Music

21 Jun 2023

Niall Horan Says One Direction Are Still Close Because They ‘Never Believed the Hype’: Exclusive

It’s been seven years since One Direction split up in 2016, but the boys have still had each other’s back throughout the years. Niall Horan, for example, recently shared that he sent his new third studio album The Show to Louis Tomlinson for feedback. Horan is now opening up about the group’s maintained closeness in a new interview with Sunday TODAY.

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“I just think we never believed the hype,” Horan told host Willie Geist, who observed how 1D avoided the “fire” that has damaged other boy bands. “As I said, the state of shock was always there. You have to remember, it was us, our team, our bubble around us, and we just went from place to place worldwide and kind of went along with it. If you’re looking in, it must have looked crazy, and everybody’s going, ‘You’re in the biggest band!’ We were just having a great time. We always used to say we’re normal people doing an abnormal job, which is a good outlook to have.”

He continued, “One of the stadium tours was called Where We Are tour, because we always used to be like, ‘Look where we are.’ Every now and then, you catch yourself looking at each other, just going, ‘This is nuts.’ Onstage at MetLife or The Garden, you’ll have a moment now and then that’s like, ‘This is nuts.’ Thankfully, that’s never gotten old.”

Watch the clip exclusively via Billboard below, and catch the full interview on Sunday (June 25) on Sunday TODAY.

21 Jun 2023

Taylor Swift Spends Record-Extending 69th Week at No. 1 on Artist 100 Chart

Taylor Swift extends her record-run atop the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated June 24), as she rises from No. 2 to No. 1, leading as the top musical act in the United States for a 69th total week.

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Swift returns to the top thanks to the continued success of her latest album Midnights, plus eight additional charting sets on the Billboard 200.

Here’s a recap of her current Billboard-charting titles:

Rank, Title:

  • No. 4, Midnights
  • No. 10, Lover
  • No. 15, Folklore
  • No. 20, 1989
  • No. 24, Reputation
  • No. 25, Red (Taylor’s Version)
  • No. 39, Evermore
  • No. 42, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
  • No. 43, Speak Now

Also contributing to Swift’s reign are four songs on the latest Billboard Hot 100: current Midnights single “Karma” featuring Ice Spice (No. 9), former eight-week leader “Anti-Hero” (No. 12), Lover cut “Cruel Summer” (No. 39) and “Hits Different” (No. 84).

“Cruel Summer” was recently announced as an official single, four years after its release. It’s now the fifth promoted single from 2019’s Lover. It’s one of Swift’s 107 career top 40 Hot 100 hits, the most among women and second overall only to Drake (174).

As the song is now generating radio play, the track debuts at No. 33 on Pop Airplay (up 147% in plays). It becomes her 41st career entry at the format, tying Justin Bieber for the third-most in the chart’s 30-year archives, after Rihanna (51) and Nicki Minaj (44).

Niall Horan re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 3, powered by his new third solo LP, The Show. The album debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (80,000 equivalent album units), becoming his third top five solo album. One Direction, with him as a member, has scored five top five albums, including four No. 1s.

Noah Kahan debuts at No. 6 on the Artist 100, thanks to the new expanded version of his third studio album, Stick Season. The new version contains six new tracks, plus one extended version of a previously released song, helping the set vault from No. 100 to No. 3 on the latest Billboard 200, becoming his first top 10 album. One track, “Dial Drunk,” debuts at No. 43 on the Hot 100, earning him his first appearance on the chart.

Kahan also lands a whopping 18 songs on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, all of which appear on Stick Season. He’s just the fifth act to chart at least 18 or more songs in a single week, after David Bowie, Linkin Park, Swift and Zach Bryan.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

21 Jun 2023

Ava Max Attacked on Stage During L.A. Show: ‘He Slapped Me So Hard’

Less than 24 hours after Bebe Rexha was hit in the face by a fan’s tossed cell phone during a show, fellow pop star Ava Max was slapped by a man attending her show in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (June 20). In a fan video of the incident an unnamed man is seen appearing to swipe at Max’s face during her show at the Fonda Theater.

“He slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye. He’s never coming to a show again,” the singer tweeted early Wednesday morning (June 21) along with two angry face emoji. “Thank you to the fans for being spectacular tonight in LA though!!”

Fan video of the incident shows a man dressed in black storming the stage and reaching out in what looks like an attempt to touch Max, before getting wrapped up by security and hauled away after brushing her face with his hand.

