Music News

Frank Ocean Enthusiastically Dances to New Song Snippet in Recording Studio Video

In what amounts to a virtual avalanche of fresh tracks, Frank Ocean posted a second snippet of new music in as many months on Thursday (Dec. 7). The reveal of the untitled track came in a 24-second video posted on Ocean’s Instagram Story in which the elusive crooner danced with great enthusiasm to an untitled mid-tempo R&B jam booming out of the recording studio’s speakers.

The surprise drop came a month after Ocean sneaked out another snippet on his Story on Nov. 8, a minute-long, unnamed moody track on which he was heard crooning over a droning keyboard. Rocking an orange bucket hat, red jersey and jeans, Ocean flexes, bops his head and sways side-to-side in the new clip, clearly vibing out to the chill song, whose dreamy lyrics are hard to make out. It was preceded by another short video in which Ocean smiles as he lays on the floor and fools around on a synthesizer with a friend’s baby.

While the Story has expired, you can listen to a grab of the new song here.

In keeping with Ocean’s unpredictable vibe, the singer also offered up some other fresh, surprise goodies in his Story, pushing fans to his blonded site, where he’s offering up a new range of Blonded Radio soccer jerseys (which at press time had sold out) and $120 jacquard soccer shorts, as well as a new $65 vinyl version of his 2016 Blonde album.

Ocean had not released any new music since he surprise-dropped two singles, “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in 2020, which was followed by a never-released untitled nine-minute song on the Christmas special on his Apple Music 1 Blonded Radio show in December 2021. The singer’s last proper album was Blonde.

Taylor Swift Got Unsolicited Advice From Elon Musk After Winning TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Award

Taylor Swift vaulted into rarified air this week when she was named TIME magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year. So of course now that she’s joined a list that includes Gandhi, Jimmy Carter, late pope John Paul II, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and 2022 honoree Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, 2021 POTR Elon Musk had something troll-y to say about it.

The embattled, blustering Tesla/Space X/X boss posted a congratulations to Swift under the singer’s tweet thanking the magazine for the honor on Thursday (Dec. 7). But, Musk being Musk, he also added a jokey warning to the global pop superstar about the risk/reward factor of the TIME title.

“Some risk of popularity decline after this award, I speak from experience lol,” Musk tweeted.

To be fair, Swift is coming off the first run of her record-shattering Eras Tour, followed by her box office record-breaking Eras Tour film and months of breathless press about her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Things were a bit different when richest man in the world Musk took home the TIME honor in 2021 for what the magazine said was his aptitude for “solving the globe’s most intractable challenges” and “driving society’s most daring and disruptive transformations” through his category-leading electric car company Tesla and rocket company Space X.

Unlike Swift, however, Musk has had a mostly annus horribilis so far in 2023, which included his co-sign of an antisemitic tweet on his X platform (which he later walked back and apologized for), his boosting of the bonkers, repeatedly discredited Pizzagate conspiracy and his recent profane suggestion to the flood of major companies pulling advertising off of the listing X platform to “go f–k yourself.”

At press time it did not appear that Swift had responded to Musk’s tweet.

See Musk’s tweet below.

Green Day, Reneé Rapp, Ludacris, Janelle Monae & More to Perform on 2024 ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest’

The lineup for the Hollywood portion of the 2024 Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest was revealed on Thursday night (Dec. 7), and it is jam-packed with pop, hip-hop, R&B and rock stars. The list includes Green Day, Janelle Monae, Ludacris and Reneé Rapp, as well as “Barbie” band Aqua, Bebe Rexha, Coco Jones, Doechii and Ellie Goulding.

Other stars slated to anchor the West Coast portion of the broadcast include Loud Luxury, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Paul Russell and Two Friends.

Seacrest will co-host this year’s 52nd annual edition from New York with singer Rita Ora, with Emmy-winning TV personality Jeannie Mai lined up to co-host the Hollywood portion of the broadcast in the Pacific time zone. Ora and Mai take over from Liza Koshy and Ciara, who co-anchored the show for the past few years. Singer/TV presenter Dayanara Torres will return as a co-host in the Atlantic time zone from Puerto Rico in a Spanish language countdown from the Puerto Rico Convention Center at DISTRITO T-Mobile. This year’s edition will not feature a central time zone countdown from New Orleans for the first time since 2017.

