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Lil Wayne is officially no longer down with the Super Bowl after organizers chose Kendrick Lamar for the 2025 Halftime Show. (And no, he didn’t watch Dot’s performance.)
Following the controversy surrounding this year’s headliner selection, Weezy revealed in the Rolling Stone cover story published Thursday (April 17) that he’ll never again consider playing the Big Game after being passed up to perform in 2025. The piece comes about seven months after the NFL announced that Lamar would take the stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans — the “Lollipop” rapper’s home city — after which Wayne told Instagram followers that he was “hurt” by the decision.
“They stole that feeling,” he tells the publication now of the NFL. “I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”
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On that note, Wayne adds that he didn’t even watch Lamar’s February performance. Instead, he played pool with Lil Twist and went outside to smoke during the set. And every time he did peek at his TV screen during the show, he says there “was nothing that made me want to go inside and see what was going on.”
And despite saying that he’s on good terms with the “Euphoria” hitmaker, Tunechi did throw a little shade Lamar’s way. While listening back to some of the music he’s working on for upcoming album Tha Carter VI, Wayne apparently said of Dot’s halftime show: “They coulda had some music. But instead they got rappin’.”
“They f–ked up,” he added of the NFL.
Though Wayne technically wasn’t one of them, Lamar’s Halftime Show performance brought in 133.5 million viewers on game day — more than any other Super Bowl set in history. In addition to performing his smash Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” the Compton rapper also cycled through a number of the songs on his November album GNX, which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
One song Lamar didn’t play from the LP, however, was opener “Wacced Out Murals” — the lyrics to which feature one of the only comments Lamar has made on the Wayne Super Bowl situation. “Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” he spits on the track. “Whatever though, call me crazy, everybody questionable.”
In the Rolling Stone piece, however, Wayne opened up more about why he took the snub so personally, revealing that he more so takes issue with the NFL for allegedly leading him to believe that he was a frontrunner for the gig.
“To perform, it’s a bunch of things they’re going to tell you to do and not do, a–es to kiss and not kiss,” he said. “If you notice, I was a part of things I’ve never been a part of. Like [Michael] Rubin’s all-white parties. I’m doing s–t with Tom Brady. That was all for that. You ain’t never seen me in them types of venues. I ain’t Drake. I ain’t out there smiling like that everywhere. I’m in the stu’, smokin’ and recording.”
Wayne claimed that his contacts at the NFL later apologized and told him that they weren’t “in charge” of the selection process after Lamar’s slot was announced. (Per producer Jesse Collins, Jay-Z — whose company Roc Nation oversees the alftime show — has selected every headliner since 2019. Even so, Wayne says he’s still cool with his “Mr. Carter” collaborator.)
“All of a sudden, according to them, they got curved,” Wayne added to the publication of the NFL. “So, I’m going to have to just settle with whatever they say.”
Billboard has reached out to the NFL for comment.
See Weezy on the cover of Rolling Stone below.
Bruce Springsteen dropped the second preview of his upcoming sprawling Tracks II: The Lost Albums collection on Thursday morning (April 17). The beat-heavy mid-tempo song “Blind Spot” will appear on the box set as part of the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, a 10-song LP that a release noted has long been referred to by fans as the Boss’ “loops record.”
Opening with a sampled voice grunting over a mechanical-sounding drum beat, it finds Springsteen singing, “We inhabited each other/ Like it was some kind of disease/ I thought that I was flyin’/ But I was crawlin’ on my knees,” in a haunted cadence. The chorus leans into the notion that it’s the things we miss in love that are our undoing: “Everybody’s got a blind spot that brings ’em down/ Everybody’s got a blind spot they can’t get around.”
“That was just the theme that I locked in on at that moment,” Springsteen said in a statement about the song exploring doubt and betrayal in relationships that became the thesis for the Philadelphia Sessions. “I don’t really know why. [Wife and bandmate] Patti [Scialfa] and I, we were having a great time in California. But sometimes if you lock into one song you like, then you follow that thread. I had ‘Blind Spot,’ and I followed that thread through the rest of the record.”