A fan at the show described the wild scene during the final song of Max’s set, writing, “The guy rushed on stage at the end right when the last song ended. The security guard tackled him and literally THREW him down the stairs. Wild!!! It happened so fast. You can see here she couldn’t even open her eyes but she STILL did M&G.” At press time a spokesperson for Max had not returned a request for additional information on the incident.

The stage rush took place less than 48 hours after Rexha was taken a New York hospital after 27-year-old Nicolas Malvagna chucked his cellphone at her during a show at The Rooftop at Pier 17; the New Jersey resident was arrested and charged with two counts of assault in the third degree, as well as one count of harassment in the second degree, one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree and a count of attempted assault in the third degree. Rexha had to get stitches above her eye as a result of the phone strike.

See Max’s tweet and fan footage of the incident below.

21 Jun 2023

Lil Durk Says He Waited Two Years for J. Cole Collaboration to Happen: ‘In My Eyes He’s a Legend’

As Lil Durk’s “All My Life” enjoys its fifth week in the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, the Chicago rapper recently sat with Apple Music 1’s Nedeska Alexis to reflect on the success of his J. Cole-assisted hit. 

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“I think that the J. Cole feature was definitely unexpected for my fans,” he shared. “He went super crazy. And it’s so crazy, because we’ve been talking for two years. He always be like, ‘Send me a record,’ and I’m like, ‘I got to find the right record.’”

Durk said he waited two years to land the coveted Cole feature, and expressed gratitude for the collaboration. “And I’m glad I waited two years, because in my eyes he’s a legend. So if you have a chance to do a song with legend, do you send him something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you’re going to make it stick? So that’s why I never just sent him a record, because I want something that’s going to stick.”

“All My Life” sits at No. 5 on the Hot 100 and resides on this latest album, Almost Healed. The project debuted at No. 2 earlier in June, earning 125,000 equivalent album units in its opening week. Almost Healed was the third time Durk charted at least 15 records in a week on the Hot 100. He previously accomplished the feat in 2022 with 17 songs on the Hot 100, mainly in part to the success of his Billboard 200 No. 1 album The Voice. 

The Lil Durk episode with Nedeska Alexis drops on Apple Music 1 on Wednesday (June 21).

21 Jun 2023

Machine Gun Kelly Joins Motley Crue For ‘The Dirt’ At Hellfest

Machine Gun Kelly swung back into rock mode last week when he hopped on stage with Mötley Crüe for a live rendition of “The Dirt (Est. 1981),” their 2019 collaboration for the soundtrack to the film adaptation of the band’s biography of the same name. The rapper joined the metal legends during their set at Hellfest in Clisson, France.

In fan video of the moment, singer Vince Neil sings the first verse of the song as a dancer writhes on stripper pole behind him, with MGK — dressed in a black studded vest and matching pants — stomping out midway through to add his verse. He also bobbed his head during a solo from ex-Rob Zombie guitarist John 5, who is currently the band’s touring guitarist following the tour retirement of founding guitarist Mick Mars.

“The Dirt” was one of four fresh tracks the Crüe recorded for the soundtrack of the 2019 Netflix movie in which MGK portrayed Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. “More sex, more tats, more blood, more pain… Late night ride down the Sunset Strip/ New bike with the plate reading ‘666’,” MGK raps in the lyrics that tick off the full Crüe checklist of necessary topics, including cocaine, fast bikes and well-endowed strippers. 

As he continues to flip-flop between rap and rock, Kelly’s Crüe collab follows on the heels of the career retrospective hip-hop track “Pressure,” which he dropped in late May. “The diamonds are symbolic of all the pressure they put on me until I shined/ My life is symbiotic with the culture, I could never, ever lose the vibe,” MGK rhymes on the song accompanied by a video in which he returns to his hometown of Cleveland with his pal Bupkis star Pete Davidson in tow.

Check out fan video of “The Dirt” featuring MGK below.

21 Jun 2023

Alleged Beyond Wonderland Shooter Was Stationed at Nearby U.S. Army Base

The alleged gunman who fired into a crowd killing two people at a Washington state music festival Saturday was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Western Washington, law enforcement officials said Tuesday (June 20).

James M. Kelly, 26, of Joint Base Lewis-McChord was booked into the Grant County Jail Tuesday on investigation of two counts of murder, two counts of assault and one count of domestic violence assault, Grant County Sheriff Joe Kriete said in a Facebook post. Law enforcement officers shot him Saturday and he was being treated at a hospital until Tuesday, the sheriff said.

