Country icon George Strait, 1970s rock veterans KISS, Broadway star Michael Crawford, disco queen Gloria Gaynor and actor Sylvester Stallone are the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees – the first class of honorees since President Donald Trump took over the Kennedy Center in February, firing trustees who had been appointed by President Joe Biden and replaced them with his own picks.
In his first term, Trump never once attended the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala, making him the first president to never attend the event during his term. In announcing this year’s inductees at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday (Aug. 13), Trump also revealed that he will host this year’s show. The show will air on CBS in December. It will mark the first time a president has hosted the show.
Last year’s honorees, the last class to receive the honors under President Biden, were filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, iconic rock band Grateful Dead, singer-songwriter-guitarist Bonnie Raitt, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and The Apollo Theater in Harlem, the first venue to receive the honor.
The Kennedy Center Honors were first presented in 1978. The inaugural class consisted of contralto Marian Anderson, dancer-actor-singer Fred Astaire, choreographer George Balanchine, composer Richard Rodgers and pianist Arthur Rubinstein.
While the focus in the early years was on fine arts – heavy on classical and opera – over the decades, it has broadened to also include more popular forms of music. In 1987, B.B. King became the first blues artist to be inducted. Other performers who were the first in their genres to be honored were Roy Acuff for country in 1991, Aretha Franklin for R&B in 1994, Pete Seeger for folk in 1994, Bob Dylan for rock in 1997, Gloria Estefan for Latin music in 2017 and LL Cool J for rap in 2017.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 16:45:322025-08-13 16:45:32Donald Trump Announces George Strait, KISS & Michael Crawford Among 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees
JISOO of BLACKPINK‘s new music video for “Your Love” is everything BLINKs see in their dreams.
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In the hypnotic visual for the South Korean performer’s solo single posted Monday (Aug. 11), she models a pink princess gown while wandering mystical nature landscapes provided by Rainforest Wild ASIA in Singapore, where the video was filmed. “Your love feels like the rain, feels like a song I used to know/ And your love feels like the way there’s only green lights driving home,” JISOO sings as rose petals rain down on her.
The video comes about six months after the K-pop star dropped “Your Love” as part of her AMORTAGE EP. Featuring five tracks total, the project reached No. 11 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart — marking JISOO’s first solo entry on the listing — while single “Earthquake” peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Global 200.
JISOO also performs “Your Love” during her solo set each night on BLACKPINK’s ongoing DEADLINE World Tour, which kicked off in early July after more than a year of the group’s members spending time apart to focus on independent projects. LISA, JENNIE and ROSÉ have also been playing solo sets during their shows, which will continue with a run of Asia dates in October and January.
And while JISOO thrived during her solo era with AMORTAGE, she told Billboardback in February that she couldn’t wait to reunite with her bandmates. “Working solo has been an amazing experience,” she said at the time. “But honestly, it can get a little lonely sometimes.”
“Last year, as each member focused on individual activities, we all grew a lot,” she continued. “Now, as we come together for this year, I feel like we’ll be able to return with an even bigger and more spectacular presence.”
Watch JISOO’s new music video for “Your Love” above.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 16:30:482025-08-13 16:30:48JISOO of BLACKPINK Frolics Through the Rainforest in Dreamy ‘Your Love’ Music Video
Morgan Wallen is No. 1 again on the fledgling TouchTunes Artists Chart, and for the second quarter of 2025, he was an even more ubiquitous presence on the company’s jukeboxes, racking up 10 appearances between the songs-based Frontline and Catalog rankings as well.
The TouchTunes charts for the second quarter of the year track the most played songs and artists on TouchTunes jukeboxes from April 1 to June 30, with the Frontline ranking inclusive of music released in the last 18 months, followed by the Catalog tally for any music that was released more than 18 months ago. The TouchTunes Artists Chart tracks the same period, combining all of an artist’s plays across both rankings. TouchTunes has jukeboxes in more than 60,000 locations worldwide. Its data is not factored into other Billboard charts.