Performers for the other time zones have not yet been announced. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024 will air on Dec. 31 live on ABC beginning at 9 p.m. ET, kicking off more than five-and-a-half hours of performances and special guests.

DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.)

See the West Coast lineup below.

Cher Is Heading to the Metaverse With ‘Christmas’ Roblox Event: Exclusive

Cher‘s chart-topping Christmas album marked her first-ever holiday record — and now, the legendary singer will embark on another first: a trip to the metaverse.

Billboard can share exclusive first details about Cher’s four-week event on Roblox that launches today (Dec. 8) in the latest collaboration between Warner Music Group and leading metaverse game developer Gamefam. Cher will head to WMG’s music-themed Roblox world Harmony Hills, which will have its halls decked in festive decor, add new holiday-themed locations, and launch limited-time virtual merchandise inspired by some of the superstar’s most iconic looks with tinsel hair, winter fairy wings, diamond antlers and a winter crown. The activation will spotlight three of Cher’s new Christmas tracks: “Drop Top Sleigh Ride” with Tyga, “Angels in the Snow,” and her historic new No. 1 single, “DJ Play a Christmas Song.”

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Alongside a virtual Cher NPC (non-playable character) designed to match her new album cover, players can earn the wearable avatar merch by successfully completing tasks like delivering presents, climbing up Christmas trees and participating in snowball fights.

The Cher space in Harmony Hills is the latest launch in WMG and Gamefam’s partnership that kicked off in February 2023 ahead of a Super Bowl concert with Warner Records rapper Saweetie. Gamefam reports the concert holds the highest rating among any concert on Roblox with a 96 percent player rating, with the Super Bowl campaign earning over 7.5 million visits in one week. A Bebe Rexha concert in July in support of her Bebe album averaged 8,300 concurrent users amid its 4.3 million unique visits.

Leaning into the 70 million daily active users on Roblox marks a unique opportunity for a legend like Cher to reach across generations, including an entirely new audience and demographic, via festive and familiar holiday music.

“Christmas songs have this magic that always brings families together and we feel Cher’s Christmas album really captures that spirit,” explains Jacqui Bransky, vp of Web3 and Innovation at Warner Records. “We thought taking her music to Roblox would help expose her to a new generation of fans while simultaneously spreading joy. We wanted to make the whole experience feel like a story, something that really draws the audience in while still feeling authentic to who Cher is as an artist.”

Adds Alli Guglielmino, svp of Growth at Gamefam, “Cher is an everlasting, multi-generational superstar and, after seven decades, Cher continues to find innovative ways to connect with a new wave of fans…as Gen Z and Alpha turn away from traditional music consumption methods, there’s no better place to reach them than the metaverse gaming platform where they’re actively playing for 2.5 hours every day.”

Cher’s Christmas event on Roblox (launching at 7 p.m. ET on Dec. 8) joins her heavy promo run for the holiday LP that’s included performances at the iHeartRadio Z100 Jingle Ball, the Rockefeller Center Tree-Lighting Special and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Cher, Roblox

Gamefam & Warner Records

Mariah Carey Drops Festive New Lambily Edition ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ Video

Mariah Carey has been barnstorming the country for nearly a month on her festive Merry Christmas One and All tour and on Friday morning (Dec. 8) she presented her fans with the greatest gift of all: a new Lambs-centric video for her modern holiday classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

“The best thing about being on tour is getting to celebrate the holidays with my lambily!! To show my appreciation, here is a new video for ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You,’ [Christmas tree, present emoji],” she tweeted. “I’m calling this one the ‘Festive Lambs Edition!’ [heart, snowman emoji].”

The refreshed clip opens with footage of MC getting touched up backstage before a quick cut of super-excited fans in their Santa finest getting pumped for the show. The rest of the four-minute visual is essentially a super-cut featuring footage from the concerts intercut with rehearsal run-throughs, peeks at the action backstage, lots of shots of fans singing and dancing along with all their hearts and enough unabashed joy to float you through the next two weeks.

Carey kicked off the tour on Nov. 15 at the Yaamava’ Casino in Highland, CA and she’s kept the sled fueled up through dates at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as gigs in Denver, Kansas City, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh. She’ll touch down in Boston on Monday (Dec. 11) as the run winds down with gigs in Philadelphia (Dec. 13), Baltimore (Dec. 15) and a final gig at Madison Square Garden in New York on Dec. 17.

Because it’s MC’s time of year, of course “All I Want” reclaimed the top spot on both the Billboard Global 200 and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Dec. 9), dashing from No. 3 to No. 1 on the former and 8-1 on the latter.

Check out the “Festive Lambs Edition” of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” video below.



Nicki Minaj Drops Her Long-Awaited Sequel ‘Pink Friday 2’: Stream It Now

Thirteen years after releasing her debut album Pink Friday, Nicki Minaj has delivered the long-awaited sequel.

Throughout Pink Friday 2, Minaj barrels through her foes at full throttle, showcasing the same unflappable wit that has made her a rap icon, as proven by her song “Big Difference.” “Like my hunnids blue/ Bad bi–hes, yeah, I keep ’em by the two/ It’s a big difference between me and you/ I ain’t nothin’ like you, you, you or you.”

Collaborators on the project include Future (“Nicki Hendrix”), J. Cole (“Let Me Calm Down”), Lil Uzi Vert (“Everybody”) and gospel star Tasha Cobbs Leonard (“Blessings”).

Minaj previously released the album’s lone single “Last Time I Saw You” with a more pop-centric vibe. “It’s a song about guilt,” she told Vogue in her cover story last month. “And I don’t think people make a lot of music about the experience of guilt. But if you talk to any human being on earth about it, they would know exactly what you mean. That ‘I wish I had’ feeling. Once I wrote the hook, I started to think of people that I love and see every day and still take for granted. You know what I’m saying? So I hope the song does a good thing.”

Pink Friday 2 is Minaj’s first album since her 2018 effort Queen, which included singles such as “Good Form,” “Chun Li,” and “Bed” with Ariana Grande. Along with Grande, Queen had features from Lil Wayne, Future, The Weeknd, and more. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units. 

Stream Pink Friday 2 below. 

Was Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ About Adam Driver All Along? ‘SNL’ Promos Say ‘100%’

If you thought you knew the backstory behind Olivia Rodrigo‘s breakout 2021 hit “drivers license,” the new Saturday Night Live promos are here to set you straight.

The new promos — starring host Adam Driver, musical guest Rodrigo and SNL castmember Heidi Gardner — start by debating the inspiration behind Rodrigo’s debut smash single.

“OK, this is awkward: Olivia Rodrigo and the guy she wrote a song about,” Gardner says.

“What song?” Driver asks incredulously.

“Um, ‘drivers license’? Adam Driver?” Gardner responds.

“That song’s not about me!” he shoots back — to which Rodrigo replies: “It’s 100% about you.” (You can rest easy now, Joshua Bassett.)

In the next promo, Gardner says after the intros, “Wow, two teen heartthrobs on SNL!”

“I’m actually 20…” Rodrigo clarifies.

“I was talking about me and Adam,” Gardner says, with Driving chiming in: “Oh, you thought she was talking about you? Cringe.”

On this weekend’s episode, Driver will host for a fourth time and Rodrigo will perform for a second time, following her May 2021 debut, during which she performed “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” her pair of No. 1 hits from sour. That same season, SNL aired a buzzy sketch starring host Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton) in which a group of men listen to “drivers license” on a bar jukebox and end up passionately singing along to the heartbreak hit by the end.

Watch the promos below, and tune in to the new episode Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.



Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo & The Doors Lead Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Top-Sellers

Record Store Day’s Black Friday festivities on Nov. 24 yielded big gains for vinyl album sales in the U.S., thanks to hot-selling titles by the likes of Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo, The Doors, U2 and Post Malone – all released exclusively for the indie store holiday.

According to Luminate, in the tracking week ending Nov. 30, the top five-selling Record Store Day (RSD) Black Friday album release were Linkin Park’s Lost Demos (on translucent sea blue vinyl), Rodrigo’s four-song Guts: The Secret Tracks (on opaque deep purple vinyl), The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (on double vinyl), U2’s U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (on red vinyl, naturally) and Post Malone’s The Diamond Collection (on clear double vinyl). (See lists below, which are ranked by album sales generated in the week ending Nov. 30.)

