Music

01 Mar 2023

KISS Announces Final Shows Ever: ‘We’re Finishing Up Where We Started’

It’s official: KISS shared the news on Wednesday (March 1) that they’ll be hitting the road for their last run of concerts ever.

The veteran glam rockers made the announcement during a sit-down on The Howard Stern Show, telling the host, “Dec. 1 and 2 is Madison Square Garden. Those are the last two shows of the band. We’re finishing up where we started.”

Ahead of the back-to-back nights at the iconic New York City venue, KISS will play 17 other shows across the U.S. and Canada as part of its End of the Road World Tour, including stops in Los Angeles, Seattle, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Baltimore.

“Look, some people have kind of snickered and said, ‘Oh this End of the Road tour’s gone on for years,’” Paul Stanley continued. “Yeah, we lost two and a half years to COVID. We would’ve been done already! So, yes, this is the end.”

Prompted by Stern, Gene Simmons said he’s almost certain he’ll be emotional once the band reaches its final performances. “I kid around a lot about, ‘Men don’t do that,’” he added. “I’m sure I’m gonna cry like a 9-year-old girl whose foot’s being stepped on. KISS was born on 23rd Street. It’s only taken us 50 years to go play the final shows 10 blocks away on 33rd Street, which is Madison Square Garden.”

Last month, Stanley starred in Workday’s Super Bowl commercial along with fellow rockers Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Clark Jr.

Watch KISS dish on their final concerts above.

01 Mar 2023

Justin Bieber Appears to Cancel All Remaining Justice Tour Dates

After Frontier Touring announced on Tuesday (Feb. 28) that Justin Bieber‘s planned six-date, five-city Australasian leg of his Justice World Tour was canceled, the rest of the singer’s scheduled 2023 dates appear to also been called off.

No reason was given for the cancellation of the stadium gigs in Australia and New Zealand, and at press time, spokespeople for Bieber and the tour had not returned Billboard‘s requests for comment.

The Ticketmaster site listed all the 2023 Justice dates as canceled on Wednesday (March 1); the tour was scheduled to pick up in Dublin at the 3Arena on Thursday (March 2), followed by a four-night stand in Paris and a gig in Poland.

Bieber’s official website has no tour dates listed and, according to the Ticketmaster site, his handful of 2024 U.S. arena shows have also been canceled. CNN reported that fans in London — where Bieber was originally slated to perform in February — got an email from event company AXS on Tuesday night that read, “We regret to inform you that the Justin Bieber shows planned to take place at The O2 arena have been cancelled.” A note on the site for the Utilita Arena in Sheffield also confirmed that the Feb. 25 gig there had been canceled.

In June, Bieber told fans that he would take a break from the road after one month of dates because of the effects of the neurological disorder Ramsay-Hunt Syndrome, which left his face partially paralyzed. “As a result of this illness, I was not able to complete the North American leg of the Justice Tour,” he wrote in a message to fans at the time. Bieber went on to explain that after taking some time to rest and consult with his family and doctors, he went ahead with the European leg of his tour.

“After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I need to make my health the priority right now,” he explained about how he felt after completing his Rock in Rio set in September. “So I’m going to take a break from touring for the time being. I’m going to be ok, but I need time to rest and get better.”

He got back on the stage a month later, but after just six shows he said he need to take a break again. The AEG Presents-promoted Justice tour was Bieber’s first global outing since the 2016-2017 Purpose World Tour.

The outing was originally supposed to launch in 2020 as the Changes Tour, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed until 2021, then to February 2022. But after playing gigs across North America through June 2022 as well as a series of overseas dates, he came off the road to heal from the effects of Ramsay-Hunt, pulling the plug on all remaining 2022 dates through December.

01 Mar 2023

Tiwa Savage & Nao Headlining Inaugural ‘Across the Pond’ R&B and Afrobeats Music Festival

Femme It Forward announced its inaugural R&B and Afrobeats music festival on Wednesday (March 1), which will be headlined by Tiwa Savage and Nao this spring.

The festival will be held at Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, May 6. Additional performers include Nigerian artist Ayra Starr as well as South African singers Elaine and Tyla, who are some of the most recent female stars coming out of the African continent and therefore the focus of this festival, alongside other women in the R&B, Afrobeats and adjacent genres.

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Across the Pond “will shine a spotlight on the talented artists and creatives in these spaces who, too often, are overshadowed by their male counterparts,” according to a press release, and “further Femme It Forward’s mission to celebrate and empower women.”

Through a joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment, Femme It Forward is a female-led music and entertainment company that centers its mission in celebrating, educating and empowering the industry’s most creative and accomplished female visionaries through multi-format, multi-market consumer experiences.

General admission and VIP tickets will go on sale this Friday, March 3 at 10 a.m. local time at livenation.com.

See the Across the Pond festival poster below.

across the pond

Courtesy Photo

01 Mar 2023

Tim McGraw to Release New Song, ‘Standing Room Only’: Here’s When It Arrives

Tim McGraw is gearing up to release his release his latest single, “Standing Room Only,” very soon.

McGraw recently teased a surprise for fans on social media, through an Amazon Music playlist titled “Rediscover Tim McGraw,” which featured a blend of the singer’s hits and album cuts. Some fans noticed that the first letter of each song, taken together, spelled out the words “Standing Room Only.”

“Some of you guessed it!,” McGraw said on social media on Wednesday (March 1). “New single ‘Standing Room Only’ coming March 10th. If we get 1,000 pre-saves on this today, I’ll share a little bit of the song with you.”

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The song marks the three-time Grammy winner’s first new music since releasing his most recent album, Here on Earth, in 2020, followed by an ultimate edition of the album the following year. Two songs from Here on Earth, “Thought About You” and “Neon Church,” reached the top 20 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart (Nos. 17 and 20 respectively). To date, McGraw has earned a total of 17 chart-topping projects on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart.

McGraw has several festival appearances on the books in the coming months, including performances at Country Jam USA, Boots & Hearts, Coastal Country Jam, and multiple Country Thunder festivals. He will also join fellow country artist Keith Urban and Lil Nas X as headliners for the 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival in Houston’s Discovery Green Park from March 31-April 2.

See McGraw’s announcement for “Standing Room Only” below.

01 Mar 2023

Joe Jonas Pokes Fun at Harry Styles’ Viral ‘Favorite Thing About the Movie Is It Feels Like a Movie’ Meme

Joe Jonas just dropped a bombshell detail about the Jonas Brothers‘ next album: it’s an album. At least, it definitely feels like one. In a recent TikTok, the 33-year-old musician hilariously promoted his band’s upcoming project by referencing a viral clip of Harry Styles saying his favorite part of Olivia Wilde’s 2022 film Don’t Worry Darling was that it felt, yes, like a movie.

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In his TikTok, Jonas lip-syncs to Styles’ voice, poshly putting on a pair of sunglasses. “My favorite thing about the movie is, like, it feels like a movie,” he says.

In his caption, the DNCE frontman replaced the word “movie” with “album,” a play on how his May-slated record with brothers Nick and Kevin is simply titled The Album: “My favorite thing about THE ALBUM is it feels like an album.”

The “As It Was” singer’s slightly redundant but well intentioned quote — taken from a Venice International Film Festival press conference for Don’t Worry Darling, in which he starred opposite Florence Pugh — blew up online after an instantly meme-able clip started circulating on Twitter in September 2022. “It feels like a real, like, you know, ‘go to the theater’ film movie,” Styles had followed it up during the Q&A event, as costar Chris Pine stared blankly ahead.

The quote is a prime example of a point made by Pine in a recent interview, during which he said the Darling cast bonded over the experience of answering questions at press conferences while exhausted from jet lag. “Sometimes when you’re doing these press things, your brain gets befuddled and you start speaking gibberish,” the Star Trek actor explained, revealing the actors even had an inside joke about it.

