Music
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Before they reunite in 2025 after nearly two years apart, j-hope says that the members of BTS had to grow separately.
In a new interview on the Zach Sang Show posted Tuesday (May 6), the K-pop star opened up about how he and his bandmates had to go through the sometimes difficult process of evolving as individuals and solo artists amid BTS’ break, during which the guys enlisted in the South Korean military while releasing music independent of the band. “In order to make music as a team in a healthy way, as each of us are making their own music, we each go through personal growth and growing pains that come with it,” j-hope explained.
“We learn many things,” he continued. “And then when we reunite after doing our own things, these experiences will fill us with new strength and energy. And now that’s very soon. Everyone has grown while pursuing their solo projects. I think that will contribute to the music we create as BTS.”
The interview comes nearly seven months after j-hope was discharged from the military, becoming the second member of BTS to finish his service requirements after Jin. In the two years since the band announced that it would be taking a break as the members carried out their mandatory civic duties, j-hope has released an album, 2022’s Jack in the Box, as well as an EP, 2024’s Hope on the Street Vol. 1; both projects charted in the Billboard 200 top 10. His latest single, “Mona Lisa,” dropped in March.
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RM, Suga, V, Jimin and Jung Kook are currently closing in on the end of their respective enlistments, after which the band is expected to reunite. “We will quickly get together and talk about what BTS can do in the future,” j-hope recently told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe of the band’s plans post-military. “I think it’s going to be a massive energy.”
On Zach Sang, the “Chicken Noodle Soup” singer also revealed the first thing he did after finishing his own time in the military. “I came to L.A. right away,” he said, laughing. “I wanted to get back into the groove right away. Since I was in a different environment, I wanted to quickly dive back into the places and the culture I loved. I wanted to have fun while gaining new experiences and making music.”
Watch j-hope’s full interview with Zach Sang above.
Los Alegres del Barranco was supposed to perform at Chicago’s Michelada Fest this summer — but after the U.S. government cancelled the group’s visas when they displayed images of a cartel leader at a show in Guadalajara, Fernando Nieto and his team quickly pivoted to replace the Mexican band with Gabito Ballesteros.
A month later, on May 6, event organizers announced that the two-day festival — set to be headlined by Grupo Firme, Anitta and Luis R Conriquez — was cancelled over artist visa “uncertainty” under the Trump administration, and a “rapidly changing political climate,” they said in a statement.
Nieto, co-founder of Michelada Fest (Big Indie produces the festival alongside Zamora Live and Viva tu Música), tells Billboard that the visa situation for regional Mexican artists happened “abruptly,” to the point that they had to cancel the entire event.
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“It seemed at first that Los Alegres was an isolated event but we’ve seen enough over the last few weeks for us to have to make this difficult decision,” he explains. “I can’t comment on a specific artist or whether it’s a pending or revoked visa, but as a small business we needed to make the responsible decision not only for our company but also our consumers. We didn’t feel confident we could give them a complete event between now and July.”
Michelada Fest is perhaps the biggest event to date to cancel over visa issues and uncertainty under the Trump administration, which launched an aggressive crackdown on immigration on day one of the president’s second term in office. The Cinco de Mayo festival in Chicago’s La Villita neighborhood was cancelled over fear of ICE raids. Billboard previously reported how Trump’s immigration policies could impact Latin music, with promoters seeing certain markets being impacted with low attendance.
Now, in a plot twist of sorts and adding to the uncertainty of it all, regional Mexican artists who sing or have sung narcocorridos are under the spotlight, with Mexican states cracking down on banning the style of music, and the U.S. government not only taking notice, but acting on it too. It’s a major blow to the genre, which has only grown significantly in popularity and exposure over the past few years.
“We had been taking everything day by day, a lot of our vendors were also asking what would happen if ICE showed up — that’s what we were focused on,” Nieto says. “Never did we think that it would go from our people being targeted to now our culture also being targeted. I did not see it going this way at all.”
Just last year, Miche Fest — which was launched by locals as a street festival — held its biggest edition to date, taking place for the first time in Chicago’s Oakwood Beach, with superstar headliners Kali Uchis, Junior Hand Los Ángeles Azules.
