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It’s been a near-year-long road to the Big Game for Kendrick Lamar, whose 2024 crescendoed from March onward, to the point where the rapper — who had long seemed conflicted about the idea of crossover success — ended the year as our editorial staff’s pick for the year’s Greatest Pop Star. He’s picked up right […]
02/10/2025
Check out the music moments you might have missed if you weren’t in the building on Sunday.
02/10/2025
Donald Trump became the first sitting President to attend a Super Bowl on Sunday (Feb. 9), when he watched two quarters of the Philadelphia Eagles’ dismantling of the Kansas City Chiefs on their way to a decisive 40-22 victory. The second termer also became the first commander in chief to post a nasty taunt of […]
Before becoming a Billboard Hot 100-topping singer/songwriter, Teddy Swims was dominating in a different arena: the football field. But just like Zac Efron’s High School Musical character before him, Swims had to take a break from sports to follow his musical dreams.
On the next episode of Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals web series, premiering Tuesday at 6 a.m. ET, Swims sits down with host Josh Scherer to eat their way through some of the musician’s all-time favorite foods and talk about his life story. When Scherer compared Swims’ teen days growing up in Conyers, Georgia, to High School Musical — in which Efron’s Troy Bolton is the basketball star who harbors secret musical aspirations — Swims immediately related to the Disney analogy.
“I call myself the fat Troy Bolton, you know?” Swims laughed. “I wanted to quit football to do music, focus on theater. I remember my mom was so bummed out about it. She had [saved] all my stuff, all my trophies … since 6 years old. She was like, ‘Baby, we’re a football team. We’re a football family. Why would you do this to us? We’ve always done football!’ She was so confused. I just told her, ‘I want to do music. I really like music.’”
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His mom’s mind changed when she saw him onstage for the very first time. “I remember her coming to my first performance. We did this show called Damn Yankees, and I had, like, all of two lines in it. As soon as it got done, I remember her coming to me and saying, ‘Baby, I’m so sorry. This is where you belong. You’re a superstar.’ It just flipped. Just watching me onstage, it just flipped it upside down for her.”
Last month, Swims shared the news via Instagram that he’s expecting his first child with his partner, fellow musician Raiche Wright, and he sees fatherhood as an opportunity to revisit the world of sports.
“We’re gonna get back on that field,” he tells Scherer. “I just want to be the coach of something. Hopefully I’m gonna have a son and I can coach a football team. I want to do the Snoop Dogg, like, youth league Netflix series. That’s what I’m trying to do eventually: Teddy Swims little league, and like coach my son. Hopefully I get that opportunity. Maybe a daughter wants to play football, or maybe I’ll do the Teddy Swims cheerleading league … chess league. Whatever they’re into, I’m into.”
Teddy Swims released his second studio album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2), on Jan. 24 — debuting atop Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart and at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 — ahead of his Feb. 2 performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where he was nominated for best new artist.
Lady Gaga cast a spell at the 2025 Grammys with “Abracadabra,” and for the 2025 Super Bowl, she showed up to bring audiences together with another rousing performance.
In a special segment ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Gaga appeared alongside sports legends Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, Terry Bradshaw and others in a pre-filmed segment on New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street to pay tribute to the victims of multiple disasters over the last year, including the New Orleans terror attack, Hurricane Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires.
“Here on Bourbon Street, always the heart and soul of New Orleans, this year began with a terror attack that tried to shatter its spirit,” Strahan said while walking down the iconic thoroughfare sporting a “NOLA Strong” shirt. Brady, wearing an L.A. Fire Department T-shirt, joined in, adding that New Orleans’ resilience is “matched by the resolve of our country. When tragedy strikes, we don’t break — we come together, we rise above and we never let evil win.”
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The camera then cut to Gaga — sporting a wide-brimmed white hat and long white lace dress — seated at a piano and surrounded by a crowd in the middle of Bourbon Street. The singer launched into a stripped down performance of her Top Gun: Maverick single “Hold My Hand.” With various police officers and firefighters looking on, Gaga drove home the song’s inspirational message: “So cry tonight/ But don’t you let go of my hand,” she sang. “You can cry every last tear/ I won’t leave ’til I understand/ Promise you’ll just hold my hand.”
The segment aired just before the Philadelphia Eagles squared off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2025 Super Bowl. Music fans around the world will be tuning into the program to watch as Kendrick Lamar takes center stage at Caesars Superdome for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, featuring special guest SZA.