“We had a joke: ‘It’s just words, man,’” Pine shared, noting that this is what Styles actually said to him in an entirely different viral clip from Darling‘s press run, in which the “Watermelon Sugar” artist appeared to spit in Pine’s lap.

Watch Joe Jonas put his spin on Harry Styles’ now iconic “feels like a movie” quote below.

01 Mar 2023

Miley Cyrus Is Releasing the ‘Flowers’ Demo to Thank Fans for Song’s Continued Success

Miley Cyrus is giving fans a special gift to celebrate the continued success of her smash hit single “Flowers.” On Wednesday (March 1), the singer revealed that with the track spending its sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, she will be releasing the song’s demo on Friday, March 3.

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“Flowers is #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the 6th week in a row,” the Disney Channel alum tweeted, captioning a picture of herself in a shimmering gold unitard. “To THANK YOU I’m dropping the Flowers Demo on Friday.”

Fans were more than excited for the demo of the hit song to arrive. “Can’t wait. I heard the snippet on your Discord server and it’s so good,” one fan replied, while another Smiler wrote, “This whole month about to be everything that we need.”

“Flowers” is the lead single from Cyrus’ eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, due March 10. The song has proven to be one the biggest hits of the 30-year-old’s career thus far, surpassing her 2013 single “Wrecking Ball” as her longest running No. 1; “Wrecking Ball” spent a total of 32 weeks on the Hot 100.

“I love that this record is connecting in such a positive way & it’s a pleasure to continue creating music for you,” Cyrus shared while celebrating the song’s second week at No. 1 in January. “These milestones are only made possible by the listeners & my incredible fans. Endlessly thankful.”

See Cyrus’ “Flowers” demo announcement below.

01 Mar 2023

Jamaica Reggae Industry Association to Honor Billboard With ‘Extraordinary Impact’ Award

The Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s JaRIA Honour Awards return on April 10 in Kingston, Jamaica. This year, the show will honor Dawn Penn, Horace Andy and Shaggy with the icon award, as announced Sunday (Feb. 26) in Saint Andrew, Kingston, Jamaica.

Twenty-six of the awardees have already been announced in 16 categories; on April 10, all 31 winners (in 19 categories) will be revealed. One of the already revealed honorees is Billboard, which is being recognized in the extraordinary impact on the reggae industry (media—new media) category.

In addition to several reggae charts, Billboard has covered the pioneers and newcomers in the reggae genre for decades, conducting interviews with legends like Ernest Ranglin as well as rising stars like Grammy winner Koffee – many of them coming from the pen of Billboard contributor and reggae authority Patricia Meschino. Additionally, a comprehensive 2020 cover story detailed the Marley family’s business as it celebrated Bob Marley’s 75th birthday amid a pandemic.

The JaRIA Honour Awards began in 2009. The ceremony honors people, groups and institutions that contribute to the development of the reggae music industry.

One of the JaRIA 2023 icon awards honorees is no stranger to the Billboard charts. Shaggy has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice (with “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me”), and his 2018 collaborative album with Sting, 44/876, spent 23 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. Trend-setting singer Dawn Penn’s “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” was a Hot 100 hit in 1994, and revered singer-songwriter Horace Andy contributed to several Billboard 200-charting albums from trip-hop outfit Massive Attack.

01 Mar 2023

Lil Nas X, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Little Big Town to Play 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Fest

The 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival will offer up headlining sets from Lil Nas X, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Little Big Town. The free ticketed three-day event slated to take place at Discovery Green Park in Houston from March 31-April 2 will also feature performances from Maggie Rogers and Mickey Guyton.

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Fans can register for free tickets here now. The April 1 lineup will have Rogers tipping off the action on the Move by Coca-Cola Stage, with Lil Nas closing things out. The Next night’s Capital One JamFest will feature Little Big Town and Guyton opening for headliners McGraw and Urban; performers and registration information for the AT&T Black party on March 31 will be announced at a later date.

