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08 Feb 2023

Chrissy Teigen’s Explicit Trump Diss Gets Read Aloud During Congressional Twitter Hearing

Twitter executives testified in front of Congress on Wednesday (Feb. 8) during a hearing on the social media platform’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, where Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and others inquired about requests from the government and the Joe Biden campaign about taking down particular tweets.

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At one point during the hearing, Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia brought up a 2019 situation to Anika Collier Navaroli, a former policy official at Twitter, in which the Trump administration had sent the company a request to remove a tweet from none other than Chrissy Teigen.

It all started on Sept. 8, 2019, when Donald Trump attacked John Legend and Teigen, referring to them as “musician @johnlegend, and his filthy mouthed wife,” after an online spat between the former president and the couple about a criminal justice reform law.

In response, Teigen called Trump a “p—- a– b—-.”

Flash forward to 2023, and Navaroli confirmed that the White House did indeed ask Twitter to remove the Tweet, as it was a “derogatory statement directed towards the president.”

No one was more excited to hear the explicit tweet said aloud during the hearing than Teigen herself, who took to Instagram to share a clip of the moment with the caption, “I don’t know how to go on after this.”

See the model and author’s post here.

08 Feb 2023

Lawyers For Defendants Claim Drake Played A Key Role In XXXTentacion’s Murder, Twitter Has Thoughts

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Drake Allegedly Played A Key Role In XXXTentacion's Murder

Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty / XXXTentacion

The certified lover boy, Drake, has blood on his hands. That is what defense lawyers in the XXXTentacion murder trial are claiming.

Drake allegedly played a vital role in the 2018 murder of Hip-Hop star XXXTentaction, the defense team for the three men on trial for the death of the “SAD!” crafter claim.

According to the lawyers, an alleged beef between the late rapper and Drizzy possibly led to XXXTentacion’s 2018 murder, but authorities never pursued that angle.

The trial of Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams is finally underway, with opening statements being presented. All three men are charged with first-degree murder and are looking at life in prison for XXXTentacion’s murder.

A fourth member, Robert Allen, who was with the three other men, has already pled guilty to second-degree murder last year and will take the stand against Boatwright, Newsome, and Williams.

In December, the three defendant’s attorneys named Joe Budden, Drake, and The Migos, plus others as key witnesses, the Miami Herald reports. The defense also claims the three men are a victim of the lies being spread by Allen.

Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan isn’t buying what the defense is selling, and wonders what relationship the celebs named have with the murder. The prosecution called the defense’s tactics a silly stunt.

The Prosecutor Thinks The Drake Link Is A Joke

“It is apparent from the deliberate, late disclosure of the defendant’s witnesses and comments made between the parties that [the] defendant intended to ‘surprise’ the state and create a trial by ambush,” prosecutor Pascale Achille said to the judge.

She also said the defense provided no addresses or contact information for the celebs so that a subpoena could be issued.

Dedrick Williams’ attorney, Mauricio Padilla, pushed back at Achille’s claims of his tactics being nothing more than a joke.

“They are high-profile people,” Padilla told Judge Usan. “And it’s not easy for me to subpoena. I don’t have numbers, but it doesn’t mean I won’t be able to. Trying to subpoena Drake is not easy — you need a drone.”

Drake’s name being brought up during the trial by lawyers due to an eyebrow-raising post on XXXTentaction’s Instagram page where he wrote, “If anyone tries to kill me it was @champagnepapi.”

The post was eventually deleted, and the late rapper said his account was hacked. XXXTentacion also threw shots at Drake and his mother on Twitter.

As expected, Twitter had thoughts and sounded off on the platform. You can see the reactions in the gallery below.

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Photo: Scott Dudelson / Getty

08 Feb 2023

The Contenders: Will Shania Twain Be the ‘Queen’ of the Billboard 200?

Welcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated Feb. 18), as TOMRROW X TOGETHER’s new EP drops in sales in its second week, new albums from Shania Twain and Raye look to seize the Billboard 200’s top spot, with SZA’s SOS still lurking.  

Shania Twain, Queen of Me (Republic): Few artists in the history of popular music have a resumé of hit albums to match Shania Twain’s: She’s released three RIAA Diamond-certified albums, including 1997’s double-Diamond Come on Over. No one would expect her Queen of Me, released Friday (Feb. 3), to reach similar sales heights decades later — though her last album, 2017’s Now, topped the Billboard 200, albeit with a ticket bundle that undoubtedly contributed to her first-week sales of 134,000.  

Twain won’t receive any such boost for Queen of Me — those bundles were eliminated from Billboard chart calculations in Oct. 2020. But she will be helped by multiple vinyl and CD variants, including exclusives for both Target and Walmart (the Target CD has 2 bonus tracks, while Walmart’s CD has an alternate cover). Her webstore and indie retail are also selling a signed CD, while her webstore also has a couple of deluxe box set editions with a signed CD and T-shirt inside. Plus, she’s still riding the momentum from her Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl, which resulted in a catalog-wide spike for the country-pop legend last August.  

Raye, My 21st Century Blues (Human Re Sources): After going through a high-profile dispute and breakup with former label Polydor, British soul-pop singer-songwriter Raye went indie and landed the biggest global hit of her career, with the 070 Shake-assisted (and TikTok-launched) heartbreak lament “Escapism.” That single has topped the U.K.’s Official Charts and climbed to No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, setting the stage for her debut studio album My 21st Century Blues.  

Raye has a couple of vinyl variants available for Blues, including a signed edition sold on her webstore as well as a signed CD and a cassette tape that are also listed for sale there. She and Twain are already locked into a battle for No. 1 in the U.K., so it’s possible that any additional measures — including extra last-minute new promotions and album variants — will spill into their race on the Billboard 200.  

Harry Styles, Harry’s House (Erskine/Columbia): The album of the year winner at Sunday’s Grammys may see a gain on the charts this week thanks to renewed streaming interest: Second single “Late Night Talking” was the biggest mover on Spotify’s US Daily Top 200 on Monday, while four other songs re-entered the chart. The album currently sits at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, so the increase will likely be enough to at least get it back into the chart’s top 10. (Beyoncé’s Renaissance is currently 11 spots below it at No. 24 — and in addition to the boost it should receive post-Grammys, that album will also benefit from a spate of “Cuff It” remixes recently released for sale on Bey’s webstore, which were also just made available on digital retailers this Wednesday.)  

Lower on the chart, another artist should also benefit from a Grammy bump: best new artist winner Samara Joy. While she’s unlikely to contend in the Styles-Beyoncé regions of the chart, her Linger Awhile album should appear somewhere this week, marking her first-ever entry on the Billboard 200.   

08 Feb 2023

Songtradr to Acquire 7digital for $23 Million

U.K. digital music company 7digital plans to accept an acquisition bid by Songtradr for 19.4 million pounds ($23.4 million), 7digital announced Wednesday (Feb. 8).

7digital shareholders will receive 0.695 pence ($0.84) per share in cash, a 114% premium over the prior day’s closing price.

7digital directors, who collectively hold 43.7% of outstanding shares, intend to recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the acquisition. Songtradr says it has also received irrevocable undertakings to vote in favor of the deal from institutional and other shareholders representing 24.8% of outstanding shares.

Since its founding in 2014, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Songtradr has raised over $100 million to build a company intent on solving many of the inefficiencies in music licensing. It acquired AI metadata and music search company Musicube in 2022, music licensing agency Massive Music in 2021 and licensing agency Big Synch Music in 2019. In addition, Songtradr established a global creative division, led by industry vet Amanda Schupf, in 2021.

Songtradr’s announcement highlighted a number of strategic benefits it will receive from the proposed transaction. For starters, 7digital would give Songtradr a platform and music catalog that “will enhance relationships with existing customers and accelerate new customer acquisition” and put the company “in an advantageous position to provide unmatched combined solutions” in the video game space for both licensors and music rights holders.

Also, 7digital, which launched in 2004, would give Songtradr a technology solution that “delivers both music and audio rights at scale, metadata enhancement, digital rights management, content tracking and royalty spending.” The acquisition would allow Songtradr to quicken its growth strategy and “simplify global music licensing,” the announcement added.

Following the acquisition, current 7digital CEO Paul Langworthy will join Songtradr along with the rest of the senior leadership team, though interim chairman Mark Foster, CFO Michael Juskiewicz and all non-executive directors will step down. Songtradr will additionally repay 7digital’s £2 million revolving credit facility as well as two £500,000 loans. It will continue to operate 7digital’s London office for the time being.

The acquisition marks the close of a turbulent few years for 7digital, which in July 2019 faced the possibility of going into administration — or the U.K. equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy — unless it managed to raise £4.5 million ($5.5 million) in additional funds by the end of that month.

08 Feb 2023

Hayley Williams Says Taylor Swift Is a ‘Really Good Cook,’ Shares How ‘Running Out of Time’ Was Inspired by Her

Paramore joined Zane Lowe for an interview on Apple Music 1 this week, where the band discussed their return to music with their new album This Is Why.

Frontwoman Hayley Williams revealed that one of the songs on the record, “Running Out of Time,” was actually inspired by none other than Taylor Swift. “I remember when we were 19 and I was closer with Taylor Swift at that point because we both lived in Nashville, and we’re both experiencing our own versions of real success for the first time,” she recalled. “I went over to hang out. She’s a really good cook, by the way. She’s a really good cook. She has taught me how to make stuff that I did not retain at all.”

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Williams continued by remembering that Swift had a “little closet” where she kept gifts that she could send to people as a thank you, birthdays or holidays. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, my life is so not together,’” she shared. “I was like, ‘I can barely remember to send someone a card or flowers.’ There are still Christmas gifts at my house that I have not sent to my friends just sitting there in the back of my closet. Two of the people I was supposed to give a gift to, I was like, ‘Sorry, I forgot to put [the gifts] in my suitcase so you still don’t get a gift.’ I wish that I was the person that felt like I had all my s— together and I was like, ‘Oh, I had some extra time, so I’m just popping by with some flowers.’ That kind of a thing, that is my idealized self.”

In January, Paramore appeared on Billboard‘s digital cover, where the trio discussed their return as a band. “At this point, I don’t understand how we’re still doing it,” Williams shared. “Because it just feels like against all odds every single time — which, honestly, I feel like we’re the most annoying band in the world because it’s always like, ‘Oh, we overcame this, and now we’re making this album.’”

08 Feb 2023

Akon & Eminem’s ‘Smack That’ Video Grinds Into the Billion Views Club on YouTube

The music video for “Smack That,” Akon‘s hit 2006 single with Eminem, danced its way into the Billion Views Club on YouTube, the video platform shared on Wednesday (Feb. 8).

The visual features a cameo from Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts and revolves around Akon getting a 24-hour hall pass from prison in order to help the police run an undercover sting operation in a gentleman’s club frequented by Eminem.

Of course, the whole plot is set to Akon’s irresistible earworm of a track, which finds the Senegalese-American star crooning, “I feel you creepin’, I can see it from my shadow/ Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo/ Maybe go to my place and just kick it like TaeBo/ And possibly bend you over, look back and watch me/ Smack that, all on the floor/ Smack that, give me some more/ Smack that, till you get sore/ Smack that, oh!”

As the lead single off Akon’s sophomore album Konvicted, “Smack That” reached as high as No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, a career high at the time for the singer that was soon surpassed by his dual No. 1 hits “I Wanna Love You” featuring Snoop Dogg and “Don’t Matter.” Its video is the star’s second to achieve the major viewership feat on YouTube after his 2013 collab with David Guetta and Ne-Yo, “Play Hard.”

More recently, Akon mounted a comeback with his TikTok-fueled 2022 EP TT Freak. He also spoke out in December in defense of Nick Cannon having 12 kids with six different women.

Revisit the music video for Akon and Eminem’s “Smack That” below.

08 Feb 2023

Trending Up: Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy Win Results in Streaming Boom, Morgan Wallen’s New Songs Lift His Slightly Less New Songs & More

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Just like she did 33 years earlier, Bonnie Raitt rides a surprise Grammy win to a big commercial boost, while a rising tide lifts all 2023 Morgan Wallen singles and a new remix proves that two viral sensations are better than one.

And “Just Like That…,” Bonnie Raitt’s Post-Grammys Sales & Streams Are Way Up

Few Grammy watchers expected Bonnie Raitt to take home song of the year at Sunday’s (Feb. 5) awards — perhaps least of all Raitt herself, as judged by her heavily memed surprised reaction to the announcement — for the devastating, self-penned title track to her 2022 album Just Like That. The song was easily the least commercially visible of the 10 tracks nominated, the other nine of which were all top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. (Raitt has not reached the Hot 100 since 1995.)

That lack of commercial profile for “Just Like That” to that point, however, has just meant that there’s plenty of curious listeners now intrigued enough by the song’s big Grammy win to check it out for the first time. The song absolutely blasted off on streaming services following its song of the year victory, spiking from just over 10,000 daily official on-demand U.S. streams two days before the Grammys (Feb. 3) to a whopping 697,000 the Monday after (Feb. 6) — a gain of around 6,700%, according to Luminate.

Click here to read the full story over at Billboard Pro.

Morgan Wallen’s New Hits Are Big Enough to Boost His Older Ones

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is most likely going to be one of the biggest albums of 2023, if its pre-release tracks are any indication: As noted earlier this week, nine songs have been released so far from the 36-song project, and seven of them have already hit the top 10 of the Hot Country Songs chart. The trio of songs that Wallen issued last week — “Last Night,” “Everything I Love” and “I Wrote the Book” — are doing so well, in fact, that their releases have spurred notable streaming gains for a pair of the country star’s previously released hits.

Since its Jan. 31 release, “Last Night” has established itself as the breakout hit of the new three-pack, with daily U.S. official on-demand streams exceeding 3.38 million through Feb. 5 and peaking at 4.68 million on Feb. 3, according to Luminate. The track debuted at No. 3 on Country Streaming Songs, and became Wallen’s ninth No. 1 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart. Meanwhile, “Everything I Love” and “I Wrote the Book” have each been logging seven-figure daily streams since their releases, peaking at 2.22 million and 2.26 million, respectively, on their release dates.

Yet the new trio of songs have also generated enough interest around Wallen to boost streams for the One Thing at a Time title track, which was released in December, as well as “Thought You Should Know,” a promotional single unveiled in November. On the day that the three-pack was released, U.S. on-demand streams for “One Thing at a Time” jumped 88% to 1.45 million, while “Thought You Should Know” scored a 42% uptick to 1.47 million streams. Both songs’ daily streams hovered above the 1 million mark through Feb. 5.

One Thing at a Time is due out Mar. 3, and Wallen has announced a stadium tour in support of the follow-up to 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album. “Last Night” should have a major chart bounce during its first full tracking week — we’ll see how much his other songs continue to benefit alongside Wallen’s latest hit.

Song’s a Hit: PinkPantheress Song Boosted to Breakout Status by Ice Spice Remix

Before 2023, pop&B singer-songwriter PinkPantheress and rapper Ice Spice were two of the decade’s most exciting young artists yet to score a Billboard Hot 100 hit, both finding TikTok success, social media buzz and critical acclaim for their early singles but not yet quite getting all the way overground. Ice Spice got on the board this January, however, with the release of her Lil Tjay collab “Gangsta Boo” (debuting at No. 82 on the Hot 100) from her Like..? EP — and now she might be the key ingredient in getting PinkPantheress her first entry there, too.

Ice Spice adds a guest verse for the new remix to PinkPantheress’ streaming hit “Boy’s a Liar” — titled “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” — which debuted last Friday (Feb. 3). Since the release of the new version (which for Billboard chart purposes, gets grouped along with the original when it comes to consumption numbers), daily official on-demand U.S. streams of “Boy’s a Liar” have steadily ballooned from 464,000 on Feb. 2 (the day before) to just under 3 million on Feb. 6, a 541% gain, according to Luminate. As the numbers keep growing, “Liar” seems on pace to become easily the biggest chart hit yet for both artists — and perhaps one of pop music’s biggest breakout stories of early 2023.

08 Feb 2023

‘South Park’: 25 Most Memorable Music Moments

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have spent more than two decades roasting everyone from politicians to pop culture figures. And with the long-running animated show kicking off its 26th — yes, 26th! — season Feb. 8 on Comedy Central, the two masterminds are unlikely to stop.

In the show’s quarter century, it’s delivered parodies of musicians, from the uncomfortable (Britney Spears quite literally losing her head) to the hilarious (Randy Marsh is Lorde?!?!), with some artists even lending their voices to join in the fun (Robert Smith of The Cure battled on Mecha-Streisand). To celebrate 25 years and counting of genius (and, well crudely genius) intersections with our world, Billboard picked out some of the show’s most memorable moments involving musicians, from gay fish denier Kanye West to Jennifer Lopez as a hand puppet to Justin Bieber as “the enemy.”

And though we’re sticking purely to the Comedy Central episodes in this list, we do want to acknowledge that the show has spawned a feature-length film and more made-for-TV movies in recent years for Paramount+. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut arrived in June 1999, and gave fans an unforgettably dirty (and successful) soundtrack to pair with it. The set — featuring such earworms as “Kyle’s Mom’s a Bitch,” “Blame Canada,” “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” and “Uncle F—a” — debuted at No. 82 on the all-genre Billboard 200 on the chart dated July 10, 1999, and peaked at No. 28 weeks later; it remained on the tally for 11 weeks.

Relive the animated TV show’s musical mayhem — in no particular order — below.

08 Feb 2023

Reservoir’s Quarterly Revenues Rise 16% on Strength of Music Publishing Division

Reservoir Media’s revenues rose and profit margins expanded last quarter, as the strength of its music publishing business helped offset a $4 million net loss, the company reported Wednesday (Feb. 8).

Reservoir reported that its top-line revenues rose by 16% to $29.9 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023, which ended Dec. 31. The main drivers of that jump were the music publishing division, where revenues of $22 million jumped 14% from a year ago on strong digital streaming revenues, and Reservoir’s small artist management business, which delivered a year over year revenue increase of more than 200% from touring and merchandise sales at live events.

Reservoir founder and chief executive Golnar Khosrowshahi said the firm, which recently bought Dion‘s catalog and signed publishing deals with popular Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil, has $2.3 billion in prospective catalog acquisition deals in its pipeline.

“We will continue to benefit from the overall momentum in the music industry,” Khosrowshahi said on a conference call discussing the quarterly results. “We are approaching the last fiscal quarter of the year with confidence.”

Reservoir raised its guidance for the fiscal year 2023, which ends March 31, for the second straight quarter. Executives said they now expect to report full-year revenue in the range of $120 million to $122 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the range of $46 million to $47 million.

The company reported that its adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter rose 24% to $10.9 million.

“While we are happy with our continued strength in the top line and operating margins, we did experience some pressure on the bottom line due to elevated costs during the quarter,” said Reservoir CFO Jim Heindlmeyer during the earnings call.

Reservoir reported a net loss of $4.1 million, stemming from a one-time non-cash tax expense related to the higher U.K. tax rate for 2023 and the extinguishment of some existing debt. That resulted in a diluted loss of 7 cents for the quarter compared to earnings of 2 cents per share for the quarter.

Depreciation and amortization costs also rose due to catalog acquisitions, while company administration expenses rose 19%, mainly due to Reservoir’s expanding management business division.

In the recorded music division, Reservoir reported revenue of $7.6 million, up just 1% over last year. While digital revenues in the division rose 17% to $5.3 million, declines in physical and synchronization revenue resulted in roughly flat growth year over year.

08 Feb 2023

Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS from EXILE TRIBE Hit No. 1 on Japan Hot 100 for First Time Since 2019

Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS from EXILE TRIBE’s “Stars” blasts in atop the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 8, becoming the group’s first No. 1 hit in about three and a half years since their single “Scarlet feat. Afrojack” that led the chart in August 2019.

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“Stars” is a hot new number written by music producer sty, creator of the song “R.Y.U.S.E.I.” that finished at No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s year-end song chart for 2015 after being released in June 2014. The new single is off to a great start, launching at No. 1 for sales with 104,841 copies sold, while also hitting No. 3 for radio airplay, No. 6 for downloads, No. 17 for video views, and No. 37 for streaming.

Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” holds at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 after slipping from the top spot last week. The four-man band’s record-breaking single continues to rule streaming for the 16th week in a row with 11,352,196 streams. While down by about 2 percent from the previous week, weekly streams for the track are still more than 3 million ahead of the song at No. 2, Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK” with 8,112,798 streams. Although the downward trend continues, the number of views isn’t expected to drop significantly and the track is likely to still hover near the top of the charts.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Jan. 30 to Feb.5, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.