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Louis Tomlinson had some choice words for Logan Paul in a recent interview, with the former One Direction star saying he’ll “forever despise” the YouTuber for the way he handled an interview with late bandmate Liam Payne in 2022.
In a profile for The Independent published over the weekend, Tomlinson didn’t hold back when asked about the controversial episode of Paul’s Impaulsive podcast that featured Payne — who appeared to be drinking whiskey throughout the conversation — speaking negatively of his boy-band days and shading his former bandmates. “I f—ing forever despise [Logan Paul]. Horrible, horrible little f—er,” he said of the social media star.
“I think that’s also the problem with some of this new ‘media,’” he continued. “I would like to think most journalists — some journalists have a duty of care.”
Though Tomlinson didn’t go into specifics about his issues with Paul’s interview, the singer did say that he was bothered by fan backlash to Payne saying on Impaulsive that he had been the designated leader of 1D. “It was definitely a role that was assigned to him,” he told the publication. “That is the truth.”
The interview comes just over a year after Payne — who was open about his struggles with substance abuse — died in a fall from the balcony of his fourth-floor hotel room in Argentina. Toxicology reports later found that he’d had dangerous amounts of alcohol in his system at the time of the accident.
Two years prior, Payne set the 1D fandom ablaze with his appearance on Impaulsive, during which he also said that he and Tomlinson had “hated” one another during their time in the band. “Louis was wild, and he wanted to be wild, and that’s his spirit,” Payne told Paul at the time. “Also he’s my best mate now, but in the band, we hated each other.”
But while speaking to The Independent, Tomlinson had nothing but kind words for his late friend, whose death he says has “definitely” brought the surviving members of 1D closer together. “Yeah, and the best kind of friends are the ones where, when you eventually do meet up, it’s like no time has passed,” he told the publication. “It’s also just amazing to see everyone doing so well in their own right.”
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Kali Uchis remembered her humble beginnings in music on Tuesday (Oct. 21) at Billboard Latin Music Week, where she sat for a Superstar Q&A moderated by Billboard Español‘s associated editor Isabela Raygoza at The Fillmore Miami Beach on the second day of the event.
The Colombian-American artist — who just wrapped up her Sincerely, Tour in U.S. arenas and announced the Latin American leg for 2026 — released her first mixtape, Drunken Babble, in 2012, during a time of struggle, while she was living in her car. The mixtape instantly caught the attention of A$AP Rocky, Diplo and Snoop Dogg, who shared her music on his blog, Raygoza said.
“I really started at the bottom,” the bilingual singer-songwriter said, adding that artistry and music have always been first for her. “I never had it in my head ‘I have to be this successful or make these numbers.’ I was very naïve in the industry. I’ve just always been an artist. I love to make things.”
During the conversation, Uchis also revealed that she almost left her biggest hit, “Telepatía,” out of her sophomore album, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) from 2020. “It had to grow on me. I loved it when I made it and then I was like, ‘hmmm, I don’t know,’” said,
Kali Uchis graced Billboard‘s cover in October, delving into motherhood, touring on a bus and refusing to choose one language over the other to sing in. Read the full story here.
Spanning more than 30 years, Latin Music Week is the largest gathering of Latin artists and industry executives in the world. This year’s event once again hosts panels, marquee conversations, roundtables, networking and activations, in addition to its celebrated Billboard En Vivo showcases.
Latin Music Week also coincides with the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to air Thursday, Oct. 23, on Telemundo and Peacock, where Bad Bunny will be honored as Top Latin Artist of the 21st Century.
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David Geffen’s estranged husband has dropped a scandalous lawsuit that leveled shocking abuse allegations against the music and film mogul while seeking lifelong financial support.
Geffen will continue to fight it out in divorce court over temporary spousal support and potential asset division with Donovan Michaels, a former exotic dancer who married the 82-year-old billionaire without a prenup in 2023. But Michaels’ lawyers filed a court notice on Friday (Oct. 17) dropping a civil lawsuit that had sought far more: “financial support commensurate with his lifestyle for the rest of his life.”
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Michaels’ civil case, brought in July after Geffen initiated divorce proceedings, aired years of dirty laundry and leveled shocking allegations against the Asylum Records and Geffen Records founder.
