Music
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“Many Nashville publishers sold their firms, then cried swampfulls of crocodile tears all the way to the bank when they suddenly became multimillionaires.” That’s a 1988 hot take on country’s corporate makeover from Gerry Wood, a former Billboard Nashville bureau chief and editor in chief who passed away on May 3 at the age of 87.
Wood had worked in radio and PR before Billboard, and he was a character and the staff knew it. A 1988 retail convention photo identifies him as “Gerry Wood (back to camera — for a change).” From 1975 to 1991 — minus 1983 to 1986, when he worked elsewhere — Wood burned up the pages of Billboard with comprehensive reporting and crisp writing about country’s mainstream moment and how it changed Nashville.
Taking Root
“Country music has been spreading like kudzu,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 16, 1977, Billboard. “That’s the Southern vine that grows so fast it is rumored to be the cause of missing cows and pigs on Southern farms. Spawned in this fertile, blood-red soil of the South, this music has vined into the cities and countries where today’s frenetic, polluted environment grasps for something fresh, yet traditional. Often, that something turns out to be country music.”
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Head Games
This “was the year the music business stopped believing its own hype that it was a recession-proof industry,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 13, 1979, issue. Country seemed to fare better than other genres, though. “When CBS Records corporately cut some 300 heads, only one of those heads dropped in Nashville.” Some of that safety came from commercial crossover potential. “Lord knows,” Wood wrote, “if it keeps up, we’ll be seeing Gene Watson wearing KISS makeup with a flaming guitar.”
The Year Country Broke
“We’ve got to find some new words,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 18, 1980, issue, as Kenny Rogers and Urban Cowboy spurred a stampede toward Nashville. “All of the adjectives and adverbs have been used in past years. Best year. Exploding. Record-setting.” Not only had country “gone California and Texas and Tennessee,” Wood wrote, “it has gone Ohio and Canada and New York.”
Alphabet Soup
“Once upon a time Nashville was as easy as ABC. Now it’s as complex as SBK, BMG, TNN, CMT, WCI, and PolySomething.” So wrote Wood in the Oct. 15, 1988, issue. “The sleepy Southern village that gave America music from its soul in the ’50s and ’60s became the darling of corporate overtures in the ’70s and succumbed to the almighty dollar in the ’80s.” Even as Music City changed, Wood’s wit didn’t. “Too old to play musical chairs, Nashville has lately taken to playing musical managers,” he wrote in the same issue. “Artists have been dropping managers at the drop of a chart bullet.”
Next Big Thing
In the June 30, 1990, issue, Wood wrote a column “predicting the Roy Rogers of the ’90s.” His bets were prescient: Clint Black, Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. One prediction, “country rap,” was decades ahead of the curve. But his crystal ball had one crack: “Willie Nelson’s Cowboy Channel will get off to a slow start, just like Willie did, but end up a winner, just like Willie did,” he wrote of Nelson’s planned cable network. It never even launched.
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
After each individually holding the record, Kendrick Lamar and SZA combine forces to claim the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as their collaboration “Luther” reaches an unprecedented 23rd week at the top. The crowning feat, on the list dated June 7, dates to the chart becoming the singular standard genre survey […]
ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus is working on a new musical using artificial intelligence. According to Variety, during a talk at SXSW London on Wednesday (June 4), the 80-year old Swedish pop legend said he’s tapping into AI because he believes it is an excellent creative tool.
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“Right now I’m writing a musical, assisted by AI,” Ulvaeus said, noting that he’s about three-quarters of the way through the creative process on the unnamed project, the follow-up to the hugely successful pop quartet’s avatar stage show, Voyage.
“It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool,” Ulvaeus raved of AI. “It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.” Unlike many in the industry who fear that AI is an existential threat to their existence and the traditional creative process, Ulvaeus is aware of the bugs in the system, which he said have helped him to merge AI with his already formidable songwriting skills.
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“It’s lousy at [writing a whole song]” and “very bad at lyrics,” he said about his AI helpmate, which has allowed him to navigate through some creative dead-ends. “You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,” he said. “You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea.”
Ulvaeus is part of an eclectic lineup for 2025 SXSW London, whose lineup includes Erykah Badu (as DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown), Tems, Mabel, Alice Glass and many more. Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard) and the film and production company MRC invested in SXSW in 2021 following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic; two years later, Penske took majority ownership of SXSW.
The AI project, whose ultimate form has not yet been announced, is part of Ulvaeus’ ongoing partnership with Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the ABBA Voyage production. The Voyage virtual residency opened in London in May 2022 and is slated to run through January 2026. The show is a combination of 10 live performers and digital avatars of the four ABBA members, who have not performed live since their split in December 1982; the group, which also features Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released their first album in 40 years, Voyage, in November 2021.
Though Ulvaeus is happy to use AI in the creative process, he is also adamant about fighting for artists’ rights in the rapidly evolving digital age. “These AI models wouldn’t exist without the songs that we wrote,” he said.
Mariah Carey likes living on the edge. In a teaser announcing her new single Wednesday (June 4), the Songbird Supreme beats around no bushes when describing her type: dangerous. In a video posted to her social media accounts, Mimi sits behind the wheel of a luxurious car and poses in a “Type: Dangerous” tank top […]
KATSEYE, which recently notched their first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Gnarly,” is set to perform that feisty song on the 2025 Kids’ Choice Awards. The show, with Tyla hosting, is set to air live on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.
KATSEYE, a Los Angeles-based girl group (Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae), has been steadily building its fanbase over the past two years. With members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the U.S., KATSEYE is often described as a “global girl group.”
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The group first formed through HYBE and Geffen Records’ The Dream Academy competition and artist development program, later chronicled in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group received two nominations at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards: favorite K-pop dance challenge for “Touch” and favorite on screen for Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group made Billboard’s 21 Under 21 list for 2025 and has been named an Artist to Watch for 2025 by VEVO, DSCVR and TIDAL.
In September, KATSEYE attended New York Fashion Week for the first time. In November, joined by the L.A. Rams Cheerleaders, they performed on the MAMA Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. In December, they performed on select dates of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert. This year, they were added to the performance lineups for L.A.’s Wango Tango in May and Lollapalooza, scheduled for August in Chicago.
“Gnarly” is set to appear on KATSEYE’s second EP, Beautiful Chaos, which is due June 27 via HYBE x Geffen Records. The group’s first EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong) — which featured contributions from such A-listers as Ryan Tedder, Omer Fedi and Blake Slatkin — reached No. 119 on the Billboard 200.
Now, they’re the first performers announced for an awards show whose young teen fanbase will overlap to a large degree with their own EYEKON fan army.
Nickelodeon is calling the show the biggest party of the summer. It is certain to have more epic slimings than any other show. Kids’ Choice Awards 2025 will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.
Leading the pack with four nominations each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three apiece.
First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani and Florence Pugh, among others.
Heart is offering a reward for the safe return of two custom instruments that were stolen on the eve of the veteran band’s launch of their 2025 summer An Evening With Heart tour. “Members of the legendary rock band Heart were devastated to discover that two irreplaceable instruments were stolen from the venue, where gear […]
It is a mere 30 days until Oasis take the stage at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to kick off their first tour in more than 16 years. The anticipation for the long-awaited reunion of formerly battling brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher has been slowly building as images of band members arriving for rehearsals have leaked out over the past week.
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And on Tuesday morning (June 3), singer Liam weighed in and gave a very positive assessment of how things are going. “We have LIFT OFF Rastas sounded f–king FILTHY,” he wrote on X. “I’ll tell thee that there for hardly anything.” When a fan asked if he was nervous to step to the mic, the singer brushed off the question, responding “Dont be ridiculous.”
When another commenter wondered “did you sound amazing?,” the cheeky vocalist said, “Cmon,” telling a different fan that rehearsing with the band again was “SPIRITUAL” and that rehearsals so far were “BIBLICAL.” Not one to get misty about much, Gallagher told an inquiring mind who wanted to know if it was “emotional playing with everyone” for the first time in 16 years, “no time to get emotional we have a lot of catching up to do.”
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By Wednesday morning (June 4), Gallagher was already seemingly getting a bit punchy, inexplicably posting “MOISTIFICATION for the NATION,” and replying to a question about his “greatest asset” with the blunt “My arse.” A follow-up query about how many songs the band rehearsed the day before got the answer “69.”
So far, the band is planning to spend most of July in the U.K. before jumping over to North America in August for shows in Toronto, Chicago, New Jersey, Pasadena and Mexico City, then hitting Asia and Australia in the fall and winding down with shows in Argentina, Chile and Brazil in November.
For now, there are no festival dates or non-headlining shows, but a persistent fan asked Liam if it’s possible that Oasis would make a triumphant return to the Knebworth Festival, where they played to more than 250,000 fans over two nights in 1996. “Let’s see how this tour goes if we still love each other after it,” Liam replied.
And while there is some trepidation that the internal strife that split the family band up in 2009 might rear its ugly head again, when a fan wondered if Tuesday’s rehearsal made it feel like the band had “never split up,” Gallagher affirmed, “Yeah like it never happened very spiritual.”
Some things never change, though. “How many hours do you rehearse every day,” one commenter wondered. “I do the set once then I scarper,” Liam said.
So far, longtime bassist Andy Bell has confirmed that he’s back in the band for the tour and a March report suggested that the Gallaghers could be joined by former guitarist Gem Archer, as well as Oasis co-founder and rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.). Liam rubbished the report, writing, “NME tell me who your source pots are that keep giving you info about OASIS and I’ll give you an exclusive interview about up n coming OASIS tour. You can have it all but how much do you want it.”
See Liam’s comment below.
We have LIFT OFF Rastas sounded fucking FILTHY I’ll tell thee that there for hardly anything LG x— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 3, 2025
MOISTIFICATION for the NATION— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 4, 2025
Swifties aren’t the only ones celebrating the news that Taylor Swift purchased the masters to her Big Machine albums last week. Less than a week after the singer bought back the rights to her first six studio albums from Shamrock Capitol — the private equity firm that purchased them from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in late 2020 — for what sources told Billboard was around $360 million, her longtime boyfriend Travis Kelce weighed in on the news.
In a trailer for Wednesday’s (June 4) new episode of his New Heights podcast with brother Jason Kelce, the siblings host former NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, who just can’t help himself when Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” comes on. Playing the Red hit on his phone and mouthing along to the lyrics “Once upon a time/ A few mistakes ago/ I was in your sights/ You got me alone,” Shaq was clearly feeling the news.
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As the hardcourt legend enthusiastically lip synchs to the tune, Travis and Jason bop along and smile, with Travis matching Shaq’s hand gestures. “That’s my favorite song in the world brotha,” Shaq tells the duo. “I love it.”
Both Kelces clap and laugh at the news. “You know it,” Shaq adds. “Shout out to Tay Tay,” Travis says with a big smile on his face. “Just got that song back, too,” he adds as Jason fist-pumps and shouts “Hell yeah!”
“Just bought all her music back. So it’s finally hers too man. I appreciate that dog,” Travis tells Shaq. It was the first public comment from Travis since the news broke last week via a letter from Swift about regaining control of Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).
In her note, Swift wrote, “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”
While it took a few days for Kelce to weigh in, Swifties wasted no time in celebrating the news. Billboard reported that following the 11:30 a.m. ET announcement on Friday, early data showed U.S. activity around the singer’s whole catalog — her six Big Machine albums, her subsequent albums and re-recordings on Republic — jumped to averaging nearly 35,000 consumption units for that day and Saturday (May 31), a 72.3% increase from the average daily activity in the previous 12 days from an average of 20,000 units.
Watch the New Heights preview below.
Run-DMC’s “It’s Like That” has been reimagined into a girl power anthem thanks to LEGO Group and Global Girls Crew. With shows like Bob the Builder and gender norms typically aligning males with construction, “She Built That” looks to challenge the status quo and show that girls can do it too. Explore Explore See latest […]
The countdown to Glastonbury 2025 is well and truly on. With just three weeks until music fans head to Worthy Farm, Somerset, England (June 25-29), the festival has unveiled its full lineup and stage times for 2025 – complete with gaps for secret sets.
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The event will host headliners The 1975, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, and Olivia Rodrigo on the Pyramid Stage, and Loyle Carner, Charli xcx and The Prodigy on the Other Stage. Other prominent names set to appear across the weekend include Doechii, Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahan, Wolf Alice and Busta Rhymes, among others.
Glastonbury will then take a fallow year in 2026, which sees landowner Michael Eavis and his family allow the festival grounds to recover every four years.
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The full lineup features over 3,000 performances, complete with new additions to the main stages. The Other Stage will now feature drum’n’bass stalwarts Fabio & Grooverider opening on Friday, playing tracks in symphonic arrangements with the Outlook Orchestra, plus pop acts Rizzle Kicks and Good Neighbours, and singer-songwriters Nadine Shah and Louis Dunford.
Glass Beams and Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso are among those added to West Holts, while Jalen Ngonda, Ichiko Aoba, Horsegirl, John Glacier and Geordie Greep join other new names on the Park stage. Head to the festival’s official website for set times across all stages.
There are also 56 ‘to be announced’ slots lined up, including a gap on the Pyramid Stage on the Friday ahead of Alanis Morrissette’s set. A mysterious band called ‘Patchwork’ will also be playing the following day. In 2023, Glastonbury platformed another surprise act at the Pyramid called the Churnups, who turned out to be the Foo Fighters.
It has been widely speculated online that ‘Patchwork’ could actually be pop trio Haim. The band are playing an isolated one-off date in Margate on June 27 following the release of fourth LP I Quit, while a Reddit user has suggested the ‘Patchwork’ name may reference a novel written by Sylvia Haim.
Lorde, meanwhile, will be releasing her new record Virgin on June 27. She last played Glastonbury in 2022, and could possibly return ahead of her highly-anticipated album and accompanying world tour, which kicks off in September.
More TBAs include Woodsies early on Friday, whilst the Park Stage also has a gap on Saturday evening. Glastonbury 2025 will kick off on the evening of June 25 with two opening ceremonies, including a theatre and circus show in the Pyramid field, followed by a fireworks display.