Music News

07 May 2025

Miley Cyrus Reveals the Best Piece of Advice Dolly Parton Gave Her

Ahead of her forthcoming new album Something Beautiful, pop star Miley Cyrus hosted an intimate screening of the visual album on Tuesday night (May 6). During a Q&A session with fans, the singer shared some of her favorite advice she’s received — and it came from from her godmother Dolly Parton.

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When asked about the best advice she’s received in her career, Cyrus did an impersonation of the country legend: “You do you, I’ll do me, and together we’ll be us,” she said, as fans cheered in agreement. She continued to explain the quote, saying, “I can’t be giving you and you can’t be giving me … We all just need to be ourselves.”

In taking the advice, Cyrus explained that Parton helped her understand the difference between being admired and being understood. “I don’t love the word ‘idol,’ because it feels like something you’re worshipping and I don’t want or need to be worshipped,” she said. “I just want to be loved like everyone else.”

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A fan interjected by calling the singer a “goddess,” which Cyrus playfully used to underline her point. “Well, hello! You do you and I’ll do me, and together we’ll be us!”

The screening comes nearly eight months after genealogy website Ancestry.com revealed that 79-year-old country icon Dolly Parton and 32-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus are distant relatives. But their bond goes far beyond family ties. The two have shared a deep personal and professional connection for years, from Parton’s recurring “Aunt Dolly” role on Hannah Montana to their 2023 reimagined duet of “Wrecking Ball” on Parton’s Rockstar album.

The event also spotlighted key moments from Cyrus’ upcoming album Something Beautiful, providing both a visual and emotional lens into the project’s themes. At another point during the screening, Cyrus called the new album her “gayest” project yet, sharing that it deals with themes of “beauty, but not what beauty represents by a standard of someone else’s idea.”

Watch the clip of Cyrus impersonating Parton below:

https://www.tiktok.com/@billboard/video/7501739245040700702?lang=en

07 May 2025

Piers Morgan Explains Why Ye Cut Their Interview Short: ‘He Went Into a Great Theatrical Strop’

Ye (formerly Kanye West) stormed off the set of a contentious interview with Piers Morgan on Tuesday (May 6), and the Uncensored host has provided some context about why Yeezy pulled the plug on the combative, short-lived chat.

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Morgan hopped on X on Wednesday (May 7), where he claimed that West and his team were giving him the run around leading up to the interview. “He was costing us time and money,” Morgan said. “And my patience was almost running out.”

After getting the go-ahead to conduct the interview, Morgan says the conversation got off to a rocky start when Morgran addressed Ye as “Ye West,” which the rapper took issue with since he’s trying to lose his “slave name.”

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“I did talk to him for about three minutes,” Morgan said. “When I asked him how he was, he pointed to the backdrop behind him. Actually a pleasant backdrop, this time of Mallorca, which implied he was in a great place. I said, ‘You seem happy and content. Which is a direct contrast to what is going on with you on social media.’”

Morgan then got West’s follower count on X wrong, which upset the rapper. The host said Ye had 32 million followers when, in actuality, Ye has compiled just over 33.3 million followers as of press time.

“At that point, he went into a great theatrical strop. It’s not 32 million — it’s 33 million,” Morgan recalled. The interview came to a halt as Ye got up and left, leaving Sneako to deal with a frustrated Piers Morgan.

“You’re not gonna take inches off my di–, bro.” the Chicago native said before he left the interview. “I’m a gift, bro. Why do all you people in media act like you haven’t played my songs at your weddings, or graduations or at funerals or when your child was born?”

He continued: “You take someone like that’s living, like a [John] Lennon or a Michael Jackson. That nuance right there is idiotic. It just shows the hate that you put out for people that put out love. There’s so much love in the art that I put out. This is what you get for now, we can circle back when you can count.”

Morgan referred to Ye as a “sniveling coward” and proceeded to pepper Sneako with questions about Yeezy’s recent tirades on X that have included antisemitic remarks and praise for the likes of Hitler and Diddy.

Watch Ye’s full interview with Piers Morgan below.

07 May 2025

Lorde Reflects on Body Image Struggles & Eating Improperly ‘For Weeks’ Ahead of the 2021 Met Gala

This year’s Met Gala was a very different experience for Lorde than the last time she attended the event in 2021.

