All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Stormzy is the latest recording artist to become a Dyson global ambassador. The U.K. rapper debuted in his first campaign for Dyson OnTrac headphones on Wednesday (Oct. 30).

“Whether I’m catching a flight, getting ready for a show, or working on new music, I need to tune everything out and stay focused,” he said in a press release announcing the partnership. “The Dyson OnTrac headphones make it easy – they’re with me through every trip, no matter how long or hectic the day gets.”

“We are delighted to welcome Stormzy as our latest Global Ambassador,” said Jake Dyson, the company’s chief engineer. “With Stormzy, we share a common guiding philosophy. Making the most of everything and consistently delivering something that’s better than what’s been before. It’s what’s driven us to make smaller motors, to expand into different sectors, to solve more problems. It’s what’s driven Stormzy to master more genres, go deeper with lyrics and affect social change. And it’s incredibly exciting to see how our technology can give Stormzy the fuel he needs.”

Stormzy joins fellow recording artists Raye and BLACKPINK’s JISOO as Dyson ambassadors.

The campaign, photographed by Oscar J Ryan and directed by Tom Gorst, gives a snapshot of Stormzy’s hectic schedule. “Welcome to 55 hours inside the mind of a rockstar,” he says highlighting Dyson OnTrac’s incredible battery power and swappable ear cushions.

Beyond the exceptional sound, seamless device integration and customizable ear cuffs and ear caps, Dyson OnTrac ($499.99) headphones feature over two days of battery power (more than enough juice for a long flight or road trip). Shop Dyson OnTrac at Amazon, Best Buy and Dyson.com. The OnTrac ear cushions retail for $49.99.

Watch Stormzy’s Dyson OnTrac campaign below.

Taylor Swift is full of praise for her former Eras Tour opener Sabrina Carpenter, dubbing the “Please Please Please” singer “the pop princess of our dreams” after Carpenter joined her as a surprise guest in New Orleans over the weekend.

“Wow, New Orleans. I’m still smiling thinking about that wonderful weekend,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post reflecting on the memorable performance.

“The city really welcomed us with open arms (with friendship bracelets on those metaphorical arms) and celebrated the tour with such flare. One of the things I’ll always remember from this weekend was getting to surprise the crowd with a performance by the pop princess of our dreams: @sabrinacarpenter.”

Swift, who has a long history of bringing special guests to her stage, took the opportunity to praise Carpenter’s work ethic, highlighting her commitment to creating a special moment for fans despite her demanding schedule.

“Side note: She had one day off from her very exhaustive tour schedule. Her show is physically full on and spectacular, and she could’ve been resting in her time off. One of the reasons I respect her so much is that she does things like this, goes out of her way to give fans a surprise moment they didn’t expect,” Swift continued. “She’s as real as they come and I’m so thankful she did that for us.”

Swift and Carpenter have dominated the Billboard charts in 2024. Swift’s record-breaking run includes a dozen No. 1 singles on the Hot 100, with recent back-to-back hits “Cruel Summer” and “Is It Over Now?”—making her the only woman to ever replace herself at No. 1 twice.

For Carpenter, who kicked off her rise as an Eras Tour opener, this year has been massive. Her album Short n’ Sweet has held No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for four non-consecutive weeks, and “Espresso” became her highest-charting song yet.

As North Carolina natives Luke Combs and Eric Church organized the Concert for Carolina benefit held Oct. 26 in Charlotte, the only question anyone asked was “How can I help?”

“All egos went out the door,” said Chris Kappy, Combs’ manager. “It was just everybody working together, AEG and Live Nation, all the managers, all the teams. It never got territorial.

The six-hour concert, which also featured James Taylor, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, Scotty McCreery, Avett Bros., Chase Rice,  Parmalee and Wesko, has raised $24.5 million (and counting) for western North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene.

While many benefits take several weeks, if not months, to plan, Concert for Carolina was held less than a month after the worst natural disaster to ever hit North Carolina ravished mountain towns, including Asheville and Boone, and left close to 100 people dead.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at an Oct. 26 press conference that more than 100,000 people in the state had damage to their homes and thousands of businesses had been affected. The estimated financial damages of the storm to North Carolina are $53 billion.

The day after Hurricane Helene hit on Sept. 27, Combs called Church about organizing a benefit and they immediately started calling their artist friends. “I remember sitting at home in Nashville and wanting to figure out how I can be of service, how I can help the place that raised me,” said Combs. “There was no question that this was going to happen come hell or high water.”

The next step was for Kappy to call David and Nicole Tepper, who own the Carolina Panthers, FC Charlotte and Bank of America stadium, where the NFL and soccer teams play in Charlotte, to see if they could use the stadium. “The yes was so fast,” Kappy said. “David and Nicole said, ‘We’ve got the stadium. We’ve got everything covered.’ David and Nicole would have moved heaven and earth to make it happen for us.”

