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Stray Kids are set to perform at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards. They join fellow K-pop stars SEVENTEEN, as well as Teddy Swims, Tyla, Coldplay, Jelly Roll and Megan Moroney, who were previously announced as performers on the show.
Hosted by actress and comedian Michelle Buteau, the 2024 BBMAs presented by Marriott Bonvoy is set to air on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX and Fire TV Channels, and on-demand on Paramount+, with performances also rolling out across Billboard.com and via @BBMAs and @Billboard social channels.
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Stray Kids are finalists for four awards at the BBMAs â top duo/group, top global K-pop artist and two bids for top K-pop album â ROCK-STAR and ATE.
In August, ATE became Stray Kidsâ fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200. That month, they also landed their highest-charting single to date on the Billboard Hot 100 â âChk Chk Boom,â which reached No. 49. Stray Kidsâ previous No. 1 albums or EPs were Stray Kids Mini Album: Oddinary, Maxident, 5-Star and ROCK-STAR.
As previously announced, Zach Bryan, Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter are the leading finalists for the 2024 Billboard Music Awards.
This marks the showâs return to FOX, which carried the show from its 1990 inaugural broadcast through 2006. In addition, Paramount+ will provide on-demand streaming of the show, while the free Fire TV Channels app will provide one-click access to fans using Amazon devices (Fire TV smart TVs and streaming media players and Fire Tablets).
The BBMAs will celebrate musicâs greatest achievements with exclusive original performances, artist interviews, and award celebrations taking place from global locations and in the midst of sold-out tours. Shaboozey will deliver a special performance from W Hollywood, part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. Additional performers and special guests will be announced soon.
The BBMAs honors the yearâs biggest artists, albums, songs, producers and songwriters across multiple genres, as determined by year-end performance metrics on the Billboard charts. The eligibility dates for this yearâs awards are aligned with Billboardâs Year-End Charts tracking period, which measures music consumption from the charts dated Oct. 28, 2023 through Oct. 19, 2024.
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.
The show is presented by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Internationalâs travel program and portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands. For more information, visit MarriottBonvoy.com
System of a Down announced a trio of 2025 stadium shows featuring special guests Deftones, Korn and Avenged Sevenfold. The Live Nation-produced gigs will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on August 28 (with Korn), followed by Soldier Field in Chicago on August 31 (with Avenged Sevenfold) and Rogers Stadium in Toronto […]
Selena Gomez has a lot to celebrate. In addition to receiving a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress on Monday (Dec. 9), the 32-year-old singer-actress also has two friends up for the same category â Emilia PĂŠrez costar Zoe SaldaĂąa and fellow pop star Ariana Grande â whom she cheered on in a post […]
Sheâs just kidding â but really. Sabrina Carpenter recently made a surprise appearance on vocal coach Eric Vetroâs BBC Maestro course Sing Like the Stars and opened up about the inspiration behind her smash hit âPlease Please Please,â which she said is very much non-fiction.
While talking about her approach to songwriting with Vetro, the 25-year-old pop star shared that she, âwas so excited when I wrote that song, because it felt like a fraction of me that I had been waiting to not only write, but to put out and then perform.â
âThen it just it [made] me so excited for the rest of the project, because it feels very aligned with all the music I grew up listening to that I love, but also very much myself,â she continued. âAnd that song was obviously based on real-life events.â
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The discussion of the song came just days after reports emerged that Carpenter and boyfriend actor Barry Keoghan have split after about a year of dating. The Saltburn star deactivated his Instagram account before posting a statement on X Saturday (Dec. 7), explaining that he âcan no longer let this stuff distract me from my family and work.â
âMy name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually donât respond [to],â added Keoghan, who is a father to a young son named Brando. âI have to respond now because itâs gettin to a place where there are too many lines being crossed ⌠Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing you can imagine.â
Many fans believe Carpenter penned âPlease Please Pleaseâ about the Banshees of Inisherin actor, especially after he starred alongside his then-girlfriend in the Short nâ Sweet trackâs music video. The Jack-Antonoff-produced Billboard Hot 100-topper finds the Tall Girl actress literally pleading with a love interest to act respectably, singing, âHeartbreak is one thing, my egoâs another/ I beg you, donât embarrass me, motherfâker.â
âPlease Please Pleaseâ is also one of the closing numbers on Carpenterâs Short nâ Sweet Tour, which wrapped its North American leg in November. The star â whose holiday special A Nonsense Christmas dropped on Netflix Dec. 6 â will hit the road again in Europe in March.
