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Chappell Roan wants you to remember not to believe everything that you read. After receiving some backlash for a recent interview in which she said she doesn’t “feel pressured to endorse someone” in November’s presidential election after lamenting “problems on both sides,” Roan took to TikTok on Tuesday (Sept. 24) to issue a clarification.
“I have encouraged people to use critical thinking skills, learn about what they’re voting for, learn about who they’re voting for, and ask questions and it’s being completely taken out of context, per usual,” she said in the two-and-a-half minute clip that found the typically glammed-up singer addressing the camera in a sweatshirt and sans makeup.
“There is nuance to what I say in interviews and I think it’s important that people use critical thinking. I think it’s important for me to question authority and question world leaders and question myself, question my algorithm, question if some person that tweeted something about someone else is even true,” Roan, 26, continued.
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“It’s important to question because that’s how I think we move forward. This is my third election in voting and the world is changing so rapidly and I want to be part of the generation that changes things for good because we need it. If you come to my shows, if you read my full interviews, if you literally know anything about me and for what I stand for, you know that this is not lip service, this is not virtue signaling, that my actions have always paved the way for my project and the people who really know me. Actions speak louder than words and actions speak louder than an endorsement,” she said, pausing to let that thought sink in.
She then provided what she said was the full context of what she said in a recent profile in The Guardian, in which she was also quoted telling fans, “I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.” The original comments drew backslash from some on social media who had expected the longtime advocate for trans rights and the LGBTQ+ community to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris — a vocal LGBTQ+ rights advocate — over former President Donald Trump, who has made repeated false claims about gender-affirming surgery for teens and called for removing federal protections based on gender identity.
“‘I have so many issues with our government in every way,’” she said in the TikTok video, reading from her full Guardian quote. “‘There are so many things that I would want to change so feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides and I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.’”
She continued reading from the article, “The change she wants to see in the US in this election year, she says instantly, is trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.’”
“So, hear it from my mouth if you’re still wondering,” Roan concluded. “No, I’m not voting for Trump and yes, I will always question those in power and those making decisions over other people and I will stand up for what’s right and what I believe in and it’s always at the forefront of my project and I’m sorry that you fell for the clickbait.”
In a Rolling Stone interview in August, Roan encouraged her fans to make their voices heard. “Right now, it’s more important than ever to use your vote, and I will do whatever it takes to protect people’s civil rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “My ethics and values will always align with that, and that hasn’t changed with a different nominee. I feel lucky to be alive during an incredibly historic time period when a woman of color is a presidential nominee.”
The clarification seemed to clear up any question of where Roan stands on the critical issues in the Nov. 5 contest between Harris and twice-impeached convicted felon Trump, though it did not include a specific endorsement of Harris, who has been using Roan’s song “Femininomenon” in her campaign.
Watch Roan’s full statement below.
Official have released the official cause of death for late Crazy Town singer Seth “Shifty Shellshock” Brooks Binzer. According to a statement from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office on Tuesday (Sept. 24), Binzer, 49, died as a result of the combined effects of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. The manner of death was ruled “accidental.”
The Medical Examiner’s office said Binzer was found unresponsive at a Los Angeles-area home on June 24 and after a postmortem probe, his cause of death was certified on Tuesday. The “Butterfly” singer’s passing as a result of an accidental overdose came after years of substance struggles for the rap-rock group’s frontman.
After Binzer’s death, group manager Howie Hubberman said in a statement, “Seth Binzer, after struggling with addiction and Crazy Town’s rapid success with ‘Butterfly’, never was able to reach out on a more successful level to deal with his addictions. We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, or Shifty would still be here.”
Binzer was born on Aug. 23, 1974 and met Crazy Town co-founder Bret “Epic” Mazur in 1992. The pair fleshed the group out with members Adam Goldstein (better known as DJ AM, who died from an accidental overdose in 2009), guitarist Charles “Rust Epique” Lopez (who died in 2004), guitarist Antonio Lorenzo “Trouble” Valli and drummer James “JBJ” Bradley Jr. The band’s Nov. 1999 debut album, The Gift of Game, peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 on the chart dated March 3, 2001, and remained on the tally for 34 weeks.
The LP’s first two singles, “Toxic” and “Darkside,” didn’t chart, but their third effort and best-known track, the uber-catchy “Butterfly,” ran all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts, where it held the top spot for two weeks. The band broke up less than a year after the Nov. 2002 release of follow-up album Darkhorse. With a rotating roster of members Crazy Town reformed several times in the years after, but were never able to regain their early career momentum.
