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Sabrina Carpenter copped to possibly having a role in last week’s first-ever indictment of a sitting New York mayor. During her headlining show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday night (Sept. 29), Carpenter took a moment to respond to the historic news from Friday that N.Y. Mayor Eric Adams had pleaded not guilty to five felony charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery after officials accused him of taking more than $100,000 in illegal gifts in exchange for allegedly helping out the government of Turkey.
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According to fan video of the moment, she joked, “Damn, what now? Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?” pulling her face away from the mic as she laughed while the crowd clapped and yelled. Carpenter was referring to reports earlier this month that tied the filming of her blood-soaked 2023 “Feather” video to one of the voluble Mayor’s friends.
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Carpenter made headlines last Halloween when just weeks after filming the visual inside Brooklyn’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish Church in Williamsburg led to the demotion of Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello. The Church leader was relieved of his administrative duties after it emerged that he’d approved the shooting of the clip in which Carpenter, 25, bloodily offs former boyfriends and winds up in a skimpy black dress posing and wriggling on the altar in the ornate 130-year-old church next to a bedazzled coffin emblazoned with the message “RIP B–ch.”
After the video’s release, Bishop Robert J. Brennan said he was “appalled at what was filmed” at the church,” noting that the parish did not follow “diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.” The song was featured on Carpenter’s 2022 Emails I Can’t Send album.
Carpenter’s name popped up earlier this month when reports said that federal investigators were also in the midst of an investigation into the relationship between Gigantiello and Adams’ former chief of staff, Frank Carone. The church was reportedly subpoenaed by federal investigators last week seeking information about possible financial and business tied between longtime friends Gigantiello and Carone, in an investigation allegedly tied to the filming of the video that has racked up more than 100 million views to date.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further on that review, which is still ongoing,” diocese officials said in a statement. “The Diocese is fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations, including conduct at individual parishes or involving any priest.”
Adams plead not guilty last week on federal charges alleging that he accepted expensive travel and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign dignitaries in exchange for political favors.
See fan video of Carpenter’s comment below.
Even over three decades into her decorated career, Mary J. Blige is still adding to her legacy. The queen of hip-hop soul announced her For My Fans Tour last week and revealed the full dates and venues on Monday (Sept. 30).
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Fellow R&B titans Ne-Yo and Mario will serve as openers on the North American trek. Artist pre-sale starts on Oct. 1, while the general public will have their shot on Ticketmaster on Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. local time.
“I am so excited to kick off this tour. I have amazing fans and am so grateful for all of the love and support they have given me throughout the years,” Mary J. Blige said in a statement. “This tour is for them, and I cannot wait to be able to travel to all these cities and see everyone.”
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She continued: “I am in such a place of immense gratitude and peace at this moment, so also having the chance to release my new album Gratitude on Nov. 15 ahead of this tour is really special to me.”
The 27-city tour kicks off on Jan. 30 in Greensboro, N.C., and will rumble through Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington, D.C. and more before wrapping up in Boston on April 14.
The Yonkers legend isn’t letting up the rest of 2024. She kicked off the rollout for her upcoming Gratitude album with “Breathing” featuring Fabolous in August. Look for the project to arrive on Nov. 15.
Before Gratitude hits streaming services, Mary J. Blige will also be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a ceremony for the 2024 class taking place on Oct. 19 in Cleveland to cap off another banner year from the Power actress.
Find the full For My Fans Tour dates below.
Jan. 30 – Greensboro, N.C. @ Greensboro Coliseum
Jan. 31 – Raleigh, N.C. @ Lenovo Center
Feb. 3 – Atlanta, Ga. @ State Farm Arena
Feb. 6 – Charlotte, N.C. @ Spectrum Center
Feb. 8 – Tampa, Fla. @ Amalie Arena
Feb. 11 – Hollywood, Fla. @ Hard Rock Live
Feb. 14 – New Orleans, La. @ Smoothie King Center
Feb. 18 – Houston, Texas @ Toyota Center
Feb. 21 – Ft. Worth, Texas @ Dickies Arena
Feb. 25 – Denver, Colo. @ Ball Arena
March 1 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Intuit Dome
March 7 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Chase Center
March 8 – Sacramento, Calif. @ Golden 1 Center
March 12 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Enterprise Center
March 14 – Chicago, Ill. @ United Center
March 16 – St. Paul, Minn. @ Xcel Energy Center
March 19 – Detroit, Mich. @ Little Caesars Arena
March 22 – Buffalo, N.Y. @ KeyBank Center
March 24 – Toronto, Ontario @ Scotiabank Arena
March 26 – Washington, D.C. @ Capital One Arena
March 28 – Atlantic City, N.J. @ Boardwalk Hall
April 2 – Columbus, Ohio @ Nationwide Arena
April 4 – Baltimore, Md. @ CFG Bank Arena
April 6 – Newark, N.J. @ Prudential Center
April 10 – New York, N.Y. @ Madison Square Garden
April 11 – Elmont, N.Y. @ UBS Arena
April 14 – Boston, Mass. @ TD Garden
Ariana Grande is sticking up for Ethan Slater in the face of ongoing speculation about the two Wicked costars’ romance.
While speaking to Vanity Fair for a joint cover story with fellow Wicked leading lady Cynthia Erivo published Monday (Sept. 30), the 31-year-old pop star spoke openly about her boyfriend and the allegations surrounding their love story for the first time. “I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of this movie,” began Grande, who separated from ex-husband Dalton Gomez during shooting in February 2023 before filing for divorce that September. “A lot of people that were working on it did. We were away for two years.”
“The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” she continued of gossip surrounding her relationship with Slater, who split from his ex-wife Lilly Jay — with whom he shares a young son, finalizing their divorce just weeks ago — shortly before news of his and Grande’s romance came to light in July 2023. “That was definitely a tough ride.”
In the year since everything unfolded, some have speculated that the two stars began seeing each other while still with their former partners, despite multiple reports that both Grande and Slater’s past relationships had ended before they got involved. Others bought into rumors that the Spamalot actor walked out on Jay and their son, of which the “Thank U, Next” singer told the publication, “there couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being.”
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“No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about,” Grande continued of her partner. “There is no one on this Earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bulls–t tabloid can rewrite in real life.”
Though she said she’ll “never go into certain details” about her relationship with Slater, the Victorious alum does appear to sing about her split from Gomez and the beginnings of her new romance with the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical star on her latest album Eternal Sunshine. The record spent two weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Yes, And?” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”
Grande has also stepped out with Slater a few times over the past year or so, although the couple has largely kept their relationship low-key. In April, the Grammy winner supported Slater at his final Spamalot show, and in June, the pair attended the Stanley Cup finals together.
See Grande’s Vanity Fair covers below:
Shortly after rolling out the first North American dates for their 2025 reunion tour, Oasis revealed that they will ditch Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing scheme for the gigs. “Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America,” the group announced on X in an official statement from their management on Monday morning (Sept. 30).
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable,” the statement continued. “But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.”
The statement concluded, “We have made this decision for the North American tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently.” At press time a spokesperson for Ticketmaster had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
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The move comes in response to the bumpy rollout of the initial slate of dates for the first Oasis tour in 16 years. Back in August, the crushing demand for the summer 2025 UK/Ireland reunion shows by battling brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sparked some fury among fans who spent hours on queue in a desperate bid to snag one of the one million tickets.
The anger was such that the British government promised to open a probe into the use of dynamic pricing for concert tickets after fans who waited on digital line for hours discovered that the cost of a standing ticket had nearly doubled due to high demand. At the time, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said that all ticket prices are set by the tour’s promoters.
Dynamic ticket pricing has become a staple in the U.S. live music industry in recent years, but Oasis’ comeback tour – jointly promoted by Live Nation, SJM Concerts, MCD and DF Concerts – marked its most high-profile and possibly biggest roll out for live concerts in the U.K. and Ireland. The U.K. competition regulator launched an investigation into TM over the Oasis ticket roll-out a week after the initial on-sale prompted hundreds of complains from fans.
At the time, Oasis said they had “no awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” for the UK ticketing roll-out, adding that “it needs to be made clear that Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management.”
The North American run of stadium dates for the 2025 reunion tour were rolled out on Monday morning, consisting of visits to five North American stadiums beginning with an August 24 show at Rogers Stadium in Toronto, followed by an August 28 gig at Soldier Field in Chicago and an August 31 stop at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
For now, the North American portion will wind down with a Sept. 6 show at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles and a Sept. 12 stop at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. Cage the Elephant — led by brothers singer Matt Shultz and guitarist Brad Shultz — will open all the new dates.
