Music News

14 Feb 2025

Benny Blanco Fills Bathtub With Queso for Selena Gomez’s Extra-Cheesy Valentine’s Day Gift

Benny Blanco knows that Selena Gomez is a fan of cheesy Valentine’s Day gestures — literally.

In celebration of this year’s Day of Love, the producer showed off the unorthodox gift he gave his famous fiancée: a bathtub full of queso. On an Instagram video posted Friday (Feb. 14), Blanco follows a trail of tortilla chips into his luxurious bathroom, where more chips spell out on the floor, “I [LOVE] YOU.”

He then points his camera at a bathtub full of cheese, dips a chip inside and takes a crunchy bite. “When your fiancé isnt much of a flowers girl,” he captioned the clip, which he paired with his and Gomez’s new duet “Scared of Loving You.”

“I love everything bout this..,” the Rare Beauty founder wrote in the comments.

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In addition to edible displays of affection, Gomez and Blanco also celebrated Valentine’s Day 2025 by announcing their new joint album I Said I Love You First. With “Scared of Loving You” serving as the lead single, the 14-track LP will arrive March 21.

And for those who have been following along with the “Lose You to Love Me” singer and Blanco’s love story, the cheese tub is a natural progression in their series of romantic gestures. On V-Day last year, the “Eastside” hitmaker rented out a movie theater for Gomez and stocked it with her favorite foods: Taco Bell, nachos and Hot Cheetos. And in December, he proposed to his fiancée over a picnic of Taco Bell carryout.

See Blanco’s Valentine’s Day gift to Gomez below.

14 Feb 2025

GloRilla Denies BBL Rumors as She Preps for ‘The Glorious Tour’

GloRilla is trying her best to beat the BBL allegations.

On Thursday, the Memphis rapper posted a video to her X account taking a break in the gym while wearing a waist-trainer. “Hey, y’all, I’ve been seeing everybody with all the BBL allegations and I wanna come on here and be honest,” she told her followers, responding to people accusing her of getting a Brazilian butt lift. “So, I didn’t get a BBL, but I did get some ‘discipline shots.’”

Glo then pointed at her head and joked, “So, I got ’em inserted right here and right here. And, you know, they just flow all the way through my brain. Just a few shots of discipline and that’s it. And that’s how you gon’ get a fat a–. But I ain’t get no BBL.”

Just last month, Glo addressed the allegations and patted herself on the back for her hard work and dedication. “Yall Dey pushing da bbl allegations on me again as dey should,” she tweeted. “I’m doing some right.”

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Glo seems to be preparing for her upcoming tour. She’s currently in the middle of a 30-day fast where she’s abstaining from smoking, drinking, sex, beverages that aren’t water, clubbing and frivolous spending, among other things. She’s also going to the gym three times a week. She posted a list on X and challenged her fans to join her.

The Glorious Tour is set to begin March 5 in Oklahoma City and will end in her hometown of Memphis on a date yet to be announced.

14 Feb 2025

The Lumineers Land Eighth Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 With ‘Same Old Song’

Concurrent with the release of their new album Automatic today (Feb. 14), The Lumineers notch their eighth No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, as “Same Old Song” rises two places to the top of the tally (dated Feb. 22).

The Lumineers slot into a four-way tie with The Black Keys, Death Cab for Cutie and John Mayer for the fifth-most rulers since Adult Alternative Airplay began in 1996.

Most No. 1s, Adult Alternative Airplay:
14, U2
13, Coldplay
11, Dave Matthews Band (including two solo by Matthews)
11, Jack Johnson
8, The Black Keys
8, Death Cab for Cutie
8, John Mayer
8, The Lumineers

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The Lumineers first led Adult Alternative Airplay in 2012 with “Ho Hey.” The duo had reigned most recently with “Up All Night,” with James Bay and Noah Kahan, last October.

Concurrently, “Same Old Song” rises 5-3 on Alternative Airplay, marking The Lumineers’ top-charting title since “Brightside,” which led for four weeks beginning in December 2021. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Same Old Song” holds at its No. 7 best with 3.2 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 13, according to Luminate.

“Same Old Song” appeared at No. 31 on the most recently published multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated Feb. 15, reflecting data accumulated Jan. 31-Feb. 6); in addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 1.4 million official U.S. streams in that span.

The song is the lead single from Automatic, The Lumineers’ fifth studio album and first since 2021’s Brightside.

All Billboard charts dated Feb. 22 will update Tuesday, Feb. 18 on Billboard.com.

14 Feb 2025

Suge Knight Claims 2Pac Wanted to Sign Aaliyah

While talking over the phone from prison with The Art of Dialogue, Death Row co-founder Suge Knight made an interesting revelation involving two late superstars. Apparently, 2Pac was a big fan of Aaliyah — so much so that he not only wanted to make music with her, he also wanted to sign her to Death Row.

Suge explained that the first time the late rapper/actor learned about the young singer was when they went to check out a Gladys Knight show. “We had a thing,” Suge remembered. “I would always listen to oldies, and Pac would listen to rap. He didn’t like oldies, so I told him, ‘I gotta show you what oldies are about.’ So, I took 2Pac to go see Gladys Knight perform in Vegas.”

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He then says that eventually Aaliyah came out to perform and blew 2Pac’s mind. “Aaliyah starts singing and 2Pac said, ‘Don’t get up! Don’t get up!’” Knight recalled. “I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because Gladys Knight knows you, you’re gonna speak to Gladys Knight, and then you’re gonna talk to that little girl singing. And the next thing you know, you’re gonna be doing an album.’ He said, ‘I’m gonna go talk to her, you come later on, because I want to do an album with Aaliyah.’”

Knight added of 2Pac, “He wasn’t thinking about signing nobody else. He thought she was the biggest star and had the best voice ever. Me and that dude spent hours and hours and days and days together. Me, personally, I never seen him get so excited about no female artist. … He lost his mind over Aaliyah. He talked about her for days and days. I got tired of hearing him talking about that little girl. He said, ‘I got these songs I want do with her. I’m gonna do this song with her.’ … He was super, super, super excited.”

“I always looked up to 2Pac because he was such a real brother,” Knight continued. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get over his death, but I do know his music will live on forever. All of us have suffered a major loss, including those who tried to destroy his name, reputation and spirit when he was alive.”

A day after 2Pac’s fatal shooting in 1996 at age 25, Aaliyah told MTV News, “I was very saddened, truthfully, at the tragic and senseless loss of such a multi-talented young man.” Aaliyah also passed away tragically early, dying in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.

Check out Knight’s new interview below.

14 Feb 2025

Demi Lovato Shares Old Hollywood Valentine’s Day Photo Shoot With Jutes: ‘I Cannot Wait to Marry You’

Demi Lovato celebrated another Valentine’s Day with their fiancé Jutes on Friday (Feb. 14), taking to social media to share a carousel of gorgeous photos from a shoot the duo took part in recently.

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In the Old Hollywood-style snaps, Lovato is seen in a white dress and headscarf, complete with matching white sunglasses, loose 1950’s wavy hair and a red lip. Jutes, meanwhile, rocks a sleek black suit and sunglasses, as the couple poses in a vintage convertible car. “Jordan, I cannot WAIT to marry you!!” Lovato captioned the post. “The past 3 years have been the best 3 years of my life and I have you to thank for that. I’m obsessed with your heart, your love and your light. I can’t wait to grow old with you and start a family together. Happy Valentine’s Day to the love of my life. I love you honey!!!”

See the Instagram photos here.

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Jutes, meanwhile, posted photos from the same shoot on his Instagram page, writing in the swoon-worthy caption, “happy valentine’s day to the love of my life. words will never do you justice, and I’ll never stop feeling like the luckiest guy alive. there’s no better feeling than being loved by you. I adore you baby and I can’t wait to marry you.”

The couple first made their relationship Instagram official in August 2022, and the next year, Jutes popped the question, on Dec. 16, 2023. The following day, Lovato showed off her engagement ring on Instagram and wrote, “I’m still speechless … My love, I’m beyond excited to marry you.. every day I’ve spent with you has been a dream come true and I can’t wait to love and cherish you forever. Here’s to the rest of our lives. I love you baby.”

The duo have also worked together on music. Jutes helped Lovato write multiple songs on their most recent album, Holy Fvck, including second single “Substance,” “Happy Ending” and “City of Angels”; the LP reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200.

14 Feb 2025

Taylor Swift Once Personally Asked Lorne Michaels to Cut an ‘SNL’ Skit Poking Fun at Her Squad

Lorne Michaels once risked having bad blood with Taylor Swift, according to a new Vulture profile published Friday (Feb. 14) ahead of Saturday Night Live‘s 50th-anniversary special this weekend.

While looking back at the series creator’s legacy with SNL, the publication uncovered one moment from 2015 when the pop superstar apparently personally called Michaels to ask that he cut a sketch poking fun at her famous girl squad. Showrunners had initially reached out to Swift to ask if she would appear in the skit, according to the magazine; in addition to declining, the 14-time Grammy winner requested that the whole thing be cut.