The shooting killed two people and wounded two others in an area where people were camping for the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre.

The two people killed were Seattle residents Brandy Escamilla, 29, and Josilyn Ruiz, 26, Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison said Tuesday. Escamilla died of a gunshot wound to the head, and Ruiz died from a gunshot wound to her torso, Morrison said. The two were engaged to be married, according to a fundraising campaign by family members.

Lily Luksich, 20, of Mill Creek, Washington, and 31-year-old Andrew Cuadra of Eugene, Oregon, were shot and wounded, according to the sheriff.

A private security officer responding to the report of shots fired was struck by a bullet that deflected off her eyeglasses, causing bruising and lacerations, the sheriff said.

The sheriff’s office said it received a report of a shooting around 8:20 p.m. Saturday at the camping area at the amphitheater near the small city of George, 149 miles (240 kilometers) east of Seattle. The shooting happened several hundred yards from the music festival.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord Lt. Col. Mike Burns told KXLY-TV in a statement Tuesday that the command is aware of the allegations against Kelly. “We take all allegations seriously and are fully cooperating with the appropriate authorities,” his statement said.

Burns said Kelly is a joint fire support specialist assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment at the military base that is three hours away from the venue. It wasn’t immediately known if Kelly has a lawyer to comment on his behalf.

The North Central Washington Special Investigation Unit is investigating the shooting of Kelly by law enforcement officers. The names of the officer or officers who fired at Kelly haven’t been released.

21 Jun 2023

Adele Forgot The Lyrics to One of Her Songs at Las Vegas Show: Watch

Adele proved, yet again, that she’s really one of us when she forgot the lyrics to one of her own songs. Unlike us, her space-cadet moment happened on stage during the superstar singer’s Weekends with Adele residency at The Colosseum in Las Vegas.

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In a clip captured last weekend by a fan and shared on social media, Adele stumbles on one line and lets everyone know about it. “I forgot the f***ing lyrics,” she says, immediately killing the music. Her moment didn’t kill the vibe, however. “Bloody hell, $50 dollars that cost me last night,” she continued, as laughter filled the room.

Adele doesn’t need a teleprompter, not when her fans in the front row know every lyric to every song, and are keen to help out – as they did on cue.

“Alright,” she continued, “let’s reset and start that one again, shall we?” As the production team cranked-up for the restart, Adele killed time with some impromptu jokes, though keeping the “filthy” one a secret.

“I Drink Wine” is no forgettable number. The track cracked the top 10 in Adele’s homeland, peaking at No. 4 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, impacting the top 10 on Australia’s ARIA Chart and cracking the top 40 (No. 18) on the Billboard Hot 100. Its parent, 30, dominated charts and finished 2022 atop the IFPI’s year-end lists, as the No. 1 on the Global Album All Format Chart, the Global Album Sales Chart, and the first-ever Global Vinyl Album Chart.

Adele doesn’t hold much back when she’s in the flow. During one recent performance, she shared a recent diagnosis that came from way out leftfield.

“My face is sweating… my t–s are sweating… I sweat a lot and it doesn’t go anywhere, so I basically am just sitting in my own sweat,” the singer told the crowd at her show in a separate video shared by fans. “So my doctor gave me [a diagnosis of] jock itch,” she added about her unexpected fungal friend.

“Do you guys know what that is? Jock itch?,” she continued. Now they do.

But wait, there’s more. “Do you know what my doctor gave me? It is a bit crude, but I never knew it existed,” Adele said. “Obviously when I do my shows I wear Spanx to keep it all in and make it all fit me… So my doctor gave me jock itch [cream].”

Adele’s Vegas residency is slated to run through Nov. 4.

21 Jun 2023

Taylor Swift Has Her Sights Set on Breaking Ed Sheeran’s Australian Concert Record

When Australians woke to the news Wednesday morning (June 21) that Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour would head Down Under next February, one detail jumped off the page – her two shows at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

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Swift’s run opens with concerts Feb. 16 and 17, 2024 at the MCG, followed by dates at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Feb. 23, 24 and 25.

The imposing stadium is the biggest of its kind in these parts, and has more history than a subscription to National Geographic. Built in 1853, the venue hosted the 1956 Olympic Games, and is used year-round. During the winter, it’s AFL and soccer, during the summer, cricket. And sometimes, concerts.

