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Liam Payne Celebrates His Decade-Long Career With Shaggy-Haired Throwback Pic: See the Sweet Post
Liam Payne remembered the first time he hit the X Factor stage and started his pop star journey 10 years ago for a tribute post he shared on social media yesterday (June 14). “It’s been 10 years today since my X factor audition and I just read that my first album just hit over 2 billion streams… that scared young man didn’t think that was gunna happen,” Payne wrote on Instagram. “Seriously thank you everyone who’s made this decade of my life possible and to everyone who’s listening thank you for enjoying my music and my bands too p.s. thanks also, for putting up with some awful haircuts like the one above.” Payne debuted as part of the British boy band One Direction in 2010 alongside Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik ...
Lady A Connects With Blues Singer Lady A Following Name Change
Both acts will continue as Lady A Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum until last week, have reached out to blues singer Lady A, who cried foul after the country trio shortened its name without realizing that the Seattle artist has released several albums under the name over the last 20 years. “Today, we connected privately with the artist Lady A. Transparent, honest, and authentic conversations were had,” the group posted on its Instagram late Monday afternoon. “We are excited to share we are moving forward with positive solutions and common ground. The hurt is turning into hope. More to come.” The post includes screen shots of a video chat between the group, Lady A, John Oliver III of Gleanings Community Bible Church and Mississippi blues artist Dexter Allen, who have written and pe...
Maren Morris Confirms ‘Giant Miscommunication’ With Mickey Guyton Over ‘Redesigning Women’ Video
After Mickey Guyton cited an all-female music video that she said she was disinvited to participate in in a guest column for Billboard that ran June 9, it was revealed that the video she declined to name was The Highwomen’s “Redesigning Women” video. In the column, Guyton wrote about what it felt like to be one of the few artists of color —she is the only female of color signed to a major country label—and the lack of support she felt from the country community. In particular, she wrote about rushing from Los Angeles to be a part of the video. “On one occasion, I left my ailing husband, who almost died from sepsis, in California just four days after his life-saving surgery because I had been invited to be a part of a female empowerment music video full of these same women. I arrived at the...
Georgel’s Pride Playlist Is a Celebration of Black Queer Artists
In celebration of Pride Month, Mexican singer-songwriter Georgel is honoring and amplifying black queer artists who have inspired and empowered him throughout his career. The “Que No Nos Importe” singer shared exclusively with Billboard his ultimate pride playlist, which includes songs such as “Pink + White” by Frank Ocean, Todrick Hall‘s “Boys” and RuPaul’s “Cover Girl,” citing the drag star as “the Oprah of gay culture in my generation.” During Pride Month, the openly gay singer also took to social media to commemorate the Pulse nightclub shooting victims who died four years ago. In a poignant and heartfelt post, Georgel calls for unity and peace. “It was the biggest massacre of the century again...
Anthrax, Run-DMC, Suicidal Tendencies & Volbeat Host Charitable Jam Session
Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz virtually linked up with Run-DMC‘s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Volbeat guitarist Rob Caggiano to perform a medley of rap and rock hits for a good cause. Benante praised McDaniels as the “KING of ROCK” in the video description of his highly anticipated six-minute jam session, which consisted of Run DMC’s “It’s Like That” and “Sucker MCs” from the hip-hop group’s 1984 self-titled debut LP and Anthrax’s “I’m The Man” titular track from its 1987 EP. The latter is still considered to be one of the first rap-rock hybrid songs. He made the combined virtual cover available for download on Bandcamp so the proceeds would go toward&nb...
Jesse & Joy Release Star-Studded ‘Love’ Video in Support of LGBTQ Community
With the help of nearly 200 people from all of over the world, including artists like Thalía, Juanes and more, Jesse & Joy are declaring “love is our language.” Today (June 15), the Mexican-American duo released the “Love” music video to speak out against violence toward the LGBTI+ community and raise awareness about conversion therapies that to this day take place in Mexico and other parts of the world. “Our music will always be there to remind you that you are beautiful just as you are,” the Mexican previously said about the song, included in their recently-released album Aire. “It’s called ‘Love’ and talks about love being the universal language, the language that all of us should speak.” Toward the end of the video, the message is loud and clear: “...
