Music News

13 Jun 2023

Justice to Release New Album in 2024

Justice is set to release a new album and go on tour in 2024.

In a recent interview, Ed Banger Records boss Pedro Winter (known to many as the producer Busy P) told the French news outlet France Inter that, “I can tell you right now, they will have a new album and a new tour in 2024” in reference to the pair.

While Winter did not provide additional details about the album’s release date or the corresponding live run, all three of Justice’s previous LPs, dating back to their era-defining 2007 debut, Cross, have been released via Ed Banger.

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The album will mark the first Justice album featuring new music since 2016, when the French electronic pair — Xavier De Rosnay and Gaspard Augè — dropped Woman, which spent a week on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 154. The album also clocked nine weeks on Hot Dance/Electronic Albums, where it peaked at No. 1 in December of 2016.

In 2018 Justice released Woman Worldwide, a remix album incorporating the pair’s entire catalog that reflected the live shows behind the Woman tour, which included than 30 shows — including festival sets at Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, Sonar, Glastonbury, Primavera Sound and Lollapalooza — across 25 months in 2016 and 2017. The album won the Grammy for best dance/electronic album in 2019.

In 2019, a corresponding tour film, IRIS: a Space Opera by Justice, presented a 60-minute version of the tour performance recorded in an empty space, sans audience. The pair’s Augè also released a solo album in 2021.

13 Jun 2023

Billie Eilish Shares Playful Response to Bikini Photo Showing Off Tattoo

Billie Eilish is getting her tan on. In a new summertime photo shared by a friend on Instagram, the 21-year-old pop star basks in the sun while looking stunning in a designer bikini — showing off an edgy tattoo that usually stays hidden.

The photo was shared on Sunday (June 11) by Eilish’s pal Annabel Zimmer (yes, that Zimmer, as in she’s the daughter of Interstellar composer Hans Zimmer). Wearing a patterned Miaou swimsuit top and black Versace sunglasses with her dark hair slicked back, the “Happier Than Ever” singer looks, well, happier than ever smiling up at the sky.

Right underneath the bikini top, the musician’s “Eilish” tattoo, spelled in jagged black letters, peeks through. In the comments, Eilish left one simple emoji in response to the snap: a monkey emoji playfully covering its eyes (?).

Zimmer also shared another off-duty photo of Eilish a week prior. In a June 5 collection of Instagram captures, the Grammy winner cuddles with an orange cat, not realizing that her photo is being taken.

It’s good to see Eilish with a big smile on her face, especially after the star faced a number of comments criticizing her appearance last month. As expected, those people earned a characteristically blunt response from Eilish: “suck my absolute c— and balls you women hating a– weirdos,” she wrote on Instagram Stories at the time.

The “Bad Guy” musician also recently went through a breakup, splitting from The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford after dating for seven months. A rep confirmed the separation in May, adding that the two “remain good friends” and “all cheating rumors are false.”

See Eilish’s bikini photo below.

13 Jun 2023

A New Arena in Palm Springs Is Proving Coachella Valley Can Host Superstars, Too

In the desert east of Los Angeles, the new Acrisure Arena has defied critics and proved to be an oasis of entertainment in Coachella Valley.

Since opening in December, Oak View Group’s new 11,000-capacity venue in Palm Springs, Calif., has grossed $17 million in ticket sales from 10 reported shows, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, earning itself the title of North America’s third-highest-grossing arena under 15,000 seats, according to Billboard Boxscore’s 2023 midyear report. The arena actually had 17 shows during this period, and had it reported them all, its ranking on the Boxscore chart would have been even higher.

It’s an impressive launch, especially considering criticism it received that an arena of its size could not survive in the Coachella Valley, the geographic region of 370,000 residents anchored by Palm Springs in the north and Indio to the south. Not only was the valley already teeming with competitive options, from tribal casino showrooms to festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach, but Southern California was already home to three big-name arenas and an ultra-competitive concert market with little incentive for acts or tourists to make the two-hour drive down I-10 from Los Angeles for a show.

Midyear Boxscores, Top Venues

Midyear Boxscore charts are based on figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Eligible shows played between Nov. 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023.

First is Oak View Group’s relationship with OVG partner Irving Azoff, the super-manager whose ability to bring top-tier talent to the facility netted two shows by Harry Styles, a comedy double-header featuring Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock, two shows from the Eagles and concerts by Taylor Dayne, Lizzo, Journey, Shania Twain and Jimmy Buffett. Adding American Hockey League home games from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Acrisure Arena has welcomed more than 430,000 people through its doors for 72 ticketed events since opening.

