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What’s Your Favorite RBD Album? Vote!
If you’ve been streaming RBD‘s albums all this weekend, we can’t blame you. Fans have waited long enough, eight years to be exact, for RBD’s music to be on available on all streaming platforms. On Sept. 3, the Mexican band’s music catalogue including chart-topping albums Nuestro Amor and Celestial appeared across platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, among others. The Mexican band that became an unstoppable force in the early 2000s thanks to the hit telenovela Rebelde and chart-topping songs released eight studio albums. In an interview with Billboard, RBD alum Dulce María said, “the fact our fans were able to make this happen because they were the ones that didn’t want to forget about us and our songs. It makes me so happy. It’s itR...
William Pursell, Grammy-Nominated Composer, Dies at 94
Pursell released “Our Winter Love” in 1963, which became one of Columbia’s biggest-selling recordings that year. William “Bill” Pursell, a Grammy-nominated composer and pianist famous for composing “Our Winter Love,” has died. He was 94. Pursell died Saturday afternoon (Sept. 5) in Nashville, Tennessee, after a battle with COVID-19 and pneumonia, according to a statement shared by his daughter, recording artist Laura Pursell. “Our hearts are shattered, our lives changed forever. Please send prayers for strength to my family. While in the hospital, my father became a Catholic, something that has never happened in the Vanderbilt COVID ward. He said his entire life now made sense. This gives us some measure of peace. We know how many lives he to...
‘SNL’ to Honor Chadwick Boseman With Rerun of His Hosted Episode
NBC is planning to honor the late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman with a re-run of an episode of Saturday Night Live that he hosted in April 2018. The episode will air at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 5. During the show, Boseman reprised his role as T’Challa from the superhero pic, this time appearing in a Black Jeopardy sketch. In a Black Panther-themed sketch, Boseman explained the ‘Wakanda Forever’ salute from the movie. Boseman died on Aug. 28 at the age of 43, after a four year battle with colon cancer, survived by his wife Taylor Simone Ledward. The day after his death, the official Twitter account for SNL tweeted a photo of Boseman in a brightly colored jacket and against a warm, painted backdrop of the sky, water and flowers — it was originally used to promote th...
Christina Aguilera Watches New ‘Mulan’ for First Time With Her Kids: ‘It’s a Beautiful Thing to Share’
Christina Aguilera is spending quality time with her family amid the release of Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan. The 39-year-old pop star cozied up with her two kids — Max, 12, and Summer, 6 — on Friday (Sept. 4) to watch the premiere of the new Mulan on Disney+. The singer shared the experience with her fans by live-tweeting throughout the viewing. “My kids know about #Mulan, but they haven’t seen the live action version yet,” Aguilera wrote. “They’ve heard the music, they saw me recording it in the studio — so it’s a beautiful thing to share that with my children now.” Released in 1998, the original animated version of Mulan featured Aguilera’s breakout hit “Reflection,” which shot the then-teenaged singer to stardom ...
Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams Share Touching Tributes on Beyonce’s 39th Birthday
Beyonce received lots of love from her friends, family and fellow musicians on her 39th birthday. Among those helping celebrate Queen Bey’s special day on Friday (Sept. 4) were the “Crazy in Love” singer’s former Destiny’s Child groupmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, who each penned touching tributes on Instagram. “To my one who knows me, sometimes better than I know myself!” Rowland captioned a colorful photo of the two standing side-by-side in sparkling dresses. “YOU already know… Forever and ever babe! Happy Happy Birthday Love!” Williams, meanwhile, shared an encouraging message alongside a black-and-white photo from Beyonce’s days as a student. “Bey always gets people with the baby pics or younger year ty...
Cardi B Wishes She Could Perform ‘WAP’ for Large Crowds: ‘I Miss Shows and Festivals’
Cardi B is no doubt enjoying the success of her new hit single “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion, but she’s still disappointed over not being able to perform it live for fans. “Yoooo I wanna perform WAP so bad with a lot ass crowd.I miss shows and festivals,” Cardi tweeted Saturday (Sept. 5). “Yoooooo I would of went crazy.” In recent months, thousands of tours and festivals around the world have been postponed or canceled in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Cardi hasn’t performed for major crowds since numerous global festival appearances in 2019. One fan responded to the rapper’s tweet, writing, “We miss you performing! It would’ve been such an iconic performance.” “WAP” recently spent a second week at No...
Rihanna Is ‘Fine’ Following Electric Scooter Accident
Rihanna is doing well after an accident that involved an electric scooter. “Rihanna is completely fine now but flipped over on an electric scooter last week and bruised her forehead and face. Luckily there were no major injuries and she is healing quickly,” a rep for the singer said after she had been photographed with what appeared to be bruises on her face, according to People. Billboard has also reached out for comment. Rihanna fans — including Ariana Grande — have been patiently waiting for her follow-up to 2016’s Anti. In August, Grande begged for a new album from her: “fill my ears again please,” she pleaded in a tweet. Meanwhile, Cardi B recently brought up Rihanna’s name when she discovered a remix of “WAP” ...
5 Uplifting Moments in Latin Music This Week (September 5)
From career milestones and new music releases to major announcements and more, Billboard editors highlight the latest news buzz in Latin music every week. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week: Farruko Reveals Album Name This week, Farruko took on Instagram to reveal the name of his upcoming studio album. “LA 167 is coming!!” he expressed. “Are you ready for my new album? I’m getting ready, I’m not here to play.” The video shows the Puerto Rican artist riding a bike with Don Omar’s “Yo Puedo Con Todo” sounding in the background. Billboard can confirm that Farruko’s next album is titled 167 in honor of one of the main highways in Puerto Rico, near his hometown. The reggaeton singer first hinted at his album’s name in the music video for “La Toxica” during the club sc...
Lil Wayne Morphs Through His Iconic Decades-Spanning Looks in ‘Big Worm’ Video
Lil Wayne pays tribute to himself throughout the various eras of his career in his latest music video for “Big Worm,” which he released Thursday (Sept. 3). Against a blue-lit backdrop, Weezy stuns viewers with the evolution of his face tattoos and hairstyles over the years, from his long black dreads and signature sunglasses to his short cornrows pulled back with a headband to his current blond mid-length dreads. And the timely homage to his old self comes just after his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings became available on streaming services for the first time last Friday (Aug. 28). “Big Worm” comes from the deluxe version of Wayne’s Billboard 200 No. 1 album Funeral, which featured eight additional tracks with guest artists Doja Cat, Tory Lanez, Lil Uz...
Sam Asghari Defends ‘Authentic, Funny, Humble’ Britney Spears After Author Calls Instagram Posts ‘Scary’
Sam Asghari loves Britney Spears, no matter what. The fitness trainer took to the pop princess’ Instagram comment section this week to call out author and screenwriter Kelly Oxford, who expressed on one of Spears’ recent videos, “This account finally got too scary for me.” “what’s so scary about being the biggest superstar in the world being herself (authentic, funny, humble) without caring what others think,” Asghari replied, according to a fan screenshot. “we need more people like her and less Karen’s. also instagram installed this button that you can hit to unfollow about 10 years ago…” However, Oxford seems to be less of a hater, and more of a supporter of Spears’ safety. On July 13, she tweeted...
What’s Your Favorite Beyoncé No. 1 Hot 100 Hit? Vote!
Birthday Queen Beyoncé has celebrated seven singles hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 over the last two decades before turning 39 Friday (Sept. 4), but which one are you crazy in love with? She’s accomplished this feat twice on her own with “Irreplaceable” from her all-too-fitting album B’Day and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” from I Am… Sasha Fierce. But the superstar recruited some famous friends (and husband) to get to the top with their duets, from “Crazy in Love” featuring then-boyfriend and current husband Jay-Z to “Perfect” with Ed Sheeran to the “Savage” remix with fellow Houston native Megan Thee Stallion. So which of Queen Bey’s No. 1 hits are you crowni...
Fans Pick Bounty Killer vs. Beenie Man as the Best ‘Verzuz’ Battle Yet
Beenie Man and Bounty Killer both took home the winning title of our Verzuz battle poll. Verzuz battle viewers voted in a poll published Tuesday (Sept. 1) on Billboard, choosing the battle between the dancehall reggae legends streamed live from Kingston, Jamaica during Memorial Day weekend as their all-time favorite. And location was key here: Their Verzuz battle won with a whopping 88% of the vote, and 44.6% of the tally’s total votes came from fans in Jamaica. The two DJs not only brought back the historic precursor of Verzuz battles with their head-to-head soundclash competition as early as the 1950s, but they also ushered in a new format of the Verzuz battles by being the first two artists to perform in the same room and IG Live feed. The poll came a day ...
