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Shakira received the inaugural Billboard Global Touring Icon Award in honor of her historic Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, and as part of the 2025 Billboard Live Music Summit held Monday (Nov. 3) in West Hollywood, California.
“As your longtime tour manager, I am so proud and truly honored to present the first annual Billboard global icon tour award to you,” said tour director Marty Hom, who’s also worked for Fleetwood Mac, Barbra Streisand and The Rolling Stones, among others. “We get to witness every day how hard you work to do the best show possible for all your fans.”
Shakira, who received the news backstage during the rehearsals of her recent show in Cali, Colombia, dedicated the award to her entire team, including dancers, band and crew, for “working as hard as I do,” she noted.
The Live Nation-produced tour’s first 64 dates (of 82) grossed $327.4 million and sold 2.5 million tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore, converting Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran into the highest grossing Latin tour ever by a woman and the second highest grossing Latin tour ever (behind only Luis Miguel’s 2023-24 outing, which grossed $409.5 million).
Additionally, the Colombian artist sold 65,000 tickets per night during her historic 12-concert run at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros (formerly known as Foro Sol), according to promoter OCESA, for a total of 780,000 tickets sold.
“It’s encouraging and inspiring,” Shakira said to Hom. “I never thought, not even in my wildest dreams, that I would fill every stadium. It’s incredible and motivating at the same time, I feel like I’m just starting my career, and it’s crazy because it’s been 30 years … This has been the best tour of my life, it’s been just as we dreamt it. We worked so hard, overcoming every obstacle, it hasn’t been easy, we worked many, many long hours to make everything as good as people deserve it.”
Backstage at her show in Cali — where she performed for the first time in 20 years — Shakira also discussed her personal life: “I’m completely dedicated to my boys and my career. That’s all I need, my boys, my fans and my music, and creating, it’s fulfilling a big part of my life right now.”
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What’s the future of the kiss cam at concerts? Nick Groff, manager of German electronic producer Bunt., offered some insight when he took the stage at the Billboard Live Music Summit on Monday (Nov. 3) in West Hollywood, California.
Speaking with Billboard editor-in-chief Hannah Karp, Groff discussed giving fans control of the cameras capturing crowd footage at shows, an initiative that sparked a viral moment at an Oct. 18 Bunt. show at The Shrine Los Angeles when one of the phones was used by a couple to show themselves kissing.
“We didn’t plant that kiss,” said Groff. “We gave that phone out to fans.”
For Bunt. and his team, giving fans the ability to film themselves for the big screens at shows is a way to incorporate fans into the performances, especially as Bunt.’s concerts have grown bigger and the team has had to put barricades around the producer for crowd control.
“We had this really awkward problem where we got to this place by celebrating the fan, but how do we bring the fan into a larger show?” Groff said during the Summit.
To address the issue, the Bunt. team linked with a technology company, who reported that they’d created a system that allows specially prepared iPhones to be linked with venue systems, so that footage captured on these phones can be broadcast on the venue’s big screen. At the Oct. 18 Shrine show, these phones were given to longtime Bunt. fans that the artist and his team had a pre-existing relationship with.
The goal with the initiative, Groff said, is “celebrating the fan by capturing them in their moment.”
The Summit discussion referenced the now-infamous viral moment that happened at an August Coldplay concert, where a couple engaged in an affair were captured on a kiss cam. “Although the novelty of that moment, which was scandalous, happened, the reality is that the kiss cam was a novelty idea at live events because it actually celebrated this simple, pure, human emotion of love,” said Groff.
Groff pointed out that this method could also help solve an issue that’s particularly problematic in dance music, where fans stick their phones in the faces of DJs while they’re playing, interrupting the show and affecting the overall mood. This system being employed by the Bunt. team makes it so that phones are now turned back around on audience members, rather than being pointed at artists.
Still, the widespread adoption of this system may be a ways off, as Groff said putting it together was expensive and is technically “really complicated right now.” While the overall system is “still in its infancy in terms of being able to build out,” the team is planning to use it at some of Bunt.’s bigger upcoming dates, including a Nov. 13 set in Munich.
Trending on Billboard Billboard’s editor-in-chief Hannah Karp gives an introduction to the Billboard Live Music Summit 2025 and she’s joined onstage by Nick Groff, the manager of German DJ Bunt., to explore how artists can engage fans even more with technology.
