Music

Aitana Talks Writing New Single ‘Akureyri’ With Sebastián Yatra: ‘We’ve Understood Each Other Very Well for a Long Time’

“Akureyri,” the new single by Aitana and Sebastián Yatra, reunites — in music, at least — one of the most popular couples in Latin music.

And it could be the first of many reunions. “This is already the third song I have done with Sebastián,” Aitana told Billboard exclusively. “We seem to understand each other very well in the studio,” she adds a bit cryptically without alluding to any romance. “We’ve understood each other very well for a long time, so having that complicity with someone inside a studio is hard to find; having that companionship that allows you to go inside the studio and a very beautiful song comes out again and again.”

So much so that for her next album, Aitana is working on “many Songs” with Yatra. “Not songs to sing together, but songs for my project as composers, both of us.”

But “Akureyri” in particular is a collaboration between Aitana and Yatra at all levels. The song, which came out on April 26, was conceived during a trip that Aitana and Yatra took to Akureyri, a town in Iceland, to celebrate Aitana’s birthday on June 27, 2023.

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“Sebastián started tossing some verses, and I started making the melody. And we finished the song in a car,” adds Aitana, who had just gotten her driver’s license. All of those moments – the two of them driving, entering the store, singing with the guitar – are seen in the “Akureyri” video, which was filmed on a subsequent trip once Yatra and Aitana decided to record the song together.



“Akureyri” is one of two recent great looks for Aitana. In April, Netflix released the movie De Pared a Pared, in which Aitana, in her first acting gig, plays the lead role Valentina, a young classical pianist who establishes a “wall-to-wall” relationship with her enigmatic neighbor.

The movie, a sweet romantic comedy that’s utterly disarming, was shot two years ago, when Aitana was only 22 years old.

“I carry Valentina in my heart and all those months of filming that were very beautiful,” she says of the three months of intense filming and piano lessons.

Next up, more songwriting and preparation for her first stadium show at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu in December. Watch the full interview above.

Aitana with Sebastian Yatra

Aitana with Sebastian Yatra

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Quavo Concert Marred By Low Attendance, Chris Brown To Blame?

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The issues between Quavo and Chris Brown morphed into the pair firing shots at one another on wax, and it appears that the beef is still ongoing if fan theories are correct. At a recent concert, Quavo was greeted by a smaller crowd than he usually draws and some believe Chris Brown may have something to do with the low turnout.

As captured by fans on TikTok, Quavo was recently performing in Bridgeport, Conn. and it didn’t look like the house was packed. One TikTok user speculated that Breezy had something to do with the low turnout by allegedly buying up ticket spots.

Another user’s TikTok video shows another angle from inside the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater for Sacred Heart University’s spring concert last Friday (April 26).

From what can be seen in the second video, Huncho still gave the fans in attendance his attention and effort but it hasn’t come out why the venue, which holds over 5,700, was on the emptier side for the weekend concert.

As we’ve been documenting, the feud between Quavo and Chris Brown has been a long-brewing affair that culminated in a handful of diss tracks with the Migos rapper taking the last audio swipe with the track “Over Hoes & B*tches” featuring vocals from the late Takeoff. Brown dismissed the jab as “Google Raps” and looks to have moved on from the dustup.

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Tyla Reacts to Rihanna Comparisons: ‘I’m My Own Artist’

While there are certainly far worse people to be compared to than Rihanna, Tyla wants to make it clear: She’s only interested in charting her own path.

In her Cosmopolitan cover story published Tuesday (April 30), the South African star shared her thoughts on recent comparisons between her and the Barbadian singer-turned-Fenty billionaire — which, while flattering, aren’t indicative of her full story.

“Rihanna is Rihanna. It’s a compliment,” she told the publication. “But at the same time, I’m my own artist. I’m Tyla. And I know as people get to know me and my music, they will see me as just Tyla. So I’m fine with it now.”

