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More than half a century into his career, Bruce Springsteen is one of the biggest rock stars on the planet. But is he a billionaire? After Forbes magazine reported in July that the blue collar hero had an estimated fortune that it pegged as conservatively north of $1.1 billion, the New Jersey icon set the […]
The Weeknd and Anitta aren’t pulling punches with the promo for their upcoming collaborative single. In an Instagram post on Sunday (Oct. 27) Queen of Brazilian pop Anitta wrote “Isn’t he beautiful?” alongside an image of what appeared to be an ultrasound of a baby with razor-sharp teeth and a forked tail.
Weeknd (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaey), responded “WOW! HE LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL [crying face emoji].” While the post didn’t offer much more information, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the date on the image was Wednesday morning (Oct. 30), which appeared to indicate when their pair’s anticipated collaborative single will drop. Abel’s label, Republic Records commented, “sweet baby angel,” while a number of other artists also weighed in, including Saweetie (“Good bye”) and Ryan Tedder (“Whoaaaa”), among others.
The pregnancy promo came two days after Anitta posted a pic of herself in a black bikini rocking a giant baby belly and an infrared light face mask with the caption, “It was meant to be kept a secret…,” which Tesfaye responded to with, “OMG… CONGRATS [crying laughing emoji]; on X, Tesfaye reposted the pregnant pic and wrote, “@Anitta you hid it so well in São Paulo.”
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At press time, spokespeople for Tesfaye and Anitta had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the posts or a confirmed release date for the song.
The dynamic duo performed their as-yet-unreleased uptempo new song “São Paulo” during a massive show by Weeknd in Brazil on Sept. 7 and Abel spoke to Billboard Brazil about collaborating with Anitta for his upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow album. After Abel visited São Paulo, Brazil in Oct. 2023 on his After Hours Til Dawn tour, producer Mike Dean asked Anitta for a vocal track to complement the “Blinding Lights” singer’s special performance set.
“Anitta is a great friend. What she sent was so awesome that we created the song,” said Tesfaye of the vocal bits that were so far beyond his expectations that he composed a song that became the centerpiece of the new live show. “We knew it was too special to just play on stage. We saw great potential in the song and found the beat, which is the heart of the show,” he said.
Anitta was equally excited by the team-up, saying, “I wrote some verses as a joke and never imagined they would become serious. Suddenly, I received the finished song. I loved it! I felt very honored and flattered. I’ve always been a big fan of his and his work. I never imagined this would happen, and now it’s a dream come true. It’s a little more Brazilian funk, as promised, around the world.”
Check out Anitta’s post below.
Wednesday (Oct. 23) evening in New Orleans, a white SUV tentatively peeks around the corner of Chartres Street in the French Quarter. Though Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” is the song wafting from its window, the man behind the wheel is visibly uneasy as he drives his family past boozed-up revelers stumbling toward Bourbon Street.
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By Friday (Oct. 25), however, Swift’s presence in the city has made all the tables turn. SUVs sporting song titles scrawled in marker (“Getaway Car” is a popular choice) and decals of Taylor’s face clog the streets as tens of thousands of tourists descend upon the city for the first of three sold-out shows at Caesars Superdome.
Fans wearing Eras Tour merch (or unofficial t-shirts playing on the tour’s distinctive color palette) are everywhere from the Bywater (Swift ordered her Lavender Haze birthday cake from Bywater Bakery in 2022) to Frenchman Street to the Instagram-friendly Skeleton House way over by Audubon Park, which this year is themed “Terror Swift: The ScEras Tour” (sample offering: a skeleton in a yellow evermore dress clutches a guitar next to a “No Body, No Crime” sign).
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“Taylor Swift Takes Over New Orleans” trumpets a “visitor’s guide” pamphlet crafted by The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. The infamous Bourbon Street is almost family-friendly. Aside from “Blank Space,” “You Belong With Me” and “Anti-Hero” playing on repeat, nearly every bar and restaurant is boasting tie-in programming (karaoke, trivia, look-alike contests offering the winner as much as $500) or themed drinks (Taylorita, Lavender Haze fizz, Holy Ground hurricane).
Even the city’s music hotspots, places that skew toward jazz and the blues, aren’t immune to the pop star’s impact. Over on Frenchman, d.b.a. is hosting a friendship bracelet-making station; at the Mahogany Jazz Hall on Chartres, one of the bartenders is slinging lyrical references along with sazeracs (“I knew you were trouble when you walked in,” he quips while serving a customer two cocktails); while Esplanade Studios, where Swift recorded three songs from The Tortured Poets Department (“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” “Fresh Out the Slammer” and “Florida!!!”), serves as an incentive for Swifties to explore the Treme neighborhood.