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When Warped Tour kicked off in 1995, we’re guessing founder Kevin Lyman didn’t have any idea he’d be mounting a 30th-anniversary edition of his traveling rock fest in 2025 — or that he’d be named Billboard‘s 2025 Visionary at Monday’s (Nov. 3) Billboard Live Music Summit for all the ways he’s helped revolutionize the industry. In fact, he joked onstage that he thought he’d be receiving a different honor: “When you called, I thought it was maybe the ’64 Under 65′ now, and I finally made the list.”
During a panel titled “How Warped Tour Built A Lasting Legacy – And Returned In 2025” at West Hollywood, California’s, 1 Hotel, Lyman was joined by Steve Van Doren, an executive from the tour’s presenting sponsor Vans, as well as Warped vet Fletcher Dragge from the SoCal punk band Pennywise and first-time performer-but-longtime attendee Devin Papdol from L.A. pop-rock band Honey Revenge for a conversation moderated by Billboard editor Taylor Mims.
Below, find the best quotes from each panelist about what makes Warped Tour so special and how it’s evolved across three decades.
Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman
It was always about trying to get people out to their first festival. You know, having the show end by sunset was a big part of it too. Because to me, 90% of the problems were caused by 10% of the people under cover of darkness at shows. So if we could bring it into the sunshine, we eliminated some of the problems we had, maybe of certain things in punk rock, but it gave people a chance to listen to the music and really observe. … Everything we did from the reverse daycare center [letting parents attend for free in a “Parents’ tent” so teens could attend], all these things I developed were how to get these young people turned on to this music at a younger age, so they can stay with us. I always said they stayed with us until they were 19, and then they wanted to go to a festival and burn up their student loans and do modeling in the desert.
Vans’ Steve Van Doren
I wanted to get skateboarding from Florida, Texas and California to the rest of the country. He [Lyman] wanted to get music in the rest of the country, 35 to 45 stops each year. I thought it’d be perfect. And no room for rock stars — learned that one early. Everybody’s treated the same. Being able to meet [Pennywise’s] Fletcher in the early days, where he invited me over to the barbecue area, and that’s where you get to meet everybody. Everybody’s done at 8:30, 9 o’clock at night. The buses aren’t leaving until 11 o’clock or 11:30, so everybody’s hungry, come back there. And every day is a little bit different.
Pennywise’s Fletcher Dragge
I never went to summer camp, but it was the best summer camp on the planet. So why wouldn’t you go do what you love to do: play music and hang out with the coolest people and do the coolest sh–? Kevin and these guys would always arrange off days, like river trips or wherever you were, and everyone would come, like, all crew, all bands. It was just completely, undeniably some of the best times of my life. So it was like a no-brainer. “You want to come?” Yes. Ten years later: “Now you want to come?” Yes.
Honey Revenge’s Devin Papadol
I went to my first Warped Tour in 2013 and it was kind of the first opportunity for me to be around so many people that liked the same music as me. … Going to Warped opened up this incredible community that I didn’t know was real locally to me; it kind of felt far away until I went. And I went every year until it stopped. … It was how I found all of the music I ended up listening to, and all the music that ended up influencing Honey Revenge.
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Hot off its viral Crumbl cookie collection last year, Dove is back with another holiday collaboration, that unites its bestselling body care products with Christmas-themed scents. Even better: the beauty company has brought along the Radio City Rockettes for the ride.
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Dove has been named an official partner of the Rockettes, bringing its Holiday Treats Limited-Edition Collection to life with the help of the iconic New York City dancers. The partnership — in conjunction with Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. — helps to ring in the holiday season, of course, but also celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Rockettes, who are back for another season of their “Christmas Spectacular.”
Dove’s festive fragrances, meantime, include “Sugar Cookie Sprinkle,” “Frosted Plum Berry,” “Spiced Chai Latte,” “Peppermint Bark” and “Gingerbread Delight,” each available as a body wash, beauty bar, body scrub, deodorant, hand wash and body mist.
While the new scents are sure to stimulate the senses, Dove says the products are super nourishing for the body too, with gentle formulas that are sulfate-free and paraben-free. With the dry winter months upon us, having a good moisturizing body wash is essential, while the Christmas-inspired body mists double as festive room sprays for holiday dinners and parties as well (they make great stocking stuffers or white elephant gifts too).
The products are available online at Walmart.com and Target.com. You’ll want to hurry though: this limited-edition collection is only available until quantities last and both Walmart and Target are reporting swift sales. Once the products are sold out, they are not expected to be restocked.
Here are some of Dove’s new holiday scents and products, along with a few other seasonal favorites you can shop online now.
REFRESHING & SWEET
Dove Peppermint Bark Liquid Hand Wash
Notes of chocolate and peppermint
WARM & SOOTHING
Dove Spiced Chai Latte Liquid Hand Wash
Notes of cardamom, clove and chai tea
NOSTALGIC PICK
Dove Sugar Cookie Liquid Hand Wash
Smells like a freshly-baked cookie
SELLING FAST
Dove Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Body Wash
Smelling like home-baked goods, this limited-edition scent arrives just in time for Thanksgiving and the holidays
SUBTLY SWEET
Dove Gingerbread Delight Antiperspirant and Deodorant
Notes of cinnamon, ginger and baking spices
FRESH & FRUITY
Dove Frosted Plum Berry Antiperspirant and Deodorant
Smells like plum cake or fruit cake with fresh berries
SHOWER MUST-HAVE
Dove Hot Cocoa Swirl Body Scrub
Great for buffing and exfoliating to gently remove dead skin cells
DOUBLES AS HAIR MIST
Dove Sugar Cookie Sprinkle Body Mist
Works great as a hair mist or room spray too for the smell of freshly-baked sugar cookies in the air
STOCKING STUFFER
Dove Mini Body Wash (Two-Pack)
177 ml. bottles of the limited-edition Sugar Cookie Sprinkle and Frosted Plum Berry body wash
Dove has partnered with musicians like Lizzo and Kelly Rowland for campaigns in the past, but the brand says the Rockettes were the ideal group for this Christmastime release.
“As an official partner of the 2025 Christmas Spectacular and Radio City Rockettes – celebrating their 100th anniversary – Dove is thrilled to bring our Holiday Treats Limited-Edition Collection to Radio City Music Hall to celebrate the holidays in a truly iconic way,” says Kathryn Holl Fernandez, Head of Dove Skin Cleansing and Engagement, in a release. “The collection, including a highly requested new Body Mist format, brings holiday cheer to the shower and beyond, delivering irresistible, indulgent scents and the superior care Dove is known for.”
“We are pleased to welcome Dove to Radio City Music Hall as an official partner of the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular during this milestone year for the dance company,” adds Jessica Tuttle, Executive Vice President, Productions at MSG Entertainment. “Dove, like the Rockettes, is committed to uplifting and empowering women, and this is the perfect partnership to amplify the strength, joy, and confidence of the Rockettes line.”
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Rauw Alejandro took a day off between stops on his Cosa Nuestra tour to attend the 2025 Billboard Live Music Summit in Los Angeles to explain how a new partnership with Live Nation helped him create a theatrical spectacle that could “travel through the whole world.”
Alejandro — who came straight from a Sunday (Nov. 2) show in Monterrey, Mexico and has to fly right back for a Tuesday (Nov. 4) performance in Mexico City — took the stage for a spotlight conversation with Billboard’s Leila Cobo and Live Nation senior vp of global touring Hans Schafer at the 1 Hotel West Hollywood on Monday (Nov. 3).
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The Cosa Nuestra tour is a high-concept, 1970s New York-inspired spectacle supporting Alejandro’s 2024 album of the same name, which hit No. 6 on the Billboard 200. The tour grossed $91.7 million across spring and summer legs in North America and Europe before heading to South America and Mexico. Alejandro will conclude at the end of this month with a five-date residency at San Juan’s Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.
During the discussion, the cover star of Billboard’s touring issue explained that after attending live theater in New York, he was inspired to create what he called “the biggest Broadway show on earth” — though it’s not so easy to bring Broadway to an arena. Enter Live Nation.
“I consider myself the best, so I want to work with the best team,” said Alejandro of joining up with the concert giant for the tour.
As Alejandro explained, Live Nation helped him bring his vision to life using maximum precision. “We could sell stadiums,” said Alejandro, but ultimately, he and his team decided to schedule his tour in arenas to “focus on the art.” The tour also eschewed outdoor venues, preferring the dark environment of an indoor arena to better evoke the feel of a Broadway theater.
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A huge priority, said Alejandro, was to create consistency across markets. As he put it, he didn’t want South American fans to watch one version of Cosa Nuestra on TikTok during the U.S. leg and then be disappointed when a different show came to their cities.
“I had to find a show that I can take everywhere, because I think my fans deserve the best of me,” said Alejandro. “For me, it was really important to put our minds together and find this perfect show that I can travel through the whole world, and I think we did it.”
Schafer, who runs Latin touring for Live Nation, said he was galvanized by Alejandro’s desire to prioritize performance quality over all else.
“The greatest is when you partner with an artist team and they are not looking to make it the biggest, they are looking to make it matter,” said Schafer.
Monday’s panel also covered the way Alejandro was inspired by salsa music for Cosa Nuestra and how he stays in shape for the demanding, dance-heavy show. He said he eats clean — “salmon, white rice, vegetables” — works out and doesn’t drink or smoke on show days.
Alejandro also hinted at what’s next for his touring career. The reggaeton star said he does intend to play stadiums — and that in the future, he aims to take his shows to even more markets than he did this time around. “We want to conquer Asia,” he said.
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When it comes to convincing major artists to use sustainable merch on tour, it doesn’t take much work, says Bravado president Matt Young. As he puts it, a little competitive spirit goes a long way.
“For us, it’s just about using the platform to tell the story,” Young said at the Billboard Live Music Summit on Monday (Nov. 3) in West Hollywood, California, noting that stars including Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Shawn Mendes and Lorde used sustainable merch options on their most recent tours. “And it gets our competition to follow suit. The artists are saying, ‘Hey, how come we can’t do that?’”
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Young was speaking during the panel “Building Touring’s Sustainable Future With Maggie Baird.” Moderated by Billboard senior music correspondent Katie Bain, the panel also featured Adam Gardner, frontman of the band Guster and co-founder of the environmental music nonprofit REVERB; and Maggie Baird, founder of nonprofit Support+Feed and mother of Eilish — arguably the most outspoken major artist on the subject of sustainability.
Below are four major highlights from the panel.
The price point for sustainable merch is trending down as more artists adopt it.
While noting that sustainable merch tends to be “a few dollars more” than non-sustainable, Young said that once artists and their teams realize it’s an option, they tend to be open to it.
“The ultimate sell is, ‘This is the right thing to do,’” said Young. “A few months ago, we did a summit in Nashville, where we were sitting down with partners in town and just talking about the options. And half the time, they go, ‘I didn’t realize that.’ And the other part about this is, because we’ve done so much over the last three or four years, we’re starting to see the price gap close a bit.”
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Added Gardner, “Once enough artists are asking for the same things, they make permanent change.”
Offering plant-based meals at concerts is actually cheaper.
You know which sustainable option is actually less expensive than the status quo, according to Baird? Plant-based food. That’s helpful when it comes to her organization, Support + Feed, selling organizations on offering more non-meat options.
“One of the whys [to offer plant-based options] is you can save money,” said Baird. “That’s really an important part of the storytelling, is getting arenas to understand it’s actually cheaper to serve whole, plant-based foods. And then we offer tools — tools about menu guidance, creating dishes, how to sell more of them. You don’t just put the vegan option at the bottom [of the menu]…you want it to be No. 2.”
Some sustainable options take a little more convincing than others.
In attempting to sell artists and their teams on battery-powered vs. traditional diesel-powered generators, Gardner says it took proof of concept to get more artists on board. That proof of concept came courtesy of Eilsh, who partially powered her headlining seat at Lollapalooza 2023 using zero-emissions battery systems, charged using solar power, without a hiccup.
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“The first step was just convincing folks that it was feasible and that it was okay,” said Gardner. “Because obviously, when you’re talking about powering the stage, nobody wants the power to go out during a concert. So it is scary, and yet it’s also necessary.”
Once Eilish’s 2023 Lollapalooza set proved it could work, the festival “has continued to use battery[-powered generators] since that year.” In 2025, Lollapalooza announced its main stage would be entirely powered by a hybrid battery system — a joint effort by REVERB, C3 Presents and Live Nation’s Green Nation sustainability initiative.
This is just the beginning.
While some strides have been made on the sustainability front in the touring business, there’s still a lot more work to be done. As Young optimistically put it, “The beauty of this is, every day, there’s a new, innovative, entrepreneurial company trying something new in this space.”
He added, “We’re just getting started.”
Getty Images / Soulja Boy / SouljaGame Flip
Soulja Boy is back with his console-copying shenanigans. The rapper is being accused of stealing Retroid’s flow, bar-for-bar, with his newly released SouljaGame Flip console.
We at HHW Gaming are always rooting for everyone Black, especially for significant accomplishments like releasing your own gaming console.
However, we can’t get behind jacking another company’s whole design and then partaking in price-gouging by selling that same fugazi console for a ridiculous price.
That’s precisely what DeAndre “SouljaBoy” Cortez did with his SouljaGame Flip console, which is a blatant ripoff of Retroid’s Retroid Pocket Flip 2.
