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The Harris campaign will continue to rock this week with another campaign event featuring prominent musical guests. According to an announcement for the When We Vote We Win event in Madison, WI on Wednesday (Oct. 30) evening, it will feature Democratic Presidential candidate current V.P. Kamala Harris, as well as appearances from Gracie Abrams, Remi […]
Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin were among the prominent artists who showed support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Sunday (Oct. 27) after a speaker at a Donald Trump rally made a racist joke about Puerto Rico. All three boosted a video from the Democratic candidate pledging to do her best for the citizens of the island nation following what CNN described as a Trump rally brimming with “blistering anti-migrant rhetoric [that] ranks alongside the most flagrant demagoguery by a major figure in any Western nation since World War II.”
Their show of support for Harris came after comedian/podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe opened for convicted felon Trump at a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden by offering up the racist jibe, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
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In addition, Hinchcliffe — one of nearly 30 speakers who warmed up the crowd for twice impeached former Pres. Trump — also made other racist and sexist jokes about Latinos (“they love making babies… there’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country”) as well as racist jibes about his Black “buddies” who he “carved watermelons” with and an antisemitic joke about how “Jews have a hard time throwing that paper.”
According to reports, the attempts at humor did not go over well inside the room, where they were met with tepid applause. And in an unusual apology from the Trump campaign, a senior advisor said in a statement afterwards that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” seemingly in reference to the Puerto Rico joke. The Harris campaign referred to the Hinchcliffe set as “a vile racist tirade against Latinos.”
The racist comment immediately galvanized the trio of Puerto Rican artists, with Bad Bunny re-posting a video message from Harris in which she discussed the importance of the election for the citizens of the U.S. territory, reminding them what Trump “did and did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader” after the nation was hit with devastating damage after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017; a new report revealed that the Trump administration obstructed an investigation into why officials withheld $20 billion in hurricane relief from P.R. following Maria.
In addition to Bad Bunny sharing the message with his 45 million Instagram followers, Martin also boosted the Harris video to his nearly 19 million followers on his Instagram Stories, adding the message, “I remember @kamalaharris,” as did Lopez, whose re-post to her 250 million Instagram followers included links to Harris’ socials as well as a hands clapping emoji. Martin also claimed that his posts on X with similar content were being suppressed on the platform owned by Trump financial backer Elon Musk.
“Despacito” star and P.R. native Luis Fonsi reposted the Hinchcliffe video on his Stories with the message “Are you serious?,” as well as a portion of the Harris video and a lengthy personal note responding to the hate speech. “I understand comedy, I’m a big fan of it,” he wrote. I love roasts, trust me I get it. BUT… this is far from comedy. Not now, not against my island [Puerto Rico flag emoji], my people. Hell nah!”
Fonsi said it’s okay to have different views, but racism is not acceptable. ““We are not OK with this constant hate. It’s been abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us and yet they want our vote,” Fonsi wrote. “I purposely wrote this in English cause yes we’re American too.”
The shocking comments from Hinchcliffe at the Trump rally where CNN reported Republican candidate Trump and his MAGA surrogates spewed “racist, vulgar attacks at Harris and Democrats” came nine days before Americans go to the polls, and just a few after Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, said the former reality TV star fits into the “general definition of a fascist” and frequently praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It also comes as both Harris and Trump are spending precious time and money in the waning hours of the campaign to win over voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, where nearly 500,000 Puerto Ricans live, representing the third-largest P.R. diaspora in the U.S.
While the quartet of P.R.-born superstars did not explicitly endorse the Harris campaign in their posts, the show of support for the Democrat vying to the the first woman and person of Asian American descent to become President comes as both campaigns have been laser-focused on trying to win over crucial voting blocks including Black and Hispanic men.
With just over a week to go before Election Day, the DNC is kicking into high gear.
On Monday (Oct. 28), the DNC announced a historic “I Will Vote” ad campaign targeting Black voters through ads in 55 Black publications and on 48 Black radio stations across the United States. Grammy-winning Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers Stevie Wonder, John Legend and LeToya Luckett-Coles are set to lend their voices to the campaign, alongside Emmy-winning actress and producer Kerry Washington.
Wonder, Legend, Luckett-Coles and Washington each voice a unique ad focusing on a different element of the upcoming election. Wonder stresses the merit and importance of voting in elections because they “determine our future”; Legend explicitly notes the Democrats’ triumph in capping insulin prices at “$35 a month for seniors”; Luckett-Coles reminds listeners that “several women in states across this country are literally dying because they rolled away our rights to reproductive health care” and Washington encourages voting “if you want to lower the cost of living.”
“This investment showcases Democrats’ unwavering commitment to reaching Black voters where they are and through the platforms they trust – including familiar Black voices that will reach them on the airwaves – to ensure they have the resources they need to cast their ballot in the most important election of our lifetimes,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “We know that the Black vote will play a major role in the outcome of this election … In this last sprint to Election Day, the Democratic Party is taking no vote or community for granted, using every opportunity to engage with every facet of our diverse coalition of voters in order to elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November.”
