Music
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The opening night of Death Becomes Her on Broadway brought the ladies of Destiny’s Child together for a group reunion. Both Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland showed up at New York City’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Thursday night (Nov. 21) in support of Michelle Williams‘ performance as Viola Van Horn in the musical.
Beyoncé posted on Instagram twice on Saturday. Both posts were full of photos and clips from attending Williams’ show, which also stars Megan Hilty (as Madeline Ashton), Jennifer Simard (Helen Sharp) and Christopher Sieber (Ernest Menville). Death Becomes Her is a musical adaptation of Universal Pictures’ 1992 film of the same name, a dark comedy led by Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Isabella Rossellini.
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“My Belle,” Beyoncé captioned a series of pictures from her evening seeing Williams in Death Becomes Her.
In a variety of photos, fans get a glimpse at the Broadway star looking gorgeous on opening night, the ladies posing with Beyoncé’s mom (Tina Knowles) and holding each other’s hands, the Broadway production’s playbill, a look at Bey’s outfit, stage shots from the the theater and more.
Beyoncé’s other post shared similar moments from the special night, set to Cowboy Carter‘s “II Most Wanted,” in which she sings, “I’ll be your shotgun rider ’til the day I, ’til the day I die.”
Williams saw the sentimental post and commented, “I try not to cry too early in the day BUT……. My sisters 4ever!”
Last month, Williams lamented being unable to join Beyoncé and Rowland at Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston ahead of the 2024 election; she was busy in previews of Death Becomes Her in New York.
“I was so happy [for Beyoncé and Kelly],” she said in an appearance on the Sherri show. “It was the first time that I have not been able to be in person for something that I wanted to be at … It’s a sacrifice that we make [being] on Broadway.” Williams said she watched the rally later and loved that her Destiny’s Child bandmates “represented and held me down in their own way.”
The trio released their last studio album together, Destiny Fulfilled, 20 years ago. The set peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in December 2004.
See Beyoncé’s Death Becomes Her video montage from opening night here and her slideshow of photos here.
Taylor Swift‘s “Cassandra” was the only song from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology that had never been performed live, until Friday night (Nov. 22) in Toronto, where it stole the show in a three-song piano medley brimming with rage.
“Cassandra,” “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” suddenly existed together in a fine fury, ascending above the concept of ordering the tour’s main setlist by “eras.” (Tortured Poets, Folklore and Reputation were represented here, in one performance.)
Watch a fan-filmed video of Swift’s full performance of the mashup here.
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The live premiere of “Cassandra,” a song titled after the Cassandra of Greek mythology who received the gift of prophecy along with the curse to never be believed, came during the the acoustic section of Swift’s Friday show, the fifth of six dates total in Toronto this month. The Eras Tour acoustic set is known as the part of the concert where what she performs each night is meant to be a surprise to the audience.
“When the first stone’s thrown, there’s screaming/ In the streets, there’s a raging riot/ When it’s ‘burn the b—-,’ they’re shrieking/ When the truth comes out, it’s quiet,” Swift sang from “Cassandra” at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, sitting at her piano painted with flowers.
She continued on with the ballad’s chorus, singing, “So they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst/ And tried to tell the town/ So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/ Do you believe me now? Do you believe me now?”
Swift surprised everyone further with a sudden shift to “Mad Woman”: “What did you think I’d say to that?/ Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?/ They strike to kill and you know I will/ You know I will.”
In the moving chorus of “Mad Woman,” she sings, “Every time you call me crazy/ I get more crazy/ What about that?/ And when you say I seem angry/ I get more angry/ And there’s nothin’ like a mad woman/ What a shame she went mad/ No one likes a mad woman/ You made her like that.”
While it feels melodramatic to type this out, the moment that Swift took a sharp turn to Reputation — with “I Did Something Bad” — actually elicited gasps heard round the stadium and the internet, where fans who weren’t at the concert searched for streams of Swift’s set.
“What a shame she went mad,” Swift sang from “Mad Woman,” casually calling back to Reputation with “They say I did something bad.”
Toward the end of the performance, that couplet became “Do you believe me now? What a shame she went mad/ Do you believe me now? They say I did something bad” in a clever rewrite that linked “Cassandra” with both “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” in the same chorus.
