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Attendees at this weeks’ Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 runway show got an unexpected treat when LV men’s creative director Pharrell Williams debuted his new collaboration with K-pop superstars SEVENTEEN during Tuesday’s (Jan. 21) show. The mid-tempo track with a low-pitched, bassy bottom, “Bad Influence,” features group members S. Coups, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, The8, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino singing about having a good time while worrying about the consequences.
On the woozy chorus, Seungkwan, Hoshi, Coups and DK cronning: “Bad influence, you had to do it/ Oh every time yeah, enough of you/ Bad influence you had to do it/ You wanna have a good good night.”
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“We are happy and honored to collaborate with Pharrell Williams, whom we have deeply admired for a long time,” said the members of the 13-person group who worked on the track in a statement; members Mingyu, Joshua, Jun and Woozi are not listed as participants on the song. “We truly enjoyed the creative process which showcases a new side of ourselves. We hope to connect with more listeners worldwide through this collaboration.”
The track was written and composed by Williams for the Paris LV show — which also featured bits of Don Toliver and BTS member J-Hope’s new single, “LV Bag,” and Playboi Carti’s “Timeless” — and represents the group’s latest team-up with an A-list collaborator. It follows on the heels of their collabs with Charli XCX (“Beg For You”), Pink Sweat$ (“17”), New Kids on the Block (“Dirty Dancing”), DJ Khaled (“Love, Money, Fame”), Marshmello (“SOS”) and Anne-Marie (“World”), among others.
SEVENTEEN released their 21-track greatest hits collection, 17 Is Right Here, in 2024, spotlighting such beloved hits as “Maestro,” “Rock With You,” “HOT” and “Super.” They wound-down the year with the Spill the Feels EP, which included the Khaled track, which they performed at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards.
Watch video from the song’s premiere below.
Ed Sheeran has hit back at a report that claimed he attended a New Year’s Eve party at J.K. Rowling’s Scottish residence. The “Shape Of You” singer took to his Instagram Stories last night (Jan. 21) to contest the original report by The Sun newspaper. The story claimed that Sheeran was rumoured to have attended […]
Jennie, a founding member of K-pop quartet BLACKPINK, has officially announced her debut solo album, Ruby.
Slated for release on March 7, the highly anticipated project boasts an impressive lineup of collaborators, including Childish Gambino, Dua Lipa, Doechii, Dominic Fike, FKJ, and Kali Uchis.
The album and its star-studded roster of guest artists were revealed on the singer’s social media on Jan. 21 via a teaser video and pre-order launch through her independent label, Odd Atelier.
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Ruby will feature 15 tracks, including her October 2024 single “Mantra,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Global 200.
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The single marked a turning point in her solo career, setting the stage for what Jennie previously described as her “album journey.”
In a recent interview with Billboard, Jennie reflected on the deeply personal process of creating Ruby. “It’s not nice to be someone who’s always like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t say anything,’ ” she said of the project she began in early 2024. “I want to say I’m almost there.” Acknowledging the challenges she faced along the way, she added, “I’m just going to say, ‘I don’t do well with time.’”
Since debuting with BLACKPINK in 2016, Jennie has been part of their stratospheric rise to global fame. BLACKPINK’s groundbreaking achievements include becoming the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019 and the first South Korean girl group to top the Billboard 200 with their second album, Born Pink, in 2022.
In late 2023, Jennie launched Odd Atelier and partnered with Columbia Records, giving her the creative freedom to pursue her solo aspirations.
“While I was on my last BLACKPINK tour, I couldn’t stop myself from starting to plan ahead,” Jennie said. “I listed out the things that I want in my life and started pinpointing, or prioritizing, what’s my very next step. And instantly, I was like, ‘I still haven’t accomplished the dream of releasing a solo album.’ I wanted to satisfy myself by achieving that goal.”
In addition to releasing long-awaited solo music, Jennie also made her acting debut back n 2023 in the HBO drama series The Idol and was named an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire. In March 2024, she also teamed up with Brockhampton’s Matt Champion to release a collaboration, titled “Slow Motion.”