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“People want to tie me to something familiar to them, cool,” added the musician. “But at the end of the day, we’re doing something no one’s done before, and it can’t really be compared to anyone.”

The 22-year-old singer is fresh off the release of her self-titled debut album, which dropped March 22 and features collaborations with Tems, Travis Scott and more. The set debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 and has spent five weeks on the chart so far, led by mega-viral hit “Water,” which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January.

Speaking of “Water,” Tyla also looked back on the slightly awkward process of getting her parents on board with the track — specifically, its NSFW lyrics. On the steamy, popiano track, which inspired a wildfire TikTok booty-shaking dance trend last year, she sings, “Make me sweat, make me hotter/ Make me lose my breath, make me water.”

“My mom was the person that saved me because my father was like, ‘What are you singing about?’” she recalled of the song, which won the Grammys’ first-ever African music performance award in March. “I was like, ‘Nah, it’s nothing bad, Dad. It’s just carefree fun.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ And my mother was the person being like, ‘Relax, relax. Relax.’”

Calibre 50 Adds Record-Extending 25th Regional Mexican Airplay No. 1

Calibre 50 continues its domination on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “Días Buenos, Días Malos” climbs from No. 7 to lead the list dated May 4. With the new win, The Sinaloan group adds its record-extending 25th No. 1 to its account.

According to Luminate, “Días Buenos, Días Malos” accrued 7.1 million audience impressions in the U.S. during the tracking week ending in April 25, with a 33% increase in audience from the week prior. The song also takes over with the Greatest Gainer honors, awarded weekly to the song with the largest increase in plays among the ranking’s 40 titles. (The previous week’s No. 1, Oscar Ortiz and Edgardo Nuñez’s “First Love,” falls to No. 2 with 6.9 million in audience, down 13%.)

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“Días Buenos, Días Malos” completes its journey to No. 1 in 13 weeks, having debuted on the chart at No. 20 in February. Thus, it ties with three other songs which needed 13 weeks or more to arrive at the summit in the past year.

Here’s a recap of the songs that required the most weeks to top the chart, dating to April 2023:

Weeks to No. 1, Title, Artists, Peak Date
13, “Bipolar,” Peso Pluma, Jasiel Nuñez & Junior H, Nov. 25, 2023
13, “Según Quién,” Maluma & Carín León, Dec. 16, 2023
13, “Vas A Querer Volver,” Banda Los Recoditos, Jan. 6
13, “Días Buenos, Días Malos,” Calibre 50, May 4
14, “Neta Que No,” La Fiera de Ojinaga, Jan. 20
16, “Ahí No Era,” Gerardo Ortiz, Feb. 17

As “Días Buenos” takes over Regional Mexican Airplay, Calibre 50 cements its winning appeal with 25 total champs, stepping further from its next competitor, Banda MS, with 19 No. 1 songs since the tally launched in 1994.

Notably, dating to 2013, when Calibre 50 scored its premiere leader with “Ni Que Estuvieras Tan Buena,” all, except for “Decepciones,” with Alejandro Fernández (2020), have been unassisted rulers.

Elsewhere, “Días Buenos” takes Calibre 50 to its 28th top 10 on the overall Latin Airplay ranking, as the song surges 14-7, breaking a tie with Marco Antonio Solis for the most No. 1s for a regional Mexican act overall.



Drake’s ‘Push Ups’ Debuts at No. 2 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

The buzziest rap beef of 2024 continues to light up Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as Drake’s “Push Ups” debuts at No. 2 on the list dated May 4. The song, released April 19 through OVO/Republic Records, is widely seen as a direct response to Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar’s collaboration “Like That,” on which the lattermost’s verse included rhymes that many interpreted as insults to Drake and J. Cole.

