Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge sat down with Janice Min, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Ankler, as part of the Greater Together LA summit yesterday (May 21). During the keynote conversation, Grainge discussed UMG’s new licensing deal with Spotify that will allow fans to create AI models and remixes of songs from participating artists and songwriters signed to UMG.

The session, titled “Driving innovation through the Power of Artistry,” took place at NYA Studios in Hollywood. The same day in New York City, Spotify hosted its Investor Day presentation, where the streaming giant unveiled the details of that new deal with UMG. Spotify stated the new model will open up additional revenue streams for artists on top of what they already earn via the platform.

“Name and likeness, voice, are all opt-in,” Grainge told Min. “They’re critical. That’s religion. So it’s our job, along with the platform, to explain what the technology is and what provisions the technology gives. I think it’s about the power of possibility. And for the super fans, it will be completely interactive.”  

The new product will become available to premium users as a paid add-on, with an official launch date not yet announced. The announcement said that “artists and rightsholders will choose if and how to participate to ensure the use of AI tools aligns with the values of the people behind the music.” The announcement did not include the names of any artists who have opted in as of yet.

Last fall, Spotify announced it was partnering with UMG, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, Believe and Merlin to create “artist-first” AI music tools. Spotify shared at the time it started building a state-of-the-art generative AI research lab and product team. “The speed of change is quicker than ever before,” Grainge continued in the keynote. “We make deals that are win-win. And the people who you can’t make deals with are never going to respect the business, or the creativity, or the investment.”

In the age of AI, questions around who truly owns name and likeness rights are beginning to arise.

In April, Taylor Swift applied for trademarks on the sound of her voice in what appears to be aimed at protecting her likeness from AI deepfakes. The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday (May 20) with support from all three major music companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Recording Academy, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Spotify. The bill aims to establish federal rights around likeness for individuals portrayed in digital deepfakes and was first introduced back in 2024.

“I’ve been through so many transformations in streaming, ad-funded streaming, subscription, downloads, CD,” Grainge said during his keynote. “I think that the most important thing that we can do is respect human creativity. And partner with people that do exactly the same.”

Isaiah Rashad has mastered the art of starting over. His music has historically found him crawling back from some form of rock bottom. He’d battle substance abuse and mental health woes, all while tackling fatherhood and the mundanities of everyday life. This often coincided with lengthy absences that left his label TDE and all of his fans waiting on him for years at a time.

This reality hadn’t changed by the time the Chattanooga bred rapper released It’s Been Awful on May 1st, 2026. His sex tapes leaked, he found himself struggling with drugs and alcohol again, impacting the relationships around him. “Never been sober, But I’m trying/Last time that I told ya that I was, I was lying/Methamphetamines was f—ing with my mind,” Rashad raps on the album’s “Do I Look High?”

It took a radical honesty with himself and others to help him complete It’s Been Awful, his most transformative record to date. Rashad dove into his past to try and root out what brought him to this point, whether that was diving into his family’s history of sex addiction or how substances became a crutch that inevitably impacted his relationships. It’s an extremely sobering listen that saw Rashad strip himself bare in order to move forward with his life. 

Nowadays, he’s mostly concerned about improving his health. His focus lies on taking care of himself, even if it’s as mundane as going to the doctor, eating right, and taking his vitamins. He’ll do anything to show up for his family, even if it’s been awful in the process. All it takes is transparency. ”[I’m] just tryna reverse stupid s–t I did to myself earlier in my life,” he tells Billboard. “Or at least calm it down.”

Below, Isaiah Rashad speaks with Billboard about Awful, family, the importance of honesty, his dream radio station, and how Kendrick helped inform his approach to songwriting.

First and foremost, how are you, bro? You went through a lotta s–t in these last five years. 

I just been workin’. [Laughs.] S–it happens to everybody. I don’t think it’s something to overemphasize. It’s like…in my perspective, things happen for me to correct myself. All I’ve been doing is correcting. Ain’t s–t bad happen to me.

That’s a good way to look at it, because I think a lotta people will let that s–t taint them and they’ll fall into this despair. 

I can’t remember the last time something bad happened to me for no reason. It’s always a lesson behind it. 

What do you think the biggest lesson you learned was while making It’s Been Awful? 

Man, that my life is a lot easier, completely transparent. Honestly, man, fear is just my imagination. Anybody that don’t wanna f–k with me isn’t somebody I should deal with, anyway. 

It’s that transparency, man. I tell people all the time: Lying is exhausting. 

Omitting is still lying; that’s my biggest lesson. Lying to yourself or somebody else.

Not telling the whole truth, just wanting to protect people instinctually. 

Plus, I’m supposed to be like this…I dunno, I guess I’m not supposed to have privacy as the kind of artist I decided to be a long time ago. 

I think there’s a sense of liberty that comes with it, though. Being able to unearth all that and not having to pick and choose how you present yourself. 

I could see that. Recently, I feel I’m the only one naked in the room, but not in the worst way. Kinda like I know I’m being honest about everything. It’s a freedom to everything, bro. 

I guess in that case, I was curious: You said during a MackWop stream ‘It’s been awful doing the right thing.’ Can you expand upon that for me? 

Man, I come from a generation of muhf—a tellin you ‘f–k b—chs, get money,’ all this other type of rhetoric that’s not necessarily healthy for the developing mind post-25 type s–t. They run out of basics, bro. I be eatin’ healthy, bro; that s–t sucks. I be wantin’ fries every day, some type of fried food or some other s–t or my body telling me I want sugar. 

When I wake up, and have to put my s–t up; just daily maintenance sucks, but it feels good on the other end. I can tell how my life seems to go from ironing the night before. Just small tedious things; adulting sucks, that’s really what I was sayin’ without going into everything. Adulting sucks, especially when you’re tryna do it correctly. Checking in on my people, that can be exhausting. I could just got off a phone call with my sister and then I gotta check in with my other sister. It’s exhausting, but it’s worth it. I call it as I see it; that s–t is awful. Making sure I’m on time with these bills and separating work from family time to make time for my kids and traveling. I’ll go from here to Chattanooga to see my mom, then to Chicago to see my kid, then fly back to Tennessee to check up on my son, then fly him to LA because he lives with me. 

I be doin’ all this kinda s–t, man. I can’t say I was always on time about it; it used to be when I had time and now I’m making time. That s–t is awful. When you tryna find time, it seems to always work in your favor. When you make time, it’s never when you wanna do s–t. It’s what you’re supposed to be doing. 

It’s something about the mundane where we can become absent-minded for a second. The vitamins be off in the corner of a cabinet and you don’t even think about it. 

I’m on that right now! The milk thistle, the slippery elm right now, bro. A shot of apple cider vinegar in the morning.

That might be why the Larry June s–t hit so hard, because he makes apple cider vinegar seem cool as s–t. 

It feels better than what it feels like when you don’t do it. Once you start doin that s–t for a week, you’re gon’ feel it. Your stomach biome and the bacteria breakin’ down s–t. N—as really just sitting with bulls–t, at a lotta levels. 

I’ve been learning that slowly. My girlfriend got me a big ‘ol pack of fish oil, hair gummies, Vitamin B3 and all that. 

Yeah, you need that Vitamin B3, you need that Vitamin D. S–t, depending on what you got goin’ on, you might need to pop a couple iron pills. I’m poppin’ more than I was ever poppin’ when I was on the bulls–t. [laughs] 

Goin’ to the doctor for the first time in years is an accomplishment for me. 

I’m in that b—h like every month, n—a. I use my insurance like a motherf—er. I use every bit of that s–t. If my toe feels weird, I’m making that appointment. You use Zocdoc? 

Nah. 

You ain’t even gotta mention it, bro. Too much free promo. But it’s a good app to use if you’re on the go and got a good PPO.

On “Do I Look High,” you talked about grappling with writer’s block, and usually when you come back with an album, it seems like it’s after you gone through the ringer. Do you feel like you have to go through a lot of bulls–t in order to create? 

Nah, but I definitely used to, though. A good portion of my life might have been sabotaging for material when I was younger. 21, 22, besides like father and single mother angst, I ain’t have a lotta material to grasp on, but I wanted to be able to identify with my audience and the common woman or common man type of s–t. 

I identify with pain. I didn’t know The Struggle was The Struggle until I got older; I thought we were all living like that. Thank God for experience and being older and being in a place where even writer’s block is a technical term for “uninspired to my standard.” 

With this whole album, I just wrote. We’d be in the studio for days and I wouldn’t be hittin’ something I wanted to hit. Sometimes, you just wanna say something and there’s a specific type of way you wanna say it. You wanna sound cool or prophetic or to nail whatever kinda hook you goin’ for. But I reflected more than anyone. Even that line in that song, I was addressing it after I’d dealt with all that s–t. Like “This was me not knowing what I have to say.” For me, I don’t think writer’s block exist no more. Seeing you and talking to you today, I might wanna go write a verse about your life. That’s kinda where I’m at right now. I used to be so sprung on what’s in front of me. 

It seems like you’re revealing even more so than past records because you were much more direct; from sex and porn addiction, to grappling with family and substances. What inspired the decision to go completely naked on this record?

I would say my [other] projects were just as revealing, but now I’m better at writing it out plain now. I used to think I had to have this line behind this line, but I think it was always there. I just got really better at…I just stopped trying to make things complicated. 

That’s the one critique Dot [Kendrick Lamar] had for me for a while was “Nobody gonna understand what the f–k you’re saying. It’s too puzzle-y.” I took that as an insult for a long time, to the point where I bucked it. I was like “F–k this guy.” But with this project, I be lookin’ for change in everything. I’m kind of a scientist with this s–t, and all artists are scientists with what they do. I’m just tryna stop writing in hieroglyphics. 

“If I Was Your Girlfriend” was a huge inspiration on “Boy in Red.” You said on “Act Normal,” “Some girls come with a d–k, some come with child support.” What was it like exploring that more fluid style in your songwriting? 

I was moreso like “Why not?” If I act like things are all normal, that’s not gonna read well. I have this rare opportunity to say everything — I wish I would’ve said more about whatever I feel or whatever I’ve been through. This is the one time that people are gonna be listening for what I have to say, so I wanted to take advantage of the open ear, at least. It seems like y’all caught just about everything. Even you bringing that up is…yeah. 

Was there a moment during the recording process where you felt “I shouldn’t say this” or “I shouldn’t be airing this out?” 

Nah, man. I made it with my little brother [Keem The Cipher]. How old are you, bro? 

I’m 26. 

Yeah, he 27, so he come from y’all generation where you’re either a super bigot, or everything’s love, bro. He’s like that, so he was like “F–k them motherf—ers.” He’s real protective. And my engineer is this really sweet sensitive dude. It was the universe working out for me. With my last engineer, I might not have been able to be as…even though he knew me, his name’s Rory, he’s one of my best friends. But this gave me an opportunity to have conversations with people without the past foundations where we could talk about s–t. This n—a Julian probably knows me best in a short period of time more than anybody else. He knows more about me. It’s an opportunity to be your authentic self. 

I assume you doin’ it with your brother allowed you to be more honest about talking about mom and pops discovering the porn stash and all that s–t I assume doing that with family made it a lot easier. 

Yeah, because me and my brother have a different perspective on life. We had different childhoods. We shared one, but it’s good to be able to vent to somebody about something he’d notice and see now as an adult and find some understanding on how we grow up in all this crazy s–t. I dunno if I made it out sane, but I made it away from the s–t. 

And because you’re so family-oriented, and you talk so openly about your kids and whatnot, I wanted to know: After releasing an album like this where you just release everything, how has all this informed your approach to fatherhood?

I don’t know if I could say, since it’s been two weeks, but it was already in progress way way before. The last couple years have been what I’d call like my adult formative years. I’ve still made mistakes every once in a while. I’m not perfect, but it’s my priority to be a father. And I feel my family will understand this, too: It’s my mission to be a father and a nurturer. Because my kids are gonna do things that impact the world in ways I never could. I’m a vessel for a message I could never understand. But my family also understands I do this s–t because I love it and I love people. They’re both equally important to me, but being a parent definitely tops it. I don’t know if making music is making me a better parent at all. 

I wasn’t even saying in the immediate two weeks after or anything. You just made it a point to be direct and extremely honest on the album in that way. 

I’m super honest with my kids, though. Those are the first people I’m honest with. My kids know me better than anybody. They know the most authentic version of me. My older one seen me learn how to deal with stress; they’ve seen me attain patience and learn to be a teacher because I was a young ass parent, so I didn’t just know how to do s–t. 

I wanted to dig into this one lyric from “M.O.M.”: “Elon diggin’ through the cell phone records/ Everything for sale, even hell.” I think you’re speaking to a real sense of paranoia in the world. 

I don’t know if it’s paranoia. 

How would you explain it, then?

All that s–t was real literal. Everything is for sale right now, y’know? 

They’ll be tryna sell air soon. 

You could hop on Google right now and get you a bottle of Norwegian air. And my auntie on the oxygen machine, n—a. Everything for sale. N—as are digging through your cellphone records; n—as are watching your internet history. You have agreed in some clause in some s–t that you don’t realize that you’ve given up your rights for people to go through your s–t. 

I think we understand that, but a lotta people call that s–t conspiracy, so I was tryna see if you could tell who might downplay that. 

