Music

02 Jun 2023

Frank Ocean’s ‘Mutations’ Photo Book Is Definitely Something to Sneeze At

Frank Ocean seems to relish being hip-hop’s biggest enigma. The reclusive singer proved it again this week when he announced a new project that once again pushes the envelope. Ocean’s Homer company is offering up the 48-page booklet Mutations, which is described as a “retrospective of artwork from October 19 to December 22, 2022” featuring photos taken by Ocean.

The most intriguing part? The $75 book is described as being “offset printed on tissue-weight paper.” The cover image is of a shirtless man in yellow pants and a matching baseball cap in front of a series of blurry photos of another man wearing sunglasses.

The book announce is the first new project form Ocean since his controversial headlining set at this summer’s Coachella Festival, during which he took the stage an hour later than scheduled, did not offer up any merchandise and performed in a small space in front of a giant screen that rendered the singer hard to spot.

Following the confusing set, Ocean’s reps issued a statement revealing that he’d suffered a serious injury earlier in the week that led to a radically reworked production that did not invovle the full-sized ice skating rink he’d originally envisioned on stage.

“After suffering an injury to his leg on festival grounds in the week leading up to weekend 1, Frank Ocean was unable to perform the intended show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity,” it read. “On doctor’s advice, Frank is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.”

Ocean was replaced by the reunited Blink-182 on the second weekend. Ocean has not released a new full-length album since 2016’s Blonde; his most recent music came in the form of the singles “Cayendo” and “Dear April, which came out in March 2020.

02 Jun 2023

Keyshia Cole Talks Survival In Official Trailer For ‘This Is My Story’: Exclusive

What better person to star in and guide a biopic on Keyshia Cole than the R&B artist herself.

That’s how it’s playing out for Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story, an upcoming biopic on the Grammy Award-nominated artist, set to premiere June 24 on Lifetime.

Cole takes executive producer duties and makes her acting debut in the film, part of the channel’s celebration of Black Music Month.

But first, the official trailer which Billboard exclusively premieres today (June 2). In it, Cole explains, “as a young girl, I survived so many different situations.” She continues, “I always wanted to make a movie about my life.”

Helming the biopic is D’Angela Proctor (Line Sisters) and Manu Boyer (Girl in the Basement), while Cole’s musical collaborator and A&R Ron Fair supervised the music and Grammy winner Warryn Campbell composed the original score.

According to a statement, the dramatization traces Cole’s “early days in Oakland honing her musical talents to her rise to a multi-platinum selling recording artist and television personality, to her complicated yet warmhearted relationship” with her mom Frankie Lons, played by Debbi Morgan.

The film will also feature a new song recorded by Cole.

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“This is a story of a daughter’s love for her mother and although my heart remains broken from her untimely passing I am honored to be sharing it with the world,” she explains in a statement. “Playing the role of myself was a unique opportunity to re-live special moments in my life that also gave me the chance to process her loss in ways I did not expect. I miss her every day and even though she is not here, her presence was felt throughout this film. Mom, I love you.”

Keyshia Cole: This is My Story is produced for Lifetime by Swirl Films and Big Dreams.

Watch the trailer below.

02 Jun 2023

Watch Cardi B Get ‘Summer Jam Ready’ With Impressive Yoga Moves

Cardi B knows it takes stamina to headline a festival, which might explain why the “Up” rapper shared a video earlier this week of her prep for Sunday’s (June 4) Summer Jam festival at UBS Arena in New York. In an Instagram Story captured by HipHopDX, Cardi worked on getting her mind and body right with the help of a yoga instructor.

Doing a deep back bend on a mat while wearing a blue sports bra and grey shorts, Cardi listened as the yoga teacher said, “I want you to press your hands into the floor and I want you to move your butt back just a little bit. Don’t move your hands!”

Cardi will headline the Hot 97 festival in Belmont Park, N.Y. on a bill that also includes GloRilla, Ice Spice, Coi Leray, Fivio Foreign, French Montana, Lil TJay and Lola Brooke, as well as a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary featuring the Lox.

Last month, Cardi told Rolling Stone that fans can “expect a lot from me this summer,” as a tease about new music and other projects. She made good on that promise on Friday (June 2) when she teamed up with Latto on a remix of her single “Put It On Da Floor.” Cardi brings it in her verse, rapping, “Put a ribbon on me, I been actin’ brand new/ I ain’t smokin’ on no za’, lil’ b–ch, I’m smokin’ on you/ Put your bestie in a pack and now I’m smokin’ her too/ I been ballin’ so damn hard, could’ve went to LSU/ Got so many chains on, I can’t even see my throat.”

