Music News

03 Oct 2023

Kygo, David Guetta, Labrinth & The Chainsmokers Lead Lineup for 2024 Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen

Palm Tree Music Festival is returning to Aspen, Colo., early next year with a lineup featuring Palm Tree co-founder Kygo, French titan David Guetta, dance-pop mainstays The Chainsmokers, the white-hot Labrinth, electronic hybrid duo DRAMA and pop-folk-rock artist Harry Hudson.

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The festival will happen Feb. 23-24, 2024, in the ski town’s Rio Grande Park. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, Oct. 5.

The mountain event is produced by Belly Up Aspen, C3 Presents and Kygo’s own Palm Tree Crew. The event made its Aspen debut this February, with previous iterations of Palm Tree Music Festival happening in The Hamptons, southern Californian, Egypt and Australia.

“I am so excited to bring Palm Tree Festival back to Aspen for its second year,” Kygo said in a statement. “We are building something special in the city of Aspen and I can’t wait to continue year after year!”

“We made history last year launching the Palm Tree Music Festival in Aspen during the peak of winter season,” added Myles Shear, Kygo’s manager and Palm Tree Crew co-founder. “Now, here we are a second time, and we are stoked to bring this event back to downtown Aspen.”

“We are proud and humbled by the incredible feedback and support we received from the inaugural festival,” said David and Danny Goldberg of Belly Up Aspen, the legendary venue at the base of Aspen mountain. “We are grateful to be working alongside our partners C3 Presents and Palm Tree Crew and are thrilled to bring this incredible event back to Aspen in 2024.”

Check out the lineup below:

Palm Tree Music Festival Aspen 2024

Courtesy Photo

03 Oct 2023

Usher Brings Out Offset for Surprise ‘Bad and Boujee’ Performance During Paris Residency Show

Usher‘s Rendez-Vous Á Paris residency at La Seine Musicale may be coming to a close on Oct. 5, but the “Confessions” singer is making sure to treat fans to some special surprises as he nears the end of his eight-date run — and that includes a surprise performance with Offset.

In a clip posted to Usher’s Instagram page on Sunday (Oct. 1), the Grammy-winner directed the packed crowd as they chanted “that s—t cray” at the top of their lungs — a nod to Kanye West’s verse in his Jay Z-assisted 2011 hit single “N—-s in Paris,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. After completing the chant, the “Good Good” singer then said, “OK, well that’s what it feels like when New York is in the house, but when the South run it, we Southern n—-s in Paris!”

Migos 2017 No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee” then began to play as Offset joined Usher onnstage after entering through the crowd. In the caption for his Instagram post, Usher remixed a lyric from the song, writing “We from the SOUTH yeah THAT WAY ????.”

Offset’s surprise performance comes just a little over a week before the arrival of his forthcoming sophomore studio album, Set It Off. The record — his first solo outing since 2019’s Grammy-nominated Father of 4 — is set to feature the Cardi B-featuring “Jealousy,” which peaked at No. 55 on the Hot 100 a few months ago, as well as “FAN,” which recently received a Michael Jackson-inspired music video complete with a Kai Cenat cameo.

Usher, on the other hand, is gearing up for months of live performances. When he returns from Paris, the iconic singer will resume his My Way Las Vega residency, which has shows lined up through October, November and the beginning of December. On Feb. 11, 2024, the R&B superstar will take the Super Bowl Halftime Show stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the first time the big game will be played in that city.

Last week (Sept. 26), Billboard exclusively reported that Usher is planning to launch a global tour following his Super Bowl performance, with tickets ready for purchase just after he finishes his final note. In addition to the tour, Usher has already confirmed the release of his ninth solo studio album, Coming Home, which is slated for a Feb. 11, 2024, release and includes the chart-topping single “Good Good” (with Summer Walker and 21 Savage).

Check out Usher and Offset’s surprise performance here:

03 Oct 2023

Lady Gaga Dedicates ‘Born This Way’ to 2017 Las Vegas Shooting Victims During Residency Show

Lady Gaga has spent the past month or so in Las Vegas for her Jazz & Piano residency, and when one of her recent shows fell on an important anniversary, the singer made sure to pay tribute to the city she’s been calling home.

Gaga’s Sunday night (Oct. 1) concert happened to be on the six-year anniversary of the 2017 massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, which took the lives of 58 victims and injured hundreds in what would become the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The gunman, 64-year-old Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel before taking his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot.

Over the weekend, the pop star took a moment to send a message of support to Sin City while performing her 2011 smash “Born This Way” on the piano. “I just want to remind everyone here what a resilient wonderful city this is,” she told the crowd at the Park MGM’s Dolby Live theater. “It has big hearts, and a lot of hope and believing in the future. And I just would like to dedicate this song to everyone we lost.”

Gaga has just two more dates scheduled for the latest leg of her residency, closing out Wednesday (Oct. 4) and Thursday (Oct. 5). The Grammy winner has been residing in Vegas on and off since late 2018, when she first launched her Enigma stage show. Shortly after, she started up her Jazz & Piano stint, which finds her performing stripped-back versions of her own songs as well as standards from the Great American Songbook.

The musician recently assisted two fellow legends — Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder — on “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” a song off the Rolling Stones’ upcoming Hackney Diamonds album. In a recent interview about the collaboration, Jagger said that it was “a great experience, her just coming in the room and her just opening up and seeing her bits and feeling her way and then getting more confident.”

Watch Lady Gaga dedicate “Born This Way” to the Las Vegas shooting victims below.

03 Oct 2023

Jung Kook’s First Solo Album ‘Golden’ Release Date Announced

BTS member Jung Kook announced the release date for debut full-length solo album on Tuesday (Oct. 3), revealing that Golden will drop on Nov. 3. The 11-track album will feature the singer/dancer’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit single with Latto, “Seven,” as well as his new song with Jack Harlow, “3D.”

According to a release announcing the project, Golden takes its theme from “the golden moments of Jung Kook as a solo artist. Known as the ‘Golden Maknae’ (‘golden youngest’ in Korean) of BTS, Jung Kook is set to unveil a new release with his unique timbre that will captivate listeners worldwide.” Pre-orders for Golden will begin at 10 p.m. ET tonight.

The solo LP follows a string of previous solo singles from Jung Kook, including “Euphoria,” “My Time,” “Still With You” and “My You,” as well as collab singles with Lauv (“Who”) and Charlie Puth on the latter’s 2022 single “Left and Right.”

The Harlow song is on track to debut at No. 2 on the UK singles chart this week, marking the week’s highest debut. Jung Kook made U.K. chart history earlier this year with “Seven,” when the track landed at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart (July 21), for the highest-charting debut by a solo Korean act.

The 26-year-old singer is stepping out on his own in the midst of BTS’ pause to allow its members to report for South Korea’s mandatory military service. To date, Suga, Jin and J-Hope have all enlisted, with Suga reporting for duty on Sept. 22 and telling fans to hang tight for the group’s planned 2025 return.

03 Oct 2023

Stephen Colbert Reboots ‘Late Show’ After Strike With Boatload of Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Bits: ‘I Think This Is the One’

Like the NFL and its broadcast partners, late night show hosts could not resist going all-in on everything Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce related when the returned from a five-month strike-related lay-off on Monday night (Oct. 2). Chief among them was Stephen Colbert, who celebrated the reboot of The Late Show with a cold open bit in which he played a bearded Earnest Hemingway-esque sea captain crooning Jimmy Buffett’s “Son of a Son of a Sailor” while getting the latest news from a dolphin.

“Really? She’s dating Travis Kelce?” Colbert said in response to a series of squeaks breaking the celeb love affair news to him. “I think this is the one.” And while Colbert knows a lot of things, at this point neither Swift nor Kelce have publicly commented on or confirmed the rampant speculation that they are dating. The loud whispers, of course, have been stoked by Swift’s appearance at the last two Kansas City Chiefs games, where network cameras have cut to her dozens of times cheering on two-time Super Bowl champion tight end Kelce.

The proper monologue opened with Colbert hinting that a “major world leader” had come to New York the night before… of course he meant Swift being in town to watch Kelce. “At the game, Taylor drank some dranks, hung out with Blake Lively, while injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sat alone in the Sadness Box,” Colbert said over footage of Swift living it up and injured Jets QB Rodgers glumly texting while watching his new team keep it close in what was an eventual loss to the Super Bowl champs.

If nothing else, Colbert said it’s all great publicity for the NFL. “Mere rumors that Tay-Tay might be at last night’s game-game sent ticket prices surging more than 40 percent,” Colbert joked. “It used to be that you couldn’t afford to watch Taylor Swift. Now you can’t afford to watch Taylor Swift watch something. The Swift Lift is not limited to tickets,” he added, noting that “maybe-boyfriend” Kelce’s jersey saw a 400% sales spike over the past week, while the denim shorts she wore to the game have sold out everywhere.

“Everything she touches is instantly revitalized,” Colbert said while getting an idea for another possible Swift target. “Taylor: If this relationship doesn’t work out, is there any way you can start dating one of our nation’s crumbling bridges?” And because every celeb couple needs a clever portmanteau, he suggested “Traylor Swelce.”

Colbert and fellow late nighters Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers all played a bit of catch-up on Monday, hitting the high (and low) points they missed over the summer, from former president Donald Trump’s quartet of indictments to Rep. Lauren Boebert’s viral Bettlejuice musical hand jive and jokes about the The Golden Bachelor, as well as heartfelt thanks to their returning writing staffs after a long, hot strike summer. Plus, Traylor jokes, of course.

Fallon also performed a tiny song recapping the strike summer that opened with him singing, “First things first, there’s Taylor Swift. Wonder if she’ll write a song about meeting… Travis Kelce’s mom.”

Watch Colbert’s bits below.




https://youtube.com/watch?v=JL135-iDAvY&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

03 Oct 2023

Swizz Beatz & Timbaland to Receive Rock The Bells Cultural Influence Award at 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards

With the 2023 BET Hip-Hop Awards slated to air next Tuesday (Oct. 10), a bevy of legends are slated to be honored that night, including VERZUZ co-founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, Marley Marl and Kiernan “AKA” Forbes.

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Super producers Swizz and Timbo will be on hand to receive the Rock The Bells Cultural Influence Award from the founder and CEO of Rock The Bells, LL COOL J. The award will honor the pair for their cultural hip-hop contributions and boundless creativity.

LL will be working double duty, as he and Rakim will team up for a tribute performance honoring this year’s I Am Hip Hop Award recipient, Marley Marl. Marl’s inventive mindset dates back to his iconic production with the Juice Crew and his influence on some of the genre’s best producers, including the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, DJ Premier and Pete Rock.

Lastly, Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, will posthumously receive the “Global Visionary Award” for his global impact on the hip-hop landscape. The 35-year-old South African rapper was shot and killed earlier this year. His parents, Tony and Lynn Forbes, will accept the award on his behalf.

Fans can also expect performances from Offset, DaBaby, Fivio Foreign, GloRilla, Sexxy Red and more. Members of the legendary label So So Def — including Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow, Da Brat, and Dem Franchise Boyz — will also perform in in a celebration of the label’s 30th anniversary.

Slated to take place live in Atlanta, the 18th annual awards show will premiere on Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on BET. Fat Joe will host the ceremony for the second consecutive year.

03 Oct 2023

NBC’s All-In Coverage of Taylor Swift During Chiefs-Jets Sunday Night Game Majorly Boosted Female Viewership

NBC has taken some slings and arrows from the traditional sports press for its over-the-top coverage of Taylor Swift‘s attendance at yet another Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday night. But the network might have the last laugh as ratings for the exciting prime time win by the Super Bowl champs over the New York Jets led to some serious gains in a few key demos.

According to Deadline, the preliminary Live+same day data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics showed that the Swift-centric broadcast saw a 53% uptick in viewership by girls ages 12-17 from the season average over the first three games of the season, as well as a 24% bump among women 18-24 and a 34% increase for women over 35; NBC will release the official data on Tuesday (Oct. 3). The lean-into the hype about the alleged Traylor romance — neither Swift nor Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce have publicly confirmed rumors that they are dating — also reportedly led to an average of 27 million viewers for the Chiefs’ 23-20 win.

Those numbers were the best for a Sunday contest since the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII in February; viewership peaked in the second quarter at 29 million. While impressive, the numbers were not the highest ratings for the season so far, falling just short of the 27.5 million who watched the Chiefs lose to the Detroit Lions in week one.

NBC did everything it could to remind viewers that Swift was once again in the house, from 17 reaction throws to the family skybox — where Taylor was hanging with Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sabrina Carpenter, Sophie Turner and Hugh Jackman — as well as a “Taylor Made for Sunday Night” promo that ran earlier in the week that used Swift’s “Welcome to New York” as its theme song. The game also opened with The Voice host Carson Daly explaining how football works to Swifties and included a bizarre moment when Swift looked stressed when the game was tied 20-20 and the broadcast cut to a shot of the “Cornelia St.” sign, a reference to one of Swift’s saddest songs, the 2019 Lover song “Cornelia Street.”

03 Oct 2023

Ethan Hawke & Maya Hawke Cover Willie Nelson’s ‘We Don’t Run’ For Light In the Attic Compilation

Ethan Hawke and daughter Maya Hawke share one of their family’s beloved go-to playlist tracks on an upcoming Record Store Day Black Friday compilation Light in the Attic & Friends. The compilation, due out on Nov. 24, features covers of songs released on the reissue label including the Hawkes’ hushed take on Willie Nelson’s “We Don’t Run.”

The song appeared on the country icon’s bare bones 1996 Spirit album and in a statement, Ethan Hawke explained, “This song is off Willie’s brilliant album Spirit, which has been a mainstay in our home since it was released in 1996. Everybody needs a good anthem song. This is one of the best.”

The Hawke family Nelson cover opens with Ethan singing over gently picked acoustic guitar, “You are the road, you are the only way/ I’ll follow you forever more/ We’ll look for love, we’ll find it in the eyes/ The eyes that see through all the doors.”

Maya then comes in for the third verse, matching her dad’s hushed, vulnerable vocals with the lines, “There is a train that races through the night/ On rails of steel that reach the soul/ Fueled by fire as soft as candle light/ But it warms the heart of a love grown cold.”

The family then comes together for the inspiring chorus, “We don’t run, we don’t compromise/ We don’t quit, we never do/ We look for love, we find it in the eyes/ The eyes of me and the eyes of you.”

Stranger Things star Maya released her sophomore studio album, Moss, last month, which she said was “super inspired” by Taylor Swift’s Folklore. Dad Ethan has long kept a hand in music, from directing the 1994 video for Lisa Loeb’s breakthrough hit, “Stay (I Missed You),” to his 2014 documentary debut with “Seymour: An Introduction,” a profile of classical pianist/composer Seymour Bernstein. He also portrayed a fictional musician in the 2018 film Juliet, Naked and directed the biopic of obscure country singer Blaze Foley in that year’s Blaze; he also portrayed jazz icon Chet Baker in 2015’s Born to Be Blue

In a statement about the collection, archival label Light in the Attic said it has long sought to spotlight the “most unique — and often forgotten — voices” in music. “We believe that an essential component of archival work, aside from simply honoring the music, is to seek ways in which to bring fresh perspectives, context, and reverence to the original artists and their work,” said LITA Founder and co-owner Matt Sullivan. The 20-track collection collections LITA’s 7″ vinyl and digital singles from its Cover Series, in which contemporary artists pay tribute to their favorite LITA artists and songs.

Among the other notable covers are Iggy Pop & Zig Zags covering funk queen Betty Davis’ “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up,” Mac DeMarco taking on Japanese pop singer/songwriter Haruomi Hosono’s “Honey Moon” and Swamp Dogg, John C. Reilly, Jenny Lewis and Tim Heidecker doing the Louvin Brothers’ “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea.” The collection also includes covers by Vashti Bunyan and Devendra Banhart, late Screaming Trees singer and solo star Mark Lanegan and Angel Olsen, among others.

Listen to the Hawkes sing “We Don’t Run” and see the Friends announcement below.

03 Oct 2023

Paramore to Revisit ‘This Is Why’ With ‘Almost’ Remix Album

Paramore are feeling nostalgic about their most recent album, This Is Why. Which is why they are releasing a remix album featuring new versions of the songs from their sixth LP, which came out in February.

On Monday (Oct. 2), the band announced Re: This Is Why, which will drop on Friday (Oct. 6). While a track listing has not yet been revealed, in an Instagram post revealing the project, they explained, “We’ve long wanted to recognize the connection we have with some of the artists who’ve influenced us as a band and/or who have cited our band as an influence.”

They then, kind of, explained what fans can expect, saying that the Re: This Is Why re-imagining is “almost” a remix album. “Some of the songs have been remixed sort of classically, while others were reworked or rewritten. It’s incredible to hear all our worlds colliding,” they wrote. The comments section featured a tease of “+1 b-side,” which seemed to suggest the original 10-song album will be augmented by an extra track.

The news brought out a number of celebratory comments from some fellow artists, including Camila Cabello, who wrote simply, “harddddd,” while Remi Wolf gave it a heart emoji and the Linda Lindas tossed up four newspaper headline emoji. The big news came after the group posted a Notes app screen last week teasing three dates: something else titled “This Is Why” slated to arrive on Sept. 28, something titled “Why Is This?” due out on Oct. 2 and “Is This Why?” on Oct. 6.

The original This is Why marked the return of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York’s after a hiatus and their first album since 2017’s After Laughter. The band was forced to pull the plug on the final two dates of their U.S. tour in August after Williams was hit with a nasty lung infection.

In an Aug. 28 post, Williams first hinted that some fresh tracks might be in the offing, writing, “We’ve been off the road for a couple of weeks now…mainly in LA. Thankfully got some down time but we put some work in too. It felt good to get back into a studio. More of that once we get home to Nashville… Zac and Taylor and I also just want to get back to making things. Not only the creative process but the layer(s) of insulation that can come with the creative process.”

Check out the Re: This Is Why cover and announcement below.

02 Oct 2023

Rod Wave’s ‘Nostalgia’ Notches Second Week Atop Billboard 200 Chart

Rod Wave spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 7) with Nostalgia, after debuting at No. 1 a week ago. The set earned 88,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28 (down 36%) according to Luminate. It’s the first of his three No. 1s to have led for multiple weeks.

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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Doja Cat’s Scarlet starts at No. 4 while Zach Bryan’s new Boys of Faith bows at No. 8.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct. 7, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Nostalgia’s 88,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 28, SEA units comprise 87,500 (equaling 124.51 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 18 songs), album sales comprise 500, and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Nostalgia’s 88,000 sum is the smallest total for a No. 1 album in seven months, since SZA’s SOS led the list dated March 4 with 87,000 units.

Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Guts holds at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 (87,500 equivalent album units; down 34%) and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time climbs one rung to No. 3 (73,000; down 3%).

Doja Cat captures her third top 10 album on the Billboard 200, all notched consecutively, as her new studio set Scarlet starts at No. 4 with nearly 72,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 65,000 (equaling 88.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s 17 songs), album sales comprise 6,000 (the set was only available as a digital download, CD and in a deluxe boxed set with a T-shirt and CD) and TEA units comprise 1,000. The digital and streaming edition of the album was available in a standard 15-song edition and a deluxe 17-track version.

Scarlet was preceded by three charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “Demons,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Attention.” “Paint the Town Red” became her second No. 1 on the Hot 100 on the Sept. 16-dated chart (following 2020’s “Say So,” featuring Nicki Minaj).

Doja Cat previously hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with Planet Her (No. 2 in 2021) and Hot Pink (No. 9 in 2020).

Zach Bryan’s chart-topping self-titled album falls 3-5 on the new Billboard 200 (66,000 equivalent album units; down 16%), SZA’s SOS dips 5-6 (49,000; down 7%) and Travis Scott’s former leader Utopia descends 6-7 (just over 44,000; down 6%).

A second Bryan album appears in the top 10, as his new five-song Boys of Faith project bows at No. 8 with 43,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 39,000 (equaling 50.35 million on-demand official audio and video streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 4,000 and TEA units comprise 500. Boys of Faith is the third top 10-charting effort for Bryan, and second in 2023, following his self-titled No. 1, which debuted at the summit just four weeks earlier. He has also hit the top 10 with the No. 5-peaking American Heartbreak in 2022.

Rounding out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is Peso Pluma’s Génesis (moving 7-9 with 43,000 equivalent album units earned; down 7%) and Taylor Swift’s former leader Midnights (8-10 with 42,000; up less than 1%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.