Music News

11 Feb 2025

Alejandro Sanz Charts First Top 10 in Five Years With Grupo Frontera Collab

Alejandro Sanz is back in the top 10 on a Billboard U.S. chart thanks to “Hoy No Me Siento Bien,” his first team-up with Grupo Frontera. The song, which climbs 12-7 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart (dated Feb. 15), becomes the Spaniard’s first visit to the upper region since 2020.

“Hoy No Me Siento Bien,” released Jan. 24 on Sony Music Latin, climbs to No. 7 after a robust 51% gain in plays for the tracking week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate. That increase translates to 2.7 million audience impressions in the U.S. in its second week on the chart.

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“This is not a song, this is a statement,” shared Sanz on his Instagram account, as he announced the Frontera collab on Jan. 24. The song, produced by Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Edgar Barrera, fuses Sanz’s characteristic pop and Frontera’s cumbia folk.

Sanz last scored a top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay through “For Sale,” with Carlos Vives in 2020, reaching a No. 5 high then. In between, he’s placed three other songs, among those, “Muero,” with Kany García, nearly missed the upper region, landing at No. 11 in 2022.

Frontera grabs its first top 10 on its first try. The group joined the Latin pop radio ranking last week, when “Hoy No Me Siento Bien” debuted at No. 12 on the chart dated Feb. 8.

Sanz, one of Latin pop’s earliest hitmakers, adds a 25th career top 10. The Spaniard first reached the upper region the with the No. 9-peaking “La Fuerza del Corazón” in 1995. He has since placed at least one top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay in every decade. Six out of those landed at the summit, including his featured role in Shakira’s “La Tortura,” which dominated for 10 weeks, tying with Juane’s “La Camisa Negra” for the longest-leading song in 2005.

Continued reception across Latin pop radio stations, takes “Hoy No Me Siento Bien” to a No. 43 debut on the overall Latin Airplay chart, Sanz’s first visit since “Muero,” with Kany García, in 2022.

“Hoy No Me Siento Bien” will appear on Sanz’s 15th studio project. It follows first single, “Palmeras En El Jardín,” a No. 13 high on Latin Pop Airplay (Dec. 2024).

11 Feb 2025

Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Halftime Show Was the Pop Peak of Rapper’s Most Mainstream Year Yet

Even though Kendrick Lamar has five No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 among 88 hits on the chart, there were still viewers who tuned in to the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show seemingly unaware of the depth of the rapper’s decade-plus catalog. So Lamar was smart to lean into his releases of 2024 — arguably the most mainstream year of his career — to seize the pop moment that he had built up to at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome on Sunday.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are breaking down the Super Bowl halftime show, including guest appearances from SZA and Serena Williams, and chatting about some other moments at the Big Game, including the stadium crowd seemingly booing Taylor Swift on the big screen. Listen to the latest episode below:

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Also on the show, we’ve chart news on The Weeknd landing his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Hurry Up Tomorrow, how a bevy of acts gain in the wake of the Grammys on both the Billboard 200 albums chart and Hot 100 songs chart, and how Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars return to No. 1 on the Hot 100 with “Die With a Smile,” as Gaga’s new single “Abracadabra” makes its Hot 100 debut.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

11 Feb 2025

Bon Iver Announces New Album ‘Sable, Fable’ With Lead Single Dropping Valentine’s Day

The comma in the title of Bon Iver‘s three-track October EP Sable, was always there for a reason. And on Tuesday (Feb. 11), the musician born Justin Vernon finally revealed what it was, announcing new album Fable — a counterpart project that’ll serve as the direct follow-up to the original release, featuring collaborations with Danielle Haim, Dijon and Flock of Dimes.

Arriving April 11 via Jagjaguwar, Sable, Fable will serve as Bon Iver’s first proper album since 2019’s I, I, which debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Described in a release as a “love story set to lush, radiant pop music,” the new project “begins with the vulnerable unburdening” of the Sable EP, before giving way “to a new nine-song saga in which one person becomes two, darkness turns to salmon-colored beauty, and sadness transforms to unbridled joy.”

“Where Sable, is a sparse and solitary reckoning with a pain that long-defined the past, Fable looks towards a vibrant future filled with light, purpose and possibility: a partner, new memories, perhaps a family,” the description continues.

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Dijon and Flock of Dimes will join Vernon on a song called “Day One,” while the HAIM band member’s voice will appear on a duet called “If Only I Could Wait.” The rest of the track list includes titles such as “Things Behind Things Behind Things,” “Speyside,” “Awards Season,” “Short Story,” “Everything Is Peaceful Love,” “Walk Home,” “From,” “I’ll Be There,” “There’s a Rhythm” and “Au Revoir.”