Few acts in the world can fill the MCG. Ed Sheeran can, and he did it twice during his visit to the Victorian capital in March for his The Mathematics Tour, setting a swag of national records.

The English pop superstar broke the Australian record for attendance at a ticketed concert with the first of those dates, with upwards of 105,000 tickets sold. The following night, he lifted the bar again when 109,500 Sheerios filled the stadium.

The combined attendance across those two shows, at almost 215,000, will take some beating, Billboard noted at the time.

Swift, with concerts at the same venue, over consecutive nights, could be the one to beat the record set by her bestie, Sheeran. Frontier Touring produced Sheeran’s tour of these parts, and is also behind Swift’s forthcoming trek.

As it stands, the two-city itinerary is a break from a typical Swift visit to Australia. Her last long haul, the Live Nation-produced Reputation Tour, visited stadiums in five cities across Australia and New Zealand in 2018, including Brisbane, Perth and Auckland.

TayTay’s return is bound to be a blockbuster; she smashes chart records here for a jolly.

Along the way, she became the first artist to simultaneously hold the No. 1 ARIA album, single and national airplay; and she has landed the most debuts in the top 10 of an ARIA Singles Chart with 9 of the top 10. Her most recent album, Midnights, was Swift’s 10th No. 1 album in Australia. Following its release last October, Midnight became the most streamed album in a week in ARIA history, while notching the biggest vinyl sales debut ever, selling over 10,000 vinyl units in week one.

American singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter is special guest artist on Swift’s tour of Australia.

The general on-sale starts Friday, June 30, and pre-sales open from Wednesday, June 28; VIP packages will be available from Monday, June 26.

Taylor Swift’s 2024 Australian dates:

Feb. 16 — Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
Feb. 17 — Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
Feb. 23 — Accor Stadium, Sydney
Feb. 24 — Accor Stadium, Sydney
Feb. 25 — Accor Stadium, Sydney

20 Jun 2023

Quando Rondo Jailed on Drug, Gang Charges in Georgia

The rapper Quando Rondo has been jailed after being indicted on drug and gang charges in his hometown of Savannah.

The 24-year-old rapper, whose given name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman, was behind bars in the Chatham County jail Tuesday. According to court records, he has a bond hearing scheduled Friday.

Bowman and 18 others were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday. The indictment charged Bowman with four counts, including being a manager of an illegal street gang known as “Rollin’ 60′s.” Other charges say Bowman conspired with others to distribute marijuana and to buy pills of the opioid hydrocodone.

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Bowman’s attorney, Joshua Pine, declined to make an immediate comment when reached by phone Tuesday.

As Quando Rondo, the rapper’s singles “I Remember” and “ABG” led to a deal with Atlantic Records, which released his debut album, “QPac,” in 2020. His follow-up album, “Recovery,” came out in March.

20 Jun 2023

YNW Melly Double Murder Trial Continues After Judge Denies Mistrial

The second week of the double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly began Tuesday with the judge denying a motion from the defense for a mistrial.

Defense attorneys had asked Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy for a mistrial last week, arguing the jury had been tainted following testimony that could not be verified from the mother of YNW Melly’s ex-girlfriend, the Sun Sentinel reported. The judge told defense attorneys jurors could be instructed to ignore statements that were ruled inadmissible.

YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, is facing a possible death sentence for the October 2018 fatal shooting of his childhood friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr.

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Williams and Thomas were both part of the YNW collective, known respectively as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.

Demons, Williams and Thomas were riding in a Jeep driven by Cortland Henry, known as YNW Bortlen, after a recording session in Fort Lauderdale when Demons, 24, fatally shot Williams and Thomas, prosecutors said. Henry is charged as an accomplice in the case but will be tried separately.

After killing Williams and Thomas, prosecutors said Demons and Henry drove the bodies to an area near the Everglades, where they shot at the back and passenger sides of Henry’s Jeep from the outside to make it look like Williams and Thomas were the victims of a drive-by shooting.

Prosecutors say the shooting was part of a gang action, while defense attorneys say the motive lacks credibility because Demons and the victims were close friends.

The gun used in the shooting has not been recovered. The first week of trial focused mostly on the physical evidence, with prosecutors establishing that the bullet casings found inside Demons and Henry’s vehicle likely came from the same weapon as the casings found at the scene of the staged drive-by shooting.

Demons gained attention with his breakout song “Murder on My Mind” in 2017. He later worked with Kanye West on “Mixed Personalities,” which was released in January 2019, a month before Demons was arrested on the murder charges.