Yolanda Saldívar, the obsessed fan who was sent to prison for the murder of Tejano superstar Selena in 1995, has started the parole review process, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Saldívar, who is now 64, was found guilty of murdering Selena on Oct. 23, 1995, and later sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s website lists her parole review date as March 30, 2025, and notes that the parole review process begins roughly six month before an inmate’s parole eligibility date for a first review, with an institutional parole officer responsible for reviewing the inmate’s file “for all appropriate documents, including letters of support and protest.” After reviewing the file and interviewing the inmate, the officer prepares a case summary for a “Board voting panel,” which “normally will vote on the case just prior to the parole eligibility date.”

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A former nurse who insinuated herself into Selena’s orbit during the singer’s rise to fame, Saldívar founded the star’s official fan club and was later named manager of her Selena Etc. clothing boutiques. However, the relationship soured after Selena and her family accused Saldívar of embezzling money from Selena’s businesses and fired her from her role.

Things came to a tragic end on March 31, 1995, during a meeting between Selena and Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Tex., when Saldívar shot Selena in the shoulder with a .38-caliber revolver as Selena, who had come to retrieve financial records, attempted to flee. The singer succumbed to her injuries that afternoon, just two weeks shy of her 24th birthday. Saldívar surrendered after a more than nine-hour standoff with police. She has long maintained that the shooting was an accident.

Selena’s death was followed by a massive outpouring of public grief, with mourners numbering in the tens of thousands attending a viewing of the singer’s open casket ahead of her funeral. She has since been recognized as one of the most influential Latin artists in history, helping usher in the mainstream popularity of Tejano music. Following her death, five of her singles hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Tracks chart, and her final studio album, Dreaming of You, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with its title track also rising to No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her life has been dramatized in both a hit 1997 feature film starring Jennifer Lopez and Netflix’s Selena: The Series starring Christian Serratos as the late singer.

Billy Joel rung in the new year in style, joining forces with Jason Bonham for a rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

Performing at Long Island’s UBS Arena on Tuesday (Dec. 31), Joel’s end-of-year spectacular was a special for one for numerous reasons. Not only was the night preceded by Jason Bonham’s Led Zepellin Evening as the opener, but the lengthy set saw the veteran musician roll out plenty of fan favorites for the night, along with a few rarer tracks from his extensive into his back catalog.

While the seldom-heard 1982’s “A Room of Our Own” got a look-in, rarer still was a performance of 1974’s “Souvenir”, which received only its 13th showing from across the past 40 years.

However, one of the most notable songs from the evening was one that wasn’t Joel’s own. Just over a third of the way through the set, Joel switched his focus to welcome Bonham and his band to the stage for a rendition of 1969’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

“We’re going to bring a guest onstage and do this next song,” Joel said to the crowd. “We have fun playing this, especially with this guy. Please welcome Jason Bonham. You all know this song. It’s not a piano song.”

With Bonham performing drums on the song his father helped make famous more than five decades ago, Joel’s longtime guitarist and vocalist Mike DelGuidice sang lead on the track, relagting Joel to the background somewhat.

Hearing Joel perform “Whole Lotta Love” isn’t a rarity (in fact, he also performed it at his previous New Year’s Eve celebration at the same venue), and it seamlessly fit in amongst the rest of the set, which also featured renditions of The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up”, and Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”, which was used to fill time ahead of the midnight countdown.

The show also wrapped up a big year for Joel, who not only concluded his record-breaking ten-year Madison Square Garden residency (earning $266.7 million from 1.9 million ticket sales to 104 shows), but also released “Turn the Lights Back On” – his first new lyrical single in nearly 20 years.

London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display was, apparently, brat. The celebration took pace on the River Thames as Big Ben struck midnight on Dec. 31, 2024 to ring in 2025.

Charli XCX’s big year made it into the city’s annual fireworks display airing on BBC and ITV; her influence on the fireworks show is immediately recognizable as Brat green lights the sky.

The night’s Brat-inspired moment is captured in the photo above, and can be seen in full here, via a clip Charli’s fans shared on X (formerly Twitter). Along with that familiar shade of green, album track “Apple” plays and “london” appears typewritten in the style of Charli’s album art.

Elsewhere on New Year’s Eve, Charli shared reflections on Brat‘s massive success over the past year on Instagram.

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“So many highs in 2024 and i cba to post them all but here’s some of my fav memories and fav people. love you all so much and thank you for everything. sorry i’m a lot sometimes xx,” she wrote on Dec. 31.

The caption went along with a photo carousel looking back at the year of Brat, with snapshots with friends and from the rollout of the album — and its companion release, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. Some highlights included pictures with her fiancé (The 1975’s George Daniel) and friends, and a behind-the-scenes cue card shot from her SNL hosting gig.

Brat arrived in June, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It also led the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart 29 weeks.

Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, a variation of the original album featuring collaborations with Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, The 1975, Lorde, Robyn, Troye Sivan, Bon Iver, Julian Casablancas, Caroline Polacheck and more, followed in October.

Charli’s fall Sweat Tour with Sivan earned $28 million, with 297,000 tickets sold over the course of 22 shows in the U.S. and Canada, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are starting off 2025 on a sweet note. The singer-actress shared a series of photos on New Year’s Eve that offer a glimpse at the engaged couple enjoying each other’s company.

“Happy new years,” Gomez captioned the Dec. 31 post, which includes eight pictures, most of them being cute selfies of the two together — lounging, attending a party and shopping at T.J. Maxx.

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One snapshot features Gomez’s younger sister, Gracie, and a scrumptious-looking ice cream sundae from Serendipity that the siblings seemed to be sharing.

Another photo in the bunch shows a paper plate, with beans on one side and the words “I LOVE YOU” etched on the other.

Gomez and record producer Blanco, who went public with their relationship back in December 2023, have been documenting their happiness on Instagram this holiday break. Over the weekend, they uploaded a loved-up picture of a romantic kiss.

The couple announced the news of their engagement on Dec. 11, 2024, with Gomez writing on Instagram, “forever begins now.” She shared a video of her marquise-cut diamond engagement ring soon after. “I’ve just dreamed of this moment my whole life,” she said in the clip. Meanwhile, Blanco revealed a behind-the-scenes look at the proposal.

Gomez and Blanco were first linked professionally in 2019, when they collaborated on the track “I Can’t Get Enough” with Tainy and J Balvin. In 2023, the they teamed up for Gomez’s song “Single Soon.”

See her New Year’s Eve photo carousel below.

Rihanna went alcohol-free in 2024.

On Wednesday (Jan. 1), the 36-year-old singer and entrepreneur took to social media to share a video of herself ringing in the New Year with friends. In the clip, Ri reveals that she abstained from alcohol over the past 12 months while celebrating the countdown to 2025, holding up her phone to capture the iconic ball drop in New York City’s Times Square.

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“Y’all, I didn’t drink all year,” Rihanna proudly told her 150 million Instagram followers after the clock struck midnight. “I didn’t drink all year.”

The brief clip shows the “Diamonds” singer enjoying a low-key New Year’s Eve celebration, dressed casually in a gray robe and surrounded by a group of friends who helped with the countdown while holding up their drinks. Ri rang in the New Year in New York City alongside her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky, People reports. The couple shares two sons: RZA, 2, and Riot, 1.

“New Year, New Me,” she captioned the IG post.

In another Instagram video, Rihanna is seen goofing around with friends while using her Fenty Hair shampoo to properly clean a hair extension. “You owe me a new bottle!” she playfully says to her pals. “For one stinkin’ track!” She captioned the post, “De Dirt!!! We walking into 2025 CLEANSED baby! 1 track at a time! Also tell @mdollas11 stay out my bathroom!”

In late December, Rihanna surprised fans with an impromptu visit to Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album, Anti. In fan-captured footage from the event, the “Work” hitmaker can be heard telling the excited crowd that she only had about five minutes to spare, joking that her “battery” was “about to burn out.”

Check out Rihanna’s New Year’s 2025 celebration post on Instagram below.

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest featured performances from the Jonas Brothers, Carrie Underwood, TLCLenny KravitzTinashe, Alanis Morissette with Reneé Rapp and many others. See the best photos from the Dec. 31 special below.

Ryan Seacrest spent his 20th time as New Year’s Rockin’ Eve host, while co-hosts Rita Ora joined in the year-end festivities in Times Square and Dayanara Torres in Puerto Rico.

The show had artists on stage on the West Coast, Las Vegas, New York’s Times Square and Puerto Rico.

