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Rihanna‘s youngest son Riot Rose crawled his way onto the superstar’s Instagram feed recently.
In a video posted on Sunday (Aug. 11), the one-year-old speedily crawls across the floor, pushing a miniature Target shopping cart in an adorable cameo during one of her Fenty promo posts. Rih is known for dressing Riot and 2-year-old RZA — her first-born son with partner A$AP Rocky — in trendy outfits. In this case, the baby boy’s diaper peeks out of a chic grey sweatsuit.
The “We Found Love” singer also shared a photo of her posing next to the cart filled with travel-size versions of her Fenty Beauty products. “more minis are on the way to @ultabeauty in @target,” she captioned the post.
The adorable announcement comes about a week after Rih attended the Crop Over Festival in her home country of Barbados, stunning the crowd in a bedazzled carnival outfit complete with multi-color feathered wings. Before that, she watched Manchester City’s match against AC Milan at Yankee Stadium and met star players Christian Pulisic, Jack Grealish and Yunus Musah. While there, one young fan snubbed her by asking her to take a photo of him with the soccer pros, seemingly not recognizing the billionaire nine-time Grammy winner right in front of him.
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As some fans joked after a video of the interaction went viral, the fact that Rih hasn’t released an album in eight years could very well be the reason certain kids don’t know who she is anymore. The mogul herself previously addressed the matter in a hilarious message to GloRilla, a screenshot of which the “TGIF” rapper posted on Instagram in July: “I know dis wild hypothetical, but when the album drop?”
To date, Rihanna has been coy about a release date or vibe for her untitled ninth album, the follow-up to 2016 album Anti. In June, after fans got scared by a T-shirt she sported reading “I’m Retired,” the singer promised fans, “I’m not retired. I just like that dress. I got it as a gift and I loved it. They didn’t read the second line, I’m not retired, I’m just retired from dressing up — it’s a lot of effort.” She also noted at the time that she’s “starting over” when it comes to her music.
“But I don’t want to neglect the songs that I have, so I actually want to go back and listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective and then see what applies and what I’m still in love with,” she said.
Watch Riot Rose crawl like a champ below.
Nobody drew higher approval ratings than Snoop Dogg in his employee of the month campaign as a correspondent for NBC at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Doggfather put a bow on his Olympic debut in Paris this weekend when hitting the stage at the Closing Ceremony where he performed Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and brought out his former Death Row Records running mate Dr. Dre as a special guest for “The Next Episode.”
H.E.R. sang the National Anthem at the ceremony, which served as the first transfer of power as the United States gears up to switch the scene to Los Angeles for 2028. Billie Eilish and Red Hot Chili Peppers also performed.
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Elsewhere in the hip-hop world, Ye’s No. 1 album streak came to an end when Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department held atop the Billboard 200, with West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 album debuting at No. 2 on the chart with 107,000 total album units moved in its first week.
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Meanwhile, Latto delivered her Sugar Honey Iced Tea album on Friday (Aug. 9), which is loaded with 17 tracks and star-studded features to go along with some more apparent shots at rival Ice Spice on the project closer. And August isn’t going to slow down for the rap world, with albums still on the way from Big Sean and A$AP Rocky later this month.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Monaleo and Rob49’s tequila-fueled block party to Real Boston Richey and GloRilla’s raunchy strip club anthem. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Lexa Gates, “Provider”
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On the heels of the evocative “I Just Can’t Be Alone,” Lexa Gates returns a month later with her soulful “Provider” single. While the wins stack up in her ascension, the Queens rapper-singer candidly expresses the pressure that comes with being the family bread-winner. “I’m a provider/ Pay my mama rent, pay my sister phone bill,” she divulges. “Heat, gym, and electric plus the Wi-Fi.” A teaser for the track caught SZA’s eye, who lent her stamp of approval to Lexa: “Ionno what’s going on but yes to her,” the intrigued superstar singer captioned a repost of the clip to her Instagram Story. Gates will hit the stage for a one-off concert in Los Angeles this week.
