Lady Gaga Thinks It’s ‘So Cool’ That Miley Cyrus Introduced Her Music to Joaquin Phoenix

Despite co-starring alongside Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux, Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t always a Little Monster.

In a new interview with Capital FM, Gaga reacts to a throwback video in which Miley Cyrus introduces the actor to her music 14 years ago. In the video, a teenage Cyrus tells Phoenix that she’s a fan of the “Poker Face” singer.

When asked if he is familiar with Gaga, Phoenix jokingly replies that he knows her “very well,” adding, “She has a song, ‘Everybody Goes Up.’ She also does the one, ‘Two Lashes at a Time.’” Cyrus playfully dismisses Phoenix, and begins singing Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” which, again, the actor doesn’t recognize.

While watching the video, Gaga is seen laughing, before she adds, “I know what I’m showing him later. That’s so cool.”

Joker: Folie à Deux follows Phoenix’s return as Arthur Fleck, a.k.a the Joker, who is now confined in Arkham Asylum. There, he meets Gaga’s Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, and they form a powerfully chaotic bond with the goal of causing mayhem across Gotham City. 

Gaga previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that filming the Joker film with Phoenix was a “really soulful experience” for her. “It’s like these two people find love in this really dark place and it brings them all the light,” she explained.

Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on Oct. 4. Watch Gaga’s reaction to Phoenix and Cyrus’ conversation here.

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SiriusXM Disney Jr. Radio Channel Arrives With Music From Mickey, Spidey & More

Young Disney Jr. viewers can now hear their favorite characters on SiriusXM, with the subscription service’s launch of Disney Jr. Radio.

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SiriusXM announced Disney Jr. Radio, an exclusive channel themed to the TV network’s shows for the preschool demographic, on Wednesday (Oct. 2). It’s a companion to SiriusXM’s Disney Hits channel.

Playlists on the new Disney Jr. Radio will feature music from familiar shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends and SuperKitties, as well as speciality programming throughout the day surrounding Disney Jr. content for the younger audience.

Here’s a rundown of the current Disney Jr. Radio programming schedule on SiriusXM, as of Oct. 2:

7-8 a.m. ET: “Mickey Mornings” — hosted by Mickey, of course — will be a parent’s helper in the morning routine of getting dressed, brushing teeth and having breakfast. It also kicks off the day with fun learning songs appropriate for preschoolers.

12-1 p.m. ET: “Disney Jr. Let’s Play!” is hosted by Disney Jr.’s favorite mermaid, Ariel, and encourages kids to get some midday play and movement in with upbeat, high-energy music.

3-4 p.m. ET: “Disney Jr. Hits,” with Spidey as host, features a mix of popular Disney Jr. songs for kids to sing along to.

6-7 p.m. ET: “Disney Jr. Live on Tour” brings top tunes from the Disney Jr. tour to your speakers, with the help of host Bitsy, from SuperKitties.

1 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. ET: Keep those hours in mind if they align with nap or bedtime — or “quiet time,” aka when mom or dad need to rest while their four-year-old fights sleep. “Disney Jr. Lullabies” is all about gentle, soothing versions of Disney Jr. melodies.

Take a look at the Disney Jr. Radio channel on the SiriusXM app to see if it’s a fit for your family.

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Red Bull Jukebox Sets U.S. Debut With Nashville Show Featuring Brothers Osborne, Shaboozey & More

A string of Nashville hitmakers and rising artists will take over Ascend Amphitheater Wednesday night (Oct. 2) for the inaugural Red Bull Jukebox Nashville concert, headlined by Grammy-winning duo Brothers Osborne.

The lineup will also feature Shaboozey (who is in his 12th week atop Billboard’s Hot 100 with his song “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” BRELAND, Tucker Wetmore, Priscilla Block, Muscadine Bloodline and sibling trio The Castellows.

Ward Guenther, founder/owner of the popular music discovery series Whiskey Jam, will be on hand to host the event. He tells Billboard he and his team “worked very closely with them on curating the lineup.”

“We try to include Whiskey Jam family members, ‘Jam Fam,’ as we like to call ’em, people that have played our shows through the years and honestly just bring the best blend of music and entertainment that we could find,” Guenther said. “Brothers Osborne has one of the best live shows you’ll ever see. So as a headliner, they’re going to encompass exactly what we want to do with this event, having a high-energy set that is as much for the audience as it is for the artists involved. We chose [outdoor venue] Ascend Amphitheater as a good place to start — it feels like a mini-festival.”

The Nashville show will be the Red Bull Jukebox series’ first event within the United States, having previously been held in countries including Japan and Switzerland (the Switzerland show featured the artist Hecht).

A key differentiating factor in the Red Bull Jukebox shows is the setlist, which is curated through fan voting. Fans offer their choices to a set of questions posted on the Red Bull Jukebox website and on artists’ socials, such as selecting whether they would prefer Brothers Osborne to play with a marching band or a bluegrass band, whether they would want to see Block covering hit songs from Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Paramore or Riley Green, or if BRELAND should welcome one of his musical cohorts from the genres of country, hip-hop or songwriting as a guest. Fans will also have the opportunity to vote in-person during the show on Oct. 2 through using wristbands that will be distributed to attendees.

“It’s all going to be as much a surprise for us and the artists as it is for the people in the crowd,” Guenther said.

The event’s houseband will be led by celebrated Nashville musicians including ACM Award-winning guitarist-producer Derek Wells.

“It’s going to be fun to watch the artists do [their performances] on the fly,” Guenther says. “We’ve got a world-class band that’s backing up all the artists and they’re having to learn tons of songs so they can be prepared for whatever happens. But I think that is going to be a big part of the magic of this show. If you’ve seen everybody on the lineup, you’ve never seen this show.”

Red Bull Jukebox
Red Bull Jukebox Nashville

Since launching in 2011, Whiskey Jam has put on over 1,000 shows, spotlighting rising Nashville songwriters and artists, with Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen and Jelly Roll being among those who have appeared at Whiskey Jam over the years. The Red Bull Jukebox show’s similar mission was part of the appeal for Guenther.

“The focus on the upcoming artists is a big deal. As we’ve done in Nashville with Whiskey Jam, you have to have some kind of recognizable names to get people in the door, but the hope for this event, and the future of this event, is we are bringing the future of music,” Guenther said. “When you come and see a Red Bull Jukebox show, you’re getting a sampler of what’s to come. It’s been a great collaborative effort…it’s like Whiskey Jam magnified with the power of Red Bull.”

Red Bull Jukebox Nashville show will put rising artists in the spotlight—though in this case, one of those rising artists, Shaboozey, has seen his artist profile skyrocket since he signed on for the show.

“When we started the conversation with Shaboozey, he hadn’t even been featured on the Beyonce record [Cowboy Carter], and then when [“A Bar Song (Tipsy)”] came out, and he had that [packed show in the middle of downtown Nashville at] CMA Fest, we were like, ‘Wow, we’re about halfway to Red Bull Jukebox and this is already the response. We can’t wait for the October roll around.’”

Guenther says another Nashville-based Red Bull Jukebox show could be a possibility, as could holding Red Bull Jukebox concerts in other U.S. cities.

“You could do a Red Bull Jukebox event in a place like Miami that would be the polar opposite of the one we’re doing in Nashville. You could have one in Texas or New York and they would all feel completely different,” he says, adding, “I can see it repeating again [in Nashville] if it goes as well as we are expecting it to. And there’s room to grow with a lot of potential in Nashville for doing bigger, even completely different shows here.”

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MUNA, Soccer Mommy, Towa Bird & More: Portraits From All Things Go NYC 2024

A decade after launching in Washington, D.C., and becoming known for its inclusive lineups of predominantly women and queer artists, All Things Go expanded in 2024 to deliver its first New York edition Sept. 28-29. Despite inclement weather and a last-minute cancellation from headliner Chappell Roan, the festival — staged at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens — went off without a hitch, bringing high-energy sets from Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, MUNA and more. In celebration of the event’s 10th anniversary, Billboard caught up with some of the performers backstage, where they praised the concert series for “creating such a safe community,” as Towa Bird said. “All things gay!”

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No One Else Can Feel It For You; Only You Can Let It In & 10 Other Takeaways From Portola 2024

The thing about Portola that’s emerged over the festival’s three years of existence is that if you’re there, you feel like you’re in on the joke. And everyone likes being in on the joke.

Through its stylish and legit funny social channels and wry on-site messaging (“we know that music feeds your soul or whatever, but please remember to eat some actual food” implored signage), the event has developed a trait that can often feel scarce at big festivals: actual personality. Portola is your dryly funny and sort of silly, but also extremely intelligent friend with low-key style and impeccable taste in music.

“This is a festival where it’s not about spectacle, it’s about vibe,” Portola founder Danny Bell told Billboard onsite at the fest.

This appealing amalgamation of traits brought roughly 45,000 attendees a day and a motherlode of artists to third edition of Portola, which took over San Francisco’s Pier 80 this past weekend, Sept 28-29. Primarily presenting the styles of electronic music commonly grouped together as indie or alt or just non-EDM, the lineup gathered some of the scene’s biggest, buzziest and most respected artists for a show that also, like in years past, featured a powdered sugar sprinkling of pop (in the form of Rebecca Black, Natasaha Bedingfield, etc.) and a bit of hip hop.

But the emphasis was dance music, with the stature the Goldenvoice-produced festival has gained over its three years of existence emphasized by the fact that people are now flying in for it from across the U.S., Australia and Europe. Rüfüs du Sol played their only set of the year, debuting new music from their comign album and playing the hits for one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. On the mainstage, Disclosure reminded everyone that they’re simply, consistently the best, playing many of their biggest songs, bringing out a brass section for the feel-good “Tondo,” closing with the classic Flume remix of “You & Me” and giving each other a big old brotherly hug at the end. Two more of the many (many) Brits on the lineup, Chase & Status played a satisfying, tough as nails set that included their new hits (“Disconnect,” “Baddadan”) and classics like their 2008 “Eastern Jam.” (“This is for my original Chase & Status fans,” the pair’s Will Kennard announced before dropping the track.)

While often overlooked on the global circuit, San Francisco has a rich and mighty electronic history, and certainly the many locals in attendance demonstrated that the Bay Area parties hard, and also well: the crowd was loose but from our vantage point never out of control, stylish in mostly non-cliché ways and generally friendly, with none of the too cool (or too self aware) atmosphere that elsewhere can, and does, stifle the dancing.

“It’s a work hard play hard town,” says Bell. “When people here come to play, they’re out just to have a good time; there’s no agenda.”

The weather was also classically San Franciscan, with each day’s morning fog burning off for sunshine daydream afternoons that maintained enough of a chill that many attendees who didn’t bring layers were spotted buying hoodies from the merch stand. The site, an actual working shipping pier, created a built-in industrial aesthetic, with the looming crane and hulking naval ship doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of decor. The vessel even blew its horn daily, to wide applause.

These are ten of the best things we saw over the weekend.

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‘Masked Singer’ Judge Ken Jeong Is 100% Convinced That Woodpecker Is This Hair Whipper

One of the enduring joys of watching The Masked Singer is seeing how totally wrong judge Ken Jeong is from week-to-week. The joyful panelist is impressively confident in his often wildly off-base guesses and in a Billboard exclusive sneak peek at Wednesday night’s (Oct. 2) Footloose-themed episode the good doctor again pushes all his chips in on last week’s bold guess at the identity of the celeb inside the towering Woodpecker costume.

“This is a clue-based guess,” Jeong says of the singer who impressed the panel in last week’s season 12 kick-off with her bouncy cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.” Admitting that “for the first time ever” he had no idea who the singer was, a cowboy hat-wearing Jeong said he was doubling-down on his previous prediction: Willow Smith.

Now, pay attention as we try to follow Jeong’s logic, which, it’s worth noting drew a subtle eye-roll from host Nick Cannon.

“That director’s chair? Willow Smith also directs as well as performs in her own music videos,” Jeong said of the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith who first broke through in 2010 with her No. 11 Billboard Hot 100 single “Whip My Hair” and whose most recent album is this year’s jazzy Empathogen.

On the subject of bird clues, Jeong also noted that Willow has performed with past Masked Singer contestant Rubber Ducky (aka Anthony Anderson) in “perhaps the best and most precious Mother’s Day special of all time on VH1 called ‘Dear Mama.’” Fellow panelist Robin Thick says that, clue-wise, Jeong’s theory makes sense, but vocally he warned, “you’re going down the wrong tree hole.”

In an earlier clue package, season 11’s Miss Cleocatra, film/TV actress Jennifer Lewis spilled the tea on someone she said she has known “from her start. She’s been called a mogul, a chic CEO,” Lewis said as Woodpecker held up a roll of tape reading “NEXT.” Other clues: she’s friends with Beyoncé and is a “baddie.”

Woodpecker herself teased that “the only doors that open are ones you knock on” as she rapped on a gate next to a panel reading “Family” and said she is on a path to becoming the “youngest billionaire.”

Last week’s season premiere revealed the identity of Leaf Sheep, NFL legend quarterback John Elway, who was booted after singing Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It.” For the record, Jeong somehow got that one right.

Check out the preview video below and tune in to The Masked Singer on Fox tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

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Christina Aguilera Recognizes ‘Symbolic, Full-Circle Connection’ With Sabrina Carpenter for Time 100 Next

Sabrina Carpenter is TIME‘s latest cover star, earning a place among the publication’s 100 Next list with a cosign from another short-statured pop superstar: Christina Aguilera.

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In addition to a cover story published Wednesday (Oct. 2), the 25-year-old “Espresso” singer was honored with a brief tribute penned by Xtina. “She may claim to be short and sweet, but never underestimate the mighty power behind Sabrina Carpenter’s talent,” the Burlesque star wrote. “As a fellow 5-ft. female with a similar working-­adolescent Disney history, I firsthand recognize and respect what it takes to maintain clarity while delivering within the demands of this business.”

“While she is at the tender age of 25, I realize our symbolic, full-circle connection, as my own [self-titled] debut album turns 25 this same year,” Aguilera continued. “As exciting generations of pop princesses continue to emerge, I feel adoration and protectiveness, knowing the journey at hand and ahead.”

The article comes just a couple weeks after Carpenter and the “Beautiful” vocalist met up mid-September, filming a TikTok together in which the Girl Meets World alum joked that she was Aguilera’s “favorite” child. The pair also teamed up for Xtina’s recent Spotify Anniversaries episode around the same time, singing “What a Girl Wants” as a duet.

Aguilera also came up in Carpenter’s cover story interview with TIME, with the “Please Please Please” hitmaker opening up about owning her sexuality while following in the footsteps of pop icons such as Xtina and Britney Spears. “You’ll still get the occasional mother that has a strong opinion on how you should be dressing,” she told the publication.

“And to that I just say, don’t come to the show and that’s OK,” continued Carpenter, who often sings about sex in her music and incorporates a few NSFW elements into her live shows. “It’s unfortunate that it’s ever been something to criticize, because truthfully, the scariest thing in the world is getting up on a stage in front of that many people and having to perform as if it’s nothing. If the one thing that helps you do that is the way you feel comfortable dressing, then that’s what you’ve got to do.”

See Carpenter’s TIME cover below.

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Martin Shkreli Tells Federal Judge He Just Doesn’t Know Who Still Has Copies Of Rare Wu-Tang Album

Facing a federal court order to turn over all his copies of a rare Wu-Tang Clan album, Martin Shkreli is warning a judge that he can’t remember all the people with whom he shared the album – and that it’s “highly likely” that other people still have copies.

In August, Judge Pamela K. Chen ordered Shkreli to hand over any copies of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an ultra-rare Wu-Tang album that he once owned but was forced to forfeit to federal prosecutors to help pay restitution after he was convicted of securities fraud.

In a sworn statement on Monday, Shkreli promised the judge that he had turned over all copies that he could find in his possession. But he also said he didn’t know exactly who he had shared it with, and that some of them probably still have copies.

“Because I shared the musical work several times several years ago, I cannot recall each and every time that I have shared the musical work,” he told the judge. “It is possible, and indeed I find it highly likely, that one of the many people who viewed, heard, or otherwise accessed the musical work via my social media recorded the musical work and retains a copy of the same.”

Wu-Tang’s fabled album was recorded in secret and published just once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. In addition to the bizarre trappings, Once Upon came with strict legal stipulations — namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103.

In 2015, Shkreli — soon to become infamous as the man who intentionally spiked the price of crucial AIDS medications — bought Once Upon at auction for $2 million. But after he was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited it to federal prosecutors to help pay his multi-million dollar restitution sentence. PleasrDAO, a collective of early NFT collectors and digital artists, then bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyrights and other rights for another $750,000.

Amid recent efforts to monetize Once Upon, Pleasr sued Shkreli in June after he made threats to release the album publicly and destroy the exclusivity that the company had purchased. The lawsuit accused him of both breaching the federal forfeiture order and violating federal trade secrets law, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation.

In August, Judge Chen granted Pleasr a preliminary injunction requiring Shkreli to hand over any copies of Once Upon that were still in his possession. His attorneys had argued Shkreli had the right to create private copies when he owned the album and could retain them even after he forfeited the original copy, but the judge rejected that argument.

Responding to the injunction order on Monday, Shkreli told the judge he had “searched my devices, electronic accounts, and other personal effects” and handed over any copies he owned. He swore that he had done so “under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America.”

But Judge Chen’s injunction also included another requirement: That he divulge the “names and contact information of the individuals to whom he distributed the data and files.” On that front, Shkreli offered less info on Monday.

“Between 2015 and 2021, I recall occasionally sharing the musical work, primarily by sending digital files of the musical work to others via email, [and] also saved copies of the musical work on USB or other drives and gave those drives to others,” Shkreli said, before saying that he “cannot recall” each of those occasions.

He also told the judge that he had “shared the musical work on my social media pages or livestreams” on at least three occasions, including once in 2023 and again in 2024. It was during these public postings, Shkreli said, that someone likely created copies of the album.

Both sides did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday’s filing.

