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As the countdown continues to the 58th annual CMA Awards, set to air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20, country music fans will be anxious to see who takes home the evening’s top prize — entertainer of the year. This year, the nominees are Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson.
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Luke Bryan, a two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner himself, is offering his thoughts to Billboard on who could potentially take home this year’s EOY accolade.
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“I look back at when I won CMA entertainer of the year and in my opinion, that’s always been about who has sold the most tickets and has been kind of the most impressive thing out there in the touring world,” Bryan says.
Each of the nominees has been selling out headlining shows in venues ranging from amphitheaters and arenas to stadiums: Wallen on his One Night at a Time Tour, Combs on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour, Stapleton with his All-American Road Show Tour, Jelly Roll with his Beautifully Broken Tour and Wilson with her Country’s Cool Again Tour.
“When I look at what Morgan Wallen’s doing out there, selling out multiple [stadiums], and I know Luke Combs is doing that too, and obviously, they’re just both great entertainers,” Bryan says. “I don’t know who to sit there and put my endorsement on, but I have just been in awe watching Morgan Wallen go from being on some of my stadium tours and hanging on the bus with me, to watching him just really put up Garth Brooks-like stadium shows, has been pretty incredible. So, I think certainly it’d be something really, really great if Morgan might get him one or two, or three or four the next couple of years. But I think they’re all worthy of it. Lainey won last year, and that’ll probably put her in the front-runner spot, too, but it is a hot seat kind of thing. They all got my vote.”
Wallen, who scored his third CMA entertainer of the year nomination this year, leads this year’s overall CMA nominees with seven nods. Meanwhile, Stapleton earned his eighth nomination in the entertainer of the year category (he has yet to win the prize), while Combs earned his fifth nomination in the category (he has previously won twice), Wilson picked up her second EOY nomination (she is the reigning CMA EOY winner) and Jelly Roll nabbed his first nomination in the category this year.
Bryan is gearing up for the release of his new album, Mind of a Country Boy, on Friday (Sept. 27). The 14-song album features his current single, “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” which currently resides at No. 8 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
Bunnie XO continues to be Jelly Roll’s muse! The Dumb Blonde podcast host took to TikTok to share a snippet of one of her husband’s unreleased love songs. “He wrote me a new song,” she captioned the video, which features scenes of the couple having fun and spending time together. “Woman, without you on my lips/ […]
Texas’ Maxo Kream and Cali’s Tyler, the Creator team up for a Big Western Showdown. Directed by Karim Belkasemi, the duo keep it simple, yet stylish for the “Cracc Era” music video as they rap over Tyler production fitted up in a studio with a white backdrop. The beat harkens back to the Odd Future […]
Warning: This story contains mentions of suicide.
Lisa Marie Presley‘s death at 53 last year was attributed to a small-bowel obstruction the only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley suffered several years after weight loss-related bariatric surgery. But in a new interview with People magazine, Presley’s daughter, Daisy Jones & the Six star actress Riley Keough, said her mother’s passing was also due to a heavy emotional burden she carried.
Keough said that her brother Benjamin’s death by suicide in 2020 at age 27 had a profound effect on Presley. “My mom tried her best to find strength for me and my younger sisters after Ben died, but we knew how much pain she was in,” said Keough, 35, of Presley, who in addition to sharing Riley and Benjamin with ex-husband Danny Keough also had 15-year-old twins Finely and Harper with ex Michael Lockwood.
“My mom physically died from the after effects of her surgery, but we all knew she died of a broken heart,” said Keough. The People interview is packaged with an excerpt from Lisa Marie’s posthumous memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which is due out on Oct. 8. Presley had begun work on the autobiography before her death, with Keough stepping in to finish the book by listening to the hours of tape her mother had recorded before putting her stories into print.
“This extraordinary book is composed of both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voice, a mother and daughter communicating across the transom of death as they try to heal each other,” reads a press release about the book. “Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other — the last words of the only child of a true legend.”
According to People, in the memoir Presley — who had previously told the magazine that she would never “move on” from her son’s death — says she and Keough healed their broken hearts by “helping people. One kid wrote to Riley and said, ‘I didn’t kill myself last night because of what you said it would do to my family and those that are left behind. So thank you.’ That helped me. That brought me up.’” Keough said that her brother’s death was “incredibly difficult to write about, as was my mom’s descent into addiction. And her own death, of course.”
