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BLINKs are counting down the days until BLACKPINK reunites in 2025 — and so is LISA.
In her Billboard cover story published Thursday (Nov. 14), the 27-year-old K-pop superstar gushed about her plans with groupmates ROSÉ, JENNIE and JISOO to launch back into full-band activities next year after spending the past year and a half focusing on solo projects. “I can’t wait,” she excitedly told writer Nolan Feeney of the planned comeback.
“We know each other so well and know how much energy we have to put into every single project,” she continued. “So we want to support and say, ‘You did really well!’ Like, JENNIE and Rosie just released their own songs, and we’re on texts, we’re on FaceTime. They’re like family. I’m just so happy that they’re releasing something. This is what we all wanted to do, so I just wanted to say that I really do love their songs.”
Following the July 2023 conclusion of the group’s Born Pink World Tour — which supported Billboard 200-topping album Born Pink — LISA has spent the past couple of months releasing independent singles such as Billboard Hot 100 hits “Rockstar” and “New Woman” with Rosalía. Meanwhile, ROSÉ has been gearing up to release a solo album, rosie; JENNIE filmed The Weeknd’s The Idol last year and dropped a new single titled “Mantra” in October; and JISOO has been focusing on acting in Korean TV and film projects.
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Their individual paths, however, will once again intertwine at some point in 2025, with YG Entertainment announcing as much earlier this year. The company also promised that the comeback would be paired with another world tour — but that’s where they might’ve lost LISA, who seemed a bit uncertain while speaking to Billboard.
“That’s what they say?” she said — appearing slightly skeptical — of YG’s tour news. LLOUD’s Alice Kang added, “I don’t know … We’ll have to wait and see what YG confirms.”
LISA’s cover story comes a little more than a month since her last single, “New Woman,” dropped in October. On Tuesday (Nov. 12), she posted a mysterious teaser video set to “Rockstar,” with a cryptic countdown appearing on her website around the same time.
Fans were immediately hopeful that the latter was ticking down to an announcement related to her upcoming album, about which the Thai singer-rapper tells Billboard, “I’m trying to figure it out, the tracklist and everything, what I can change in there.”
“Everything’s there,” she adds. “I think they’re going to be shocked at how capable I am [at] doing so many things.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” ties Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” for the second-longest rule in the history of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, while the lower half of the top 10 dated Nov. 16 features new blood, paced by Beyoncé‘s “Diva.”
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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity from Nov. 4-10. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
With its sixth week at No. 1 (all consecutive), “Maps” takes over sole possession of the second-longest streak at No. 1 since the chart began in September 2023 (“My Love Mine All Mine,” which also led for six weeks overall, reigned for a pair of three-week periods). Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” with its 10-weeks-in-a-row streak, holds the all-time mark.
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“Maps,” released on Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 debut album Fever to Tell, remains driven by a pair of TikTok trends, one a dance challenge and the other using a filter where the user’s facial features are removed and then cascade back down onto their face. One of the utilized sounds is a sped-up version of the song.
For the fourth week in a row, “Maps,” Alphaville’s “Forever Young” and Akon’s “Akon’s Beautiful Day” rank as the chart’s top three, in that order. While No. 3 remains the latter’s peak, “Forever Young” reached No. 1 for a week in October.
From there, the ranking’s top 10 is far less static. Tyler, the Creator’s “Like Him,” featuring Lola Young,” breaks into the top five for the first time, lifting 6-4 in its second week. The song from the rapper’s new album Chromakopia (which tops the Billboard 200 for a second week, as previously reported) rises thanks to another week of the “do I look like him” trend, with creators using the clip to showcase complicated father-child relationships (fictional or real), comparisons to athletes and people past and present, and more.
“Like Him” jumps 10% to 13.7 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 7, according to Luminate. Concurrently, it vaults 45-29 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100.
Aphex Twin’s “QKThr” rounds out the top five of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (up 10-5, one spot away from its No. 4 best), while Beyoncé’s “Diva” follows at No. 6, its first time in the top 10. “Diva,” from the 2008 album I Am…Sasha Fierce, reached No. 19 on the Hot 100 back in 2009.
“Diva” has found new life on TikTok in 2024 via a trend where creators show off their diva-like behavior. It jumps 17% to 2.3 million streams in the Nov. 1-7 tracking week.
Two other songs appear in the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10 for the first time: Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” at No. 8, and the live version of Michael Prince’s “Finesse,” featuring Koncept P, at No. 9.
Abrams’ “That’s So True,” released Oct. 18 on the deluxe version of her The Secret of Us album, has gone viral since, paced by lip-synching trends. It zooms to 18.9 million streams, up 26%, in the latest tracking week, good for a 25-13 rise on the Hot 100.
