Music News

10 Apr 2023

Here’s Why Taylor Swift Fans Think She Hinted at Her Split From Joe Alwyn at Texas Show

In Swifties’ defense, they have none for never leaving well enough alone — but it would’ve been fun, if he would’ve been the one. Fans are convinced that Taylor Swift hinted at her breakup from Joe Alwyn nearly two weeks before reports hit Saturday (April 8) when she substituted one Folklore song for another in her Eras Tour setlist, replacing “Invisible String” with “The 1.”

The switch happened at her March 31 concert in Arlington, Texas, at the midway point in her three-hour set. In switching gears from her Red era to Folklore, the pop star typically sings “Invisible String,” a folksy love song that is believed to give details of her six-year romance with Alwyn.

This time, though, instead of the track about being destined by fate for an eternity of togetherness, she sang “The 1,” which has pretty much the exact opposite message. “If you wanted me, you really should’ve showed,” Swift sings on Folklore‘s lead track. “It would’ve been fun, if you would’ve been the one.”

“You think you can just scroll and know the setlist,” she teased the crowd at the time in fan captured video. “Let it be said about the Eras Tour, we’re tricksy. We have got healthy setlist hijinks.”

At the time, that’s all it seemed to be: setlist hijinks. But flash forward to Saturday, when various publications reported the internet-shattering news that the “Anti-Hero” singer had split from Alwyn — who assisted in writing songs on Folklore and Evermore –and the song switch started to take on a lot more meaning for some fans. (Billboard reached out to both Swift’s and Alwyn’s reps for comment when news of their split broke, but have not heard back.)

“Hold on cause taylor switched from invisible string (a song about hopeful love) to the 1 (a song about past love) on the set list…,” tweeted one Swiftie after finding out about the breakup.

“i knew it as soon as she replaced invisible string with the 1,” wrote another, unsurprised by the breakup news.

Swift and the Favourite actor first started dating in 2016, and mostly kept a low profile. During their six years together, they rarely made public outings. They did, however, speak lovingly about each other in occasional interviews, and the 12-time Grammy winner opened up about falling in love with Alwyn in her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.

See fans’ tweets about the “Invisible String” to “The 1” theory below:

10 Apr 2023

Bodies of Lotus Drummer Chuck Morris & Son Found a Month After Disappearance on Kayaking Trip

After a nearly month-long intensive search, authorities announced on Sunday (April 9) that they found the bodies of Lotus percussionist Chuck Morris and his 20-year-old son, Charley, who went missing last month during a kayaking trip in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

According to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, the bodies of the father and son were found 24 days after they went missing on March 16. The Sheriff’s Office announced the news in a FB post, in which they wrote that the effort began last month in the South Lost Bridge Village of Beaver Lake, utilizing resources from across the country, including an underwater drone “in a challenging environment that exceeded depths of 180′.”

“After 24 days of recovery efforts, the bodies of both Charles Morris IV (Chuck-Father) and Charles Morris V (Charley-son) have been recovered thanks to the technology and efforts by all personnel,” the post read.

On March 21, the band announced that the search for the pair had shifted to a recovery effort. “We were all hoping for a miracle, but at this point, the search for Chuck and Charley has moved to a recovery,” they wrote at the time. “With help from the K9 team, there is a probable location on the lake, but logistical challenges including temperature, weather, and depth have prevented a recovery thus far. It is unknown how long these efforts may take. While we are deeply grieving, we plan to celebrate Chuck and Charley’s lives, our memories with them, and what they meant to so many people.”

In a tribute post on Sunday, the group shared a message from the Morris family that read, “Our family was informed by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office that Charley Morris has been found. We have concluded the cause of his death was drowning. The teams are still actively searching for Chuck Morris, but we continue to have faith in their work.”

Formed in the late ’90s, Lotus was a favorite on the North American jam and electronic circuits, playing clubs shows and festivals including Camp Bisco, Gem & Jam and Okeechobee, along with major venues including Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Terminal 5 in New York City.

