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Lady Gaga is having fun causing a little mayhem at 30 Rock, with the pop star hilariously airing out some of the Saturday Night Live cast members’ business in a new promo video posted ahead of her upcoming hosting stint.
In the clip shared Wednesday (March 5), Gaga — looking low-key in a black baseball cap and T-shirt — sits at a piano in the SNL break room and openly sings observations about the comedians who filter in and out. “Andrew Dismukes is ordering a breakfast sandwich at 2 p.m.,” she croons, playing some jazzy chords.
“Devon Walker is taking a big swing with a new hat,” the 14-time Grammy winner continues when the cast member enters wearing a camouflage cowboy hat.
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“OK, what?” a slightly offended Walker asks, to which Dismukes explains, “This is her process.”
The new video arrives just a few days ahead of Gaga’s return to the comedy series, with the musician set to serve double duty as host and musical guest on the Saturday (March 8) episode. It’ll come just hours after the release of her seventh studio album, Mayhem, the day prior.
The A Star Is Born actress previously pulled double duty on the show in 2013, which may be why she’s so comfortable on the premises in the new promo video. The clip ends with a pajama-clad Heidi Gardner leaving her office with disheveled hair, after which Gaga calls her out for “trying to pretend she isn’t sleeping here, but we all know she is.”
“And the question is, ‘Why?’” the musician belts, to which Gardner tries her hand at singing: “And the answer is bedbugs!”
It’s unknown which songs Gaga will perform this weekend, but Mayhem was led by a trio of singles — including Billboard Hot 100-topper “Die With a Smile” with Bruno Mars, “Disease” and “Abracadabra.” Also on Wednesday, fans got a taste of a new track on the LP: “Garden of Eden,” a portion of which ESPN debuted in a teaser for this year’s Formula One season while declaring the track its official anthem of 2025.
Watch Gaga put the SNL cast on blast in the new promo above.
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveThere’s a new teaser trailer for Alex Ross Perry’s new Pavement movie, now titled Range Life: A Pavement Story. The film stars Stranger Things’ Joe Keery as Stephen Malkmus. Today’s new clip features the Brighten the Corners song “Shady Lane,” which, appropriately, features the lyric, “You’ve been chosen as an extra in the movie adaptation of the sequel to your life.” Watch the video below.Range Life also features Jason Schwartzman, Fred Hechinger, Tim Heidecker, Logan Miller, Griffin Newman, and Nat Wolff. Previously titled Pavements, the film had its premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival. A wider release date has not yet been revealed.Outside of the Pavement movie, Joe Keery makes his own music under the name Djo. Early next month, he’ll share the new Djo album The Crux.Revisit the 2022 Pitchfork interview “What Stranger Things Star Joe Keery Is Listening To.”
Kate Cassidy is opening up about her grief four months after losing Liam Payne, whom she dated for two years before his sudden death in October.
In one of her first interviews since the former One Direction star died in a third-story fall from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, the social media star fought back tears while describing how she’s still coming to terms with his death on U.K. morning show Lorraine Wednesday (March 5). “I find myself talking about him so much in the present tense,” she told host Lorraine Kelly.
“I don’t even feel the need to correct myself, because I still can’t fully — that’s part of my healing journey — I’m still working on accepting the fact that he’s not here anymore,” Cassidy continued, adding that she’ll “always have so much love” for her late partner. “I never would’ve thought that I would be talking about him in the past tense.”
As for how she’s coping with her grief, the influencer told Kelly that things have been “really hard.” “I’ve never lost anybody before close to me, so this is my first time dealing with anything like this,” she added. “I am trying to do my best. I have my better days, I have my harder days, but I am surrounded by such a great support system that I cannot thank enough.”
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Payne died Oct. 16 after suffering multiple traumas from the 40-foot fall. Cassidy had been with him in Argentina up until a few days prior to the incident, during which the singer was under the influence of multiple substances, a subsequent toxicology report confirmed. Another report recently revealed that his blood-alcohol concentration at the time of his death was at a nearly life-threatening level of up to 2.7 grams per liter.
The X Factor alum had previously been open about struggling with mental health and seeking sobriety treatment before his death. To honor his memory, Cassidy is now partnering with Lorraine‘s 2025 mental health initiative, March 4 March, which encourages Brits to walk 10,000 extra steps each week as a proven way of boosting their moods. “I genuinely believe Liam, in a way, guided me to this campaign and wanted me to be involved in this and help other people,” Cassidy said on the show. “Liam was so open about his mental health.”
To honor his memory, Cassidy is now partnering with Lorraine‘s 2025 mental health initiative, March 4 March, which encourages Brits to walk 10,000 extra steps each week as a proven way of boosting their moods. “I genuinely believe Liam, in a way, guided me to this campaign and wanted me to be involved in this and help other people,” Cassidy said on the show. “Liam was so open about his mental health.”
She added, “I know he would want me to help anybody, because he no longer can help people.”
Watch Cassidy’s Lorraine interview below.
BTS‘ J-Hope gives new meaning to the phrase “teaser” with the 17-second preview of his upcoming collaboration with Miguel on the song “Sweet Dreams.” The K-pop superstar dropped the second taste of the upcoming single on Wednesday morning (March 5) and it (barely) pulled back the curtain a hair more on the anticipated team-up. Explore […]
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After five long years, Doechii has finally blessed us with ‘Anxiety,’ and the streets are eating it up.
This one’s been a long time coming, and if you’ve been rocking with her since the early days, you already know the backstory. Way back, Doechii put out a fire cover of Gotye & Kimbra’s classic hit ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ on YouTube. She flipped it in her own way, lacing it with emotion and raw energy, and the internet went crazy. But despite the buzz, she never put it on streaming platforms—so unless you had that YouTube link saved, you were out of luck.
Then a few years later, Sleepy Hallow stumbled across her version, sampled it, and turned it into his own track, ‘Anxiety.’ That joint went up, and suddenly, everybody thought Doechii’s version was out there too. At this time, the OG song never officially dropped.
Now, five years later, the Swamp Princess finally came through. And let’s be real, she didn’t disappoint. ‘Anxiety’ still hits just as hard, with those haunting melodies and the signature Doechii vibe that makes her one of the most unique voices in the game. For the day-one fans, this release is everything we’ve been waiting for. And for the new ones? Welcome to the wave—Doechii season is in full effect.
Street Mob Records, the indie label founded by Fuerza Regida frontman Jesus Ortiz Paz (JOP), and which has seen impressive gains on the Billboard charts in the past year, has hired veteran music executive Gustavo López as its new president. The move signals Street Mob’s intention to become “the next big Latin music label,” says JOP, and is part of the label’s significant expansion and its intention to grow further.
In addition to López, Street Mob has also appointed Cindy Gaxiola as its vp of commercial affairs, Niria León as vp of booking and Jesús Amezcua as its vp of marketing. They join an executive team that already included COO Cristian “Toro” Primera and CFO Luis López. Both are partners on Street Mob with JOP, who launched the label as a rookie artist in 2018 and has seen it grow exponentially, especially in the past two years, expanding a roster that now includes Chino Pacas, Clave Especial and Armenta.
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“We got The Avengers,” says JOP quite seriously. “The whole point of this is we’re going to the next level with Street Mob Records. We got the avengers. We got Gustavo Lopez as the president. We got two incredible female senior VPs who are running the company on the touring and management side. That’s why we’re calling it the avengers. Now we have the best of the best.”
Street Mob ended 2024 at No. 6 on Billboard’s year-end Top Latin Imprint chart and the labels’ publishing division — Street Mob Publishing — won publisher of the year at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards. According to López, in this week’s Billboard regional Airplay chart, Street Mob is represented in some way — whether songwriting, producing or artist — in 44% of the chart’s top 25 songs.
For all those successes, bringing in López signals JOP’s seriousness about growing and expanding his business. As part of his long trajectory, López launched maverick reggaetón label Machete Records under Universal in the 2000s, distributing stars like Daddy Yankee and Wisin & Yandel, and was later president of regional Mexican powerhouses Fonovisa and Disa Records. Most recently, he served as CEO of Saban Music Latin until its acquisition by Virgin last year, and launched entertainment company Globalatino Music Partners.
Although López will continue to oversee Globalatino’s overall operation, he will be devoted full time to Street Mob, which is based in Los Angeles. “When I had the opportunity to meet JOP and saw how integrated he is in the business, and how young he is, it was an inspiration for me,” says López. “I thought, ‘If I’m going back to Mexican music, I’m going to do it with the best.’ There’s a lot going on at Street Mob that maybe the industry is not aware of. These guys are more than just the label. And now it’s just formalizing the team.”
JOP founded Street Mob in 2018 “with the hopes of one day being a big record label,” he says. At the time, he was already a fledgling artist, and he wanted to learn how the business worked. In 2020, when things got tough and many in his circle deserted him, Primera and Luis López stayed by his side and JOP made them partners in Street Mob.
“Together with them, we learned the business,” says JOP today. “And little by little, with all our creativity, I think we know. We know how to make a hit.”
Though managed by Street Mob, Fuerza Regida is not signed to the label. Instead, they have a joint venture with indie powerhouse Rancho Humilde and are distributed by Sony.
The group — a juggernaut that won Top Duo/Group at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards, beating international stars such as Blink-182, Coldplay, Linkin Park and Stray Kids — placed three titles in the Top Latin Albums top 10, including Pa Las Baby’s Y Belikeada, which peaked at No. 1 for three weeks.
But since its inception, JOP has been signing new artists, songwriters and producers to Street Mob and has different deals with each, with distribution in place with Cinq, Universal and Warner Music Latina, with whom Street Mob inked an exclusive partnership last year for its artists Armenta, Clave Especial and Calle 24.
Since last year, JOP has been looking for someone to head the label because “it was finally too much for us. But we needed to find the right person. Gustavo is perfect.”
Street Mob currently has 10 artists signed to the label, plus its own publishing company, management and touring division. The company just purchased a 35,000 square foot facility in Rancho Cucamonga, near Los Angeles, with a goal to build an office that will house everybody in the Los Angeles area, says López.
