State Champ Radio News
Page: 381
Reneé Rapp is leaning into her identity, her artistry, and the name she says was designed for the spotlight.
During a new episode of the Good Hang podcast with Amy Poehler, the singer and actor opened up about her early path to pop stardom, revealing that her mother, Denise Rapp, deliberately gave her an alliterative name to help her succeed in entertainment.
“My mom chose my first and last name to be—well, okay, arguably chose my first and last name to both have R’s,” Rapp said. “She was like, ‘Alliteration, just in case she wants to be a pop star.’ Like before I was born.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“She gave you a pop star name just in case, because Reneé Rapp is a huge pop star name,” Poehler responded. Rapp agreed: “It’s a really good one.”
Trending on Billboard
The conversation also touched on Rapp’s experience publicly coming out as a lesbian while appearing on Saturday Night Live in January. She recalled asking the writers to revise a line in a sketch that referred to her as a “little bisexual intern.”
“At that time I was very publicly bisexual,” Rapp said. “In private, I was talking with my girlfriend and a lot of my friends for the last maybe eight months before that of being like, ‘I actually don’t really feel very bi at the moment. I feel very much like a lesbian and it feels so nice and that word feels amazing.’”
“Labeling yourself publicly is really, really, really empowering,” she added. “And also, I think, can be kind of intimidating.” She described the moment as “pretty c—y” and said it felt “so f—ing good.”
Earlier this week, Rapp debuted a new single titled “Leave Me Alone” during her live performance at the 2025 American Music Awards. The fiery, guitar-heavy track addresses her frustrations with fame and references her exit from the now-cancelled HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls.
“Signed a hundred NDAs but I still say something / Leave me alone, b—h, I wanna have fun / Took my sex life with me, now the show ain’t f—in’,” she sings on the chorus.
“Leave Me Alone” marks the first release from Rapp’s upcoming sophomore album Bite Me, which is set for release on Aug. 1 via Interscope. The album follows 2023’s Snow Angel, which debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200 and peaked at No. 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. The title track also reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart.
Bite Me is out Aug. 1.
John Butler is stepping into a bold new era. The ARIA Award-winning musician has officially announced his tenth studio album, PRISM, which is set to arrive Sept. 5.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The announcement lands alongside the release of the album’s second single, “So Sorry,” out today (May 28).
Marking a significant shift away from the John Butler Trio moniker, PRISM was recorded entirely solo with producer James Ireland (POND, San Cisco), who co-handled instrumentation and production duties. “It’s a big life and the world, in many ways, is in turmoil. Personally, I did a lot of soul-searching and reflecting as this record took shape,” Butler shared in a statement.
“For me, PRISM is a cathartic release, a celebration of going solo, moving away from the John Butler Trio moniker, and yet another sonic stretch as I continue to refine my musical journey. The title reflects the sonic and emotional “bandwidth” I wanted to explore: the whole spectrum of what it is to be human. Love, death, politics, inner and outer turmoil and redemption.”
Trending on Billboard
Butler added, “On the deeply reflective single, ‘So Sorry,’ Butler explores the long shadows cast by enduring relationships. “You get together as ‘kids’ and if you’re lucky, you learn how to regulate and become adults together. But no one gets out unscathed.”
PRISM is part three in Butler’s ambitious Four Seasons project, following 2024’s Running River (an ambient meditation album) and Still Searching (an all-instrumental LP). Described as both “contemplative and explosive,” the upcoming release promises an eclectic blend of festival-ready anthems, groove-heavy rock, and soul-searching ballads.
Butler performed at Bluesfest earlier this year and is set to kick off a major U.S. tour across June, July and August, with Australian headline dates to be announced soon.
One of Australia’s most successful independent artists, Butler’s accolades include multiple platinum records, ARIA Awards, and several No. 1 albums on the ARIA Albums Chart. His 2018 LP HOME debuted at No. 1 and saw him experiment with expanded instrumentation and electronic textures, paving the way for PRISM‘s continued sonic evolution.
PRISM arrives Sept. 5 and is available for pre-save and pre-order now.
23-year-old street performer Jourdan Blue has found himself an instant national fanbase with his emotional audition for the season 20 premiere of NBC’s America’s Got Talent on Tuesday (May 27).
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Blue’s performance of The Script‘s “Breakeven” was one filled with tears and triumph, with the young father’s story of overcoming adversity and terror adding to the euphoria that accompanied his Golden Buzzer-worthy performance.
Per Blue’s own account, he’s a street performer from New Orleans who spends most of his nights performing into the wee small hours in order to support his girlfriend and young son, Jax.
Trending on Billboard
“Growing up, my mom was a cop, my dad was a lawyer, so naturally I was a rebel,” he explained to the judges ahead of his performance. “I kind of got myself into some trouble and ended up living with my grandpa and he’s a big music listener and that inspired me to get into it.
“I started street performing in New Orleans because I really wanted to just fully dive into it. As you might remember, at the beginning of the year, there was an attack on New Orleans, right on the exact block where I perform.
“It made me realize that there’s so much more to live for,” he added. “That’s what made me choose AGT. I feel like this is the best way to level up.”
Immediately leveling up with the crowd as he dove into his performance of The Script’s 2008 hit, Blue’s unique voice instantly won over the crowd as it became clear that even the judges were immensely impressed by his rendition.
“I think you are somebody [who] maybe lost their way a little bit, but like you said, through music [you have] now found your way,” explained judge Simon Cowell. “You have such a distinctive voice, you are so cool, and you feed off the audience. They love you and how you made me feel just then was actually amazing.”
“This is season 20,” added fellow judge Howie Mandel. “I’ve seen dreams come true, and I’ve seen lives change right where you’re standing. And that stage and that moment can take you anywhere, and this is just the beginning of where you can go.
“I think you’re a star,” Mandel told Blue after hitting the Golden Buzzer. “I think your name is gonna be on the lips of everybody watching this across the globe.”
Blue was one of two acts to receive the Golden Buzzer on the May 27 episode, with Brazilian dance group Light Wire also receiving the same honor from Cowell.
Watch Blue’s full performance below:
“We’ve been in this room a lot,” says Brandi Cyrus to a packed and cozy room inside Los Angeles’ famed Chateau Marmont.
Tonight, she’s returned – alongside her mom Tish Cyrus and other family and friends, including actress Anya Taylor-Joy – to celebrate the release of her sister Miley’s forthcoming ninth album, Something Beautiful, out Friday (May 30).
Hosted by TikTok for Miley’s superfans, the superstar personally invited those in the room. And while they knew they would be among the first to hear her new album – the event was billed as a listening session – what they didn’t know was that Miley would be performing songs old and new.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
After singing along to already-released tracks including “Something Beautiful,” “End of the World,” “More to Lose” and the much-teased “Easy Lover,” Something Beautiful‘s remaining six songs (not including interludes) earned a variety of first takes. “This is a long one,” said one fan of “Golden Burning Sun.” And of “Pretend You’re God” another said it was reminiscent of “Midnight Sky,” while another questioned if they heard saxophone, though their friend was too busy dancing to answer. Second to last track “Reborn” sounds like it could have existed on Lady Gaga’s Mayhem in another form and closing track “Give Me Love” caused a hush to fall over the crowd. “No skips,” said one fan over applause.
As the room started to realize the album was over, heads slowly craned to the back entrance. “Is she coming?” whispered one fan, wondering if Miley would show. And at promptly 6:59 p.m., she did.
Trending on Billboard
Joined by dummer Maxx Morando, guitarist Jonathan Rado and pianist Michael Pollack – all of whom co-wrote and or co-produced on the album – Cyrus opened with the ballad “More to Lose.” She then addressed the intimate room: “Playing these nights at Chateau, they were invite-only, super exclusive, just my closest friends and my family and this was the way I discovered the album. Because if it can’t stand up with me [and my band], then what are we even doing?”
“Because for me, I love making music with everybody on this carpet – I don’t do stages now,” she continued with a laugh. “Watching [the album] become this butterfly and have this metamorphosis and evolution, it’s so reflective of my life and everything I’m experiencing.”
