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Natti Natasha, Yahritza Y Su Esencia & More: What’s Your Favorite New Latin Music Release? Vote!

This week, our New Music Latin roundup — a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by the Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors each week — is powered by new music from Natti Natasha, Becky G and Peso Pluma, and Yahritza Y Su Esencia, to name a few.

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The list includes Natti Natasha’s “Algarete,” a risqué reggaeton track about the joy and thrill that comes from letting loose. “It’s a song that I dedicate to those who, although they no longer have the same opportunity to go out as before, when they do, they have the chance to relive their years of intense partying. With this track, the nights in Paris really inspired me and you can feel the same vibe I felt when I first got the idea for the song,” she said in a statement.

Also on the list are new collaborations such as Becky G and up-and-comer Peso Pluma, who team up for “Chanel.” In this track, Becky further testifies her genre versatility. With a voice well laid back, or bien tumbada, and an octave deeper than usual, the Inglewood star leaves the past behind her and pushes forward with lyrics that express better days ahead. The song is Becky G’s first single from an upcoming all-regional mexicano album she’s set to release later this year with more collaborations to be announced soon.

Additionally, Gaby Moreno reels in renowned actor Oscar Isaac into music to serenade fans with a touching interpretation of the Guatemalan classic “Luna de Xelajú”. The single is the lead track from Moreno’s upcoming acoustic album X MÍ (VOL. 1) to be released on May 5. The duet intertwines their voices to give a profound and soulful acoustic performance of the classic written in 1944 by Paco Perez that has become a second anthem of their country.

Vote for your new favorite release below, followed by our weekly New Music Latin playlist:

Lauren London Marks 4th Anniversary of Nipsey Hussle’s Death: ‘Nothing Was Ever the Same’

Lauren London honored the late Nipsey Hussle on the fourth anniversary of his death on Friday (March 31) with a touching post on social media.

The You People actress, who was in a relationship with Hussle from 2013 until his murder in 2019, posted a pair of stark black-and-white portraits of the South Central Los Angeles native on her Instagram feed, writing, “I hold my breath all of March knowing I have to face the memory of the day you transitioned…. Holding on to ancient wisdom but the pain is the pain and nothing was ever the same… Eternal Being… Ermias Asghedom… I Love You.”

London then quoted a passage about death from the sacred writings of the Baha’i faith, adding, “‘To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird. We see that without the cage this bird flies in the world of sleep; therefore, if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist. Its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness increased. In truth, from hell it reaches a paradise of delights because for the thankful birds there is no paradise greater than freedom.’”

In February, Nipsey’s killer received a sentence of 60 years to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder for gunning down the “Grinding All My Life” rapper outside his Crenshaw neighborhood clothing store the Marathon. Since his death, Hussle has been honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is being memorialized in a new Hulu documentary.

Read London’s tribute to Hussle’s memory below.

Eladio Carrión Shares How Lil Wayne Influenced His Rapping Style

Eladio Carrión has been keeping it lit. He is freshly off releasing a Billboard-charting album 3MEN2 KBRN (pronounced tremendo cabrón), preparing his first ever festival Sauce Boyz Fest and plotting a national tour, which includes a stop at Coachella.

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While in Austin for his Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW performance earlier this month, the Puerto Rican rapper sat down with Leila Cobo, chief content officer of Billboard Latin/Español, to discuss his history and latest whereabouts.

Tremendo cabrón because this album has all the cabrones,” says Cobo, congratulating the artist for his star-studded release, which includes guests such as Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Future, Fivio Foreign, Bad Bunny and more.

“We really got to get my favorite artists on this album. This one is a very special album for me and my team,” says Carrión. “[Lil Wayne] is one of my favorite rappers,” says Carrión. “He’s the reason why I don’t wait every four bars for a punchline. Every bar can have a punchline. Wayne used to do it, so I do it.” (The “A Milli” rapper starred on Carrión’s remix for “Gladiador.”)

The Latin trap star mentions that there was never a Plan B for the album, “If Plan A does not happen, let’s wait until it does. Plan A until the end of the world.”

Born in Kansas City, the Puerto Rican, whose father was in the Army, moved around often during his youth, from Hawaii to Baltimore and Alaska. And before he became a rapper, he was a comedian as well as a songwriter to other artists. “There came a point when I just wasn’t satisfied [writing for others] when the music came out,” he reveals. “I was just giving them a piece of me, and it was some personal stuff, it was like, ‘D–n, he didn’t go through that, I went through that. I want to tell my story.’” 

