News

10 Oct 2023

DaBaby Breaks Down His ‘Trickin’ Music Video: Exclusive | Billboard

DaBaby breaks down his new music video for his song “Trickin’” exclusively for Billboard.

DaBaby:
What’s up, Billboard? It’s DaBaby right now. This is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into my music video for “Trickin’” directed by DaBaby.

Logan:
Uh, what does “Trickin’” mean? I actually learned this when I learned about us shooting this video from my friend Chrispy over here. Chrispy, come here. What does “trickin’” mean?

Chrispy:
Sophia, I think you would be the best to answer this. Oh, Gianni!

Logan:
How did you explain what “trickin’” means to us earlier?

Gianni:
Uh …

Stephanie:
So you really gotta be with the older guy, right? And you trickin’ on him, but you have a young guy at home.

Logan:
And does a young guy know about the old guy?

Stephanie:
Yes, he eats too!

DaBaby:
OK, so the overall concept of this song “Trickin’” is just based upon giving the females the knowledge needed to get whatever they need to get out of a man who feels like he can buy his way to your heart.

Adejah:
“Trickin’,” you’re basically taking care of a girl — not only her needs but her wants also. She gets princess treatment all of the time. That’s what a trick is.

DaBaby:
It’s a women empowerment song.

Logan:
Can I trick on somebody?

DaBaby:
Shout out to my guy, Logan, the director of photography.

Watch the full video above!

10 Oct 2023

Sufjan Stevens Dedicates His New Album to Late Partner: ‘Precious, Impeccable & Absolutely Exceptional’

Upon the release of his new album Javelin, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens wrote a heartfelt tribute to his late partner.

On Friday (Oct. 6), Stevens shared a rare message about his personal life in a post to his Instagram account. The singer dedicated his new album to his late partner, Evans Richardson IV, whom he described as “the light of my life, my beloved partner and best friend.” Richardson passed away in April.

“He was an absolute gem of a person, full of life, love, laughter, curiosity, integrity, and joy,” Stevens wrote in his post. “He was one of those rare and beautiful ones you find only once in a lifetime — precious, impeccable, and absolutely exceptional in every way.”

Richardson served as the chief of staff at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and as the chair of the American Alliance of Museums’ Accreditation Commission. While Stevens did not directly address his partner’s death in April, one of his close collaborators Nico Muhly shared a memorial post on his Instagram in May, saying, “There are no words to express adequately the depth of our loss and our gratitude for his life.”

Continuing his post, Stevens urged his followers to chase the kind of relationship he and Richardson shared during their time together. “I know relationships can be very difficult sometimes, but it’s always worth it to put in the hard work and care for the ones you love, especially the beautiful ones, who are few and far between,” he wrote. “If you happen to find that kind of love, hold it close, hold it tight, savor it, tend to it, and give it everything you’ve got, especially in times of trouble. Be kind, be strong, be patient, be forgiving, be vigorous, be wise, and be yourself.”

Stevens closed out his post by quoting the oft-cited Bible verse Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Since the outset of his career, Stevens has been notoriously tight-lipped about his personal life, only sharing occasional glimpses into his relationships. Over the last year, though, the singer opened up to his fans about being diagnosed with Guillian-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder in which “your body’s immune system attacks your nerves,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

Read Stevens’ full post below:

10 Oct 2023

Selena Gomez Says She Turns to ‘Very Wise’ Little Sister Gracie on Mental Health Days: ‘She’s So Innocent and Pure’

Selena Gomez doesn’t love giving advice about how to have a good mental health day, but when it comes to seeking it out she knows just where to go. “Spending time with my little sister, Gracie [Teefey],” Gomez told her mental health organization Wondermind about her preferred way to spend a contemplative day. “She’s so innocent and pure. She helps me keep perspective on life. It’s funny because she’s 10; I am 31, and even with such a big age gap I love her advice. She is very wise.” 

Tuesday (Oct. 10) is World Mental Health Day and Gomez, Wondermind’s co-founder and chief impact officer, said she can tell during the first 10 minutes of the day what is coming. “Sometimes I just must accept it’s going to be a bad day and that’s OK,” she said. “We all have bad days.”

Gracie has been a frequent companion on the red carpet alongside her sister — as well as her +1 at Taylor Swift concerts and the Golden Globes — and even though the Rare Beauty cosmetics boss has no problem turning to her younger sibling for advice, she isn’t that into doling it out herself.

“I don’t love giving advice because I don’t have all of the answers,” said Gomez, who opened up about the depths of her battles with depression and bipolar disorder in last year’s Apple TV+ doc Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me. “I’d say, though, find a friend or a family member you feel comfortable talking with and open up about what you are feeling. It’s very freeing to open up to someone. There is so much strength in being vulnerable.”

Gomez said that the biggest positive impact on her mental health has been her decision to be open about her struggles, which resulted in people reaching out to share their stories with her. “Listening and connecting was the biggest gift because you feel less alone” she told Wondermind, adding that she’s happy that more people are open to discussing their mental health struggles than when she was younger.

Dubbing herself a “work in progress” who doesn’t “have it all figured out,” Gomez said she’s a big believer in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) a type of talk therapy that works well for people who have very intense emotions by helping them learn how to change unhelpful behaviors.

Asked for her favorite daily affirmation, Gomez, said “this too shall pass.”

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

10 Oct 2023

Here’s Why Sherri Shepherd Plans to Give Her Old Bras to Drake

Drake is about to receive a sizable addition to his bra collection — in every sense of the word.

Following her recent breast reduction, Sherri Shepherd opened up about the surplus of brassieres she has on her hands now that she’s gone down a few sizes. Luckily, she knows just who to pass them on to.

“I found out that Drake is collecting bras that were thrown at him and he’s gonna auction ’em off,” the talk-show host told Entertainment Tonight. “So these are all of my big-boob bras and I said, ‘You know what? I was gonna give them to my girlfriend … but look, Drake needs them more than you do.’”

The “Rich Flex” rapper has indeed been collecting bras, which he’s received en masse during his It’s All a Blur Tour from fans who’ve thrown them at him on stage. (Something that’s only condoned when Drake’s 5-year-old son Adonis isn’t in attendance, mind you.) In September, he showed off his vast assortment of female undergarments — which have come to him in all sizes and colors — in a triumphant Instagram post.

“Remember when we both forgot who the f–k I was in unison…that wavelength was def a foolish one,” Drizzy wrote at the time.

“I’m sending [Drake] a care package,” Shepherd told ET. “And he’s gonna be happy. These are grown women’s bras, Drake. These are not 22-year-old women bras. These are not [from] them women going, ‘Oh my God, you’re so great!’ These are grown woman bras with good credit, OK?”

Shepherd’s contributions are sure to make for a happy Drake, who’s been proven to love giving gifts just as much as he loves receiving them from fans in bra form. Throughout his 2023 tour, the five-time Grammy winner has made a habit of choosing fans in the crowd to take home lavish presents, which have so far included designer handbags, expensive flights, stacks of cash and a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon.

See Drake pose with his (soon-to-be even bigger) bra collection below:

10 Oct 2023

After Messy 2023 Electric Zoo, Lawsuits Are Piling Up For Owner Avant Gardner

Another group of Electric Zoo ticket buyers have filed a class action over what they call the “absolute fiasco” at this year’s festival, marking at least the fourth such lawsuit filed against promoter Avant Gardner, the organizer of the popular dance music event.

In a complaint filed Thursday in New York state court, lawyers for four attendees accused the Brooklyn-based company of false advertising, breach of contract and other wrongdoing over the event, which saw its Friday shows canceled at the last minute and Sunday plagued by problems.

“Normally this event is a transcendental audio-visual festival that creates everlasting thrilling memories for tens of thousands of EDM fans,” their lawyers wrote. “And while it did create everlasting memories in 2023, the memories created were not the ones which ticket holders were looking forward to.”

The “oversold, grossly understaffed” festival was “nothing short of an absolute fiasco,” attorneys for the concertgoers wrote, resulting in “long lines, massive overcrowding, and a literal stampede of people when it was discovered that the organizers oversold tickets.” The case was filed on behalf of Billy Ting, Duoc Vo, Garry Huang, Jeffrey Wang and Joshua Chin, but said it aims to represent as many as 75,000 ticketbuyers who had similar experiences.

Electric Zoo, held annually on New York City’s Randall’s Island, is one of the country’s top electronic dance festivals, but this year’s iteration – the second by Avant Gardner since the company acquired the festival in 2022 — was marred by issues.

First came an abrupt cancellation of Friday evening, meaning no performances by top names like The Chainsmokers and Kx5. That was followed by a delayed start and long lines on Saturday, and then a chaotic Sunday in which thousands of ticketholders were denied entry after the site reached capacity. Some fans jumped fences or ran through security checkpoints as a group.

Avant Gardner, which promised refunds for Friday and for anyone turned away on Sunday, blamed the problems on “global supply chain disruptions.” But sources later told Billboard that the Friday shutdown largely had stemmed from the promoter’s failure to pay vendors from last year’s festival, leading to a shortage of experienced concert professionals willing to work at this year’s event. Those shortages led to issues that caused city officials to withhold permitting approval until they were fixed. Citing internal sources, the New York Post also attributed the problems to staffing issues, as well as to a planning process that allegedly started months later than usual for a festival of its size and complexity.

Additionally, Sunday’s problems were caused by overselling the event by 7,000 people, according to an NYPD estimate reported by local news outlets. Shortly after the festival, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the city might launch an investigation into Avant Gardner over the debacle: “It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo.”

Thursday’s lawsuit is at least the fourth such class action filed over the messy event. The first, filed on Sept. 13 in federal court, said Avant Gardner had caused “a nightmare endured by thousands of electronic music fans.” Another, filed just three days later in the same court, said the organizers had “lied to their guests at every opportunity.” In a third lawsuit, a Connecticut man said the festival’s “lack of planning and overselling of tickets” had caused dangerous overcrowding that caused him to “fear for his life.”

The specifics are varied, but all four lawsuits allege roughly similar forms of wrongdoing: That the Electric Zoo organizers misled ticket buyers, that they broke promises to concertgoers, and that they were negligent in failing to prevent the problems. Each case is seeking to represent hundreds or thousands of fans, and some or all of the cases could eventually be combined into a single, consolidated action.

A representative for Avant Gardner did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Electric Zoo class actions are only the latest legal issues for Avant Gardner, which operates an 80,000 square foot, multi-venue facility in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood. The company and owner Jürgen “Billy” Bildstein have clashed for years with the State Liquor Authority over allegations of drug use and other safety issues, including a 2020 agreement in which the company agreed to a $100,000 fine and to retain an independent safety monitor.

In August, that state-appointed monitor, T&M Security LLC, sued the company, claiming Avant Gardner had terminated the arrangement prematurely and then refused to pay its fees. A month earlier, another case claimed that security guards had assaulted patrons while searching them for drugs during a pride event.

10 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Extends Artist 100 No. 1 Record, Ed Sheeran Surges

Taylor Swift spends a record-extending 81st week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 14) thanks to nine albums on the Billboard 200 and three songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Leading Swift’s titles on the Billboard 200 is Midnights at No. 8, with 43,000 equivalent album units earned Sept. 29-Oct. 5, according to Luminate. The set spends a 50th consecutive week in the top 10, encompassing its entire chart run. It becomes Swift’s second album to log its first 50 weeks in the top 10, after 1989, which spent its first 53 weeks in the region in 2014-15 (among 60 weeks in the top 10 total). (Swift’s only other album to tally 50 or more total weeks in the top 10 is Fearless: 58, beginning in 2008.)

Here’s a recap of Swift’s current Billboard 200-charting albums.

Rank, Title:

  • No. 8, Midnights
  • No. 11, Lover
  • No. 15, Folklore
  • No. 17, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
  • No. 18, 1989
  • No. 19, Reputation
  • No. 21, Red (Taylor’s Version)
  • No. 37, Evermore
  • No. 60, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

On the Hot 100, Swift charts three songs, all in the top 40: “Cruel Summer” (up 4-3, returning to its peak), “Anti-Hero” (21-20, after spending eight weeks at No. 1) and “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice (steady at No. 31, after hitting No. 2).

Morgan Wallen pushes 4-2 on the Artist 100 as his album One Thing at a Time rebounds for a 16th week atop the Billboard 200 (75,000 units), and Ed Sheeran vaults 17-3, as his new LP Autumn Variations debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 (62,000). Sheeran’s set also opens at No. 1 on Americana/Folk Albums, where it’s his second leader.

Rounding out the Artist 100’s top five, Olivia Rodrigo descends 2-4 and Zach Bryan drops 3-5.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

10 Oct 2023

Tasha K Still on The Hook For The $3.4 Million She Owes To Cardi B Despite Filing For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

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Tasha K Still Has To Pay Cardi B Despite Filing For Bankruptcy

Source: Udo Salters / Getty / Cardi B / Tasha K

Tasha K will still have to find a way to run Cardi B her coins for lying on her name.

