Hang in there. Keep your masks on. But know that good times are coming. So says Dr. Anthony Fauci, who predicts that most of us will be vaccinated by Labor … Click to Continue »
Relatives of Black males who have been shot and killed by law enforcment officers called Friday for the resignation of King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht for what they say is … Click to Continue »
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have called it quits.
The couple, who have been engaged since March 2019 and began dating in February 2017, have called off their engagement and broken up, as first reported by Page Six on Friday (March 12) and since posted by The Associated Press.
Lopez is currently filming the movie Shotgun Wedding in the Dominican Republic, where the singer/actress, 51, last posted a picture of the two snuggling up to each other on Feb. 27. The former Yankees player, 45, recently posted a solo shot in Miami. A-Rod accompanied Lopez to Washington, D.C. for her performance during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, and he described the “iconic moment” as “one I’ll never forget.”
Lopez first showed off her engagement ring via social media on March 9, 2019, while the two were vacationing in the Bahamas. For the majority of the quarantine, Lopez and Rodriguez have spent time at home with their blended family, including her 13-year-old twins Maximilian “Max” David and Emme Maribel with ex-husband Marc Anthony and Rodriguez’s daughters Ella, 12, and Natasha, 16, with ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis.
The pandemic also postponed their wedding plans, which Lopez talked about in an interview with Today host Hoda Kotb. “I’m a little heartbroken because we did have some great plans, but I’m also like, ‘You know what? God has a bigger plan.’ And so we just have to wait and see,” the superstar said. “Maybe it’s going to be better. I have to believe that it will be.”
She told Ellen DeGeneres back in April that the nuptials would not happen as planned. “Honestly, I really don’t know what’s going to happen now as far as dates or anything like that,” she said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “We’re just kind of in a holding pattern like the rest of the world.”
During her March 2021 Allure cover story, Lopez said the downtime allowed her and Rodriguez “to work on ourselves” by going to therapy.
Billboard has reached out to Lopez’s reps for comment and hadn’t heard back at press time.
The Government of Ontario says it will inject $2.5 million (USD $2 million) into the struggling Canadian music industry by investing in two non-profit groups.
The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) will receive $500,000 (USD $400,000) to aid the live industry all over the province, Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture, announced today (March 12).
The provincial government will also provide $2 million (USD $1.6 million) in COVID-19 relief to the Unison Fund, the Canadian music industry’s emergency charity, which provides financial assistance and counseling services for musicians and industry members.
Amanda Power, Unison’s executive director, said over the past year the charity had received a 3,021% increase in applications for emergency financial aid and a 208% increase in urgent mental health crisis intervention calls.
While both CLMA and Unison serve the Canadian music industry nationwide, the funds will go specifically towards aiding Ontario artists and industry members.
Prior to the pandemic, the live music industry contributed about $3 billion (USD $2.26 billion) to Canada’s GDP and supported 72,000 jobs, according to the CLMA. By the fall of 2020, a CLMA member study found that live music businesses had lost 92% of their revenue and had depleted their cash flow.
Since the pandemic began, the Ontario government has previously provided the music sector with financial aid totaling $17.55 million (USD $14 million), including to the Ontario Music Investment Fund (OMIF), Celebrate Ontario, the Reconnect Festival and Event Program, as well as digital content, such as Ontario.Live and Music Together.
“It’s clear we need to do much more,” MacLeod said. “We are now optimistic for a post-COVID-19 reality, one that includes music, the arts, culture and sport, and welcoming people back when it’s safe to do so.”
Another week, another collection of new dance music to power your weekend. Ready? Let’s dig in.
Carl Cox, “Sand, Moon & Stars”
If all you know about Ibiza is that a bunch of DJs play and basically live there every summer (except last summer…and this summer) then you might be surprised to know that the world-famous Balearic party island is also home to a football club, UD Ibiza. The team was recently the subject of a five-part documentary, Club Ibiza: The Sessions, for which electronic titan Carl Cox — one of Ibiza’s much-beloved former DJ residents — created the title track, “Sand, Moon & Stars.” It doesn’t take long for this track to transport you beachside at sunset with its shakers and glittering arpeggios, while expansive synth strings in the background create a visceral, almost panoramic effect — you see and feel the sand encrusting your feet, the ocean spray on your face, the deep rhythm in your stomach, and the unfettered joy of everyone around you as the giant ball in the sky dips below the horizon. — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ
Nala, “Sun Is Hot”
“Is it me or is it getting hotter, hotter than ever before?” Nala asks on “Sun is Hot,” the B-side of her Psychic Attack EP on Dirtybird. Coming from one of her home bases (Los Angeles), where all the seasons have basically evolved into summer at varying levels of bearableness, the answer seems to be an unequivocal “yes.” But beyond the track’s smooth house groove, deeper layers emerge. The heat we feel, Nala writes in a statement published on Dirtybird’s Facebook page, isn’t just physical or external; it’s also the tension compounding within us whenever we see never-ending political battles in the news. What do you do when the fire’s too big for your hose? “Sun is Hot” captures the LA-in-late-summer mugginess with each “hot!” that Nala rasps out like a blast of steam, while high-pitched riffs and a teeter-tottering synthline verge on disorienting.
“It’s cool to be able to talk about heavy topics over dance beats,” Nala continues. “I think it sort of catches people by surprise. I’ve already started receiving messages from people asking me why I talk about such heavy topics — that I should stick to the music — but my response is always the same…As an artist, you’re unavoidably a product of your environment.” – K.R.
Griz x Ganja White Night, “Ease Your Mind”
Griz continues his heady voyage through bass-funk with “Ease Your Mind,” a collab with Belgian duo Ganja White Night. The track starts out as a primarily funky affair, with a sinewy synth melody floating through like a curl of vape smoke, before the the whole thing gets fully galactivated with glitchy flourishes and a brass section that gives the production some real backbone. A year after a quarantine began, we’re along way from those dusty fields where we used to go hard to similarly hard bass frenzies like this. Let this one serve as a shot of adrenaline to help get you through this (seemingly) final stretch of this decidedly trippy time. — KATIE BAIN
Wuki – “I’m High”
Wuki is straight-up one of the wildest producers in the game, his edits are known fire and his originals span the gamut from nose-bleed bass bashers to meandering, psychedelic moods. The Grammy-nominated master has been a favorite of festival-goers for nearly a decade, but it’s only today that we’re gifted his genre-bending debut LP.“After an entire year and a few delays, I’m soo [sic] stoked to release my debut album,” Wuki is quoted in a press release. “I want this body of work to show all the weird corners of my brain and how I love to approach music from a million angles while still maintaining my sound.”Wuki.World takes listeners through a carnival of sound, with high-profile features from Diplo, Juvenile, Shaq and more. Most of the tracks were released as singles before the big day, but there are four new tunes, including the down-low smoke-sesh brooder above. If you’re missing hookah lounges, this LP — both seductive and incredibly unique — is the one to bang. — KAT BEIN
San Holo, “It Hurts!”
San Holo is truly the king of emotional bangers, and his latest single boils relationships down to their most basic and honest components. A signature San guitar lick rings clear and true over 808 rhythms and a heartfelt mantra: “I still can’t find the right words / the only thing that I’ve learned / it’s only real when it hurts.” Way to hit us in all the feels, man. “It Hurts!” is the third single from his forthcoming 20-track sophomore LP bb u ok? The full project is due out May 21, and no, we aren’t crying, there’s just something in our eye. — K. Bein
Deorro feat. Lúa, “Si Tú No Estás Aquí”
Deorro ramps up to the release of his debut album with the LP’s second single, “Si Tú No Estás Aquí.” Featuring Mexican vocalist Lúa and translating to “if you are not here,” the track finds the Los Angeles-based producer born Erick Orrosquieta dipping into the effervescent end of the house spectrum, with the song playing like a fairly dreamy, kinda a flirty vibe-starter that — through the emotional heft of Lúa’s vocals — also carries just a little bit of heartbreak even if you don’t understand the lyrics. The song, Deorro says in a statement, “brings to life those feelings you get when you vibe with someone so hard that you think you must have met them before in this lifetime or another. I wanted this record to feel timeless, with a retro feel but with a little bit of my funk.” We’d say he nailed it. — K. Bain
This week, Cardi B made headlines for urging Selena Gomez not to retire from music — and this is hardly the first time these two chart-topping superstars have offered up support to one another.
“I think she needs one more Era. … I would love to give her some ideas,” Cardi tweeted on Wednesday, adding, “I defend her cause she is such a sweetheart in person.”
Below, find a full timeline of Selena and Cardi’s relationship, as they’ve evolved from fans to collaborators to friends.
November 2017: Selena Gomez reveals she’s listening to Cardi B
In an interview with YouTuber Hugo Gloss, Selena is asked who she’s listening to at the moment and her fandom is revealed. “Oh man, I love Cardi B!” Gomez tells Gloss. “I listen to a lot of pop and hip-hop.” This is early on in Cardi’s mainstream success, as her breakout hit “Bodak Yellow” had just topped the Billboard Hot 100 two months prior.
September 2018: “Taki Taki” is released
From a fan to collaborators: DJ Snake pairs the two superstars for the first time — alongside Latin chart-topper Ozuna — on the brand-new bilingual song “Taki Taki.” The international hit peaks at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and goes all the way to the top on the Hot Latin Songs and Latin Airplay charts.
October 2018: Selena & Cardi co-star in the “Taki Taki” video
In the Colin Tilley-directed “Taki Taki” music video, fans finally get to see Selena and Cardi together onscreen. The best part? When Gomez pops up during Cardi’s verse to mouth along to the line: “But I’m a boss bi—, who you gonna leave me for?!” The video has now racked up more than 2 billion views on YouTube.
October 2018: Cardi sends love to Selena while she’s in treatment
In an interview with E! News, Cardi offers a message of support to her “Taki Taki” collaborator after it’s reported that Gomez has checked into a mental health facility for anxiety and depression. “I just want to let her know, Girl, you’re beautiful, you’re rich and hold on, because even sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind,” Cardi tells E! “I just got to pray hard to God and get away from social media.” In the same interview, Cardi gushes about working with Gomez on the “Taki Taki video set. “When I met her, she was such a sweet, adorable person. She’s really what you see. She’s really a sweetheart.”
April 2019: Cardi & Selena join DJ Snake onstage at Coachella
DJ Snake makes the most of his 2019 Coachella set, bringing all three of his “Taki Taki” collaborators — Cardi B, Selena Gomez and Ozuna — onstage for the first (and so far only) full live performance of the song. (Gomez and Snake have since reunited on “Selfish Love,” for her just-released first Spanish-language EP Revelación.)
April 2019: Selena reacts to Cardi’s video message
When an Entertainment Tonight reporter shares a video message from Cardi (“You’re so amazing! You’re so bee-yootiful! Such a pretty girl!”) on the WE Day red carpet, Gomez beams: “She’s so sweet! I’m obsessed with her. She’s so sweet and she’s so honest, and I respect that.” Gomez also says she treasured the time she had with Cardi on the “Taki Taki” set. “When we got to work on the video, we were able to be there for a while and there was no pressure. Everything was laid-back. I just think she’s hilarious and she brings a fiery energy into anything.”
March 2021: Cardi tells Selena not to retire from music
In her Vogue cover story, Gomez hints that she might be ready to retire from music — and Cardi is having none of it. “It’s hard to keep doing music when people don’t necessarily take you seriously,” Gomez told Vogue, while Cardi offers a counterpoint on Twitter: “I don’t think Selena should retire. She makes good music & her fans love her. I think she needs one more Era. A edgy one that no one ever seen her as. I would love to give her some ideas.” Cardi also sticks up for her friend against the constant barrage of hate celebrities face online. “I like Selena tho. I defend her cause she is such a sweetheart in person. Us celebs get picked apart all the time but she is just [too] sweet to go thru that. If she wants to leave, leave cause you want [to,] not cause of these f—ers.”
March 2021: Cardi can’t wait to hear Selena’s Spanish-language EP
Cardi B hasn’t had a chance to check out Selena’s just-released Revelación set, but she knows just the place to listen. When a fan tweeted, “Love you queen but have you listened to #Revelación,” Cardi shoots back, “Not yet. When I get to Ny in the middle of the day or while I’m [in] the shower.”
Halsey is turning her nightmares into art with the NFT series “People Disappear Here,” she announced Friday (March 12).
The series will be released on Nifty Gateway, a marketplace where some of the biggest NFT collectors have congregated, on Wednesday, March 17. The collection breathes life into animations of seven characters from Halsey’s original “People Disappear Here” painting soundtracked to eerie music, as well as the digital animation of the full original painting. The original physical “People Disappear Here” artwork, which was hand-painted and signed by the Manic singer, will be up for auction.
“The characters are all inspired by figures that occurred in a series of sleep paralysis nightmares I had at home during the quarantine. After seven years of bed surfing hotel rooms around the world, adjusting to my own pitch black cave in California had a little bit of a learning curve,” Halsey said in a statement. “From toddler TV programming evil dentists, a child born with massive claws who scratched her way out of the womb, to a woman who stood at the foot of my bed and demanded I watch her masturbate. They were memorable to say the least. I’m excited to be sharing them in a space that prioritizes artist integrity, and in a market that perpetuates the value of intellectual property.”
She joins the likes of Grimes, Shawn Mendes, Kings of Leon and many more artists who have been selling their digital collectible works as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that exist exclusively on a blockchain. NFTs are popular among people interested in cryptocurrency, but the phenomenon has quickly grown into a mainstream norm within the music industry.
Halsey’s NFT collection marks the first time her visual art has been available for sale to the public. She painted the cover of her New York Times best-selling poetry book, I Would Leave Me If I Could, and in September 2019, she released a time-lapse video of herself painting a larger-than-life version of her Manic album artwork with “Graveyard” playing in the background.
Part of the proceeds from Halsey’s “People Disappear Here” NFT collection sales will benefit My Friends Place, which assists and supports homeless youth in LA, and Carbon 180, which is dedicated to building a world that removes more carbon than it emits.
Watch the “People Disappear Here” trailer on Halsey’s Instagram Story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden used his first prime-time address to outline his plan Thursday night to make all adults vaccine-eligible by May 1 and get the country “closer to normal” by the Fourth of July. He offered Americans fresh hope and appealed anew for their help.
Speaking in the White House East Room, Biden announced moves to speed vaccinations, including directing that states lift qualifications for vaccinations by May 1, and expand the number of places and categories of people who can give shots. His aim: let Americans gather at least in small groups for the Independence Day holiday.
Biden was marking one year since the onset of the pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 Americans and disrupted the lives of countless more.
“While it was different for everyone, we all lost something,” Biden said, calling the past year “a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”
Biden announced that he is deploying an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts and will allow more people — such as medical students, veterinarians and dentists — to deliver shots. He is also directing more doses toward some 950 community health centers and up to 20,000 retail pharmacies, to make it easier for people to get vaccinated closer to their homes.
As supplies of the vaccines continue to increase, Biden announced that he will direct states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. The U.S. is expecting delivery of enough doses for those 255 million adults by the end of that month, but the process of actually administering those doses will take time.
Even as he offers optimism, Biden made clear that the July 4 timetable requires cooperation from Americans to continue to wear face coverings, maintain social distancing and follow federal guidelines meant to slow the spread of the virus in the near term. He also called on them roll up their sleeves to get vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible.
“This is a whole of country effort,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN. “The president’s deploying our entire government to do its part. The American people are going to have to do their part, too.”
The speech came hours after Biden on Thursday signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help defeat the virus, nurse the economy back to health and deliver direct aid to Americans in need. Some direct checks could begin arriving this weekend.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said as he signed the bill in the Oval Office.
Most noticeable to many Americans are provisions providing up to $1,400 in direct payments, some of which could begin landing in bank accounts this weekend, and extending $300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits into early September. Also included are expanded tax credits over the next year for children, child care and family leave — some of them credits that Democrats have signaled they’d like to make permanent — plus spending for renters, feeding programs and people’s utility bills.
The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote on Wednesday, seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers opposed the legislation unanimously, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing.
Biden originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but it arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated.
“We want to move as fast as possible,” tweeted chief of staff Klain.
Previewing his Thursday night remarks, Biden said he would “talk about what we’ve been through as a nation this past year, but more importantly, I’m going to talk about what comes next.”
Biden’s challenge is to honor the sacrifices made by Americans while encouraging them to remain vigilant despite “virus fatigue” and growing impatience to resume normal activities given the tantalizing promise of vaccines. Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic, he’ll mourn the dead, but also project optimism about the future.
“This is a chance for him to really beam into everybody’s living rooms and to be both the mourner in chief and to explain how he’s leading the country out of this,” said presidential historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley.
“This is a big moment,” Brinkley added. “He’s got to win over hearts and minds for people to stay masked and get vaccinated, but also recognize that after the last year, the federal government hasn’t forgotten you.”
Biden’s evening remarks in the East Room are central to a pivotal week for the president as he addresses the defining challenge of his term: shepherding the nation through the twin public health and economic storms brought about by the virus.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released initial guidance for how vaccinated people can resume some normal activities. On Wednesday, Congress approved the president’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” aimed at easing the economic impact of the virus on tens of millions of people. And the nation was on pace to administer its 100 millionth dose of vaccine as soon as Thursday.
Almost exactly one year ago, President Donald Trump addressed the nation to mark the WHO’s declaration of a global pandemic. He announced travel restrictions and called for Americans to practice good hygiene but displayed little alarm about the forthcoming catastrophe. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he had been deliberately “playing down” the threat of the virus.
For Biden, who has promised to level with the American public after the alternate reality of Trump’s virus talk, the imperative is to strike the correct balance “between optimism and grief,” said Princeton history professor and presidential scholar Julian Zelizer.
“Generally, the country likes optimism, and at this particular moment they’re desperate for optimism, but you can’t risk a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment,’” he said, warning against any premature declaration that the threat has been vanquished.
Maren Morris is known for being outspoken in the country music world, and her opinions on everything from radio not playing enough female artists to condemning Morgan Wallen for saying the N-word have alternately thrilled and alienated fans. But according to her interview Thursday (March 11) with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s less worried about losing her own platform than she is about offering up that platform to aspiring country stars who don’t yet have one — especially artists of color.
“I’m a white woman in country music. I already have this sort of leg up,” she says on Ellen. “Even though there’s this huge disparity between men and women in our genre, there is even more of a disparity between white women and Black women trying to be in country music. And there’s so many Black women and men who adore country music and don’t feel like the door is open for them even a crack. So I’ve just been doing so much of my own homework the last couple of years, especially since George Floyd. I just feel like country music as a genre, we all have so much room to grow, myself included, but I think country music is stepping up to the plate, slowly but surely.”
There have been some very public examples of recent progress in country music, whether it’s radio pulling Wallen from playlists following his use of a racial slur on video last month or a record four Black artists — Jimmie Allen, Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton and John Legend (for a duet with Carrie Underwood) — earning nominations at the 2021 ACM Awards. Plus, Guyton and Darius Rucker were chosen to co-host the ACM Awards and the CMA Awards, respectively, in the past year. Morris is hoping to be part of that change too, starting with the people she chooses to work with.
“You’re always going to have people wanting to come for you if you say something that’s unpopular to them or their groupthink,” she admits. “For me, it’s just like, I have to think about my son and the people in my circle going forward — who I write with, who I employ — and think, ‘Am I making room for everybody?’ I don’t care if someone on TikTok thinks I suck. It’s not really my issue. I just want to exist in a genre that is working to be better.”
Morris’ hit song “The Bones” — which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and found success across country, pop and AC radio — is nominated at Sunday’s Grammy Awards for best country song. She’ll also perform at the ceremony, alongside John Mayer.
Watch her full interview below:
Selena Gomez grabs her second top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart as “Baila Conmigo,” with Rauw Alejandro, surges 13-6 on the March 13 survey. The track ascends with a 16% gain in audience impressions, to 7 million, earned in the week ending March 7, according to MRC Data.
“Baila Conmigo” is Selena’s first fully Spanish-language track to arrive in the list’s top 10. DJ Snake’s bilingual “Taki Taki,” where she is featured alongside Ozuna and Cardi B, earned her a first No. 1 as it landed atop Latin Airplay in 2018.
Rauw Alejandro, meanwhile, collects his fifth top 10, three of which have led the tally for one week: “TBT,” with Sebastian Yatra and Manuel Turizo (July 2020), “Tattoo,” with Camilo (Sept. 2020), and “La Nota,” with Manuel Turizo and Myke Towers (Jan. 13-dated chart).
Elsewhere, “Baila Conmigo” remains at No. 7 on the Hot Latin Songs chart for a third week despite a slip in streams and sales, after its No. 4 debut and peak (Feb. 13-dated survey). It dips 7-9 on Latin Streaming Songs with an 11% decline in streams, to 4 million clicks, earned in the week ending March 4. It concurrently falls 4-9 on Latin Digital Song Sales with 47% drop in downloads.
“Baila Conmigo” was produced by Tainy, Albert Hype, Jota Rosa and NEON16. The track previews Gomez’s first Spanish-language EP, Revelación, which is out Friday.
