Beyoncé, the artist with the most nominations at the 2021 Grammy Awards, will not be taking the stage to perform on Sunday (March 14).

In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, interim Recording Academy CEO and president Harvey Mason Jr. indicated that Beyoncé declined an invitation to appear onstage during this year’s ceremony.

“It’s unfortunate, because she’s such a big part of the Recording Academy,” he commented. “We absolutely wish we had her onstage.”

Ben Winston, executive producer of the Grammys, was also asked by the publication about Beyoncé’s absence: Viewers “might” find it strange that she’s not there, he said when prompted.

Beyoncé is nominated for a total of nine awards at this year’s show. “Black Parade” earned her nods in the record of the year, song of the year, best r&b performance and best r&b song categories. “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion is up for record of the year, best rap performance and best rap song. Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl” earned a nod for best music video, and Black Is King is a contender for best music film.

A number of artists have criticized the Grammys in recent years, including The Weeknd, who vowed to boycott the show moving forward after his hit album After Hours and its smash “Blinding Lights” were snubbed in this year’s nominations. After tweeting that “the Grammys remain corrupt” and that he went from planning to perform to being “not invited” in November, he recently said, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”

Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Childish Gambino reportedly declined invitations to perform at the Grammy Awards in 2019.

The 2021 Grammy Awards are airing on Sunday (March 14) at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, Paramount+ and Grammy.com. A full list of all the performers and presenters who are set for the telecast can be found here.

A year after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville police raiding her home while she was in bed, Megan Thee Stallion has announced that in partnership with Fashion Nova, she is donating $100,000 to the foundation created by Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, in her daughter’s honor.

“A year ago today Breonna Taylor was tragically taken from her family and friends,” Megan wrote on Instagram Saturday (March 13).

She continued: “Breonna’s name continues to be a catalyst for change and a powerful reminder that justice has still not been served. Fashion Nova and I are proud to give $100,000 to the @breonnataylorfoundation created by @tamikalpalmer to honor the memory of her daughter.”

“The core mission of the foundation is to support economic, social, and racial justice through police reform and government accountability. The foundation also seeks to help young people to realize their full potential, empowering them to participate in political processes and achieve better health, with mentorship programs for high-school girls, after-school initiatives, and educational support,” Megan said.

The rapper — who slammed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron last fall in her performance on SNL that advocated for the protection of Black women — previously announced that she was collaborating with Fashion Nova for their Women on Top initiative, which is pledging $1 million in support of women-led businesses and organizations. Megan made the announcement on International Women’s Day (March 8).

See Megan’s latest post, in tribute to Breonna Taylor, on Instagram.

The teen who launched a series of cyberattacks that hampered the Miami-Dade County schools’ online learning platform last fall will avoid jail time under a plea deal finalized on Friday. … Click to Continue »
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday announced 5,214 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state also announced 105 new deaths. Of those who died, all were residents. The state has … Click to Continue »
Miami Beach Police officers were seen on video Friday night body-slamming a suspect in South Beach and shooting pepper balls toward a crowd that gathered near Ocean Drive. In a … Click to Continue »
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