Music News

Camila Cabello Recalls ‘Impulsive’ Decision to Briefly Get Back Together With Shawn Mendes

Camila Cabello sipped wine and spilled tea during her Wednesday (March 6) interview on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast — especially where Shawn Mendes was concerned.

Sitting down with a glass of red in hand, the 27-year-old singer was asked point-blank about her relationship with her “Señorita” duet partner, whom she dated for about two years before breaking up for the first time in November 2021. Flash forward to spring of 2023, when the couple seemingly rekindled their romance. But after packing on the PDA at Coachella and attending one of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour shows together, the pair called it quits once again.

“It’s crazy because I’m kind of impulsive in that way,” Cabello told Cooper, reflecting on why she got back together with Mendes in the first place. “If I feel it, I say it. I would rather say it and see what happens and then wake up the next day and find out that it’s been heavily documented. I opted for that route. It is what it is. It was a fun time; it was a fun moment.”

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“I will always care about him and love him. He’s such a good person,” she continued. “I’m lucky ’cause some people have exes who are awful, and he is not. He’s a really kind, good person.”

The “Havana” singer went on to share why she and Mendes broke up a second time. “It wasn’t even like a decision. I think you’re just kind of like, ‘Yeah this doesn’t really … it’s not a fit — it doesn’t feel right,’” she said. “Luckily, I was in a place in my life where … it took us both less time to be like, ‘This doesn’t feel right and we don’t really need to try so hard to make it work. It’s all good, let’s move on.’”

“The worst thing you can life with is a ‘What if?’” Cabello added.

The X-Factor alum, who recently teased her upcoming single on social media, also confirmed that she’s currently single. “I love it,” she told Cooper. “But also, I’ve been in relationships a lot since I started dating. It feels fun to just get to know people and talk and see what happens.”

But that doesn’t mean the heartbreaks she’s experienced in the past don’t still sting. “It feels very out of your control,” Cabello said, speaking generally about her past breakups. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘I wanted it to be this person so bad.’ But it’s not, and that feels really hard to let go. To be like, I really wanted this, but the fact that I can’t make this person who I wanted them to be … it’s really tough.”

Listen to Cabello’s Call Her Daddy interview below.

How Flo Milli Landed the Biggest Hit of Her Career With ‘Never Lose Me’

Shortly before her 24th birthday last January, Flo Milli got an unexpected gift from her fans. After playing dress-up one night in her bedroom, the Alabama upstart posted an Instagram video of herself singing to her new record, “Never Lose Me.” Though she made the video in jest, the results were golden, as the clip went viral, leading to the biggest hit of Flo’s career. 

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“I saw it spreading before my birthday [in January], maybe months before that,” remembers Flo. “It was crazy, because I was promoting another song, but all that was on my mind was [“Never Lose Me”]. One day, I was at the house, and I made a video on my phone and posted it on Instagram. I was like, “Oh, they’re f–king with it.” Then, I put it on TikTok, and people started making videos immediately. It started getting bigger a few months after that.”

The success of “Never Lose Me” wasn’t originally on Flo’s birthday wish list, but the record has since peaked to No. 18 on the Hot 100, a career best. What started as an impromptu freestyle over Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg’s “Ron Artest” beat morphed into a sugary pop-rap bounce, courtesy of Flo’s entrancing hook and cheeky lyrics about staying close to her beau.  

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“I was in the studio all night, and I wasn’t really focused,” says Flo. “I was working on other stuff for my project, and then right when I was about to leave, I asked the engineer to pull up this beat — that’s when I started rapping. For the ‘Never Lose Me’ part, I’m such a perfectionist: Until I get a line right and it sounds like how it sounds in my head, I’ll do it so many times. I just kept saying, ‘You never wanna lose me.’ I wasn’t expecting it to blow. I was just doing it for me.”

Released last December, “Never Lose Me” soared into the TikTok sphere and dominated. The song topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart for four weeks, becoming the longest reign yet for any track. The record’s remixes featuring Bryson Tiller and Lil Yachty also helped its growth, with both stars fanning over the song before its explosion. 

“It wasn’t really planned; Yachty had reached out — he told me he loved it and we started communicating on that end,” says Flo. “I sent it to Bryson. That happened because he was hitting me on DMs [before it was officially out], like, “Drop this shit. This song has been in my head.” I was like, “You should put a little verse on it,” and that’s how that came about. 

Despite those wins, Flo has one more trick under her sleeves: unleashing a third remix, this one with R&B and pop superstar SZA.

“I can’t give a date on [the SZA remix] right now but hopefully soon. I’ve been talking to SZA for a couple of years — she’s always been supportive towards my career, even behind the scenes.”

A version of this story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.

Karol G & Shakira’s ‘TQG’ Video Enters YouTube’s One Billion Views Club

Karol G and Shakira’s massive breakup anthem “TQG” has surpassed one billion views, officially entering YouTube’s Billions Views Club.  

The music video, which dropped on Feb. 24, 2023, as the focus track of Karol’s Mañana Será Bonito album, features the two Colombian powerhouses delivering the empowering track that’s short for “Te Quedó Grande,” which loosely translates to “I was too good for you.” In the bop, the artists go back and forth about moving on from their past relationships and being on another level. 

“TQG” marks the eighth Billion Views Club entry for both acts as a lead, featured artist or collaborator. 

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For Karol, it follows “China,” “Tusa,” “Secreto,” “Bichota,” “Culpables,” “Ahora Me Llama” and “El Makinon.” For Shak, it follows “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” “Chantaje,” “La Bicicleta,” “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Can’t Remember to Forget You,” “La La La” and “Perro Fiel.” The former is No. 13 on YouTube’s Global Top Artists chart, and the latter is No. 21. 

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On the Billboard charts, the Ovy on the Drums-produced banger debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. tallies, while also crowning six other Billboard listings and becoming Karol’s first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Furthermore, the track won best collaboration at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. 

In other news, Karol G will be honored as the 2024 Woman of the Year at Billboard’s Women in Music awards to air Thursday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on billboardwomeninmusic.com.

“With her immense talent, Karol G has created a movement for women across the globe due to her empowering lyrics and inspiring confidence,” said Hannah Karp, Billboard’s editorial director, when Karol G was announced as the honoree. “The release of her groundbreaking album Mañana Será Bonito has proven her a force to be reckoned with in both the English and Spanish charts. We are so excited to honor her as Woman of the Year.”

“Karol G has become a global superstar performing in Spanish,” added Leila Cobo, Billboard’s chief content officer, Latin/Español. “It shows that music and artistry are not bound by language or borders, and Billboard recognizes that. This is truly a historic moment for the brand and for Latin music.”

Watch the music video for “TQG” above.

Jim Beard, Steely Dan Keyboardist, Dies at 63

Jim Beard, a solo artist and touring keyboardist for Steely Dan for the past 16 years has died at age 63. The news was confirmed by a spokesperson for the group in a statement on Wednesday (March 6) that revealed the pianist, composer, keyboardist, producer and arranger died on March 2 due to complications from a sudden illness; at press time a cause of death had not been announced.

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Beard joined the live Steely Dan band in 2008 for the Think Fast Tour and in addition to performing with the long-running jazz-influenced rock group — including at his final show with the band on Jan. 20 in Phoenix, AZ — he was also a touring member of the Eagles on their Long Goodbye tour.

Born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania on August 26, 1960, Beard took clarinet, saxophone and sting bass lessons as a teenager and studied jazz at Indiana University, where he played in a bar band that featured session drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, John Fogerty) and trumpet player Chris Botti.

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According to an official bio, after moving to New York in 1985, Beard set off on a prolific career of composing — on tracks by John McLaughlin, Michael Brecker and many others — and toured the world with such jazz greats as Pat Metheny, McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter. He also performed on recordings by Dizzy Gillespie, Al Jarreau, David Sandborn, Dianne Reeves, Meshell Ndegeocello and rock guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, as well as with the Metropole Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as well as composing music for TV and movie scores.

Between tours with Metheny and McLaughlin’s Mahavishu Orchestra, Beard recorded six solo CDs and taught at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University, the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York and the Sibelius Academy in Finland. Beard’s productions and compositions were nominated for seven Grammy awards, with one win in 2007 for his playing on “Some Skunk Funk” by Randy and Michael Brecker.

