Music
Page: 164
Olivia Rodrigo is leaving the countries she visited on the Guts World Tour better than she found them. As announced Tuesday (Dec. 17), the 21-year-old pop star is donating a hefty chunk of her net proceeds from ticket sales to charities all over the globe, marking just the latest initiative she’s taken through her Fund […]
André 3000 stopped by The Tonight Show on Monday night (Dec. 16) to chat with host Jimmy Fallon about his right-turn into the world of jazz and perform a rendition of one of the songs from his Grammy-nominated solo album New Blue Sun.
Three Stacks stressed to Jimmy that despite his name being on the cover and the LP being tagged as a “solo” project, it was truly a “collective effort.” Asked to describe the vibe of the all-instrumental, no rapping album that came out in November 2023, André said it’s definitely a “very open, trusting free-form exploration.”
Though some fans were bummed that the man widely consider to be one of the greatest MCs of all time put down the mic and picked up woodwinds, André revealed that the title of the first song on the album — “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time” — wasn’t a joke.
Trending on Billboard
He said that though for years he’s been “producing, making beats and still trying to do a vocal, rap kind of situation. Because I’m still a fan of rap. But that wasn’t on tap right now and that just happened to be what I was doing at the time. So I was like, ‘I enjoy this. Let me share it.’”
During a 17-year hiatus from releasing music as a lead artist, André dabbled in acting and became a kind of traveling minstrel meme among fans who delighted in posting videos of the MC strolling around coffee shops and airports playing one of his many flutes. “You know how when you have your phone you’re usually just scrolling and looking, I’ll play my flute,” he said. In fact, while in Philadelphia shooting a movie years ago, he would be spotted around town playing and people would come up to him and say, “‘you know it’s a game now. People are trying to find you and we’ll tweet and we’ll say, ‘Well, he’s at this park.’”
He also said that before each performance with his band they huddle and pump each other up with the phrase “fly free… that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to really fly free with it. The reward is different, because you have to listen to every second to know what’s happening. It’s just a different muscle, a different exercise than going and performing verses and choruses that you’ve written. Both are rewarding in their own ways.”
Dré then came back later in the show to perform an edited version of the originally 13-minute song “BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears a 3000® Shirt Embroidered.”
Watch André 3000 on The Tonight Show below.
Where do we start with 2024? The elephant in the room, the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud, was a seismic event that reverberated throughout the year’s pop culture, leaving rap purists scrambling to dissect every haymaker thrown in this illustrious battle. And who could forget when Future soared like MJ, securing a three-peat on the […]
Billboard has revealed its much-anticipated Year-End Charts that includes the Year-End Top Latin Albums list. The top 10 sets represent regional Mexican music and reggaetón’s continued dominance. Ending strong as the top LP is Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. The set — which was released October 2023 — spent one week […]
Oscar winner and R&B/hip-hop cornerstone Will Smith jumps four spots to No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated Dec. 21) with “You Can Make It” featuring Fridayy and Sunday Service. The song marks each act’s first leader on the list. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
It was November 2023 when I first met Ana Castela. She was backstage at Caldas Country, the festival in Caldas Novas in the Brazilian state of Goiás. At the time, she avoided speaking to the press before her show and seemed serious and shy as she prepared to take the stage. It was only her second time at the festival — just over a year had passed since her name first appeared in the media thanks to her song “Pipoco,” a collaboration with Melody and DJ Chris no Beat. Yet she was one of the main attractions of the night.
Nine months passed before I met Castela for the second time. This time, though still a bit shy, she was at one of the world’s biggest music festivals — Rock in Rio — to join duo Chitãozinho and Xororó for the “Brazil Day” celebration, the first in the event’s 40-year history. “For me, it was an honor. I consider them my grandparents,” she joked in her dressing room at Cidade do Rock, embraced by the sertanejo duo. Castela still seemed nervous about her upcoming performance, but she projected a new confidence, amplified once she took the stage. She faced a crowd singing along to her hits (“Nosso Quadro,” “Solteiro Forçado” and “Sinônimos”), including children of all ages wearing headbands with her nickname, “Boiadeira.”
Trending on Billboard
Born in Amambai, Mato Grosso do Sul, Ana Castela certainly couldn’t have imagined the success she would achieve by embracing the “boiadeira” style. Dressed in a cowboy hat, boots and a wide belt (much as an American cowgirl might), her so-called “agronejo” music blends sertanejo (Brazilian country music) and Brazilian funk, with lyrics about the agribusiness lifestyle. She is now one of the most listened-to artists in Brazil — a title she’s consistently held throughout 2024 — who as of this writing had two songs on the Billboard Brasil Hot 100 and spent 31 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Artists 25 Brazilian chart.
She entered the music scene at 17 but is still, at 21, trying to absorb the whirlwind of her life. “It was a drastic change, to be honest,” she says. “Before, I had a completely anonymous life. Now, people want to know everything about me, follow me around. It’s changed a lot.” Speaking to Billboard Brasil, she is still very much the girl from a countryside farm, pausing occasionally as if she is still trying to reconcile who she was and who she is today: “I’m enjoying the fruits that fame and the world are giving me, but always with caution.”
Ana Castela photographed for Billboard Brazil Global No. 1s Issue.
João Victor Moura dos Anjos
She’s followed by over 27 million people on social media, where she offers fun looks at her personal life — a Disney vacation, cute videos with her boyfriend, the singer Gustavo Mioto — and she’s starred in various commercials and advertising campaigns. “Ô loco [Wow],” she marvels. “Doors just keep opening for me. I never thought my face would be on a shoebox. It doesn’t just help my career; it makes dreams come true that I never even imagined. It’s awesome.”
But her feelings around her wildly increased presence are also conflicted. “My life is no longer mine. I don’t have a private life anymore; everyone knows everything I do,” she laments, though she adds that she’s getting used to it. When I ask if she’s receiving any professional support, Castela says that she started therapy about a month ago: “I think no mind is strong enough to go without a professional for so long.”
She knows the truth of that firsthand. At a performance at the Festa do Peão de Barretos in 2023, one of the most important sertanejo festivals in the country, she broke down while preparing to sing “Solteiro Forçado,” one of her breakthrough hits. “Sorry I can’t sing,” she sobbed in front of a massive crowd. “I swear I’m studying and working with a vocal coach to improve. It’s exhausting as hell, but I’m giving it my all.” Backstage, it was equally tough. “I was in a bad headspace,” she recalls.
Excessive work, plus the overwhelming experience of her fame, had taken a toll on her emotionally. “I couldn’t hit the note that day — I was so insecure,” she says. Criticism from both the public and within herself fueled her drive to improve. “You need to evolve. I was born with the gift of singing, but I need to perfect it.”
Therapy, her Christian faith and her family — an unconditional support system — now help her cope. She also strives to balance the needs of Ana Flávia (her real first name) and Ana Castela. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends at her farm in Londrina, Paraná, and visiting São Paulo for shopping. “Those are the days I can just be young,” she jokes, as if on others she must be a more mature version of herself.
Ana Castela photographed for Billboard Brazil Global No. 1s Issue.
João Victor Moura dos Anjos
Her latest project, Herança Boiadeira, released in September 2024, embodies this balance. Recorded at her farm, it features collaborations with iconic sertanejo artists like Matogrosso & Mathias, Eduardo Costa, Paula Fernandes and Gino & Geno. “I wanted it to be mine — not Ana Castela’s, but Ana Flávia’s. A tribute to my roots, my upbringing on the farm. My grandfather loved these artists, and so did I,” she explains. In fact, one standout track features her paternal grandparents: “Minha Herança,” with its heartfelt lyrics reflecting a longing for lost time.
Next year, Castela will step into the shoes of iconic artists before her when she becomes the ambassador of the 70th Festa do Peão de Barretos, where she quickly has risen from playing a secondary stage in 2022 to the main stage in 2023 and again in 2024. Pedro Muzeti, artistic director of the festival, says Castela’s evolution represents the future of sertanejo music: “It’s a renewal of the rodeo audience. Having someone young represent such a historic event is fitting.”
Her appeal to younger fans is certainly evident in the kids who wear her signature hats (“They’re adorable; I love them,” Castela says), and she’s launching Turma da Boiadeirinha, a YouTube channel featuring kids songs. But her future, she realizes, very much revolves around an adult audience. She’s collaborated with big names like Gusttavo Lima and Luan Santana and dreams of pairing up with Luísa Sonza and Anitta. And after winning best sertanejo album at the 2024 Latin Grammy Awards, Castela has her sights set on an international audience next.
“If it works, I’ll go for it,” she says. In 2025, she plans to incorporate pop into her shows but stay true to her roots: “I’ll always bring my hat wherever I go,” she insists. “It’s important to show the strength of our music on the global stage.”
Earlier this week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues and promoters of 2024. We’re breaking it down further, looking at the biggest live acts, genre by genre. Here, we kick things off with rap. Hip-hop had its biggest year ever on stage. Rap artists accounted for 5.7% of the top […]
System of a Down‘s 2025 is starting to get pretty packed. The “Chop Suey!” band announced on Monday (Dec. 16) that they will expand on the already announced North American stadium dates they recently announced with a run of South American stadium gigs.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The seven-show Wake Up! South America stadium tour is slated to kick off on April 24 in Bogota, Colombia at the Estadio Nemésio Camacho El Campin, followed by a show in Cercado De Lima, Peru at the Estadio Nacional. The tour will move on to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, wrapping up with a run of three shows in Curitiba, Rio De Janieiro and São Paulo. The concerts will be SOAD’s first trip to South America since 2015. No opening acts have been announced for the South American shows.
Fans can sign up for first access to a pre-sale beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time (Peru at 8 a.m.), with a general on-sale beginning at noon local time on Thursday (Dec. 19).
Trending on Billboard
The reveal came after the band announced a run of 2025 North American shows that will kick off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on August 27-28 with special guests Korn, as well as two night at Soldier Field in Chicago (August 31-Sept. 1) with Avenged Sevenfold and a final stop at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on Sept. 3 and 5 with Deftones.
SOAD went on hiatus in 2006, with band members splitting off to pursue side projects before reforming in 2011 for a run of European festival dates, which was followed by a series of festival and sporadic headlining gigs over the next decade. Despite teasing a return to the studio to work on a follow-up album to their 2005 double release, Mezmerize and Hypnotize, at press time there was no information on the band’s as-yet-untitled sixth studio album.
Check out the announcement and full list of announced 2025 SOAD tour dates below.
April 24 – Bogota, CO @ Estadio Nemesio Camacho El CampinApril 27 – Lima, PE @ Estadio NacionalApril 30 – Santiago, CL @ Parque Estadio NacionalMay 3 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Estadio Velez SarsfieldMay 6 – Curitiba, BR @ Estadio Couto PereiraMay 8 – Rio de Janeiro, BR @ Estadio Nilton SantonMay 10 – São Paulo, BR @ Allianz ParqueAugust 27 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium %August 28 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium %August 31 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field *Sept. 1 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field *Sept. 3 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Stadium ^Sept. 5 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Stadium ^
% = w/ Korn, Polyphia, and Wisp* = w/ Avenged Sevenfold, Polyphia, and Wisp^ = w/ Deftones, Polyphia, and Wisp
Lil Wayne has been very candid about the hurt feelings he felt when he was passed over to perform at next year’s Super Bowl halftime show in his hometown of New Orleans in favor of “Squabble Up” MC Kendrick Lamar. Now, Weezy has revealed that he’s spoken K-Dot and not only is it all good, but he’s rooting for Kendrick to “kill” the gig.
“I’ve spoken to him, and I wish him all the best and I told him he better kill it,” Wayne told Skip Bayless on his show on Monday (Dec. 16), during which the host revealed that he remains “baffled and angry” that his guest was not tapped to perform on the biggest stage there is in his own backyard.
“For whatever reason I believe it’s over my head,” Wayne said as part of what he described as the “general” reason why he thinks he was passed over for the gig during what is traditionally the most-viewed TV program of the year. “I don’t know why, period. Obviously I believe that it’s perfect… I do not know why.”
Trending on Billboard
Personally, however, Wayne, 42, had some other thoughts. “The person I am? I straight look at it like, ‘you ain’t there, you gotta get there,’” said the MC with more than three decades in the game, as Bayless shook his head and called him the undisputed “G.O.A.T.,” then doubled-down on the fact that the game is being played at the Caesars Superdome in the Big Easy. “It just makes no sense to me. I don’t get it… their politics played… I don’t know,” Bayless said.
“That’s another part of it, there’s things I can’t control,” Wayne said. Asked if he was better with it now than he was when the news first dropped, Wayne smiled and said unequivocally “no.”
Wayne added, however, that he’s talked to the people he trusts and his management team about his feelings and told them, “I want to get to the point where I’m undeniable. I want them to walk in there and have 10 other choices and whoever’s in charge says, ‘no, you have to go with him!’”
Bayless then read the lyrics to the new Lamar GNX song “wacced out murals” — which Wayne said he was not familiar with — in which K-dot raps, “Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.” Looking confused and doubling-down on saying it was his first time hearing those lines, Wayne parsed it by suggesting, “I think he’s [Lamar] a fan like I’m a fan of his music (he’s a fan of my music)… he saw what everybody else [saw] and he saw how much it meant to me. I think that’s all he mean… obviously he can’t control that. He didn’t let me down. It ain’t like he can control it.”
Wayne then described talking to Lamar and telling him that “he better kill it. You gotta kill it.” He also noted that Lamar did not need to explain the “wacced out murals” lyrics to him. “I think he means he made it there, his hard work is the reason he made it there and obviously let me down is me being upset and disappointed about not getting that spot.” If anything, Wayne said the lyrics showed that Lamar “has a heart” and that he cares about the situation.
Back when the news broke in September, Weezy was very candid about being passed over. “First of all, I want to say forgive me for the delay. I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking,” said a somber Wayne in an Instagram post. “I’mma say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back.”
At the time, he said the news “Hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot. I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
The let-down cam after Wayne openly admitted last February that he coveted the halftime slot. “I will not lie to you, I have not got a call,” he said on YG’s 4Hunnid podcast. “But we all praying, we keeping our fingers crossed. I’m working hard. I’m going to make sure this next album and everything I do is killer, so I’m going make it very hard for them to … I want to just make it hard for them not to highlight the boy.”
When Bayless asked if there was any chance Wayne might make a last-second cameo during the set to show that it’s all good between the two undisputed rap legends, Weezy said no way, noting that he will be out of the country on February 9.
Watch Wayne wish Kendrick well below.
The Jonas Brothers are getting ready to ring in the new year, joining the star-studded Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2025. The familial pop rock outfit are the latest artists added to the list of performers on the annual countdown that will air on ABC on Dec. 31 beginning at 8 […]