Below, Nieto reflects to Billboard about the team’s decision to cancel this year’s Michelada Fest, and discusses what comes next.
What was your thought process throughout all of this, which ultimately led to cancelling Michelada Fest?
First and foremost, we want to treat consumers with respect. We’ve been doing this for eight years now, we started as a street festival and our fans have been there since day one. The last thing we want to do is put their money at risk. We felt the best thing we could do was to be transparent about what’s going on. Our consumer [base] works extremely hard for their dollars, and especially right now, we’re living in a time where everything is more expensive — not just on the events side, but the daily cost of living… That’s why we’re doing a 100% refund instead of saying your ticket will be good for next year.
What does not having a Michelada Fest this summer mean for Chicago’s Latin festival scene?
We’re leaving a major gaping hole in the Chicago summer season. We feature a bunch of small businesses, merch vendors, local food vendors, and we were about to announce a stage to highlight local Chicago artists — and that’s not taking into account the impact that we have financially when it comes to stimulating the economy through small businesses.
For a lot of our vendors — and I’m talking about the generator company, security company — we’re their biggest contract of the year. We have a $9 million dollar operating budget for our event. And unfortunately I had to make really difficult calls over the past few days to tell them the news, and now they’re trying to find another big [gig] for the year. There’re so many layers to the impact this festival has, from artists to small businesses and a cultural impact. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it was the responsible thing to do.
Michelada Fest is the biggest event to cancel because of the political climate …
We were the first major event to really make a statement — and I hope no one else has to deal with this, but a lot of visas are pending, tours are getting pushed back. There’s so much uncertainty.
What’s next for Michelada Fest?
We’re going to take the next few months to regroup and strategize, maintain the trust [with our base] and have a major comeback next year. Chicagoans know we’re a grassroots organization that started as a street festival by a bunch of South Siders. At the end of the day, they deserve this transparency. It only sets us up for a bigger year next year.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated May 17, we look at the chances of Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos to reclaim the chart’s top spot now that the set’s vinyl has finally shipped.
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Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Rimas): Bad Bunny’s sixth solo studio album has unquestionably been one of the biggest hits of 2025, spending three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 in January and February, and still residing in the chart’s top 10 three months later. The set stands at No. 7 on this week’s listing (dated May 10), but may very well be headed back to a fourth total frame at pole position next week.
That jump should be coming thanks to the set’s long-awaited release on vinyl – pre-orders for which were started back in February, but which is only shipping to customers this week. The album was sold on his webstore in a double-vinyl gatefold edition, and had been estimated to ship sometime around the end of April. The physical release is now sold out on Bad Bunny’s webstore — with no plans yet announced for future availability – but the sales boost from it, combined with the set’s continued streaming success, should be enough to put it back in heavy contention for the Billboard 200’s top spot next week.
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If Fotos does capture a fourth week atop the chart, that will break its tie with SZA’s SOS and Playboi Carti’s Music for the longest-reigning album on the chart in 2025 – though it will still be nine weeks shy of the 13-week run of Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022 for the longest of the singer-rapper’s career.
Fuerza Regida, 111xpantia (Street Mob/Rancho Humilde/Sony Music Latin): If there is a brand- new album that could provide competition for Bad Bunny on the Billboard 200 this week, it’s likely the latest from música Mexicana star quintet Fuerza Regida. Last Friday (May 2), the group released ninth album 111xpantia — which runs a modest 12 tracks and includes no features on its standard edition but does boast the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Por Esos Ojos,” and follows the group’s Mala Mia EP teamup with fellow hitmakers Grupo Frontera, including the breakout single “Me Jalo.”
Just as importantly, while many of Fuerza Regida’s previous sets were only available digitally, 111xpantia is getting the full physical push, via the band’s webstore. The album has been released as four different-colored vinyl variants, as well as both a standard and signed CD (by singer Jesús Ortíz Paz) – all with the same standard tracklist – and four deluxe boxed sets, all with a signed CD, but two with a T-shirt and two with a hat. Meanwhile, the set was also issued on a deluxe digital edition, initially released only for sale through the webstore, but later to all digital retailers and DSPs.
It may not be enough to fend off a big name like Bad Bunny, but it should likely get the group its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200, after previously peaking at No. 14 with 2023’s Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada.
IN THE MIX
Key Glock, Glockaveli (Paper Route Empire/Republic): Long-rising rapper Key Glock’s first album since signing to major label Republic, Glockaveli includes 18 tracks but no features – which Glock has explained he doesn’t like hosting on his albums – on its standard edition, with an extra three tracks coming on the deluxe (subtitled The Don). The set is also available on CD and vinyl and via various package sets with additional merch on his webstore. Key Glock’s previous best performance on the chart came with 2022’s Yellow Tape 2, which peaked at No. 7.
Eric Church, Evangeline vs. The Machine (EMI Nashville): Country star Eric Church has hit the Billboard 200’s top five with each of his last seven studio albums – a streak that began in the early 2010s with the No. 1-reaching Chief (2011) and The Outsiders (2013). That run may be ending with this month’s Evangeline vs. The Machine, which only runs eight tracks and has only one minor Hot 100 hit in the No. 94-peaking “Hands of Time” to its credit so far – though its sales numbers should be helped by its availability for purchase in four vinyl variants, as well as a standard CD, and a boxed set with a shirt and CD.
Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII (Pink Floyd Music/Sony): Originally released as a documentary concert film back in 1972 – just before the band’s true stateside breakout with the release of blockbuster prog-rock opus The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd’s famous show at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy not only gets a theatrical release this year, but also an audio reissue this month on vinyl and CD, and for streaming and digital download. The 11-track, two-disc set includes early Floyd classics like “One of These Days,” “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and a version of the epic “Echoes” split into two separate parts, both of course lasting over 10 minutes.
PinkPantheress is ready to step back into the spotlight after taking a few months to herself. You might recall that last August the 24-year-old British singer born Victoria Walker canceled all of her remaining 2024 tour dates — including festival shows and slots opening for Olivia Rodrigo and Coldplay — to focus on her physical health after saying she’d “hit a wall.”
Now, in a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the singer says that despite the pushback from her team on hitting pause when things were really starting to hit for her she knew it was the right thing to do.
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“100%. But not even just because things are rolling, but more because of financial reasons why,” she told Lowe. “If you agree to do shows and you don’t follow through, there’s a lot of money being missed out on. There’s also a lot of… the opportunity for backlash to be. Really the least of my concerns, was the money.”
Pantheress said she’s naturally someone who is prone to not looking after herself in an effort to “push through” difficult times, which has caused problems in the past. “And that’s honestly one of the reasons I lost my hearing this ear because of that,” said the singer who in 2022 called off a performance at Spain’s Primavera Festival due to “partial hearing loss” that left her 80% deaf in her right ear. “So after that happened, I don’t know what it was. I think it was when I started cutting my hair with razor blades where I realized, you know what? I’m actually going to stop now.”
The singer who moved to Los Angeles two years ago and now spends her time bouncing between L.A. and London debuted a chopped bob earlier in January and told Lowe that when she cut her hair off she had an epiphany. “I was like, ‘you know what? I’m going to probably take a step back and chill,’” she said. “And I’m not someone that generally… I don’t really suffer with any kind of lapse in judgments when it comes to myself usually, but that’s when I knew… I had an impulse to literally get follicles of hair off of me. So I needed to… I was full up.”
That’s whey she made a decision to step out of the spotlight, something she has no regrets about. “There was something that I needed to address and so I had to leave,” she said. “And I did that for my own good. And obviously it was a very sad moment for people that wanted to see me but couldn’t see me. But obviously, what goes around comes around, and I’ll be back again.”
At the time she hopped off the tours, PinkPantheress told fans, “It is with the heaviest heart that sadly have to announce that i will not be able to continue with the rest of my live shows this year in order to focus on my physical health and overall wellbeing. It appears i have reached a wall which i am struggling to penetrate through. this will include my GUTS tour, Field Day, Summer Sonic, FORM, III Points, and Australia/NZ appearances.”
In January, she was featured on Shygirl’s “True Religion” single, which she followed up in April with her own songs, “Tonight” and “Stateside,” which will appear on her upcoming nine-song sophomore mixtape Fancy That, due out Friday (May 9).