In a vulnerable voice note sent to fans Tuesday night (May 6), the pop star opened up about having overcome her issues with body image in the four years since she last walked the Metropolitan Museum of Art red carpet, revealing that last time she was there, she’d unhealthily restricted her eating for weeks in preparation.

“I was so hungry,” she recalled of the 2021 gala, the theme of which was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” “I didn’t eat properly for weeks thinking about my little tummy on that carpet.”

This year, Lorde attended once again, sporting a chic slate Thom Browne look that matched the 2025 theme of “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” Returning to the Met four years later, the singer said it was “moving” to be back in the same place with an entirely new mindset regarding her body.

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“I was there last night fully in myself, and I didn’t have to not eat, I didn’t have to go to the gym a million times,” she told her fans. “I was just fully in myself. Quite beautiful.”

Lorde has slowly been sharing more and more about her struggles with eating and body image in the lead-up to her new album Virgin, which arrives June 27. On lead single “What Was That,” released in April, she sings, “I wear smoke like a wedding veil/ Make a meal I won’t eat.”

In a recent interview with Document Journal, the New Zealand native elaborated on the lyric: “I had made my body very small, because I thought that that was what you did as a woman and a woman on display … I thought, ‘I’m small. This will communicate to people that I’m taking my position seriously.’”

Now, Lorde says she feels fully “embodied,” meaning this year’s Met — which took place one day prior to her voice note — was a much better experience. “It was definitely my favorite Met,” she said in her message before remarking, “It’s really a reality check of where you’re at in relation to, you know, your own public image and how you feel in your body, how you feel among your peers and how you feel in culture and all that sort of stuff.”

One moment from Monday night (May 5) that did make her “so cringed out” at herself, though, was when she commented that her dress was an “Easter egg” in an interview with Vogue correspondent Emma Chamberlain, leading fans to believe the singer was teasing something musical through her attire. “More will be revealed,” she’d added during the red-carpet chat. “To me it really represents where I’m at gender-wise. I feel like a man and a woman, kind of vibe.”

But in her voice note, Lorde clarified, “Just as it was leaving my mouth, I was like, ‘What are you talking about? No, it’s not [an Easter egg]. The language of Easter eggs, I love it as a concept … [but] for what I was referring to, it was not my vibe,” she said. “Please accept me feeling like a loser, I’m sure you don’t care at all.”

07 May 2025

Moby Is Matching Donations to Los Angeles NPR Affiliate KCRW Amid Threat of Trump Budget Cuts

Moby is currently matching donations to Los Angeles NPR affiliate KCRW, up to $10,000. The donation match began Tuesday (May 6) and extends through midnight on Wednesday.

“As we all know, public radio is in grave danger right now,” the electronic artist says in an ad currently airing on the station about this donation match. “If you care about KCRW; if you care about public radio and about free access to music and information, this is a very important moment to act.”

This special effort happens amid KCRW’s annual spring pledge drive, which this year has been titled “Mission Critical” due to an executive order signed last week by President Trump that directed the board of directors at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” the nation’s primary public broadcasters. The order was made on the claim of ideological bias by NPR and PBS.

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As reported by Billboard last week, this move follows a pattern of Trump leveraging executive powers to defund or dismantle institutions he deems oppositional, including cultural and educational organizations like the Kennedy Center and National Endowment for the Humanities. The legality of Trump’s order is in question, however, as CPB is a private nonprofit entity and not a federal agency.

In any case, KCRW’s chief development officer Jill Smayo tells Billboard that “the funding for public media, both NPR and PBS, is in flux right now… We’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen at this point. It’s evolving. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is investigating more what this truly means and what will come of this, but what is at stake for KCRW specifically is $1.3 million dollars annually that we receive from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

Such “challenge grants” like Moby’s current $10,00 offer are a common element of KCRW pledge drives, with various public figures, often musicians, actors and other artists, making the offer in order to incentivize donations. As part of Moby’s offer, one person who donates will win tickets to performances he’s doing as part of the Cercle Odyssey tour in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 9. The musician also relaunched his MobyGratis sound library, which offers creators high-quality, royalty free music to use in projects.

“We’re very grateful for his belief that KCRW is a treasure for the curious and the artistic and worthy of supporting,” says Smayo. The Mission Critical spring pledge drive extends through May.

