Music News

18 Sep 2023

Watch Reba McEntire Preview Her First Season As a ‘Voice’ Coach: ‘They’re Real Mean, Especially Gwen!’

The gloves are about to come off. Another fall means another new season of The Voice, and the upcoming 24th installment of the singing competition series is already promising a slew of entertaining dynamics amongst the coaches.

In a new video uploaded to The Voice’s official YouTube page on Monday (Sept. 18), season 24’s coaches — John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire— enjoy their first day on set. For McEntire, the day was something of a crash course in how the coaches operate on The Voice, with season 24 marking her first appearance as a coach. She served as a battle advisor in seasons 1 and 8, and during season 23, McEntire acted as the overall Mega Mentor for every team, advising artists ahead of the knockout rounds.

“It’s day one of season 24 blind auditions, we’re back!” Horan announces at the beginning of the video. “The reigning champ is here. It’s like the first day of school, come on!” Last season, Horan won The Voice — on his first attempt! — alongside 19-year-old contestant Gina Miles.

In a relaxed roundtable discussion between the coaches, McEntire asks, “Am I supposed to like y’all? Be mean to you? Is there something that I need to know to let me win?” Legend quickly interjected that “you’re supposed to direct all the artists my way,” prompting an aghast “your way?!” echo from McEntire. Throughout its lengthy history, The Voice has become synonymous with the playful competitiveness that permeates every configuration of the coaches’ panel — from Blake Shelton and Adam Levine’s early friction to Horan and Shelton’s “father-son” rivalry last season.

On May 15, NBC announced that McEntire would be joining The Voice as a coach. Earlier this year, when asked if she thought she’d make a good replacement for Shelton — who hung up his cowboy hat at the end of last season — McEntire revealed that she was almost one of the original Voice judges. The country music icon told ET that she was originally offered a role on the show before it debuted in 2011.

After a few seconds of McEntire and Stefani gushing over how “cute” Horan’s Irish accent is, the “Can’t Even Get the Blues” singer got serious about her first day on set. “The blind auditions were so much harder than I thought they were going to be,” she said. “They block you, and it’s just so devious! But a lot of fun too!”

In a clip of her addressing the crowd, McEntire joked, “Everybody’s just as sweet and kind offstage as they can be. When they come on the stage though, they kinda change their personalities!” “They’re real mean… especially Gwen,” she teased before breaking out into a fit of laughter.

Season 24 of The Voice premieres on Sept. 25 on NBC at 8/7c. Watch Reba McEntire get into the groove of being a Voice coach above.

18 Sep 2023

Travis Kelce Is Loving the Taylor Swift Jokes From NFL Commentators

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is a good sport when it comes to the ongoing rumors that he’s dating Taylor Swift.

During the game between the Chiefs and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday (Sept. 17), NFL announcer Ian Eagle slipped in a few Swift lyric references as he called a play from Kelce. “Kelce finds a blank space for the score!” he said, a callback to Swift’s 2014 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Blank Space.”

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen loaded in plenty of Swift references in his pre-game coverage, as he teased, “You saw it on Thursday night, when Travis Kelce wasn’t in there, it left a ‘blank space,’ but I think he returns today and proves to be the ‘anti-hero.’ Never goes out of ‘style.’”

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It was all in good fun, as Kelce himself later commented on Eisen’s medley via Instagram, writing, “Well played Rich…. Well played ???.” See the post here.

During a recent interview with NFL+ host Andrew Siciliano, Travis somewhat addressed the rumors. He confirmed his story about trying to shoot his shot at Swift via an Eras Tour friendship bracelet, but that’s as far as he’d reveal. “I said what I said. And I meant what I said when I said it. And you know what, it is what it is,” he said before shutting down further conversation about the pair’s relationship status. “I’m not gonna talk about my personal life.”

The tight end then teased listeners, saying, “I know what you writers wanna hear, and you wanna hear more about that and I’m not gonna give you anything!” When Siciliano asked if Swift had reached out to him, Kelce responded, “And that’s gonna wrap it up here,” thus ending the interview.

18 Sep 2023

Watch 50 Cent Bring Eminem Out for a Surprise Performance in Detroit During His Final Lap Tour

As 50 Cent continues to truck through the U.S. for his Final Lap Tour, the G-Unit commander surprised the city of Detroit when he brought out Eminem for a performance. 

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On Sunday night (Sept. 17), 50 tantalized fans by reciting his verse from 2003’s “Patiently Waiting” before Eminem joined the mix. After Em sauntered onstage with his hoodie on, he spewed his classic lines to much of the crowd’s delight. Savoring the moment, 50 and Em continued their onslaught when they performed their GRAMMY-winning song “Crack a Bottle” sans Dr. Dre.

“Detroit, make some noise for one of the best friends I’ve ever known: 50 Cent!” Em said. “Make some noise for hip-hop’s 50th birthday, y’all — it’s still hip-hop’s 50th birthday. Detroit, I love y’all!”

Eminem signed 50 Cent to Shady Records before the latter’s 2003 release of Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Over the last 20 years, the rap tandem collaborated on songs such as “Gatman & Robbin,” “My Life” and “Is This Love.” 

During his cover story with Billboard earlier this year, 50 spoke on their relationship and how it’s evolved over the years. “Em’s not going to say the s–t the way I say it because it just is what it is,” recalled 50. “There’s his humble nature — he’d call me and ask to do him a favor and rap with him on a song. Like, ‘You know I’m on your label, right? Yeah, whatever you need me to do.’ He would always ask me, ‘Could you do me a favor? I always thought it would be dope if we did this together.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’” 

Watch clips from their joint performance below. 

18 Sep 2023

Eason Chan, G.E.M. & Jay Chou Emerge Big Winners at China’s 1st Wave Music Awards

Initiated by the Wave Music Committee and hosted by Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the 1st Wave Music Awards ceremony was held in Chengdu, China, on Aug. 24. The Wave Music Awards handed out 35 awards, including song of the year, album of the year, best male artist and best female artist.

Eason Chan’s “Homo Sapiens” was selected as song of the year, G.E.M.‘s Revelation won album of the year, and Jay Chou‘s “Greatest Works of Art” was named record of the year. Qingfeng Wu and G.E.M. were recognized as the best male and female artists.

Additionally, six groups of performers, including Qingfeng Wu, Jia Lei and Vinida Weng, were invited as performers, putting on stellar displays of highly charismatic live shows for the fans.

This year’s Wave Music Awards were also livestreamed on the four platforms of QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and We Sing under Tencent Music Entertainment Group, allowing more music lovers to witness the moment of the Wave Music Awards together.

The Wave Music Awards cover seven fields, including artists, creation & engineering, genres and languages, with a total of 35 awards. The Wave Music Committee, a group of hundreds of top Chinese musical professionals, worked together for several months to select the highest-quality Chinese music works in 2022.

At the awards, three major honors that were highly anticipated by the industry and music lovers — song of the year, album of the year and record of the year — were awarded to Eason Chan’s “Homo Sapiens,” G.E.M.’s Revelation and Jay Chou’s “Greatest Works of Art,” respectively. In terms of personal achievements, Qingfeng Wu stood out as the best male artist of the year, while G.E.M. shone as the best female artist of the year. Oaeen was named the best duo/group, and Yichun Shan was recognized as the best new artist.

Wave Music Awards for Billboard China

Oaeen

John Jiao/Billboard China

Meanwhile, this Wave Music Awards also included a selection of musical works in various genres like rock, folk, rap, jazz and world music. Accusefive walked away with the best pop song award for “You Are My Magic”; Jackson Wang’s MAGIC MAN was named best pop album; Lexie’s “3.14159” was recognized as best electronic song; GAI’s “Tales of Weiyuan” won best rap song; Dou Wei / Chao Jian’s XianwenXiayue was named best world music album; Julia Peng Peng won best dialect album with Living Room Dreaming; and Jia Lei’s contribution to the theme song of the same name of the TV series A Lifelong Journey won best film and TV song, and she also performed the song live.

Wave Music Awards for Billboard China

Lexie

John Jiao/Billboard China

As a way to recognize and encourage a wider audience of songwriters working behind the scenes in the music industry, this Wave Music Awards also included special music awards in the category of creation & engineering. Among these, “I Remember” by Lei Zhao won best lyrics, “Greatest Works of Art” of Jay Chou won best composition, Howe Chen snagged best song arrangement for “None of the Above” arranged for LaLa Hsu, and Penny Tai secured best album production award for The Passive Audience.

Wave Music Awards for Billboard China

Howe Chen

John Jiao/Billboard China

Wave Music Awards for Billboard China

Penny Tai

John Jiao/Billboard China

The 1st Wave Music Awards was staged in response to the increasing focus on quality-driven creation in the Chinese music scene, while also reflecting the Wave Music Committee’s long-term focus on maintaining the sustainable vitality of musical works. The innovative model of “Awards Ceremony + Songwriting Forum” has not only recognized the tremendous achievements of China’s top songwriters, but also paved the way for ideas and directions to further develop the music industry. Going forward, Wave Music Awards will remain focused on honoring annual outstanding music pieces, highlighting the industry’s quality content creations to fully unleash the value of good music.

18 Sep 2023

Ariana Grande & Dalton Gomez File for Divorce

Months after their separation was announced, Ariana Grande has officially filed for divorce from Dalton Gomez, according to court documents obtained by Billboard.

According to TMZ, who first broke the news, Grande filed first in Los Angeles County court on Monday (Sept. 18), citing “irreconcilable differences.” Gomez followed suit with his own filing with the date of separation logged as February 20, 2023, according to the publication and People. Billboard has reached out to Grande’s lawyers for more information.

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In July, news broke that Dalton and Gomez were parting ways after two years of marriage. Prior to their split, they reportedly attempted to reconcile without success. TMZ, People and Entertainment Tonight also reported that Grande and Gomez remained friends throughout their separation, and spoke regularly over the phone.

The duo reportedly started dating in early 2020 but didn’t choose to make anything public until May, and would frequently appear smiling on Grande’s Instagram page before they happily shared the news of their engagement by December. Grande announced that she was engaged to Gomez on Dec. 20 with a series of snapshots, including a look at her ring. They tied the knot just five months later, in May 2021.

Since their split, Grande has been rumored to be dating her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. Slater, who starred on Broadway as the titular character in the SpongeBob SquarePants musical, was previously married to singer Lilly Jay, and the two celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary in November 2022. They also share a one-year-old son together.

18 Sep 2023

Eric Prydz Announces 3 HOLO Shows in New York City: Here Are the Dates

Eric Prydz is bringing his lauded HOLO show to New York City, with three performances happening Nov. 22, 24 and 25 at a yet-to-be-announced warehouse location in Brooklyn. Happening the days prior to and after Thanksgiving, each of these shows will offer a different musical performance.

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These sets will mark the first time Prydz has brought HOLO to New York City since 2019, when the show made its North American debut. They will also mark the first time HOLO shows happen in America in a non-festival setting. Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 22.

The trio of shows will be produced by NYC’s Teksupport, which is also behind shows in the city from CircoLoco, Time Warp, Mayan Warrior and more.

Since launching a year ago, HOLO has become a dance world phenomenon, with its use of holograms creating a stunning and cutting-edge visual experience. For the show, Prydz plays behind a screen so audiences can focus on the images of space, nature and more that jut out from the stage.

The Swedish producer headlined the Outdoor Stage at Coachella this past April with the show, and will bring it to San Francisco later this month for a headlining slot at the city’s Portola festival. He’s also brought it to headlining gigs Sonar, Tomorrowland and a residency at Hï Ibiza.

