MTV’s VMAs threw a killer 40th anniversary party for the network’s signature awards telecast on Wednesday night (Sept. 11) during a three-hour extravaganza from UBS Arena in New York that was light on handing out on–screen awards, but super heavy on elaborate performances from some of the former video channel’s iconic stars to today’s chart-topping pop icons.

Speaking of MTV royalty, Slim Shady himself was back in the building to open the show with a throwback nod to one of his most memorable VMA moments when Eminem took the stage in a blonde wig alongside a parade of Marshall Mathers lookalikes for a run through “Houdini” and his Jelly Roll collab, “Somebody Save Me.”

The first half of the show also included BLACKPINK’s LISA making her VMA solo debut for a high-energy run through her new Rosalía collab “New Woman,” followed by her solo single “Rockstar” while Shawn Mendes debuted his new Jeff Buckley-esque moody ballad “Nobody Knows.” Colombian superstar Karol G delivered a sultry performance of her hit single “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” (“If I Had Known You Before”) and Brazilian star Anitta turned the stage into a sizzling party with the premiere of “Paradise” featuring Fat Joe and DJ Khaled, and later “Savage Funk” and “Alegría” featuring Tiago PZK.

Sabrina Carpenter took us into space for a Marilyn Monroe and Britney Spears-channeling medley of “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and “Espresso,” Katy Perry blew minds with a dance-heavy mega-mix of her biggest hits before accepting her Video Vanguard award and 2024’s undisputed viral champ, Chappell Roan, gave us serious Roan of Arc vibes during her Gaga-goes-medieval run through breakthrough hit “Good Luck, Babe!”

Host Megan Thee Stallion lit it up with a fiery mash-up of “B.A.S.” and “Hiss” capped by a surprise appearance from Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba for “Mamushi,” Halsey rocked “Ego” from inside a suburban garage, Benson Boone flipped out in a glittery onesie while performing his breakthrough hit “Beautiful Things” and rock icon Lenny Kravitz ripped through “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” his disco-y 2024 single “Human” and the remake of 1998’s “Fly Away” featuring Migos’ Quavo, “Fly.”

One of the most eye-popping set pieces came during the Broadway-style VMAs debut from Puerto Rican rapper Rauw Alejandro during “Touching the Sky,” which transitioned into a Caribbean drummer jam on “Diluvio,” followed by his latest single, “Déjame Entrar.” The final hour of the show also featured a double-down from Memphis rapper GloRilla on her Hot 100 hits “Yeah Glo!” and “TGIF” and Camila Cabello bidding a fiery farewell to her ex with a mix of “June Gloom” and a smashing performance of “Godspeed.”

The night came to a hyped close with a career-spanning medley from LL Cool J, who saluted Def Jam Records on its 40th anniversary with help from DJ Z-Trip and Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flavor Flav as he ran through “Headsprung,” PE’s “Bring the Noise,” as well as his own “Mama Said Knock You Out,” “Rock the Bells,” “Around the Way Girl” and “Goin’ Back to Cali,” as well as his new singles “Passion” and “Proclivities” before bumping down to “Doin’ It,” a song he first performed on his last VMAs set in 1996.

Check out all* the night’s main stage performances below.

*At press time the video of Halsey’s performance was not available.

In early 2018, the future looked bright for corridos singer-songwriter Codiciado. Grupo Codiciado, the band he’d co-founded three years prior, was rapidly rising: After breaking onto Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart in 2017 with “Gente de Accionar,” the act reached No. 8 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart with Miro Lo Que Otros No Miran (I See What Others Don’t). And with its success, the group was helping define the urban style of Rancho Humilde, the Los Angeles-based label known for its modern take on música mexicana.

Then, on a cannabis possession charge, Codiciado’s visa was revoked at the U.S.-Mexico border that April. He’d migrated to the States in 2016, working in Southern California’s agricultural fields to support himself as he tried to get his music career off the ground. Now, the physical walls along the border of his native Tijuana — and the legal restrictions preventing his reentry — stood in his way.

It was a devastating turn of events. “I really wanted to stop. I didn’t want to make music,” the 31-year-old artist (born Erick de Jesús Aragón Alcantar) admits today. “I had a hard time when I left. I had no work; I was making my whole career in the United States. I thought that something divine wanted me to leave, like someone didn’t want me here. Then I put on my pants and said: ‘Well, if I’m here [in Mexico], I have to give it my all.’ At the end of the day, I was very hopeful [about] getting my visa back.”

Instead of letting the visa revocation end his career, Codiciado built a new one. Driven by a reborn creative conviction and fans’ support, he split from Grupo Codiciado and went solo. “The people gave me encouragement to say that it wasn’t over, that it was just a stumbling block,” he says. “I had to keep going.”

Growing up in Tijuana’s Villa del Real III neighborhood — an impoverished place, but one rich in Mexican music — Codiciado absorbed the culture of his surroundings. Influenced by icons like Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Explosión Norteña, he began writing songs as a teenager and channeled his environment’s chaos into his music.

Codiciado’s first songs were inspired by the infamous drug kingpins of Sinaloa and written in part out of financial necessity. Drug lords often pay songwriters to have corridos written about them, and though Codiciado notes that he “didn’t know about cartels in those days, just what I heard on the street,” getting the work marked a career turning point for him. As he honed his musicianship, he teamed with longtime friend and drummer Giovanni Rodríguez to form Grupo Codiciado in 2015, recruiting four more members in Tijuana.

