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After fleeing the raging wildfire that has decimated their Altadena neighborhood in Los Angeles, Mandy Moore and her family are sheltering with the singer/actress’ friend Hilary Duff. Moore’s brother-in-law, Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith — brother of her husband, Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith — revealed the kind gesture in an emotional Instagram post detailing the toll the deadly fires have had on his family.
“All of this so overwhelming. But what is as equally overwhelming is the amount of love and generosity we are on the receiving end of. Our dear friends @matthewkoma and @hilaryduff thought it wise to set up a gofundme for us to help with everything moving forward. Not to mention they are currently housing my brother’s family,” Goldsmith wrote of the How I Met Your Father star and her musician husband, Matthew Koma.
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“They’ve taken care of my entire family from the moment this began,” he added. “I will never be able to thank them adequately. This is the kindest act any human could do for another. They are the most beautiful, selfless people we’ve ever known.”
Griffin Goldsmith’s post also noted that he convinced his whole family and closest friends to move to the Altadena neighborhood years ago — including the siblings’ parents, who lived around the corner from him — only to have their homes leveled in the conflagrations that have taken 16 lives in that area as the massive Eaton Fire continues to burn after scorching more than 14,000 acres so far.
“It’s Impossible to express how much we’re feeling right now. We’ve lost everything. 8 years of memories made in our house. 20 years of gear. My wife @quintessentiallykit was applying the finishing touches to the nursery for our baby boy who’s due in a few weeks,” Griffin wrote. “She had, throughout the years, poured her heart and soul into making the property a literal piece of paradise. Anyone who had the chance the visit can attest. We often would say to each other ‘I want to live together in this house for the rest of our lives.’”
He said the brothers’ parents lost their home, while Taylor and Mandy were forced to flee from their house just down the street. In addition, he said his wife’s childhood best friend, Chelsey, and her family, former Dawes bassist Wylie Gelber and his wife and their first crew member and old friend, Jake, all lost their homes as well. “The thing we mourn the most is the loss of the community,” he said.
See Goldsmith’s post here.
Goldsmith noted that they are, of course, not the only people who are dealing with these kinds of unimaginable losses. In addition to at least two dozen deaths reported so far, more than 12,000 homes and structures destroyed or damaged and nearly 100,000 Angelenos under evacuation orders, officials warned on Tuesday (Jan. 14) that the powerful Santa Ana winds that are driving the spread of the fires are expected to pick up again, with critical red flag warnings in place across much of southwestern California.
Dawes played an emotional version of their 2011 tribute to their city, “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night (Jan. 13), with images of the devastation playing on screens behind them.
Luckily for Moore and Goldsmith, their home was not a complete loss, but the This Is Us star hit back at haters who tried to shame her last week for posting a GoFundMe for her in-laws, who, as Griffin mentioned, are expecting their first child in a few weeks.
“People questioning whether we’re helping out our own family or attributing some arbitrary amount of money Google says someone has is NOT helpful or empathetic,” Moore wrote. “Of course we are. Our buddy Matt started this GoFundMe and I’m sharing because people have asked how they can help them. We just lost most of our life in a fire too. Kindly F OFF. No one is forcing you to do anything.”
The fires, which are the most destructive blazes in the city’s history, continue to burn, with the Palisades Fires just 17% contained to date, while the Eaton Fire is 35% contained and the Hurst Fire is 97% contained; three other smaller fires are reportedly now 100% contained. Click here for resources from organizations providing assistance to music industry workers.
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Los Angeles continues to suffer, and the internet has taken liberty with the classic track “Burn Hollywood Burn.” Chuck D has come in to set the record straight and denounce the usage in this manner.
As reported by Deadline, there have been several videos that have appeared online capturing the wildfires that continue to ravage the Los Angeles area. Some have incorporated Public Enemy’s song “Burn Hollywood Burn” into these clips with a goal of calling out that the entertainment elite are finally getting a taste of the type of pain the lower class have faced for years. Naturally, the trend eventually landed on Chuck D’s radar prompting him to respond to the misuse via his Instagram account.