Back in the French Quarter, Antoine’s Restaurant — the oldest eatery in the city and the birthplace of oysters Rockefeller – is getting in on the fun, doling out pink to-go cups and writing “Eras Tour 2024” in frosting on their signature dessert, baked Alaska.
“[Right now is] as big and as busy as Mardi Gras and that’s the busiest time of year,” says Lisa Blount, who handles publicity for Antoine’s and is married to the CEO of the fifth-generation family-run business. “In the next three days we’ll do over 3,000 guests.”
“New Orleans always enjoys a busy pre-Halloween weekend,” says Steve Pettus of Dickie Brennan’s, a New Orleans restaurant group that includes Tableau, a French-Creole spot that hosted a Swiftie “balcony bash” on Saturday. “This weekend is more than double what we have traditionally seen. The requests for reservations have not stopped. I’ve never felt so popular in my life — I have more ‘friends’ than I realized.”
“We had guests start calling over the summer asking when they could book a table, so we knew what was coming,” says Kyle Brechtel, president & CEO of Brechtel Hospitality, which hosted a Swift-themed rooftop soiree on Friday. (Thanks to on-staff Swifties, “Taylor Tenders & Seemingly Ranch” were on the menu, referencing a viral Swift-related tweet from Sept. 2023.) “[Halloween] is always a big weekend in the city, but this is a whole different level.”
A growing New Orleans’ Halloween tradition is the witches’ luncheon, where locals don black robes, pointy hats and grab brunch. While the witches were out in force earlier in the day on Friday (even belting “Cruel Summer” at a karaoke bar in the crossover spirit of the weekend), by 5:00 p.m. the witching hour had given way to the Swifting hour. Taylor Swift costumes – from the purple “Enchanted” gown to the gold-tasseled “Fearless” dress to variations on the “22” t-shirt (“A Lot of Potholes Going on at the Moment,” “A Lot to Vote on at the Moment”) – and Kansas City Chiefs jerseys became as inescapable as Mardi Gras beaded necklaces.
Fortunately, New Orleans is a city that’s used to hosting massive cultural events. Case in point: Next year’s Super Bowl will take place at Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, bringing halftime headliner Kendrick Lamar to the same venue Swift just sold out for three nights. So even with the Eras Tour bringing an estimated extra 100,000-150,000 people to New Orleans, the city doesn’t miss a beat.
“We have a lot of practice with this,” says Walt Leger, president and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the city’s official sales and marketing organization. “We have a lot of great professionals on the public safety side who know how to coordinate traffic and other issues that may impact us when we have an influx. Our city excels at these events – we have a professional hospitality community. It’s muscle memory.”
Still, the Eras Tour hits different. “This weekend will be more foot traffic, whereas the Super Bowl is a lot of corporate events scattered around town,” Brechtel says. “I haven’t seen anything rival the impact of a Super Bowl [here] until now.”
“The Super Bowl is very much a corporate event,” Blount echoes. “Large parties, a lot of VIPs. They buy out the restaurant, things like that. This is a different type of busy.” She offers a point of comparison: “We love those weekends where it’s the Saints vs. the Dallas Cowboys. We have massive amounts of people in town, the restaurants are busy, everybody is busy. A friend of mine said, ‘You know what’s great about this? It’s like a football weekend but we’re all rooting for the same team.’”
Not everyone is fully onboard the Taylor train, however. During a Halloween-themed drag show on Wednesday, one of the performers announced they would be hosting a series of Swift-themed drag shows over the weekend and was greeted with light boos. “I know, I know, she’s ruining Halloween,” the queen declared. “I feel the same as you, but I gotta pay rent.”
Another local, after getting off her work shift and finding herself in a sea of Swifties, put it more bluntly: “I’m sick of these motherf—kers and their t-shirts.” (To be fair, if your coffee shop suddenly had a line of 150 people waiting around the block to get a themed plastic cup, you might be irked, too.) Karen-coded behavior reared its head on occasion, too — such as a pair of Swifties telling a local street musician playing blues instrumentals to sing Swift songs instead. Or a table of adults at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop chanting Taylor’s name at the piano player, despite the pianist politely stating that song requests should come with a couple bucks (they did not tip, and their chants went unanswered).
But those brief bad blood moments were few and far between. The city is more than accustomed to tourists, and most locals were more than happy to strike up a conversation with visiting Swifties to offer food recommendations or share bits of the city’s history.