“Push Ups” first came to wide attention through demo leaks that surfaced online as early as April 13, with some speculating the track was a product of artificial intelligence. Following its official release, “Push Ups” earned 28.6 million official U.S. streams in the April 19 – 25 tracking week, according to Luminate. Thanks to the sum, “Push Ups” starts at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs chart to secure Drake’s record-extending 24th leader on the list. He’s now tripled the No. 1 total of every other artist on that chart, with The Weeknd – who also receives some perceived sting in “Push Ups” – in second place, with eight champs.

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While streams contribute most of the “Push Ups” activity, the song also sold 4,000 downloads in the tracking week, allowing for a No. 2 entrance on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales. It also generated significant radio airplay, with 5.4 million audience impressions in the same period. The early radio support prompts the track’s debuts on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (No. 34) and Rhythmic Airplay (No. 36) charts.

Elsewhere, “Push Ups” also opens at No. 2 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. On both that ranking and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, “Push Ups” is second only to … “Like That,” which reigns for a fifth week on each list. While “Push Ups” beats “Like That” in the sales and streaming races, the latter’s huge airplay advantage – 22.4 million in audience impressions, nearly 17 million more than “Push Ups” – powers the latter across the finish line.

After “Push Ups” premiered, Drake dropped a second diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” exclusively as an audio file on his X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram channels the same day. The track drew controversy for its use of artificial intelligence to imitate Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg’s voices. The former’s estate threatened to sue Drake on April 24, leading to the track’s removal the next day. As “Taylor Made Freestyle” was available only through social media channels and did not appear on streaming services, digital retailers or receive radio play, the song did not generate any activity to contribute to Billboard’s charts.



With “Like That” and “Push Ups” already in the chart archives, the next bout of the latest installment of the Drake – Lamar saga could arrive soon. On April 30, Lamar premiered a new song, “euphoria,” on his YouTube channel. The track, over six minutes long, takes several shots assumed to be at Drake, referencing the Canadian MC’s previous beefs with other rappers and alleging that Drake resorted to legal means to attempt to squash the “Like That” momentum, rapping: “Try cease and desist on the ‘Like That’ record/ Oh, what? You ain’t like that record.” Following the YouTube premiere, the song reached other streaming services and digital retailers hours later.

Alicia Keys, David Byrne & More Music Pros Who Scored in the 2024 Tony Award Nominations

This year’s Tony nominees include everyone from Hillary Rodham Clinton, nominated as one of the producers of Suffs, to Angelina Jolie, nominated as one of the producers of The Outsiders. Both shows are contenders for best musical.

In case you missed the announcement on Tuesday (April 30), Hell’s Kitchen, a musical loosely based on the early life of Alicia Keys and featuring her music, and Stereophonic, a David Adjmi play, led the 2024 Tony nominations, with 13 nods each. Stereophonic made history, becoming the most-nominated play in Tony Awards history. (It was boosted by the Tonys’ decision to allow the play to compete in two categories which are usually the domain of musicals: best original score and best orchestrations.)

Hell’s Kitchen and Stereophonic were followed in the nominations count by The Outsiders (12), based on the 1967 novel by S.E. Hinton and 1983 film by Francis Ford Coppola. Next in line were Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (nine nods), Appropriate (eight), Merrily We Roll Along and Water for Elephants (seven each), and Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch and Suffs (six each).

The 77th Annual Tony Awards, which will be hosted by Ariana DeBose for the third consecutive year, will air live on both coasts from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on Sunday, June 16 (8:00-11:00 p.m. ET/5:00-8:00 p.m. PT) on CBS and will stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Check out the full list of nominations here. In this piece, we’ll take a closer look at music stars and behind-the-scenes professionals — as well as some actors with notable roots in musical theater — who scored in the Tony nominations.

The Outfield Scores a Hit Again With ‘Your Love,’ Sparked by New Diplo Remix

Thirty-eight years after it first became a hit, The Outfield’s “Your Love” is back on Billboard’s charts.

Originally a No. 6-peaking single on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986, the pop-rock classic climbs from No. 199 to No. 189 in its second week on the Billboard Global 200, dated May 4. It gained by 6% to 13.4 million official streams worldwide April 19-25, according to Luminate. (At the beginning of February, the song was drawing over 8 million weekly streams globally.)