The 32-year-old (born David Armstrong) claimed that Geffen began paying him for sex after they met through the website SeekingArrangements.com in 2016. Michaels said Geffen treated him as a “sexual commodity” and plied him with drugs and alcohol as “tools of coercion” during their relationship and eventual marriage.
At the heart of the lawsuit was Michaels’ claim that Geffen promised to provide him with “lifetime support.” Michaels said he relied on this assurance when he gave up a modeling career to be a full-time husband to Geffen.
Geffen, meanwhile, fervently denied Michaels’ claims as “petty gossip and salacious lies.” The billionaire said Michaels was merely trying to extort a lucrative settlement out of him, and that he never promised any sort of lifelong financial support.
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Now that the civil lawsuit has been dropped, lawyers for the estranged couple will focus their attention on a more traditional marriage dissolution proceeding filed by Geffen in May. Geffen is asking in that case for a judge to declare that his only financial obligation to Michaels is $50,000 per month in spousal support for just one year.
Geffen says the judge should note that he’s already given Michaels $5 million worth of art and jewelry, and notes that the couple lived “separate lives” during the mere 23 months they were married. Geffen claims that because he was retired and making no income during the marriage, there aren’t any marital assets to share with Michaels.
“While respondent will have far less wealth than petitioner due to petitioner’s vast separate property estate when the parties’ married, respondent will certainly walk away from this brief marriage with more wealth than most Americans,” wrote Geffen’s attorney Parima Pandkhou in a Sept. 18 divorce filing.
Michaels, however, says it remains an open question whether Geffen made money through investments during their marriage that should be considered joint assets. Michaels has slammed Geffen for trying to “conceal the truth about his enormous wealth” and says the divorce cannot be finalized until he gets a chance to look at Geffen’s books.
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“This is quite literally a case of David and Goliath,” wrote Michael’s lawyer Samantha Spector on Oct. 2. “While David has repeatedly yet falsely attempted to portray himself as an aging ‘retiree,’ the reality is that he remains an enormously important power player in uber wealthy circles who, through a myriad of capitalist ventures, is one of the highest income earners on the planet.”
Michaels’ and Geffen’s lawyers are set to appear in Los Angeles family court for a hearing on Nov. 14. Neither side returned a request for comment from Billboard on Tuesday (Oct. 21).
Trending on Billboard Drake is always repping for Toronto, and he celebrated in style with the Blue Jays punching their first ticket to the World Series since 1993 on Monday. The 6 God was living and dying with every pitch of game 7 as the Blue Jays won a classic behind a George Springer go-ahead […]
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No, you’re not dreaming. Hasbro just dropped a KPop Demon Hunters Monopoly game, and it’s currently available for preorder.
The latest Hasbro innovation is based on the wonderful world of the Netflix animated film that ruled the latter half of 2025. You’ve got references to the film, including cameos from beloved characters Rumi, Derpy, Jinu and beyond, all translated into a fun-filled 15-minute game of Monopoly Deal. You can preorder the card game right now on Amazon for $12.99, and Walmart for $12.97. This game is great for 8+, easily playable for tweens, teens and adults — HUNTR/X fans of all ages.
The goal of the game is to help prepare the HUNTR/X members for an epic performance. You’ll be competing to collect items that Rumi, Mira and Zoey need to make the concert a success to eventually seal the Honmoon! The first player to assemble three complete sets wins.
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Monopoly Deal: Kpop Demon Hunters Card Game | Family Games for Kids, Tweens, Teens, and Adults | 2-5 Players | 15 mins. | Ages 8+
$12.99
$12.97
A KPop Demon Hunters-themed Monopoly board.
To play, you’ll need to gather 2 to 5 friends and choose from five character cards depicting Rumi, Mira, Zoey, Jinu or Derpy. Each card boasts a unique ability that players can use throughout the game. You can also use action cards to go viral, take on the spicy challenge. You can even get Bobby, HUNTR/X’s manager, involved. This game is quick to learn and easy to play with each full session taking up to 15 minutes. The card is a great way to spice up game night, imbuing the mundane with KPop Demon Hunters.
This card game is also easy to travel with, meaning you can play a quick game wherever you are from your house to the beach and beyond. If you aren’t familiar with Monopoly Deal, it is different to traditional Monopoly. It’s a card game, instead of a board game, where players attempt to collect three complete sets of cards representing the properties from the OG board game.
KPop Demon Hunters is a Netflix original animated film that released back in June. The general plot follows a K-pop girl group named HUNTR/X consisting of members Rumi, Mira and Zoey. By day, the girls are performing for massive crowds, but by night, they’re out fighting off demons, protecting the world from their malevolent presence.
The film’s soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, while the breakout single “Golden” made history as the first female K-pop single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it has remained for seven weeks. The track went on to become one of the 10 longest-leading No. 1s from a movie over the chart’s 67-year history. Currently, the film is sitting at a whopping 325.1M views.
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Daddy Yankee, who now goes by DY, is back and all smiles as he climbs to the top of Billboard‘s Latin Airplay chart with “Sonríele,” as the song soars from No. 7 to No. 1 on the chart dated October 25. This milestone marks his official return following a brief hiatus, now fueled by a spiritual transformation.
“‘Sonríele’ is a song that came from a very real place, of faith and hope,” DY tells Billboard. “The mission of this song is to become medicine for those who listen to it. Seeing it reach No. 1 fills me with gratitude to God, to my audience, and to the entire team that believed in this message. Thank you for continuing to connect with my music, even in this new stage of my life.”
“Sonríele,” released July 10 as the first single of DY’s ninth studio album, Lamento en Baile, flies to No. 1 on the overall Latin Airplay chart after a 46% boost in audience impressions, to 9.1 million, earned on the Oct. 10-16 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The song becomes DY’s 29th ruler on Latin Airplay and first since 2023. The singer-songwriter previously ruled through “Ulala,” with Myke Towers in 2023. In between, he notched two top 10s, “Panties y Brasieres” with Rauw Alejandro (No. 8, 2023) and “Bonita” (No. 5, 2024).
“Sonríele” marks DY’s first solo chart-topper since “Remix” in 2022. Overall, this adds to his total of nine unaccompanied No. 1 hits, a streak that began with the 15-week reign of “Rompe” in 2005. Plus, with the new win, Yankee ties Bad Bunny with 29 rulers, the fourth-most following J Balvin (39), Ozuna (36) and Enrique Iglesias (32).
Beyond its Latin Airplay coronation, “Sonríele” remains strong atop the Tropical Airplay chart for a fourth week. Further, DY secures his first top 10 on the Hot Latin Rhythm Songs chart where the song rallies 24-8.
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The former duo Arcángel and De La Ghetto is set to reunite next year in a tour that will take place in the U.S and Latin America. The plans were announced by Puerto Rican hitmaker De La Ghetto during his Music and Sports panel at Latin Music Week 2025 on Tuesday (Oct. 21).
“It’s happening next year,” the Puerto Rican star said, responding to an audience question. “My album is dropping in November, his in December, so I told him at a Bad Bunny concert that it was time [to tour]. We’re working on it as we speak.” Adding that the string of shows will make stops in the U.S. and Latin America, including shows in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The two parted ways in 2007 to pursue solo careers.
De La Ghetto took center stage at Latin Music Week alongside Carlos Arroyo, former NBA, sports executive, and fellow artist Jowell (of Jowell y Randy) for a conversation of the intersection of music and sports.
“I’ve always seen that many athletes want to be in music and many musicians want to be in sports,” Jowell said. “There are many similarities. Discipline and talent go hand in hand in both. And secondly, a lot of us athletes or musicians come from small towns and find an outlet in music or sports to be successful. The kids in these neighborhoods, half of them want to be producers or musicians, and the other half want to be athletes.”
Meanwhile, Arroyo confessed that he imagined himself in a studio or singing on stage, but today, as a basketball icon, he’s focused on inspiring the new generation of dreamers. “We live a privileged life, and because we’re so focused on our career and doing things righ, we forget that there are children out there who are being inspired by music or sports. We can’t forget that.”
Spanning more than 30 years, Latin Music Week is the single-most important and largest gathering of Latin artists and industry executives in the world. This year’s event once again hosts panels, marquee conversations, roundtables, networking and activations, in addition to its celebrated Billboard En Vivo showcases.
This year’s star-studded lineup includes Aitana, Alofoke, Anuel AA, Bebeshito, Carlos Vives, Carín León, Danny Ocean, DJ Khaled, Daddy Yankee (DY), Emilia Mernes, Ivy Queen, Gloria Estefan, Grupo 5, Kapo, Laura Pausini, Luck Ra, Netón Vega, Olga Tañón, Óscar Maydon, Ozuna, Pablo Alborán, Rawayana, Suzette Quintanilla, Tokischa, Xavi and Yailin La Más Viral, to name a few.
Latin Music Week also coincides with the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to air Thursday, Oct. 23, on Telemundo and Peacock, where Bad Bunny will be honored as Top Latin Artist of the 21st Century.
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Rod Stewart has a few grandchildren, but YUNGBLUD isn’t one of them (despite what the punk rocker used to think).
While guesting on Capital FM on Tuesday (Oct. 21), YUNGBLUD opened up about how he mistakenly believed that the iconic singer-songwriter was his grandfather for about a decade. “So, basically, my mum never had a dad,” he said on the radio program. “My nan was always a very imaginative lady, and my nan would lie to me.”
“She’d put me in a foot bath and lie to me and say that Rod Stewart was my grandfather for, like, my formative years,” YUNGBLUD continued, laughing. “So up to about 9 years old, I thought Rod Stewart was my grandad.”
It wasn’t until he and his grandmother were out grocery shopping one day that he finally learned the truth. “I remember by the checkout, I picked up a Rod Stewart CD,” YUNGBLUD recalled. “[I was], like, proper quivering lip, like, ‘Nan, when’s granddad coming home?’ And everyone at the checkout started laughing … And that was the day I found out Rod Stewart was not in fact my grandfather.”
But while there’s no “blud” relation between YUNGBLUD and Stewart, it sounds like the latter is down to welcome the former into the family. According to the “Parents” musician, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer sent him a sweet DM after finding out about the childhood delusion.
“He says, ‘Alright my wee grandson!’” YUNGBLUD said of the exchange. “And I was like, ‘Rod Stewart, man.’”
The interview comes about a month after the release of YUNGBLUD’s collaboration with Aerosmith, “My Only Angel,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. The track will appear on a joint EP the two rock acts are working on.
Watch YUNGBLUD explain how he thought Stewart was his grandfather for the first 10 years of his life above.
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Recent Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Chesney will bring his No Shoes Nation back to Sphere in Las Vegas in 2026, when he brings his high-energy concert experience to the venue for five shows in June. The new shows are slated for June 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27.
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“You can’t truly understand until you start playing music with all the people there, feeling that energy and the way the visuals and the songs just consume people,” Chesney said in a statement. “The more I watched the fans having this experience I’m sure they couldn’t imagine, the more ideas I had – both to reconfigure some of last year’s songs, and a few songs that seemed like they should get this immersive treatment – and wanted to do.“I think there are so many ways for people to play this venue, but I feel pretty sure nobody has had more fun there, brought more joy – or that freewheeling Sandbar experience – than No Shoes Nation,” he continued. “And wherever they sat, we could hear ‘em, too. So, if you didn’t get to see it, c’mon! And if you did, well, come live those songs again – because this isn’t something you get to do every single year!”
In May 2025, Chesney launched a 15-concert run at Sphere, thrilling fans with his signature beach-and-party vibe, which celebrates island living and fun times, in addition to giving fans hit song after hit song. In the process, Chesney became the first country artist to headline the 17,600-seat venue, which is known for its immersive sound and visual spectacle.
Tickets for the upcoming 2026 Sphere shows will go on sale starting Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster. The shows will feature a refreshed Guitars, Tiki Bars experience, and VIP package holders will have access to a Vibe Room with a surf shop and bar.
See the show announcement below:
Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, visit the event’s website.
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 Gucci Mane is finally sharing his side of the story in a new memoir titled Episodes: The Diary […]