While Acrisure Arena is an open building that can work with any promoter, it enjoys a special relationship with Live Nation, which plans to continue to bring top contemporary tours to the venue, says GM John Bolton, who previously worked at SMG and managed the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. In the next six months, Live Nation is bringing some of its strongest tours to Palm Springs, including Peso Pluma (on July 8), Paramore (July 15), Dierks Bentley (Aug. 19), ODEZA (Sept. 20), Sting (Oct. 5), KISS (Nov. 1), Stevie Nicks (Dec. 5) and Madonna (Jan. 11, 2024).

“Part of our success booking artists is that many artists are playing Acrisure Arena on a separate leg of their tour months apart from their L.A. dates,” says Bolton. “There certainly are times when artists will play us after stopping in Orange County or Los Angeles, but in many instances, we’re booking artists as they come across the Southwest and then head into Las Vegas or the Central Valley, making the building very routable.”

Another factor in Acrisure Arena’s success is the building’s innovative, fast-paced, high-touch design. Most seats in the building are in the arena’s lower bowl, which has wide concourses that make moving around the building simple and dramatically decrease time spent waiting in line, thanks to innovative grab-and-go food catering stations. The dozen-plus food concepts inside the arena, as well as those located in an outside common space, feature only a few popular precooked items that reduce prep and wait time.

And while the Coachella Valley population is fairly small, Palm Spring’s year-round marketing efforts attract 14 million visitors to the region each year, including 3 million annually to Palm Springs, according to the city’s conference and visitor’s bureau, accounting for $7.1 billion in spending.

Those visitors include 450,000 Canadians who spend their winters in the area, many of whom support the arena’s Seattle Kraken minor league team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In the team’s first season, it reached the league championships and is currently facing the Hershey Bears in the finals. With a strong year-end calendar, Acrisure Arena will almost certainly land on the Boxscore year-end list and continue to chart new routes in and out of region, changing the way artists tour through the Southwest and generate revenue in the Golden State.

13 Jun 2023

The 1975 Announce Dates for 2023 Fall/Winter N. American Tour

The 1975 announced the dates for their biggest North American tour to date on Tuesday (June 13), a 32-stop outing they’ve dubbed “Still… at their very best.” The fall arena outing continues the tour that has taken the Matty Healy-led band across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand in support of the group’s fifth studio album, last year’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language.

After playing late August/September festival gigs at Lollapalooza (August 4), Outside Lands (August 13), Music Midtown (Sept. 16) and Life Is Beautiful (Sept. 22), the North American dates will kick off on Sept. 26 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The tour will take them to San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Minneapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York (at Madison Square Garden) before winding down on Dec. 2 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Tickets will go be available in an exclusive fan presale beginning on June 21st at 10 a.m. local time before the general on-sale starts on June 23 at 10 a.m. local time. The band celebrated the announcement of the dates by releasing a new episode of their “A Theatrical Performance of an Intimate Moment” series. In the eight-minute clip, singer Healy wakes up, sucks down some oxygen and makes his bed over a jazz soundtrack before brewing some unnecessarily complicated tea and leaving for his job trimming bonsai trees.

See the 2023 North American tour dates and the “Intimate Moment” video below.

Sept. 26 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center

Sept. 28 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center

Sept. 30 – San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena San Diego

Oct. 2 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl

Oct. 5 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena

Oct. 7 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

Oct. 12 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center

Oct. 17 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center

Oct. 18 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena

Oct. 20 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center

Oct. 22 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena

Oct. 23 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Arena

Oct. 25 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center

Oct. 26 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center

Oct. 28 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum

Oct. 31 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Nov. 2 – Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Nov. 3 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

Nov. 5 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena

Nov. 8 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena

Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Well Fargo Arena

Nov. 12 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Nov. 14 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Nov. 17 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre

Nov. 18 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Nov. 20 – London, ON – Budweiser Gardens

Nov. 22 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena

Nov. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – Delta Center

Nov. 27 – Boise, ID – ExtraMile Arena

Nov. 29 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

Dec. 1 – Portland, OR – Moda Center

Dec. 2 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

13 Jun 2023

Hot 100 First-Timers: Roisee Arrives With Metro Boomin & A$AP Rocky Collab ‘Am I Dreaming’

Roisee is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as her new collaboration with Metro Boomin and A$AP Rocky, “Am I Dreaming,” debuts on the ranking (dated June 17) at No. 51.

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The song appears on Metro Boomin’s soundtrack to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was released – along with the film in theaters – June 2. (The set is fully titled Metro Boomin Presents Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.) The track tallied 9.3 million official streams and 2,000 downloads sold in the United States in its opening week, according to Luminate.

The LP debuts at No. 1 on the Soundtracks chart, No. 2 on Top Rap Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned.

(The Sony Animation film opened to more than $120 million and added an estimated $55.4 million for a 10-day domestic tally of $225.4 million — already more than the $190.4 million earned by 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in its entire domestic run. Overseas, the new release earned another $47 million for a foreign cume of $164.5 million and $389.9 million worldwide, also ahead of the first film.)

