Even before Charli XCX dominated the summer with her acclaimed album brat, there was internal chatter about a joint arena tour with her and Troye Sivan. “I was pretty unsure how it would work, honestly,” recalls creative director Imogene Strauss, citing how unusual it is for two artists to alternate within the set list. “I was like, ‘This is going to be a challenge’ — and I think everyone felt that way.”

Ultimately, fusing two separate tours — Charli had debuted her solo brat shows during album release week at Primavera Sound in June while Sivan had embarked on his own European/U.K. headlining tour in support of his third album, Something To Give Each Other, in May — for a fall co-headlining run proved easier than expected. The Sweat tour kicked off Sept. 14 in Detroit and quickly became one of music’s hottest tickets, with sold-out dates at Madison Square Garden and Kia Forum with surprise guests including Lorde and Kesha, respectively. The trek concluded in Seattle on Oct. 23.

“It’s been an interesting morphing, shifting thing because of the scale, but also because of the collaboration element of it,” says Strauss, who has worked with Charli since 2019. Along with Jonny Kingsbury of Cour Design, the pair leaned heavily on lighting as a unifying element for the tour. “That ultimately became the thing that could tie the two shows together,” she says. Adds Kingsbury: “Traditionally with a pop artist, you would use bright key light and lots of downstage wash, but instead we light her very strobe-y, almost as if you were watching someone walk through a club in a movie throughout the entire show.”

Another early decision the creative team made was to enlist a Steadicam operator from the music video world and to hire a focus puller, which Strauss says is “expensive and specific, but I think it’s added this cinematic level that has been so positive.” (Plus, as Kingsbury says, the concept paired well with the brat aesthetic, “with [Charli] pushing the camera man aside, spitting on the catwalk and licking it up. All of that feels very brat.”)

Fittingly, Strauss’ favorite part of Sweat showcases that creative synergy: Midway through the show, as Sivan is wrapping up “Stud” on the main stage and Charli is gearing up for “365” from the scaffolding, the screens are turned off and Charli’s iconic “bumpin’ that” line blares from the speakers. “Musically, the worlds are so well tied together, and being able to express that visually… it’s just so cool to see the worlds collide in a way that really works,” she says. Both she and Kingsbury credit music director Mitch Schneider for “expertly” putting Charli and Sivan’s music together, ultimately laying the foundation for the entire show.

“I think most people were expecting this tour to be like, Troye plays a set and then Charli plays a set,” says Strauss. “But Troye and Charli and all of us involved were like, ‘If we’re gonna do this, it’s gonna be intertwined musically, visually, everything.”

As a result, Kingsbury says a lot of the feedback he’s been hearing about the tour was how polished the show was. Both he and Strauss say many arena tours today rely on “gags” or “interstitial content” to help with costume or staging transitions, whereas Sweat was “very dialed in,” says Kingsbury. “Everyone is always trying to go bigger and more ridiculous — we went the opposite direction.”

“[This tour] doesn’t take itself too seriously — people dance like crazy,” adds Strauss. “Turning an arena into a club was the No. 1 challenge, and when the arena was literally shaking, I was like, ‘OK, success.’”

A version of this story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.

Beyoncé’s attorneys are once again asking federal regulators to register Blue Ivy Carter’s name as a trademark, more than 12 years after she and Jay-Z first sought to lock up the intellectual property rights to their daughter’s name.

In a motion filed last week at the federal trademark office, lawyers for Beyoncé’s company pushed back on a ruling earlier this year that consumers might confuse the name with another Blue Ivy: a single-store clothing boutique in Wisconsin that has used the name since before the young Carter was born.

The star’s lawyers say that ruling should be overturned, arguing that nobody is going to confuse Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter — once dubbed the “most famous baby in the world” — with a small clothing shop.

“No reasonable consumer would ever suffer any form of confusion when encountering the [store’s] logo, which is used with one small shop in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community with a population of approximately 997 people,” Beyoncé’s attorneys write. “Nor would a reasonable consumer encounter the ‘Blue Ivy Carter’ mark and conclude that the famous Carter family had teamed up with a small shop in rural Wisconsin to launch a clothing line.”

An attorney for Beyoncé’s company did not immediately return a request for comment on the status of the trademark case.

Just weeks after Blue Ivy was born in January 2012, Beyoncé’s BGK Trademark Holdings LLC applied at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register her unusual name as a trademark. The move raised eyebrows at the time, as fans wondered if the couple was commercializing their daughter. But Jay-Z later told Vanity Fair that they merely wanted to prevent her name from being exploited by others.

“People wanted to make products based on our child’s name, and you don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name,” he told the magazine in 2013. “It wasn’t for us to do anything; as you see, we haven’t done anything.”

