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Village People frontman Victor Willis is clearing the air after he sent a cease and desist to Jim Jeffries, after the comedian joked on his At This Moment podcast that the 1978 classic “Y.M.C.A.” is about men “f—ing in showers in a hostel.”
Willis joined TMZ‘s 2 Angry Men podcast this week, where hosts Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos asked the singer about his song being a “gay anthem.”

“He went over the line when he got into saying it had to do with men having sex in the bathroom,” Willis said of sending Jeffries a cease and desist for what was described as an “obscene, derogatory and false description” of the track. “There is nothing in my lyrics that says anything about that. We approached him and he apologized and said he was going to rephrase what it was he said and say it differently, because the way he said it as worded was defamatory.”

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However, Levin then followed up by noting that a number of lyrics in “Y.M.C.A.” could be interpreted in different ways, including the chorus: “It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A./ They have everything for young men to enjoy/ You can hang out with all the boys.”

In response, Willis pointed out that the dual meaning was his intention. “That was something that I credited myself on is writing my songs with what is called a double entendre,” he said. “I would write a song to where you can take it any kind of way you wanted it. If you’re straight, you can take the lyrics for somebody straight or if you were gay, you could take it for somebody gay.”

When Willis insisted that “there’s like 10% of the gay community that have been coming to my shows and have been there over the past 10 years,” Levin and Geragos insisted that the number would be higher.

Last month, Village People performed at the Liberty Ball during Donald Trump’s inauguration celebrations, as both “Macho Man” and “Y.M.C.A.” were popular song choices at Trump campaign rallies during his 2020 and 2024 campaign rallies.

In December, Willis doubled down on why he chose to let the president-elect play “Y.M.C.A.” at rallies and events, saying he “didn’t have the heart” to block the usage — despite originally asking Trump to stop in 2020 — upon realizing that the politician seemed to “genuinely like” the track and was “having a lot of fun” with “Y.M.C.A.” Plus, as Willis noted, the dance tune has only “benefited greatly” in terms of chart placements and sales since Trump incorporated it into his campaign.

In the same post, Willis denounced the song’s status as a “gay anthem,” threatening legal action against news organizations that referred to the song as such. “Get your minds out of the gutter. It is not [a gay anthem] … such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to [illicit] activity for which it does not,” he said.

There’s a new Mobb Deep album in the works. The Alchemist made an appearance on The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (Feb. 12) to promote his new album, Life Is Beautiful, with Larry June and 2 Chainz, where he broke the news after praising the late Prodigy‘s work ethic and writing skills. “They did so much […]

EDC Las Vegas will host more than 250 dance acts at the festival this May.
On Thursday (Feb. 13), EDC Las Vegas producer Insomniac Events announced the festival lineup, which is once again stacked with the who’s who of the dance world. The bill features big names including Dom Dolla, Alesso, Afrojack, Alison Wonderland playing b2b with Kaskade, Illenium playing b2b with Slander, Sara Landry, Horsegiirl, Gesaffelstein, RL Grime, Martin Garrix, DJ Snake, Interplanetary Criminal, Rezz, Fisher, Eric Prydz and many, many more.

Happening at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 16-18, this year’s EDC Las Vegas will feature 16 stages, the most in the festival’s history. Two of the festival’s key stages, CircuitGrounds and NeonGarden, will feature new designs, with the festival also set to debut a new stage called Ubuntu.

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Created in collaboration with South Africa’s Bridges For Music Academy, which provides young people from underserved communities with access to programs focused on creative entrepreneurship, well-being and music, Ubuntu will feature Afro house, a genre that’s skyrocketed in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years. The stage will host performances from rising students artists and established South African acts.

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In a statement, Insomniac Events says that EDC Las Vegas 2025 is currently sold out. EDC moved to Las Vegas from its original home in Los Angeles in 2011, and in the 14 years since, has established itself as the country’s biggest dance music festival, drawing 125,000 attendees a day.

Get out your magnifying glass and check out the complete 2025 lineup below.

EDC Las Vegas 2025

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Following the success of his first project, Culture Jam with NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard, founder Essean Bolden returns with the second compilation, but with a twist: Enter 23-year-old NBA wunderkind Anthony Edwards. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “We are beyond excited to partner with Anthony [Edwards], […]

Macklemore is once again criticizing the United States government, this time taking President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to task in a scorching new protest song titled “F–ked Up.” 
In the track posted to his YouTube channel Wednesday (Feb. 12), the rapper weaves his way through verses connecting racial injustice in America to the twice-impeached POTUS’ administration, which now includes the Tesla billionaire. Macklemore also calls out the United States’ financial support of Israel throughout the country’s ongoing war against Hamas, a conflict that has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians between the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks — which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and about 240 people taken hostage — and the temporary ceasefire the two sides reached in January.  

