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In a setting designed to evoke a cozy, intimate living room, Maeta performed “Back” for a unique and behind-the-scenes Honda Stage and Billboard showcase. Directed by renowned creative, Child, the space is warm and inviting, scattered with vintage accents and dim lighting that creates an atmosphere of personal reflection, setting the perfect stage for a song rooted in raw emotion. Maeta opens the performance herself, seated at a piano in the corner of the room. She begins playing the tender, four-chord ballad, each note grounding her lyrics with soulful vulnerability. Her voice fills the space, warm and rich, as she brings listeners into her world.

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Reflecting on her journey, Maeta describes how her creative process has transformed over time, leading her to become an artist who now insists on emotional depth in every track she creates. Songs like “When I Hear Your Name” carry an emotional weight that lingers with her, reflecting her commitment to making music that resonates not only with her audience but also with her own experiences. In “Back,” she lays bare her struggles with self-sabotage and love, a theme that resonates deeply with her and one that she channels through every lyric and melody of the performance.

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As the song progresses, Maeta rises from the piano and transitions to center stage, allowing her pianist, Louis, to take over the keys. The two seamlessly trade roles, each adding new layers to the track. With Louis grounding the melody, Maeta is free to express the full force of her voice, which pours over the audience like a confession. Her introspective lyrics capture the complexities of self-doubt and love, her emotions palpable as she moves through the chorus, revealing her innermost struggles with striking vulnerability.

In the closing moments of the song, Maeta’s voice softens, winding down to a final, haunting note as the last chords fade. The set, with its intimate design, feels like an extension of her own heart, a private space where she shares her most personal thoughts with the audience. As she finishes, there’s a sense that Maeta has invited everyone into her living room, laying her vulnerabilities bare in a performance that captures her growth, resilience, and honesty as an artist.

About Honda Stage:

Honda Stage is a music platform that builds on the brand’s deep foundation of bringing unique experiences to fans while celebrating determined artists and their journeys of music discovery. Honda Stage offers exclusive, behind-the-scenes music content and inspirational stories from on-the-rise and fan-favorite artists, giving music fans access to the moments they love while celebrating the creativity and drive it takes to make it big.

Kendrick Lamar is ending 2024 with a bang.
The hip-hop heavyweight took fans by surprise when he unveiled his sixth studio album, GNX, without any warning on Friday (Nov. 22). The 12-track project features contributions from SZA — who appears on  “Luther” and “Gloria” — Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington, Roddy Ricch and more.

GNX serves as Lamar’s official follow-up to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022, which topped the Billboard 200 with 295,000 total units earned in the first week. In the spring, he contributed a guest verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s Hot 100 No. 1 single “Like That,” which launched a high-profile rap beef with Drake. The back and forth between the two ultimately culminated in Lamar’s anthemic “Not Like Us,” which not only served to end the feud but also became a longstanding hit, topping the Hot 100 for two nonconsecutive weeks.

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It’s gearing up to be an even more groundbreaking new year for Kenny, who will be taking the stage for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, set to take place on Feb. 9, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. “Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,” he said at the time of announcement. “And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”

The 17-time Grammy winner is also up for seven awards at the 2025 ceremony. “Not Like Us” is up for record of the year, song of the year, best music video, best rap performance and best rap song. Meanwhile, “Like That” is nominated for best rap song and best rap performance.

Trending on Billboard

With the release of GNX, fans quickly flooded social media with overwhelmingly positive reactions to the project. “Look me dead in the eyes and tell me Kendrick Lamar isn’t the greatest ever,” one user wrote on X, for example, while another added, “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now.”

See below for more fan reactions to Kendrick Lamar’s GNX.

Kendrick is the best rapper alive. Period.— Ray Vaughn (@rayvaughn) November 22, 2024

look me dead in the eyes and tell me Kendrick Lamar isn’t the greatest ever— SK⚡️ (@raptalksk) November 22, 2024

Bomba Estéreo is heading to Mexico City to raise its voice against gender violence. The Colombian duo will give a free concert at the Zócalo on Nov. 30 as part of a campaign for 25N — or International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is recognized globally on Nov. 25 — announced the capital’s Ministry of Culture on X.

