The Kid LAROI is among the raft of musicians who will perform at the 2024 ARIA Awards later this month, on Nov. 20.

The Australian musician will undertake a homecoming when he returns for the Australian record industry’s flagship awards ceremony, which is being held at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion for the third year running.

Though the content of his performance has not been detailed, The Kid LAROI is nominated in four categories at this year’s awards, including for Best Solo Artist and Best Hip Hop/Rap Release for the deluxe reissue of his 2023 album, The First Time, which peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 in August.

The Gadigal-born artist with Kamilaroi roots is also nominated for Best Pop Release thanks to “Girls”, which debuted at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July, and Song of the Year for “Nights Like This”, which peaked just four positions higher at No. 47 that same week.

To date, The Kid LAROI has won three ARIA Awards from his 14 previous nominations, with Hot 100 topper “Stay”—his 2021 collaboration with Justin Bieber—winning him Best Artist and Best Pop Release in 2021, and “Thousand Miles” winning the latter award again the following year.

Additionally, the ARIA Awards’ performance schedule will be rounded out by a number of Australian performers, which currently includes CYRIL, 3%, Jessica Mauboy, Julian Hamilton from The Presets, Troy Cassar-Daley, Amy Shark, Angie McMahon, and Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers.

2024 ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Missy Higgins will also appear on the night, performing a medley of her hits as she’s joined by a variety of her friends and previous collaborators.

The evening will also feature a pair of American artists by way of Kane Brown and Ava Max, with the latter performing her hits “Sweet But Psycho” and “Kings & Queens”, alongside nascent collaboration “Forever Young”, which was recorded alongside David Guetta and features vocals from original artist Alphaville. Currently, the track sits at No. 21 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, having made its debut last week.

“It has been an absolutely huge year for Aussie music and this year’s ARIA Awards will showcase that landmark moment as our artists celebrate major success on the global and local stage,” said ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd. “The 2024 ARIA Awards nominees aren’t just loved at home; they’re commanding audiences from Europe to the U.S. to Asia and collaborating with international icons while bringing a distinctly Australian perspective to the cultural conversation.

“With local and international stars joining us both on the red carpet and on stage, the 2024 ARIA Awards will celebrate Australian music’s powerful role in the global conversation with some spectacular performances, unique collaborations, and a couple of sneaky surprises. See you in two weeks!”

Tyler, the Creator scores his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as his new studio effort, CHROMAKOPIA, arrives atop the tally (dated Nov. 9). The set launches with 299,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 31, his best week ever in terms of units. Its starting sum — the sixth-largest debut of 2024 — is also notable because the album arrived on an off-cycle Monday (Oct. 28), and thus had only four days of activity in its first tracking week. (Most albums are released on a Friday, giving them a full seven days of activity in their opening chart week.)

The album was announced on Oct. 17, slightly more than 10 days before its release on Oct. 28.

CHROMAKOPIA also claims Tyler, the Creator’s biggest streaming week ever for an album, and largest sales week ever — again, after only four days of availability. Streams and sales were so strong for the set, it would have been No. 1 off streams alone, or solely on sales.

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He previously hit No. 1 on the chart with his last two releases, Call Me If You Get Lost (in 2021) and Igor (in 2019). In total, CHROMAKOPIA marks his seventh top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200 — the entirety of his charting efforts.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Halsey logs her fifth top two-charting set as The Great Impersonator debuts at No. 2, Kelsea Ballerini achieves her highest-charting album ever as Patterns opens at No. 4 and Eminem’s chart-topping The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) vaults 44-6 after its vinyl release.

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, compiled by Luminate. 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 Nov. 9, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday, Nov. 5. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of CHROMAKOPIA’s 299,500 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 157,000 (equaling 212.55 million on-demand official streams of the 14 songs on the streaming edition of the album, his best streaming week ever; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums chart), album sales comprise 142,000 (his best sales week ever; it debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart) and TEA units comprise 500 units. Vinyl sales accounted for 66,000 of the album’s first-week number, which is Tyler, the Creator’s best week ever on vinyl, and the third-biggest debut week on vinyl for a rap album since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.

CHROMAKOPIA was issued as an 11-song standard digital download album, a 14-song album on CD and vinyl, and a 14-song digital deluxe and streaming album. (The two 14-song editions each had three additional songs versus the standard 11-song album. The 14-song CD and vinyl added “Mother,” “Sticky” (featuring Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne) and “Thought I Was Dead” (featuring Santigold). The 14-song digital and streaming edition added “Balloon” (featuring Doechii), “Sticky” (featuring GloRilla, Lil Wayne and Sexyy Red) and “Thought I Was Dead” (featuring ScHoolboy Q and Santigold).

