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Following the announcement that HYBE would purchase Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, BTS, Justin Bieber, J Balvin and more artists from the companies’ rosters are welcoming each other with open arms.
The South Korean entertainment company, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, said Friday that it was buying Ithaca Holdings, bringing together both companies’ broad range of services, including management, label services and publishing, to create an impressive roster of marquee K-pop groups and U.S. pop superstars. The move ultimately is meant to help the Korean company establish a strong U.S. presence in music and entertainment while also heightening its profile for American financial investors. The deal is expected to close in May.
In a new promotional video from HYBE and Ithaca Holdings released on Monday (April 5), BTS, Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato and Seventeen congratulate Braun and HYBE founder and CEO Bang Si-Hyuk on their new deal. BTS’ RM expressed excitement over “so many artists that we cherish and love” joining their family. BTS’ Suga and J-Hope discussed their appreciation for the “endless opportunities” and said they hope to “grow and share positive influence with all the artists” and to give their fans around the world “a fresh experience and be a source of new joy.”
“It feels like the world is getting more connected and even smaller,” RM noted. SEVENTEEN’s Seungkwan echoed that later on in the nine-and-a-half-minute clip, when he said, “I believe joining forces of these two companies shows that we can become one with music beyond language, country and culture.”
J Balvin sent his love back to BTS, saying, “This is going to be on another level. Such amazing vibes.”
As part of HYBE’s $1.05 billion deal to buy Ithaca Holdings, Braun is paying more than $40 million in equity to artists and staff members out of his stake. A total of 39 people will receive shares about $161 million , based on the current exchange rate, while Braun gets 462,380 shares ($86.2 million). Of his artists, the company filing states Grande and Bieber will each receive 53,557 shares, or almost $11 million apiece; Balvin will get 21,423 shares ($4.1 million); and Lovato will receive 5,355 shares ($1.06 million).
“The prospects of working together with these amazing teams and stepping further into the global music scene is very exciting,” Bieber said in the video. “I’m thrilled at the potential this alliance holds. Kudos to the teams. … Let’s make history together.”
Artists absent from the video include TOMORROW X TOGETHER from the HYBE side; Ariana Grande, Quavo, Tori Kelly, Dan + Shay and Carly Rae Jepsen from Braun’s roster; and any of the artists under Big Machine Label Group, which was acquired by Braun’s Ithaca Holdings along with Taylor Swift’s master recordings, including Florida Georgia Line, Carly Pearce, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Sheryl Crow, Thomas Rhett and Tim McGraw.
Watch HYBE and Ithaca Holdings’ latest welcome announcement below.
Patrick Carney wasn’t nervous before his first live drumming gig in more than a year, just honored.
A lifelong Indians fan and one half of The Black Keys, the Grammy Award-winning rock duo from Akron, Ohio, Carney filled in Monday (April 5) at Cleveland’s home opener for drummer John Adams, who is recovering from heart surgery.
Adams missed his first home opener since 1973, ending a run that has featured him sitting high in the left-field bleachers and pounding a steady beat whenever the Indians are hitting.
Carney was thrilled to be able to sit in for Adams.
“I’m stoked to be here for John,” Carney said about two hours before the Indians hosted the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. “It’s the best seat in the house and I wish John could be here, obviously. When I heard he wasn’t healthy enough to make it, I thought it was good way to pay some respect to him and show him some love.”
Before he could begin banging away, Carney was bestowed drumming duties by Adams during a video presentation in the first inning.
Carney said he attended his first Indians game in Cleveland when he was “5 or 6” and that one of his close friends who accompanied him to that game decades ago was attending the opener.
Like so many musical acts, Black Keys haven’t on a stage since just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down normal life.
“This is my first show since last January,” Carney said. “Crazy. This is gonna be fun.”
Carney said he’s looking forward to concerts resuming and that Black Keys and he and Dan Auerbach could have an announcement next week on their upcoming plans.
Kelly Clarkson started her career with cover songs on American Idol and continues to produce viral Kellyoke covers each day on her Kelly Clarkson Show. But we learned on Monday’s (April 5) episode of The Voice that there’s one song she’s afraid to tackle: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito.”
As a coach on The Voice, Clarkson enlisted Fonsi to be an advisor and help out her singers in the current battle rounds, and she used their time hanging out backstage to make a confession to the Puerto Rican singer.