Two-time CMA Awards entertainer of the year winner Luke Bryan, NFL luminary Peyton Manning and reigning CMA Awards entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson are set to co-host the 58th annual CMA Awards.
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Bryan is a four-time CMA Awards host this year, while NFL legend Manning is a three-time CMA Awards host and they will be joined by first-time host Wilson on the live broadcast from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20 on ABC; the show will be available the next day on Hulu.
Bryan, a two-time CMA Awards entertainer of the year winner who just released his new album Mind of a Country Boy, previously told Billboard that, “just a lover of the genre and the people, the artists and the night” are what keeps him coming back as a CMA Awards host. “To be asked to host the CMAs for the first time was a dream come true, and something I never thought I’d be able to achieve. Going from a kid watching the CMAs at home with my family to being a host is pretty surreal. I walk out on that stage right before we deliver the monologue and it’s always a pinch myself moment and I’m always just honored to represent country music the best way I can.”
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“I could not be more excited to host the CMA Awards this year with Luke and Peyton,” Wilson said in a press release. “It’s such an incredible honor and something I’ve always dreamed of doing. We’re planning a really great show for y’all, so make sure to watch on November 20!”
“I am honored to be back hosting the CMA Awards again this year,” Manning added. “The past two years have been a lot of fun, and I know Lainey is going to bring a special flare. Hopefully she can help me keep Luke in line! Either way, I’m excited for an incredible night of celebration and country music.”
Bryan told Billboard of Wilson joining as a co-host, “Peyton and I have had a great run, and obviously Lainey is as hot as a firecracker in the world of country music, and we’ll be excited to watch her hosting abilities unfold in front of our eyes, and really love her as a person and am just excited to work with her on stuff and be there. So I know she’s running around busy as can be, so we’re glad to have her for a few days. And I know Peyton’s excited about it, too.”
Wilson is the reigning CMA Awards entertainer of the year, and is in the running to win the same category this year.
When she co-hosts the awards show, Wilson will become the first person to host or co-host the CMA Awards in the same year that he or she was nominated for entertainer of the year since Carrie Underwood, who co-hosted and was nominated for the top award in both 2016 and 2019.
Sonny James, who co-hosted the first CMA Awards in 1967, was an entertainer of the year nominee that year. In the intervening years, 10 other stars have also doubled up in this way: Kenny Rogers (1979), Barbara Mandrell (1980-82), Willie Nelson (1983 and 1986), Randy Travis (1990), Reba McEntire (1991-92), Vince Gill (1992-98), Brooks & Dunn (2004 and 2006), Brad Paisley (2008-12), Underwood and Wilson.
Leading this year’s CMA Awards nominees are Morgan Wallen (with seven nominations), followed by Cody Johnson and Chris Stapleton with five nominations each. Wilson and Post Malone have four nomination apiece, while Louis Bell, Luke Combs, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney and Kacey Musgraves have three nominations each.
Performers and presenters for the CMA Awards will be announced in the coming weeks.
Watch Bryan, Manning and Wilson in a promotional clip for the CMA Awards below:
Lady Gaga loves a surprise, but even she wasn’t prepared when the world found out she was engaged to fiancé Michael Polansky in July thanks to an unexpected announcement. During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show last week to promote her role as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga revealed that she […]
A trailblazer in fan communication, Dear U has officially begun the expansion of its messaging platform, Bubble, into the Western market with J Balvin and Peso Pluma.
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Billboard can exclusively share that starting Sept. 30, the Latin music powerhouses will be the “first of many artists outside of Asia” to engage with fans through Dear U’s newly launched U.S. version of the platform. The duo joins a large number of K-pop artists using the Bubble platform (also known as “the bubble”) to share private messages, voice notes, video content, and behind-the-scenes moments with subscribers including chart-toppin acts like Stray Kids, (G)I-DLE, BLACKPINK‘s Jisoo and Lisa, as well as a handful of Korean actors, athletes and content creators.
Since launching its artist-to-fan messaging service in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic era of social distancing, Dear U’s various Bubble apps have become a top marketing and social tool in the K-pop and Asian entertainment industries, currently connecting more than 600 artists to communicate directly with some of their most dedicated fans. With the company reporting over 73 percent of its two million paid subscribers living outside of Korea, introducing these two chart-toppers mark a significant shift to expand its offerings to the Western landscape successfully.
