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On the heels of his first book, Dark Days: A Memoir, in 2015, Lamb of God frontman Randall Blythe did not want to follow it up with another non-fiction book. But he was counseled otherwise.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I never want to write non-fiction ever again,’” Blythe tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Richmond, Va. “But my literary agent was like, ‘No, you need to write another non-fiction book to prove to publishers that you’re not just a one-trick pony, contingent on this very kind of bizarre and unfortunate story.’ And I was like, ‘OK, he’s the literary agent, so I’m gonna follow his advice.’ But I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. This book was more difficult to write than my first one.”
Dark Days focused on Blythe’s legal battles in the Czech Republic, where he was arrested in 2012 and hit with manslaughter charges over the death of a fan at a 2010 Lamb of God show in Prague; he was acquitted in 2013. “(Dark Days) had a classic three-act narrative structure provided by that unfortunate even in my life. This one it was more, ‘Here’s an idea. Let’s see what happens.’ So it was a different experience.”
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In Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace With the Wars Inside Our Head (Grand Central) — which published Tuesday (Feb. 18) – Blythe offers a series of essays about what Blythe calls “perspective” on mortality, sobriety, creativity, mental health, the environment and other issues. “I knew I wanted to write about death. I knew I wanted to write about surfing — that’s another thing that has broadened my perspective in life and really made my life better,” Blythe says. “So death and surfing, which I thought would be a good book title. And I just kinda went from there.”
Just Beyond the Light begins with a chapter devoted to Blythe’s relationship with Wayne Ford, a Lamb of God fan dealing with terminal leukemia who passed away at 33.
“The ultimate fear of every human is our mortality, really,” Blythe explains. “I befriended (Ford) during the last month or two of his life, and the way he handed his mortality was extremely…I hate to use the word inspiring, but it was. I had this honest, open sort of relationship with him when we were talking, and to see this young man handle it with such grace and dignity, it really altered my perspective.
“I’m almost 54 years old now. Mortality is staring me more and more in the face, and it’s something I think about a lot. And it doesn’t freak me out; I view it as something not to be afraid of because it’s going to happen to us all inevitably. But I knew I wanted to write about that.”
Mortality provides a thread throughout the Just Beyond the Light, as does discourses on sobriety, which Blythe achieved more than a decade ago. “I wouldn’t have these perspectives if I wasn’t sober now,” he notes. “I wouldn’t have any perspective, period, because I think I’d be dead by now — to bring it back to mortality. My drinking, it got in the way of everything because I bought into the sort of cultural mythos of the hard drinking, hard drugging, hard partying artist for awhile.
“I didn’t become an author until I got sober. I talked about being a writer. I did all the things that (Charles) Bukowski and (Ernest) Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson did. I drank and partied and womanized, got in a few fights. I did all the things those great writers did — except writing. I was practicing to be a writer I suppose, but when I got sober I was able to become the writer I’m supposed to be.”
In other parts of Just Beyond the Light, Blythe uses a stay at the Chelsea Hotel in New York to ruminate on songwriting and other forms of creativity, while the chapter before laments the epidemic of school shootings in the United States and the lack of effective measures to prevent them. There are plenty of viewpoints in the book that may butt up against social and political sensibilities that have surfaced in the country during the past month, but Blythe (acknowledging that “I’m strapped in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride”) is ready to have those conversations when he begins a 15-date speaking tour to promote the book.
“I’m very much interested in conversations,” he says. “I think that is a problem within our culture now, that lack of dialogue. And for me, I think that dialogue can only effectively occur in a face-to-face setting, because I think that within the confines of the Internet there’s a tendency towards tribalization…and to view others almost as less than human. It’s us and them, and our common humanity is lost and people are just typing slogans at each other — from both the left and the right, as far as I can tell. There’s no discourse, and that’s extremely distressing to me.”
Those appearances will be anything but rote, Blythe promises.
“I’m not gonna be reading; they could just stay home and do that,” he says. “I’m gonna get up there and tell stories from outside the book. I want all the stories to service the main theme of the book, which is perspective. I’ve never done it before, so it’s gonna be an interesting experiment for me. We’ll see what happens.”
Beyond the book, Blythe says Lamb of God — marking its 30th year since he joined the band, then known as Burn the Priest, and independently released its first demo tape — is headed for a “light” year after heavy touring in the wake of 2022’s Omens album. Guitarist Mark Morton also wrote a memoir, Desolation: A Heavy Metal Memoir, for which Blythe provided assistance as well as a cover photo. (“His book is more of a Lamb of God retrospective,” Blythe says, “which I think is cool ’cause I don’t want to write that. I’m glad he did the heavy lifting.”) Blythe also made guest appearances on recent albums by P.O.D. and Lacuna Coil.
