State Champ Radio Music
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05/27/2025
Taylor Swift was shut out at the AMAs for the first time since 2007.
05/27/2025
Fresh off the back of revealing their first round of performing artists, SXSW Sydney has detailed the first wave of music speakers for its 2025 event.
Taking place in Sydney from October 13-19, the third outing of the Australian event will feature “some of the world’s best thinkers, buyers and culture-makers,” as per a press release.
Leading the charge of their first speaker announcement is Emmy Award-winning Jen Malone, who is best-known as one of Hollywood’s most in-demand music supervisors thanks to her credits such as Euphoria, Wednesday, Mr & Mrs Smith and more.
Malone is joined by Dr. Marcus Collins, who is renowned as an Award-winning marketing professor, cultural translator and best-selling author, having also previously served as the former director of digital strategy for Beyoncé.
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A number of international figures have been confirmed for the first round of speakers, including Senior Director of A&R at All Flowers international label Group, Alex Berenson; Rareform’s Hallie Anderson; tech entrepreneur Andrew Batey; and Brian Hobbs, the Director of Music Festival Programming at SXSW.
Other international names added to the first round include Founder of Hong Kong’s Clockenflap Festival Justin Sweeting (Hong Kong); Apodaca Group and Pal Norte Festival’s Macarena González (Mexico); Meng Ru Kuok CEO of Caldecott Music Group (Singapore); Sally Dunstone, Agent/Partner from Primary Talent (UK); and Lucy Atkinson, Senior Agent at ATC Live (MØ, Erika De Casier) (UK).
A strong contingent of local names are also on the schedule for this year, including John Watson, President of Eleven Music and John Watson Management; music industry consultant Jono Harrison; and host of Airing Your Dirty Laundry podcast, Daphne Berry.
“SXSW Sydney is about big ideas, bold conversations and unexpected connections,” said SXSW Sydney’s Head of Music, Claire Collins. “It’s a chance to hear directly from the people who open doors — the buyers, curators and deal-makers — and to better understand how to cut through, stay independent, or scale globally.
“Whether you’re building a team, exploring how AI can support your creative and business goals, or just looking for inspiration from other creative industries, this is where the conversations start.
“We’re proud to bring this talent to Sydney, and to connect them with the broader SXSW Sydney community,” Collins added. “It’s a week packed with fun, discovery, and opportunities to connect, collaborate, and imagine what’s next for music in our region and around the world.”
The first round of music speakers joins a solid selection of performers which have already been confirmed for the 2025 edition of SXSW Sydney, including Australian acts such as Swapmeet, RICEWINE, and Jamaica Moana, alongside names from Ireland, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.K.
Further speakers and performers are expected to be announced in the coming months, with more than 300 international and domestic artist performances set to feature on the final schedule.
Billie Eilish swept the 2025 American Music Awards, winning in all seven categories in which she was nominated – artist of the year and favorite female pop artist; album of the year and favorite pop album for Hit Me Hard and Soft; song of the year and favorite pop song for “Birds of a Feather” and favorite touring artist.
This unexpectedly strong showing makes up for a couple of disappointments Eilish has experienced in the past year. Hit Me Hard and Soft peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, becoming her first studio album not to reach No. 1. And she was shut out at the 2025 Grammys, despite seven nominations.
The AMAs were presented on Monday (May 26) at Fontainebleau Las Vegas in a ceremony hosted by Jennifer Lopez.
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Runners-up with three wins each were Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, who won two awards (collaboration of the year and favorite music video) for their smash “Die With a Smile” and each won one additional award. Gaga took favorite dance/electronic artist for the second time. Mars took favorite male pop artist for the third time.
Next on the leaderboard, with two wins each, were Post Malone, SZA, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Eminem and Twenty One Pilots.
Taylor Swift, who leads all American Music Award winners with 40 awards, did not add to her collection this year, despite six nominations. Other artists who were shut out despite large numbers of nominations were Chappell Roan and Shaboozey, with seven nods; and Sabrina Carpenter, with six nods.