Album sales were bolstered by the set’s availability across six deluxe collectible CD boxed sets (each containing a CD, poster and another branded merch item) and a green-colored vinyl pressing. The boxed sets and vinyl were exclusively sold via the artist’s official webstore. A stand-alone CD was available to pre-order, exclusively, in the same store, but has yet to be shipped to customers. All physical editions of the album are only available via the artist’s webstore.

The standard 11-song digital download album, as well as the 14-song deluxe digital edition, was widely available through the iTunes Store and similar services (but were not sold on the artist’s webstore).

At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, Halsey’s The Great Impersonator debuts with 93,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 81,000, SEA units comprise 12,000 (equaling 16.05 million on-demand streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the album) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The Great Impersonator is the fifth top 10-charting set for Halsey, all of which have debuted in the top two positions of the list.

The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across many permutations: a dozen deluxe collectible CD boxed sets (each containing a CD and branded merchandise), a standard CD, a standard signed CD, four alternative cover CDs (each signed) and eight vinyl variants (including one signed edition). Most of the offerings were exclusively sold in Halsey’s official webstore. The album was also released as a standard digital album, and via seven alternative digital download albums (each with one to three exclusive bonus tracks unique to each of the seven editions) — all of which sold for a discounted $4.99.

The vinyl sales added up to just over 26,000 copies — Halsey’s best week on vinyl ever.

Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet falls 2-3 on the new Billboard 200 with 74,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).

Kelsea Ballerini’s Patterns bows at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, marking her highest-charting album ever and second top 10-charting set. It arrives with 54,000 equivalent album units earned — her best week by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 35,000 (her second-largest sales week), SEA units comprise 19,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Ballerini had previously gone as high as No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with Unapologetically in 2017.

The new album was preceded by the song “Cowboys Cry Too,” with Noah Kahan, which reached the top 20 on the Hot Country Songs chart in July.

The set’s first-week sales were encouraged by its availability across eight vinyl variants (including one signed edition), three digital download editions (a standard set, one with bonus commentary tracks and one with two bonus song tracks), and two CDs (including one signed variant). Her vinyl sales totaled 12,000 for the week — Ballerini’s best week ever on vinyl.

Rod Wave’s Last Lap dips 4-5 on the Billboard 200 with 51,000 equivalent album units earned (down 24%), while Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) jumps 44-6 with 49,000 units (up 193%) after its release on vinyl and cassette. The latter was issued across five vinyl editions (mostly color variants) which combined to sell 31,000 copies in the tracking week — Eminem’s best week ever on vinyl.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 on the new Billboard 200: Gracie AbramsThe Secret of Us rises 8-7 (49,000 equivalent album units earned; down less than 1%), Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time falls 6-8 (46,000; down 9%), Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is steady at No. 9 (nearly 46,000; down 5%) and GloRilla’s Glorious falls 7-10 (45,000; down 11%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

Lady Gaga endorsed Kamala Harris on social media Sunday (Nov. 3), when it was announced she’ll be headlining the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign rally in Philadelphia on Monday (Nov. 4), the eve before the election. Katy Perry leads the lineup of the VP’s Pittsburgh rally on the same day.

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“It’s time to get ready to vote. I’ll see you guys in Pennsylvania,” Gaga said in a video posted on Instagram Sunday, soon after the lineup for Harris’ Philadelphia rally, as well as the lineup for her Pittsburgh rally, was released. The pop star’s clip was captioned with “HARRIS WALZ 2024!!”

Lady Gaga will support the Harris-Walz campaign in Philly on Monday (Nov. 4) as the Vice President holds her final campaign events, the Vote for Freedom rallies, which will be livestreamed. Gaga was announced as a headlining musical guest, along with Ricky Martin, The Roots, Jazmine Sullivan, DJ Cassidy and Adam Blackstone. Oprah Winfrey, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fat Joe are on the lineup as guest speakers.

The Nov. 4 Philadelphia rally will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. ET at The Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Those interested in attending can RSVP online here.

Katy Perry, Andra Day, D-Nice and DJ Arie Cole are the musical guests set to headline Harris’ rally in Pittsburgh, also happening in the evening on Monday (Nov. 4).

Those who’d like to attend the Western Pennsylvania event, to be held at the Carrie Blast Furnaces, can RSVP here.

This weekend, Harris made a cameo on Saturday Night Live. She appeared live in an election pep talk sketch during the Nov. 2 episode’s cold open — opposite Maya Rudolph, who was portraying her. Rudolph’s Kamala Harris, preparing a speech, looks into a mirror and sees the real Kamala Harris. “It’s nice to see you, Kamala,” says her reflection (the true Harris). “I’m just here to remind you that you got this — because you can do something your opponent cannot: open doors.”