The actress cautioned that the book is not strictly about grief, but also about the “very human experience of love, heartbreak, loss, addiction and family. [My mom] wanted to write a book in the hopes that someone could read her story and relate to her, to know that they’re not alone in the world. Her hope with this book was just human connection. So that’s mine.”
Keough will discuss the book in an upcoming Oprah Winfrey special from Elvis’ Graceland, An Oprah Special: The Presleys – Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley, that will air on CBS and Paramount+ on Oct. 8.
While many people are firmly focused on the tight presidential contest between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, Willie Nelson and Margo Price got together to remind fans that there are other races people should keep their eyes on as well.
Sitting on Nelson’s legendary tour bus, the country singers and Farm Aid board members highlighted a pair of congressional races they said are equally important in an Instagram video. “I know we’re all talking about the presidential race, and that’s important, but Margo and I want to talk about our Texas and Tennessee voters,” said Nelson, 91.
“There are 33 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs this November. We have a chance to vote out Marsha Blackburn,” added Nashville native Price in the short clip she said was filmed during a break from a “very important” game of Nelson’s second-favorite past time: dominoes.
In 2018, Taylor Swift made her first-ever political endorsement when she spoke out against Republican Blackburn, whom the singer described as “Trump in a wig” in her 2020 Miss Americana documentary. Swift’s pick, Democrat Phil Bredesen, ended up losing that 2018 midterm election to Blackburn, whose voting record Swift said at the time “appalls and terrifies me.”
Price told voters that they have an opportunity to vote in “Tennessee Three” member Gloria Johnson, who in 2023 became a hero to Volunteer State Democrats when she and her colleagues reclaimed their legislative seats after being expelled for a gun control protest on the State House floor following a mass shooting at the Covenant school in Nashville that took the lives of three children and three adults.
Texas-native Nelson promoted Colin Allred over Republican Ted Cruz, who has been a junior senator from the Lone Star State since 2013 and who was repeatedly insulted by Trump during his unsuccessful 2016 White House bid. “I know firsthand that Colin will represent all Texans, no matter their race, who they worship or who they love,” said Nelson, reading from a sheet of notes.
“And I know Gloria will do something about the gun problem this country faces,” Price added. “Our children don’t have to live like this.”
Nelson made sure to note that the voter registration deadline for both Texas and Tennessee is Oct. 7, while Price encouraged viewers to vote early to make sure they don’t miss a chance to have their voices heard, pointing out that her home state has the lowest voter turnout in the nation.
“So make a voting plan and bring three friends to the polls and vote for Colin Allred,” Nelson said of the former Tennessee Titans linebacker and House member who is running against climate change denier Cruz, whose platform includes a vow to shut down the IRS and who called the abolition of the abortion protections in Roe v. Wade a “massive victory” for life.
“So what I tell my friends is, ‘Friends don’t sleep with people that don’t vote,’” Price added with a smile. “So we can do better.”
Watch the video below.
Being a parent is hard enough on its own, but at least most moms and dads don’t have to worry about people trying to leak photos of their kids for the entire world to see — unless they’re Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Monday (Sept. 23), […]
When artists perform in a music-centric city such as Nashville, the chances are always high that they will welcome a special guest or two. Machine Gun Kelly did just that, bringing some country-music star power to his acoustic set on Tuesday night (Sept. 24) as part of the 107.5 River on the Rooftop concert series […]
It’s 11:45 p.m. on a Wednesday night, and Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right is alive with energy. Despite the late hour, the youthful exuberance of the twenty-something couple standing next to me is contagious as they daringly risk their eight hours of slumber to party with rising R&B star Isaiah Falls. This shared energy is enough to galvanize anyone in attendance, regardless of age.
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For the venerated venue that once hosted SZA and Billie Eilish during their early days, Falls’ fire and desire prove to be worth the late-night stay, as he and The Avengers — his Luxury Lane crew — charm the crowd, courtesy of his 24-minute masterwork, Drugs and Lullabies.
“Technically, it’s an EP because an EP is anything under 28 minutes,” says Falls earlier in the day, explaining why the project isn’t an album. “Don’t get me wrong, it feels like an album, but it’s not.”
