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Whether you respect her hustle or not, Lily Allen is gonna keep on grinding.
A few months after joining OnlyFans to sell photos of her feet, the 39-year-old singer-songwriter said on X Friday (Oct. 25) that her side business has been more lucrative than the streams she earns on one of the world’s biggest music platforms. “imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,” she wrote.
Allen’s remark came in response to someone who’d negatively commented on a post advertising her OnlyFans account. “Imagine being one of the biggest pop stars/musicians in Europe and then being reduced to this,” the fan wrote, to which the “Smile” singer added: “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Billboard has reached out to Spotify for comment.
At press time, the monthly subscription cost of Allen’s OnlyFans page is $10. Going off her numbers, Allen is making about $10,000 each month on the site. In 2023, the number of artists who made $10,000 or more in royalties from Spotify streams was about 66,000.
The musician launched her feet-photo business in July after learning that she had an exceedingly high score on WikiFeet, which she revealed on her Miss Me? podcast. “I have a lady that comes and does my nails,” she told co-host Miquita Oliver at the time. “She said that I could make a lot of money from selling foot content on OnlyFans. And I’m like, ‘Not no.’”
Shortly afterward, Allen shared how her husband — Stranger Things star David Harbour — reacted to her new undertaking. “Yeah, he is, he thinks it’s great,” she said on Miss Me? “At first, he was like, not turned on, but he was like, ‘Is this a kink for you?’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s totally not a kink,’ but maybe there’s something in the power element of it that’s slightly kinky for me.”
See Allen’s tweet below.
imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet. don’t hate the player, hate the game. https://t.co/Fx7JAhPhV5— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) October 25, 2024
Stevie Nicks made her grand return in September with the release of “The Lighthouse,” a song inspired by the fight for abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. And in a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning airing Oct. 27, the star explained why she decided to champion a historically polarizing cause.
When asked why she even took “the risk” of releasing “The Lighthouse” by correspondent Tracy Smith, Nicks was self-assured. “Because everybody kept saying around me, not to me, just around me, ‘Well, somebody has to do something,’” she told the program. “‘Somebody has to say something.’”
“And I’m like, ‘Well, I have a platform,’” she continued. “I tell a good story. So maybe I should try to do something. I was also there. I was, been there, done that.”
Nicks has previously been open about having sought reproductive care when she was younger. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, she reflected on getting an abortion in the late ’70s after getting pregnant by her “Leather and Lace” collaborator Don Henley.
“Don was the first guy I actually went out with after Lindsey [Buckingham] and I broke up,” she told the publication. “I go to my GYN, and he says, ‘Well, you’ve been protected by your Copper-7 IUD, but you have a tipped uterus. That IUD is only protecting half of you, and we didn’t know that.’”
“Now, what the hell am I going to do?” she continued. “I cannot have a child. I am not the kind of woman who would hand my baby over to a nanny, not in a million years. So we would be dragging a baby around the world on tour, and I wouldn’t do that to my baby. I wouldn’t say I just need nine months. I would say I need a couple of years, and that would break up the band, period. So my decision was to have an abortion.”
Women’s healthcare is one of the reasons the “Edge of Seventeen” singer is backing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Shortly after Taylor Swift shared her endorsement of the Democratic candidate in September, Nicks wrote on Instagram, “As my friend @taylorswift so eloquently stated, now is the time to research and choose the candidate that speaks to you and your beliefs … Your vote in this election may be one of the most important things you ever do.”
Watch Nicks talk about the importance of supporting abortion rights below:
“I have a platform, I tell a good story…I was also there.” Singer Stevie Nicks opens up about the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the 2024 election, and her personal experience with abortion. pic.twitter.com/sjQvTpeDf0— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) October 25, 2024
Rapper Lil Durk was arrested late Thursday (Oct. 24) in Florida on a federal murder-for-hire charge, hours after several of his alleged associates were indicted on similar charges over their alleged involvement in a shooting aimed at rapper Quando Rando.
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The Chicago rapper (Durk Devontay Banks) is being held in Broward County jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Office, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office inmate records. Charges are not yet public in court records, and additional details on the case against him are not yet available.
The star’s attorney, Brian Bieber, confirmed to Billboard that Durk was in custody and would have an initial court appearance in Florida federal court on Friday.
Durk’s arrest came hours after Los Angeles federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against several alleged members of Durk’s Only the Family (OTF) hip-hop group. The five men — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston — are charged with murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy.
In the indictment, prosecutors say the five men were behind a 2022 shooting in Los Angeles aimed at Quando Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) that left his cousin dead. They say that shooting was ordered by an unnamed co-conspirator in retaliation for a 2020 shooting in Atlanta, in which a Rondo associate allegedly shot and killed Chicago rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett).
