Pop
Page: 108
Katy Perry is having fun again. “I was frozen, I was hopeless/ Now there’s poetry in every moment,” she sings in the mid-album reflection track, “All the Love.”
Perry’s been open about her struggles with mental health over the past few years, especially after the tepid critical and commercial reaction to her 2017 LP, Witness. “After being on a rocket ship and just going straight up, it was just a small change in the trajectory, but it felt seismic,” the pop star explained back in 2020, noting that thanks to medication and therapy, she was able to fuel her creative side once more.
She also has a lot more love in her life these days. Her husband Orlando Bloom remains her biggest fan and supporter, and the couple welcomed daughter Daisy Dove together in August 2020. That family unit inspired 2020’s Smile, which featured songs like “Daisies,” “Never Really Over” and “Harleys in Hawaii,” as well as a much smilier Perry.
After years of inner work, Perry unveiled her sixth studio album, 143, on Friday (Sept. 20). “I set out to create a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” Perry previously shared in a statement about 143, which is text message code for “I love you.”
The album is characteristically Katy Perry, something her beloved fans, the KatyKats, are sure to enjoy. The entire project is boosted with serotonin, as Perry belts about being in love with her partner, her family, herself and her life all over breezy, synth-driven beats. She’s healing and she’s not taking life too seriously, and after a wild few years, it’s great to see the pop star be herself again.
While all of 143 is worth listening to, there are some clear early standouts. Here is a ranking of all 11 tracks on Katy Perry’s latest album.
“All the Love”
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week, Future continues his victory lap, Katy Perry dives deep into her pop bag and Bad Bunny salutes his home. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Future, Mixtape Pluto
It’s been eight years since Future, once an absolute titan of the mixtape game, dropped an unofficial solo project, and Mixtape Pluto harkens back to the glory days of Monster and Beast Mode — 17 feature-less tracks of the superstar croon-rapping, sharpening his sword after a pair of collaborative albums with Metro Boomin kept him on top earlier this year.
Trending on Billboard
Katy Perry, 143
Katy Perry’s recent singles have invited plenty of chatter regarding their studio collaborators and chart prospects, but at its core, new album 143 isn’t concerned with critique or commercial expectation — this is a celebratory pop album, Perry’s first since becoming a mother, and guests like Kim Petras, 21 Savage and Doechii help the singer return to her candy-coated sound.
Bad Bunny, “Una Velita”
The devastation of Hurricane María, which made landfall on Puerto Rico in 2017, is not forgotten by Bad Bunny, as the superstar uses new single “Una Velita” to process his feelings, celebrate his home country, criticize those that did not do enough and reflect on the future as the bass steadily bumps beneath him.
Jamie xx, In Waves
Robyn, The Avalanches, Panda Bear, his own The xx compatriots — the guest list for Jamie xx’s sprawling new album In Waves resembles a round-up of Pitchfork-approved artists from the 2000s, but the full-length bursts with the same dance vibrancy as In Colour, with the producer simply providing more grooves for a new decade.
Keith Urban, High
A country veteran like Keith Urban is always going to try and locate a balance between providing more anthems for his live audiences and mining more personal anecdotes to reveal new parts of himself; High does an admirable job of walking that tightrope, with songs that stretch outward and others that share new details of a life in the spotlight.
Bon Iver, “S P E Y S I D E”
As fall officially kicks off this weekend, Bon Iver is back to provide some mournful falsetto and gentle guitar strums for the brisk weather: “S P E Y S I D E,” the first of three new songs Justin Vernon is releasing as a new EP next month, combines the sparse intimacy of For Emma, Forever Ago with the clarity of his more recent productions, and lands an affecting, autumn-ready blow.
4batz feat. Lil Baby, “Roll Da Dice”
After receiving a Drake co-sign with his breakout hit “Act ii: Date @ 8,” 4batz has corralled Lil Baby into his R&B-trap fusion on “Roll Da Dice,” which seamlessly blends both artists’ respective styles into a hazy single about pursuing love and the passion that sparks when it’s discovered.
Editor’s Pick: Gwen Stefani, “Somebody Else’s”
The cowboy hat that Gwen Stefani sports on the cover of upcoming solo album Bouquet suggested a pivot towards Nashville, but new single “Somebody Else’s” actually nods back to No Doubt’s brand of new wave and radio-ready pop, with Stefani leaning into the rollicking guitar as she sings about lost romance with spunk and spirit (“Now that you’re dead to me / I feel so alive!”).
The first time Chappell Roan played in London was at the capital’s Garage to 600 people. That was just over a year ago in June 2023 her introduction to the U.K. She’s since been booked and busy.
Roan had a mammoth run opening on Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour in the US, cementing her place as an artist with serious breakout potential. In spring, she had a scene-stealing appearance at Coachella and debuted her new song “Good Luck Babe”, which would go on to land at No.6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.2 on the U.K. Singles Charts.