Carrión discovered his love for the stage, saying that performing is a big part of what made him fall in love with being an artist and wanting to be an artist. He also tells Cobo to expect big surprises for his Coachella gig, which will take place the weekends of April 14 and April 21.

On May 18-20, the rapper will kick off his first-ever festival in Puerto Rico, and to expect performances from Argentine giants Bizarrap and Duki, as well as Dominican dembow performer Tokischa.

This week, his 3MEN2 KBRN album debuted at No. 3 on Top Latin Albums Chart, and reached No. 16 on Billboard 200.

Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Eladio Carrión above.

Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen Signal Shift at Radio With Multiple Country Airplay Chart Hits at Once

Luke Combs, whose new LP, Gettin’ Old, was released March 24 on River House/Columbia Nashville, places six titles, all from the set, on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated April 8).

Dating to the ranking’s 1990 inception, Combs ties the record for the most titles in the tally’s top 60 by a single artist at once, excluding holiday fare. The feat has been achieved just five times – and now twice within a month, as Morgan Wallen logged six on the March 18 survey, concurrent with the chart launch of his new album, One Thing at a Time (on Big Loud/Mercury Republic).

Before that, Blake Shelton last earned the honor in 2017, following Kenny Chesney in 2008 and Garth Brooks in 1997.

Combs’ 15th Country Airplay No. 1, “Going, Going, Gone,” which led the list for two frames in March, ranks at No. 4, with 23.6 million impressions March 24-30, according to Luminate. His others (all debuts) on the current chart: “Five Leaf Clover” (No. 48); “Love You Anyway” (No. 49); “Still” (No. 57); “Growin’ Up and Getting’ Old” (No. 58) and “Hannah Ford Road” (No. 59).

Also on the newest Country Airplay chart, Wallen boasts two tracks scaling the top 20: promoted country single “One Thing at a Time” (18-13; 13.8 million, up 18%) and pop/country hit, and former Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “Last Night” (22-18; 10.2 million, up 28%). (The latter concurrently pushes 24-23 on Adult Pop Airplay and 26-24 on Pop Airplay.)

For a format accustomed to acts climbing Country Airplay with one single over months, Steve Hodges, Sony Music Nashville executive vice president says, “Radio seems to realize the value of exposing more than just one song at a time from a superstar artist.”

“I’m excited to see radio continuing to invest in our format’s core artists,” muses Big Loud vp of promotion Ali Matkosky. “In a time where listeners are pointing out daily what they want to hear [via streaming services], it makes more and more sense to lean into that data.”

‘Country’ Hit

Elsewhere, Tyler Hubbard notches his second Country Airplay top 10 as a soloist, as “Dancin’ in the Country” twirls 12-10 (17 million, up 23%).

The song follows “5 Foot 9,” which led for a week last November.

Florida Georgia Line, comprising Hubbard and Brian Kelley, has posted 19 Country Airplay top 10s, including 16 No. 1s.

The Cure’s Robert Smith Warns Fans of Ticketmaster ‘Scalper Scam’

Robert Smith continued to blast Ticketmaster on Thursday night (March 30), taking to Twitter to warn fans of a scam in which scalpers offer to sell account login details.

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“BEWARE ANOTHER SCALPER SCAM: OFFERING TO SELL/SEND ACCOUNT LOGIN DETAILS TO GET AROUND TM TRANSFER LIMITATIONS… ANY/ALL TICKETS OBTAINED IN THIS WAY WILL BE CANCELED, AND ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED,” he wrote, adding that the fees from those tickets will be donated to human rights organization Amnesty International. The Cure frontman, however, did not share plans to regulate and spot the scammers.

As the band gears up for its first trek in seven years, The Lost World North American Tour, The Cure had hoped to keep seat-buying fair and simple for their fans by opting out of dynamic pricing and shielding against scalpers with non-transferable tickets. But when the sale opened mid-March, customers were disappointed to find that the Ticketmaster had tacked on sky-high fees to tickets that totaled more than the price of the actual tickets themselves.

At the time, Smith went on a similarly all-caps Twitter rant, writing that he was “AS SICKENED AS YOU ALL ARE BY TODAY’S TICKETMASTER ‘FEES’ DEBACLE” before promising to investigate what went wrong. Soon after, he took to social media again to announce that Ticketmaster would be offering refunds and lower fees.

Hear Exclusive SXM Festival 2023 Sets From Dubfire, Francesca Lombardo & Tony y Not

SXM Festival thumped back to life on the island of St. Martin on March 8-13. The lineup included Black Coffee, Marco Carola, DJ Tennis and Carlita performing together as Astra Club, Yokoo, Camelphat, Mochaak, Gordo and other house and techno producers from around the world.

