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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Trending on Billboard Say goodbye to those big ‘ol monthly internet bills. If you’re looking for fast, reliable 5G coverage in […]
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AI (artificial intelligence) is still a boogeyman in the gaming space, but EA (Electronic Arts) is all-in on it.
After their eye-watering $65 billion buyout at the hands of the Saudis and Affinity Partners, which was founded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, there is more news coming out regarding the popular video game publisher that will make the stomachs of gamers turn.
Electronic Arts announced a partnership with Stability AI, the creator of the AI image generation tool Stable Diffusion.
According to EA, the main goal of the partnership is to “co-develop transformative AI models, tools, and workflows” to help game developers speed up development while maintaining quality.
“I use the term smarter paintbrushes,”Head of Technical Art for EA SPORTS, Steve Kestell, said in the announcement. “We are giving our creatives the tools to express what they want.” To start, the “smarter paintbrushes” EA and Stability AI are building are concentrated on generating textures and in-game assets. EA hopes to create “Physically Based Rendering materials” with new tools “that generate 2D textures that maintain exact color and light accuracy across any environment.”
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EA also claims that its partnership with the company will allow them to use AI to “pre-visualize entire 3D environments from a series of intentional prompts, allowing artists to creatively direct the generation of game content.”
EA Wants To Cut Game Development Time With Its New Partnership
The move isn’t surprising, as the gaming industry is increasingly integrating AI into game development.
With EA on the verge of being bought out, the company will be saddled with a lot of debt, so using AI could be a cost-effective way to deliver AAA games without the bloated development costs.
Also, game development times have increased significantly, with many gamers complaining that it takes too long for these big-name titles to hit shelves, so finding a way to cut that time in half without sacrificing quality is always welcome.
BUT —and this is a huge BUT —no one wants to see humans replaced by AI to accomplish this goal.
Trending on Billboard The All-American Rejects have dropped off their new song, “Eggshell Tap-Dancer,” the third single off their upcoming album. The indie rock sweetheart playful new track follows the singles “Search Party” and “Easy Come, Easy Go,” which all dropped earlier this year. “‘Eggshell Tap-Dancer’ is about performing tenderness until your feet bleed,” lead […]
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Chris Brown is denying reports regarding neglecting his housekeeper when she was attacked by one of his dogs.
Back in 2020, Maria Avila was Breezy’s housekeeper and claims that she was taking the trash out when one of the singer’s dogs attacked her. Which allegedly left her bleeding and needing medical attention. The former housekeeper claims that Brown was home at the time, and when he was informed of what occurred, he dipped.
Breezy is calling cap to the original story, saying that he never left the housekeeper, “bleeding to death.” The VA native claims that he never saw blood and that he stayed on the scene until his security arrived. Further explaining his piece, “I didn’t touch her. I bent down and I looked, I was making sure she was breathing. From there, I ran to put the dogs away and told the security guard to come over.”
Following the R&B star denying the claims was a request to the judge to dismiss specific parts of the lawsuit, which included punitive damages and emotional distress compensation. The case has not reached an official ruling and has been active since the attack in 2020.
Since then, Chris Brown has been on his Breezy Bowl World Tour, celebrating 20 years since his debut self-titled album. While laying low, he’s been performing and partying in every city. As well as beefing with Kevin McCall to keep himself busy, but that’s a different story for a different day..
Ghetts, an award-winning rapper who resides in the United Kingdom, was arrested and held in custody due to a fatal hit-and-run incident that he was reportedly involved in. Earlier this week, Ghetts appeared in a London court to hear his charges as he awaits his fate during the investigation.
BBC News reports that Ghetts, real name Justin Clarke-Samuel, was in Stratford Magistrates’ Court this past Monday (October 20) to hear charges related to the alleged incident that took place on October 18 in London. The victim was a 20-year-old man who died from his injuries the same day Clarke-Samuel appeared in court.
Ghetts also performed as an actor and held a role on the Netflix science fiction show, Supacell.
The outlet adds that the 41-year-old rapper will be in custody and has a court appearance at the Barkingside Magistrates’ Court scheduled for October 27.
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Photo: Getty
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When Ariana Grande emerged as the main pop girl to watch in the early 2010s, she already had two women whose careers she admired in her corner: Madonna and Beyoncé.
While appearing on a new episode of the Shut Up Evan podcast posted Friday (Oct. 24), Grande revealed how the two icons welcomed her with open arms after her music career first started taking off post Victorious. “I’m very lucky that my idols have been very kind to me,” she began.
“I remember Madonna immediately was very kind,” the Wicked star continued. “I think she was one of the first people to reach out and, like, give me a warm welcome, and it was just really cool. I was overwhelmed by it, because I love her so much.”
Madge would go on to support Ari throughout her career, even recording a voice-over for Grande’s 2018 “God Is a Woman” music video. On the podcast, the R.E.M. Beauty founder also shouted out Mariah Carey — “And then, of course, Mariah,” were her words — as a personal hero who took her under her wing. The pair have since collaborated a handful of times, including on a remix of Grande’s Billboard Hot 100-topping single “Yes, And?”
As for Queen Bey, Grande recalled how the Destiny’s Child alum extended an invitation to meet her in 2013. “Beyoncé had me come visit a music video she was shooting, and I was just there in the corner,” she told host Evan Ross Katz. “I was like, ‘Why am I here?’ It was after I sang ‘Tattooed Heart’ on the AMAs. She invited me to set to visit her, and she just was being kind — she gave me a little bit of advice, and, you know, I asked, but she was so kind.”
“But yeah, I feel like I had people I really looked up to embrace me,” Grande added. “It made me feel safe.”
More than a decade later, and Grande is now arguably in the same league as all of the personal heroes she mentioned. The vocalist has earned two Grammys and six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, to name just a couple of her successes.
But, as revealed on the podcast, Grande recently considered quitting music. After landed a role in Wicked, she thought that 2020’s Positions would be her last album.
“I didn’t think I was gonna make an album ever again,” she shared. “When I left for London, that was kind of my secret, but I didn’t think I was going to.”
Thankfully, Grande said that playing Glinda in the movies “totally rearranged everything about [her] relationship to creating,” which would inspire her to make 2024 album Eternal Sunshine. She’s now gearing up to go on a mini tour in support of the LP in 2026.
Watch Grande’s full interview on Shut Up Evan above.
Trending on Billboard Unit1 Studio has entered the scene as an independent producer of avatar concerts, backed by a roster of seasoned industry figures. The company is betting on advances in visual effects and AI-driven CGI to deliver hyper-realistic artist avatars more quickly and affordably, reimagining iconic live performances for modern audiences while addressing the […]
Selena Quintanilla is undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of Latin music. At this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week in Miami, Selena’s sister, Suzette joined director, Isabel Castro to give attendees an exclusive look at their upcoming Netflix documentary, during the “Selena y Los Dinos” Panel. Not only did Suzette, who serves as an executive producer on the film, share memories of being a band, she showed home videos from the family’s personal archive, which can be seen for the first time when the Netflix documentary premiers on November 17, 2025.
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Isabel Castro, Suzette Quintanilla, Jessica Roiz during the Billboard Latin Music Week Miami 2025 Selena y Los Dinos (Presented by Netflix) panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach on October 22, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard
Billboard’s assistant editor Latin, Jessica Roiz, moderated the conversation which explored Selena’s meteoric rise to fame, her dreams for the future, and the impact of family on her and her career. They kicked off the panel by showing the trailer for the film. It’s full of inspiring words from Selena herself, interviews with the Quintanilla family and bandmates, and a ton of home movies. They granted Castro unprecedented access to their personal media collection and sat down for in-depth interviews in the documentary to show viewers a side of the Queen of Tejano Music which only those closest to her would know.
Suzette Quintanilla during the Billboard Latin Music Week Miami 2025 Selena y Los Dinos (Presented by Netflix) panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach on October 22, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard
Suzette explained what it was like welcoming Castro into their world. “I gave her a key to what we call ‘The Vault’.” The director went on to describe The Vault as “a medium sized room and there are floor to ceiling bookcases with hundreds if not thousands of VHS tapes, Betacams, CDs, flash drives.” The first step in making the documentary was digitizing all of the personal footage and stringing it out before even interviewing the family.
Isabel Castro during the Billboard Latin Music Week Miami 2025 Selena y Los Dinos (Presented by Netflix) panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach on October 22, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard
Suzette shared why this was the first documentary their family wanted to participate in and why Isabel was the perfect director for this monumental film. Four to five years ago, Suzette asked her lawyer to find someone that could help the Quintanilla family finally tell their own story. He found Castro’s 2022 award-winning documentary “Mija” and was inspired to set up a meeting between the two, over Zoom. Suzette said, “Instantly, I knew that she was going to be the person that was able to tell this story for us.” The two bonded over being big sisters and now call each other friends.
Suzette Quintanilla, Isabel Castro during the Billboard Latin Music Week Miami 2025 Selena y Los Dinos (Presented by Netflix) panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach on October 22, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard
Fans will see Selena as a sister, daughter, and wife in “Selena y Los Dinos” through never-before-seen footage and first-hand accounts from her parents, sister, brother, husband and bandmates. In one clip shared with attendees, the family describes how they saw the joy that Cumbia music brought their community and how the entire family was essential in developing that sound. By seeing what happened behind the scenes, Castro was moved to show the importance of family in what Selena would become. She said, “I was a Selena fan, but I didn’t totally understand the extent of it until I made this project. As I was discovering that, it was really important to me that that was a main focus of the film. And that’s why it’s called ‘Selena y Los Dinos’” Suzette reaffirmed what Isabel felt while making the film saying “Yes, Selena was the star, and she will continue to be that, but there was another element that made Selena as well. And that was our family and our family band.”