Lotus had already played a number of shows this year, with more club and festival dates booked through September; at press time it was unclear if Lotus will perform all those gigs in the wake of Morris’ death. The group’s next scheduled shows are a pair of benefit concerts for the Morris family on April 21 and 22 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Colorado; another benefit show will take place at XL Live in Harrisburg, PA on May 5, with a fourth slated for May 6 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

The tribute post noted the concerts and a GoFundMe for the family to meet their immediate financial needs. “Thank you all for the outpour of support from around the world – we feel it and love you just as much!” they wrote. “We look forward to meeting many of the Lotus fans at the upcoming benefit concerts.”

Check out the band’s tribute below.

10 Apr 2023

Roger Daltrey Says The Who May Never Tour the U.S. Again: ‘It’s Very Doubtful’

The Who may have played their last-ever U.S. dates. The veteran Rock and Roll Hall of Famers who’ve been taking their closing curtain calls since their “final” show in 1982 may actually be done playing shows in the U.S. according to singer Roger Daltrey.

While the band has some more Who Hits Back shows boked in Europe this summer, Daltrey, 79, told USA Today that another hop across the ocean might be out of the question. “Nothing at the moment. I don’t know if we’ll ever come back to tour America,” said Daltrey. “There is only one tour we could do, an orchestrated Quadrophenia to round out the catalog. But that’s one tall order to sing that piece of music, as I’ll be 80 next year. I never say never, but at the moment it’s very doubtful.”

As far as what might finally slow the band down, Daltrey said the chaos of the post-pandemic touring economy is a huge reason. “Touring has become very difficult since COVID. We cannot get insured and most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards $600,000 to a million in the hole,” he said of the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns on touring.

“To earn that back, if you’re doing a 12-show run, you don’t start to earn it back until the seventh or eighth show,” Daltrey explained. “That’s just how the business works. The trouble now is if you get COVID after the first show, you’ve (lost) that money.”

The Who just released the live collection The Who with Orchestra: Live at Wembley, a 20-song chronicle of their 2019 show at the iconic stadium, which marked their first headlining slot there in 40 years. And while Daltrey said the band was in perhaps its finest form ever at the moment, some of their signature bits don’t have quite the same pop as they did a half century ago.

“Pete can’t quite jump 10 foot in the air anymore. He can do 3 foot, so he’s not bad! (Laughs),” he said of the band’s guitarist and only remaining original member. “I don’t swing the microphone hardly at all now because it doesn’t matter to the sound anymore. Before, when all of those things used to work, it was a circus act. We’re more than that now. I’m proud that our music has come of age and I think you could say this is the most modern classical music out there.”

The Who will hit the road again on June 14 with a gig in Barcelona, Spain and on a Euro run that is currently slated to run through an August 28 show in Sandringham, England at the Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

10 Apr 2023

BTS’ Suga Reveals Tracklist For Agust D ‘D-DAY’ Solo Album, Including J-Hope Feature

BTS‘ Suga finally dropped the full track list for his anticipated full-length solo debut under his alter ego Agust D on Monday (April 10). The 10-song album due out on April 21 opens with the collection’s title track, “D-Day” (produced by Vincent “Invincible” Watson and 2Live) and also features “Haegeum (produced by Agust D), “HUH?!” (produced by Agust D and El Capitxn, co-written by J-Hope), and “Amygdala” (produced by El Capitxn). The album’s second half includes a collaboration with recently deceased Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The second half of the collection features “SDL” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), pre-release single “People Pt. 2 (feat. IU) (produced by El Capitxn), “Polar Night” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), “Interlude: Dawn” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), “Snooze (feat. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Kim Woosung of The Rose) (produced by El Capitxn) and “Life Goes On” (produced by El Capitxn); the final track is one of two featuring a co-writing credit for J-Hope).

Speaking to Billboard about the album last week, Suga said he doesn’t have a “different mindset” when releasing music solo as Agust D or as Suga in BTS, explaining that, “Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, ‘People Pt.2’ was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.”

