Music News

08 Nov 2023

Anitta, Maná, Peso Pluma & More to Perform at Viña del Mar 2024

The Festival de Viña 2024 is scheduled from Feb. 25 to March 1 and will feature a star-studded performance roster that includes Anitta, Alejandro Sanz, Manuel Turizo, Andrea Bocelli, Miranda!, Maná, Men at Work, Mora, Los Bunkers, Peso Pluma, Young Cister and Maria Becerra.

The lineup was unveiled Wednesday (Nov. 8) by Macarena Ripamonti, the mayor of Viña del Mar in Chile. “We are happy to close the lineup of musical artists of the Viña del Mar Festival 2024 in advance, achieving a balance, with the best exponents for all ages and audiences, it has been a collaborative work of months together with all the production and organization of the event for families to enjoy,” expressed Ripamonti in a statement.

Each day will feature two performers. On Sunday, Feb. 25, Alejandro Sanz and Manuel Turizo will take the stage. Andrea Bocelli — who will make his Viña del Mar debut alongside his son Matteo Bocelli — and Miranda! are set to sing on Monday. Maná and Men at Work will perform on Tuesday; Mora and Anitta on Wednesday; Los Bunkers and Young Cister on Thursday; and to close the event, Peso Pluma and Maria Becerra will take the stage on Friday, March 1.

Launched in 1960, the Viña del Mar International Song Festival is held annually at Quinta Vergara, a 15,000-capacity amphitheater located in the Chilean city of Viña del Mar, in the central coast region of Valparaíso.

Over the course of six days, the event features a mix of superstars, emerging singers and local artists competing for the Silver, Gold and Platinum “Gaviotas,” the name of its awards. These awards are decided by a jury with the help of viewers from their homes, although the so-called “monster” — the audience present at Quinta Vergara — undoubtedly has a great power of influence with its ovations and occasional boos.

The 63rd annual Viña del Mar Festival will be broadcast by Canal 13 and Televisión Nacional de Chile,
while the streaming platform Star+ will broadcast it throughout Latin America. Billboard will broadcast it through its digital platforms.

Ticket sales begin on Thursday, Nov. 16, with the pre-sale (for Claro customers) and general sale the next day. Prices will remain the same as for the 2023 event, according to organizers.

08 Nov 2023

Lele Pons Bounced From ‘Dancing With the Stars’ on Music Video-Themed Night

While Jason Mraz continued his dominance on Tuesday night’s (Nov. 7) music video-themed episode of Dancing With the Stars, at the end of two hours of performances, it was YouTube star and actress Lele Pons who was sent shuffling off the stage.

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Despite a crowd-pleasing, hip-swiveling salsa to Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever” that scored a 33 out of 40, Pons and partner Brandon Armstrong ended up in the bottom three alongside Brady Bunch star Barry Williams and partner Peta Murgatroyd and former Bachelorette contestant Charity Lawson and dancer Artem Chigvintsev.

With a judging panel enhanced by guest adjudicator and choreographer/singer Paula Abdul, the episode spotlighted tributes to Britney Spears’ “Slave 4 U” and *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me,” with the hoofers scored on both their routines and how closely they paid homage to the original visuals. Alyson Hannigan and Sasha Farber also scored a 33/40 for their quicksetp to Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman,” Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy got a 34/40 for their jazz routine to Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” while Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov put up a 37/40 for their cha cha to Spears’ “Slave.”

Lawson and Chigvintsev could only muster a 32/40 for their jazz routine to Janet Jackson’s “All For You,” with Mraz and Daniella Karagach scoring a 35/40 for their jazz dance to a-ha’s “Take On Me,” Williams and Murgatroyd putting up a 28/40 for a quickstep to Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing,” while Harry Jowsey and Rylee Arnold brought up the rear with a 24/40 a jazz routine to the 2000 *NSYNC hit.

In the end, though, it was Pons’ time to fly. “I am so grateful for everything. You’re the best… everybody here’s the best. I love them,” Pons said after her elimination. Dancing with the Stars is live Tuesdays on ABC and Disney+, and is available for streaming on Hulu.

Check out Pons’ performance below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=unoNsc8VJ9A&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

08 Nov 2023

Summer Walker, Amber Grimes & Sammye Scott Named 2023 ASCAP Women Behind the Music Honorees

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Summer Walker, Love Renaissance Records (LVRN) exec. vp/GM Amber Grimes and Atlantic Records senior director of A&R Sammye Scott are ASCAP’s 2023 Women Behind the Music honorees. Presented by the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul department, the 15th annual celebration will take place on Nov. 16 at The Atrium in Atlanta.