Watch Cardi get her yoga on below.

02 Jun 2023

Hayley Williams Has Stark Warning For Fans Who Support This Republican Presidential Candidate

As the 2024 presidential race starts to heat up with more than half a dozen republicans already throwing their hats in the ring to take on President Biden, Paramore singer Hayley Williams told New Jersey fans that she’s not afraid to get political from the stage.

In fact, the outspoken vocalist told the crowd at the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City last weekend that if they’re supporting a particular candidate they can take a hike. “I’ll be happy to tell you I’m very f–king comfortable talking politics,” Williams said during Paramore’s headlining set to the screams of fans. “If you vote for Ron DeSantis, you’re f–king dead to me. Is that comfortable enough for anyone?”

It should come as little surprise that Williams is not a fan of the Florida governor and self-proclaimed “anti-woke” warrior who earlier this year signed a series of discriminatory bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community that the Human Rights Campaign called “extreme.” Among them was the so-called “don’t say gay” bill that prohibits educators from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity from pre-K through eighth grade, as well as another bill severely restricting banning gender-affirming care and another that criminalized transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity.

Williams was among the participants at the March 20 Love Rising benefit in Nashville to support Tennessee-based LGBTQ organizations. “Once again our state has passed two regressive and unfathomably harmful bills,” Williams wrote on her Instagram Story in late February, after the Tennessee House passed legislation banning drag performances and gender-affirming care. “We stand in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ family and local LGBTQIA+ orgs in this fight, not only for inclusion for our friends and family in the queer community, but for radical acceptance and empowerment for each of them.”

Tennessee native Williams doubled-down, saying that “drag is not a crime… gender-affirming healthcare for all, including our youth, is a necessity.”

Check out Williams’ comments below.

02 Jun 2023

Stray Kids Check In With ‘5 Stars’: Stream It Now

While the media has fixated on K-pop superstars BTS, Blackpink, Tomorrow X Together, and, more recently, newbies Fifty Fifty, don’t sleep on Stray Kids.

The South Korean boy band doesn’t get the attention, but they’re flying in the upper-elite class, with No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart with Maxident and Oddinary. Both recordings made a mark on the other side of the Atlantic, cracking the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

According to the IFPI, Stray Kids was one of the top 10 most popular artists of 2022, coming in at No. 7 on the Federation’s year-end list, led by Taylor Swift; while Maxident was the No. 6 most popular album of the year (Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti was No. 1).

The eight-member pop group return with 5 Stars (via JYP Entertainment and Republic Records), the lads’ third Korean-language studio album, and fourth overall. Prior to its release at the stroke of midnight, 5 Stars was already a hit.

Based on data commissioned by online casino guide 6Takarakuji, the LP has notched more than 5 million pre-orders, ahead of recordings by BTS, TXT and Seventeen’s 10th mini album FML, which dropped last month.

Stray Kids recently completed a string of concerts in North America, including their first-ever stadium concerts in the United States, for which they warmed-up with a late-night TV performance of Oddinary track “Maniac” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Forming in 2018, the Kids — Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. — took over the top 5 of Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter, dated Jan. 28, with the title track at No. 1, and the cuts “DLMLU,” “Novel,” “Battle Ground” and “Lost Me” at Nos. 2-5, respectively.

Later, in February, the boy band dropped The Sound, marking their first original Japanese full-length album.

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Spanning 12 songs, 5 Stars can be streamed in full below.

02 Jun 2023

Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night’ Sets Record On Australia’s Chart

Morgan Wallen’s name is now etched in the ARIA history books as “Last Night” (via Republic/Universal) enters week eight at No. 1.

“Last Night” holds top spot on the latest Australian singles chart, published June 2, making it the longest reigning leader by a male American country singer since the ARIA Charts launched in 1983. It beats by a week Billy Ray Cyrus’ seven-week stint at the top with “Achy Breaky Heart” in 1992.

Taylor Swift gets some good karma on the ARIA Charts, following the release of Midnights (Til Dawn Edition) (via Universal), which returns to No. 1. Swifties have been obsessing over the fresh cut of “Karma,” which features Ice Spice and flies 59-2 for a new chart peak, besting its No. 9 high from 2022. It’s one of several album tracks on the rise, including “Snow on The Beach,” which features additional lyrics from Lana Del Rey and reenters at No. 12; while “Hits Different” impacts the chart for the first time at No. 16.

