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Seeker Music has partnered with Blackheart, the independent company founded by Joan Jett and longtime collaborator Kenny Laguna, to acquire what is described as a “substantial share” of Jett’s publishing and recorded music rights, it was announced on Thursday. This collaboration aims to enhance the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts catalog, with plans for releasing unreleased music, reimagining classic albums and launching new campaigns tied to her global tours.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2015) has left quite a mark on rock music with hits like “Bad Reputation,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” and “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” Formed in 1979 following the breakup of The Runaways, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts have achieved eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including her sneering hit “I Love Rock ‘N Roll,” which topped the Hot 100 for several leather-clad weeks in early 1982.
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Seeker Music, founded in 2020 by M&G Investments and led by Evan Bogart, manages a diverse catalog of over 15,000 copyrights, including works by artists like Run The Jewels, Jon Bellion, Christopher Cross and others.
The partnership between Blackheart and Seeker Music represents a full-circle moment of sorts, connecting two storied rock and roll family legacies. Carianne Brinkman, Laguna’s daughter and the president of Blackheart, and Evan Bogart, son of legendary record executive Neil Bogart, who signed Jett to his Boardwalk Records, are key figures in this collaboration.
“Seeker joining forces with Joan, Kenny, Carianne and Blackheart isn’t just a partnership, it’s a personal, powerful reunion… reigniting a legacy and carrying the torch forward with the same rebellious spirit that ignited it,” said Evan Bogart.
Kenny Laguna, Steven Melrose, Joan Jett, Evan Bogart and Carianne Brinkman.
Brandon Young
Brinkman and Laguna echoed Bogart’s sentiment on the serendipity of the collaboration.
“I can’t imagine a better partnership that is at once completely new but a return to a shared legacy that began with the belief in Joan Jett and the Blackhearts,” said Brinkman.
Laguna added: “It’s too coincidental to be a coincidence, so I am so overwhelmed to see how fate brought Carianne and Evan Bogart at Seeker together 58 years after I had my first hit with Neil Bogart.”
The partnership was negotiated by LaPolt Law, P.C., and Reed Smith, LLP, with support from Seeker’s chief creative officer Steven Melrose and Blackheart’s head of distribution and operations Hubert Górka.
“At Seeker, our celebrated creative and innovative approach to catalog means that our focus is on super-serving Joan’s current fans, whilst growing her fandom year on year – essentially taking Joan’s music into millions of new homes globally,” said Melrose. “For a catalog as expansive and legendary as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’, we’re working on plans to release incredible archival moments, activations around her best-selling global tours, reaching new fans through global and cross-genre campaigns, and creative re-releases of beloved albums utilizing new platforms around the world.”
The companies did not disclose financial aspects of the deal, nor the specifics of the “substantial share” of the acquired catalog.
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Source: Getty Images / Keri Hilson / Beyoncé / Ester Dean
In 2009, Keri Hilson did the unthinkable and took a shot at Beyoncé on the remix to her smash hit “Turning Me On.” In 2025, she is now claiming she was forced to sing the song that Ester Dean wrote and is now apologizing for.
We have long forgotten about Keri Hilson coming for the queen years ago, but here we go again, revisiting a moment that definitely should have never happened.
Keri Hilson is gearing up to release her new album, We Need To Talk, which features her latest single, “BAE. “Ironically, the singer/songwriter is doing a lot of talking.
During a recent interview on The Breakfast Club, Hilson revealed the backstory to the shenanigans that took place 15 years ago at the height of her career. She gave the morning show the details of the song’s shady lyrics and revealed she was “forced” to get in the booth and spit those eye-rolling-inducing bars that many believe led to her career losing steam.
Keri Hilson Regrets The Moment
“It’s a regret. But not in the way people think,” Hilson DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God. “That’s a song I actually didn’t write. Those are not my words. I was on tour, [and] Polow [Da Don] wanted me to do a remix to ‘Turnin’ Me On.’ He produced the record. Because I was on tour with Lil Wayne, I wasn’t able to lay anything down. He had been on me for a couple of weeks, [saying] we need to do a remix.”
On the song, Hilson rapped, “Your vision cloudy if you think that you’re the best. You can dance, she can sing. But she need to move it to the left, left. She need to go have some babies. She needs to sit down, she fake. I ain’t turning it off, I’m stay turning it on. Go ‘head and tell these folks how long I’ve been writing your songs. I’ve been putting you on, just check the credits, h*e”
Hilson further explained how Polow Da Don invited Ester Dean, an unnamed songwriter at the time, to contribute on the record.