Wallen claimed the No. 1 spot on the inaugural TouchTunes Artists Chart last quarter (January-March), racking up the most plays by any act those three months. Not only is he tops among all acts again – his 10 appearances are also the most of any artist at one time since the Frontline and Catalog charts began being published every quarter a year ago (representing the second quarter of 2024), exceeding the eight he snagged in the first quarter of 2025.
That’s thanks in part to the release of I’m the Problem, Wallen’s fourth studio album, which was released halfway through the quarter on May 16. The LP, which has reigned on the weekly Billboard 200 chart for 10 of the 12 weeks since its release, accounts for six of the 25 spots on the latest Frontline list, paced by the title track, which leaps nine spots to No. 2 in its second quarter on the survey.
Three of the remaining five songs are debuts (“Just in Case,” No. 8; “I’m a Little Crazy,” No. 16; the Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want,” No. 24), while “Love Somebody” (No. 10) and “Lies Lies Lies” (No. 21) are holdovers from the previous iteration.
Wallen’s other appearances on the latest charts? As the featured act on Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help” (No. 5, Frontline) and via “Whiskey Glasses” (No. 8, Catalog), “Cowgirls” (featuring ERNEST; No. 19, Catalog) and “Last Night” (No. 20, Catalog). The latter is the Catalog ranking’s top debut of the month following multiple quarters on the Frontline tally (it was released in January 2023).
But while Wallen is a formidable presence across the latest TouchTunes charts, one accomplishment eludes him: a No. 1 song. That distinction again goes to Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” on the Frontline tally and Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” on Catalog. Both songs have led every iteration of their respective charts so far.
That said, Shaboozey’s day in the sun (atop the Frontline chart, at least) could be nearing its end. In addition to an obvious time limit (only songs 18 months old and newer are eligible for Frontline, with exceptions given to tracks that may be older but are breaking in the U.S. for the first time), Shaboozey himself drops three positions on the latest Artists tally to No. 5 after debuting at No. 2 on the inaugural list.
He’s passed by Toby Keith (up three spots), Stapleton (up one) and AC/DC (up two). Keith’s “I Love This Bar” concurrently rebounds one place to No. 2 on Catalog, behind Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” appears at No. 18 on Catalog.
Drake and George Strait, meanwhile, are the two debuts on the 10-position list.
On Frontline, Wallen isn’t behind the only newer songs making waves. Jessie Murph’s “Blue Strips” is the quarter’s top debut at No. 7, while Drake’s “Nokia” premieres just outside the top 10 at No. 11.
For the second quarter in a row, the rock genre accounts for 38% of TouchTunes plays across both Frontline- and Catalog-eligible titles, the most of any genre, ahead of country at 23%. Country, however, makes up 44% of Frontline songs, while rock accounts for 10%.
See all rankings below.
TouchTunes Frontline Chart
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey (=)
“I’m the Problem,” Morgan Wallen (+9)
“Pink Pony Club,” Chappell Roan (-1)
“I Never Lie,” Zach Top (+1)
“I Had Some Help,” Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen (-1)
“You Look Like You Love Me,” Ella Langley feat. Riley Green (=)
“Blue Strips,” Jessie Murph (debut)
“Just In Case,” Morgan Wallen (debut)
“Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar (-5)
“Love Somebody,” Morgan Wallen (-3)
“Nokia,” Drake (debut)
“Beautiful Things,” Benson Boone (-4)
“Messy,” Lola Young (+3)
“Luther,” Kendrick Lamar with SZA (-4)
“Worst Way,” Riley Green (debut)
“I’m a Little Crazy,” Morgan Wallen (debut)
“Too Sweet,” Hozier (-5)
“All the Way,” BigXthaPlug feat. Bailey Zimmerman (debut)
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 16:20:332025-08-13 16:20:33Morgan Wallen Is the Most Played Act on TouchTunes for the Second Straight Quarter
Tory Lanez has lost two of his appeals seeking to overturn his convictions for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, with judges rejecting his argument that the gun allegedly used in the crime had gone “missing.”
In a pair of rulings on Tuesday, a California appeals court denied two so-called habeas corpus petitions filed by Lanez’s attorneys challenging the his felony convictions over the 2020 incident, in which the singer shot Megan in the foot during a drunken argument.
Among other arguments, Lanez claimed in his petitions that key pieces of evidence — including the gun used in the shooting and bullet fragments removed from Megan’s foot — had not been made available to defense attorneys, violating his due process rights.
But in one of Tuesday’s rulings, the appeals court cited a response from prosecutors that said the gun was still simply sitting at the Los Angeles Police Department. And the court said testing it again for DNA evidence would have made no difference to the case.
“Petitioner has failed to [show] that additional DNA testing would establish a claim of actual innocence,” the court wrote. “Both parties’ experts at trial agreed that DNA testing of the magazine showed none of petitioner’s DNA was present, and as to the gun itself the inconclusive findings could neither exclude nor include petitioner as a minor contributor to the DNA found on the gun.”
The court also rejected arguments that prosecutors violated Lanez’s rights by failing to collect a DNA sample from Kelsey Harris – a friend of Megan who Lanez’s lawyers suggested at trial had actually pulled the trigger. “Petitioner essentially concedes that such a claim is ineffectual,” the appeals court wrote. “The prosecution does not have a duty to collect evidence helpful to the defense.”
Tuesday’s rulings are the not the end of the road for Lanez. His direct appeal of his convictions, in which his lawyers have called the guilty verdict a “a miscarriage of justice,” remains pending before the same appeals court. A live hearing for oral arguments is scheduled for next week, with a ruling at some point in the months ahead.
Lanez (Daystar Peterson) was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts over the violent 2020 incident, in which he shot at the feet of Megan (real name Megan Pete) during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. According to prosecutors, when Megan got out of the vehicle and began walking away, Lanez shouted “Dance, bitch!” and fired a gun at her feet. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In addition to arguments about evidence and DNA, Lanez’s team has offered up testimony from Bradley James, a bodyguard for Harris, that he overheard Harris say that she fired the gun. But in Tuesday’s decisions, the appeals court said Lanez “offers no explanation” why such testimony was submitted in July 2025 “on the eve of oral argument.”
“To the extent petitioner asserts the James affidavit constitutes new evidence, the petition is untimely, and petitioner fails to explain and justify the significant delay in seeking habeas corpus relief on this basis,” the court wrote.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 16:01:492025-08-13 16:01:49Tory Lanez Appeals Over ‘Missing’ Gun Rejected By Judges In Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Case
There are very few artists who can make everyone from X and Target to RuPaul’s Drag Race drop what they’re doing and rush out a response to an album announcement. Actually, only one, honestly.
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So there we were on Tuesday (Aug. 12), watching brands including the Olive Garden, FedEx, YouTube, Elmo, McDonald’s United Airlines, the City of Las Vegas, Lasik and Duolingo Brasil all reacting to Taylor Swift‘s announcement of her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl by scrambling to get up pumpkin-hued memes to react to the color scheme for the singer’s upcoming era.
The news was so breathlessly received that even seemingly polar opposite entities such as X and RuPaul’s Drag Race just had to weigh in, with Elon Musk’s social media platform writing “New Profile Pic” along with its X logo remade in bedazzled orange, while RuPaul’s show high-kicked into the showgirl of it all with a clip of a contestant Bosco doing a fan dance.
National chains couldn’t resist either, as United Airlines tweeted, “Okay, finally calmed down enough to post something,” along with a jet taking off through flaked pumpkin skies and Shake Shack wrote, “Felt appropriate today” along with a shot of an orange drink. Buffalo Wild Wings teased “something hot coming 8.20.25” over a snap of a golden wing sitting atop their newly gingered logo and FedEx joked, “don’t mind us we’re just tidying up here #NewProfilePic” over, of course, their logo on top of the Showgirl color scheme.
Walmart wrote “a girl can dream [orange heart emoji] along with an image of an orange display titled “fingers crossed for 8/13” and the sign above reading “next era,” with cheekily named Swift-coded aisles 1989, 13, 22 and 87 in the background. While they didn’t directly name Swift, Cinnabon posted a tangerine frosted sticky bun with the message, “from now on when i send content to my boss im sending this and it will unlock when they give me a compliment.”
Google celebrated with a search result that brought on a rain of orange confetti and snippets of Swift lyrics, Olive Garden quipped that “she’s giving carbs, couture, and confetti. Consider this our official album cover prediction,” over a PhotoShopped snap of a breadstick wearing a showgirl outfit — with Fedex commenting “she’d look even better in purple and orange boots” — and Crumbl cookies promised, “see you next era” along with an orange flake square with the message “The Life of a Crumbl Girl” also in the Taylor next era hue.
Though he’s usually obsessed with counting licks, Tootsie Pops mascot Mr. Owl wondered, “Anyone else craving Orange today?” over a pic of a package or orange lollipops, while the Minions movie franchise posted “the life of a showgirl” along with a screengrab of one of the jabbering animated character sporting a Carmen Miranda-like showgirl fruit hat. Even Sesame Street‘s Elmo couldn’t resist, with an adorable post of the Muppet wearing headphones with a google-eyed number 12 above his head on an orange background and the message, “Elmo is ready for it! Are you? [orange heart emoji].”
Given Taylor’s NFL ties via Kansas City Chiefs boyfriend Travis Kelce, it wasn’t a surprise that some sports franchises took a dip into the TS 12 publicity pool as well. The Cleveland Browns posted a take on the album art teaser via an LP sleeve with their orange helmet logo — newly flaked in Swift’s honor — and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team wrote “to those who celebrate” above side-by-side snaps of Swift in a swirl of orange next to similarly hued driver Kyle Larson.
And you know Kansas City showed up, with Union Station KC celebrating KC Swifties through Sunday with a new TS12 photo op at its Grand Hall featuring a giant light-up TS12 logo surrounded by orange balloons. San Antonio also got in on the action, writing “new era, same river” above a PhotoShopped image of a river cruise on the orange-tinted San Antonio River.
There are so many more it’s hard to count, though some were collected by fans who cataloged homages from Threads, McDonald’s, Cincinnati’s Skyline Chili, the Las Vegas tourism bureau, Netflix, Lasik, Duolingo Brasil, the Pittsburgh Penguins and many more.
At press time no additional information was available about the singer’s follow-up to 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department, though it’s expected she’ll reveal more when she appears on the Kelce brother’s New Heights podcast on Wednesday (Aug. 13).
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:56:522025-08-13 15:56:52Orange You Glad Taylor Swift Is Back? Elmo, Target, Crumbl & More Brands Share Hilarious ‘Life of a Showgirl’ Memes
Eminem is never one to back down from a rap challenge, and after being called out by LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells platform on X, Slim Shady delivered.
Rock The Bells sent over a message claiming that nothing in the English dictionary rhymes with “silver,” and Em responded with a verse starting with just that word, and continued to put together a freestyled verse.
The effortless bars included plenty of random name-drops, ranging from comic Bill Burr to Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer and a reference to his Stans documentary.
“Silver pilfer kill fer Gilbert’s still hurts steel shirts Bill Burr milf word off kilter no filter chill brrrr feel burn still slur will stir Trent dilfer Val kilmer Still third shield her he’ll squirt Steven Spielberg Lil twerp Wilshire She’ll purr Kill birds milk curd feel worth Real nerd Stans documentary I liked your film sir,” he wrote to X.
Fans were impressed with Em’s dexterity. “My goat can make anything rhyme,” one person replied, while another said, “Bro’s a walking dictionary.”
Slim Shady is still keeping his mind and pen sharp these days. He reunited with JID for “Animals, Pt. 1” in July as part of the Atlanta rapper’s GDLU preluxe. Eminem also released his Stans documentary, which hit theaters over the weekend. Earlier in August, he popped out at the NYC premiere of the docto speak to fans.
“Let me tell you why this s–t is crazy to me,” he said in a video of his remarks posted by Shady Media. “Because, when I was writing the song ‘Stan,’ I think I was just understanding the impact that my music was having on some people. And it’s so crazy to me to look at, over my career, just the fact that I was able to impact people.”
