Music News
Eurovision 2022: Ukrainian Band Kalush Orchestra Wins
Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest in the early hours of Sunday in a clear show of support for the war-ravaged nation. The six-man band that mixes traditional folk melodies and contemporary hip hop in a purposeful defense of Ukrainian culture was the sentimental and bookmakers’ favorite among the 25 bands and performers competing in the grand finale. The public vote from home was decisive in securing their victory. The band’s frontman, Oleg Psiuk, took advantage of the enormous global audience to make an impassioned plea to free fighters still trapped beneath a sprawling steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol following the six-man band’s performance. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I ask all of y...
Lil Keed, YSL Records Rapper, Dies at 24
Lil Keed, an up-and-coming Atlanta rapper signed to Young Thug‘s Young Stoner Life Records, has died. He was 24. Keed’s brother, Lil Gotit, first shared the news of the rapper’s passing in an Instagram post early Saturday morning (May 14). “Can’t believe I seened u die today bro I did all my cries I know what u want me to do and that’s go hard for Mama Daddy Our Brothers Naychur and Whiteboy,” Gotit wrote alongside a photo of the siblings. The cause of Keed’s (real name: Raqhid Render) death was not known at press time. Billboard has reached out to the artist’s representatives for further information. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Gotit shared another post on his Instagram Story on Saturday, writing, “@lilkeed Whyyy bra whyyy u leave ...
The Chainsmokers’ New Studio Album ‘So Far So Good’ Is Here: Stream It Now
The Chainsmokers are back with their first new album in three years, So Far So Good. Out today (May 13) via Disruptor Records/Columbia Records, the 13-track album — the duo’s fourth studio LP — follows its already out singles “High,” “iPad” and “Riptide.” It also follows the duo’s 2019 LP, World War Joy. But as The Chainsmokers’ Drew Taggart and Alex Pall recently told Billboard, this new project was made under vastly different circumstances than much of their past work. Whereas the duo often built albums while on the road, releasing one track at a time between tour stops, at the end of 2019 they announced they were going on an extended hiatus to give themselves real time to focus on music. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news This creative ...
Heavily Favored Sweden and Poland, and Eight More Countries, Advance to Eurovision Grand Final
Sweden and Poland, both among the favorites to win this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, joined eight other countries advancing to the Grand Final on Saturday (May 14) in Turin, Italy. Also moving on after the second semi-final on Thursday were Finland, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Australia, Estonia, Romania, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Failing to make the grade were Israel, Georgia, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus, Ireland, North Macedonia and Montenegro. The latest reports from the bookmakers who take bets on who will win Eurovision each year shows that Ukraine has a 57% chance of victory, followed by the United Kingdom with an 11% chance, based on averaging the odds from 13 different companies. That portends a high showi...
Kelly Osbourne Is Pregnant, Expecting First Child With Slipknot’s Sid Wilson: ‘I Am Ecstatic!’
The Osbourne family is getting an expansion. On Thursday (May 12), Kelly Osbourne announced via Instagram that she is expecting her first child, and she is beyond excited to become a mother in the coming months. “I know that I have been very quiet these past few months so I thought I would share with you all as to why… I am over the moon to announce that I am going to be a Mumma,” she captioned a picture set of her holding her ultrasounds photos. “To say that I am happy does not quite cut it. I am ecstatic!” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Osbourne is currently in a relationship with Sid Wilson, the turntablist for Slipknot, who commented with a string of heart emojis underneath his girlfriend’s big announcement. The television personality — wh...
Ultra Music Festival Will Stay in Miami’s Bayfront Park Through 2027
There’s no place like home for Ultra Music Festival. On Thursday (May 12), the dance fest announced that it will stay at Miami’s Bayfront Park through at least 2027, following the City of Miami Commission unanimously passing an agreement between the festival and the Bayfront Park Management Trust. This Trust manages the 32-acre park, which is located in the heart of downtown Miami on Biscayne Bay. The longstanding music festival has happened at Bayfront Park for much of its 23-year history, returning to the site this past March after a much-maligned outing at Miami’s Virginia Key in 2019 and two years off due to the pandemic. The 2019 edition of the festival in Virginia Key experienced myriad noise complaints and major transportation issues, including — as Billboard reported in 2019 — “ten...
Kelly Clarkson Takes Us to Neverland With This Kelsea Ballerini Hit: Watch
Kelly Clarkson took the second star to the right on Wednesday (May 11), performing Kelsea Ballerini‘s “Peter Pan” to open The Kelly Clarkson Show. Accompanied by just her pianist, the multi-hyphenate pared Ballerini’s 2016 country hit down to a tender ballad, singing, “You’re just a lost boy with your head up in the clouds/ You’re just a lost boy, never keep your feet on the ground/ You’re always gonna fly away just because you know you can/ You’re never gonna learn there’s no such place as Neverland/ You don’t understand, you’ll never grow up/ You’re never gonna be a man, Peter Pan.” Released as the third single from Ballerini’s 2015 debut album The First Time, the track completed the young country singer’s hat trick atop the Country Airplay chart following fellow No. 1s “Love Me Like You...
Rebel Wilson Recalls Falling Flat on Her Face While Channeling Britney Spears’ ‘You Drive Me Crazy’ Video
Rebel Wilson knows firsthand that trying to keep up with Britney Spears’ choreography is really hard work. During her appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden on Tuesday night, the actress discussed her upcoming Netflix movie Senior Year, which features a re-creation of Spears’ iconic dance moves in the “You Drive Me Crazy” music video that resulted in her falling flat on her face during a take. “I love Britney and I just wanted to pay homage to her because 20 years earlier in the film in 2022, she was like the biggest star in the world, so we did the ‘Crazy’ video … when I’m dancing, I just really like to give it, just give my all to it,” Wilson explained. “And then what happens is that I fall over and so in the Britney thing, they actually keep the take where I’m dancing and lo...
Pepsi® Partners With Billboard to Drop First-Ever Live Minting Experience During the 2022 BBMAs
There’s no other scoreboard like the Billboard charts and we’re raising the bar on what it means to celebrate the pinnacle achievements of the music industry. Today, Pepsi announced the groundbreaking Pepsi Mic Drop x Billboard Music Awards “Winners’ Club” NFT Collection, a limited-edition collection created exclusively for Sunday’s 2022 Billboard Music Award, in conjunction with MRC Live & Alternative, the global entertainment company producing this year’s show. The collection will only be available on Billboard ChartStars, a digital collectible platform created in partnership with UNBLOCKED. During the ceremony, fans will have the opportunity to claim NFTs in real-time as televised awards are announced — for free! As each award is announced during the show, a custom digital col...
iPod Commercials Defined an Era for Music in Marketing: The 10 Most Iconic Ads
It’s difficult to underestimate how deeply and completely the iPod revolutionized music listening. Introduced in 2001, the pocket-sized device escorted music consumers out of the CD era and into the gleaming digital age. (“I don’t know who your product’s designers are,” Moby said in a 2001 promotional video from Apple, “but boy, you’re not paying them enough.”) Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Of course, iPod commercials quickly became as iconic as the products they sold. Launched in 2003, the classic iPod ad campaign featured silhouettes of people dancing like mad in front of brightly colored backgrounds, with the iPod and its headphones in stark white contrast. These clips are deeply embedded in the memories of most anyone who watched televisi...
Ukraine and Nine Other Nations Advance to Eurovision Final
For years, watching the Eurovision Song Contest from the United States involved climbing on a rooftop to adjust the direction of a satellite dish and subscribing to a Portuguese channel. Today it’s as simple as tuning into a network app for the live broadcast. This year, champion figure skater Johnny Weir did on-air commentary for the U.S. feed of the first Eurovision semifinal in Turin, Italy, from a studio on the Universal Studios lot in Los Angeles. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On Tuesday (May 10), 10 nations advanced to the grand finale on Saturday out of a pool of 17 semifinalists: Armenia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Ukraine. Here’s the 10 qualifiers from the First Semi-...
Jessica Biel Shares Justin Timberlake’s Marriage Philosophy: ‘Keep Dating’
Jessica Biel just premiered her new Hulu series Candy, and on the red carpet Monday night (May 9), she dished about the secret to her nearly decade-long marriage to Justin Timberlake. “Well, I’ll have to give Justin the credit in this moment, for this one thing that he always says to me: ‘We might be married, but we have to keep dating,’” she revealed to Entertainment Tonight. “You just have to keep making time for each other and you have to keep making each other a priority. And do the things that you love together…It’s not always easy, as we all know, but those touch point moments make all the hard times palatable.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The one-time *NSYNC even happened to be on hand during his wife’s big night, celeb...