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“This great concert will be held as part of the 16 days of activism against gender violence, a campaign that begins on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women,” the secretariat said in its message on Thursday (Nov. 21).

The band, led by vocalist Li Saumet, will join the list of Mexican and international acts who have performed in the country’s most important public square, and the second largest in the world after Tiananmen Square in China.

Trending on Billboard

The 16-day campaign of activism against gender violence was proposed as “a key opportunity to renew commitments and demand concrete measures and accountability from decision makers,” according to UN Women.

UN Women explains that this movement emerged as an initiative in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025, a visionary plan to achieve gender equality and advance the rights of women and girls worldwide.

The presentation of Bomba Estéreo will feature the participation of Mexican singer-songwriter Samantha Barrón as the opening act for the show, added the Ministry of Culture.

Bomba Estéreo formed in Bogotá in 2005 as an experimental project led by musician and audio-visual artist Simón Mejía y Saumet, and has been one of the strongest proposals in the alternative/Caribbean/dance music scene since their 2010 hit “Fuego.”

Bomba’s 2022 song with Bad Bunny, “Ojitos lindos,” reached No. 7 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart and peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The duo has also received 10 Latin Grammy nominations and has shared the stage with artists such as Luis Fonsi and Will Smith.

Bomba Estéreo will return to Mexico after its successful participation in the Hera HSBC Festival, dedicated exclusively to artists and bands led by female singers, held Aug. 24 at the Curva 4 of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, home of F1 in the country.

Below, check out the announcement of the Secretary of Culture of Mexico City regarding the duo’s concert at the Zócalo.

¡BOMBA ESTÉREO EN EL ZÓCALO!El próximo 30 de noviembre a las 19 horas, el grupo colombiano Bomba Estéreo se presentará en el Zócalo. Este gran concierto se realizará como parte de los 16 días de activismo contra la violencia de género, campaña que inicia el 25 de noviembre,… pic.twitter.com/ztwdhd6e5Z— Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México (@CulturaCiudadMx) November 22, 2024

After earning its first No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in over two decades earlier this year, Sum 41 scores another as “Dopamine” rises a spot to No. 1 on the Nov. 30-dated survey. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The song follows the two-week Alternative […]

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Days after Diddy’s legal team scored a win by having evidence prosecutors collected from his prison cell tossed from his case, they’re now accusing prosecutors of editing the infamous video of Diddy assaulting Cassie in a hotel hallway to make the incident seem worse than what it was.

According to TMZ, Diddy is claiming that the prosecutors showed the judge overseeing his case an edited version of the video in which he put hands and feet on Cassie back in 2016. Diddy says that prosecutors did so in order to keep the judge from granting him bail and insists that prosecutors edited the sequence of events in order to paint Diddy as more dangerous than he actually is. This is coming from the man who allegedly blew up Kid Cudi’s car because of Cassie, but we digress.
Per TMZ:

They claim the government has the more complete version of that surveillance video — presumably the version the world saw when it was released — but, instead, tweaked the order of events to offer their “most powerful evidence of danger and obstruction.”
Diddy insists the video shows no evidence of a “freak-off,” but rather, a “domestic dispute in which he ran down the hall of the hotel to recover his clothes and cellphone.”
As for some of the violence depicted in that video, Diddy says he didn’t “drag” Cassie down the hall, nor did he throw a vase at her. He claims he only threw the contents of the vase at Cassie.
Diddy’s really going for a Hail Mary with this claim.
While the whole world saw the same exact video, Diddy says it’s simply a “sad glimpse into a decade-long consensual relationship,” and doesn’t prove any sex trafficking or freak offs were taking place.
While the judge considers Diddy’s latest argument, the Bad Boy founder will remain behind bars in hopes that he’ll get to see the light of day before his trial gets underway in 2025.
What do y’all think about Diddy’s claim? Sound off in the comments section below.

Merely existing in the world in the past few weeks would be enough for most people to know that the film adaptation of the beloved Broadway play Wicked is arriving in theaters today (Nov. 22).
Starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the musical film is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, with first-week box office projections of $100 million and a marketing campaign that includes everything from billboards to merchandise to late-night TV appearances and even its own category on Jeopardy! earlier this week.