“‘Burn Hollywood Burn’ is a protest song. Extracted from the Watts Rebellion monikered by the magnificent Montague in 1965 against inequality when he said ‘burn baby burn’ across the air,” his statement read. “We made mind revolution songs aimed at a one-sided exploitation by an industry. Has nothing to do with families, losing everything they have in a natural disaster. Learn the history. Godspeed to those in loss,” he added. The accompanying caption simply said “PRAY 4 LA.” Chuck D went on to go to the comments section to say, “Please don’t use our song on your reels and pictures of this horrifying natural disaster.”
Featuring Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube, the song “Burn Hollywood Burn” exposes the movie industry for their poor treatment of African American talent and the stereotypes projected about people of color.
Cardi B might just be in her Reputation era. The rapper posted on X Tuesday (Jan. 14) that she’s had it with “acting nice,” using a hilarious Taylor Swift meme to get her point across.
Cardi told followers, “I was acting nice and nonchalant but today I’m going to violate and show the real me 🙂”
The “WAP” musician didn’t specify what grievance inspired her post, but to illustrate her point, she did attach a video of the Eras Tour headliner performing at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in 2019. Instead of the original audio, however, the clip of Swift is paired with what sounds like a snippet of Beyoncé absolutely going off while riffing during a live performance of “Crazy in Love.”
Cardi’s post comes less than a week after an update to her long-running legal battle with gossip blogger Tasha K, who claimed in a new response motion that the Grammy winner is trying to “sabotage” her career. Weeks prior, Cardi’s legal team had submitted a claim to a federal bankruptcy judge accusing Tasha of hiding money to avoid paying the rapper nearly $4 million in damages, which a federal jury awarded Cardi in 2022 after finding the blogger’s past claims about the star defamatory. In the new filing, Tasha’s attorneys countered by saying Cardi had failed to “identify a cent of undisclosed value.”
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The “Up” musician is also still at odds with Offset, from whom she split in July after seven years of marriage. The two stars — who share three children — were still very publicly hammering out their divorce as of mid-December, with Cardi at one point posting on X at her ex, “F–k off and sign the papers TODAY.”
“When u split the custody I will [sign the papers],” the Migos rapper countered at the time.
As for her thoughts on the subject of her meme of choice Tuesday, Cardi has only had positive things to say about Swift. In 2021, the hip-hop star praised the “Karma” singer’s “All Too Well” short film, and last year, Cardi gushed about the singer-songwriter’s relationship with Travis Kelce.
“I think it’s cute,” Cardi said of the couple last February. “She looks so happy. I feel like she’s really private with her relationships, so I really feel like she likes him a lot because she’s like, ‘I don’t give a f—. I’m going to kiss him. I’m going to touch him. I’m going to kiss him! Yeah, I’m here. Yeah, I’m taking a jet to see my man.’”
See Cardi’s tweet below.
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The Weeknd has announced his upcoming album ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ will be postponed. The original release date was January 24th, & now it has been moved to the following Friday (January 31st). The singer posted the announcement to his socials saying the delay was out of respect for the Los Angeles wildfire victims.
The Weeknd’s new album, ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ is delayed to January 31 due to California wildfires. pic.twitter.com/5ae9i3x6DE
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 13, 2025
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Not only has the project been delayed but the Rose Bowl concert has been canceled, “OUT OF RESPECT AND CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, I AM CANCELING THE ROSE BOWL CONCERT ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR
JANUARY 25TH. THIS CITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PROFOUND SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR ME, AND MY THOUGHTS ARE WITH EVERYONE IMPACTED DURING THIS DIFFICULT TIME IN LIGHT OF THIS, I HAVE ALSO DECIDED TO PUSH THE RELEASE OF MY ALBUM TO JANUARY 31ST MY FOCUS REMAINS ON SUPPORTING THE RECOVERY OF THESE COMMUNITIES AND AIDING ITS INCREDIBLE PEOPLE AS THEY REBUILD.”
The Weeknd is finally dropping his first album in two years, following the success of Dawn FM (2022). That album featured major hits like “Take My Breath,” a synth-driven banger that had fans dancing, and “I Heard You’re Married,” which included a vintage Lil Wayne verse that had everyone talking. “Best Friends” also stood out, with its smooth vibe and catchy lyrics. Fans have been eagerly awaiting his next move, and with his new project, it’s clear The Weeknd is ready to keep his streak of hits going strong. This album promises to be another standout in his career.
The iHeartCountry Festival will return on May 3 to the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, with a lineup that includes a mix of Country Music Hall of Famers, established hitmakers and surging newcomers.
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The 12th annual festival will welcome Brooks & Dunn (who were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019), Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Sam Hunt, reigning CMA new artist of the year Megan Moroney, Bailey Zimmerman and Nate Smith. iHeartMedia nationally syndicated on-air country personality Bobby Bones will again serve as host for the festivities.
“We are so excited about this year’s lineup and bringing these artists to fans all in one night at Moody Center in Austin,” Rod Phillips, Exec. vp of programming for iHeartCountry, said in a statement. “It’s a thrill every year to watch so much great music come to life on one big iHeartCountry stage.”
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Hulu will serve as the official streaming destination for subscribers with no additional cost. The event will also broadcast on iHeartCountry stations nationwide and the iHeartRadio app on Saturday, May 3, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT (7 p.m. CT).
Eligible Capital One cardholders will get exclusive access to presale tickets before the general public, starting Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT (10 a.m. CT) through Thursday, Jan. 23, at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT (10 a.m. CT). Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, Jan. 24, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT (12 p.m. CT) via Ticketmaster.
The annual iHeartCountry Festival is one of a slate of iHeartMedia events held throughout the year, including the iHeartRadio Music Festival Presented by Capital One, iHeartRadio Music Awards, the nationwide iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour Presented by Capital One, iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina, iHeartRadio ALTer EGO Presented by Capital One and iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.
Last year’s iHeartCountry Festival featured performances from artists including Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Ashley McBryde and Brothers Osborne.
After Carrie Underwood made headlines Monday (Jan. 13) for announcing she would play at Donald Trump’s inauguration, a former RuPaul’s Drag Race star decided to mock the country star online. In a post to her Instagram Stories on Monday evening, Drag Race season 14 contestant Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté shared a recent post from the […]
Add a new line to Colombian reggaetón star Ryan Castro’s resume: professional sports team owner.
Castro announced that through his company AWOO Team, he has acquired a significant equity stake in Paisas Basketball club, a professional team in his hometown of Medellín. The acquisition makes Castro the first Colombian music artist to own a stake in a basketball team, and also makes him one of only a handful of Colombian artists vested economically in sports.
“It’s another facet for us as entrepreneurs. Supporting sports, because the kids in the barrios have the same dreams as us, the artists,” said Castro, who rose to stardom from the slums of Medellín, tells Billboard.
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The Paisas, he adds (the term “Paisa” is slang for people from Medellín), are from his hometown, plus, “I love basketball. Every time I go to the U.S., I like to go to NBA games. So, it all came together and the opportunity arose to support a team from my city to continue growing the basketball movement, generate more activity and support young people who are into sports.”
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While basketball is not nearly as prominent as soccer in Colombia, it’s on the rise. Castro’s acquisition coincides with Paisas Basketball debut in the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA0, which includes top teams from across the continent). The team also competes in the Betplay professional league in Colombia under Venezuelan coach Daniel Seoane.
On his end, Castro is no stranger to sports.