“He played it for me. Meanwhile I’m thinking I was coming in to write a remix to ‘Turnin’ Me On.’ Automatically, I was like, ‘I’m not saying that.’ That was my position. I’m an athlete. I am competitive. But I’m not nasty, I’m a finesse player. I don’t look at things like that,” she explained. “My album wasn’t out yet, I was told it’s not coming out if you don’t do this. I was super young. I felt I had no choice […] I’m still protecting everyone involved. I’ve been eating that for years.”
Ester Dean Outs Herself As The Song’s Writer
It didn’t take long, but Dean revealed herself as the writer on the record, responding to a commenter who speculated she was the contributor, “And did! It was a hit!”
While Dean was initially proud of the song’s accomplishments, she would later take to her Instagram account to apologize for Beyoncé’s bashing lyrics and their impact on Hilson’s career.
“I submitted a lot of verses for that remix –– one got picked, and it was co-written with Keri. Looking back, it was childish and didn’t age well. I see how it hurt people, especially women and I take full accountability,” Dean wrote in her IG Stories post. “I’m sorry for my part in it. Growth is real, and so is this apology.”
Hilson has interacted with Beyoncé since being forced to diss her on the song, revealing to the morning show that Cowboy Carter crafter introduced herself to her and was gracious. “I appreciated it. I feel like she understood what happened, what had transpired and there was a bit of healing in that moment when we met. I take her as a very intuitive kind of soul, as am I.”
As you can imagine, social media has thoughts on the matter. Ester Dean is catching most of the flack. You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. Well damn
6. Interesting
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The Trump administration is reportedly in the early stages of planning an elaborate military parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army on June 14. What has some questioning the move is the fact that President Donald Trump turns 79 on that same day.
CNN reports that, according to two Defense Department officials, the Trump administration is floating a preliminary plan to hold a lavish parade to honor the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed to local outlet Washington City Paper that her administration is in talks with the White House regarding the parade.
“I haven’t been directly involved in it yet,” Bowser said to a throng of reporters, according to CNN. “I understand that – I think it was Homeland Security, maybe the White House – reached out to our special events task force, which is what most people wanting to do a parade do in the district. So, I would say it’s at its early stages. Yes, they have reached out. I don’t know if it’s being characterized as a military parade.”
In 2018, President Trump floated the idea of a military parade that would’ve cost north of $92 million and cost up to $21 million in public safety measures to control the parade. At the time, Trump wanted the parade as a display of America’s military might, but canceled the plans after the high costs and resistance from Mayor Bowser ended the elaborate parade.
Plans for some sort of acknowledgement of the Army’s anniversary were well underway before Trump won the election last November, yet a parade was not on the docket. Should this plan go ahead as envisioned, the parade will begin at the Pentagon in Arlington, stretching from the Northern Virginia city to the White House.
Outside observers are naturally wondering if this celebration would indeed take place on Trump’s birthday, and the enormity of the costs, along with the potential damage to D.C. streets from the heavy tanks, is also a concern.
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Photo: ANGELA WEISS / Getty
Teddi Mellencamp says that her dad, John Mellencamp, is being proactive amid her cancer battle, with the rock icon apparently already making arrangements for her burial in Indiana.
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On the latest episode of her Two Ts in a Pod podcast with fellow Real Housewives star Tamra Judge posted Tuesday (April 8), Teddi revealed that she and her father had a very frank conversation related to her recent announcement that her cancer has advanced to stage 4. After she was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2022, the reality star shared in a February Instagram post that the cancer had metastasized to her brain.
“Yesterday, my dad calls 11 times in a row,” Teddi, who starred on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for several seasons, told Judge. “Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath! Let me live a little, let me enjoy.’ He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.’”
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In response, a shocked Judge said, “He did not.”
“Yes he did,” said Teddi, who shares three children with estranged husband Edwin Arroyave, laughing. “I said, ‘I have kids, so where are they gonna go?’ He’s like, ‘Well, there’s going to be the top five, and then we’re gonna have little areas around it, and then that’s where everyone’s going to get buried.’ And I go, ‘Do I need to make this commitment right now?’ And he goes, ‘Well you’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.’”
The podcaster went on to confirm that the family mausoleum is in Indiana, where th “Jack & Diane” singer lives. “You’re going to have to visit my grave there,” she told Judge.
Teddi also joked that she started “making demands” on the call with her famous Grammy-winning father, noting that she wants a phrase a total stranger said to her recently etched on her gravestone: “Hot girls never die.”
Billboard has reached out to John Mellencamp’s reps for comment.
The TV personality has spent the past couple of months recovering from a February surgery, during which doctors removed four tumors from her brain. “I am so grateful for the incredible surgeons, doctor and nurses who made my surgery a success and my recovery process comfortable,” she wrote in an Instagram update shortly afterward. “The laughter, support and patience of my kids, my family and my closest friends is one gift with which words cannot properly express my gratitude.”
She’s also been undergoing radiation and immunotherapy to treat the cancer, which has also metastasized in her lungs, she revealed in March. Stage 4 is the most advanced form of melanoma, according to the American Cancer Society.
Amid her fight against the disease, Teddi has kept followers updated on her treatments and how she’s feeling on Instagram. On the latest episode of the podcast, she also opened up about how her family is coping, saying, “A lot of people ask me that: How are the kids doing?”
“They’re doing really well, I mean, Edwin’s for sure had to step up,” she added. “We’re really lucky that we have two nannies that we can rotate in and out. My dad also had extreme worry about me because there’s certain times where I don’t feel good, so I have a lady that comes and helps me at night.”
Listen to Teddi open up about her conversation with her dad about burial plans below.
In our franchise The Stars Behind the Stars, Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors share stories that have yet to be told, directly from those who aren’t often in front of the spotlight. Think “todo lo que no se ve detrás de cámaras,” or “everything that happens behind the scenes.” These unsung heroes are essential to an artist’s team and its foundation. Today, we highlight the founder of Yellow Studio, Julio Himede.
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For her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, Colombian superstar Shakira turned to Yellow Studio to create a monumental stage design. Tasked with bringing her themes of resilience, empowerment and identity to life, the New York-based design agency meticulously crafted a visually stunning experience, filled with transformative elements and emotionally resonant storytelling.
“[Shakira] described wanting a monumental, clean screen where she could project all her messages from her latest album,” Julio Himede, founder of Yellow Studio, tells Billboard Español. The team, led by Himede and senior designer Damun Jawanrudi, worked closely with the artist to ensure every detail — from massive video displays to a show-stopping inflatable wolf centerpiece — all captured her vision and captivated audiences worldwide.
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Specializing in designing tours for high-profile celebrities, and entertainment events, the agency has created stages for the likes of the Grammy Awards, the BRIT Awards, the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, the 2024 EE BAFTA Awards, and the VMAs. With a tight-knit team of designers, architects, renderers, and production managers, Yellow Studio thrives on bringing artists’ creative visions to life. “The concept revolved around resilience and empowerment,” Himede explains — noting how Shakira’s album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, inspired the show’s visuals, like the metaphorical use of gemstones to symbolize strength and transformation.
Julio Himede
Murray Hall
In this Q&A, the Salvadorian-Australian designer dives into the creative journey behind Shakira’s tour, explaining how the team “wanted to capture that sense of belonging and identity,” transforming the stage into a powerful metaphor for survival and fortitude, while fostering a connection between the performer and her audience.
Talk to me about the first stages of working together with Shakira.
We started about a year ago, in March or April. We flew over to Miami and met with Shakira and our creative directors, The Square Division, for our first meeting. From Yellow Studio, we had one of our senior designers, Damun Jawanrudi and myself. She described wanting a monumental, clean screen where she could project all her messages from her latest album. From the beginning, it was a great, close collaboration. Shakira was heavily involved as an artist, [with] a big visual voice in the process.
Please describe the concept of your stage design in relation to her latest album themes.
Like we do for any project, we started with the research: “The Bible,” so to speak. We listened to her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, breaking down the meanings and the overall concept. The main theme revolved around resilience and female empowerment, with a lot of metaphors about gemstones, which symbolize how women are resilient. That concept became the main source of inspiration for many of the visuals in the show.
Shakira Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran Tour
Leonardo Ferraz and Cu4tro
Let’s break down some specific songs.
“Te Felicito” is the first act of the show. Leading up to it, we use a lot of earthy tones and imagery tied to the concepts of a desert and gemstones, symbolizing a woman surviving and rising from the earth. The colors are very tone-on-tone, creating a grounded aesthetic. The transition into “Te Felicito” drew inspiration from the music video, which Shakira was passionate about. We incorporated vibrant props and transformed the stage with monochromatic pinks and purples — tones meant to evoke seduction and candor.
Another one that stood out was the visuals for “La Loba,” the “She-Wolf.”
The wolf has a big representation for Shakira’s identity. Fans around the world often see themselves as part of the “Wolfpack,” a concept that has grown stronger over the years. For Shakira, the wolf is deeply tied to who she is, and that connection resonates with her fans. It’s bigger than just the song itself; it’s a feeling. So we wanted to capture that sense of belonging and identity during the show — the idea that when you come to the concert, you’re part of the Wolfpack, and Shakira is La Loba.
That theme runs throughout the two- to three-hour performance in various ways. Early on, you might see visuals on the video screens featuring a beautiful wolf alongside two cubs, symbolizing Shakira and her two children. Later, you’ll hear wolf howls incorporated into the performance. At the encore, when she sings “She Wolf,” we reveal a giant inflatable steady-foot wolf that rises up, becoming the show’s centerpiece, bringing the metaphor full circle.
We finish with the Wolf as a powerful statement of survival and resilience. I think the audience connects to the strength and significance of that message.
How involved was Shakira working with the segments of her sets?
She was very involved and knew what she wanted. Shakira is extremely experienced and professional — not just with her choreographed dance moves and her ability to sing to a large crowd, but also in knowing what her fans want. She wants to offer a new experience to her audience.
From the beginning, we came up with the idea of [having] a stage playground that would be clean, minimal and monumental — that could be transformed into elements she could play with or dance on.
Shakira Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran Tour
Leonardo Ferraz and Cu4tro
We started with sketches and drawings. Then we moved into physical models. We presented three or four different scale models to her, [as if] playing a doll house. Shakira herself was able to cut things, put them together and turn them upside down.
We explored ideas like hydraulics, leaves that could [emerge and recede], and the potential of the passerelle (the large runway-style stage extension). The video screens are a major feature of the setup. They’re monumental but can split apart, rise and fall, and transition from displaying striking landscapes to impactful lighting effects.
On her 2017 El Dorado World Tour, the snake prop was costly to transport. Lessons from that experience that helped shape the design and logistics for this show?
There’s a lot of people who have worked with her for a long time, with a lot of experience from previous shows. They were able to give us really good words of advice about that. The wonderful wolf that we have, the big sculpture at the end, is an inflatable that literally goes down into a suitcase, which is amazing. In a matter of 15 seconds, it can be inflated into a 30-foot sculpture, which is incredible — the technology that we have now — and we’re able to pack it into a very small box. That’s [one of the] wonderful tricks and technology that we are able to take advantage of.
What do you think fans connect with the most during the show? What would you say is the peak moment of the experience?
Shakira knows her fans better than any of us on the [team], and she really knows how to balance really high-energy songs that get the audience going. But then she’s able to come back to a small, acoustic or a cappella performance. Whether it’s 120,000 people in São Paulo, or 60,000 — the entire stadium is connected and focused on her.
It feels like an immersive connection when Shakira sings from the catwalk. We also gave the audience colorful light-up bracelets, which, though are not new, [enhance the sense] of community, like you’re a part of the Wolfpack. It is a fun way to make everyone feel like they’re part of this incredible performance.
Shakira Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran Tour
Leonardo Ferraz and Cu4tro
Depeche Mode are gearing up to release a full-length feature film chronicling the band’s massive 2023 shows in Mexico City on their Memento Mori tour. Depeche Mode: M, directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frias (I’m No Longer Here, Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me), is due out later this year. Explore Explore See latest […]
Atticus Ross will receive the BMI Icon Award at the 41st annual BMI Film, TV and Visual Media Awards on May 14 in Beverly Hills, Calif. The ceremony will also salute the composers of the previous year’s top-grossing films, top-rated primetime network television series, and highest-ranking cable and streamed media programs. The event will be hosted by Mike O’Neill, BMI president and CEO,and Tracy McKnight, BMI VP, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media.
Previous BMI Icon Award recipients include Terence Blanchard, Mychael Danna, Alexandre Desplat, Ramin Djawadi, Harry Gregson-Williams, James Newton Howard, Christopher Lennertz, Thomas Newman, Rachel Portman (PRS), Mike Post, Alan Silvestri, Brian Tyler and John Williams.
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“Atticus Ross’ unique ability to merge innovative sounds with cinematic storytelling has left an indelible mark on the industry, and we’re thrilled to recognize his extraordinary talent and achievements with the BMI Icon Award,” McKnight said in a statement.
Ross, 57, is best-known for his longstanding collaboration with Trent Reznor. They have composed some of the most memorable film scores of the past 15 years, including The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Soul (a collaboration with Jon Batiste), Mank, Queer and Challengers. Reznor and Ross have won two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards and three Critics Choice Awards.
Their work in television includes Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s lauded 18-hour documentary The Vietnam War and their Primetime Emmy-winning score to HBO’s Watchmen. (Reznor and Ross are just a Tony Award away from EGOT status.)
Ross is also notable for his collaborations with his brother Leopold Ross and his wife Claudia Sarne. Most recently, his work on FX’s Shōgun alongside Leopold and co-composer Nick Chuba garnered much acclaim, including two Primetime Emmy nominations and a Grammy nomination.
Ross is also a key member of Nine Inch Nails, joining in 2016, alongside Reznor. In 2020, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with Iggy Pop doing the honors). Later this year, the band will embark on a sold-out global arena tour. They are also set to score Disney’s highly anticipated Tron: Ares, their first score under the Nine Inch Nails moniker. In addition to their musical endeavors, Ross and Reznor launched With Teeth, which encompasses film and TV production, products, and a music festival.
Ross has won 19 BMI Awards throughout his career for his scores on films and TV programs.
Green Day entered 2005 at the center of popular music for the second time in its career — but the first time in a decade. The legendary pop-punk trio had taken over rock music and MTV from 1994-95 with its RIAA diamond-certified debut album Dookie, and had fortified their status as alt-rock fixtures in the […]
Before she gets back to defying gravity on the silver screen this fall, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Erivo wants to give you something that’s 100% her.
On Thursday (April 10), Erivo announced the impending release of her sophomore studio album, I Forgive You. Set to drop on June 6 via Verve Records/Republic Records, the new project will feature Erivo not just as a performer, but a songwriter, as the actress has co-writing credits on each of the album’s songs.
In addition, the Wicked star announced that her second single, “Worst of Me,” will drop at midnight ET on Friday (April 11). The song, which Erivo has spent the last week teasing in snippets across her social media, sounds like a sweeping, orchestral ballad as she opines about heartbreak and loss. “I came here for love, oh, no I don’t want it anymore,” the star sings. “I gave you my home, but you took the worst of me.”
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“Over the last 2+ years, between all the flights, the filming, the interviews, and the awards shows, I went to the studio with my dear friend [Will Wells, songwriter and producer on I Forgive You] and created this project for you and me,” Erivo wrote in her announcement on Instagram. “This album, this collection of songs, is something I’m so proud to share with you. First with ‘Replay,’ and now/today/tonight with ‘Worst of Me.’ I gave you one chapter with the first album, and now I have a couple more for you. Thank you in advance for coming with me on this journey.”
The news comes amid a huge year for the actress. After the runaway success of Wicked in 2024, Erivo was nominated for best actress at the 2025 Oscars, where she also delivered a stunning performance of “Defying Gravity” with her co-star Ariana Grande. Looking ahead, Erivo is set to host to 2025 Tony Awards, star as Jesus Christ in an upcoming Hollywood Bowl production of Jesus Christ Superstar and headline the post-parade stage of WorldPride in Washington, D.C., all before the much-anticipated final chapter of her blockbuster hit Wicked: For Good debuts on Nov. 21.
Pre-save Cynthia Erivo’s new album I Forgive You here, and check out her Instagram post below:
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In today’s episode of We Really Shouldn’t Even Bother With A 2025 Bingo Card, legendary sports broadcaster Stephen A. Smith (Yes, that Stephen A. Smith) appears to be considering a run for president in 2028.
After appearing at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, during which the ESPN commentator spoke pretty extensively about the possibility of him running for president in four years, Smith took to X, posting, “Time to stop messing around. Life is great. Especially at ESPN/Disney. Hate the thought of being a politician. But sick of this mess. So I’m officially leaving all doors open.”
Now, when it comes to Smith, it’s often difficult to tell if he’s being serious or not. Like, come on, bro, there is no way you’re not just trolling America right now. There’s no conceivable world where a loud-mouthed hot-head who has no experience in governing and is really just a TV personality would be elected president of the United States. (I feel like I’m experiencing some major déjà vu right now — as if I had said something similar around 2016.)
But if the famed sports journalist, who recently signed a five-year, $100 million deal with ESPN, is simply pulling America’s leg and is not seriously considering a run for the White House, he hasn’t delivered the punchline yet, and, at any rate, there might actually be a significant number of Democratic voters who are actually entertaining the idea.
From Deadline:
Smith’s name has come up in the aftermath of the Democrats‘ defeat. On The View last month, Smith was asked about polls that showed him among the contenders. “I make of it that citizens, particularly on the left, are desperate,” he said. He voted for Kamala Harris but has been critical of the Democratic Party, appearing on Fox news and shows like Real Time with Bill Maher. Smith also has attacked Donald Trump, lately over the president’s across-the-board tariffs.
Of course, regardless of what a few wayward polls might be saying, the fine folks on X have responded to the proposition of a Stephen A. Smith presidency with a resounding “Hell no!”