Among the pictures in this photo gallery you’ll also see Dasha, Teddy Swims, Laufey, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Blake Shelton, Megan Moroney, T-Pain, Cody Johnson, Thomas Rhett, Ernest, Natasha Bedingfield, Fat Joe, Ja Rule.

The Jonas Brothers celebrated the night by sharing an announcement of new music: a new song with Marshmello, which Nick says is being released on Jan. 17. “We’ve got a ton of announcements coming,” he teased, adding, “I’ll be making a return to Broadway next year in The Last Five Years, which I absolutely can’t wait to do. There’s a lot coming, so stay tuned,” Nick added.

Kevin shared that a “big tour” is on the horizon in 2025 for the band, while Joe said their New Year’s Eve performance would have “a lot of songs that you’ll hear on the next tour. Kind of a sneak peek of what’s coming.”

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2025 aired on Dec. 31 on ABC, then streamed on Jan. 1 on Hulu. Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Corporation; PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.

Neil Young has announced that he will not be performing at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival.

On Tuesday (Dec. 31), the legendary Canadian rocker, 79, shared a message with fans on Neil Young Archives explaining his decision to back out of the massive music event, which takes place annually at Worthy Farm in Somerset, England.

“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite outdoor gigs,” Young wrote in the brief letter. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”

He continued, “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”

Young did not specify what exactly Glastonbury and the BBC had requested that led to his withdrawal. The BBC has been a long-time broadcaster of the festival, streaming and airing portions of the event, including a global broadcast for the first time last year, according to Rolling Stone.

Billboard has reached out to Glastonbury’s representatives for comment.

In November 2024, Glastonbury revealed that Rod Stewart would be the first artist announced for the 2025 festival. The legendary musician was the first confirmed act for the event, which is set to take place from June 27-29. Tickets for the festival have already sold out.

While Glastonbury has not yet revealed the headliners for 2025, several names have been speculated, including Olivia Rodrigo, Sam Fender, Harry Styles and Lady Gaga. Young had also been rumored to perform at the festival.

A timeline for the headliner announcements has not been confirmed, but the full lineup is typically revealed in the spring.

In late November 2024, Young revealed plans for a European tour, which will feature mostly outdoor venues. He followed up with another message on Wednesday (Jan. 1), telling Neil Young Archives readers that “tour announcements for the summer are coming very soon.”

Young last performed at Glastonbury in June 2009, with portions of the show broadcast on the BBC. The set included tracks like “The Needle and the Damage Done,” “Words,” “Rockin’ in the Free World” and a cover of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” Rolling Stone reports.

Young’s new band, the Chrome Hearts, features Micah Nelson (guitar), Spooner Oldham (organ), Corey McCormick (bass) and Anthony LoGergo (drums). The group made its live debut in September 2024 at Farm Aid and recorded a new album last year, tentatively titled Talking to the Trees.

The Jonas Brothers are gearing up for a busy 2025.

On Tuesday (Dec. 31), the sibling trio of Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas reunited for a special appearance at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest in New York City. Ahead of their high-energy performance, the group — celebrating their 20th anniversary this year — teased some exciting projects on the horizon.

“We’ve got a ton of announcements coming. First up, we’ve got a new song with Marshmello dropping on January 17th,” Nick shared with Seacrest in a pre-performance interview in Times Square.

The “Jealous” singer also revealed, “I’ll be making a return to Broadway next year in The Last Five Years, which I absolutely can’t wait to do. There’s a lot coming, so stay tuned.”

Kevin then hinted at a “big tour” in 2025 for the Jonas Brothers, while Joe mentioned that the band’s New Year’s Eve performance would offer a sneak peek of “a lot of songs that you’ll hear on the next tour. Kind of a sneak peek of what’s coming.”

After the clock struck midnight, Kevin, Joe, and Nick took the stage in Times Square to perform “Play My Music” from their 2008 Camp Rock movie. The trio also delivered their hit “Sucker,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, and a cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams.”

In addition to the Jonas Brothers, the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special featured performances by Mickey Guyton, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, TLC, Kapo, Carrie Underwood and Rita Ora.

Check out Seacrest’s NYE interview with the Jonas Brothers below.

Just two months on from the departure of longtime drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander, Primus are back in the saddle ahead of impending auditions for a new percussionist.

The band’s first show since Alexander’s final appearance in August, the performance took place as part of the band’s New Year’s Eve celebration shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA, on Monday (Dec. 30). Opening with sets from bassist and vocalist Les Claypool’s other bands Holy Mackerel and Frog Brigade, the main event was a six-song performance from Primus with Bryan ‘Brain’ Mantia on drums.

Mantia had previously served as the drummer of Primus in 1989, before being replaced by Alexander, who would play with the band until 1996. Following Alexander’s initial departure, Mantia returned to the kit until Primus’ split in 2000. Alexander would remain the band’s drummer for the majority of their career following a 2003 reunion, save for another absence between 2010 and 2013.

Primus announced on Oct. 29 that Alexander had resigned suddenly on Oct. 17 via email “effective immediately”, citing a “loss of passion for playing”—a reason that Claypool and guitarist Larry LaLonde admitted “came as a complete shock.”

“On the heels of a wonderful spring & summer of touring and some fabulous plans ahead, it has been a bit bewildering for us that Herb would so abruptly opt out,” Claypool and LaLonde said.

“After several attempts to communicate with Herb, his only response was another email stating that he has ‘lost his passion for playing.’ As disappointing as that is, we respect his choice and it’s forced us to make some tough decisions.”

In the wake of Alexander’s passing, Primus announced they would be “taking submissions from all points in the universe for the position of Primus drummer/percussionist”. They added: “Flashy chops are wonderful, but groove, pocket, and the ability to listen, react, and contribute to the musical conversation is a must.”

The band took to social media again in late December to warn applicants of scammers who had begun contacting hopeful applicants ahead of in-person auditions taking place.

“It is our duty here in the Primus camp to at least give a ‘heads up’ as it were, to those who may be duped by these sad individuals who are obviously struggling with their own insecurities and shriveled genitalia,” the band wrote.

Currently, Primus are scheduled to be joined by Tool’s Danny Carey for festival dates in the Dominican Republic in March, with a joint tour alongside Puscifer and A Perfect Circle set to launch in April.

Sammy Hagar likely won’t be listing Alex Van Halen’s new memoir Brothers atop his favorite books of 2024.

Hagar, who fronted Van Halen from 1985 to 1996, and again from 2003 to 2005, took to social media to share his thoughts on the recent book from his former bandmate, labelling the omission of his time within the band as “blasphemy”.

Published in October, Brothers largely focuses on the veteran California outfit’s first 12 years, effectively stopping the Van Halen story after the departure of vocalist David Lee Roth, and overlooking not only Hagar’s time as vocalist, but the temporary lineup featuring Gary Cherone, and their ultimate reunion with Roth.

“What happened after Dave left is not the same band,” Alex Van Halen told Billboard in October. “I’m not saying it was better or worse or any of that. The fact is Ed and I did our best work whenever we played. We always gave it our best shot. But the magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything.”

Sharing a photo of himself and guitarist Eddie Van Halen from 1991 on Instagram earlier this week, Hagar began responding to comments on the post, including one who opined that “most purists believe VH ended with DLR”.

“It could have [ended], my friend, but instead we went on to sell over 50 million records for [a] No. 1 album [then] sold out every building and stadium in the world for a whole decade,” Hagar responded. “That never happened again.”

IVan Halen experienced some of their biggest successes with their album 1984, which featured the Hot 100-topping single “Jump”, would peak at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and become their highest charting release of the Roth era. Their next album, 1986’s 5150, was their first released with Hagar on vocals, and was the first of four consecutive No. 1 albums released with Hagar at the helm.

Continuing his response, Hagar contended that Alex Van Halen was doing both the band and his late brother a disservice by leaving the era out of the memoir.

“Alex is not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice by not acknowledging all the No. 1 albums and some great music Eddie and I wrote together — not Alex — but Eddie and I wrote together,” Hagar continued. “To not acknowledge [those] 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting and legacy.”

Despite his harsh words regarding Alex Van Halen’s book, Hagar recently told Rolling Stone it’s “on [his] bucket list” that he and his former bandmate are able to make peace at some point.

“I understand he probably couldn’t have done the whole era in one book. It would’ve been the Bible, the dictionary, so maybe he’s got plans for a Volume 2. Who knows?” said Hagar.

“I want to be friends, though. I don’t want to play in a band with Al. I’m not asking for that. I can see that he’s not capable of doing that. If he was, I’d be happy to play with him, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I just want to friends again.”