Isabel Castro, Suzette Quintanilla during the Billboard Latin Music Week Miami 2025 Selena y Los Dinos (Presented by Netflix) panel at the Fillmore Miami Beach on October 22, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard
Suzette, Isabel, and Jessica ended their conversation by discussing what they hope viewers take away from the film. For Suzette, she said “What I would love for them to take away is that we’re a normal family that started a band that became global.” For Isabel, she wants to celebrate bi-cultural identities, saying “I want people to see this and how much joy and pride there can be in not being from here or there but being from a mixture of two places. I just think that’s so beautiful.” And that diversity is seen and appreciated within Selena’s fandom. Suzette described the pride she feels for the more than two generations of fans her sister has. “Selena is not just a Latin artist. She is global. She is a global artist, and it doesn’t matter what nationality you are, you listen to her music and you’re a fan. And for that I am grateful.” There is no denying the impact Selena Quintanilla has had on the Latin music world and pop culture at large. We’ve seen the talent and charisma which made her a top tier artist and performer. Soon, you can see what made Selena a superstar at home in the eyes of her family when “Selena y Los Dinos” premieres on November 17, 2025, only on Netflix.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
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Who said ear protection couldn’t be chic?
Loop just dropped a collaboration with Swarovski, and it’s anything but boring. Centered around Loop’s protective Experience 2 earbuds and Swarovski’s love of all things shiny, the drop is perfect for the fashion-forward concertgoer in your life. The collaborative piece is available right now on Swarovski’s website, retailing for $125. Each earplug features a squishy silicone tip that gives the plugs a nice and snug fit without irritation.
The loop portion is crafted of stainless steel with a high-shine PVD chrome coating that transitions into six dazzling integrated crystals. Each crystal is presented in a variety of distinctive shapes and cuts while the precise faceting ensures a jewel-like finish. If the silicone tip isn’t fitting snugly, you can upgrade the size for a perfect fit, even in the smallest of ears. These earplugs are reusable, made for long-term use thanks to their sturdy silicone and AB composition. If the earplugs weren’t cool enough, they also come with a carrying case in white with Loop’s name embossed on the front.
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A keyring is connected to the circular case with a Loop-branded hangtag. The added keyring allows you to hook your earplugs onto your bag or keys, keeping you and your ears protected wherever you may go. Of course, they’re super chic, but these earplugs also protect the ears.
Loop x Swarovski Experience 2 Earplugs
Decorative earplugs.
Unlike your traditional earplugs that block sound, Loop’s offerings filter sound to reduce overall volume, while keeping speech and music clear. This makes Loop earplugs a must-have for concerts or festival settings, given that you can still hear the music nice and clear without damaging your eardrums.
Soundwaves enter the Loop plug via a small opening. Those waves then travel through the hollow channel on the inside of Loop. This shallow channel acts as an acoustic resonator. It is the same length as your ear canal and has a quarter-wavelength resonance at 2700 Hz. By mimicking the way your ears function, the sound you receive with the earplugs sounds natural.
The whole goal of earplugs like these is to marry fashion and function, giving prospective buyers more interesting options than your standard earplugs. Not just a pretty face, Loop’s product is backed by innovation, giving you the best quality without sacrificing a thing.
Stephen A. Smith used his massive platform to lash out at Rep. Jasmine Crockett, urging the Texas congresswoman to put aside her grievances with President Donald Trump. With the smoke clearing and after getting blasted online and in the media, Stephen A. Smith walked back his critiques of Crockett and took a shot at Trump as well.
Via his Straight Shooter With Stephen A program, Stephen A. Smith, apparently inspired by President Trump and his administration’s targeted attacks against Rep. Crockett, gave an apology that wasn’t as full-throated as his earlier digs against the Texas congresswoman.
“I can look Jasmine Crockett in the face and say I’m sorry for any kind of noise I caused in your direction, because she is accomplished, and she is smart, and she does have an incredible, incredible challenge working in this political climate on Capitol Hill,” Smith said.
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Smith also said, “I saw something disturbing in regards to President Donald Trump and how he came at Representative Jasmine Crockett. I get it now with Trump feeding into that nonsense, giving him ammunition to continue to go out there and talk about our Black women that way, I got it.”
President Trump referred to Congresswoman Crockett as a “low IQ person” this past June, a shot she didn’t take without returning fire of her own.
Smith also hit back at his critics, who felt that his words were meant to attack or harm Crockett because she’s a woman.
“When somebody tries to take that to accuse me of being disrespectful or in any way misogynistic, I’m going to push back on that because that’s emphatically false. There’s no truth to that whatsoever, and I’m not accepting that, and I’m not owning that,” Smith added.
Smith also took a dig at the Democratic Party, suggesting that its leaders figure out better strategies to appeal to voters, stating that Trump won the past election due to frustrations with the party at large.
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Photo: Getty