“Finesse,” meanwhile, was released in May on Prince’s Limitless – A Trap Symphony, with its recent gains tied to a trend using the song’s “do you not get the concept?” lyric, generally a two-person dance trend with one person mimicking playing a violin. It earned 437,000 streams in the tracking week ending Nov. 7, up 67%.
And returning to the top 10 after an 11-month respite is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which shoots 17-7. It spend eight weeks in the top 10 during last holiday season, from the charts dated Nov. 18, 2023, to Jan. 6, 2024, sitting at No. 1 those final two frames.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” paces holiday-related content on the latest tally, ahead of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (No. 13, up from No. 48) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (a re-entry at No. 22).
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Ice Spice is now a playable character in Fortnite as part of Battle Royale’s Chapter 2 Remix. The Bronx rapper turned Shark Island into Ice Isle on Thursday (Nov. 14) as the abandoned shopping mall map takes on a nostalgic Y2K! theme. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Bluesky smiling at Lizzo, nothing but Bluesky does she see. As countless former X users have been flocking to the alternative social media platform following the results of the 2024 election, the “About Damn Time” hitmaker revealed Wednesday (Nov. 13) that she’s also made the switch — and shared why. Posting a mirror selfie showing […]
Celine Dion continued her slow re-emergence after a nearly two-year break from the public eye due to her battle with the debilitating Stiff-Person Syndrome to perform a dazzling two-song set on Wednesday (Nov. 13) at the “1001 Seasons of ELIE SAAB” event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The celebration of the Lebanese designer’s 45-year fashion career found Dion, 56, taking the stage among a parade of statuesque models while wearing a flowing pale pink floor-length sequined gown with a billowing cape and her hair pulled back in a bun. Dion walked slowly down a set of winding stairs at the back of the stage as a series of veiled models wearing similarly floor-sweeping glittery dresses paved her way.
After the models slow-sashayed out of her way, Dion commanded the stage, performing her titanic 1994 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “The Power of Love” as the stage behind her flashed with digital waves of golden light. Her signature power vocals sounding undiminished, Dion belted out the tune to the accompaniment of a piano and an orchestral track, punctuating the soaring lines with her trademark dramatic hand gestures in a performance that left no doubt that, despite her health struggles, the singer is still in full command of her unparalleled instrument.
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As if further proof were needed, Dion hit a series of extended notes with such force at the end that even she seemed pleasantly surprised and pleased, striking a defiant, forceful pose before bringing her hands up over her heart as the room burst into applause. Dion didn’t take much time to linger in the moment, as a polyrhythmic beat quickly bubbled up, accented by sprightly horns to set up the night’s big finale.
Clapping and bouncing in place as she encouraged the crowd to put their hands together, Dion then busted another fan favorite, 2002’s “I’m Alive,” as the final group of models walked by, with some extending their hands to greet the pop superstar. Moving around with ease and smiling broadly, Dion seemed energized by the group of white-clad dancers who joined her, shimmying her hips near the end and spreading her arms wide as a gospel choir rose up behind her singing the song’s inspiring chorus.
The singer put her hand over her heart, turned her back to the audience and then slowly spun around for a final hip-swiveling dance and a dramatic flourish, shooting her right hand over her head before accepting a pair of cheek kisses from the night’s honoree.
The night also featured sets from Jennifer Lopez (performing Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and her hits “Waiting For Tonight,” “On the Floor” and “Let’s Get Loud”) Camila Cabello, Nancy Arjam and Amr Diab.
The Wednesday mini-set was just Dion’s second performance since her lauded comeback at the opening ceremony of this summer’s 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, followed by a surprise set at the City of Hope’s 2024 Spirit of Life Gala in Los Angeles in October. Dion has largely been out of the public eye since Dec. 2022, when she revealed her Stiff-Person Syndrome diagnosis; the rare neurological disorder can cause uncontrolled muscle spasms that make it hard to move, with Dion saying that sometimes they were so intense that they caused broken ribs.
The singer was forced to postpone all of her 2023 and 2024 tour dates as a result, a painful decision she chronicled in this year’s Prime Video documentary I Am: Celine Dion.
Watch Dion’s performance below.
When Toronto-based entertainment and hospitality magnate Charles Khabouth heard that Taylor Swift would be bringing her record-breaking Eras Tour to the city he’s called home for more than 50 years, he knew immediately what to do.
“I opened a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate,” Khabouth, the founder/CEO of INK Entertainment, which operates a series of hotels, bars and restaurants and produces live events in the city, says, laughing. “I’ve been around 43 years in this business; I’ve never seen this hype in my life around anything. We do, I don’t know, 200, 300 live shows ourselves every year. We’ve had everybody in the city from the Stones to Madonna to Prince. This got much bigger support from everybody than ever possible.”