Watch PinkPantheress describe her break to Lowe below.
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Kai Ca$h first appeared on our radar by way of his excellent 2021 album, 711 (Deluxe), and has been featured on past CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) playlist roundups. The Brooklyn native spoke with Hip-Hop Wired about his persistence and consistency as an artist, which has positioned the humble and talented rapper’s career to soar even higher.
Kai Ca$h took time out of his busy recording schedule to talk with Hip-Hop Wired about his early beginnings, finding his voice as an artist, and where he hopes to take his craft now that he recently signed a deal with the stacked Generation Now collective founded by DJ Drama and Don Cannon and distributed by Atlantic Records.
For Kai, his current position was something he honed in on early on.
“I was born into music, and it’s what I’m most passionate about,” Kai explains, adding, “I never really gave myself a second option when it came to what I wanted to do in life. I’m really proud of that because I put my blood, sweat, and tears, everything I have, all into the music.”
Kai credits his mother’s diverse ear for music for increasing his palate as a listener first. His father was a close friend of The Notorious B.I.G. and a member of Junior M.A.F.I.A., giving a young Kai access to meet buzzing rap stars such as Lil’ Kim and Lil Cease, among others.
“Just being around those types of environments and that energy and then going back home with my mom listening to music, it just reassured me that this is the thing I wanted to do,” Kai said.
As mentioned above, Kai’s 711 (Deluxe) was a wider introduction of his sound after dropping his debut in 2019, and he shared what his journey was like between that project to his latest project, CASH RULES.
“At that time [during 711], I was independent. Being an independent artist is one of the hardest things ever, ” Kai shared. “I champion every independent artist that figures it out and develops a system that works for them because you might not see any money from it in a long time.”
Surprisingly, Kai revealed that he was shy and reserved, but the independent grind motivated him to work on his craft and transform his timidity into the ferocity fans witness now during his energetic live performances. He recently performed at this year’s Dreamville Festival alongside his longtime collaborator and friend, Niko Brim, who also hails from Hip-Hop royalty.
Source: Kai Ca$h / Generation Now/Atlantic Records
Our conversation with Kai moved to CASH RULES, his first body of work under the Generation Now imprint. Clocking in at 10 tracks, CASH RULES covers several lanes, including soul sample-driven beats, songs for “outside,” and plenty of moments of self-reflection. Don Cannon’s guiding hand opened the way for production from notable names like Bink, 2forwOyNE (Jack Harlow), Buddah Bless (Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion), and more. However, Kai’s already sharp and focused delivery sounds immediately improved.
“I still have a lot of work to do,” Kai said, not content to rest on recent successes. “I feel like a freshman walking through these doors. It’s just as important as everything I did before, and in some sense even more, because now I have eyes on me and a different kind of pressure. But this has been my dream since a kid, so I don’t feel any pressure at all.”
Check out Kai Ca$h online on Instagram here, and keep up with his movement on his site here.
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Photo: Kai Ca$h / Generation Now/Atlantic Records
Sabrina Carpenter was the lucky lady in Usher‘s crowd at the 2025 Met Gala who got to share a sensual moment with the R&B powerhouse Monday (May 5) — but the cherry on top was her dad’s hilarious reaction to the moment after the fact. In a photo taken that night inside New York City’s […]
While the 2025 Met Gala was a star-studded affair on a rainy Monday night (May 5) in NYC, one influential face missing from the hip-hop realm was Playboi Carti. The Atlanta native took to Instagram to post a dapper photoshoot he had with his girlfriend, Gio, where Carti claimed he was banned from attending the […]
Wolverine, the 142-year-old workwear brand trusted by generations of tradespeople, is kicking things up a notch with their newest partnership with country music star Jordan Davis. Known for his heartfelt lyrics and no-nonsense work ethic, the Billboard-charting country artist is a perfect fit for Wolverine, which celebrates those who put in the work and stay the course.
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“For me, it’s the versatility of Wolverine,” says Davis. “It’s something I can wear in my everyday life—get off the road, jump in the truck, come out to the farm—and I know it’s going to be there for me. It’s a brand I have a lot of trust in.”