Last year, he released “El Ritmo Que Nos Une,” the official anthem for Colombia’s national soccer team during Copa América. The video, which has been viewed more than 110 million times on YouTube, shows Castro hanging out and playing soccer with members of the Colombian squad.
However, Castro wasn’t actively looking to invest in sports. The opportunity came to him via a close associate who works actively with basketball and the NBA. “He told me this was a possibility and me and my team gathered all the information we could about Paisas,” says Castro.
Beyond investing in the team, partnering with Castro also gives the Paisas the opportunity to leverage the musician’s platform as a popular Colombian artists with millions of followers on social media (4.5 million on Instagram alone). Plus, he says, “Taking into my account my life story, also take that message of empowerment, of working for your dreams to other kids. That’s the intention. Many kids dream of basketball and sports as a way to get ahead and have a better life, and my story is similar, but with music. So it’s about also taking that motivation, and, as a businessman, I want to venture into sports.”
Castro is set to officially announce his partnership Tuesday (Jan. 14) at a press conference in Medellín. At the same time, he’s releasing his first single of the year, “Ni x el Putxs,” featuring Colombian trap star Kris R.
Castro’s music is distributed by Sony Latin via his company AWOO Corp. He also has a strategic partnership and label services deal with WK Records with Leo Arango as his manager.
Coldplay are gearing up to release a short film they’ve been low-key teasing for almost five years. The band announced the new project, A Film For the Future, on Tuesday morning (Jan. 14), calling the 44-minute movie a visual companion to their recent album Moon Music, which became their first Billboard 200 No. 1 album in 10 years last year.
The film will premiere worldwide on YouTube on Jan. 22 via 360-degree screenings at the Lightroom in London, the Lightroom at Factory International at Aviva Studios in Manchester and Lightroom Seoul in Seoul, South Korea; that same day a fan-led remix of the movie powered by Microsoft AI will launch here.
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A minute-long trailer describes the creative process for compiling the footage for the film, which began in the summer of 2024, when more than 150 visual artists from 45 countries were given a handful of short Moon Music audio snippets and asked to create some accompanying visuals. According to a release announcing, “there were no rules or guidelines, and no knowledge of other artists’ creations,” as well as no direction other than to follow their inspiration.
“We’re very grateful to all the amazing artists who lent their genius to this film,” the band said in a statement. “They’ve created something very beautiful and we’re extremely proud of it.”
The ensuing preview features a wild mash-up of visual styles, from trippy digital collage to dancing AI bubble people, photo montage, found footage, nature visuals and animation. Executive producer Ben Mor — who directed the 2016 video for the Coldplay/Beyoncé collab “Hymn For the Weekend” — called the resulting Koyaanisqatsi-like visual mindtrip a “kaleidoscopic patchwork quilt — a 44-minute multimedia tapestry.”
He added, “It was a huge privilege to have the bird’s eye view of such an ambitious project, working with so many incredible animators and filmmakers all working independently of each other. The final film is simply jaw-dropping and I can’t wait for Coldplay’s fans to see it.”
Tickets for the three immersive screenings — where the film will be projected on a 36-foot screen across four walls and the floor — can be purchased here, while other fans can tune in worldwide on the band’s YouTube page on Jan. 22.
The release noted that Coldplay have been working a long con on fans since 2019, when they first teased the movie on a license plate in the artwork for their Everyday Life album that read “FFTF2024.” In addition, a segment of the project appeared in the July 2024 multi-media lyric video for their Moon Music single “feelslikeimfallinginlove.”
The AI-powered remix project will use Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI to create a unique, immersive experience for each user, with no two results the same. Coldplay’s record-breaking Music of the Spheres world tour was back on the road last week for a four-show run of stadium shows in Abu Dhabi; they will move on to Mumbai, India on January 18 for three gigs at DY Patil Stadium.
Watch the A Film For the Future trailer below.
LiAngelo Ball is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as his breakthrough viral hit, “Tweaker,” debuts at No. 29 on the Jan. 18-dated chart.
The song debuts almost entirely from its streaming sum: 12.4 million official streams in the U.S. in the Jan. 3-9 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also sold 2,000 downloads. The song concurrently tips off at No. 7 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 9 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Ball is one-third of the famed Ball brothers, the sons of Big Baller Brand co-founder Lavar Ball. Eldest son, Lonzo Ball, was the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls. The youngest son, LaMelo Ball, was the third pick in the 2020 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Charlotte Hornets — he was voted rookie of the year in 2021 and named an all-star in 2022. LiAngelo, the middle child, played basketball in Lithuania and Mexico, but hasn’t made the NBA. He is, however, the first of the siblings to score a Billboard chart hit.
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LiAngelo released “Tweaker” on Jan. 3 via Born to Ball Music Group, and it almost immediately went viral. The song has already soundtracked nearly 30,000 clips on TikTok. His upward momentum even earned him a slot to perform at Rolling Loud California 2025 in March. The song also helped him, reportedly, sign a deal with Def Jam/Universal Music Group.
LiAngelo isn’t the first basketball star to reach Billboard’s charts. Shaquille O’Neal charted five Hot 100 hits in the 1990s: “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock),” with Fu-Schnickens (No. 39 peak in 1993); “(I Know I Got) Skillz” (No. 35, 1993); “I’m Outstanding” (No. 47, 1994); “Biological Didn’t Bother” (No. 78, 1995); and “Men of Steel,” with Ice Cube, B-Real, Peter Gunz and KRS-One (No. 82, 1997). He has also charted four albums on the Billboard 200: Shaq Diesel (No. 25, 1993); Shaq-Fu: Da Return (No. 67, 1994); You Can’t Stop the Reign (No. 82, 1996); and Respect (No. 58, 1998).
Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard, who raps under the name Dame D.O.L.L.A., has also charted an album on the Billboard 200: The Letter O reached No. 119 in 2016. During a postgame interview on Jan. 8 with ESPN’s Michael Eaves, Lillard co-signed LiAngelo’s “Tweaker.”
“I rock with it, man,” he said. “I’ve been hearing it a lot, it gives me that 2003, 2004 vibe. … And as an artist, you gotta respect other people’s artistry, and when something is going, it’s going. … I’m happy for him, it’s a big record, you’re hearing it everywhere.”
Ringo Starr is heading down South while simultaneously giving a little help to his friends in the West. As announced Tuesday (Jan. 14), the former Beatle’s upcoming concert special at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium will air this spring on CBS and Paramount+, with some of the proceeds benefiting wildfire relief amid the ongoing crisis in the Los Angeles area.
Titled Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, the two-hour special will find Starr performing songs from his new country album, Look Up, which arrived Jan. 10. He’ll be joined by a star-studded list of friends on stage, including Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle — both of whom collaborated on the drummer’s new LP — as well as Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee, Larkin Poe, The War and Treaty, and Jack White.
Beyond the selections from Look Up, Starr and his cohorts will also reimagine tracks such as “Boys,” “Act Naturally,” “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Don’t Pass Me By” and “It Don’t Come Easy” with a country twist. Plus, the rock icon will delve into his life and career as his guest stars reflect on their own personal memories of his influence in the special.
Proceeds from the show will go toward the American Red Cross supporting people affected by the fires devastating L.A. County. In the past week, numerous blazes have broken out in the area — starting in Pacific Palisades followed by Eaton and Hurst — displacing tens of thousands of residents from their homes and burning countless structures. At least 24 people have been reported dead, according to CNN.
Starr’s taping is set for Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 15), marking just the latest of six total times the musician has performed at the famed Nashville venue. While speaking to Billboard about his new album and the special earlier this month, he said, “The Ryman means a lot to my soul, because most of the acts that I was following [growing up] were at the Ryman.”
“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman and this time we are going country!” Starr added in a release. “I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians. It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”