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Lana Del Rey is kissing and telling in her new song “57.5.”
During her debut at the 2025 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, Calif., on Friday (April 25), the 39-year-old singer revealed in the song’s lyrics that she once locked lips with a major country star.
“I kissed Morgan Wallen/ I guess kissing me kind of went to his head,” Del Rey sang. “If you want my secret to success/ I suggest don’t go ATVing with him when you’re out west.”
The eyebrow-raising premiere of “57.5” came during the alt-pop star’s set on the Palomino stage at Stagecoach. According to the lyrics, the title nods to the singer’s monthly Spotify listenership, measured in millions. Just before premiering the track, Del Rey told festival-goers that it would be “the last time I’m ever going to say this line.”
It remains unclear whether Del Rey and Wallen ever shared a kiss, or when it supposedly occurred. Billboard has reached out to Wallen’s representatives for comment.
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Elsewhere in “57.5,” Del Rey crooned about having “a man” who “really loves me,” a sentiment seemingly referring to her husband, Jeremy Dufrene, whom she married in September 2024.
Dressed in a white gown and performing in front of a set designed to resemble a picturesque rural home at dusk, Del Rey’s Stagecoach set featured a duet with George Birge on his current hit “Cowboy Songs,” a cover of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” and a singalong to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
In addition to debuting “57.5,” she also performed several new tracks from her forthcoming country-leaning studio album, which has yet to be titled or assigned a release date. The new songs included “Ride,” “Husband of Mine” and “Henry, Come On.” (Read Billboard‘s best moment from day one of Stagecoach 2025 here.)
The singer’s upcoming album will follow Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which peaked at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 in April 2023. To date, Del Rey has earned two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: 2013’s “Summertime Sadness” and her 2022 feature on Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach.”
Justin Bieber is mourning the passing of his maternal grandfather, Bruce Dale.
On Saturday (April 26), the 31-year-old pop superstar shared a heartfelt tribute on social media honoring Dale, who died April 24 at the age of 80 at Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth, according to an obituary posted by W.G. Young Funeral Home in Stratford, Ontario.
“Papa , I always took all ur money lol,” Bieber wrote on Instagram alongside a throwback photo with his grandfather. “I remember u specifically telling me, gramma gave u an allowance of 20 dollars for the WEEK! I would always convince you to spend on snacks at the hockey game on Friday nights.”
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The “Sorry” singer also fondly recalled their shared moments. “Reluctantly you always gave it to me. Corn nuts, skittles, gum balls, chuck a puck, slush puppies … Shout out to the jr b referees Beatty, Fagon, Flanagan lmfao,” he wrote.
Bieber went on to remember Dale’s spirited presence at hockey games, saying, “My grandpa wasn’t shy in letting them know that they were being pieces of sh-ts.”
“I can’t wait to see u again soon in heaven,” he continued. “Until then I know ur watching down probly still heckling Beatty or Fagon for missing that cross check call in the corner there lmfao.”
Bieber concluded his emotional tribute with, “I will miss u. I will ache. And I’ll sit and let myself remember all of the wonderful times we’ve had.”
Dale, father of Bieber’s mom, Pattie Mallette, was a longtime supporter of his grandson’s career. He appeared in Bieber’s 2011 documentary Never Say Never and shared memories during a 2018 interview at the Stratford Perth Museum, which featured an exhibit dedicated to the pop star.
In addition to Justin, Dale’s obituary also mentioned the singer’s wife, Hailey, their son Jack Blues, Dale’s other children, and his wife, Diane.
Bieber’s paternal grandfather, George Bieber, passed away in 2021.
You can see Bieber’s full tribute to his grandfather Bruce on Instagram here.
Ye (formerly Kanye West) had four children with Kim Kardashian while they were married, but this week, he said he wishes he had kids with another celebrity instead.
While ranting on Digital Nas’ Twitch stream earlier this week, West said that in an alternate universe, he wishes he had children with Paris Hilton instead of Kardashian. Once upon a time, in the mid-2000s, Kardashian served as Hilton’s personal assistant before becoming a reality superstar in her own right.
