Music News

15 Aug 2024

Taylor Swift Brings Ed Sheeran Out for ‘Everything Has Changed’ Mash-Up at Wembley Eras Tour Show

Everything has changed for fans at night 1 of Taylor Swift‘s latest run of Wembley Eras Tour shows: The pop star just treated the crowd to a surprise duet with longtime friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran.

As captured by fan video in London, the “Anti-Hero” singer brought out her fellow pop superstar during the surprise song section of her three-hour-plus show Thursday (Aug. 15). Fans went wild as Sheeran came out onstage and the duo hugged, with Swift calling the “Bad Habits” singer her “second brother,” according to tweets from fans.

Swift and Sheeran, who have been close pals for well over a decade, launched into a mash-up of two past collaborations — 2012’s “Everything Has Changed” and 2017’s “End Game” featuring Future — plus the British singer/songwriter’s 2014 solo smash “Thinking Out Loud.” The tracks peaked at Nos. 32, 18 and 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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“People fall in love in mysterious ways/ Maybe just the touch of a hand,” the sang in harmony as both strummed acoustic guitars, combining lyrics from the three tracks. “All I know is a simple name/ And everything has changed.”

After Sheeran departed the stage, Swift moved on to the next surprise song performance on piano, mashing up “King of My Heart” from Reputation and “The Alchemy” from The Tortured Poets Department. Over the next few days, the “Karma” artist will perform five more shows at Wembley before tying a bow on the European leg of her global Eras trek.

Watch Swift and Sheeran perform together at the Eras Tour below.

15 Aug 2024

Reviewing Latto’s ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea,’ Snoop Dogg’s Olympics & Killer Mike vs. Travis Scott: Billboard Unfiltered

With the Summer Olympics wrapping Snoop Dogg’s epic run in Paris and the arrival of Latto’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea album, hip-hop continued to make waves.

Billboard Unfiltered returns with another brand-new episode on Thursday (Aug. 15), with co-hosts Carl Lamarre, Damien Scott and Trevor Anderson breaking down Snoop stealing the Olympic show, Latto’s new album and a possible feud brewing between Travis Scott and Killer Mike.

Sugar Honey Iced Tea arrived last Friday, packed with 17 tracks and a myriad of features from Megan Thee Stallion, Young Nudy, Mariah The Scientist and more. Billboard‘s deputy director, editorial Damien Scott believes this is the strongest album from a female rapper released in 2024, dethroning Megan Thee Stallion’s Megan project.

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“I think it’s great,” he said. “Kyle [Denis] in a previous episode said that he thought when he went to go listen to it that it was the strongest female rap album of the year so far. After listening to it, I tend to agree. I think it’s strong. It’s so cohesive. Everything sounds like it all fits together.

“It’s amazing she was able to work with Grizz and land on this sound that sounds like Atlanta but also sounds very modern. These songs could ring off anywhere in the country.”

Being the resident OVO owl on set, deputy director R&B/hip-hop Carl Lamarre felt that Drake’s imprint could be heard throughout Sugar Honey Iced Tea.

“The reason I like it a lot it’s very Drake-coded,” he stated. “You listen to ‘Georgia Peach,’ it gave me ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ vibes. You listen to ‘Big Mama,’ there’s a beat switch in the middle and she does the singing first. A little Drake-esque. Then the outro, ‘S/O to Me’ where she threw some darts at Ice Spice, it gave me more the introspective lyrical Drake vibe that we’re used to getting like ‘Middle of the Ocean,’ ’30 for 30′ type vibes. She annihilated the intro and the outro tracks.”

There was no better hire for NBC than Snoop Dogg, who was completing side missions left and right as a correspondent at the 2024 Olympics. From swimming with Michael Phelps to watching equestrian events with his buddy Martha Stewart, Snoop did it all in Paris.

“We thought he was going to jail for murder and now he’s walking with the Olympic torch. [He’s] definitely the most beloved living rapper,” Scott declared.

Senior charts & data analyst Trevor Anderson mentioned LL Cool J as a possible pushback against Snoop as the most beloved rapper, but saluted the Doggfather for what he’s been able to accomplish in so many different industries.

“The thing about Snoop is I think they’re all genuine. None ever feel like this crazy play,” he added. “To think that Snoop Dogg goes from one of the quintessential faces of Death Row and labeled by mainstream media as the face of gangsta rap and everything you don’t want to be. And now your grandma would have him over for dinner. They would kick it and have a good time and she would teach him how to Crip walk.”

Killer Mike seemingly dissed Travis Scott on his Michael & the Midnight Revival album on the heels of winning the best rap album trophy at the Grammy Awards earlier this year. While Scott didn’t respond, there’s been a simmering feud and back-and-forth on social media from both the rappers’ managers.