It’s not for me to say I talk for people who know, or who wanna know. If you don’t wanna know, it’s none of my business. Red pill, blue pill, man. Who am I to judge you, bro?

This was my long roundabout way of asking if you’re a conspiracy theorist? Because I might be a lil bit. And if so, what’s your biggest conspiracy? 

A conspiracy? Isn’t that like a group of ducks or something? What’s a conspiracy? 

A conspiracy theory? 

A theory, though…I dunno. I check in on what’s going on in the dockets of the Supreme Court every once in a while, all that kinda s–t. I don’t consider my worries conspiracies. 

That wasn’t what I was getting at. We’re just digging into some stuff that a lotta people brush off or would call bulls–t. 

It’s so much out of people’s control for real, outside of buying your way in. Who cares if you know? What you gon’ do with that knowledge? If knowledge was power, but power is power. 

There are stretches throughout the album where you weave in radio station transitions as DJ Sunny Roshi. If you had your own dream radio station like that, what would be the five songs that would need to be in rotation? 

“Voyage to Atlantis,” Eem Triplin’s “A Love Song for You,” “Point and Kill” by Little Simz, gimmie…damn. Gimmie one second. Gimme Prince’s “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” and then I might go “Slum Beautiful” by Outkast. 

You told me last time we talked that you were excited to take this s–t out on tour because you wanted to bring the band out for a lotta these joints. What’s the song you’re most excited to play with a band? 

With the band? Honestly just because of how live it would be, “M.O.M.” With all the extra instrumentation and s–t. That s–t’d be hard. 

Crazy drum solo type s–t?

Type s–t. 

Helping to kick off the Memorial Day weekend, SiriusXM’s Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits Countdown is back, with the limited-engagement channel celebrating the biggest and most sizzling summer songs over the Billboard Hot 100’s history.

The channel counts down, from No. 500 to No. 1, the hottest summer classics from 1958, when the Hot 100 began, through 2025 based on performance on the chart, ranging from hits by The Beach Boys, The Beatles and The Supremes to the newest entries from the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, HUNTR/X and Morgan Wallen.

In between, such stars as the Bee Gees, Donna Summer (naturally), Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Beyoncé, Shakira, Taylor Swift and Drake provided scorching summer soundtracks, all represented on the countdown.

SiriusXM’s Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits Countdown channel is available now through May 28 on SiriusXM channel 300 and on the SiriusXM app. The channel will then continue exclusively on the SiriusXM app throughout the year.

The Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits Countdown marks the latest partnership between SiriusXM and Billboard. It follows the Billboard 2025 #1s Channel, which highlighted leaders on a variety of charts, and the Billboard Holiday Countdown, spotlighting the 100 most festive favorites according to performance on Billboard’s Holiday 100 chart.

Previous SiriusXM and Billboard collaborations include the Billboard Latin Music Week Channel, the Billboard Top 500 R&B Countdown, the Billboard Women of Pop Countdown and the Billboard #2 Countdown Channel. Additionally, SiriusXM’s Big 40 Countdown, on 80s on 8, and the Back in the Day Replay, on ‘90s on 9, are based on historical weekly Hot 100 charts, with other surveys counted down on 70s on 7 and Prime Country.

When America approached its Bicentennial in 1976, the country’s celebrations included the Freedom Train, two locomotives that visited all 48 contiguous states to give citizens a close-up view of important documents and artifacts.

In a nod to the attraction, Merle Haggard recorded “Here Comes the Freedom Train,” a song steeped in two centuries of history, on April 1, 1976. It entered Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated May 22 at No. 59, and would peak at No. 10 on the July 4 list.

The song was written by Stephen H. Lemberg, who had composed some theatrical pieces and wrote and produced a series of Spider-Man albums. “Freedom Train” used railroad metaphors to address America’s past — George Washington was the engineer, Benjamin Franklin the conductor. The song referenced 11 or 12 presidents (“Roosevelt” could mean Teddy and/or Franklin D.), several wars and movements, plus three more sociopolitical figures, including Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King.

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton teamed to record it with Chet Atkins first for the American Freedom Train Foundation, but Haggard — already noted for the patriotic singles “Okie From Muskogee,” “The Fightin’ Side of Me” and “I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me” — recorded the version Capitol released to radio and retail.

Fifty years later, at least two country artists are participating in America’s Semiquincentennial. Trace Adkins will appear on PBS’ A Capitol Fourth: 250th Weekend Celebration on July 3 and Gretchen Wilson takes part in a Freedom 250 National Memorial Day Candlelight Tribute on May 25 at Arlington National Cemetery.