07 May 2025

Los Alegres del Barranco Accused of Glorifying Drug Trafficking by Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office

Mexican band Los Alegres del Barranco has been charged by the Fiscalía del Estado de Jalisco (Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office) for allegedly advocating crime. Authorities in the Mexican state are investigating the band after projecting images of a criminal leader while performing the song “El del Palenque” during a concert on 29 March at an auditorium of the University of Guadalajara.

Now, a judge will determine whether or not to initiate legal proceedings against the members of the group, their legal representative and the promoter of their concerts in a hearing scheduled for Monday (May 12), which would mark a precedent in regional Mexican music.

“The members of a musical group that showed images referencing a figure from organized crime during a concert in Zapopan have been formally charged in a criminal court today for allegedly promoting criminal activity,” read a statement from the Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday (May 6) shared with Billboard Español. “Similarly, charges were also brought against the group’s manager and the promoter of their concerts.

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According to the statement, the judge imposed precautionary measures on the four members of the band, their manager and the promoter, meaning they are not allowed to leave Jalisco. Additionally, they will have to pay a bond of 1.8 million pesos (about $92,000), which amounts to 300,000 pesos per person.

Article 142 of the Jalisco Penal Code states that publicly inciting the commission of a crime or glorifying it — or any vice — can be punishable by up to six months in prison. Experts consulted by Billboard Español note that since this type of penalty is less than four years, it can potentially be served outside of prison if the judge allows it.

The group and their representatives chose not to make any statements during a hearing on Tuesday, according to the statement. Billboard Español has reached out to the band’s representatives for comment but has not received a response at time of publication.

The Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to Billboard Español that three open investigations into Los Alegres del Barranco for allegedly advocating crime. The first one corresponds to the investigation against them for projecting images of the leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” during their concert on March 29. This fact even caused the United States to revoke the work and tourist visas of its members, as announced on April 1 by the U.S. Undersecretary of State, Christopher Landau, in a post on X.

The second investigation was opened after, on May 3, the group allegedly projected on screens during their show the lyrics of the controversial corrido “El del Palenque,” which alludes to the aforementioned drug lord. The third folder corresponds to another presentation, on May 4, in which the group allegedly incurred in similar acts, in the municipality of Tequila, according to a press release from the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office on May 5.

The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Wednesday (May 7) that “it was the decision” of the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute the members of Los Alegres del Barranco for allegedly advocating crime, and reiterated that her government is not in favor of banning the narcocorrido genre.

“My position is that it should not be banned, but that other music should be promoted. Rather than prohibiting, it is more important to educate, guide and encourage people and young people to stop listening to that music,” said the Mexican president during her morning press conference.

The controversy over Los Alegres del Barranco’s alleged homage to the drug trafficker comes in the wake of the debate over how the cartel founded in Jalisco uses clandestine ranches to recruit people to the criminal group through deceitful job offers, as reported by federal authorities and the media. This follows the discovery of the Izaguirre Ranch in the municipality of Teuchitlán, where acts of torture and murder were allegedly committed, as denounced by the Guerreros Buscadores collective in early March.

Ten (out of 32) states in Mexico have implemented several new bans against narcocorridos or any expression that advocates crime, without it being a federal law.

07 May 2025

Miley Cyrus Ranks ‘Something Beautiful’ As Her ‘Gayest’ Album Yet

It’s a question that’s long been asked by Smilers around the world: Which Miley Cyrus album is the gayest? According to the singer, there is an official answer.

During Spotify’s An Evening With Miley Cyrus event in New York City on Tuesday (May 6), the “End of the World” singer posed herself a rhetorical question about Something Beautiful, her upcoming ninth studio album. “On a scale of, I think, one to gay, how gay is this album?” Cyrus posited in a clip captured by Billboard from the event. “It’s not only my best album, but also my gayest.”

The singer has long been both an advocate to and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. In a 2016 interview with Variety, Cyrus said she identifies as pansexual, and went on to explain that for most of her life, she “didn’t understand my own gender and my own sexuality.” Cyrus also serves as the founder of the Happy Hippie Foundation, which aims to address youth homelessness especially among the LGBTQ+ community.

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Cyrus revealed that the album’s overarching theme is about “beauty, but not what beauty represents by a standard of someone else’s idea,” she told fans during her Spotify event. “It changed my life, with anxiety, when something we label as ‘bad’ happens to greet it with excitement, because it always means that something is on the other side that’s gonna come from it. There’s always a lesson.”