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In a release announcing the 2023 honorees, ASCAP senior vp of membership and ASCAP Foundation executive director Nicole George-Middleton said, “ASCAP Women Behind the Music is such a special event for us because we get to recognize incredibly talented women who have made an impact through their art, contributions and leadership while connecting in person with our community. We are proud that we can continue this effort to inspire women to pursue careers in music, whether they are creatives or executives.”

Walker, whose 2018 breakthrough single “Girls Need Love” has reached six-times platinum, released her debut studio album Over It in 2019. The R&B project also featured the multiplatinum singles “Come Thru” and “Playing Games. She landed her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 2021 sophomore set Still Over It and has since released two EPs: Clear 2: Soft Life and Girls Need Love (Girls Mix). 

Grimes, who is also a partner in LVRN MGMT, oversees the daily operations of LVRN’s various divisions as well as the marketing strategies for its artist roster. Prior to joining LVRN, she was senior vp of global creative at Capitol Music Group and before that senior manager of artists & label marketing at Spotify, developing and executing campaigns for various labels and artists such as Migos, Lil Baby and Paul McCartney. Grimes is also CEO of her own full-service marketing firm, The Cardi Brand Agency.

Before segueing to Atlantic, Scott was president of A&R at BuVision. During her Atlantic tenure, she has signed emerging rap star Kaliii (breakthrough single “Area Codes”) and served as co-A&R on A Boogie wit da Hoodie’s 2018 double-platinum album Hoodie SZN.

Walker, Grimes and Scott will join previous ASCAP Women Behind the Music honorees such as Grammy-winning singer-songwriters Kandi Burruss and Kelly Rowland, Roc Nation label co-president Shari Bryant, Interscope Geffen A&M president of A&R Nicole Wyskoarko and hip-hop icons Salt-N-Pepa.

08 Nov 2023

SiriusXM’s ‘Billboard Music Awards Channel’ Celebrates 2023’s Biggest Chart Hits

Beginning Wednesday (Nov. 8), SiriusXM’s Billboard Music Awards Channel spotlights the year’s biggest Billboard chart hits, serving as an all-inclusive soundtrack leading up to the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.

The Billboard Music Awards Channel will air on the SiriusXM App (channel 501) through Nov. 20, with a Billboard Music Awards Weekend feature set to run on satellite channel 11 Nov. 17-20.

The channel will highlight 2023 Billboard Music Awards finalists, No. 1 hits from the 2023 Billboard chart year and flashbacks to winners over the past decade, all spanning multiple genres, including pop, rock/alternative, R&B/hip-hop, country, Latin, dance/electronic and Christian.

The 2023 Billboard Music Awards will roll out across BBMAs and Billboard social channels, as well as via BBMAs.watch, Nov. 19, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Taylor Swift is the top 2023 BBMAs finalist, with nods in 20 categories, as determined by year-end performance on Billboard’s charts (dated Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023). Morgan Wallen and SZA are runners-up with 17 entries each. They are followed by The Weeknd (16); Zach Bryan and Drake (14); Luke Combs (10); 21 Savage, Miley Cyrus and Metro Boomin (nine each); Beyoncé and Rema (seven each); Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma (six each); and Eslabon Armado, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, David Guetta, Karol G and NewJeans (five each).

The Billboard Music Awards Channel marks the latest partnership between SiriusXM and Billboard. Previously, the Billboard #2 Countdown Channel celebrated revered runners-up over the Billboard Hot 100’s history; the Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown highlighted hits for Black Music Month; the Billboard Women of Pop 1000 Countdown honored Women’s History Month; the Cupid Countdown made Valentine’s Day even sweeter; the Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown dashed through the sounds of the season; and the Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits recapped the biggest summer songs ever on the Hot 100.

Additionally, SiriusXM’s Big 40 Countdown, on ’80s on 8, and the Back in the Day Replay, on ‘90s on 9, are based on historical weekly Hot 100 charts, with other current and classic charts counted down on channels including 70s on 7, Prime Country and TikTok Radio.

