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Taylor Swift is all smiles following her three-night Eras Tour stint in Dublin over the weekend, which the pop star recapped in a thank-you note to fans on Instagram Tuesday (July 2). Sharing a carousel of photos of her performing on stage at Aviva Stadium June 28-30, Swift wrote, “I knew as soon as I […]
Cardi B has given more hope to the Bardi Gang in regards to her long-awaited sophomore album being released in 2024 by teasing another snippet on her Instagram Story on Monday night (July 1). The clip finds the Bronx native showcasing a softer side of her typically fiery raps, and the possible CB2 single samples […]
Bebe Rexha launched a fiery broadside against a music industry on Tuesday morning (July 2), claiming in a series of X posts that she’s been mistreated and sabotaged at every turn. The 34-year-old singer who has helped write songs for everyone from Eminem to Selena Gomez, Tate McRae and Tinashe while scoring hits with G-Eazy, Martin Garrix and Florida Georgia Line wrote that she has the kind of inside dirt that could burn things to the ground.
“I could bring down a BIG chunk of this industry. I AM frustrated. I Have been UNDERMINED,” wrote Rexha, who has been writing songs and performing since she was a teenager. “I’ve been so quiet for the longest time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly are bringing them up and they have been SO OBVIOUS. And when I have spoken up I’ve been silence and PUNISHED by this industry Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.’ I’ve been so quiet for the longest time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly are bringing them up and they have been SO OBVIOUS. And when I have spoken up I’ve been silence and PUNISHED by this industry Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.”
At press time a spokesperson for Rexha’s label for the past decade-plus, Warner Records, had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the tweets and the singer had not specifically revealed what inspired her series of fired-up missives. When a fan asked “what happened again,” Rexha replied, “Again? You haven’t even heard 5 percent. You have NO IDEA.”
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In another exchange, a fan opined that, “nobody should be forgiven for the time they took your name out of ‘Hey Mama.’” The tweet appeared to reference the 2015 David Guetta song “Hey Mama,” which was co-written by Rexha, Guetta and several others. At the time, Rexha told Billboard that though she was credited as a co-writer, she was not initially listed as a vocalist on the track alongside Nicki Minaj and Afrojack, a situation that stuck in her craw given what she described at that time as an already rocky path in the music industry.
“I really wanted to be featured on it, because, you know, I’ve been signed and dropped, and now signed a second time, so it’s been hard, the then-25-year-old said. “What ended up happening was that it looked like a lot of names on the title, so they wanted to keep as many low features as possible. That’s what I was told, and it makes sense to me. I guess more than two [featured] names don’t look good on the radio.”
On Tuesday, though, in response to that fan’s “Hey Mama” comment, Rexha said, “My love. That? Compared to all the other stuff you don’t know about? That’s Child’s play.” The back-and-forth continued, with Rexha telling another commenter who asked what has stopped her from speaking out that, “THEY PUNISH YOU.”
A decade removed from the “Hey Mama” drama, Rexha also claimed that in the midst of promoting her latest single, “I’m the Drama,” she’s been struggling to, well, promote the song because of what she claims are further roadblocks from the industry. “Marketing? I have no budget for that,” she wrote of the song that dropped on June 28. “IM FED UP.”
The singer who released her third full-length studio album, Bebe, in 2023, continued to explain her frustration, writing, “This is not just coming from a place of anger. It’s sadness. I’m sitting in my hotel room in London Crying my eyes out. I’ve felt hopeless for the longest time. I’ve been walking a lot through this city and meeting fans and they have really ignited something inside of me.” In the midst of the string of laments, Rexha thanked her fans for continually giving her the strength to carry on.
To date, Rexha has scored four top 10 hits, including her 2017 FGL collab, “Meant To Be,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the 2015 G-Eazy team-up “Me, Myself & I” (No. 7), “Hey Mama” (No. 8) and 2022’s David Guetta collab “I’m Good (Blue)” (No. 4); Rexha recently lashed out at Eazy, calling him an “ungrateful loser” and dubbing their song his “only real hit.”
Check out Rexha’s tweets below.
I could bring down a BIG chunk of this industry. I AM frustrated. I Have been UNDERMINED. I’ve been so quiet for the longest time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly are bringing them up and they have been SO OBVIOUS. And when I have spoken up I’ve been…— Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) July 2, 2024
This is not just coming from a place of anger. It’s sadness. I’m sitting in my hotel room in London Crying my eyes out. I’ve felt hopeless for the longest time. I’ve been walking a lot through this city and meeting fans and they have really ignited something inside of me.— Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) July 2, 2024
Honestly you all have given me the strength.— Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) July 2, 2024
After sweating it out for more than three hours a night on her Eras Tour Taylor Swift has earned some down time with friends. And that’s exactly what she got over the weekend after wrapping her three-night stand at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, when she and some fellow A-listers dropped into the city’s Hacienda bar.
“Great to welcome Taylor Swift with all her musicians and dancers to the Hacienda last night. Special to also welcome Superbowl champion Travis Kelce, the legendary Stevie Nicks and Paramore,” the bar wrote on Facebook on Monday (July 1). “It was such a warm and genuinely friendly night, we did not request our ‘usual’ Hacienda photo so as to allow Taylor and friends the chance to properly relax and enjoy their well-deserved time off.”
The Dublin shows were notable for several reasons, one of which was a seeming surprise appearance by three-time Super Bowl champ Kansas City Chiefs tight end Kelce, who strode into the venue mid-show and appeared to catch his girlfriend’s eye. In videos posted by fans, Taylor seems to light up when Kelce walked in during the Folklore song “August.”
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In addition, one of Swift’s all-time musical lodestars, Fleetwood Mac singer and solo star Nicks, seemed to get a bit misty at that show after Taylor performed the Midnights track “You’re On Your Own, Kid.” Swift dedicated the live debut of The Tortured Poets Department song “Clara Bow” to Nicks at the show, and according to fan videos, when the singer began performing “You’re On Your Own” Nicks got teary-eyed.
Last year during a show in Atlanta, Nicks said the song helped capture the sadness she felt following the death of her longtime Mac bandmate Christine McVie in November 2022. “Thank you to Taylor Swift for doing this thing for me, and that is writing a song called ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid,’” Nicks said at the time. “That is the sadness of how I feel. As long as Chris was, even on the other side of the world, we didn’t have to talk on the phone. We really weren’t phone buddies. Then we would go back to Fleetwood Mac, and we would walk in and it would be like ‘little sister, how are you?’ It was like never a minute had passed, never an argument in our entire 47 years.”
Swift will be back on stage at Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam on Thursday (July 4) for a three-night stand before moving on to another three-fer at Gelsenkirchen, Germany’s Arena AufSchalke on July 17-19.
Check out the fan footage below.
stevie nicks was crying to yoyok!! she previously revealed that this song helped her grieve her friend christine mcviepic.twitter.com/47wyxGZ4Bz— Taylor Throwbacks (@ThrowbackTaylor) July 1, 2024
First Glastonbury Festival, now Dua Lipa has her sights set on Wembley Stadium.
Fresh from playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury over the weekend, the “One Kiss” singer announces a date at Wembley Stadium next summer for what will be her biggest headlining concert in her homeland.
Lipa is booked to play the 90,000-capacity venue on June 20, 2025. “There couldn’t be a better time to share this with you all,” she comments in a statement. “I am still flying high from the magic of headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this weekend, and I am absolutely thrilled to announce I’ll be playing Wembley Stadium this time next year.”
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Tickets for the Wembley Stadium date go on sale next Friday, July 12, with O2 customers earning exclusive presale access from Wednesday, July 10.
It’s all happening at once for Lipa, who shone on Glastonbury’s main stage where she performed back-to-back hits, cuts from her third and latest studio album, Radical Optimism, and collaborated with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on the Australian psychedelic-pop outfit’s 2015 hit “The Less I Know The Better.”
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“I have written this moment down, I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt it,” Lipa told the crowd of what headlining Glastonbury means to her. “When I wrote it down, I said I really want to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night so I can party the next two days at the best place on earth.”
Parker worked with Lipa as a co-producer and co-writer on seven tracks off Radical Optimism, including “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion,” all of which cracked the U.K. top 10.
Radical Optimism logged one week at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart earlier this year and, thanks to her performance at Glastonbury, roars to No. 2 on the midweek chart. Her previous, Brit Award-winning album 2020 collection Future Nostalgia reigned for four weeks, and yielded “Levitating,” the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 song for the year 2021.
Sabrina Carpenter is in the midst of a major battle, and her fiercest competitor is none other than herself.
As the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart reaches its midweek point, Carpenter’s smash hit “Espresso” remains piping hot and is neck-and-neck with “Please Please Please” (both via Island Records) as both singles vie for the coveted No. 1 spot.
“Espresso” debuted straight in at No. 6 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart upon its release, and on May 3, 2024, it became Carpenter’s very first U.K. leader. It also marked the highest-charting U.K. No. 1 about caffeine in 24 years, since All Saints’ 2000 hit “Black Coffee.”
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Meanwhile “Please Please Please,” the second single from Carpenter’s sixth studio album Short ‘n’ Sweet, toppled Eminem‘s “Houdini” back in late June to secure Sabrina her second U.K. No. 1 single in less than two months, while “Espresso” stayed at No. 2. In doing so, Sabrina set a new Official Chart record, becoming the youngest female artist in history to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Official Singles Chart in the same week.
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In other U.K. singles chart news, rising star Chappell Roan is also making waves. Her catchy and heartfelt single “Good Luck, Babe!” (via Island) is poised to hit a new peak at No. 4, up from its debut in the top 10 last week.
Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the Official Charts Company, Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” (via EMI) is expected to re-enter the top 10 at No. 10, riding the wave of excitement from her The Eras Tour. Swift’s ability to keep her music relevant and engaging is once again on full display, as fans continue to support her timeless hits.
Dua Lipa, fresh off her headline performance at Glastonbury Festival, is seeing her track “Illusion” (via Warner Records) re-enter the top 20, currently at No. 13. The festival’s influence is also boosting Coldplay, with their new song “feelslikeimfallinginlove” (via Atlantic) set to reach a new peak at No. 21. Both acts have clearly benefited from their standout performances, drawing renewed attention to their latest releases.
BTS icon Jimin is aiming for his third top 40 U.K. single with “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” (via Big Hit Music) featuring rapper Loco, with the track projected to land at No. 18. Inspired by The Beatles‘ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the K-Pop star’s latest solo effort sees him once again collaborate with renowned producers Pdogg, GHSTLOOP, and EVAN, who previously worked on his debut solo album, FACE.
Stay tuned for the final chart results at the end of the week to see which tracks secure their positions.
Imagine Dragons and Dua Lipa are locked in a close race for the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart No. 1 spot this week, each experiencing significant midweek chart momentum.
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Imagine Dragons’ sixth studio album, LOOM, is currently on track to debut at No. 1. This would be the band’s second No. 1 album in the U.K., following their 2015 release Smoke & Mirrors. Known for hits like “Radioactive” and “Believer,” Imagine Dragons have a strong chart history with four other top 10 albums: Night Visions (No. 2) in 2013, Evolve (No. 3) in 2017, Origins (No. 9) in 2018, and Mercury – Act 1 (No. 7) in 2021.
Dua Lipa, fresh off a headline performance at Glastonbury 2024, sees her album Radical Optimism surging up the chart. The former No. 1 album is projected to jump 25 places to No. 2, fueled by the buzz from her Pyramid Stage set. Additionally, Dua’s earlier albums are experiencing renewed interest, with Future Nostalgia (No. 9) and her self-titled debut Dua Lipa (No. 13) expected to re-enter the top 40.
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Camila Cabello’s latest project, C,XOXO, is also making a splash, currently tracking to secure the No. 7 spot. This would be Cabello’s third U.K. top 10 album, adding to her successful discography which includes Camila (No. 2) in 2018, Romance (No. 14) in 2019, and Familia (No. 9) in 2022.
Johnny Cash’s posthumous album Songwriter, featuring unreleased tracks from 1993, is expected to debut at No. 11. Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER is also making a notable return, climbing 85 places to No. 14 following its vinyl release.
Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits is experiencing a revival, aiming for the No. 18 spot after her highly anticipated performance at Glastonbury. This would mark the album’s first time in the top 40 since its initial release in 2005.
Elsewhere on the midweek chart, Madness’ 2023 No. 1 album Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie could re-enter the top 40 at No. 26 thanks to a new deluxe reissue. Mexican rock band The Warning is poised to earn their first-ever Official Albums Chart placement with their fourth album, Keep Me Fed, debuting at No. 37.
Stay tuned for the final chart results late Friday (July 5) to see which albums come out on top.
Is a second Taylor Swift and Ice Spice collaboration facts or cap? We’ll just have to wait and see.
While walking the red carpet at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday, the 24-year-old rapper played coy while fielding a question about her new album Y2K! — which drops later this month — possibly featuring a duet with the “Anti-Hero” singer.
“I think she did me the favor,” Ice began when Entertainment Tonight asked whether Swift would be “returning the favor” following the Bronx native’s contribution to the 14-time Grammy winner’s “Karma” remix last year.
“I don’t know,” she continued with a smile. “Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see.”
Though she ultimately kept tight-lipped about Swift’s potential involvement, the “Munch” musician did reveal that there’s more than one all-star collaboration on her debut LP. “There’s a couple,” she confirmed.
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The interview comes almost exactly a year after “Karma” ascended to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to the “Munch” musician’s feature on the Midnights (Til Dawn Edition) version of the track. The pair both starred in a music video for the remix and performed it a few times together on Swift’s Eras Tour.
“I am blown away by her,” the pop star said of Ice in a Spotify audio snippet around the time of the song’s release. “In my opinion, she’s the one to watch. Watching her work ethic and how thoughtfully she approaches her career, she’s like my new favorite artist and I’m so honored that she’s on the song.”
Later on Sunday night, Ice took the BET stage to dance, twerk and set fire to her gas station set while performing two tracks: “Phat Butt” and “Think U the Sh-t (Fart).” She didn’t take home any hardware, although she was nominated for best collaboration and video of the year — both for her Barbie soundtrack contribution “Barbie World” with Nicki Minaj and Aqua — as well as best female hip-hop artist.
Ice is now gearing up to embark on a world tour that kicks off July 4. As for whether either of her A-list former duet partners — Swift or Minaj — might join her on stage at some point, the “Deli” artist isn’t ruling anything out.
“They’re busy ladies right on sold-out tours,” she added on the red carpet. “They’re always welcomed.”
Y2K! will be released via 10K Projects and Capitol Records on July 26.
Halsey is paying tribute to the Princess of Pop.
The singer took to Instagram on Monday (July 1) to tease what appears to be a cover or an original song that samples Britney Spears’ 2000 hit, “Lucky,” an ode to the lonelier side of fame. “She’s so lucky, she’s a star/ But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking/ If there’s nothing missing in my life/ Then why do these tears come at night?” Halsey sings the chorus in the teaser clip, adding her own type of pop twist on the track.
“When I was 5, it always felt like Britney was singing directly to me,” Halsey wrote over a clip rocking pink hair and a t-shirt that says “Lucky” across the front. “24 years later, these words hit different. love you forever.”
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See it here. Billboard has reached out to Spears’ reps for comment. “Lucky” appeared on Spears’ sophomore album, Oops!… I Did it Again, and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Last month, Halsey confirmed that their fifth studio album is complete and on the way, after fans noticed that she had unveiled a cryptic new website titled “ForMyLastTrick.com.” The page boasts several illustrated badges, some of them leading to what appear to be clues about the new album.
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Halsey’s new record will follow 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The About-Face Beauty founder dropped a few singles in the three years since, including 2023’s “Die 4 Me” and 2022’s “So Good,” both of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September, Halsey teased that their next album would be on the emotional side. “Splitting myself in two everyday so that I can give you my deepest wounds (and a handful of perfect joys) for the 5th time in 10 years,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
The self-proclaimed CMO of Gay Pop JoJo Siwa is ready to give her fans even more music very soon. In a post to her Instagram on Sunday (June 30), Siwa revealed that she would be releasing her debut EP, titled Guilty Pleasure, on July 12 via Columbia Records. Sharing the album art — which shows […]