Billie Eilish Urges Everyone to Speak Out on Rayshard Brooks’ Death
Billie Eilish is enraged over the death of Rayshard Brooks, the 27-year-old black man who was shot in the back and killed by white police at a Wendy’s drive-through in Atlanta. “man F—. watching this video made me so f—ing angry. F— THIS SHIT. JUSTICE FOR RAYSHARD BROOKS. F— THIS SHIIIIIIIIT. #justiceforrayshard !!!! WHY ISNT EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS??” Eilish wrote Sunday (June 14) on Instagram, where she posted footage of Brooks. Minutes later, her brother Finneas also posted on social media: “Justice for Rayshard. This is so f—ed up man. And such a good example of EXACTLY what’s so f—ed up about the police in America. Asleep in his car in a parking lot. Shot to death. Don’t let yourself be numb to this. Don’t let t...
Mariah Carey, Ciara, Snoop Dogg & More Celebrate Barack Obama on Donald Trump’s Birthday
Happy birthday? While June 14 marks Donald Trump’s 74th birthday, many are celebrating the day by honoring … a former president. Rather than wishing the current president a happy birthday, thousands of social media users have declared the day #ObamaAppreciationDay in honor of Barack Obama, leading the hashtag and others like it to become the top trending topic on Twitter with more than 250,000 tweets. (As of press time, #HappyBirthdayDonaldTrump was at No. 24.) Among those tipping their hats to the 44th president is Mariah Carey. The singer shared a photo of herself beaming alongside the former president and first lady. She captioned the Instagram and Twitter image simply, “Happy #ObamaAppreciationDay!!” Ciara also joined in, sharing a sepia-toned photo of herself s...
Camila Cabello Celebrates Pride Month, Urges Fans to Fight for Transgender Rights
Camila Cabello is using her platform on social media to show her support for the LGBTQ+ community. On Sunday (June 14), the singer posted a “Happy Pride Month” message on Instagram. “This month is pride month !!!!!!! i have so much admiration and respect for the LGBTQ+ community, this community includes some of the bravest, kindest, strongest people I know- you teach me by example what it means to be true to yourself and your heart, what it means to be brave, what it means to be fierce and kind every step of the way and living YOUR truth no matter how hard and scary that may be, loving whoever you want to love. happy pride month,” Cabello wrote. She then added: “In the middle of one of the worst epidemics of violence against Black transgender people, Trump dec...
Spike Lee Apologizes After Defending Woody Allen: ‘My Words Were Wrong’
In an interview with a New York City radio station on Saturday, the ‘Da 5 Bloods’ director got candid about Allen and “cancel culture.” “I’d just like to say Woody Allen is a great, great filmmaker and this cancel thing is not just Woody.” Spike Lee is taking back the statements he made defending Woody Allen. In an interview with New York City radio station WOR’s In the Morning program on Friday (June 12), the Da 5 Bloods director got candid about Allen and “cancel culture.” “I’d just like to say Woody Allen is a great, great filmmaker and this cancel thing is not just Woody,” Lee said on the show. “And I think when we look back on it we are going to see that — short of killing somebody — I don’t know that you can just erase...
Bars Reopening in New Orleans, But Live Music Remains Prohibited
Bar owners in New Orleans prepared for a soft opening, and an uncertain one, as they began letting customers in Saturday (June 13) for the first time in months. Capacity is limited to 25%, live music remains prohibited, and nobody knows how many tourists will show on Bourbon Street in the age of COVID-19. Pam Fortner, owner of six French Quarter venues, is opening only two of them, both on Bourbon, where the customary blocks-long frat party atmosphere ended in an abrupt shutdown in mid-March. Now, she’s not sure what to expect. She sat at a sidewalk table at Royal and St. Ann on Thursday, eating a Caesar salad and deriving hope from the occasional out-of-state license plate she saw amid sparse traffic. “I think Saturday will be busy,” she said in an interview. Cherie Boos, manager of Lafit...
Fans Pick J Balvin’s ‘Azul’ Animated Video as This Week’s Favorite New Music
The blue-hued animated video for J Balvin‘s sensual reggaeton song “Azul” has topped this week’s new music poll. In the poll, published Friday (June 12) on Billboard, music fans voted for the Colin Tilley-directed video, which tells the story of how Balvin is trying to move on from a woman he’s crushing on. The video brought in 24% of the vote. “Azul” is from Balvin’s latest album, Colores, and follows other Tilley-directed videos for “Blanco,” “Morado,” “Rojo,” “Amarillo,” “Gris,” “Verde,” and “Rosado.” “‘Azul’ is one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve probably ever had,” Tilley previously told Billboard. Coming in second place with 22% of the vote was Ungodly Hour, the new album from Beyonce proteges Chloe x Halle. 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj‘s ...
