Music

25 Oct 2025

Nelly Furtado Says She’s Taking a ‘Step Away’ from Performing for the ‘Foreseeable Future’

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Nelly Furtado is taking a break from the stage.

On Friday (Oct. 24), the 46-year-old pop veteran announced on social media that she’s stepping back from live performances for the “foreseeable future” to focus on new “creative and personal endeavors.” The decision comes as she reflects on how fans have reconnected with her music in recent years.

“I have decided to step away from performance for the foreseeable future and pursue some other creative and personal endeavors that I feel would better suit this next phase of my life,” Furtado wrote on Instagram. “I have enjoyed my career immensely , and I still love writing music as I have always seen it as a hobby I was lucky enough to make into a career. I’ll identify as a songwriter forever.”

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The announcement coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Grammy winner’s debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 in January 2001.

Furtado’s carousel post opened with a throwback photo of herself at 20, just before her first professional performance at Lilith Fair in 1999. The next slide jumped to a video from her recent show in Berlin, where she shared that she “finally understanding what receiving flowers means” as the crowd repeatedly chanted her name.

“My music has reached a whole new generation of fans and I couldn’t be happier about that,” she continued. “In the year 2000 I remember feeling purpose in hoping some kid would dust off the Whoa, Nelly! vinyl one day in a record shop and think it was cool or inspiring, so I never could have guessed that there would be so many new ways to discover ‘old’ music in 2025!”

She added, “To have so many people rediscovering my music has been surreal and joyful. It’s been so fun embracing this opportunity, getting out on stages again and seeing up close, the true lasting power of good music. It’s made me really believe in magic.”

Furtado’s most recent album, 7, arrived in 2024. “The key for me, with this new album, is just getting back into the craft,” she told People of the project, which she created alongside her daughter Nevis. “It’s like a whole new me, who’s stronger, braver, more confident.”

See Furtado’s full announcement on Instagram below.


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25 Oct 2025

Olivia Rodrigo Caps Guts Tour With ‘Lacy’ Performance in NYC

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Olivia Rodrigo closed out her blockbuster Guts World Tour with a secret show in New York City on Thursday night (Oct. 23), playing to an intimate crowd of fans, friends, and celebrity guests inside the historic Park Avenue Armory.

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The invite-only event, hosted by American Express, featured a setlist packed with fan favorites — including “Drivers License,” “Vampire,” “Deja Vu” and “Sour” — as well as the rare live performance of “Lacy,” a track that has taken on a viral life of its own since being featured on the TV series The Summer I Turned Pretty.

“Ever since it was in that show, people have been chanting at me at concerts to sing this song if I wasn’t going to sing it,” Rodrigo told the crowd. “And so I’m really grateful to that show, and I’m really grateful to you guys for listening to this song and streaming it, because it’s always been one of my favorites.”

The “Good 4 U” singer also welcomed young fans from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, meeting with several attendees before the show. Proceeds from ticket sales benefited Rodrigo’s own Fund 4 Good, an initiative launched to support education, reproductive rights, and young women’s leadership programs.

Among those in attendance were Emily in Paris star Ashley Park, The Bear’s Molly Gordon, Vampire Diaries alum Nina Dobrev, makeup artist Patrick Ta, Good American founder Emma Grede, and interior designer Jeremiah Brent.

Rodrigo performed beneath the soaring arches of the Armory’s Drill Hall — a venue steeped in New York military history — which once housed the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard, the first volunteer militia to answer Abraham Lincoln’s call in 1861.

The secret concert marked the final stop on Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour, which kicked off earlier this year in Palm Springs and has since spanned over 75 dates across North America and Europe.

Rodrigo has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 numerous times. Her 2021 hit “Drivers License” was No. 1 for a whopping eight weeks. In total so far, she has three Hot 100 No. 1s and made headlines for her 2025 Lollapalooza performance, including a set during which she brought out Weezer.

25 Oct 2025

Guns N’ Roses Address Axl Rose’s Onstage Outburst in Buenos Aires

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Guns N’ Roses have issued a statement addressing frontman Axl Rose’s apparent outburst during the band’s Oct. 18 concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

During the opening number “Welcome to the Jungle” at Estadio Huracán, Rose was seen kicking the bass drum, throwing his microphone toward the drum kit, and walking offstage after removing his leather jacket. The vocalist later returned to the stage and told the crowd, “So, I’ll just try and wing this.”

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On Tuesday (Oct. 22), the band released a statement via social media explaining the cause of the disruption. According to the post, the issue stemmed from an in-ear monitor malfunction.

“During the opening song at our recent Buenos Aires concert, Axl’s in-ear monitor pack had only the percussion in his ears versus his entire mix,” the statement read. “The issue was fixed by our tech team by the third song, and we had a great night. The situation had nothing to do with Isaac Carpenter’s playing, who is top-notch and a great drummer.”

Following the incident, online speculation had suggested Rose’s reaction may have been directed at Carpenter, who joined Guns N’ Roses earlier this year after longtime drummer Frank Ferrer exited the lineup. The band’s statement clarified that the drummer was not at fault.

The moment marked a rare public outburst for Rose in recent years. Although the singer was known for unpredictable stage behavior during the band’s early days, Guns N’ Roses’ reunion era has largely avoided such incidents. Since reuniting in 2016, the group has consistently delivered full-scale shows as part of one of rock’s most successful reunion runs.

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24 Oct 2025

Jon Bon Jovi Talks Collaborating With Bruce Springsteen and Jelly Roll

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Jon Bon Jovi is reflecting on decades of friendship and influence as he celebrates Forever (Legendary Edition), a newly expanded version of Bon Jovi’s 2024 album that features fresh collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and Jelly Roll.

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Speaking on SiriusXM’s Bon Jovi Radio, the frontman opened up about how his longtime New Jersey peer Bruce Springsteen ended up contributing harmonica to a new version of “Hollow Man,” a fan-favorite track from Forever.

“As I wrote this song, I was basically asking the heavens to make me a conduit,” Bon Jovi explained. “Give me the message, where am I going with this? I am the hollow man, fill me up with information and I’ll write it down. What do you sing when your song’s been sung?”

After hearing the demo, Springsteen called Bon Jovi the next morning. “He says, ‘I can’t get that one out of my head,’” Bon Jovi recalled. “Now you know, you’re talking to not only your childhood hero but one of the great American songwriters of the last half century.”

The Boss later agreed to lend his signature harmonica sound to the track. “I want it to be like that. Come and join my story,” Bon Jovi said. “He said, ‘I got it. Just leave it to me.’”

The full-circle moment wasn’t lost on Bon Jovi, who remembered the early days when he was just a kid in the crowd watching Springsteen perform on Sunday nights in Asbury Park. “I was that kid in the crowd while [Bruce] was jumping up with the guy that became our side man,” he said, adding, “It’s 45 years later and I just got to be me. So the whole thing is just kooky surreal.”

Forever (Legendary Edition) also features “Living Proof,” a duet with country star Jelly Roll. Bon Jovi first met the “Need a Favor” hitmaker at the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year gala in Los Angeles, where Jelly Roll performed in tribute to the band.

“I was in love with him from that moment on,” Bon Jovi said. “I’ve gotten to know Bunnie, his wife, and her story. I’m absolutely in awe of them.”

The original Forever debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart. Its lead single “Legendary” reached No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary tally. Despite its strong debut, the album dropped off the Billboard 200 after just one week.

The Legendary Edition arrives as the band marks four decades together and caps off a reflective season for Bon Jovi, who also premiered the Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story earlier this year.

24 Oct 2025

Mother & Son Who Inspired 2Pac’s ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ Reunited After 34 Years

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2Pac‘s classic song “Brenda’s Got a Baby” was inspired by a true story — and the story continues.

The rapper wrote the song addressing teen pregnancy in America’s ghettos while he was filming his star-turning role as Bishop in Juice after coming across a story in the news about a 12-year-old girl who threw her baby in a trash chute after being impregnated by her 21-year-old cousin. The track has since become one of the late entertainer’s most important records in his extensive catalog.

Enter bestselling author Jeff Pearlman.

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During a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show to promote his new book Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur, Pearlman dropped a bombshell after being asked if he came across anybody that didn’t want to talk to him when he was trying to put the book together. “I didn’t get Dr. Dre or Snoop Dogg, but they’re hard to get anyway,” he said. “I did find most people. The vast majority. Classmates, people who worked with him in music, even Death Row employees were pretty open about talking.”

He then revealed that he “had a breakthrough very early on.”

Pearlman found the man who heard the baby crying in the trash chute and interviewed him, but it wasn’t until he spoke with Leila Steinberg, who the author referred to as a former associate manager/confidant. According to him, Steinberg made a comment about whether the story about the baby was true and wondered what eventually happened to the baby, which then sent him on a side mission to see what he could find.

He then reached out to genealogist Michele Soulli to see if she would be able to locate the baby. A few days later, she gave him the number to a Las Vegas resident named Davonn Hodge. They two met up, and Hodge told Pearlman that he found his relatives with the help of Ancestry.com and had a reunion but his mother wasn’t there. Pearlman again employed Soulli to help him find the mother and a few days later, she got in contact with a woman that was living in Newark, NJ.

Now, this is where things get really weird.

The woman expressed shock and excitement and told Soulli that she had to go back home to New York City to reunite with her baby. When Soulli asked where she was at the moment, the woman said she was in Vegas for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.

She was reunited with her son Davonn later that night after 34 long years.

You can check out the full conversation below.

24 Oct 2025

Cardi B Told Fans She Won’t ‘Pick On’ BIA’s ‘BIANCA’ Album Sales: ‘That’s Overkill’

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Cardi B is using some discretion when it comes with her ongoing beef with fellow rapper BIA.

During a recent X Spaces, the Bronx rapper told fans listening in that she has no intentions of dissing BIA’s album sales as she was in the middle of a rant about bullies. “I don’t pick on bi—es,” she said. “I don’t wake up every single day like, ‘I’mma pick on this girl ‘cause I can. I just found out BIA’s numbers yesterday. I’m not going to pick on her ‘cause of that sh–. Then that’s overkill.”

The two have been going back and forth since about 2024 when fans felt like the Massachusetts rapper subbed Cardi on Dreezy’s “Bi— Duh” Remix where she rapped, “I hear bi—es poppin’ sh– and that’s so funny to me/ How you say you runnin’ down but you can’t walk on the beat?” in a supposed reference to a comment Cardi made during an interview about having a hard time catching the pocket of Ice Spice’s “Munch” beat.

Most recently, BIA told Billboard in an interview that she decided to not to respond to Cardi’s “Pretty & Petty” diss on her debut album BIANCA because she didn’t want the project to be overshadowed. “If I was to ever address it again, I would never attach it to my album, because this is a beautiful body of work that I believe in,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to disservice this and overshadow it with noise or negativity.”

BIA’s debut album BIANCA dropped on Oct. 10 and failed to reach the Billboard 200 chart, earning 3,000 equivalent album units in the week of Oct. 10-16, according to Luminate.

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24 Oct 2025

Justin Bieber Sings Odeal’s Praises During L.A. Tour Stop Vlog: ‘Your Swag Is Undeniably Just the Swaggiest’

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Justin Bieber showed Odeal nothing but love and respect when the Nigerian-British star visited L.A. last week for his sold-out show at The Roxy.

Both artists were seen casually hanging out in the video from Odeal’s The Shows That Saved Me tour vlog series posted Friday (Oct. 24) on YouTube, where Odeal even played JB an unreleased song that the pop star riffed off of. “Y’all don’t understand how much inspiration you just brought in here. I really look up to you and admire you, bro,” Bieber told the “Soh-Soh” singer.

Bieber attended Odeal’s concert on Oct. 14, where he couldn’t stop reiterating the “chills” the performance gave him during the four-minute clip. “That was perfect. It couldn’t have gone better, bro,” the Swag superstar told him backstage at The Roxy. “Your swag is undeniably just the swaggiest, most swaggiest man alive, bro.”

JB co-signed Odeal earlier this year when he played his “Blame U” hit from Odeal’s 2024 EP Lustropolis on numerous Instagram Stories and posts. “I’m super grateful he was tapping in. I was aware he was working on his album, and I’m glad that that song was with him during that time,” Odeal told Billboard in September during his African Rookie of the Year interview.

The Shows That Saved Me continues on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the House of Blues in Chicago, Ill. and next Sunday, Nov. 2 at the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Catch Bieber’s cameos in Odeal’s latest LA vlog below.

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24 Oct 2025

Hailey Bieber Blasts ‘Far-Fetched’ Rumor That She’s Justin Bieber’s Manager: ‘Like, That’s My Husband’

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Hailey Bieber is setting the record straight regarding a rumor she’s heard about herself and Justin Bieber — and she says there’s “no world” in which it would be true.

While guesting on the In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele podcast posted Friday (Oct. 24), the Rhode founder didn’t have to think too far back when asked to name the craziest piece of gossip she’s heard about her marriage. “There’s so many,” she began, racking her brain.

