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Noah Cyrus sat down for the first Tuned In With Billboard, presented by BetterHelp, to talk about addiction, therapy and her excitement for the future. After releasing her critically acclaimed second album, I Want My Loved Ones to Go With Me, Cyrus embarked on a North American tour, during which she shared her music with fans and show her appreciation for their support.
In our interview, Noah reflects on the pains of comparisons, the struggles of addiction and the benefits of therapy, which she says saved her life. Today, she is happier than she’s ever been. Though she still gets triggered from time to time, the resources of therapy have given her the tools to handle situations that would have been difficult in the past.
Now, Cyrus looks forward to the future. She’s excited to start a family with her fiancé and be a mom, none of which she said would have been possible without therapy. Her latest album, tour and happiness is all thanks to therapy and recovery treatments.
If you or someone you know if struggling, BetterHelp can help you take that first step. Learn more at bettehelp.com/tunedin.
Noah Cyrus: When I look back on it, I think about how I didn’t know at the time that I would be at a place where I am standing here now in an interview like this, and I don’t talk about this ever, so I’m totally losing it right now. Sorry, like I feel so lucky for being able to have the resources of therapy.
Though it’s like a heavier album, it has felt a lot more hopeful in the room and a lot more lighter. This album’s more about transitioning and moving forward and it being more of a really comforting release, rather than something painful that you’re walking away from. It wasn’t until experiencing like those two, three years after dropping the single and figuring out life being more seen and more open to the public’s opinions. And so I think a lot of the things that felt hard on me was whenever I was more of a victim to those people.
Whenever I was 20, turning 21 — just about 21 — I was really deep in addiction to downers. I had recently lost my grandmother at the time, and it just felt like I had, you know, pushed myself so far away from my family and my mom, who I’m so close with, and I had really just gotten myself in such a dark place, and I felt so alone that helped to me, looked like first reaching out to my therapist and being really honest about the struggles that I was facing. So I had a lot to tackle and a lot to uncover, and one that started with the addiction, but there were so many layers underneath the addiction.
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State Farm showcased its support for the Latin community and its vibrant culture through key activations at Billboard Latin Music Week in Miami. As a presenting sponsor, State Farm showcased the “Music of the World Cup” panel, featuring Latin music stars Carlos Vives, Emilia, Wisin, and soccer legend Xavi. Moderated by sports anchor Carlota Vizmanos, the discussion offered fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the official 2026 Telemundo World Cup anthem.
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“Soccer unites us,” Vives added. “It’s brotherhood, it’s friendship, it’s love. Even though it’s competition and rivalry, it’s fair play. That’s why it unites us all.” This spirit of connection and collaboration is at the heart of Latin culture—and it was evident throughout Billboard Latin Music Week.
Returning to Miami for Latin Music Week, the industry’s largest celebration of Latin music brought together executives, artists, tastemakers, and fans in the genre’s American home. The three-day event leads up to the Billboard Latin Music Awards and has, for more than 30 years, stood as the world’s premier annual gathering of Latin artists and industry leaders.
This year, State Farm joined as a presenting sponsor, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to the Latin community. Coming off a successful activation at Billboard Hip-Hop Week, the brand brought its Buen Vecino Marketplace to Miami, offering fans at Billboard En Vivo a chance to take home custom merchandise printed live on-site.
The limited-edition designs were created by Brazilian graphic designer and artist Thiago Lacaz, who said, “It’s an honor to have my work on display here at Billboard Latin Music Week and to see so many fans excited about the design. I think people will wear these for a long time and that makes me very happy.”
Fans lined up to choose from different design and color options, with custom-printed shirts and keychains available throughout the activation.
Through its sponsorship of Billboard Latin Music Week, State Farm reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Latin community and uplifting the voices shaping its culture. From the Buen Vecino Marketplace to the Music of the World Cup panel, the brand celebrated creativity, diversity, and the power of connection that defines Latin music.
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Selena Gomez knows she’s in a rare position to give back, and she’s taking it. On Wednesday (Oct. 29), the singer-actress hosted her third annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit in Los Angeles, an event that raised more than $600,000 for mental health charities.
The night’s programming was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and featured performances from Laufey and The Marías, each of whom Gomez snapped photos with on the red carpet. Her new husband, Benny Blanco, was also in attendance, as were recognizable names such as Lil Dicky, Jake Shane, Jay Shetty and more.
“This night is a celebration of how far we’ve come and a powerful reminder of how much more we can do together,” Gomez said of the event in a statement shared with Billboard in September. “I’m incredibly grateful to Jimmy and The Marías for joining me in shining a light on youth mental health. Their support means the world – not just to me, but to millions of young people this work touches around the globe.”