In the pre-show, meanwhile, in addition to Gaga, performers included Ledisi, Harry Connick Jr., Lauren Daigle and Jon Batiste to deliver annual renditions of the national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “America the Beautiful.”
Watch Gaga’s performance of “Hold My Hand” above.
The first week of February concludes with a smattering of new music, featuring releases from LISA, Doja Cat and Raye, Anitta and more. To start with what is already one of the biggest team-ups of the year, the BLACKPINK star has released her latest single, “Born Again,” featuring a heavy lift from two all-star collaborators. […]
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, LISA is reincarnated alongside Doja Cat and Raye, while Anitta sets forth on a new era. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
LISA feat. Doja Cat and Raye, “Born Again”
Opulence and religious imagery abound on LISA’s new team-up with Doja Cat and Raye, as the BLACKPINK star settles on disco elegance for the pop-star summit: “I would’ve made you a believer / Would’ve showed you what it’s like,” she sings as a kiss-off, while her guest stars flaunt biting rhymes and oversized vocals on the second verse and bridge, respectively. Anitta, “Romeo”
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The first Anitta release of 2025 kicks off a new era in style — moving on from Funk Generation, the Brazilian superstar continues exploring propulsive dance on “Romeo” but with more restrained production and emphasis on her vocal delivery, as if Anitta, not the beat beneath her, is the star of the show.
Pardison Fontaine & Cardi B, “Toot It Up”
Over a masterful sample of Nas’ “Made You Look,” Pardison Fontaine and Cardi B aim for a chest-thumping anthem for a new generation on “Toot It Up,” with both artists trading rhymes on the hook and finally delivering a long-in-the-works collaboration to official streaming services.
GELO feat. Lil Wayne, “Tweaker (Remix)”
GELO’s “Tweaker” has been one of the first surprise smashes of 2025, a viral hit that has earned LiAngelo Ball a label deal and lots of raised eyebrows; that quick rise continues with this Lil Wayne-assisted remix, as Weezy (who just announced an album of his own) gets in on the basketball metaphors: “I cross your ass up like Jesus, baby.”
Dom Dolla feat. Daya, “Dreamin’”
Australian DJ Dom Dolla has been linking up with various pop stars for a while now, and Daya, the Pittsburgh native of “Don’t Let Me Down”/“Hide Away” fame, makes for a perfect muse on “Dreamin’,” a hypnotic club track in which Daya deploys the smokiness of her voice and repeats the refrain until it gets lost in the rhythms.
Editor’s Pick: Rema, “Baby (Is It a Crime)”
Revamping Sade’s 1985 classic “Is It a Crime,” Rema returns with an immediately memorable piece of rhythmic pop: the Nigerian star has demonstrated crossover potential in the past, most notably with “Calm Down,” but the contours of “Baby (Is It a Crime)” are more subtle, his flow bridging the 40-year gap in styles.
K-Pop girl group NewJeans announced that they’ve changed their name to NJZ in the midst of their long-running dispute with their label, ADOR. Singer Hanni spoke to CNN about the change, saying that the five-member group decided to rebrand as a means of “turning this rough period of time into something more exciting.”
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The first public outing under the new banner will come at the three-day ComplexCon Hong Kong in March, where Hanni, Haerin, Minji, Hyein and Danielle said they will debut a new song.
“We are working a lot to resolve everything so that we can go… back to normal,” Hanni, 20, added, saying that the band doesn’t want their legal spat with ADOR to “be the focus of our careers.”
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In a statement announcing the name change and upcoming gig, Minji said, “We are thrilled to be stepping onto the stage for the first time as NJZ and share something new with everyone. It’s a big moment for us and we can’t wait for fans to be a part of this journey with us and show the world our new music that we have been eagerly waiting to share.”
Back in November, NewJeans announced that they were parting ways with ADOR, a subsidiary of the K-pop management firm HYBE, over allegations that the label violated their contract. “Once we leave ADOR, we’ll aim to proceed freely with the activities that we really desire,” Danielle said at the time. “We really wish to be able to release new music for Bunnies, next year, as soon as possible, whenever,” she added, in reference to their fan group nickname. “We really hope that we have the opportunity to meet you guys from all around the world.”