See Gaga’s endorsement of Harris in her video below, a reminder to vote that was shared with the singer’s 57 million followers on Instagram.

The Weeknd and Anitta‘s collaboration “São Paulo” has taken the top spot in this week’s new music poll, showcasing a variety of genres.

In a poll published on Friday (Nov. 1) by Billboard, music fans voted the superstar collab as their favorite new release, with “São Paulo” garnering nearly 66% of the votes. This impressive margin placed it ahead of new music from Shawn Mendes (“Heart of Gold”), The Cure (Songs of a Lost World), Ethel Cain (“Punish”) and Megan Moroney (Blue Christmas… Duh), among others.

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The electrifying track will be featured on The Weeknd’s upcoming album, Hurry Up Tomorrow. A release date for the project has not yet been announced. The pair debuted “São Paulo” at a special one-night-only event in Estádio MorumBIS in São Paulo on Sept. 7, which was livestreamed for fans.

“We knew it was too special to just play on stage. We saw great potential in the song and found the beat, which is the heart of the show,” The Weeknd previously told Billboard Brazil.

The “São Paulo” music video features a surreal visual of Anitta with an exaggerated baby bump, where her belly appears to sing The Weeknd’s parts, with lips emerging from her belly button. The eerie clip concludes with the word “Phantasm,” leaving fans speculating whether it relates to an album or song title.

In addition to “São Paulo,” The Weeknd has released two other tracks from Hurry Up Tomorrow: “Dancing in the Flames” and “Timeless,” featuring Playboi Carti. “Dancing in the Flames” reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while “Timeless” peaked at No. 3.

In this week’s poll, Shawn Mendes’ “Heart of Gold” trailed significantly, capturing nearly 30% of the vote. The song is written in memory of a childhood friend who passed away from a drug overdose.

Check out the final results of this week’s poll below and visit Billboard‘s Friday Music Guide for more must-hear releases.

Vice President Kamala Harris has made an unannounced trip to New York to appear on Saturday Night Live, briefly stepping away from the battleground states where she’s been campaigning with just three days to go before the election.

Harris departed on Air Force Two after a campaign stop on Saturday (Nov. 2) in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was scheduled to head to Detroit, but once the aircraft was in the air, aides said it was actually going to New York.

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Her appearance on the show was confirmed by three people familiar with Harris’ plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about them. It is the final SNL episode before Election Day on Tuesday.

Actor Maya Rudolph first played Harris on the show in 2019 and has reprised her role this season, doing a spot-on impression of the vice president, including calling herself “Momala.”

Rudolph opened the show’s season premiere with the line: “Well, well, well. Look who fell out of that coconut tree.” And she’s joked about keeping President Joe Biden in his place.

Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, has been played by former cast member Andy Samberg, and Biden is played by Dana Carvey, who also famously played then-President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s.

Rudolph’s performance has won critical and comedic acclaim — including from Harris herself.

“Maya Rudolph — I mean, she’s so good,” Harris said last month on ABC’s The View. “She had the whole thing, the suit, the jewelry, everything!”

Harris added that she was impressed with Rudolph’s “mannerisms.”

Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller expressed surprise that Harris would appear on Saturday Night Live, given what he characterized as her unflattering portrayal on the show.

Asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he said: “I don’t know. Probably not.”

Politicians have a long history on SNL, including Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who hosted the show in 2015.

Hillary Clinton was running for president in the 2008 Democratic primary when she appeared next to Amy Poehler, who played her on the show and offered a trademark, exaggerated cackle. The real Clinton wondered during her appearance, “Do I really laugh like that?”

Clinton returned in 2016, while running against Trump in a race she ultimately lost.

The first sitting president to appear on Saturday Night Live was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so less than a year after the show debuted. Ford appeared on April 17, 1976, and declared the show’s famous opening, “Live from New York.”

Barack Obama was still just a Democratic presidential candidate when he appeared in February 2008, and Republican Bob Dole made an appearance in 1996 — a mere 11 days after losing that year’s election to Democrat Bill Clinton. Dole consoled Norm Macdonald, who played the Kansas senator on the show.

Then there was Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — and in particular her joke that “I can see Russia from my house.” It was so good that Fey won an Emmy award. Palin herself appeared on the show that season, in the weeks before the election.

Bruce Springsteen is hoping to inspire voters in a new advertisement for the Harris-Walz campaign.