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The song was written following the rock icon’s 1994 Oscar- and Grammy-winning song “Streets of Philadelphia,” which accompanied the 1993 Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington movie Philadelphia, Jonathan Demme’s legal drama about an attorney suing his former employer for his firing after the firm discovers he’s gay and has AIDS.
The never-released companion album “found Springsteen exploring an interest in the rhythms of mid-1990s contemporary music, and particularly West Coast hip-hop,” according to the release. “Initially poring over CDs of drum samples at his home in Los Angeles, Springsteen began making his own loops with engineer Toby Scott — which formed a rhythmic base he’d build on with keyboards and synthesizers. Both a revelation and departure in his home recording, Springsteen is the primary instrumentalist throughout most of Streets of Philadelphia Sessions.” Among those lending an assist during the sessions were his 1992-1993 touring band, as well Scialfa, E Street band members Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell.
Though it never saw the light of day, the album was completed, mixed and slated for release in the spring of 1995, then shelved when Springsteen opted instead to reunite with the E Street Band after a seven-year hiatus. “I said, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band or that part of my work life,’” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said. “So that’s where we went. But I always really liked Streets of Philadelphia Sessions’… during the [2017-2018] Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a standalone release]. I always put them away, but I don’t throw them away.”
Earlier this month, Springsteen announced the June 27 release of Tracks II, which will contain seven previously unheard full-length records. The 83-track collection will “fill in rich chapters of Springsteen’s expansive career timeline — while offering invaluable insight into his life and work as an artist,” according to a release, which noted that some of the LPs got so far as the mixing stage before being put on hold.
Among the albums included are the lo-fi LA Garage Sessions ’83, described as a “crucial link” between the stripped-down Nebraska and the rocking Born in the U.S.A., the sonically experimental Faithless film soundtrack he wrote for a movie that was never made, the country-leaning Somewhere North of Nashville and the border tales LP Inyo, as well as the “orchestra-driven, mid-century noir” Twilight Hours.
The box set covering the years 1983-2018 was previewed by the first single, the turbulent “Rain in the River.” The Lost Albums will be issued in a limited-edition 9-LP set , as well as 7-CD and digital formats, with distinctive packaging for each, along with a 100-page cloth-bound hardcover book with rare archival photos. A 20-track compilation, Lost and Found: Selections From The Lost Albums, will be released on June 27 on two LPs and one CD.
Listen to “Blind Spot” below.
Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart dated April 19 nearly three years after the album, her debut, was first released.
Preacher’s Daughter earned 39,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 10, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 37,000 units are via album sales, begetting a No. 1 debut on the all-genre Top Album Sales list.
In fact, nearly all of its sales are vinyl copies, as Preacher’s Daughter benefits from its first-ever vinyl release, 35 months after it first premiered on May 12, 2022. That count also leads to the set debuting at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Cain becomes the first act to rule Top Alternative Albums in their first appearance on the tally since Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts premiered atop the Sept. 23, 2023, list. As Rodrigo’s was not her debut album, Cain is the first to do so with a first release since The Smile, with A Light for Attracting Attention, in July 2022.
Preacher’s Daughter also begins at No. 2 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, and on the all-genre Billboard 200, it bows at No. 10.
In addition to its album sales, Preacher’s Daughter also earned a total of 2.8 million official U.S. streams in the week ending April 10.
The chart-related activity around Cain is her first, with the majority centered around Preacher’s Daughter, though she also debuts on the Billboard Artist 100 chart at No. 4.
Cain followed Preacher’s Daughter with the nine-song ambient/drone release Perverts earlier this year, with a new album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, also expected in 2025.
Zak Starkey has spoken out about his apparent firing from The Who after a nearly 30-year run, saying in a statement that he was shocked to hear that, according to reports, singer Roger Daltrey had taken issue with his playing at a recent Royal Albert Hall show in London.