The singer added that “Pt. 2” deals with seeking connection and fighting loneliness, whereas the first part of the song, “People,” from the 2020 D-2 mixtape looked externally to other people’s judgements.

“I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview,” he said. “Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside… This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a ‘Part 3’ later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, ‘Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.’”

09 Apr 2023

Jack Black Drops Music Video for ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Song ‘Peaches’

Jack Black‘s music video for his Super Mario Bros. Movie ballad is peach perfection.

Black, all decked out in a Bowser-green suit and seated at a peach piano in a peach room, croons an ode to Princess Peach in the colorful clip. A framed photo of Peach sits atop his piano, along with a bowl of peaches.

Black is the voice of Bowser in Illumination and Universal’s Nintendo video game adaptation, which hit movie theaters this weekend. The Super Mario Bros. Movie scored the top global launch ever for an animated pic, and the second-best ever domestically, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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The music video for “Peaches” was directed by Cole Bennett, who says Black’s suit was both Bowser and Elton John-inspired.

Watch “Peaches” below, as well as a behind-the-scenes clip of the making of the music video.

09 Apr 2023

Jamie Lee Curtis Shows Support for Karol G Over ‘Disrespectful’ Magazine Cover: ‘We Are Not AI’

Jamie Lee Curtis is applauding Karol G for calling out her GQ Mexico magazine cover that the Colombian star alleges was photoshopped.

“Today my GQ magazine cover was made public, a cover with an image that does not represent me,” Karol G had posted on Instagram Thursday (April 6), with the cover image shown next to a selfie. “My face doesn’t look like that, my body doesn’t look like that and I feel very happy and comfortable with how I look naturally. I understand the repercussions this can have, but beyond feeling it’s disrespectful to me, it’s disrespectful to women who wake up looking to feel comfortable with themselves despite society’s stereotypes.”

On Sunday, Curtis shared the magazine cover and the singer’s comments on her own Instagram account, bringing the conversation over to her fans.

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“I’m so happy that @karolg is bringing awareness to an issue I have been concerned about for a long time,” Curtis. “We are human beings. We are not AI and this genocide against what is naturally beautiful is alarming and needs to be talked about.”

The Everything Everywhere All at Once actress added that she, Justine Bateman and Andie MacDowell have been vocal about this issue previously, and that she’s “very encouraged that a younger person is joining the chorus of disapproval. The cosmeceutical industrial complex wants you to look in the mirror and hate yourself and then buy their bulls—.”

Karol G’s history-making Mañana Será Bonito debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last month. It became the first No. 1 for her on the chart, and it marked the first time that an all-Spanish-language album by a woman topped the list.

See Jamie Lee Curtis’ post below.

09 Apr 2023

Fans Choose Suga’s ‘People Pt. 2’ Featuring IU as This Week’s Favorite New Music

Suga‘s latest solo song “People Pt. 2,” featuring IU, has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (April 7) on Billboard, choosing the BTS rapper’s D-Day album track as their favorite new music release of the past week.

“People Pt. 2” brought in 96% of the vote, beating out new music by Labrinth featuring Billie Eilish (“Never Felt So Alone”), Drake (“Search & Rescue”), Youngboy Never Broke Again featuring Nicki Minaj (“WTF”), NF (Hope), and others.

“People Pt. 2” is the follow-up to Suga’s “People,” which originally appeared on his second mixtape, 2020’s D-2. It’s hardly the first time he has teamed up with IU, who released her track “Eight” that same year with Suga on vocals and song production.

The new song also serves as the lead single from Suga’s debut solo album, D-Day, which is scheduled for release on April 21 under the name Agust D.

D-Day marks the final release of Suga’s mixtape trilogy. The rapper-dancer’s debut mixtape, Agust D, arrived in 2016, highlighting his hardcore rap and underground influences with help from writer-producers Slow Rabbit, June, Pdogg and Supreme Boi. He followed up with D-2, which charted at No. 9 on the Top Rap Albums chart and No. 11 on the Billboard 200.