Watch Carpenter reflect on writing âPlease Please Pleaseâ below.
Exclusive: #SabrinaCarpenter makes a surprise appearance on singing coach Eric Vetro’s ‘BBC Maestro’ course, talking about writing the viral hit “Please Please Please” from her latest album ‘Short n’ Sweet’.”That song was obviously based on real-life events.” pic.twitter.com/QpEvaj4UXeâ The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 9, 2024
Keith Urban is set to bring his high-octane live show on the road in 2025, when his High and Alive World Tour launches May 22 in Orange Beach, Alabama, at The Wharf Amphitheater. Joining Urban on the tour will be Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins. Following the Alabama kick-off, the tour will include stops in Chicago, Salt Lake City, Houston and Nashville, Tennessee.
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âPlaying live is what I live to do,â Urban said in a statement. âLooking out from a stage and seeing people singing, forgetting about all the stress in their lives, cutting loose, and feeling ALIVE â thatâs what itâs about for me. Lots of hits, new songs, things we wonât even think about until weâre onstage â and loads of guitar. Weâre gonna make this tour the best night of your life!â
The tour takes its name from Urbanâs latest album, High, which debuted at No. 10 on Billboardâs Top Country Albums chart following its September release. Tickets for Urbanâs High and Alive World Tour will go on sale Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. local time, with additional North American show dates to be revealed in the coming months.
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Urban is slated to announce international dates for the High and Alive tour at a later date.
See the full list of 2025 tour dates below:
May 22: Orange Beach, AL @ The Wharf Amphitheater
May 23: Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
May 24: Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium
May 30: Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
May 31: Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh
June 12: Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion
June 13: Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
June 14: Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
June 19: Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 22: Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 26: Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
June 27: Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
June 28: Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
July 17: Denver, CO @ Fiddlerâs Green Amphitheatre
July 18: Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
July 19: Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
July 24: TBA
July 26: Inglewood, CA @ Intuit Dome
Sept. 25: Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 26: TBA
Sept. 27: Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center
Oct. 2: Hershey, PA @ Giant Center
Oct. 3: Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Oct. 4: Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
Oct. 9: Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
Oct. 11: Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
Oct. 16: Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Oct. 17: Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande are used to competing on the Billboard Hot 100. But now theyâre squaring off against each other at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards as well. Gomez and Grande are both nominated for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture for their roles in Emilia PĂŠrez and Wicked, respectively. Gomez has a second nomination for best performance by a female actor in a TV series, musical or comedy for Only Murders in the Building.
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Other music stars who got nods in the nominations announced on Monday morning (Dec. 9) include: Miley Cyrus, Maren Morris and Robbie Williams, all nominated for best original song â motion picture; Donald Glover, who has released music as Childish Gambino, for best performance by a male actor in a TV series, drama, for Mr. and Mrs. Smith; and Zendaya, best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy for Challengers.
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Cynthia Erivo is nominated for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture â musical or comedy for her as Elphaba role in Wicked. TimothĂŠe Chalamet is nominated for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture â drama for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Edward Norton is nominated in the supporting actor category for his performance as Pete Seeger in that same film.
ClĂŠment Ducol and Camille have three nominations in the music categories for their work on Emilia PĂŠrez. They are nominated for best original score and have two of the best original song nomineesâ âEl Malâ and âMi Camino.â They cowrote the former song with the filmâs director/writer, Jacques Audiard.
Nine Inch Nailsâ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have two nominations in the music categories. They are nominated for best original score for Challengers and best original song for âCompress / Repressâ which they wrote for that film with the filmâs director, Luca Guadagnino.
Emilia PĂŠrez was the most-nominated motion picture, with 10 nods, followed by The Brutalist (seven), Conclave (six), and Anora and The Substance (five each).
The Bear was the most-nominated TV show with five nods, followed by Only Murders in the Building and ShĹgun (four each). Netflix was the top distributor for both film and TV. It had 13 nominations on the film side, followed by A24 with 12. It has 23 nominations on the TV side, followed by HBO/Max, with 14.
Actors Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut presented the nominees for the 2025 Golden Globes on Monday morning and the 82nd Annual Golden Globes will air live on Sunday, Jan. 5, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. The show will be held at its usual home, the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
This will be the second year the Globes have presented the cinematic and box office achievement category. The nominees are Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Deadpool & Wolverine, Gladiator II, Inside Out 2, Twisters, Wicked and The Wild Robot. In its first year, the award went to Barbie over such rivals as Oppenheimer and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
The Golden Globe Awards, which likes to call itself âHollywoodâs Party of the Year,â is the first major awards show of the season. Itâs also the worldâs largest awards show to celebrate the best of both film and television.
Comedian Nikki Glaser is set to host the show for the first time. Viola Davis and Ted Danson have been named as recipients of the Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Carol Burnett Award, respectively. They will be recognized on the Golden Globes telecast. In addition, they will be feted at a separate gala dinner on Friday, Jan. 3, also at the Beverly Hilton. This marks the first time that the Golden Globes will host a special evening dedicated to the recipients of these two honorary awards.
Multi-Emmy Award-winning producing duo Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment will return as executive producing showrunners for the 82nd Golden Globes. Dick Clark Productions will produce the show.
Best motion picture â drama
The Brutalist (A24)
A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures)
Conclave (Focus Features)
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)
September 5 (Paramount Pictures)
Best motion picture â musical or comedy
Anora (Neon)
Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
Emilia PĂŠrez (Netflix)
A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
The Substance (Mubi)
Wicked (Universal Pictures)
Best original score â motion picture
Volker Bertelmann (Conclave)
Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)
Kris Bowers (The Wild Robot)
ClĂŠment Ducol, Camille (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (Challengers)
Hans Zimmer (Dune: Part Two)Â
Best original song â motion picture
âBeautiful That Wayâ ââ The Last Showgirl; Music & Lyrics By: Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Zachrisson
âCompress / Repressâ ââ Challengers; Music & Lyrics By: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
âEl Malâ ââ Emilia PĂŠrez; Music & Lyrics By: ClĂŠment Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard
âForbidden Roadâ ââ Better Man; Music & Lyrics By: Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek
âKiss The Skyâ ââ The Wild Robot; Music & Lyrics By: Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi
âMi Caminoâ ââ Emilia PĂŠrez; Music & Lyrics By: ClĂŠment Ducol, Camille
Best motion picture â animated
Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)
Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films)
Moana 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)
Cinematic and box office achievement
Alien: Romulus (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Deadpool & Wolverine (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)
Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Twisters (Universal Pictures)
Wicked (Universal Pictures)
The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)
Best motion picture â non-English language
All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow / Janus Films) â Usa / France / India
Emilia PĂŠrez (Netflix) â France
The Girl With the Needle (Mubi) â Poland / Sweden / Denmark
Iâm Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics) â Brazil
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon) â Usa / Germany
Vermiglio (Sideshow / Janus Films) â Italy
Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture â drama
Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)
Angelina Jolie (Maria)
Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)
Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door)
Fernanda Torres (Iâm Still Here)
Kate Winslet (Lee)Â
Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture â drama
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
TimothĂŠe Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)
Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture â musical or comedy
Amy Adams (Nightbitch)
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla SofĂa GascĂłn (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
Zendaya (Challengers)
Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture â musical or comedy
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Hugh Grant (Heretic)
Gabriel Labelle (Saturday Night)
Jesse Plemons (Kinds of Kindness)
Glen Powell (Hit Man)
Sebastian Stan (A Different Man)
Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture
Selena Gomez (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Ariana Grande (Wicked)
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe SaldaĂąa (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role in any motion picture
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)
Best director â motion picture
Jacques Audiard (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light)
Best screenplay â motion picture
Jacques Audiard (Emilia PĂŠrez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold (The Brutalist)
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Peter Straughan (Conclave)Â
Best television series â drama
The Day of the Jackal (Peacock)
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)
ShĹgun (FX/Hulu)
Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
Squid Game (Netflix)
Best television series â musical or comedy
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
The Bear (FX/Hulu)
The Gentlemen (Netflix)
Hacks (HBO | Max)
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Best television limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television
Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
Disclaimer (Apple TV+)
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix)
The Penguin (HBO | Max)
Ripley (Netflix)
True Detective: Night Country (HBO | Max)
Best performance by a female actor in a television series â drama
Kathy Bates (Matlock)
Emma Dâarcy (House of the Dragon)
Maya Erskine (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Keira Knightley (Black Doves)
Keri Russell (The Diplomat)
Anna Sawai (ShĹgun)
Best performance by a male actor in a television series â drama
Donald Glover (Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Presumed Innocent)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)
Eddie Redmayne (The Day of the Jackal)
Hiroyuki Sanada (ShĹgun)
Billy Bob Thornton (Landman)
Best performance by a female actor in a television series â musical or comedy
Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This)
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary)
Ayo Edebiri (The Bear)
Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building)
Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along)
Jean Smart (Hacks)
Best performance by a male actor in a television series â musical or comedy
Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This)
Ted Danson (A Man on the Inside)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Jason Segel (Shrinking)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)
Best performance by a female actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television
Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer)
Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country)
Cristin Milioti (The Penguin)
SofĂa Vergara (Griselda)
Naomi Watts (Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans)
Kate Winslet (The Regime)
Best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television
Colin Farrell (The Penguin)
Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer)
Kevin Kline (Disclaimer)
Cooper Koch (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story)
Ewan Mcgregor (A Gentleman in Moscow)
Andrew Scott (Ripley)
Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role on television
Liza ColĂłn-Zayas (The Bear)
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
Dakota Fanning (Ripley)
Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer)
Allison Janney (The Diplomat)
Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country)
Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role on television
Tadanobu Asano (ShĹgun)
Javier Bardem (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story)
Harrison Ford (Shrinking)
Jack Lowden (Slow Horses)
Diego Luna (La MĂĄquina)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear)Â
Best performance in stand-up comedy on television
Jamie Foxx (Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was)
Nikki Glaser (Nikki Glaser: Someday Youâll Die)
Seth Meyers (Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking)
Adam Sandler (Adam Sandler: Love You)
Ali Wong (Ali Wong: Single Lady)
Ramy Youssef (Ramy Youssef: More Feelings)
The Golden Globes are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.
RosĂŠ is hitting the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon stage â on her own this time. The star will be joining the show in-studio as a solo artist outside of BLACKPINK for the first time on Wednesday (Dec. 11), as she previously delivered a pre-taped performance of âOn the Groundâ in 2021 during the height […]
With the inauguration of a new president just six weeks away, many in country musicâs creative community recognize they have a role to play.
In his first administration, Donald Trump was frighteningly comfortable making life difficult for people who exercised their First Amendment freedom of speech rights â threatening, for example, to revoke TV licenses over negative coverage and calling for a federal investigationof Saturday Night Live over a skit.
For his second administration, Trump and some of his cabinet nominees have vowed to exact revenge on his perceived enemies, including journalists whose coverage he deems unflattering. Some former White House staff and advisers say Trump aspires to rule as an autocrat.
Songwriters, artists and musicians â like reporters â make their living transmitting messages, and many are aware that on certain days, they may be led to create music that might seem contrary to a thin-skinned ruler. Do they self-edit and slink to the next subject? Or do they stand up and speak their piece?
Songwriter Dan Wilson, who co-wrote Chris Stapletonâs âWhite Horse,â which won the Country Music Associationâs single and song of the year, is familiar with the issue. He worked with The Chicks, co-writing the Grammy-winning âNot Ready To Make Niceâ after they were booted out of countryâs mainstream for criticizing then-President George W. Bush and the Iraq War.Â
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âAs Iâve learned firsthand in the past, critiquing the president can be a fraught and dangerous thing to do,â Wilson said on the red carpet before the CMA Awards. âGenerally, doing what artists do anyway, which is pointing things out that no one else will talk about, that could be a dangerous thing to do, but I donât think thatâs going to stop.â
Most songwriters, particularly in country music, donât address political topics in their work on a regular basis. And plenty of those creators â when pressed in recent weeks on how Trumpâs return to the White House might influence their art â shrugged off the subject, saying they were apolitical or didnât feel comfortable talking about it publicly.
But others were particularly sensitive about the subject. In the past, Trump has incited his followers to intimidate his detractors, and many see his return to office as a threat to their personal freedoms and, possibly, to their safety. Artists are already acutely aware of the potential reaction of the audience and media gatekeepers.
âYou always think about that stuff,â Phil Vassar noted at the ASCAP Country Awards red carpet. âYouâre writing songs â âCan I say that in a song?â â
Under normal conditions, songwriters ask that question to avoid commercial and/or artistic repercussions. But in authoritarian regimes, expression is tightly guarded, creating additional emotional hurdles. In Russia, the population is famously loath to speak ill of top government officials. Vladimir Putin has jailed artists whose music opposes his rule. In Afghanistan, music has been outlawed in its entirety.
âThe arts are frightening because the arts reveal people to themselves,â Rosanne Cash said at a Dec. 4 party for her new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit, âRosanne Cash: Time Is a Mirror.â âThe arts are inherently political in that bigger sense, that it changes people and wakes them up.â
Not everyone sees the incoming administration as a threat. Jason Aldean, Chris Janson and Brian Kelley all participated in the Republican Convention in July, and Big Loud artist Lauren Watkins is hopeful that âwe are going to have more freedom of speech.âÂ
Meanwhile, Julie Williams, a mixed-race, queer artist, is already concerned about being canceled by emboldened conservatives under a Trump administration. The day after the election, she wasnât convinced she had the strength to play a Nov. 7 show celebrating her new EP, Tennessee Moon. But the audience response helped her recognize that her songs might be even more important over the next four years.
âFor me, when I get a chance to be onstage and sing songs about growing up in the South or my queer journey, it makes me feel like I have a little bit of control, a little bit of power, over whatâs happening in the world,â she said on the CMA Awards carpet. âWhile I canât change whatâs happening at the national level at the moment, at my shows, I can help create an environment that people feel like they belong, that they feel like thereâs somebody that loves them, and just to share my stories and hope that the audience hears themselves in it.â
Itâs not only the songwriters and artists who sense they have a mission. Found Sound Media founder Becky Parsons, who specializes in management and PR for women and minority artists, is encouraging her acts â including Sarahbeth Taite and Fimone â to present themselves authentically through their art. And she intends to do that herself.
âIâm not going to be silent,â Parsons said on the CMA Awards carpet. âIâm not going to sit down and play by your rules. Iâm going to break your rules. Iâm going to create the world that I want to see. Not everybody has the luxury to do that, but thankfully, I do, and thatâs the kind of future in country music and the world that I want to see.â
For many artists, the mission headed into the new administration is less about confrontation than about bringing disparate people together. Willie Nelson famously did that by attracting an audience of cowboys, college students and hippies with country music in the mid-1970s. Today, The War and Treaty, Charlie Worsham, Home Free, Frank Ray and Niko Moon aim to act as a bridge between communities.
âIâm kind of over being on any one team, and Iâm ready to talk to people â especially people that I donât agree with â and better understand what their plight is,â Worsham said on the CMA carpet. âAnd I think country music is uniquely poised to speak to this moment.âÂ
Moon is similarly dedicated to putting âlove and positivity out there into the world.â
âWeâre living in strange times,â he said, âbut that doesnât mean we have to be strangers. Weâre more similar than we are different.â
That said, if Trump follows the Project 2025 agenda, as many fear he may, it is likely to embolden his most ardent supporters, who have at times resorted to violence â in Charlottesville, Va., in 2016 or in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, to name two examples. It would be easy, in such an atmosphere, for cultural groups under siege to withdraw from the public space. But thatâs all the more reason, openly gay country artist Chris Housman said, for creatives to speak out. He concedes that he went into a mini-depression after the election and admits that heâs among the faction of Americans who considered leaving the country. But heâs not going anywhere.
âI get so much inspiration and motivation out of challenging stuff and uncertainty and being uncomfortable,â Housman said on the CMA carpet. âIt kind of feels like itâs ground zero here in the South, and in America in general, right now. If everybody leaves, if all the queer people leave, then itâs not going to change anything. So Iâm just trying to dig in for that motivation and inspiration.â
Digging in against an autocrat is not comfortable. But staying quiet has consequences, too. As Thomas Jefferson noted, âAll tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for men of good conscience to remain silent.â Creatives who self-censor to avoid controversy might make their lives a little easier for the short-term, but they also wonât make much of a long-term difference. Artists who stood up in the past â such as Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bob Marley and Johnny Cash â influenced the eras in which they made their music, but they also helped to improve future generationsâ understanding of their times.
âA lot of the reason that we are able to remember fascists and dictators is because of the work of creatives, because of the work that weâve done in documenting things from our authentic perspective,â said Supreme Republic Entertainment founder Brittney Boston, whose clients include rapper DAX and country singer Carmen Dianne. âI think itâs really important as an artist right now to be honest, to write from your heart, because a lot of people are going to be too scared to do that, and people are going to be craving that authenticity.â
If nothing else, the creative class has an opportunity as Trump moves into office threatening retribution. On those occasions when artists or songwriters have something to say, but hold back to avoid scrutiny, they chip away at their own freedoms. Those who decline to self-censor their work often discover a greater sense of empowerment, even as they continue a free-speech tradition that was etched into the Constitution.
âYou find the limits of your courage, donât you?â Rosanne Cash said rhetorically. âLetâs just go for it.âÂ
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Itâs peculiar to hear Jacob Slater talk so effusively about âthe quiet lifeâ when he is renowned for one of the most intense, rib-shakingly loud live sets on the indie circuit. Heâs the sort of artist, it seems, who is striving to find meaning in lifeâs simpler moments.
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âI havenât had a break in a long while,â he says, eyes narrowing as he lights a cigarette. The smoke plumes drift towards a large Bob Dylan poster spread across the ceiling. âThe sea is cold and thereâs been waves here the past few days, so itâs been good to get back out there. Iâm a little bit rusty, though, as I now spend so much time out of the water.â
The Wunderhorse frontman has been readjusting to the natural rhythms of life in his adopted locale of Newquay, Cornwall. Itâs here where the 27-year-old trained as a surf instructor a few years ago, a solo venture that helped to relight his creative fire after burning bright and crashing out in the much-hyped but short-lived London punk band Dead Pretties. Recently, he has spent his time sleeping in, listening to records, and catching up with friends over coffee. Best of all, Slater says in a blissed-out tone, there is little to no mobile phone signal. The temptation to go off-grid clearly looms large.
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Returning to the coast has become an outlet for Slaterâs newfound sense of lightness. Rarely at home, heâs spent much of 2024 insulated inside a touring bubble, playing shows across Europe with Fontaines D.C. and racking up huge British festival appearances at the likes of Reading & Leeds and TRNSMT. In August, Wunderhorseâs second LP, Midas (Communion Records), hit No.6 on the Official U.K. Charts upon release; a major feat, given that 2022 debut Cub failed to crack the Top 40.
On his birthday, Slater got a call from his manager saying they had booked a gig at Londonâs 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace next spring. In November, the group supported Fontaines D.C. throughout Europe, and now, through December, the band are opening for Sam Fender at arenas across the U.K. and Ireland, capping off an extraordinary year.
Though often mired in themes of self-destruction and volatility, the music of Wunderhorse is uplifting, cathartic, and compassionate. The four-piece are cult stars at the threshold of mainstream crossover, a reality that they are now encountering on the road. Each night, they come eye-to -eye with a predominantly young fanbase that has recently ballooned in size as a result of âunexpectedâ TikTok popularity. âNot to sound like an old man, but I really donât know how that whole âonline thingâ works. Yet it seems to be a real beast,â says Slater, speaking over video call.
It was after a headline show at Glasgowâs Barrowlands venue last month that Slater realized the bandâs profile was changing. Combating a disrupted sleep schedule that had left him feeling like âa nocturnal creature,â he ventured out, alone, to walk off all the adrenaline he had worked up on stage. What he found was a city gradually revealing itself through characterful people, foggy images of bars shuttering up for the night, and the distant expanse of the M8 motorway.Â
Only an hour earlier, with sweat beads lining his forehead, he had been growling into the mic, stomping as each song reached its soaring climax. Video footage of the performance circulated on social media the following day, with clips of gig-goers crying and barking doing the rounds. Wunderhorse may have already inspired fan tattoos and custom trainers, but this felt like a new level of visibility altogether.
âRecently, the audience has solidified a bit more in its demographic,â Slater explains. âAt first, I didnât quite know how to take it when people were telling us that we had young fans. But I remember when I was younger, music meant so much to me. It still does, of course, but music has a particular potency when youâre a teenager. If people are connecting with us at that age, then thatâs amazing.â
Initially a one-man endeavour, the first seismic shift in Wunderhorseâs trajectory took place when Slater decided to expand the project to a full band in the early days of creating Midas. He brought Harry Tristan Fowler (guitar), Peter Woodin (bass) and Jamie Staples (drums) into the fold, having met each of them at gigs in London and their native Hertfordshire. Slater figured out early that the best way to approach music was to build his own world and invite people in; he and his bandmates soon honed their bluesy, expansive, emotionally-weathered sound after bonding over seminal records from Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
The release of Cub, meanwhile, had left Slater feeling as though he was treading water as a lyricist. Much of the albumâs writing resonated because of its unvarnished frankness about a dark personal history, traversing selfishness (âPurpleâ), nihilism, and traumatic teenage experiences (âButterflies,â âTealâ). For its author, however â who was in recovery from addiction issues at the time â having to accept the circumstances of his previous life for what they were became too much of a mental burden to bear.
âThis is probably not the stuff youâre meant to say in interviews, but I think every artist has songs they wrote when they were younger and now struggle with,â Slater says, grinning beneath a big, raggedy scarf. âYou start to realize that, whatever you write, youâre going to have to live with it for a long time. If people are singing songs back to you and you donât like the words that youâve written, then you end up standing on stage feeling like youâve deceived yourself.â
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Slater notes how his record contract stated that Cub was meant to see him âdeliver 18 songs at a minimum.â Only 11 tracks made the final cut, and he put âany leftovers that didnât fit into the Wunderhorse worldâ onto 2023 solo LP Pinky, I Love You. Curiously, eagle-eyed fans noticed that, a few weeks back, the earliest Wunderhorse music videos had been removed from YouTube; they responded by creating a Google Drive folder with all the newly missing clips. Today, Slater admits this was his doing: âIf I had it my way, there would be no promo, thereâd be no videos. I find it all really difficult because itâs not the way that my brain works.âÂ
Releasing Midas didnât banish Slaterâs feelings of alienation towards the music industry entirely, but it did explore a more peaceful coexistence within it. It seems as though the search for salvation he sings of on âSilverâ is starting to bear fruit. Despite it all, Slater thinks that aspects of his life today would astound his younger self: he is thoughtful yet steadfast in describing how publications describing Wunderhorse as âgenerational,â only two albums in, can be disorienting for a musician still coming to terms with his changing stature.Â
âWorrying whether youâre going to become this âgrand thingâ that people are saying you are will only cause you to get in the way of yourself. Nobody even knows what such titles mean,â he says. âAny songwriter who has stood the test of time has managed to stay true to who they are. Like, did Bob Dylan wake up one day and go, âIâm gonna be generational?â No.â
Itâs clear that Slater sees a gap between his intentions and the publicâs reaction to his musical output. Heâll later mention how Midasâ âSupermanâ was âcompletely misunderstoodâ by listeners, but heâs also trying to let go of these things which are out of his control. âNobodyâs ever going to feel what you felt when you wrote the song as everyone is at the center of their own universe,â he says. âAnd thatâs part of the magic.â True self-acceptance: Slater is steadily getting there, inch-by-inch, wave-by-wave, song-by-song.
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