The mad mashup went on for a solid seven minutes, as captured on video by concertgoers.
It followed a lighter performance from Swift on acoustic guitar, “Ours” (Speak Now) mixed with “The Last Great American Dynasty” (Folklore).
Swift plays in Toronto once more Saturday night (Nov. 23). The Eras Tour, which launched in March 2023, has a break for the U.S.’s Thanksgiving week before taking its final bow in Vancouver from Dec. 6-8, 2024.
Alice Brock, whose Massachusetts-based eatery helped inspire Arlo Guthrie’s deadpan Thanksgiving standard, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” has died at age 83.
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Her death, just a week before Thanksgiving, was announced Friday (Nov. 22) by Guthrie on the Facebook page of his own Rising Son Records. Guthrie wrote that she died in Provincetown, Massachusetts, her residence for some 40 years, and referred to her being in failing health. Other details were not immediately available.
“This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her,” Guthrie wrote. “Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we’d never have another chance to talk together.”
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Born Alice May Pelkey in New York City, Brock was a lifelong rebel who was a member of Students for a Democratic Society among other organizations. In the early 1960s, she dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College, moved to Greenwich Village and married Ray Brock, a woodworker who encouraged her to leave New York and resettle in Massachusetts.
Guthrie, son of the celebrated folk musician Woody Guthrie, first met Brock around 1962 when he was attending the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and stayed in touch after he left school, when he would stay with her and her husband at the converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks’ main residence.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, a simple chore led to Guthrie’s arrest, his eventual avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War and a song that has endured as a protest classic and holiday favorite. Guthrie and his friend, Richard Robbins, were helping the Brocks throw out trash, but ended up tossing it down a hill because they couldn’t find an open dumpster. Police charged them with illegal dumping, briefly jailed them and fined them $50, a seemingly minor offense with major repercussions.
By 1966, Alice Brock was running The Back Room restaurant in Stockbridge, Guthrie was a rising star and his breakout song was an 18-minute talking blues that recounted his arrest and how it made him ineligible for the draft. The chorus was a tribute to Alice — whose restaurant, Guthrie pointed out, was not actually called Alice’s Restaurant — that countless fans have since memorized:
“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant/ You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant/ Walk right in it’s around the back/ Just a half a mile from the railroad track/ You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.”
Guthrie assumed his song was too long to catch on commercially, but it soon became a radio perennial and part of the popular culture. Alice’s Restaurant was the title of his million-selling debut album, and the basis of a movie and cookbook of the same name. Alice Brock would write a memoir, My Life as a Restaurant, and collaborate with Guthrie on a children’s book, Mooses Come Walking. At the time of her death, they had been discussing an exhibit dedicated to her at her former Stockton home, now the Guthrie Center, which serves free dinners every Thanksgiving.
Brock ran three different restaurants at various times, although she would later acknowledge she initially didn’t care much for cooking or for business. She would also cite her professional life as a cause of her marriage breaking up, while disputing rumors that she had been unfaithful to her husband. Her honor was immortalized by Guthrie, who late in “Alice’s Restaurant” advised: “You can get anything you want” at Alice’s Restaurant, “excepting Alice.”
Lil Wayne appears to have some thoughts on Kendrick Lamar‘s new song “wacced out murals.”
On Friday (Nov. 22), Lamar surprised fans with the release of his sixth studio album, GNX. The 12-track project covers a range of intense topics, including Wayne’s frustration over being passed over to headline the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show in his hometown of New Orleans.
“Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” K. Dot raps on album opener “wacced out murals,” referring to Weezy posting a video about how hurt he was about not being chosen to headline the Super Bowl in his hometown.
Lamar continues on the song, “Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me/ All these n—-s agitated, I’m just glad they showin’ they faces.”
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Wayne, having had some time to digest the lyric, seemingly responded in a post on X (formerly Twitter) early Saturday morning.
“Man wtf I do?!” Weezy began the post. “I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction,not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love.”
Back in September, Wayne openly admitted that being snubbed for the Super Bowl halftime gig in his own city was deeply painful.
“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he said at the time. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
In early November, during his Lil WeezyAna Fest in New Orleans, Wayne reiterated the sentiment, telling the crowd, “I told myself I wanted to be on that stage in front of my mom, and I worked my ass off for that position. It was ripped away from me, but this moment right here… they can’t take this away from me.”
See Wayne’s full reaction to Lamar’s “wacced out murals” on X below.
Man wtf I do?! I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction,not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) November 23, 2024
Brazilian DJ Alok is poised to electrify the Amazon rainforest with a free concert expected to draw a massive crowd of 120,000.
Presented by Banco do Brasil, with sponsorships from the Government of Pará, Estrella Galicia, Vale and Vivo, and as part of the artist’s Áurea Tour, the landmark event will be livestreamed globally on Saturday (Nov. 23), marking the official one-year countdown to the international climate summit, COP30. Hosted at the Mangueirão Olympic Stadium in Belém, Pará, along the fringes of the Amazon jungle, the event is a celebration of resilience and hope for our planet’s future.
“We need to make COP pop,” Alok told Billboard Español days before the concert, expressing the desire to make the Conference of the Parties (COP) — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — more mainstream and accessible to the general public.
“It is [imperative] that the population understands the importance of COP30, which is going to be the most significant one in history,” he said. “We are approaching [what is called] the point of no return. Just this year in Brazil, we’ve lost an area equivalent to 130 cities the size of São Paulo — home to 11.5 million people — to deforestation. The forest cannot recover by itself. People need to realize that Brazil can be a leader in sustainable growth and how we can onboard others. The population must pressure our leaders to make real changes.”
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This approach will aim to bridge the gap between high-level climate negotiations and the general public’s understanding and involvement in these issues.
Local talent Joelma, Gaby Amarantos, Zaynara, Viviane Batidão and Pinduca are among the confirmed acts, as well as indigenous artists Mapu Huni Kuin, Owerá, Brô MC’s, Yawanawás, Célia Xakriabá, Kaingang and Guarani Nhandewa, who are also featured on Alok’s latest album, The Future Is Ancestral.
“We understand that the use of entertainment to engage society is fundamental,” the Governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, told Billboard. “It is an extraordinary opportunity to host the world’s largest climate change event, making Belém’s selection a new paradigm for humanity in valuing the rainforest. Alok has been doing this over time — not just now — defending the forest, valuing ancestral peoples, and connecting the history and challenges of the Amazon with a global dialogue. Through this connection, this allows us to make our voices heard around the globe.”
“What we present is the voice of the forest,” said Mapu Huni Kuin, spiritual leader, chief, and musician of the Huni Kuin people in Brazil. “We pray for the healing of humanity as we perform. This event in Belém is an offering of our prayers and chants, a profound plea for the welfare of all.”
“Participating in the Future Is Ancestral project allows us to bridge the gap between modern platforms and our ancient voices,” added Célia Xakriabá, an indigenous educator and activist of the Xakriabá people of Brazil. “For over five centuries, we’ve remained unheard, but today, our presence on platforms like these, alongside the greenery of forests and the resilience of our cultures, communicates crucial messages. Entertainment plays a unique role in conveying our message even to those reluctant to endorse our causes. If humanity wishes to survive, it must align with the perspectives of indigenous peoples, as our fight is for the survival of everyone’s future.”
The intersection of worlds at the event will be complemented by a cutting-edge, pyramid-like stage setup, featuring over 100 tons of equipment, a 360-degree rotating platform, and more than 2,000 LED panels to ensure an immersive experience.
The live stream will start at 7 p.m. ET. Watch it below:
Justin Trudeau showed off his dance moves at Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour concert in Toronto.
On Friday (Nov. 22), the Canadian prime minister and his family attended the pop superstar’s second-to-last show at the Rogers Centre. In a fan-captured video from the sold-out event, Trudeau is seen busting a move to “You Don’t Own Me” during the pre-show countdown, just before Swift took the stage.
Another fan video showed Trudeau exchanging friendship bracelets with Swifties ahead of the concert.