More than 12 years later, however, Blue Ivy’s parents have yet to secure that trademark registration.

For years, the process was bogged down in legal disputes with a woman named Veronica Morales, who runs a lifestyle event planning company under the name “Blue Ivy” and secured her own trademark to it. In 2020, a tribunal at the USPTO rejected Morales’ complaints, ruling that the two sides’ respective offerings were “so dissimilar that confusion is unlikely.”

That ruling seemingly cleared the way for the “Blue Ivy Carter” trademark registration to finally be issued. But attorneys for BGK never moved that application forward, and eventually, the USPTO deemed the application abandoned last year.

In November 2023, Beyoncé’s attorneys applied yet again for the same trademark registration. Like previous efforts, however, the new application quickly hit a roadblock: In April, a trademark examiner issued a tentative ruling that the mark was “confusingly similar” to the name of the Wisconsin clothing store, which has owned a trademark registration on its “Blue Ivy” logo since 2011.

(The Wisconsin boutique itself is not actually involved in the case and has not filed an opposition to the Blue Ivy Carter trademark; instead, the USPTO simply cited the earlier trademark as a reason to deny Beyoncé’s application.)

It was this tentative denial that Beyoncé’s attorneys challenged last week, arguing that Americans know who Blue Ivy Carter is and would never think she was “somehow connected to a lovely boutique shop in a small town in rural Wisconsin.”

“Since the moment she was born, she has resided in the American public’s conscience and thus … the consuming public would associate her with a trademark bearing her name,” BGK’s lawyers write. “The parties each exist and thrive in their own separate worlds and can continue doing so into the future.”

Megan Thee Stallion and TWICE are teaming up for a whole lot more than just the “Mamushi” remix. The rapper unveiled a new limited edition cover of her Megan: Act II deluxe album on Monday (Oct. 28) that the K-pop girl group designed.

The digital album with the alternative cover is currently available on Megan’s webstore until Thursday, Oct. 31 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

TWICE is featured on the remix of Megan’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 36 hit “Mamushi,” originally featuring Yuki Chiba, from her latest deluxe album Megan: Act II that dropped on last Friday (Oct. 25). “Mamushi” recently earned Megan her fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart (dated Oct. 26). “TWICE IS TALKING THEIR SH-TTTT !!! Its so good #mamushiremix,” the rapper tweeted last week ahead of her deluxe album’s release, to which TWICE responded, “Can’t wait. Real Hot Girls.”

Megan: Act II also features 12 new tracks, including collaborations with RM of BTS (“Neva Play”), Flo Milli (“Roc Steady”) and Spiritbox (“TYG”).

Megan released her self-titled third studio album on June 28 via Hot Girl Productions. The 18-track set features previously released singles “Cobra,” the Hot 100 No. 1 “Hiss,” “Boa” and “Mamushi,” and collaborations with Kyle Richh of 41 (“B.A.S.”), Yuki Chiba (“Mamushi”), GloRilla (“Accent”), UGK (“Paper Together”), Victoria Monét (“Spin”), and Big K.R.I.T. and Buddah Bless (“Miami Blue”). The set peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

See the new cover art for Megan: Act II’s deluxe edition below:

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The Grateful Dead have found themselves back at No. 1, but this time as a top Amazon bestseller for an official book on the rock band’s songs. The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics offers an in-depth guide for Deadheads curious about the stories behind your favorite songs.

Originally published in October 2015, the book has now found its way back to the top of Amazon’s charts for music bibliographies and indexes — and you can currently score the music book for up to 44% off. Its rise to popularity may be contributed to the recent passing of founding member and bassist of Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh. Musicians including Phish have been paying tribute to the artist through covers of the band’s songs and condolences.

Whether you or someone you know is a Deadhead, the lyrics book will expand your collection of Grateful Dead merch while acting as a display-worthy coffee table book for music lovers. Its even been given Grateful Dead’s stamp of approval with founding member Bob Weir saying, “this book is great. Now I’ll never have to explain myself,” according to the book’s official description.

Keep reading to see where to buy The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics online.

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Through more than 500 pages, this Grateful Dead book acts as a guide to the lyrics of some of the most popular songs by the band. In its 50th edition, you can expect essays by lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry as well as Jim Carpenter’s original illustrations. Pages will include the complete original set of lyrics with numbered annotations. You’ll then be able to turn the page and read everything from the symbolism of lyrics to when and where the song was first performed.

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Before you jump into the stories behind each song, you’ll be met with a forward by Hunter who walks you through the band’s impact on rock music and how they’ve crafted an undying legacy through their songs.

For more product recommendations, check out ShopBillboard‘s roundups of the best country music books, books about jazz and music trivia games.