Music News
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In a promo for this weekend’s new Saturday Night Live, it seems like Walton Goggins still has White Lotus on his mind as he teases his hosting debut.
Paired with SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez, the promo finds Goggins poking fun at the weekly White Lotus-style “who’s gonna die?” fan theories, applying them to the penultimate episode of season 50.
Hernandez attempts to rein in Goggins’ death theories, saying, “It’s not that kind of show, man. It’s SNL, no one’s gonna die.”
Goggins presses on regardless, confidently adding, “Colin Jost, Michael Che, murder-suicide,” to which Hernandez replies, “No! These are real people, they’re not characters… no one is dying.”
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Goggins pushes further, insisting, “That’s exactly what someone who’s about to die would say,” and proceeds to theorize about which cast member might be responsible for Hernandez’s fictional demise. He cycles through Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman before fixating on Bowen Yang, exclaiming, “It’s Bowen! It’s always been Bowen. It would always ever be Bowen, because he hates you.”
In classic SNL fashion, the sketch culminates with cast member Michael Longfellow sneaking up to dramatically stab Hernandez, revealing himself as the killer. “I should have been Domingo,” Longfellow says, referencing Hernandez’s viral recurring SNL character. Goggins, fully immersed, concludes with, “Wow, I did not see that coming! Prestige television!”
Fresh off his debut at the Met Gala on Monday, Goggins will continue a month of firsts as he makes his Saturday Night Live hosting debut this weekend, alongside musical guest Arcade Fire. SNL airs Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.
When some people first saw LISA‘s attire at the 2025 Met Gala, an unexpected question came to mind: “Wait, is that Rosa Parks on her underwear?” But according to a rep for one of the designers she worked with, the answer is a definite no.
In a statement to Vulture after the Monday (May 5) event, a spokesperson for Henry Taylor — an artist who collaborated on the BLACKPINK star’s Louis Vuitton look with Pharrell Williams — clarified that no civil rights pioneers were featured on LISA’s look whatsoever, despite online backlash that occurred when people mistakenly believed that Parks’ image had been displayed on her underwear. “The figure featured in Lisa’s Louis Vuitton look is not Rosa Parks, but one of Henry’s neighbors,” the rep said.
“The faces seen on this look, as well as on previous LV garments featuring Taylor’s artwork, are all drawn from his personal life — family members, friends, and neighbors,” they continued. “These figures come directly from Henry’s existing artworks, which he provided to LVMH for Pharrell’s debut collection with Louis Vuitton in 2023.”
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The statement puts to rest a wave of criticism directed at LISA after she walked the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City Monday night, with the Thai performer sporting a sparkly black blazer, tights printed with the Louis Vuitton logo, and a mesh bodysuit patterned with embroidered faces in black lace. Some people slammed the White Lotus actress for what they believed to be an insensitive wardrobe choice, especially considering the fabric’s placement over her crotch area — not to mention the night’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, which focused on “the role of sartorial style in forming Black identities” and “the emergence, significance and proliferation of the Black dandy.”
But, as Taylor’s rep concluded in the statement, “None of the individuals depicted in any of [LISA’s] garments are Rosa Parks or other well-known figures from Black cultural history.”
The “Rockstar” singer was one of three BLACKPINK band members in attendance at the 2025 Met, which was co-chaired by Williams with A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton. ROSÉ also hit the carpet, as did JENNIE.
The event comes as the bandmates are gearing up to reunite for the first time since their Born Pink World Tour ended in 2023. When it comes to solo music, LISA is also continuing what she started with debut album Alter Ego by collaborating with Maroon 5 on new single “Priceless,” which dropped May 2.
They say you never forget your first Met Gala — and in the midst of her winning streak, Doechii is in no danger of forgetting how her appearance at the 2025 event went down on Monday (May 5).
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Prior to event starting, footage caught the TDE rapper in a stressful moment as she was shuttled out of The Mark Hotel covered by a portable screen and a number of umbrellas looking to keep her Louis Vuitton outfit a secret before hitting the blue carpet.
Some fans took issue with how Doechii addressed her team in the midst of the tense moment, as she tersely instructed them to bring her more umbrellas. “Give me another umbrella, now,” she shouted in her clip. “I need more f–king umbrellas!”
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The parties involved took a few breaths and cooler heads prevailed as all appears to be good for Doechii and her team after what she called an “overstimulating night.” The “Anxiety” rapper had some fun with her reply to the candid footage catching her leaving the hotel as Doechii posted a TikTok on Wednesday (May 7).
“All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she captioned the clip. “This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside).”
The TikTok video finds Doechii with her hands up, like the famed Druski meme, as The Commodores’ “Easy” provides the soundtrack. “God forbid a girl needs more umbrellas,” she wrote.
@iamdoechii_ All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside) 😭🥴 ♬ Easy – Commodores
After successfully protecting her outfit, Doechii unveiled a crisp Louis Vuitton tux jacket with matching checkered shorts and a mahogany tie. “This is one of the biggest nights in fashion, and for it to be so Black .. .I’m present, I’m here,” the Grammy-winning rapper told Cosmopolitan. “I felt inspired by the theme of ‘student of hip-hop’ and I feel like that’s really dandy.”
Doechii was seen hanging out with Megan Thee Stallion and WNBA star Angel Reese inside as the Houston Hottie broke the no phone policy and filmed the trio sampling various appetizers from inside the venue.
Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell were tabbed as co-chairs for the 2025 Met Gala, which saw attendees serve looks tied to the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, celebrating Black fashion.
Earlier this year, Sen. Cory Booker made history by speaking for 25 hours straight inside the United States Capitol in protest of the Donald Trump administration, delivering the longest speech ever recorded on the senate floor. And in a new interview, the politician revealed which music gets him pumped up to take such big leaps in his work, from songs by Beyoncé to show tunes sung by Cynthia Erivo.
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While reflecting on his historic feat in a Rolling Stone profile published Wednesday (May 7), Booker shared that music is one thing he enjoys outside of his work as a New Jersey senator. “I wake up and listen to podcasts that give me the news of the day, and then by the time I’m working out, it’s whatever music can get me most pumped up,” he told the publication before pulling up his Spotify Wrapped from last year. “My top 2024 songs: On top is Beyoncé, ‘Texas Hold ’Em,’ which I think I played way too much.”
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“Bruce Springsteen,” he continued. “Stevie Wonder. Lots of gospel music. Oh, Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ made it into the top 20. ‘The Color Purple,’ Cynthia Erivo’s song, I played a lot last year.”
Speaking of Erivo, Booker noted that he hasn’t had the time to catch a movie in theaters since seeing Wicked, which premiered in November last year. It’s understandable why he might’ve been busy; the Democratic party has been fighting against the initiatives of the Republican majority-led Congress ever since January, when Trump was re-elected as president and his party took control of the senate after flipping four seats in the election.
In one of the splashiest means of protest since the billionaire businessman took office, the former mayor of Newark spoke for 25 hours and five minutes on March 31 into April 1, using his lengthy stretch of time on the senate floor to criticize Trump’s policies and delay Republican’s overall productivity in the senate.
Though he did beat out Strom Thurmond’s 24-hour spiel protesting the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for the new longest senate-speech record, Booker’s address wasn’t technically a filibuster, as he wasn’t delaying the passing of a specific piece of legislation. Of the decision not to do a proper filibuster, he told Rolling Stone, “In the modern Senate, it’s very hard to even get control of the floor.”
“I said to my team, ‘How did Ted Cruz get control of the floor? How did Rand Paul? Figure out how they got control,’” he continued. “The person in the cloakroom told me, very annoyingly, ‘We let [Rand Paul take the floor], because he promised it was only going to be a couple minutes — and he lied through his teeth’ … I’m not going to lie, so let’s just let them know that I’m going to take control of the floor and hold it for as long as I possibly can.”
As for whether he wants to run for president in 2028, Booker was frank. “It would be the biggest malpractice of my life if I didn’t tell you I am running for reelection two years before that election,” he told the publication. “I want to be reelected as a New Jersey senator, and my focus is to let my state know I am 100 percent focused.”
The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow film hits theaters on May 16, and he revealed that his sleep paralysis diagnosis played a role in inspiring the movie.
Ahead of the film’s arrival, the singer spoke with The Fader earlier this week, when the superstar revealed that his suffering from sleep paralysis played a major role in inspiring Hurry Up Tomorrow. “There are no antagonists in this film,” he said. “I think that sleep paralysis is the enemy. One of the main concepts of this film is sleep paralysis.”
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The Weeknd added that he has since gotten his sleep paralysis under control with better sleeping practices limiting his lucid dreaming.
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“That is something that I was really dealing with, still am to this day, not as much as before, but they’re very vivid nightmares where you’re in bed and you’re half asleep, half awake,” he explained. “You’re aware of your surroundings, but you can’t move. You’re paralyzed for almost a minute. Sometimes you see a shadowy figure in the corner and you hear voices, sweet nothings. It’s saying nothing, but they’re voices.
The Toronto singer continued to say that lack of sleep was the biggest contributor to his sleep paralysis. “I did my research on it and it’s just a lack of sleep,” he concluded. “Your brain is still awake when you’re asleep. So my biggest medicine for it is just turn your phone off, turn the TV off, turn all the lights off. And yeah, you won’t get it. The irony is it’s got to all be dark and scary for you to sleep through the night.”
Hurry Up Tomorrow finds The Weeknd playing a fictionalized pop star version of himself while starring alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan in the psychological thriller directed by Trey Edward Shults.
The star gave fans a sneak peek into a scene from the film on Wednesday (May 7) on Instagram. The clip finds The Weeknd osing his voice, but he learns it was due to a psychological condition and not from physical harm.
The clip direclty mirrors the Weeknd’s real life, as Tesfaye was forced to cancel a show after he lost his voice while performing “Can’t Feel My Face” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in September 2022.
Before the film’s arrival, The Weeknd will embark on his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. The North American trek kicks off on May 9 in Phoenix. Playboi Carti and Mike Dean are slated to serve as the tour’s special guests.
Watch a Hurry Up Tomorrow trailer below and look for the movie in theaters on May 16.
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
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.
*NEW* Here’s a snippet of my inside take on the whole Kanye interview debacle that’s now making news around the world. For the full inside story, go to the link in my bio… pic.twitter.com/SCpIuxKfT3— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 7, 2025
So, I interviewed Kanye West again today. As I expected, given what I’ve said about him recently, it didn’t last long or go well. This was him right before he stomped off like a big baby. Drops on @PiersUncensored later… pic.twitter.com/m8TDGDpwgs— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 6, 2025
“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.
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.”
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.
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.