Eager fans looking to listen to the singer’s “gayest” project yet are in luck. The star recently announced her latest single off the project, “More to Lose,” will be dropping on Friday (May 9). In an exclusive performance on the new track on Saturday night (May 3) in New York City, Cyrus even shouted out some of former flames allegedly in attendance who she knew intimately throughout her career. “I have a lot of people that I’ve known and loved for a very long time in this room,” Cyrus said. “Even a couple of exes.”

Check out the clips of Cyrus talking about Something Beautiful below:

07 May 2025

KATSEYE Announces New EP ‘BEAUTIFUL CHAOS’: ‘We Are So Excited to Invite You Into This … World’

Riding the momentum of their viral single “Gnarly,” KATSEYE has announced its second EP, BEAUTIFUL CHAOS, slated for release on June 27 via HYBE x Geffen Records. 

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The announcement was made on the group’s official social media platforms, where fans were treated to two versions of the EP’s cover art, accompanied by a heartfelt message: “we are so excited to invite you into this beautiful and chaotic world that we have built. thank you for being here. ?”

BEAUTIFUL CHAOS follows KATSEYE’s breakout debut EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong), which catapulted the six-member girl group to the top of Billboard’s Emerging Artists Chart. That project featured fan-favorite tracks such as “Touch” and “Debut.”

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On its upcoming project, KATSEYE dives headfirst into a bold new sonic era. “Gnarly” offers the first glimpse into this shift, showcasing high-energy dance and hyper-pop influences, a sharp departure from the softer, classic pop and melodic tones of the group’s earlier work.

With members hailing from six different countries and backgrounds, KATSEYE continues to challenge norms in the industry. Collaborations with acclaimed producers such as Justin Tranter, Andrew Watt, and John Ryan suggest BEAUTIFUL CHAOS will be their most ambitious project yet. 

As the group looks ahead, KATSEYE hopes to measure success by the mark that is left behind instead of awards, stats and sales. In the press release announcing the EP, the sextet said in a joint statement, “We want KATSEYE to be timeless and to have lasting influence. Not just for now — we want forever.” 

07 May 2025

Maren Morris Reflects on Her Coming Out: ‘Community Has Been So Necessary & Life-Saving’

When Maren Morris publicly came out as bisexual in June 2024, fans and fellow artists alike shared their messages of congratulations for the singer-songwriter. Nearly a year later, Morris says those affirmations had a more profound impact than one might think.

In a new interview with The Zoe Report, Morris opened up about coming out, saying that she wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to speak publicly about her sexuality until last year. “I’ve always known that I am attracted to men and women. I think because I’ve been in straight relationships the last 15 years of my life, which has been consumed by my music career and living in Nashville, I never felt brave enough to talk about it,” she explained.

Her decision to come out, she said, was ultimately based on her desire to foster community — something she said she was in desperate need of after going through a publicly scrutinized divorce. “I wanted to be able to connect with my fans and my queer community,” she said. “Especially in a time where you’re in this free-for-all post-divorce reckoning, community has been so necessary for me and life-saving. Being honest and being vulnerable is the only way that you find community.”

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This isn’t the first time Morris has opened up about her coming out. In a 2024 interview with Billboard, the singer described her surprise at seeing the news of her coming out garner coverage. “I think it was one of those things where I thought, ‘Does this really require an Instagram post?’ It didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, this is going to be some big f–king bombshell,’” she said at the time.

Elsewhere in her Zoe Report interview, Morris also looked back on her decision to leave the country industry, explaining again that her decision to take a step back had less to do with the genre of music itself and more about the institution in Nashville. “Country music is not a classroom that you just leave. It’s a family. It’s a sound. It’s a feeling. It’s an emotion,” she said. “It was about ‘Do I want to put my life’s work in the hands of some of these gatekeepers of mainstream country music?’”

The singer is currently promoting her forthcoming new album, Dreamsicle, due out on Friday (May 9). Described as a record navigating “the aftermath of loosening my grip on my personal and professional life,” Morris said in a statement in April that her new album is all about “finding the joy in knowing that at my core, I’m still who I am — and that’s pretty f—ing great.”