The city of Toronto is about to play host to one of the most significant events — culturally and economically — of the past two years, as Swift and her legion of fans descend upon the city for six nights across two weekends (Nov. 14-16, 21-23), the penultimate stop on a tour that has spanned two years and five continents and changed the fortunes of several cities along the way. And Toronto — known as a savvy, cosmopolitan city in its own right, though one that has at times had to fight to be considered in the same category as cultural capitals such as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago — has risen to the occasion.
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On Nov. 4, the city of Toronto and Rogers Communications renamed Blue Jay Way — the street in front of the Rogers Centre that is usually home to its hometown Major League Baseball team and extends from Nathan Phillips Square to the venue — as Taylor Swift Way, complete with 22 ceremonial street signs that will be auctioned in support of the Daily Bread Food Bank after the run is over. (Rogers is also matching donations to the Daily Bread Food Bank up to $113,000 — a nod to Swift’s favorite number, 13.)
And that’s just the opening enchantment that the city would eventually roll out. Since then, the city has announced a poetry-inspired pre-concert initiative overseen by Toronto Poet Laureate Lillian Allen, while other announcements have included the Toronto’s Version: Taylgate ’24 event, which is expected to draw some 60,000 people; an Eras! Eras! Eras! performance by the singing group Choir! Choir! Choir!; and a 13-site scavenger hunt tied to different songs from Swift’s catalog spread across the city, among many other things. There are Eras-themed city tours, dance parties, drag and trivia nights and pop-up shops around the city, plus giveaways from a slew of businesses. Destination Toronto — the tourism bureau for Canada’s biggest city — expects some $282 million in economic impact from Swift’s two-week mini-residency, including $152 million in direct spending, 93% of which is expected to come from tourists flocking to Toronto — an astronomical uplift for the city’s local businesses.
“We’ve seen the entire city getting caught up in the action — from a Taylgate party at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to Taylor-themed hotel rooms and special menus at restaurants around the city,” says Kathy Motton, Destination Toronto’s senior manager of communications. “Major events like Taylor Swift bring visitor spending into Toronto, and that spending circulates long after visitors return home impacting a broad set of businesses. The obvious positive benefit is for hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses, but that benefit also extends to businesses that are indirectly impacted by visitor spending.”
And many of those establishments have met the moment by overhauling their own properties to cater to the estimated 500,000 tourists flooding into the area.
“We’ve got so much happening on property,” says Liza McWilliams, director of marketing at the 1 Hotel Toronto, which transformed its Flora lobby lounge into the Folklore Lounge for the next two weeks, complete with a moss-covered piano, tapestries hanging on the wall with lyrics from Swift’s Folklore album and daily acoustic performances open to guests and the public. They also partnered with the Little Words Project, the original word-based friendship bracelet company, which is doing a pop-up shop in the 1 Hotel’s lobby for the first time in Canada. “I think it’s just really fun to be that much more creative and to dream up some really amazing things that kind of stay with the guests for a longer time,” McWilliams says. “Other than the [Toronto International] Film Festival, I would say we’ve never really been this specific when it comes to an actual city event.”
“This is like preparing for Toronto’s Super Bowl,” says Aaron Harrison, general manager of the Bisha Hotel, a short walk from the Rogers Centre. The Bisha also redesigned its entire lobby space (it went Reputation era), while the common spaces on each of its seven hotel floors are also getting era-themed makeovers, one suite has been entirely rebranded The Taylor (which had been running around $4,000 per night if you could snag it), and the hotel will be offering friendship bracelets, a glitter station and themed food and drinks for guests, among other things, in its Lover Lounge. “We wanted Bisha Hotel to feel like the ultimate fan headquarters,” Harrison adds.
In downtown Toronto, it’s almost more difficult to find a bar or restaurant that hasn’t leaned into Taylor-mania than one that has. (Talk about champagne problems.) The night before the shows kicked off, on Nov. 13, the iconic space needle was flashing rainbow colors in honor of Swift, and bartenders and restaurant staff were all talking about the influx of people in town for the shows. Streets are closed off, the city has dedicated websites aimed at helping both tourists and locals alike navigate the area, and Rogers spent $8 million to upgrade the 5G wireless service at the Rogers Centre ahead of the concerts.
Of the more than half-dozen people who spoke with Billboard for this story, almost all equated the preparations for the Eras Tour to those that go into the build up to TIFF — one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, held in the city each September — but all said the Eras Tour hype went beyond even that. Some hospitality officials and locals are looking at it as a test run for the FIFA World Cup, which will stage six matches in the city in the summer of 2026, and as helping to prove that Toronto can accommodate, and with aplomb, the types of huge events that are often staged in the great cities of the world, ones that invite people to fly in from all over the globe.
There is one thing, however, that nobody is particularly looking forward to: “It’s going to be hell on earth in a sense of the traffic and the amount of people,” Khabouth says, laughing again. (He’s planning to ride his scooter through downtown “with a smile on my face” on the days of each show to avoid driving.) “But it’s a happy moment for all of us in Toronto, to have that energy, that vibe. It’s a concert that’s very positive, you’re gonna see a lot of happy faces, people excited. It’s a very good opportunity for Toronto to stand out and say, ‘Hey, we can play with the big boys.’”