The $600,000 raised on site via commitments from the night’s guests make up just one big step in the Rare Impact Fund’s mission to generate $100 million for global mental health resources and education programs. The event comes five years after Gomez first founded the fund in conjunction with her billion-dollar Rare Beauty business.
Last year’s benefit — which featured live music from Karol G and Teddy Swims — raised upward of $2 million for the Rare Impact Fund.
“Mental health is personal for me,” Gomez says in a mission statement on her organization’s website. “I went a long time without the support I needed because I didn’t understand what I was feeling. After experiencing what seemed like endless highs and lows that would take me out for weeks at a time, I finally found the help to see what I was going through.”
“That’s why I started the Rare Impact Fund,” adds the mogul, who’s long been open about her struggles with depression and bipolar disorder. “It’s a commitment to expand access to mental health services and education for young people everywhere. Because no one — regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or background — should struggle alone.”
See photos from Gomez’s third annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit below.
Selena Gomez attends the Third Annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit hosted by Selena Gomez at Nya Studios on October 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Rare Impact Fund
(L-R) Selena Gomez and Jimmy Kimmel attend the Third Annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit hosted by Selena Gomez at Nya Studios on October 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Rare Impact Fund
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Since it first roared onto the Billboard charts with 2009’s Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do LP, Major Lazer has established itself as one of the most innovative collectives in mainstream music through its fusion of EDM, dancehall, hip-hop, reggaetón, trap and soca. Now, the group’s three current members — Diplo, Walshy Fire and Ape Drums — have officially added a fourth name to the lineup: America Foster.
A 28-year-old British-Jamaican artist, model and content creator, America Foster hails from the outskirts of London in South Buckinghamshire. As one of seven children in a household dominated by boys, she quickly learned how to lean into her knack for entertaining to ensure her voice was heard. She remembers developing her freestyling as a party trick as young as 10, and around age 15, she started playing around with accents and voice acting, sending friends into laughing fits with prank calls and her imitations of the London Underground voiceover. As she entered the final years of her adolescence and her creative friends started seriously pursuing their dreams, Foster brushed off countless requests to hop in the booth and freestyle over a track.
“I was completely opposed to it,” she recalls. “And then one of my friends [convinced] me to come to their studio session, the producers spun around in their chairs like, ‘Your turn!’ I was like, ‘Not happening!’ That ended up being the first time I ever put my vocals on a studio recording.”
Foster is the first to admit that those early songs weren’t the strongest — “They were very commercial, Chris Brown dance-pop; I call it McDonald’s music” — but she eventually landed on a sound that distilled the authenticity, cultural fluency and bubbly quirk of her off-the-cuff social media content, which garnered her hundreds of thousands of followers pre-Major Lazer and resulted in a Red Rat-informed approach to dancehall toasting and singjaying anchored by her striking charisma.
After a few viral clips caught Diplo’s attention, Foster quickly took advantage of the potential music industry connection. She thanked the Grammy-winning DJ for following her, and the two started exchanging music, culminating in an in-person meeting at his Roundhouse show last September. There, the pair planned a studio session in Jamaica, where Foster met the rest of Major Lazer, and by Paris’ Fête de la Musique in June, she made her live debut with the group. In July, Foster officially announced her addition to Major Lazer via Instagram.
Arriving as the group’s youngest and first woman member, Foster made her official Major Lazer debut with a freestyle remix of August’s “Gangsta,” a shatta-informed track that also features Kybba and Busy Signal. A few weeks later (Oct. 24), Foster joined forces with buzzy Toronto artist Sadboi and Emmy-winning choreographer Parris Goebel for “Bruk Down,” a standout ‘90s dancehall-inspired track that doubles as Goebel’s musical debut. Goebel also co-directed the track’s flashy music video alongside Philippa Price.
“She understands what she’s good at, and she understands that she’s got a market for it. It’s genius to me,” Foster tells Billboard about working with Goebel. “I’ve heard some of her songs that are due to come out, and they are amazing — especially for the dance community.”
In a candid conversation with Billboard, America Foster details her origins, integrating herself into the Major Lazer family, fashioning “Bruk Down” out of a freestyle and what else she’s cooking up with her new groupmates.
What are some of your earliest musical memories?
[They’re] definitely attached to dance. Rhythm and beat [were] my first introduction [to music]; I never really heard lyrics for what they were when I was younger. I’d be able to recite a whole song, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the content.
Where do you consider home?