08 Nov 2023

BTS’ Jung Kook Stops Traffic For Spirited ‘Today Show’ Performance of Solo Hits ‘Seven,’ ‘3D’ and ‘Standing Next to You’

BTS‘ Jung Kook took his solo act to the Today Show on Wednesday morning (Nov. 8), stopping traffic all around the plaza outside the show’s New York studios for a live performance of songs form his just-released debut solo album, Golden. The program’s hosts said JK drew one of the biggest crowds they’ve ever had, just short of the massive 15,000 who turned out for Karol G in July. And, in keeping with ARMY’s dedication to the K-pop superstar’s members, some in the crowd had begun queueing up for the morning gig on Monday to secure a good spot.

After getting a personal walk-on to the Citi stage from show co-host Hoda Kotb — who noted that ARMY had packed the streets outside the Today studio from 48th Street to 51st — Savannah Guthrie showed off the look of the day: a signature pink Cooky headband spotted on many in the crowd who were shouting “JK! JK!” in anticipation.

Wearing a sparkly jacket over a black shirt and matching pants Jung Kook made his debut on the Today stage with a live band for a spirited run through is Jack Harlow collaboration “3D” to a sea of uplifted cell phones as the rapper’s pre-recorded verse was enthusiastically shouted back to JK by the largely female audience.

The singer also shouted out the audience saying, “thank you so much for coming early in the morning, you are the best.” He then wished them a “Golden day” before dipping into the uptempo rock-edged track “Standing Next to You,” which opened with a flourish of rocking guitar and crashing drums before dipping into the singer’s sky-high falsetto verses. At one point, JK moved to a thrust stage in the middle of the crowd and pulled off a series of impressive dance moves as ARMY members shouted and held out their hands to get a high five from their pop idol.

After losing a ring during the slaps, Jung Kook exchanged “I Love you”‘s with a crying girl in the crowd celebrating her 10th birthday and offering her a happy birthday greeting before returning for his third song, “Seven,” the smash Latto collab that recently became the fastest song to reach 1 billion Spotify streams.

Check out video of the performances below.

08 Nov 2023

Coco Jones Named MTV’s Global PUSH Artist for November

Coco Jones could be enjoying a very special Friday once 2024 Grammy nominations are announced, but she and her fans can kick off their celebrations a little bit earlier: Billboard can exclusively reveal that Coco Jones will be MTV‘s Global PUSH Artist for November.

The announcement comes less than a week after Jones marked the one-year anniversary of What I Didn’t Tell You, her debut EP with Def Jam. That project and its accompanying North American headlining tour helped the powerhouse vocalist transition from Disney star to award-winning R&B dynamo. In the past year, Jones has picked up best new artist honors from both the BET Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, as well as a whopping six nominations at the upcoming Soul Train Music Awards (Nov. 26), including album, song and video of the year.

What I Didn’t Tell You houses Jones’ very first Billboard Hot 100 hit, “ICU.” The DJ Camper-helmed ballad spent 20 weeks on the ranking, peaking at No. 62. The track, which also received a remix from fellow Disney alum Justin Timberlake, topped both Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and R&B Digital Song Sales.

“‘ICU’ really fell into my lap, I feel, because I was so surprised… what I ended up doing that day in the studio… I heard this track by Camper, and I could not skip it,” Jones says in a press release announcing the PUSH news. “Then I had to get really vulnerable and tell this story that I feel like people can relate to: when you love someone and they didn’t do anything wrong to you but you guys are just wrong for each other.”

“ICU” marked a new frontier for Jones’ career, becoming her first RIAA Platinum single and introducing her to scores of new listeners. The song’s success also gave way to the deluxe edition of What I Didn’t Tell You, which arrived earlier this year (Jan. 20) and featured three new songs in addition to the previously released “Simple” (with Babyface).

“I think my favorite line is the first line ‘something about your hands on my body’ because I just feel like it snaps people’s attention… I feel like it gives me a southern twang,” Jones says. “It reminds me where I’m from and it surprised people that I could go that low. It is just a really good line to me. It’s really solid.”

As MTV’s featured Global PUSH Artist for the month of November, Jones will partner with the entertainment iconoclast all month to discuss her roots, the stories and memories behind her music and the artists and eras that inspire her. For Jones, The Cheetah Girls were a formative part of her childhood, specifically the song “Cinderella,” which she hails as a “girl power anthem.” “I was the biggest Cheetah Girls fan,” she gushes. “That was my first concert ever actually and I thought they asked me to come up on stage, but my mom said no.”

Jones is also set to debut two exclusive performance videos for “ICU” and “Double Back,” the latter of which she credits to the “Brandys, Aaliyahs and Destiny’s Childs” of the ’90s and describes as “one of the best songs to get [her] makeup done to or to do [her] makeup to.”