The band, meanwhile, will be playing festivals — Inkcarceration in Ohio and Louder Than Life in Kentucky — but Blythe and company are most excited about being on the bill for the Back To The Beginning on July 5 in Birmingham, England, where Ozzy Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath will play its final show supported by a who’s who of heavy metal and hard rock acts.
“It’s an incredible honor to be asked to do this,” says Blythe, adding that Lamb of God will be performing one of its own songs and one Black Sabbath song, which is already chosen, though he won’t reveal what it is. “Black Sabbath was the first metal band, and we are going to their home town, which is the birthplace of heavy metal, to give them the best send-off we can. And it’s awesome it’s going to charity. I think all the bands are pretty emotional about it. All of us have Black Sabbath’s DNA in our music. They are the tree from which we have all fallen. And this is the last one; Ozzy has Parkinson’s, so it’s not like the endless Kiss farewell tour. This is it. So we want to go and give them the best send-off as possible and just show respect and thank them.”
Just Beyonce The Light
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The dates for Blythe’s book tour supporting Just Beyond the Light include:Feb. 19 – Philadelphia, Pa, Underground ArtsFeb. 21 – Harrisonburg, Va., The Golden PonyFeb. 23 – Somerville, Mass., Arts at the ArmoryFeb. 25 – Montreal, Quebec, Théâtre FairmountFeb. 26 – Toronto, Ontario, Red Room at The Concert HallFeb. 28 – Lansing, Mich., Grewal Hall at 224March 01 – Joliet, Ill., The ForgeMarch 03 – Nashville, Tenn., The Basement EastMarch 04 – Dallas, Texas Granada TheaterMarch 05 – Austin, Texas, ParishMarch 07 – Denver, Colo., Meow WolfMarch 09 – Seattle, Wash., El CorazonMarch 12 – San Francisco, Calif., The IndependentMarch 13 – Los Angeles, Calif., El Rey TheatreMarch 14 – San Diego, Calif., House of Blues
Maverick City Music lands its fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart, and its eighth top 10 on Top Christian Albums (No. 2), with the debut of Live at Maverick City (on lists dated Feb. 22). The 36-song set from the Atlanta-based Christian and gospel music collective earned 5,000 equivalent album units in […]
02/19/2025
Timothée Chalametcould become the youngest best actor winner at the March 2 ceremony.
02/19/2025
Beyoncé has added a fourth and final date at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium as part of her anticipated 2025 Cowboy Carter & the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit tour. The singer announced on Wednesday (Feb. 19) that the addition of the July 14 show — which will now serve as the final stop on the outing slated to kick off in Los Angeles on April 28 — has set a record for the most performances at 75,000-plus capacity home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
There will be a series of pre-sales for the new date ahead of the general on-sale, which will kick off on Friday (Feb. 21) at 12 p.m. local time here. A Beyhive pre-sale for the new date will begin on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET through Thursday (Feb. 20) at 11 a.m. ET.
The Live Nation-promoted tour in support of Bey’s Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album will play multiple dates across the U.S. and Europe this summer, kicking off with five dates at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium, followed by a three-night stand at Chicago’s Soldier Field and five gigs at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
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The production will then jump to London for six shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between June 5-June 16, a three-night stand at Stade de France in Paris and the back to the U.S. for a pair of hometown shows at NRG Stadium in Houston. The tour will wind-down with a pair of gigs at Northwest Stadium in Washington, D.C. and the four shows in Atlanta on July 10, 11, 13 and 14.
Check out the updated list of dates for the tour below (new show in bold):
April 28 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 1 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 4 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 7 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 9 – Inglewood, CA – SoFi Stadium
May 15 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
May 17 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
May 18 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
May 22 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 24 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 25 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 28 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 29 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
June 5 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 7 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 10 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 12 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 14 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 16 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 19 – Paris, France @ Stade de France
June 21 – Paris, France @ Stade de France
June 22 – Paris, France @ Stade de France
June 28 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
June 29 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
July 4 – Washington, D.C. @ Northwest Stadium
July 7 – Washington, D.C. @ Northwest Stadium
July 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
July 11 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
July 13 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
July 14 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Selena Gomez, one of the stars of Emilia Pérez; second-generation comedy star Ben Stiller; and Joe Alwyn, one of the stars of The Brutalist (though probably still best-known by many as Taylor Swift’s ex) have been added to the list of presenters for the 2025 Oscars. The show will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Other newly announced presenters are Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Goldie Hawn, Connie Nielsen and Oprah Winfrey.
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Previously announced presenters are Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Amy Poehler, June Squibb and Bowen Yang – as well as last year’s four acting winners: Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Hawn, Berry, Goldberg and Cruz are also past Oscar winners. In 2001, for her role in Monster’s Ball, Berry became the first Black actress to win best actress. These other stars won for best supporting actress – Hawn for Cactus Flower in 1970, Goldberg for Ghost in 1991 and Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2009.
In 2011, Winfrey received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Alwyn has had numerous film credits leading up to The Brutalist. He also appeared in The Favourite (2018), Boy Erased (2018), Mary Queen of Scots (2018) and Harriet (2019), among others.
Nick Offerman will serve as the announcer for this year’s Oscar telecast. Conan O’Brien will host for the first time.
The 97th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu. The official live red-carpet show will air at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are executive producers of the 2025 Oscars. Kapoor is also showrunner. He was also one of three executive producers for the Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, along with Ben Winston and Jesse Collins.

Before he began dating Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce was a typical bro, bro. At least according to former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who sat down with Trav’s big brother, fellow retired NFL great Jason Kelce, on this week’s Fitz & Whit podcast to talk beer pong and the tremendous growth they’ve seen in Travis since […]

Paquita la del Barrio will be honored at Premio Lo Nuestro 2025 with an emotional performance by Pepe Aguilar and his children Leonardo y Ángela Aguilar, Billboard can exclusively announce Wednesday (Feb. 19).
The iconic Mexican ranchera singer, known for denouncing macho culture and attitudes in songs like “Tres Veces Te Engañé,” “Rata de Dos Patas” and “Las Rodilleras,” died this week at her home in Veracruz, Mexico, at age 77.
“Honoring the legacy of Paquita la del Barrio for me is a great responsibility and a true privilege. Her voice was an echo in the soul of our people, and her courage in telling stories paved the way for many generations,” Pepe Aguilar said in a statement, adding that he hopes “that this tribute is as significant with the depth of her spirit.”
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“Paquita la del Barrio taught us that a woman’s voice should never be silenced — she always sang what she felt, without fear and without excuses,” added Ángela Aguilar. “I had the incredible honor of opening her concerts when I was younger, witnessing firsthand the magic she created on stage. Having her as part of [my family’s show] Jaripeo Sin Fronteras was just as special — a true testament to the impact she has had on generations of artists.”
Meanwhile, Leonardo Aguilar expressed: “All my life I have been surrounded by powerful women — whose strength, resilience and passion have shaped who I am. Paquita la del Barrio personified that strength, breaking barriers and giving a voice to those who needed it most.”
With a career spanning over five decades, Paquita la del Barrio was an idol in popular music. In 2011, she received the Billboard Regional Mexican Music Award “La Voz,” and 10 years later, in 2021, she was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards for her exceptional career.
Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Francisca Viveros Barradas (her real name) discovered her powerful voice as a child while singing at school festivals. In the 1970s, she formed the duo Las Golondrinas with her sister Viola, and in 1984, she released her debut album, El Barrio de los Faroles, as Paquita la del Barrio. Since then, she recorded over 30 albums, which sold more than 30 million copies, with hits that also include “Las Mujeres Mandan,” “La Última Parada,” “Me Saludas a la Tuya,” “Soltero Maduro, Chiquito” and “Hombres Malvados,” among others.
In its 37th edition, the Premio Lo Nuestro ceremony will be broadcast live on Thursday (Feb. 20) starting at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT on Univision, UNIMÁS and ViX. Co-hosted by Laura Pausini, Thalia, and Alejandro Espinoza, it will feature performances by Becky G and Carín León, who lead this year’s list of nominees, as well as Shakira, Grupo Frontera, Marc Anthony, Will Smith and many more.

A$AP Rocky jumped into Rihanna‘s arms after a jury acquitted him on both counts in the shooting case involving his former friend A$AP Relli (Terrell Ephron). A short time later, it was RihRih who was jumping for joy while celebrating the verdict, writing in her Instagram Story, “THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE! THANKFUL, HUMBLED BY HIS MERCY!”
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She ended the post with a prayer hands emoji.
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The singer, 36, was on hand for the final days of the four-week trial in which Rocky (born Rakim Mayers) was facing significant prison time tied to an incident that took place in November 2021 in which he was accused of firing a handgun twice at Relli near a Hollywood hotel. The 36-year-old rapper was arrested in Los Angeles in April 2022 and hit with two felony counts of assault with a firearm and was facing a maximum of 24 years in prison.
After deliberating for around three hours, the jury returned its not guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 18), prompting Rocky to jump over the railing into the arms of an ecstatic Rihanna, with whom he shares two young children, RZA, 2 and Riot, 1. Rocky also took to his socials to celebrate the end of the long-running case, writing on X “DON’T BE DUMB,” a seeming reference to his delayed fourth album of the same name that was slated to drop last August.
At the time, Rocky said posted on X that “LEAKS & SAMPLE CLEARANCES ARE DISRUPTING THE ALBUM. ITS BEEN 6 YEARS & I WANNA MAKE THE BEST ALBUM EVER. IM SORRY FOR THE WAIT,” explaining the delay in releasing his follow-up to 2018’s Testing album. In a Billboard cover story last summer, Rocky said the delayed album was slated to feature frequent collaborator and friend Tyler, The Creator and former Smiths singer Morrissey, as well as an A-list roster of producers, including Pharrell Williams, Mike Dean, Hitkidd, Madlib, Metro Boomin and The Alchemist. “I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was f—ing with it heavy,” he said, adding that the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice director was “rocking his head” while listening. “He’s like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you made that kind of music!’”
Though the official track list has not been revealed yet, Don’t Be Dumb has been preceded by a number of singles, including “Highjack,” “Tailor Swif” and “Ruby Rosary.”
Sabrina Carpenter will headline a second night at London’s BST Hyde Park. The Short n’ Sweet singer will now perform another huge outdoor show on July 6, 2025 following her previously sold-out show on July 5. Carpenter was first announced for BST Hyde Park back in December and joined Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Noah Kahan, […]
Blink-182 co-founder Mark Hoppus is setting his sights on the art world, with the musician set to auction off his rare Banksy artwork.
The artwork, titled Crude Oil (Vettriano), was hand-painted by the anonymous English street artist in 2005 and will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London on March 4. The painting is valued rather highly, attracting a sales estimate of up to £5 million, or $6.3 million.
Originally created for Banksy’s 2005 exhibit Crude Oils, the painting is itself a recreation of the 1992 artwork The Singing Butler by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano. Hoppus would later acquire the piece in 2011.
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As part of the exhibition (which was described as “A Gallery of Re-Mixed Master-Pieces, Vandalism, and Vermin” and featured works based off artists such as Andy Warhol and Edward Hopper), the original was altered to include a “sinking oil liner and two men in hazmat suits wheeling a barrel of toxic waste”.
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“We loved this painting since the moment we saw it,” said Hoppus in a statement. “Unmistakably Banksy, but different. We bought it because we loved it. It’s borne witness to our family over these past dozen years. It hung over the table in London where we ate breakfast and our son did his homework. It hung in our living room in Los Angeles. It’s seen laughter and tears and parties and arguments.”
“This isn’t just an iconic Banksy, it is a Banksy that has been treasured by music legend, Mark Hoppus, who fell for this work for its rebellious spirit, raw edge and unfiltered expression—the fundamentals that also shaped Mark’s world: Punk culture,” Sotheby’s Europe chairman Oliver Barker said in a statement.
“Street art and Punk Rock share the same vocabulary—they speak to the outsider, the rebel and the overlooked. Both movements were born from the margins. They challenge authority and rewrite the rules, a fundamental trait shared by Mark and Banksy. Now, by sharing Crude Oil (Vettriano) with the world, Mark will open others’ eyes to the true power art can have; to spark conversation and challenge the way we see the world around us.”
Remaining anonymous over his three decades of activity, Banksy’s artwork has become as iconic as it is divisive, with his creations adorning the walls of art galleries and album covers in equal measure. In 2021, his Love is in the Bin artwork sold for a record £18,582,000 (valued at $23,442,885 today), with the work itself having gained notoriety for its self-destruction upon its initial sale in 2018.
Hoppus says a portion of the funds raised by the sale will go towards charities and funds aiding those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, including the California Fire Foundation, the Child Life Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Cedars Sinai Hematology Oncology Research.
Crude Oil (Vettriano) is currently on display at Sotheby’s in New York until Thursday (Feb. 20), and will then be on display in London from Feb. 26 until March 4.