Gomez joined Karol G for an episode of Complex‘s GOAT Talk on Wednesday (June 25), where she opened up about her Eminem fandom and why she loved Ice Cube so much.
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“Can I tell you my first one I had a crush on, Ice Cube?” the multi-hyphenate admitted around the 12-minute mark. “I had the biggest crush on him when I was, like, 5. It’s so weird, but I just thought he would protect me. I’m only saying it simply based on my childhood.”
Gomez didn’t specify if it was his music or the various blockbusters Cube starred in throughout the ’90s that caught her eye.
The 32-year-old singer/actress also showed love to Eminem while recalling her father, who was a DJ, cooking up remixes featuring Slim Shady.
“One of mine was Eminem only because I grew up listening to him. My dad was a DJ and he would remix all kinds of songs, and every time it was an Eminem song, I would just get so excited,” she explained.
Karol G listed a pair of rhymers for her GOAT rapper, going with Eminem when she was growing up and Nicki Minaj for the new school.
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 22:15:342025-06-25 22:15:34Selena Gomez Says Ice Cube Was Her Childhood Celebrity Crush: ‘I Just Thought He Would Protect Me’
While pop star Ariana Grande will grace the big screen once again for the upcoming fourth installment in the Meet the Parents franchise, Barbra Streisand says she will probably not be reprising her role for the new movie.
In an interview with Variety published Wednesday (June 25), the singer said that after her appearances in Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers, she likely will not return to her role as Roz Focker for the John Hamburg-directed sequel due to what she describes as low pay from her last two appearances in the series.
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“They’d have to pay me a lot of money because I didn’t get paid what the other people got paid and so I’m pissed off,” she said. “I was in the time when women were getting paid less than the men. The head of Universal was Ron Meyer at the time, and he actually sent me a bonus check. It was very sweet.”
Streisand originated the role of Roz, protagonist Greg Focker’s (Ben Stiller) mother who works as a sex therapist for elderly couples, in 2004’s Meet the Fockers. She later reprised the role in 2010’s Little Fockers.
The news comes as Grande was announced as the latest addition to the franchise back in May, where she’s reportedly set to play the “ball-busting” woman engaged to Stiller’s character’s son.
While Streisand didn’t offer any specific reaction to Grande’s casting, she did offer praise for the “Yes, And?” singer, who features alongside Mariah Carey on Streisand’s upcoming new duets album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two. “[Carey and Grande are] the hottest, biggest, most wonderful voices. And they both said yes to join me,” she said in the interview.
Elsewhere on The Secret of Life, Streisand duets for the first time with Bob Dylan, which she told Billboard was a “wonderful” experience. “I’m ever the director. And he wanted direction, which was so lovely: ‘What do you think? What do you want?’ He just was so open to trying this or trying that,” she recalled. “It was really easy.”
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 22:10:312025-06-25 22:10:31Barbra Streisand Says ‘They’d Have to Pay Me A Lot of Money’ to Return to ‘Meet the Parents’ Franchise
During an interview with The New York Times’ Popcast, the brothers from Virginia were asked about the production duo they’ve been connected to for most of their careers.
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“Absolutely miss Chad [Hugo], as far as, you know, being on the album,” No Malice admitted before making sure to add that he runs into Chad all the time. “I’ll see Chad in the airport, in the street, at Buffalo Wild Wings, you know, in VA. Whatever they got going on, just hope for the best. … Whenever we see each other, it’s always gonna be love. Always.”
Pusha T, on the other hand, doesn’t feel like they missed Hugo’s influence on their upcoming album Let God Sort Em Out.
“For me no,” he said. “Everybody knows my favorite album is Hell Hath No Fury. Pharrell did that alone. That’s it. … Chad’s my guy. I love Chad. Pharrell’s my guy; love Chad too. We’re brothers, we came up together. But, you know, when you say missing in the music, there is no missing in the music when it comes to the Clipse. And if it’s just P, it don’t matter — we find what we find.”