But it’s impossible to separate the spectacle that is Wicked from its songs, and there has also been intense interest in both how the music is incorporated into the film and the construction of its soundtrack, given the original cast recording from 2003 won a Grammy Award in 2005 for best musical show album. And that’s something that NBC Universal president of music Mike Knobloch knew to take extra seriously. “The original cast recording is iconic, so priority number one was to not mess it up,” Knobloch tells Billboard. “It has also been a great opportunity to make a soundtrack for a beloved musical that will only be the second Wicked album in two decades. But while our primary mission was to make the film, we didn’t want the soundtrack to simply be a ‘copied and pasted’ byproduct.”

Trending on Billboard

To make that happen, Knobloch and original Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, along with the filmmakers, producers and the rest of their music team, got to work more than two years ago to make sure they struck the right notes. And as the film and its soundtrack finally make their way into the world today, Knobloch earns the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Knobloch discusses the work that went into helping Wicked come to life, as well as the marketing campaign behind the project and the state of musical films these days. “Wicked is the perfect example of how it all comes down to just making an excellent movie, whether characters on the screen are singing or not,” he says. “It’s got an engaging story, it’s timely and relevant — eerily so for something written 24 years ago — has performances that take your breath away, it’s visually stunning, exhilarating, innovative and multidimensional in a way that makes the state of the musical movie feel pretty epic right now to me.”

This week, the new film Wicked opened wide in theaters, and the official film soundtrack was released, featuring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and more. What role did you play in helping make this project come to life?

There’s no handbook for how to take an existing stage musical and adapt it for the screen, especially with the film’s scope and scale and lack of constraints compared to the stage, and how cherished these songs are to so many. I worked closely with the filmmakers, Jon Chu and Marc Platt, and composer Stephen Schwartz from the very beginning, starting with the critical task of putting together the right team of best-in-class creative and technical personnel so we could be equipped to make something really special. And then I pretty much assumed the role of the “music team coach” through every stage of production all the way through the delivery of the soundtrack.

When did the work for it first start, what challenges did you face and how did you overcome that?

We started in earnest very early in pre-production more than two years ago, and we had a lot to figure out, starting with the production methodology — how to go about equipping the production for live singing, developing the instrumental tracks, adapting the structure of the music to the requirements of the film and so on. We had to start with demos and record in phases in order to put Schwartz’s brilliant music up on the screen. This allowed the music to have the flexibility to follow the actors’ performances, which provided them a great deal of creative freedom. 

We consistently found ourselves in uncharted territory, so we put a lot of emphasis on the “how to” from the jump so that we could drive the process as efficiently as possible — and especially make sure the cast and crew had what they needed well in advance of each day of filming. We did some atypical things, like building a bespoke recording studio tailored to our unique needs and routines, for example. The music team was entrusted with this huge responsibility to work closely together and realize the music of Wicked at a level that’s never been done before. It just required an intense level of teamwork and collaboration at every step. 

There is a beloved recording made by the Broadway cast that won a Grammy in 2005 for best musical show album. How did you approach making the soundtrack different, or expand upon it, given that original material?

The original cast recording is iconic, so priority number one was to not mess it up. It has also been a great opportunity to make a soundtrack for a beloved musical that will only be the second Wicked album in two decades. But while our primary mission was to make the film, we didn’t want the soundtrack to simply be a “copied and pasted” byproduct. Stephen Schwartz worked extremely closely with executive music producer Stephen Oremus — who has also been the music director of the stage play since its beginning — producer and mixer Greg Wells, and the rest of the music team to make sure the album would be a standalone and complete aural experience. 

So without the dialog — except for some snippets for narrative context — and the rest of the sound from the film, a great deal of time and effort went into balancing the vocals with all the orchestral and other instrumental elements and editing the songs together into a cohesive structure. A lot of care went into capturing cast vocals throughout filming that would be production-quality for the soundtrack so that it would reflect their true performances from the movie. This new soundtrack isn’t really meant to be compared to the Broadway recording since it’s a different medium, obviously — but everyone was extremely careful to be faithful to and respectful of what people know and love about the music of Wicked, as well.

How difficult is it to adapt a Broadway production to film, and how did you navigate that from a music point of view?