Since the fall of 2023, the Las Vegas Sphere has hosted U2, Phish, Dead & Company, Anyma and a current residency from the Eagles. And last week, Kenny Chesney was announced as the arena’s first country headliner. The announcement has the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast asking: When will we see a pop star at the […]
Kelly Clarkson has proven once again that she can sing any song in any genre, taking on Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” for the Tuesday (Jan. 21) installment of her talk show’s Kellyoke segment. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Dressed in a brown leather maxi […]
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” secured a third consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated Jan. 25, 2025, and Mars is ready to party. “THANK YOU ALL!” he wrote alongside a cheers emoji and a screenshot of this week’s top 10 on the chart. “I’m headed to the studio […]
ROSÉ has now added dance teacher to her resumé. In a new YouTube Short posted to The Kelly Clarkson Show‘s account, Kelly Clarkson tells ROSÉ that she “heard” about a viral dance to the tune of the K-pop star’s Bruno Mars collaboration, “APT.,” asking, “I love dancing, so can you teach me and maybe some […]
Addison Rae is one of the few influencers who is successfully transitioning into a pop career, and in a new Rolling Stone cover story, the 24-year old star opened up about how her friend Charli XCX has been an inspiration to her along the journey. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
Suffice to say, Jade Thirwall and Harry Styles weren’t written in the stars. While serving as a guest on Louis Theroux’s podcast episode posted Tuesday (Jan. 21), the Little Mix star reflected on meeting the One Direction alum during their early days on The X Factor, revealing that they went on one date before a certain teen heartthrob ghosted her.
While talking about her career beginnings on Simon Cowell’s talent competition show, Thirlwall shared that she and Styles met — and hit it off — when both of them were auditionees. “I think we went on like one date when we were 16 or something,” she said. “He’d just got put in a band, and it was really funny, because we kept in touch. Then the minute they went on live shows, he didn’t message me back.”
“I thought, ‘That’s it, now he’s gone. He’s made it,’” the “IT Girl” singer continued, laughing.
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Thirlwall tried out for The X Factor in 2010, but didn’t make the cut. That same year, Styles also auditioned and was sorted into One Direction with bandmates Liam Payne — who died in October — Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. The boy band placed third on the show.
The next year, Thirlwall re-auditioned for X Factor, this time earning a spot in girl group Little Mix alongside Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson. After she made it onto the show — later winning the season with her band — the “Angel of My Dreams” musician says she ran into Styles again.
“He was like, ‘I’m really sorry I ignored you,’” she recalled. “I was so young, it didn’t really matter. But he was always very, very lovely. He’s gotten himself to where he is because he’s very talented and he’s very lovely. Very charming.”
Little Mix went on to release six studio albums between 2012 and 2020, notching three singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Nelson left the group at the end of 2020, and the remaining trio announced a hiatus the following year.
In 2024, Thirlwall finally kicked off her solo career with the release of debut single “Angel of My Dreams.” She’s since dropped the tracks “Midnight Cowboy,” “Fantasy” and “IT Girl.”
Listen to Thirlwall talk about Styles and Payne on The Louis Theroux Podcast below.
Alex Warren is in the middle of packing when he logs on to Zoom, sitting in a bedroom with only a bed and some taped-up boxes behind him. It’s just before the holidays, and the pop singer-songwriter is preparing to move from Los Angeles to Nashville with his wife (and fellow Internet personality) Kouvr Annon. “We’re young,” he reasons, “so let’s go experience some other things and see what we like.”
The 24-year-old is accustomed to whirlwind life changes. His latest single, the piano-backed ode to resilience “Burning Down,” became his first Billboard Hot 100 hit in October, and signaled his breakthrough as a musician. Prior to making music his full-time gig, from late 2019 to 2022, he and Annon were major players in Hype House, a popular group of TikTok content creators that frequently collaborated and lived together. (They both starred in the 2022 Netflix docuseries of the same name, which lasted one season.)
Even before the Hype House disbanded the same year, Warren had already begun to pivot into a music career, a passion of his since he began playing guitar as a child. He released his aching, guitar-driven debut single, “One More I Love You” as an independent artist in June 2021, and the track quickly drew a following on streaming platforms. With a manager already in tow — Odd Projects’ Brian Sokolik, whom he first met four years ago through a former agent — the two began to field major label offers. Warren signed with Atlantic Records in 2022.
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“We were looking for a label that really understood Alex as a person and would teach him what works best,” Sokolik recalls. “Our first meeting with Atlantic, it was pretty obvious that it was home. They came in and were brutally honest about what was good and what wasn’t, but in a really productive, constructive way.”
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In the months that followed, Warren’s life, both professionally and personally, continued to accelerate: he dropped his first single under Atlantic, “Headlights,” in August 2022, and followed it with “Chasing Shadows” that December. He then kicked off 2023 by proposing to Annon before embarking on his first headlining tour. He continued releasing more singles through last year all while maintaining his content creation career, pumping out daily TikTok videos and Instagram Reels.
Over time, Warren has become more comfortable with his music reflecting his challenging upbringing. His father passed away when he was nine years old, after which he lived with his mother, who struggled with alcoholism and died in 2021. She kicked Warren out of the house just after he turned 18, and he spent the next five months homeless. Reflecting today, he’s grateful to be able to channel such painful experiences into his music.
“I recently started doing this thing where I write about those [experiences], and I try to take control in a way,” he says. “For me, something really beautiful is taking something so sad and dark, and what most would view as something that ruined their life, and turn it into something that can help people.”
Alex Warren photographed December 19, 2024, in Los Angeles.
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Last May, during a set of studio sessions in Los Angeles, Warren felt particularly inspired by such memories, and began to write with collaborators Adam Yaron, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval. The result was “Burning Down,” which came together in just a day, among other tracks over the course of the productive week.
“I’ve always let people walk all over me, and ‘Burning Down’ was a song I always wanted to write, but never had the balls to do it,” he says of his biggest hit to date, released on Sept. 20, one week ahead of his debut album, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1). Warren’s deep, husky voice frees himself from the blame of an unhealthy relationship over a stomping piano beat.
He put his social media savvy to good use to bolster the song’s hype leading up to its release, posting a number of videos to his 16 million TikTok followers lip synching to the song with Annon. From Warren’s perspective, there’s no gimmick in getting his followers — whom he affectionately calls his “friends” — to listen to his music.
“The drawback for a lot of musicians is that they don’t necessarily understand social media,” he says. “In my career, I have been so open with my friends who follow me. They know everything about me and we’re so connected and I love that. I’m thinking of these people while I’m writing these songs, because I’m thinking about what I would want to hear if I was still going through that.”
“He knows what his fans want and will respond well to,” Sokolik adds. “Alex will tell me, ‘I have an idea for a video. I’m going to tease this and see how people respond to it.’ If they respond the same way we are, then full steam ahead — and that’s exactly what happened.”
“Burning Down” became Warren’s first Hot 100 entry, debuting at No. 76 on the Oct. 5-dated chart, and reaching No. 69 the following week. As the song continued to build both on streaming platforms and at radio, Atlantic’s A&R team reached out to Joe Jonas’ team to gauge interest in a potential remix. Jonas was already a fan. “He told us he heard the song, had it saved to a playlist on Spotify and wanted to jump in and do it with us,” Sokolik recalls.
The “Burning Down” remix arrived in December, with Jonas and Warren trading lines during verses before blending together seamlessly in the chorus. In the week following its release, the song (in all versions) was up 70% (Dec. 6-12) from the week before to 6.2 million U.S. official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Since the arrival of the remix, “Burning Down” has also lifted on multiple radio-based Billboard charts: in January, the single hit new highs of No. 25 on Pop Airplay and No. 31 on Adult Pop Airplay.
Ahead, Warren is booked for a world tour that kicks off in February in Europe — and he has plenty of songs to come, teasing an impending Chapter 2 installment of his debut album. “I’ve always dreamed of this moment,” he says.
“There are very few people I’ve met in my life who are willing to do whatever it takes,” adds Sokolik. “Alex is one of those people. Whatever he puts his mind to, he will accomplish.”
Brian Sokolik, left, and Alex Warren photographed December 19, 2024, in Los Angeles.
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This story appears in the Jan. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.