“Kim was Paris Hilton’s assistant,” he said. “I should’ve had babies with Paris Hilton over Kim Kardashian. Could you imagine if I had kids with Paris Hilton? How many hotels I’d have now. Think about that — the Hilton. I think y’all staying at the Hilton right now. The Edition Hotels is a Hilton.”
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Ye went on to compare Kardashian learning from Hilton to the relationship he had with the late Virgil Abloh. “Paris Hilton had the vision, and that’s what happened,” he added. “Kim was like the Virgil [Abloh]. Kim was like Paris Hilton’s Virgil.”
West also brought up how Arnold Schwarzenegger cheated on his wife, Maria Shriver, and had a kid with his nanny, Mildred Baena, when his partner was out of town in the 1990s.
“If you’re like Arnold Schwarzenegger and you have a kid with a nanny, the nanny’s only power is to take your kids,” Ye continued. “So Kim’s only power is to take my kids. I had a baby with a f—ing assistant, bro.”
West and Kardashian began dating in the early 2010s and tied the knot in May 2014. They have four kids together: 11-year-old North, 9-year-old Saint, 7-year-old Chicago and 5-year-old Psalm. The former couple finalized their divorce in November 2022 after filing in early 2021.
Ye, who is currently in Spain, began dating Bianca Censori in late 2022 and got married shortly after.
As for Hilton, who is the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, she married businessman Carter Reum in 2021, and the couple has two children together.
West has been under fire for his antisemitic rants and targeting peers like Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, J. Cole and more in recent months. He’s been teasing a new album, which will be titled Cuck or WW3, and is written entirely by rapper Dave Blunts.
Bad Bunny takes viewers on a heartfelt and surreal journey in a music video released Friday (April 25) for “BOKeTE,” a melancholic track from his Billboard 200 chart-topping album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. With a blend of cinematic nostalgia and haunting vulnerability, the Puerto Rican superstar’s video digs deep into the pangs of heartbreak, using […]
Ed Sheeran has accomplished more than most people could ever dream of, from selling out stadiums to winning Grammys and earning four No. 1 albums over the course of his career. But recently, he achieved something that even he probably thought he’d never do: make a best-dressed list. On Friday (April 25), the pop star […]
Young Thug was behind bars for the duration of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle last year, but was kept in the loop thanks to his girlfriend Mariah The Scientist.
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Thugger was asked about the K. Dot and Drizzy battle dominating conversation in hip-hop last year during his interview with GQ on Friday (April 25), as well as how he was name-dropped by Lamar during his “Not Like Us” diss.
“Yeah, [Kendrick] just spoke on people’s name in Atlanta. I don’t know what that was about,” he said before making his allegiance to Drake known. “I’m a Drake fan.”
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Kendrick attacked Drake’s ties to Atlanta in the third verse of “Not Like Us” by naming artists he’s worked with extensively in the past. “21 gave you false street cred/ Thug made you feel like you a slime in your head/ Quavo said you can be from Northside,” he raps.
While he didn’t address Kendrick directly, Thug hopped on X when he was in jail last year and called for Drake, Metro Boomin and Future to stop feuding. “@Drake @1future @MetroBoomin we all bruddas. Music aint the same without us collabin,” he wrote.
Speaking to Billboard in 2024, Mariah The Scientist explained that she kept Thug up to date on cultural events like the Drake and Kendrick battle when she would talk to him while he was locked up.
“I tell him everything. I might tell him too much,” she said. “I play him the [diss] songs over the phone and shit. He’s a lover of music in general. He fucks with everybody. I don’t think he would ever be able to – let me not speak for him.”
She continued: “He love music though. He thinks it’s interesting, for sure. We were listening to some of the songs. Not all of them, because now I’ve gotten lost. In the beginning, I was like, ‘Hey, there’s a tizzy going on.’ I played him some of it. I feel like those two people are both great rappers. With all of the rappers with the guy and the girl rappers, granted it’s cool for the craft, and to be able to keep up with that — because let me not lie and say there’s no competitive energy in the music industry. Because there is.”
In the past, Thug and Drake have joined forces on a plethora of hits including “Way 2 Sexy,” “Ice Melts,” “Sacrifices,” “It’s Up,” “Solid,” “Oh U Went” and more.