“After the [2020] murder, Co-Conspirator 1 made clear, in coded language, that Co-Conspirator 1 would pay a bounty or monetary reward, and/or make payment to anyone who took part in killing T.B. for his role in D.B.’s murder,” prosecutors write, using Rondo and Von’s initials.
Durk is not charged or mentioned in the earlier case.
King Von, a rising rapper in Chicago’s drill scene and a childhood friend of Durk, was shot and killed outside an Atlanta nightclub on Nov. 6, 2020, after an argument between two groups turned into a fight in the parking lot. A 22-year-old man named Timothy Leeks, reportedly an associate of Rondo, was arrested days later, but the case was eventually dropped.
Two years later, on Aug. 19, 2022, Rondo and associate Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) were ambushed by gunmen while sitting in their car at a Los Angeles gas station. Rondo emerged unscathed, but Robinson later died at the hospital.
According Thursday’s indictment, that killing was allegedly carried out by OTF members Grant, Wilson and Houston, as well as by Jones and Lindsey, who prosecutors say were “members of other gangs in Chicago.” They allege the group “used two vehicles to track, stalk, and attempt to kill T.B. by gunfire — including with a fully automatic firearm — resulting in the death of S.R.”
Prosecutors say the group carried out the attack on orders from the unnamed “Co-Conspirator 1” in retaliation for the earlier King Von slaying. At one point, that unnamed conspirator allegedly texted another co-conspirator: “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.”
“Co-Conspirator 1 would place bounties on individuals that Co-Conspirator 1 and other OTF members wanted to kill, including T.B.,” prosecutors write in Thursday’s indictment. “As part of the bounty, co-conspirators … would pay anyone who took part in the killing of T.B. and/or reward individuals with lucrative music opportunities with OTF.”
Nicole Scherzinger may have been one of the last people to communicate with Liam Payne before the singer’s death on Oct. 16 following a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In an interview with Billboard about Scherzinger’s “one-of-a-kind” Broadway performance in Sunset Blvd., composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed that Scherzinger — who met Payne when she was a judge on the English X-Factor, where One Direction were formed — had been in communication with Liam on the day of his death.
“She was still texting him that day, and [that evening] the reviewers came in [to SUNSET], she’d just heard that he died,” said Webber of the previews for the musical in which Scherzinger stars as Norma Desmond. “And the fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary. I mean she is an amazing, amazing woman. She is without any question one of the finest performers I’ve ever worked with.”
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On Thursday (Oct. 24), Scherzinger posted a tribute to Payne on Instagram in the form of a letter to her late friend. “Dear Liam, I will forever cherish and treasure the time we shared together, from fifteen years ago when One Direction was born, right up until just a few weeks ago,” she wrote. “It was such a blessing to get to work with you recently. We shared the same love and passion for music and I will forever remember the meaningful and joyful conversations we had.”
The accompanying photo showed a smiling Payne posing with Scherzinger and former Destiny’s Child member and solo star Kelly Rowlands from the set of their Netflix series Building the Band. The music competition series — which also features host Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean — began filming this summer with the premise of talented singers tasked with forming their own bands without seeing each other first. At press time a spokesperson for the series had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on plans for airing the series in the wake of Payne’s passing.
“It’s been so hard to process that you’re no longer here, but I am grateful to have known your kind heart, sweet soul and character,” Scherzinger continued. “You brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the lives of those that truly knew you. I will ‘miss you’ my friend and carry you in my heart. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.”
In 2022, a previously unseen clip from 1D’s formation on X-Factor revealed that it was Scherzinger who was instrumental in putting solo singers Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson together as a group. “We thought of each of you as individuals, and we just feel that you’re too talented to let go of,” Scherzinger said at the time. “We think it would be a great idea to have two separate groups,” she continued as judge Simon Cowell broke the tension by announcing that the newly formed band would be going through to the next round.
The unseen portion of the video showed that Scherzinger was heavily involved in putting together the members of the group that she gushed at the time would be the “cutest boy band ever! The little girls are gonna love them!… They’re just too talented to get rid of. And they’ve got just the right look and the right charisma on stage. I think they’ll be really great in a boy band together,” she said.
At the time, Cowell predicted that confident Payne would likely the “leader” of the newly formed group. “They’re like little stars,” Scherzinger said of the five boys who had initially auditioned as solo acts; Payne had also auditioned as a solo act two years earlier in 2008. “So you can’t get rid of little stars. You put them all together,” Scherzinger said.
On Wednesday, Buenos Aires police raided the luxury hotel where Payne was staying when he died, reportedly taking away a number of items, including hard drives and CCTV footage. Payne, 31, died after falling from a third-floor balcony, with an autopsy report revealing that he died from a number of injuries, including internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. Investigators reportedly found a number of substances in his body at the time, including a recreational drug called “pink cocaine,” a mixture of substances that often contains ketamine combined with MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and/or psychoactive substances. Full autopsy details are not expected for several more weeks.
Scherzinger is the latest star to post a tribute to Payne, following on the heels of statements from his former 1D bandmates, 5 Seconds of Summer’s Ashton Irwin, Justin Bieber and the singer’s girlfriend of two years, Kate Cassidy, among many others.
Police in Buenos Aires raided the hotel where Liam Payne was staying before his death on Oct. 16 in a fall from a balcony. According to the Associated Press, a police special investigations unit descended on the Casa Sur Hotel on Wednesday night (Oct. 23) on orders from the prosecutor’s office, reportedly seizing a number of items including computer hard drives and footage from hotel CCTV cameras.
Payne, 31, died after falling from a third-floor balcony, with an autopsy report revealing that he died from a number of injuries, including internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. The AP reported that an initial investigation suggests that the late One Direction and solo star was alone before his death and had a “breakdown” following the consumption of drugs; police reportedly found a number of substances in his body at the time, including a recreational drug called “pink cocaine,” a mixture of substances that often contains ketamine combined with MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids and/or psychoactive substances. A handmade aluminum pipe was also found in his Argentina hotel room, according to ABC News. Full autopsy details are not expected for several more weeks.
On Oct. 16, streams and sales of both 1D and Payne’s music have surged in the U.S. and globally in the wake of the singer’s shock passing. Official on-demand U.S. streams of 1D’s five-album catalog totaled 5.9 million, a vault of 174% over 2.1 million the previous day, according to Luminate. On Oct. 17, they rose further to 22.2 million, up 278% over the day before.
In addition, globally, 1D pulled 21.3 million streams on Oct. 16, a 76% gain from 12.1 million on Oct. 15. The group’s catalog soared 298% to 84.9 million streams on Oct. 17.
In the week since Payne’s death, fans have turned the site of his passing into a makeshift shrine, laying candles, teddy bears, photos and other totems around the hotel entrance. Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, is reportedly currently in Buenos Aires helping to make arrangements for the transfer of his son’s body back to England, with officials expected to release it around Oct. 28.
Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, was the latest member of the singer’s inner circle to pay tribute to the beloved star in an Instagram post on Wednesday in which she called him her “best friend [and] the love of my life.” His romantic partner of two years, Cassidy wrote, “None of this feels real, and I can’t wrap my head around this new reality of not having you here. I’m struggling to figure out how to live in a world without you by my side. Together, we got to be kids again, always finding joy in the smallest things.”
The influencer also noted that a few weeks prior to his death Payne wrote her a note confessing his hopes to marry her within the next year. “Liam, I know we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we had planned. You’ll always be with me,” Cassidy said. “I’ve gained a guardian angel. I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond, carrying our dreams and memories with me everywhere I go.”
Bruce Springsteen supported Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at a rally on Thursday night (Oct. 24) in Clarkston, Georgia, performing three songs and standing in stark opposition to Harris’ opponent, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. “I’m Bruce Springsteen and I am here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for president and vice president […]
A Georgia judge is weighing whether to declare a mistrial in Young Thug’s long-running Atlanta gang trial, a move that would require prosecutors to either start from scratch or drop a case that has already lasted more than two years.
The motion for a mistrial was sparked by an incident Wednesday (Oct. 23) in which a state’s witness accidentally revealed sensitive information to the jury. Defense attorneys said the mistake was caused by prosecutor missteps, and the judge quickly chided government lawyers for “sloppiness.”
A mistrial would mean an abrupt end to a criminal trial that has stretched across 10 months of jury selection and 11 months of testimony to become the longest-ever in state history. Prosecutors have meandered through a vast list of witnesses, and the case has been beset by unusual delays — including a jailhouse stabbing of one defendant and a bizarre episode over a secret meeting that saw the presiding judge removed from the case.
Since taking over the case this summer, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has expressed frustration with how the Fulton County District Attorney’s office has been handling the case. Last month, she blasted the prosecutors for “poor lawyering, “baffling” decisions and steps to repeatedly “hide the ball” amid a “haphazard” trial.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Whitaker refused outright to declare a mistrial with prejudice, which would have permanently ended the case. But she said she would consider doing so without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could attempt to retry their case from scratch in front of a new jury.
