. This fall, she will star opposite Cynthia Erivo in part one of the Wicked movie musical, which arrives Nov. 27. Grande plays Glinda the Good Witch to Erivo’s Elphaba, while Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Ethan Slater and Keala Settle round out the cast.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs weeknights on NBC at 11:35 p.m. See the show’s announcement below: