State Champ Radio Music News
Page: 612
Justin Bieber is just as bummed as fans are that he didn’t get to see Rihanna‘s latest impromptu performance. Over the weekend, RiRi made a pitstop at Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took over the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album Anti. “Missed seein u sing Queen,” […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. It’s safe to say that Doechii‘s viral sitcom-inspired “Denial Is a River” is already the best music video of 2025. From […]
Young Thug made his return to music on Friday (Jan. 3) when he appeared on Lil Baby’s new album WHAM for an assist on “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” with Future.
Thugger doesn’t waste any time addressing his two-plus-year jail stint as part of the enduring YSL RICO case.
Trending on Billboard
“Yeah, n—a, King Spider back/ I don’t even believe I was locked up, for real, for real/ I was havin’ my way the whole time, fool, you know what I’m saying,” Thug raps about the jail bid over Wheezy’s skittering production.
Young Thug was arrested on racketeering charges in May 2022 and remained behind bars while the longest case in Georgia’s history yet unraveled.
He finally reached a plea deal and secured his release in October, when he was sentenced to 15 years of probation as Thug pleaded guilty to possession of drugs and firearms charges while pleading no contest to a handful of others.
Gunna was also arrested with Thug and 26 others in May 2022 as part of a sprawling 56-count indictment. However, he reached an Alford plea agreement in December 2022 and was released.
In the time since, Gunna has continued to battle allegations of snitching from fans, and Lil Baby, once a sidekick, has distanced himself from affiliating with the YSL rapper. Attorney Steve Sadow, who represented Gunna in the case, has vehemently insisted his client did not cooperate with authorities and had no impact on Young Thug’s case.
“This long post is solely to set out the truth. Gunna did NOT cooperate, and did NOTHING and said NOTHING to cause harm to Thug’s case,” Sadow tweeted in part on Friday (Jan. 3). “He spent 8 months in jail and was released in Dec. 2022 after entering an Alford plea. Gunna’s plea could not and was not used at Thug’s trial and he was never even named as a witness.”
He concluded his message: “THOSE THAT HAVE AND CONTINUE TO BAD MOUTH GUNNA, GET OVER IT. NUFF’ SAID.”
Young Thug hasn’t addressed his relationship with Gunna since his release outside of a since-deleted November tweet snipingat the Atlanta rapper. “Gunna stop acting like we friends on the internet, I don’t know you my guy,” he cryptically penned at the time. Minutes later, the tweet was gone.
Listen to Young Thug on Lil Baby’s “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” below:
Neil Young is rolling out another gem from the vault. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon announced on Friday (Jan. 3) that one of his great “lost” albums, Oceanside Countryside, will be released on February 14 through Reprise Records.
“This analog original album was recorded in 1977 and unreleased. These songs are the original mixes done at the time of the recordings in the order I planned for the album,” Young said in a statement about the latest release in his Analog Original Series (AOS). The album was originally recorded from May-December 1977, just before the release of his 1978 folk/country album Comes a Time, which featured such beloved songs as the title track, “Lotta Love,” “Human Highway,” “Field of Opportunity” and “Four Strong Winds.”
“I sang the vocals and played the instruments on Oceanside in Florida at Triad studios and Malibu at Indigo studio,” Young aded. “I sang the vocals and recorded with my great band of friends, Ben Keith [steel guitar], Joe Osborn [bass], Karl T. Himmel [drums], and Rufus Thibodeaux [fiddle] at Crazy Mama’s in Nashville on Countryside. I hope you enjoy this treasure of an Analog Original recording, recorded by Tim Mulligan, as much as I do. Listening to it now, I think I should have put it out back then.”
Trending on Billboard
All the songs on Oceanside are performed solo by Young, with a group of friends joining him on Countryside, including Keith, Thibodeaux, Himmel and Osborne, with Tim Drummond on bass for “The Old Homestead,” which also features The Band’s Levon Helm on drums.