Monaleo & Rob49, “Don Who Leo (Añejo Remix)”
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Monaleo turns the Texas heat up a couple notche,s with Rob 49 torching the new Añejo Remix for her viral hit “Don Who Leo.” The 23-year-old throws a block party for the visual, which doubles as a commercial for the semi-titular premium tequila company Don Julio. Monaleo’s boisterous chorus remains the same which somehow welds 2Pac, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Judge Judy into consecutive bars. 49 flies in from New Orleans to match her freak with a steamy assist. “Ain’t gon’ lie, that p—y extra bald, look like 2Pac owned it,” he quips. The liquor-friendly video remained inside the top 30 of YouTube’s trending section all weekend.
Real Boston Richey feat. GloRilla, “Get in There”
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For artists looking for a hit record, there’s no better call to make right now than heading to Memphis and banging GloRilla’s line. Real Boston Richey hopes to make it two-for-two on the charts after “Help Me” made the Freebandz rapper’s Billboard Hot 100 debut earlier in 2024. Richey throws on his Cartier shades and lets any girl dealing with him know they gotta treat him like a king. Big Glo takes the baton to continue her hot streak while riding the gloomy production and keeping things raunchy, but still maintaining a street edge. “I be ready to get down on one knee, a n—a make me squirt,” she admits in candid fashion. It’s only right the duo made it rain dollar bills in the famed Magic City strip club for the music video.
Lynda Dawn, “Where You Are”
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Blending the worlds of soul, jazz and funk, R&B singer Lynda Dawn has opened a new portal to her artistry. The North West London native launches into a groovy era with the arrival of her luscious “Where You Are” single, where Dawn teams up with producer and co-writer Al Dobson Jr. to capture the essence of a sun-kissed summer afternoon stroll in Hyde Park alongside her soulmate. “If I lived a thousand lives, I’d never find no better,” Dawn coos. “Where You Are” will land on Lynda Dawn’s forthcoming 11th Hour EP slated to arrive on Sept. 27.
Leon Bridges, “Peaceful Place”
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While much of Leon Bridge’s upcoming Leon album was recorded in Nashville, the Grammy-nominated singer packs a punch of nostalgia taking it back to Bridges’ Forth Worth roots. As evidenced by the cover art featuring Bridges hanging lakeside in the open fields, the 35-year-old is in a “Peaceful Place.” A delectable guitar riff meshes with Bridges’ honeyed vocals for a serene lead single heading into the eponymous project, which is set to land via Columbia Records on Oct. 4.
Skylar Blatt, “Hold Me Down”
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Skylar Blatt is always cool, calm and collected. No matter the tempo of a track, the Cincinnati-bred artist remains in control of the steering wheel. Blatt follows up her Chris Brown-assisted “Wake Up” with the contemplative “Hold Me Down,” which finds her in cruise control while dishing out a hypnotic chorus about the power of the dollar. “You know they say that money make the world go ’round/ You know that I be up until you holding me down,” she sings.
Charli XCX’s “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish, soars to No. 1, from No. 16, on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated Aug. 17).
The song surged by 758% to 20.4 million official streams and 515% to 5,000 downloads sold in the United States Aug. 2-8, according to Luminate. It also drew 182,000 in radio audience.
“Guess” gains following the Aug. 1 arrival of its remix with Eilish, which accounted for the bulk of the song’s overall consumption in the tracking week. The cut was first released by Charli XCX solo on June 10 on her Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not deluxe version of her Atlantic Records album Brat, which was originally released on June 7.
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Charli notches her second No. 1 since Hot Dance/Electronic Songs began in January 2013, after Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” on which she’s featured, led for two weeks that May. Eilish reigns with her first entry on the chart.
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“Guess” concurrently debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 5 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. On the U.S.-based, all-genre multimetric Billboard Hot 100, it opens at No. 12, marking Charli XCX’s highest rank (and first top 40 placement) since she arrived with three consecutive top 10s in 2013-14: “I Love It” (No. 7 peak, May 2013); Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” (No. 1 for seven weeks, beginning in June 2014); and “Boom Clap” (No. 8, October 2014).
Meanwhile, Charli’s presence on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs extends beyond “Guess,” as she boasts six songs in the top 10. Only Drake and Rihanna have each logged as many or more top 10s simultaneously, led by Drake’s eight on the July 2, 2022, chart, when his LP Honestly, Nevermind launched its 20-week run at No. 1 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
Brat rules Top Dance/Electronic Albums for a ninth week, having led in each week on the survey since its debut. It earned 56,000 equivalent album units, up 39%, and wins the list’s Greatest Gainer award for a third consecutive week.
Eight tracks from Brat have hit the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs top 10 to date. Here’s a recap, ranked by their peak positions:
No. 1 (one week to date), “Guess,” feat. Billie Eilish
No. 2, “360”
No. 3, “Girl, So Confusing,” with Lorde
No. 4, “Apple”
No. 5, “Talk Talk”
No. 7, “Von Dutch”
No. 8, “365”
No. 10, “Sympathy Is a Knife”
Also notably, Charli has claimed at least one of the Greatest Gainer ribbons on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in nine of the last 10 weeks, spread among five tracks from Brat:
Aug. 17: “Guess,” streaming & sales; “360,” airplay
Aug. 10: “Guess,” streaming & sales; “360,” airplay
Aug. 3: “Apple,” streaming & sales
July 27: “Apple,” streaming
July 13: “360,” airplay
July 6: “Girl, So Confusing,” streaming & sales
June 29: “Guess,” streaming
June 22: “360,” streaming; “Von Dutch,” sales
June 15: “360,” streaming & sales
As “Guess” takes the week’s top headlines among Brat songs, “360” continues its climb as the set’s promoted radio single. It bounds 35-27 in its second week on the Pop Airplay chart. Charli has tallied two No. 1s on the ranking: “Fancy” and “Boom Clap” led for three weeks each in 2014.
Jack White scores his seventh solo top 10-charting set on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart as his latest release, No Name, debuts at No. 8 on the chart dated Aug. 17. The effort was initially secretly released on July 19 as a free, unlabeled vinyl to unsuspecting customers at Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville and London. It was then commercially released on Thursday, Aug. 1 as a blue-colored vinyl LP, exclusive to independent record stores, and then widely as a digital download album on August 2.
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In the tracking week of Aug. 2-8 (all Billboard album charts reflect a Friday-Thursday tracking week), No Name sold 7,000 copies – with nearly 4,500 on vinyl. (In the week ending Aug. 1, the album sold about 1,000 copies – all on vinyl.)
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No Name will garner a wider release on Sept. 13 when a standard black vinyl and a CD are due out.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department returns to No. 1 for a seventh nonconsecutive week, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 debuts at No. 2, Red Velvet’s Cosmic starts at No. 6, Orville Peck’s Stampede gallops in at No. 9 and X’s Smoke & Fiction launches at No. 10.
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 units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
The Tortured Poets Department jumps 6-1 on Top Album Sales with a 606% gain to 84,000 copies sold. The set’s sales were bolstered by a number of drivers during the tracking week. It was released in five new digital album variants via Swift’s official webstore for a limited time, each containing the standard album’s 16 songs, along with one exclusive bonus track for $4.99 each (one album contained a “first draft phone memo” version of “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” while the other four contained one live track each from recent stops during her The Eras Tour). In addition, for a limited time, the store restocked three previously available digital album variants with exclusive bonus cuts, and a signed CD edition. Her store also staged a brief sale pricing promotion, whereby 16 previously available physical variants of the album were all discounted by 13% (as 13 is Swift’s favorite number).
At No. 2 on Top Album Sales, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s delayed Vultures 2 lands with 60,500 sold in its first week. The set’s opening-week sales were aided by its availability across a widely available standard explicit edition, and a late-in-the-week-released clean edition (on Aug. 8), but no physical formats. Vultures 2 was originally slated for release on March 8, but was released with little advance warning on Saturday, Aug. 3.
Ye’s official webstore also issued five additional explicit digital album variants of Vultures 2 on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and Thursday (Aug. 8), each containing the standard album’s 16 tracks, along with one exclusive studio bonus track per album. All digital albums on Ye’s webstore sold for $5 each. The Vultures 2 album, both clean and explicit, was also discounted to $4.99 in the iTunes Store in the tracking week.
Stray Kids’ ATE falls 1-3 on Top Album Sales in its third week after spending its first two weeks atop the chart. ATE sold a little more than 26,000 copies in the latest tracking frame (down 41%). ENHYPEN’s Romance: Untold is a non-mover at No. 4 with just over 12,000 sold (down 20%).