The Wisconsin native also shared the album’s minimalistic cover via Instagram on Tuesday. The geometric artwork simply features a salmon background with a black title in the center. In a concept photo also on Bon Iver’s account, Vernon is dressed in the exact shade of pink standing in a lush natural landscape, while four people covered head-to-toe in black pose around him.

But while fans will have to wait until spring to get their hands on Sable, Fable — which is available to preorder — the project’s lead single, “Everything Is Peaceful Love.” Described as “the portrait of a man overwhelmed with happiness upon meeting the one he will fall in love with,” the track will drop on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) alongside a music video by John Wilson.

Five days later, Vernon will share more about Sable, Fable at On Air Fest in Brooklyn, New York, during a conversation with author Krista Tippett. Ticket information is available on the event’s website.

See Bon Iver’s announcement below.

11 Feb 2025

Cam’ron Finally Reveals Why Lil Wayne & Juelz Santana’s Joint Album ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ Was Never Released

Cam’ron finally explained why Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana‘s long lost collab album I Can’t Feel My Face never saw the light of day.

During a recent episode of his YouTube show Talk With Flee, Cam’ron talked about the rumors about him being the reason why Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana never dropped their much-hyped project. “So, Juelz and Lil Wayne had a project,” he began. “Def Jam is under Universal, which Lil Wayne was signed to. When they wanted to put this project out, Universal told Def Jam, ‘Well, Lil Wayne still didn’t give us his album yet, so if y’all wanna put this project out, we’re taking 95 percent and Def Jam, y’all can take 5 percent.’”

Cam continued by explaining that the business side of things didn’t make sense and said he wasn’t to blame for the deal eventually falling apart. “Shout to Steve Gawley, he’s now the head lawyer for Universal, at the time he was the lawyer for Def Jam, and we still good to this day. Now go find Steve Gawley and ask him that,” he said. “N—as don’t know Steve Gawley; n—as just wanna blame Cam. We had a joint venture deal with Def Jam, so if that project came out, that means Def Jam would get 2 and a half percent of the album and me and Juelz would get 2 and a half percent of the album. And they said, ‘Cam, we love you and all that, but we’re not doing that.’”

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He added: “Why would I wanna stop making money? My whole thing was to make Juelz a star, to make Juelz rich. However it played out in the end, it played out towards the end. But Juelz said it: ‘Cam gonna make me a star, he’s gonna make me a million.’ We both did what we said we was gonna do. Why would I wanna stop that?”

There are unofficial versions of the fabled project floating around the Internet made by entrepreneurial mixtape and DVD salesmen from a time when you could buy burned copies of music on a CD from a guy in a barbershop or from a kid at your school. The album was supposed to be released around 2006 after Wayne dropped Tha Carter II and Juelz dropped his sophomore LP What the Game’s Been Missing!

Wayne talked about releasing the project as an album instead of a mixtape with MTV News back in 2006. “It’s a mixtape, but we just sat down and listened to it and noticed that we didn’t use no outside beats,” Wayne said while on the set of his video for “Shooter.” “We used all produced beats. We can go album with this. Look out for it, we are deciding [whether to release it as an official LP].”

You can watch the full episode below.

11 Feb 2025

Avril Lavigne Set to Perform at Warped Tour for First Time Ever

The pop-punk princess is making her Warped Tour debut at last.

As announced Tuesday (Feb. 11), Avril Lavigne will perform at one of three stops on the iconic traveling rock show — which is set to make a comeback in 2025 after six years off the road — for the first time in her career.

In a joint announcement video posted by the Vans-sponsored event and the “Complicated” singer on Instagram, a cake revealing the news of her performance dates is delivered to Lavigne in the studio. “Warped Tour‘s coming back!” the musician says, checking out the heart-shaped confection.

“That’s right, let’s celebrate,” she adds. “See you soon, D.C.”

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Lavigne — who is also gearing up to embark on a second round of her Greatest Hits Tour in May — will perform June 14 and 15 in Washington, D.C., joining a lineup that also includes 3OH!3, Bowling for Soup, Beauty School Dropout, Blessthefall and more. The East Coast location is the first of three sites on the Warped Tour path this year, with more acts set to play July 26-27 in Long Beach, Calif., and Nov. 15-16 in Orlando, Fla., as part of the trek.

