Music News
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While the 2025 Met Gala was a star-studded affair on a rainy Monday night (May 5) in NYC, one influential face missing from the hip-hop realm was Playboi Carti. The Atlanta native took to Instagram to post a dapper photoshoot he had with his girlfriend, Gio, where Carti claimed he was banned from attending the […]
Maren Morris can speak from experience: No other concert crowd holds a candle to Taylor Swift‘s.
While on The Jennifer Hudson Show Wednesday (May 7), the Texas-born singer-songwriter opened up about performing her Fearless (Taylor’s Version) collaboration, “You All Over Me,” with Swift at one of the pop superstar’s 2023 Eras Tour shows in Chicago. “I’ve never seen a crowd like that, and there’s not a crowd like hers,” Morris raved.
“They’re so supportive, they’re listening to all the lyrics, they want to hear every nuance and breath between words,” she continued. “They’re truly locked in. It was a real treat to experience on that plane.”
The duo sang together at the “Fortnight” musician’s second of three Soldier Field shows in June 2023, which came two years after they first teamed up for the re-release of Swift’s blockbuster 2008 sophomore album. The performance marked the first time they’d ever played “You All Over Me” — a From the Vault bonus track on the revamped Fearless — live.
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But Morris and Swift had been friends long before that, performing the former’s smash “The Middle” together in Arlington, Texas, on the latter’s Reputation Tour in 2018. In November 2023, the “Circles Around This Town” singer told Jimmy Fallon that her onetime collaborator has “been so supportive of me and my career over the years,” adding, “We’re the same age, but looking up to her since I was a teenager, and watching her navigate her country music to pop career so gracefully, and the way she treats her fans is so kind and generous … she’s setting a high bar.”
Morris echoed those sentiments on Hudson’s talk show, telling the host, “I fell in love with [Swift’s] songwriting back in high school, and I just turned 35, so I feel like even before I met Taylor, I had this friendship in my mind with her.”
The interview comes two days ahead of Morris’ fourth studio album, Dreamsicle, which features the five tracks she previously dropped in August on EP Intermission. The new project is also preceded by two singles, “Carry Me Through” and “Bed No Breakfast,” released in March and April, respectively.
Watch Morris gush about Swift on The Jennifer Hudson Show below.
The 2025 ACM Awards are almost upon us. Hosted by 16-time ACM Award winner Reba McEntire, the show will stream live for a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The show will be expanded from two to two-and-a-half hours.
The show will open with 12 straight minutes of music highlighting ACM Award-winning song of the year winners from across six decades. The segment will feature Clint Black, Dan + Shay, LeAnn Rimes, McEntire, Sugarland and Wynonna Judd. Four of those artists popularized songs that won ACM Awards for song of the year, so you’re very likely to hear these songs in that medley: Dan + Shay’s “Tequila,” The Judds’ “Why Not Me,” Rimes’ “Blue” and Sugarland’s “Stay.”
The show will also feature collaborative performances by Jelly Roll & Shaboozey; Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts; and Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson. Jelly and Shaboozey performed together at last month’s Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California. Backstreet Boys were also on the bill for the three-day country festival.
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Keith Urban will finally receive the ACM Triple Crown Award, which he clinched in 2019 when he was named entertainer of the year (having won new male artist of the year in 2001 and male artist of the year in 2005-06). The ACM had somehow never actually presented him with the award, and it is going all out this year. Chris Stapleton, Megan Moroney and Brothers Osborne will perform Urban hits in the segment.
This will be the 18th time McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the ACM Awards. She first co-hosted the show in 1986 with John Schneider and the late Mac Davis. McEntire is fast closing in on Bob Hope’s record as the most frequent host of any major awards show. Hope hosted or co-hosted the Oscars 19 times between 1940 and 1978.
Other performers include Ella Langley and Zach Top, who have already been announced as the winners of new female and male artist of the year.
The ACM also announced presenters on the show, most of whom are top country stars past and present. Other presenters include music legend and American Idol judge Lionel Richie, actress/singer Rita Wilson, NASCAR driver Chase Elliott and Amazon Music’s co-hosts of the Country Heat Weekly podcast Amber Anderson and Kelly Sutton.
Broadcaster Bobby Bones has also been added to the program. The five-time ACM winner will have multiple moments throughout the show in which he conducts artist interviews.
Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner of the 2025 ACM Awards, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Jay Penske and Barry Adelman serve as executive producers for Dick Clark Productions. John Saade will also continue to serve as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show. The ACMs made history in 2022 as the first major awards ceremony to exclusively livestream, in collaboration with Prime Video. Carnival Cruise Line is the presenting sponsor of this year’s show.
Here’s the full list of performers and presenters for the 2025 ACM Awards
Opening Segment
Clint Black
Dan + Shay
LeAnn Rimes
Sugarland
Reba McEntire
Wynonna Judd
Keith Urban Triple Crown Award Segment
Brothers Osborne
Chris Stapleton
Megan Moroney
Collaborations
Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts
Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson
Jelly Roll & Shaboozey
Other Performers
Alan Jackson
Blake Shelton
Brothers Osborne
Chris Stapleton
Ella Langley
Eric Church
Kelsea Ballerini
Lainey Wilson
Megan Moroney
Miranda Lambert
Zach Top
Amber Anderson & Kelly Sutton
Blake Shelton
Carly Pearce
Chase Elliott
Clint Black
Crystal Gayle
ERNEST
Gabby Barrett
Gretchen Wilson
Lee Ann Womack
Jordan Davis
Lionel Richie
Little Big Town
Martina McBride
Parker McCollum
Riley Green
Rita Wilson
Sara Evans
Sugarland
The Oak Ridge Boys
Wynonna Judd
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
The Backstreet Boys have extended their upcoming summer residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere. On Wednesday (May 7) the veteran man band added a final three shows to the Into the Millennium run, revealing that their final shows of 2025 will take place on August 22, 23 and 24.
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With that trifecta — which will also be the group’s final shows of 2025 — the total number of Sphere gigs has run up to 21. The Live Nation-produced shows from AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Nick Carter will be the first by a pop act in the futuristic venue that has to date hosted U2, Phish, Dead & Company, the Eagles and EDM act Anyma; country star Kenny Chesney will set up shop from May 22-June 21.
Tickets for the newly added dates will go on sale first through the Backstreet Boys Fan Club presale that kicks off on Monday (May 12) at 12 p.m. PT, followed by an artist presale on Tuesday (May 13) beginning at 10 a.m. PT; fans can sign up for the artist presale here through Sunday (May 11) at 10 p.m. PT. A general onsale will kick off on May 16 at 10 a.m. PT here.
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The group will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their landmark Grammy-nominated Millennium album on July 11 with the release of Millennium 2.0. The revamped album will feature 25 tracks, including all 12 remastered originals, as well as live recordings, demos and b-sides.
Speaking to Billboard earlier this year, Carter promised the shows will provide fans with a “sensory overload” experience as they perform the 1999 album, along with some greatest hits and their new single, “Hey.” McLean also suggested that attendees pack “something all white” for the shows.
Check out the full list of BSB Sphere dates below.
July 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27
August 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24
Billboard’s Dance Moves roundup serves as a guide to the biggest movers and shakers across Billboard’s many dance charts — new No. 1s, new top 10s, first-timers and more.
This week (on charts dated May 10), Beyoncé, Gryffin, PinkPantheress and others achieve new feats. Check out key movers below.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé’s 2022 LP Renaissance rises 8-5 on the Top Dance Albums chart, earning 6,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the April 25-May 1 tracking week (up 26%), according to Luminate, as the superstar kicked off her Cowboy Carter Tour April 28 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. While the setlist primarily highlights her 2024 country album Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé included several Renaissance tracks during the tour’s first three shows (all at SoFi), including “America Has a Problem,” “My House,” “Cuff It” and “Alien Superstar.”
The album wasn’t Beyoncé’s only beneficiary: Her entire solo catalog sports gains following the tour’s launch. Her catalog raked in 57 million official U.S. streams during the tracking week, up 18% from the 48.3 million streams the week before. Cowboy Carter had the largest gains and surges 193-64 on the Billboard 200 with a 73% increase in units.
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Gryffin, Excision & Julia Michaels
Gryffin, Excision and Julia Michaels’ new collaboration, “Air,” debuts at No. 25 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, fueled entirely by its 620,000 first-week streams. The track arrived April 25 via 10K Projects.
“Air” earns Gryffin his 38th career entry on the chart, and his second of 2025, after “In My Head,” with Kaskade and Nu-La, peaked at No. 15 in February. It also becomes Excision’s 10th entry and Michaels’ fifth.
PinkPantheress
PinkPantheress lands her second entry on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart with “Stateside.” Released April 25 on Parlophone/Elektra/Atlantic Records, the track debuts at No. 11 and joins her previous single, “Tonight,” which ranks at No. 13 after debuting at No. 5 in April. Both songs are set to appear on her second mixtape, Fancy That, a nine-track project due out Friday (May 9).
PinkPantheress previously charted two tracks on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs: “Way Back” with Skrillex and Trippie Redd (No. 13 in January 2023), and Kaytranada’s “Snap My Finger,” on which she’s featured (No. 40 last June). Her breakthrough collaboration with Ice Spice, “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2023.
MEDUZA, Innellea, GENESI & Nu-La
MEDUZA, Innellea and GENESI’s “Edge of the World,” featuring Nu-La, debuts at No. 33 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, marking the highest new entry of the week. It gained by 33% in plays among 24/7 dance reporters and pop stations’ mix show hours.
The release marks a milestone for Italian house group MEDUZA, which scores its 10th career entry and first since “Another World,” with HAYLA, hit No. 1 in December, becoming the act’s third leader. It’s also the first entry for both Innellea and GENESI and the second for Nu-La, whose “In My Head,” with Gryffin and Kaskade, rises to a new No. 14 high.
In a fun twist, the chart’s second-highest debut is the similarly titled “End of the World” — Miley Cyrus’ latest single. It enters at No. 35 with a 30% gain in plays, becoming her 12th career hit on the chart.
Fitz and the Tantrums have returned: the pop-rock group have announced that their sixth studio album, Man on the Moon, will be released on July 25 through Atlantic Records, and unveiled the title track of the upcoming full-length on Wednesday (May 7).
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The follow-up to 2022’s Let Yourself Free was a product of feeling less beholden to straining for hits in the studio, says band leader Michael Fitzpatrick. “I think after our first radio hit with ‘Out Of My League,’ there was this insane amount of pressure to keep delivering hits,” he says of the band’s breakthrough 2013 single. “Then we had an even bigger hit with ‘HandClap,’ and there was even more expectation and pressure.
“But today?!” Fitzpatrick continues. “No one knows what a hit is anymore, the landscape is totally different, and that was actually incredibly liberating for us during the making of this record. We said ‘screw it,’ and just did what we wanted 1000% of the time. Zero compromise and all feeling. The air finally came back into the room and writing songs felt joyful and easy again.”
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That process began with the title track, which will serve as the new album’s lead single. While the band released album track “Ruin the Night” in March, “Man on the Moon” represents a jolt of energy for the group, and a return to the soul-pop sound that has defined some of their most well-loved hits.
“‘Man On The Moon’ came about organically in the early days of the writing process for the album,” says Fitzpatrick. “The feelings and ideas that I wanted to write about just kept pointing us back in the Motown/soul direction. Honestly, it kinda felt like coming home.”
After touring extensively behind Let Yourself Free, Fitz and the Tantrums will kick off a summer headlining run on July 24 in San Diego on the eve of the album release. The 31-city North American tour will feature Aloe Blacc and Neal Francis as special guests on select dates, while Ax and the Hatchetman, SNACKTIME and Gable Price and Friends will serve as openers.
Check out the track list to Fitz and the Tantrums’ Man on the Moon and watch the video for the title track below:
“The Good The Bad The Ugly”
“Man On The Moon”
“Withdrawals”
“Oh Maria”
“Ruin The Night”
“Where I Go”
“Young Days”
“Perfume”
“Umbrella”
“Queen of Hearts”
“Waste My Time”
“OK OK OK”
“Motion”
“One Day”
The Latin Alternative Music Conference will honor a group of 20 women in the 2025 LAMC Wonder Women of Latin Music program. The list features a wide-ranging group, including journalists, publicists and executives from multiple areas of the music business that will be recognized in partnership with Amazon Music. Now in its sixth edition, the […]
For years, the roster for Lil Wayne‘s Young Money crew has included such bold named stars as Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Lil Twist and Jae Millz, among others. But as Weezy prepares to finally release his long-awaited Tha Carter VI LP on June 6, the Young Money CEO popped into his Young Money Radio show on Apple Music to introduce the next generation roster.
In addition to long-time members Cory Gunz and Twist, Wayne introduced his new artists, who include Jay Jones, Allan Cubas, Domiio, Euro and Lucifena, an East Los Angeles metal-edge singer whose vocals are informed by Nirvana and the Deftones. Also in the crew is New Orleans rapper Poppy, who Wayne said he’s so hyped on he thinks of the MC as like his “motherf–kin’ son.”
Wayne caught up with Gunz, noting that the Bronx rapper has been busy, dropping the Loosie Pack 3 EP and, last July, The Militia mixtape. Gunz said up next for him is “elevation,” raising the bar to the next level, just as Wayne has shown by example in his career. “We got to make each thing better than the last one,” he said while also chopping it up about his resurgent New York Knicks’ run in the NBA playoffs.
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Twist also provided an update, saying he’s stepped into “a whole ‘nother genre” thanks to picking up a live band. “I’m rocking with the alternative hip-hop rock,” he told the boss, who knows about dipping into the rock side thanks to his guitar-heavy 2010 Rebirth album.