Israel’s Netta Barzilai has not found it easy to create during the 13 months since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on her homeland and the ensuing war. But a brand new single, “Big Love,” brings the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest winner’s thoughts and emotions into focus.
“My job, my calling, is to bring people together over light and enhance the light in them,” Netta tells Billboard via Zoom from her apartment in Jaffa, an ancient port city near Tel Aviv. “I believe that music and art, especially in dark times, is important to any free world. It’s important for people to consume and create.”
Yet, she adds, “I felt this year I’m in no mood to create. The war isn’t something inspiring. It’s the darkest part of humanity. This year I’ve witnessed pain in amounts and in magnitude that I could not function. I tried, but I could not write. I’m a very happy person, and I tried all the mechanisms that I know that make me happy and they didn’t work. Usually when I walk in a studio and create it feels like the right thing, and every time I walked in the studio (after Oct. 7), it didn’t.”
With the uncharacteristically ethereal and moody “Big Love” – out now on S-Curve Records — Netta found a way to address her circumstances, acknowledging the situation and declaring in its chorus that, “This world may crumble but I’m by your side, with a big love.”
“This is a song that was written with friends out of desperation,” explains Netta, who composed the track with producer Theron “Neff-u” Feemster, Paul Duncan and Avshalom Ariel. “It’s for me to feel stronger and for me to just let myself know that this is my answer to the darkness growing inside — of all of us. War and conflict have always been part of human nature…and it’s soul-crushing. And in order for us to fight it we have to create light. (The song) is very personal, and it’s the little that I can do just to put it out there. But it is what it is.”
The sentiments of “Big Love,” Netta adds, aren’t limited to one side of the conflict or the other. “It’s to anyone who needs it. In my song I say if I had the moon and stars I would get them for you. If I could sing and stop the war, I would do it for you, if it could be that easy. It might sound cliché, but I really believe that making music is a calling, and I don’t think you have control over who finds power in it and who finds comfort in it. I hope whoever needs comfort anywhere finds comfort and light in this.”
On Oct. 7, Netta was slated to open for Bruno Mars in Tel Aviv and film a video during the show; those plans were scuttled, of course, and in the wake of the attack she found herself in the wrenching position of helping to take care of children whose families were tending to the dead and injured, as well as singing at funerals. Netta also scratched plans for a world tour and an English language album she had recorded and returned to Israel full-time — “I needed to be here,” she says — and released a Hebrew album, Hakol Alai (All On Me). She appeared as a contestant on the 10th season of Rokdim Im Kokhavim, Israel’s Dancing With the Stars, and also performed at a May rally in Tel Aviv calling for the release of hostages still held by Hamas.
Netta also watched this year’s Eurovision, which was marked by protests over Israel’s involvement, while contestant Eden Golan faced threats and harassment throughout the competition.
“I felt really bad for her,” Netta says. “I thought she was a champ dealing with so much hate. When a girl stands on stage and she sings and so many people are trying to bring her down…I think it ruined Eurovision. Eurovision is supposed to be about having a safe space for art and a safe space for people to unite and be brought together. Eurovision is supposed to be the answer to, yes, there are geographical debates and politicians have their wars, but this should be the place to show them that we can talk and we can understand. It was very, very sad.”
Netta says her own situation in Israel right now is safe, which she considers “a gift.” She’s not yet sure if “Big Love” will rekindle her muse, but she’s confident that whatever comes next will have a similar purpose.
“I find small hopes,” she says. “As goofy and as funny and as colorful as my music has always been, it’s always been about love, and it’s always been about light. I’m so sad the world isn’t a perfect place. It crushes me. I really wish it was different, but…it is so complex. But I believe in humans. I believe they can restore and rebuild. I have to.”
KATSEYE are turning up the girl power. The group’s single “Flame” is featured on the upcoming soundtrack for Netflix’s Jentry Chau vs the Underworld, and was officially released on Thursday (Nov. 14). The song, which will also be the animated series’ theme song, is included in a new teaser for the show, starring and executive […]
Zach Bryan only has a handful of shows on his schedule for next year so far, and on Wednesday (Nov. 13) he announced a major new addition. “Always been a dream to play MetLife Stadium, so we’re doin it with Kings of Leon on July 20th, 2025,” the “I Remember Everything” singer revealed in an […]
Kelly Clarkson has turned the Kellyoke segment of her syndicated daytime talk show into a signature moment. Sometimes it’s touching, sometimes it’s fun and occasionally the singer and her crack house band turn around a cover that is so unique and totally Kelly that it makes you wonder if she’s casually created the perfect version […]