Gracie Abrams won new artist of the year, beating a strong field of rivals – Benson Boone, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims and Tommy Richman. Abrams was nominated for the Grammy for best new artist in 2024, but lost to Victoria Monét.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won best favorite country album. It’s the third time a Black or biracial artist has won in this category. Charley Pride was the inaugural winner in 1974 for A Sunshiny Day With Charley Pride. Kane Brown won in 2018 for Kane Brown. Cowboy Carter won the Grammy for best country album (as well as album of the year) in February, but the project was shut out in the nominations for both the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Beyoncé also won favorite female country artist. These two awards up her career total of AMA wins to 13, which puts her in a tie for fifth place among women with Rihanna. Only four women have won more – Swift (40), Whitney Houston (21), Carrie Underwood (17) and Reba McEntire (15).
Dan + Shay won favorite country group for the fifth time, which puts them in a tie for second place in this category. Alabama leads with 17 wins in the category, followed by Brooks & Dunn, also with five wins.
Bad Bunny won favorite male Latin male artist and favorite Latin album for the fourth time each. Enrique Iglesias won eight times in a gender-neutral predecessor category, favorite Latin artist.
The Weeknd won favorite male R&B artist for the fourth time and won favorite R&B album for the third time.
Eminem won favorite male hip-hop artist for the record-extending fourth time.
Becky G won favorite female Latin artist for the third time. She previously won in 2020 and 2021.
Tyla won favorite Afrobeats artist. She was also nominated for favorite female R&B artist, but lost to SZA.
Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 won favorite soundtrack, in a major upset over Wicked: The Soundtrack. Arcane League of Legends is the soundtrack to the second season of the 2021 animated television series Arcane, set in Riot Games’ League of Legends fictional universe. It’s the second time a TV soundtrack has won in this category. Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers won in 2010.
Nominees are based on key fan interactions – as reflected on the Billboard charts – including streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and Luminate, and cover the data tracking eligibility period of March 22, 2024 through March 20, 2025.
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
Grimes will no longer be appearing at this summer’s World Pride celebrations in Washington, D.C., citing a need to attend to unspecified “family issues.”
Announced as part of the two-day celebration which runs from June 6–7, Grimes was originally announced as part of the Saturday lineup, which also features Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Raye, Sofi Tukker, and a DJ set from RuPaul, but has now removed herself from the event.
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“Hello friends, I am so so sorry and regretful to say I have to cancel my pride show in order to deal with family issues,” Grimes wrote in a statement shared to social media on Monday (May 26).
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“I want to say that I am aware the situation has been a great inconvenience to the fans for some time, and I am truly determined to make sure this is no longer the case very soon,” she added. “I think the show is still going to be amazing and the lineup is great. I hope this is early enough and gives people enough time if they wish to change their plans. And I *will* make this up to you guys very soon.”
The World Pride event has not announced any replacement for Grimes, but did issue a statement on their Instagram Stories addressing her decision to leave the lineup. “We’re sending love and support to Grimes during this time as she steps away to focus on personal matters,” they wrote. “We fully support her decision and are thinking of her and her family.”
No specifics have been given as to the “family issues” Grimes mentioned in her post, though she has previously taken to social media to criticize former partner Elon Musk and his behavior as the father of her three children.
In February, she responded to Musk’s decision to bring their first-born son to a White House briefing, claiming, “He should not be in public like this.” Several days later, Grimes tweeted directly at Musk, saying in a since-deleted tweet, “plz respond about our child’s medical crisis. I am sorry to do this publicly but it is no longer acceptable to ignore this situation.”
The D.C. World Pride event will launch on Friday, June 6, with Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Marina, and others set to perform on the opening night.
05/26/2025
See who stole the show during this year’s AMAs.
05/26/2025
Sir Rod Stewart capped the 2025 American Music Awards by accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award and giving the audience one of his patented high-energy performances to end the show on Monday (May 26).
The 80-year-old icon was introduced by five of his eight children — Kim, Ruby, Renee, Liam and Sean — who honored their dad’s 60-year career, which has seen him sell millions upon millions of albums worldwide thanks to such Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits as “Maggie May, “Hot Legs,” “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Some Guys Have All the Luck.”
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted — I had no idea they were here,” a gobsmacked Rod the Mod said after hugging it out with his brood, cheekily joking that he’s got “eight all together … I didn’t have a television.”
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Stewart recalled that when he started singing in the early 1960s, “well before all of you lot were here,” he said, gesturing to the crowd, “the reason I got into it was because I had this burning ambition to sing. That’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be rich or famous.” The vocalist who began his career singing blues and R&B standards in his native England before joining the Jeff Beck Group and then Faces and launching his mega-successful solo era, thanked all the musicians he’s played with over the years as well as his biggest influences, including Sam Cooke, Temptations singer and solo star David Ruffin and blues great Muddy Waters.
Honors aside, Stewart seemed genuinely touched that five of his children were sharing the stage with him, shouting out the sweet surprise once again before plugging his Caesars Palace residency gig and then jauntily skipping over to the stage to perform his 1988 Hot 100 No. 12 hit “Forever Young.”
Wearing daringly tight pinstriped black pants, a white tuxedo jacket and a ruffled white shirt opened to reveal his chest and a chunky necklace, the raspy voiced icon looked ageless as he played air guitar while singing “May good fortune be with you, may your guiding light be strong/ Build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond/ And may you never love in vain,” as a trio of backup singers in shimmering black minidresses echoed the song’s ageless chorus back to him.
Stewart’s spirited show-closer also roped in a three-man bagpipe team, adding a bit more pizzazz to a performance that also spun through a Vegas-worthy tap dance break and a double fiddle and marching band drum solo.
Watch Stewart accept the Lifetime Achievement Award below.
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
The 2025 American Music Awards lit up Las Vegas on Monday (May 26), featuring performances from some of the world’s biggest stars as well as prizes celebrating the most major moments in music this past year. Kicking off the show was host Jennifer Lopez, who opened with an eye-catching dance performance set to a hodgepodge […]
Billie Eilish walked away with the artist of the year award at the 2025 American Music Awards, and in a remote acceptance speech, graciously thanked her fans for allowing her to make music. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Jon Batiste awarded Eilish the artist of the […]
Reneé Rapp lit up the 2025 American Music Awards on Monday night (May 26) with the live debut of her brand new single, “Leave Me Alone.”
Introduced by pal Jake Shane, the Mean Girls star kicked off the performance in front of a crowded, makeshift bathroom mirror with three of her dancers before kicking down the set to reveal the stage at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
“Got my hair tied up, phone on don’t disturb/ Leave me alone, babe, I wanna have fun/ I wear my jeans so low, show my my little back dimple/ Leave me alone, babe, I wanna have fun/ Even line my lips just to match my nipples/ Leave me alone, babe, I wanna have fun,” Rapp swaggered on an edited version of the track’s opening verse.
Later, she climbed the steps of the set to join her backing band — all of whom wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the bold statement “I WOULD DIE FOR RENEÉ RAPP” in all caps.
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“Leave Me Alone” serves as the lead single for Rapp’s upcoming sophomore studio set, Bite Me, which is slated for release on Aug. 1 viva Interscope Records. (The song’s lyrics also happen to cheekily reference the wait between 2023’s Snow Angel and the star’s forthcoming follow-up, with her rapping, “Manager called me, said, ‘Where’s that single?’/ Leave me alone, babe, I wanna have fun/ ‘Oh you’re breaking up, babe, I don’t got no signal!’”)
Ahead of the album’s summertime release, Rapp will join the likes of Mariah Carey, Lola Young, KSI, Busted vs. McFly, Zara Larsson, Dasha, Jessie J and fellow AMAs performer Benson Boone on the lineup of Capital’s Summertime Ball with Barclaycard 2025 at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 15.
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
Marking the latest stop on his extraordinary rise to pop stardom following the success of “Ordinary,” Alex Warren has made his award show debut by performing the breakthrough track at the American Music Awards on Monday (May 26). Taking the stage in Las Vegas late in the show, the TikToker expertly built up the momentum […]
