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Former Bad Boy rapper Moses “Shyne” Barrow has spoken out following Diddy’s arrest earlier this week on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges.
Shyne, who serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives, shared his thoughts regarding his former boss’s legal troubles with the media on Wednesday (Sept. 18).
“When I was an 18-year-old kid just wanting to do nothing other than make my mother proud and make Belize proud and be recognized for my talent and take over the world,” he said. ‘I was defending him, and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me. He contributed … he pretty much sent me to prison. That is the context by which you must always describe that [relationship]. I forgave. I moved on. But let us not pretend as if I was in Miami for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
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Shyne is referencing the case surrounding a December 1999 NYC nightclub shooting at he, Diddy and Jennifer Lopez (the mogul’s girlfriend at the time) were all present during; Shyne ended up being charged with assault and sentenced to 10 years behind bars in June 2001. He was ultimately released in 2009 and deported to Belize.
He continued: “So, let us not lose sight of what the cold, hard facts are. This is not someone who I vacationed with and who he and I enjoyed this great, intimate relationship of brotherhood. This is someone who destroyed my life and who I forgave and who I moved on and for the better interest of Belize, because he was in a position at that time to give scholarships and to maybe invest, I would not deny attempting to bring the investment to Belize and contribution to education to Belize.”
“Don’t distort it as if he and I were boom bally. This is someone that destroyed my life,” he continued. “But do I take any joy with what he is going through? Absolutely not. I am different than other people — no one needs to fail for me to succeed.”
While Shyne has forgiven Diddy for their past, earlier this year, he admitted that the 1999 shooting case that sent him to prison still “opens wounds” when brought up.
Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested earlier this week on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York City. He was once again denied bail on Wednesday (Sept. 18) after a federal judge cited concerns that the embattled music executive would pose a flight risk and might intimidate witnesses if he was released.
Diddy’s legal team drew up a $50 million bond package featuring strict requirements, but the judge was not moved. The rapper will remain in a Brooklyn federal prison until trial.
When “Big Dawgs,” the riotous song by Indian rapper Hanumankind and producer Kalmi, began spreading across the world in July, its creators couldn’t fully appreciate its impact. Despite sites like YouTube and Reddit signaling the song’s crossover appeal, Hanumankind and his team were largely in the dark about its impact on TikTok — including the more than 1 million posts using the track to date — since India banned the platform in 2020.
“We’re hearing about this going crazy, but we can’t wrap our heads around [it],” Hanumankind tells Billboard. “We’re sitting at home like, ‘I guess this is happening. Let’s strap in.’ ”
Born Sooraj Cherukat in India’s southern state of Kerala, Hanumankind was a self-described “child of chaos.” His family bounced around the globe with his father working in the oil sector, making stops in Nigeria, Qatar, Dubai and Egypt before moving to Houston in the early 2000s during his formative years.
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“Houston has a way of shaping a person,” he says, wearing a No. 34 Hakeem Olajuwon Houston Rockets throwback jersey. “Whether you talk about UGK or DJ Screw, you hear it in everything. It was important to be there and absorb so much of that.”
Hanumankind
Samrat Nagar
Talking over Zoom, the 32-year-old has photos of 2Pac, MF DOOM and The Notorious B.I.G. in his living room — but even with his vast hip-hop knowledge, he says his parents hoped he would pursue “a real job and build a career.” He moved back to India for college in 2012, and after graduating, he burned through jobs at Goldman Sachs and different marketing agencies while living like “a f–king idiot.” (Upon turning 30, he temporarily gave up drinking entirely. Nowadays, he says, he drinks in moderation.)
Still, rapping largely remained a party trick he’d pull out at gatherings. But things changed in late 2019 following a performance at the NH7 Weekender Festival in India, pulling inspiration for his stage name from religion. (Hanuman is the half-monkey, half-man Hindu God of wisdom, strength and courage.)
“There was a mob of people running over from different areas, like, ‘Who the f–k is this guy?’” he remembers. “[After] that set, I was like, ‘This feels like something I can do. I just want to do something that gives me purpose. Am I decent at this? Can I make money off this? Cool.’ That’s all I needed.”
A year later, Hanumankind signed a management deal with Imaginary Frnds’ founder Rohan Venkatesh, with the company’s Abhimanyu Prakash helping as part of the management team. “He charmed the pants off me when I met him,” says Prakash. Adds Venkatesh, who first met the rapper backstage in 2018: “I knew this could go global. I believed in the art from day one.”
Hanumankind spent the next few years as an independent artist, releasing a pair of EPs and a handful of singles before his team decided to explore the major-label route, ultimately signing with Def Jam India at the start of 2023. “They were so ready to help us from day one,” says Prakash. “We’ve had this moment, and they’ve been pillars for us in figuring out how to grow it.”
Hanumankind
Samrat Nagar
That January, Hanumankind released the twitchy “Go to Sleep” — but nothing else for the year. With time ticking on his next move, he hopped on a Zoom in early 2024 with frequent collaborator Kalmi while living in Bengaluru. They began with a creative exercise they’d done before: Kalmi would queue up a beat for Hanumankind to rap on and they’d build an idea from whatever came out. “We didn’t want boundaries on us, and the minute [I heard the] beat, I was like, ‘Oh s–t.’”
After taking a liking to the engine-revving production and bristling synths, the hook came next, followed by the first verse. Within 30 minutes, the basic structure for “Big Dawgs” was set. “Instantly, this flow came in,” Hanumankind says, though he admits he began to overanalyze it. “I didn’t think it was a single at all — this song just came to be as a byproduct of being f–king weird, experimental folks.”
But Kalmi and Venkatesh changed his mind. “We knew this was the one instantly, there was a shock value to it,” Venkatesh says. “[Kalmi and I] went for a drive and played it four or five times. Next morning, we called Hanumankind and convinced him to drop.”
Kalmi tightened up the production, adding the chopped-and-screwed element to the song’s outro, and Hanumankind tacked on a second verse. On July 9, “Big Dawgs” arrived on streaming services.
Instead of a traditional marketing budget, Hanumankind’s team allocated much of their financial resources to the music video, which arrived the next day and opened the world’s eyes to a popular Indian spectacle known as the “Well of Death.” Two-stroke engine bikes and vintage cars whiz around in circles on the walls of a vertical pit, testing the limits of gravity — and in the video, Hanumankind even hangs out the window of one of the cars. “It was more of a culture shock for people, which was a unique selling point for us,” says Venkatesh. To date, the video has more than 116 million YouTube views.
Within a few days, Hanumankind realized the reception to “Big Dawgs” was different than any prior work, as it started extending well beyond India and into popular American music. “American hip-hop makes the world react. But this is the first time a lot of people were like, ‘There’s this video coming out of India,’” he says. Popular streamers like IShowSpeed and No Life Shaq reacted to the hit across social media platforms, boosting its visibility to another level.
By mid-August, “Big Dawgs” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 57; two weeks later, it reached a No. 23 high. The hit has also topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart and to date has earned 72 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 288.5 million official on-demand global streams through Sept. 5, according to Luminate.
“Everything came in a huge tidal wave,” says Hanumankind. “I feel like someone’s going to slap me in the face and wake me up.” Its reception has indeed been a dream for the rapper: both Project Pat and Bun B separately joined him on Instagram Live — in “Big Dawgs,” the former receives a name check and Hanumankind interpolates a lyric from UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem” to pay homage to the latter.
Hanumankind is now eager to perform outside of India, and in September signed with Wasserman Music. He also plans to release a remix for “Big Dawgs” with an American rapper, though specifics on who or when are unknown. And while a debut album isn’t ready just yet, he’s still basking in what his breakthrough hit represents.
“I am just the tip of the iceberg of what can come from this side of the world,” he says. “If some random dude from India can make music and shoot a cool video that pops off, it allows people to dream a little harder.”
A version of this story will appear in the Sept. 28, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Grupo Frontera, Álvaro Díaz, Debi Nova, Jasiel Núñez, Junior H, La Joaqui, Luck Ra, Mario Bautista, Nacho, Saiko and Tito Double P are set for the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week. Additionally, soccer stars Leo Campana (Inter Miami CF) and Igor Lichnovsky (Club América) have also joined the weeklong event taking place Oct. 14-18 at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
Grupo Frontera will take centerstage for the Making the Hit LIVE panel on Oct. 15. Exclusive to Billboard Latin Music Week, members of Frontera will show fans how they create a hit from scratch. Later that evening, the group will headline Billboard En Vivo, presented by Smirnoff Ice, with Majo Aguilar opening the show at the Wynwood Marketplace. Grupo Frontera En Vivo tickets start at $40 and are available for purchase at BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com. Latin Music Week INSIDER pass holders will receive free access to this event and do not need to purchase additional tickets.
Meanwhile, Álvaro Díaz, Albert Hype, Caleb Calloway and Miguel Armenta will join the How I Wrote the Song: The Urban and Música Mexicana edition panel presented by BMI. Debi Nova has been added to the The Women’s Panel, Global Rising: A Conversation with Female Stars from Around the Globe presented by Ulta Beauty.
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Jasiel Núñez, Junior H, and Tito Double P will join the Nuevo Mexicano: Peso Pluma and Friends panel. La Joaqui and Luck Ra will be part of the Entre Amigos panel presented by Billboard Argentina. Nacho will join the Venezuela Rising panel, Mario Bautista will participate in the From Viral Hits to Billboard Charts: The Power of Content Creators panel, and Saiko will perform at the Next Gen Reggaeton: An Evening Curated by J Balvin.
Furthermore, for the second year in a row, Billboard Latin Music Week will host a special sports panel featuring Leo Campana, who plays for Inter Miami and Igor Lichnovsky, from Club América and the Chilean national team. The conversation between the athletes will be moderated by Emmy-winning Didi Sports CEO Daniella Durán. Titled Sports and Music: The Winning Combination, the panel will delve into how athletes and musicians are collaborating more closely to promote both industries, highlighting the powerful synergy between sports and music.
Celebrating its 35th anniversary, tickets for Billboard Latin Music Week are available for purchase here.
The newly announced group joins a stellar lineup of previously announced participants for Billboard Latin Music Week, including Alejandro Sanz, Bad Gyal, Belinda, Camila Fernández, Chiquis, DANNA, Danny Ocean, Dei V, Domelipa, Eden Muñoz, Eslabon Armado, Fat Joe, Feid, Gloria Estefan, J Balvin, JOP, Keityn, Kunno, Lele Pons, Leo Campana, Luis Alfonso, Lupita Infante, Majo Aguilar, Maria Becerra, Marko, Mau y Ricky, Mon Laferte, N.O.R.E., Omar Courtz, Paola Jara, Peso Pluma, Pipe Bueno, Sophia Talamas, Thalia, Yahritza y Su Esencia, Yandel, Yeison Jiménez, Yeri Mua, Yisin and Young Miko, as well as Zhamira Zambrano.
Billboard Latin Music Week will coincide with the Billboard Latin Music Awards, which will air on Telemundo. Latin Music Week tickets will not include access to the awards show this year. Instead, Billboard will host a special 35th-year anniversary celebration on the evening of Oct. 18, where INSIDER badge holders will receive exclusive invitations to this star-studded event.
For more information on Billboard Latin Music Week, updates on the schedule and more exciting announcements, visit BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com.
JENNIE doesn’t shut down when it comes to taking accountability. After a video of her vaping indoors sparked backlash this summer, the BLACKPINK star issued an apology almost immediately — and in her new Harper’s Bazaar cover story interview published Thursday (Sept. 19), she explains why. “What can I do? If Korean people think it’s […]
Molly Tuttle, a two-time Grammy winner and the first woman to win the IBMA’s guitar player of the year honor (she won in both 2017 and 2018), has become one of Nashville’s most coveted musicians and a mainstay in the bluegrass scene.
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But Tuttle and her group Golden Highway — who’ve issued five albums since 2017 — have also leaned closer to musical troubadours rather than devout traditionalists, melding bluegrass with a range of styles. The group continues that ethos on the wide-ranging new EP Into The Wild, out Sept. 20 on Nonesuch Records.
“It’s a reflection of the last few years and what we’ve worked on as a band,” Tuttle tells Billboard.
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But the six-song EP, which follows the group’s 2023 Grammy-winning City of Gold, also nods to Tuttle’s northern California roots, where the Santa Clara-born Tuttle spent much of her youth practicing guitar and attending bluegrass and folk music festivals. At age 13, she recorded The Old Apple Tree, a collection of duets with her father. By 15, she had joined her family band The Tuttles, along with friend A.J. Lee.
She was inspired to write the EP’s title track with her partner Ketch Secor (of Old Crow Medicine Show), after spending a week in California’s Redwood National Forest. Far from a typical ode to the enduring nature of beauty, “Into the Wild” also offers a searing message, on the lines, “Times ain’t like they used to be/ The wilderness is hard to find at all/ The magic slipped way and the fires start in May/ Making way for another shopping mall.”
“We felt really inspired by the natural setting, but the song is also about the effect humans have on nature and how we need to protect these wild spaces,” Tuttle says.
Thus, “Into the Wild” also connects to another song on the project: a rendition of the late California folk singer Kate Wolf’s 1981 song “Here in California.”
“She’s someone who writes a lot about the natural world, and she’s one of my absolute favorite songwriters,” Tuttle says of Wolf, noting also the influence of the Kate Wolf Music Festival, held from 1996-2022 in northern California. “Her music kind of echoed throughout the Bay Area music scene and people were always jamming on her songs. She’s just very beloved in that area.
“I never got to go to that festival, and I remember writing emails to the festival every year asking them to book me,” Tuttle continues. “But I met a lot of people who played with her, like Nina Gerber, who was one of my first mentors who was a female lead guitarist.”
Tuttle considered a few Wolf songs to include on the album, but when she thought of “Here in California” and began researching versions of the song, she realized just how deep Wolf’s influence is embedded in her own musical history.
“I was like, ‘I want to cover a Kate Wolf song on this album,’ and I sent a few different songs to the band. When I Googled to find some live versions of [‘Here in California’], I actually found a video of myself playing it at age 15 and I forgot that I ever played it live before — but it was a video of me, my dad and AJ Lee performing it. Here I thought I had this new idea about covering this Kate Wolf song, but I had already covered it. It was kind of uncanny to see a video of myself playing it. But I loved how this version turned out. We got the old family band harmonies going again and A.J. is singing a verse, and it sounds amazing.”
Into The Wild’s eclectic set also spans covers of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and a glistening pop punk-meets-bluegrass rendering of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” (which features Sierra Hull on mandolin) — a song Tuttle previously recorded as part of the Spotify Singles campaign. The EP also nods to City of Gold with an alternate version of “Stranger Things.” The new version is pared back, with Tuttle joined by mandolin player Dominick Leslie and cello/synth player Nathaniel Smith.
From those early bluegrass festivals, Tuttle’s journey has taken her to Boston, where she majored in guitar performance at Berklee College of Music, before moving to Nashville in 2015. She had released two projects of pop-tilted music before teaming with bluegrass legend Jerry Douglas, who co-produced the group’s albums Crooked Tree and City of Gold (both sets earned Grammy accolades for best bluegrass album).
Into the Wild releases just a week prior to this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards, set for Sept. 26 in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Douglas will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
“I am so proud to have worked with him and just count him as a mentor and a friend, and someone who I really look up to,” Tuttle says. ‘I feel lucky to have made so much music with him, and he’s so deserving of this achievement. I’m really happy to see his name up there.”
Leading into this year’s ceremony, Tuttle and her Golden Highway bandmates — fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Leslie, bass player Shelby Means and banjo player Kyle Tuttle (no relation)– are also foremost nominees, up for a total of eight accolades, including entertainer of the year, vocal group of the year, instrumental group of the year and album of the year (City of Gold). Tuttle is up for female vocalist of the year and guitar player of the year, while bandmate Keith-Hynes is up for fiddle player of the year and new artist of the year.
“For me, when I’m making an album, I’m not thinking ‘Oh, I hope this wins a bunch of awards,’” she explains. “But then, when it’s out there in the world, you do hope people are resonating with it — and something like being nominated for the IBMA Awards is just that kind of affirmation that people are listening to it and liking it. I grew up going to the IBMAs and seeing so many of my heroes on stage there. So we’re excited to play a song off our latest record and it’s going to be a fun night. It always feels like a family reunion-meets-prom night, since we’re all dressed up.”
Thanks to Tuttle’s skills as a writer, musician and vocalist, she has become not only a multi-award winner, but an in-demand collaborator, recording and/or performing with artists including Jason Isbell, Lainey Wilson, Bela Fleck, Old Crow Medicine Show, Billy Strings, Yola, Bobby Osborne and Emmylou Harris. In 2018, she also teamed with Missy Raines, Alison Brown, Sierra Hull and Becky Buller for the supergroup First Ladies of Bluegrass.
But given the ample talent in Nashville, there are still plenty of artists on Tuttle’s bucket list. “I feel fortunate to have gotten to play with so many of my heroes,” she says. “One person who I’ve always wanted to sing with is Alison Krauss. That would be super fun.”
Ahead, in addition to a slate of tour dates, Tuttle says she’s in the “writing phase” of her next record. “I’m not sure what it will turn into yet, but I’m always working on new stuff and looking to go into the studio soon and hopefully have something out next year,” she says.
If she does release a new project next year, she’ll likely be performing some of that new music at next year’s IBMA Awards, which will relocate from Raleigh to a new venue in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“We were just in Chattanooga on Sunday and it’s such a great city,” Tuttle says. “I’m really excited that it’s going to be closer to Nashville, although I do love Raleigh. I just thought Raleigh was a great place for it to be. There were such great venues for bands to get to play all throughout Raleigh and then the Street Fest was really fun. So I hope that Chattanooga has kind of a similar setup. I think that works really well to have a few stages outdoors on the streets so that people can just walk around and enjoy music. Hopefully Chattanooga’s going to embrace IBMA in the same way and celebrate this big week that we have every year. But as a city, I’m really looking forward to spending time there for IBMA and seeing what it turns into.”
Long Island University Brooklyn students have more reason to stay on campus this semester. After over a year of construction, the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment opened the doors to its state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos pro studio on Thursday (Sept. 19).
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The innovative 2,4000 square-foot studio will immediately be made available to students and immersed into programs and various workshops throughout the fall.
Equipped with four iso booths, a tracking and control room featuring ground-breaking technology to ensure students have all of the proper resources to be able to operate in various roles involving recording, producing and mixing in the studio after graduation.
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“This new Dolby Atmos studio further solidifies our school’s place at the forefront of music education,” Said Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton in a statement. “Every detail in the facility was methodically curated for our students and I’m excited for them to maximize their learning experience on campus and prepare to enter the workforce with an unprecedented advantage.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Guru, who serves as the Director of Music Technology, Entrepreneurship and Production at the Roc Nation School of Music. Gu had the studio modeled after the famed Baseline Studios in Manhattan where he honed his craft as an engineer and assisted Jay-Z in recording a plethora of classic tracks throughout his Hall of Fame career.
Enter Dave Malekpour, who was responsible for designing Baseline Studios in 2000, and the Pro Audio Design president helped integrate the Roc Nation School of Music facility over two decades later.
“The system we’ve developed represents the most powerful and detailed 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos setup, which reflects the distinct sound and culture of Roc Nation, and paving the way for the next generation of audio professionals,” said Malekpour. ”This has been a thrilling project from start to finish, made all the more rewarding by our collaboration with Tressa Cunningham, Young Guru and the LIU team, with the support of both Malekpour Design Partners and the Pro Audio Design teams, culminating in a world-class, industry-leading system perfected by our build team to meet the most exacting specifications.”
With the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, the future-forward studio on campus becomes one of the largest professional Dolby Atmos recording studios in all of New York.
“We’re thrilled to open this next-generation studio to bolster our curriculum and better serve our ambitious students,” added Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment dean Tressa Cunningham. “Our new facility will enable students to gain immersive experience using the latest technology to put themselves in the strongest positions to thrive after graduation. It also creates a new opportunity for the School to engage with the larger creative community.”
Find another photo of the brand new studio on LIU Brooklyn’s campus below.
The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University (LIU) announced the opening of a new, state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos® studio on campus that will be integrated into the curriculum and create an array of immersive learning opportunities for students.
The Roc Nation School of Music, Entertainment & Sports
Eighteen years after releasing her debut self-titled studio album, Paris Hilton is back on Billboard’s album charts with her follow-up project Infinite Icon.
The album debuts at No. 38 on the latest Billboard 200 chart (dated Sept. 21) with 18,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in its opening week (ending Sept. 12), according to Luminate. It features A-list collaborations with Meghan Thee Stallion, Rina Sawayama, Meghan Trainor and Sia.
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Her first album, Paris, reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in September 2006, and included “Stars Are Blind,” her debut single that climbed to No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 a month prior.
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While Hilton hasn’t charted an album since then, she hasn’t been totally absent from the charts. She’s charted three songs on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, all since 2013: “Good Time” featuring Lil Wayne (No. 19 peak in 2013), “High Off My Love” (No. 35; 2015) and “B.F.A. (Best Friend’s Ass)” with Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike (No. 45; 2019). She’s also released other collaborations with Sia, Steve Aoki, Kim Petras and Lil Wayne, among others.
For Infinite Icon, Hilton recruited a team of top-level producers and songwriters to pull the project together. Jesse Shatkin is credited as a producer on all 12 of the album’s tracks. He’s previously worked with Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus and Ellie Goulding, among others. Notably, he co-producer Sia’s “Chandelier” and One Direction’s “Perfect,” which both reach the top 10 of the Hot 100 (at Nos. 8 and 10, respectively).
Greg Kurstin worked on Hilton’s Sia collaboration “Fame Won’t Love You.” Kurstin is perhaps best recognized for his work with Adele (including her No. 1s “Hello” and “Easy On Me”), but he’s also produced and written songs for Kelly Clarkson (including her No. 1 “Stronger [What Doesn’t Kill You]”), P!nk, Tate McRae, Miley Cyrus and Halsey. He’s also spent 14 total weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Producers chart.
Alex Frankel is also credited as a producer on six songs from Infinite Icon. Frankel is half of the synthpop indie duo Holy Ghost!, and has also worked on music with fellow indie acts the Juan MacLean and U.S. Girls.
Other producers on the project include Kid Harpoon, Banx & Ranx, Dallas Caton, House of Wolf and Naliya.
Zach Bryan knows all too well he made a mistake, and he’s acknowledging it. The country star shared a lengthy explanation and apology on Thursday (Sept. 19) after tweeting two days earlier “eagles > chiefs / Kanye > Taylor,” then asking followers, “who’s with me.”
“for the record guys I wasn’t coming for Taylor the other night,” he wrote in an Instagram Story he paired with the pop superstar’s Post Malone Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 collab “Fortnight.” “I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong. I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically. I love Taylor’s music and pray you guys know I’m human and tweet stupid things often. Hope one day I can explain this to her.”
The country singer — has since deactivated his X account — went on to explain that he gets in trouble on the social media platform too much, and will be staying off of it. “I’m sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down.” he added.
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In a second Story featuring “The Albatross,” the “I Remember Everything” singer explained that he’s been going through a tough time, and shared his appreciation for the 14-time Grammy winner. “To be completely honest, it just came off as rude and desensitized to Taylor. I respect her so much as a musician that the last thing I want is people thinking I don’t appreciate and love what she has done for musician,” he wrote, before offering a public service announcement. “Love you guys and hope you guys understand. Don’t drink and tweet. Don’t drink and tweet!”
But he wasn’t done there. The country star continued to express his love for Swift in a third Story. “Taylor has been a force of nature for as long as we’ve all been growing up and I admire that,” Bryan wrote in part. “I never want people to think I have a hint of malice or meanness towards anyone, ever, that’s why I’m saying all this.”
Bryan, who won the Grammy for best country/duo performance for his No. 1 Hot 100 hit “I Remember Everything,” went on to elaborate on the tough time he’s had in a fourth Story. “This year has been an awful lot on me in personal ways that no one knows and I’ve been trying to cope and balance too many things at once,” he explained. “So I’m going to take a breather from tweeting stupid stuff, finish my tour, and ground myself somehow in the midst of all this. I feel very, very blessed each day.”
Billboard has reached out to Swift’s rep for comment.
The pop superstar and Ye have a long had bad blood, dating back to the 2009 VMAs, when the rapper grabbed the mic from Swift as she was accepting the award for best female video, and made his infamous “Imma let you finish” speech. Then there was the “Famous” lyric by the controversial rapper — who in recent years has faced mounting criticism for his hate speech — calling the “Anti-Hero” singer a “b—h” that included what Swift in 2023 called the “frame job” phone call of her allegedly approving the lyric, and more.
Bryan is set to perform at the Bourbon & Beyond music festival in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday (Sept. 21). His Quittin Time tour then resumes Nov. 17 in Canada, before swinging back into the U.S. for a series of shows beginning Nov. 22 in Tacoma, Wash.
The Eagles paid loving tribute to their late friend and collaborator J.D. Souther on Wednesday (Sept. 18) in a heartfelt message posted just a day after the singer/songwriter/actor died at 78. “We have lost a brother, a friend and a brilliant collaborator, and the world has lost a great songwriter, a pioneer of the Southern California sound that emerged in the 1970s,” the veteran easy rocking band wrote. “J.D. Souther was smart, talented, well-read, and in possession of a wicked sense of humor. He loved a good meal, a good movie, and a good Martini … and he loved dogs, adopting many, over the course of his lifetime.”
The band — whose current lineup includes founding singer/drummer Don Henley, as well as guitarist Joe Walsh, bassist Timothy B. Schmit and guitarist/vocalists Deacon Frey and Vince Gill — continued with an homage to the versatile Souther’s many loves and contributions to their legendary songbook.
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“Born in Detroit and raised in the Texas Panhandle, he was a student of the deep roots of the best American music – from country, to jazz, to classical, as well as ‘Standards’ from the Great American Songbook – and that knowledge and appreciation informed his work,” they wrote. “He was a crucial co-writer on many of our most popular songs, including, ‘The Best of My Love,’ ‘New Kid in Town,’ and ‘Heartache Tonight.’ J.D. also collaborated on many of Don Henley’s solo works, including ‘The Heart of the Matter,’ ‘Little Tin God,’ ‘If Dirt Were Dollars’ and ‘Talking to the Moon.’”
According to a statement on his official website, John David “JD” Souther — also known for his collaborations with Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, Bonnie Raitt, Roy Orbison and for his acting roles in My Girl 2 and Postcards From the Edge — died peacefully at his home in New Mexico on Tuesday. Souther’s longtime friendship with Frey resulted in his collaborations on many Eagles songs, including “James Dean” and “Doolin-Dalton,” helping to make Souther — whose voice bore an eerily similar tone to Frey’s — a staple of the 1970s California country-rock scene.
“We mourn his loss and we send our condolences to his family, his friends, and his many fans around the world,” the Eagles added. “He was an extraordinary man and will be greatly missed by many. Adios, old friend. Travel well.”
Former Eagles guitarist/vocalist Don Felder also posted a tribute, writing, “It is with heavy heart to start the day with the news of JD’s passing. The invisible Eagle has left the nest. His writing contribution and vocal contributions to the music industry has been a blessing to the whole world. He will be missed but his songs will live on forever.”
Souther was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013, but never reached the pinnacle of success with his solo work as the Eagles’ lofty heights, landing his biggest chart success with his 1979 No. 7 Billboard Hot 100 single “You’re Only Lonely.”
Donations in Souther’s honor can be made to the Best Friends Animal Society.
Billboard and Telemundo have unveiled the first wave of performers set to take center stage at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Sunday, Oct. 20.
Bringing their latest collaborations and hit singles to the awards ceremony are confirmed acts Fuerza Regida, Grupo Niche, Luis Alfonso, Maria Becerra, Xavi and Yandel. The announcement comes one week after the Billboard Latin Music Awards revealed its 2024 finalists.
With eight entries, including artist of the year, Fuerza Regida is one of the top finalists at the awards show. Xavi is a seven-time finalist, and both Grupo Niche and Yandel have one entry.
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Karol G leads the list with 17 entries in categories including artist of the year, tour of the year, Global 200 Latin artist of the year, and top Latin album of the year for Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season).
The Colombian superstar is followed by Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma with 15 nods each. Bunny competes, among others, for artist of the year, global 200 artist of the year, and tour of the year. While La Doble P is also up for artist of the year, global 200 artist of the year, in addition to songwriter of the year, and regional Mexican album of the year for Éxodo.
The 31st annual ceremony will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 20 via Telemundo. It will simultaneously be available on the Spanish entertainment cable network Universo, on Peacock and the Telemundo app, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.
The Billboard Latin Music Awards — the only awards that recognize the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music, according to Billboard‘s weekly charts — coincide with Billboard Latin Music Week, which returns to Miami Beach Oct. 14-18 with a roster of star speakers including Alejandro Sanz, Gloria Estefan, Danny Ocean, Peso Pluma and many more. Get your tickets today for the Billboard Latin Music Week 2024 here.