In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, Lavigne gushed, “So many of the bands I grew up listening to got their start playing this legendary tour and many of my friends are nostalgic for those parking lot summers, so I’m excited to be a part of this new rendition.”

The expedition will mark the first Warped Tour since 2019, coming six years after Blink-182, 311, Bad Religion and The All-American Rejects headlined the last iteration of the traveling show. The first Warped Tour went down in 1995, meaning that 2025’s comeback slew of performances doubles as a 30th-anniversary celebration.

See Lavigne’s Warped Tour announcement below.

11 Feb 2025

Michelle Williams Spills the Tea on Her Destiny’s Child Group Chat With Beyoncé & Kelly Rowland

Destiny’s Child may have disbanded in 2006, but the members are always just one text away.

On the latest episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show airing Tuesday (Feb. 11), Michelle Williams spilled details about her group chat with honorary sisters Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland.

After welcoming the singer/actress to her program, host Jennifer Hudson had multiple questions for Williams written on slips of paper tucked into a purple handbag — one of which was, “What’s the Destiny’s Child group text like?”

Sitting across from the Dreamgirls star and smiling, Williams replied, “It is pure, it’s friendship — It’s all of those things.”

“Who’s the most talkative? Surprisingly me,” the Broadway star continued, laughing, when Hudson pressed for more information.

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“I don’t know, Kelly, now … Kelly can talk!” she added. “Yeah, yep. It depends.”

Before going their separate ways, Destiny’s Child — which included LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson in its lineup prior to Williams — scored 10 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Williams is currently starring as Viola Van Horn in Death Becomes Her on Broadway, which opened in November with both Bey and Rowland in the audience to cheer on their former bandmate.

Months prior in January 2024, the ladies reunited once again to celebrate Tina Knowles — mother to the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer and Solange — on the businesswoman’s 70th birthday. They even sang as a group again just for the guest of honor, after which Ms. Knowles wrote on Instagram, “I just got spoiled to death this weekend! I even got serenaded by Destiny’s Child! How amazing is that?!”

Watch Williams open up about her group chat with her Destiny’s Child bandmates on The Jennifer Hudson Show above.

11 Feb 2025

The Weeknd Drops Emotionally Charged ‘Cry for Me’ Music Video

The Weeknd is fresh off the release of his newest album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, and the superstar continued the roll-out with a cinematic music video for the single, “Cry For Me.”

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In the black-and-white visual, the star (real name Abel Tesfaye) appears in a sparkling outfit with a hood covering part of his face, as he walks towards a woman in the pitch black. The scene frequently flashes to the musicians wandering a city and the woman crying thick, dark liquid. “I hope you cry for me like I cry for you,” he proclaims in the chorus.

The “Cry For Me” music video arrives amid a new accomplishment for The Weeknd. The star landed his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Hurry Up Tomorrow atop the survey dated Feb. 15. He previously led the chart with After Hours (2020), My Dear Melancholy (2018), Starboy (2016) and Beauty Behind the Madness (2015).

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Hurry Up Tomorrow features 22 tracks, including previously-released singles like the Playboi Carti-assisted “Timeless,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “São Paulo” with Anitta.

Earlier this year, The Weeknd suggested that Hurry Up Tomorrow is likely the last album under his well-known persona. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he said of his moniker during a January Variety cover story. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”

However, he still plans on making music, adding, “I don’t think I can stop doing that.” “But everything needs to feel like a challenge, and for me right now, the Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered. No one’s gonna do The Weeknd better than me, and I’m not gonna do it better than what it is right now.”

Watch the “Cry for Me” music video below.

11 Feb 2025

Stephen A. Smith Shades Serena Williams’ Cameo During Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance

One of the biggest moments of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime performance on Sunday night (Feb. 9) was when he called on his fellow Compton, Calif., native Serena Williams to crip walk onstage during “Not Like Us.”

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While many fans online loved the surprise cameo, Stephen A. Smith weighed in with his own take, taking aim at Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. “If I’m your husband, I’m thinking, ‘Why are you up there trolling him, trolling your ex?’” the sports analyst began during his First Take podcast on Feb. 10. “If I’m married, and my wife is going to troll her ex, go back to his a–. Because clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for, and you with me? Bye!”

For context, Drake and Williams reportedly dated in 2015, and the rapper revealed that he wrote his 2016 hit “Too Good” about the athlete. The tennis champion’s appearance during the performance was widely speculated to be a dig at Drake — the famous subject of Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track. In 2022, Drake fired shots at Ohanian, rapping on “Middle of the Ocean”: “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie/ He claim we don’t got a problem but no, boo, it’s like you comin’ for sushi/ We might pop up on ’em at will like Suzuki.”

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Co-host Ryan Clark then chimed in, adding, “If you with Serena Williams, you’re going to be a kept man anyway — don’t start that, you ain’t gonna run the house.”

Shannon Sharpe also added in defense of Ohanian, “I think he is doing pretty well. He founded Reddit and then he sold Reddit for a big chunk of change. I think he OK.”

Ohanian ended up responding to Smith’s thoughts on X. The entrepreneur, who was in attendance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, replied to a tweet from the New York Post about Smith’s comments. “I got you @stephenasmith,” he wrote, linking to the inspiration behind Williams’ crip walk, which was the backlash she received for the dance at Wimbleton more than a decade ago and how the decision is “bigger than the music.”

“I know I should know better, but I continue to be surprised by full the spectrum of genius and stupidity in humanity,” Ohanian concluded.

See his responses below.

11 Feb 2025

Spike Lee Thanks Kendrick Lamar for His Super Bowl Halftime Show: See What He Said

Spike Lee was a big fan of Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl 59 Halftime Show.

Kendrick used frequent Spike Lee collaborator Samuel L. Jackson as the show’s “Greek chorus,” just as Spike used him as Dolmedes in his 2015 musical satire Chi-Raq. Lamar also took a moment to bring up the Reconstruction Era proposal to give newly freed slaves land and a mule to help fold them into society by offering them a chance to make some money. “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music,” the rapper told the audience during his set. “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”

Spike noticed and took to Instagram to speak on the parallels between his work over the years and pgLang’s impressive production.

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“I want to thank my brother Kendrick for the 40 acres and a mule shoutout which has been the name of my production company since NYU grad film school,” the legendary filmmaker wrote. “And I want to send a special shoutout to my Morehouse brother Samuel Jackson who started this Super Bowl Halftime extravaganza as Uncle Sam and you might’ve seen him as Dolmedes in Chi-Raq.”

He added: “The term 40 acres and a mule was a proposal for reparations to former enslaved African-Americans in the aftermath of the civil war. The proposal was intended to provide land and resources to provide land and resources to help free people achieve economic independence. This promise was ultimately broken. Happy Black His-Herstory.”

Kendrick’s right-hand man Dave Free told the Wall Street Journal that their mission was to try to convey “Black America” to the audience watching, something Spike Lee has made a career of. “The feel of it is Black America. What does Black America look like, and how to control that narrative of what it means to be Black in America versus what the world’s perspective of that is,” he said.

The day after the Super Bowl, on Monday (Feb. 10), Jackson posted a photo of himself and Kendrick before the game on his X account. “Super huge honor to be asked to be part of @kendricklamar halftime revolution,” he wrote.

11 Feb 2025

NBA Star Kevin Durant Says Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show ‘Meant Nothing to’ Him

Kevin Durant wasn’t too enthralled with Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. When asked about Lamar’s performance on Monday (Feb. 10), the Phoenix Suns star called the day “boring” and said it was of little interest to him.

“It meant nothing to me,” he said to reporter Dana Scott. “No thoughts — I didn’t really pay attention to it to be honest. It was a little boring day for a Super Bowl. The game got out of hand. The Super Bowl Halftime Show — I didn’t pay attention to it. I kinda skimmed through the whole thing, to be honest.”

With Durant being a diehard Washington Commanders fan, who lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship, and a vocal Drake supporter, Super Bowl LIX wasn’t exactly the broadcast geared toward him.

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The Super Bowl scoreboard doesn’t do the game justice, as the Eagles blew out defending champions Kansas City Chiefs more than the 40-22 final score indicated on Sunday (Feb. 9) in New Orleans.

Durant has been tight with Drake for years now. KD even earned an A&R credit on Drizzy’s 2023 For All the Dogs album, and he spent some time with the 6 God in Toronto over the summer.

“Whenever Drake just wants to talk about life I’m there for him and he just gave me that title,” the Suns star previously said of his A&R role with Drake.

It appears Drake may have sent some records from the $ome $exy $ongs 4 U collab project with PartyNextDoor to Durant before the album arrives on Friday (Feb. 14). Durant championed the effort and deemed that Drizzy and PND have a “classic otw” with the project.

Drake dropped off another snippet from $$$4U along with showcasing the joint project’s snowy cover art on Tuesday (Feb. 11). The cover features Drizzy and PND in fur coats backed by the Absolute Towers in Mississauga.