Growing up, I lived just on the outskirts of London. But my heart was always in Northwest London; I was always there. That’s where my mum and her sisters were raised, and my gran still lives there. During weekends, half-terms and school holidays, I’d be in London. And then I’d be living in South Buckinghamshire, which is where I was raised.
How did you land on the “America Foster” sound?
Eight years ago, when I first got into the studio, I didn’t understand my sound, so I started trying to develop it. I really captured my sound in the last four years. I made a couple of demos that were getting close, but they weren’t the final sound, which were the demos that I actually sent to Diplo.
You connected with him over Instagram, right?
He came across my page from a viral moment; I’ve had quite a few of those on Instagram from my content creation. I was trying to figure out how to transition into being a respected artist, so I started dropping bits of content surrounded by my music. Whether I’m talking about the weather or my menstruation, I put it in a rhyme pattern and people love it — especially because you don’t expect me to have such a strong Jamaican accent, because I’m light-skinned and from England, and my name’s America. It’s like, “What the f—k is going on?” [Laughs.]
He followed me off a viral freestyle, and I was really excited, because I was seriously making music at the time. I knew that he was behind Major Lazer, and I also know he was behind [M.I.A.’s] “Paper Planes.” I grew up to that song, just banging it out constantly. So, obviously, I shot my shot. I thanked him for the follow and sent about four demos. We started exchanging music on WhatsApp, and he’d send me beats he heard my voice on.
Last September, he came to London, and I met him at the Roundhouse while he was performing. The next day, we went to a football game and planned for a studio session in Jamaica, which is where I met the rest of Major Lazer.
What was that first meeting like?
It was amazing, we just clicked. Me and Walshy were bantering left, right and center; it felt like I had known these guys for ages. It didn’t feel like the first initial meeting at all. I went to Diplo’s home in Jamaica, and it’s quite a showroom home, but it still has this beautiful, homely vibe. I had 32 hours in Jamaica, and we made six songs, one of which was “Bruk Down.”
“Bruk Down” started as a freestyle, right?
Diplo just had the beat running, and we all knew it was f—king hard. He kept it running to see if we came up with anything; he even freestyled a little bit, which was quite funny. And then I just heard, “Bruk out, bruk out, waan fi.” I knew I liked that, but I wanted to repeat it twice, and then change it a bit the third time. Walshy was in the room, and he was like, “Yea, man, dat fyah!” Diplo also liked it, so I continued freestyling and writing at the same time.
It’s crazy how the final version sounds like a completely different song from how it first started. My initial freestyle was shared with Parris Goebel and Sadboi, and when I heard it with their parts, it sounded so good. I was only briefly familiar with Sadboi, and I hadn’t connected the dots about who Parris was. I didn’t know she was making music. I was like, “Oh my God, my music video’s gonna be sick!” [Laughs.]
Did you have any initial reservations about pursuing your music career through a collective as opposed to just going solo from the jump?
About two years before Major Lazer was on the table, I thought about being in a girl group. And I was like…. no. I just couldn’t see that for me. Part of me felt like I had to really weigh it up and see what the exit would look like.
When Major Lazer came into the picture, I was like, “Oh my God, this is the best group that could have ever asked me to join them.” Firstly, it’s all boys. Secondly, they’re not vocalists; they’re producers and DJs, so I’d be the only vocalist, which gives me the opportunity to still be a solo artist.
Being the only woman and the youngest, what made you trust these guys?
My familiarity [with them] through their music. Through being a consumer, I felt like I knew them already. That’s why it felt so family-oriented in the first meeting. I’m big on signs, energy and spirituality, and I just followed my gut.
What does your contract look like?
It’s a featured artist agreement. I’m contracted as the fourth member.
So, you’re technically an unsigned artist?
Yes.
Is America a stage name or your given name?
Birth name. I was orphaned by the age of four, and my mum gave me my name. I look at it as if that was the best and final gift that my mum could have given me. I can’t change it, even though I hated the name when I was younger. I’m the only one out of my siblings with the name of a country or state or continent. I don’t have a middle name.
My mum knew something that no one else knew. She knew what she gave birth to. I can’t put a different name on my stardom. I don’t feel like that would be paying homage to my mum. She would have been a performer if she was still about; she had the essence that I do, but I’ve just been able to live and show it.
What else from your childhood do you see reflected in the music you make today?
My inspirations. When I’m freestyling, I hear Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel, a little bit of Lady Saw, all of that. I hear their attitude in my freestyles. The sound I’m running with at the moment is Red Rat’s; I’m paying homage to him. I’m tuning in to the things that made me love music in the first place, taking elements of all of that at combining it with who I am to produce something that the world will just say “yes” to.