Aside from ripping off the Pocket Flip 2’s design, what sets Soulja Boy’s retro handheld apart from Retroid’s device is the ridiculous $435 price tag, which is double the Pocket Flip 2’s $210. In the comment section of Soulja Boy’s post, one person said, “Not a single gamer buying this. Especially at that price.”
Another commenter wrote, “Play some games on it. Where’s the gameplay? Is it an emulator??? Rather get a Steam Deck for less that does more.”
The “Turn My Swag On” crafter did share videos in his story of him playing 50 Cent’s Blood In The Sand video game on the device, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas while doing other things like “making beats.”
Still doesn’t justify the price he was charging for the device, and he has since marked the console down to $200, Kotaku reports.
Retroid Immediately Responded Regarding Soulja Boy’s Fugazi Handheld
Soulja Boy’s grift was first reported on by Retro Dodo, which quickly reached out to Retroid about the console. A representative for the company responded, “I didn’t know about this,” the site reported. “This is not any kind of official licensing deal. He does not have permission to rebrand our products and sell them as his own. The Retroid Pocket Flip 2 is patented in the U.S by ourselves.”
So that means he can be swiftly sued if Retroid wants to apply pressure.
It wouldn’t be the first time Soulja Boy gets pressed by a gaming company. Nintendo, which is infamous for suing people for ripping off its property, went after the rapper for selling a Soulja Boy-branded emulation console preloaded with Nintendo ROMs.
After hilariously saying Nintendo wouldn’t sue, he changed his tune, telling his followers on X (formerly Twitter), “I had to boss up, I didn’t have a choice,” after Nintendo threatened him with legal action.
Soulja Boy needs to chill, unless he wants to be the first rapper sued by a video game company.
You can see more reactions below.
Trending on Billboard Americana singer/songwriter Todd Snider has been forced to cancel his High, Lonesome and Then Some 2025 tour dates, after he was the victim of an assault prior to a show in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to a post from Aimless Inc. on Snider’s Instagram, prior to his concert at The Commonwealth […]
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For the back-to-back Billboard Hot 100 charts this year dated Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, no rap songs appeared in the top 40 — marking the first times since the Feb. 3, 1990 chart that the genre was totally absent from that region. That two-week drought comes to an end this week, thanks to Megan Thee Stallion.
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Megan’s new love song “Lover Girl” debuts at No. 38 on the Nov. 8 Hot 100, marking the first rap song (defined by Billboard as a song deemed eligible for ranking on our Hot Rap Songs listing) to reach the chart’s top 40 since Kendrick and SZA’s “Luther” spent its 44th (and to date, final) week on the listing dated Oct. 18. Following that chart, the song fell into recurrent status in the chart, as a result of recently introduced rules updating and speeding up the Hot 100’s recurrent policy.
“Lover Girl” bows with 8.5 million official U.S. streams, 1.5 million in radio airplay audience and 5,000 sold in the week ending Oct. 30, according to Luminate.
Billboard’s reporting last week about the top 40 being rap song-less for the first time in over 35 years set off major waves of discussion within the hip-hop and pop communities about rap’s current place in the popular music ecosystem. Such public figures as rapper-podcaster Joe Budden and producer The Alchemist weighed in with their feelings about the circumstances and meaning behind the temporary absence.
“Lover Girl” marks Megan Thee Stallion’s 21st song to reach the Hot 100’s top 40. Most recently, she visited the region on the chart dated Sept. 21, 2024 with two tracks: her RM team up “Neva Play,” which debuted at No. 36, and “Wanna Be,” with GloRilla, at No. 40 after reaching No. 11. Three of Megan’s songs have topped the chart: the Beyoncé-featuring “Savage” and the Cardi B-led “WAP” in 2020, and her unaccompanied “Hiss” in 2024.
While “Lover Girl” ends the top 40’s rap songs relative dry spell for the week, it might not yet be the start of another years-long streak for rap in the region. As is typical of much-anticipated songs following their second week of release, “Lover Girl” is likely to fall on the next Hot 100 — and there are no rap songs currently behind it on the chart that are zooming in to take its place.
Indeed, the next two highest-charting rap songs on the Hot 100 both fall from their previous week’s position: YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Shot Callin” (43-48) and BigXthaPlug’s Ella Langley-featuring “Hell at Night” (50-52). However, below that, Gunna’s Burna Boy-featuring “wgft” does have some forward momentum, rising 59-55, as does Cardi B’s “Safe,” featuring Kehlani, up 57-56 and gaining in airplay after debuting at its No. 26 peak last month.