After regaining his freedom in October, Thugger is getting back to music in his own right as he delivered his first single of 2025 on Friday while teaming up with Future for “Money on Money.” Look for Thug’s UY SCUTI album to arrive in May.
Watch the full interview with Young Thug below.
Capping off a month of excellent new music releases, Lorde, Benson Boone, Megan Thee Stallion and several more artists have entered the chat for the last New Music Friday of April. Starting off strong with a certain New Zealand-born pop star, the arrival of Lorde’s comeback single “What Was That” on Thursday (April 24) finally […]
Young Thug has a lot to say. After being released from prison in October following a two-year-plus bid as part of the YSL RICO trial, Thugger has remained quiet. That is, until Friday (April 25), when his first all-encompassing interview since regaining his freedom dropped via GQ .
In addition to his case, jail and his relationship with Gunna, Thug gave his unfiltered thoughts on the state of the rap game today.
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“I think the numbers could be better, but yes,” he said when asked if the rap game’s in a good place. “I think a lot of people rapping about the same thing. Ain’t nobody bringing something that you could actually watch. You can enjoy the music and enjoy the things they do, but we used to make movies. Now it’s just quick. We gotta get back to movies to where like people respect it.”
Thug expanded on the dominance of simplicity. “It was just a big wave of nothingness running the game,” he said. “Super-simple videos, not really high-priced videos. That wave came in really strong. Even the people that was doing high-priced videos, they started doing regular videos because that’s what was popping. We did it so long where we’re comfortable with that. We don’t want to do stuff like this that takes time.”
The YSL boss also spoke on his friendship with the late Rich Homie Quan. Thug explained that Quan wanted to do his own thing and pursue a solo career, which led to them not releasing more music together.
“I think we just grew and became our own bosses and men,” he said. “We were getting bigger, so I wanted to do my own thing. I think he did. I love music, but I don’t care about songs. I’ll have a No. 1 hit record song and I’ll put you on it. Whoever go to the top with you, go to the top. I don’t care. I would’ve been OK with keep doing it.”
Even after spending more than two years away, Thug hears his melodic influence across today’s hip-hop. “Absolutely, you hear some s–t and you’re like, ‘Me, for sure.’ You never rapped like that.”
Thug returned with his first single of 2025 on Friday as well, which finds him alongside a familiar face in Future as the Super Slimey duo teamed up for “Money on Money.” Thugger is headed toward releasing his UY SCUTI album, which is rumored to arrive in May.
Watch the full interview below.
Olivia Rodrigo is ready for Lorde summer. Less than 24 hours after the New Zealand pop star dropped her comeback single “What Was That,” the “Vampire” singer shared her review of the track while posting a video of herself jamming out to it in New York City. (Spoiler alert: She’s a fan). In a TikTok […]
It’s a warm Tuesday afternoon in the deep San Fernando Valley, and the only day of the week Claude VonStroke is currently taking meetings.
The producer takes me through the cozy kitchen of his sprawling home, then across the verdant backyard, to a guest house that’s been converted into an office space. Here, his wife Aundy works in a room just behind the gleaming grand piano that dominates the primary space. Upstairs, where he works, the little attic is hot with many humming music machines.
He’s been up here most days lately, getting into creative flows that didn’t come as easily when he and Aundy were running Dirtybird — the label, events company, merch brand and long-running cultural hub that was synonymous with Claude VonStroke, the artist born with the all-time cool name Barclay Crenshaw.
VonStroke sold Dirtybird to EMPIRE in 2022, leaving the company he’d created alongside his wife, and which was home to a sprawling community of artists and signature sound that helped shift house music culture in the United States over the last ten-plus years. As fun as the Dirtybird Campouts, other brand parties and music all had been, running a company whose success was predicated on streams, relentless touring and ticket sales was also acutely stressful.
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Now that he’s no longer spending his days fretting about P&L, VonStroke spends most of his time making music — except for this day of the week, when he sends emails, takes meetings, schedules social gatherings and generally tends to business. This new phase of his life is something that his publicist enthusiastically describes as “a full-on reintroduction to the world of Claude VonStroke, complete with a new creative direction and sound.”