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“While the entertainment market continues growing, the service industry leveraging fandoms has not received as much attention,” Chong-oh An, the CEO of Dear U, tells Billboard. “In Korea, where fandom culture is fully established, Dear U has built a business model to harness this culture. Our aim is to introduce a fresh perspective to the global entertainment landscape and bring new excitement to fans around the world.”
While platforms like HYBE’s Weverse launched services like Weverse DM as a paid messaging service in 2023, Bubble was first to market in 2020 in launching the service for a slate of artists under the SM Entertainment roster. Dear U’s major shareholders are SM Entertainment (home to groups and Bubble users like NCT, aespa and Lucas) and JYP Entertainment (J.Y. Park, TWICE and ITZY), with the companies also featuring some of their international acts like SM’s China-focused boy band WayV and JYP’s Japan-based girl group NiziU partaking in the platform.
With a combined 13 No. 1s on the Hot Latin Songs chart, 50 Billboard Hot 100 entries between them, as well as highly dedicated fan engagement across their social media accounts, J Balvin and Peso Pluma are seen as ideal partners for Dear U’s next phase with Bubble.
“For me, it has always been important to be connected to my fans, La Familia,” says current Billboard cover star, J Balvin, in a statement. “I love reading comments and conversations so it’s exciting to communicate with fans no matter what their first language might be. This is why the Bubble is the perfect platform to keep in touch.”
“Peso Pluma wouldn’t exist without our dedicated fans who have supported us since the very beginning,” the 25-year-old Mexican rapper-singer adds. “Even though we don’t speak the same language, our music is crossing borders and I’m always excited to find new ways, such as through this partnership with Bubble, to connect with them.”
Teasing that Bubble’s services will “continue expanding into different genres across Western markets with major superstars,” the international, U.S. app can be downloaded here or for Android here. Fans can subscribe to an artist’s Bubble platform, which costs $4.99 per month per artist. Read on for more insight into Bubble’s big moment from Dear U’s CEO Chong-oh An.
Billboard: Congratulations on the latest news about the expansion and new offerings with Dear U. What does this moment signify for the company?
Chong-oh An: This moment signifies Dear U’s global expansion to the Western market. While the entertainment market continues growing, the service industry leveraging fandoms has not received as much attention. In Korea, where fandom culture is fully established, Dear U has built a business model to harness this culture. Our aim is to introduce a fresh perspective to the global entertainment landscape and bring new excitement to fans around the world.
Why were J Balvin and Peso Pluma the right partners to kick off the expansion?
Both of these artists are extremely popular, beloved, and influential. But they also bring unique cultural significance and strong fan engagement to the table. J Balvin and Peso Pluma frequently interact with their followers on social media, creating a sense of community and loyalty that aligns perfectly with Dear U’s mission to enhance artist-fan communication.
J Balvin and Peso Pluma are huge names in the Latin market and community. Was there a specific reason you wanted to team with Latin artists after primarily focusing on Asian and K-pop talent?
Our goal is to help connect artists with their loyal fans around the world, regardless of genre or market. Latin music has truly gone global over the past few years, and we are providing a platform to connect these passionate fanbases. J Balvin’s contributions to the global reggaeton movement and Peso Pluma’s fresh influence in regional Mexican music will help the platform cater to not only a large number of fans, but also a wide array of music tastes, languages, and cultural backgrounds. They will help us break barriers with fan connection.
Dear U’s story is interesting because it launched Bubble in 2020 when the digital conversation was so prevalent, yet the company continues to expand today. What did the pandemic teach you?
The pandemic required us to create innovative ways to connect artists and fans that we’ve continued to use today. Because artists have fans across the world and can’t always be physically present to engage with them, we’re proud to help bridge that gap and create connection.
In your opinion, what’s a very special or highly engaging moment an artist can have on their Bubble compared to traditional social media platforms?
Artists see their bubble subscribers as true superfans. With bubble, they can share intimate moments – from behind-the-scenes photos, selfies, and audio messages to polls about dinner or outfit choices. Even during [professional] breaks, artists can maintain this closeness by sharing personal snapshots, like photos from family trips. More than public social media, this exclusive content fosters a more personal and intimate connection, allowing fans to feel included in their favorite artist’s life.
Oasis warned fans to be “careful what you wish for” over the weekend, hinting that the long-awaited announcement of additional international dates for their reunion tour were on the horizon. Well, that tease became a reality on Monday morning (Sept. 30) when brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher revealed the first dates for the North American leg of their 2025 world tour.
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The run of shows will have the famously battling sibling playing a series of stadium shows in five North American cities beginning with an August 24 show at Rogers Stadium in Toronto, followed by an August 28 gig at Soldier Field in Chicago and an August 31 show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
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The run of concerts is currently slated to wind down with a Sept. 6 show at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles and a Sept. 12 stop at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. A press release noted that the gigs will be Oasis first in North America in 16 years, with the band saying, “America. Oasis is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along.” Cage the Elephant — led by singer Matt Shultz and his brother, guitarist Brad Shultz — will open all the new dates.
Oasis shocked the world in August when they revealed that they would put their differences aside and reunite for one of the most anticipated rock get-backs of all time. The first round of 2025 shows across the U.K. instantly sold out for the tour that is slated to kick off with two shows at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on July 4-5, followed by a five-night stand at Heaton Park in their native Manchester (July 11, 12, 16, 19, 20) and another five-night run at Wembley Stadium in London (July 25, 26, 30, August 2, 3).
The swing will then hit Dublin, Ireland for two shows at Croke Park (August 16, 17) before hopping the Atlantic for the North American shows and returning to Wembley for two more sold-out gigs on Sept. 27, 28.
The last time Oasis played the U.S. in 2008 on the Dig Out Your Soul tour they performed in 10,000-20,000 capacity arenas. The stadiums on their upcoming North American swing will accommodate between 45,000-80,000+ fans. According to the release announcing the new shows, plans are still underway for Oasis Live ’25 to hit “other continents outside of Europe and North America later next year.
Registration for a presale for the North American dates is open here through Tuesday (Oct. 1) at 8 a.m. ET, with a general onsale slated to begin on Friday (Oct. 4) at 12 p.m. ET local time here.
Chris Martin has been a longtime supporter of the Global Citizen Festival. Over the weekend, the Coldplay singer was slated to once again curate the New York festival, but the rain-soaked fans who turned up to see headliners Post Malone, Jelly Roll and Rauw Alejandro got way more than they expected at the event aimed […]
BTS‘ Suga has reached a resolution in his drunk scootering incident. According to Reuters, the K-pop superstar was fined 15 million won ($11,500) by a South Korean court for driving an electric scooter while intoxicated after previously having his license suspended over the incident.
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A judge in the Seoul Western District Court issued the fine in a summary judgement last week after the case against the singer born Min Yoon-gi, 31, was referred to the prosecution, a court official revealed on Monday (Sept. 30). A summary indictment is used to discharge minor offenses through court fines or confiscation without going to a full trial. The singer was questioned by police after they reportedly observed him falling off his electric scooter in the Hannam neighborhood in the Yongsan district on August 6.
Days after the DWI stop, Suga confirmed that his license had been revoked and posted a pair of heartfelt apologies on Weverse, explaining that at first he didn’t realize he couldn’t ride the electric two-wheeled scooter after having drinks at dinner earlier in the evening. “In the process of setting up an electric kickboard at the front door of the house, I fell alone, and there was a police officer around me, so I took a breath test,” he wrote in the Aug. 7 post, apologizing to “everyone who was hurt by [his] careless and wrong actions.”
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BTS’ record label, BigHit, also issued a statement, apologizing “for the disappointment caused by the artist’s inappropriate behavior.” “As a social service agent during his military service, he is prepared to accept any disciplinary actions from his place of work for causing a social disturbance,” the label added. “We will take greater care to ensure that such incidents do not happen again in the future.”
In a second apology later in the month, Suga took responsibility for his actions again, writing to fans, “It’s all my fault. My carelessness is giving everyone who cares about me a hard time. I will try not to do anything wrong again and live with repentance. Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of the BTS.”
At press time a spokesperson for Suga had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
BTS have been on hiatus for two years as the members complete their mandatory South Korean military service and according to AFP, Seoul’s Military Manpower Administration said that Suga will be punished according to traffic laws, not military law, because the incident took place outside of the singer’s official military working hours.