How do you anticipate your content creation might evolve as your artist career grows?
I’m not creating content; I’m capturing moments. There’s a difference for me. It’ll be exactly the same. I’ll just be capturing bigger moments and things that people will want to see: being on the road with the boys, backstage banter and little humorous exchanges.
Do you feel embraced by Major Lazer’s fanbase?
I’m definitely taking it in. With my social media content, I was becoming a little bit more known in London. A year before [joining] Major Lazer, I went to Barbados, and someone recognized me. That was like one of the first moments that I realized how far my reach is.
Major Lazer’s fan base is great. They’ve taken me in like I’ve been a member since day one. It feels like they have literally said, “Oh, Diplo, you like her, yeah? Walshy? Cool, we like you too.”
Top three Major Lazer songs of all time?
“Pon de Floor,” “Hold the Line” and “Watch Out for This (Bumaye).”
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The Recording Academy has announced the appointment of Taylor Hanson and the reappointment of Dani Deahl as co-chairs of its National Advocacy Committee, a group of performers, songwriters, producers, and engineers dedicated to championing creators’ rights at both the state and federal levels. The National Advocacy Committee plays a key role in shaping the organization’s legislative priorities in collaboration with the Recording Academy’s Advocacy & Public Policy team in Washington, D.C.
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Singer, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur Taylor Hanson has spent more than three decades in the music industry. He is a member of the brother trio HANSON, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997 with “MMMBop.” The exuberant smash brought the trio three Grammy nods – record of the year, best best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal and best new artist.
A native of Tulsa, OK, Hanson has long supported music education and advocacy through such initiatives as the Recording Academy’s Grammys on the Hill and Music Advocacy Day as well as Save the Music. Hanson has also worked to expand the Academy’s state advocacy work in Oklahoma and founded Food on the Move, a nonprofit dedicated to combating hunger and food deserts in Oklahoma. This marks Hanson’s first term as co-chair of the Academy’s National Advocacy Committee.
Serving a second consecutive term as co-chair, Dani Deahl is a DJ, producer, former Recording Academy Chicago chapter president, and current Academy national trustee. An advocate for creators’ rights, Deahl testified before the Illinois House and Senate in 2024 in support of HB 4875, a bill modernizing the state’s right of publicity law to protect creators from AI misuse. Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.) signed the bill into law last year.
Deahl has also participated in the Recording Academy’s annual Grammys on the Hill initiative and took part in the inaugural Grammys on the Hill Future Forum in 2024, where she joined Grammy-nominated artist Kokayi and Todd Dupler, the Academy’s chief advocacy and public policy officer, on a panel to discuss the positive potential of AI in music and creativity. Deahl has also served as the head of communications and creator insights at BandLab since 2022.
Additional new National Advocacy Committee members include Sean Patrick Flavahan, Matt Maher, Maggie Rose and Divinity Roxx. They join Dr. Chelsey Green, Recording Academy chair of the board of trustees; Harvey Mason jr, Recording Academy CEO; and Dupler as ex-officio members.
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On Oct. 31, while much of the country revels in Halloween activities, bluegrass-Americana powerhouse group Greensky Bluegrass will officially celebrate its 25th anniversary.
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The group first launched during an impromptu house party performance on Halloween night in 2000 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a performance that has evolved into a musical journey that has brought the five-piece group to headlining festival main stages and selling out venues throughout the country, including recently spearheading their 20th show at iconic venue Red Rocks. Since issuing their debut album Less Than Supper in 2004, Greensky Bluegrass has notched two Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart-toppers, with 2014’s If Sorrows Swim, and 2019’s All For Money.
Greensky Bluegrass will commemorate its silver anniversary by returning to its hometown roots with two shows at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, but also with the release of new album XXV, arriving Friday, (Oct. 31) on Big Blue Zoo Records/Thirty Tigers.
“It’s the first time that I’ve ever actually slowed down enough to look back and it’s worth celebrating, because so many bands don’t even get a chance to do that,” Greensky Bluegrass dobroist Anders Beck tells Billboard.
On XXV, Greensky Bluegrass reimagines many of its most well-loved songs, captures a couple of live-show staples for the first time, and welcomes a strong roster of collaborators, including Sam Bush, Lindsay Lou, Nathaniel Rateliff, Aoife O’Donovan, Holly Bowling and Greensky Bluegrass’s fellow Michigan native, Billy Strings.