“Am I Dreaming” (the second song on the soundtrack) isn’t just Roisee’s first Hot 100 hit, but also her first entry on any Billboard chart. It concurrently opens at No. 11 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 17 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (which use the same methodology as the Hot 100) and No. 32 on both Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales. Roisee herself also debuts at No. 25 on the Emerging Artists chart.

The St. Louis native has released several songs previously. She dropped her first track, “Yet Again,” on streaming services in 2017. In 2019, she released her debut LP, Summon the Roisee, via her own Roisee Music Group. On March 17, she served up a five-track EP titled Not for Nothing.

13 Jun 2023

Anita Baker Says She’s Going It Alone on ‘Songstress’ Tour After Alleged Babyface Fan Harassment

Anita Baker has had it. After going on a tweet spree over the past few days decrying the harassment she said she’s been receiving from Babyface’s fans, the “Caught Up in the Rapture” singer announced on Tuesday morning (June 13) that she’s had it.

“After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest/Support Act. In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made. Blessings,” Baker wrote alongside a new tour poster that doesn’t feature her former opener’s name on it.

The tour celebrating Baker’s four decades in the music business that kicked off in Florida in February — and is slated to run through a Dec. 23 show at Oakland Arena — had featured opening support sets from singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. But after Edmonds was unexpectedly cut from a May 10 show at the Prudential Center in New Jersey due to reported technical issues that pushed that night’s start time by two hours, she said his fans have been relentlessly harassing and trolling her.

“I am truly sorry to my fans who have been waiting for us to hit the stage this evening at the Prudential Center,” Babyface wrote at the time. “I was asked not to perform in order to give Ms. Baker her space and time to perform her show in its entirety. My band an I are extremely saddened we didn’t get to perform for y’all tonight.”

In the series of tweets last weekend that stretched into the weekend and then Monday, Baker made it crystal clear that Edmonds was always the opening act and that she is fed up with the alleged taunting from his fans. Dubbing his followers “Kenny’s Crazies,” on Monday Baker made a direct plea to Babyface to stop the madness.

“Dearest one. You are Not, privy to *The Contracts*. Yes, Babyface is Special Guest/Support Act, on My Tour,” she tweeted. “This False Narrative, of A Co-headliner is creating Unrealistic Expectations & Aggression, from his fans towards me. He should tell you guys, the Truth.”

At press time it did not appear that Babyface had reacted to Baker’s tweets and a spokesperson for the singer had not returned a request for comment.

Baker’s tour is a celebration of 40 years in music and the anniversary of her debut album, 1983’s The Songstress. The dates also mark the first time the Ohio native is performing her classics live since winning back the right of her masters in 2021 with the help of Chance the Rapper. The next scheduled date on the tour is June 30 at the United Center in Chicago.

See Baker’s tweet below.

13 Jun 2023

Demi Lovato Explains the ‘Exhausting’ Process That Led to Them Re-Adopting Feminine Pronouns

It’s been two years since Demi Lovato publicly came out as nonbinary, and the star is ready to break their silence on a recent change they made to their pronouns.

In a new interview with GQ Hype Spain, Lovato broke down the reason why she changed her pronouns to she/her and they/them back in August 2022, a little more than a year after she came out publicly. “I constantly had to educate people and explain why I identified with those pronouns. It was absolutely exhausting,” she said in a quote translated from Spanish. “I just got tired. But for that very reason I know that it is important to continue spreading the word.”

During an interview on the Sprout podcast back in August, Lovato announced that they were “feeling more feminine” and had decided to update their pronouns to include she/her. “I felt like, especially last year, my energy was balanced in my masculine and feminine energy,” she said at the time. “I didn’t feel like a woman, I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human.”

In her new interview, though, Lovato expressed their ongoing frustration with the lack of understanding in the wider world for life as a person existing outside the gender binary. “Having to access the women’s bathroom, even though I don’t completely identify with it — I would feel more comfortable in a genderless bathroom,” she said. “Or it also happens when filling out forms … where you have to specify your gender; you only have two options, male and female, and I feel like none of that makes sense to me.”

Still, Lovato said that the strife she’s been through in regards to their gender would be “worth it” if it meant that people “learn more about themselves and feel more comfortable in their skin” thanks to the example she set. “That is the most meaningful thing to me,” they explained. “The safe space I’ve created in the industry is proof of the safe space I’ve created in my life as well. And I think no matter what industry you’re in, you have to be comfortable to evolve.”

13 Jun 2023

Olivia Rodrigo Announces New Single ‘Vampire’: Here’s When It Arrives

Olivia Rodrigo is coming back with a bite. At long last, the 20-year-old pop star has finally unveiled details about her first project since her 2021 multi-platinum debut Sour — a single titled “Vampire,” arriving later this month.

“my new song vampire is out june 30th!” Rodrigo wrote on Instagram Tuesday (June 13). “you can presave now. so excited for this ahhhhh!!!!!!! ????❤️”

The “Deja Vu” singer also shared the single’s cover art, which shows a close-up black-and-white photo of Rodrigo’s side profile. She sports dark lipstick, winged eyeliner and two Band-Aids forming a cross on her neck, signifying the location of a vampire-fang puncture wound. The bandages are edited to be the only part of the photo that’s in-color, a lilac purple shade that matches the cover of Sour.

The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actress also posted a slightly longer note on her website, where the digital single is available for pre-save and physical copies are available for pre-order.

“Hi guys!” the note reads. “Im so excited to announce that my new single ‘vampire’ is coming out June 30th!… so excited for this new chapter. thank you so much for all your support. love always, Liv.”

Both the CD and vinyl — which is tinted a bright blood red — include “Vampire” as well as the track’s first demo, according to Rodrigo’s online store. Also on the store, the cover art boasts a Parental Advisory: Explicit Content sticker.

Fans have suspected for weeks that Rodrigo’s highly anticipated next move would be set into motion on June 30, especially after a mysterious timer counting down to that date appeared on her website. The expiration date on her “drivers license” Spotify graphic was also altered recently to read “6-30.”

“Vampire” will serve as Rodrigo’s followup to her record-breaking debut effort Sour, which featured two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits (“Drivers License” and “Good 4 U”). In June last year, the album became the longest-running debut record this century to remain in the Billboard 200 top 10 at more than 52 weeks.

“By focusing on intimate storytelling, crafting iconic choruses, and effortlessly building a passionate fandom, Rodrigo has ascended to the very pinnacle of pop,” reads a press release for “Vampire.” “Her music has become an integral part of this era’s soundtrack. With ‘vampire,’ she is poised to begin an exciting new chapter.”

See Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” announcement below:

13 Jun 2023

Stray Kids Thank Fans for Helping ‘5-STAR’ Hit No. 1 on Billboard 200: ‘We Are Truly Humbled’

It’s a royal flush for Stray Kids, as the K-pop group scored its third No. 1 album in a row with the June 2 arrival of its latest album, 5-STAR. To celebrate, members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. shared a message with fans via Billboard on Tuesday (June 13) thanking them for their support.

Bang Chan kicked off the video with the announcement of the album’s chart placement. “We have heard some very excited news. It looks like we ranked No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200 chart!” the rapper said, causing the rest of the group to erupt in cheers.

Felix added, “I mean, to us this is actually so mind blowing because even thinking about it, because it was only about a year ago since we’ve debuted at No. 1 on the chart and now we’re celebrating our third consecutive No. 1. Thank you so much STAY. Three times in a row! Three times.”

Seungmin followed and also gave STAY a shoutout of his own. “We would like to thank everyone who has been listening to our music and Billboard, and especially STAY for gifting us with this amazing achievement,” he said. “We are truly humbled, thank you.

“Another big thank you to STAYs and everyone. We are going to continue to create even more better Stray Kids music so please keep your eyes out for us. Thank you everyone,” Bang Chan concluded.

5-STAR follows Stray Kids’ previous Billboard 200 No. 1s: Oddinary and Maxident, both released in 2022.

See Stray Kids’ message to STAY below.

13 Jun 2023

BTS Celebrates 10th Anniversary With ‘Take Two’ Live Performance: Watch

Multiplatinum-selling Grammy-nominated K-pop phenomenon BTS is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and to commemorate the milestone, the Bangtan Boys on Tuesday (June 13) gifted fans a live performance music video for their latest single “Take Two,” which they released last week (June 9) in celebration of their anniversary.

Decked out in a fashionable collection of pastel sweaters and jackets, BTS delivered a heartfelt rendition of “Take Two” that emphasized their chemistry as bandmates as well as their collective vocal ability. In the music video, the group alternated between sitting and standing in front of a wall cast in gorgeous purple light, the group’s signature color. “Need you here tonight/ Oh, we young forever,” Jung Kook crooned in the song’s outro.

BTS also treated fans to individual “focus” clips that feature cropped footage specifically highlighting each of the group’s seven members.

“Take Two” serves as BTS’ second musical release of the year; on May 12, the boys released “The Planet,” a single for the Bastions soundtrack. “Take Two” is just one part of a massive celebration to commemorate BTS’ longevity. The BTS 10th Anniversary FESTA will kick off on June 17 in Seoul, South Korea. The event, which will be open to the public and held on Yeouido, is set to turn the entire country purple — from Dongdaemun Design Plaza to the Lotte World Tower.

Since the group’s arrival on the music scene a decade ago, BTS has become a dominant musical act. They have earned six No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including the Grammy-nominated singles “Dynamite” and “Butter.” On the Billboard 200, the group has scored six No. 1 titles in just five years.

Check out the “Take Two” live performance video above