On Friday (Nov. 1), just days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the Boss shared a minute-long video featuring his late October appearance during a rally for the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

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In the clip, titled “Hopes and Dreams” (a reference to his 2001 song “Land of Hope and Dreams”), Springsteen criticizes Donald Trump and explains why Americans should support Harris and Halz on Election Day this Tuesday.

“This election is about a group of folks who want to fundamentally undermine our American way of life. Donald Trump does not understand this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American,” Springsteen tells the Pennsylvania crowd. “I want a president who reveres the Constitution, who wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for women’s rights and a woman’s right to choose, and who wants to create a middle class economy that serves all our citizens.”

The iconic singer-songwriter adds, “There’s only one candidate who holds those principles dear, that’s Kamala Harris. At thats’ why on Nov. 5, I’m casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I urge all of you who believe in the American way to join me.”

At the rally in Pennsylvania on Oct. 28, Springsteen shared the stage with fellow musician John Legend, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, and former President Barack Obama.

The E Street rocker launched his three-song acoustic set with a rendition of his 1978 single “The Promised Land,” followed by a performance of “Land of Hope and Dreams.” He closed the set with “Dancing in the Dark,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1984, making it the highest-charting song of his career.

The Boss’s appearance at the Philadelphia rally came just days after he joined Harris’s rally in Georgia, where he told supporters that while the current VP is “running to be the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant.”

Watch Springsteen’s “Hopes and Dreams” Harris-Walz campaign ad below.

Jason Kelce came to Travis Kelce’s defense in the middle of a crowd when he heard someone verbally attacking his brother Saturday (Nov. 2).

After a heckler made a derogatory remark about Travis for dating Taylor Swift — the person called Travis a homophobic slur — the retired Philadelphia Eagles player grabbed the person’s phone, slammed it to the ground, and yelled it back to him.

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The incident was recorded in several cell phone videos filmed by bystanders from different angles and shared on social media, where “Kelce” trended Saturday. Billboard reached out to Jason’s representative for comment.

“Hey, Kelce! How does it feel your brother’s a f—– dating Taylor Swift?” a voice is heard yelling to Jason in one clip in which the former NFL player is seen walking quickly past a cluster of people trying to get his attention.

Jason is seen turning, grabbing the person’s phone and throwing it to the ground in another clip; the harasser had seemingly been trying to film his reaction.

A third video shows Jason facing the person and repeating the slur to him, saying, “Who’s the f—– now?”

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Jason’s brother, Travis, has been linked to Swift since 2023. The pop star first appeared at a Chiefs game on Sept. 23 last year, after Travis said on the brothers’ New Heights podcast in July that he’d tried to give his number to Swift via a friendship bracelet at The Eras Tour’s Kansas City stop.

Swift welcomed Travis to her Eras stage in London this past summer during “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” and she gave him a shout-out in her video of the year acceptance speech at this year’s VMAs, which she and Post Malone won for “Fortnight”: “This video seems very sad when you watch it, but it was actually the most fun video to make,” she told the crowd at the awards show on Sept. 11. “I would always just hear someone cheering, like, ‘Whoo!’ from across the studio — that one person was my boyfriend, Travis. Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot.”

Jason talked about his experience attending one of Swift’s Miami concerts in October, on a recent episode of New Heights.

“This Miami show was incredible,” he told Travis, who had a game that weekend. “It was on another level. I texted you halfway through it like, ‘Dude, this rain. Tay is killing it.’”

“When Reputation came on and she came out in the new outfit and the rain was coming down, the place could’ve f—ing erupted,” Jason continued. “I mean, it did. The amount of energy was insane.”

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber are celebrating their first Halloween with son Jack Blues.

On Friday (Nov. 1), the 30-year-old pop superstar shared the first photo with all three members of the Bieber family. The adorable gallery on Instagram finds Justin and his wife, Hailey, 27, portraying Ron and Kim Possible from the Disney show Kim Possible, with son Jack Blues dressed as Ron’s pet naked mole rat Rufus.

In the adorable picture, Justin is seen holding his two-month-old son, who’s dressed in a pink onside, while Hailey dons a red wig and places her hand on the baby. The couple’s matching costumes included black T-shirts and cargo pants with a utility belt.

In August, the couple welcomed their first child, Jack Blues Bieber, sharing the news in an Instagram post in which Hailey held her son’s tiny foot. The arrival came more than three months after Hailey shared the news on Instagram, confirming that she was then a little more than six months pregnant. Hailey then took fans along for her pregnancy, including opening up for a W magazine cover story

“I probably could have hid it until the end, but I didn’t enjoy the stress of not being able to enjoy my pregnancy outwardly,” she explained of announcing her pregnancy at the six-month mark. “I felt like I was hiding this big secret, and it didn’t feel good. I wanted the freedom to go out and live my life.”

