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When it comes to finding success through American Idol, Carrie Underwood needs no advice. She was the winner of the music talent competiton’s fourth season in 2005, and since then, has gone on to become a three-time Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year winner and an eight-time Grammy winner who has notched 16 […]
Fred Again.. is taking his show on the road across the U.S. and Canada this fall for the Places We’ve Never Been Tour.
As the name indicates, the run bring the London-based producer to markets he’s not yet played across North America, with stops in Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle and locations throughout the Midwest, northeast and southern United States, as well as Toronto, Canada.
The tour launches Sept. 11 at the Ball Arena in Denver. Four stops on this tour — Denver, Seattle, Toronto and East Troy, Wisc. — will feature two nights of shows. General tickets go on sale Friday, Aug. 9, with a pre-sale happening on Aug. 8.
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On Instagram, the artist born Fred Gibson indicated that additional shows will be added to the tour, writing that “obviously this poster isn’t evvvvvery show! It’s jus every one that we’ve confirmed.”
The tour announcement comes after Fred Again..’s announcement last week that he’s got a new album, Ten Days, coming on Sept. 6. The project, Fred Again..’s fourth studio LP, will feature collaborations with Sampha, Skrillex and Four Tet, Jozzy, Joy Anonymous and Emmylou Harris and more, including his previously released Anderson .Paak collab “Places to Be.”
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“It’s ten songs about 10 days,” Gibson wrote on Instagram of the album. “There’s been a lot of biggg mad crazy moments in the last year but basically all of these are about really very small quiet intimate moments.”
The tour announcements follows a recent string of splashy Fred Again.. performances, including a headlining set at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in June, a headlining slot at Bonnaroo and a sold-out b2b performance with Skrillex at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza in early June.
See the Places We’ve Never Been Tour dates below:
Fred Again.. places we’ve never been tour
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Kehlani’s ex-partner Javaughn Young-White has filed a petition to gain legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Adeya, claiming the singer is in what he describes as a cult. He is also requesting child support.
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In the court documents, filed in Los Angeles on July 24 and obtained by Billboard, Young-White claims “everyone else has bigger say-so when it comes to upbringing of our daughter than I do.” He says that because Adeya, who arrived in March 2019, was “born in a home and not in a conventional setting like a hospital,” Young-White’s name is not on the birth certificate as her father. Additionally, he claims he requested a copy of both the child’s birth certificate and social security number, both to “no avail.” (In announcing the birth of Adeya, Kehlani shared via a since-deleted Instagram post that they welcomed their healthy baby girl via “unmedicated homebirth.”)
According to Young-White’s filing, Kehlani — whose full name is Kehlani Parrish — allegedly “has been involved in this cult for the past few years and it appears that this cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter.”
Per the documents, Young-White claims he has attempted to retrieve his daughter in the past, but was allegedly “physically restrained and threatened” by members of what he referred to as the cult. “While Respondent is on tour, and our daughter is in the care of her fellow cult members, Adeya sleeps in the bed with, and is given baths by random adult members of the cult and she is often in the bedroom alone with some of these people,” he alleges.
Young-White concluded by requesting that Kehlani takes a psychological exam, that his name be added to Adeya’s birth certificate and that Adeya’s name be changed officially from Adeya Parrish to Adeya Parrish Young-White. “I am also requesting that I have full custody of Adeya due to [Kehlani]’s busy schedule, her relationship with the cult that she is involved in,” the filing reads.
“I am not here to disparage [Kehlani]. However, the environment that she has created for her self is not the type of environment that a child should be living and therefore, I bring myself to the mercy and wisdom of the Court to save my daughter before it is too late,” he concluded in his filing.
Kehlani has not yet publicly responded to the allegations in Young-White’s petition for custody. Billboard has reached out to reps for both the singer and her former partner for comment.