Trailing behind Suga on the fan-voted poll was Labrinth and Eilish’s “Never Felt So Alone,” with 1.3% of the vote. The track was featured in Euphoria‘s second season in 2019, but had remained unreleased since the show’s latest installment dropped on HBO Max last year.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

09 Apr 2023

Ian Bairnson, Guitarist for Alan Parsons Project and Kate Bush, Dies at 69

Ian Bairnson, guitarist for the Alan Parsons Project who also performed on albums by Kate Bush, has died. He was 69.

The Scottish-born musician passed away on Friday (April 7) after a “long battle with dementia,” his wife, Leila Bairnson, announced through social media (via The Guardian).

“Ian was the sweetest, kindest, loving husband I could ever have wished for and I take comfort that he is resting now up there in his very own piece of ‘Blue Blue Sky,’” Leila wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday (April 8). “Although Ian has left us, his musical legacy stays with us and will continue to delight and brighten our lives, as it did his, forever.”

She continued, “I would like to thank the doctors and nurses at Frimley Park Hospital, the managers and carers at Lynwood Care Home and our families and close friends for the love and support they have provided us during these challenging years of Ian’s long battle with dementia.”

Bairnson, who was born in Shetland, was a session musician before joining Scottish band Pilot in 1973. He went on to become guitarist for the Alan Parsons Project, beginning with the group’s 1975 debut album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, through 1990’s Freudiana. Decades later, he continued performing on Parsons’ solo projects, most recently on his 2019 album, The Secret.

Parsons remembered his former bandmate in a touching tribute through Facebook on Saturday.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of my good friend and musical icon, Ian Bairnson,” Parsons wrote in his lengthy message. “I have always considered Ian a musical genius. It was a great pleasure to have him participate on every album by The Alan Parsons Project and several other albums under my name since. He has played with many other talented artists as well throughout his incredible career.”

Bairnson was also featured on Bush’s 1978 album, The Kick Inside, delivering the guitar solo on “Wuthering Heights.” He also appeared on the U.K. pop icon’s albums Lionheart (1978), Never for Ever (1980), and The Dreaming (1982).

Elsewhere during his career, Bairnson played as a session musician on projects by Joe Cocker, Yes’ Jon Anderson and Mick Fleetwood, according to Rolling Stone. He also toured with artists like Sting and Eric Clapton, among others.

09 Apr 2023

Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Notches Fifth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time continues to cruise at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as the album spends a fifth straight and total week atop chart (dated April 15). The set earned 173,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending April 6 (down 12%), according to Luminate. One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated March 18 and has held in place ever since.

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Across Wallen’s two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album, he has now spent a total of 15 weeks atop the chart. That surpasses Bad Bunny for the second-most weeks at No. 1 this decade. Only Taylor Swift has more weeks at No. 1 since the start of 2020, with 20 total.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 chart, Melanie Martinez scores her highest-charting album yet with the No. 2 debut of Portals, Tyler, the Creator’s former No. 1 Call Me If You Get Lost surges 137-3 after its deluxe reissue with eight additional songs and supergroup Boygenius starts at No. 4 with its first full-length studio album (and major label debut), The Record.

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 April 15, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (April 11). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 6, SEA units comprise 162,000 (down 9%, equaling 215.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 8,000 (down 53%) and TEA units comprise 3,000 (down 6%).

Martinez logs her highest-charting album yet on the Billboard 200, as her new studio effort Portals opens at No. 2. The set earned 142,000 equivalent album units, her biggest week ever by units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 99,000 (her largest sales week ever), SEA units comprise 42,000 (equaling 60.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, her largest streaming week ever) and TEA units comprise 1,000 units.

In total, Portals marks Martinez’s third top 10-charting set, following K-12 (No. 3 peak in 2019) and Cry Baby (No. 6 in 2015).