Dua Lipa shuffles into the top 40 with “Dance The Night,” lifted from the Barbie soundtrack. It’s new at No. 22 for her 21st top 50 single in Australia, a streak that dates back to “Be The One,” which reached No. 6 in 2015, ARIA reports.

Also impacting the chart for the first time is “America Has a Problem” by Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar, a remix of a cut from Bey’s chart-topping album from 2022, Renaissance. It’s new at No. 32.

Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Swift’s Midnights returns to the summit, up 7-1, for its first stint in the penthouse since February of this year. Midnights has now logged 13th non-consecutive weeks at No. 1.

Matchbox Twenty lights up the tally with Where The Light Goes (Atlantic/Warner), their fifth studio album. It’s new at No. 2 for the week’s highest debut. Thanks to Swift, the U.S. group misses out on extending its streak of No. 1s. They’ve landed four thus far, with Yourself Or Someone Like You (1996), Mad Season (2000), career retrospective Exile On Mainstream (2007) and North, their most recent studio album from 2012.

Rockabilly “supergroup” the Barnestormers complete the podium with their self-titled set, new at No. 3 with the debut of their self-titled album (via Mushroom Group’s Bloodlines, distributed by Universal Music Australia). The Barnestormers features Jimmy Barnes on vocals, the Living End’s Chris Cheney on guitar, Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom on drums, producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley on bass, and Squeeze keyboardist and broadcaster Jools Holland.

Close behind is Sydney indie band Boy & Bear, which bows at No. 4 with their eponymously titled fifth album (through UNFD/Orchard). It’s the fourth top 5 appearance for the ARIA Award winners, a run that includes No. 1s for 2013’s Harlequin Dream and 2015’s Limit Of Love.

Finally, Tina Turner proves she’s still simply the best, as Aussies remember the U.S. R&B legend by returning to her greatest hits. “The Best” (Rhino/Warner), which soundtracked Turner’s campaigns for Australia’s professional rugby league, reenters at No. 29 on the singles survey after peaking at No. 4 in 1989 (a duet with Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes, which also appeared in a league campaign, hit No. 14 in 1992). Her signature comeback song “What’s Love Got To Do With It” returns at No. 84, while a string of her albums enjoy sales and streaming spikes: All The Best (up 28-17), Private Dancer (reentering at No. 53) Tina! (No. 58). Turner passed away May 24, aged 83.

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02 Jun 2023

Foo Fighters Distill Heartbreak, Embark on Next Chapter With ‘But Here We Are’: Stream It Now

Great art is so often hewn from struggle. Dave Grohl knows all about it.

Following the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain, and the immediate disbanding of Nirvana, the grunge great’s drummer Grohl focused his grief and energies on a new project, Foo Fighters.

A year later, Foo Fighters dropped its self-titled debut album. Grohl sang every line and played every instrument, with the exception of a guitar part on “X-Static”.

The Foos are now members of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 2022 (Grohl was also elevated as a member of Nirvana, in 2014), and 11 albums deep in a rocking career, one that was ignited by struggle.

Grohl and his Foos have had to pick up their shattered pieces once again following the untimely death last March of their talismanic drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Working through heartbreak, the band reassembled those pieces for But Here We Are, the Foos’ 11th and latest studio album, which dropped at the stroke of midnight.

Produced by years-long collaborator Greg Kurstin, the set is described a “brutally honest and emotionally raw response” to tragedy, and “the first chapter of the band’s new life.”

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Spanning 10 tracks, But Here We Are opens with the first single “Rescued,” which dropped April 19.

Grohl returns to his familiar duties behind the kit on the new LP, though Josh Freese was recently unveiled as the Foos’ full-time drummer, making his live concert debut with the group on May 21 for a performance that included new cut “Show Me How” and the title track. Freese, a veteran studio/touring drummer, has played with acts including Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle, and Nine Inch Nails, was revealed as during a livestream, “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts”.

The Foos will rumble through the summer with a full itinerary, including more than a dozen festival appearances at Boston Calling, Sonic Temple, Rock Am Ring, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, Harley-Davidson Homecoming, Fuji Rock, Wildlands, Outside Lands, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Riot Fest, Sea.Hear.Now, Louder Than Life, Ohana and ACL, as well as a number of North American and international headlining dates.

And Here We Are is the followup to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, one of the band’s nine top 10 appearances on the chart, two of which hit No. 1.

Stream it below.

01 Jun 2023

Moneybagg Yo Drops ‘Hard to Love’ Mixtape: Stream It Now

Following the Billboard Hot 100 success of his GloRilla-assisted “On What U On” and a minor delay to avoid the splashy release of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition), Moneybagg Yo has finally unleashed his Hard to Love: Heartless Edition mixtape.

Originally slated for a May 26 release, Hard to Love boasts pre-release singles such as “Quickie,” “Ocean Spray” and the aforementioned “On What U On,” which peaked at No. 56 on the Hot 100. Hard to Love serves as Moneybagg Yo’s first project since 2021’s A Gangsta’s Pain. The Memphis rapper’s fourth studio album became his first to top the Billboard 200, and boasted several Hot 100 hits, including “Wockesha” (No. 20), the Future-featuring “Hard for the Next” (No. 49) and “Time Today” (No. 31).

In an intimate letter to fans, Moneybagg wrote on Instagram May 10, “I gained and lost more than I ever thought I would and had no other safe outlet for all the emotions and dark thoughts that came with that other than making music.”

The Grammy-nominated rapper has always been a vulnerable lyricist, and fans can expect even more depth on Hard to Love. In an Instagram caption, the “Said Sum” rapper stressed that Hard to Love is “for [his] core fans, the streets! Not the industry.”

Hard to Love: Heartless Edition also features collaborations with some of Moneybagg’s “favorites,” including Future, Lil Durk, GloRilla and Fridayy, among others.

Moneybagg Yo has earned 27 Hot 100 hits, and five of his projects have reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Stream Moneybagg Yo’s Hard to Love: Heartless Edition in full below.

01 Jun 2023

Metro Boomin Unveils ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Soundtrack: Stream It Now

Metro Boomin assembles his own superstar Avengers for the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack, which was released on Friday (June 2).

As the soundtrack’s executive producer, Metro has threaded together the who’s who in hip-hop in a sonic web of his own design, including Future, Don Toliver, 21 Savage, Offset, Coi Leray, Lil Uzi Vert, Swae Lee, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, A$AP Rocky, Nav, J.I.D., James Blake and Wizkid, among others. Over the last week, the super-producer has been cleverly confirming the soundtrack’s stars by unveiling their Spider-Man-inspired illustrations one by one.

The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack arrives on the heels of Metro’s third Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Heroes and Villains. The project features many of the aforementioned artists, and its hit single “Creepin’” with Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and 21 Savage (as well as Diddy on the remix) has been a mainstay in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for all of 2023 so far.

“I can’t say this about a lot of songs because I just try to make stuff that I love and hope it resonates with other people, but it’s really a rare occasion to where even after we made [“Creepin’”], it was like, ‘OK. I know this is gonna go up,’” he told Billboard in January. “Not just because of me or because of The Weeknd, but also with it halfway being a cover of a song that I loved so much growing up, and just know how much it worked before [and] it getting a new spin for the next generation.”

Listen to the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack below.

01 Jun 2023

Paris Hilton Taps Kim Petras for ‘Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version)’: Stream It Now

17 years ago, infamous socialite and marquee 2000s It Girl Paris Hilton made her Billboard Hot 100 debut with “Stars Are Blind.” The song, which simultaneously served as her debut single and the lead single for eponymous debut studio album, debuted and peaked at No. 18 on the chart, laying the foundation for its parent album‘s No. 6 peak on the Billboard 200.

In a surprise move, Paris has released a new version of her debut single titled “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version).” The new duet features Kim Petras, one of the voices behind the history-making Hot 100 No. 1 single “Unholy” (with Sam Smith). The new remix is slated to be on the setlist for Hilton’s upcoming Fonda Theater concert — fittingly titled “Paris Hilton: Live in Concert” — which sold out in under three minutes. “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version) also marks the launch of the new music division of 11:11 Media, Hilton’s next-gen media company.

While this remix is hitting streaming services for the first time tonight, it is not the first time Petras and Hilton have crossed musical paths. On April 24, 2020, Petras covered “Stars Are Blind” during a livestream for the Stonewall Gives Back initiative. “This is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite people, Paris Hilton,” she said before performing the song. “I know it always makes me smile, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

Kim Petras’ appearance on “Stars Are Blind” is just the latest in a series of high-profile collaborations for the boundary-obliterating German pop star. In addition to last year’s Grammy-winning “Unholy,” Kim enlisted Nicki Minaj for “Alone,” the lead single from her forthcoming debut studio album. “Alone” debuted and peaked at No. 55 on the Hot 100 chart dated May 6, 2023. Feed the Beast, her debut studio album, will arrive on June 23.

Stream Paris Hilton and Kim Petras’ “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version)” in full below.