In addition to featuring many of the same musicians as Comes a Time, Oceanside Countryside also has a trio of songs (“Goin’ Back,” “Human Highway” and “Field of Opportunity”) that also appear on that album. The vinyl version of Oceanside will include tracks on the CD of the same name from Young’s Archives Vol. III release. Young noted that the tracklist for the upcoming album — which was recorded on tape — reflects how he originally planned to release the LP, which will be available in analog and on vinyl for the first time ever with the original mixes done at the time of the recording.
Though a number of the songs on Oceanside originally appeared on Archives Vol. III, the release noted that the versions are “not always the same.” Specifically, the versions of “Lost in Space,” “Captain Kennedy” and “The Old Homestead” on the analog original vinyl release date from the Hawks & Doves album from 1980. In addition, “Field of Opportunity” and “Dance Dance Dance” are the original versions that have backing vocals from Young instead of Nicolette Larson, whose vocals appeared on Archives Vol. III.
Check out the track listing for Oceanside Countryside below.
Side one: Oceanside
“Sail Away”
“Lost in Space”
“Captain Kennedy”
“Goin’ Back”
“Human Highway”
Side two: Countryside
“Field of Opportunity”
“Dance Dance Dance”
“The Old Homestead”
“It Might Have Been”
“Pocahontas”
Zendaya learned a lesson the hard way at a Beyoncé concert back when the Euphoria actress was 13.
While speaking to W as part of the publication’s best performances package, which went live Friday (Jan. 3), Zendaya revealed that she didn’t have many celebrity crushes as a tween — but she did “have a Beyoncé poster on my wall, because I went to her concert for my 13th birthday,” she said.
The Challengers star went on to share a humbling memory from the show. “I was devastated that she didn’t sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, because I guess it was close to her birthday and she was singing to the audience,” Zendaya continued. “My dad was like, ‘Do you want me to put you on my shoulders?’ I was like, ‘No, that’s so embarrassing.’”
“Then, after, I was like, ‘Damn, I should have let him put me on his shoulders so she would’ve seen me,’” the Golden Globe winner added. “Thirteen-year-old me was very devastated that Beyoncé didn’t sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.”
Trending on Billboard
The “Break My Soul” singer may not have noticed 13-year-old Zendaya that day, but Bey certainly would in the future. In 2016, the Dune actress appeared alongside the 32-time Grammy winner in the latter’s Lemonade album film, and Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles, even said in April that Z reminds the matriarch of her famous eldest daughter.
In addition to the concert, Zendaya also opened up about another experience from her teens that she’s still a little salty about: coming in second place on season 16 of Dancing With the Stars. The then-16-year-old performer — whose dance partner was Val Chmerkovskiy — lost out to Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough in 2013, something which Zendaya said she’s “still harboring a little animosity.”
“I felt that loss,” she told W. “I was only 16 years old, and it was highly stressful. Being on live television every week? It’s so scary. I took it very seriously, which, in retrospect, I wish I didn’t. I wish I’d enjoyed it a little bit more and just was like, ‘Eh, whatever.’ You know what I mean? But I was stressing myself out. I really went through it on that.”
See Zendaya on the cover of W below.
Bad Bunny revealed the tracklist to his upcoming sixth studio album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, on Friday (Jan. 3). The Puerto Rican artist — who first teased “17 bomb tracks” on his X account on Christmas Day — revealed all of the track titles in an Instagram carousel post simply captioned with a baby blue […]
Ariana Grande is a hopeless romantic when it comes to Love Is Blind, which the singer revealed is her favorite reality TV series in a recent interview with W.
In her cover story for the publication’s best performances issue published Friday (Jan. 3), the 31-year-old singer-actress gushed that the experimental Netflix dating series is “just fantastic.” The show – which premiered in 2020 — blindly pairs up singles who aren’t allowed to see one another in person until they get engaged, at which point they have just a few weeks to live together before deciding whether they want to get married or part ways.