And that trust runs deep. Davis grew up watching his dad and grandpa working in their shops, refurbishing furniture and casting lines in the creek—all with Wolverine boots on their feet. Now, whether he’s writing songs in Nashville, playing shows around the world on his ‘Ain’t Enough Road Tour’, or spending time on his Tennessee farm, those same boots are still part of his story.
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But this partnership goes beyond the boots.
Wolverine and Davis are hitting the road for something big: The Wolverine x Jordan Davis Trades Tour. This first-of-its-kind initiative will celebrate eight American small trades businesses with over $100,000 in sponsorships and gear—giving back to the very people who inspire Wolverine and Jordan every day.
“For over 140 years, Wolverine has been about supporting those whose work we couldn’t live without – American tradesmen and women,” said Lauren King, Senior Director of Marketing for Wolverine. “The Wolverine x Jordan Davis Trades Tour is our latest commitment to celebrating their hard work, resilience, and impact. We’re proud to stand beside them and shine a spotlight on the essential work they do every day.”
“Growing up in a family of tradesmen is something I have a ton of pride in,” Davis shares. “It taught me about hard work and creating something from nothing. I want to pass that on to my kids—and this tour is a way to honor the folks still doing it.”
Each of the eight selected businesses will receive a $15,000 support package, including $7,500 toward growing their business, $2,500 in boots and gear, and even a VIP experience at a local stop on Jordan’s Ain’t Enough Road Tour. Plus, their name will be featured on the official Trades Tour t-shirt and promoted and sold across Wolverine and Jordan Davis’ channels, including merch stands at Jordan’s tour this fall.
“Wolverine has been with me on a lot of long days—on the road, at the farm, in the studio,” Davis says. “They’re built for endurance, just like the people who wear them.”
As Davis puts it, “There’s just something special about creating something with your own hands—and knowing you’ve got the gear to back you up.”
To check out the boots or nominate a trades business for the tour, head tohttps://www.wolverine.com/US/en/trades-tour.
Singer-songwriter Brandon Lake scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart as “Hard Fought Hallelujah” ascends a spot to the top of the survey dated May 10. During the April 25-May 1 tracking week, the song increased by 6% to 3.9 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. The 34-year-old Lake, from Charleston, S.C., […]
Maren Morris can speak from experience: No other concert crowd holds a candle to Taylor Swift‘s.
While on The Jennifer Hudson Show Wednesday (May 7), the Texas-born singer-songwriter opened up about performing her Fearless (Taylor’s Version) collaboration, “You All Over Me,” with Swift at one of the pop superstar’s 2023 Eras Tour shows in Chicago. “I’ve never seen a crowd like that, and there’s not a crowd like hers,” Morris raved.
“They’re so supportive, they’re listening to all the lyrics, they want to hear every nuance and breath between words,” she continued. “They’re truly locked in. It was a real treat to experience on that plane.”
The duo sang together at the “Fortnight” musician’s second of three Soldier Field shows in June 2023, which came two years after they first teamed up for the re-release of Swift’s blockbuster 2008 sophomore album. The performance marked the first time they’d ever played “You All Over Me” — a From the Vault bonus track on the revamped Fearless — live.
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But Morris and Swift had been friends long before that, performing the former’s smash “The Middle” together in Arlington, Texas, on the latter’s Reputation Tour in 2018. In November 2023, the “Circles Around This Town” singer told Jimmy Fallon that her onetime collaborator has “been so supportive of me and my career over the years,” adding, “We’re the same age, but looking up to her since I was a teenager, and watching her navigate her country music to pop career so gracefully, and the way she treats her fans is so kind and generous … she’s setting a high bar.”
Morris echoed those sentiments on Hudson’s talk show, telling the host, “I fell in love with [Swift’s] songwriting back in high school, and I just turned 35, so I feel like even before I met Taylor, I had this friendship in my mind with her.”
The interview comes two days ahead of Morris’ fourth studio album, Dreamsicle, which features the five tracks she previously dropped in August on EP Intermission. The new project is also preceded by two singles, “Carry Me Through” and “Bed No Breakfast,” released in March and April, respectively.
Watch Morris gush about Swift on The Jennifer Hudson Show below.