Further live appearances at New York City’s Governors Ball and Chicago’s Lollapalooza saw the crowds swell, and a win at the recent MTV VMAs last week took things even further. A day before the opening night at London’s O2 Academy Brixton (Sep 19) – the first of three sold-out shows – it was announced she’d perform on SNL in November. It’s all happening, all at once.
Trending on Billboard
A ticket for a gig like this was gold dust, a chance to see an artist in what will soon be considered intimate settings. And the crowd at Brixton knew it: they were giddy with excitement pre-show as local drag queens bossed it on stage and the crowd adhered to the night’s dress theme: black, red and love hearts in line with “My Kink Is Karma”, a crowd-favourite from debut 2023 album The Rise and Fall Of a Midwest Princess.
The show arrived amidst a sold-out run throughout the rest of the U.K. and Europe and despite the 5,000-strong crowd, already felt like a huge underplay. These were the very best moments from the night.
Chappell Roan performs during her ‘Midwest Princess Tour’ at the Brixton Academy on Sept. 19, 2024 in London, England.
Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Horns up
Each night at the tour has come with a theme for attendees inspired by the campness of her songs, ranging from Pink Pony Club (fuchsia cowboy hats) to Midwest Princess (plaid patters). Last night My Kink Is Karma called for leather, face-paint and devil horns: even the security were spotted getting in on the action with a glittering scarlet headband.
The U.K. love
Crowd flattery never hurts, but when Roan spoke directly to the Brixton crowd about their connection, it felt very real. “The U.K. has always been the most welcoming to me,” she said, reflecting on the journey she’s been on. From levelling up from the Garage to iconic gay club Heaven last December to now a trio of nights at the historic O2 Academy Brixton – to the tune of 15,000 tickets – the U.K.’s enthusiasm for getting out and supporting live emerging acts cannot be understated.
Knowing the moves
You have to admire Roan for attempting to explain to the crowd the moves to “Hot To Go!”, her viral hit and signature moves: not a single person needed any instructions to pull off the YMCA-aping moves spelling out the song’s title. A sea of arms flew up on every chorus to nail the collective dance that’s been all over your TikTok feed for the past few months at festival season.
Chappell Roan performs during her ‘Midwest Princess Tour’ at the Brixton Academy on Sept. 19, 2024 in London, England.
Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Nailing the notes
With just one album under her belt, Roan knows how to keep things fresh. “Subway”, which got its debut at Gov Ball in her Lady Liberty get-up, was already something of a crowd-pleaser, the wistful longing for an ex that still hangs around as she bounces around the city. When Roan belted out the closing refrain of “she’s got away”, her voice sounded sublime and powerful, as did the crowd’s.
A streamlined production
The expectation and scrutiny for stars to be arena-ready from the off feels more intense than ever with eager fans in the room and at home looking for faults and bones to pick. There’s no questioning Roan’s performance – her red cowboy boots barely hit the ground with all the high-kicks – but the streamlined setup played to her strengths. Her tight band, made up of Andrea Ferrero (guitar), Lucy Ritter (drums) and Allee Futterer (bass), kept things moving and the vibrant light show proved that visuals are not mandatory when the performer is as engaging as this.
Love for the queer community
Roan has been candid about the new attention that’s come her way and how toxic ‘fans’ occasionally overstep the line. But judging by last night’s crowd, that’s hopefully an anomaly, not the trend. She recognises as such about how this fanbase is crucial for the queer community and the need for allies. “I’m so thankful I have the queer community. I needed this when I was 15. You belong here. I don’t care where you are on your journey, I want you here – you are cherished and I want you to feel that. Thank God gay people exist. Thank God straight people support them.”
A dazzling deepcut
Before “Kaleidoscope”, Roan told the crowd that she’d shied away from playing this song on the U.K. leg and was considering dropping it all together. But when she spoke of the pressure to speak to her fans from the stage she explained “how much easier I find it just to sing” and let those words say it all. So for “Kaleidoscope”, she played it straight: no band members, just her and the piano. It goes to show just how strong a songwriter Roan, particularly once all the sequins have stopped shimmering and you tune into her hushed reverence.
Chappell Roan performed:
“Femininomenon”“Naked in Manhattan”“Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”“Love Me Anyway”“Picture You”“HOT TO GO!”“After Midnight”“Coffee”“Kaleidoscope”“Casual”“The Subway”“Red Wine Supernova”“Good Luck, Babe!”“My Kink Is Karma”“California”“Pink Pony Club”
“You know how the bass guitar in a song is like its ‘thickness,’ the ‘bottom’? I kind of related a body to that,” Meghan Trainor mused to Billboard in 2014 after her debut hit, “All About That Bass,” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 that July.