The Doors’ Live in Bakersfield set was released on both vinyl and as a two-CD set, and their combined sales across the two configurations make the album the RSD Black Friday top-seller overall for the week.

Typically, many unique and limited-edition titles – both albums and singles – are released for RSD Black Friday celebrations, exclusively sold through independent and small chain music stores. Record Store Day traditionally has its main indie store holiday in the springtime (2023’s edition was held on April 22), followed by a secondary shindig for Black Friday.

In the week ending Nov. 30, U.S. vinyl album sales industry-wide (across all sellers of music, not just indie stores and small chains) grew 67% to 1.748 million sold (up from 1.046 million sold the previous week). Independent store vinyl album sales for the week jumped 149% to 829,000 (up from 333,000 the previous week). 47.4% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 were purchased at independent and small chain music stores (829,000 of 1.748 million).

With 1.748 million vinyl albums sold industry-wide, that marks the fifth-largest week for vinyl album sales in the U.S. in the modern era, since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. (It’s also the second-largest week of 2023 for vinyl album sales, following the week ending April 27, which captured Record Store Day 2023, with 1.809 million sold). The biggest week since 1991 for vinyl album sales was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 2.232 million vinyl albums were sold.

Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S. (By Configuration)
Rank, Artist, Title
1. Linkin Park, Lost Demos (translucent sea blue vinyl)
2. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts: The Secret Tracks (opaque deep purple vinyl)
3. The Doors, Live in Bakersfield, California, August 21, 1970 (double vinyl)
4. U2, U2 Live: Under a Blood Red Sky (red vinyl)
5. Post Malone, The Diamond Collection (clear double vinyl)
6. Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight (translucent “blacklight” purple vinyl)
7. Noah Kahan, Cape Elizabeth (color marbled vinyl)
8. Grateful Dead, Filmore West 1969, March 2nd (five vinyl LP box set)
9. Coheed and Cambria, Live at the Starland Ballroom (solar flare colored double vinyl)
10. Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels, The Last Roundup: Live From the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73 (double vinyl)
11. Jerry Garcia & John Kahn, Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium San Rafael, California – February, 28, 1986 (double vinyl)
12. Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark: Demos (vinyl)
13. CZARFACE, CZARtificial Intelligence (translucent Czarbury orange vinyl)
14. The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album (green vinyl)
15. My Morning Jacket, Happy Holiday! (clear vinyl with “white snow splatters”)
16. Faces, Had Me a Real Good Time: Live at the BBC, In Session & In Concert 1971-1973 (vinyl)
17. Nas, I Am… The Autobiography (double vinyl)
18. The English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It (double vinyl)
19. Willie Nelson, Shotgun Willie (double vinyl)
20. Bill Evans / Chuck Israels / Larry Bunker, Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) (vinyl)
21. Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: At the Movies (purple marble vinyl)
22. Kim Petras, Problematique (apple red vinyl)
23. Jonas Brothers, The Family Business (clear double vinyl)
24. Soundtrack, Asteroid City (orange double vinyl)
25. The Flaming Lips, Live at the Paradise Lounge (pink vinyl)

Top-Selling Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.
Rank, Artist, Title
1. Prince and The N.P.G, Gett Off (12-inch vinyl)
2. Billy Strings featuring Willie Nelson, California Sober (green 12-inch vinyl)
3. Turnstile x BADBADNOTGOOD, Mystery / Alien Love Call, featuring Blood Orange / Underwater Boi (12-inch vinyl)
4. Motley Crue, Too Young to Fall In Love (Remix) / Knock em’ Dead Kid / Too Fast for Love (orange/black 12-inch vinyl)
5. Cypress Hill, Insane In the Brain (2023 Remix) / Hits From the Bong (2023 Remix) (12-inch vinyl)
6. Phoenix, Winter Solstice / Winter Solstice (Braxe+Falcon Remix) (7-inch vinyl)
7. Aimee Mann, Dead Eyes / Dead Eyes (demo) (7-inch vinyl)
8. Jeff Beck, Midnight Walker Lament, featuring Imelda May / Elegy for Dunkirk (Live), featuring Olivia Safe / Goin’ Down (Live) (12-inch vinyl)
9. The Hold Steady, The Death of the Punchline / Radar & Leda (random color 12-inch)
10. Waterboys, This Is the Sea (Fast) / The Passenger (10-inch vinyl)

Source: Luminate, for the week ending Nov. 30, 2023.