The specter of such an outcome has prompted prosecutors to discuss plea deals. According to X posts by Cath Russon, managing editor at Law&Crime, each defense team was set to meet individually on Thursday with District Attorney Fani Willis to discuss potential deals.
As a result of the negotiations and the pending mistrial motions, all trial proceedings before Whitaker on Thursday (Oct. 24) and Friday (Oct. 25) have been postponed and the trial is currently scheduled to resume on Monday morning (Oct. 28), according to Russon.
Thug (Jeffery Williams), a chart-topping rapper and producer who helped shape the sound of hip-hop over the past decade, was indicted in May 2022 along with dozens of others over allegations that his “YSL” was not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but rather a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life.” The case, built around Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, claims the group committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade.
While the slow-moving trial has dragged on, Thug has been sitting in jail for more than two years, repeatedly denied bond over fears that he might intimidate witnesses. If the judge grants a mistrial and prosecutors decide to retry their case, he could have years more in jail until a verdict is reached. Such an outcome could potentially motivate defendants, too, to consider a negotiated resolution.
The Wednesday incident that sparked the calls for a mistrial took place as prosecutors were questioning a witness named Wunnie Lee (aka Slimelife Shawty), a former defendant in the YSL case who signed a plea agreement in exchange for testifying.
While on the stand, prosecutors asked Lee to identify certain defendants by showing him social media posts. While reading one of the posts, Lee read aloud the hashtag #freequa — a reference to a previous prison sentence for Marquavius Huey (aka Qua), one of Thug’s current co-defendants.
That was a crucial error by prosecutors. The jury was not supposed to know which defendants had previously been incarcerated, and defense attorneys argued that the government was supposed to redact the post and prep Lee not to mention it. After the admission before jurors, defense attorneys quickly moved for a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell,” defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland said in court. “It is painfully obvious that the state is not prepping their witnesses.”
The misstep quickly drew another sharp critique from Judge Whitaker, who attempted to reach a solution that would allow the case to move forward: “What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness so that everybody won’t have wasted 10 to 12 months of their lives in this trial.”
James Taylor is supporting the Democratic ticket, as the presidential election quickly approaches. The “You’ve Got a Friend” singer will join Kamala Harris’ vice presidential choice, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, during his rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Thursday (Oct. 24). At the event, Walz will speak to state residents about their power to vote, […]
Beyoncé is set to appear at Kamala Harris‘ rally in Houston, Tex. — the pop superstar’s hometown — this Friday (Oct. 25), according to multiple reports.
Per The Washington Post, CNN, ABC News, The Hollywood Reporter and NBC News, which cited sources familiar with the planning, Bey will appear at the event — the venue of which has yet to be announced — as the Democratic candidate makes one of her final addresses to voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. The reports include no further details on whether the “Texas Hold ‘Em” musician will perform or share remarks.
The DNC’s event posting for the rally, however, confirms that Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles, and Cowboy Carter collaborator, country legend Willie Nelson, will definitely be in attendance.
Billboard has reached out to Beyoncé’s rep, Harris’ campaign and the DNC for comment.
Though the 32-time Grammy winner has not vocalized support for Harris amid the 2024 election cycle, her presence has loomed large over the VP’s campaign. In August, the superstar was heavily rumored to appear at the Democratic National Convention — leaving even some of the Chicago event’s staffers to believe she was on the premises — but never showed up. Her 2016 track “Freedom” has also been prominent in Harris’ campaign, becoming the former prosecutor’s walkout song back in July. CNN confirmed that month that Bey had indeed given direct approval for the song’s use.
The “Break My Soul” artist has also long used her voice to support political causes, performing with Jay-Z at a Hillary Clinton musical rally in Cleveland in 2016. In 2020, Bey supported Joe Biden’s campaign and later celebrated his victory on Instagram.
If she appears, Bey will become just the latest musician to support Harris in person at a campaign event. Megan Thee Stallion, Bon Iver, Pink, Stevie Wonder and several more have performed at various rallies for the VP this year, while others such as Quavo and Eminem have given remarks. Dozens more artists have also publicly endorsed the Democratic ticket in recent months, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Katy Perry and more.
Bey’s mom has also previously come out in support of Harris. “New, Youthful, Sharp,” Knowles wrote on Instagram July 21, sharing a photo of herself posing with the politician. “Go Vice President Kamala Harris for President. Let’s Go ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #kamala2024”
Jennifer Lopez delivered an important PSA Wednesday (Oct. 23), less than two weeks ahead of the presidential election — and she did it through song. Sitting behind a piano next to actress Jenifer Lewis and vocal coach Stevie Mackey in a video posted to social media, the “On the Floor” singer and her friends belted […]