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft climbs 11-5 with nearly 10,500 sold and a 35% increase – the set’s first weekly sales gain in its 12 weeks of release. (The gain is largely owed to sales generated by non-traditional retailers, inclusive of Internet-based sellers like Eilish’s official webstore.)
Red Velvet claims its first top 10-charting effort on Top Album Sales as Cosmic debuts at No. 6 with 8,500 sold – the group’s best sales week yet. The Korean pop ensemble previously got as high as No. 40 in 2020 with The Reve Festival: Finale. Cosmic was released as a digital download album, and through streaming services, on June 24. Its physical release, across five CDs, came on Aug. 2. The CD variants include collectible paper ephemera, including a photocard, sticker and a poster (some randomized).
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess returns to the top 10 after three weeks, as the album bolts 17-7 with nearly 8,500 (up 34%). The album’s ascent comes after Roan’s rousing reception at Lollapalooza on Aug. 1.
Orville Peck notches his second top 10 on Top Album Sales as his new studio effort Stampede bows at No. 9 with 6,500 sold in its first week. The set’s sales were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl variants, which collectively sold nearly 4,500 – enabling its debut at No. 4 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Closing out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart is X’s new studio album Smoke & Fiction, debuting at No. 10 with the veteran band’s best sales week in the modern era (since 1991, when Luminate began tracking sales), nearly 6,500 sold. It’s also the first top 10 for the act on the Top Album Sales chart. The new set is promoted as the final studio album from the band, which first dented a Billboard chart in 1981 when Wild Gift reached No. 165 in June of that year on the Billboard 200. Smoke & Fiction’s first-week sales were aided by the set’s availability across five vinyl variants, which collectively sold a little over 4,000 copies (enabling its debut at No. 6 on the Vinyl Albums chart).
Dr. Dre wants to represent the USA when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028 and he’s looking for a tryout on the archery team. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Dre revealed his history with archery goes back to junior high school and he’s continued to hone his skills with target practice in his backyard. […]
Joe Jonas‘ next project is a solo album, but that doesn’t mean he worked on it by himself. In a new clip from an interview with Entertainment Weekly posted Tuesday (Aug. 13), the 34-year-old musician confirmed Music For People Who Believe In Love is filled with collaborations. “We packed it with features,” Jonas said. “I […]
Matt McBriar of U.K. electronic duo Bicep announced Tuesday (Aug. 13) that he underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor last week.
In a statement posted to the duo’s Instagram, McBriar wrote that doctors discovered a large tumor on his pituitary gland after a series of tests. This tumor was caught in the early stages, with McBriar writing that had the tumor been found later, “I might’ve lost some eyesight and a load of other problems due to the size and position of the tumour pressing on my optic nerves.”
McBriar continues that he continued playing shows while undergoing testing as it was “personally important to keep my mind busy!” He adds that the other half of Bicep, Andy Ferguson, will continue playing shows solo “until further notice” as he heals. Read the complete statement below.
Bicep’s upcoming dates include Creamfields in the U.K., Philadelphia’s Making Time Festival, The Brooklyn Mirage, Portola in San Francisco and San Diego’s Crssd festival, with all of these performances featuring the duo’s much-lauded AV show, Chroma.
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McBriar’s full statement:
Towards the end of 2023, I got some intense localised headaches matched with a weird fatigue that felt new. I got several blood tests in spring 2024 which came back indicating that something was wrong, so my GP arranged an MRI followed by a CT scan.
Unfortunately, they told me they had discovered a large, and pretty rare Craniopharyngioma tumour on my pituitary gland (in my brain). The good news is firstly, it’s almost certainly not cancerous and secondly, I’ve caught it in the earlier stages of damage. I’d been very lucky to get those initial blood tests followed by an MRI. Had it been much longer I might’ve lost some eyesight and a load of other problems due to the size and position of the tumour pressing on my optic nerves.
I’ve been through many many rounds of hospital appointments and tests since and finally had surgery on 9th of August.
I decided to carry on living life and playing shows as normal and it was personally important to keep my mind busy! The operation went well and I’m currently recovering in hospital. Recovery will be at least 6-8 weeks and a long road of aftercare but I’m feeling incredibly grateful and lucky.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the amazing consultants, surgeons, doctors and nurses at the NHS who have looked after me and been so amazing, kind and empathetic.
The support I’ve received has been incredible, I can’t say this enough. Appointments were arranged with sometimes only hours’ notice and communication incredibly fast and direct. Our healthcare system is very precious and worth fighting for!
Whilst I am in recovery Andy will be performing upcoming shows as Bicep solo until further notice. Thanks for understanding.
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to my family, friends and work colleagues who have been my absolute rock through this behind the scenes.
BLACKPINK’s LISA is used to being on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, but when it came to her casting in the upcoming third season of the HBO drama The White Lotus, the veteran performer got those familiar butterflies in her stomach.
“Oh my God, Mike White? I think he’s a genius,” Lisa told Elle magazine about the show’s creator tapping her for her acting debut. “I think I cried. I was with my friends, my mom’s friends, and my mom as well, but I didn’t tell them that I auditioned for it. I’m super excited and nervous, because it’s my first acting project. So I was happy for a second, and then I was like, ‘Oh, wait, wait, how am I going to deliver this?’”
Luckily for LISA, while acting is not on her resumé, she does have some relevant experience. “It’s pretty new to me, but I think it’s similar to shooting music videos. I’m excited for my fans to see it,” she said. As for what the third go-round of the murder mystery dramedy has in store, LISA was, of course, mum to avoid any spoilers. “I feel like people are going to fall in love with Thailand even more,” she said diplomatically.
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Production on the as-yet-unscheduled third season was initially delayed because of the 2023 writers/actors strikes, with HBO/Max now saying that it is slated to premiere in 2025. The upcoming season of the show that chronicles the lives of the rich and famous is being filmed at luxury resorts across Thailand, which happens to be LISA’s home country.
She told the magazine that filming in Bangkok and the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui was a great chance for the K-pop icon to “be back home, to have Thai food every day” and have her mother be close to the set.
LISA is slated to release a new single on Thursday (August 15), “New Woman,” featuring Rosalía as the follow up to her previous solo single, “Rockstar.”
While Snoop Dogg was taking swimming lessons with Michael Phelps and learning the finer points of dressage with Martha Stewart, fellow hip-hop icon Flavor Flav was also zooming all around Paris checking out as many Olympic competitions as possible. The Public Enemy rapper who famously jetted over to support his beloved USA women’s water polo team didn’t let the end of the games stop him from continuing the flag-waving, though.
On Monday night (August 12), the MC best known for sporting a ubiquitous oversized clock pendant around his neck offered to supply U.S. gymnastics team star Jordan Chiles with some new bronze bling after she was ordered to return her bronze medal from the individual floor exercise competition following what the sport’s governing body said was a late protest filed by her coach over scoring.
“FLAVOR FLAV::: USA gonna Fight The Powers that be,,, but in the meantime between time,,, I gots yo back @jordanchiles Hit me up 👍🏾,” Flav wrote on Instagram alongside a video of a giant, bejeweled bronze clock pendant spinning in front of an American flag. USA Gymnastics announced on Monday )(August 12) that the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) denied the tumbler’s appeal to reinstate the bronze she received after the August 5 final.
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Chiles initially came in fifth place when the competition ended, putting her behind Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who were tied at 13.700; Chiles’ original score was 13.666. After her coaches appealed the score, arguing that she didn’t get enough credit for the more difficult maneuvers in her routine, the judges agreed and changed Chiles’ score to 13.766, putting her in the bronze medal zone. On Saturday, CAS ruled that Chiles’ challenge came four seconds to late, resulting in her losing her medal.
Before the games kicked off, Flav took a liking to the women’s water polo team and pledged $1,000 and a free cruise for all the chronically underpaid athletes and later offered to help 24-year-old discus hurler Veronica Fraley after the Vanderbilt University student said she couldn’t afford her rent. “I gotchu,,, DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry bout it TOMORROW,” Flav replied to Fraley’s lament.
Check out Flav’s offer to Chiles below.
Swifties will be let into Wembley Stadium a bit earlier than usual for Taylor Swift‘s upcoming Eras Tour shows in London. According to the venue, early entry for Thursday’s (August 15) kick-off of the five-night stand will begin at 3:30 local time, with general admission beginning at 4 p.m. and the show starting at 4:55; […]