Selena Gomez Comments on Benny Blanco Dating Rumors: ‘He Is My Absolute Everything in My Heart’

You might have seen some rumors floating around online Thursday (Dec. 7) that Selena Gomez is dating producer Benny Blanco — well, Gomez saw the rumors too. The pop star/actress went on an Instagram commenting spree Thursday, responding to social media reaction to the rumored pairing.

“He is my absolute everything in my heart,” she commented on this post, before replying to other comments on the account. “I don’t understand. If you actually care about me. This is my happiest,” she said to one commenter. “If you don’t, feel free to say whatever you want. But I will never allow your words to guide my life. Ever. I’m done. If you can’t accept me at my happiest then don’t be in [my] life at all.”

One commenter fired back: “If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your boyfriend lol – it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you.” Gomez countered by offering up a timeline of the new relationship, saying that they’ve actually kept things private for half a year. “Not mad. It’s been 6 months bb. I will always defend my friends family and fans till the day I die.”

Billboard has reached out to a rep for Gomez to confirm the validity of the comments.

Following the comments, Gomez took to her own Instagram Stories and shared a photo that appeared to be of her and Blanco. In a separate Story, she wrote: “Just a reminder of how much I appreciate and love each and everyone of you.”

Blanco co-produced Gomez’s most recent song “Single Soon,” which arrived in August and was a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. They also collaborated on Blanco’s “I Can’t Get Enough,” alongside Tainy and J Balvin, in 2019.

Aside from addressing Blanco rumors, she also responded to a fan who asked the status of her third solo album. “When is sg3 coming sel?” the comment read, to which Gomez responded: “in 2 months.”

Adele Meets ‘Fellow Londoner’ Dua Lipa & Shows Off Her ‘Gift of Gab’ at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment

We all know Adele has a way with words — both in song and in interviews — but in her cheeky speech Thursday morning (Dec. 7) at The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment breakfast, she warned the crowd that she’s “not really a motivational words kinda gal.”

“I’m just gonna be upfront about it straightaway,” she said as she accepted the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. “I’m also not really a speeches kind of gal. They’re really not my f—ing forte. I can’t. When I’m nervous, I swear. Forgive me. I’m British, what can I say?”

It might be hard to convince the room of Hollywood power players gathered at the Beverly Hills Hotel that Adele is not a “speeches kind of gal” after she gave an equal-parts heartfelt and riotous one on Thursday, poking fun at the early call time (“It’s an absolute honor to be here today in full f—ing glam at 8 a.m.”) while paying tribute to the industry’s trailblazing women who preceded her (“It’s because of them that I have every right to be the boss at work and the boss at home”).

The event also brought together two music powerhouses who one might assume had crossed paths before. “I finally got to meet Dua Lipa!” Adele said in her speech. “A bit starstruck. Absolutely love her. Fellow Londoner.” She also joked about the height of the microphone onstage and invoked her fellow pop star’s name. “It’s hard with this microphone, isn’t it, Dua?” she said. “We’re very, very tall — like supermodels. Well you are, I’m not — but anyway!”

Previous Sherry Lansing Award recipient Helen Mirren presented Adele with the honor, recalling the first time she heard the song “Hometown Glory” from Adele’s 2008 debut album 19 and “a shiver went down my back. That chill that comes just a few times in your life, when you realize you are listening to a brilliant and game-changing new artist. And I thought, ‘Wow, a goddess walks amongst us.’”

Kerry Washington was also honored at the event, receiving the Equity in Entertainment Award from Ariana DeBose. And the most touching aspect of the program was when Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello and others helped present more than $1 million in scholarships to high school seniors who are part of THR’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. “The scholarships had me in floods of tears,” Adele said to start her speech.

Watch Adele’s full speech and see Dua Lipa’s photos from the event below: