Music News

24 Aug 2023

Carlos Santana Says Transgender People Should Stay ‘in the Closet’ in Concert Clip

While he may be best known for being “Smooth,” legendary guitarist Carlos Santana recently shared some comments about the trans community that left a bad taste in some people’s mouths.

A clip began circulating online recently of Santana performing in Atlantic City, N.J., in late July, where the star stopped during his show to share his thoughts on the transgender experience itself. “When God made you and me, before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are,” he said. “Later on, when you grow out of it, you see things, and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good, but you know it ain’t right.”

The guitarist then took his comments a step further, making a commonly disputed claim that there are only two genders. “Because a woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it,” he said. “Whatever you wanna do in the closet, that’s your business. I’m OK with that.” 

Santana also gave a shoutout to comedian Dave Chappelle — who has also been criticized in recent years for making anti-trans comments during his stand-up routine — by bringing his hands together and saying, “I am like this with my brother Dave Chappelle.”

In a statement provided to Billboard, Santana clarified his respect for individuals’ opinions, without specifically walking his comments back. “Here is my personal goal that I strive to achieve every day. I want to honor and respect all person’s ideals and beliefs whether they are LGBTQ or not,” he wrote. “This is the planet of free will and we have all been given this gift. I will now pursue this goal to be happy and have fun, and for everyone to believe what they want and follow in your hearts without fear. It takes courage to grow and glow in the light that you are and to be true, genuine, and authentic. We grow and learn to shine our light with Love and compliments. Have a glorious existence. Peace.”

The star’s comments come amid a wave of anti-trans legislation in the U.S., specifically targeted at restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth. While right-wing politicians claim that the risks of this kind of care do not outweigh the benefits, peer-reviewed research disagrees. Multiple studies show that gender-affirming care reduces the rates of depression and suicidality among transgender kids.

The “Black Magic Woman” performer isn’t the only person to come out with anti-trans comments recently. In an interview with Stereogum published Aug. 23, Alice Cooper called gender-affirming care “a fad,” and claimed that discourse surrounding the trans community has “gone now to the point of absurdity.”

24 Aug 2023

No Rap Song Has Led the Hot 100 For a Year – What’s Behind the Break & When Might It End?

For the first time in 23 years, a peculiar moment occurs on the Billboard Hot 100, where an entire year has gone by without a rap track reaching No. 1. The weekly recap, which ranks the most popular songs in the U.S., hits the benchmark on the list dated Aug. 26, 2023, as Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” seals the deal.

The last rap track – defined as songs that have hit or are eligible to appear on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart – to top the listing was Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl,” which debuted atop the Hot 100 on Aug. 27, 2022, and held the rank for that one week. In the 12 months since, three rap titles have come closest to the summit, each peaking at No. 2: Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex” (Nov. 19, 2022) Drake’s “Search & Rescue” (April 22, 2023) and Lil Durk’s “All My Life,” featuring J. Cole (May 27, 2023).

Before the 2022-23 break, the last time the Hot 100 went without a rap champ for at least a year was pre- and post-Y2K: after Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West,” featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee, reigned in July 1999. Following the soundtrack single’s one-week rule, rap was absent from the Hot 100 summit until Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me,” featuring Ricardo “RikRok” Ducent began a two-week command in February 2001, a span of 22 No. 1s and just over 18 months. The return quickly brought another champ, as OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson” ousted “It Wasn’t Me” for the former’s Hot 100 coronation.

Rap’s current absence from the Hot 100’s top slot largely traces to the dominance of several hits in the past 12 months that nearly shut out almost all challengers from all genres. Since “Super Freaky Girl,” 14 songs have reached the Hot 100’s summit: Six were multi-week No. 1s driven initially by large streaming premieres, followed by sustained streams and rapid airplay gains: Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (which began its run before “Super Freaky Girl” but returned to the summit), Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Mariah Carey’s annual holiday dominator “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night.”

The remaining eight, on the contrary, ruled for one week each, due to a high-profile debut (Jimin’s “Like Crazy,” Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire”), an already-popular hit navigating a crowded landscape with a well-timed sales discount or remix release (Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Die for You” and SZA’s “Kill Bill”) or a song becoming a rallying cause for larger cultural symbolism (Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and Oliver Anthony Music’s “Richmond”).

Before we pound the alarm, though, the R&B/hip-hop sector remains the largest consumed genre of music in the U.S., according to Luminate, whose data on streaming, sales and radio informs the Hot 100. In the firm’s 2023 mid-year report, R&B/hip-hop accounted for 25.9% of all consumption in the U.S. during the first half of the year. And, of course, rap music being good for at least one, if not multiple, No. 1s each year across the last two decades speaks to its reliability as a hitmaking force. After all, we were a similar spot earlier this summer with the Billboard 200 — lamenting the lack of a No. 1 rap album on the chart — and then in quick succession, Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape and Travis Scott’s Utopia reset the clock there.

At the same time, hip-hop’s presence among Hot 100 top 10s has fallen in the first half of 2023 to its lowest level since 2016, according to Hit Songs Deconstructed’s midyear analysis. The genre “all but disappeared” from the top 10 in Q1 2023, HSD noted earlier in the year, after it reigned in both 2022 and 2020.

So, when does the gap end? Well, the next great hope is on the horizon: After posting two of the three runner-ups in the past year, it’s only fitting that Drake take the next crack at breaking the barrier. The superstar’s new album, For All the Dogs, is set for release tomorrow (Aug. 25) — and, assuming the usual avalanche of streams that accompany any Drake release (plus his Hot 100 pedigree, with his 11 career No. 1s the most among all rappers), he should be in strong contention to recapture the crown.

Doja Cat could also come to the rescue, as her “Paint the Town Red” single is rallying in streams and, while currently at No. 15 on the current Hot 100, should march upward on the coming week’s chart. But whether the next No. 1 arrives from them or someone else, given the genre’s continued overarching influence, it’s hard to envision a rap song not soon appearing at the Hot 100’s apex, with the latest break between leaders likely more a fun fact than a fundamental shift.

24 Aug 2023

Jason Derulo Documents His ‘Embarrassing’ Allergic Reaction to Oura Ring

Jason Derulo was just trying to track his health with the Oura Ring, but things went awry when he ended up getting an allergic reaction.

The “Savage Love” singer took to Instagram to share a video in which his ring finger is seen swollen and red, preventing him from taking the ring off. “This is so embarrassing,” he tells the camera, as he turns to his friend and laughs. “Woke up, finger was swollen and turning colors. I was like, damn, trying to figure out how to take this damn ring off. It just got swollen overnight and I tried to take it off with oil. When I iced it, it came down a little bit. Then I went to the gym, and my finger swelled up even more.”

Derulo is then seen heading to the hospital, before the doctors try oiling and icing his finger themselves before resorting to cutting the ring off entirely. Once the ring is finally off, Derulo is seen smiling in relief before thanking the medical professionals that helped him.

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The Oura Ring, which is marketed as a “personalized health tool” according to the company’s website, helps monitor sleep, heart rate, activity, illness through reading the user’s pulse. The ring itself is made of titanium, which some people are sensitive or allergic to, according to the National Institutes of Health.

See Derulo’s full allergic reaction journey with the Oura Ring below.

24 Aug 2023

Olivia Rodrigo Reveals New Album ‘Guts’ Will Be Heavily Inspired By Rock, But In a ‘Feminine’ Way

Olivia Rodrigo may just be a rockstar disguised as a pop princess. Ahead of the Sept. 8 release of her highly anticipated sophomore effort Guts, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter revealed details of the edgier direction her music will take on her new album (hint: it’s a lot closer to “Good 4 U” and “Brutal” than the other songs on Sour) in an in-depth interview with the New York Times, published Thursday (Aug. 24).

For instance, the publication reports that the new record’s first track “All-American Bitch” features fuzzy power chords and several f-bombs, while “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” finds the young star chanting a “litany of embarrassing party fouls over a springy bass line” while letting out cathartic screams. A few of the 12 tracks on Guts were recorded the old-school way: live, and with a full band.

As NYT puts it: With Guts, Rodrigo is “Trojan-horsing in rock’s musical brashness and emotional spikiness under the cover of pop stardom.”

“For me, that’s what music is, it’s expressing those feelings that are really hard to externalize, or that you feel aren’t societally acceptable to externalize,” Rodrigo told the publication. “Especially as a girl.”

But while her musical heroes include Jack White and Rage Against the Machine, the three-time Grammy winner said her rock tendencies reflect a more feminine side. Think: Gwen Stefani and Alanis Morissette, or newer tastemakers like Soccer Mommy and Boygenius.

“[I] always loved rock music, and always wanted to find a way that I could make it feel like me, and make it feel feminine and still telling a story and having something to say that’s vulnerable and intimate,” Rodrigo said, noting she looks up to women who make rock music without “trying to recreate a version of rock music that guys make.”

So far, Guts is preceded by two singles: “Vampire,” which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, and “Bad Idea Right?,” which dropped earlier this month and crowned the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. The tracks mark Rodrigo’s first releases since the album that made her a household name, Sour.

In the new interview, Rodrigo touched very lightly on one of Sour‘s biggest musical inspirations, Taylor Swift. The former Disney star was once very vocal about her adoration of the “Anti-Hero” singer and even gave Swift writing credits on both “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” and “Deja Vu” off her 2021 debut.

Asked if she had attended one of Swift’s Eras Tour shows, Rodrigo simply said: “I haven’t yet,” quickly adding that she’d been busy. “I’m going to Europe this week.”

24 Aug 2023

Billy Ray Cyrus & Fiancee Firerose Make Their Red Carpet Debut at the 2023 ACM Honors

It’s (red carpet) official! Billy Ray Cyrus and fianceé Firerose made their red carpet debut — country style — at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Honors in Nashville on Wednesday night (Aug. 23).

The couple stepped out in casual looks, with Cyrus wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, a gray denim button-up shirt and khaki-colored cowboy hat, while Firerose wore all-black layers and added a hint of shimmer with a color-changing sequined bomber jacket and a black 10 gallon hat. The ACM Honors didn’t just serve as a date night for the pair. The soon-to-be husband and wife duo also took the stage of the Ryman Auditorium for a special performance alongside “Strawberry Wine and a Cheap Six Pack” singer Travis Denning.

Cyrus and Firerose’s red-carpet debut comes just days after the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer’s ex-wife, Tish Cyrus, reportedly tied the knot with Prison Break star Dominic Purcell on Aug. 19, in Malibu. (Billy Ray and Tish’s daughter Miley was reportedly the maid of honor at the intimate ceremony, accompanying her mother while walking down the aisle.)

While a wedding date has yet to be confirmed for Billy Ray and Firerose — who met in 2010 on the set of Hannah Montana and began their relationship after a 2021 song collaboration and his split from Tish — the country star confirmed their engagement in November with a statement to People. He said at the time, “She’s the real deal.”

24 Aug 2023

Heather Morris Honors Naya Rivera in Mini ‘Glee’ Reunion on the SAG-AFTRA Picket Line

When the opportunity presented itself for actress Heather Morris to make a bold statement while on the SAG-AFTRA picket line, she certainly took it — and honored late Glee co-star Naya Rivera while doing it.

In a post to her Instagram account on Wednesday (Aug. 23), Morris shared photos of herself and a number of her former Glee co-stars protesting as part of the ongoing strikes from the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writer’s Guild of America (WGA). While many held up official signs from the actors’ labor union, Morris customized her own with an image of her late castmate, paraphrasing one of Rivera’s character Santana Lopez’s most iconic lines from the show: “[The] only straight I am is straight-up broke,” the quote read.

Elsewhere in her gallery of photos, Morris is with her Glee co-stars, including Darren Criss, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Becca Tobin, Vanessa Lengies, Jacob Artist and many others. The group is dancing and protesting in L.A., with Morris simply commenting, “God these humans,” in her caption.

The tribute comes three years after Rivera died at the age of 33 after drowning in Lake Piru, Calif. Morris previously spoke about her relationship with Rivera — as well as the romantic relationship between their characters, Brittany Pierce and Santana — shortly after the actress’ death. “I don’t need to explain what the importance of Santana and Brittany’s relationship was to all of you who are watching because most of you felt like it was your gateway into your current life,” she said in a video at the time. “Most of you felt like it was an inspiration to become your best self. I want you to know that that was never lost on me. It was never lost on Naya.”

The mini Glee reunion came as the WGA entered the 114th day of its strike, while SAG-AFTRA entered its 40th day. While the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and WGA recently re-entered negotiation to try and bring an end to the writers’ strike, the talks quickly fell apart; the WGA said that the AMPTP was not negotiating in good faith, and rather was hosting “a meeting to get us to cave.”

24 Aug 2023

Oliver Anthony Music’s Streams Up 102,741% Since Two Weeks Ago

Just how meteoric has the rise of Oliver Anthony Music been?

From Aug. 11-17, Anthony’s catalog received 32.8 million official on-demand streams in the U.S., according to Luminate.

That’s in stark contrast to Aug. 4-10, when Anthony’s music was streamed 1.2 million times, a 2,606% jump.