In September 2024, Pharrell revealed that he and his longtime collaborator weren’t on speaking terms anymore as the two are currently embroiled in a legal dispute over the rights to the group’s name, with Hugo accusing Williams of “fraudulently” looking to take full control of the legendary group’s trademarks.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
This week: Director Danny Boyle’s go-to band sees its streams go way up after his latest blockbuster sequel, PinkPantheress has a new breakout hit from her acclaimed 2025 mixtape, both “Whim Whamiee” hitmakers score separate viral hits of their own and more.
Gone Viral: ‘28 Years Later’ Film Release Spreads Young Fathers’ Music on Streaming
Scottish indie band Young Fathers has been releasing vital, genre-blurring art rock for well over a decade now, drawing huge critical acclaim – particularly in the U.K. – and even scoring a top 10 album on the country’s Official Charts, with 2023’s No. 7-peaking Heavy Heavy. One of the band’s biggest longtime fans has been fellow Scotsman Danny Boyle, the award-winning film director who featured multiple Young Fathers songs in 2017’s T2 Trainspotting, long-awaited sequel to his 1996 masterpiece Trainspotting.
Now, Boyle has done Young Fathers one better for his latest highly anticipated follow-up: The band composed and performed the score for the dystopian horror flick, which opened to strong reviews and impressive box office returns this Friday (June 20). Fans flocked from the theaters to relive the band’s grimy, disquieting score on streaming services, resulting in 394,000 total official on-demand U.S. streams for Young Fathers the first four days of this tracking week (June 20-23) – up 1,210% from the same period the week before, according to Luminate. Most of that bump came from the score itself, of course, but the rest of Young Fathers’ catalog was also up – not counting the 28 Years Later music, the band was up 55% to 47,000 streams for that period.
And Young Fathers isn’t the only experimental rock band to benefit from the 28 Years Later bump – post-rock standard-bearer Godspeed! You Black Emperor saw gains for its 1997 epic “East Hastings,” also featured in the film, which rose 167% to over 11,000 streams for the period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Her Name is Pink(Pantheress), And She’s Really Glad to Meet Another Viral Moment
PinkPantheress is no stranger to a TikTok trend translating into a streaming boom; that’s part of how the British pop star’s breakthrough single, “Boy’s a Liar,” spawned an Ice Spice-featuring remix and streaked into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023. One month after her excellent mixtape Fancy That was released, its opening track, “Illegal,” is helping PinkPantheress once again make waves on TikTok, and could result in another crossover hit.
Over the past week, TikTok users have taken the opening lines of the song — “My name is Pink, and I’m really glad to meet you / You’re recommended to me by some people / Hey, ooh, is this illegal? / Hey, ooh, it feels illegal” — and started a trend in which they lip-synch to the camera while shaking the hand of someone offscreen. As a result, “Illegal” earned 1.8 million official U.S. on-demand streams from June 20-23 — a 61% jump from the same four-day period one week earlier (1.11 million streams from June 13-16), according to Luminate. If “Illegal” keeps growing, PinkPantheress will score her second Hot 100 hit as a lead artist, after “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” made it all the way to No. 3 on the chart two years ago. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Pluto & YKNiece Score Individual Follow-Up Hits As ‘Whim Whamiee’ Continues Its Ascent
As “Whim Whamiee” continues to float around the Hot 100’s midsection (it’s at No. 63 in the June 28-dated chart, after previously reaching No. 51), 2025 breakout stars Pluto and YKNiece have individual follow-up hits ready to go. Pluto’s “Pull Your Skirt Up” garnered some traction as a pre-release single from newly released Both Ways project, but a new dance trend from food influencer and social media personality Keith Lee has really helped the track pick up steam.
On June 13, Lee posted a TikTok from his wife’s account (@ron.geezy) featuring him casually dancing along to the following lyrics from “Pull Your Skirt Up”: “And we ain’t beefin’ ’bout no n—a, we want them racks/ Hide your man or we gon’ f—k him on his deck/ Pants tight, drop down, he’s a goner/ Fake rich on the ‘Gram, we don’t want him.” The clip has since amassed over 19 million views and 3.1 million likes, spurring a dance trend that’s corralled Internet celebs like Love IslandUSA Season 6 winners Serena Page and Kordell Beckham. The official “Pull Yo Skirt Up” TikTok sound currently plays in over 134,300 posts.
According to Luminate, “Skirt Up” logged over 880,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of May 30-June 5. By the following week (June 6-12), that number jumped by 35% to over 1.19 million streams. By June 13-19, which accounts for the first week of Lee’s video, streams again rose over 62% to over 1.93 million streams.
YKNiece’s rising hit is a collaboration with BunnaB, whose “Bunna Summa” appeared in this column a few weeks ago. Titled “Innit” (after the viral “I’m talmbout innit” ad-lib from “Whim Whamiee”), the song dropped on May 22, earning over 610,000 streams during the period of May 16-22. About three weeks later (June 13-19), once the eating food/diving in it emote took over TikTok, “Innit” leapt 62% to just over 992,000 streams. On TikTok, the official “Innit” sound boasts over 34,5000 posts.
Looks like “Whim Whamiee” is just the beginning for the two ATL rising stars. – KYLE DENIS
Tinashe Teams Up with Disco Lines to Revive Year-Old ‘Quantum Baby’ Track
Last summer, Tinashe earned her first Hot 100 hit as a lead artist in 10 years thanks to the mega-viral “Nasty.” This summer, she’s eyeing another from 2024’s Quantum Baby, for which “Nasty” served as the lead single.
On June 6, Colorado DJ Disco Lines officially released his remix for “No Broke Boys,” earning over 2.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams during its first week (June 6-12), according to Luminate. The following week (June 13-19), that number rose 19% to over 3.1 million official streams. And the song is still growing: Over the first four days of this tracking week (June 20-23), it’s up nearly 20% from the same period the week before, to 2.03 million streams.
Disco Lines first teased the remix in a May 5 TikTok post, which has since earned over half a million views. Tinashe joined the train a few weeks later with May 31 clip captioned, “Feeling like the song of the summer idk.” Pairing Tinashe’s carefree kiss-off with a danceable beat proved an effective tactic; the official “No Broke Boys” TikTok sound now boasts over 60,700 posts, and the official YouTube audio clip has earned over 318,000 hits.
Though the track is still growing, things are looking up for Tinashe’s post-“Nasty” world. – KD
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 20:45:402025-06-25 20:45:40Young Fathers Streams Up Over 1,200% Following ’28 Years Later’ Film Premiere
For the second month in a row, Jack Black‘s “Steve’s Lava Chicken” – featured in A Minecraft Movie – tops Billboard’s Top Movie Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), remaining at No. 1 on the May 2025 survey.
Rankings for the Top Movie Songs chart are based on song and film data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of May 2025. The ranking includes newly released films from the preceding three months.
“Steve’s Lava Chicken,” which became the shortest song ever to reach the Billboard Hot 100 upon its debut on the May 3-dated list, rose to prominence as part of the soundtrack of the Minecraft film, which premiered in theaters on April 4.
In May 2025, the tune earned 29.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams and sold 4,000 downloads, according to Luminate. It appeared on the Hot 100 for three weeks, paced by its peak of No. 78 May 3, and ranks at No. 25 on the latest Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (June 28).
“Steve’s Lava Chicken” holds off a new challenger on the ranking in Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising,” which bows at No. 2 after being heard in Final Destination Bloodlines. The latest movie in the Final Destination franchise premiered May 16.
“Bad Moon Rising” peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1969. It racked up 10.7 million streams and 1,000 downloads in May 2025 amid the release of the film, which also features synchs from acts like Johnny Cash, Kelly Clarkson and The Isley Brothers.