Some of the Black digital and print publications that will feature the new ad campaign include African News Digest, The Baltimore Times, Ebony News Today, The New Orleans Tribune, Pride Magazine, Star of Zion, Word In Black and The Villager.
The “I Will Vote” campaign coincides with the DNC’s HBCU Homecoming Tour in partnership with BET We V.O.T.E., which featured Spelman College and Morehouse College’s Spelhouse Homecoming as its final stop. The tour also visited Winston-Salem University (Sept. 28), Lincoln University (Oct. 12), Virginia State University (Oct. 12), Howard University (Oct. 19) and North Carolina A&T State University (Oct. 19).
All of the artists involved in the “I Will Vote” campaign have lent their support to the Democratic Party in the past. At this year’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago (held Aug. 19-22), Wonder performed his 1973 Hot 100 top 10 hit “Higher Ground” (No. 4); a few weeks later, the music legend unveiled a poignant new single titled “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” his first new song in four years. That track soon gave way to a short arena tour called Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart.
Legend also performed at the 2024 DNC. The EGOT winner teamed up with Sheila E. for a spirited rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy” in tribute to Prince, who shares a home state with Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz (Minnesota). Though she is not a musician, Washington also lent her star power to the DNC, serving as emcee for the convention’s final night while staging a reunion with Scandal co-star (and fictional president!) Tony Goldwyn.
Luckett-Cole, who boasts a Billboard 200 No. 1 album of her own (2006’s LeToya), is a former member of Destiny’s Child. During her time in the Grammy-winning vocal group, she sang alongside Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and Beyoncé, whose Kendrick Lamar-assisted “Freedom” has served as Vice President Kamala Harris‘ official campaign song.
Demi Lovato‘s newborn niece, Xiomara, died following an emergency cesarean section, says the singer’s younger sister, Madison De La Garza. De La Garza posted a statement on Instagram on Saturday (Oct. 26), and Lovato shared her sister’s heartbreaking message.
“On the evening of September 27th, after an emergency c-section, Ryan and I held our little girl for the first and last time. Thank you, Xiomara, for making us parents to the most perfect angel in heaven. Mommy and Daddy love you sweet girl,” De La Garza, 22, wrote in her post. She and boyfriend Ryan Mitchell had announced the pregnancy on Sept. 7, as well as De La Garza’s October due date.
“I love you so much Xiomara. An angel in every sense of the word. I’ll be your auntie forever,” Lovato commented on her sister’s post on Saturday.
Dallas Lovato, their older sister, penned a touching poem: “Baby girl Xiomara, I miss you everyday. I’ll take good care of your mom, so you can fly away. Watch over us and guide us and give us little signs. One day we’ll come and see you, it just might take some time. Not a single day will pass without you in our hearts. I wish we got more time together before you had to depart. So have fun in your new world, the one we cannot see. Because every breath I take, I’ll be taking one for z.”
Dianna De La Garza, the siblings’ mother and baby Xiomara’s grandmother, wrote, “They say when you meet your Grandchild for the first time, you feel a love that you can’t explain in words. I felt that love and I will feel it til the day I die. I love you my sweet granddaughter Xiomara. Thank you for making me a REAL ‘Grandma D.’”
On Saturday, Lovato also shared her younger sister’s post in an Instagram Story on her own account, where she wrote, “RIP to my beautiful, perfect niece Xiomara. I’m so grateful I got to hold you. I’ll forever be your auntie.”
“I love you so much @maddelagarza,” she said.
De La Garza and Mitchell are both actors, with De La Garza best known for her role as young Juanita Solis on Desperate Housewives from 2008-2012. Mitchell’s credits include appearances on soap operas The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless in 2017.
They shared their first public photo as a couple on Instagram on June 13, with De La Garza captioning the personal snapshot “My whole world.”
On Sept. 7, when the couple announced they were expecting, De La Garza shared a sweet picture of herself with Mitchell, with her hand resting on her belly. The photo was one of several in a slideshow of images celebrating the pregnancy with family. She did not post again until Oct. 26.
Last month Lovato shed light on her experience with childhood fame when she released her documentary Child Star on Hulu. The pop star and actress co-directed the film with Nicola Marsh. Since then, she’s performed at the 2024 Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala, participated in Project Healthy Minds’ World Mental Health Day panel and gala, and sang one of Foreigner’s biggest hits, “Feels Like the First Time,” at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2024 Induction Ceremony.
Beyoncé is standing beside Kamala Harris leading up to Election Day on Nov. 5.
The 32-time Grammy winner took the stage alongside her Destiny’s Child bandmate and childhood friend Kelly Rowland at the Democratic presidential nominee’s rally in their hometown of Houston, Texas, on Friday night (Oct. 25), where they endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket and urged their fellow Texans to do the same.
“H-Town!” Beyoncé said to rapturous cheers when she took the mic. “We are so happy to be standing here on this stage as proud, country, Texas women supporting and celebrating the one and only Vice President Kamala Harris. A woman who’s been pushing for what this country really needs right now: unity. It’s impossible not to feel the energy in this room, the positivity, the community, the humanity. We are at the precipice of an incredible shift. The brink of history.
“I’m not here as a celebrity,” she added. “I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares, deeply, about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we’re not divided. Our past, our present, our future merge to meet us here.”
Bey spoke to “all the men and women in this room, and watching around the country,” telling them: “We need you. Your voice has power and magnitude. Your vote is one of the most valuable tools, and we need you. Your freedom is your god-given right, your human right. Everybody say Texas! Texas plays a pivotal role to change the course of our future.”
The superstar then leaned into her music roots to wrap her speech, saying, “It’s time to sing a new song. A song that began 248 years ago. The old notes of downfall, discord, despair no longer resonate. Our generations of loved ones before us are whispering a prophecy, a quest, a calling, an anthem. Our moment is right now. It’s time for America to sing a new song. Our voices sing a song of unity. They sing a song of dignity and opportunity. Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song? Because I am. So let’s do this. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a big, loud Texas welcome to the next president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris.”
In addition to Rowland and Beyoncé, Willie Nelson performed at the Houston rally and Harris ended the night with a speech.
Though Bey hadn’t previously vocalized support for Harris amid the 2024 election cycle, her presence has been strong in the VP’s campaign over the past few months. In August, the superstar was heavily rumored to appear at the Democratic National Convention, but never showed up. Her 2016 track “Freedom” has also been a mainstay in Harris’ campaign, becoming the Democratic nominee’s walkout song in July. CNN confirmed that month that Bey had given direct approval for the song’s use.
She has previously supported other Democratic political causes, including performing with Jay-Z at a Hillary Clinton musical rally in Cleveland in 2016 ahead of that year’s presidential election. In 2020, Bey supported Joe Biden’s campaign and later celebrated his victory on Instagram. Additionally, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer performed at both of Barack Obama’s inaugurations in 2009 and 2013.
Watch Beyonce’s full speech below:
Lil Durk ordered his OTF associates to murder rapper Quando Rondo in a failed 2022 shooting, according to criminal charges unsealed by federal prosecutors on Friday (Oct. 25) — and he was allegedly planning to take a private jet to Italy when he was arrested.
The Chicago rapper (real name Durk Devontay Banks) was arrested Thursday evening on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, hours after several of his Only the Family associates were indicted on similar charges over their alleged involvement in the attempted killing of Rondo (Tyquian Bowman).
In a new complaint unsealed on Friday, prosecutors laid out their case against Durk (referred to as BANKS in the complaint) — accusing OTF of being not just a rap collective, but also a “hybrid organization” that also functions as a criminal gang that has carried out violent acts “at the direction of BANKS.”
Prosecutors say one of those acts was the 2022 attempted killing of Rondo, allegedly carried out in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend of Durk’s.
“BANKS put a monetary bounty out for an individual with whom BANKS was feuding named T.B.,” referring to Rondo by his initials. “BANKS ordered T.B.’s murder and that the hitmen used BANKS and OTF-related finances to carry out the murder.”
An attorney for Lil Durk did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
The charges came a day after Los Angeles federal prosecutors unsealed murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy charges against several alleged OTF members — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and Asa Houston – as well as two other alleged Chicago gang members named Keith Jones and David Brian Lindsey.
In both the new charges and the earlier indictment, prosecutors claim that the five men were behind the 2022 shooting. But in the new filings, they directly allege that Durk ordered the killing, saying it was retaliation for a 2020 Atlanta shooting in which a Rondo associate allegedly shot and killed Von.
“At the time of the murder, T.B. had a public feud with BANKS,” prosecutors write. “The feud stemmed from a Nov. 6, 2020, murder, where an associate of T.B. shot and killed an OTF rapper named Dayvon Bennett aka ‘King Von.’ Bennett was a member of OTF and BANKS’ close friend.”
The new filings also claim that Durk was planning to flee the country when he was arrested.
Prosecutors say that following the OTF arrests, they received notification that Durk had booked commercial flights to both Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and to Switzerland — flights that he never boarded. The FBI then allegedly learned that he had booked passage on a private jet to Italy, and Durk was arrested when he neared the departing airport for that flight.
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 to 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.”
In Friday’s complaint, prosecutors say the group carried out the attack on orders from Durk in retaliation for the earlier King Von slaying. They cite a text allegedly sent by Durk to another co-conspirator: “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.”
According to prosecutors, the group used “a credit card associated with OTF” to buy plane tickets to fly to Los Angeles and rent a hotel room. Using two cars, including one with fake license plates, the group then tracked Rondo’s SUV through the city until they reached the gas station.
“Jones and Lindsey, and Co-Conspirator 2 used the firearms procured by defendant Grant — including the fully automatic firearm — to shoot at T.B.’s car, striking and killing S.R., who was standing next to T.B.’s car while T.B. was inside,” prosecutors write.
After fleeing the scene, prosecutors say the group later reconvened at a restaurant, where they hashed out payments for the crime. Later in the day, they allegedly used the same OTF-linked credit card to purchase plane tickets and fly back to Chicago.
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.