“There was one I thought was funny, because it was so stupid and so ridiculous,” she continued. “It was like, ‘Hailey is doing management for her husband,’ like, I’m taking over to be his manager.”

But would the skincare mogul ever consider taking charge of her husband’s career? “There is no world in which that would ever …,” Hailey said emphatically. “Like, that’s my husband. What do we think is going on here? I thought that one was so funny, because it was so ridiculous and far-fetched.”

Hailey went on to say that she also read false headlines claiming she was pregnant about a “hundred” times before she actually did get pregnant, with the model and Justin welcoming son Jack Blues in August 2024. Elsewhere on the podcast, she opened up about whether she and the singer want to have more kids in the future.

“I know I want more than one, but I’m not in a rush,” she told Thiele. “It’s so fun. I love being a mom.”

As for another false claim Hailey’s heard about herself — that she’s secretly transgender — the businesswoman said she doesn’t take it personally. “When people are trying to be mean, they’re like, ‘She looks trans,’” Hailey said. “And I’m like, ‘Why do you think that’s a diss?’ Some of the most beautiful women in the world — and men in the world — are trans, so I just don’t take that offensively at all.”

Watch Hailey’s full interview with Thiele below.


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24 Oct 2025

Does Erykah Badu Think Outkast’s ‘Ms. Jackson’ Is About Her? Her Mother Sure Does: ‘She Got the Bumper Sticker’

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As Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” celebrates its 25th anniversary on Friday (Oct. 24), Erykah Badu revealed her doubts about being the muse behind the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit.

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Badu joined Popcast for an interview earlier this week, where she discussed being the subject of hip-hop songs. While the neo-soul icon doesn’t think “Ms. Jackson” is about herself, her mother, Kolleen Gipson, certainly is taking credit.

“I don’t think ‘Ms. Jackson’ was actually about me. I don’t think so, but people say it,” she said. “[My mom] thinks it was about her. She got the bumper sticker and the airbrush t-shirt. I think it says, ‘Sorry, Ms. Jackson.’”

For years, there’s been fan speculation and theories that “Ms. Jackson” was an apology letter from André 3000 to Erykah Badu’s family following their split. The former couple dated from 1995 to 1999 and welcomed a son in 1997, Seven Sirius Benjamin.

“Ms Jackson” arrived about a year after the Three Stacks-Badu break-up, fueling rumors connecting the track’s content to their relationship. It was the second single on Outkast’s Stankonia album, which was released a week later on Halloween in 2000.

“Ms. Jackson” topped the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for best rap performance by a duo or a group. The anthem has stood the test of time over the course of a quarter-century and feels embedded in the DNA of pop music with an earworm of a chorus.

Watch the interview below. Talk about “Ms. Jackson” takes place just shy of the 30-minute mark.

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24 Oct 2025

Volbeat Climbs Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 Leaderboard With ‘Time Will Heal’

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Volbeat scores a milestone No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, jumping two spots to the top of the Nov. 1-dated survey with “Time Will Heal.”

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It’s the 12th leader for Volbeat and second in a row, following “By a Monster’s Hand,” which reigned for two weeks in May.

With its latest ruler, the Danish band climbs into a tie with Papa Roach for the 10th-most No. 1s since Mainstream Rock Airplay began in 1981.

Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:

  • 21, Shinedown
  • 19, Three Days Grace
  • 16, Five Finger Death Punch
  • 14, Foo Fighters
  • 14, Metallica
  • 13, Disturbed
  • 13, Godsmack
  • 13, Linkin Park
  • 13, Van Halen
  • 12, Papa Roach
  • 12, Volbeat

Volbeat first topped Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2012 with “Still Counting,” a year after its maiden appearance on the tally with “Fallen” (No. 11).

The act is the highest-ranking European-based band on the all-time No. 1 tally and second-best among non-U.S. acts, behind Canada’s Three Days Grace.

Concurrently, “Time Will Heal” vaults 13-8 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.6 million audience impressions in the week ending Oct. 23, up 19%, according to Luminate. Volbeat now boasts five top 10s, paced by the No. 5-peaking “Shotgun Blues” in 2022.

“Time Will Heal” is the second single, following “By a Monster’s Hand,” from God of Angels Trust, Volbeat’s ninth studio album. The set bowed at No. 5 on Top Hard Rock Albums in June and has earned 38,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Billboard charts dated Nov. 1 will update Tuesday, Oct. 28, on Billboard.com.


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