“It wasn’t about, like, ‘We want really big, important guests on this record.’ It was calling friends,” Beck says. “It’s almost like a family photo album. And it was fun to reimagine the songs. When you finish a record, you’re trying to make the penultimate version of that song, and then to get to redo it 10, 15, 20 years later is pretty cool.”
On XXV, Rateliff joins on “Past My Prime,” while Bowling joins on “Last Winter in the Copper Country” and “Windshield.” Previously-recorded songs such as “Old Barns” and “Windshield” get fresh patinas, but the album also sees live-show favorites such as “Who Is Frederico?” and “33443” make their initial appearances on a recorded Greensky project.
The band’s name has long embodied the group’s nimble balancing act of being rooted in and familiar with bluegrass traditions while also using it as a launching pad for exploring other, often contrasting, musical styles. In the process, Beck and his bandmates Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass) and Paul Hoffman (mandolin) became trailblazers for the acceleration of the freewheeling, jamgrass movement over the years, a style that now fuels live shows for artists such as Strings.
“A lot of these arrangements and guest spots were born out of the live shows—In fact, most all of ’em,” Beck says. “The things with Holly Bowling, she’s essentially the sixth number of our band. And Lindsay Lou, she wrote a key part for the song ‘In Control’ live, just singing with us one day.”
Strings joins on a revamped version of “Reverend,” which originally was included on Greensky Bluegrass’s 2008 album Five Interstates. The group first met fellow Michigan native Strings when he was a precocious teen, and Strings was opening shows for Greensky Bluegrass before his ascent to headlining arenas.
“He’s played ‘Reverend’ in his shows, and it’s funny, with him, he could sing most of our songs,” Beck says. “I think at the first time we met, we went to a campground and jammed all night around a campfire. That was the beginning of the musical friendship, if I recall correctly. I remember he seriously was like, ‘How do I jam these tunes?’ And I remember my answer being like, ‘First, you stop stopping,’ which is totally true, and it’s also right in line with my sense of humor. Bluegrass songs are concise, and he was into real traditional stuff. Then he was on tour opening for us for a long time and he’s an incredible musician.”
The Bowling collaboration of “Last Winter in Copper Country” took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the recording sessions for the group’s 2022 Stress Dreams album. “We went into the studio and they basically gave us the keys and said ‘See ya.’ So, we had her come play on this song and the six of us were in the room together and it just felt great to just jam again.”
New Grass Revival founding member and progressive-bluegrass luminary Sam Bush joins them on a rendition of New Grass Revival’s 1987 song “Can’t Stop Now.”
“Sam’s a hero who’s become a friend,” Beck says. “I was in the studio with Sam and basically producing the song for the band a bit, and that was one of those ‘How did I get here?’ moments. Sam later brought me the little 45 record, the radio edit, of the New Grass version of ‘Can’t Stop Now.’”
Over the years, the group has forged a sound that isn’t easily categorized, blending and bending sounds along a spectrum of bluegrass, folk, Americana, jazz and rock. The band’s concerts have become a hallmark of improvisational energy that has attracted a devoted and eclectic fanbase.
“I think something that’s always been important, is it’s a collective of individual humans, and that that’s why we’ve got so many eclectic sounds,” Beck says. “It’s bluegrass, but also rock n’ roll, it’s all those things. Our fans encourage risk-taking, musically. And that’s what I love about it so much—failure is totally an option in a jam, as long as you’re teetering on the edge.”
He adds, “That’s what keeps this music alive for 25 years, it’s always evolving live. The band is so locked in on an improvisational level that I’ve had lots of times where I play a wrong note or what I perceive to be a wrong note, and I’m sort of searching for something and might play a weird half-step [note], and the whole band within that instant turns on a dime and follows that note. It’s a beautiful thing. But it almost took me sort of playing the wrong note to realize how dialed in we are as a unit.”
Though the new album deals in retrospection, the group continues moving forward. Greensky Bluegrass just extended its current tour into 2026, and Beck notes the group intends to go into the studio early next year, saying, “We’ve got tons of material for the next record.”
Though Greensky Bluegrass has built its reputation on live shows, Beck says it is the songwriting that will ultimately be the band’s most enduring creative asset.
“The success and longevity of a band comes from the songwriting. That’s why I joined this band 17, 18 years ago — the songs were f—king killer. In the digital age, it’s cool to think about the idea that anybody can find any music, anytime, and there will be some kid that goes back and discovers this band. Knowing that we’ve been successful in doing it our way is exciting.”
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The growing prominence of faith-based/Christian hip-hop and R&B, aka Rhythm + Praise, is resonating far beyond the traditional radio airwaves. It’s making notable shifts into film, TV, sports and even the gaming world. Rhythm + Praise (R+P) artists possess the ability to marry powerful messaging with innovative sounds and, in the process, are finding their music being featured in an ever-expanding range of media — often in ways directly impacting the cultural landscape.
Sitting between gospel and contemporary Christian music (CCM), Rhythm + Praise bridges gospel with contemporary styles, offering a more modern, relatable sound for younger audiences. R+P offers an alternative to mainstream secular messages: non-traditional in format, melody, lyrics and production. Not limited to religious beliefs, these artists foster themes of hope, redemption, mental health awareness and positive living.
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According to Luminate, in the first 30 weeks of 2025, on-demand audio streams of songs in the core Christian/gospel genre — which were also categorized in the sub-genre of R&B/hip-hop —totaled 1.37 billion, up from 878 million during the same 30-week period in 2024. These figures are inclusive of user-generated content (UGC) streams.
Four-time Grammy winner Lecrae and Dove Award-winning artist NF have been paving the way in faith-based hip-hop for years. Both artists have individually accumulated billions of streams and video content views. Lecrae has 2.03 billion and NF has 13.28 billion on-demand official audio and video streams for all of their songs, over the course of their careers, in the U.S. through Sept. 25, according to Luminate. (Note: These figures do not include UGC streams.) Given the powerful reach of their music, both NF and Lecrae have successfully secured licensing and sync opportunities in the sports gaming arena, marketing their music via the NBA, ESPN and Madden NFL video game series.
Another example is emerging independent hip-hop artist Miles Minnick. He recently released his first album, Via Dolorosa, through his GLO label joint venture with EMPIRE. Minnick is also reaching beyond the church-going audience via his first sports gaming sync placement, “Lowkey Wildin,” with NBA 2K25. His growing base of more than 500,000 fans — aka GLO Nation — prompted the launches of his GLO Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area and his own clothing line, Christlike. Minnick also made history in March when he became the first Christian hip-hop artist to headline a stage at Rolling Loud Los Angeles.
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Noting that Gen-Z and millennials are demanding more uplifting content, Minnick says a major cultural shift, which he tags the “New Mainstream,” is happening. “New Mainstream isn’t just a phrase — it’s my lifestyle,” he explains. “It means putting faith at the center of culture and proving you can be bold about your beliefs while making a real impact. Whether it’s getting the stamp [of approval] collaborating with rap icon E-40, launching a label, performing at Rolling Loud or selling out tours, I’m showing the world that you don’t have to change who you are to change the world.”
Mainstream artists are also magnifying messages of faith in their music. From Drake (“God’s Plan”) and DJ Khaled (“God Did”) to Mustard (“Pray for Me”) and GloRilla, who won her first BET Award for best gospel/inspirational song (“Rain Down on Me” featuring Kirk Franklin, Maverick City Music, Kierra Sheard and Chandler Moore), these artists are helping to broaden the crossover space for faith-based music.
The same thing is happening on the label front. Co-founded with Ben Washer in 2004, Lecrae’s Reach Records is now seeing other music companies join the movement, including EMPIRE and Universal Music Group. Earlier this year, the latter relaunched legacy label Tamla with a faith-based hip-hop/R+P artist roster that includes Childlike Cici and Dante Pride. One of Tamla’s artists, Dove Award nominee Lee Vasi, performed at this year’s BET X 106 & Park Experience in Los Angeles. And gamma., home to Mariah Carey and Usher, established a joint venture with Grammy-winning producer Rodney Jerkins’ R+P imprint Alienz Alive with signees Alex Jean, Jon Keith, Aha Gazelle and nobigdyl.
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While streaming numbers are strong, streaming radio still remains an important promotional tool in expanding audience reach. And that’s thanks to shows like the Trendsetter Sense-hosted Chosen Journey on SiriusXM’s Hip-Hop Nation channel and Da Fixx on SiriusXM’s Christian hip-hop/R+P channel, Holy Culture Radio. Holy Culture owner James Rosseau Sr. partnered with SiriusXM in 2022 to cater to a burgeoning audience of more than 5 million listeners, per Nielsen Compass.
Film and TV are also homing in on the faith-based market. Producers Tyler Perry and DeVon Franklin, heavy hitters in both of those arenas, joined forces with Netflix for Ruth + Boaz. The just-released film features the original song “Faithful,” penned specifically for the project by Grammy-winning artist/producer Babyface. It also appears on the film’s five-song companion EP.