YouTuber Latasha Kebe, aka Latasha K, found out the hard way that you can’t hop on Al Gore’s internet and say anything you want about people, especially one of the most popular Hip-Hop artists in the world.

Tasha K tried her best to avoid paying Cardi B more than $3.4 million she was awarded in January 2022 by a judge in a defamation lawsuit by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.

Unfortunately for Kebe, Judge Scott M. Grossman hit her with a gut check by ruling she is still on the hook for that massive check that her mouth wrote that her ass couldn’t cash.

Per Digital Music News:

Judge Scott M. Grossman ruled on Thursday, October 5, that Kebe cannot “discharge” the $3.4 million owed to Cardi B through her Chapter 11 filing — so she’ll still be on the hook for the payments even after exiting bankruptcy. While bankruptcy law allows insolvent individuals to evade certain debts, money owed because of “willful and malicious injury” caused to others is an exception.

Attorneys for Cardi B insisted that the exception undoubtedly applied here, as Kebe incurred the debt through “spreading false and defamatory statements” intended to cause career damage to their client. Kebe’s lawyers offered no rebuttal, and Judge Grossman ruled on Friday that the money owed was ineligible for discharge.

Welp.

A Brief Rundown of The Lawsuit

Cardi B, born Belcalis Almanzar, let Kebe know she had time when she hit Kebe with a lawsuit over what she describes as a “malicious campaign” on social media and YouTube with the intent to harm the “Bodak Yellow” rapper’s reputation.

In the videos that Cardi B’s attorney failed numerous times to have taken down, Kebe alleged that the Bronx native had herpes, was a prostitute, took drugs, and cheated on her husband.

Those words from Tasha K would cost her cause now she is screaming broke to avoid Bardi, but that argument has fallen flat.

Hopefully, Kebe’s misfortune will serve as a lesson to other gossip bloggers.

—

Photo: Udo Salters / Getty

10 Oct 2023

Bad Bunny To Release His 5th Studio Album This Friday The 13th

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Billboard Latin Music Awards 2023 - Show

Source: Christopher Polk / Getty

On Monday (Oct. 9), Bad Bunny fans rejoiced as Benito took to Instagram to make the announcement that his millions of faithful day-ones have been waiting for.

No, he didn’t announce that he and Kylie Jenner were breaking up (y’all still mad at him about that??), but he did reveal that this Friday (Oct. 13), his next album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va Pasar Mañana (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow”), will be hitting the streets. Benito’s upcoming fifth studio album will serve as the follow-up to his record-breaking 2022 LP, Un Verano Sin Ti, which went on to become the most streamed album in Spotify’s history.

In the video announcement, Bad Bunny rolls through the streets of the city of what seems to be old New York (are those the Twin Towers in the backdrop?) before eventually making his way past some paparazzi and into Carbone, a high-end popular Italian-American restaurant. Revealing his latest buzzcut hairstyle that he rocked back in 2018, the scene cuts to black before the album title is shown, followed by the release date.

Though details about the album aren’t known, many fans are speculating it’s going to be a trap album. Now that the album is already pre-loaded on Spotify, which each of it’s 22 tracks titled “Fuego” (Fire), y’all know this joint will rule the remainder of the year if his previous album is any indication of what we can expect from his faithful following.

Check out Bad Bunny’s video announcement below. Let us know if you’ll be checking for Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va Pasar Mañana this weekend and what your expectations from Benito are in the comments section below.

10 Oct 2023

Fonseca Talks Returning to the Sound of His Beginnings & the Magic Behind His Songs

To celebrate the first 20 years of a fruitful career and many hits along the way, the tropipop icon Fonseca shared anecdotes about his music and played some of his songs, accompanied by his guitarist Jairo Barón, in an intimate setting Wednesday (Oct. 4) at Billboard‘s Latin Music Week 2023.

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During The Icon Q&A panel — presented by Michelob Ultra and moderated by Sigal Ratner-Arias, deputy editor of Billboard Español — the artist took a musical journey from his beginnings in music, how some of his songs emerged, the role of his children in his compositions and his Latin Grammy-nominated collaboration with Juan Luis Guerra, to details of an upcoming album with which he wants to return to the sound of his beginnings.