The MTV PUSH initiative aims to connect fans across the globe with a new music artist every month through live performances, exclusive broadcast premieres of music videos, interviews and video content. Previous MTV PUSH artists include Lizzo, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, SZA, Chloe X Halle, H.E.R., Jack Harlow, Jorja Smith, BROCKHAMPTON and more.

Watch an exclusive clip of Coco Jones performing and talking about “ICU” above.

08 Nov 2023

Timbaland Apologizes For Misogynistic Britney Spears ‘Muzzle’ Comment: ‘You Speak What You Want to Speak’

On Tuesday (Nov. 7), Timbaland walked back his recent misogynistic statement about Britney Spears after a furious backlash against the producer for comments he made in an interview last month in which he said frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake should have put a “muzzle” on his one-time girlfriend Spears.

“I apologize to the Britney fans, and her,” Timbaland said somberly during one of his regular live TikTok chats while reading a comment asking him about his attitude towards women. “Yes, ‘you know about respecting women? Hell yeah!”

Rolling Stone reported that Timbaland additionally said, “I’m sorry to all the Britney fans, even to her. I’m sorry, because muzzle was — no, you have a voice. You speak what you want to speak. Who am I to tell you what not to speak? And I was wrong for saying that. I was looking at it from a different lens and what I am is a reconcile person. I’m not a person who takes sides.”

The reaction came after Timbaland took questions from the audience during an Oct. 29 live interview with 9th Wonder at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in which someone asked about the renewed interest in JT’s Tim-produced “Cry Me a River” in the wake of Spears’ best-selling tell-all memoir, The Woman in Me.

The 2002 song from Timberlake’s first solo album, Justified, is widely seen as a reaction to the singer’s split with Spears — down to the casting of an unfaithful blonde woman who looks eerily like Britney in the video — and when asked about the song during the chat last month, Timbaland said, “She going crazy, right? I wanted to call and say, ‘JT, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl.”

Spears and Timberlake dated from 1999-2002, and Britney delves into aspects of their relationship in the memoir, including an abortion she underwent while they were together. “Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” she wrote, adding, “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”

In the book Spears also notes that the “Cry Me a River” video featured a “woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain” and that the media attention to the video for the song that Timbaland co-wrote and co-produced turned her into a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy.” In reality, she added, she was broken-hearted and “comatose in Louisiana” while JT was “happily running around Hollywood.”

Spears fans were furious after the Timbaland comments surfaced, slamming the producer for his sexist statement. At press time it did not appear that Timberlake — who has kept a low profile during the run-up and roll-out of the Spears book — had reacted to either the original Timbaland statement or the apology; Spears also appears not to have posted a reaction to either comment.

08 Nov 2023

Spotify’s US Subscribers Can Now Stream Audiobooks for Free — Yes, Even the Britney Memoir

Starting Wednesday (Nov. 8), Spotify subscribers in the United States can effortless transition from Britney Spears’ music to her recently released audiobiography, The Woman in Me, thanks to the launch of its previously announced offering of 15 hours of free audiobook streaming per month in Spotify Premium. 

The Spotify Premium audiobook catalog includes more than 200,000 titles, over 70% of them bestselling titles from all five major book publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and RB Media) as well as independent publishers such as Bolinda, Dreamscape and Pushkin. Although Spotify has offered audiobooks since Sept. 2022, the user experience has been less than optimal. Users could listen to audiobooks in the Spotify app but, because Spotify wants to avoid costly in-app fees, users must purchase titles at its website.

Spotify announced its audiobook strategy on Oct. 3 and initially gave access to the company’s audiobook catalog only to subscribers in the United Kingdom and Australia. Rolling out audiobook streaming in its largest market will allow Spotify to better capture the expected benefits of offering free listening to a segment of its 226 million subscribers. “This greatly improves our offering, which will increase engagement on Spotify, which will then, of course, reduce churn,” explained CEO Daniel Ek at an Oct. 3 event. 

Listeners who exceed the 15-hour monthly allotment can purchase additional listening time. In the early days of the audiobook offering in the United Kingdom and Australia, Spotify has “already seen consumers doing that in ways we probably wouldn’t have imagined, where some consumers are heavily upgrading and being really heavy audiobook listeners [from] day one,” Ek said during the company’s Oct. 24 earnings call.

To help listeners find audiobooks, Spotify offers an audiobook button on the search page and offers an editorially curated selection of popular titles at its audiobooks hub. Listeners can search by category — such as mystery & thriller or self-help — and scroll through lists such as “From book to screen” and “As seen on social media.” 

The impetus for audiobook streaming harkens back to Spotify’s origins as a friction-less substitute for digital piracy that had decimated record label revenues by the time Spotify was founded in 2006. “We looked at the world and we thought the only way to beat piracy was to offer a much better experience,” said Ek during the Oct. 3 event. In 2018, Spotify applied the lessons it learned in music to a new format, podcasts, and, Ek claimed, added more than 100 million to podcast listeners to the ecosystem. “This created a win-win,” he explained. “The more people listened to podcasts, the more music grew.  And the more people listened to music, the more podcasting grew as well.” 

Now, Spotify sees audiobooks as the next opportunity to revitalize an underserved ecosystem with a single dominant player — Amazon-owned Audible in this case. “And just like in music and podcasting,” said Ek, “we’re really excited to be able to bring all the amazing tools that we built for creators and consumers alike to enable more discovery of these amazing audiobooks to the world.”

08 Nov 2023

Jack Harlow Got a Major Shout-Out During Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s Victory Speech

Jack Harlow has earned a lot of flowers in his career, but on Tuesday night (Nov. 7) the “Churchill Downs” MC got a surprise shout-out from an unexpected collaborator. “Tonight Kentucky made a choice. A choice not to move to the right or to the left, but a choice to move forward for every single family,” said Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in his victory speech after securing a second term.

“A choice to reject Team R or Team D, and to state clearly that we are one Team Kentucky. A choice of Jack Harlow over Sarah Huckabee Sanders.” The latter was a reference to Louisville-bred Harlow joining Beshear on stage last week to stump for the popular blue incumbent in a typically deep red state; former Trump White House press secretary and current Gov. of Arkansas Sanders took the stage with the night’s losing candidate, Trump-endorsed Daniel Cameron, around the same time that Harlow pitched for Beshear.

The charismatic Beshear — one of the most popular governors in the nation — hit the campus of the University of Louisville last Thursday with Grammy-nominated rapper Harlow, joking, “You draw a bigger crowd than I do,” the Courier-Journal reported. After brief remarks about his economic record and a ticket that “strongly supports higher education,” Beshear handed the mic to Harlow.

“He was telling me he loved what I was doing, and for the last year and a half we’ve been staying in touch,” Harlow told the students about how he was introduced to Beshear in 2022 on a phone call while shooting a movie in Los Angeles. “This is a hell of a stand-up guy right here, and I think you all are holding the right signs.”

Tuesday’s off-year election was also yet another rebuke of the Supreme Court’s landmark anti-abortion decision, with neighboring Ohio becoming the latest state to overwhelmingly approve a measure to support abortion rights, in this case enshrining it in the state’s constitution with a ballot issue that guarantees abortion access up until the point of viability (typically 24 weeks); Ohio also became the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Check out Beshear’s speech below (Harlow shout-out comes around 5 minute mark).

07 Nov 2023

Tori Kelly Reflects on Beyoncé Sending Her Flowers After Hospitalization, Talks Growth on New EP

Tori Kelly is fresh off a successful tour and a new EP Tori, and the star sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to reflect on her past few months.

Thankfully, the 30-year-old singer says she’s “feeling really good” after she was hospitalized back in July for blood clots in her lungs and legs. “It totally caught me off guard,” she said of the experience. “It was a scary few days but, but I’m so happy that I had like a really good support system around me. I was mind blown by this all the love and support.”

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One person who immediately reached out was none other than Beyoncé, who sent Kelly flowers along with a “Get Well Soon” card. “I got a lot of flowers but when Beyoncé’s flowers showed up, it’s like, oh yeah, those are obviously Beyoncé’s. They were massive,” Kelly says.

As for her new EP, Kelly says its a reflection of her growth over the past few years. “My last full length album was even before 2020. That album was a lot more sad, and I had gone through a lot of things personally, with family and all these different things. So growing from that, having a lot of healing, being in love and just wanting to express that feeling — this new wave of confidence come over me and all of that, I just put into the music and I hopefully you can hear that. I think I’m in just this new place in my life where I’m willing to have a little more fun and experiment with sounds and style.”

But she’s not done yet. “What I’ll say is there’s definitely more where this EP came from,” she said of the potential of a new album.

Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Tori Kelly above.