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Young Miko Takes Billboard Behind the Scenes of Her XOXO Tour: Watch

Young Miko recently wrapped up her XOXO Tour across the U.S. — just before her anticipated participation at Billboard Latin Music Week scheduled for Oct. 14-18. During her U.S. trek, Billboard caught up with the Puerto Rican rapper-singer at various stops, including Philadelphia, D.C. and Boston. While at her 18th show in Philly, Miko shared insights into her pre-show preparations.

“Before I get on stage, I actually feel like I do a lot of things, maybe it’s not that many. I have my vocal warm up, I stretch, I use an inhaler, I have my glam and make up process, I have my soundcheck, I have a soundcheck with fans and then I have a pre-show workout, where I do more stretching,” she shares with Billboard. “I go into game mode and put on my headphones, listen to a little bit of music. And when I open my eyes, it’s already show time.”

Excited for an outfit reveal, Miko adds, “Let me show you what I’m going to wear today for Philly’s show — a little yellow uniform I haven’t worn yet. Philly is going to have the exclusive first look.”

As the tour progressed to Boston, her enthusiasm was palpable as she prepared for a special interaction with her fans during the soundcheck. “I’m waiting for them to come in, so, I hide here behind the curtain, and they don’t see me and I start to ‘booaah‘ and they get really excited,” she says. “I come out and talk to them for a little while.”

The current Billboard cover star also reflected on the physical demands of consecutive shows, admitting to adjusting her routine by the third set to preserve her energy and voice.

Watch the complete video above.

Young Miko will sit down for a Superstar Q&A on Oct. 15 during Billboard Latin Music Week. She will also perform on Oct. 18 for the Billboard Latin Music Week 35th Anniversary Celebration alongside Belinda, Elvis Crespo, FloyyMenor, and Tito Double P. Purchase tickets here.

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Charli XCX Absolutely Loved Bowen Yang’s ‘SNL’ Brat Sketch: ‘He Did a Great Job’

Charli XCX gets the joke. The “360” singer stopped by Howard Stern’s SiriusXM channel on Wednesday morning (Oct. 2) for her first-ever visit to the King of All Media’s morning show, where the host asked her if she was offended by Bowen Yang‘s over-the-top spoof of her Brat Summer vibe during a sketch on Saturday’s 50th season premiere episode.

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“Oh, no, no, no. I think SNL is iconic and Troye and I we had an inkling it was coming and so we were very excited about it,” she said of Sweat Tour co-headliner singer Troye Sivan. “I love Bowen and I honestly think he did a great job. I was very impressed with the hair texture, actually. I thought it was a really good wig. It was good, it was cool.”

Yang, indeed, did rock a killer wavy hairpiece for the bit that featured him as Charli hosting a political-themed talk show alongside Sarah Sherman’s ab-tastic house DJ Sivan. The bit opened with Yang’s Charli introducing her Talk Talk Show — a reference to one of the songs on Charli’s Brat album — before moving on to the so Charli segment “brat or nat.”

The loving tribute included Yang’s Charli cheekily asking cast member Chloe Fineman’s CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins if she’d ever done ketamine on a set that was the same lime green color as the cover of the singer’s sixth album.

Elsewhere in her chat with Stern, Charli talked about her breakthrough a cappella performance of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” as a four-year-old on a cruise with her parents as well as revealing that she’s never met one of her absolute musical north stars: Britney Spears. She did, however, say she went to see the singer’s Las Vegas show years ago and was convinced that though Brit didn’t know she was there, she suspected she’d spotted her when the “Toxic” star spoke in a British accent during the set, only to find out from a friend that Spears does that “all the time.”

After also expressing her love for the Spice Girls, Charli surprised Stern by revealing that she thinks late punk godhead Lou Reed is “the greatest artist of all time. I think lyrically he is just… I dunno, he is just on this other level. Like you said, people probably would never associate me and him together, but I think his lyrics are so conversational,” she said.

“He paints a picture of what is in front of him, whether it’s someone pulling a rose out of a garbage can in New York, or the scene at Max’s,” she said of the famed Max’s Kansas City bar that was a gathering place of New York’s underground music, poetry and arts scene in the late 1960s and 1970s. “He truly paints this really specific picture referencing Candy and Jackie and all of these people who maybe the listener doesn’t necessarily know who he’s talking about, but you can kind of go and read [about]… I think that was something that was really inspiring to me on Brat, to kind of paint this really specific picture of people in my life, places that I go to in this very conversational way he does.”

Charlie and Sivan rocked New York’s Madison Square Garden last week on their joint tour, where she was joined by surprise guests Lorde and Addison Rae. The outing rolls on tonight with a show at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

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