In July, the producer signed a global representation deal with WME, marking his departure from North American representation with CAA. The Grammy-nominated producer’s 2016 album Opus hit No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Albums, with the LP also reaching No. 164 on the Billboard 200.

18 Sep 2023

All 12 Songs From Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’ Chart in Hot 100’s Top 40, Led by No. 1 ‘Vampire’

Olivia Rodrigo has a massive week on Billboard’s charts.

After releasing her sophomore album Guts Sept. 8, the LP soars in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Sept. 23), while all 12 songs from the set chart in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40, led by lead single “Vampire” at No. 1.

As all 11 tracks from Rodrigo’s 2021 debut set Sour hit the Hot 100’s top 40 that year, she becomes the first artist to chart all songs from two career-opening albums in the Hot 100’s top 40.

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“Vampire” rebounds for a second week atop the Hot 100, after debuting at the summit 10 weeks earlier, with 55.8 million radio airplay audience impressions, 22.8 million U.S. streams (up 82%) and 4,000 downloads sold (up 89%) in the Sept. 8-14 tracking week, according to Luminate. In July, the song arrived as Rodrigo’s third No. 1 (all No. 1 debuts), following “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U” in 2021.

Rodrigo places one additional song in the Hot 100’s top 10, as second Guts single “Bad Idea Right?” vaults 26-7, reaching a new peak.

Here’s a recap of Rodrigo’s 12 titles on the latest Hot 100 (all of which are debuts except where noted):

Olivia Rodrigo on the Sept. 23-dated Hot 100:
No. 1, “Vampire” (up 9-1; second week at No. 1)
No. 7, “Bad Idea Right?” (up 26-7; new high)
No. 11, “Get Him Back!”
No. 13, “All-American Bitch”
No. 16, “The Grudge”
No. 19, “Making the Bed”
No. 20, “Logical”
No. 23, “Lacy”
No. 24, “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”
No. 25, “Love Is Embarrassing”
No. 30, “Pretty Isn’t Pretty”
No. 39, “Teenage Dream”

Rodrigo is just the third female artist to place 12 songs in the Hot 100’s top 40 simultaneously, after Taylor Swift and SZA. Swift tallied a personal-best 18 songs in the top 40 on Nov. 5, 2022, when her album Midnights debuted atop the Billboard 200. SZA logged 12 songs in the top 40 on Dec. 24, 2022, concurrent with the arrival of her LP SOS. Drake holds the overall record for the most concurrent top 40 entries, 21, on both the July 14, 2018, and Sept. 18, 2021 charts, concurrent with the arrivals of his albums Scorpion and Certified Lover Boy, respectively.

Rodrigo charted all 11 songs from Sour in the Hot 100’s top 40 the week that the album launched atop the Billboard 200 (June 5, 2021). Of her 24 career songs to chart on the Hot 100, all have reached the top 40 except for her first entry, “All I Want.” The song, from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, peaked at No. 90 in 2020.

18 Sep 2023

Zach Bryan Teases Music With Bon Iver & Noah Kahan

Zach Bryan‘s new self-titled album recently notched two weeks atop the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart, but he’s already offering up new music — namely, collaborations with two-time Grammy winner Bon Iver and “Hurt Somebody”/”Dial Drunk” hitmaker Noah Kahan.

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Bryan posted a trio of new songs on Instagram Sunday (Sept. 18), along with a note stating, “Locked myself in a studio all week, wrote myself through a notebook, walked around with people I love in the city then went campin, felt restful and hopeful, thankful for breathing no matter the day, just grateful,” Bryan said, offering thanks to Noah Kahan and Bon Iver. “Them boys of faith,” Bryan added.

Over on X, Bryan tagged Bon Iver in a snippet of a song featuring the lyric “Them Boys of Faith,” saying, “come back soon [Bon Iver]. you have a friend for life.” Bryan tagged Kahan in another song, with a similar statement.

This isn’t the first time Bryan and Kahan have collaborated; Kahan showed up at Bryan’s set at Iowa’s Hinterland Festival last month to join Bryan in performing the final song of the set, “Revival.”

Bryan has been on a collaborations hot streak lately, recently topping the Billboard Hot 100 with another collaboration, “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves; the song marked the first Billboard Hot 100 hit for both artists. His self-titled album also includes collaborations with The War and Treaty (“Hey Driver”), The Lumineers (“Spotless”) and Sierra Ferrell (“Holy Roller”). Bryan also previously released the Maggie Rogers duet, “Dawns,” which reached No. 11 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Next year, Bryan’s headlining Quittin’ Time Tour, which launches in March in Chicago, will feature artists including Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Turnpike Troubadours and Sheryl Crow.

Listen to the snippet of Bryan’s new tracks below.

18 Sep 2023

Jung Kook Says He Misses Performing With BTS: ‘I Want to Be on Stage With All Our Members’

It’s been months since BTS has conducted activities as a full group due to the members’ recent solo music endeavors and fulfilling South Korea’s military enlistment requirement. Jung Kook revealed in a new interview with Brady of 103.5 KISS FM Chicago that he misses performing alongside his fellow group mates.

Brady asked the “Seven” singer what is one thing he missed about each of the BTS members. Jung Kook said that while he could pinpoint something about each guy, he misses their group activities more than anything.

“Of course each member has his own trait, so I could say what I miss about each of them. But more than that, as I worked on my solo project, I got to really miss all the moments we shared together rather than feeling empty,” he said in the interview, released on Saturday (Sept. 16). “For example, staying in the waiting room even though each of us were doing our own thing. When I went to Suga’s concert and when I performed solo on stage, I just thought that I want to be on stage with all our members or I want to hang out with them in the waiting room. I really miss those ordinary moments. I hope that day comes back very soon.”

As for ARMY, Jung Kook described BTS’ international fan base as a “ray of light” that has allowed him to persevere. “It’s hard to put it in words. They are technically not family. I would say it’s definitely love, but it’s much bigger than that,” he said of BTS’ relationship with fans. “This one time, when I was going through some hard times, I was able to get back on my own feet because I had ARMY by my side.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Jung Kook shared that his Billboard Hot 100 chart topper “Seven” came at the right time. “I have always wanted to sing a cool love song like ‘Seven,’” he explained. “And the season was also perfect, too.”

Watch Jung Kook’s talk about missing BTS in the video above.

18 Sep 2023

Listen to The Chemical Brothers’ 1995 Essential Mix

Before their 1995 debut album Exit Planet Dust made them stars, The Chemical Brothers demonstrated why they were worth paying attention to with a knockout Essential Mix for BBC Radio.

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Hosted by Pete Tong and originally aired in March of 1995 — two years into the existence of the still ongoing Essential Mix series — the two-hour mix aired months before the album’s June release and now serves as a document of the rave sound then taking over the Brothers’ native U.K. and beyond.

Chemical Brothers fans can revisit this moment in dance history with the mix, which has been made available by BBC Sounds for the next month and a half.

An amalgamation of acid house, breaks, funk, hip-hop and ’90s dance classics, the mix features tracks by Craig Mack & The Notorious B.I.G., Bobby J, Beastie Boys, Josh Wink, The Beatles and, of course, The Chemical Brothers themselves. This mix marked the first of myriad times the pair delivered a Essential Mix for the series.

This re-release comes in conjunction with the Brothers’ latest album For That Beautiful Feeling, their tenth studio LP released September 8 via Republic Records. In an interview with Billboard about the album, the pair — Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons — discussed their new work, the state of the world, touring and their legacy, with Rowlands noting that “Our friendship is at the heart of it. That’s the thing that has enabled us.”

“Without being too trite, there’s a chemistry between us,” added Simons. “We’ve just grown up together. We know what makes each other tick, what makes each other upset… We like each other, it’s as simple as that.”

The Chemical Brothers will release a career retrospective book, Paused In Cosmic Reflection, on October 26.

Listen to The Chemical Brothers’ Essential Mix here.