“I just realized something,” she told Fonsi. “You have the one song in history I’m afraid to cover: ‘Despacito.’”
Fonsi echoed what we were all thinking, responding, “Oh, come on, you have to cover it now!”
“I have practiced so hard, because I love singing in Spanish as well, or just in different languages,” Clarkson said. “And it’s, like, the biggest song of all time. You’re kind of like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna leave that alone,’” she laughed.
She’s right about “Despacito” being a massive song: The song’s bilingual remix, featuring Justin Bieber, spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, tying the then-record (Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day”) for longest stay at the top. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, has since spent 19 weeks at the Hot 100 pinnacle.
Below, watch Clarkson admit her fear of “Despacito” to Fonsi, and then see her trying to recall the Spanish word for fire. (OK, maybe we can see why she’s intimidated by “Despacito” then.)
Karol G scores her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart as KG0516 arrives atop the April 10-dated survey. With 24,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 1, the set earns the biggest week by a female act in nearly four years.
“My first goal and personal challenge was to really listen to the album without stopping,” Karol G tells Billboard. “It had to be me who liked it the most to the point of becoming a fan. After achieving that, my greatest wish was to work it in a commercial way that it would connect with all the people who listened to it. I did not take it for granted but I did dream it, so the fact that I debuted No. 1 on Top Latin Albums, wow! It fills me with satisfaction, joy and motivation. I still have this album on repeat, but this makes me want to continue creating more music because I am connected with my art, with my music and I feel that people are enjoying that personal connection.”
Biggest Week for a Latin Album by a Woman Since 2017: Of KG0516’s starting sum of 24,000 equivalent album units, album sales comprise 4,000 and the bulk of the remainder comprise SEA units (equaling 27.4 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs). The set boasts the biggest week, by units, for a Latin album by a woman since Shakira’s El Dorado started at No. 2 with 29,000 units in its first week (chart dated June 17, 2017).
KG0516 was released March 26 on Universal Music Latino/UMLE. The 16-track set is a follow-up to two runner-up efforts: Unstoppable, Karol G’s album debut (Nov. 2017; 4,000 equivalent album units in its first week) and Ocean (May 2019; 12,000 units).
“As the name of the album is a flight number and everything in it revolves around that trip, my challenge was to find a direction for each song,” Karol G says. “Each one should take you to a different destination, be it love, heartbreak, or celebration, including the sounds, the mix, the fusion of the genres. In reality it was full of challenges, but I had the time and disposition, since we were in quarantine, to work on it calmly, to work with love and be able to find that perfect balance between each song.”
Second Female Solo Act To Debut At No. 1 in 2021: Karol G becomes the second female solo act to debut at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums in 2021, as Selena Gomez also started atop the tally with Revelación, her first Spanish-language project (March 27-dated survey). Prior to both artists, Jenni Rivera’s Paloma Negra Desde Monterrey bowed atop the list dated Nov. 19, 2016. In between Rivera and Gomez, a a collaborative set by two women launched at No. 1: Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzmán’s Versus on July 22, 2017.
Three songs from KG0516 debut on Hot Latin Songs: “El Makinon,” with Mariah Angelic, at No. 9 , “El Barco,” at No. 19 and “200 Copas” at No. 44. With the three arrivals she places a total of five songs on the chart as “Location” surges 10-6 and “Bichota” lifts 8-7.
Karol G expands her winning streak as “Location,” with Anuel AA and J Balvin, ascends 2-1 on Latin Airplay. The song climbs with a 38% burst in audience impressions, to 13 million, earned in the week ending April 4. She ties Jennifer Lopez for the third-most No. 1 by a female act, both with 10 leaders. Ahead of them? Shakira with 15 No. 1s and Gloria Estefan with 11. J Balvin meanwhile, extends his second-most No. 1 overall wins with 29, while Anuel AA ups his career count to nine.
“It’s a difficult task to decide which is my favorite song because every day I like a different one,” Karol G continues. “I love the whole album so three months ago I had a favorite, then two months later I had another favorite, today I’m enjoying another one…Being able to bring in all the collaborators to ‘Leyendas’ was a true satisfaction. The song was born out of the same collaboration that has existed among artists which has made the genre evolve, so I had the idea of choosing some of my favorite classics, bringing those artists from those classics, each one singing in the other’s song. Having had the positive response of all to carry out this idea, without egos, without problems, was pure joy.”