With genuinely brilliant talent like Ariana, Cynthia, Jonathan Bailey and the rest of the cast, combined with Jon Chu’s imaginative direction, the “adaptation” of the music really gets to be led by their amazing performances. There are orchestration choices, instrumentation and dynamics that differentiate what these songs sound like on stage versus onscreen. Of course, Wicked is a break-out-into-song musical, but something it does very well is to transition in and out of songs without having any of those obvious flags that make you think, “Oh, she’s about to sing something now.” It’s all very fluid and organic, and the musical “bed” was subsequently built to support the performances on the screen. John Powell coming in to score the movie with Stephen Schwartz was also a big part of differentiating the style, scope and scale of the storytelling on the screen. Their score is what glues it all together and makes it feel cinematic.

Wicked has benefited already from an extensive marketing campaign. What role did you play in that, and how have you seen that pay off?

Wicked, the film and the campaign, is just the biggest thing we’ve ever done. Accordingly, we needed a soundtrack partner that could rise to that level and bring an appropriate amount of supplementary marketing muscle to the campaign. We’ve had a great deal of soundtrack success with Republic Records over the years. For Wicked, we had the fortuitous advantage with Republic in that they are also the label to which Cynthia and Ariana are both signed. Our combined teams — along with Verve Records — have been working together since the beginning and our shared mandate was to swing for the fences and treat this soundtrack like an A-list artist record. That has really framed what we’ve done at every step to put together an impactful global campaign filled with “first-ever” initiatives and top-tier programs with partners. 

Also, Ariana and Cynthia have been in the war room and a critical part of creative and strategic decisions alike. So it’s just been much different than a typical movie soundtrack of songs and/or score in terms of the level of anticipation, fandom and demand. That said, we are not leaving anything on the table with this global marketing campaign. It’s been a really special, once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a-bottle experience and an honor to be part of it.

How do you feel about the state of the musical movie in general right now?

I feel great about it. Audiences show up for quality films of all genres and, as you may have noticed from our campaign, nobody is trying to disguise the fact that this is a break-out-into-song musical — but that isn’t singularly what defines it. Wicked is the perfect example of how it all comes down to just making an excellent movie, whether characters on the screen are singing or not. It’s got an engaging story, it’s timely and relevant — eerily so for something written 24 years ago — has performances that take your breath away, it’s visually stunning, exhilarating, innovative and multidimensional in way that makes the state of the musical movie feel pretty epic right now to me.

What other projects do you have on the horizon?

Following Twisters and The Wild Robot and Wicked, we have a diverse portfolio of projects in the pipeline: Our specialty shingle Focus Features is releasing Nosferatu and is also in production on a biopic that’s the true story of a Neil Diamond impersonator. We’re in production on another Super Mario Bros film as well as a Shrek reboot, and we’ve also got another Jurassic World film coming next year, a live-action How To Train Your Dragon to name just a few. And of course, Wicked Part Two!

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One of the world’s greatest athletes will be joining Snoop Dogg in his quest to find new talent. Simone Biles will be joining The Voice as a guest mentor.

As spotted on The Grio the American Olympian is taking her talents to the entertainment industry. This week the Spring, TX native announced that she will be appearing on the reality television series to assist the “Next Episode” rapper. In a recent interview with The Associated Press she revealed how the taping went. “We were able to riff off each other and give the artists the best insight going into the next round,” the gymnast explained.

To hear her tell it the offer checked a lot of boxes for her. “It was pretty easy, simple,” she said. “We’re both very mellow. But if we need to bring that energy up, then we can. For us, it was about instilling confidence going into the next week.” While winners can recognize other winners she did admit that she is taking the opportunity serious and took the time out to get an understanding on her role and the expectations that come with it. “These are the learning steps: Learn, process, go back in and work,” she added. “They all have the vocal talent. It’s about harnessing that, knowing when to bring it out and which songs to sing and which genre you fit in. And what you want your legacy to be. This is truly a special show as well as the judging. They don’t get to see the physical appearance first. It’s all off of ears, listening and putting their craft together as well.”