The new album was previewed by the songs “Void” (the set’s official first single) and “Death,” both of which have reached the top 40 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, while “Death” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 1 at No. 95. The latter debut is Martinez’s first appearance on the Hot 100 since 2012, and the first time she’s charted with anything that wasn’t part of her run as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice. (Her two previous entries on the Hot 100 were both covers from the reality competition show.)

Portals’ sizable first-week sales of 99,000 was supported by 21 different physical variants of the album — six vinyl LPs, 14 CDs and one cassette. The audio content across all of the editions is the same; the variations are mostly distinguished by their packaging (including color vinyl editions, alternative covers, a signed CD and four deluxe boxed sets with either a tank top or a shirt along with a CD).

Tyler, the Creator’s chart-topping Call Me If You Get Lost jumps from No. 137 to No. 3 following its deluxe reissue on March 31. The set, first released in 2021, was reintroduced to the market with eight additional songs (dubbed the Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale edition). All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.

In total, Call Me If You Get Lost earned 68,000 equivalent album units for the week, up 617%. The bulk of that sum was driven by SEA activity: 57,000 (up 734%, equaling 77.97 million on-demand official streams of all of the set’s songs, old and new). The set also sold 11,000 copies, including digital download and CD editions of the new deluxe version (though the CD is exclusively sold through the artist’s webstore at this time).

Call Me If You Get Lost was last in the top 10 almost a year ago, on the April 30, 2022-dated chart, when the album zoomed 120-1 after its belated release on vinyl pushed it back to the top. It first led in July 2021 upon its debut.

Rock supergroup Boygenius sees its debut full-length studio album — and major label debut — The Record launch at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The trio comprises Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The set starts with 67,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000, SEA units comprise 14,000 (equaling 18.17 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The Record was previewed by a trio of charting songs on Billboard’s tallies: “Emily I’m Sorry,” “Not Strong Enough” and “$20.” The latter two charted on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart (with “Not Strong Enough” hitting the top 10 on the April 15-dated list), while the former two both reached Hot Rock & Alternative Songs.

The Record was supported largely by vinyl sales. Of the album’s overall first-week units, vinyl sales represented 67% of the total sum (45,000 of 67,000). And, of the album’s traditional album sales number, vinyl accounts for 85% of the total (45,000 of 53,000). The Record was available in eight different-colored vinyl variants, including exclusives for indie stores, Target and Urban Outfitters.

SZA’s former No. 1 SOS is a non-mover at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8%), Swift’s chart-topping Midnights rises 7-6 with 61,000 (up 5%) and Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old dips 4-7 with 54,000 (down 46% in its second week). Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 9-8 with 45,000 (up 3%), Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 Heroes & Villains falls 8-9 with 42,000 (down 7%), and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. drops 3-10 with 38,000 (down 67% in its second week).

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.

09 Apr 2023

Jonas Brothers Perform New Song ‘Waffle House,’ Debut ‘Walls’ on ‘SNL’: Watch

The Jonas Brothers previewed new songs from their upcoming release, The Album, during Saturday Night Live on April 8.

The trio opened with their catchy new single “Waffle House” and followed with the debut live performance of “Walls,” featuring Jon Bellion. Both performances were backed by a choir and featured Joe Jonas center stage, flanked by his brothers Nick and Kevin.

“Waffle House” is the second single off the Jonas Brothers’ forthcoming ’70s-inspired studio set, The Album. It follows the soaring lead single “Wings.” The project is scheduled for release on May 12 through Republic Records.

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“‘Waffle House’ was born from a simple but powerful idea: When you sit down with the people that matter most, anything is possible. This song isn’t about a restaurant, it’s about coming together with the people you love and making your dreams come true,” the siblings said in a statement about the track.

Molly Shannon, who reprised her character Sally O’Malley for a sketch featuring the JoBros, served as host during the April 8 episode of SNL.

Earlier in the week, the Jonas Brothers announced that they’re headed to Yankee Stadium in New York for a special, one-night-only concert on Aug. 12. The three-piece will perform their five albums during the show, including their upcoming sixth studio set.

Watch Jonas Brothers’ SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.