“Travis Scott is a young popping rapper in the prime of his career,” Scott chimed in about the unlikely foes. “Killer Mike is like 50-plus and has been rapping since I was maybe in high school and made an album that very few people would do what it did. And this is a nice to have for him, so it’s weird that they’re comparing this with Travis’ big comeback album.”

Watch the full episode below.

15 Aug 2024

Christina Aguilera Admits She Got ‘Bored’ of the ‘Bubblegum Thing’ During Her “Genie in a Bottle” Era

Christina Aguilera is celebrating 25 years of her 1999 self-titled debut album, and its enduring hit “Genie in a Bottle.”

While she revealed in her newest Glamour cover story that she’s “grateful” for everything that the album provided for her, it was the start of navigating her journey as an artist that wouldn’t be defined by one genre. “I didn’t love the bubblegum thing, where you had to play a virgin but not act like one,” she admitted. “When I was performing ‘Genie’ and ‘What a Girl Wants’ and ‘Come on Over,’ I got bored easily. Creatively, it was one-dimensional.”

That’s why she shifted her focus on 2002’s Stripped, which fittingly stripped the teenybopper persona with more adult themes and vocal-focused pop hits with R&B tinges. “I think it was just a matter of believing so wholeheartedly in my vision, which was to fight for sexuality,” she said of fighting back against the backlash to the provocative album.

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Funny enough, Aguilera was on that empowerment wave before her debut album was even released. The then-18-year-old star told Billboard of “Genie in a Bottle” back in 1999, “The song is not about sex. It’s about self-respect. It’s about not giving in to temptation until you’re respected. It’s time for something different. It’s time that music make[s] kids feel confident and secure.”

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With “Genie in a Bottle,” Aguilera unleashed her first of five Hot 100 No. 1s and 11 top 10s. Aguilera’s debut album subsequently launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 253,000 copies sold in the United States in its first week, according to Luminate.

15 Aug 2024

How Big of a K-Pop Fan Are You? Take Billboard’s Survey

How deep is your K-pop fandom? Are you a fan of BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, aespa or any other K-pop groups or artists? Billboard wants to know all about it.

Whether you’re a mild fan, a hardcore fan or anything in between, your input matters. We know that K-pop fans are a different breed. You’re passionate about the artists you follow. You buy CDs and downloads unlike fans of any other genre. But we’d like to dig a bit deeper. 

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Click here to take the K-pop survey. 

You will be asked about your listening habits, purchase habits, concert attendance and how K-pop affects your life. 

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The survey has a few guidelines. First, you must live in the United States. Billboard welcomes music fans from around the world, but for the sake of only this survey, we’re focusing only on the U.S. Second, you must be 13 years or older. Third, you must listen to K-pop (any fan should easily meet this requirement). 

You can take the survey on either a smartphone or a personal computer. It should take you around three to five minutes from start to finish. 

While you’re here, read some of Billboard’s latest articles on K-pop artists and events, including the Billboard K-Pop Artist 100, a ranking of K-pop artists in 2023 based on a handful of Billboard charts, our list of the 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2024 (So Far), our official ranking of every song off Stray Kids’ ATE, our ranking of each song off of Jimin’s Muse and our K-pop 100 chart.

15 Aug 2024

Greg Kihn, Singer & Songwriter Known for His ‘Jeopardy’ Hit, Dies at 75

Greg Kihn, the beloved pop and rock musician known for his hit “Jeopardy,” died on Tuesday (Aug. 13) after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 75 years old.

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The star, born on July 10, 1949, in Baltimore, Md., moved to San Francisco in the mid 1970s, where he became one of the first artists signed to Matthew King Kaufman’s Beserkley Records. He formed the Greg Kihn Band, featuring guitarist Robbie Dunbar, bassist Steve Wright, and drummer Larry Lynch, and the group released a self-titled album in 1976. Through the 1970s, Kihn released an album each year.

However, it wasn’t until 1981 when Kihn got his first major Billboard hit with “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em),” from the Rockihnroll album. The track hit No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.

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Just two years later, he unveiled the dance-ready hit, “Jeopardy,” which climbed to No. 2 on the Hot 100. In 1984, Kihn gave “Weird Al” Yankovic permission to parody his song into “I Lost on Jeopardy,” and even made a cameo at the end of the music video as the driver of a convertible. In 1985, Kihn signed with EMI.

Beyond his success as a musician, Kihn was also an accomplished author. He wrote four horror fiction novels, including 1996’s Horror Show and 1998’s Shade of Pale. 1998’s Big Rock Beat and 1999’s Mojo Hand were written as sequels to Horror Show. He also wrote Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians, which compiled stories from him and other rock musicians including Pete Townshend, Joan Jett and more. His 2013 novel, Rubber Soul, was a Beatles-themed murder mystery story.

Kihn is survived by Jay Arafiles-Kihn, his wife; his son, Ryan Kihn, and daughter, Alexis Harrington-Kihn; as well as his grandchildren.

15 Aug 2024

Meek Mill Says He Has ‘3 Questions’ He’d Like to Ask Kamala Harris In Person

Meek Mill wants to sit down with Vice President Kamala Harris and ask her three questions.

The Philly rapper took to X on Wednesday (Aug. 14) and had questions about the Democratic presidential nominee’s past as San Francisco’s district attorney. “I wanna ask Kamala Harris questions about her past as a da, even if she had to be tough,” he tweeted. “All I hear is rumors of her … I would ask her 3 questions about black and brown men going to prison and her views and try to help her understand from a survival standpoint point she may have never had to encounter!”

Before becoming President Joe Biden’s veep, Harris’ political career started in 1990 when she became a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California. She eventually ascended up the ranks and was elected as San Francisco’s 27th district attorney in 2004, where she earned a reputation for being “tough on crime.”

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When a far-right political commentator suggested former president Trump “would do a sit-down,” Meek agreed. “I think he would too on my platform,” Meek said, before pointing out that it may not happen. “politics are scary tho he just got shot few weeks ago. I’ve been tryna heal up from that gun stuff I got ptsd!”

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Back in March of this year, he tweeted about wanting to donate a percentage of his earnings to his hometown. “Ima do a public contract with the city of Philadelphia where 10% of my music earnings go to the city of Philadelphia to combat gun violence in our city,”he wrote.

Some make fun of Meek when he gets on social media and talks about politics, but he’s been an active advocate when it comes to gun and prison reform over the years, even helping change Philadelphia probation laws.

Check out Meek Mill’s tweet below:

15 Aug 2024

Halsey Lets It Bleed on Visceral, Rocking ‘Lonely Is the Muse’ Single: ‘I Will Always Be a Martyr’

Halsey has made a habit of deftly bouncing between genres lately and their latest song is no exception. The singer dropped the roiling, rocking single “Lonely Is the Muse” on Thursday (Aug. 15), a pointed, lacerating broadside against those who’ve tried to put them in a box and profit from exploiting her body and soul.

“I always knew I was a martyr and that Jesus was one too/ But I was built from special pieces that I learned how to unscrew/ And I can always reassemble to fit perfectly for you/ Or anybody that decides that I’m of use,” they sing on the ominous chorus of the song co-written with Stuart Price (Madonna, Dua Lipa) and produced by Austin Corona, Wyatt Bernard and Brandon Buttner.

The song also appears to take aim at those who would belittle and gaslight the singer, as in the first verse, which posits a scenario of years spent “becoming cool,” only to have someone “make a decade of my efforts disappear” in the snap of a finger. The second verse takes equally hard aim at those who would reduce their success and artistry to the sum of their body parts, while casually noting that others have banked successes off of Halsey’s artistry. “So, whеre do I go in the process whеn I’m just an apparatus?/ I’ve inspired platinum records, I’ve earned platinum airline status,” Halsey howls over turbulent guitars and funereal drums. “And I’ve mined a couple diamonds from the stories in my head/ But I’m reduced to just a body here in someone else’s bed,” they continue.

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After dropping the poppy Britney Spears-interpolating “Lucky” last month, the third single from the singer’s upcoming fifth album is a return to the grinding, industrial-inspired sound of their collaboration with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Halsey released the first single, the confessional acoustic “The End,” which hinted at struggles with some of the serious medical issues she’s battled over the past few years.

According to a release, Halsey previewed the song during their headlining set at Budapest’s Sziget Festival and Helsinki’s Flow Festival last week, as well as at a secret club show at Koko in London on Wednesday night (Aug. 14). At press time a release date for the singer’s upcoming album — their first under a new contract with Columbia Records after parting ways with longtime label Capitol –has not yet been announced.

Listen to “Lonely Is the Muse” below.

15 Aug 2024

Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars Confirm ‘Die With a Smile’ Collab & Share Release Date

After teasing that one was in the works, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have confirmed that they have a collaboration on the way — and it’s coming way sooner than you think.

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Both singers (and Super Bowl halftime stars) announced the duet Thursday (Aug. 15), sharing the cover artwork on Instagram. In the photo, the pair sport matching red-and-blue retro Western outfits, with Gaga clutching a cigarette between her fingers and Mars posing with a white cowboy hat on his head.

“WHILE YOU WAIT TILL LG7…“DIE WITH A SMILE” a duet with @brunomars ❤️‍?,” the “Rain on Me” singer captioned the post. “Song and video tonight at 9pm PT [midnight ET].”

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The announcement comes just two days after Gaga teased that she was teaming up with the “Uptown Funk!” superstar, posting a video of her performing a tune on piano while wearing a t-shirt with Mars’ face on it. The day before that, the Haus Labs founder commented a series of emojis on the Silk Sonic star’s Instagram post.

As Gaga teased in her caption, “Die With a Smile” will arrive ahead of the pop icon’s highly anticipated seventh album. She’s kept fans waiting for a new LP since 2020, when she released the Billboard 200-topping Chromatica.

While in Paris to perform at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in July, Gaga took to the streets to share snippets of new songs from the forthcoming album with fans. Popping out of a limousine’s sunroof outside her hotel in the French capital, she simply opened her laptop and played two short snippets for a crowd of eager listeners.

See Gaga’s post below.

15 Aug 2024

Chappell Roan Shares ‘Hot to Go!’ Behind-the-Scenes Video in Honor of the Song’s One-Year Anniversary

Order up! Chappell Roan is serving fans a behind-the-scenes look at her “Hot to Go!” music video in honor of the track’s one-year anniversary, posting footage from the shoot in her hometown of Springfield, Missouri on YouTube Wednesday (Aug. 14).

The clip opens with Roan fielding questions from an over-curious stranger passing by the video shoot, who doesn’t recognize her and repeatedly asks her if she’s in a rock band. “I’m just a singer, nothing crazy,” she tells him, not knowing then just how astronomically her star would rise in the year ahead of her.

The video then shows various footage of Roan traversing past landmarks of her hometown, including a large horse mural, a fork-shaped sculpture and a theater. While at a mini-golf course, the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer says, “Wait, there’s so many people … I’m so embarrassed,” before hardening her resolve: “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”

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“In my hometown, I feel so much less stressed,” she adds later on.

The 26-year-old musician also took a moment to thank a few of her costars in the project — drag performers Tina HC, Ether and Preston Schaeffer — for their participation. The “Hot to Go!” video finds Roan teaching them her song’s corresponding dance moves before they all perform the “YMCA”-esque choreography as a group. “I’m very lucky to have queens and trans people a part of this,” says the star, who’s long been open about how drag has inspired her as a performer. “It’s such a big honor.”

Produced by Dan Nigro, “Hot to Go!” was released almost exactly one year ago on Aug. 11, 2023, and its music video dropped that same day. The Jackie! Zhou-directed visual also shows Roan teaching the song’s dance to her grandparents and a group of fans in Springfield, as well as singing and dancing using bleachers, a gas station and monster trucks as backdrops.

Since the release of the song, which preceded Roan’s Billboard 200 top 10 hit album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, it has steadily climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and recently reached a new peak of No. 17. Five other songs from the LP — “Pink Pony Club,” “Red Wine Supernova,” “Casual,” “Femininomenon” and new entry “My Kink Is Karma” — are also on the chart dated Aug. 17, 2024.

Roan honored the song’s one-year anniversary during her Aug. 11 set at Outside Lands by wearing the blue leotard she wears in the music video onstage. She also laid down the law when a group of fans in the festival’s VIP section refused to do the “Hot to Go!” dance with her, scolding: “It’s so weird that VIP thinks they’re so way too cool to do this! You’re not fun! Be fun and try!”

Watch Roan’s new behind-the-scenes footage of “Hot to Go!” above.

15 Aug 2024

Eric Prydz & Fatboy Slim Lead Framework & Wynn Nightlife’s Art Of the Wild Party Series

The tenth edition of Art of the Wild is happening this fall at the Wynn Las Vegas.

The lineup for the biannual event, which focuses largely on house and techno and this year expands from three to four days, features a team of genre stars including Swedish pioneer Eric Prydz, English legend Fatboy Slim, house duo The Martinez Brothers, Brazilian upstart Mochakk, producer and activist Blond:ish, along with a gaggle of other scene leaders including Carlita, Âme b2b Dixon, Eli Brown, SG Lewis and more.

See the complete lineup below. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Presented by Los Angeles-based events promoter Framework and Wynn Nightlife, the Oct. 31-Nov. 3 party series will happen within the walls of Wynn’s state-of-the-art, 40,000 square-foot XS Nightclub. While the club’s programming typically leans into more mainstage dance sounds via residents including The Chainsmokers, Marshmello and Afrojack, Art of the Wild lineups are designed to reflect the more “underground” side of the global dance scene.

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“Art of the Wild has been an ever-evolving project with the mission to give world class underground dance music an annual home in Las Vegas,” Framework co-founder Kobi Danan tells Billboard. “In partnership with Wynn Nightlife, the festival has grown to great heights and continues to welcome back artists that have paved the way for the genre to thrive not just in the United States, but internationally. The tenth edition of this festival this October is emblematic of our hard work, as we bring together pioneers such as Eric Prydz, Fatboy Slim and The Martinez Brothers, alongside a fresh generation of talent to showcase that this genre is not only growing but here to stay.”

Art of the Wild Festival poster

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