07 May 2025

Daddy Yankee & Snow’s ‘Con Calma’ Hits 3 Billion Views on YouTube

Daddy Yankee hits a new milestone as the music video for his hit “Con Calma,” featuring Canadian rapper Snow, coolly crosses the three-billion-view mark on YouTube. The animated visual, packed with electrifying dance moves and reggaetón flow, marks the Puerto Rican superstar’s second video to hit that milestone, following the 2017 chart-topping smash “Despacito.”

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Released in January 2019, the “Con Calma” video showcases an animated version of The Big Boss leading the charge on a brightly lit dance floor, surrounded by synchronized dancers who bring the infectious beat — courtesy of Play-N-Skillz and David “Scott Summers” Macias — to life. A reimagined take on Snow’s 1992 classic “Informer,” the visual creates a party-like atmosphere that continues to attract an ever-growing audience.

On the Billboard charts, the smash hit entered various listings, including topping Hot Latin Songs, Latin Airplay and Argentina Hot 100. In February 2019, the remix featuring Katy Perry reached the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 22, further extending the track’s global success.

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In October, Billboard reported that Concord acquired Daddy Yankee’s music catalog in a deal valued at $217 million. The Latin hitmaker — whose Barrio Fino was the first reggaetón album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart in 2004 — released his trap-infused single “En el Desierto” earlier this year. He also featured on the 2024 Peacock documentary, Reggaeton: The Sound that Conquered the World, also starring  Ivy Queen, Bad Bunny and more.

Feel like adding another view to “Con Calma”? Check out the music video below:

07 May 2025

back number’s ‘Blue Amber’ Bows at No. 1 on Japan Hot 100

back number’s “Blue Amber” debuts at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, released May 7, becoming the popular band’s sixth leader on the chart.

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The track is being featured as the theme song for the ongoing drama series starring Keiko Kitagawa called Anata wo ubatta sonohi kara. After being released digitally on April 28, the track came in at No. 2 for downloads (14,750 units), No. 7 for streaming (6,154,747 weekly streams), No. 8 for video views, and topped radio airplay. The song gives the three-man J-pop band its sixth No. 1 (nine weeks in all) on the Japan Hot 100.

Four other songs by back number are currently charting, with “Takaneno Hanakosan” rising 38-35, “Suiheisen” 46-44, “Hanataba” 65-56, and “Happy End” 78-75 this week.

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List of back number’s No. 1 Hits:

“Omoidasenakunaru sonohimade” (“Until the day I can’t remember”) 
“Christmas Song” [Three weeks]
“Boku no Namae wo” (“(You called) my name”) 
“Old Fashion”
“to new lovers” (Japanese title: “Atarashii Koibitotachi ni”) [Two weeks]
“Blue Amber”

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “KUSUSHIKI” follows at No. 2. Compared to the week before, streaming and video for the The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Part 2 opener decreased to 93%, while downloads and karaoke increased to 108% and 136%, respectively. At No. 3 is the three-man band’s “Lilac,” moving 5-3. Streaming and video for the Oblivion Battery opener gained slightly, while downloads and karaoke showed significant growth of 121% and 135%, respectively.

≠ME’s “Mobunoderella” bows at No. 4. The title track of the group’s 10th double A-side single released April 30 topped sales with 232,441 copies sold in its first week.

King Gnu’s “TWILIGHT!!!” falls a notch to No. 5. The theme song for the animated blockbuster Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback scores its third week on the tally, coming in at No. 5 for downloads (6,333 units), No. 4 for streaming (7,639,298 streams), No. 6 for radio and No. 4 for video.

Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu’s “Sekai de ichiban idol” debuts at No. 7. The title track of the group’s double A-side single was released April 30 and came in at No. 2 for sales (85,438 copies) and No. 45 for radio. 

Also debuting at No. 9 is Travis Japan’s “Would You Like One?” The theme song for the animated movie Tabekko Doubutsu The Movie launched at No. 1 for downloads, No. 67 for streaming, and No. 55 for radio. 

Outside the top 10, Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s new song “Tengoku” debuts at No. 11. It’s the theme song for the movie Shinso wo ohanashi shimasu starring the band’s frontman Motoki Omori (alongside timelesz member Fuma Kikuchi) in a feature film for the first time. The track comes in at No. 3 for downloads and No. 12 for streaming.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from April 28 to May 4, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.