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16 Nov 2022

Steve Lacy’s ‘Bad Habit’ Hits No. 1 on Radio Songs, Pop Airplay Charts

Steve Lacy continues his good fortune with “Bad Habit,” as his breakout hit rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s all-format Radio Songs chart and the mainstream top 40-based Pop Airplay tally (dated Nov. 19).

The song crowns the former with 67.9 million audience impressions, up 18%, in the Nov. 4-10 tracking week, according to Luminate.

“Bad Habit” is the fifth Radio Songs No. 1 in 2022 by an artist in a first visit to the chart, joining Nicky Youre and dazy’s “Sunroof”; JID’s “Enemy” (with Imagine Dragons); Latto’s “Big Energy”; and Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves.” All five songs also drew buzz on TikTok, reflecting radio’s notable acceptance of key viral hits on the platform this year.

Just one rookie, Olivia Rodrigo, ruled Radio Songs in a first visit in 2021 (“Drivers License”), after three did, via two hits, in 2020: 24kGoldn and iann dior (“Mood”) and Gabby Barrett (“I Hope,” featuring Charlie Puth).

This year marks the most No. 1s by artists in initial appearances on Radio Songs since 2014, when five acts also led on their first tries: Tove Lo (“Habits [Stay High]”), Meghan Trainor (“All About That Bass”), MAGIC! (“Rude”), Nico & Vinz (“Am I Wrong”) and Iggy Azalea (“Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX).

“Bad Habit” topped the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in October. It also led Rhythmic Airplay for a week earlier in November. It pushes to a new No. 4 high on Adult Alternative Airplay and has hit No. 11 on Adult Pop Airplay and No. 27 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.

The single has also led the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs charts, having become the first to dominate all five rankings (dating to October 2012, when Billboard’s main genre-based song charts adopted the Hot 100’s methodology).

“Bad Habit” is from Lacy’s L-M/RCA Records LP Gemini Rights, which debuted as his first top 10, at its No. 7 peak, on the Billboard 200 albums chart in July. The song has drawn 607.8 million in radio audience and 353.6 million official streams and sold 25,000 downloads in the U.S. from its release through Nov. 10.

The Compton, Calif., native previously reached Billboard’s charts as a member of The Internet and then via collaborations as a soloist alongside acts including Frank Ocean, Tyler, The Creator and Vampire Weekend.

Lacy recently told Billboard of his greatest career success so far, “I’m just grateful. It still doesn’t feel real yet.”

16 Nov 2022

Here Are the Best Reactions to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Ticketmaster Mess

Swifties across North America will forever remember Tuesday (Nov. 15) all too well. After an unprecedented number of fans visited Ticketmaster in the hopes of buying presale tickets for Taylor Swift‘s 2023 Eras Tour online, the company’s website experienced mass outages and extreme delays that caused some to wait for several hours in a virtual queue, just to walk away empty handed.

Naturally, people had some thoughts. Even before the whole debacle was said and done, droves of Swifties took to social media to air out their frustrations with Ticketmaster in hilarious posts, videos and homemade memes. Someone, for example, photoshopped the company’s logo over Tay’s face in the “Anti-Hero” music video, captioned with one of the song’s lyrics: “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me.”

“Taylor swift walking onto stage with no one in the audience, because that ticketmaster queue never did move,” quipped one fan, sharing a photo of a concert arena, completely empty except for one single person in the audience.

“Being stuck in the ticketmaster queue really has you wondering how different your life you be if you never listened to Our Song on the radio in 2006 that one time,” joked another.

Ticketmaster shared a statement shortly after 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, about three hours after the East Coast venue presales began. It said that the company wasn’t prepared for the “historically” large demand for tickets, and postponed presales for West Coast venues and Capitol One cardholders scheduled for later that same day.

Many frazzled Swifties felt confused as to why so many presale codes had been sent out if the site wasn’t ready for them all to be cashed in, and couldn’t resist cracking jokes at Ticketmaster’s expense. “Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by ticketmaster,” wrote one fan, quoting Mean Girls and sharing a screenshot from the film.

See more of the best reactions to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour Ticketmaster crisis below.