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Anyone who’s been will attest that dancing barefoot in the sand while the sun rises over the Caribbean is truly a special experience. But whether or not you were on the island for the fest, we’re bringing those sea breezes and beats to your earholes via three exclusive SXM 2023 sets from Iranian legend Dubfire, Italian star Francesca Lombardo and rising German artist Tony y Not.

Dubfire delivers a pristine and wide-ranging three-hour performance spanning house, deep house, electro, progressive and more. Lombardo’s two-hour set bumps to life from the jump with Mr. Flip’s bouncy 2022 track “Da Boogie,” which she follows with all variations of house music, from deep to tribal to piano. Tony y Not offers two hours of music that digs deep into the experimental, hypnotic realms of electronic music. Listen to the trifecta of sets below.

Together, all three artists capture the festival’s steamy atmosphere complemented by both its tunes and its tropical locations, which this year included a private jungle, the beach, a villa and a beach club. Since launching in 2016 on St. Martin — a territory of both France and The Netherlands — SXM has drawn fans from more than 35 countries.

Check out their sets below:

Dubfire

Francesca Lombardo

Tony y Not

Taylor Swift Given Key to City & Street Name in Her Honor Ahead of Arlington Concerts

Arlington, Texas, is pulling out all the stops for Taylor Swift‘s upcoming concerts this weekend. In celebration of the the trio of Eras Tour shows coming to AT&T Stadium March 31-April 2, the city is welcoming Swifties with a number of fun attractions and events, from a new street called “Taylor Swift Way” to a Tay-themed pet adoption spree.

A sneak peek at the Eras Tour preparations was posted to Arlington’s official Twitter account, showing off photos of the “Taylor Swift Way” street sign, light-up star posts lit red in celebration of Swift’s signature color, and a key to the city dedicated to the “Anti-Hero” singer.

“Arlington is ‘Enchanted’ to welcome Taylor Swift to @ATTStadium for The Eras Tour and has put together some fun ways for our Swifties to celebrate the singer’s 5th visit to The #AmericanDreamCity,” the city’s tweet read.

In a press release, Arlington officially put its cowboy hat in the ring to compete for the title of Swift’s biggest fan city, a “friendly competition” between Glendale, Ariz., which temporarily renamed itself to Swift City ahead of the pop star’s kickoff concerts in State Farm Stadium, and Las Vegas, which lit its Gateway Arches with colors corresponding to each of the Grammy winner’s 10 albums before her shows at Allegiant Stadium.

“Didn’t snag tickets to one of the shows?” added the release. “Arlington Animal Services hopes to help mourning Swifties ‘Shake It Off’ with an adoption special honoring the famous cat-mom. Residents can adopt a new best friend for $40, in honor of Swift’s 40 Top 10 Hits, during The Eras Adoption Special. VIP pets have a $9 adoption fee in honor of Swift’s 9 No. 1 Hits.”

See Arlington’s Eras Tour events below:

New FBI Docs Reveal Route 91 Harvest Fest Mass Shooter Was Upset About Treatment at Casinos

The man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history was upset that he wasn’t receiving the high-roller treatment he expected from Las Vegas casinos. According to the Associated Press, the high-stakes gambler who slaughtered 60 country music fans and injured more than 800 at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Fest could easily have snapped due to the slight based on an FBI interview with a fellow gambler.

The new information is based on hundreds of documents that were made public this week, with the gambler — whose name is redacted in the docs — telling authorities that gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, was a video poker player who relied on gambling as a primary source of income.

Paddock set up a sniper’s nest from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and fired more than 1,000 rounds into the 22,000-person crowd gathered below for a country music festival in a parking lot using high-powered rifles augmented by “bump stocks” that made them similar to automatic firearms. Police said Paddock had 14 military-style AR-15 rifles, eight AR-10 rifles, a handgun and another rifle, with some of the long guns equipped with 100-round magazines.

The shooting erupted on the third night during singer Jason Aldean’s set and ended when police breached the shooter’s barricaded room, where they found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The information from the fellow gambler comes years after the FBI and Las Vegas PD concluded their investigation without nailing down a definitive motive for the mass shooting. The AP noted that both agencies found that Paddock had spent more than $1.5 million near the end of his life and had become obsessed with guns.