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“I’m very proud of my near 30 years with The Who,” Starkey said in a statement on Wednesday (April 16) according to People. “Filling the shoes of my Godfather, ‘uncle Keith’ [Moon] has been the biggest honor and I remain their biggest fan. They’ve been like family to me.”
The veteran session and live drummer and son of former Beatles timekeeper Ringo Starr and his first wife Maureen Starkey noted that he suffered a “serious medical emergency” in January when he was treated for blood clots in his right calf. “This is now completely healed and does not affect my drumming or running.”
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In a statement to The Guardian earlier this week, a spokesperson for the group said: “The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall. They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.”
The shows in question took place on March 18 and 20 in benefit of the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity that singer Roger Daltrey has long been a patron of. According to Metro, Daltrey — who recently revealed that he is losing his hearing and eyesight — appeared to get frustrated about Starkey’s playing and stopped several songs mid-performance after saying he was having trouble hearing the band over Starkey’s drums.
During the band’s first-ever run through the show-ending Who’s Next track “The Song Is Over,” Daltrey reportedly told the audience, “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”
In his statement, Starkey expressed shock that “anyone” would find fault with his playing that night. “After playing those songs with the band for so many decades, I’m surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?” Starkey said in seeming reference to the Metro report. “I plan to take some much needed time off with my family, and focus on the release of ‘Domino Bones’ by Mantra Of The Cosmos with Noel Gallagher in May and finishing my autobiography written solely by me. 29 years at any job is a good old run, and I wish them the best.”
Starkey, who first began playing with the Who in 1996 when they got back together for a reunion tour on which they played their 1973 double album Quadrophenia in its entirety, seemed to predict his sacking in an Instagram post on Saturday, in which he said he thought Daltrey, 81, was “unhappy” with him.
“HEARD TODAY FROM INSIDE SOURCE WITHIN WHOSE HORSES NOSE THAT TOGER DAKTREY LEAD SINGER AND PRINCIPAL SONGWRITER OF THE GROUP UNHAPPY WITH ZAK THE DRUMMER’S PERFORMANCE AT THE ALBERT HALL A FEW WEEKS AGO,” he wrote alongside a pic of him sitting next to a smiling Daltrey. “IS BRINGING FORMAL CHARGES OF OVERPLAYING AND IS LITERALLY GOING TO ZAK THE DRUMMER AND BRING ON A RESERVE FROM ‘THE BURWASH CARWASH SKIFFLE ‘N’ TICKLE GLEE CLUB HARMONY WITHOUT EMPATHY ALLSTARS’ THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY WHOSE LONG TIME MANAGER WILLYA YOUWONTYOUKNOW.”
Starkey got his start behind the kit when the Who’s original drummer and close family friend, Keith Moon, gave him a drum set for his eighth birthday. In addition to his longtime gig with the band, he has also played with Oasis, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller and Graham Coxon and also performs with the new supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos, which features Happy Mondays/Black Grape members Shaun Ryder and Bez and Andy Bell of Oasis and Ride.
Brad Paisley is set to headline the NFL Draft Concert Series presented by Bud Light on April 26, closing out three days of the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Paisley will perform at the Draft Theater near Lambeau Field, offering a free concert to conclude Round 7 of the NFL Draft. “There’s nothing […]
Lil Nas X says he is on the mend after being hospitalized earlier this week with partial facial paralysis. Sparking fan concern with video from his hospital bed in which the right side of his face appeared to be frozen, the “Hotbox” MC provided an update on Tuesday (April 15) via an Instagram Story in which he said “I’ve been chewing a lot so I can get this muscle stronger,” pointing to the right side of his mug while wearing a pink shower cap.
“It’s much better, it’s much better,” he assured viewers, adding, “my eye still has to play catch-up. But like, but like I can give a genuine smile, so that’s good. I’m still winkin’ at mothaf–kers, but…. yeah.” To date, Lil Nas has not provided any additional information on what caused the condition or what his prognosis is for a full recovery.
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And while the medical issue appeared to throw him off his game a bit, in the next slide he posted a snap of a palm tree and the moon shining on the surf at night, with the caption: “Can’t s–t ruin dreamboy summer. ITS TIMEEE” to the strains of his recent Pharrell-esque pop funk jam “Hotbox.”
The original video detailing the facial freeze found Lil Nas, 26, in his hospital gown laughing at the medical issue, saying “And when I smile? This is me doing a full smile right now by the way,” pointing out that the left side of his mouth was open as the right side sat immobile. “It’s like, what the f–k? I can’t even laugh right, bro. What the f–k?”
That video was captioned, “Soooo lost control of the right side of my face 😭,” with the MC displaying a chipper attitude about the unexpected health issue. In a follow-up Story he provided a close-up video of his face, panning from one side to the other and explaining, “We normal over here, we get crazy over here!,” with the caption, “I’m so cooked [two crying laughing emoji].” In another slide he assured fans, “Guys I am OK!! Stop being sad for me! Shake ur ass for me instead!,” with the final slide offering yet another assurance that things are going to be fine and a photo of the rapper promising, “Imma look funny for a lil bit but that’s it.”
No additional information was available at press time about what caused the paralysis and a spokesperson for Lil Nas had not returned a request for comment.
Fans are awaiting word on a release date for Lil Nas’ Dreamboy LP, the follow-up to his 2021 debut full-length album Montero. Last month he released the 8-track Days Before Dreamboy EP that pulled together his recent run of singles.
Haim are coming home. The Los Angeles sister trio announced two surprise hometown shows happening next week on April 23 and 24 — their first live performances in nearly two years. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “This is for everyone who’s been there since day one.. […]
Almost two months on from the death of actress Michelle Trachtenberg, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner has revealed the cause of her passing.
According to People, a spokesperson from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed on Wednesday (April 16) that the actress’s passing was ruled as natural, resulting from complications of diabetes mellitus.
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“The amended determination was made following review of toxicology testing results,” the spokesperson said, noting that a “toxicology testing can be done without autopsy.”
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Trachtenberg died on Feb. 26 at the age of 39, with New York City emergency services responding to an emergency call where they discovered the actress “unconscious and unresponsive.”
Though her death was not treated as suspicious, Trachtenberg’s family declined an autopsy on grounds related to their Jewish faith, with her death therefore expected to be officially ruled as “undetermined.” However, the review of the toxicology results has ultimately provided a form of closure for those close to the actress.
A New York native, Trachtenberg began acting as a child, receiving her breakthrough role by starring in the film Harriet the Spy in 1996, released when she was just 10. By then, she had also made multiple appearances on ABC’s All My Children — working with Sarah Michelle Gellar. That connection led to Trachtenberg joining Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 2000 through its 2003 finale.
In 2001, the series’ sixth season featured one of its most innovative and revered episodes, the musical Once More, with Feeling. While most of the show’s stars had their singing talents showcased prominently, Trachtenberg – a trained ballet dancer – requested her dancing skills be the main focus for her appearance. Her vocal talents weren’t entirely absent, however, opening the episode’s coda, “Where Do We Go From Here?,” singing the opening title line a cappella.
The 23-song Once More, with Feeling soundtrack was subsequently released (on Mutant Enemy/Twentieth Century Fox/Rounder Records). Mirroring the show’s trademark witty dialog (one lyric features singing-averse Alyson Hannigan admitting, “I think this line’s mostly filler”), the set slayed Billboard’s charts, most notably debuting at its No. 3 best on the Soundtracks chart — a year after the episode aired. It also hit the Billboard 200 and Independent Albums charts.
To date, the album has drawn more than 23 million streams in the U.S., according to Luminate.
Trachtenberg’s presence in the world of music also extended beyond the world of Buffy, with the actress also appearing in music videos for acts such as Trapt and Ringside, and Fall Out Boy’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
Actress Daryl Hannah has spoken about the issues faced by husband Neil Young in his journey to becoming an American citizen, claiming “every trick in the book” was used to delay the process.