The reinvention that VonStroke has been privately working on for years publicly starts today (April 25), with the release of a two-track EP, I Was the Wolf, which contains the title track and its cinematic B-side “Move With the Pack.” The project is the first release of a load of new music created in a time where much of the week just consists of being up in the little room, unbothered and happily toiling away.
At the family picnic table, Claude VonStroke sits down to talk about selling Dirtybird, the soul searching that followed and why now, he just wants to be like Bill Murray.
The way that this project has been framed is Claude VonStroke 2.0, a complete new era.
I mean, kind of.
Unpack that for me.
I started Dirtybird Records after a bunch of us started these free park parties, and I did it for 20 years. By the end, it was not a record label — it was a festival company, a clothing company, a record label and a pipeline for every new tech house artist ever. Like, every name came through there.
So I was listening to 600 demos a week, putting on a festival ourselves with no additional money, building cities in the middle of nowhere, freaking out about tickets every single day of the year. Doing 10 BBQ [parties], another circuit of parties. I got to a point where I was like, “This is so awesome. I got way further than I could have ever imagined. I did 10 festivals at least, and it was fantastic.” I knew during the last festival that it was [done]. I always told myself that when it stops being fun, I should just get out before it becomes un-fun. So I found someone who wanted to keep it going at EMPIRE, and that all worked out really well. So it was just a win-win scenario where they took it over, and I’m able to do whatever I want, and it’s fantastic.
So how is your life different today than it was before you sold the label?
The label sale happened at the end of 2022, and we just sold them the events company. They didn’t buy them together, which is why all of these [new Dirtybird] events just popped up… We tried to sell it all the first time. They didn’t want everything at first, and then they realized what we told them, that you actually need it. The label and the events go together. They’re symbiotic. Which is kind of what I’m doing again, but the new idea is the opposite of that idea, where now I’m kind of in my Moodymann phase where it’s like — I did everything that was hard, and now I only want to go to the rooms that are fun and interesting and it doesn’t matter what the money is. I just want to make tracks I think are interesting. And it’s more about space in my head and the love of music.
Versus relentless pushing every day?
Versus just keep going up the ladder, and “We need to do this to get this.”
I imagine there was a decompression phase?
I was probably the most annoying person to my wife for the six months after the sale. I got all in a funk and was like, “What am I doing?” I read about when other people sold their companies, and it was very similar. Like, you did something forever and you’re not doing it.
“What’s my identity, now that I’m not that guy?”
I actually went and figured it out. I went and did my bass project for 18 months. That was super fun, and then at the end of that, I was like, “Well, I’ll keep doing that, but I still like house music, but I’m glad I had a break. And now I can come back to it with a different perspective.”
How has the perspective changed?
It’s like what I was saying before. I’m just doing it for fun, only. I’m just doing it for me, I guess.
At what point did Dirtybird stop being fun?
Well it was always fun, but it was hard. It was maybe the last two or three years that I felt the sound had been kind of boxed in. As the tech house bro sound emerged, we got blamed for it, and then it went that way.
Do you take any of that blame?
Oh yeah. We brought Fisher through, John Summit, Shiba San. Even if we had their first record, they all came through our shop. So yes, of course. I wasn’t going in that direction anymore, so for me to be like “Okay, somebody wants this, because it’s freaking going crazy,” that was a good point to leave.
The two new tracks that are out sound pretty different than your previous stuff. How do define what you’re doing now, and what phase would you say you’re in?
It is kind of pulling back to 2005, 2006 German stuff that I was really into. My favorite label is Playhouse, which doesn’t even exist anymore, and artists like Roman Flügel and Isolée and these kind of guys. I was always obsessed with that stuff, and it’s kind of like that stuff, but also none of that stuff holds up sonically anymore. They’re still unbelievable tracks, but over the last 18 months producing bass music I’ve learned a lot of great production stuff. Honestly I’m probably a three times better DJ, because bass is all fast cuts and chops and moving around, and house music seems like it’s DJ-ing for dummies at this point.
That might have to be a pull quote.
I just got way better and way more skilled doing bass music, because it’s all sound design, and highly intensive and figuring out that I’m going to use five sounds, and they’re the best possible sounds, versus using 14 and just layering them up until they work. It’s a different philosophy of working.
