Music
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Marlon Wayans is not tolerating Soulja Boy after the rapper’s homophobic comments. The Scary Movie actor and the musician have been feuding online ever since Wayans called out Soulja Boy for performing at the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C. in celebration of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. The back-and-forth came to a head when Soulja began poking […]
Country singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson and her boyfriend Devlin “Duck” Hodges are engaged. On Feb. 12, Wilson and Hodges both shared a carousel of photos on Instagram, with Wilson showing off her engagement ring. They captioned the photos “4x4xU forever,” a nod to both their relationship and Wilson’s current top five Billboard Country Airplay hit “4x4xU.” […]
Music often intertwines with sports, as we’ve seen in Super Bowl halftime shows, pre-game performances, star-studded attendances and more. However, some musicians take their love for a sport a step further by buying a percentage of ownership of their favorite teams. Most recently, Tems joined the San Diego Football Club’s ownership group as a club partner […]
Country singer-songwriter Rory Feek’s daughter Hopie recently shared an update about their family, sharing in a video on Instagram that the results of a 23andMe DNA test revealed that Feek — who raised Hopie and her sister Heidi — is not Hopie’s biological father.
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“I’ve always felt a little bit different — and now I know why,” Hopie, 36, said in the video. “I took a 23andMe test and I got the results I never knew I needed,” she added, showing a photo of herself with a man she had recently met. “Turns out this is my dad — not the one everyone knows — and his name is B.C.” Hopie noted that upon meeting B.C., he “immediately loved me and was so excited to call me his daughter.” Hopie expressed gratefulness for “the new people who I have in my life and the new family who love me for who I am.”
Feek raised Hopie and her sister Heidi as a single parent following his split with their mother, Tamara Gilmer. Feek went on to marry Joey Martin in 2002; together, they also formed the musical duo Joey + Rory, competing on the CMT musical competition Can You Duet?, and earning Billboard Hot Country Songs entries including “Cheater, Cheater.” Joey and Rory welcomed daughter Indiana in 2014. Joey died in 2016 at age 40, following a battle with cancer.
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A few days after Hopie revealed the familial news in the Instagram video, on Feb. 11 Feek shared his own thoughts about the revelation in a blog post titled “A Different Dad,” published on his website. Feek noted that Hopie revealed the news to him in a meeting near where Joey is buried.
“I’m not sure what I thought Hopie was going to say, but I was not expecting to hear that,” he said in his post. “I just listened. Not quite sure that this was really happening–processing it the best I could.”
Feek also noted that the news did not completely surprise him, recalling a period of time just after Hopie’s birth, when he suspected that Hopie was not his. In his blog post, Feek wrote about recalling that the doctor had told him Hopie was born several weeks past her due date, which Feek had thought did not align with the timeline of when he had returned home from a six-month military deployment. In his blog post, Feek had also noted that at one point during his split from his ex-wife, he had asked her directly if Hopie was his child, and says that he’d been assured that Hopie was his.
“I told Hopie that I guess a part of me knew. But more than that, I told her I didn’t care. That this news and this blood test doesn’t change anything for me. ‘I love you as my daughter and I always will,’” he wrote. He also shared the “hurt” he has for Hopie, writing, “Hopie has such a tender heart, filled with child-like wonder and light, even in the darkest of days. It’s heartbreaking that she has had to deal with such an incredible amount of pain and loss in her relatively short life.”
That same day, Hopie wrote a response message on Instagram, expressing frustration and disappointment with Feek’s comments. “When I had the conversation with Rory, my one request was for him to be kind and not shame my mom. Today, he shared her private history in his blog, which is extremely disappointing. I shared my story because I couldn’t keep it all to myself anymore. I’m really not a public person, but because Rory is, my private life becomes content for his fans (who are often unkind online).”
Hopie also expressed displeasure and regret in having previously shared with Rory about her sexuality, noting that she felt Feek had used that information in order to sell books, such as his 2018 book Once Upon a Farm.
“From now on, I just wish my stories could be my own to tell and share,” Hopie wrote on Instagram. “I want to move forward and find happiness with the people who love me, far away from this online hate.”
About four months ago, Billy Idol was in Cleveland to sing “No More Tears” as part of Ozzy Osbourne’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Asked backstage about Osbourne’s comment that Idol himself should be inducted, he noted that, “It was really lovely of him to say so. It would be really incredible.”
Now it may indeed be Idol’s turn.
The man born William Broad in England, made famous as part of Generation X and then a solo career that’s notched hits such as “White Wedding,” “Rebel Yell,” “Eyes Without a Face” and “Dancing With Myself,” is one of eight first-timers out of 14 nominees on this year’s Rock Hall ballot, which was announced Wednesday morning (Feb. 12). Public voting is underway at vote.rockhall.com, and the inductees are expected to be announced during late April, with the ceremony held this fall in Los Angeles.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Idol told Billboard via phone from Los Angeles. “I’m really knocked out. It’s really fantastic, and what a great honor just to be included with those other fellow artists on that list. It caught me by surprise today, and I was completely bowled over.”
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Idol has been eligible since 2006 as a solo artist, but he said he’s never thought of himself as slighted or overlooked. “Well, there’s so many great people who have yet to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — someone like [fellow nominee] Joe Cocker, for instance,” he noted. “So of course you don’t tend to think about yourself.
“I think in some ways it’s a big thank-you to the fans, who really have stuck with you through thick and thin — sometimes more thin than thick. But they’ve really stuck with you. In some ways, if you’re in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, they are [too].”
Idol began his career as a guitar player in the punk band Chelsea before forming Generation X with guitarist Tony James in 1976. The group released four albums and had British hits with “Your Generation,” “King Rocker” and “Valley of the Dolls” before breaking up in early 1981. Idol then moved to New York, working with former Kiss manager Bill Aucoin. His first EP, Don’t Stop, featured a remake of Generation X’s “Dancing With Myself” and a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Mony Mony,” but his self-titled 1982 debut was the real breakthrough, going gold on the strength of “White Wedding” and “Hot in the City,” and a warm embrace from MTV.
That helped make Rebel Yell even bigger in 1983, a double-platinum, top 10 Billboard 200 smash that turned Idol into an arena-sized headliner.
“It’s just kind of incredible ’cause you never could have imagined this when you began,” said Idol, who’s released eight studio albums total and has another coming this year, with details expected to be announced soon. “When we started out in punk rock, we really were doing it for the love. We thought this might last six minutes, six months, maybe a year, maybe two years. We’re nearly talking about 50 years now.
“Look, if you do something for the right reasons, it can take you the whole way. Just to have lived this life, to have this musical life, at one point it was a dream. To get to live your dream, that’s pretty incredible.”
Idol has been in the Rock Hall already via one of his Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which is on display in the museum in Cleveland. He visited during October’s induction festivities and reports that “it’s beautiful seeing it there. They’ve done a good job of taking care of it.”
The Osbourne induction, Idol adds, was “really good fun. Playing with [producer] Andrew Watt and Wolfgang Van Halen and everybody, it was an incredible night. The vibe amongst everybody was fantastic, and to feel the sort of energy and excitement of the fans being there. Just getting to thank the fans is an incredible moment.”
While the Rock Hall voting is going on, Idol will be rolling out the new album and prepping for the It’s A Nice Day To…Tour Again! trek that kicks off April 30 in Phoenix and runs through late September. Idol will be joined by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, reconnecting with someone he met during a Generation X press tour back in 1978.
“We ended up in L.A., watching the Germs and Black Flag at the Whisky a Go Go with Joan and about 20 other girls [in] go-go boots and short mini-skirts,” Idol recalls. “It was great meeting her. It should be a really fantastic [tour], a good time.”
Go tell them people that Westside Gunn is outside dumpin’ again. The Buffalo rapper and Griselda label boss just dropped off the lead single to his upcoming project 12 due out Valentine’s Day and it goes very hard. Produced by Griselda affiliate Rick Hyde’s teenage son Myles and directed by Daily Gems, “Outlander” finds Gunn […]
Millie Bobby Brown wasn’t just an eager participant when Sabrina Carpenter faux-arrested her at a Short n’ Sweet Tour stop October; the bit was the Stranger Things star’s idea, she revealed in a new interview.
Months after a video showing the “Espresso” singer detaining Brown for being “too hot” at the former’s Atlanta concert went viral, the actress told Vanity Fair in a new cover story published Wednesday (Feb. 12) that she had actually been the one to initially message Carpenter before the show.
“Can you arrest me?” she’d asked
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The Grammy winner — who has also performed “arrests” on Margaret Qualley and Saturday Night Live‘s Marcello Hernández at other Short n’ Sweet shows — obliged. “I would love to arrest you,” Brown recalls Carpenter replying.
Fast-forward to the actual show, and Brown’s big smile at Carpenter’s shout-out was one of the most talked-about moments of the Oct. 22 show at State Farm Arena. “I’m really distracted right now because I see this gorgeous girl,” the Girl Meets World alum said at the time, as the Enola Holmes star’s face came on over the jumbotron. “It’s so unfortunate we have to arrest you because you’re so beautiful, that sucks.”