The Colombian singer-songwriter remembered his early days as a time of great excitement. He said that during the recording of his self-titled debut album and recorded in Caracas, Venezuela, with the Líderes record label, he spent a lot of time alone walking through the streets of the city, imagining the future and thinking about how he was going to get his music played on radio stations.

After his record label closed in the middle of the promotion process, it took him about two years to free himself from this contract. Bernardo Ossa appeared, with whom he produced “Te Mando Flores.” The song gave him his first entry on a Billboard chart and marked a turning point in his career.

“Overnight we were practically all over Latin America, in the United States, in Europe doing promotional tours, playing,” Fonseca recalled. “It was crazy.”

Now that he is an international reference of Colombian music, Fonseca wants to return to the sounds of his early days on his next album, which he plans to release early next year. “I want to make an album where the instruments are 100% recorded and that’s that phrase of going back to that sound,” he said. “That’s how I recorded that album in Venezuela the first time, and that’s how I recorded my second album, Corazón.”

Additionally, he revealed that at the end of this month, he will release a new song called “Canto a la Vida” as a tribute to Colombian music, with accordion, clarinets and percussion.

He also reflected on the song “Entre Mi Vida y la Tuya” released in 2015, which gave him his first No. 1 on Billboard‘s Tropical Airplay chart. He said that the melody came to him while he was resting in a pool in the middle of a tour through Central America. He quickly found his guitar and recorded it on his phone, where he usually saves song ideas, phrases and feelings.

Among funny anecdotes, Fonseca stated that he shares his songs with his three children — ages 4, 9 and 13 — and they are like his “A&R department: absolutely without compassion.” “They’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, that’s horrible.’ [laughs] … They’ve inspired me a lot of songs.”

Regarding his most recent hit “Si Tú Me Quieres” with the Dominican maestro Juan Luis Guerra, who received nominations for the Latin Grammy 2023 for song of the year, recording of the year and best tropical song, he said, “I remember writing the song, arriving at the bridge moment that says ‘like a bee in a honeycomb.’ There I said, ‘Well, this is also like a tribute to Juan Luis’ … and from that moment I began to dream that could happen. It happened two or three years later.”

He also highlighted a special anecdote in his career with the song “Ven,” which he wrote inspired by his daughter Paz and which he said is the fastest song he has ever written. “I started making some chords and literally in an hour and a half, ‘Ven’ landed as if someone was dictating it to me and it was one of the most special intimate moments of my career,” Fonseca said. “I remember singing it after I wrote it so quickly and tears came to my eyes. It was something so personal that it was like a sublime moment by myself.”

Finally, as one of the secrets to staying current in music over the years, the artist stated, “Regardless of the profession one has, one comes to serve through what one does.”

Fonseca also closed Billboard Latin Music Week 2023 with a concert for the En Vivo series at Oasis Wynwood in Miami. Watch a summary of his presentation below, and don’t miss the video of his interview on The Icon Q&A panel above.

10 Oct 2023

New Company Allows You To Register .HipHop Domain Names

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GetDotHipHop

Source: @getdothiphop / Instagram

Hip-Hop continues to unite individuals from all over the globe. A new company is making connecting with like minds easier with .HipHop domain names.

Digital Music News is reporting that Dot Hip Hop is making strides in tech on the behalf of the culture. This new start-up allows users to register websites with a .HipHop domain name. Not only does the service make it easier for entrepreneurs to connect their brand to the art form it also hopes to empower the Hip-Hop community overall by providing a simple but effective way to own IP.

“There’s a lot to the story of our dedication to the community and the culture,” Managing Director Monte Cahn said in an exclusive statement to Digital Music News. “We’re trying to re-educate people about the importance of having your own intellectual property, your own identity, utilizing it properly, and being able to monetize it.” He also went on to point to the downfalls of most social media apps. “These platforms own everything that you do and say. You can be cut off and deleted and even hacked by others while using these platforms,” he added.

Ajene Watson, Managing Director, also reaffirms that the company’s mission statement also includes economic empowerment. “We are creating an environment where the culture can own equity in Dot Hip Hop, LLC — the registry that holds the license to operate the .HipHop extension” he said. “Secondly, we’re promoting financial literacy and economic opportunity by teaching the community about digital real estate — researching, analyzing, buying, developing, and selling these domain names”.

.HipHop domains can be purchased here or at GoDaddy.