KG0516 concurrently debuts at No. 1 on Latin Rhythm Albums and at No. 20 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart; her highest charting title on both lists.
Supporters and family of the rapper DMX chanted his name and offered up prayers Monday (April 5) outside the New York hospital where he remained on life support.
The 50-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Friday, following a heart attack.
The crowd outside White Plains Hospital called “DMX! DMX!” and when urged to by the main speaker, crossed their arms in the shape of an X. A woman’s sobs reverberated as those in the audience heard a recording of the rapper, whose birth name is Earl Simmons.
Simmons’ longtime lawyer, Murray Richman, said Sunday that the rapper was admitted to the intensive care unit but he was not sure what caused the heart attack.
DMX made his rap debut in 1998, and has released seven albums in a career that has included three Grammy nominations. He also acted in several movies.
But substance abuse has been a struggle for him over the years, including in 2019 when he canceled shows to go to a rehabilitation facility.
Nevertheless, he retained his standing among fans. An online face-off last year with fellow rapper Snoop Dogg as part of the Verzuz series brought more than 500,000 viewers.
Lil Nas X will need to see off the challenge of a sea shanty to secure a second straight week atop the U.K. singles chart.
The U.S. rapper’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is out front in the early stages of the chart week, though not by much.
“Montero” leads the First Look chart, which gauges the popularity of singles based on sales and streams after the first 48 hours, with Nathan Evans’ “Wellerman” just 500 chart sales behind in second place.
Riton x Nightcrawlers’ “Friday” featuring Mufasa & Hypeman is another 700 chart sales behind at No. 3, according to the OCC, and is still very much in the race.
Joel Corry, Raye and David Guetta could snag a spot in this week’s Top 5, as “BED” lifts 7-5 (up 19-13), while new releases from Ava Max (“My Head & My Heart”) and the Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak project Silk Sonic (“Leave The Door Open” up 23-17) make their moves for a Top 20 spot.
The Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday evening, local time.
For the first time in the 27-year history of the SAG Awards, actors of color swept all four film acting awards. The awards were presented on Sunday (April 4). The late Chadwick Boseman won outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Viola Davis won the equivalent award for a female actor for playing blues great Rainey in the same film.
A third Black actor, Daniel Kaluuya, took the award for for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for Judas and the Black Messiah. And Young Yuh-jung, who was born in South Korea, took the equivalent award for a female supporting actor for her work in Minari.
Last year, all four SAG winners for film acting – Joaquin Phoenix, Renée Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern — went on to win Academy Awards.
Boseman, who died of colon cancer in August, is the first posthumous winner in the lead actor category at the SAG Awards. Moreover, he’s just the fourth actor to win a posthumous SAG Award in any individual performance category. He follows Heath Ledger (male actor in a supporting role for The Dark Knight, 2008); Jerry Orbach (male actor in a drama series for Law & Order, 2004); and Raúl Juliá (male actor in a miniseries or television movie for The Burning Season, 1994).
When the 93rd annual Academy Awards are presented on April 25, Boseman is likely to become the third actor to win a posthumous Oscar. The first two were Peter Finch (best actor for Network, 1976) and Ledger (best supporting actor for The Dark Knight). No woman has ever won a posthumous acting Oscar.
Davis’ win marks the third year in a row that an actor has won a SAG Award in a lead category for playing a famous singer. Rami Malek won two years ago for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Zellweger won last year for playing Judy Garland in Judy. Malek and Zellweger both went on to win Oscars. Davis may well join them, though she is thought to be in a close race with Frances McDormand for Nomadland and Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.
The SAG Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture went to The Trial of the Chicago 7. The 10 actors who share the award, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Keaton, are all men. It’s the first time the winning acting ensemble in this category has included no female actors.
Last year’s winner of the cast award, Parasite, went on to win the Oscar for best picture. But the two awards don’t always go hand-in-hand. Of the 25 previous films to win the SAG Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture since the category’s inception in 1995 (the awards show’s second year), 12 went on to win the Oscar for best picture, 12 were nominated for best picture but did not win, and one wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar for best picture. (That was Mike Nichols’ 1996 farce The Birdcage.)
Gillian Anderson and Catherine O’Hara each won two SAG Awards on the night. Anderson won for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. In addition, she shared in the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. In addition to winning for outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series for playing Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek, O’Hara shared in the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.
Jason Bateman won outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series for the second time in three years for his work on Ozark.
The awards were presented in a briskly paced, one-hour show that aired on TNT and TBS. The cast of Ted Lasso opened the show with an awards-themed sketch. AJR’s “Bang!,” a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, was used to soundtrack a montage early in the show.
Surf-rock trio Skegss secure their first No. 1 on Australia’s albums chart as Rehearsal (Concord/Universal) opens at No 1.
Hailing from Byron Bay, Skegss enjoyed a No. 2 peak with their debut from 2018, My Own Mess, which was nominated for best rock album at the ARIA Awards.
Rehearsal goes one better, as it starts at the summit of the ARIA Albums Chart, the sixth homegrown album to lead the survey in 2021.
Rehearsal is the best-selling vinyl album of the week, placing it at No. 1 on the ARIA Vinyl Albums Chart.
Skegss’ “good time energy is exactly what we need right now and doubly good that a Byron Bay group tops the chart this week,” says ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd, referencing the last-minute cancelation of Bluesfest last week due to COVID-19 concerns.
All that good time energy is enough to bump Justin Bieber’s Justice 1-2, while Evanescence bag their fifth ARIA Top Ten entry with The Bitter Truth, new at No. 3. Amy Lee and Co. have ruled the ARIA Chart on two occasions, with Fallen (February 2004) and The Open Door (October 2006).
Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia continues to find chart steam, holding at No. 4; while U.S. rapper NF is flying high with Clouds (The Mixtape), new at No. 5. It’s NF’s second Top Five effort following The Search, which peaked at No. 3 in August 2019.
Faith No More frontman Mike Patton makes another chart appearance in the Land Down Under, this time with his “supergroup” Tomahawk, whose latest LP Tonic Immobility bows at No. 18. It’s the followup to Oddfellows, which just snuck inside the Top 40 following its release in February 2013, peaking at No. 37.
Ten years after Tame Impala announced their arrival to the world stage, Kevin Parker’s psychedelic-rock outfit returns to the ARIA Chart with InnerSpeaker, their debut album. InnerSpeaker reenters the survey at No. 19 off the back of its 10th anniversary reissue. The album debuted at No. 4 following its release in May 2010.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” continues its hot streak as it enters a sixth week at the summit. The last British group to reign over he Singles Chart was Clean Bandit, who also logged six straight weeks in box seat with “Rockabye” in a stretch from December 2016 to January 2017.
Also, Sydney rapper Masked Wolf leaps to a career high as his viral hit “Astronaut In The Ocean” lifts 7-5.
Finally, Lil Nas X has this week’s highest debut with the controversial release “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” new at No. 16. It’s the second single released from the American rapper’s forthcoming debut album, Montero, due out later in 2021.
Lil Nas X is a fully grown-up chart star in the U.K., where “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (Lil Nas X) debuts at No. 1
“Montero” is the U.S. rapper’s second leader on the Official Singles Chart, following 2019’s “Old Town Road,” and it’s the second single to debut at No. 1 this year after Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”.
The buzz behind “Montero’s” controversial music video helped it snag 2.5 million views on YouTube, part of a market-leading 6.8 million streams over the week.
Meanwhile, last week’s best-seller, Nathan Evans’ “Wellerman” (Polydor), dips 2-1, while ATB, Topic & A7S’s “Your Love (9pm)” (Positiva) completes a 10-week climb into the Top 10, up 12-8.
Also reaching the Top 10 for the first time is Tom Grennan “Little Bit Of Love” (Insanity), lifting 13-10. Not far behind is Grennan’s collaboration with Ella Henderson, “Let’s Go Home Together,” up 19-13.
Over on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, the silverware this week belongs to Ben Howard, whose Collections From The Whiteout (Island) opens at No. 1.
It’s the British singer and songwriter’s second No. 1 album, following 2014’s I Forget Where We Were. His other studio collections Every Kingdom (2011) and Noonday Dream (2018) both peaked at No. 4.
One full year after its release, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (Warner Records) remains a heavy hitter. It’s at No. 3, for its 33rd week in the Top 10.
U.S. alternative rock outfit Evanescence enjoy their highest chart position in 10 years as The Bitter Truth (RCA) bows at No. 4, matching the peak of their 2011 self-titled collection.
Finally, the one-track, nine-movement instrumental album Promises (Luaka Bop), recorded by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, begins its chart journey at No. 6.