Kevin Kadish, who wrote and produced the song with Trainor, “had the title and said that none of his prior co-writers could figure out what to relate that to,” she noted. “So, I said, ‘What about a booty? Let’s talk about that!’ From there, it turned into, ‘Let’s do a song about loving your body … and your booty.’ ”
Mixing pop with retro R&B/Motown and elements of tropical, all of which influenced Trainor growing up on the island of Nantucket, Mass., “All About That Bass” ruled the Hot 100 for eight weeks, consecutively, beginning on the chart dated Sept. 20, 2014.
Trending on Billboard
One of the song’s lyrics especially caused a stir socially: “I’m bringing booty back. Go ahead and tell them skinny b—-es!” “Even with some of the ‘hate’ comments I’ve seen, they’ve gotten a conversation going,” Trainor told Billboard at the time. “But, I’m not bashing skinny girls. Some girls have commented, ‘I’m a size zero, so you must hate me.’ But that’s not it at all! There have been battles on my YouTube page, like, ‘You don’t know what she’s talking about. She’s actually saying, ‘I know even you skinny girls struggle.’ ’ And that’s exactly how I feel.
“I wrote it for me, as well, because I’ve struggled with [body image] since I was very young,” Trainor shared in 2014. “And, my best friend is a beautiful goddess, but she’ll pick on herself in the mirror. ‘My forehead’s too big,’ or, ‘My shoulders go out too far …’ So, if other girls can relate to the song, it makes me feel even better. It’s unreal that I’m kind of helping people.”
Trainor’s first LP, Title, topped the Billboard 200 for a week in January 2015. She became the lucky 13th woman to earn a debut a No. 1 album and Hot 100 song in the more than half-century that the charts have coexisted. Others to achieve such double domination include Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears.
Trainor was also crowned best new artist at the Grammy Awards in February 2016.
Title yielded two more Hot 100 top 10s: “Lips Are Movin” (No. 4 peak) and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” featuring John Legend (No. 8). Trainor added a fourth top 10, “No” (No. 3, 2016), among eight career top 40 hits, most recently “Made You Look” in 2023.
Trainor notched a second Billboard 200 top 10, the No. 3-peaking Thank You, in 2016. Her sixth and most recent top 40 entry, Timeless, debuted at its No. 27 high this June. The set’s deluxe version arrived in August and current single “Whoops” ranks at its Nos. 19 and 27 bests on the Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay charts (dated Sept. 21), respectively. Plus, the album’s “Criminals,” as featured in Netflix’s The Perfect Couple, bows at No. 19 on Digital Song Sales.
Trainor has additionally co-written two No. 1s on the Country Airplay chart: “I Like the Sound of That,” which Rascal Flatts took to the top in 2016, and “Road Less Traveled,” a leader for Lauren Alaina in 2017. “Since my father [Gary] is a musician, as well, he wanted me to be a songwriter that can do any genre. I’m all about doing every genre,” she said in 2014. “So, at one point he said, ‘Girl, give me some country cuts!’ I said, ‘All right, Dad, I’ll get you those country cuts, not a problem!’”
Trainor’s mother, Kelli, has even charted a hit with her daughter: Their “Mom” reached Digital Song Sales after Mother’s Day in 2020.
Trainor has also forged an extensive TV presence, including as an advisor on NBC’s The Voice in 2015, and released her first book, Dear Future Mama, in 2023. Her The Timeless Tour began on Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 19 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Trainor is still signed to Epic Records, which released and promoted “All About That Bass.” The song has drawn 4.9 billion in radio audience and 1.1 billion on-demand U.S. streams and sold 5.8 million downloads to date, according to Luminate.
“When I got my record deal, and with this song, I was like, ‘Perfect, I have the opportunity to say something to the world.’ I’ll take it,” Trainor shared in 2014. “This is the best message I could say.”
Last week, Coldplay teased their upcoming U.K. tour in a fairly low-key way. A vintage flyer from one of their early gigs in 1998 was discreetly displayed at Camden music venue The Dublin Castle in London, and contained news of a run of shows that the band were set to announce for August 2025. But it featured a big statement that could throw a lifeline to the grassroots music scene: scrawled in pen at the bottom of the poster, it announced that 10% of proceeds were to go to “small venues and upcoming acts”.
When the band formally announced the run of next year’s shows in London and Hull, the scale of the message became clear. They confirmed that 10% of all revenue generated at their eight stadium shows next summer will be donated to the scene and that the concerts’ promoters (SJM Concerts, Metropolis Music and Live Nation), the band’s booking agent (WME), the venues (Wembley Stadium and Hull Craven Park) and the official ticket agents (Ticketmaster, See Tickets and AXS) would all do the same.
Trending on Billboard
This will be no small figure. For context, the Music Of The Spheres tour was recently named the biggest rock tour of all time and passed the $1 billion (USD) gross mark for the full run of shows that began in 2022. Coldplay remain a big ticket seller and their run of eleven shows in July 2024 grossed $66 million according to Billboard Boxscore figures. Even once production costs and more are deducted, the donation from these U.K. shows will be seismic.
Music Venues Trust will be at the heart of the project alongside Save Our Scene and other key stakeholders. It arrives at a critical juncture for the U.K.’s music scene. Figures from the MVT reported that 125 venues had closed in 2023, and that places like North West England have suffered more than anywhere else.
Mark Davyd, MVT’s founder and CEO, has been vocal about the challenges at hand and what needs to be done to protect and re-energise the U.K.’s scene. The newly-elected Labour government has made positive noises about a mandatory ticket levy on large-scale music events in the country to be reinvested to the grassroots scene.
Talk is cheap, but Coldplay – who release new album Moon Music on Oct. 4 – have put their money where their mouth is. They follow British rock band Enter Shikari who partnered with the MVT in 2023 to donate £1 from every ticket sale to help safeguard the scene’s future.
Following the announcement, Davyd spoke to Billboard about the state of the grassroots music industry, and what Coldplay’s donation will do for its future.
How did this collaboration come about with Coldplay?
Davyd: “The conversations began in December 2023 and came directly from the band and their management. The band were very concerned about what was happening to grassroots venues and touring, and had worked with their management to think about who they should be in contact with. They reached out to an organization called Save Our Scene run by George Fleming, who very graciously in turn recommended speaking to the Music Venues Trust. By February 2024, it had been agreed that when they announced their 2025 shows, that they’d be making a contribution to the grassroots to support the venues, artists and promoters.”
Did you ever feel like it might not come to fruition and that there would be opposition to a move this seismic?
“We’re hyper-aware that there are lots of companies who would at least like to slow this process down if not completely avoid it, which is a bit depressing as it is the music industry itself that is the beneficiary of schemes like this with support for new and emerging artists. I try to press the point that, ultimately, financial support into the grassroots ecosystem will create the talent of the future from which people make lots of money.
But ultimately we all do respond to what the artists tell us that they want. If it’s an artist the stature of Chris and the lads and they want something to be done, people are going to find a way to get it done. I’m a huge admirer of their other work including making their concerts carbon-neutral, and I think that’s a good example of something that is important to the band and important to the management and everyone in the ecosystem around them.”
Coldplay
Anna Lee
It must feel extra pleasing that it was Coldplay, a band that has been on the exact journey you’re trying to protect.
“The vast majority of artists that are headlining stadiums have a story about their progress through the music industry that nearly always includes grassroots venues. Even Dua Lipa played a load of smaller venues at the start of her career.
This particular one has a ring of authenticity to it. In fact, I actually booked Coldplay three times at Tunbridge Wells Forum about 25 years ago! I think the band and the management around them very much understand these arguments and conversations about why waterfalling music down to the grassroots is so important.”
What will the money do for the grassroots music scene?
“We will be ringfencing this money as this type of money must achieve a number of things. It’s not just about venues, it’s also about artists and promoters. It’s about getting more artists into more venues into more places across the U.K.
There are certainly some things that venues would benefit from: there are venues, for example, that aren’t accessible where we can put some support behind that so more people can use it. Because of the nature of where this money comes from, I think we will be looking at what we can do regarding energy consumption in venues, too.
We want to create something that’s really impactful, meaningful and we want every pound to do something constructive. Everybody in the industry knows that there is a real crisis at grassroots touring. There’s fewer tours as artists can’t afford to play them, but also the length of the tours is a real challenge alongside the locations of where they’re going.
The first tour Oasis did back in 1994, for example, was 34 shows long. There is no band playing that level of shows at grassroots levels anymore. It just isn’t happening. That means that vast swathes of the country are not able to see emerging bands and artists as they’re coming onto the market.”
Do you believe the pipeline from grassroots to stadium is still possible?
“I think it’s still possible. We’ve been doing it for 60 years. There is no lack of enthusiasm for live music. We’re selling more tickets than ever across all sectors, but we’re selling them to a decreasing demographic across the population. So this is a project not just for the artists, but creating future music consumers.”
Do you have an idea on how much this donation might end up totalling?
“I don’t at this stage. We’re not being evasive about that, but there are a number of things in play about their production costs and obviously we don’t know those yet. But we do know that 10% of a stadium run is a sizeable amount and will have a significant impact. This will mean that venues stop closing, that tours can happen and that promoters can take risks on bands that really need support but don’t have the money to make that happen. It is that impactful. It won’t be geographically located in one place, it’ll be spread right across the UK. We’ll see more shows happening with better facilities at venues; this money will achieve a lot.”
The Oasis ticket scandal in the U.K. reignited the discussion about how tickets are sold, the value of them and what could be done on these big tours to support the future of music. What was your response?
“I was disappointed with the Oasis thing, mainly because if you go back to the Commons select committee hearings in March, you can read the words of the representatives of the music industry saying to MPs that they know about the problem with grassroots venues and that they’re going to get it solved. At the point when they were saying that, Coldplay had already made that decision and taken a leadership position while apparently the music industry was working on solutions… but we haven’t seen any solutions of that work that the industry said they were going to undertake.
Everyone’s talking about Oasis but I can throw out other names. There were show announcements for Catfish and The Bottleman and Glass Animals right around the same time. These are artists that if you asked them, would completely understand that the grassroots is important and that music in our communities is important, so why isn’t there contribution from those shows? I’m not blaming anyone, but if we’re going to stand in parliament and say that we’re going to sort this out, let’s sort this out.”
Will the MVT be looking to collaborate with more artists like this going forward?
“Absolutely, our door is very open to anyone on this topic. I want this to become the new normal – I don’t think that’s stupidly ambitious. There are lots and lots of examples of industries – all properly functioning industries – to reinvest to get future gains. As soon as you start talking about it as an investment program into research and development, I don’t think companies should be resistant to that but should be thinking, ‘that makes perfect sense’.”
Sure, Noah Kahan has been nominated for Grammys and Billboard Music Awards, played sold-out shows from coast-to-coast and scored his first Adult Pop Airplay chart No. 1 in May with his breakthrough hit “Stick Season.”
But the Vermont native won the most important award of all this week when Ben & Jerry’s rolled out a custom flavor in his honor. Even super-mellow strummer Kahan could not contain his chill about the Green Mountain State’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award.
“F–king pinch me,” Kahan tweeted on Thursday night (Sept. 19) after the announcement from the Burlington, VT-bred ice cream brand of their new limited “Northern Latte-tude” flavor. The fresh mix inspired by Kahan’s 2022 song “Northern Attitude” features a maple latte ice cream with graham cracker cookie dough and graham cracker pieces.
Trending on Billboard
The special mix was created specifically for Thursday night’s (Sept. 19) sold-out show at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction, VT, a benefit gig with proceeds going to the singer’s non-profit, the Busyhead Project, which provides resources and information to help end the stigma around mental health.
“We were more than excited to partner with Noah Kahan to create this flavor,” said Ben & Jerry’s head of brand innovation Emily Smith in a statement. “With Noah being from Vermont and establishing his non-profit The Busyhead Project to support such an important issue that he cares deeply about, we saw tons of fan gratitude for Noah’s Latte-tude, all while doing good.”
The flavor will now be available for a limited time on Friday (Sept. 20) at B&J scoop shops in Burlington and Waterbury, VT while supplies last. In honor of the concert, VT Gov. Phil Scott proclaimed Thursday “Noah Kahan’s Busyhead Project Day” in honor of the singer’s efforts to speak out about mental health; Kahan, 27, has frequently discussed his own struggles with panic attacks and episodes of depression and anxiety as a child and teen, which he has chronicled on songs such as “Call Your Mom.”
“It is the most tremendous honor to have September 19th be named Noah Kahan’s Busyhead Project Day in the greatest state in America. I will celebrate by eating Ben & Jerry’s, getting a horrific stomach ache from my lactose intolerance, and then drinking a Heady Topper as the sun sets over the Green Mountains,” said Kahan in a statement shared by the Governor’s office. “I have been so fortunate to call this place my home, and I will never forget the love and support that the 802 has showed me. There is no combination of words, lyrics, or music that can fully describe the beauty of this place. I will not try to. I am just honored to be able to live here, to breathe the air, to exist in this magical place, and to call it my home. Thank you Vermont for this great honor.”
Since its launch in 2023, the Busyhead Project has raised more than $2.5 million in its drive to make mental healthcare accessible to all.
You wanted it, you got it. New Kids On the Block announced their first-ever Las Vegas residency on Friday (Sept. 20), The Right Stuff, which will kick off on June 20, 2025 at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
The follow-up to the man band’s 2024 Magic Summer Tour will find Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre and Danny Wood setting up shop for 16 shows in June, July and November of next year.
“We cherish every opportunity that we get to perform for our fans, but a Las Vegas residency gives us an opportunity to take our performance, and interaction with our fans, to the next level,” Wahlberg said in a statement. “We plan on maximizing everything that the amazing Dolby Live at Park MGM has to offer, to create the most incredible NKOTB concert ever. As well as everything that Las Vegas has to offer — to create multiple events to directly engage with our fans. Las Vegas will never be the same after The New Kids and The Blockheads take over the town.”