“A storm is coming” this summer: Chlöe revealed on Monday (Aug. 5) that her second studio album, Trouble in Paradise, will be released on Friday, Aug. 9, via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. The 26-year-old singer-songwriter-producer-actress shared the news alongside a picture of her wading in midnight blue water while wearing a neon green dress […]
The Olympics are still in full swing, so, naturally, Snoop Dogg and Beyoncé continue to be central figures at this year’s Games.
Between cheering on a horse named Gin & Juice alongside longtime collaborator and friend Martha Stewart and starting an impromptu dance party with Simone Biles, Snoop Dogg would take home the gold medal if there was an Olympic event for best celebrity personality. After introducing Team USA with “Ya Ya,” Queen Bey used another Cowboy Carter track — the Willie Jones-assisted “Just for Fun” — for a special commercial commemorating Simone Biles. The Beyoncé-women’s gymnastics crossover didn’t stop there; all three women who made the podium in the floor excise final used Beyoncé tracks in their routines. Gold medalist Rebecca Andrade (Brazil) tumbled to “End of Time,” silver medalist Biles (USA) included “Delresto (Echoes)” in her mix, and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles (USA) soared to a medley of “Black Parade,” “My House,” “Cuff It,” “Energy” and Destiny’s Child’s “Lose My Breath.”
In non-Olympics news, Kanye “Ye” West and Ty Dolla $ign finally unveiled Vultures 2, Drake and Partynextdoor announced a new joint album due this fall and The LOX delivered an instant classic Tiny Desk performance.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from FLO’s latest banger to Moses Sumney’s new heartbreaking ballad. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
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Freshest Find: Moses Sumney, “Love’s Refrain”
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Ominous choral coos, haunting snaps and a range-traversing vocal performance are the grounding elements of “Love’s Refrain,” the stunning closer to Moses Sumney’s new Sophcore EP. “I lied/ I’m in love all the time/ I fetch for the kiss of death, unrequited,” he opens the first verse, carefully setting up a gut-wrenching story of unrequited, love compounded with this confines of heteronormative friendships and the fluidity of platonic and romantic relationships. A master of chilly, introspective electronic R&B, Sumney’s voice is particularly soulful here; his yearning holds centuries’ worth of literary longing.
Mudbaby Ru, “40 Mo’ Reasons”
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Following the viral success of his brash “40 Sum Reasons” single, Mudbaby Ru spins the block to double down with the charismatic “40 Mo’ Reasons.” Hailing from Arkansas, Ru narrates vivid street tales while comparing himself to legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick and bragging about sleeping with an opp’s baby momma while dancing on his grave. A hilarious exchange with Siri adds a comedic touch to the track’s outro. It’s about that time for Mudbaby’s major label debut album.
FLO, “Check”
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FLO has garnered a lot of love for their references to Y2K pop&B, but they keep those allusions to the visuals for their latest single, “Check.” Accompanied by a music video that pays homage to Beyoncé’s “Check on It,” the U.K. girl group lay their pristine harmonies over a skittering backbeat just short of Miami bass. In essence, it’s FLO meets PinkPantheress… so don’t be surprised if you come across a remix featuring the chart-topping artist ahead of the trio’s appearances on Kehlani’s upcoming Crash World Tour.
Sugarhill Ddot & PnB Rock, “Lamborghini Dreams”
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PnB Rock was tragically murdered on the West Coast in September 2022, and nearly two years later, his first posthumous guest verse lands on Sugarhill Ddot’s 2 Sides of the Story debut album. Rock’s croon opens the lucid “Lamborghini Dreams,” where he eerily touches on death. “Almost died behind the whip, I had to slow down,” he sings. The Harlem native colors outside the lines of his melodic drill world and name-drops Soulja Boy and Doja Cat in the same bar. Ddot is the first artist signed to the revamped Priority Records and hopes to make a statement in the drill lane with his new debut LP, featuring Hunxho, Skilla Baby and more big guests.
JPEGMAFIA, “I’ll Be Right There”
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Introduced by a warped sample of Jade’s career-defining hit “Don’t Walk Away,” JPEGMAFIA fires off several warning shots to his haters with his latest single, “I’ll Be Right There.” The pitched-up harmonies give the illusion of a sinister gospel choir, which plays well with the snarl Peggy employs in his verses. Steady percussion and shimmering strings round out the soundscape, over which he spits, “Y’all keep on thinkin’ I’m playin’ the hand I was dealt/ Yeah, until the same hand get a grip on that bitch/ Y’all want none of them problems/ Y’all want none them issues.” Several modes removed from the rave-provoking feel of his previous I Lay Down My Life For You singles, “I’ll Be Right There” slyly flips classic new jack swing romance into a bone-chilling warning straight from the roots of gangsta rap.
Kitschkrieg Feat. Future, Mariah The Scientist & Fridayy, “Slow Down”
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Oktoberfest meets Magic City. German production trio Kitschkrieg invites a star-studded guest crew to invade the dancefloor on the woozy “Slow Down.” Future, Mariah The Scientist and Fridayy join forces to make up a melodic rap-R&B cocktail. Pluto’s star shines the brightest as his syrupy flow has become bulletproof while spanning different genres. He paints a raunchy picture while opening up about some of his wild escapades — blowing six figures on women, getting fellatio on FaceTime and sipping lean out of his Grammy trophy. Look for more genre-blending collabs on Kitschkrieg’s forthcoming German Engineering Zwei album, which arrives on Nov. 15.
Election season is in full swing with just over three months (92 days, but who’s counting?) until Election Day. Donald Trump appeared on internet personality Adin Ross’ Kick stream on Monday (Aug. 5), where he entered the building to 50 Cent’s “Many Men” as his soundtrack of choice.
The Get Rich or Die Tryin’ anthem has become a rallying cry of sorts for Trump in the wake of last month’s assassination attempt. Trump steps into the venue to the menacing track co-produced by Eminem, and greets the supporters in attendance — most of whom are rocking red Make America Great Again caps and holding pro-Donald Trump signs.
Of course, 50 references himself being shot on “Many Men” and the G-Unit boss himself leaned into all the viral memes, which resulted in a boost to the 2003 album on the charts.
“How is this real life?” a fan asked on X.
In the streaming week following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania (July 12-July 18), “Many Men” registered 6.4 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week, which is 224% higher than the 2 million total streams in the prior frame.
During the stream, Ross had Trump comment on various political leaders and pop-culture figures including Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Young Thug.
“He’s a very complicated,” Trump said of West. “Let’s say complicated because he is. He’s a really nice guy, but he can get some people into trouble. And he can get some other people. He’s got a good heart — he does, he does, but he’s complicated.”
Trump and West have plenty of history dating back to DT sending well wishes to Ye and Kim Kardashian when the couple tied the knot in 2014. West said he would’ve voted for Trump in 2016, and paid 45 a visit at the White House in October 2018. The Graduation rapper rocked a MAGA hat on Saturday Night Live in 2018, and then went on to face-off with Trump and Joe Biden in a failed 2020 presidential election bid.
The twice-impeached former president even gave his thoughts on Young Thug’s much-delayed YSL RICO trial and called for the incarcerated rapper to be “treated fairly” by the Georgia legal system. “I hear Young Thug — I heard the name, I heard it from other people where they say he’s being treated unfairly. He’s gotta be treated fairly,” he demanded on Ross’ stream.
Thug — born Jeffery Williams — has been behind bars since May 2022 and there is no end date in sight for the YSL trial. According to NBC News, it’s the longest trial so far in Georgia’s history.
Jimin’s “Who” spends a second week at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, a week after it launched at the surveys’ summits. Jimin became the second member of BTS to have topped the tallies apart from the cornerstone Korean pop group, following Jung Kook. Plus, BTS became the first group with multiple members that have led both rankings.
Also this week, Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” and Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” both ascend to the Global 200’s top 10.
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The Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
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Jimin’s “Who,” released July 19, crowns the Global 200 for a second week, with 93.4 million streams (up 4%) and 64,000 sold (down 51%) worldwide July 26-Aug. 1.
Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” rises 3-2 for a new Global 200 high; Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” dips 2-3, following three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in June; Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” steadies itself at No. 4, after reaching No. 3; and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” keeps at No. 5, after two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 starting in May.
Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” climbs 12-9 on the Global 200. Released in June, the song, Karol G’s sixth top 10 on the chart, drew 68.8 million streams (up 2%) and sold 2,000 (up 11%) worldwide in the week ending Aug. 1.
Plus, Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” becomes her first Global 200 top 10, lifting 11-10. The stand-alone single, which debuted in April on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200, totaled 49.2 million streams and 5,000 sales worldwide in the latest tracking week.
Jimin’s “Who” concurrently leads Global Excl. U.S. for a second week, with 75 million streams (down 1%) and 15,000 sold (down 80%) outside the U.S. July 26-Aug. 1.
Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” rebounds to its No. 2 Global Excl. U.S. high, from No. 3; Carpenter’s “Espresso” descends 2-3, following eight nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in May; Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” jumps 7-4, surpassing its prior No. 5 best; and FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” repeats at No. 5, after reaching No. 3.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Aug. 10, 2024) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Aug. 6. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Late folk-country icon John Denver returns to the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Aug. 10) as a writer via MGK — who formerly went by Machine Gun Kelly — and Jelly Roll’s new single, “Lonely Road.”
The track, released July 26, launches at No. 33 on the Hot 100 with 10.5 million official streams, 646,000 in radio airplay audience and 12,000 sold in the United States in the week ending Aug. 1, according to Luminate.
Referring to himself and Jelly Roll as KellyRoll, MGK revealed that they worked on “Lonely Road” for “2 years [in] 8 different studios [and] 4 different countries [and] changed the key 4 times.”
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The song, MGK’s fourth top 40 Hot 100 hit and Jelly Roll’s seventh, reimagines Denver’s breakthrough anthem “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which journeyed to No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1971. The singer-songwriter tallied 14 top 40 hits through 1982, when “Shanghai Breezes” reached No. 31. He logged four No. 1s, among seven top 10s.
Denver, who died in 1997, appears in the Hot 100’s top 40 as a writer for a second time in the past decade – with both via reworkings of “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” In October 2016, “Forever Country,” by Artists of Then, Now & Forever, hit No. 21. The song, released in celebration of 50 years of the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, is a medley of three favorites: “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” The all-star track also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
“Lonely Road” concurrently debuts at No. 13 on Hot Country Songs.
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Denver’s enduring original “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has drawn 931 million official on-demand streams in the U.S. to date. It has also totaled 230 million in radio reach and sold 1.8 million downloads.
Further modernizing its profile, Lana Del Rey’s cover hit No. 23 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs this past December.
Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (who were then married) co-wrote the song from its start and finished penning it with Denver. Since 2014, it has served as an official state song of West Virginia, while Denver’s version was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023.
Springfield, Mass., native Danoff recalled in 2018 to Billboard that, after he began studying at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he had “one year where I did a lot of road trips. I just was fascinated by the countryside … barns … stuff I had only seen in pictures. I’d suddenly become a real nature fan. That’s where all that ‘country roads’ stuff came from.”
Lil Yachty‘s song with Drake, “Super Soak,” continues to cause controversy.
First, Soulja Boy took issue with some of Drake’s lyrics that mentioned his record label Stacks on Deck. Then, during an appearance on the podcast Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant With Akaash Singh in late July, Yachty revealed the reason why he sent the song to streamer Kai Cenat to begin with.
“I sent a song to Kai to leak. We couldn’t get the sample cleared, so I just let Kai play it,” he said. When asked why the sample wasn’t cleared, Boat said the social media personality “went down a Christian path.”
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The social media personality that he’s referring to is Mr. Hotspot. He’s mostly active on Instagram, and his posts are generally of him dancing and telling people to smile. He’ll also make songs like “Smiling Good Like” and the song Yachty and Drake sampled “Goodness Gracious.”
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Over the weekend, Mr. Hotspot hopped on IG Live to tell fans his side of the situation, saying he’s open to clearing the sample if they make a clean version of the song. “We recorded them a clean reference and we sent it into them, so hopefully they rerecord the clean reference and we come out with the clean ‘Goodness Gracious’ altogether,” he said. “So I said it’s a process, but it’s … it’ll be good for both of their brands like that, and I’m blessed to work with children, so we just gotta make it clean for them.”
He added, “We don’t need no children getting whooped ’cause they said this or that, you understand? And if you look at the backside, it’s the children who really runnin’ these views up. So, if we make sure both verses clean, everybody coming clean, everybody gonna benefit for sure. It’s a process, but we appreciate you being patient. We sent it in, they got it today and them boys about to turn up. We ain’t tryin’ to hold them back from nothin’, but we just need the morals correct, that’s all.”
This wasn’t the only drama Yachty found himself in.
During the same podcast interview, he also mentioned Drake was “unfazed” after his rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, which, of course, became a topic of discussion on social media. But, that’s not all. A couple weeks ago, he went viral for saying people from New York couldn’t dress when he had Cash Cobain on his podcast A Safe Place.
“Everyone used to just kinda copy Atlanta. You said it yourself,” Boat told the Bronx rapper. “You just said even like the influence was extremely heavy from Atlanta. … As far as style goes, I don’t think it’s s–t going on when it comes to New York fashion.”
This, too, caused a stir on social media, which leads us to what the the rapper said Thursday (Aug. 1). Yachty to took Instagram Live and announced that he was going to stay quiet going forward. “I’m not doing no more talkin’,” Yachty said. “I don’t got s—t else to say. I’m gone off this internet s—t. I think I’m gone for the rest of the year. I swear to God. I ain’t got s—t else to say.
He added, “Contracted to do this podcast s—t, unfortunately contracted to, but I ain’t posting no more hs—t. I ain’t posting no fits. I’m deleting the apps off my phone. I swear to God … I’m not tweeting, I’m minding my f–king business.”
Singer-songwriter and Yellowstone actor Luke Grimes and his wife, Brazilian model Bianca Rodrigues Grimes, are expecting their first child together, she announced on Instagram Sunday (Aug. 4).
Bianca shared a photo of herself, a silhouette which showed off her baby bump, with the caption, “Can’t wait to meet you little one,” accompanied by a heart emoji.
The couple wed in November 2018.
In March, Grimes released his self-titled debut album, which followed his 2023 Dave Cobb-produced EP Pain Pills or Pews. In 2023, he also released his debut country single “No Horse to Ride.” Grimes previously signed with UMG Nashville in association with Range Music.
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The couple have appeared at several television, film and movie events in recent years, including walking the carpet together at the Yellowstone season five premiere, held in New York City, and appearing at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in 2022.
In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Grimes said that his Yellowstone co-star and fellow singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson gave him the courage to step into the country music world.
“It was inspiring to watch Lainey step into those [acting] shoes,” he said. “As much as I was afraid that people would naturally be like, ‘What is this guy doing here?’ I realized that no one on our set was like, ‘What is she doing here?’ Everyone was like, ‘She’s awesome and we’re glad she wants to do this.’ That took some of the fear away for me.”
Grimes recently appeared in the movie Happiness for Beginners, and according to IMDB, another project, Eddington, is in post-production. The second part of Yellowstone season five will arrive Nov. 10 on Paramount+.
See the pregnancy announcement below: