State Champ Radio Pop
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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.
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This week, Taylor Swift and Ice Spice both big-up “Karma,” Dua Lipa shimmies into the summer and Lil Durk continues to unspool his story. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Taylor Swift feat. Ice Spice, “Karma (Remix)”
Taylor Swift and Ice Spice may be at different phases in their respective experiences with fame — Swift the biggest name in music, headlining stadiums on the hottest tour of the year; Ice Spice a fresh-faced star in mainstream hip-hop, collecting her first top 10 hits after going viral last fall — but on the remix to “Karma,” from Swift’s Midnights album, the two artists share a musical sensibility marked by an effortless confidence in their craft. The highlight of Swift’s Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition), which also includes a “More Lana Del Rey” version of “Snow On The Beach” and the debut of “Hits Different” on streaming (among other goodies), the “Karma” remix finds Ice co-signing Swift’s philosophy that what goes around will come back around, in her favor: “It’s okay, baby, you ain’t gotta worry, karma never gets lazy / So, I keep my head up, my bread up, I won’t let up,” she raps.
Dua Lipa, “Dance The Night”
Rejoice: we have a new disco-pop single from Dua Lipa in time for summer. “Dance The Night,” which leads the upcoming soundtrack to the Barbie movie, functions as an uptempo stopgap between Lipa albums in the same way that singles like “One Kiss” and “Electricity” helped soothe impatient fans in between Lipa’s 2017 self-titled debut and 2020’s Future Nostalgia: working with Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Caroline Ailin on the track, Lipa sends “Dance The Night” into the same hustle-ready stratosphere as “Levitating,” her forceful voice turbo-charging the hooks in the first half of the song and then delivering one of the sleekest bridges in mainstream pop this year.
Lil Durk, Almost Healed
As Lil Durk has transformed from promising new talent to commercial question mark to late-blooming superstar over the course of his career, the Chicago rapper has remained introspective as both a solo artist and collaborator: put him in any context, over any beat, and he’ll likely share personal stories of past brutalities that help explain his present-day hardened exterior. Almost Healed, which opens with a literal therapy session with Alicia Keys and ends with Durk begging someone not to lie to him over a squealing electric guitar, also boasts guests like J. Cole, Future and 21 Savage, but is once again defined by his confessional, affecting tone.
Peso Pluma, “Bye”
For as singular a voice as Peso Pluma possesses, and how quickly his profile has expanded from the popular Mexican music scene to the entire world, the 23-year-old has often done so while joined by other artists, from Eslabon Armado on “Ella Baila Sola” to Yng Lvcas on the “La Bebe” remix to Becky G on “Chanel.” “Bye,” his first solo single since 2021’s “Por Las Noches,” capitalizes on both Pluma’s individual momentum and the rapidly shifting boundaries of regional Mexican: as horns and guitars mournfully careen off one another, Pluma proves unafraid of baring his soul and extending his syllables for maximum listener engagement.
d4vd, Petals to Thorns
Over the course of his short career, as songs like “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me” graduated from TikTok flare-ups to streaming smashes with nine-figure plays, d4vd has revealed himself to be a canny, cross-genre multi-hyphenate, an 18-year-old whose songs evoke strong reactions from older rhythmic-pop fans and screen-scrolling teens alike. All of new nine-song EP Petals to Thorns, and particularly stormy new single “The Bridge,” demonstrates his quick-grade evolution: even though “Romantic Homicide” is a highlight of the project, the newly unveiled songs sound more carefully considered than d4vd’s breakthrough hit, as if his songwriting has already adjusted to the brighter lights.
No one is more excited for Ice Spice‘s feature on the new “Karma” remix than Taylor Swift. In a clip shared by Spotify, the pop star gushed about her latest collaborator and explained how the team-up — which dropped at midnight Friday (May 26) — came to be. “Collaborating with Ice Spice on ‘Karma’ was […]
Céline Dion has once again been forced to cancel a wide swath of concert dates due to her ongoing battle with a rare neurological disease. On Friday morning (May 26) the singer posted a lengthy note to fans announcing that she is canceling the remaining European shows on her 2023-2024 European Courage Tour after previously rescheduling them.
“I’m so sorry to disappoint all of you once again. I’m working really hard to build back my strength, but touring can be very difficult even when you’re 100%,” the singer said in a statement. “It’s not fair to you to keep postponing the shows, and even though it breaks my heart, it’s best that we cancel everything now until I’m really ready to be back on stage again. I want you all to know, I’m not giving up… and I can’t wait to see you again!”
The affected dates included a planned run of 2023 shows in Amsterdam, Paris, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki that were slated to take place from late August to early October, as well as 23 European shows booked for March 6-April 22. Tickets purchased for the 42 canceled dates will be refunded through the original point of purchase.
The announcement noted that as the world has moved on after the COVID-19 lockdown, Celine has “continued to be treated for a diagnosed medical condition that prevents her from performing. Celine is working hard on her recovery, but at this time is unable to successfully prepare for and perform the remainder of the tour… We do have every hope that someday soon, Celine will be able to come to all of these cities in Europe to perform for her amazing fans, but that time simply is not now.”
Dion had performed the first 52 dates of the Courage tour in North America before the pandemic paused it in March 2020. She was then diagnosed with a rare condition called Stiff Person Syndrome, which her team said causes severe and persistent muscle spasms that have prevented her from performing.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, SPS is a rare neurological disorder that has features of an autoimmune disease. It is characterized by “fluctuating muscle rigidity in the trunk and limbs and a heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can set off muscle spasms. Abnormal postures, often hunched over and stiffened, are characteristic of the disorder.” People with SPS can be too disabled to walk or move and may be “afraid to leave the house because street noises, such as the sound of a horn, can trigger spasms and falls.” According to the Institute, the disorder affects twice as many women as men and science does not yet understand what causes it.
In December 2022, Dion pushed all her 2023 dates into 2024, of canceled them entirely before initially vowing to reboot the European portion of the tour this summer.
Check out the affected dates below.
Britney Spears celebrated a reunion with her mother Lynne on Thursday in an Instagram post in which she hinted that their long estrangement has ended. “My sweet mama showed up at my door step yesterday after 3 years … it’s been such a long time … with family there’s always things that need to be worked out… but time heals all wounds!!!,” wrote Spears in the update that was accompanied by a sweet image of the singer as a child in a ballerina outfit with a pink tutu.
“And after being able to communicate what I’ve held in for an extremely long time, I feel so blessed we were able to try to make things RIGHT !!! I love 💕 you so much !!!,” Spears added. And, in a seeming allusion to the strict restrictions Britney reportedly lived under during her 13 year conservatorship, she added that she was “so blessed we can have coffee together after 14 years!!! Let’s go shopping afterwards!!!”
Britney was placed in the restrictive conservatorship in 2008 amid a mental health crisis and after it was terminated in Nov. 2021 she lashed out at both her parents over the legal arrangement that had her father and lawyers dictating the structure of her professional and private life. Shortly before a judge dissolved the conservatorship — which was overseen by the estranged dad, Jamie Spears — Britney posted, and then deleted, an Instagram message taking her mother to task.
“Pssss my dad may have started the conservatorship 13 years ago … but what people don’t know is that my mom is the one who gave him the idea !!!!” Britney claimed at the time. “I will never get those years back.”
Then, last October, Britney let loose again in a post in which she wrote that she, “had to meet doctors weekly to bring up my past which made it worse. As for my whole family including my brother, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, and well damn the whole audience… were either stoned or drunk of their asses.”
“I was the mother f***ing Saint who was scared to move or I knew my dad would put me somewhere if I didn’t cooperate … even in America, the land of the free 🇺🇸 !!!!,” she added. “Years go by and he still puts me in a psych ward !!!! Not one mother f***ing person stood up for me.” The post came just weeks after Britney said she was “traumatized” by the abuse she said she experienced during the conservatorship, leading to Lynne issuing a public apology and pleading with her daughter to “please unblock” her so they could “speak… in person.”
At the time, Spears was not having it, responding, “Mom take your apology and go f–k yourself!!!”
See Britney’s reconciliation post below.
How can she lose if she already chose? Ice Spice is maintaining her reign over the music industry this year by hopping on a fun remix of fellow superstar Taylor Swift‘s Midnights fan favorite track, “Karma.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The new iteration of the song, […]
We got through Midnights, through 3AM and, now, we’ve arrived at dawn. Taylor Swift unveiled a second deluxe version of her 10th studio album on Friday (May 26), titled Midnights (Til Dawn Edition). This iteration of the project features a remix of “Karma” with Ice Spice, a different version of the Lana Del Rey collaboration […]
Kelly Clarkson‘s song of the summer got an additional dose of sunshine thanks to a beach club-ready remix from David Guetta. Clarkson unveiled the new version of “Favorite Kind of High” on Wednesday (May 24), along with a lyric video featuring an adorable cameo. In the technicolor visualizer, the singer’s eight-year-old daughter River Rose takes […]
This Barbie is ready to “Dance the Night” away. Just three days after she announced her new song “Dance the Night” off the Barbie: The Album, Dua Lipa unveiled the disco-tinged track on Thursday (May 25). “Watch me dance the night away / My heart could be burnin’ but you won’t see it on my face […]
Harry Styles took to social media on Wednesday with a dirty, LOL-worthy joke referencing one of One Direction‘s biggest hits. In an Instagram Story, the heartthrob posed oh-so-innocently next to a turquoise and gray portable restroom with a cheeky sign posted on the door reading “Best Schlong Ever” in all-caps letters. Wearing a shiny teal […]
In a pair of now-deleted tweets, Lizzo shared that she’s been receiving an influx in attacks from people on social media and opened up about how it’s affected her recently. Though she has over 2 million followers, the star has mostly been keeping her Twitter account locked down on private to eliminate the amount of […]
