State Champ Radio Music
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It seems like Drake has added another Pharrell chain to his growing collection. The Toronto rapper took to his moodboard slash burner account @plottttwistttttt recently and shared a picture of the producer’s N.E.R.D. brain pendant chain that was previously owned by Kid Cudi. The chain, made by Jacob & Co., is 14k white gold, rose […]
Lana Del Rey has some bad news to share with her fans, but she added some good news to ease the blow. The superstar took to Instagram on Friday (April 11) to thank fans for their support and her collaborators for their work on her freshly released single, “Henry, Come On.” The country-tinged ballad is […]
To celebrate a special occasion, Sabrina Carpenter just unveiled new vinyls filled with that me espresso. On the one-year anniversary of her smash hit “Espresso” dropping — and subsequently changing the course of her career — the pop star shared a batch of clear single discs pressed with brown coffee-like liquid Friday (April 11). The […]
Cypress Hill is continuing the rollout of their upcoming live album, Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall, with the second offering from the recording. “I Ain’t Goin Out Like That (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)” arrived on Friday (April 11), following the previously released live […]
PinkPantheress just tried out the viral dance to her new single “Tonight” with a little help from Doechii — and the British singer-songwriter thinks the Swamp Princess totally outdid her at her own song’s trend.
In a clip posted to Pink’s TikTok Thursday (April 10), the two hitmakers stand side by side while blowing kisses, popping their hips and strutting toward the camera to the lyrics, “You want sex with me? Uh-huh/ Come talk to me, come on/ You want sex with me? Uh-huh/ Come talk to me, come on.”
At the end, the “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” artist smiles as the Florida native laughs and signals with her hands to the cameraperson to cut. “chewed me up so bad i didnt stand a bloody chance,” Pink wrote of her dance partner in her caption.
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And when fans in the comments couldn’t stop pointing out how much she towered over Doechii in the video, Pink added on X, “you guys didn’t know i was a whole 5”9 feet tall?!!!”
Both the dance-pop musician and rapper performed at H&M’s inaugural music festival in Los Angeles Wednesday (April 9), filming their TikTok together backstage. Uncle Waffles, Robyn, Jamie xx and SAILORR also took the stage.
The video comes a week after Pink dropped “Tonight,” which marks her first proper release since May 2024’s “Turn It Up.” The track has been taking off on social media thanks to the dance trend as well as a stylish regency era-inspired music video that earned praise from Charli XCX; “i love the new pinkpanthress video
Ja Rule stopped by The Breakfast Club recently to promote his rye whiskey company Amber & Opal and talked about the passing of his friend and mentor Irv Gotti. And of course, 50 Cent was brought up because he mocked Gotti after his death in a social media post. When asked about it, Rule admitted […]
Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s Who Believes In Angels? has hit No. 1 in the Official Albums Chart, giving the former his 10th chart-topper in the U.K (April 11). The Andrew Watt-produced record was written and recorded by John and Carlile alongside John’s longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. The collaborative record is Carlisle’s maiden No. […]
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” has earned its fourth consecutive week at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart, staving off competition from Ed Sheeran’s comeback track “Azizam” (April 11). Sheeran ends the week at No. 3, but looks set to be a fierce competitor to Warren’s crown over the next seven days. The “Bad Habits” singer has […]
Dissident Iranian composer Mehdi Rajabian is barred from leaving his country by its Islamic Republic government, but his work continues to gain traction in the West.
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On Sept. 17, André Bellmont, the conductor, composer, orchestrator and professor at the University of the Arts in Zurich, Switzerland, will conduct four of Rajabian’s pieces — “An Epitaph on the Tomb of Companions,” “Whip on a Lifeless Body,” “Murmur of the Naked Nun” and “Coup of Gods” — with the university’s orchestra at the Neumünster Church there. The concert will also include works by Hans Zimmer, Iranian singer and artist Parastoo Ahmadi, Swiss-Armenian multi-instrumentalist Valeri Tolstov’s Authentic Light Orchestra and Swiss-Iranian harpist Asita Hamidi.
“Mehdi is a real artist. A real artist will never compromise his own artistic vision and his believes, even when he has to sacrifice his own existence,” says Bellmont, who begins rehearsing the pieces on April 12. “One of the reasons why Mehdi was arrested in his home country is because he was writing music for a female voice. It seems quite strange that Mehdi’s music now will be performed in a western church. But we have to admit that our concert venue is a very appreciated place for acoustic jazz concerts, too.”
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Rajabian was arrested in 2013, put in solitary confinement for three months, released on bail and arrested again in 2015 for recording an album titled The History of Iran Narrated by Setar (a lute-like instrument used in traditional Persian music).
After his 2015 conviction, he says he was moved to Evin prison in Tehran — where, in 2016, he began a 40-day hunger strike that led to his release on parole in 2017. (He says that his three-year prison sentence, which was suspended, could be enforced at any time.) Rajabian was arrested again in 2020 but not imprisoned, because of his album Middle Eastern, which was released, but was part of a larger performance art project that involved dance, painting and a book that were not realized. The charges levied against him then were that he was “encouraging prostitution,” he says — because female vocalists, who are banned in Iran, sang on the album.
The long-term effects of Rajabian’s imprisonment and hunger strike took a toll on his health. “My body and soul have been damaged,” he told Billboard in 2021 after the release of his symphony, Coup of Gods, which was engineered by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “I lost 15 kilograms of weight [33 pounds] and 40% of my vision and my joints swelled because of the hunger strike,” he explains. “I couldn’t even play an instrument on my album. I could only compose and arrange. I did it just to say that no power can stop the freedom of music.”
Rajabian tells Billboard this is the first time his music has been performed live. “I have never been able to have a concert in my life,” he says. “I will have to watch it remotely, but I am happy that the Islamic Republic cannot cancel the concert like the many concerts it cancels in Iran.
“André listened to my pieces and called me to say that he was planning to perform them,” he adds. “We spent about a year sending the scores back and forth to edit them.”
Bellmont says “there’s a big technical challenge in performing Mehdi’s music live,” explaining that “you need a modern recording session approach as applied in Peter Gabriel‘s New Blood Orchestra concert tour or in Snarky Puppy‘s studio performance with the Metropole Orkest. To figure this out with a tiny budget is quite tricky and gave me some headache during the last one-and-half years, but it gave me also the motivation and the kick to move forward and to realize this project.”
As a result of Rajabian’s several months of work with Bellmont, the university presented the Iranian composer with a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) which means further studies. Rajabian calls this “an important event” in his life because, “the Islamic Republic has banned me from studying.”
Recording Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees Tammy Hurt congratulates (L-R) Kali De Jesus, Kaitlin McGaw, Tommy Soulati Shepherd, Maya Fleming, Tommy Shepherd III of the Alphabet Rockers with the Best Children‚Music Album award for The Movement in the press room during the 65th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles.
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Rajabian is also moving outside his orchestral and New Age music comfort zone to work with the Oakland, Calif.-based BIPOC hip-hop family music group, Alphabet Rockers. Co-Leaders Tommy Soulati Shepherd & Kaitlin McGaw say Rajabian is helping with production on a song-in-progress called “Shades” that is intended for a “global” project by the Rockers, who won a Best Children’s Music Album Grammy in 2023 for The Movement.
“We strive to show solidarity with and amplification of those most marginally punished by the culture wars,” McGaw says. “We want to create communities that are rooted in belonging. That’s human rights at its core.”
“So, if we can give a musical home to Mehdi that is larger than four walls and larger than the nation, that’s a gift to everyone,” Shepherd adds.
“I had already listened to their music and followed their activities in the field of children’s awareness. The power of their singing attracted me a lot, it was full of technique and emotion,” Rajabian says. “I would like to do this new experience. I think something good will happen — an exciting album and different from the previous styles that I have experienced.”
Arthur Hanlon presents his new EP, 2 Manos, 1 Mundo (“two hands, one world”), out Friday (April 11) via Sony Music Latin.
On the seven-track production, which follows his highly praised Piano y Mujer series, the Detroit-born pianist teamed up with nine of his friends — Ana Bárbara, Ángela Aguilar, Carlos Vives, Darell, Goyo, Manuel Medrano, Nia Skyfer, Tiago Ior and Yotuel — for an “ethereal and dreamy” production (as he describes it) that fuses worldly beats such as Brazil’s bossanova, Cuba’s cha-cha-cha and Colombia’s vallenato with his distinctive piano melodies.
“It was a good moment to go back and write,” Hanlon tells Billboard, whose last two albums featured cover songs interpreted by artists such as Ivy Queen, Ha*Ash, Kany García, Natalia Jimenez, Evaluna Montaner and more. “This is a musical manifestation of the friends that I’ve made from different parts of the world.”
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Crafted in his Miami-based home with the royal blue piano in his living room, Hanlon says his creative process always begins at home with friends, because he’s the type of artist who “likes to cook.” “This project is so personal,” he emphasizes. “It’s me connecting with the artists. If there’s no chemistry, no connection, it’s hard for me to collaborate.”
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Below, Hanlon breaks down some of the tracks on 2 Manos, 1 Mundo, which also includes a solo piano cover of Santana’s smooth hit “Europa.”
On “Bala Perdida” featuring Ángela Aguilar: “We wrote the song and got together with Ángela. I’m always looking for magic. And I knew that with this song and with Angela, by placing the piano in the desert, we would create a contrast between the music and the natural environment. That’s how this song was born.”
Hanlon and Aguilar premiered “Bala Perdida” at the 2025 Premio Lo Nuestro awards.
On “Repetimos” featuring Yotuel & Darell: “‘Repetimos’ was the first song I did for the album. Yotuel asked for a cha-cha-cha but to make it funky. I thought, how can we make it a Cuban-meets-Detroit sound? We needed that crunch on the song, so we called Darell.”
“Repetimos” peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart last October.
On “Goodbye” with Carlos Vives & Goyo: “Carlos went to my house, we were drinking gin and tonic, and thinking of how interesting it would be if the Magdalena Rivera and Mississippi River connected. That’s how this song was born. We filmed the video in the streets of Bogota. We walked two nights around the streets to get the good vibes from the nightlife and that bluesy feel.”
Editor’s Note: Hanlon is married to Billboard’s Chief Content Officer, Latin/Espãnol, Leila Cobo.