“New era ushered, but white supremacy is still in charge/ Talking colonizing Gaza from the White House lawn/ But the people mobbing, and we ain’t backing off/ Finally see the oligarchy and the men that control us all,” the Washington native spits over a dark, intense beat. “Tax breaks for the elite and then they taxing y’all/ Killing Palestinian kids and we getting hit with the cost.” 

Macklemore paired the song with a video compiling footage of American and Palestinian protestors, including a clip of the rogue dancer who waved a combination Palestine-Sudan flag during Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show Sunday (Feb. 9). It also shows numerous clips of Trump, Musk and fellow billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos corresponding with lyrics about rich men in power suppressing the American people. 

One clip the music video repeatedly comes back to is of the X CEO doing a Nazi-like salute at one of Trump’s inauguration events in January. “They got us f–ked up,” Macklemore rages in the song’s chorus. “And Elon, we know exactly what that was, bruh.” 

Billboard has reached out to reps for the White House, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos for comment.

“F–ked Up” is just the latest protest song the hip-hop star — who has been vocal in both his support of Palestine and his disappointment in the U.S. government — has released in the past year. In May 2024, he ripped into then-president Joe Biden while advocating for Gaza on a track titled “Hind’s Hall,” the proceeds of which went to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s assistance and protection programs for Palestinian refugees. The following September, he dropped a sequel to the song with assists from Gazan rapper MC Abdul and Palestinian-American singer Anees, featuring the chant, “From the river to the sea/ Palestine will be free.” (The American Jewish Committee has deemed the phrase antisemitic.) 

When Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall 2” that month at Seattle’s Palestine Will Live Forever Festival, he also led the crowd in a “F–k America” chant, after which Las Vegas’ 2024 Neon City Festival dropped him from its lineup. Later, the “Thrift Shop” hitmaker said in a statement, “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment.” 

“I’ve slipped in front of the world before,” he continued at the time. “I’m sure I’ll do it again. But they will not silence my voice, and they will not close my heart. I’ve lost endorsements, I’ve lost shows, I’ve lost business ties. I am still here, unwavering in my support for a Free Palestine.” 

A three-time Grammy winner and a two-time CMA female vocalist of the year winner, Trisha Yearwood has forged a reputation as a friend to songwriters over the years, an artist who respects the craft of music creation. She’s made enduring classics with her renditions of songs such as “The Song Remembers When,” “This Is Me You’re Talking To” and “Georgia Rain.”

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But on her upcoming album, Yearwood is delving more into her songwriting skills. The 10-song project is the first in her career on which she co-wrote each song; she also co-produced the project with audio engineer/producer/writer/musician Chad Carlson.

Yearwood gave a preview of the as-of-yet-untitled project with a show at Nashville’s intimate songwriter haunt, the Bluebird Cafe, on Wednesday (Feb. 12). She was joined by her co-writers including Carlson, Erin Enderlin, Leslie Satcher, Sunny Sweeney and Bridgette Tatum.

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The evening served as a preview not only for the album, but also Yearwood’s upcoming seven-city theater tour, which launches April 30 in Austin, Texas, and wraps May 17 in Lancaster, Pa. The shows will feature Yearwood performing a mix of her own hit songs as well as tracksw from the new album, and will also highlight the talents of artist-writers Sweeney and Enderlin.

Yearwood previously previewed the album with a performance during the 2024 CMT Music Awards, where she performed “Put It In a Song.” On Feb. 21, Yearwood will offer another glimpse into the album when she performs the song “The Wall or the Way Over” — a meditation on the power of words to both elevate and destroy those who hear them — on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Tickets for Yearwood’s tour will go on sale starting Friday, Feb. 21, with a presale launching Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. local time on her website.

In addition to touring, Yearwood is also set to appear on NBC’s Opry 100: A Live Celebration on March 19 to honor the Grand Ole Opry’s centennial anniversary.