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Falls’ rise in 2024 began when he crafted his single “Florida Baby,” an ode to all the bodacious women representing his home state. Sitting pretty at 17 million streams on Spotify, “Florida Baby” became a staple for The Sunshine State and the driving force behind the singer’s first-ever headlining tour.
“Drake had The 6, Kendrick had Compton in LA, these people that popped off always had the city behind them. I think that’s impact,” says Falls. “Cash Cobain has New York behind him right now. I understood that I needed to get the attention of where I was before I took over the world.”
Drugs & Lullabies is a 12-track groove oozing with syrupy melodies and sleek hooks. It thrives off Falls’ precocious songwriting and Luxury Lane’s glossy production. With traces of PARTYNEXTDOOR and Justin Timberlake seeping through the project, Falls’ R&B-tinged effort has signature wins, including “Honey” and “Candy.”
“My team and I call it my Section 80, but we wanted to keep it short and simple,” he says. “Straight to the point — because when it’s time for the album, as a businessman, they’re gonna have to auction that b–ch. I’m not gonna lie.”
Billboard spoke to Falls about his musical family, leaning into Justin Timberlake when making his new EP, the making of “Florida Baby” and more.
You come from a musical family where your parents were in a band. Talk about that.
It was beautiful. I grew up with my parents being in a band. My dad’s a drummer, my mom’s a singer, my sister sings a little bit, but she doesn’t really do it too much. The whole household was very musical and their music taste was very different. Growing up in that, whatever they were listening to, I was trying to find something else. They were listening to gospel, Mike [Jackson], and mad people like Charlie Wilson, Prince, Earth, Wind and Fire, all those cats. Me, growing up, I started listening to Jay-Z, Twista, Luda and Chris Brown. My sister put me on to a lot of music too, because we were very close. It was a very diverse household for music tastes.
Then, my parents got into trying to be A&Rs when I was younger. They picked up some artists, because they weren’t as involved in the church like they used to be, so they decided to guide artists. They got artists signed, too. I would travel with them. I went to Nashville when I was like 11, because they went to go meet with Warner or something like that to get a group signed. It was all Christian music, by the way. They ended up getting cut loose by the main artist they were focused on, and that was very impactful, so they kinda let go of A&R and life lifed and they went separate ways. I picked up music very early, very early.
How did that conversation with your parents go when you had that self-discovery of wanting to become an artist?
I feel like I was in a very unique scenario because I didn’t necessarily need to have the conversation with both my parents — because I was raised by my mother, for real. My mother understood that it was a journey, and everything that had to go into being an artist — but her being experienced, she guided me in a way where it was like, “You can do it, if you really do it.”
So I had support. She bought me my first laptop from the pawn shop. She worked as hard as she possibly could to get me anything possible that I needed to make music. I had a keyboard, a laptop [and] a cracked FL studios. She supported me anyway possible. Honestly, it was the biggest blessing, because it felt like there was no ceiling.
You mention “your brothers” making music too in a past interview. Was it ever a competitive vibe between you guys?
Not really. So when I say “my brothers,” one was an artist that my parents were managing and he was just there all the time. He wasn’t a blood brother, but it felt like my brother. He was a rapper and he put me on to just recording. Like I remember specifically — one time I was recording, he told me to say “f–k.” I was like, “You sure?” and he was like, “Say it.” I said it and he brought my parents in. He was like, “Look. He’s really good at this sh-t.” Since that day, I was like, “I’mma do this for real.”
You mentioned having a strong love for hip-hop. Was the goal to be a rapper first?
100%. I think I always gravitated towards rap and the feeling that rap gave me, personally. I think that’s why even though I make R&B music, my music still knocks and hits in the car, because I still love that essence of rap. I still love Kodak. I still love Trick Daddy. I still love these people that still have that Florida essence to them, like Rick Ross. Their music still hits in the car. I love making smooth music for the women, but I also love the low-end of rap music.
Because you come from Orlando, that’s not necessarily a stomping ground for R&B artists. Where did you seek inspiration from?
Man, there really wasn’t much. Early on in my life, my parents — since they were heavily in the church, there were gospel singers that they had their eye on and I loved their music growing up. Their music was so good. This guy named Alex Teamer, incredible singer — still connected with him to this day — his music was so soulful, and I feel like I grew up trying to learn the songs he was singing because my mom used to play it. So I grew up just singing that. Since he was from the city, it was dope to see him and how he produced too. He did it all. That’s definitely majority of where I got that inspiration from. And my mom used to always play Mike in the house. I learned how to sing falsetto by singing “Rock Your Body” [by Justin Timberlake, originally written for Michael Jackson].
Your Mount Rushmore is Aaliyah, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Sampha and Miguel. Was there anything you took from them creatively that inspired your Drugs & Lullabies EP?
I think there’s so many layers. Naturally, I listened to Aaliyah and a lot of ’90s music in general. If I can put one more, I’d put SWV on the Mount Rushmore. I grew up listening to that music when I found myself. I do melodies unconsciously. On “Diva,” they’re like, “Oh. That sounds like an Aaliyah sample” and I was like, “Nah. I was just singing.” It’s just in [my] subconscious.
Sampha, specifically — a lot of this project was made without drums first. I get that from Sampha, when he was collaborating with Drake on “4422” and “Too Much.” There’s songs that I hear from Sampha that I absolutely love, and they feel like interludes. I make a lot of music that feel like interludes first, and my team would be like, “Nah. This is a hit. Let’s put some drums [on it].”
Which records on the project did you add the drums to? I love “Candy” and the bounce it has to it.
That’s actually one of them, which is crazy. “Candy” specifically, we made in New York. Keep in mind, I don’t record the drums and we made a bunch of records that had no drums. Shout-out to my team Luxury Lane. They hit me and they were like, “Nah. This album is good, but it’s not there yet. It don’t got no bops or no hits yet. We gotta put some hits on it.”
So we came to New York, and they were like, “Let’s go in with the intention of writing a hit.” When we were writing that song, we were like, “We’re in New York. Let’s take an old ’90s record that just feels right. So that guitar that Bliz did in the beginning is so reminiscent of the ’90s, because that was intentionally our goal.
There’s a pocket beginning with “Florida Baby” where I think you go on a three, four-track run of straight bops, going into “Honey” and “Candy.” Was that intentional as well?
Absolutely. I started the production on “Honey.” When I started that beat, I was like, “Let’s make a little vibe.” You know, you look good, you smell good. Let’s get that energy for the women. That’s honestly one of my favorite songs because the crowd just starts to move. So that was kind of intentional. [Luxary Lane’s] Icee Red is heavily influenced by Justin Timberlake, so he was like, “Let’s go there on the bridge.” I was like, “OK. Say less. Let’s go there.”
So I had a melody initially that reminded me of Mike or JT and instantly I was like, “We can go there for the bridge.” What’s beautiful about my team is that everyone has their influences and they all kind of sprinkle that into my music. So essentially across the board, that’s kind of mix of all of us.
I’m glad you said Justin Timberlake-inspired because there was a song on the project that I said gave Justified energy.
Yeah, it gotta be “Honey.” 100%. The 20/20 Experience and Justified, them two projects for our team in general, we love those projects.
“Florida Baby” was the song that rang off for you and is your most popular record to date. How did that come about?
Two years ago, maybe three years ago now, I decided to leave my 9-5 job because I was doing music part-time instead of full-time and I was working at a water company. With all that being said, I was getting by doing graphic design and ubering. One night I was ubering and sometimes in Orlando, nothing pops up on your app and you’re just sitting there. So I was sitting there and I was like, “Man. F–k that. I’m going home.” I was like, “I can’t do this.” I was on a website called Waves.com and I was just listening to samples while I went home to find something I could record to that night. Keep in mind, this is New Year’s Day, which is crazy because New Years is popping, but the certain part I was in, there’s no ubers, ever. I’m driving home and I find the sample for “Florida Baby” on Waves.
I go home and I said, “I don’t remember the last time I heard an anthem for the state of Florida.” I always kept in mind Drake had The 6, Kendrick had Compton in LA, these people that popped off always had the city behind them. I think that’s impact. Cash Cobain has New York behind him right now. I understood that I needed to get the attention of where I’m at before I take over the world. When I went into recording, I said, let’s make a song for the women specifically, but let’s make a song for the women where I’m from.
I recorded the song, it was fire and all of that. That night I posted on Instagram. I do a thing where I snippet music. That’s kind of my cheat code. I was like let me put it out and see if people really f–k with this. So I put it out and went to sleep. I woke up the next day, keep in mind, my views on Instagram always been 2,000-3,000 views and at most 7,000 views. I woke up and saw 500,000 views. That’s when I was like, “Oh. We got something.”
I texted The Avengers — Luxury Lane — and said, “Yo. We gotta finish this right now.” So we got everyone’s scheduled aligned. It was like a week later and we got into the studio. We flushed it out together and rushed the rollout. I did the cover art myself. We got the ball rolling. Here comes my amazing manager Tia that came in swinging and said, “This is fire.” Shipped it to Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and that’s really how the ball started rolling to me.
How instrumental were the Instagram teasers when it came to piecing together the project?
It was super important. I think I might have teased every record on the project. Just 30 seconds at max. I teased everything and kind of just tested the water. There’s some that went with the wind and some things that stuck. How we gonna miss on an album when the fans already picked the album? So that’s why it feels like a no-skip album because they took it and made it their own. We just had to take it to the finish line.
Diddy and Kim Porter’s children have spoken out regarding the rumors about their parents’ relationship and the “conspiracy theories” surrounding Porter’s 2018 death.
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Christian Combs, twins Jessie and D’Lila Combs as well as Quincy Brown, whom Diddy adopted, penned a letter on Tuesday (Sept. 24) as they look to put an end to the speculation and allegations made about their mother since Diddy’s indictment on federal charges earlier in September.
“We have seen so many hurtful and false rumors circulating about our parents, Kim Porter and Sean Combs’ relationship, as well as about our mom’s tragic passing, that we feel the need to speak out,” they began.
The children also slammed the 60-page Kim’s Lost Words: A Journey for Justice From the Other Side…, a memoir allegedly written by Porter that topped Amazon’s bestsellers list.
Combs’ attorney Erica Wolf called the memoir “fake” and “offensive – a shameless attempt to profit from tragedy” in a statement to Billboard on Tuesday.
“Claims that our mom wrote a book are simply untrue,” Combs and Porter’s children said in the statement. “She did not, and anyone claiming to have a manuscript is misrepresenting themselves. Additionally, please understand that any so-called ‘friend’ speaking on behalf of our mom or her family is not a friend, nor do they have her best interests at heart.”
The statement went on: “Our lives were shattered when we lost our mother. She was our world, and nothing has been the same since she passed. While it has been incredibly difficult to reconcile how she could be taken from us too soon, the cause of her death has long been established. There was no foul play. Grief is a lifelong process, and we ask that everyone respect our request for peace as we continue to cope with her loss every day.”
Porter passed away on Nov. 15, 2018, and her cause of death was determined to be lobar pneumonia. She was 47.
“We are deeply saddened that the world has made a spectacle of what has been the most tragic event of our lives,” the statement continued. “Our mother should be remembered for the beautiful, strong, kind, and loving woman she was. Her memory should not be tainted by horrific conspiracy theories.”
The four kids collectively “ask that everyone please respect our mother, Kim Porter, and hold her legacy in high regard so that she may rest in peace.” They concluded: “It’s what she deserves. We love you and miss you Mommy. Quincy, Christian, Jessie & D’Lila.”
Porter’s ex Al B. Sure! — who is the father of their son Quincy Brown — called for an investigation into Kim Porter’s untimely death earlier this week on Instagram.
“For over a decade and a half, I’ve been posting about, and tagging random law enforcement agencies in hopes to protect loved ones, avoid deaths & tragedies that could have all been avoided,” wrote Sure.
He claimed: “Ms. Porter’s missing devices, allegedly already in evidence, unquestionably contain the critical evidence that have been concealed. I’m convinced that evidence corroborates closely with details outlined in the recently released public indictment document.”
Diddy was arrested on Sept. 17 in New York City on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has since been denied bond twice and will remain in prison until facing trial.
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” the indictment — which was obtained by Billboard — reads. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
If Diddy is ultimately convicted of the charges, the music mogul is facing a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.
Following Diddy’s arrest, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said he and his client were “disappointed” at the “unjust prosecution” he was facing. “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said. “To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Find the full statement from Kim Porter’s children below.
Rihanna may now have some trouble feeling like the only girl in the world — or the only her in the world, for that matter — thanks to Madame Tussauds‘ newest wax figure. As unveiled Wednesday (Sept. 25), the billionaire superstar is the latest celebrity to be cloned for the wax museum’s London location. Striking […]