The legitimacy of the concept might raise some eyebrows, but Grande said that she has faith the show’s couples can go the distance. “Of course, I do,” she said. “Some of them do. I check sometimes.”
Trending on Billboard
“I’ll go to Instagram and find these people and make sure they’re still together,” the “Yes, And?” singer added. “I need to know what’s happening.”
Grande was one of several stars who posed for W‘s best performances package, for which she also spoke about her career-shifting role as Glinda in Jon Chu’s Wicked films. Her co-leading lady, Cynthia Erivo, as well as Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldańa, Zendaya, Paul Mescal and more also all spoke to the magazine about their respective breakout film projects this year.
In addition to all things Wicked and Love Is Blind, the R.E.M. Beauty founder also told the publication about the movie that’s always guaranteed to make her cry — and it’s not one you might expect. “The Waterboy, with Adam Sandler, makes me cry,” Grande said. “When they’re mean to Bobby Boucher, I cry. I don’t like it. I love Bobby Boucher.”
“He says, ‘Would you please still be my friend?’ and I lose it,” she added before conceding, “But I cry at everything.”
Watch Grande’s video interview above, and see her on the cover of W below.
Jennifer Lopez rang in 2025 in style. The singer posted a round-up of her late 2024 Colorado getaway on Instagram on Thursday (Jan. 2), including a revealing pic in which the 55-year-old singer/actress stripped down to a black string bikini matched with furry boots and a black hat. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
After lying low, Lil Baby said it was his turn to kick off 2025. The Atlanta rapper sets the tone for the year with the arrival of his WHAM album on Friday (Jan. 3). Short for Who Hard As Me, WHAM serves as Baby’s fourth studio album and features a loaded cast of Young Thug, […]
Bruce Springsteen has been spending time hanging around the set for the upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere and so far he’s very impressed with the movie’s star, Jeremy Allen White. The actor best known for playing perpetually harried chef Carmy Berzatto on The Bear has been filming the movie that will tell the story behind the making of the Boss’ stark 1982 character-heavy album Nebraska.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In a recent chat with SiriusXM E Street Radio’s Jim Rotolo, Springsteen, 75, talked about whether it’s been strange to be on set as he watches Allen portray a thirtysomething version of him. “A little bit at first, but you get over that pretty quick and Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it,” Springsteen said. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognize and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there.”
Trending on Billboard
More importantly, at a time when Timothée Chalamet is earning praise for his original vocals in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, Rotolo wondered what The Boss thinks of White’s singing in the film. “He sings well. He sings very well,” Springsteen said. “You know, and Jeremy Strong [as Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau] and Odessa Young [as then-girlfriend Faye], you know, it’s a tremendous cast of people. They cast the film beautifully, so it’s very exciting.”
Directed and written by Scott Cooper, the adaptation of Warren Zanes’ book of the same name, the movie has gotten full support from Springsteen. Last year, White told GQ that in addition to hours and hours of video study to nail Bruce’s signature raspy singing and speaking cadence he’s also been working with a vocal coach.
“I’ve got a really talented group of people helping me train vocally, musically, to get ready for this thing,” White told the magazine. “I’m also really lucky [that] Bruce is really supportive of the film, and so I’ve had some access to him and he’s just the greatest guy.” Before cameras started rolling, White was asked last June if he planned to do his own singing in the film, telling Variety, “we’re gonna try, we’re gonna try our best.”
In the same interview with Rotolo, Springsteen also confirmed a late 2024 press release teasing that this year will bring a new collection that will “look back at Springsteen’s storied recording career, featuring never-before-heard material.” When Rotolo asked about that release teasing unheard tunes, Springsteen simply confirmed, “there will be.” The singer also debuted a new song called “Girlfriend” in honor of late Replacement’s guitarist Slim Dunlap on the episode.
Listen to the interview below.