She also admitted she was savoring the time with Bieber, 30, whom she married in 2018, before they expanded from a duo to a trio. “In the beginning [of pregnancy], it was super emotional for me,” she told W. “Like, ‘I love this human so much. How can I possibly bring someone else into this?’ I’m trying to soak in these days of it being Justin and me, just the two of us.”

While Justin continues to enjoy fatherhood, indie singer-songwriter Mk.gee recently revealed that he’s been in the studio with Bieber working on the singer’s first new album since 2021’s Justice album.

The “Baby” singer has been mostly off the musical radar since cancelling the 2023-2024 world tour in support of Justice after getting diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which resulted in “full paralysis” on one side of his face.

Cardi B shared her thoughts on Donald Trump during a Kamala Harris campaign rally near Milwaukee on Friday (Nov. 1).

Ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5, the “Bodak Yellow” rapper delivered a passionate speech at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis, voicing her support for Harris and criticizing Trump’s views on women’s rights.

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“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Cardi told the crowd, reading from her cell phone. “I take seriously the call to show up, to speak out, and to share a message that’s been on my heart for a while now.”

She continued, “Like Kamala Harris, I’ve been the underdog, underestimated, and had my success belittled. Women have to work ten times harder and still face questions about how we achieved success. I can’t stand a bully, but just like Kamala, I always stand up to one.”

Cardi noted that she hadn’t backed either Trump or Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential election until Harris entered the race and “changed my mind completely.”

“I didn’t have faith in any candidates until she joined and spoke the words I wanted to hear about the future of this country,” she said. “I believe every word she says. She’s passionate, compassionate, empathetic, and most importantly, she’s realistic. Kamala recognizes that this country is at risk, and that we need to strengthen our economy and address the rising cost of living.”

Turning her focus to Trump, whom she referred to as “Donny Trump,” Cardi addressed the former president’s recent comment about protecting women whether they “like it or not.”

“Protection for women — especially regarding maternal and mental health care — is not about telling us what to do with our bodies. It’s about supporting us and providing the care we need for our choices,” the rapper explained. “People like Donald Trump don’t believe women deserve rights. When those rights are threatened, he disappears.”

She added, “If his definition of protection means restricting our choices and ensuring our daughters have fewer rights than our mothers, then I don’t want it!”

Cardi also labeled the former president a “hustler,” saying, “Hustling women out of their rights is disgraceful. Hustling Americans out of their hard-earned money by selling Trump watches, Trump sneakers, Trump Bibles… do we really trust this man with our economy? A man who only cares about getting rich and cutting taxes for his billionaire friends. I don’t even get a tax cut.”

Following the rally, Cardi continued her support for Harris and critique of Trump on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Donald Trump talks about having plans, but the only plan he has is to hustle YOU.”

Watch Cardi B’s nearly 10-minute rally speech for Harris here.

Shawn Mendes just released “Heart of Gold,” a new single that’s as touching as it is personal.

Written about a childhood friend who passed away from a drug overdose, “Heart of Gold” taps into the raw emotions of losing someone too soon.

In the song, Mendes opens up with lines reflecting the regrets of not being there when it mattered: “Honestly, it’s been a while since I thought of you / In the end, we didn’t talk much / I didn’t know what you were going through / I’m sorry that I wasn’t there.” Then, in the chorus, he celebrates his friend’s legacy: “You had a heart of gold, yeah / You had a heart of gold / You left too soon, it was out of your control.”

Recently, Mendes gave “Heart of Gold” another layer of meaning by dedicating it to late One Direction member Liam Payne during a live show in NYC on Oct. 18. Stopping the music to speak to fans, Mendes shared, “We heard the news about Liam. It felt like… It felt completely devastating. I got to meet him a couple times, and he was a beautiful soul and his eyes gleamed — it was beauty, shining into his eyes.”

He explained that the song is not just about loss but about celebrating those who have left an impact: “It’s about grieving those we miss with tears, but it’s also about celebrating them… who they were and what they’ve left in this world.” Mendes added, “I just want to take a second to send so much love to him wherever he is up there… Liam, we love you! And the world is crying for you, brother.”

As he launched into the song, Mendes dedicated the night’s performance to Liam, saying, “This one’s for you tonight, Liam, from all of us.”

Throughout his career, Mendes has scored four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, with his debut album Handwritten kicking off his career by landing at No. 1 in 2015. His collaboration with Camila Cabello, “Señorita,” topped the Billboard Hot 100, and he’s had big hits like “Stitches” and “Treat You Better” reach the Top 10. Mendes has also hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart three times.

Stream “Heart of Gold” below: