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They finally freed the wave.
Harlem’s Max B was sentenced to 75 years in 2009 for his role in a robbery gone wrong. However, in 2016, his sentence was reduced to 20 years after he struck a plea deal with prosecutors, and he finally came home on Nov. 9 to much fanfare, and was greeted outside the gates of Northern State Prison in Newark, N.J., by his longtime friend and collaborator French Montana.
In his first sit-down video interview since being released, Max B caught up with Billboard to talk about his influence, how he spent his time inside and his plans for the future.
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A couple of rappers who were influenced by Max are two widely popular ones out of Pittsburgh. He and Mac Miller struck up a relationship before Miller’s 2018 death, and Wiz Khalifa has mentioned Max’s influence on his style on multiple occasions.
“I didn’t know Mac too well personally, but we spoke a couple times before he passed away, rest in peace,” Max tells Billboard of the late MC. “I know he was a big fan, I’m a fan of his as well. You know these guys is music guys, they love music … You hear the music incorporated with the pain or whatever, so these is like musical guys. I kinda feel like musical guys adapt to my style.”
When it comes to how he’s been adapting to life outside the walls of a prison as a civilian, he’s still getting used to things. “I’m not gonna say I’m overwhelmed. Anxiety? I’m not really that anxious no more for nothin’,” he says. “I’m just taking my time, I’m out here. It’s real, I done woke up in my bed a couple days straight, so I can’t complain, man, you know what I’m saying? Eating good food, got my wife, got my kids — I’m seeing my kids everyday — I got my electronics … I start trying to hook my s—t up, I couldn’t. I didn’t know what the f—k I was doing with that, but I’ma keep trying, you heard? It’s mine, I’ma figure that s—t out.”
He adds that he’s going to turn over a new leaf.
“This the new grown and gorgeous Biggavel, this is the new and improved. This the new, distinguished Biggavel. This ain’t the old Biggavel from before, so you gotta love it,” he says of the white suit and red bowtie he wore during his “Welcome Home” dinner. “This is what I think is attracting the people like, ‘Damn, we thought this n—a was gonna come out and do the same s—t. He’s a prime example of what you’re supposed to do when you come out. His reentry at its purest form. This man right here: Max Biggavel.”
And his influence doesn’t only extend to rap music. Rap Twitter has long since dubbed Justin Bieber “Biebervelli” whenever the pop star decides to venture into R&B, and when Max caught wind of the Canadian singer’s nickname, he had nothing but nice things to say. “Shout out to the Biebs, man. That’s my guy. He’s soulful,” Max tells Billboard. “When I hear stuff like that, I get flattered, I go back in there and get some work done, man, and keep it going, so the game could love us.”
Check out In Conversation With Max B above for a lot more.
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Summer Walker might be “Finally Over It,” as she croons on the title track of her latest studio album, but she’ll never get over Anna Nicole Smith.
On Monday (Nov. 17), the Billboard 200-topping R&B star stopped by The Terrell Show to speak with host Terrell Grice about the journey to her third studio album, Finally Over It. Between professing her desire to further explore funk music and naming her favorite Erykah Badu song (spoiler, it’s “Honey”), the “Girls Need Love” singer also explained why Smith — who died in 2007 — was her visual and aesthetic muse for her new record.
“I love her. She’s hot. She’s sexy. She’s fun and free,” Walker gushed. “And I want that to be me … People come up with s—t for creative direction, but I really want to get into that. I got to find my old billionaire!”
The official artwork for the streaming and digital versions of Finally Over It, which arrived on Nov. 14, features a solemn Walker holding a bouquet of white roses and wearing a voluminous wedding gown as she poses next to her much older, white, wheelchair-bound husband. The image is a direct callback to Smith’s iconic 1994 wedding, during which she married J. Howard Marshall, a then-89-year-old petroleum tycoon billionaire.
’90s Playboy icons proved to be a key source of inspiration for Walker as she rolled out Finally Over It. At September’s MTV Video Music Awards, where “Heart of a Woman” competed for the best R&B Moon Person, Walker called upon Pamela Anderson’s iconic 1999 VMAs outfit for her red carpet look. “F—k my type,” she captioned a Sept. 7 Instagram carousel, teasing the latest Finally Over It single.
Finally Over It marks the conclusion to the trilogy Walker launched in 2019 with Over It, her debut studio album. The era-defining record reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and its follow-up, 2021’s Still Over It, became Walker’s first project to top the chart — and the highest charting album from a female R&B artist since Beyoncé’s Lemonade in 2016. Featuring a boatload of collaborators — including Anderson .Paak, Mariah the Scientist, Teddy Swims and Chris Brown — Finally Over It also includes the hit “Heart of a Woman,” which earned nominations for best R&B song and performance at the 2026 Grammys.
Watch Summer Walker explain Anna Nicole Smith’s influence over Finally Over It below.
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Chase Stokes is not pleased with certain people in Kelsea Ballerini‘s comments section.
After the country singer-songwriter — who reportedly reconciled with the Outer Banks star two months after ending their three-year relationship — posted a TikTok promoting new song “People Pleaser,” an onslaught of viewers replied with remarks that didn’t sit well with Stokes. “These comments are f–king weird,” he wrote.
The actor added, “Grow up.”
Some outlets have reported that Stokes’ response was in reference to certain comments about his ex-girlfriend and Outer Banks costar Madelyn Cline. On a different song from Ballerini’s brand new Mount Pleasant EP, “Emerald City,” she sings about struggling with jealousy and obsessive thoughts about her partner’s former flame, which has led some people to take sides between the two women.
“Always liked the color of my eyes ’til I knew she had brown/ I’m green/ Always liked my naïve innocence ’til I learned she got around,” the musician croons on the track. (Yes, Cline has brown eyes.)
But as one person wrote on Ballerini’s video — in which she had simply sung along to “People Pleaser” while showing off her glam look for the day — the song “Emerald City” simply “goes to show the most beautiful woman in the world can still have feelings of jealousy and insecurity.”
Ballerini has been clear in the past that she has no feelings of ill will toward Cline. “I met her and I talked to her and she’s lovely,” she said of the actress on a 2023 episode of Call Her Daddy. “And I think she’s wildly talented. I think the internet did its best to make it weird, and it didn’t work for them … At the end of the day, I’m a girl’s girl, I don’t buy into the bulls–t. I think they have a beautiful working relationship.”
It’s unclear what the status of Ballerini and Stokes’ relationship is currently. In September, a rep for the singer confirmed to Billboard that they’d split, about three years after they’d started dating.
However, People reported earlier in November that the pair appeared to have rekindled their romance, citing an onlooker who’d witnessed them holding hands while out to eat in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the next season of Outer Banks is filming.
Trending on Billboard Drake and Sexyy Red are sparking collaboration rumors after posing for a tennis-themed photo shoot,which the 6 God fueled with a post to Instagram on Monday (Nov. 17). Explore See latest videos, charts and news “I said tennis lesson she said where’s the bracelet or the necklace,” Drizzy captioned the slideshow of […]
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Uketsu’s horror-mystery novel Strange Pictures has been shortlisted for Waterstones’ 2025 Book of the Year.
Originally published by Futabasha in 2022, Strange Pictures is an interactive horror-mystery in which readers unravel the story through clues scattered across “nine bizarre paintings” that feel subtly off. Since its release, the novel has garnered a broad following, selling over 1.2 million copies in Japan and surpassing 2 million copies worldwide.
Waterstones, the U.K.’s largest bookstore chain with nearly 300 locations across the U.K. and Ireland, selects its annual Book of the Year based on titles that booksellers most want to recommend to readers. The award draws significant attention in the U.K. publishing scene and is also widely followed by general readers. The chain described Uketsu’s work as “a horror novel by a Japanese author originating on social media, gaining attention even in the English-speaking world — an unconventional pick.”
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The novel has also been recognized internationally: In France, it was named FNAC’s Book of the Month, while in Germany it topped the May 2025 Krimibestenliste — Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur’s mystery list — as the best crime novel of the month. In Thailand, it debuted at number one in a major book event shortly after its release, and translation rights have now been secured in 36 countries and regions across five continents, including the U.S., South Korea, China, Brazil, and Morocco.
The enigmatic, masked writer and YouTuber’s latest installment in the “Strange” series called Strange Maps is currently available in Japan, and recently claimed the top spot on Billboard Japan’s new book chart, the Japan Book Hot 100. See Uketsu’s reaction to being nominated in the U.K. in full below.
I’m deeply honored and truly grateful. I lived in Surrey, England, as a child. The overcast skies, the scent of rain, and the serene yet slightly uncanny culture were formative experiences for my writing. I’m thrilled to reconnect with readers in the U.K. in this way.
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Legendarily prolific actor Samuel L. Jackson had no problem saying yes when he was asked to join Kendrick Lamar for the Grammy and Pulitzer prize-winning rapper’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February in New Orleans. And while Jackson thought he was signing up for another one of his eclectic acting gigs, the Tulsa King co-star told Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night (Nov. 17) that he had no idea he was signing up to be a surprise guest at a “revolution.”
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“Great time. I kind of had no idea when they called me and said, ‘Yeah, we’d really like for you to be part of Kendrick’s halftime show’… I was like ‘really?,’” Jackson recalled thinking at the time. When the show’s producers promised to send him the treatment for the show, consummate professional Jackson said he didn’t really care about all that and promised to be there when they needed him.
“And then when I got there and we were rehearsing, it was all kind of nice and fun and watching the dancers go through their routines,” he described. “It’s like, ‘damn! They’ve been rehearsing for a while, because they were like [snaps fingers.]’” In case you forgot, Jackson popped in dressed in a red, white and blue Uncle Sam outfit to welcome the crowd with the enthusiastic greeting, “your uncle… Sam and this is the great American game!”
Jackson said he had “no idea” about what was about to take place until dress rehearsal for what would become the most-watched halftime show in history, one in which he would provide Greek chorus-like commentary on the racial state of the nation. “That was the first time I knew we were doing a revolution,” Jackson said of the eye-popping spectacle at the Caesars Superdome that featured guest stars SZA, tennis great Serena Williams crip walking and record producer Mustard.
“I knew I was dressing as Uncle Sam, but I just thought that was like, okay, fine, it’s an Uncle Sam thing,” Jackson said. “When dress rehearsal starts I’m there I’m doing it and I turn around and I said, ‘wait a minute, that’s a flag… they’re making a flag up there,” he recalled of the sight of the mass of dancers in red, white and blue forming into the American flag. “Oh, now I’m going, ‘ah, now it’s revolutionary.’” He said it never occurred to him before that moment that the dancers would be activated into Old Glory, especially since a lot of people already call him “Uncle Sam” on the regular.
Jackson, who has worked with rappers before, including LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes, also famously appeared in the 1992 crime drama Juice alongside late rap icon Tupac Shakur in his first major role in a film. The actor, who had met Shakur before, said he was a “nice enough kid,” but recalled an incident on set that might surprise fans familiar with Jackson’s legendarily NSFW dialogue.
On a night when Jackson wasn’t shooting, his wife, actress LaTanya Jackson was sitting in a room with the mothers of the other kids who appeared in the film and “Tupac came through there and he was cussing somebody out and yelling, screaming.” So LaTanya Jackson grabbed Shakur and told the rapper, “‘Hey, don’t you see all the grown women, you can’t talk like that and use that kind of language!’ And everybody in the room was like [big inhale]. And he totally apologized [and said] ‘I’m so sorry.’” From that point on, Jackson said, Tupac was a gentleman and whenever he saw the actor’s wife he would greet her with, “‘Hey mom, how you doing?’”
Kimmel said it did strike him as odd that Jackson’s wife had a problem with foul language given his f-bomb proclivities. “Only in a room full of grown women,” Jackson explained, with Kimmel confirming that scripted cursing is seemingly okay with her. “If I’m at home, it’ my house,” Jackson explained. “I can say what I want to.”
Watch Samuel L. Jackson on Jimmy Kimmel Live! below.
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There are few moments that disrupted the news cycle in 2025 more than Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s engagement announcement, with the internet freaking out for days on end after the fact — and that’s exactly why The Cambridge Dictionary chose the term it did to represent this year in the history books.
As recently announced, the organization’s 2025 Word of the Year is “parasocial,” thanks in part to the overwhelming emotional response online to Tayvis’ big news in August, largely from people who’ve never met either the pop star or the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. The site defines the term as an adjective “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know.”
“Global coverage of the way in which Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Travis Kelce caused lookups of parasocial to surge as the media dissected fans’ reactions,” the Cambridge Dictionary explained of its 2025 selection. “Posts by fans say ‘I’m not being parasocial about it’ and talk about ‘a Swiftie being parasocial for 10 minutes straight.’”
Other factors that informed the choice were the wave of concern in 2025 about eerily personal artificial intelligence chatbots as well as one viral fan’s reaction to a YouTube streamer by the name of IShowSpeed breaking up with his girlfriend in June.
Indeed, there were many fan displays of cheers and tears on Aug. 26, 2025, when Swift and Kelce shared photos of the proposal on Instagram. “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” they captioned the post, which received more than 14 million “likes” on Instagram within one hour.
For many longtime Swifties, it was impossible not to have a deep emotional reaction to the news. For nearly two decades, they’d been listening to the 14-time Grammy winner sing in detail about her trials and tribulations with love, making her real-life fairytale ending — such as the one she sang about in 2008 on smash hit “Love Story” — feel extra special, parasocialism be damned.
“I AM SO HAPPY FOR MY CLOSE AND PERSONAL FRIEND TAYLOR SWIFT,” one fan wrote shortly after the couple’s post, sharing a gif of a little girl screaming.
“the way my phone was blowing up you’d think I was the one who got engaged,” someone else added at the time.
The Cambridge Dictionary has been choosing a Word of the Year since 2015. In 2024, the institution selected “manifest,” which followed “hallucinate” the year prior.
Also in 2025, “pseudonymization” and “memeify” were on the shortlist for the Word of the Year title.
