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The eighth annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert for God’s Love We Deliver will take place at the Beacon Theatre on March 7 and feature sets from the Black Keys, Hozier, Nile Rodgers, Rage Against the Machine guitarist and solo star Tom Morello and former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, among many others.
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The fundraiser for the organization that cooks and home-delivers nutritious, medically tailored meals to people who are too sick to cook for themselves will be hosted by comedians Conan O’Brien, Tracy Morgan and Jim Gaffigan and also feature performances from Bettye Lavette, Joss Stone, Allison Russell, Emily King, Marcus King, Lucius, Larkin Poe, Trombone Shorty and Struts singer Luke Spiller.
The show, executive produced by fashion icon John Varvatos, concert producer Greg Williamson and concert/events producer Nicole Rechter, will announce additional acts in the lead-up to this year’s event; the gig’s music director/band leader will be CBS Orchestra leader Will Lee. The house band will feature a killer lineup of all-stars, including Steve Gadd (James Taylor, Paul Simon), Shawn Pelton (Saturday Night Live), Larry Campbell (Levon Helm, Bob Dylan), Eric Krasno (Soulive, Phil Lesh & Friends), Pedrito Martinez (Bruce Springsteen, Camila Cabello), Jeff Babko (Jimmy Kimmel Live!), Michael Bearden (Lady Gaga) and a six-piece horn section.
Since its 2017 launch, Love Rocks NYC has raised more than $30 million and helped fund the delivery of three million meals to New Yorkers living with illness, according to a release announcing this year’s gig. Presale tickets for the show will be available on Thursday (Feb. 8) beginning at 10 a.m. ET, with the public onsale kicking off at 10 a.m. ET on Friday (Feb. 9); click here for more information on tickets.
Beyoncé teased her latest beauty brand on Instagram on Tuesday night (Feb. 6) in a short video promoting an upcoming hair care line called Cécred. “Hair is sacred. The journey begins on Feb. 20,” read the caption to the clip. The brief accompanying video featured an image of a screen covered with a white bedsheet, […]
Few people had a bigger 2023 than Coco Jones — and she could very well turn 2024 into an even bigger year following Sunday night’s 2024 Grammys, where she’s nominated for a whopping five Golden Gramophones.
Ahead of Music‘s Biggest Night, Billboard staff writer Kyle Denis sat down with Jones to break down her whirlwind year and her feelings going into her first Grammy Awards as a nominee. At Sunday night’s telecast, Jones is nominated for best new artist, best R&B song (“ICU”), best R&B performance (“ICU”), best traditional R&B performance (“Simple,” with Babyface) and best R&B album (What I Didn’t Tell You – Deluxe).
“The Grammys are just a very respected group of people who earned their voice and their credits and credentials,” she says. “To me, I respect everyone who is nominated and decides because I just feel like the Grammys also help up-and-coming [artists and creatives]. For them to recognize the work that I’m doing, it just feels very affirming.”
The “Caliber” singer continues, “When I first learned I was nominated, I was on the plane. I definitely was asleep. My phone was vibrating so much, I was like, ‘This turbulence is crazy!’ But what I realized was, everyone was texting me congratulations.”
Last year, Jones earned her first Billboard Hot 100 entry with “ICU” (No. 62), which earned a remix featuring Justin Timberlake and also reached the top of Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and R&B Digital Song Sales. The success of “ICU” also gave way to a deluxe version of 2022 EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, which climbed to No. 6 on Heatseekers Albums — her first appearance on the chart in exactly a decade. In addition to her own music, Jones has lent her talents to collaborations with the likes of Brent Faiyaz (“Moment of Your Life”), Lil Tjay (“Grateful”), Adekunle Gold (“Make It Easy”) and Mean Girls movie musical star Reneé Rapp (“Tummy Hurts”).
“I have to say I really loved [working with] Reneé Rapp,” Jones gushes. “I think that was just so cool because it was mixing pop and R&B, and that’s something I want to do moving forward, so I like that. To me, it was kind of like foreshadowing.”
Like Rapp, Jones is also an acclaimed multi-hyphenate. She’s currently gearing up to film the forthcoming new season of Peacock’s Bel-Air, in which she portrays the ever-fashionable Hilary Banks. “I’m excited! A lot is still up in the air, we just ended the strike and I know everybody is getting back to work,” she says. “I’m not sure what’s in store for Hilary, I definitely want it to be surprising though, I’m like ‘Let’s up the stakes!’”
After spending 2023 on a major headlining tour, racking up R&B smashes and promoting season two of Bel-Air, Jones is ready to conquer the new year with the lessons she’s learned from those experiences. “Everything’s in seasons,” she muses. “Sometimes, people come into your life for a season, sometimes you have seasons where you don’t understand what’s going on, but seasons are the weather so they must change and they must evolve and they must go to something different. Don’t try to hold on to whatever has outlasted its season.”
Usher finally unveiled the tracklist for his upcoming ninth studio album, Coming Home, revealing features from Latto, Burna Boy, 21 Savage and many more. The 20-song album due out on Feb. 9 — two days before Ush takes the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to perform the halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII — also boasts features from The-Dream, H.E.R., Summer Walker and Usher’s BTS pal, Jung Kook.
“U been asking… so I had to deliver,” Usher said in the caption to a post on Wednesday (Jan. 31) featuring the song list. The album opens with the title track (featuring Burna Boy), followed by “Good Good” (with 21 Savage and Walker), “A-Town Girl” (with Latto) and “Cold Blooded” (with The-Dream).
Among the songs that don’t have features are: “Kissing Strangers,” “Keep On Dancin’,” “Bop,” “Stone Kold Freak,” “BIG,” ” On the Side,” “I Am the Party,” “I Love U,” “Please U,” “Luckiest Man,” “Margiela,” “Room in a Room” and One of Them Ones.”
The album ends with the remix of Jung Kook’s “Standing Next to You.” H.E.R. appears on the song “Risk It All” — which was featured on the soundtrack to The Color Purple — and Pheelz is featured on “Ruin.”
In the lead-up to the big game, Usher received the second most nominations in the music/recording categories for the 2024 NAACP Image Awards with five nods, just behind Victoria Monét’s six noms. Usher also recently previewed his plans for his Super Bowl, revealing that his plan to pack his entire career into 13 hard-hitting minutes has to be “perfect… I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I want people who have been a part of that journey to feel like it’s a celebration for everybody, for all of us, from the beginning up until this point.”
At press time no specific details were available about the set list, but usher promised that it would contain some of his signature moves, including roller skating, awesome choreography, a major costume change and some special guests.
Check out the tracklist for Usher’s Coming Home below.
Jennifer Lopez dropped the summer-ready video for her remix of “Can’t Get Enough” on Monday (Jan. 29). The new visual cooked up by JLo and director Tanu Muiño for the bouncy first single from the singer/actress’ upcoming This Is Me… Now album features a guest verse from Latto, with both women taking it to the street in the dance-heavy clip.
In keeping with the narrative arc about love addiction in Lopez’s upcoming This Is Me… Now: A Love Story Amazon original film, the new video opens with Lopez getting harassed by a group of sharply dressed reporters bombarding her with probing questions. “’What are you chasing?’,” one asks, while another wonders, “‘What’s it all about?,’” and a third inquiring mind shouts, “‘Jennifer, what really matters to you?’”
Lopez’s answer, of course, is “Love.”
Cue the track and Lopez writhing in a gauzy white robe on a bed — with a killer view of the city through her giant picture windows — as she stares lustily into a mirror. The camera then follows Lopez outside, where she walks confidently onto a city street, loses her tan jacket and struts through the middle of traffic. This, naturally, leads to a Jenny on the block dance routine, with Lopez and an impromptu group of male dancers busting moves in an intersection.
Lopez then slips under a dinner table on a night out with her man, crawling across the floor sensually while also walking toward Latto on a soundstage, with both women dressed in deep red, body-hugging dresses. “Call the doctor, I don’t see nobody but you/ Do I still love you? Baby, is the sky blue?/ Spoil a b–ch down and he faithful to me too/ You know you the reason why they hatin’ on me, boo,” Latto raps as Lopez rubs up on her.
The rest of the video appears to compile footage from the short film, much of it consisting of Lopez in various thong-baring outfits, including a sure-to-be-GIFFed sequence in which she takes an outdoor shower in a black string bikini for an audience of shirtless hunks floating in a reflecting pool.
The original version of “Can’t Get Enough” dropped on Jan. 10 as the first taste of Lopez’s long-awaited ninth studio album, which will be released on Feb. 16. An accompanying film directed by Dave Meyers will hit Amazon Prime Video the same day.
Watch the “Can’t Get Enough” remix video below.
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When 9-year-old Coco Jones was first trying to break into the entertainment world — auditioning and sitting in business meetings with strange executives — her mother would sometimes give her a secret signal.
“If my mom grabbed her earring, that meant, ‘You need to sing.’ And I’d sing,” Jones recalls with a laugh. “I spent a lot of time perfecting the a cappella.”
That early confidence-building lesson has served Jones well. At 12, she embarked on the path to tween stardom with roles on Disney Channel shows and films like So Random! and Let It Shine; more recently, she won the role of Hilary Banks on Peacock’s Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air. And now, it has helped her become one of R&B’s most promising rising stars, signed to High Standardz/Def Jam Recordings. “She’s one of the hardest-working artists that I’ve ever worked with,” Def Jam chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun says. “Coco is an artist with the confidence of a veteran but the energy of a newcomer.”
As Jones explains with characteristic conviction on the eve of her 26th birthday, she’s not simply an actress trying out a new side career. “I’m actually a singer who pursued acting at the same time,” she says. “But the acting caught on before the music did. Music has always been my comfort, my purpose — the driving force that has kept me in this industry.”
Powered by her compellingly soulful voice and self-assured moxie, the singer-songwriter had a major breakthrough in 2023. Her RIAA platinum-certified single, “ICU,” has now netted her Grammy Award nominations for best R&B song and best R&B performance — just two of five that Jones will vie for at this year’s event, along with best new artist, best R&B album for What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) and best traditional R&B performance for her collaboration with Babyface, “Simple.”
“It feels surreal,” Jones says of her first-ever nominations. “And to see these other amazing women like [fellow nominees] Victoria Monét, SZA and Janelle Monáe who are paving different lanes for a modern R&B that can be so flexible and genreless … I commend us. But in another way, this feels like confirmation of my journey; that there can’t always be a storm. The weather has to change.”
Coco Jones photographed on January 5, 2024 in New York.
Jai Lennard
Jones began that journey 17 years ago in Lebanon, Tenn., as a kid auditioning and entering talent competitions, singing songs of raw emotion way beyond her years that her mother, Javonda — who, Jones says, studied music in school and did some background singing as well — introduced her to, like Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools.”
In 2011, Jones landed a recurring role on Disney’s musical sketch-comedy series So Random! and the next year, she co-starred in the Disney film Let It Shine. Five Let It Shine tracks she sang on — “What I Said,” “Whodunit” (with Adam Hicks), “Me and You,” “Let It Shine” and “Guardian Angel” (the latter three collaborations with actor-rapper Tyler James Williams) — launched her onto the Billboard charts for the first time in 2012, as all made the Kids Digital Song Sales list.
But Jones wanted to be a singer-songwriter in her own right. And though Hollywood Records released her 2013 EP, Made Of (which reached No. 10 on the Heatseekers Albums chart), the label dropped her the following year. Two more independent EPs followed (2017’s Let Me Check It and 2019’s H.D.W.Y.); in between, Jones continued acting, including in the 2016 film Grandma’s House, the 2018 TV series Five Points and the 2020 film Vampires vs. The Bronx.
By the time she landed those projects, Jones had forgone college, moving to Los Angeles at 17 to further pursue her dream of becoming a singer-songwriter. “That was a key sacrifice: comfort,” Jones says of making the decision. “I didn’t choose the route that was expected and thought things would happen immediately. But it didn’t work out that way. Without a continuous source of income, I was living off my savings as a Disney kid. So [as a young adult] it was getting real. I could only be a young girl following her dreams for so long. But I got to live, make friends, fall in and out of love … be normal — which helped me find my own voice, my sound.”
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In 2020, a major turning point occurred when a fan from her Disney days asked on social media what was up with her career. Jones responded to the query on YouTube, sharing the struggles and second-guessing she had faced as a Black female artist while “opening doors for people to see me as an adult.”
“Instead of internalizing that comment, Coco made a video to give fans and others information and context [about her industry experiences],” Def Jam’s Balogun says. “Then she started doing covers of popular R&B records [Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love,” Brandy’s “Full Moon”] that she posted on TikTok and YouTube that started to reframe conversations about her as an artist. And when she got on Bel-Air, that gave her a new audience who may not have known she does music.”
Jones’ work ethic, focus and determination are what initially impressed Jeremy “J Dot” Jones (no relation) — the founder and CEO of High Standardz, a joint venture with Def Jam — who signed her in summer 2021, before her audition for Bel-Air.
“Before I even got to the music, I saw how professional and on point she was about her vision for what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it,” J Dot recalls of first meeting Jones. “And then there was the voice, which blew me away. So I felt that with the right plan, the right producers and time to grow in the marketplace, she would have a strong opportunity to stake her claim in the game. Between the loyal Disney fan base, the R&B covers, Bel-Air and seeing how much she has grown artistically from being a child star, I definitely think fans who felt like Coco didn’t get a fair shot early on were ready to see her win.”
With the breakout success of “ICU” from her What I Didn’t Tell You EP, Jones has finally graduated from Disney star to adult singer-songwriter on the rise. “This is who I am offscreen, without a script,” Jones says of the EP’s songs about relationships, love and heartbreak. “These are my own secrets, my own life.”
Coco Jones photographed on January 5, 2024 in New York.
Jai Lennard
The pureness and clarity of Jones’ full-bodied vocals call to mind R&B’s traditional soul roots and its 1990s heyday, but she puts a modern spin of her own on the proceedings. “ICU,” her aching examination of the painful withdrawal and residual feelings after a romantic split, spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart; it also reached No. 6 on Hot R&B Songs and has earned 175.6 million official U.S. streams (through Jan. 4), according to Luminate.
Follow-up single “Double Back,” which samples the SWV hit “Rain,” reached No. 21 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. And Jones is on the road to becoming an in-demand collaborator as well: She guested on Brent Faiyaz’s summer 2023 top 10 R&B hit, “Moment of Your Life,” and more recently paired up with ascendant pop singer and fellow actress Reneé Rapp on the remix of Rapp’s “Tummy Hurts.”
“Def Jam and High Standardz wanted to make sure the R&B audience understood, accepted and championed Coco,” says Balogun, whose roster also includes rising R&B stars Muni Long and Fridayy. “We also focused on making sure people saw her perform live [either] on her tour, the Soul Train Awards [or] other shows. The report card in R&B is live performance and what matters to the core base is, ‘Does it sound and feel as good as the album?’ She has been able to live up to that.”
With filming of season three of Bel-Air starting at the end of January, Jones is also working on her debut album, due later this year. But she says fans shouldn’t simply assume it will be part two of the EP.
“That story has been told,” Jones says. “Between this taste of success and being on tour, I’ve learned so much that I can’t be anything that I was. The most raw and authentic version of whatever you’re doing is going to win. You just have to be willing to bare your spirit.”
This story will appear in the Jan. 27, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Teyana Taylor proved her acting chops in her acclaimed role as a single mother struggling to make a home for her son in the gritty 2023 drama A Thousand and One. But the “Gonna Love Me” singer/actress is out to prove she’s a true double threat with her upcoming role in the as-yet-untitled Dionne Warwick biopic.
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On Wednesday (Jan. 24), Taylor praised the “Walk on By” star by giving props to the woman who she said helped her see herself. “And just like that.. 2020MORE Blessings!,” Taylor wrote alongside rose, praying hands and heart emoji in an Instagram post that featured a screenshot of an announcement from Warwick’s son, producer Damon Elliott, confirming the movie’s green light.
“It’s official… we are funded and we have a shoot date!” Elliott wrote, seemingly certifying that the film is ready to begin shooting; at press time there was no additional information on the production.
Taylor gave the 83-year-old Warwick her flowers in the post, writing, “Ms. Dionne Warwick… A woman of great statue, poise and elegance, with a fiery spirit — Realizing I was looking at my future self. My reflection without a mirror,” adding, “Being able to learn and study from one of the greats like, @therealdionnew has allowed me to learn a lot about myself and the woman I am today. She has taught us to be proud of who you are…. —Don’t Make Me Over.”
The post ended with Taylor telling Warwick that her music and social involvement has “enhanced the culture. Your soul and artistry serves as an example of not only resilience and strength, but of faith and purpose.” Taylor included a nod to the producers behind the film and Elliott, writing, “We are so excited to make you proud!… Shout out to @iamdamonelliott it’s GO TIMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! It’s been a long time coming!!!”
Taylor announced plans for the movie in March 2023, telling Tamron Hall that they had already begun working on the biopic. “We’re in the building process right now. I’ve always wanted to make sure like, I could lock in with any person that I would be playing, you know?,” Taylor said at the time. “How Angela [Bassett] and Tina [Turner] was, how Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles, you know what I’m saying? Like, to really get to know them and I miss when movies was like that, when you get to know them and tap in and just bond.”
She said that at that point she and Warwick were already talking to each other every day. “That’s my girl. Me, her, and her son [Elliott],” she said. “I mean, I’ve always been a firm believer in just always standing on safety. She’s had a wonderful career, you know, and I think right now it’s about making her feel as safe as possible so she can tell her story. A lot of these stories get misconstrued or extremely dramatized to an extent and that’s not where we want to go.”
The role seemed to manifest naturally back in 2020, when notoriously hilarious X poster Warwick had a meet-cute on what was then called Twitter in which Dionne tweeted at Netflix with a plea to make a movie and take her casting suggestion. “Please don’t ask who I would cast to play me as it would obviously be Teyana Taylor,” Warwick wrote at the time.
See Taylor’s post below.
Mary J. Blige says she appreciates all the kind words from fans after her name was included on the stacked lineup for this year’s Lovers & Friends festival in Las Vegas on May 4. Unfortunately, the singer said in an Instagram Story on Thursday (Jan. 25) that was a mistake. “I am beyond humbled by […]
“Caliber” singer Coco Jones stopped by Sherri Shepherd’s syndicated show on Friday (Jan. 19) to talk about her 2024 Grammy nominations, her desire to keep holding up the R&B genre, and most importantly, to share a flawless, funny Mariah Carey impersonation.
Aware that Jones has gone viral for her impersonation skills, Shepherd cued up the “Celebrity Spin” game to test Coco’s skills at nailing a famous voice in a wacky scenario. Britney Spears ordering a latte? Nailed it. Rihanna on a roller coaster? “Oh hey now, hey now. Stop de ride, stop de ride,” Jones sang in RihRih’s signature island-soaked timbre.
Jones definitely saved the best for last, though. Asked to conjure Mariah on the phone with Shepherd’s in-house turntablist, DJ Suss One, Jones gathered her thoughts and busted out, “Hey Mr. DJ, are you gonna play my favorite song,” in a perfect Carey coo, topped by a signature sky-high MC whistle note.
The singer who is nominated for five Grammy Awards — including best R&B performance, best R&B song, best R&B album, best traditional R&B performance and best new artist — told Shepherd the very first person she called to celebrate the good news was, of course, her mom. “I called my mama when I landed,” Jones said. “My mom was the team before the team. She was the one knocking on doors on behalf of her little 9-year-old just to beg somebody to listen, so I want he to see that her sacrifice has paid off.”
The Bel-Air star also spilled on what’s next for her character Hilary Banks, promising that she will continue to “stir the pot” and “surprise you guys” in season three of Peacock’s reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The 26-year-old singer also revealed that she’s hoping to have her full-length debut album out this summer. To date, Jones has released a handful of EPs, including 2022’s What I Didn’t Tell You, which featured her only Billboard Hot 100-charting single to date “ICU,” which peaked at No. 62.
Watch Jones on Sherri below.
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Though he’s currently running through the paces of rehearsals for his first go at it, Usher knows the rigors of preparing a Super Bowl halftime show. With just 13 minutes to perform a career-spanning set and eight minutes to set up the stage, the singer told Vogue magazine in a new digital cover story that there he knows there is no room for error.
“It has to be perfect,” said the “Yeah!” singer known for his mind-bendingly smooth dance moves and elaborate staging. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I want people who have been a part of that journey to feel like it’s a celebration for everybody, for all of us, from the beginning up until this point.”
Because the pre-game specifics of the halftime show are notoriously tightly-held, there were no details to share about what songs fan can expect to hear, even though Usher did give the magazine a sneak peek about his Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII set. Among the items definitely on the checklist: roller skating, killer choreography, one major costume change and, unlike last year’s performer, Rihanna, some special guests.
“This night was specifically curated in my mind to have R&B take the main stage,” he said, teasing that he’s pulled together a team who represent the architects of the genre to help him compile the set list. “Not just R&B music, but R&B performance, R&B connection, R&B spirit.” The singer who tearfully closed out his 100-show Las Vegas residency in December, said he’s also been thinking about such other legendary Vegas icons as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley while putting together the show.
“I’m literally speaking to every woman. I want to make it feel like that,” the legendarily lusty singer said of aiming for a sensual intimacy in the 65,000-capacity stadium, while also keeping in mind other legendary Super Bowl halftime shows as he celebrates his own history.
“I’m thinking about the fact that I’ve been able to walk through the front door as a result of their sacrifice and ability,” he said of the legacy of such previous Black icons as Michael Jackson and Prince, as well as what R&B means in a country where some of its most famous practitioners had to enter the stage through the kitchen door in the 1950s and 60s due to segregation.
“It’s made me feel joyous. It made me feel like I want to go out there, and I want the world to smile when they look at me. I want them to feel something, and feel my passion, my love, feel like I was the right person to sit in this position, and I was the right person to bring this kind of energy and love and connection to the entire world,” Usher said.
“People will tune in for a football game, but I hope when they look at that halftime performance, I’m hoping they walk away with something that’s healing them,” he added. “Something that makes them feel hopeful, and not just look at the past, but have hope for the future, and have hope for a different type of future than we’re looking at right now in the present.”
The 45-year old singer is gearing up to release his ninth studio album, Coming Home, on Feb. 9, just two days before he takes the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the big game. It’s a gig that his fans will tell you is a long time coming, but which didn’t materialize until Jay-Z called up to ask Ush to do the honors this year.
“Every day I’m kind of sitting here and I take a moment to just look at where we’re going to be, which is right there,” Usher told the magazine while pointing to the shiny black glass spaceship of a stadium in the Nevada desert.
And, not for nothing, the writer reveals that they have already heard an “afrobeat-inflected earworm” from Coming Home, assuring fans that it is “20 tracks of absolute bangers.”