The Teppers were already looped into hurricane relief via their work with the American Red Cross and had started giving what has now become close to $6 million toward relief efforts for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida just days after Helene passed through. “When [Kappy] called us, it was like, ‘Okay, what do we have to do to do it and it’s three weeks,’” David Tepper told Billboard. “It’s hard from [Combs’ and Church’s] end to get the artists, but on this end, we had to make sure we didn’t get scheduled with [a soccer playoff game.]” Luckily, the Panthers were playing away from home and FC Charlotte could also play away from home. Also fortuitously, Morgan Wallen played two shows at the stadium the weekend before the Concert for Carolina and production could just keep the field covering down.

Ultimately, with Tepper’s encouragement, the stadium’s concession, merchandise and parking vendors all donated their proceeds as well. All the other participating companies, including those providing sound, stage, lighting and video, also donated their resources. Ticketmaster also donated its services and put plans in place to keep tickets out of the secondary market. The show sold out quickly, setting a new venue record of more than 82,000 attendees.  Veeps donated all proceeds from a $24.95 streaming option. The acts all paid their own expenses and were not paid to play.

While Combs’ and Church’s teams dealt with the show aspects, Tepper was dealing with logistics. “There’s contracts, there’s the police, there’s who’s holding the money and where’s the money going and making sure it’s flowing the right way,” he said. “Usually there are long negotiations, but everybody was trying to make sure everything was done right. It was a lot of people putting everything aside just to get this done.” Tepper had some experience, having helped organize New York’s 12-12-12 benefit in 2012 following Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast in late October 2012.

Even rivals AEG and Live Nation joined together to co-promote the show. “We really looked at it and said, ‘We just need the smartest minds in the room’ and this was an opportunity for everybody,” Kappy said. “You can show everybody that you can put down your swords and you can all put your arms around each other and lift each other up to lift everybody else up.”

The goodwill was infectious. “Everybody wanted to be part of something special and saw what we were doing. They said, ‘We want to be part of that,’” Kappy said. Kappy and Church’s manager, John Peets, worked in “lockstep,” on the benefit, staying in constant communication. “It’s been awesome to go back and forth with him on this and for him to be like, ‘Whatever Kappy says,’ and for me to be like ‘Whatever John says.’ Same with our two agents at WME and our production managers working hand in hand.”

“Everybody in the city, at the stadium, on the artist side…quite frankly, all  their better angels were working together to put this together in three weeks,” Tepper said.

All proceeds from the benefit show, auction and livestream are going to organizations selected by Combs and Church, including Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, Eblen Charities and the organizations supported by Church’s foundation, Chief Cares. At the show, Church also stated his intention to build more than 100 houses for those who lost their homes in the hurricane.

The focus now shifts to how to keep awareness on the area and the ongoing need as the recovery will take years. “The biggest thing for Luke and I is we continue to shine a light on this,” Church said. “This concert’s a great way to do it, but these people are going to need help long after tonight and long after next month and long after six months. So, it’s about, how can we continue to put this up front to make people be aware of what happened there,  and we help the people.”

Richard Andrew, the drummer for award-winning Australian Underground Lovers, died Wednesday (Oct. 30). He was 58 years old.

News of Andrews’ passing was shared by both his family and his bandmates, who both took to social media to confirm the news. Andrews himself had taken to social media just one week earlier to reveal he had been diagnosed with stage IV metastatic lung cancer.

“Our beautiful Richard John Andrew died at around 5.25am, this morning” the musician’s family wrote. “His death, as he was in life, was epic. He left this world, face to face with his wife, Nicolette, as she sang their song ‘Do You Realise’ by The Flaming Lips. We are all heartbroken though relieve that our sweet prince is finally free.”

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our charming beautiful force of nature Richard John Andrew,” Underground Lovers echoed on social media. “We are numb with grief and sadness. He passed peacefully in his sleep at home this morning with his wife Nicolette at his side.”

Andrew first rose to fame as a member of the Underground Lovers in 1988. He joined the group as their drummer shortly before they changed their name from the initial GBVB after founding members Glenn Bennie and Vincent Giarrusso.

Throughout his initial tenure with the group, Andrew was on hand to share in their sole ARIA Award win for Best New Talent in 1992, and performed on three of the group’s studio albums, including 1994’s Dream It Down, which peaked at No. 55 on the national charts.

Leaving the group ahead following the release of Dream It Down, Andrew went on to perform with a number of different bands in Australia, including kinderland, Red Textas, Registered Nurse, and others.

Though Underground Lovers would initially disband in 2002, Andrew took part in their reunion in 2009, going to perform on albums such as 2013’s Weekend, 2017’s Staring At You Staring At Me, and 2019’s A Left Turn.

In his post on social media announcing his diagnosis last week, Andrew shared a dictated message reflecting on his imminent passing.

“I am completely reconciled to whatever the future is, however, that future is probably quite limited and I’m in the process of preparing to pop this mortal coil and return to the trees, as it were,” he wrote. “I cannot overstate enough what an honour and a privilege it has been to know you all over the last 58 years, and to have lived the most incredible, incredible life.”