New gen Young Money signees Jay Jones and Allan Cubas, both New Orleans natives as well, were up next. Wayne noted that after hearing Honduran-American artist Cubas rap and then go into his “Latin s–t” he was hooked. “That’s something we’ve never had at Young Money,” Wayne said of the sound. Hollygrove-bred MC Jones talked about his January mixtape, Almost Forgot Who I Was, as well as the collaborative Flight 504 project he’s working on with Cubas that will be a “fusion” of their styles.
The sit down also included chats with Euro and the one of the freshest signings, Domiio (aka Drizzy P), with Wayne saying of the latter that his confidence is “through the roof.” The session ended with Wayne introducing Lucifena and Poppy, with Weezy joking that he helped raise Poppy like his son, joking that he was shocked at how “dirty” the MCs sound was. He also described being blown away hearing Lucifena scream on a song called “Tyrant,” which inspired him so much that he laid down both a guitar solo and a verse on the track.
Watch Lil Wayne roll out the next generation below.
Fiona Apple spent two years as a “court watcher,” taking notes and observing thousands of bond hearings. Those countless hours have inspired the singer’s first new song in five years, “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home),” an intense, percussion-heavy broadside against the U.S.’s cash-bail system.
In a statement at the top of the video for the song that dropped on Tuesday (May 6), Apple wrote, “I saw so many people get caged away simply because they could not afford bail. Before they even got a trial… while still presumed innocent.” As her unaccompanied voice swells up, she sings, “They wouldn’t let her/ They wouldn’t let her/ They wouldn’t let her, wouldn’t let her go home,” and the words “Jail didn’t just hurt them. It hurt their families. It hurt all of our communities” scroll across the screen along with a montage of women impacted by a system that keeps people in jail if they can’t afford to post bail.
Apple said the personal images were shared with her by women who have been trapped in pretrial detention, jailed despite the court system’s presumption of innocence because they could not post bond. Over a second montage, hand drums and a flute bubble up as Apple sings, “They wouldn’t let her go home/ And now there’s no more home.” The singer said in an accompanying statement that for the past five years she’s been volunteering with the Free Black Mamas DMV bailout while witnessing “the stories of women who fought for and won their freedom with the tireless and loving support of the leadership.”
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“I hope that this song and these shared images will help to show what is at stake when someone is touched by a system that won’t let them go,” Apple wrote. The accompanying track produced by Zealous and Special Operation Studios is a tribal-beat homage to mothers who “took on extra shifts/ Still couldn’t pay the bail/ No danger, no flight risk/ But she will stay in jail,” she sings over images of smiling mothers dancing with and hugging their children.
“She was not convicted of anything/ Won’t you let her go home/ Won’t you let her go home,” Apple sings. “At home she’s got two kids/ And grandma needs her care/ Who’ll pack the lunch and give meds/ If she’s in jail not there?” The track also illuminates the cascading effects of mother’s jailed without bail, including falling behind on rent and kids missing school to see their grandma in the hospital after a fall, triggering teachers calling child protective services to report their absence and authorities then taking the children into custody.
“Can’t afford a new phone card, because nobody’s home/ Shame and isolation, economic deprivation/ And there’s no more home” Apple sings. By the fifth verse, Apple’s measured tone turns red as she recounts, “Preliminary hearing’s short, only witness is the cop/ He doesn’t even show up in court and all the charges get dropped/ What the f–k’s the point of all the f–king hell he put her through?/ Took her whole world away and set her up to start ’round two.”
Apple has set up an accompanying “Let Her Go Home” website where fans can find a local bail fund to contribute to on which she notes that “on any given day, 190,600 women and girls are incarcerated in the United States. Over 60,000 women are detained pretrial, presumed innocent, caged in U.S. jails simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. Their average yearly income is just $11,000. Over 66% are mother with minor children.”
The site also features images of some of the women Apple observed with their names and home cities as well as some descriptions, such as: “genuine, generous & creative genius,” “resilient, visionary & determined” and “assertive, authentic & unapologetic.” Apple has long advocated for court watching, including narrating and writing the score for a PSA for the National Courtwatch Network in 2023.
“Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)” is Apple’s fist new original song since the release of her fifth album, 2020’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters.
Watch Fiona Apple’s video for “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)” below.
By now you’ve surely heard that Rihanna debuted her baby bump at Monday night’s 2025 Met Gala. The singer and partner A$AP Rocky are expecting their third child together and while the most burning question on the Navy’s mind is whether No. 3 will further delay RihRih’s endlessly anticipated ninth album, Ciara said when she […]