They also noted in November that due to their contract termination, they might no longer be able to use the group name they’ve performed under since 2022. ADOR responded to the news, maintaining that its contract with NewJeans “remains in full effect,” urging the group to continue collaborating with them on upcoming projects. ADOR has disputed the allegations from the group, who’ve accused the label of “manipulation,” “deliberate miscommunications” and workplace harassment and have filed a lawsuit against NewJeans, and, according to CNN, filed for a court injunction that would prevent NJZ form signing advertising deals.
The band’s announcement of their split came after months of rancor in a management dispute between HYBE and ADOR’s former CEO, Min Hee-jin, who also serves as the group’s creative director. Last year, HYBE accused Hee-jin of attempting to take the company independent, a claim he denied; NewJeans said in November that they would like to continue working with Hee-jin.
In response to NewJeans’ announcement of their new name, ADOR told CNN, “we regret the escalation of this matter to court and believe that most claims advanced by NewJeans members thus far have arisen from misunderstandings… We worry that announcing an unauthorized new group name or engaging in entertainment activities before a legal judgement is reached… could constitute a material breach of the exclusive agency contract.”
CNN reported that the group began posting content under the new name on the jeanzforfree Instagram page, which at press time had a “sorry, this page isn’t available” note.
A preliminary court hearing for the injunction is scheduled for March, with the lawsuit set to be heard by a judge in April. While they wait, Haerin said the group are working on making and performing their new music, which she described as having a “very unique and different sound… there’s nothing holding us back anymore.”
Hanni added that they thought long and hard about the new name, considering fans’ suggestions and landing on a moniker that retained the “essence” of their original one. “Even though we have to leave our previous name behind us for a bit, we’re not fully moving on from it,” she said. “And we don’t want to either, because (being NewJeans) was still a very special period of time to us, and it’s something that our fans also probably hold really dear.”
She also said their new era will be “very different” from what fans have come to expect from the group whose 2023 Get Up EP hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Hanni promised that the new image will also come with “different types of performances,” explaining, “Beforehand, we were very focused on being the kind of ‘girl next door’… So, we’re going for a (look that’s) a lot more sharp, a lot more bold,” said the singer, who along with her bandmates serves as an ambassador for global luxury brands Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
“And fashion wise: We love wearing streetwear and non-gendered kind of clothing. I think that concept and aspect is going to play a really strong role in our (new) fashion as well.”
Poppy has put her own spin on “Taste,” Sabrina Carpenter’s sultry viral hit, delivering a stripped-down yet edgy reinterpretation for Like A Version, the long-running cover series from Australian radio station triple j.
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The performance, which was recorded during her recent Australian tour with Bad Omens, also featured an unexpected nod to The Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself,” seamlessly woven into the chorus. “I love her voice, and I think she’s very pretty,” Poppy said of Carpenter, explaining her song choice. “And the song is really fun to sing, so here we are.”
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Dressed in a sleek all-black outfit, Poppy’s performance brought a darker, moodier edge to “Taste,” stripping back its glossy pop production in favor of a more industrial-tinged arrangement.
Adding to the intrigue was the masked presence of Jordan Fish, formerly of Bring Me The Horizon, handling production duties. The unexpected interpolation of “I Touch Myself”—an Australian classic originally released in 1990.
“The first time I heard [‘Taste’], I thought it sounded like ‘I Touch Myself’, which is also my favourite karaoke song, so combining it made sense,” Poppy said of her choice to add the twist to Carpenter’s track.
The cover arrives as both Poppy and Carpenter celebrate major career milestones. Poppy was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2025 Grammys for “Suffocate,” her collaboration with Knocked Loose that reached number 50 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. Meanwhile, Carpenter took home her first two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.
“Taste” has been a breakout moment for Carpenter, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, featured on her album Short n’ Sweet, which held No. 1 for four weeks on the Billboard 200.
Poppy, meanwhile, continues to push genre boundaries, evolving from her early YouTube days into an avant-garde force within the metal and alternative scenes.
Poppy’s Like A Version session adds to a long history of memorable covers on the program, which has hosted artists like Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys, and Childish Gambino reworking unexpected tracks. Whether this signals a future collaboration between Poppy and Carpenter remains to be seen, but for now, the metal provocateur has put her own mark on one of the year’s biggest pop hits.
Watch Poppy’s Like A Version cover of “Taste” below.
LISA is continuing her Alter Ego roll-out by calling on some of her fellow female pop stars. The 27-year-old BLACKPINK star teamed up with Doja Cat and Raye for a sultry new single, “Born Again,” released on Friday (Feb. 7). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The glamorous […]
