Music News

26 Oct 2023

Kelsea Ballerini Gets All Dolled Up for Halloween in Western ‘Barbie’ Costume: See the Photos

Just call her Country Star Barbie. To celebrate Halloween a few days early at her own costume party, Kelsea Ballerini dressed up as a perfect recreation of Margot Robbie’s title character in Barbie.

Dressed in a cowboy hat, bandana kerchief, vest and hot pink bell bottoms, the musician headed out to her New York City party in partnership with The Original Donut Shop Coffee, looking just like Robbie in several scenes from Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film. In a few photos from the night, Ballerini’s boyfriend Chase Stokes could be seen at her side holding her hand — but if you were hoping to see the Outer Banks star dolled up in a matching Ken costume, you might be a little disappointed as the actor went sans any discernible costume.

Ballerini even made a TikTok documenting her getting-ready process and lip-syncing to the famous “Hi Barbie!” scene from the film. “A BARBIE GIRL HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN LETS GO PARTY,” she captioned the post.

The “This Feeling” singer’s Wednesday night (Oct. 25) shindig came a day after her Nylon cover story, with Ballerini telling the publication about her career ambitions, life post-divorce from Morgan Evans and her new relationship with Stokes. “We are both very much so golden-retriever energy most of the time, but we both have a little bite in us, and we’re both incredibly driven,” she said of her beau, noting she had “no shame” about sliding into his DMs back in December. “He is the first person I’ve been in a relationship with that I feel like is not my complete opposite.”

See Kelsea Ballerini’s Barbie costume and TikTok below:

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini attends The Original Donut Shop Coffee and Kelsea Ballerini Celebrate Halloween With A Treat-Filled Costume Party In New York City at Beauty & Essex on October 25, 2023 in New York City.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

26 Oct 2023

Billy Ray Cyrus’ Late Dog Introduced Him to Firerose: ‘He Was Tapped Into Some Divine Purpose’

Dogs aren’t just a man’s best friend — they can serve as matchmakers, too. Newlyweds Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose appeared on the Thursday (Oct. 26) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show and discussed how fate — and the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer’s late dog — brought them together.

“I was waking out of an audition on Sunset Gala in Hollywood, and Billy’s dog at the time, Tex — who was the most beautiful German shepherd you’ve ever seen — he was tapped into some divine purpose because we were, at the time, just friends and all these years later, we got married,” Firerose explained.

Cyrus and Firerose tied the knot on Oct. 10, and shared the news via Instagram by posting wedding photos. The pair’s wedding came after less than a year of engagement, and 14 years after they initially met on the set of Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

“10/10/23 will always be the beautiful, joyous day that our two souls united as one in holy matrimony. It was the most perfect, ethereal celebration of love we could have ever imagined,” the joint caption read. “For both of us to hear the preacher say, ‘Billy Ray and Firerose Cyrus… I now pronounce you husband and wife’ that was the sacred moment our new forever began. Long Live Love!”

Watch Firerose and Billy Ray Cyrus talk about how his dog Tex brought them together in the video above.

26 Oct 2023

How Angie McMahon Transitioned From Bon Jovi Stadium Shows to a Deeply Intimate New Album

The Album

Light, Dark, Light Again out Oct. 27 via Gracie Music/AWAL Recordings

The Origin

Angie McMahon’s first taste of the stage came as the lead singer of a soul-inspired band called The Fabric. She met the boys in the band while at a private Catholic girls school in her home country of Australia, while the guys had gone to the associated boys school.

“We emerged from that traumatic experience somewhat together,” McMahon says. But being the head of a soul band wasn’t McMahon’s lifelong dream, and she applied her skills to a solo career.

McMahon entered songwriting competitions to “see if I was good,” and because she “needed deadlines,” she jokes. She entered the Telstra Road to Discovery competition, where the grand prize was a trip to Nashville to record an EP. “It’s the promise of bridging the gap between our world [Australia] and the big American world of music,” she says. “The reality is our industry, our market is small. The big stuff, the big dreams a lot of the time live over [in America].”

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She didn’t win the Nashville trip, but the extra prize that year was an opening slot on Bon Jovi’s 2013 Because We Can tour. Not only did she open for Bon Jovi, but also for Kid Rock, who was second billed on the lineup.

“It was super weird. Imagine a stadium show, the first 15 minutes after the gates have opened and there’s not that many people there,” she says. “It’s a big deal, but it’s also relatively low-stakes.”

The tour left McMahon feeling “pretty shell-shocked,” and decided to take time off to figure out what she wanted to say as a songwriter. In 2017, she released the single “Slow Mover,” and by 2019 released her debut album Salt, which won the Australian Independent Record Awards for Best Independent Rock Album or EP.

The Sound

McMahon can easily fall into the category of singer-songwriter, which often evokes the image of an artist alone onstage with a guitar. But after years of fronting a loud nine-piece soul band and her trial by fire in front of Bon Jovi’s stadium crowds, her voice has the power to fill just about any room — whether she’s dealing with big feelings about relationships, or in the quiet moments when she’s grappling with her mental health.

She tends to describe her sound based on the different artists she feels are living within or, at least, within the intention behind the choices. “There’s a [Bruce] Springsteen rock thread that carries me through,” she says, “and there’s Patti Smith or Chrissie Hynde-like vocal intensity and, on a good day, a courage that I’m trying to tap into.”

She adds Bon Iver, Australian artist Missy Higgins and “just a sprinkle of ‘80s synth sometimes.”

The Record

Light, Dark, Light Again is an appropriate title for McMahon’s deeply personal second album. While the titular phrase appears in the final track “Making It Through,” the theme feels weaved into nearly every track, as McMahon ebbs and flows from happier stories to tragic ones and back again.

It’s a rock album with its louder moments like the riot grrrl-esque shouting that closes out “Letting Go” or the staccato chorus of “Divine Fault Line.” In its quieter moments like “Fireball Whiskey,” McMahon’s voice is captivating as the drums build tension and she describes a crumbling relationship and navigating her anxiety. With themes ranging from climate change to psychology, McMahon has created an album worth consuming in its entirety.

“I was trying to summarize and articulate things that felt so massive in my body,” she explains. “There are things that are left out entirely and places that I didn’t touch – not out of fear, but out of the intention of wanting to create the ‘light again’ part for myself,” she says.

The Breakthrough

In 2017, McMahon released the contemplative, guitar-heavy single “Slow Mover,” which has been certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The track puts McMahon’s big voice over deceptively profound lyrics about not wanting to buy fried chicken at 4am and trying to be kinder to herself. McMahon recalls the song coming out accompanied by an assortment of feelings — both hopeful and terrifying.

“I was suddenly needing to have an internet persona, and have my s–t together for interviews that I would maybe read later and tear myself apart for because I hadn’t articulated something well enough,” she says. “But aside from the mental health aspect, it was really nice to be able to start building a world where I was allowed to create and release stuff, which felt really special as well as really scary. I think that feeling remains.”

The Future

McMahon will tour the album starting next year, but in the meantime, she plans to get back to writing and try her hand at creating more beats. “I’m not sure if [making beats] is what I want to do next, but I want to expand my skills. I really love it, making experimental stuff,” she says. Her next record, she speculates, could be an experimental meditation/atmospheric album.

The Studio Equipment She Couldn’t Live Without

“My guitar. But I also have this new instrument that I really love. It’s the Yamaha Reface CP keyboard. I was introduced to it in the studio while making this record. It’s the size of a laptop or a bit longer. It just sounds amazing.”

The Artist She Believes Deserves More Attention

“One is a dear friend of mine, her name is Annie-Rose Maloney. She has changed my life because of her approach to living which is just not centered around capitalism or industry. She’s very grounded and writes really beautiful songs. She has like, no music online, but she’s gonna release a record in the future.

“Also, Mimi Gilbert. Just amazing musicianship and like Annie, a very kind, grounded person who has been playing music for a long time and moves people so much when they the performance.”

The Takeaway That She Hopes Fans Have When They Hear the Album

“I hope it ignites hope. For me, it’s about knowing that there is good waiting on the other side of whatever you’re afraid of and a brand new life for yourself. Maybe it can be an encouragement to go towards what your fear is. For me, the fear changes day to day: rejection, crippling depression. When I have been in the crippling unsureness about being a musician, the stuff that makes me feel like it’s worth it or like it’s doing some good and I’m not just a self-absorbed narcissist, is if I get a message that’s like, ‘I felt seen by that. I felt understood by that. Thank you for making it.’” 

26 Oct 2023

TOMORROW X TOGETHER Scores Fifth No. 1 on Top Album Sales Chart With ‘The Name Chapter: Freefall’

TOMORROW X TOGETHER scores its fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Oct. 28), as group’s The Name Chapter: Freefall opens atop the list, selling 106,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 19 in the U.S., according to Luminate.

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Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart: the latest releases from Offset, Troye Sivan, Beartooth and Boygenius debut in the top 10, while Zach Bryan’s self-titled album re-enters at No. 3 and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon re-enters at No. 7.

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 units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of the 106,000 copies sold of The Name Chapter: Freefall, physical sales comprise 105,000 (all CD sales) and digital downloads comprise 1,000. As with many major K-pop releases, Freefall was issued in an assortment of collectible CD variants with randomized merchandise contained in each package — 14 in total, including exclusive editions sold through Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart, as well as the act’s webstore (including signed versions).

Offset’s new Set It Off starts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with 25,000 copies sold. Its first-week sales were bolstered by its availability in four deluxe boxed sets (each containing a T-shirt and a CD), two artist webstore-exclusive CD variants and three vinyl LP variants.

Zach Bryan’s self-titled album returns to its debut and peak position, as the album re-enters at No. 3 with 24,000 sold (up 2,686%) — a new weekly sales high for the album and for any Bryan album. Its sales gain is owed to its release on CD and vinyl LP — with the CD accounting for about 3,000 sold, and the vinyl selling 20,000. The album was only available in one singular CD or vinyl LP edition. The album was only previously available to purchase as a digital download.

Troye Sivan’s new studio album Something to Give Each Other bows at No. 4 on Top Album Sales, with 16,000 copies sold. It’s his sixth top 10 consecutive album on the tally — the entirety of his charting efforts. The new album’s sales were goosed by its availability across five vinyl variants (including a signed version), three CD editions (including a signed version), a cassette and a digital album.

Beartooth nabs its second top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales as The Surface starts at No. 5 with 12,000 copies sold. Its sales were enhanced by its availability across 13 vinyl editions (including one signed edition), three CD editions (including a signed CD and a signed longbox package), a cassette and a digital album.

Boygenius’ four-song EP The Rest debuts at No. 6 on Top Album Sales with nearly 12,000 copies sold — largely from vinyl sales. Available in three different vinyl variants, it sold about 9,000 copies on wax. Its CD sold about 1,000 and its digital album sold 2,000.

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 7 with 12,000 copies sold (up 678%), following the release of its 50th anniversary remastered edition on CD, vinyl LP and Blu-ray. It’s the highest rank for the album on the 32-year-old chart, and its biggest sales week since 2014. (On the overall Billboard 200 chart, The Dark Side of the Moon hit No. 1 in 1973, marking the band’s first of five chart-toppers.)

Rounding out the new Top Album Sales chart is a trio of former No. 1s: Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts falls 4-8 (11,000; down 20%), NCT 127’s Fact Check: The Fifth Album drops 1-9 in its second week (10,000; down 67%) and Taylor Swift’s Lover dips 8-10 (9,000; though up 6%).

In the week ending Oct. 19, there were 1.697 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 1.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.379 million (up 1.8%) and digital albums comprised 318,000 (up 0.6%).

There were 652,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Oct. 19 (up 9.1% week-over-week) and 711,000 vinyl albums sold (down 4.7%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 27.411 million (up less than 1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 36.341 million (up 18.4%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 78.888 million (up 5.4% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 64.183 million (up 9.7%) and digital album sales total 14.706 million (down 9.8%).

26 Oct 2023

XG Rocks Billboard’s The Stage at SXSW Sydney, Australia | Billboard News

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26 Oct 2023

J Balvin Is ‘Really Proud’ of Britney Spears for Telling Her Story in Her Memoir: ‘She Deserves the Best’

J Balvin has nothing but good things to say about Britney Spears, whose long-awaited memoir — The Woman in Me — arrived on Tuesday (Oct. 24).

The Latin pop star gushed to TMZ on Wednesday (Oct. 25) that he’s “really proud of” Spears for being so vulnerable in her book. “I think she’s amazing,” Balvin said. “I think she deserves the best.”

“She’s a woman that we have to have a lot of love and respect [for],” continued the “Mi Gente” musician. “She’s fired [up] the whole world at her peak, and I can’t wait for her to bring new music. I think we need her so much.”

Spears’ memoir dropped not long after she joined J Balvin and Maluma for drinks in New York City. In photos posted afterward on Maluma’s Instagram, the “Toxic” singer cuddled close with a smiling Balvin, who commented, “I can’t get over it.”

“I think she’s super strong,” he added to TMZ of the pop star. “I think she already has a [mental] shield. She knows what she’s doing, and the last time I saw her, she looks in a real, real good place in her mind to deal with everything.”

The “Que Pretendes” artist volunteered a lot less about Bad Bunny, who seemingly dissed his past collaborator on a song from his new album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. “You’ve seen me, I always walk with the same people/ While you are friends of the whole world like Balvin,” Bunny sings in Spanish on “Thunder Y Lightning.” 

Asked for comment about the alleged diss, Balvin simply told TMZ, “I’m all about love. I love the guy,” before getting in a car.

Balvin previously addressed the situation on Instagram Live after Nadie dropped, saying at the time, “The person I know is a great person. We supported each other mutually, we made history, we also created a new story within music. I don’t understand what was going through his head but well, the guy I know is a good person.”

26 Oct 2023

Beartooth Returns to No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums With ‘The Surface’

Beartooth notches its second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart, as The Surface debuts atop the Oct. 28-dated ranking.

The set bows with 17,000 equivalent album units earned in the Oct. 13-19 tracking week, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 12,000 are via album sales, with 7,000 on vinyl.

Beartooth previously ruled Top Hard Rock Albums in 2018 with Disease, which reigned for a week upon its debut that October. The Caleb Shomo-led band adds its fifth top 10 (and total entry), having also charted with Below (No. 2, July 2021), Aggressive (No. 3, 2016) and Disgusting (No. 6, 2014).

Concurrently, The Surface debuts at No. 9 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, marking Beartooth’s fourth top 10, dating to the No. 4 debut and peak of Aggressive in June 2016. It also starts at No. 5 on the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, where it’s the band’s second top 10.

The release of The Surface was preceded by a pair of radio singles. “Riptide” peaked at No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in January, while follow-up “Might Love Myself” lifts 6-5 on the latest list. The latter becomes Beartooth’s first top five hit on Mainstream Rock Airplay among three top 10s, surpassing the No. 6-peaking “Hated” in 2017.

“Might Love Myself” also jumps 22-18 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 1.8 million audience impressions, up 12%.

Five songs from The Surface rank on the Oct. 28-dated, multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey, paced by “Might Love Myself” at No. 9. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 721,000 official U.S. streams. It’s followed by a debut for “I Was Alive” at No. 11 (779,000 streams).

26 Oct 2023

Jay-Z Says Blue Ivy Used to Think He Wasn’t a ‘Cool’ Dad: ‘She Be Frontin’ On Me’

Don’t worry, parents — even Jay-Z‘s daughter doesn’t think he’s cool. In a recent clip from his multi-part interview with Gayle King about his Book of Hov exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, the bestselling rapper and billionaire mogul admitted that Blue Ivy used to doubt his coolness levels.

“Blue, she be frontin’ on me a little bit,” Jay said of his 11-year-old, asked by King whether any of his kids think he’s cool. “But I catch her. I catch her in the corner, you know? Now she asks me, you know, if this is cool, if her sneakers [are cool]. She’s come back.”

“But there was a time where she was like, ‘Daaaad,’” he added, doing an impression of Blue’s voice while covering his face in mock embarrassment. “I’m like, ‘I’m cool. I don’t know what you sayin. At your house, your parents is cool.”

Blue Ivy is the oldest of Jay’s children with Beyoncé, with whom he also shares 6-year-old twins Rumi and Sir. As hundreds of thousands of fans across the world saw, the tween has definitely inherited her superstar parents’ stage ambitions; at certain Renaissance Tour shows, she joined Bey onstage to impress audiences with her “My Power” choreography.

Running through Dec. 4, Jay’s exhibit offers a free-of-charge, immersive look into his life and career, with artifacts and installations curated by the artist and Roc Nation. With King, the “Hard Knock Life” rapper discussed everything from his debut album Reasonable Doubt to the last song he played for Biggie — “Streets is Watching” from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 — as well as his move to reclaim ownership of his master recordings ten years ago, which he calls “the fight of my life.”

After working so hard to own his music, Jay-Z insisted he’ll never sell his masters — but if Blue Ivy, Rumi or Sir decide to do so later on? That’s their prerogative, he told King.

See Jay-Z’s “cool dad” confession below.

26 Oct 2023

Cameron Diaz Reflects on Her ‘Amazing’ Experience Attending Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour

Cameron Diaz is a Swiftie! The Charlie’s Angels actress saw Taylor Swift on her career-spanning The Eras Tour and revealed that it was an “amazing” experience — even if somewhat last minute — on the Wednesday (Oct. 25) episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“It was amazing. I mean you’re like, ‘OK, there you go,’ for three hours, OK,” Diaz said of the length of the concert, which she agreed with Fallon that by the end, only felt like 20 minutes. The host held up a picture of the actress with Zoe Saldaña, Elsa Collins and Tiffany Haddish at the event, which prompted her to share how they ended up getting tickets.

“This is my girl. Zoe Saldaña is, like, one of my besties. We were talking the night before and she was like, ‘Should we go see Taylor Swift?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I think we should, but how are we ever going to get tickets?’ Then Elsa Collins calls Zoe the next morning and says, ‘Let’s go,’ and we show up and Tiffany is there, who is like the biggest Swiftie ever. She’s like, ‘I love this girl.’ She just goes in on every word, she knows everything. It’s amazing. It’s a good time, watching a show with Tiffany.”

Diaz and her crew were far from the only celebrities in attendance at Swift’s Eras Tour. HAIM, Diplo, Shania Twain, Selena Gomez, Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner and Billy Joel are among the long list of musicians who made it out to one of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s shows.

Watch Cameron Diaz talk about her Eras Tour experience above.

26 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Sports Streaming & Sales Gains, Chart Returns After ‘Eras Tour’ Film Debut

Following the release of her Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film, streams and sales of Taylor Swift’s music rose in the Oct. 13-19 tracking week, spurring gains and re-entries for her catalog on the Billboard charts dated Oct. 28.

In all, Swift’s catalog of songs earned 369.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams Oct. 13-19, according to Luminate. That’s a 22% leap from 302.3 million Oct. 6-12.

Additionally, digital song sales of her music jumped 275% from 25,000 downloads to 94,000, while album sales leaped 7% from 51,000 to 55,000.

Leading the way, Lover‘s “Cruel Summer,” which concurrently crowned the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, as previously reported, received 18.6 million streams, up 35%. That said, the song was assisted by a push to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time, with streams and sales boosted by a pair of newly released versions of the track on Oct. 19 — a live edition from the Eras Tour and a remix from LP Giobbi.

The next largest is “Anti-Hero,” from 2022’s Midnights, which jumped 12% to 9.6 million streams. “Blank Space,” from 2014’s 1989, places third at 7.8 million streams, up 18%.

The cross-catalog gains thanks to the film spur appearances from Swift material on a variety of genre-specific Billboard charts. Gains for the Folklore and Evermore tracks “Cardigan,” “August,” “Willow” and “Champagne Problems” even drive all four songs onto the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs tally, where older songs are able to re-enter if in the top 25 of chart points and with a meaningful reason for their re-entry. “Cardigan” paces the group at No. 12 thanks to 5.7 million streams, a gain of 17%.

All four songs also appear on Alternative Streaming Songs, led by “Cardigan,” which lifts 11-8.

Additionally, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” taken from 2021’s Red (Taylor’s Version), returns to Hot Country Songs at No. 19 via 5.8 million streams, a 27% boost. It’s also found at No. 20 on Country Streaming Songs.

A pair of Swift albums appear in the top 10 of the Billboard 200: Lover, at No. 8 (52,000 equivalent album units, up 36%) and Midnights (No. 9, 51,000 units, up 20%). Three more in Folklore (No. 14, 38,000 units, up 20%), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (No. 18, 32,000 units, up 13%) and 1989 (No. 19, 32,000 units, up 17%) also make the top 20, with Reputation just outside the top 20 (No. 21, 31,000 units, up 29%).

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which chronicles her popular (and ongoing) concert tour of the same name, was released in theaters on Oct. 13. After starting March 17 in Glendale, Ariz., the tour is currently scheduled to continue through Nov. 23 in Toronto, with much of its 2024 trek taking place outside of the United States.