See the full list of Yearwood’s tour dates below:

April 30: Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater

May 1: San Antonio, Texas @ H-E-B Performance Hall – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

May 2: Grand Prairie, Texas @ Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie

May 3: Stillwater, Okla. @ The McKnight Center For the Performing Arts

May 15: New York City @ The Town Hall

May 16: Glenside, Pa. @ Keswick Theatre

May 17: Lancaster, Pa. @ American Music Theater

It was a few weeks ago that Max McNown’s agents at Wasserman Music told the country upstart that his Feb. 11-12 sold-out Bowery Ballroom shows in New York City needed to move to accommodate another artist.
The agents, Jonathan Insogna and Lenore Kinder, initially pushed back against the highly unusual move until they discovered a few days later that it was because Sir Paul McCartney was playing surprise gigs at the 575-capacity room those nights. Ultimately, McNown’s management team, Live Nation, the Bowery and Wasserman quickly went into action to shift McNown’s two shows to the 1,200-capacity Irving Plaza in Union Square the same nights, and McNown ended up with an amazing story to tell.

When his agents were first asked to move the shows, “Honestly, we were a bit confused,” McNown tells Billboard. “My agent told me this was an unusual situation that a venue would ask you to move so we kind of knew there was something bigger going on, but our first response was, ‘I’m sorry you want us to do what?’”

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Shortly thereafter, when he and his team put the pieces together to realize he was getting bumped for the legendary Beatle, it all made sense at that point. “Paul wanted to play in a smaller venue and make it special. We had sold out Bowery months ago, so moving into a bigger venue and being able to accommodate more fans was great for us. A win-win in every way,” McNown says, but joked, “I am disappointed we weren’t able to get him to open for us.”

Though McCartney’s team didn’t give a reason for the specific date, Feb. 11 marked the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ first gig in the U.S at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

McCartney’s team was extremely gracious and did offer McNown tickets, but he was unable to go since he was doing his own shows a mile up the road. McNown admits he was tempted, though. “I honestly really wish I could have pulled it off” to go to McCartney’s show, he says. “I always say touring is a job and there were too many people counting on me to play my own show to skip out on it. But yes, the term ‘tempted’ is an understatement.”

The Oregon singer-songwriter, who was Billboard’s November Country Rookie of the Month and topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, first hit the Hot Country Songs chart last year with “A Lot More Free,” which reached No. 29, as well as peaked at No. 15 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His new album, Night Diving, came out Jan. 24. His new single, “Brown Eyes (Better Me for You),” is at radio.

Though he’s only 23, McNown is a lifelong Beatles fan. “My elementary school teacher would always sing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’ every single Friday in my fourth and fifth grade class,” he says. “He always felt it was important to keep the younger generations educated on the true icons of musical history. Because of him, I know every word to those songs, and each of them now hold a level of nostalgia in my heart that’s pretty unmatched.”

His favorite Beatles song is the gorgeous “Blackbird,” which McNown may, in homage to Sir Paul, now record and post on his Instagram, he says. “I discovered that song on my own after being introduced to [The Beatles’] music in school at a very young age, which made it extra personal/special for me.” He’s also a big fan of “Yesterday,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “Twist and Shout.”

Since attending the shows wasn’t possible, McNown would love some merch or even an autograph, he says, but he’ll settle for an amazing story of the night he was bumped for a Beatle. “It is definitely something I’m sure I’ll be talking about for some time,” he tells Billboard. “This last few years have felt like one dream sequence, from going viral, to Kelly Clarkson covering my songs and now swapping venues with a Beatle. It’s unbelievable.”  

Though McCartney is playing his third show at Bowery tonight, McNown couldn’t attend because he’s on his way to Boston for his show Friday night (Feb. 14).

When Chappell Roan won best new artist at the 2025 Grammys, she used her platform on Music’s Biggest Night to demand that labels provide “a livable wage and healthcare” for artists. While her speech was greeted with applause from many artists and industry players at the ceremony, not everyone was cheering — the most outspoken case being an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter where former music exec Jeff Rabhan called Roan “too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”

The op-ed was widely shared — and widely criticized, leading to a backlash to the backlash as artists like Charli XCX and Noah Kahan came to Roan’s defense, speaking up in her favor and joining her in donating to healthcare support for developing artists. (Various industry organizations have donated as well.)

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“It is clear that young people, artists and/or writers, have had enough of record labels and tech companies taking advantage of them,” Justin Tranter tells Billboard. The songwriter, who co-wrote hits for Justin Bieber (“Sorry”), Imagine Dragons (“Believer”) and Roan (“Good Luck, Babe!”), had an immediate, visceral response to the THR op-ed in a comment on Instagram: “Please delete this. Now.”

Roan’s critics doubled down on their grievances, too, and the discourse — which has clearly hit a nerve in the industry — continues.

“Songwriters have been ringing this alarm for years,” says Michelle Lewis, a songwriter and executive director of Songwriters of North America (SONA). “When her speech started, my phone blew up. Everyone knows this is my fight. [Roan] said ‘healthcare’ or ‘health insurance’ like three times.”

Lewis, whom Tranter recommended Billboard speak to about this topic, says, “It’s in the industry’s best interests to jump in” on the healthcare discussion before it reaches a head, particularly with so many artists and songwriters struggling to make it in a streaming economy that pays some creators a fraction of what they would have made in the physical media era. Lewis acknowledges that Roan using terms such as “employee” and “livable wage” opens up a “hornet’s nest,” but she says it’s time to find “inter-industry solutions for more vulnerable” people working in music. “Let’s stick with health insurance,” she says. “That’s something I think we can find a workable solution around.”

“No change is going to happen right now, but I can promise you that serious conversations are being had. I can promise you labels, managers, executives in our business are going, ‘We need to figure this out,’” insists Tranter. “If you don’t follow young people’s lead, at some point you will lose. That is the huge takeaway from this conversation.”

Here, Tranter speaks to Billboard about Roan’s speech, the “misogynistic” THR op-ed and why healthcare options that do exist for artists come with asterisks.

When Chappell was giving her acceptance speech for best new artist, what were you thinking?

First off, her getting the award is such an honor. I feel it’s the greatest honor of my career to be the tiniest, tiniest part of her journey. What she chose to speak about in this unbelievable moment — not gonna lie, it brought a little misty tear to my eye. I was blown away and inspired at her fearlessness. It’s genuinely moving.

When you read the op-ed criticizing her for the speech, what were you thinking?

I thought it was such a pro-corporation, pro-old guard, old person [take] and extremely misogynistic. For him to think that because she is a young woman she has no clue what she’s talking about is so gross. And to find out this person has apparently worked at educational [institutions] for young artists and musicians? And this is the energy he is putting toward his students, the energy of ‘let the corporations continue to treat you terribly’? The whole thing was heartbreaking, to be honest. His article was heartbreaking. Also laughable to be that out of touch. Gen Z has had enough. It’s never been a good idea to not support young people.

Do you think this is a case where the old guard sees change potentially coming and is trying to stop it?

Whether its artists or songwriters being taken advantage of, it’s reaching a boiling point. When it comes to artists, labels need artists to do more work than ever. And that’s no one’s fault, it’s just how technology has changed. The artist has to be the head of their marketing department, it’s just a fact. Now the labels need the artist to write, sing, record, tour and be the head of their own marketing department. The industry is asking for us to do more and more and yet don’t want to give them more and more. Luckily, Gen Z knows better and is going to fight for themselves. It’s amazing to see.

There’s also the mental health component of healthcare. Being an artist on a major label comes with an occupation hazard most jobs don’t entail – national scrutiny about your work, your appearance, your opinions.

In most jobs whether you do good or bad is not in the court of public opinion. It’s very stressful to be a professional creative where the whole world gets to watch and see how you did at your job that day.

From your perspective, as someone who works with artists and industry insiders, what’s the tone of the conversation around this since the Grammys?

Everyone feels excited that with Chappell opening that door and with Raye speaking out for songwriters at all the different awards she’s won. Everyone finally feels like young artists are using their voices to help everyone. This business is old and a mess — there aren’t overnight solutions to any of these conversations — but the fact that these conversations are being had by such public figures is such a joy and will lead to change finally. Michelle Lewis and I speak frequently about healthcare for songwriters. There have been brilliant people fighting this fight in the darkness for a while now, so for someone like Chappell or Raye to say it in bright spotlights is very exciting.

Artists signed to major labels are sometimes eligible for healthcare through SAG-AFTRA. Can you walk me through your experience with that?

In SAG-AFTRA, you have to make a certain amount a year [$27,540 in covered earnings to qualify] to be eligible for their health insurance. So the year you sign your deal and the year you get your advance, you can probably afford health insurance. If you know it exists. If your deal was big enough and you have a good enough lawyer and a good enough business manager and they can walk you through all of these things. Very real chance you might have a manager who is amazing but they were your friend in college and you busted your asses together and you’re learning [the industry] together. That’s no shame to that manager — they probably are the right manager for you — but they might not know these things because it is so hard to figure out.

Then in year two, maybe your advance is gone and you’re not earning. You’re back in the studio and figuring out your next step. And it has to be specifically money that’s going through SAG-AFTRA. A brand deal isn’t going to count toward that, a touring gig isn’t going to count toward that. If you don’t make that your second year, all of a sudden you lose your health insurance. But you’re still signed to one of the largest entertainment companies in the world.

I have my health insurance through SAG-AFTRA and lucky for me there are songs like “Believer” from Imagine Dragons and “Cake By the Ocean” by DNCE that get so many continual film and TV syncs that my health insurance is covered. But if you’re a songwriter or artist that doesn’t have a song that gets used in film and TV over and over, you might be an artist that most people know of — or a songwriter that most of the industry has heard of — but if you don’t have a song that is getting synced like crazy and has money going through the SAG-AFTRA system, all of a sudden you don’t have health insurance.

That’s why it’s so beautiful for Chappell and Raye to be raising their voices. They are not fighting for themselves. They have broken through; they are now fighting for the next generation of writers and artists. That’s why it felt so condescending for him, the writer, to be like, well, when Prince and Tom Petty took on the industry, they were decades in. Well, no – that’s why it’s so beautiful that Chappell did it on what some might consider her first night of household-name status. To me, that is so much more inspiring. To fault her for that is wild.

You do see a tendency for people to celebrate activism that happened decades ago while decrying contemporary activists for ‘doing it wrong’ in some way. What do you think the next steps are?

The big win a week later is look how many conversations are happening. And I’m honestly kinda grateful that very misogynistic article was written because it’s kept the conversation going longer. We live in such a quick news cycle and here we are still talking about it. Okay, boomer, thank you for booming so hard, now we’re even angrier. By the way, I’m old – I’m Gen X — but I think like a young person when it comes to equality. I’m so glad this boomer boomed because now we have something to be even angrier about, and anger is going to fix this problem.

Since filing for divorce from ex-husband Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) in 2021, Kim Kardashian has mostly kept quiet about the couple’s relationship, how they are co-parenting their four children and whatever feelings she might have about West’s repeated public meltdowns in which he spouts hate-filled antisemitic invective for days on end.
But in Thursday’s (Feb. 13) episode of The Kardashians, Kim opened up a bit about what may have caused the dissolution of the couple’s marriage while bonding with sister Khloé about her own marital issues. After having an emotional reunion with her ex-husband, retired NBA player Lamar Odom, after nine years apart, Khloé said she got married “too quickly” to Odom.

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Though their marriage lasted only five tumultuous years, Khloé said she “wouldn’t change a thing” about marrying the man she called the “love of my life,” lamenting that if it weren’t for Odom’s well-publicized struggles with substance use they might still be together. “I know I picked the right person at that time,” she told Kim and their mother, Kris Jenner, in the episode.

Kim seemed to relate to the sentiment, seemingly referencing her struggles with West, saying, “That’s the hardest part. I’ve been there. When you don’t foresee something happening that really changes a person’s personality and then they’re not the same person and you can’t ever get that person back, but you can’t live with the new person. I get it.”

Kim had more to say in a confessional segment, adding, “It’s tougher when you don’t want your marriage to end off of personal reasons but circumstances change that force your marriage to end. When you weren’t planning on that and that’s not really the outcome you want but there’s no other option, I think it makes it harder to get over.”

While the SKIMS founder never specifically named West in the episode of the Hulu series, it appeared as if she was referencing their relationship, which ended with Kardashian stating in a petition to be considered legally single in early 2022 that Ye was “creating emotional distress” by sharing “misinformation” about their private family matters.

While the reality star was open to talking about what she said at the time was West’s struggle with bipolar disorder during their relationship, the rapper recently claimed that his now-wife, Bianca Censori, has told him that he was mis-diagnosed and is likely on the autism spectrum.

Kardashian’s comments on the show — which is taped months before the episodes air — came just a few days after West deleted his X account following a four-day spree of virulently antisemitic posts in which he declared once again “I’m a Nazi” and “I love Hitler,” before briefly offering a shirt emblazoned with a Nazi swastika for sale on his Yeezy site.

The offensive posts have once again caused serious professional fall-out for West, who has been criticized for spreading hate speech by the ADL and fellow artists, as well as being dropped by his booking agent and hit with a lawsuit by a Jewish staffer who alleged that he compared himself to Hitler and threatened her because she is Jewish.

Madonna fans are getting something better than chocolates or roses for Valentine’s Day this year: the promise of new music. On Instagram Thursday (Feb. 13) — just one day before the day of love — the superstar shared a video slideshow of photos showing off her recent time in the studio. In some pictures, she […]