Thunderbolts* and Lilo & Stitch, both released in May as well, fill out the remainder of the top four, via Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and a redo of “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” by Iam Tongi and the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, respectively.
The 10-position chart includes 10 songs from 10 different movies, the first time that’s happened since the ranking’s inception last September.
See the full top 10 below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Movie 1. “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” Jack Black, A Minecraft Movie 2. “Bad Moon Rising,” Creedence Clearwater Revival, Final Destination Bloodlines 3. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Starship, Thunderbolts* 4. “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,” Iam Tongi & Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, Lilo & Stitch 5. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Electric State 6. “Call On Me,” Eric Prydz, Warfare 7. “Healing,” FLETCHER, Drop 8. “Cherry-Coloured Funk,” Cocteau Twins, Death of a Unicorn 9. “Casual,” Chappell Roan, Novocaine 10. “I Lied to You,” Miles Caton, Sinners
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 20:40:572025-06-25 20:40:57Jack Black’s ‘Steve’s Lava Chicken’ Reigns on Top of Movie Songs Chart for Second Month
Megan Thee Stallion meets M3GAN. The Houston Hottie completed yet another side quest on Wednesday (June 25), as the rapper teamed up with the horror blockbuster ahead of M3GAN 2.0‘s arrival later this week.
The eerie clip finds Thee Stallion enjoying an afternoon in her hotel room before being spooked by M3GAN bots cosplaying as hotel room service staff. “You didn’t think we left our real hot girl s—t,” an AI voice says as things take a turn.
Meg joins the various M3GAN bots for a dance session, twerking to Britney Spears’ “Oops!… I Did It Again.” The Houston rapper even hits a split in her pink pajamas to close out the ad.
A Megan fan account reminded her that she previously applauded the series in 2022 prior to the first installment’s release. “You were one of the first celebrities to talk about the movie before it came out! Soo full circle,” they wrote.
While Megan Thee Stallion wrote to X at the time: “Not being biased but I think they made this movie for me. I will be THEE FIRST in line to see M3GAN.”
You were one of the first celebrities to talk about the movie before it came out! Soo full circle! pic.twitter.com/2vG3zuWhJO
It’s possible Universal Pictures saw that Thee Stallion was a fan of the horror sci-fi and got her involved for the sequel. Now all she needs is a cameo whenever the third installment of the series arrives.
Megan Thee Stallion’s no stranger to the acting world, considering she made an appearance in She-Hulk and appeared in 2024’s Mean Girls remake of the Broadway musical.
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 20:36:092025-06-25 20:36:09Watch Megan Thee Stallion Meet ‘M3GAN 2.0’ in Real Life Ahead of Horror Movie’s Arrival
Black music is the foundation of so much of what we hear, feel, and move to in modern music. It’s more than a sound — it’s a force that has shaped culture, built community and told the stories that often go unheard. Whether within R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, gospel, country, or afrobeats, Black music has always been a channel for truth, joy, pain and resilience. It’s the soundtrack of the Black experience, but its impact has never been limited to just one community; Black music moves the entire world.
For Black Music Month, Billboard wanted to go deeper than the charts, the viral hits and the well-known milestones. We wanted to know what Black music really means, on a personal level. So Billboard asked a range of artists — from veterans like Ne-Yo and Machel Montano, to breakout stars like Kehlani, Ice Spice, GIVĒON and Shenseea, to rising voices like Destin Conrad, BRELAND, J.P., Mickey Guyton, Lila Iké and FLO — to reflect on three simple but powerful questions: What does Black music mean to you? Why is Black music so important? And, how has Black music shaped your life or career?
The answers we received were personal, passionate and deeply honest. Some artists spoke about growing up surrounded by the sounds of church choirs or reggae legends. Others reflected on how Black music gave them the freedom to express themselves without limits. Together, their voices remind us that Black music isn’t just a genre—it’s a legacy. It’s a lifeline. And it’s still writing its story every single day.
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Kehlani endured innumerable struggles and beat the odds “all before the age of even being able to buy a f—king drink at a bar,” as she said with her raspy, hushed voice in the “Intro” of her 2015 sophomore mixtape You Should Be Here.
She was raised by her aunt, who eventually adopted Kehlani, after her father died when she was a toddler and her mother served time in jail while struggling with drug addiction. She left PopLyfe, the Oakland-based teen pop band that finished in fourth place on America’s Got Talent in 2011, due to managerial and contractual issues. She stole iPhones straight out of people’s hands at train stations and sold them — and got banned from Walmart for stealing clothes and food — just to skate by, according to her 2015 Fader cover story. And she poured that grit and resilience that’s carried her throughout her entire life into her music.
In 2014, they independently released their critically acclaimed debut mixtape Cloud 19, which led to a label deal with Atlantic Records. By the time they were working on their follow-up project, they got to indulge in the one grown-up activity they hadn’t been able to before.
Then-19-year-old Kehlani still wasn’t “able to buy a f—king drink at a bar” in the U.S., but she could in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, where she went with her righthand producer Jahaan Sweet and photographer David Camarena. “I thought I was big shit because I was of legal age,” she tells Billboard, recalling her “first experience of being out of the country and working in an Airbnb and leaving the Airbnb to go get a drink at a bar and listen to the music walking down the street. [It was] this freeing feeling of this is what I can do as an artist. This is the kind of life I can have where I can get up and go, get inspiration and create in another place, and make art in this freeing way.”
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On You Should Be Here, Kehlani navigates their romantic and familial relationships through the lens of a charming and vulnerable young woman taking her life by the reins – and a lifelong student of ‘90s R&B and neo-soul. The tape reassures her fans, known as the Tsunami Mob — as well as Kehlani herself — to never lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel, even when it seems incredibly dim. And her inextinguishable pursuit was rewarding as the spotlight shined even brighter on the burgeoning star.
You Should Be Here earned Kehlani their first top five project on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums as well as their first Grammy nomination for best urban contemporary album. “I was told there hadn’t been a mixtape nominated for a Grammy, and if there was, then I was the first girl. It was a pivotal moment, any moment that lets you know that the level of how you believe in yourself is valid,” they says.
As part of Black Music Month, Billboard is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of You Should Be Here with Kehlani, discussing what the mixtape meant to them at the time of recording it, continuing to show love to Musiq Soulchild, feeling “haunted” by their videotaped reaction to their first Grammy nomination, and if they’ll ever bring back that one song that’s been removed.
What do you remember most about recording You Should Be Here?
How natural it was. Me and Jahaan were living together at the time in all these Airbnbs. We were in any living room we could find. That was such a crazy project because it was right after my first mixtape ever, which changed my life. It was me making music the first year out of my teenagehood and the first year of me cracking off as an artist. There was so much context in there of how that shaped my relationships, my view of the world, my young womanhood. That was in response to my life at the time.
Sweet produced six songs on the mixtape. What was your working relationship with him like at the time? Considering he later worked on your 2017 debut album SweetSexySavage, why was he such a crucial member of your inner creative circle?
We did a lot of Cloud 19 together. We did what I felt like was my first breakthrough song, “Get Away.” We both had this underdog feeling because when I met Jahaan, he was an assistant at a studio and I was there working with someone else. After the session ended, Jahaan came in the room and was like, “Hi, you don’t know me. I’m like the little guy here. I have a beat to play you if you’d be down to listen.” And I’m like, “Well, I’m a little guy. [Laughs.] Absolutely play me the beat.” And it ended up being my first breakout song.
We’ve just had that kindred relationship where we were really hungry and we felt like we had something to prove, but we also had chemistry where we’d finish each other’s musical sentences. He’d know what I’d want to do next and where I’d want to take it, and before I would even get a chance to do it, he would already be tweaking the beat to how I’d probably like it.
Around the time you released this mixtape, different publications were labeling you a “mindie” artist. Did that term resonate with you?
I kind of still, to this day, feel like a mindie artist. That’s nothing to do with the label, more to do with the era that I came up in. I was a part of the pre-streaming service [era]. You have to go hard for yourself. You can’t wait for a marketing strategy or rollout. It’s all about the relationship that you have with your fans personally, with no middleman. I’ve always operated in that way. My fanbase [grew] up with me, they feel like they know me, which is a double-edged sword in this day and age. We have a really deep connection where they feel proud to be here this long and every time a milestone happens, and they’re excited about things that are beyond where’s the next hit? Are the numbers moving in this kind of way? That comes from that mindie movement.
Light shines through as a key lyrical theme in You Should Be Here. You sing “So be great, be kind/ Don’t let them dim your light/ A woman like the sun should always stay bright” on “Bright.” And you sing, “Too damn strong/ To let you get the best of me/ Took way too long/ To find the light inside of me” on “N—as.” Why was that an important message for you to share with your fans on this mixtape?
I’ve dealt with chemical imbalance and mental illness my entire life, so it’s been up and down. Anybody with mental health issues knows how imperative that moment that your light returns is and how much of a big deal it is. It’s not, “I felt sad yesterday and I’m coming around today.” It’s these time periods where you do not feel like there’s any sort of light at the end of anything.
And when you finally get that back, the measures you take to ensure that it stays, whether your boundaries change or your routine changes or you have to let certain things or people go, it’s a big feat. That was the beginning of my life shifting in that way where I had to make those changes to prioritize the light that I found. Those were the first years of my life with stability and with control over my own life. Everything was shifting, and I finally had a grip on it. I just needed to protect it.
Speaking of “N—as,” you removed the track from all streaming services in 2023. Would you ever put it back on streaming for the fans who miss it?
At this point, I’m not really interested in bringing it back for myself. I’ve always said if there’s another artist who would like to put it out because people want the song in the world, I’d be more than happy to let another artist record it and let them have it. Other than that, at the time I took it down, I was being communally called in by people who felt offended by it, and I was abiding by what I feel like community care is, which is when you’re called in, you listen and you make a change. I try to keep my peace as much as possible, and I feel like re-putting it out on any platforms at this point would be another ignited thing beyond what my focus is at the moment.
You contributed background vocals to Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment’s “Lady Friend” the same year you featured him on “The Way.” How did you two establish that relationship?
Me and Chance go back to that golden era of earlier music from our late teenagehood and early young adulthood where it was me, Chance, Bryson [Tiller], Jhené [Aiko], Tinashe. It was this early group of us that were still dropping things on SoundCloud. We were all tapped in with each other. We’re in that space of innovation is starting to happen, which I don’t know if we realized that at the time, but now I can look back and be like, “Oh, that was the beginning of certain ways that music moves now.” Me and Chance have always had a great friendship and continue to do so.
“Down For You,” featuring BJ The Chicago Kid, interpolates Musiq Soulchild’s “Just Friends (Sunny).” Four years later, you featured Musiq Soulchild on “Footsteps,” the opening track of While We Wait. How did you finesse that? Did you two ever talk about “Down For You”?
Oh, he knows I’m a fan. I not only interpolated him on that, but on the mixtape before, I quoted him. It went from quoting to interpolating to the feature. He’s always known from even the first moment. I don’t care about coming off like a fan to anybody in anything that I’m a fan of. [Laughs] I always was loudly like, “You’re my favorite. Growing up, you were my favorite. You’ll always be my favorite.” He knows very well. I will get down on the floor and bow to that man.
What was your favorite song from You Should Be Here in 2015, and is it still your favorite off the project a decade later?
“Jealous.” I just remember the excitement of discovering Lexii and how it was to hear Lexii for the first time on her SoundCloud. I remember being in a sprinter van with my manager and being like, “Yo, there’s this girl from Minnesota and she’s so hard. We need her on the album.” And she just knocked out that verse so quickly, and I just became a super Lexii Alijai stan because of it. To this day, it’s one of my favorites that I’ve done because of the energy that she brought to it. That is my favorite now because of sentimental reasons. Rest in peace, Lexii.
At the time, my favorite song was probably “You Should Be Here” because it felt like a declaration. I had just got out of my first adult relationship, and that person broke up with me because of the trajectory I was in and there were some issues around that. It felt like this big catalyst into, “Oh, this is shit is real.” And it awoken all the feelings of I really need to anaylze how my life is shifting.
You just turned 30 in April. If you could talk to the 19-going-on-20-year-old version of Kehlani who was making You Should Be Here, what would you tell them?
I would say your life’s about to change. The art that you’re making is going to have big cultural significance that gets a lot of people to relate to you because of your story, your upbringing, your background, your emotional journey. It’s going to bring a lot of those people who need it to the forefront, but also don’t take that on as your own. Lock in, focus on your relationship with God and perfect your craft. Take your time and have fun.
Once You Should Be Here came around, I was in go mode — and it was such a detrimental thing to my mental health, because life really took off after that. We got the Grammy nom, it started getting really psycho insane, and I spent a lot of years working myself to burn out — and taking on the fact that all these people were like, “You changed my life, You saved me.” It was a heavy weight to carry at 19, 20. I was also growing up in front of the world. So I would want to hear from myself now that I owed it to myself to really prioritize my mental well-being while I’m giving these things to the world.
You embarked on your first-ever solo headlining tour, the You Should Be Here Tour, after the tape dropped. But earlier that year, you went with G-Eazy on the second leg of his From the Bay to the Universe Tour. What lessons had you learned from that joint stint that helped you during your first solo run?
I will always thank G-Eazy for being the first person to take me on the road and open the lane for me like that. He’s so incredible, because he’s done that for almost every single Bay Area artist. Like, every Bay Area artist who has come out of the Bay that has been after his time, he’s brought on tour. He’s opened the door for all of us in that way. It was a very different tour than what an R&B tour would look like. It was very rock star. I’m like, “This what a tour bus is? This what backstage looks like? This some rock star s–t.” It allowed me to see the epicness before I had to go and take on all those responsibilities myself.
It’s different when you’re an opener. You just get to go on stage and then watch someone every night. I got to see what a show with production looked like, and a show that had a set and real lights. And then I went on my first tour, and I didn’t have any of those things — but it gave me something to look forward to and something to be excited about, like, “Oh, I can do this. This is possible.”
You earned your first-ever Grammy nomination with this mixtape. Do you remember how you felt when you found out?
What’s funny is I am so haunted by the video where I found out. There’s literally a video where I’m running around screaming outside of the tour bus. I think we were in Sweden. I had some acne [laughs] on my cheek, and I put tea tree oil on it, and I burnt the shit out of my face. So I’m sitting there holding my face while I just chemically burned it, and David [Ali] tells me the information, and I start losing my mind with the switch from “Holy s–t, I’m crying because I just burnt my face” to “Holy s–t, I’m crying because I’m nominated for a Grammy off of a f—king mixtape.” It was f—king hilarious.
I was told it hadn’t been done before that. I was told there hadn’t been a mixtape nominated for a Grammy, and if there was, then I was the first girl. It was a pivotal moment — any moment that lets you know that the level of how you believe in yourself is valid. I’m not big [on letting] any award validate how great your art is. But it’s nice when the system in place or the hierarchy of what you’re doing in art recognizes that what you’re doing is great. It feels good, even if you don’t believe in it.
What did You Should Be Here mean to you at the time of recording it, and looking back at your discography, what does You Should Be Here mean to you now?
At the time I recorded it, I was just a hungry 19-year-old trying to follow up the splash that my first project made, trying to get my emotions down, trying to explain myself, trying to get people to feel me. Looking back at it now, I’m grateful that I was down to bare myself in that way and I was down to be emotional and vulnerable. I’m grateful that it changed my life. It really did. It was the project that was the first change of my life as far as musical pivots, and there would be no project after that without what You Should Be Here opened up for me.
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 20:11:592025-06-25 20:11:59Kehlani Reflects on ‘You Should Be Here’ Mixtape 10 Years Later: ‘I’m Grateful That It Changed My Life’
“As a musician, and as somebody who is very musical, I listen to music a lot throughout my day,” Bethany Cosentino tells Billboard. “Whether I’m working on stuff around the house, or I’m cleaning or cooking, I like to have music on.”
The tone of that music has drastically shifted over the past six months, after Cosentino and her husband welcomed a daughter, Luna, in December. Around-the-house playlists naturally evolved for the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter — who broke through as one-half of the indie rock duo Best Coast in the early 2010s, notching four LPs on the Billboard 200 albums chart, including the top 40-charting sets Crazy for You (No. 36, 2010) and The Only Place (No. 24, 2012). She also released a captivating solo debut, Natural Disaster, in 2023.
Since becoming parents, Cosentino and her husband are coming up with more silly songs of their own, leaning into Sesame Street and Raffi — but also playing Luna, who turned six months old earlier in June, some of their decades-old favorites. A lot of those songs have been on repeat, to say the least: “With kids, you just end up listening to the same song 9,000 times,” she says with a laugh. And as they’ve been played over and over, Cosentino has gained a new appreciation for the songs, including some of the Sesame classics that she grew up with herself.
Below, Cosentino takes Billboard through a tour of the music that’s been dominating her household since her daughter was born, in her own words, and explains how motherhood had already affected her creative instincts. (Ed. note: this interview has been edited for clarity.)
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.pngYveto2025-06-25 20:11:582025-06-25 20:11:58Here Are the Songs Bethany Cosentino Is Playing for Her 6-Month-Old Daughter: The Byrds, ‘Elmo’s Song’ & Absolutely No Kidz Bop
Snoop Dogg has reached a settlement with a veteran studio musician who accused the legendary rapper of failing to license two backing tracks used on his 2022 album BODR.
Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and session musician Trevor Lawrence Jr. filed a joint motion on Tuesday (June 24) to dismiss their litigation. A previous court filing says the two men reached a settlement with the help of a mediator back in April, though the terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
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Lawrence, a well-known producer and drummer who has been credited on songs by Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and other top artists, sued Snoop and his label, Death Row Records, last summer over claims that the rapper failed to clear backing tracks for the BODR songs “Pop Pop” and “Get This D–k.”
According to the lawsuit, Lawrence created these two backing tracks “on spec” and gave them to Snoop in 2020 to “experiment” with in the studio. Lawrence’s attorneys said the producer made clear that Snoop would need to officially license the tracks if he wanted to include them in an album, but the rapper allegedly released BODR two years later without a licensing agreement in place.
Lawrence’s lawsuit also alleged that Snoop didn’t get his permission before releasing “Pop Pop” and “Get This D–k” as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), a move that supposedly generated tens of millions of dollars in profits.
Snoop’s lawyers denied any wrongdoing, saying the rapper exchanged a draft deal with Lawrence and paid him a $20,000 producer fee before BODR was released. Lawrence cashed this $20,000 check, Snoop’s team alleged, effectively conceding that the proposed deal terms had been accepted.
The rapper’s attorneys blasted Lawrence for seeking a “preposterous windfall” of millions of dollars through the litigation.
“If Lawrence is entitled to any monies from defendants, it is the agreed-upon producer royalties offset against the $20,000 that he was already paid,” wrote Snoop’s counsel in a December court filing.
The case had been on track to go to trial this September in Los Angeles federal court before a settlement was reached.
An attorney for Lawrence, Frank Trechsel, tells Billboard that he cannot discuss the terms of the deal but says, “Our client is happy to have resolved the dispute.”
Snoop’s reps and lawyers did not immediately return requests for comment.
BODR peaked at No. 104 on the Billboard 200 in February 2022. Neither “Pop Pop” nor “Get This D–k” charted.