Trending on Billboard The follow-up to Wicked is coming to theaters in just a few days, so Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo had to give their viral Tonight Show jingle from last year a sequel, too. In a video posted by the late-night program on Sunday (Nov. 16), the two leading ladies perform a second […]
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The 15th annual Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Fla. will feature headliners Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance and Bring Me the Horizon. The massive hard rock/punk/metal gathering from Danny Wimmer Presents will take place from May 7-10 at Daytona International Speedway, with more than 160 bands playing on five stages.
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Thursday night will kick off with GNR, who will be joined by Five Finger Death Punch (as part of their 20th anniversary world tour), Godsmack and Staind (celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Break the Cycle album), followed by Foo Fighters accompanied by Turnstile, the Offspring and Parkway Drive. Saturday night’s Bring Me the Horizon headlining set — their only Florida show next year — will have support from Breaking Benjamin, Motionless in White and Lamb of God, with the final night finding My Chemical Romance performing alongside A Day to Remember, Rise Against and Yellowcard.
“We are dropping our 10th studio album and kicking off our 20th anniversary world tour in 2026, so starting the year at Welcome To Rockville feels perfect,” said FFDP rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory in a statement. “It is one of the biggest rock festivals in North America, and there is no better stage to fire the first shot of this next chapter of Five Finger Death Punch.”
All passes for next year’s Welcome to Rockville — including single-day, 4-day GA, VIP and the Daytona Owners Club — are on sale here now.
Among the other acts on tap for next year are: All Time Low, Alice Cooper, Ice Nine Kills, Amon Amarth, Simple Plan, Lorna Shore, Coheed and Cambria, Slaughter To Prevail, Sleeping with Sirens, Hollywood Undead, Black Label Society, Highly Suspect, Dance Gavin Dance, Architects, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Poppy, The Warning, Behemoth, Dethklok, Zakk Sabbath, Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm, Tom Morello, Underoath, Black Veil Brides, Mayday Parade, Sepultura, Suicidal Tendencies, Starset, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, Yelawolf, Badflower, Story of the Year, Plain White T’s, Avatar, In Flames, Switchfoot, The Home Team, State Champs, Gym Class Heroes, The Plot In You, Static-X, Hatebreed, We The Kings, Paleface Swiss, Kreator, Eagles of Death Metal, 3OH!3, Cradle of Filth, The Wonder Years and many more.
The Welcome to Rockville Battle for the Big Stage competition will also return next year, with bands encouraged enter the competition here now through Nov. 30. Leading up the festival, viewers can vote on who they want to play Rockville during the Sunday episodes of the Space Zebra show at 6:30 p.m. ET on the DWP Twitch channel.
Check out the 2026 Welcome to Rockville poster below.
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Late legend Frank Sinatra’s presence on Billboard’s charts stretches from the first national ranking in 1940 to today, 85 years later.
Sinatra debuts at No. 26 on the Adult Contemporary chart (dated Nov. 22) with Pentatonix on “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” The song drew 282,000 in audience from plays on 18 stations Nov. 7-13, according to Luminate.
The carol is from Pentatonix’s new album, Christmas in the City, which debuted as the vocal group’s 11th top 10 on the Top Holiday Albums chart earlier in November.
“We met someone with the estate, and the Sinatras had to give their blessing, and we are beyond honored,” the group’s Scott Hoying recently told iHeartRadio’s Ellen K of the team-up with Sinatra, who died in 1998. “They blessed us with his sweet voice and we got to release an unheard vocal, and it’s wild if you listen to it. You can hear the papers ruffling and the bleed of the orchestra from the other room. It was really, really powerful and magical, amazing.”
Added Pentatonix’s Kirstin Maldonado, “I feel like we went back in time and were those singers with him in that booth that we were inspired by. To have our names next to Frank Sinatra is just, like, that’s iconic. It’s such an honor.”
Sinatra bookends Billboard chart archives, as he sang on the first No. 1 — “I’ll Never Smile Again,” billed as by Tommy Dorsey — on the first nationwide sales chart, the National List of Best Selling Retail Records, published in the July 27, 1940, issue.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Board appears on Adult Contemporary (or any current-based Billboard radio chart) for the first time since Sept. 29, 1984. He lands his highest rank since May 31, 1980, when his revered “Theme From New York, New York” hit No. 10, becoming his 20th top 10. He boasts the longest span of making the tally (more than 64 years and four months), as he placed on the inaugural edition dated July 17, 1961.
Holiday music continues to grant Sinatra new chart honors. In December 2023, his take on “Jingle Bells” hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his first appearance in the top 20 since 1967. Plus, last holiday season, Ultimate Christmas became his 33rd top 10 album on the Billboard 200, extending his record for the most among male soloists.
