State Champ Radio Music News
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Trending on Billboard Grupo Frontera talks about the group’s Grammy nomination and announces its Latin American tour. Grupo Frontera: We’ve been talking about surprises, and some might include special concerts with special guests. Each song has its own magic, which makes the experience special in different ways. For example, “Hecha Pa’ Mí” holds a personal […]
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Stray Kids put on a dance clinic in the cinematic video for the title track to their just-released five-song DO IT EP, the latest effort in their SKZ IT mixtape series. The visual opens with a scene of a grey, dystopian city in ruins, with thunder cracking and ominous black birds soaring over crumbling buildings overgrown with vegetation.
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The scene then shifts to the inside of one of the dilapidated structures, revealing an army of figures dressed in white robes, their faces obscured by masks as rapper Changbin floats down from the ceiling on a souped-up flying broom, his outfit accented by a black cowboy hat and matching leather jacket.
He busts a rhyme as the rest of the eight-man boy band come into frame and singer Seungmin croons the song’s yearning refrain, “Oh baby trust our instincts/ Feel the rhythm of our bodies moving, baby/ Right this instant.” The mysterious figures in white remain frozen, scattered around the room in statue-like poses as the black-clad boy banders bust out some group chroeo, kicking the palette from black and white to full technicolor, bringing the dancers to life as singer Felix exhorts, “Do it, do it, do it, do it.”
The funky bilingual song continues shifting between rapping in South Korean and the English choruses, with members Han, Lee Know, Hyunjin, Bang Chan and I.N hopping in at various points with spotlight dance breaks and gang vocals. With hints of Harry Potter-like magic afoot, the clip zooms to a close with a glimpse of a giant fireball glowing inside the building as confetti rains down on the group during a final, all-hands on-deck dance routine.
The follow-up to August’s KARMA album — which landed the group their seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — is the second in the band’s SKZ IT mixtape series and it features the title track (and a “Festival” version of same), as well as parallel single, “Divine,” and the tracks “Holiday” and “Photobook.”
Watch the “Do It” video below.
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It’s an SOS! Sabrina Carpenter “arrested” SZA at her Los Angeles show on Thursday night (Nov. 20). The New Jersey-bred singer pulled up to night four of six in L.A. on the final leg of the Short n’ Sweet Tour, and SC made SZA her Juno girl.
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The Crypto.com Arena sirens went off and the crowd erupted when SZA appeared on the Jumbotron in a red corset top. “What’s your name, gorgeous?” Sabrina asked. “SZA, I got some competition, s—t.”
Carpenter had a laugh as the audience cheered loudly when SZA said she was from New Jersey. “They don’t always scream for their city, so I love that. OK, New Jersey,” she added.
With temperatures dropping, SC brought up that cuffing season was around the corner and referenced SZA’s 2022 album. “SZA, you know what they say — it’s cuffing season,” she said. “I’m getting flustered, oh s—t, SOS for real … This one’s for SZA, my Juno girl.”
Earlier this week, Carpenter threw the handcuffs on actresses Elle and Dakota Fanning and arrested the Hollywood sisters for committing the crime of being too attractive at Monday night’s (Nov. 16) show. “It’s like, one of you is cute, but two though? Damn,” SC said at the time.
The “Espresso” singer has arrested plenty of celebrities while on the road, including Drew Barrymore, Millie Bobby Brown, Gigi Hadid, Anne Hathaway and TWICE.
Sabrina’s Short n’ Sweet Tour is wrapping up after kicking off more than a year ago, with two final shows in Los Angeles on Saturday (Nov. 22) and Sunday (Nov. 23). Carpenter’s next performance is slated for the desert when she headlines Coachella 2026 in April.
Watch the clip of SZA’s arrest here.
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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are saying goodbye to Wicked, but they’ll always be changed for good by the franchise.
On Friday (Nov. 21) — the day Wicked: For Good finally hit theaters worldwide — both leading ladies shared emotional posts marking the end of an era. On Instagram, Erivo began by sharing a carousel of photos of herself in her green Elphaba skin and witch hat on the set of the musical duology.
“I could write you an essay, a poem, Shakespearean prose, to describe what this journey has meant to me, what lessons this time has taught me, bought me,” the Tony winner wrote in her caption. “I could try to give a metric to the love I have felt and experienced. I could give a number to the stories I have heard.”
“The truth is the numbers are too small and the words are not enough,” she continued. “So I’ll simply say this. “Take my hand and walk with me to the end of this road paved with gold and hopefully, the things that I’ve found, might find you too. Thank you for letting me be your Elphaba.”
A few hours later, Grande shared her own roundup of photos from the Wicked set — complete with many pink items of clothing — and gushed about her love for her character in the project. “thank you, my sweet Glinda, for everything,” she wrote. “i will love you always … Wicked For Good is out now.”