As a music supervisor starting out in faith-based television programming, I produced season 2 of the award-winning soundtrack album for the hit series Greenleaf. I’ve seen firsthand how the power of positioning faith-based hip-hop/R+P artists on a major network show (scripted or unscripted) can help break their music and expand their brand.
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In response to that and other above-referenced factors, I established the traveling roundtable series Faith + Sync in L.A. this year. I wanted to provide a unique platform to discuss how faith is influencing culture, creative direction, content placement and the future of music in film, TV and digital media. And also to offer the opportunity to connect with influential voices in those mediums who are shaping the conversation about how faith-based/R+P artists are influencing music, sync licensing and culture.
Through changing demographics, streaming power and strong independent success stories, faith-based hip-hop/Rhythm + Praise is debunking assumptions by mainstream media about its audience size, relevance and impact. As this movement gains stronger momentum, I’m committed to joining all those building the bridge to keep pushing this music forward like EMPIRE president Tina Davis. “Inspirational hip-hop/R&B isn’t new,” says Davis. “But there’s a new wave of anointed young talent across the globe raising their hands in their God’s name. And it’s needed!”
Angela M. Jollivette, founder of Moonbaby Media Inc. and Faith + Sync, is an award-winning music supervisor/producer whose credits include the major network series Greenleaf, Sunday’s Best, Black Ink Crew: New York/Chicago/L.A. and Norman Lear’s final TV production, Clean Slate.
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It’s the tail end of September’s Climate Week: NYC when Maggie Baird gets on Zoom from her hotel in the city, ceramic mug of tea in hand.
The mother of Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, as well as a staunch activist for sustainability and plant-based food access, Baird calls her time at Climate Week a “mixed bag of emotions”: She has participated in troubling events addressing the grim effects of climate change, but has also learned about the more hopeful work that’s happening around the world to address it.
“It’s a very dark time and there’s a lot going on,” she says. “Climate change is a threat multiplier. Every single other issue you care about, climate is there making it worse.”
Maggie Baird will participate in a panel at Billboard‘s Live Music Summit, held Nov. 3 in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, click here.
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But Baird, who quotes Joan Baez’s famous “Action is the antidote to despair” declaration, has been a force during the event. Support + Feed, the organization she founded in 2020 that provides hot, plant-based meals to people in need, distributed roughly 2,500 of these meals, along with pantry items, across New York. She and representatives from the nonprofit used this time in the community to talk about plant-based diets as crucial mechanisms of positive environmental impact, with the week’s efforts also connecting various community organizations with climate thought leaders. The week ended with a Support + Feed “friend-raiser” event that hosted climate activists, community members and celebrities like Martha Stewart and Eilish, who turned out to support her mother.
“The main thing I would say about this time is that it’s a moment for radical collaboration,” Baird says. “Every organization I know and work with, we’re just like, ‘How can we be better together?’ We have to multiply — exponentially.”
For Baird, however, every week is Climate Week. Having worked with her children and their respective teams to meaningfully integrate sustainability into their careers, she’s essentially a frontline reporter on sustainability within the music industry.
One sector where she’s seeing “really exciting advances” is merchandise. Baird is a longtime collaborator with Bravado, the merchandising and branding division of Universal Music Group that recently sent 400,000 obsolete and unsold tour T-shirts and other unused items by ship from Nashville to Morocco, where they were repurposed into new yarn by sustainability-focused textile manufacturer Hallotex. The yarn will be used to make new items in Europe to avoid the emissions of shipping them back.
Maggie Baird, Finneas, and Billie Eilish at the Support + Feed Fall Fundraiser Event on Oct. 24, 2023.
Zoe Sher
For Eilish’s merch, the Bravado team has successfully collaborated with upcycling and sustainability-focused clothing companies Rewilder and Suay and designer Iris Alonzo, the co-founder of the Everybody.World brand. Suay, for example, took hundreds of dead-stock work shirts, added sleeves and embroidered “Billie” on each piece, while some of Eilish’s old merch was repurposed into bags. “The upcycled items sold out so fast,” Baird says, “because there were limited quantities and they were extremely unique, and unique to Billie.”
Meanwhile, a program developed by Eilish’s Live Nation touring team, Support + Feed and Reverb, the long-standing nonprofit focused on music industry sustainability, now requires that any venue hosting an Eilish show must sell at least three plant-based main courses — and some venues have even gone entirely plant-based for Eilish. (Her sold-out Hit Me Hard and Soft world tour began in fall 2024 and runs through November.) The team also hosts educational webinars for venue culinary staffers to educate them about plant-based eating.