The Short n’ Sweet show isn’t the only recent concert Brown is still thinking about, though. The Florence by Mills founder also saw Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Cincinnati in 2023, about which Brown raved to VF, “It was amazing, it was unbelievable.”
Brown also now knows the live choreography to Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” number, which she learned with husband Jake Bongiovi, who is the son of Jon Bon Jovi. The Damsel star married the actor in May 2024, before once again exchanging vows in Tuscany four months later — a ceremony that she says included the newlyweds performing a six-minute Grease dance routine “that we choreographed ourselves.”
“We started with leather jackets and glasses, then took them off,” she recalled, noting that “Summer Nights,” “You’re the One That I Want” and “We Go Together” were all part of the show. “I was in my Sandy jumpsuit, and he was in this cool T-shirt, pants, and really shiny shoes.”
See Brown on the cover of Vanity Fair below.
AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith have linked up once again for an absolute banger. The pair started promoting the Rhythm & Grime song earlier this week with a clip on social media, with Jorja rapping her verse in a driveway with a beautiful money-green BMW E30 and AJ Tracey dipped in a pink Palace and […]
Influential French electronic duo Justice has been a staple in the dance/electronic community since the early 2000s, but the pair finally earns its first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (chart dated Feb. 15) with a new collaboration with The Weeknd, “Wake Me Up.”
Released Feb. 7 on The Weeknd’s new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, the song opens at No. 45 on the Hot 100 with 10.9 million official U.S. streams, 1.4 million radio audience impressions and 1,000 downloads sold in its opening week, according to Luminate. The set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 490,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, the largest opening figure since Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department in May 2024.
“Wake Me Up,” the first cut on Hurry Up Tomorrow, interpolates the classic title track from Michael Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller and Georgio Moroder’s “Main Title” from the 1983 film Scarface. The late Rod Temperton, who wrote “Thriller,” is credited as a co-writer of “Wake Me Up,” along with The Weeknd, Justice, Belly, Mike Dean, Johnny Jewel and Vincent Taurelle; The Weeknd, Justice, Mike Dean, Johnny Jewel produced it. Moroder, notably, is credited as a featured artist on Hurry Up Tomorrow track “Big Sleep,” which just misses the Hot 100, opening at No. 3 on the list’s Bubbling Under ranking. He has charted two songs on the Hot 100: “Chase” (No. 33 peak in 1979) and “Reach Out,” featuring Paul Engeman (No. 81, 1984).
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Justice, which comprises Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, first appeared on Billboard’s charts with Cross, which debuted at No. 1 on the Top Dance Albums chart dated July 28, 2007. The project is noteworthy for including hundreds of samples, helping usher in the bloghouse era and, later, the EDM boom.
The duo has charted six additional projects on Top Dance Albums, including four other top 10s: A Cross the Universe (No. 8 peak in 2008), Audio, Video, Disco (No. 4, 2011), Woman (No. 1, 2016) and Hyperdrama (No. 1, 2024).
Justice has also charted three hits on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart: “D.A.N.C.E.” (No. 13 peak in 2013, from Cross), “One Night/All Night,” with Tame Impala (No. 10, 2024) and “Neverender” (No. 8, 2024).
“Neverender” won best dance/electronic recording at the 67th Grammy Awards. It’s the pair’s third Grammy win, joining trophies for best remixed recording, non-classical for “Electric Feel (Justice Remix)” in 2009 and best dance/electronic album for Woman Worldwide in 2019. Cross was nominated for best electronic/dance album in 2008, while its breakout song “D.A.N.C.E.” earned a nod for best dance recording.
Justice’s collaboration with The Weeknd was first teased more than a year ago, when a demo leaked online. In an interview ahead of the release of Hyperdrama, Justice’s longtime manager Pedro Winter told Billboard that the duo had been inspired to partner with collaborators who felt like authentic fits.
“Justice has been a band saying ‘no’ to everything, exactly like when I used to work with Daft Punk,” he said. “They really wanted to focus on their own music. Now it has been a 20-year career, so it’s time to open the door and work with other people,” adding “Of course, a lot of [their fans] will not get the Justice sound … but out of those millions, let’s try to grab the attention and love of some of them.”
Saquon Barkley is in the midst of celebrating his 2025 Super Bowl win with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he’s not feeling so celebratory about the way some of his team’s supporters treated Taylor Swift at the Big game over the weekend. During a SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern on Wednesday (Feb. 12), the superstar running […]