Kid Cudi Announces Insano World Tour With Pusha T & Jaden Smith: Here Are the Dates

Kid Cudi is hitting the road this summer. Mr. Rager will be traveling across the globe for the Insano World Tour, which he officially set in motion with an announcement on Wednesday (March 6).

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Cudder will kick off the tour in Austin, Texas, on June 28 and will hit select arenas across the country throughout the summer.

The Ohio native won’t be at it alone, as his “EVERYBODY LIKE” collaborator Pusha T will be joining him on the trek. Jaden Smith, EARTHGANG, Chelsea Pastel and Siena Bella will also be popping up to assist the tour on a handful of dates.

Among the 43 shows, Cudi is slated to bring the rage to New York City, Nashville, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Detroit, his hometown of Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas and Seattle, and wraps up the North American leg in Los Angeles on Aug. 30 at the Crypto.com Arena.

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Kid Cudi will head overseas for a slew of shows in quarter one of 2025, where he’ll hit London’s O2 Arena, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland and other cities in the U.K.

American Express pre-sale tickets are set to go on sale starting on March 12 at 10 a.m. local time, and March 13 for those looking to attend European shows. The general public will get in on the ticketing action on March 15 at the Insano Tour website.

Kid Cudi unleashed what he described as his most “powerful” project to date with INSANO in January, which featured guest appearances from Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty, Pharrell and the late XXXTentacion.

The LP debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. He boosted INSANO with a deluxe edition of sorts where he added a handful of new songs last month for the NITRO MEGA version.

Find all of the dates for the Insano World Tour below.

North American Dates

  • June 28, 2024 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center +^
  • June 30, 2024 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center +^
  • July 3, 2024 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena +*
  • July 5, 2024 – Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena +*
  • July 6, 2024 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena +*
  • July 9, 2024 – Duluth, GA @  Gas South Arena +*
  • July 11, 2024 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena +*
  • July 13, 2024 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena +*
  • July 14, 2024 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center +*
  • July 17, 2024 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center +^
  • July 19, 2024 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena +^
  • July 20, 2024 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre +^
  • July 23, 2024 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden +^
  • July 24, 2024 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden +^
  • July 27, 2024 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena +*
  • July 28, 2024 – Rosemont, IL  @ Allstate Arena +*
  • July 31, 2024 – Cleveland, OH @  Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse +*#!
  • Aug. 2, 2024 – Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Center +*#!
  • Aug. 7, 2024 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center +*
  • Aug. 9, 2024 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center +*
  • Aug. 11, 2024 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena +*
  • Aug. 14, 2024 – Phoenix, AZ @  Footprint Center +*
  • Aug. 16, 2024 – San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena +*
  • Aug. 17, 2024 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena +*
  • Aug. 20, 2024 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center +*
  • Aug. 22, 2024 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center +*
  • Aug. 24, 2024 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena +*
  • Aug. 25, 2024 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena +*
  • Aug. 28, 2024 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center +^
  • Aug. 30, 2024 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena +^

Europe

  • Feb. 25, 2025 – Oslo, Norway @ Spektrum +
  • Feb. 27, 2025 – Hamburg, Germany @ Barclays Arena +
  • Feb. 28, 2025 – Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena +
  • March 2, 2025 – Oberhausen, Germany @  Rudolf Weber-ARENA +
  • March 3, 2025 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome +
  • March 5, 2025 – Milan, Italy @ Forum Milano +
  • March 8, 2025 – Paris, France @ Accor Arena +
  • March 9, 2025 – Brussels, Belgium @ ING Arena +
  • March 12, 2025 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena +
  • March 14, 2025 – Birmingham, UK @ Resorts World Arena +
  • March 15, 2025 – Manchester, UK @ Co-op Live +
  • March 18, 2025 – London, UK @ The O2 +

+ PUSHA T
* EARTHGANG
^ Jaden
# Chelsea Pastel
! Siena Bella

Millie Bobby Brown Is a ‘Hardcore Swiftie’ Who Knows Exactly Where Taylor Swift Is ‘At All Times’

Sure, most 20-year-olds have not starred in a globally beloved Netflix sci-fi series as well as half a dozen big-budget films. But like seemingly everyone on the planet these days, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown is totally obsessed with Taylor Swift.