“You can’t mess with the secret sauce,” he says. “The A&R is where it needs to be. We just need to get some finer points aligned and it will continue to expand.”
For JOP, a big part is nurturing artists from the ground up.
“We’re like a school,” he says, citing emerging artist Jorsshh, who started as a writer and now has over nine million listeners on Spotify. “We show them the business and try to open doors for them to go to the next level. We’re trying to make this a big record label within Latin culture.”
Ryan Tedder has signed a global publishing agreement with Runner Music, a new music publishing company he co-founded with Ron Laffitte and Andrew Sparkler in 2023. While plenty of hitmakers have launched their own publishing joint ventures or companies over the years, it’s still relatively rare for a hitmaker to sign to their own outfit.
Under this new agreement Tedder’s catalog from 2021 onwards, including songs like “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic, “II MOST WANTED” by Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus, “greedy” by Tate McRae and “Rockstar” by LISA. (Runner’s publishing administration for frontline talent runs through Downtown).
“My first gig in the music industry at 19 was working for a publishing company in Nashville, I never dreamed one day I’d be signing to my own,” says Tedder of the deal.
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Runner Music is a fast-growing publisher, interested in both acquiring top catalogs and signing frontline publishing deals. With Melody Holdings, an affiliate of Blackstone Group, as an equity partner, the company has already signed a number of top writers, including Alexander 23 (Renee Rapp, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo) and Tyler Spry (Bad Bunny, Tate McRae, OneRepublic). Now, Tedder himself joins Runner’s ranks.
Since he started his career as frontman for OneRepublic and a songwriter, Tedder has partnered with a number of publishers and conducted multiple of catalog deals. In 2016, he sold some of his publishing rights for 170 songs to Downtown, and in 2021, he sold a majority stake in the publishing of all songs he wrote for other artists released after Jan. 1, 2016 to global investment giant KKR. This KKR deal also included a majority stake in all songs he wrote which were released by OneRepublic, regardless of the date of release. Most recently, he was published Sony Music Publishing.
News of the deal comes just days after it was announced that Tedder was teaming up with HYBE’s Bang Si-Hyuk and Scooter Braun to launch a global search for the next boy band, and the release of Tate McRae’s So Close To What, featuring Tedder cuts like “Sports car” and “It’s ok I’m ok.”
“Signing to Runner feels like the culmination of a dream I’ve had for years — not just about music, but about finding the right people to make it all come to life. With Amanda Hill, Andrew Sparkler and the team they’ve assembled by my side, I’ve got a community of music-obsessed operators that share the same vision, passion, and relentless drive. I’m blown away with what Runner has accomplished in such a short period of time and I’m ecstatic about what’s to come,” adds Tedder.
“I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of each of the Runner writers in such a short period of time. Welcoming Ryan to the Runner roster further shares our story as the greatest new destination for songwriters, and personally, it is a true joy to get to continue working with one of my favorite songwriters in the world,” says Amanda Hill, co-chief creative officer of Runner.
Runner CEO Andrew Sparkler says, “The momentum at Runner is truly exceptional right now. We’re not only collaborating closely with Ryan to nurture emerging songwriters, but we’re also thrilled to partner with established hit-makers. Ryan joining our roster is a powerful testament to our growth and success.”
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Severance, the mysterious sci-fi thriller featuring Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, and Brit Lower, is now in its second season on the Apple TV+ streaming platform. Fans of Severance almost got a cool treat after series director and producer Ben Still asked President Barack Obama to voice the role of the Lumon Building as seen in the show’s first season.
As shared by the great Deadline team, Ben Stiller was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week and shared the bombshell tidbit that he asked former President Barack Obama to voice the role of the infamous Lumon Building, which was part of a pivotal scene in the series.
From Deadline:
“I didn’t ask him in person, I knew someone who knew his lawyer and his lawyer said I can relay the request if you write an email,” Stiller told Kimmel. “So I wrote an email to him saying like, ‘Hey we have this show,’ whatever. And like two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama.”
In his reply, Stiller said Obama told him he was a “big fan of the show” and was awaiting the second season. However, the former President of the United States turned down the offer saying, “I don’t think I have time in my schedule to make it happen.”
Could you imagine hearing Obama’s smooth voice on Severance? That would’ve been cool. The show is deep into its second season, and the mysteries of Lumon, along with the dual lives of the “outies” and “severed,” are still under deep examination. If you’re in the market for a show that’ll have you talking for days after, we highly suggest it.
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Photo: Apple TV+
Offset has announced a performance in Russia set for April despite his parent label, Universal Music Group, having suspended all operations and closed offices there, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Migos rapper confirmed plans for a performance at Moscow’s MTC Live Hall on April 18 with a post to his Instagram Story on Tuesday […]
YouTube now has 125 million subscribers across YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, according to an open letter from Lyor Cohen published on Wednesday (March 5). Cohen called this number — which includes trial users — “an incredible milestone that many laughed off as impossible when we first launched. This momentum is critical to our goal […]