Check out Em’s rhyme and the challenge posted to X below:
Silver pilfer kill fer Gilbert’s still hurts steel shirts Bill Burr milf word off kilter no filter chill brrrr feel burn still slur will stir Trent dilfer Val kilmer Still third shield her he’ll squirt Steven Spielberg Lil twerp Wilshire She’ll purr Kill birds milk curd feel… https://t.co/rSeA7aMmco
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:50:132025-08-13 15:50:13Eminem Takes on Rapping Challenge After Being Told Nothing Rhymes With ‘Silver’
Rauw Alejandro has been named the 2025 Hispanic Heritage Award honoree for Vision — a recognition that celebrates his “groundbreaking contributions to Latin music and his role in shaping its global future,” according the press release. The ceremony — which takes place on Sept. 4 at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C — will air on PBS.
“As an artist in constant motion, Rauw Alejandro embodies the very essence of the Vision Award, bold in creativity, future-focused in his global impact and unapologetically original in everything he does,” said Hispanic Heritage Foundation president/CEO Antonio Tijerino in a statement. “His work is not just music, it’s a movement that confirms what Latin artists mean to the world.”
Rauw Alejandro added, “During this month of celebration, I’m filled with pride to keep elevating our story and our vibe from a special place. Thank you for this Vision Award at the Hispanic Heritage Awards. It’s an honor to join the list of incredible creatives who have received this recognition.”
In his statement, the hitmaker also revealed the title of his next album — Cosa Nuestra: Capítulo 0. Discussing the project, the superstar expressed his pride in representing Puerto Rico and the Caribbean through his work. “‘Cosa Nuestra’ has always been my way of representing my island, my culture and my people — wherever they may be,” he said. “Every detail — the beats, the visuals, the dancing — reflects part of our Puerto Rican roots and our connection with other sister cultures, because we’ve been shaping the history of music for a long time.”
“With my next project ‘Capítulo 0.’ I want to keep showcasing not only Puerto Rico, but the full essence of the Caribbean,” Rauw Alejandro continued.
The Vision Award follows the success of his critically acclaimed fifth studio album, Cosa Nuestra, released in November 2024. It earned the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Best Latin Albums of 2024, Ranked, and also reached the summit of the Top Latin Albums chart while entering the all-genre Billboard 200 at No. 6.
This year, the artist has stayed busy, releasing a series of hit singles, including “Buenos Términos” and “Carita Linda.” The latter soared to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Latin Airplay Chart, marking Rauw Alejandro’s third solo chart-topper and his 12th career No. 1.
HHA’s past honorees have included Celia Cruz, Bad Bunny, Tito Puente, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Fania All-Stars, José Feliciano, Carlos Vives, Alejandro Sanz, Juanes, Juan Luis Guerra, J Balvin and Los Tigres Del Norte.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:22:142025-08-13 15:22:14Rauw Alejandro Celebrates His 2025 Hispanic Heritage Award Honor by Revealing Title of Next Album
Taylor Swift is making her debut on Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, whether or not certain “male sports fans” are ready for it.
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Hours ahead of the pop star’s highly anticipated appearance on the Wednesday (Aug. 13) episode — on which she is expected to reveal more details about her new album, The Life of a Showgirl — Swift joked about a portion of the show’s audience that might be a little disgruntled to see her as a guest. “You guys have a lot of male sports fans that listen to your podcast,” she quips in a clip posted to the New Heights social media accounts.
“And I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me,” she continues sarcastically as the Kansas City Chiefs tight end laughs next to her.
The snippet serves as a teaser for Swift’s full interview with Travis and Jason, which premieres at 7 p.m. ET on the New Heights channels Wednesday. The two cohosts/brothers have been getting fans hyped up for her appearance since Monday (Aug. 11), when they first revealed an episode featuring “a VERY special guest” was on the way.
And while countless Swifties are bursting with excitement over the premise of the 14-time Grammy winner chatting with the Kelces — especially knowing that she’ll likely provide more information on her 12th studio album, which she announced early Tuesday morning (Aug. 12) — Swift has cause to be wary of some football fans objecting to her appearance. Since she began attending Chiefs games to cheer on her boyfriend in 2023, a chunk of viewers have complained about her presence on NFL broadcasts — so much so that the league released a statement defending its coverage.
“The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time,” the NFL said at the time. “The vast majority of our content has remained focused on the game, our players and variety of other initiatives.”
But even if haters are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Swift definitely has two football lovers who are pumped up to see her on New Heights: Travis and Jason. Elsewhere in Wednesday’s teaser video, the elder Kelce almost runs out of oxygen while passionately listing off her many accomplishments in an introduction, to which Swift responds, “Thank you for screaming for, like, 47 seconds, that was so nice … Thanks for having me on my favorite podcast!”
Watch Swift gently troll certain sports fans below.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:11:502025-08-13 15:11:50Taylor Swift Jokes She Might Upset a ‘Lot of Male Sports Fans’ by Appearing on Travis Kelce’s Podcast
Trinidadian soca star Yung Bredda earned a major breakthrough with his far-reaching Full Blown-produced smash, “The Greatest Bend Over,” and he’s now tapped Grammy-nominated singer-producer Chlöe and “Shake It to the Max” star Moliy for a new globe-trotting remix.
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Out Friday (Aug. 15) via 0207 Def Jam and Polydor Label Group, the new remix finds both Chlöe and Moliy delivering sultry new verses across Full Blown’s “Big Links” riddim, as well as some flashy ad-libs and vocal stacks to complement the zess-infused soca production. Dropping just in time for Notting Hill Carnival (Aug. 23-25), the new remix arrives alongside a new music video that captures the beauty and spirit of carnival celebrations across the diaspora, including St. Lucia’s Carnival, which Chlöe attended in July.
Chlöe, one-half of the Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle, is no stranger to the West Indies. Her last album, 2024’s Trouble in Paradise, was inspired by her time in St. Lucia. Moliy, on the other hand, has the year’s biggest dancehall hit in “Shake It to the Max,” alongside producers Silent Addy and Disco Neil. Best known by its Shenseea and Skillibeng-assisted remix, “Shake It to the Max” peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped U.S. Afrobeats Songs, Rhythmic Airplay, and World Digital Song Sales. The song also danced all the way to No. 6 on the Global 200. Chlöe and Moliy’s version of “The Greatest Bend Over” comes just a few weeks after Hot 100-topping dancehall icon Sean Paul put his own spin on the track.
“I always loved this song, and I would sing it all the time,” Chlöe exclusively told Billboard. “When I got asked to feature on it, I was excited because I already had a love for it.”
“The Greatest Bend Over,” Bedda’s take on Full Blown’s wildly popular “Big Links” riddim arrived on Dec. 2, 2024. Thanks to early Stateside growth, the song appeared in Billboard’s weekly “Trending Up” column, setting it apart from other riffs on the riddim, including Machel Montano‘s “The Truth,” Kes‘ “No Sweetness,” and Full Blown’s own “Good Spirits.” The song’s success has earned Bredda three nods at this year’s Caribbean Music Awards (Aug. 28), including zess-steam artist of the year, and the people’s choice and soca impact awards. According to Luminate, “The Greatest Bend Over” has amassed over 11.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams and over 44.4 million official global streams.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:02:292025-08-13 15:02:29Chlöe & Moliy Set to Join Yung Bredda for Globe-Trotting ‘Greatest Bend Over’ Remix
In Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, the Peanuts gang is heading to summer camp — and for the first time in almost four decades, they’re on a musical adventure.
The new special — arriving Friday (Aug. 15) on Apple TV+ — marks the first Peanuts musical in 37 years, and singer/songwriter Ben Folds is returning to the Charles Schulz-created world to contribute three original songs, after composing music for Snoopy Presents: It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown back in 2022.
Ahead of the premiere, Billboard is premiering the Folds-written song “Leave It Better,” which finds Charlie Brown ending on a positive note after trying to convince his skeptical little sister Lucy that summer camp is the best.
Billboard also caught up with Folds — who created music for the special alongside composer Jeff Morrow and Broadway composing duo Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner — to talk about why he wanted to return to Peanuts, how to make the “melancholic” Charlie Brown break into song for a musical, and why the idea of “summer camp” isn’t just for kids.
Ben Folds’ record event at Byrdland in Washington, DC, United States on July 4, 2025.
Shedrick Pelt for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Why Ben Folds wanted to return to the Peanuts world.
It’s real fertile ground. Unlike most programming for kids — and much that’s for adults — it’s a nuanced world. The Peanuts world is not black and white. There’s a lot of gray in it. Charlie Brown’s personality is fascinating. It’s an institution. So that’s all super attractive.
And there’s lots of challenges too in writing “break into song” [scenes] involving the character of Charlie Brown. I mean, he’s a melancholic, kind of quiet kid. You think he’s going to be the one standing up in chorus, belting out? I don’t think so. So that’s in itself a challenge.
It’s iconic, an institution, ubiquitous. I can’t imagine growing up in a world that I didn’t know about Charlie Brown as a reference point. Really, there’s no reason for me to say no to a project like this, unless the people that were working on it were clueless. But they’re so great. It’s the Schulz family who oversee these things. The guy I worked with the most, Eric Weiss, one of the animators, had revelatory things that he was doing. We were passing things back and forth and basically both of us getting goosebumps at the other’s work. That’s a really great way to work. So there’s really no reason for me to have said no to this one.
This time around, Charlie Brown is the one excited about summer camp and convincing his sister Lucy to get onboard.
Charlie Brown famously hated camp. For anyone that followed the original Charlie Brown, decades of his brand was “dude who hates camp.” [Laughs] So what they were doing, I believe, was allowing him to grow up just enough to then pass the mantle of that on to his little sister. Now she’s the one that hates camp. He learned that it’s OK. Lots of camp imagery we can use there even to think about it — dipping your toes in the water. Some people do that. Some people jump straight into cold water. Not me. I’m like, one toe at a time, knees, and I gotta get back out again. Squeal like a little kid. But see, [Charlie Brown’s] gotten to where he’s dipped his toes in. You know, the dude’s been growing up for 50 years. So let’s give him a couple of changes, but then that gives him a further distance to fall, which is where I come in. So I’m really lucky, because I got to pick up the story. A good team of songwriters began the thing and did the first two songs, and they have experience in this kind of thing, and they set up this really great, optimistic “camp is going to be great” kind of world. So then when it comes crashing down, now we get to really flex Charlie Brown as his most melancholic, because he’s taken the fall. That’s why it works for me.
Channeling Charlie Brown’s nostalgia for summer camp into “When We Were Light.”
Charlie Brown has this part of himself that he’s kind of an old man, right? Some little boys and some little girls are like that. They’re just kind of born old in the best sort of way. And I wanted him to take on the perspective of a 60-year-old Charlie Brown, to go back and say, [old-man voice] “Back when we were lighter than the clouds,” you know? But when you think about it, they’re not. … We all had the weight of the world on our shoulders when we were kids too, and we forget that because we’re so selfish. We’ve got so many problems. And you look at your kids and you go, “What kind of problems do you got? I gotta pay bills kid!,” you know? I thought, “Let’s get together … look at some pictures back from five weeks ago.” Because for kids, [five weeks is] five decades or five years.
Summer camp isn’t just for kids.
Summer camp stuck with me as an adult in that, when you work on a project, or you’re in the cast of something … and you’re together for a whole month or week or something like that, everyone’s best friends, people have relationships and affairs and all kinds of stuff. And then you’re like, “I will love you forever!” And then next year, like, “Did we work together?” [Laughs] You know, I was trying to summon the irony of all that too.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-08-13 15:02:282025-08-13 15:02:28Ben Folds Explains How Charlie Brown Goes From ‘Dude Who Hates Camp’ to Singing Its Praises in ‘Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical’