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Hannah, who has been married to Young since 2018, made the claims in a new interview with the BBC, alleging that the process was delayed purposefully. “They tried […] every trick in the book to mess him up, and made him keep coming back to be re-interviewed and re-interviewed,” Hannah explained. “It’s ridiculous [because] he’s been living in America and paying taxes here since he was in his 20s.”
Indeed, Young was born in Toronto in 1945 but relocated to the U.S. in 1966. In a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, Young admitted that he had lived in the country illegally until he obtained a green card in 1970.
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In November 2019, Young discussed some of the delays his citizenship application had faced, noting that a policy update from earlier that same year meant that his previous use of marijuana had not seen him meet the standard for “good moral character.”
“When I recently applied for American citizenship, I passed the test,” Young wrote at the time. “It was a conversation where I was asked many questions. I answered them truthfully and passed. Recently however, I have been told that I must do another test, due to my use of marijuana and how some people who smoke it have exhibited a problem.”
Ultimately, Young was granted U.S. citizenship in January 2020, though he would later relocate to Canada that same year.
Recently, Young’s criticism of the U.S. government has seen him share fears that he may be blacklisted from a return to the U.S. based upon the “latest actions of our US government.”
“When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J. Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminum blanket,” Young wrote on his website on April 1. “If I come back from Europe and am barred, can’t play my USA tour, all of the folks who bought tickets will not be able to come to a concert by me.”
“If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for Freedom?” he added. “I love America and its people and its music and its culture.”
Despite these comments, Hannah noted that she doesn’t share the same fear that Young might be detained at the border, largely due to his status as a U.S. citizen.
“They’ve been detaining people who have green cards or visas – which is hideous and horrifying – but they have not, so far, been refusing to let American citizens back in the country, so I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she stated.
Tracy Chapman’s 1988 self-titled debut album comes charging back onto Billboard’s album charts (dated April 19), following its vinyl reissue on April 4. The Billboard 200 chart-topper and Grammy Award-winning effort had been out-of-print on vinyl in the United States since at least the early 1990s.
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In the week ending April 10 in the U.S., Tracy Chapman sold 14,000 copies across all configurations, with about 13,500 on vinyl.
On the Top Album Sales chart, which launched in 1991, the set reenters at a new peak of No. 4. It also debuts on Vinyl Albums (No. 2) and Indie Store Album Sales (No. 3); and reenters Americana/Folk Albums (No. 4), Top Rock Albums (No. 10), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 11, new peak), Catalog Albums (No. 12) and the Billboard 200 (No. 51). On the latter chart, the set – which spent a week atop the list in 1988 – reaches its highest position since 1989.
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Tracy Chapman yielded three Billboard Hot 100-charting songs in 1988: the Grammy-winning “Fast Car” (No. 6), “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” (No. 75) and “Baby Can I Hold You” (No. 48).
The new vinyl reissue was prepared for release by Chapman and the album’s original producer, David Kershenbaum and sourced from an analogue master. It was released as a widely-available 180 gram black vinyl edition, along with three retailer-exclusive color variants (opaque deep red for Walmart, transparent orange for indie stores, and opaque orange for Urban Outfitters).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Chapman’s album is one of seven debuts or reentries in the top 10 on the latest Top Album Sales chart, which is led by the debuting Preacher’s Daughter from Ethel Cain at No. 1. It’s her first No. 1 and chart entry. The 2022 album was released on vinyl for the first time on April 4, and in total, the set sold 37,000 copies for the week – nearly all from vinyl purchases.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s Who Believes in Angels? enters at No. 2 with 36,500 sold; ZEROBASEONE’s Blue Paradise starts at No. 3 with nearly 20,500 and Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine rounds out the top five, falling 1-5 with 10,500 (down 83%).
Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong debuts at No. 6 (nearly 9,000), Djo’s The Crux starts at No. 7 (8,000), xikers’ House of Tricky: Spur bows at No. 8 (nearly 8,000), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet slips 6-9 (a little over 7,500; down 16%) and Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX falls 5-10 (about 7,500; down 19%).