But by then, Anthony’s star had begun to rise. “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony’s eventual No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 26, was uploaded to the radiowv YouTube channel Aug. 8, but it was not yet available on other major streaming platforms until Aug. 11. Anthony did, however, have other songs ready to stream, among them “Aint Gotta Dollar,” “Rich Mans Gold,” “Ive Got to Get Sober” and more. Curious listeners gravitated to those songs, pulling Anthony’s streaming count north of 1 million.

Before Aug. 4-10? That’s the number that best illustrates Anthony’s leap from Virginia farmer to a No. 1 song. The July 28-Aug. 3 tracking period saw 32,000 streams for Anthony, making the two-week gain from July 28-Aug. 3 to Aug. 11-17 a 102,741% boost.

The majority of those streams in the latest week – 17.5 million – came from “Rich Men North of Richmond.” But that majority is slim at 53%; 15.4 million streams went to Anthony’s other songs, most of which were available before the official release of “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

Leading that pack was “Aint Gotta Dollar,” which accumulated 3.5 million streams, up 1,222% from 267,000 the previous frame (it was Anthony’s most streamed of the Aug. 4-10 week that saw him earn 1.2 million on-demand clicks in all). Then came “Ive Got to Get Sober” at 2.3 million streams, up from 180,000, a 1,66% boost.

The streams of “Rich Men North of Richmond” were enough to chart the song at No. 4 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs ranking, as well as No. 2 on Country Streaming Songs. And more gains – both for the runaway hit and the rest of Anthony’s catalog – are possible on the Billboard charts dated Sept. 2.

24 Aug 2023

Beyoncé Posts Biggest One-Month Gross in Boxscore History With Renaissance World Tour

Beyoncé crowned May’s Top Tours chart before sliding back to No. 2 in June. Back with a vengeance, she’s at No. 1 for July with record-breaking revenue. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, The Renaissance World Tour earned $127.6 million over 11 shows between July 8-30, claiming the largest one-month sum for any artist since the Boxscore archives began in the mid-1980s.

It’s not Beyoncé’s first time setting Boxscore records with the Renaissance World Tour. When her five-show run at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium grossed $42.2 million, it was noted that it was the highest grossing engagement ever by a woman, a Black artist, or any American artist.

This time around, her enormous earnings require no such qualifications, breaking ground without regard to race, gender, genre or geography. Beyoncé’s $127.6 million passes Bad Bunny’s $123.6 million from last September, claiming the biggest one-month gross since the charts launched in February 2019 – and beyond. Before the monthly charts premiered, no artist had reported earnings of $100 million in a single calendar month.

Beyoncé and Bad Bunny, as well as other stadium headliners such as Harry Styles and The Weeknd, continue to show how contemporary acts have invaded a space once thought to be reserved for classic rock bands. Notably, Taylor Swift has yet to report sales figures for The Eras Tour. The last time she was on the road, she joined Beyoncé with Jay-Z, and Ed Sheeran at the top of the pack of 2018’s year-end rankings.

Beyoncé and Bad Bunny’s $120 million-plus months played out in strikingly similar fashion. Both played five one-night engagements, plus doubleheaders in three cities for a total of 11 shows. Both narrowly sold more than half a million tickets – 503,000 for Beyoncé and 501,000 for Bad Bunny. And both relied on a couple major markets to push them over the edge (and then some). Bad Bunny benefited from shows in Inglewood (the greater Los Angeles area) and Las Vegas, while Beyoncé played high-yield concerts in East Rutherford, N.J. (the greater New York area), and Chicago.

Beyoncé’s two nights at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (July 29-30) brought in $33.1 million and sold 106,000 tickets, enough to reign over Top Boxscores. That makes her the first woman to simultaneously top both lists in exactly four years, dating back to when P!nk led in July 2019.

Queen Bey follows with two dates at Chicago’s Soldier Field, at No. 3 on Top Boxscores with a gross of $30.1 million. Next, she’s at No. 7 with two shows at Toronto’s Roger’s Centre ($18.3 million). There are four more Beyoncé appearances on the chart (Nos. 20, 24, 27, and 30), more than anyone else.

With two months of shows left to report, the Renaissance World Tour is flying at breakneck speed. After conquering Europe with a $150-million run, Beyoncé has made almost as much ($141.4 million) in North America with far fewer shows. Her 12 North American dates (including an Aug. 1 concert in Foxborough, Mass.) have averaged $11.8 million, which is more than double the business that Beyoncé was doing in the U.S. and Canada on 2016’s The Formation World Tour and 2018’s On the Run II Tour with Jay-Z.

Up 60% from the European leg and 112% from her previous peak, Beyoncé’s July Renaissance shows establish a new standard for herself as an artist, and with its monthly record, for everyone on tour.

Through Aug. 1, The Renaissance World Tour has grossed $295.8 million, already Beyoncé’s highest grossing tour yet, passing The Formation World Tour’s $256.1 million. With two months of shows yet to be reported, Billboard expects that total to soar past the half-billion mark.

Beyoncé’s two shows in Chicago pair with an Ed Sheeran date (July 29) to make Soldier Field the top-grossing venue of the month, at No. 1 on Top Stadiums. That chart mirrors the top of Top Boxscores, with Beyoncé and Coldplay fueling the top four spots.

And while Sheeran’s contribution pushes MetLife Stadium to No. 2, the New York market dominates the arena rankings, with Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center at Nos. 1-2 on Top Venues, 15,001+ capacity.

Among venues with a capacity of 5,001-10,000, Red Rocks Amphitheatre earned $16.5 million. Located in Morrison, Colo. (15 miles west of Denver), The Avett Brothers spotlight the iconic amphitheater’s month with three shows, July 7-9, that grossed $2.3 million and sold 28,050 tickets. Tedeschi Trucks Band, Caamp, Zeds Dead and String Cheese Incident each played multiple shows with million-dollar earnings.

The Weeknd follows Beyoncé on Top Tours with a $85.7 million gross, while mounting the highest attendance total of July with 891,000 tickets sold across 15 stadium shows in Europe. Since the monthly charts began in 2019, that total only trails Harry Styles’ 967,000 tickets in June.

Both acts — and Ed Sheeran in third with 749,000 tickets (June 2022) — nabbed their sales highs with extensive runs of European stadium shows, averaging 60,000 or more seats per night. With slightly smaller venues and higher ticket prices, Beyoncé and Bad Bunny’s massive grosses stem from North American legs.

In total, July’s top 30 tours grossed a combined $861.5 million and sold 7.3 million tickets, up .4% and 2%, respectively, from last month’s record-setting figures. While July sported fewer tours with reports above the $10 million and $20 million thresholds, Beyoncé’s monster earnings helped push the total take into uncharted territory.

24 Aug 2023

North West Pays Homage to ‘College Dropout’ Era Kanye West While Traveling With Kim Kardashian

There’s no question about it: North West is her father’s child. The daughter of Kanye “Ye” West and Kim Kardashian traversed the streets of Tokyo in an outfit reminiscent of one her father wore during the promotional tour for his debut studio album, The College Dropout.

In a video posted to her and her mother’s joint TikTok account on Wednesday (Aug. 23), North paired her orange and blue striped long-sleeve polo with an untucked button-up shirt underneath baggy wide-leg gray pants and black boots. She completed her look with a lengthy necklace that recalls her father’s Roc-a-Fella chain. The “All Falls Down” rapper sported a nearly identical ensemble nearly two decades ago during a 2004 appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, replacing North’s white button-up with a green and white striped one.

In her TikTok, North also dances and lip-synchs to a sped-up version of Estelle’s Kanye-featuring “American Boy,” which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2008. Her mother also appears in the TikTok sporting a crop top, pants and sneakers. This College Dropout homage is not the first time that North has looked to her father for fashion inspiration. In July 2022, she wore her dad’s blue Pastelle varsity jacket — which he wore to the 2008 American Music Awards — at Paris Couture Fashion Week.

Check out North’s Kanye-inspired outfit in her TikTok:

24 Aug 2023

Ed Sheeran to Welcome Fall With New Album ‘Autumn Variations’

It’s been just four months since Ed Sheeran unveiled his sixth studio album Subtract in May, but he’s not done yet.

On Thursday (Aug. 24), the superstar revealed that he will be releasing another album, the Aaron Dessner-produced Autumn Variations, via his own Gingerbread Man Records on September 29. The album will come one week after the North American leg of his Mathematics World Tour wraps at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles on September 23.

“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded,” Sheeran explained. “When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”

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Sheeran went on to note that his father and brother introduced him to a composer named Elgar and his Enigma Variations album, which featured 14 compositions inspired by a different friend. “This is what inspired me to make this album,” he shared. “When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

Autumn Variations follows Sheeran’s Subtract, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart upon its release earlier this year. The album also launches at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, with Sheeran’s largest sales week since 2017.