Cyrus and her band then delivered the sultry “Easy Lover” followed by her Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Flowers” (“this has been one of the most exciting songs I have gotten to put out into the universe,” she said). And while starting to speak of her journey over the past two decades with her fans, she cautioned, “I’m not singing ‘The Climb,’ but I could…’” – and thankfully, Pollack took that as a green light to begin playing the song on keys. More thankfully, Miley took the bait and soared through a portion of the beloved hit. She then closed her 45-minute set with “End of the World.”
“We really did grow up together,” Miley said. “As we grow, there’s things we gain and things we leave behind – and I’ve never wanted that to be you.”
She then teased that Something Beautiful is “just the appetizer,” revealing, “My next album is about to be extremely experimental, so have fun with that.”
As Brandi said earlier of her sister, “her evolution is always a surprise…I have personally seen the passion and precision she pours into every detail … it’s why everything she does is so sickening.”
“Thank you for being here with our family and close friends in this amazing, special place,” Brandi concluded.
And for longtime Miley fans, it’s not only a special place but a sacred one, too. As Miley mentioned, we’ve all seen the clips online of her performing at the Chateau for a chosen few as she pieced her album together. But tonight, it was her biggest fans who were the chosen ones — and it really was something beautiful.
More than six years on from their last studio record, pioneering Australian hip-hop outfit the Hilltop Hoods have announced their new album, Fall From the Light.
Set for release on Aug. 1 via Island Records/UMA, Fall From the Light is the Hilltop Hoods’ ninth album, and their first since the release of 2019’s The Great Expanse.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
They’ve not been resting on their laurels since the release of their last record, however. In 2020, they released one of the first pandemic-influenced songs by way of “I’m Good?” and would later drop singles such as “Show Business” and “A Whole Day’s Night” in 2022.
More recently, 2025 has brought with it the likes of “The Gift” and “Don’t Happy, Be Worry,” which will appear on Fall From the Light alongside 2023’s “Laced Up.”
Trending on Billboard
“This album has been an exercise in patience,” explained Suffa (aka Matt Lambert). “Six years is a long time between albums, but there’s a good reason for that. There was a lot happening, in the world and in our lives. But it turns out (from my perspective anyway), that time was the album’s strength, not its weakness.
“We’ve never been so thorough, so pedantic with an album before. The result is something that’s been carefully crafted with an extreme attention to detail. It’s an album that we’re really proud of, and a body of music that we can’t wait to share with everyone.”
“We really took our time with this one,” adds Pressure (aka Daniel Smith). “We put more years into it than any other of our albums because we wanted it to be our best work to date. Putting it out after so long feels more monumental and exciting than ever.”
Hilltop Hoods were formed in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in 1994 by Suffa, Pressure, and DJ Debris (aka Barry Francis), and became one of the first Australian hip-hop acts to receive mainstream success with the release of third album The Calling in 2003.
In 2006, they became the first hip-hop group to reach No. 1 on the ARIA charts thanks to The Hard Road – a feat they have achieved with every subsequent album. That year also saw them become the first Australian group in the genre to be nominated for an ARIA Award, with the trio having since won a total of ten awards from 36 nominations to date.
In 2019, the release of The Great Expanse saw the Hilltop Hoods break the record of most chart-topping albums for an Australian band or group, and would later reach one million record sales in their native country that same year.
The group will celebrate the release of their forthcoming album with their Never Coming Home Tour, which sees the band performing across Europe and the U.K. in the summer. They first toured the U.S. in 2014, later returning in 2019, but have not announced any further North American shows as yet.
Ten years on from the release of his acclaimed seventh album, Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens has offered a surprising re-evaluation of the record.
Originally released in March 2015, Carrie & Lowell was Stevens’ first studio album since 2010’s The Age of Adz, and would ultimately peak at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, while topping the Independent and Folk Albums charts, and hitting No. 2 on the Top Alternative and Rock Albums.
Despite the highs of its success, the record was steeped in sadness and misery, with much of its musical and lyrical content being inspired by the 2012 passing of his estranged mother Carrie, and the relationship with his stepfather, Lowell Brams.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
As part of the record’s anniversary reissue, Stevens has collected a batch of demos to accompany its release, pairing it all with an in-depth essay that sees him ruminating on the album’s recording process and his thoughts behind it all.
Trending on Billboard
Speaking to NPR ahead of the reissue’s arrival this week, Stevens used the opportunity to share a harsh reassessment of the original album, going so far as to label it “evidence of creative and artistic failure from my vantage point.”
“I was trying to make sense of something that is senseless,” he explained. “I felt that I was being manipulative and self-centered and solipsistic and self-loathing, and that the approach that I had taken to my work, which is to kind of create beauty from chaos, was failing me. It was very frustrating. And for the first time I realized that not everything can be sublimated into art, that some things just remain unsolvable, or insoluble. I think I was really just frustrated by even trying to make sense of the experience of grief through the songs.”
Describing the recording process as “painful, humiliating, and an utter miscarriage of bad intentions” in his essay, Stevens doubles down on his stance, focusing on his mother’s inability to add her own voice into the record’s somewhat voyeuristic narrative.
“I’m kind of embarrassed by this album, to be honest with you,” he explains. “Because I sort of feel like I don’t have any authority over my mother and her life or experience or her death. All I have is speculation and my imagination and my own misery, and in trying to make sense of it all, I kind of felt like it didn’t really resolve anything.”
Continuing his retrospective look back at the record, Stevens is also asked whether he regrets having made the record. “Yeah, I do. I feel bad,” he explains. “It’s just a bummer that my mother’s not alive and can’t speak for herself. What would she say about all this? Maybe she would be proud. I’ll never know.”
The forthcoming anniversary edition of Carrie & Lowell also includes a demo version of the track “Mystery of Love,” of which a studio version would later appear on the soundtrack to Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, ultimately scoring a nomination for best original song at the 2018 Academy Awards, and best song written for visual media at the 2019 Grammys.
On Tuesday’s (May 27) season 20 premiere of America’s Got Talent, judge Simon Cowell was blown away by a Brazilian crew that combined LED technology and dance for a simply mesmerizing show. The troupe is called Light Wire, and their show has to be seen to be believed. The movements of four dancers onstage cascade […]
The Lox have been top-tier lyricists for the better part of three decades, and the bandmates, podcast partners, and longtime friends have continued to showcase their excellence. In a new episode in the Red Bull Spiral Freestyle series, The Lox deliver a powerful one-take performance and put on for their hometown of Yonkers and Hip-Hop.
The Red Bull Spiral Freestyle series has been buzzing after Big Sean, Ab-Soul, and East Coast warlord Joey BadA$$ torched the cypher and reignited the coastal feud that is currently dominating Hip-Hop.
Keeping things firmly in the east, the trio of Sheek Louch, Styles P, and Jadakiss show off their well-honed abilities and undeniable chemistry. After a pre-performance hook from the Silverback Gorilla, aka Sheek Louch, with help from his brothers, Styles P opens the cypher with a fine-tuned barrage of bars. Louch followed up after Holiday Styles, and Jadakiss closed out the performance and sounded invigorated next to his team.
The Lox can still bar it down, and the group is involved in a variety of projects, with Jadakiss hosting a podcast with Fat Joe, and all three of the brothers podcasting with the ItsTheReal team. However, with a performance like this, fans are certainly hoping for a new project from the trio.
Check out the latest Red Bull Spiral Freestyle below.
—
Photo: Red Bull Spiral/Red Bull Content Pool
HipHopWired Featured Video
It was fitting for Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez to hit the stage at Monday’s American Music Awards at Las Vegas’ Fontainebleau, since both have found a second home in Sin City. Jackson has a current residency at Resorts World, which kicked off in December and has dates scheduled through September. Lopez is returning to […]
Legendary rockers Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, master jazz artist Herbie Hancock and conductor/soprano and contemporary classical musician Barbara Hannigan received their Polar Music Prize awards from the hands of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in the Vinterträdgården room of Stockholm’s elegant Grand Hôtel on Tuesday (May 27).
The 500-plus-person audience, made up of Swedish royalty, music industry players (artists, songwriters, publishers, execs and more) and friends and family of the laureates, rose to its feet many times during the six-hour event, as each of the laureates delivered heartfelt speeches. Hannigan thanked her mentors with a special mention for her (five minutes older) twin brother Brian; Hancock spoke of his father’s support for his musical career even though he wanted his son to be an engineer; and May also talked about his late father Harold, who helped him build his original Red Special electric guitar (also known as the “Old Lady”), which May owns to this day.
The event began with a royal ceremony, in the presence of not just the King but several members of Sweden’s Royal Family, followed by a multi-course banquet. The laureates were serenaded during both halves of the Polar Music Prive evening by a number of Swedish and international musicians playing music written by or performed by the three musical icons during their careers.
Trending on Billboard
Jazz vocalist/bassist Esperanza Spalding and pianist/producer Robert Glasper got an ovation for their rendition of the Hancock composition “Trust Me,” and returned to the stage to perform Hancock’s seminal “Watermelon Man.” Spalding then teamed with Argentinian pianist Leo Genovese for a stunning performance of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” in honor of Hancock’s 2007 album River: The Joni Letters. That tribute album to Mitchell won the Grammy for album of the year in 2008. The audience did not wait for that performance to end to give it a standing ovation.
Similar ovations showed the attendees’ love for Adam Lambert’s versions of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” at the ceremony and “Another One Bites the Dust” at the banquet, as May and Taylor looked on approvingly.
The biggest ovation of the night went to Sweden’s Ghost, who recently topped the Billboard 200 with their album Skeletá. Frontman Tobias Forge donned a golden mask and was accompanied by Swedish heavy metal guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, singing a cappella from a balcony high above the banquet tables, for a tour-de-force on “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
As the evening was coming to a close, Marie Ledin, managing director of the Polar Music Prize and daughter of the award’s founder, ABBA manager Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, received an overwhelming response from the banquet guests as she thanked her father as well as her mother Gudrun, the Royal Family, the laureates and the entire assembled audience.
Ledin spoke about each of the laureates in turn: “Let me begin with Queen – this much-loved band are truly rock royalty! As a big fan myself, I’ve been lucky enough to have seen them in concert several times here in Stockholm. They taught me that music can be bold, dramatic, fascinating and fun.
“Herbie Hancock is a true musical pioneer and one of the most influential musicians of our time. He has taught us that music can challenge us intellectually even as it enriches our soul. Herbie has deservedly earned the admiration of musicians across all genres.
“Barbara Hannigan is a visionary soprano and conductor, and a passionate advocate for contemporary music. With her avant-garde experimentation, she proves that classical music does not have to live in the past, but is a living, breathing art form in itself.”
The 2025 laureates were also honored by the presence of three previous laureates, Max Martin (2016), Anne-Sophie Mutter (2019) and Nile Rodgers (2024).
One more special guest was Anita Dobson, who was in attendance with her husband Brian May. Dobson is having an especially great week, as she has guest starred on every episode of the current season of the BBC’s Doctor Who and will play a large part in the season finale on Saturday (May 31), though she wouldn’t reveal any details about the conclusion of her story arc to Billboard (as she shouldn’t).
The Polar Music Prize was first awarded in 1992, to Paul McCartney and the Baltic States, newly independent from the former Soviet Union. Since then, the prestige of the prize has only grown, with awards going to artists from all over the world. A partial list includes Elton John, Ravi Shankar, Metallica, Ennio Morricone, Led Zeppelin, Renée Fleming, Grandmaster Flash, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Isaac Stern, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Sonny Rollins, Diane Warren, Gilberto Gil, B.B. King, Emmylou Harris, Yo-Yo Ma, Miriam Makeba, Björk, Wayne Shorter, Patti Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, Chris Blackwell, Iggy Pop, Angélique Kidjo, the Kronos Quartet, Youssou N’Dour and Chuck Berry.