Trending on Billboard
According to a release, the group announced the residency while in town for their headlining set at the 2024 iHearRadio Music Festival on Saturday (Sept. 21), taking over the Las Vegas strip after arriving on a double-decker bus. The group then had a special fan event and Q&A at The Park hosted by iHeart’s Valentine.
A fan club pre-sale will kick off on Tuesday (Sept. 24) at 10 a.m PT, with a Citi pre-sale also kicking off on Tuesday at noon p.m. PT lasting through Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. PT; details available here. MGM Rewards and MGM Resorts loyalty rewards program members — and SiriusXM, Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers — will get access to a presale that will begin on Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. PT. A public onsale will begin on Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. PT here.
NKOTB recently wrapped their Magic Summer tour with Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff after releasing Still Kids, their first full-length studio album in 11 years.
New Kids on the Block 2025 Las Vegas residency dates:
June 2025: 20, 21, 25, 27, 28
July 2025: 2, 3, 5
November 2025: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15
Check out the announcement video below.
It’s a woman’s world, and Katy Perry‘s in charge. The pop superstar unveiled her sixth studio album, 143, on Friday (Sept. 20).
143, which is code for “I love you,” marks Perry’s first album since 2020’s Smile, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The project features previously released singles “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes,” as well as Doechii and 21 Savage collaborations on “I’m His He’s Mine” and “Gimme Gimme,” respectively. Other song titles include “Crush,” “Nirvana,” “All the Love,” “Truth” and “Wonder,” among others.
“I set out to create a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” Perry previously shared in a statement about the project. On TikTok, she added, “143 is honestly a dance party. All fandoms, invited. And it’s high energy, lots of love, mostly lots of love and BPM, summer, sexy. And it’s for y’all.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
It’s been an exciting month for Perry, who received the Video Vanguard Award at the 2024 VMAs. “I’ve heard a lot of do this, don’t do that, wear less, wear more now, don’t cut your hair… one of the biggest reasons I’m standing here right now is I learned how to block out all the noise, that every single artist in this industry has to constantly fight against, especially women,” she said during her acceptance speech. “I just want to say with my whole heart, do whatever it takes to stay true to yourself and true to your art, turn off social media, safeguard your mental health, pause, touch grass, and do what you were born to do, just like I was born to do this.”
Trending on Billboard
Listen to Katy Perry’s 143 in full below.
Over the course of the last week, one drag queen’s performance of Chappell Roan‘s “Red Wine Supernova” has ignited the Internet in a debate about misogyny and drag culture. Now, the artist behind the clip is speaking up.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On Thursday (Sept. 19), Drag Race Philippines star Brigiding took to social media to speak up about her controversial performance to Roan’s song. “My recent performance of ‘Red Wine Supernova’ has stirred up a lot of differing opinions,” she wrote on X. “Some have accused me of being misogynistic and disrespectful, while others saw it as campy and true to the essence of drag.”
The clip in question saw Brigiding standing on a table during a drag brunch lip-syncing to the track off The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. As she reaches the song’s chorus, Brigiding lifts up her skirt and opens a spout attached to her undergarments, letting a stream of red wine flow out into a wine glass being held by a fan.
Trending on Billboard
The performance quickly went viral as fans and critics alike began debating whether the performance was appropriate. Some commenters claimed the performance was openly mocking the concept of menstruation, while others quickly came to Brigiding’s defense, saying the performance was not mocking women or periods, but was simply a fun drag performance of a hit pop song.
In her statement, Brigiding did not apologize for her performance, instead opting to celebrate the artist who made it possible in the first place. “As a drag artist, I look up to artists who fearlessly create spaces for us, the queer community, and right now, @chappellroan is one amazing champion,” she wrote. “[Chappell’s] music speaks to the freedom and creativity that I try my best to bring into my performances as an artist. I intended to celebrate her influence and impact, not to offend anyone, especially women.”
She added in the closing line of her post that the point of drag is “breaking gender stereotypes” and giving people a place to celebrate “freedom to artistic self expression.” Nodding to the “Pink Pony Club” singer’s own lyrics, she captioned her post with a wink: “I’m gonna keep on dancing.”
Read Brigiding’s full statement below:
https://twitter.com/brigiding/status/1836644429836489087
The White House race between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris continues to be incredibly tight. With less than two months to go before Americans cast their votes, both candidates are doing everything they can to lock in their core constituents, amidst a desperate scramble to rope in crucial undecided and uninspired voters who could tip the scales in their favor.
And while the GOP has long hewed to the old saw that celebrity endorsements don’t move the needle on election day, this year has already shown how the right A-list seal of approval could be one of the decisive factors in the battle between twice-impeached convicted felon Trump and 11th-hour Democratic candidate VP Harris.
The proof is in the immediate impact felt by Taylor Swift throwing her hat into the ring two weeks ago with a strongly worded endorsement of Harris and VP pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. After Swift encouraged young voters to register at Vote.gov following the Democratic National Convention, more than 405,000 people clicked through in strong example of Swift’s potential impact on the outcome in November, easily besting the site’s early September daily tally of 30,000 visitors.
Trending on Billboard
A week later, Trump lashed out at the megastar, who has been selling out stadiums around the world for the past year on her culture-dominating Eras Tour, while also getting weekly high-profile, multi-demo screen time during NFL season thanks to her romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” the candidate raged on his Truth Social platform over the weekend.
According to a YouGov poll conducted last week, more than 53% of Americans — including 31% of Republicans — think Swift’s endorsement will help Harris; 4% thought it might hurt Harris. That poll came on the heels of a February survey by Change Research that found that 65% of Democrats had a favorable view of Swift, while 29% of independents and just 17% of Republicans felt the same. For now, though, it’s still unclear if Swift’s endorsement will actually help Harris — based on a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll, in which 81% of voters surveyed said Swift’s support for the VP will not influence how they vote. Only six percent said they are more likely to vote for Harris since Swift’s post, with 13 percent saying it makes them less likely to do so.
With the Nov. 5 election just 47 days away, Billboard spoke to a group of academics, political consultants, pollsters and music managers to see if they think Swift’s endorsement — and Trump’s lashing out — could help push Harris/Walz over the top, or turn the tide in Trump’s favor.
“People Will at Least Listen to Her”
“This election will be decided by a few thousand votes in three or four key states, so everything matters,” says veteran pollster and communications analyst Frank Luntz. “Will this be the deciding factor? Probably not. But will it have an impact? Most definitely.”
Luntz, who has done a series of stories asking the same group of young, undecided voters about the election for the New York Times since August, says before President Biden dropped out to make way for Harris, he polled voters about who would have the most influence on their vote. In first place was Trump at 38%, with Biden at 34% and Swift not far behind at 25%.
“I was really shocked by that,” he says. “At the time, Biden was so weak among younger women, and they are among the Democrats’ most reliable voting group — and [Swift] matters significantly, because she’s not seen as a politician and she’s not seen as a partisan. So people will at least listen to her.”
In addition, Luntz says, he thinks Swift handled the wording of her endorsement “quite well,” with language that explained “with some sophistication” why she did what she did. Among the reasons Swift cited for speaking out was her fear and anger over an incident last month in which Trump platformed fake AI-generated images of the singer falsely claiming she was supporting him.
Brilliant Corners Artist Managment (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service, Best Coast) co-founder Jordan Kurland knows a bit about speaking out during crucial elections, thanks to his time serving on the Entertainment Advisory Committee for both former two-term Democratic President Barack Obama and the unsuccessful 2016 Clinton presidential campaign against Trump. He also was impressed with the way Swift made it more about voting than herself.
“I appreciate that she talks about doing her research and encouraging people to not just vote for the candidate because your favorite pop star said so, but to really get to know the issues,” says Kurland.
“The icy peak of dumbf–k mountain”
While an older generation of artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey and Barbra Streisand, have been reliable democratic party boosters and endorsers in the past, Luntz and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson (author of Everything Trump Touches Dies) say that Swift is a new kind of political force — with a massive, multi-media reach that could rope in sometimes unreliable, unmotivated young voters.
“Taylor Swift represents a different category of celebrity than almost anyone under the sun,” says the former Republican and political strategist Wilson, who co-founded the Lincoln Project Super PAC in 2019 in an effort to prevent Trump from being re-elected. “She’s sui generis in terms of the reach she has and her impact on young women, not to mention their fathers and mothers.”
Swift not only rules the Billboard charts on an almost constant basis, as well as having a culture-dominating Eras Tour and accompanying movie, but also makes headlines every weekend from the sky box as she cheers on Kelce. NFL games averaged 17.9 million viewers each in 2023, a year when 45 NFL games were among the 100 most-watched prime-time telecasts, with the league hogging 14 of the top 15 slots.
Add in 4.35 million tickets sold for her 60 Eras Tour U.S. shows in 2023, and Wilson says you have an artist whose reach — and influence — is virtually unmatched in modern pop history.
“Some of those girls who first loved her are now young women whose mothers took them to see Swift 10-15 years ago,” says Wilson. “And she has a relationship to those women and girls that Republicans are trying to make fun of — [they say] ‘her music is about bad choices, that’s why this is a bad choice’ — but her candor about her life, and the way it plays through her art, makes her relatable and engages people and makes them feel connected to her beyond her music and entertainment.”
In addition to being major pop culture moments and serious financial boosters for every city Swift visits, Wilson wryly notes that “nobody leaves a Taylor Swift show early or cranky, which is exactly the opposite of a Trump rally. They stay until the last minute and come away feeling happy and empowered.” (Wilson says he joked on MSNBC last week that he’d devised a new spin on the traditional warning about the historically biggest mistakes a politician can make: invading Moscow in the winter, launching a land war in Asia… and screwing with Swifties.)
As for Trump’s “HATE” tweet, Wilson came up with a new description of what he said was an unfathomably stupid self-own targeting a potentially crucial group of voters. “It wasn’t just a stupid idea,” he says. “If there was an Olympian level of stupidity, a mountain in the far distance of stupid ideas, it’s the very pinnacle, the icy peak of dumbf–k mountain.”
“They got Kid Rock and you have Taylor Swift”
Renowned political consultant and pundit James Carville, the lead strategist for Bill Clinton’s winning 1992 campaign, maintains that the evidence that celebrity endorsements have a significant impact on voting behavior is “pretty thin.” But, he adds, at the very least Swift’s endorsement will “drive [Trump] crazy” — as evidenced by the billionaire real estate mogul’s all-caps tweet and running mate JD Vance’s (somewhat) tempered double-down on Fox News last week. “We admire Taylor Swift’s music — but I don’t think most Americans, whether they like her music, are fans of hers or not, are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans,” opined the former venture capitalist, multi-millionaire Ohio senator.
In addition to her endorsement potentially distracting Trump, and his hate in response turning off many 18-34 young female voters who could be crucial to a win in November, Carville says Swift’s urge to register to vote could definitely make a difference. “It’s impressive that people did an affirmative act [in registering to vote], and he knows that,” says Carville. “They got Kid Rock and you have Taylor Swift. How is that gonna work out?”
Despite political veteran Carville’s on-the-fence status about celebrity endorsements, Penn State University associate professor of political communications and gender Dr. E. Michele Ramsey says that there is “all kinds of research” showing that the “perceived authenticity” of a celebrity’s thumbs-up does move the needle for “either a product or a candidate.”
Ramsey, who teaches the “Taylor Swift, Gender and Communication” course, says Swift’s action could make a difference among low-information voters, a crucial demo this year. She says we’re a moment now where women’s stories are loudly taking center stage on playlists, in the movies and on social media thanks to massive exposure for projects from not only Swift, but also such pop culture juggernauts as Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish, and even last year’s billion-dollar Barbie movie. And while Swifties are generally more likely to vote for Democrats according to a recent YouGov poll, she is so hugely popular that it’s likely she has fans across a broad political, and geographic spectrum.
“We’re in a unique moment in history where women’s stories are at the top of the food chain, where all these performers are speaking in a very vulnerable situation and expressing feelings that I think many women [and others] can relate to,” Ramsey says about an era when a woman’s right to choose has taken center stage. That state-by-state battle of course follows the overturning of Roe V. Wade two years ago, thanks to Trump’s elevation of three new conservative Supreme Court justices ,who helped overturn a woman’s federally protected right to abortion.
So far, in addition to Swift, a raft of other musicians and stars who appeal to the young female demo have endorsed Harris, including Beyoncé, Eilish, Roan, Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Charli XCX, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Kesha, Megan Thee Stallion and P!nk. Trump has gotten endorsements from a less pop-culture-relevant group: one that includes Kid Rock, Billly Ray Cyrus, Kanye West, Lil Pump, Jason Aldean, Kodak Black and Azealia Banks.
“I’ve never seen a political party that just wants to poke the bear as much as they can,” Ramsey adds about the GOP’s decades-long drive to make abortion illegal, as well as attempts to limit the availability of IVF treatments and contraception, and Vance’s now-infamous put-down of Harris (and other Democrats) as “childless cat ladies.” (Swift sharply signed her endorsement as a member of the latter group, while posting a picture of her holding one of her cats.)
Ramsey notes that while young voters don’t tend to trust dusty institutions or traditional politicians, they do put faith in idols they want to emulate — as evidenced by the quickly formed Swifties for Kamala group that pulled together the day Biden dropped out. “If I was a campaign consultant to Republicans, I would tell them to stop saying anything about Taylor Swift,” he counsels.
At the end of the day, Luntz thinks “everything” makes a difference when you’re talking about an election measured in inches, not miles. He points out the Harris campaign’s potential to lean into Swift’s pop culture pull, as they already have with Taylor-themed campaign friendship bracelets and political ads. “You’re seeking any kind of momentum, any kind of edge,” he explains.
In Luntz’s mind, if the singer doubled-down against Trump’s childish “if you don’t like me, I don’t like you more” “HATE” post and turned his ire against him, it could be a key brick in Harris’ firewall: “She [Swift] could easily turn that into, ‘you don’t like me, WE don’t like you and we’re gonna have the last laugh!’”
At press time spokespeople for the Trump and Harris campaign had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.