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This marked Swift’s fifth show at the Rogers Centre, where she’ll perform one final concert on Saturday (Nov. 23) before heading to Vancouver’s BC Place to close out The Eras Tour with a three-night run from Dec. 6-8.
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Saturday’s show also featured a long-awaited mashup of Swift’s songs “Cassandra,” “Mad Woman,” and “I Did Something Bad” during the surprise songs portion of her set.
Earlier in the Toronto run, Swift reflected on her six nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards, including album of the year for The Tortured Poets Department.
“You guys did something so amazing over the course of the last few months,” she told the Rogers Centre crowd. “I just mean what you did with embracing The Tortured Poets Department, the album. It’s truly blown my mind because its really emotional for me that this album, I wrote it during The Eras Tour.”
“I wrote that album, made that album, all [while] trying to keep it a secret from you guys,” she continued. “And then [we] announced the album, and then we basically were, like, working really hard to secretly put together a new chapter in the Eras Tour of The Tortured Poets Department and we wanted to surprise you with it, and we did.”
Swift also reflected on the album’s success on the Billboard charts, adding, “And the most recent thing that you did, because everything that happens is a direct reflection of the passion that you show, is you guys got this album nominated for six Grammys. It’s so unbelievable, so thank you.”
Hundreds of people packed several streets of the Historic Center of Mexico City on Friday (Nov. 22) to listen and see live Puerto Rican star Rauw Alejandro, who sang from a balcony of a legendary mansion in a brief concert that went viral on social media. Dressed in the official jersey of the Mexican National […]
Carín León, Eladio Carrión, Morat and Kidd Voodoo have been added to the 64th annual Viña del Mar International Song Festival, organizers announced Friday (Nov. 22) night.
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They will be joining the previously announced stars Marc Anthony, Ha*Ash, Carlos Vives, Miryam Hernández, Duki, Sebastián Yatra and Bacilos. The event is scheduled to take place Feb. 23-28 at Viña del Mar, Chile.
“We have developed a lineup for the whole family, featuring international artists at their peak for younger audiences, as well as classics and historic performers for the older ones,” Viña del Mar Mayor Macarena Ripamonti said in a press release. “Every night is turning out to be very appealing, which allows those who attend Quinta Vergara and the millions who watch the Festival on television to enjoy a modern event, with the latest technology and full of innovation that we will announce in the coming weeks.”
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Hailing from Hermosillo, Sonora, Carín León, is one of the biggest forces behind the surge of regional Mexican music globally. He started his musical journey as a teen and rose to prominence after his solo debut in 2018, Amanecida Con Todo y Con Todos. With his recent offering, Boca Chueca, Vol. 1, he debuted on Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums charts at No. 8 and No. 5, respectively.
Colombian band Morat recently finished their Morat: Los Estadios tour across 25 stadiums in different countries, concluding Dec. 13 at the Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. Members Juan Pablo Isaza, Martín Vargas, Simón Vargas, and Juan Pablo Villamil have gained recognition for their pop-rock sensibility with hits such as “No Se Va,” and “Salir Con Vida,” and “Besos en Guerra.”
Latin trap star Eladio Carrión, of Puerto Rican descent, broke through in 2018 with certified gold hits like “Me Usaste” and “Si Tú Te Vas.” Earlier this year, he dropped Sol María, dedicated to his mother, which saw him expanding his genre versatility, and a hard-hitting trap EP Porque Puedo. He entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice with “Coco Chanel” and “Thunder & Lightning,” alongside Bad Bunny.
Chilean artist and member of the group 4F (Los Cuatro Fantásticos de la Música), Kidd Voodoo enjoys local popularity with hits like “Enrolar”, “Ese Guille” and “Dámelo BB.” He recently released “Satirología,” a single that in less than three weeks garnered over half a million views on YouTube.
Touted as the largest Latin music festival in the world, Viña del Mar spans six days and features a mix of celebrated stars, emerging talents, and local performers competing for the “Gaviotas” awards — silver, gold and platinum — judged by a panel and influenced by viewer feedback.
Since its 1960 inception, the festival takes place at the Quinta Vergara amphitheater, which has a capacity of 15,000 and is located in the Valparaíso region on the central coast.
This year introduces a first-time partnership between Megamedia and Bizarro Live Entertainment. Additionally, Disney+ will livestream the event throughout Latin America, and Billboard is set to provide exclusive global content on the website.
From career milestones to new music releases to major announcements and those little important moments, Billboard editors highlight uplifting moments in Latin music. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.
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Thalia’s Christmas Agenda
This week, Thalia was confirmed as part of the “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” lineup, joining The Backstreet Boys, Coco Jones, Jennifer Hudson, and Dan + Shay, to name a few. She is set to perform at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony set to air at 8 p.m. ET on December 4 via NBC. The news comes just weeks after the Mexican star dropping her debut holiday EP, Navidad Melancólica, featuring standout collaboration “Nació La Luz” with Marcos Witt.
“I decided to release a Christmas album to transform these dates, which are often charged with social pressure and intense emotions, into a more positive and liberating experience,” the singer and actress said in a statement. “With this album, I seek to accompany those who wish to turn vulnerable moments into joyful and lasting memories. In addition, I saw in this project a beautiful opportunity to immortalize my own experiences, creating a musical legacy full of meaning and happiness.”
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Emilia’s New Movie Venture
On the heels of being nominated for best pop vocal album at the 2024 Latin Grammys, performing her vibrant “No_Se_Ve.mp3” at the ceremony, and participating at the Person of the Year gala, where she performed for Carlos Vives, Emilia is on to her next career venture. This time, she forms part of the forthcoming Moana sequel, having her own track called “Al Final” on the Moana 2 movie soundtrack. “It’s a dream. I still can’t believe it,” she expressed on her Instagram account. The Argentine artist previously starred as Sofía in Disney’s Entrelazados (Intertwined). Listen to “Al Final” below.
Honoring 30 Years of Intocable
Celebrating 30 years of Intocable, the Texas-based norteño band—known for their rich blends of rock, polka, pop, folk, and cumbia—will be honored with three prestigious recognitions in Texas. In a ceremony set for 6:30 p.m. on November 27 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, the tejano group will receive an official Proclamation from the Texas Governor’s Office; presented with the Texas Flag by the Texas House of Representatives; and will be named Emissary of the Muses by the city of San Antonio. “These honors celebrate Intocable’s enduring contributions to music and their cultural impact both within Texas and beyond,” reads an official statement.
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Joaquina Named Gibson’s New Artist Spotlight
Earlier this week, Gibson announced Venezuelan-American singer-songwriter Joaquina as its new artist spotlight musician. A former Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise and the 2023 Latin Grammy best new artist winner, Joaquina officially joins the program that kicked off this year that highlights an evolving roster of musicians who are celebrated across Gibson’s global channels. ““Currently, I’m working on my debut album, a project that has been about two years in the making,” the artist shared in an interview with Gibson. “It will be released in January 2025, and I’m working hard to make sure that this represents me as I navigated the last couple of years of my life. It’s been exciting to work hard on how it all sounds, looks, and feels.”
Joaquina poses with the award for Best New Artist in the media center for The 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on Nov. 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain.
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Zhamira’s First 2X Platinum Plaque
Zhamira Zambrano has received her first-ever Multi-Platinum plaque from the RIAA for her heartfelt track “Extrañándote” in collaboration with Puerto Rican artist and her husband, Jay Wheeler. “Hi little Zhamy, who dreams of being a singer. Little by little you are achieving it! And although there are still many dreams to fulfill and a lot of work to do, today I want to tell you that you have your first 2X platinum plaque,” she sweetly expressed on her Instagram account, along with a set of photos of her career achievement.
“Extrañándote” peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart earlier this year, earning Zambrano her second Billboard top 10 hit. “The song emerged organically in the studio,’” Zambrano previously told Billboard. “We wanted to do something more upbeat than a ballad and that’s how ‘Extrañandote’ came to be, as always, aimed at love and heartbreak and that’s why many people relate. I’m super happy to know that people have made it their own.”
11/22/2024
From K-pop gossip to the star-studded afterparty in West Hollywood, here’s what Billboard learned and overheard during the first-ever MAMA Awards ceremony in the States.
11/22/2024