It’s certainly an emotional day for both actresses and Wicked fans all over the world. The cast and crew spent years bringing the Broadway musical to life, with Erivo and the R.E.M. Beauty founder first landing the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, back in 2021. They’d spend the next two years or so rehearsing and shooting on set in London, wrapping in early 2024.
After finishing the films, the cast would take the world by storm with an almost inescapable press tour for the first Wicked, which premiered in November 2024 and shattered box-office records before winning Oscars for best costume and production design. Though the promo cycle for part two this year was far more lowkey, Erivo and Grande still spent much of the past month traveling all over the world for international Wicked: For Good screenings and red carpets in São Paulo, Paris, London and Singapore.
“We knew immediately that we were stepping into something that was quite special because it already has this beautiful legacy behind it,” Erivo told Seth Meyers on Thursday (Nov. 20) of herself and her castmates.
“i will never forget even a minute of my year(s) with [Glinda],” Grande wrote on Instagram last year. “Or you. or my Cyn. permanently and preferably intertwined.”
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The filming of the two Wicked movies sounds like an exhausting, exhilarating and super-intense adventure. It’s been clear watching the cast stump for the just-released sequel, Wicked: For Good, that the actors and actresses in the film got super close and realized they were a part of something that was a cultural event, as well as a life-changing moment for all of them.
“We knew immediately that we were stepping into something that was quite special because it already has this beautiful legacy behind it,” Cynthia Erivo told Seth Meyers on his late night show on Thursday (Nov. 20). After begging off red carpet interviews earlier this week because of a hoarse throat — with co-star Ariana Grande also offering to stay mute in solidarity — Erivo said the cast and crew knew that the had to do the story “justice” given how beloved the original Broadway production, and the 1995 book it was based on, are to the many fans of the story around the world.
“And it seems like you all genuinely like each other,” Meyers observed. “We do, yeah… no we really like each other,” Erivo said with a wicked, eyes-narrowed look at the camera after Meyers suggested that it might just be good acting, or a combo of that and genuine affection.
Noting that earlier in the week another Wicked: For Good cast member, Jonathan Bailey, told him that he couldn’t stop crying while watching the movie with his niece, Meyers asked how Erivo reacted to seeing part two on the screen. “The first time I watched it… this happens every time — I watched the first movie and I couldn’t see anything. I was really overwhelmed,” Erivo said of last year’s blockbuster first part of the two-part epic movie musical.
“Then I watched it a second time and then I can finally take it in,” she said. “This time around again, I was lie, ‘This is great. I love this.’ But I knew I wasn’t taking it in properly. The second time I saw it, I wept. Like, fell to my knees and wept, couldn’t stop crying.”
Meyers also asked Erivo what it feels like to suddenly be a reliable Halloween meme, posting a series of pics of young girls and women dressed as her green-skinned character Elphaba. He then busted out a much-shared snap of the ultimate tribute: a fan dressed as one of Erivo’s signature long, bedazzled fingernails. Asked if she’d seen the photo, Erivo said it’s been shown to her “100 million times,” and praised the “wonderful person” in the towering costume for their unrelenting commitment to the bit. “I was elated,” she said of her initial reaction to the outfit she said totally nailed it.
Wicked: For Good is in theaters now.
Watch Erivo on Late Night below.
Trending on Billboard Tate McRae is putting a bow on the So Close to What era with the release of her Billboard 200-topping album’s deluxe edition on Friday (Nov. 21). The 22-year-old is set to add her top three Billboard Hot 100 hit “Tit for Tat” to the project, along with four new songs titled […]
Trending on Billboard In this week’s episode of Unfiltered, rappers Dave East & DreamDoll debate the best, top five strip club anthems of all time. Stay tuned to hear what their top picks are! What are your top five strip club anthems of all time? Let us know in the comments! Carl Lamarre: Hey! What’s […]
Trending on Billboard Megan Thee Stallion told a jury that she experienced severe depression amid a torrent of online hate from those who doubt that Tory Lanez shot her in 2020. The female rap star (Megan Pete) took the witness stand on Thursday (Nov. 20) in her defamation trial against Milagro Gramz (Milagro Cooper), a […]
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The Country Music Association awarded Big Machine Label Group founder, chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta the 2025 CMA Irving Waugh Award of Excellence on Wednesday (Nov. 19) ahead of the 59th Annual CMA Awards. Borchetta was surprised with the industry honor on the red carpet by Riley Green, a Big Machine Label Group/Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment artist (and winner of three 2025 CMA Awards).
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Borchetta was also a 2025 CMA Awards nominee in the musical event of the year category as a producer, along with Jimmy Harnen and Dann Huff, of Green’s “Don’t Mind If I Do,” which reunited the singer with Ella Langley. It was Borchetta’s second CMA nod. He was first nominated in 2013 as a producer on Taylor Swift’s Red, an album of the year nominee.
“Scott has played a pivotal role in shaping Country Music’s modern era,” Sarah Trahern, CMA’s CEO, said in a statement. “I’ve watched him navigate this industry with remarkable clarity and conviction — championing emerging talent, supporting legacy artists and investing in ideas that move our genre forward.”
“I truly did not see this coming,”Borchetta said. “A sincere thank you to our extraordinary CEO, Sarah Trahern, and all on the CMA Board for this incredible recognition. Irving Waugh was a true visionary who did so much for Country Music and its culture, and I’m humbled to stand on his shoulders alongside so many who continue to shape and inspire the world of Country Music.”
Big Machine Label Group is home to such stars as Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Carly Pearce, Mötley Crüe and Sheryl Crow. As an executive producer, Borchetta has championed projects such as the 20-track Petty Country and the Grammy-winning documentary Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me.
Waugh was a radio and TV executive who was active from the late 1940s through the early 1990s. He first joined WSM-Nashville as a radio announcer in 1941. In the late ’40s, after serving in World War II, he returned to WSM and began a career that included positions as commercial manager, GM, vp and president of WSM’s radio and TV operations. He died in April 2007 at age 94.
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The U.K. government hopes to decrease the price of resale tickets by an average £37 per ticket ($48 USD), according to a new report released released Wednesday (Nov. 19) in which it outlined its plan to outlaw ticket resale above face value.
According to a memo outlining the new rules, “Music and sport fans will no longer be ripped off on the ticket resale market thanks to new measures which will destroy the operating model of ticket touts,” also known as scalpers. The memo, released by the country’s Department for Business and Trade and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, adds that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government will make it “illegal for tickets to concerts, theatre, comedy, sport and other live events to be resold for more than their original cost.” The news was first reported by multiple U.K. outlets on Monday (Nov. 17) prior to the memo’s release.
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The new rules effectively make ticket resale above face value — defined as “the original ticket price plus unavoidable fees, including service charges” — illegal. The law limits the service fees that resale sites can charge and requires platforms like StubHub and Viagogo “to monitor and enforce compliance with the price cap.” The law also bans fans and resellers from buying more tickets than they are legally entitled to purchase during an initial ticket sale.
The U.K. government’s website features supportive quotes from politicians, music managers and artists about the bill, including U.K. Business Secretary Peter Kyle, who said the legislation taking on scalpers was meant to “smash their model to pieces and make sure more fans can enjoy their favourite stars at a fair price.”
In her own statement, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy compared ticket scalpers to “a shadow industry, acting without consequence” while Dan Smith of the band Bastille described the legislation as “a good step towards protecting music fans from being ripped off.”
The new rules apply to both ticket resale platforms and social media sites where fans buy and sell goods. Violating the new regulations, according to the government, could result in large financial penalties from the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
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“Government analysis suggests that these measures could save fans around £112 million annually [$146 million USD], with 900,000 more tickets bought directly from primary sellers each year,” the government’s website reads.
The law is meant to build on a development from September in which the Competition and Markets Authority secured commitments from Ticketmaster to give U.K. fans 24 hours’ notice if Ticketmaster plans to use tiered pricing and provide clearer information about how the company’s online queues work, among other measures.
“The CMA’s enforcement action in this case, and the measures agreed with Ticketmaster, send a clear message to all ticketing websites that fans must have access to clear and timely pricing information with accurate ticket descriptions, especially where there are different pricing models and queues in play,” the government’s website reads. “In the future, the CMA will be able to respond even more swiftly and robustly to breaches of consumer law.”
The new legislation drew both praise and condemnation from different corners of the music industry. U.S.-based pro-ticket resale group the National Association of Ticket Brokers warned in a statement that it does “not support efforts to thwart competition. We discourage laws that impose price caps that make it more difficult for ticketing companies to compete with one another.”
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Others were more supportive, with Chris Lipscomb, managing girector for AXS U.K., telling Billboard in a statement, “We strongly support the UK government’s efforts to strengthen safeguards around ticket resale, which align with AXS’s longstanding practices in support of fair fan access.”
Matt Kaplan, who heads up U.K. and EU operations for fan-to-fan exchange Tixel, said “the UK’s move to outlaw touting is a huge win for fans, artists and the wider industry, and we fully support this long-overdue reform. Tixel was built to tackle these exact problems, and after nearly a decade fighting for fair, transparent resale in multiple markets around the world, we’re proud to see a framework emerge that protects fans, restores trust and shuts out the bad actors.”
In a statement to Billboard, Nathaniel Marro with the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) added, “We hope policymakers stateside are paying attention and that reining in predatory resellers is a global movement.” Also in a statement, Stephen Parker of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) called on “state lawmakers throughout the United States to follow the United Kingdom’s (UK) proposed ticket resale price cap.”