Michaels’ response? “Taylor, I do not negotiate with terrorists,” he apparently told her over the phone, suavely tossing a piece of popcorn into the air and catching it in his mouth.

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Billboard has reached out to Swift’s rep for comment.

That year, SNL aired two sketches about the “Karma” artist’s friend group, which became a much-talked-about pop-culture staple thanks to Swift’s star-studded “Bad Blood” music video — in which she cast several of her famous pals — and her 1989 World Tour, where she often had her squad members walk out with her onstage. In one, the show imagined a post-apocalyptic reality where Swift and her buddies had taken over the whole world. (“First it was the models, then the athletes, then it was everybody,” cast member Kenan Thompson said dramatically in the spoof. “Police, the fire department, Matt LeBlanc.”)

Another sketch found Amy Poehler and Tina Fey re-creating Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video with their own version of the “squad” — featuring their nannies, gynecologist and friend Amy Schumer instead of the Eras Tour headliner’s troupe of models and actresses.

After the skit in question aired, however, Swift made sure Michaels knew that everything was cool in the end. The Monday after that week’s show, the SNL head honcho received flowers from the singer and a note reading, “I hope there’s no bad blood,” according to Vulture.

This weekend, the famed live show will air its highly anticipated SNL50 anniversary special, featuring performances from Paul McCartney, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus and more famous guests. In its half-century on the air, Swift has appeared on the show multiple times. In 2009, she simultaneously made her hosting and musical guest debuts, after which she returned for performances in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

14 Feb 2025

What’s Your Favorite New Music Release of the Week? Vote!

With the beginning of Presidents’ Day weekend and Valentine’s Day coming together on the same day, a number of today’s biggest stars have dropped new music for fans to enjoy all long weekend.

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To kick things off, Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR got fans in the Valentine’s Day spirit by dropping $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, a 21-song joint album. The effort is Drake’s first full-length project since 2023’s For All The Dogs (outside of the 100 Gigs EP drop) and PartyNextDoor’s P4, which dropped in 2024.

It was also a big week for pop. Sabrina Carpenter expanded on her Short n’ Sweet era with the deluxe version of the project, featuring a new version of “Please Please Please” with Dolly Parton, plus bonus tracks like “15 Minutes,” “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” “Busy Woman” and “Bad Reviews.”

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Meanwhile, JISOO unveiled her debut solo mini-album, AMORTAGE, which includes the tracks “Earthquake,” “Your Love,” “Tears” and “Hugs & Kisses.” The K-pop superstar previously revealed that the project’s unique title is a mash-up representing “a montage of love.”

Addison Rae gave her heart to “High Fashion” in her new single, marking her first release of 2025. She released a string of songs last year to introduce her new musical era, including “Diet Pepsi” and “Aquamarine.”

That’s just the tip of the icebergs. More of the star-studded music releases this week include The Lumineers’ Automatic, Sam Smith’s “Love Is a Stillness” and Bon Iver’s “Everything Is Peaceful Love.” Now, we want to know your favorite. Check out our Friday Music Guide here, and let us know by voting here or below.

14 Feb 2025

Rosalía Joins Season 3 Cast of ‘Euphoria’: ‘I Couldn’t Be Happier’

Rosalía is set to join the cast of HBO’s hit series Euphoria for its third season, set to premiere in 2026.

First reported by Deadline on Friday (Feb. 14), the Spanish singer-songwriter and producer will act alongside returning original cast members including Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and Hunter Schafer. New cast additions also include Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch and NAACP Image Award winner Kadeem Hardison, among others.

“If there’s anything that excites me as much as creating a good melody or writing a great lyric, it’s becoming a better performer every day,” Rosalía said in a statement shared on Instagram. “Euphoria has been my favorite series over the last few years and I couldn’t be happier and more grateful to be acting alongside all of these incredibly talented people that I admire so much and contributing my ‘granito de arena’ to bring Sam [Levinson’s] vision to reality to make magic. I can’t wait to share what we’re doing!!! Besitos, Rosi.”

Premiering two years after the show’s second season ended, Euphoria‘s eight-episode third season — currently shooting in Los Angeles — will take the characters out of high school, according to Deadline. Rosalía’s casting on the Emmy-winning show comes after the “Despechá” singer teamed up with Billie Eilish in 2021 for “Lo Vas a Olvidar,” which was featured in a special episode titled “Part 2: Jules.”

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Euphoria is created, written, directed and executive produced by Sam Levinson. It is produced in partnership with A24. See Rosalía’s statement below (slide No. 5):

14 Feb 2025

Dolly Parton & Sabrina Carpenter Giggle About Being the Same Height in Adorable Clip of Their First Meeting

Dolly Parton and Sabrina Carpenter are the shortest and sweetest girls in Hollywood. Following the release of Carpenter’s deluxe edition of Short n’ Sweet on Friday (Feb. 14), Parton shared a video of the blonde duo meeting for the first time after the country icon lent her vocals to a remix of the pop star’s Hot 100 chart-topping single, “Please Please Please.”

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In the clip, the two embrace before noting that they see each other eye to eye — literally. “I didn’t know how tall you were,” Carpenter says. “You’re like my height!” Both Carpenter and Parton are five feet tall.

Parton then tells Carpenter that she loves their version of “Please Please Please,” which finds the duo trading verses in the country-tinged rendition of the track before coming together in the chorus for sky-high harmonies. “I know, I was just listening to it in the car,” Carpenter says. “Notes I never would have even thought of that you’re hitting!”

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The two singers are also seen singing along with their collaboration, before posing for a photo together. “Before and after. You’ll be this old one day,” Parton tells Carpenter, who sweetly replies, “I know, I can’t wait! I hope I look like you.”

Watch the adorable behind-the-scenes video here.

If you’ve haven’t seen it already, watch the music video for Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” featuring Parton below. In the black-and-white visual, the women team up for a Thelma and Louise-style video in which they’re on the run after a kidnapping.

14 Feb 2025

Pete Davidson Doesn’t See Ex Ariana Grande Very Often, But He’s Psyched About Her ‘Wicked’ Oscar Nom: ‘I Hope She Wins’

Pete Davidson is in the midst of a major make-over. The Saturday Night Live veteran and star of the new box office-topping animated flick DogMan has been showing off the results of hours of painful laser sessions to burn of the more than 200 tattoos that once riddled his torso while making the rounds to promote this weekend’s SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration special.

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He’s also talking, a bit, about his string of high-profile romances and how his tabloid-target dating life while on the show turned into a huge distraction, including his whirlwind romance, engagement and break-up with Ariana Grande. “It was pretty humiliating and upsetting, honestly,” he told Page Six of the attention and noise that his personal life got during his eight seasons (2014-2022) on the show. “Everyone is dating everyone and it’s Hollywood. Look at Paul Mescal, Timmy [Chalamet], Barry Keough,” he said. “But because I’m ugly, they wrote about me. I was harassed for like five years and it made my life a living hell.”

Davidson, 31, said the focus on his off-screen romances with Kim Kardashian, Kaia Gerber, Kate Beckinsdale and Cazzie David became “embarrassing,” because he wanted people to focus on his comedy and sketch work on SNL as one of the youngest, some might say rawest, performers to ever take the stage at Studio 8H. “All that got pushed to the side because of who I was dating,” said Davidson, who auditioned for the show when he was 20.

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In one of his rare public comments about the blink-and-you-missed-it 2018 romance with Grande that began in the spring, led to an engagement in June and a break-up that October — during which he got four tattoos dedicated to Grande and she wrote a song for him, “Pete Davidison,” for her Sweetener album — Davidson said things are good these days.

“When we see each other, which is few and far between, because we’re not in the same circles, it’s all love,” Davidson said of the singer/actress, who is nominated for her first Oscar for best supporting actress in Wicked. “I hope she wins the Oscar, I hope she takes the gold,” he added. “I’ve had some pretty adult relationships with some pretty amazing women, and when it’s ended it’s been cool.”

As for that phrase that has followed him around since that time in reference to his Grande-confirmed endowment with “BDE” (aka big d–k energy), Davidson said that, too, is a bit much. “I’m a very sensitive person and it’s humiliating to see a picture of yourself eating a sandwich in a pink T-shirt with the headline ‘This is what BDE is,’” Davidson said.

Davidson is showing off his newly blank skin canvas in revealing ads for women’s clothing company Reformation and he told Page Six that after breaking up with Outer Banks actress Madelyn Cline last summer he hasn’t been dating anyone. “I’m starting to turn my life around,” said the comedian who has been open about his longtime struggle with substance use and mental health issues.

Clean and sober and out of the glare at the moment, Davidson said he feels for other stars who get descended on by the paparazzi, specifically calling out the attention focused on Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Bieber. “I look at other celebrities and I’m less judgy. They’re dogging Bieber now — leave the kid alone, he’s clearly exhausted and just trying to be a father to his kid,” said Davidson, who added that he dreams of one day having a life like his friend comedian and former SNL writer John Mulaney, who has two children with actress Olivia Munn.

“I hope that happens for me,” Davidson said.

SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration will air live on NBC at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday (Feb. 16) and then stream on Peacock.