Simone Biles and Snoop Dogg’s chemistry dates back to the Paris Olympics. The two had several fun moments during the games including some banter that went viral. Additionally, Snoop gifted her father Ronald Boles a Deathrow Records pendant. You can see her debut as the Team Snoop Playoffs Advisor on Monday, Nov. 25 on NBC.

TWICE has officially conquered the Amazon Music Live stage, with the nine-piece K-pop girl group performing “I Got You” after Thursday Night Football on Prime Video Thursday (Nov. 21). Divided up across three platforms on stage, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu stood spread out in front of standing microphones, modeling […]

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When Nike announced that the New York Knicks star guard, Jalen Brunson wouldn’t be getting his own signature sneaker you could almost hear the city collectively groan, but now the swoosh brand might’ve just thrown some salt in the wound as they’ve decided to welcome Knicks nation latest arch nemesis into their family, Trae Young.

According to Sneakernews, Nike has announced that the Atlanta Hawks franchise player has signed with Jordan Brand and you already know Knick fans across the globe are yelling “WTF?!” While Trae has been a sneaker free agent for quite some time now, the man has been garnering interest from the big brands and some independent ones for a hot minute, but as most athletes know, the Swoosh and Jordan brand are still top tier and when they come a-knocking, you answer the door.

Though he has had his own signature adidas Trae Young 3 and Trae Unlimited, Young ultimately decided to go with the biggest dogs in the yard and has been signaling his intention for a while now. In a recent interview with Jordan Brand, Trae explained what it means to be a part of the Jordan Brand family and what led him to this moment.
Per Sneakernews:
When you look at the Jumpman, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
 
Trae Young: When I look at the Jumpman, the first thing that comes to mind is the culture. Jordan Brand sets the tone for hoops culture and personifies greatness. The Jumpman really speaks for itself and I’m excited join the family.
What did it feel like the first time you put on a pair of Jordans?
 
As a kid, you always dream of lacing up in your first pair of Jordans. You put on that first pair, you feel invincible and like you can take on the world. As a kid, I always puffed out my chest a bit more when I had my Jordans on.
Man, if Nike doesn’t give Jalen Brunson his own line by next year New York Knick fans might have to riot. Just sayin.
No word on when the Trae Young Jordans will release but y’all already know most heads in the A will be rocking them whenever they see the light of day.

Manuel Turizo is taking fans to his native Montería (located 30 miles away from the Caribbean Sea in Colombia) through his fourth studio album, 201, out via La Industria Inc. and Sony Music Latin. The name is an homage to the apartment number of where he grew up, and which “represents all those dreams I had since I was a child, all those young desires,” he previously told Billboard. 

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With the 12-track that includes already released singles “Mamasota” with Yandel, “De Lunes a Lunes” with Grupo Frontera, and “Que Pecao’” with Kapo, Turizo welcomes fans to his roots.

Trending on Billboard

“For me, this is what the Caribbean sounds like,” he says in a new interview with Billboard. “This is where I get drunk and have a good time with my people, where I live my life. It’s my home. The idea [of this album] is that people enjoy it and at the same time want to party. December is coming!” 

After achieving newfound success with “La Bachata” and “El Merengue,” both of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart, Turizo dives into other eclectic rhythms. 

He flirts with salsa on focus single “Sigueme Besando Asi”; teams up with Elder Dayan Díaz (son of the iconic Diomedes Díaz) on the heartfelt vallenato “La Ex de Mi Amigo”; and dabbles in country music on “Yo No Me Vuelvo a Enamorar” with Alok. 

“I like trying different and new things. At the end of the day, it’s about having fun with music,” he explains. “I think that if you do the same thing all the time, you lose the magic. I wanted it to sound original, but at the same time not to make a copy of what already exists. Instead, I wanted to propose an authentic flavor with something different. I took the time to find a unique identity for each song.” 

Like his third studio album, 2000 (named after his birth year), 201 is representative of his true identity — one that he’s been faithful to since kicking off his music career.

“Manuel Turizo has never been a character,” he elaborates. “I never wanted to create something different from what Manuel is — that’s why my stage name is the same as my birth name. Everything around Manuel is like that, including my music. What I feel is that if my fans connect with my music, it’s because they see the world the same way I do. They connect with my thoughts. It’s where I can link my music with my personal life.”

Liste and stream 201 below: