Beth Matthews accepts the Executive of the Year Award at Billboard Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
Kim Petras presents Elizabeth Matthews with the Executive of the Year Award at Billboard Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
Concord announced the acquisition of Mothership Music Publishing. Concord’s acquisition includes the continuation of deals with Mothership’s roster of active songwriters, where Concord will assume the terms of the deal.
The deal also includes more than 5,000 copyrights across pop, indie, rock, alternative, indie folk, Latin and singer-songwriter genres.
“Having known and worked with the Mothership team over the years, I have watched them build a company dedicated to elevating great artistry,” Jim Selby, Chief Publishing Executive at Concord, said in a statement. “They have assembled a fantastic catalog and a great roster of songwriters. Thanks to Brett, Lionel, Doug and Hein for entrusting Concord to carry on supporting great songwriting.”
Mothership was founded in 2013 as a partnership between Brett Gurewitz (Epitaph Records), Lionel Conway, Doug Mark and Hein van der Ree. The company’s roster includes The Marías, Falling In Reverse, Architects and Pam Sheyne. Mothership held a long-standing sub-publishing partnership with Concord outside of the U.S., and its artists will now have access to Concord’s A&R, sync, marketing and licensing teams.
“It has been a wonderful 13-year ride,” Conway, co-president of Mothership Music Publishing, said in a statement. “Mothership was built on a simple belief: great songwriters deserve real, long-term support and a publisher who truly understands their vision. We’re fortunate to have built something very special together, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. Concord has been part of that journey since the beginning, and there is no better home for our songwriters as they continue to grow globally. I also want to thank our incredible team at Mothership for giving our writers so much care and attention over the years.”
Cynthia Katz of Fox Rothschild LLP advised Concord on the transaction. Doug Mark and Eric Morris of Mark Music & Media Law and Steven Barlevi of Citrin Cooperman advised Mothership.
Tate McRae accepts the Hitmaker Award at Billboard Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
Just a few days after scoring her fourth career Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo is earning some high praise from Niall Horan.
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In a new interview with Rolling Stone (April 30), the One Direction alum opened up about his approach to songwriting, praising the return of bridges to pop music, which he credited to Rodrigo.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” the Irish singer said, before crooning a bit of the “Drivers License” bridge. “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan spoke extensively about his forthcoming Dinner Party, which is slated to arrive on June 5 via Capitol Records. He’s already shared two songs from the new album, including its title track and “Little More Time,” both of which were co-produced by Afterhrs, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta. Accompanied by a sprawling 22-date tour of Europe, Ireland & the U.K., the Irishman’s newest LP is the official follow-up to 2023’s The Show, which opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. In his RS interview, Horan also noted the increased presence of rock influences on his upcoming album, which he credits to his lifelong appreciation for pop-punk bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” he said. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
The “Slow Hands” singer also has a pair of U.S. stadium shows set for this year. Alongside longtime friend and Grammy-nominated country star Thomas Rhett, Horan will play GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa., on July 19, with Live Nation promoting both shows. Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts will open both shows. Horan’s busy year on the road means all four surviving members of One Direction will be touring new music this year. When asked about experiencing shows from his former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and ZAYN, Horan gave shout-outs to Styles and Tomlinson.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” he said. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan is also the fourth One Direction alum to release a new album this year. Tomlinson shared How Did I Get Here? in January; Styles went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally in March; and ZAYN dropped Konnakol earlier this month (April 17).
Tate McRae performs “Nobody’s Girl” at Billboard’s Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
Victoria Monét presents Tate McRae with the Hitmaker Award at Billboard Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
Busta Rhymes has reached a legal settlement with a former assistant who claimed in a lawsuit that the rapper punched him in the face for using his cell phone on the job.
Rhymes (Trevor Smith Jr.) was hit with an assault lawsuit last summer from Dashiel Gables, who briefly worked as the rapper’s personal assistant. The star then countersued for defamation, calling the case “an attempted shakedown” from a “disgruntled” staffer.
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But in court filings on Thursday (April 30), a judge said the two sides had “reached a settlement in principle” to end the entire legal battle. She ordered them to finalize the deal by June and submit it to her for approval.
Terms of the agreement, such as any money exchanged, were not made public. Neither side immediately returned a request for more details.
Rhymes was arrested in January 2025 over the alleged attack in the lobby of the star’s luxury Brooklyn high-rise. At the time, police said the rapper had punched the 50-year-old staffer in the face multiple times, sending him to the hospital. Court records do not indicate that prosecutors ended up pursuing charges over the incident.
Gables sued in August, claiming the assault was sparked by a phone call from his daughter while he was unloading Busta’s luggage. Though Gables said he ignored the call, he claims he responded via text message, sending Rhymes “into a rage” during which the star allegedly screamed, “Stay the f–k off your phone” and then attacked him.
After filing a police report, Gables said the star retaliated by ensuring that nobody else would hire him. “This industry-wide retaliation has devastated plaintiff’s career prospects and ability to earn a living in the only industry in which he has worked,” his lawyers wrote.
Rhymes “completely and categorically” denied the allegations, and two months later filed counterclaims in which he accused Gables of harming his reputation by making them.
“Smith did not assault or batter Gables,” Rhymes’ lawyers wrote at the time. “Gables knew the statements were false, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth, including by fabricating allegations of criminal conduct and violence, omitting exculpatory facts and deliberately ignoring contrary evidence.”
The case saw little action after that, though. It was paused in January in favor of mediation and has largely remained on ice as the parties worked on a settlement. On Wednesday (April 29), attorneys for both sides alerted the judge that they had “settled this matter in private mediation” earlier in the month.
Kelly Rowland & Elaine Welteroth shine a light on the maternal health crisis in America & BirthFund Charity at Billboard Women In Music 2026.
At the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night (April 29), Billboard Women in Music 2026 is honoring EJAE, REI AMI, AUDREY NUNA, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor, Ella Langley, Thalia, Zara Larsson, Laufey and Tate McRae.
On Tuesday (April 28), Ariana Grande announced her eighth studio album, petal.
As noted on streamers, the project will arrive not only via Grande’s longtime label home, Republic Records, but also a new entity called Babydoll Music.
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Billboard has confirmed that Babydoll Music is Grande’s new company, and that petal marks the first release to be owned by that company as a license to Republic — continuing her longstanding partnership with the label.
While Grande’s back catalog remains unchanged, all future releases will be owned by Grande’s entity and exclusively licensed out.
Petal, which arrives July 31, was executive produced by Grande and longtime collaborator Ilya. It follows her 2024 set, Eternal Sunshine, which became her sixth album to top the Billboard 200 (following Yours Truly; My Everything; Sweetener; Thank U, Next; and Positions).
In a statement, Grande described petal as “something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging.”
The album will arrive in the middle of Grande’s highly anticipated Eternal Sunshine tour, which kicks off in Oakland, Calif., on June 6 and wraps with 10 dates at London’s The O2, with the final show set for Sept. 1. On album release day, Grande will be performing at Montreal’s Centre Bell arena.
Outside of music, Grande is continuing to cultivate an acting career. Following her role as Glinda in Wicked and Wicked: For Good, she will next appear in Focker-In-Law alongside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, out this November, and will also appear on the upcoming season of American Horror Story. And in 2027 (yes, she’s booked out that far), she will make her debut on London’s West End in a revival of Sunday in the Park With George alongside fellow Wicked castmate Jonathan Bailey.