“It’s about trying to help them understand that the arena has an obligation to clientele, to planet and to cost,” Baird says. “It’s all done in a friendly, helpful way. We’re very welcoming and excited that they’re willing to even take the call, frankly.” The goal is for venues to maintain more robust plant-based approaches long after Eilish leaves. “It’s really about helping people understand that you’re not just serving your customer better while being better for the planet,” Baird explains, “but that you can actually save money.” These savings are achieved by reducing reliance on meat and incorporating more dishes made with lower-cost ingredients like beans, lentils, grains, fruits and vegetables; meals built around whole-food ingredients are often significantly more affordable to produce.
She is aware that implementing such programs takes resources. Eilish has helped fund Support + Feed and Reverb to be on-site at shows by rising artists who don’t yet have the funds to host these groups themselves. “I think it’s important that we reach down,” Baird says. Fans can also buy more expensive “changemaker” tickets for Eilish’s shows, with 50% of the revenue from each tagged for sustainability projects. One dollar of every regular ticket sold is also donated.
While Eilish is among the most visible musicians promoting sustainability in the industry, Baird’s hope is that even if artists don’t want to publicly discuss their efforts, “they’ll still just do it. They don’t have to make it as outward as what we’re doing, but they can just do it as a given.”
Maggie Baird and Hayley Williams of Paramore deliver meals on June 28, 2023, as part of Baird’s volunteer work for her nonprofit organization, Support + Feed.
Zoe Sher
All these initiatives are happening in a year when Support + Feed has responded to a host of disasters. It fed locals in Los Angeles following the devastating California wildfires in January and in Tennessee after intense flooding in April. (Baird notes that in the wake of such events, Support + Feed representatives stay on the ground long after many other response organizations move on to the next crisis.) The communities Support + Feed serves have also been “very impacted” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, “so we’ve had to really be nimble in how we feed people and how we convene,” Baird says.
Still, the organization is expanding its offerings, now providing, in addition to hot meals, free produce from local farmers and cooking classes and recipe cards for people who may be unfamiliar with the produce they’re receiving.
“We’re really increasing our education and our outreach as much as possible,” Baird says, “but also just feeding, feeding, feeding, feeding, feeding. The need now is tremendous with all the food programs being cut.
“It’s a very intense time,” she continues, “but there are so many people doing great things.”
This story appears in the Oct. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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Rappers D Smoke and Jay Taj enjoy a meal at Two Hommés in Inglewood, Calif., over laughs and deep discussion. The two friends chat about their upcoming tour, competing on Netflix’s Rhythm & Flow, and their SoCal roots that tie the music they make back to the communities they grew up in.
Jay Taj: I take it this is us right here?
D Smoke: This is us. One of the finest dining experiences of Inglewood.
Jay Taj: I guess I’m about to find out.
D Smoke: Two Hommés.
Jay Taj: All right, D Smoke.
D Smoke: Yes, sir.
Jay Taj: Two Hommés, Inglewood. Why’d you choose this spot?
D Smoke: I have a history with both of these brothers that started it. Mando used to pull up to Bass & Treble when I did my event on Manchester, had my storefront, had Woodworks Records. I just kept hearing about the restaurant through other people, like it’s in Inglewood. It’s great. Check it out. Check it out. So I pull up and it turns out that it’s my homies who supported, you know, before I had my big moment and all that. So just to see anything happening positively in Inglewood on this level. I gotta support it, you know.
Jay Taj: And your face is on the side of the building.
D Smoke:
That, too. I noticed that, too, I got a mural on the building. It only makes sense. There’s rumors spreading that I’m a owner, so it ain’t nothing in it for me, I want this to thrive. I want more of this happening in Inglewood.
Jay Taj: Yeah, you know what? In the hood, everybody is the owner. Real s–t like it’s our responsibility to take care of these spaces. We’re all partners in this.
D Smoke: What’s up, brother? How you doing? Good to see you again.
Jay Taj: Yeah, how are you doing, brother. Thanks for having us. This about to be a big order. OK I’m gonna take the plantain crab, some of that grilled broccolini. Gotta put some color on the plate, and then the Lamb Dibi tacos. And you know what? I’ll take some chicken bites, too.
D Smoke: There you go.
Jay Taj: Tour prep, right?
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D Smoke and Jay Taj take a trip down memory lane while splitting a few signature dishes at Two Hommés in Inglewood, Calif. In the latest episode of Billboard‘s Takes Us Out, Smoke and Taj order grilled broccolini, plantain and crab, and lamb tacos, among other dishes. While the food was being prepared, the pair […]
