Music News
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Karol G has revealed the full tracklist to her fifth studio album, Tropicoqueta, out this Friday (June 20). “Intense chapters, unexpected twists, endearing characters. This is the official Track Listing for this new story of my life!” the Colombian star captioned her post revealing her new tunes. “Each song has its own story. Each collaboration […]
Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist looking to become the next mayor of New York City. As voters learn more about potential candidates, curious folks have dug up old rap videos from a previous life for Mamdani, who rhymed under the monikers Young Cardamom and then Mr. Cardamom.
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According to a 2019 story about actress Madhur Jaffrey in The New York Times, Mamdani made his rap debut in the late 2000s while running for vice president at the Bronx High School of Science. He then partnered with his close friend Abdul Bar Hussein to form a rap duo in the mid-2010s.
They would release a six-track EP, titled Sidda Mukyaalo, in 2016, which finds them rapping in six different languages while paying homage to their Ugandan roots.
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Mamdani (Mr. Cardamom) wouldn’t hesitate to touch on politically charged topics in his rhymes and dealt with racism. “When it’s a Black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer,” he raps on “Askari,” which finds him playing a security guard opening a gate quicker for a white person.
One of the more recent tracks that has gone viral is his 2019 “Nani” video, a tribute to his grandmother, Praveen Nair, who worked for the nonprofit Salaam Baalak Trust. The visual, which stars Jaffrey and even received coverage from The New York Times, has more than 213,000 views on YouTube. It’s the only clip left on his official YouTube account as Mr. Cardamom.
Supporters hopped into the clip’s comments section, saying Mamdani has their vote and they’re convinced he needs to be the next mayor of NYC.
“He’s got my vote, just cause I don’t want smoke with nani,” one person wrote, while a second added, “I don’t even live in NY but please. Please, y’all gotta make him mayor, if only for this banger.”
Another chimed in: “I swear to god Zohran completed every damn sidequest out there lmao.”
The NYC mayoral race continues to heat up in its final days of the primary, with Mamdani closing the gap on former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo among Democrats in the polls. A recent survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 38 percent of voters said they’d rank Cuomo at the top of their ballots, compared to 27 percent for Mamdani.
J. Brown’s “True Love” charts a successful course to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay radio ranking as it rises from No. 2 to crown the list dated June 21. The song gives Brown his third champ on the chart. “True Love,” released and promoted through the independent label MoCha, wins the top spot […]
Before you and the fam settle in to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July, be sure to check out “The Fourth in America” concert special — with the performer lineup revealed exclusively on Billboard below.
The special will include performances by headliner Noah Kahan, along with Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Sting, Nelly, Counting Crows, Timbaland, The Fray, CAKE, Sublime, Ice Cube, Kaskade, 4 Non Blondes, Ashley McBryde, The War and Treaty and the I Love the 90’s Tour with Vanilla Ice, Young MC, Rob Base and Tone Loc. Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the United States Air Force Band will also perform on the special, hosted by CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN anchor Boris Sanchez, along with CNN anchor and correspondent Victor Blackwell and CNN anchor and senior national correspondent Sara Sidner from San Diego.
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The star-studded affair will not only feature performances from wide-ranging artists; CNN will also broadcast fireworks shows from across the country, including in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Diego, Seward, Alaska and Washington, D.C. with CNN anchor/correspondent John Berman, CNN national correspondent Randi Kaye and CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten providing on-the-ground reporting from Nashville, Fort Lauderdale and New York City, respectively, as the United States celebrates its 249th anniversary of independence.
Now in its fifth year, CNN’s The Fourth in America has built on the success of CNN’s New Year’s Eve programming, making it a yearly destination during the Fourth of July as families across the country tune in after a day of barbecuing and chasing kids around.
CNN’s The Fourth in America special will broadcast live on CNN and CNN International, and will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Friday (July 4) with coverage set to begin at 7 p.m. ET on CNN and ending at 1 a.m. ET.
Fans who’ve been dying to see Bruno Mars become a Fortnite Festival Icon can now die with a smile, as the game has announced that the hitmaker is its Season 9 headliner.
Following in the footsteps of past Festival Icons such as The Weeknd, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish, Mars transforms into a playable avatar performing some of his biggest hits — including Billboard Hot 100-topping Lady Gaga collaboration “Die With a Smile” and ROSÉ duet “APT.” — on an all-new main stage, as previewed in a trailer that dropped Wednesday (June 18).
The partnership comes about three years after Mars first entered the Fortnite universe alongside Anderson .Paak as part of a Silk Sonic collaboration with the game — something Mars enjoyed so much, he tells Billboard in an exclusive interview ahead of the Festival Season 9 launch that there was no hesitation when it came to teaming up a second time. “When they hit me up again, I said, ‘Done!’” he recalls.
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“Last time we did this, there was no Fortnite Festival, so this time we get to lean even more into the music,” Mars adds. “I’m excited that we put a bunch of songs in the game that people can play to.”
Fortnite first introduced its Festival counterpart in late 2023, taking inspiration from similar music-focused games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It has since welcomed numerous A-list artists to serve as the face of the game over the course of nine seasons, including Gaga, Karol G, Metallica and Snoop Dogg.
Each season sees its Icon made into a digital persona that fans can also use in gameplay, complete with special outfits, accessories, instruments and emotes. In Mars’ case, fans will have access to his retro cowboy getup worn in the “Die With a Smile” music video, “APT.” kit drums and more goodies.
“It’s very fun seeing myself as an avatar,” Mars tells Billboard of the treatment. “They really nailed my body proportions — tall, chiseled,” he continues. “It’s uncanny.”
Mars’ solo partnership with the game is particularly special, however, as it coincides with the official release of his song “Bonde do Brunão” on streaming services. The track started as an idea he shared with followers on social media that ended up going viral, leaving countless fans looking for a place to listen to it in full. Now, they have multiple; in addition to appearing on DSPs, “Bonde do Brunão” is also available in-game as part of Fortnite Festival S9.
“That song was a fun idea we put up on Instagram while I was in Brazil, but then it had a life of its own,” Mars explains to Billboard. “We had this idea of making it a part of the game, and Fortnite was into it. They went all out with it and got the song, the dance and the outfit.”
Fortnite Festival Season 9 featuring Bruno Mars is available to play now.
Watch the Fortnite Festival Season 9 trailer below.
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ENHYPEN earns its third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated June 21) as the group’s new project, DESIRE : UNLEASH debuts atop the tally. The set sold 95,000 copies in the United States in the week ending June 12, according to Luminate. In total, it’s the eighth top 10-charting effort for the ensemble.
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Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Album Sales chart, My Chemical Romance’s 2004 album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge reenters at No. 2 (a new high) after its deluxe reissue, while the latest releases from Lil Wayne, Turnstile, Addison Rae, The Doobie Brothers, Volbeat and Marina debut in the region.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
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My Chemical Romance’s 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, returns to Top Album Sales, reentering at No. 2 (its first week in the top 10) with 37,000 copies sold (up 2,987%). The set was reissued on June 6 with refreshed audio and bonus tracks, across many variants — including nine vinyl iterations. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter VI starts at No. 3 with 34,000 sold — marking the 13th top 10 album for the superstar. Rock band Turnstile nabs its best sales week ever, and highest charting album, as NEVER ENOUGH enters at No. 4 with 27,500 sold. Addison Rae’s debut full-length studio album Addison arrives at No. 5 with 23,000.
SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN 5th Album ‘HAPPY BURSTDAY’ falls 1-6 in its second week (14,500; down 69%).
The Doobie Brothers notch its highest charting effort ever (and first top 10) on the 34-year-old Top Album Sales chart, as the veteran band’s new studio set, Walk This Road, drives in at No. 7 with 12,000 sold.
Volbeat grabs its fourth top 10-charting title on Top Album Sales as God of Angels Trust starts at No. 8 with 11,000 sold. Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping I’m the Problem falls 3-9 with 10,500 (down 34%) and Marina locks in her fourth top 10 with the No. 10 debut of Princess of Power (nearly 10,000).
Fans will have to wait until Oct. 24 to see the eagerly anticipated Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. But they got a teaser on Wednesday morning (June 18) when the first trailer for the film starring The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as the Boss dropped, revealing the shape and mood of the film that will follow the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s introspective sessions for his stark, 1982 acoustic album Nebraska.
The two-and-a-half minute preview opens with White as Springsteen sitting in a Camaro on a car lot as he tells the salesman that he’s never owned a new vehicle before. “It’s awfully fitting for a handsome devil rock star,” the salesman says, tipping his hat that he knows exactly who his low-key, famous client is. “Well that makes one of us,” White replies.
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We next see Springsteen in his New Jersey bedroom with his guitar tech Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) as he works out the stripped-down sound of the Nebraska title track. “Don’t need to be perfect,” he tells Batlan, “I want it to feel like I’m in the room by myself.”
Director Scott Cooper’s movie also features Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s longtime manager and confidant Jon Landau, who is seen telling a record exec that his client’s deeply personal album is “not about the charts. This is about Bruce Springsteen and these are the songs that he wants to work on right now,” as White moans out the lyrics to the album’s haunting title song.
Over images of White looking at old pictures, Strong tells a story about the singer’s childhood bedroom, which had a hole in its floor. That hole becomes a metaphor for Springsteen’s complicated relationship with his withholding father (played by Adolescence‘s Stephen Graham). “Bruce is a repairman,” Strong says. “And what he’s doing with this album is he’s repairing that hole in his floor. He’s repairing that hole in himself… and once he’s done that, he’s going to repair the entire world.”
The two-and-a-half-minute trailer ends with triumphant footage of a sweat-drenched White howling “Born to Run” on stage with the E Street Band, the veins in his neck strained to the extreme as he pulls off one of the rocker’s signature stage hops. Springsteen spent time on the set of the film earlier this year and he professed to be very impressed with White’s work.
In a chat on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio in January, the 75-year-old rocker was asked if it felt weird to see White play him on screen. “A little bit at first, but you get over that pretty quick and Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it,” Springsteen said. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognize and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there.”
In high praise from the singer known for his signature raspy, emotive voice, Springsteen said White was nailing it. “He sings well,” he said. “He sings very well.” Springsteen gave his full blessing for the adaptation of Warren Zanes’ book of the same name and in an interview earlier this year White said he’d studied hours and hours of video and worked with a vocal coach to nail Bruce’s vocal tone and speaking cadence.
The film also features Odessa Young (A Million Little Pieces) as Springsteen’s girlfriend, Gaby Hoffman (Transparent) as his mom, Adele, Marc Maron (Sticks) as record producer Chuck Plotkin and David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) as a Columbia Records executive.
Check out the Deliver Me From Nowhere trailer below.
Kesha just can’t get enough in the video for her new single, “Boy Crazy.” In the self-directed visual posted Tuesday (June 17), the pop star is surrounded by a diverse cast of men wearing varying amounts of clothing as she sits down for a feast in a rodeo-themed restaurant, where things unravel into chaos as […]
From Coachella to your couch, Yo Gabba Gabba! is so back. Fresh off the beloved kid show’s standout performance at Coachella in April — featuring special guests Flavor Flav, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Portugal. The Man and Thundercat — the full library of the original four seasons of Yo Gabba Gabba! is coming to Apple TV+ […]
If you can’t make it to Birmingham, England on July 5 for what is being billed as the final-ever show by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath don’t sweat it, the Prince of Darkness has you covered. A video posted on Osbourne’s socials on Wednesday morning (June 18) shows a massive crowd joining the metal icon in an “ay-ay-ay” shout as the screen fills with comments from fans asking (and begging) for the Back to the Beginning show to be livestreamed.
“Your prayers answered!” reads a bold font message, followed by vintage footage of Ozzy saying “it’s time to go back to the beginning.”
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Ozzy, 76, recently said he will make it to the final show by Sabbath — with original bandmates guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Bulter and drummer Bill Ward — in their hometown of Birmingham no matter what it takes. As he trains for his first full concert since 2018 following a series of surgeries and health setbacks, Ozzy recently said on his “Ozzy Speaks” SiriusXM show that he will make it to the stage in Villa Park “by hook or by crook.”
Sabbath’s final show will feature them joined by Metallica, Mastodon, Anthrax, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, Slayer and a supergroup featuring members of Guns N’ Roses, the Smashing Pumpkins, Limp Bizkit, Judas Priest, Rage Against the Machine among many others.
The livestream ticket will cost $29.99 and include access to watch the entire show beginning at 10 a.m. ET on July 5, with VOD replay access to rewatch the whole event from July 5th shortly after the event’s conclusion until 10 a.m. ET on July 7; click here for details on livestream tickets.
Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, recently said she’d removed a band from the Back to the Beginning lineup after a dispute with the unnamed group’s manager, which made her feel “the worst way I’ve felt in years… I had a huge, huge to-do with a manager over this celebration for Ozzy and Sabbath. And it was probably the worst way I’ve felt in years. And I don’t care what this person says about me, thinks about it, because he doesn’t know me. And he’s now going around making up bulls— lies because I threw his band off the bill.” At press time it was unclear which band Osbourne was referring to.
Check out the livestream announcement below.
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