“Our city recognizes that we benefit greatly from who invest in our community by spending dollars and supporting jobs and infrastructure,” Leger says. “Data shows that in the first leg of the Eras Tour, we’re expecting an excess of $200 million in extra spending, conservatively. It’ll probably be more than that.”
Ultimately, the Taylor Swift New Orleans takeover – like the Eras Tour itself – is about something that runs deeper than dollars, though. Walking down a cobblestone street on Friday, a young woman on her smoke break stops a first-time New Orleans visitor with quiet but eager question: “Are you a Swiftie?” Putting out her cigarette, she reveals a wrist covered in friendship bracelets. “Wanna trade?”
“Everybody is walking around having a great time,” Blount says. “It’s a great positive time. In this world today, having it be happy? My God, with the election in two weeks and all the caustic things with the election, it’s so nice to see people smiling.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce may have been more than 1,700 miles away from each other on Sunday (Oct. 28), but that didn’t stop the singer from paying tribute to her NFL boyfriend during the third and final Eras Tour show in New Orleans. While Swift was wrapping up the penultimate run of Eras U.S. […]
The Harris campaign will continue to rock this week with another campaign event featuring prominent musical guests. According to an announcement for the When We Vote We Win event in Madison, WI on Wednesday (Oct. 30) evening, it will feature Democratic Presidential candidate current V.P. Kamala Harris, as well as appearances from Gracie Abrams, Remi […]
British indie band The Maccabees have announced that they will reunite for a live show in London next summer.
The band split in 2017 and released their last album, Marks To Prove It, in 2015, which landed at No.1 on the U.K. Official Album Charts. The Maccabees will perform their first live show in eight years at London’s All Points East festival in Victoria Park on August 24, 2025.
Tickets go on general sale at 10 a.m. GMT on October 31 from the festival’s official website. Special guests for the 50,000-capacity show will be announced in due course.
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Speaking of the reunion guitarist Felix White said in a statement: “In the intervening years we’ve been to All Points East a lot, separately. It’s become a bit of a landmark festival for us, always checking who’s on the line-up. I’d go and have a great time throughout the day, but there was always this pinch of regret watching headliners that we could’ve done it ourselves one day too. I thought that moment had passed, and it was something I was prepared to come to terms with that I was always going to miss. I think we’re all kind of shocked and excited that we get to do it together again.”
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His brother, guitarist Felix White, added that The Strokes‘ performance at the festival in 2023 was part of the motivation to get the band back together. “I could see that they were enjoying it, realizing how great what they had created together was. Being a band, you are usually in a mindset of, ‘We can do better’ and you’re always chasing something else,” Felix said.
“This is an opportunity to realize that whatever we had in that moment was pretty special and get to enjoy it again. It’s a chance to appreciate everything, and especially how it impacts other people and created a community.”
The band formed in London in 2004 and released four studio albums: Colour It In (2007), Wall Of Arms (2009), Given To The Wild (2012) and Marks To Prove It (2015). They split in 2017 and performed a farewell tour in the U.K., which included three nights at the capital’s 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace.
Following the band’s split, frontman Orlando Weeks released a string of solo records, while brothers Felix and Hugo White formed 86TVs, which released its self-titled debut in August.
They are the first act to be announced for 2025’s All Points East festival. This year’s edition included headline sets from Kaytranada, Loyle Carner, Mitski, LCD Soundsystem and more.
We’re very excited to say we are getting back together to headline @allpointseastuk on Sunday, August 24th. Pre-sale is Wednesday 10am and general on sale Thursday 10am.Good luck. We’re looking forward to seeing you at Victoria Park. With love,The Maccabees x pic.twitter.com/tmrizZvJ0m— The Maccabees (@themaccabees) October 28, 2024
Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin were among the prominent artists who showed support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Sunday (Oct. 27) after a speaker at a Donald Trump rally made a racist joke about Puerto Rico. All three boosted a video from the Democratic candidate pledging to do her best for the citizens of the island nation following what CNN described as a Trump rally brimming with “blistering anti-migrant rhetoric [that] ranks alongside the most flagrant demagoguery by a major figure in any Western nation since World War II.”
Their show of support for Harris came after comedian/podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe opened for convicted felon Trump at a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden by offering up the racist jibe, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
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In addition, Hinchcliffe — one of nearly 30 speakers who warmed up the crowd for twice impeached former Pres. Trump — also made other racist and sexist jokes about Latinos (“they love making babies… there’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country”) as well as racist jibes about his Black “buddies” who he “carved watermelons” with and an antisemitic joke about how “Jews have a hard time throwing that paper.”
According to reports, the attempts at humor did not go over well inside the room, where they were met with tepid applause. And in an unusual apology from the Trump campaign, a senior advisor said in a statement afterwards that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” seemingly in reference to the Puerto Rico joke. The Harris campaign referred to the Hinchcliffe set as “a vile racist tirade against Latinos.”
The racist comment immediately galvanized the trio of Puerto Rican artists, with Bad Bunny re-posting a video message from Harris in which she discussed the importance of the election for the citizens of the U.S. territory, reminding them what Trump “did and did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader” after the nation was hit with devastating damage after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017; a new report revealed that the Trump administration obstructed an investigation into why officials withheld $20 billion in hurricane relief from P.R. following Maria.
In addition to Bad Bunny sharing the message with his 45 million Instagram followers, Martin also boosted the Harris video to his nearly 19 million followers on his Instagram Stories, adding the message, “I remember @kamalaharris,” as did Lopez, whose re-post to her 250 million Instagram followers included links to Harris’ socials as well as a hands clapping emoji. Martin also claimed that his posts on X with similar content were being suppressed on the platform owned by Trump financial backer Elon Musk.
“Despacito” star and P.R. native Luis Fonsi reposted the Hinchcliffe video on his Stories with the message “Are you serious?,” as well as a portion of the Harris video and a lengthy personal note responding to the hate speech. “I understand comedy, I’m a big fan of it,” he wrote. I love roasts, trust me I get it. BUT… this is far from comedy. Not now, not against my island [Puerto Rico flag emoji], my people. Hell nah!”
Fonsi said it’s okay to have different views, but racism is not acceptable. ““We are not OK with this constant hate. It’s been abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us and yet they want our vote,” Fonsi wrote. “I purposely wrote this in English cause yes we’re American too.”
The shocking comments from Hinchcliffe at the Trump rally where CNN reported Republican candidate Trump and his MAGA surrogates spewed “racist, vulgar attacks at Harris and Democrats” came nine days before Americans go to the polls, and just a few after Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, said the former reality TV star fits into the “general definition of a fascist” and frequently praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It also comes as both Harris and Trump are spending precious time and money in the waning hours of the campaign to win over voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, where nearly 500,000 Puerto Ricans live, representing the third-largest P.R. diaspora in the U.S.
While the quartet of P.R.-born superstars did not explicitly endorse the Harris campaign in their posts, the show of support for the Democrat vying to the the first woman and person of Asian American descent to become President comes as both campaigns have been laser-focused on trying to win over crucial voting blocks including Black and Hispanic men.
Tyler, the Creator released his seventh studio album, Chromakopia, on Monday (Oct. 28) via Columbia Records. He released one single on DSPs ahead of the project, “Noid,” with a music video featuring Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri. Chromakopia arrives three years after his last album, Call Me If You Get Lost, which […]
In excerpts from his memoir The Voice Inside, published by The Australian, Australian music legend John Farnham has made shocking allegations against his late former manager, Darryl Sambell, claiming he was secretly drugged “for years” early on in his career.
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“He drugged me for years and I had no f—ing idea,” Farnham wrote in his memoir. “I caught him one day. I was drinking a cup of coffee and there was a pill only half-dissolved in the bottom. When I asked him what it was, Darryl replied, ‘That’s just something to help you stay awake.’”
Farnham, best known for his hit “You’re The Voice,” reflected on the long-lasting impact of this discovery, expressing regret over his silence at the time. “I feel so ashamed of myself for not realising what Darryl was up to or speaking up more often to put him back in his place. I didn’t question any of it, I just went along as if nothing was off-key.”
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He added, “I still don’t know why I didn’t react more. I put it down to being young, under stress, tired and feeling unsure and insecure about my own instincts.”
Farnham claimed that Sambell’s need for control would dominate every aspect of his life during their professional relationship. For years, he said, Darryl controlled “where and when I worked, what I sang, what I wore, what I ate.”
Reflecting on the trauma of those years, the music icon admitted how difficult it has been to come to terms with his past. “Many years have passed since then and, up until now, I’ve found it very hard to unpick what happened to me. But now that I’ve confronted on it, I look back on that time with sorrow. I’m annoyed at myself for being so gullible and trusting.”
He added, “I gave away control of my career, my direction and my life. I was a young bloke and I needed a manager.”
Sambell managed Farnham’s career until 1976, when the singer finally ended their professional relationship. The split marked a turning point in Farnham’s life, allowing him to rebuild his career with manager Glenn Wheatley.
Under Wheatley’s guidance, Farnham released Whispering Jack in 1986—a defining moment that propelled him to international acclaim and saw him peak at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart.
Farnham’s storied career is filled with accolades. He’s won 21 ARIA Awards from 60 nominations, including Album of the Year for Whispering Jack and Single of the Year for “You’re The Voice” in 1987, with the single topping the Kent Music Report singles chart for seven weeks from 3 November to 21 December. In 2003, Farnham was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Beyond the ARIAs, Farnham has earned Mo Awards for Best Male Vocal and Entertainer of the Year, and a Logie for Best Teenage Personality early in his career. He received the JC Williamson Award in 2004 for lifetime achievement in live performance, and was named Australian of the Year in 1987. His contributions to music and charity earned him the Officer of the Order of Australia in 1996, and he was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame in 2015.
More recently, John Farnham: Finding The Voice—released through Sony Pictures with a companion soundtrack via Wheatley Records/Sony Music Australia—became Australia’s highest-grossing feature-length music documentary of all time. The soundtrack debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, marking Farnham’s 20th top 10 appearance. The documentary also won the 2024 AACTA Award for Best Documentary and the 2024 TV Week Logie Award for Best Documentary.
From his childhood in Melbourne to his recent battle against cancer, The Voice Inside delves into both the highs and the significant challenges that have shaped Farnham’s life. You can pre-order the book at Hachette Australia.
Matty Healy is no stranger to controversy, but when it comes to Taylor Swift, he’s playing his cards close to the chest.
In a recent appearance on the Doomscroll podcast, Healy shared insights into his approach to songwriting amid intense public scrutiny—remarks that many fans see as subtle nods to his rumored history with Swift.
Admitting he “used to write about relationships a lot more,” Healy explained, “Last year I became a way more well-known public figure for loads of different reasons. The only reason that I was interested in is what I was doing.”
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“I think that a lot of artists, they become very interested in their lore, or they become interested in the things that have happened outside of their art that people know about and they want to address that, and fair enough.”
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Healy continued, “Honestly, I would kind of just be lying if I made a record about, I don’t know, all the stuff that was said about me or my casual romantic liaisons — or whatever it may be that I’ve kind of become known for just because I was famous.”
“That’s an obvious thing to draw from, and I’m just not interested in [it]. The idea of making a record about something that personally happened to me, that by the time I put it out is gonna be, like, two years old… I see people doing that as well, and it’s not interesting,” he added.
Speculation about Healy and Swift first emerged in early 2023, following Swift’s high-profile split from longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
Rumors of a brief romance between the 1975 frontman and Swift gained momentum when Healy was spotted attending several Eras Tour dates, including performances in Nashville and Philadelphia, where he even joined opener Phoebe Bridgers on stage. They were then photographed leaving New York’s Electric Lady Studios together in May, with Healy later seen near Swift’s apartment that same day.
Swift’s The Tortured Poet’s Department has been a treasure trove for fans eager to decode possible references to Healy.
Songs like “Guilty as Sin?” and “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” have fueled speculation that the 1975 frontman inspired parts of the album. The title track’s line, “You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate,” struck a chord with fans, who pointed to Healy’s on-stage smoking habit and the 1975’s hit “Chocolate.” Another reference to a “tattooed golden retriever” has been interpreted as a poetic nod to Healy’s blend of charming unpredictability.
In April, Healy brushed off the rumors when asked by paparazzi about a supposed “diss track” aimed at him on Swift’s album. Healy responded: “My diss track? Oh! I haven’t really listened to that much of it, but I’m sure it’s good.”
While both artists have since moved on—Swift is currently dating NFL star Travis Kelce, while Healy recently got engaged to model Gabbriette Bechtell—the fascination with their short-lived connection endures. Healy’s recent comments have only reignited speculation, with fans reading between the lines for clues about his feelings toward the pop superstar.
Meanwhile, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department has been a powerhouse on the Billboard charts. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming Swift’s 14th No. 1 album—a milestone that ties her with Jay-Z for the second-most No. 1 albums ever, just behind The Beatles. In its first week, the album racked up 2.6 million equivalent album sales in the U.S., with 1.9 million in pure sales, marking her biggest sales week yet.
The success didn’t stop there. The album held onto the No. 1 spot for 15 weeks, a personal best for the singer-songwriter, and made her the first artist in the modern era to have seven albums that each sold over a million copies in their debut week.