The LVPD defended their inconclusive findings on Thursday in the wake of the new information, saying, “We were unable to determine a motive for the shooter. Speculating on a motive causes more harm to the hundreds of people who were victims that night.” But the AP reported that the new documents provide more insight into Paddock’s mindset via interviews with neighbors, friends and employees at the casinos he frequented.

The interviewees described Paddock as a “strange” introvert who never made eye contact and only ever wanted to discuss gambling, with the unnamed fellow gambler saying that the shooter had become “very upset” that the typical red-carpet treatment lavished on high-rollers — including free cruises, flights and penthouse suites — was fading away; Paddock had reportedly been banned from three casinos in Reno.

“If we ever discover a motive, whether it’s 10 years from now, 20 years from now, I have faith that LVMPD would contact victims first before making something public,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan PD official Kelly McMahill. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Here Are All the Presenters and Performers for the 2023 CMT Music Awards

The CMT Music Awards are taking over Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Sunday (April 2), and the jam-packed list of performers and presenters is officially complete.

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Lainey Wilson, one of the night’s performers, leads this year’s nominees, earning four nods: video of the year (HARDY featuring Wilson, with “Wait in the Truck”), female video of the year (“Heart Like a Truck”), collaborative video of the year (“Wait in the Truck”) and CMT performance of the year (for her “Never Say Never” performance with Cole Swindell on the 2022 CMT Music Awards).

The most recent addition to the performer lineup is Gary Clark Jr., who will take the stage for a tribute to the late Stevie Ray Vaughn.

See the full list of performers — including the Ram Trucks Side Stage performances — and presenters below. Catch the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday (April 2) at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, before it becomes available for streaming the next day on Paramount+.

Main Stage Performers

Alanis Morissette with Ingrid Andress, Lainey Wilson, Madeline Edwards and Morgan Wade
The Black Crowes & Darius Rucker
Blake Shelton
Carly Pearce
Carrie Underwood
Cody Johnson
Cody Johnson, Paul Rodgers, Billy Gibbons, Chuck Leavell, Slash and Warren Haynes with LeAnn Rimes and Wynonna
Gary Clark Jr.
Gwen Stefani & Carly Pearce
Jelly Roll
Kane Brown & Katelyn Brown
Keith Urban
Kelsea Ballerini
Lainey Wilson
Tyler Hubbard
Wynonna & Ashley McBryde

Ram Trucks Side Stage Performers

Avery Anna
Chapel Hart
Jackson Dean
Lily Rose
Megan Moroney
Nate Smith

Presenters

Carly Pearce
Carrie Underwood
Charles Esten
Dixie D’Amelio
Dustin Lynch
HARDY
Ian Bohen and Jen Landon
Jon Pardi
LeAnn Rimes
Madison Bailey
Max Thieriot
Megan Thee Stallion
Noah Schnapp
Parker McCollum
Peter Frampton
Shania Twain
Steve Howey
Travis Kelce

From Jisoo to Boygenius, What’s Your Favorite New Release of the Week? Vote!

It may be the last day of March, but we’re going out with a bang when it comes to new music thanks to releases by Jisoo, Boygenius, Chlöe and more.

The BLACKPINK singer became the final member of the the girl group to go solo with her single album ME, featuring songs “Flower” and “All Eyes on Me,” while Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers reunited for their full-length album The Record a full half-decade after forming their alt-rock supergroup for their self-titled 2018 EP.

Chlöe Bailey also unveiled her debut solo album, In Pieces, on the heels of previously released singles “Pray It Away,” Chris Brown collab “How Does It Feel” and the piano-driven title track. Plus, Tyler, the Creator re-upped on his 2021 opus Call Me If You Get Lost by dropping Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale — a deluxe edition with eight new tracks not on the original album, including single “Dogwood” and collaborations with Vince Staples (“Stuntman”), A$AP Rocky (“Wharf Talk”) and YG (the 2020 demo version of “Boyfriend, Girlfriend”).

Meanwhile, on the new song front, Taylor Swift stripped down her bombastic Midnights opener “Lavender Haze” for a ghostly acoustic version that could sound easily at home on her 2020 album Evermore.

Becky G and Peso Pluma delivered a horn-blasted Spanish-language duet with “Chanel,” and Charlie Puth teamed up with Dan + Shay for their boundary-setting ballad “That’s Not How This Works.” (A promised remix with Sabrina Carpenter is still a couple of weeks away.) Plus, rising U.K. pop star Maisie Peters offered yet another irresistible sneak peek of her upcoming sophomore album The Good Witch with the triumphant “Lost the Breakup.”

Vote for your favorite release in Billboard‘s latest new music Friday poll below.