16 Nov 2022

JoJo Siwa Slams Candace Cameron Bure For ‘Hurtful’ Exclusion of LGBTQ Characters at Her New Network

After Candace Cameron Bure’s latest interview, JoJo Siwa is calling out the Full House actress’ comments as nothing more than a straight flush.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday (Nov. 15), Siwa slammed Bure’s comments in a Wall Street Journal interview where the Fuller House star said she wouldn’t include LGBTQ couples in upcoming Christmas films on her conservative-leaning network, Great American Family. “Honestly, I can’t believe after everything that went down just a few months ago, that she would not only create a movie with intention of excluding LGBTQIA+, but then also talk about it in the press,” Siwa wrote. “This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people.”

In her interview with the Journal, Bure spoke about her new executive role with Great American Media, in which she will produce and star in a series of Hallmark-style Christmas films. When asked in the interview about whether she would include LGBTQ characters in her work — as Hallmark did for the first time earlier this year — she said, “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core.”

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Siwa was not the only person to call Bure out on her exclusionary comments. GLAAD issued a statement from their president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, in which she called out Bure’s intentional ignorance. “It’s irresponsible and hurtful for Candace Cameron Bure to use tradition as a guise for exclusion,” she wrote. “If GAF’s plan is to intentionally exclude stories about LGBTQ couples, then actors, advertisers, cable and streaming platforms, and production companies should take note and seriously consider whether they want to be associated with a network that holds exclusion as one of its values.”

Ellis also added that she was open to having a conversation with Bure on the topic. “I’d love to have a conversation with Bure about my wife, our kids, and our family’s traditions,” she said. “Bure is out of sync with a growing majority of people of faith, including LGBTQ people of faith, who know that LGBTQ couples and families are deserving of love and visibility.”

Siwa was also joined by actress Hilarie Burton, who called both Great American Family and Bure “disgusting” for their anti-LGBTQ comments. “Now they’re just openly admitting their bigotry,” she wrote. “I called this s–t out years ago when [CEO Bill] Abbott was at Hallmark. Glad they dumped him. Being LGBTQ isn’t a ‘trend’ … There is nothing untraditional about same-sex couples.”

This is far from the first time that Siwa and Bure have had words in public — earlier this year, the former Dance Moms star claimed that Bure was the “rudest” celebrity she’d ever met in a viral TikTok, with Bure later explaining that she had declined to take a photo with a then-11-year-old Siwa.

Check out Siwa’s Instagram post below.

16 Nov 2022

Billy Ray Cyrus Confirms Engagement to Singer-Songwriter Firerose

Following weeks of speculation by fans, “Old Town Road” singer Billy Ray Cyrus, 61, has confirmed that he is engaged to wed Australian singer-songwriter Firerose. Rumors swirled last month after both Cyrus and Firerose posted photos on social media that depicted Firerose wearing what looked like an engagement ring.

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Cyrus and Firerose confirmed the engagement to People, noting that Firerose moved into Cyrus’s Tennessee home during the summer. Cyrus proposed in August.

Firerose said that there was no traditional proposal — no ring or getting down on one knee.

“Billy looked at me and said, ‘Do you, do you wanna marry me?’ And I was just like, ‘Of course I do. I love you.’ He said, ‘I love you. I wanna make this official. I wanna be with you forever.’” Firerose later selected a diamond and designed her ring.

Cyrus and Firerose first met on the set of the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana 12 years ago and stayed in touch over the years.

“Our friendship was so solid over the years,” Firerose told People.

During the early days of the pandemic, they began writing songs together and in July 2021, they released the song “New Day.”

“She plays all of her own instruments and writes her own songs. We began sharing music, and it just evolved,” Cyrus said.

“Billy confided in me a lot of what was going on in his life,” Firerose added. “I was just the best friend I could possibly be, supporting him.”

“There was sickness and death, and hard times,” Cyrus said of how the pandemic impacted his life. “All of the sudden, the life that I’ve always known as a touring artist didn’t exist anymore. A moment of so much change. And at the same time, Firerose, who had been such a light of positivity, such a best friend. And then when we began sharing the music, it just evolved more into, as musical soulmates, to soulmates, happy, pure love that to me, I didn’t know could exist. Again, we’re musicians, first and foremost, both of us. And we found this harmony, and this rhythm, this melody to life.”

The new relationship follows Cyrus’s split from his ex-wife, Tish, in April, after three decades of marriage. Tish placed the divorce filing, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause. TMZ reported that according to court documents, the couple had been living apart for the past two years.

Billy Ray and Tish later provided a statement to People, saying, “It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways — not with sadness, but with love in our hearts,” the statement read. “We have grown up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our own paths. We will always be family and look forward to a continued and loving shared experience as friends and parents. We have not come to this decision lightly or quickly but with so much going on in the world, we wanted to provide some clarity and closure, so we can remain focused on what is important…With Love and Hope… Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus.”

16 Nov 2022

WME Parent Endeavor to Pause New Hires Until End of the Year

Amid a broader economic downturn, Endeavor — the parent company of assets like agencies WME and IMG, sports league UFC, events firm On Location and online gambling platform OpenBet — is pausing new hires through the end of the year.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter by phone while attending an RBC Capital Markets investor event, Endeavor president Mark Shapiro said that the firm will put in place a hiring freeze until 2023 but noted that the Beverly Hills-based conglomerate will be backfilling positions. The Endeavor executive emphasized that no broader cost-cutting would be instituted and travel/expenses, bonuses and spending would not be subject to review at this time for the company’s roughly 8,000 employees.

“The state of the business is strong, but we have to be responsible given the time of the year and the national economic environment,” Shapiro told THR.

The Endeavor exec stressed that the move was being made from a position of strength, as the firm — unlike other Hollywood giants — has been insulated from economic headwinds like those impacting advertising-reliant companies. And the time frame for the hiring pause, as the holiday season approaches, arrives at a typically slower cycle for major agencies, which tend to mostly close up shop in the last couple weeks of the year.

“We need to really be prudent, we’re in — or walking in — to a recession,” Shapiro said about the hiring freeze during a panel moderated by RBC’s Kutgun Maral. “There’s a lot of fear out there, there’s a lot of fearmongerers. And we just need to keep a lean cost-structure, frankly. As tight as we can have it. And hiring over the holidays does no good, you’re just giving them vacation anyway.”

Shapiro added during the panel that, “at a time like this of uncertainty, we need to be conserving cash and just working on the balance sheet.” The Endeavor exec forecast that the focus in 2023 would be more free cash flow — a profit metric showing an ability to fund operations without outside financing — and expanding margins in each business unit.

But the hiring freeze does arrive as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal and others are instituting belt-tightening measures, including cutting back on spending and staff reductions. Disney CEO Bob Chapek warned in a memo to staff on Nov. 11 of “limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze” while layoffs have been ongoing at the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros. Discovery, impacting multiple divisions including CNN, whose chief, Chris Licht, forecast in late October that restructuring will “accelerate” and will result in layoffs and budget cuts.

On Nov. 10, Endeavor disclosed its third-quarter earnings, with its WME and IMG representation unit seeing revenue fall year-over-year to $388 million from $664 million — due to the sale of 80 percent of Endeavor Content to South Korea’s CJ ENM as part of a deal with the Writers Guild — even as the core agency business made strides. Meanwhile, the company’s owned sports properties, like UFC, saw revenue gain from $288.5 million a year ago to $402 million in the third quarter this year and its events unit stayed about even year-over-year with $440 million in revenue for the frame.

Overall, citing foreign exchange rate changes, Endeavor posted a loss for the quarter of $12.5 million compared to a gain of $63.6 million in the same time frame in 2021. During an earnings call, Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel noted “our business continues to perform well despite the macro headwinds,” and touted comedy bookings as well as growth in music touring, experiences and demand to attend live events.

“Spending habits have shifted, but our company has a presence at every point on the purchase chain,” Emanuel added. “During COVID people were buying stuff, and post-COVID, they are more focused on experiences, and we are the benefit of that side of the equation.”

Since Jan. 3, the first day of trading this year, stock in Endeavor has fallen about 34 percent, from 34.81 a share to 22.92, while the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index has dropped about 10 percent.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

16 Nov 2022

SiriusXM and Pandora Launch Artist Development Program, Select Coco Jones as Inaugural Act

SiriusXM has launched a new program aimed at developing and breaking emerging artists, the company tells Billboard.

Created by the SiriusXM and Pandora programming and curation teams, the Artist Accelerator program will select six to 12 artists across a wide range of genres over the next year. All of them will receive focused programming for a sustained campaign across SiriusXM channels and Pandora stations, as well as ongoing marketing support from both brands.

The program’s inaugural artist is Def Jam/High Standardz signee Coco Jones, whose latest single “I.C.U.”, from her debut EP What I Didn’t Tell You, has been playing in accelerated rotation on SiriusXM’s The Heat and Heart & Soul stations since Oct. 21. On Pandora, “I.C.U.” has been added to various playlists and radio stations across the platform, including New R&B, Black Music Forever, Adult R&B, PLATINUM, Today’s R&B and Hip Hop Hits, Women in R&B and more. The streaming service is also featuring exclusive audio content from Jones via “artist takeover” modes currently running on the PLATINUM and Women in R&B stations, where she takes listeners through the process of recording the EP and hand-picks tracks from some of the artists who inspired her.

“Introducing our audiences to new artists and investing in those artists’ development is a core value of both SiriusXM and Pandora and we are excited to unveil our Artist Accelerator program to the industry,” said Steve Blatter, senior vp/general manager of music programming at SiriusXM. “The program brings together SiriusXM and Pandora to accelerate the growth of artists across our combined massive listener base.”

In addition to her burgeoning music career, Jones has been working as an actor in TV and film since she was a tween. The 24-year-old currently portrays Hilary Banks on Peacock’s Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air. On TikTok, where she boasts nearly 2 million followers, she is dedicated to upping representation for dark-skinned Black women.

“I genuinely could not be more excited to be partnered with SiriusXM and Pandora,” said Jones. “The way that they’ve supported me and found new ways to highlight my future while acknowledging my past, is iconic. There’s definitely more to come, this is just the beginning! I’m excited for y’all to come with me through the whole journey!”

SiriusXM is just the latest platform to introduce an artist development program. In 2017, Apple Music launched the artist spotlight program Up Next, while SoundCloud introduced First on SoundCloud the following year. And in 2021, Spotify launched Fresh Finds, an extension of the playlist hub of the same name that provides emerging acts with on- and off-platform support.

16 Nov 2022

SZA: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

A trampoline park in Austin isn’t the first place you’d expect to see hundreds of SZA fans. Yet on a Friday night in October, there they were — lined up, excitedly chanting the lyrics to “The Weekend” from the singer-songwriter’s 2017 debut album, Ctrl. And in fact, it wasn’t a completely unexpected sight: SZA had just wrapped her headlining set at the Austin City Limits festival and sent an open invite on Twitter to “randomly jump w me” till 2 a.m. The former competitive gymnast flipped into the foam pit with the utmost joy, just like her fans.

Altitude Trampoline Park, which bills itself as the “world’s best trampoline park,” also might not be where you’d expect to hear a preview of what RCA Records chairman/CEO Peter Edge calls “one of the most important albums of the year.” But on this particular evening, for any attendees listening closely, it was. Terrence “Punch” Henderson, SZA’s manager and president of her label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), played “at least 4 songs off the new album on the loud speakers,” she tweeted the following morning. Unlike this night in Austin, though, getting that album out has been far from all fun and games.

When SZA released Ctrl on June 9, 2017, on RCA and TDE, she immediately established herself as alternative R&B’s girl next door and one of the most exciting new voices in music. Sonically, it was the kind of music SZA had always wanted to hear growing up but never quite found outside of herself — an abstract form of R&B influenced by indie and trap music and shaped by lo-fi beats. And lyrically, it was the kind of ultra-relatable songwriting that young people from all walks of life needed: SZA chronicled familiar coming-of-age quandaries, like wondering if your significant other believes you’re enough, or debating if being normal would benefit your relationships, or, well, questioning everything else life throws at you in your 20s.

Read SZA’s full Billboard cover story, part of our R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue, here.