Capital One debit/credit cardholders will get exclusive early access to tickets for the JamFest beginning March 8 at 10 a.m. ET through March 10 at 10 a.m. ET, or while supplies last. Fans can stream Sunday’s live performances on NCAA.com and Bleacherreport.com.

Last year’s March Madness Music Festival at Woldenberg Park in New Orleans had sets from Lucky Daye, BIA, The Kid LAROI, Khalid, Imagine Dragons, Macklemore, Grouplove and Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue.

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports/ CBS Sports will broadcast all 67 games from the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. CBS will air the Division I Men’s Final Four, beginning with the Division I Men’s National Semifinals on April 1, then the Division I Men’s National Championship on April 3 from Houston.

01 Mar 2023

Here’s Why SZA Turned Down ‘Carpool Karaoke’

SZA opened up in a new profile on Monday (Feb. 27) about the reason she turned down an appearance on Carpool Karaoke early in her career.

Speaking to Alternative Press, the R&B sensation revealed she was once offered her own turn in the passenger seat of the popular The Late Late Show With James Corden segment, but declined because she was “scared of being on camera, looking bad, sounding bad and being perceived.”

However, she’s trying overcome those fears and insecurities in the wake of releasing her acclaimed sophomore album, SOS, which is currently spending its 10th nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 (dated March 4). “I really have to remind myself this is my moment in the sun, and I have to take every opportunity because this s–t may never happen again,” she said.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Grammy winner also revealed some of the surprising influences that found their way into the 2022 studio set, including Fefe Dobson, Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Blink-182, Paramore and Nickelback — all rock acts she loved growing up. “I was hella moved by that in elementary and middle school,” she said. “It made me feel so many things. I was like, ‘I don’t know why I’m in my room with the lights off crying, but that’s how I’m gonna spend my day.”

On Wednesday evening (March 1), SZA will be on hand at Billboard‘s annual Women in Music, where she will be honored with this year’s titular award. Other artists being honored at the star-studded event include Kim Petras, Doechii, Becky G, Lana Del Rey, Rosalía, TWICE, Lainey Wilson and Ivy Queen.

01 Mar 2023

Here’s How Dolly Parton Reacted to Ashley McBryde Accidentally Starting a Fire in Her Home

A “bonfire” at Dolly’s! Ashley McBryde revealed during her Wednesday (March 1) appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show that she once accidentally set a fire while house-sitting for Dolly Parton.

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The “Bonfire at Tina’s” singer shared that when she was younger, she and Parton’s niece were in charge of looking after the country icon’s home while construction workers were remodeling its lake house, and she accidentally set fire to a microwave while trying to heat up Bagel Bites.

“We set the microwave on fire on accident in a newly wallpapered room. Bagel Bites are delicious … but you have to be careful. You don’t want to be that person! Like, ‘Oh you know that girl set Dolly’s house on fire.’ “I grabbed [the microwave], it was fully on fire, I grabbed it and took it outside,” McBryde told Hudson, who wouldn’t help but laugh.

Parton, however, wasn’t upset with McBryde over the incident. “Dolly is such a sweet person. When she found out about it, she gave me the microwave,” the 39-year-old shared. “She gave me the microwave because I just moved to town. I was broke, I didn’t have a microwave. It smelled like burnt bowling shoes. I used it for like a year and a half.”

McBryde previously opened up about the incident in an interview with Audacy’s Rob + Holly at the Faster Horses Festival. As it turns out, Parton’s niece was the one who put the Bagel Bites in the microwave that cause it to catch fire, not her.

“I do take the blame for [the fire] because I’m the one who removed the on-fire microwave out of the house, but it was honestly her niece,” she shared. “She stuck a whole box of Bagel Bites in there — like, in the box and then ‘beep,’ there it goes in a freshly wallpapered room.”

Watch McBryde talk about the incident above.