During a visit to the Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday (March 6), MBB fessed up to not only being a “hardcore Swiftie,” but to knowing “exactly where she [Swift] is at all times.” While Clarkson joked that “some might call that a stalker,” Brown promised that her surveillance is “loosely based” and not at all creepy.

“No, I love Taylor… I went to the Eras Tour and it was just… it was the most amazing experience,” Brown said, struggling to find the words to describe the career-spanning extravaganza that is currently in Singapore for a few more days before moving on to four nights in Paris. “The fans there are just so… they’re the same as me we love her that much,” Brown said.

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How deep is Brown’s affection? She and her sister have a tally board on which they cross out the surprise songs Swift has performed on each date so far so they know which tracks the singer might bust out next. “So when I went to my show — I went to Ohio, I flew there solely for Taylor — and she played ‘Evermore’ and I collapsed to the ground. It was pretty crazy,” Brown said.

The actress is out and about promoting her upcoming Netflix swords and dragons movie Damsel, which drops on Friday (March 8).

Watch Millie Bobby Brown on the Kelly Clarkson Show below.



Busta Rhymes’ Blockbusta Tour Canceled One Week Before Its Start

This Blockbuster is also out of business. Busta Rhymes appears to have canceled all of the 21 dates that were set to be part of his North American Blockbusta Tour 2024.

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According to Busta’s Ticketmaster page as well as Live Nation’s event listings for each show, the 2024 North American trek, which was set to begin next week on March 13 in San Francisco and was produced by Live Nation and The Conglomerate Entertainment, will no longer be taking place.

“Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event. No action is required to obtain a refund,” the message on Live Nation reads in part.

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The 51-year-old hasn’t commented on his social media accounts about the canceled dates, but fans have flooded his comments wondering what happened to the North American trek.

Billboard has reached out to Busta Rhymes’ reps as well as Live Nation for comment. Neither Live Nation nor Ticketmaster have a reason for the tour cancellation listed on their websites.

The New York-bred rapper was slated to rumble through Hollywood, Phoenix, Denver, Toronto, Dallas, Miami Beach, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Detroit and more before wrapping up back home in NYC on April 21.

The tour was originally announced in November, and Busta Rhymes was coming off of providing support as an opening act on 50 Cent’s Final Lap Tour across the globe throughout 2023.

Busta also unleashed his latest body of work, BLOCKBUSTA, in November. It was loaded with superstar guest appearances including verses from Chris Brown, Burna Boy, Kodak Black, Coi Leray, BIA, Young Thug, DaBaby, T-Pain and more.

BLOCKBUSTA debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200, while reaching No. 10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Ariana Grande Shares New ‘Eternal Sunshine’ Album Teaser: Listen

As winter comes to a close, the sun is starting to hang around in the sky for a bit longer with each passing day. For Ariana Grande, however, sunshine is eternal. In anticipation of Eternal Sunshine — which is out on all platforms on Friday (March 8) — Grande has taken to her social media accounts to share a new teaser for her forthcoming LP.

The promotional clip finds Grande posing in the outfit and glam she wears on the official Eternal Sunshine album covers. A distorted snippet of an unidentified song — some fans are theorizing that it’s a tease of the album’s next radio single, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” — plays in the background as the Grammy winner lounges in a Maison Margiela ensemble consisting of a white cotton bodysuit and a pair of red tulle gloves. For her glam, the “7 Rings” singer opted for a Sweetener-esque low blonde ponytail and a bold red lip.

“。˚❀*·ꕤ tomorow night .゚*ꕤ,” she captioned the Instagram post.

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Eternal Sunshine marks Grande’s seventh studio album and her first LP since 2020’s Positions, making this her longest gap between full-length releases. Since Positions — which launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, sent its title track to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and scored two Grammy nods — Grande has been hard at work filming Wicked, the two-part movie musicals based on the hit Broadway show. She is set to star as Glinda the Good Witch alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba.

While she may have been hard at work in Oz, Grande didn’t completely ghost the Billboard charts. In the years following Positions, she earned a pair of Hot 100 chart-toppers alongside The Weeknd — 2021’s “Save Your Tears” (two weeks) and 2023’s “Die for You” (one week).

Grande kicked off her Eternal Sunshine era at the top of 2024 with the release of “Yes, And?” The Max Martin-helmed house bop debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — Grande’s sixth song to do so — and later received a remix featuring fellow chart-conquering diva Mariah Carey. Inspired by the Oscar-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Grande’s new record features contributions from Martin, Ilya, Oscar Görres and Nonna, Ariana’s grandmother.

Check out Ariana Grande’s latest Eternal Sunshine teaser below:

Jonas Brothers, Zedd, Mumford & Sons to Headline NCAA March Madness Music Festival

A three-day festival with performances from the Jonas Brothers, Zedd, Mumford & Sons and more … for free? That’s madness.

Actually, it’s March Madness. As announced Wednesday (March 6), this year’s NCAA Division I tournament will conclude with three days of music at no extra cost to attendees. The event will occur in conjunction with the Final Four and championship games, lasting April 5-7 at Hance Park in Phoenix.

Presented by the NCAA and TNT Sports Live Events, as well as sponsors AT&T, Coca-Cola and Capital One, the festival’s lineup will also include The Black Keys, Renée Rapp, Remi Wolf, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and Leon Bridges. The weekend will start with an AT&T Block Party on Friday, followed by a Coke Studio LIVE offering the next day. On Sunday, Capital One JamFest will present performances starting in the afternoon and going until 10 p.m. local time.

More information about the event’s schedule, as well as how to secure the zero-dollar tickets, can be found on the NCAA’s website.

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In years past, the NCAA March Madness festival has seen performances from Rihanna, Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Zac Brown Band, Lady A, Weezer, Bruce Springsteen, Tim McGraw, The Killers, LL Cool J, Kendrick Lamar, Fall Out Boy, Twenty-One Pilots, Pitbull and more. At the 2023 festivities, Lil Nas X, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Maggie Rogers and Mickey Guyton were on the billing at Discovery Green Park in Houston.

This year, eligible Capital One cardholders will receive entry through a priority access line as well as access to an exclusive Cardholder Lounge. Fans can also stream the headliners’ sets on Friday and Sunday online.

Travis Kelce Recalls Being Chased by Helicopters With Taylor Swift at the Sydney Zoo

On the latest episode of his New Heights podcast Wednesday (March 6), Travis Kelce debriefed his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, about his recent voayage to Australia with Taylor Swift.

Starting with his much-publicized trip to the Sydney Zoo on Feb. 22, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end revealed how paparazzi were able to snap so many bird’s-eye-view photos of him and his superstar girlfriend as they were checking out the animals. “There were full-on helicopters just flying around,” he recalled. “They helicoptered us. Well, not us — Taylor.”

“This is all because Taylor is the biggest and the best thing possible,” he added.

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The flying photographers didn’t stop him from enjoying the exhibits, though. “Saw a tiger sitting up in a tree house — that s–t was f–king sweet.” he continued. “Saw a lion close up.”

Demonstrating how he took a photo with Swift in front of the lion exhibit, Travis added, “When you hear [them roar], cause Taylor took the picture … you’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Let alone one, you see three of them run down from their rock, their perch, knowing they’re about to get fed. You see how fast and agile that thing is — dude it’s over.”

The day after their outing, Swift performed a sold-out Eras Tour show at Accor Stadium, where she also gushed about the zoo. “We’ve been 100% of our days off,” she told the crowd, having also gone to the Sydney Zoo solo before Travis arrived. “I’m really all about the red panda. I think you guys don’t understand how cool kangaroos are because you have so many. They are so cool, so strong. So bouncy.”

Travis was in the audience Feb. 23, enjoying the show alongside Katy Perry, Rita Ora and tens of thousands of screaming fans. Reflecting on the show — his first time seeing the Eras Tour since catching a concert in Buenos Aires in November — the Ohio native told his brother, “I’m pretty sure the crowds over there are, they’re already rowdy, but Australians are pretty rowdy.”

“They like to have a good time, I like to have a good time,” he continued. “They were just a little bit louder than the Argentinian crowd. I was not expecting that because the Argentinian crowd was f–king loud. Taylor’s very fond of performing in Australia because of the crowds over there and how into it they get.”

Watch Travis discuss his trip to Sydney above.