One of the biggest things that I can’t even really explain is that for seven years that I worked here [at the house], I spent all this money on the downstairs room to try to fix a room that was never going to be fixed. The bass and everything is just f—ed in that room. My wife told me to move upstairs five years ago, and I didn’t listen to her. Then as soon as I moved upstairs, it’s the perfect shape and all my stuff just went [he makes a motion like his mind is being blown]. You make a song and it actually sounds the same in the club. All my rooms were bad until this year or last year. My entire career! I would have to go play like, 30 gigs before I could finish a track.
That’s bananas.
It’s a lot of getting depressed at the show, like, “This song sucks.”
Does that now give you a new level of confidence that you can go out and know things are right from the jump?
Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s a life-changing moment, actually, that the room actually works.
What is the music sounding like, beyond the two tracks that are out now?
It’s interesting the way this is all shaping up. You know how people say that you just say something, and it starts coming true? It’s rolling out like that, which is always fascinating. It does happen. I found a beat that I liked, and was trying to hammer it out, then I accidentally moved some of the sounds around and it became a completely different thing, and I finished the whole thing in one day, which I the best possible scenario. Every time that happens, it’s very good. [He talks about a collaboration he made a few days ago with Reggie Watts, who came over to the house to record vocals.] I’m probably not even supposed to be talking about it, but who cares, because no one’s in charge of me! There’s no record label telling me that I can’t talk about releases coming up, there’s no one telling me I can’t talk about who I’m working with.
In terms of a label, who’s releasing this music?
I’m just doing it DIY. No label. Just distribution.
Do you have an idea of what success for the music will look like for you?
No. I don’t know. [laughs] I think as long as I like them a lot. I guess that’s really Rick Rubin to say, but that’s all it is. I can’t control it, really. I hope certain tracks find their way to the people that they’re meant for. But I’m not trying to get the biggest tech house artist to play “I Was the Wolf.” That’s not a track for them. I just hope they make it into their niches.
Where does this new music bring you in terms of touring?
I really just want to go to the rooms that I either know that I already love, or that I want to try out. But that’s one thing you can get wrapped up in, that I was definitely wrapped up in. Like, “Oh, we better play this, so this guy will let us play this, so we can over here and play this show so we can be in this.” Politics. I’m not doing any of that.
What rooms do you love?
I love this room in Dallas called It’ll Do. Perfect house club, perfect layout. I like Coda in Toronto. I like Walter Wherehouse [in Phoenix]. I’m trusting my agent, and he says Knockdown Center is the coolest and most fun place in New York, so I’m going to check it out.
You’ve been doing this for a long time. Do you have any particular feelings about being a veteran in the scene?
There were people that I looked at like, “That looks like absolute best life.” It was people like DJ Harvey and Moodymann and people who are just living on their own timeline and their own sphere of influence and not really caring if they miss five phone calls or answer everyone’s emails. I remember towards the last few years, being like “these guys are f—ing geniuses.” DJ Koze too. This little enclave of guys where you can’t really contact them. Nobody knows what they’re doing.
They’re playing a flute in a cave on a mountain.
That’s kind of where I’m headed, if I can. It’s like the Shangri-La of DJ-ing. I’ll be with the goats on the mountain and people will be like “fly in the helicopter! He’s got to take this phone call!” Like the Bill Murray of DJ-ing.
How do you think Dirtybird shifted dance music culture?
Dirtybird made this shift in American house music, because in 2015 I said, “Okay my kids are at this age, I can’t go to Europe every other week anymore, so let’s literally be the best house music label in America and only crush America.” Then it was, “Let’s do festivals, crazy merch, hammering it through this US based producer pool.”
That changed what people thought of house music. There were these original Detroit and Chicago labels, but they weren’t bridging this gap to 18-year-olds, so we were like, “Here we are.” I always say we were like a gateway drug between Damian Lazarus and commercial dance. You start here and then you come to us and then you end up in a K-hole. I’m kidding! But you know what I mean.
So to what extent does this shift you’re in now have to do with your kids being older and you being able to go back out to Europe?
Everything. All the pieces make sense. Now my son’s in college, my daughter is applying to college. Everything is just making it easy to be like this. I’m not killing myself because this is due and this is due. It’s just a totally different thing.