Meanwhile, a new version debuts on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs: “Your Love (Remix),” by The Outfield and Diplo, enters at No. 48. It also opens at No. 6 on the Dance/Electronic Song Sales chart.

Thanks to the song’s reimagination, The Outfield charts a newly-released entry on Billboard’s surveys for the first time since 1992, when “Closer to Me” became the band’s eighth Hot 100 hit. The group logged five top 40 Hot 100 titles in 1986-91, with “Your Love” followed by “All the Love in the World” (No. 19, August 1986), “Since You’ve Been Gone” (No. 31, August 1987), “Voices of Babylon” (No. 25, May 1989) and “For You” (No. 21, January 1991).

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“Your Love (Remix)” is from Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: The Mixtape, released April 26.

The original was released on The Outfield’s debut LP Play Deep, which rose to No. 9 on the Billboard 200 in June 1986. (The mid-‘80s were teeming with baseball-themed chart hits, with “Your Love” among a lineup of songs also including John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days.”)

Meanwhile, other favorites are enjoying new lives via dance makeovers. Here’s a rundown of six such tracks on the latest Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart:

  • No. 10, “Whatever,” Kygo with Ava Max / reworks “Wherever, Whenever” by Shakira (No. 9 peak in 2001 on the Hot 100)
  • No. 19, “Thank You (Not So Bad),” Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike x Tiesto x W&W & Dido / “Thank You,” Dido (No. 3, 2001, Hot 100)
  • No. 21, “The Sound of Silence (CYRIL Remix),” Disturbed / “The Sound of Silence,” Disturbed (No. 3, 2016, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs; Simon & Garfunkel’s original hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in 1966)
  • No. 27, “Somebody (2024),” Gotye, Kimbra, Fisher, Chris Lake & Sante Sansone / “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Gotye feat. Kimbra (No. 1, eight weeks, 2012, Hot 100)
  • No. 42, “It’s Not Right (But It’s Ok),” Mr. Belt & Wezol / “It’s Not Right But It’s Ok,” Whitney Houston (No. 4, 1999, Hot 100)
  • No. 48, “Your Love (Remix),” The Outfield & Diplo / “Your Love,” The Outfield (No. 6, 1986, Hot 100)



The Outfield formed in London and comprised guitarist John Spinks, vocalist/bassist Tony Lewis and drummer Alan Jackman. After Spinks died in 2014, the group disbanded. Lewis passed in 2020.

“We are astounded with the recent 10.4 million monthly Spotify listener milestone and wanted to say thank you for rocking with us in 2024,” a March post on the group’s official site reads; the band now boasts over 15 million listeners on the platform. “We will always have music as a safe place. All the love in the world.”

Linkin Park Considering 2025 Reunion Tour With New Vocalist

Three members of Linkin Park are mulling a possible 2025 reunion tour and are considering hiring a female vocalist to succeed late lead singer Chester Bennington, several sources close to the band tell Billboard.

Booking agency WME is taking offers for a potential Linkin Park tour along with headlining festival dates featuring Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Dave Farrell, the sources say. The band has not indicated who will sing on behalf of Bennington, who was often praised as one of the most gifted and durable vocalists of the 2000s with a dynamic range tailor-made for the group’s genre-bending style.

One source tells Billboard the band is hoping to find a female vocalist to front the reunited band, matching rumors that have been making the rounds in recent weeks. On March 30, during an appearance on Wired in the Empire on KCAL 96.7, Orgy’s Jay Gordon said he had heard rumors about a Linkin Park reunion.

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“Very, very cool guys and obviously a great band,” he said. “They’ve been around a long time and they’re still going for it,” he said. “It’s going to be tough without Chester, but we’ll see. I hear they got a girl singer now. That’s what I heard.”

Gordon later issued a statement saying his comments had been taken out of context, writing, “With regards to this linkin park singer thing. I know nothing about any of that.”

Earlier this month, Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee shot down rumors that she might be a candidate for the lead vocal gig. On April 23, the singer told iHeartRadio Canada that, while some Linkin Park fans had been voicing hopes for her to join the band, the group had not contacted her for the gig.

“But that’s awesome,” she said. “They should ask me about that. I don’t have a ton of free time, but I might do it part-time.”

Shinoda was asked about a possible reunion around the April 14 release of Papercuts (Singles Collection: 2000-2023), telling Revolver magazine, “Rumors always go around. People always ask what’s next for the band, and the best answer I can ever give anybody is when there’s something to tell you, we will tell you. When there’s an announcement to be made, it will be on LinkinPark.com. If you’re hearing it from somebody else, you can trust that information as much as you want to trust it.”

Linkin Park is one of the most successful rock groups from the 2000s, having sold more than 29.4 million albums in the United States, according to Luminate. The band has charted 24 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including three top 10 hits: “In the End” in 2003, “What I’ve Done” in 2007 and “New Divide” in 2009.

The band has also racked up 37.2 million U.S. song downloads and a combined 11.6 billion official on-demand U.S. streams. It has additionally charted six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, including One More Light, which debuted on May 17, 2017, two months before Bennington took his own life at his home in Southern California.

Billboard reached out to a representative for Linkin Park but did not receive a response.

Kendrick Lamar’s Response Was Worth the Wait

“A Hunting We Will Go.”

That’s the song whose melody Omar whistles in the eighth episode of the first season of The Wire, after he baits Wee-Bay and Stinkum into an ambush, shooting the former in the leg and killing the latter. This is the tune that must’ve been ringing off in Drake’s head as he grew more and more impatient waiting for Kendrick’s rebuttal. Well, it’s finally here — and The King in the North is wounded, ducking for cover like Wee-Bay behind that car.

“Them super powers gettin’ neutralized, I can only watch in silence/ The famous actor we once knew is lookin’ paranoid, and now it’s spiraling,” is how Kenny starts off “Euphoria,” essentially confirming the speculation that he was making Drake wait on purpose.

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I’ve been one of those people preaching patience — mainly because I remember when in order to hear a diss track, you had to either go find the mixtape it was on, wait for it to be premiered on the radio or live on stage, or wait for an artist’s album to drop. A back-and-forth often took months to play out, not days or weeks. Drake took about three weeks to respond to Kendrick’s verse on “Like That,” and has since dropped two songs: “Push Ups,” directed at Rap’s Sinister Six (Future, Metro, Kendrick, The Weeknd, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky) and the very weird and controversial “Taylor Made,” featuring AI versions of 2Pac and Snoop, which he was eventually forced to take down. And this all of this was happening while he tried to out-meme and out-funny Rick Ross on Instagram, which is a losing battle in itself. The irony of all this is “Euphoria” makes it seem as if Kendrick would have responded earlier if Drake didn’t try to bait him with gimmicks.

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But that’s all in the past. Today, Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 8:24 AM PST (remember the Kobe line from “8am in Charlotte“?,) the King of the West pushed the button on a diss track that is six minutes and 23 seconds of pure, unadulterated hate. And let’s be clear and let the record show: Kendrick didn’t “leak” this diss record to a streamer, or leave any doubt about this track being AI. He didn’t wait to put it on streaming services on New Music Friday, or attach the song to an album rollout. No, he put the song on his YouTube page and tweeted the link out, completely owning the moment. This track is basically that Beef DVD clip of 50 Cent standing outside on a balcony speaking on Ja Rule, shaking his head in disgust and telling the camera: “I really don’t like that guy.”

There are so many things to unpack. First you have the title of the song being “Euphoria” and the definition of the word as the single artwork. I’ll spare you the Genius annotation, but we all know Drake is an executive producer on HBO’s hit show Euphoria, right? The definition can also be a nod to Lamar having a feeling of euphoria after finally getting all this Drake hate off his chest. The song starts off with backwards audio from a scene in 1978’s The Wiz, where the Wizard (played by Richard Pryor) is exposed as a phony. “Everything they say about me is true, I’m a phony…,” the Wizard says. Lamar also mentions the paranoia Drake must’ve been feeling as he waited on this rebuttal. Kenny then flips a switch and goes into overdrive, giving critics and fans what they’ve been waiting for: a real life rap battle.

He throws shots in every direction, telling the Canadian rapper all the money and power can’t stop someone from being lame. He then refers to the game of chicken he’s been playing and asks Drake, “Have you ever walked your enemy down, like with a poker face?” He’s basically saying Drake blinked first after the “Like That” verse shook up the game. He mentions that Drake buying one of Tupac’s rings and using artificial intelligence to manipulate Pac’s voice made the late hip-hop legend “turn in his grave.” And he questions Drake’s “fake tough guy” act, advising him to finish his beef with Pusha T before thinking about responding to him, spitting, “I don’t like you poppin’ s–t at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef/ Yeah, f—k all that pushin’ P, let me see you push a T/ You better off spinnin’ again on him, you think about pushin’ me? He’s Terrance Thornton, I’m Terrance Crawford, yeah, I’m whoopin’ feet.”

Kendrick also confirms that this battle isn’t really for fun or for the crown, it’s really about “love and hate” — revealing that he’s also secretly Drake’s biggest hater, rapping, “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk/ I hate the way that you dress I hate the way you sneak diss/ If I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct/ We hate the bitches you f—k, ’cause they confuse themselves with real women/ And notice, I said “We”, it’s not just me, I’m what the culture feelin’.” He’s clearly sick of the Canadian’s sh—t and has been for a while now.

Drake’s “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” were solid efforts, but for my money, they didn’t hit as hard as the “Like That” verse or “Euphoria.” “Push ups” was clever and funny, and he was in a tough spot because he had to respond to like six different people. “Taylor Made Freestyle,” however, showed a chink in his armor. It came across desperate for a response, and it wasn’t very boss-like. I think it exposed how impatient he was becoming, as Kendrick gave nothing but radio silence as rumors started to spread about what he had under his sleeve.

This response was well worth the wait. You can’t put a timer on art, and I’m not putting a timer on Drake to fire back. I hope this rap battle carries on for the rest of the year, because steel sharpens steel and rap music in general can only benefit from this clash of titans.

Now we wait in the arena for the King in the North to gather his thoughts and respond. But, as Omar said, “You come at the king, you best not miss.”

ENHYPEN’s Heeseung, Jay & Ni-ki Throw the First Pitch at Seattle Mariners Game

The ENHYPEN boys have stepped up to the plate.

The Seattle Mariners welcomed the band’s Heeseung, Jay and Ni-ki on Monday (April 29) to throw the ceremonial first pitch at T-Mobile Park. The trio also hung out during the team’s batting practice, taking in the sights, playing catch and meet former Mariners player, Ichiro Suzuki.

In a special moment, lifelong Mariners fan and Seattle native Jay was surprised by a special video message on the scoreboard from former Mariners player, Jay Buhner, whom he was named after.

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ENHYPEN - Seattle Mariners

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Courtesy of Seattle Mariners

The promotional pitch comes following the band visiting town on the U.S. leg of their Fate Plus world tour for a show at the Tacoma Dome over the weekend, marking Jay’s first-ever hometown gig. The five-date U.S. tour in support of their 2023 mini album, ORANGE BLOOD, kicked off on April 24 with a stop at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA and also feature shows in Oakland at the Oakland Arena (April 26), Chicago at the Allstate Arena (May 1) and Belmont Park, NY at the UBS Arena (May 3).

Back in February, the group paid homage to one of their boy band progenitors, One Direction, when they covered the British band’s signature hit, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

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