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K-pop boy band ENHYPEN announced the dates and venues for the upcoming late summer U.S. and European legs of the group’s 2025 Walk the Line world tour. The 10-city swing is slated to kick off on Aug. 6 with the first of two dates at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, NY, followed by a stop […]
Stevie Nicks has no plans to stand back idly this summer and fall, with the rock legend announcing that she’s getting back on the road with a run of solo tour dates Monday (April 14). Interspersed between Nicks’ previously announced joint performances with Billy Joel, the solo run will begin Aug. 12 with a show […]
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Ever since throwing his billion-dollar weight behind Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and “helping” the Trump administration fire tens of thousands of government and federal workers via his DOGE initiative, Elon Musk has turned himself into one of the most despised “political” figures in the world. And thanks to Phony Stark, Tesla has been bearing the brunt of the public backlash.
According to Crooks And Liars, sales of the once must-have Tesla Cybertruck continue to plummet as people refuse to align themselves with what many feel is a fascist movement being born out of the Trump-Musk administration, and though there are rumors that Musk will exit his position at the White House this coming May, the damage to the Tesla brand has been done. With the lack of sales of Tesla automobiles going global (the world recognizes what’s going on in America), Tesla stock has steadily dropped in the first quarter of 2025, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to rebound anytime soon, if ever.
Per Crooks And Liars:
The Austin-based company delivered just 6,406 Cybertrucks this year through March, according to Cox Automotive. That’s more than double its volume in the year-earlier period, when it was slowly starting to make the hard-to-build model. But the quarterly figure was less than half of what it sold in either the third or fourth quarter of 2024–14,416 and 12,991 units, respectively–as its production ramped up.
Musk had previously forecast that annual sales of the electric pickup might average 250,000 a year, though it delivered only about 39,000 last year. A combination of multiple recalls–including one last month to fix stainless steel body panels that fell off due to faulty glue–and the likelihood of sharply higher costs for steel, aluminum and imported auto parts due to Trump’s tariffs, suggest Tesla will struggle to boost sales of a model that can sell for about $100,000. Weak demand has also led to an inventory of about 2,400 unsold new Cybertrucks, according to auto news site Jalopnik.
It doesn’t help that anti-fascist people around the world have taken to vandalizing Cybertrucks on the streets by spray painting swastikas on them and writing messages directed at Elon Musk for his now infamous Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Who would want to put down a grip on an automobile that might get vandalized on the street due to it’s connection to one of the most hated men in the world? We know we wouldn’t.
While vandalizing a Tesla Cybertruck is now considered a “hate crime” by this administration’s Department Of Justice and can land you in prison for 20 years (no, seriously), people will still refuse to support anything associated with Elon Musk as he continues to publicly support the Nazification of the United States.
What do y’all think about the the lack of sales of the once popular Tesla Cybertruck? Let us know in the comments section below.
Puerto Rican superstar Rauw Alejandro announced on Monday (April 14) that he’s taking his 2025 Cosa Nuestra world tour to Latin America, revealing that his visit will make stops in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. The Latin American tour — produced by Live Nation — will kick off on Oct. 14, in Chile and will travel […]
The first weekend of Coachella unfolded with a variety of Latin artists spanning genres as diverse as regional Mexican music, “trippy pop,” indie pop, EDM, and even classical music… with a twist. The lineup kicked off on Friday (April 11) with the eccentric Argentine duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, the Peruvian Amazonian cumbia band Los […]
Tale as old as time, true as it can be. Like countless parents every spring, Jelly Roll got emotional as he sent his daughter, Bailee Ann, off to her very first prom, with the teenager looking gorgeous in a yellow dress mirroring Disney’s Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
In a sweet clip set to Cody Johnson’s nostalgia-ridden track “Dirt Cheap” that Bailee posted to TikTok over the weekend, the “Son of a Sinner” singer looks choked up as he walks toward the camera with a bouquet of roses. It then cuts to Jelly and his firstborn standing side by side as the musician flashes a huge smile before spinning Bailee around.
“my built in best friend,” Bailee wrote of her dad in the caption.
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Jelly’s wife, podcaster Bunnie XO, also shared footage from the day, starting with Bailee’s getting-ready process. “You’re going to look like a little princess tonight!” Bunnie gushes as her stepdaughter — over whom she shares full custody with the country star — gets her hair done. “It’s your first prom, I’m so excited, oh my god.”
“I call her the Prom Pimp,” Jelly jokes right after. “That’s what I’m calling her: the Prom Pimp.”
Later, as Bailee and her friends take photos in their fancy outfits, Bunnie films her famous husband hugging a family friend with tears in his eyes. “Are you motherf–kers crying? You’re supposed to be the men of the family!” the Dumb Blonde host jokes as Jelly laughs. “What is happening?”
Bailee’s prom comes just a couple of weeks ahead of Jelly’s April 29 kickoff show in Salt Lake City with Post Malone on the Big Ass Stadium Tour. The trek follows the October release of the “Need a Favor” artist’s album, Beautifully Broken, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
But even with everything going on career-wise, Jelly — who is also Dad to a son named Noah — and Bunnie are currently in the process of trying to expand their family through IVF. The latter has been open about her journey with the treatments in recent months, telling listeners on a March podcast episode, “It’s very lonely … It’s just you and these hormones and the waiting and the egg retrieval. And like, you’re the only person who can go through that, you know? So it’s a lot to bear.”
Jelly has also been open about how far he’s come as a parent to Bailee, telling Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on the trio’s Smartless podcast in March that he had to fight for his chance to have a relationship with the now-teenager as he was incarcerated on drug charges at the time of her birth. “Her mother, at the time … rightfully so [because I was] a f–king criminal, wouldn’t let me see her,” the “Save Me” musician recalled.
“So I had to go to court,” he added at the time. “I had to get supervised visits through the courtroom … I just had to keep going to the court every six months and going, ‘Look, I’m continuing to prove I’m changing.’ Music, being famous, wasn’t even a thought then. I just wanted to be a good dad.”
Watch Jelly and Bunnie see Bailee off to her first prom below.
Having won the Grammy Award for best musical theater album in February, Hell’s Kitchen is celebrating another achievement: its one-year anniversary. Inspired by 17-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys’ life, the musical — which made its Broadway bow on April 20, 2024 — marked the upcoming anniversary with a VIP-attended performance at New York’s Shubert Theatre (April 9). And this fall, Hell’s Kitchen will launch a national touring production.
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“It’s kind of a magical experience to say, ‘Wow, look how this incredible idea that started as just a seed over 13 years ago is continuing to grow, take shape and touch people’s lives,’” Keys tells Billboard. “No matter who you are in the world or where you’re from, you’re going to see yourself in this show. You’re going to recognize your family, you’re going to recognize your own spirit, you’re going to recognize the relationship you’ve had with an important mentor in your life.
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“You’re also going to leave this show and feel not only uplifted but excited and touched,” she continues. “I love the remarks and notes from all the different people that come to see the show. We’re so excited for more people to continue to discover and fall in love with it.”
Among the celebs on hand for the recent anniversary performance and the post-show party at eatery Sei Less were Ava DuVernay, Norah Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Sherri Shepard, Busta Rhymes and Keys’ husband Swizz Beatz. The Empire State Building being lit in the play’s signature colors of blue and yellow also added to the festivities.
The current Hell’s Kitchen cast includes Grammy-nominated singer Durrell “Tank” Babbs, Tony Award winner Kecia Lewis, Jade Milan, Phillip Johnson Richardson and Jessica Vosk. Both Lewis and former original cast member Maleah Joi Moon won Tonys — for best actress in a featured role in a musical and best actress in a leading role in a musical, respectively — in 2024. Those nods were among the 13 Tony nominations the play received last year.
Alicia Keys
Tony Eaton
Produced by AKW Productions with a book by Kristoffer Diaz and music/lyrics by Keys, Hell’s Kitchen has achieved several other milestones during its first year. “Kaleidoscope,” one of the musical’s original songs, doubled as the anthem of the 2024 U.S. Open Tournament. Two Keys hits featured in the musical, “No One” and “Empire State of Mind,” were certified diamond by the RIAA, with “Empire” also celebrating its 15th anniversary. And through an ongoing partnership with the Keys co-founded organization Keep A Child Alive (KCA), Hell’s Kitchen has donated $1.3 million to date to provide aid for children across the globe.
Prior to the kickoff anniversary celebration for Hell’s Kitchen, Keys and the musical’s director, five-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, talked with Billboard about the play’s successful first year and the upcoming October launch of its national touring production (hyper here) at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square:
What was the easiest and hardest challenge in bringing the musical to life?
Keys: The hardest challenge was just holding on to the vision and making sure that through all of the processes, all of the years, all the versions and integrations of different moments and people, that it really stayed pure. I think we did a really good job of that. I’m also proud of us finding the right team to support all of it. The easiest part was the creation. Although it was long, there was an ease to it because the creative team is so special and so aligned with myself, Michael, Kris Diaz, [choreographer] Camille Brown and [music supervisor] Adam Blackstone. There’s an ease to it when everyone is ready to bring their greatest and feels so attached to it.
Greif: You stole my easiest. [Laughs.] The process was creative, exciting and productive. We liked each other, really listened to each other, and we made each other better all the time. This group coming together was so special for me. The most difficult part is happening right now, which is all about maintaining the vitality, excitement and big heart of the show as we bring it out into the world. We have the great opportunity to make new companies and ensure that that special chemistry exists between these new companies.
Alicia, looking back what was more difficult: breaking into Broadway or the music industry?
Keys: It was equally hard. Holding on to your vision, your spirit and who you are, while having the tenacity to stay the course until it all comes together and happens, is hard — no matter what you’re doing and whatever business you’re doing it in. It’s never going to be easy, because if it was easy, everybody could do it.
And I would say it was equally challenging in different ways. One of the things I love about creating Hell’s Kitchen is that I was so much more connected to myself as a person, as a businessperson, than I was as a kid coming into the music industry. So in that way, it was better, because I had a real clear sense of what it was. All the funny stuff and mistakes had happened so now I was in more of a sense of power.
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
Tony Eaton
And Michael, given your directing background with Rent, Dear Evan Hansen and other Broadway musicals, did this project feel like an immediate slam dunk?
Greif: You just go in and try your best. Even when everything is working, there’s something that’s just alchemical in a live performance; a magical combination of things coming together. It helps when you have a group of people who are looking at it and refining it all the time. But I thought this had a whole lot going for it with Alicia’s music and the story is fantastic. But you really don’t ever know. I think what this [Hell’s Kitchen] found was a unique look at what it is to begin to find yourself in the world. And that’s such a powerful and universal story.
Keys: It’s such a beautiful thing to see people put themselves on the line for the sake of a beautiful piece of work. So I did feel really confident and remain very confident in what this is. Like with a great song: you can sing that song with no music, and you feel it. You could sing it just on guitar, just on piano, and you can get a sense of the story and feel it in your heart. The same spirit lives with Hell’s Kitchen. That’s the beauty of what Kris was able to create, the direction that Michael’s been giving and the dancing is so emotional. Then the songs all tell the story in such an authentic way.
How far along are you in casting the national touring production?
Keys: We’re in auditions right now, finding ourselves back in the buildings where we began the original cast. It’s really an incredible experience being able to discover young actors that are just out of high school and offer them this chance of a lifetime. Powerful young actors about whom we’re going to be able to say in five, 10, 15 years that this is the beginning of where they started. And I love the way this story lends itself to such a diverse group of people who are really identifying with this story. And we’re so grateful for that.
Max Romeo, the beloved reggae singer best known for recording such widely sampled songs as “War Ina Babylon” and “Chase the Devil” died in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica on Friday (April 11) at age 80. A statement on the singer’s Facebook page read, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Max. We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and tributes and kindly ask for privacy at this time. Legends never die.”
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While no official cause of death had been announced at press time, according to The Guardian, the singer born Maxwell Livingston Smith died from heart complications.
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Born in St. D’Acre in St. Anne, Jamaica on Nov. 22, 1944, Romeo left home as a teenager to seek out a music career in Kingston in the late 1960s, where he met such future reggae superstars as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and got his first small taste of success as part of the group The Emotions. Though he would later make a name for writing conscious, political songs such as “Let the Power Fall on I,” Romeo first burst onto the scene in 1969 with the explicit, lascivious “Wet Dream.” The tune on which he sings “Every night me go to sleep, me have wet dream/ Lie down gal, let me push it up, push it up, lie down,” became a British top 10 hit despite getting banned from BBC Radio stations due to its cheeky lyrics.
The accompanying 1969 album, A Dream, didn’t spawn any other hits, but Romeo returned in 1971 with the more politically focused Let the Power Fall, which mixed skanking covers of songs by Neil Diamond (“Crackling Rosie”) and Bob Marley (“Chatter Box”) with that album’s breakout anthem, “Let the Power Fall On I”; the song became the theme for Jamaica’s People’s National Party during its winning 1972 election campaign.
“I’m gonna put on an iron shirt/ And chase Satan out of Earth. I’m gonna put on an iron shirt/ And chase the devil out of Earth,” Romeo sang on the the steady rocking “Chase the Devil,” one of several hits from the pair of albums Romeo recorded with pioneering reggae producer Lee “Scratch’ Perry. The song has been widely sampled over the years by everyone from The Prodigy (“Out of Space”), to Jay-Z (“Lucifer”) and Cage the Elephant (“Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked (Wicked Devil Reggae Remix),” among many others.
The fruitful relationship between Romeo and Perry launched in 1975 on the album Revelation Time, with the Perry-produced reggae-fied take on the traditional children’s song “Three Blind Mice.”
By the next year, Romeo was all-in with Perry, using his crack studio band, the Upsetters, as his house band on the career-peak War Ina Babylon LP. Infused with Perry’s signature reverb-drenched dub style, the album opened with the hypnotic “One Step Forward” — a broadside against Prime Minister Michael Manley’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1976 — and included the pleading title track, which mirrored the political and social turmoil that gripped the island nation in the mid-1970s.
The song was part of a rising tide of roots reggae anthems commenting on the nation’s turmoil, with Romeo singing, “War ina Babylon/ Tribal war ina Babylon/ It sipple out deh [it’s slippery out there].” The album was considered to be the first in a “holy trinity” of LPs from Perry’s mystical, chaotic Black Ark recording studio, along with Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves and the Heptones’ Party Time.
After releasing 1977’s Reconstruction album, Romeo moved to New York where he co-wrote and starred in the musical Reggae, as well as providing backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ Emotional Rescue track “Dance (Pt. 1).” Stones guitarist Keith Richards co-produced and played guitar on Romeo’s next album, 1981’s Holding Out My Love to You.
Though he never managed a Marley-like breakthrough in the U.S., Romeo released nearly two dozen albums from the 1980s through his final studio effort, 2019’s Words From the Brave. In 2023, the singer filed a $15 million lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Polygram Publishing over what he said were improper royalty payments.
Listen to some of Romeo’s most beloved songs below.
Singer, actor, and mental health advocate Demi Lovato is set to perform at Caron Treatment Centers’ 31st annual New York Gala, which is set to take place April 21 at Cipriani 42nd Street. The event will benefit Caron’s Recovery for Life mission, increasing access to addiction and behavioral healthcare treatment.
The Gala will also feature an opening performance by Grammy winners (and married couple) Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal and will honor three philanthropists and advocates: Dr. Angelina Lipman, Monte Lipman and Jennifer Bandier.
“Recovery is possible – and I am honored to support Caron in helping individuals reclaim their lives and embrace a brighter future,” Lovato said in a statement.
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Lovato has received four nominations – more than any other artist – in the Video for Good category at the MTV Video Music Awards. The category is designed for videos that address current social and political subjects. She won in 2012 with “Skyscraper” and was subsequently nominated for “I Love Me,” “Dancing With the Devil” and “Swine.”
Dr. Angelina Lipman, psychologist and founder of Blocking the Noise, and Monte Lipman, founder and CEO of Republic Records, will be honored with the Thomas J. Moran Caron Music Award for their ongoing philanthropic efforts and support of Caron’s mission. The Lipmans serve on the founders board of The Neil Lasher Music Fund and are actively involved in a number of charitable organizations focused on health, education, and the arts.
Dr. Lipman, a social personality psychologist and former Columbia Business School professor, brings academic depth to their shared mission—applying her research on human behavior to drive meaningful change in education and social impact.
“Supporting Caron is personal for us,” Dr. Lipman said in a statement. “The work they do touches lives in meaningful, lasting ways.”
Jennifer Bandier will receive the Richard J. Caron Award of Excellence for her longtime support of Caron and her broader philanthropic impact. The award is presented annually to individuals demonstrating the care and compassion exemplified by Caron’s founders, Richard and Catherine Caron. A music industry veteran and founder of the luxury activewear brand BANDIER, Jennifer is also a dedicated mentor, advocate for women in business, and longtime Gala Steering Committee member.
“Being honored with this award is deeply meaningful to me,” Bandier said in a statement. “Caron’s work is essential, and I’m proud to support their commitment to transforming lives.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Demi Lovato and celebrate our incredible honorees,” said John Driscoll, president and CEO of Caron. “This evening reflects our shared commitment to recovery and a future filled with purpose, connection, and possibility.”
Funds raised at the Gala will provide scholarships and programmatic support for Caron’s work in New York and beyond, including outpatient services, family programming, alumni support, and prevention initiatives. Caron New York, which opened in 1996, serves as a hub for community engagement, education, and early intervention.
For tickets and sponsorships, contact caronnygala@buckleyhallevents.com or call 914-570-1000.
Caron Treatment Centers is a nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives through addiction and behavioral healthcare treatment, research, prevention and addiction medicine education. During its almost 70 years, Caron has helped thousands of individuals struggling with behavioral health issues, including substance use disorders.
Anchored by two medical centers on its Pennsylvania and Florida campuses, Caron is headquartered in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. In addition, Caron provides services in Wyomissing and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and New York City.
This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2005 Week continues here a discussion of Ciara’s dominant 2005, a year full of huge, beloved hits that set the tone for mid-’00s pop music, but proved pretty hard for the breakout artist to later match.
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After hitting the mainsteram in late 2004, with her debut album Goodies and its Billboard Hot 100-topping title track, Ciara stayed winning all throughout 2005. From peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100 with the Missy Elliott-assisted “1, 2 Step” that January through to matching that success with her Ludacris-featuring spring smash “Oh!” to returning the favor to Missy on the latter’s smash “Lose Control” and teaming up with her real-life paramour Bow Wow on “Like You,” Ciara ended 2005 with five consecutive top five hits, and four top 30 entries on the year-end Hot 100. It was an incredible year, one that played a huge part in defining that era in pop — though, perhaps understandably, Ciara never equaled it again.
In this week’s Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by former Billboard writer and current freelance journalist (and Nothin’ But North Texas radio host) Natalie Weiner to officially kick off our 2005 week with a deep dive into The First Lady of Crunk & B’s biggest year. We start at the beginning of the Goodies era, when Ciara emerged as the ideal new pop star for a top 40 world that had become increasingly rooted in hip-hop and R&B, and run through her awesome streak of still-beloved smashes, and some of the collaborators who helped make her year what it was.
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And of course, along the way, we ask all the big questions about Ciara’s All-Star rookie season: What made her such a can’t-miss pop star for that moment in time? How weird was it that she was constantly cast as the one woman surrounded by a bunch of dudes? Did it hurt her in the long-term that she was never able to be a solo headliner on any of her early singles? How did Carmelo Anthony end up getting cast in the video for Goodies‘ lone flop single? And perhaps most importantly: Why don’t we ever seem to get pop star years as fun and simple as Ciara’s 2005 anymore?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from Ciara’s 2005, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed, and giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.