In 2023, Crazy Town were booted from a tour with HedPE after an intra-band brawl between Binzer and co-vocalist/guitarist Bobby Reeves.
Leave it to Lady Gaga to give one of the most famous faces in the world a maniacal makeover. On Wednesday morning (Sept. 25), the singer released a tantalizing 80-second preview of one of the songs from her surprise Joker: Folie à Deux companion album, Harlequin. “The Joker,” a rock-edged track that seems to be co-star Joaquin Phoenix’s theme song is accompanied by a video in which Gaga’s Harley Quinn takes a midnight stroll through Paris’ Louvre Museum for a bout of midnight mischief.
“There’s always a joker in the pack/ There’s always a lonely clown,” Gaga sings over the sound of subtle guitar as she meanders by the signature IM Pei-designed glass pyramid and dances down the steps with the Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture in the background. Wearing a modest prairie dress, low-top Chuck Taylor gym shoes and polka dot tights, her hair colored red, Gaga (as Quinn), sings, “The poor laughing fool falls on his back/And everyone loves when he’s down/There’s always a funny man in the game/ But he’s only funny by mistake,” a succinct summary of tragic anti-hero Jack Oswald White’s killer clown persona.
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With the whole place to herself at night, Gaga/Quinn takes aim with her finger guns and blasts away at priceless artworks as the song’s tempo and intensity rise to match her character’s sinister plans. “And everyone laughs at him, just the same/ They don’t see his lonely heart break,” she sings as her voice reaches a crescendo and Quinn ekes out a crooked smile and wave while taking in the Mona Lisa.
With the electric guitars cranking up and drums kicking in, Gaga wails, “They don’t care as long as there is a jester/ Just a fool, as foolish as he can be/ There’s always a joker/ That’s the rule, but fate is the hand that I see/ The Joker is meeeee!!” as Harley pulls out a tube of lipstick and gives the most iconic painting of a smiling woman a new, Joker-worthy blood red Chelsea grin.
Satisfied with her work, Gaga walks away, her eye makeup starting to melt across her face as the guitars get louder and she repeats “the Joker is me,” while strutting through the darkened Louvre galleries. “There’s always a joker,” Gaga captioned the video preview, along with hashtags for the museum, the movie and the upcoming “Figures du Fou” exhibit at the Louvre. Not for nothing, the august institution is clearly all-in on the movie promo, as it changed the official image on its X account to the Joker-ized Mona Lisa lipstick smile.
The Figures Du Fou exhibition (which translates to Figures of the Fool), opens on Oct. 16 and is described as examining, “the omnipresence of fools in Western art and culture at the end of the Middle Ages, and attempts to parse the meaning of these figures, who would seem to play a key role in the advent of modernity. The fool may make us laugh, with his abundance of frivolous antics, but he also harbours a wealth of hidden facets of an erotic, scatological, tragic or violent nature. Capable of the best and of the worst, the fool entertains, warns or denounces; he turns societal values on their head and may even overthrow the established order.”
In other words, the Joker.
On Tuesday, Gaga surprised Little Monsters when she announced that the Harlequin album will drop on Friday (Sept. 27). On the LP’s cover, Gaga is depicted standing in a shower fully clothed, with the water causing her clown makeup to drip down her face as it does as the end of “The Joker” video.
On the back of a milk carton Gaga appeared to preview the 13-song album’s track list, which features some recognizable standards, including “Get Happy,” “That’s Entertainment,” “Oh When the Saints” and “World on a String.”
Gaga recently revealed that her upcoming, untitled seventh studio album is due out in February, with a lead single slated to drop next month. Joker: Folie à Deux is due in theaters on Oct. 4.
Watch “The Joker” preview below.
Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall has shared her latest solo song “Midnight Cowboy”, co-written with RAYE.
The new song follows JADE’s debut solo single “Angel Of My Dreams” which was released on RCA in July. The track hit No.7 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Charts upon release and has accumulated 40 million streams to date.
“Midnight Cowboy” features a spoken-word interlude by Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa and includes references to former British Vogue editor Edward Enniful in its lyrics: “I’m the editor, call me Mr Enninful”
Speaking about the song, which was written in 2022, Thirlwall said: “Midnight Cowboy” is a sultry, understated bass heavy bop about owning your sexuality and your talents that come with it.”
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Upon the release of “Angel Of My Dreams”, JADE became the final member of Little Mix to embark on a solo career. In 2021 following a decade of performing and touring, the group, composed of Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and formerly Jesy Nelson, called a hiatus to pursue new projects.
The British group have released six studio albums, most recently 2020’s Confetti, and broke various records both in the U.K. and US charts. The band’s 2012 debut album DNA remains the highest chart entry for a debut album by a U.K. girl group on the Billboard 200. Five of their songs have charted at No.1 in the U.K. Singles Charts and nineteen Top 10s.
Speaking to Billboard earlier this year, Thirlwall discussed the decision to go solo after years in a group. “This is essentially me starting again, so I don’t even know what it feels like fame-wise on my own. I’m really grateful I started this journey now at my age, because I’m just a lot more level-headed. I couldn’t be a solo artist 10 years ago.”
She also discussed the origins of her debut solo single, which samples Sandie Shaw’s 1967 song “Puppet on a String”.
“Angel of My Dreams” is about my love-hate relationship with the music industry, which I’ve been a part of for quite some time,” she told Billboard’s Megan Mahar. “I have a lot to say about that, good and bad. ‘Angel of My Dreams’ is like a love letter to the Industry and how obsessed I am with it and how much I love it, but with that comes some trials and tribulations.”
Katy Perry will visit both coasts when she embarks on a tour of Australia next year.
The U.S. pop superstar’s The Lifetimes Tour will swing into Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on June 9, 2025, following by arena dates in Melbourne, Brisbane and wrapping up at Perth’s RAC Arena.
Spanning five dates, the Australia trek is Perry’s first in six years. Expect her to “perform all the hits,” reps say, plus new cuts from her seventh and latest album, 143 (via EMI), which dropped last Friday. “It’s a party and you’re all invited! Stoked to see you in June 2025. Get ready for a high energy singalong to alllllll your faves,” says Katy. 143 is the followup to 2020’s Smile, which peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart.
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The “Fireworks” singer is currently in Australia as the headline act for the pre-game entertainment at the 2024 AFL Grand Final, to be contested by Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this Saturday, Sept. 28.
“I am delighted to announce that Katy Perry, one of the most in-demand global superstars of all time, is heading back to tour Australia in June, 2025,” comments Paul Dainty AO, president and CEO of TEG Dainty. “Few musical artists achieve the kind of career Katy has earned. Fans who attended her previous shows in this country already know this upcoming tour will be unmissable.”
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TEG DAINTY, a division of TEG, is producing The Lifetimes Tour presented by Snaffle.
The general onsale will kick off 10am (local time) on Friday, Oct. 4 from ticketek.com.au.
Katy Perry 2025 The Lifetimes Tour – Australian Tour DatesJune 9 — Qudos Bank Arena, SydneyJune 12 — Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneJune 13 — Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneJune 17 — Brisbane Entertainment CentreJune 22 — RAC Arena, Perth
Scottish producer Barry Can’t Swim has become a fixture on the global festival scene over the last year. He’s performed well-received sets at Coachella and Glastonbury following the release of his debut album When Will We Land? in 2023, which landed a Mercury Prize-nomination earlier this summer. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See […]
Warner Music Australia is boosting its country stocks with the signing of Brad Cox.
Raised in Jindabyne in New South Wales’s Snowy Mountains, Cox, a former Sony Music artist, enjoyed a breakthrough in 2018 with his self-titled debut album, which collected the the singles “Red Light”, “Too Drunk to Drive”, “’Lake House” and “Water On The Ground”.
He went on to snag the Toyota Star Maker competition at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and landed in the top 20 with his sophomore album, 2020’s My Mind’s Projection, peaking at No. 13 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
The following year, Cox launched the “Happy Hour Down Under” station on Apple Music.
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A third album, Acres, dropped last year, and cracked the ARIA Top 10 (with a No. 7 peak).
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Brad Cox into the Warner Music family and are delighted that Brad has entrusted us with the next chapter of his career,” comments Dan Rosen, president of Warner Music Australasia.
“Brad’s genuine authenticity, admirable work ethic and undeniable talent has already captured the hearts of fans around Australia and we can’t wait to help take his music to more fans at home and around the world.”
To celebrate the new arrangement, Cox drops the new single “Everything I’ve Got.”
He’ll road test the song when he embarks on his biggest tour date, the Everything I Got jaunt, which starts Oct. 17 at University of Canberra, before stopping in at Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Rockhampton and Brisbane.
“Signing this new record deal with Warner Music feels like home,” he says in a statement. “I feel like things are only getting better and better the more I get to work with this incredible crew. I feel like I’m understood in my vision for this project and supported with means to make the dreams happen. I’m thankful for the belief I’ve been shown and am humbled to have landed here at Warner Music for the next chapter. Feels incredibly right.”
Australia is recognized as the No. 3 market for country music, behind the United States and Canada, respectively. With the likes of Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs dominating Australia’s consumption charts and filling arenas, country music is enjoying a renaissance in these parts.
Aussies streamed 1.1 billion country tunes in the first half of 2023, based on the top 500 songs in the genre. Gen Z is found to have a growing appetite for country.
Cox’s tour opens Oct. 17 at University of Canberra, before heading to Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Rockhampton and Brisbane.
The trek is presented by Handsome Tours, Lonely Lands Agency Mirror Music Group, Habit Music and transported by Mack & Highway Rentals Australia.
Tyga‘s 2018 summer smash “Taste,” featuring Offset, becomes his first diamond-certified record by the Recording Industry Association of America, the RIAA announced on Tuesday (Sept. 24). Diamond certification is given to artists whose songs have moved 10 million units. According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand […]
Mexican group Los Ángeles de Charly earn their first No. 1 on a Billboard radio chart – and any Billboard song ranking – with “El Primer Tonto,” which climbs 7-1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay ranking (dated Sept. 28). The Carlos Becies-led ensemble previously hit No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums in 2001 with its third studio album, Te Voy a Enamorar.
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“Thank, thank you, thank you,” Becies tells Billboard. “I’m a bit nervous and super grateful with all the support with this song and all the people who were part of this beautiful project. It’s a beautiful surprise for us a group that motivates us to keep on going.”
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“El Primer Tonto,” originally composed and released by Mexican group Los Freddy’s in 1980, was later popularized by Joan Sebastian who secured a No. 7 high with the song on Regional Mexican Airplay in January 2002.
With its romantic cumbia turn, “El Primer Tonto,” released June 7 via VMG/Colmena/Azteca Records, takes Los Ángeles de Charly to their first No. 1 on a radio ranking thanks to a 47% surge in audience impressions, to 6.6 million, earned in the U.S. for the tracking week of Sept. 13-19, according to Luminate.
Thanks to “El Primer Tonto,” imprints VMG and Colmena secure their first No. 1 on any Billboard chart. In addition to the two imprints, the “El Primer Tonto” triumph also gives Azteca Records its second champ as a label, following La Fiera de Ojinaga’s one-week reign on Regional Mexican Airplay with “La Luna de Miel” in August 2022.
Los Ángeles de Charly’s first champ on Regional Mexican Airplay arrives 20 years after their last top 10, when “Y Qué” reached No. 10 high in May 2004. In sum, the Mexican cumbia group have logged six top 10s since 1999, with the No. 4-peaking “Un Sueño” in 2001 their highest-charting song until now.
Elsewhere, “El Primer Tonto” advances to its No. 3 peak on the overall Latin Airplay tally, where Los Ángeles de Charly earn their first top 10 to date.
The song is part of the group’s forthcoming studio album to be released in December 2024.
One of the shooters involved in Young Dolph‘s murder testified on Monday (Sept. 23.)
Cornelius Smith, who pled guilty to murder, took the stand and implicated himself, Justin Johnson, Hernandez “Quett” Govan and Yo Gotti‘s brother Anthony “Big Jook” Mims in the murder of the beloved Memphis rapper.
Smith testified that Govan organized the hit and Mims put up $100K if they were able to get the job done. Smith said he and Johnson were supposed to receive $40,000 each and Govan was going to get $20,000. However, Smith testified that he only received $800, but Big Jook paid $50,000 in lawyer fees after he was caught.
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He also revealed he and Johnson went ahead with the murder on the same day of his daughter’s birthday. When asked why he choose still go through with it, Smith said he needed the money to make his daughter’s day special. “Man, I was trying to make it right for her,” he said. “I ain’t have no money, I’m trying to get some money that day. So I’m trying to make sure my baby girl have a beautiful birthday.”
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Cornelius Smith, one of Young Dolph’s killers, claims he committed the murder on his own daughter’s birthday to raise money for her birthday party. pic.twitter.com/Yt2XL1oLaw— Episodes (@episodesent) September 24, 2024
According to testimony, Smith and Johnson originally planned on carrying out the murder at an annual Thanksgiving turkey drive Dolph organizes, but they spotted his camo-wrapped Corvette and decided to follow him into the parking lot of Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies where they allegedly shot Dolph 22 times.
When asked why he decided to tell the truth, Smith said he felt guilty after being arrested and he sobered up, blaming his drug use on the death of his 9-year-old son in 2020. He also said that he wasn’t expecting leniency and was doing talking to clear his conscience. “I’m going to jail anyway. I can get it off my chest,” he said. “It’s my best out to be honest, to be truthful. Why play with these folks? They already know.”
Big Jook was murdered earlier this year in January.
You can watch the testimony here.