Farruko, smiling from ear to ear, donning an MLB-styled BBF jersey and bedecked in diamonds that are basically shooting rainbows, is wailing out the chorus to one of the most hard-hitting songs of the summer, the anthemic EDM banger “Pepas.” Before him, a sea of festivalgoers (30,000, to be exact) are losing their minds.

It’s Day 2 (Aug. 14) of Baja Beach Fest, the largest Latin music-focused festival in the Americas to resume since the coronavirus pandemic. The two-weekend fest kicked off Aug. 13 in Mexico’s Rosarito Beach, with reggaeton stars Ozuna, J Balvin and Karol G among the headliners, and with strict COVID-19 protocols in place.

After some concertgoers took to social media to criticize enforcement of protocols during Day 1, organizers seemed to be stricter on Saturday, implementing a zero-tolerance policy. For instance, if attendees were spotted without masks and refused to wear them, they would be escorted out of the festival grounds. Temperatures were checked upon entrance, and squirting hand sanitizer on the hands of those moving from section to section was mandatory. Most performers also reminded audiences to leave their masks on.

According to a report in Mexican newspaper 24 Horas, Baja California’s Secretary of Health Alonso Pérez Rico said health officials had verified that organizers were taking the agreed-upon measures, and that the show could go on. If measures were not followed, he said the festival could be shut down, according to published reports.

On their end, artists were euphoric.

“I was anxious to return to the stage and sing at a massive festival with a large audience,” Farruko told Billboard backstage, in Spanish, just after his set. “I’m speechless. I saw so many people. It’s impressive. The feeling, the adrenaline. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that, and to feel that again is something beautiful.” The 30-year-old performer spanned through his numerous bangers and features like “6 AM,” “Krippy Kush,” “Calma” and his latest, “Me Pasé” featuring Enrique Iglesias. But the closing number “Pepas” was what, hands down, electrified the entire festival ground. “‘Pepas’ was an experiment. Obviously it’s not a reggaeton song. We released it for the DJs as we were seeing that they were returning to the clubs. We dropped it to see what would happen, and it went viral. People just went crazy,” he said.

Day 2 also featured headliner Anuel AA, as well as rising stars like Myke Towers, Lenny Tavárez, super-producer Ovy on the Drums and Guaynaa. The former played a 45-minute set of pop-flavored reggaetón that also included “Cumbia a la gente,” recorded as a duet with Los Angeles Azules, in an example of the increasing blurring of genres in Latin music.

While música urbana is still mainly dominated by male performers, it was refreshing to see another female (following Karol G’s performance on Friday night) seize the stage and command the audience. Mariah, formerly known by her fuller name Mariah Angeliq, burst into the scene looking confident as hell, rocking cute pigtails with extensions down to her lower back, a mini skirt, Nikes and white long socks. She encouraged perreo among the hordes of people with songs like “Bobo,” “Perreito” and “Taxi,” but really turned up the crowd with “El Makinon,” featuring Karol G, who did not join her onstage.

“It’s my first time being out here,” she told Billboard. “It was crazy crossing customs to get here. That shit was so packed, we drove from San Diego. I loved the crowd, I loved coming out here, seeing all my colleagues and making more connections. It’s always great.”

Unlike Coachella, one thing that BBF lacks are surprise appearances. While reggaeton and Latin trap are heavy on features — and many artists on the BBF roster collaborate — it was a bit disappointing that no artists on the bill joined their colleagues’ sets to perform any of their joint songs.

Nonetheless, the fact that Baja Beach Fest, and Day 2, took place at all, is a testament that music has the power to bring us closer, especially during uncertain times.

Travis Barker has flown on an airplane for the first time since surviving a deadly 2008 plane crash that killed four passengers.

On Saturday (Aug. 14), the 45-year-old Blink-182 drummer flew to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with his girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian, marking the musician’s first flight in nearly 13 years, according to photos obtained by TMZ.

In the runway snapshots, Barker and Kardashian are seen leaving Los Angeles in Kylie Jenner’s private jet, en route to Cabo for a vacation. Kris Jenner and her boyfriend Cory Gamble were also on board the flight, which landed safely at its destination, TMZ reports.

Neither Barker nor Kardashian had posted about the flight on social media at press time.

Barker was involved in a devastating 2008 plane crash that killed his assistant Chris Baker, security guard Charles Monroe Still Jr., and pilots Sarah Lemmon and James Bland. The accident also led to a three month hospitalization for the superstar drummer, who had burns on 65% of his body and required 26 surgeries and several skin grafts. Barker’s friend and musical parter DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) was also injured in the crash, and died a year later from a drug overdose.

In June, Barker contemplated the idea of once again taking to the skies. “I might fly again,” he tweeted alongside an airplane emoji.

In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Barker said surviving the accident and the long recovery that followed inspired him to get clean.

“People are always like, ‘Did you go to rehab?’” said Barker, who had developed such a high opioid tolerance that he’d sometimes wake up during surgery. “And I [say], ‘No, I was in a plane crash.’ That was my rehab. Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call. If I wasn’t in a crash, I would have probably never quit.”

“There’s a million things that could happen to me,” the drummer added. “I could die riding my skateboard. I could get in a car accident. I could get shot. Anything could happen. I could have a brain aneurysm and die. So why should I still be afraid of airplanes?”

Of flying again, he told the magazine, “I have to … I want to make the choice to try and overcome it.”

Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever holds atop the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week, as the set earned 85,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 12 (down 64%), according to MRC Data. The album debuted at No. 1 a week ago with 238,000 units – the fifth-largest week of 2021 for an album. Happier Than Ever is the second album released in 2021 to spend its first two weeks at No. 1, following Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (which spent 10 weeks at No. 1, all consecutive, from its debut on the Jan. 23-dated chart).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 21, 2021-dated chart (where Happier Than Ever holds at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Aug. 17. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Happier Than Ever’s 85,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Aug. 12, SEA units comprise 49,000 (down 42%, equaling 66.1 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), album sales comprise 36,000 (the top-selling album of the week; down 76%) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 (down 55%).

Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Sour is up one spot to No. 2 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned (down 6%).

Nas scores his 15th top 10 album on the Billboard 200, and highest charting effort since 2012, as King’s Disease II debuts at No. 3. The set, released on Aug. 6, earned 56,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 35,000 (equaling 47.44 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 19,000 and TEA units comprise a little over 1,000.

King’s Disease II was announced only a week before its release, on July 29, and is the sequel to King’s Disease, which was released in 2020 and debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 (dated Sept. 5, 2020). The new album is Nas’ highest-charting set since 2012’s Life Is Good debuted at No. 1 on the Aug. 4, 2012-dated list.

Nas landed his first top 10 album 25 years ago, when his second studio album, It Was Written, bowed at No. 1 on the July 20, 1996, chart.

The Kid LAROI’s former chart-topper F*ck Love falls 2-4 with nearly 56,000 equivalent album units (down 15%), Doja Cat’s Planet Her is steady at No. 5 with 55,000 units (up 2%) and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 6 with 44,000 units (down 2%).

George Harrison’s former No. 1 album All Things Must Pass returns to the top 10 for the first time since 1971, as the set re-enters at No. 7 following its 50th anniversary reissue on Aug. 6. The album was newly mixed and reissued in a variety of formats for its re-release. All versions of the album, including the original 1970 release, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.

All together, the set earned 32,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week ending Aug. 12 — up 1,401% (from about 2,000 in the week previous). Of its 32,000 units earned, album sales comprise 28,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 3.96 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000. The album, Harrison’s third solo studio effort and first No. 1 album, topped the Billboard 200 chart for seven consecutive weeks in 1971 (Jan. 2-Feb. 13, 1971-dated charts). It launched a pair of top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart: his first No. 1, the double-sided hit “My Sweet Lord” / “Isn’t It a Pity,” and the No. 10 hit “What Is Life.”

With All Things Must Pass’ return to the top 10, it marks Harrison’s first time in the region since 1988, when Cloud Nine peaked at No. 8. It’s also Harrison’s highest rank since Dark Horse galloped to No. 4 on Jan. 25, 1975. (Harrison died in 2001.)

Rounding out the new Billboard 200 top 10 are Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s former No. 1 The Voice of the Heroes (holding at No. 8 with 28,000 equivalent album units earned; down 6%), Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (stationary at No. 9 with 27,000 units; down 6%) and Polo G’s former No. 1 Hall of Fame (a non-mover at No. 10 with 24,000 units; down 4%).

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