The group organized and recorded a concert by the end of the year, drawing millions of views on YouTube; one of those videos amassed 233 million views alone. Its frequent new releases helped it cultivate a loyal fan base, and soon the band was headlining festivals throughout Tijuana. The following year, Rancho Humilde signed the act and it came to the U.S.

“Erick was the first artist who brought this new style to Mexican music eight years ago with Grupo Codiciado,” says Fabio Acosta, who is part of Codiciado’s four-person management team. “They were pioneers in changing the genre’s style, shifting from very decorated suits with fine stones to incorporating streetwear.”

Codiciado’s sense of style, now common among modern corridos acts like Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida, was ahead of its time. “I had disagreements with older colleagues,” he recalls. “Many took it as an offense, saying, ‘No, man, we’re the same, and you’re wearing do-rags, caps and sneakers, while we’re here with cowboy hats and boots.’ ”

“He was at the forefront of this new wave of corridos,” says Chris Den Uijl, another member of Codiciado’s management team. “He was one of the first to show up in Air Force 1s and have a more progressive style.”

Since late last year, Den Uijl has overseen Codiciado’s touring strategy alongside Aaron Ampudia, with whom he co-founded festivals including Baja Beach Fest and Sueños. In fact, Ampudia, who has roots on both sides of the border, was the first of the current management team to connect with Codiciado, through a mutual friend. Ángel del Villar, founder of corridos label DEL Records, rounds out the team. “[My managers] are helping me to give structure to my work, to my company, to my band, to my music,” Codiciado says. (He releases music independently and has a distribution deal with Warner.)

As Codiciado’s career blossomed and he debuted on the Billboard charts, his life took a sudden turn. In 2018, while crossing into the United States from Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused him of residing stateside on a nonresidential visa and sought to revoke it. “I kept saying I had a work visa and traveled back and forth frequently,” he says. “Then, upon checking my bag, they found less than a gram of marijuana that I don’t know how the hell got there. I was detained for 12 hours without [access to] a lawyer. They had me sign for voluntary deportation, renouncing my visa and rights. A lawyer would have told me not to sign and to go to court.”

Back in Mexico, Codiciado felt “frustrated and alone” as he watched música mexicana move on without him. Rancho Humilde founder and CEO Jimmy Humilde “started signing new acts like Fuerza Regida,” Codiciado says from his home in Riverside, Calif. “One year went by, two years went by, three years went by, and nothing happened [with getting my visa back].”

Finally Codiciado decided, he says, “to get my act together” — including formally separating from Grupo Codiciado, which disbanded in 2021 and released its last single as a band, “Maquinando,” in February 2022. He doubled down on his solo songwriting and in 2023 put out his first solo album, Golpes de la Vida (Blows of Life), distributed by Virgin Music U.S. Latin; he wrote and produced 17 of the set’s 20 songs himself.

The album kept the essence of his sound intact, while recent singles like 2024’s “Gabachas” have embraced the rising trend of electrocorridos — electronic music with corridos instrumentation woven and sampled throughout. As he’s chronicled the monumental shifts in his life amid his visa struggle (including becoming a father for the second time; he has a 10-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son), his lyric writing has deepened as well. “The biggest lesson was that I had to keep pushing and not wait around. If I had waited, I wouldn’t have grown. Despite leaving the group, I can say I made it. I returned a different person.”

With legal assistance and the proper paperwork, Codiciado returned to Southern California with a new visa (he declines to specify what type) in 2023. Earlier this year, he completed the aptly named — and very successful — five-date Ando Enfocado (I’m Focused) tour; Live Nation is producing a second, eight-date run that will take Codiciado from coast to coast in September and October.

“He’s touching the young corridos kids [with] this new generational sound,” Den Uijl says. “He has a large fan base of regional Mexican fans that are showing up in cowboy hats and are going up to him saying things like, ‘You helped me get through my hardest times.’ Grown men crying to him saying, ‘You gave me the strength to stick through it when I lost my job to find the next one.’ Things like that really touched me watching it at his first wave of his shows.”

Meanwhile, Codiciado has returned to the Billboard charts. He made his solo debut in February 2023 with “V.A.M.C. (Vamos Aclarando Muchas Cosas En Vivo),” which peaked at No. 31 on Hot Latin Songs; the track also reached No. 29 on Regional Mexican Airplay. And “Gabachas” debuted at No. 41 on Latin Airplay and hit No. 9 on Latin Pop Airplay.

“I’m an artist with eight years [of experience]. Maybe many have come up faster and achieved what I haven’t yet in less time. But I’m the only one who has done it this way,” Codiciado says. “Maybe I bring two, three, four hits a year, but they are hits that are staying with the people and have a message.”

But now, his ambitions go beyond achieving commercial success. Codiciado’s work with La Fundación UFW, founded by civil rights activist César Chávez, underscores his dedication to the immigrant community at large. “We as a society have to be more noble and empathize more with people who don’t have,” he says. In April, KNAI (La Campesina 101.9) Phoenix, the radio station Chávez founded in 1983, announced a collaboration with Codiciado to deliver hot lunches to local farmworkers. “We should help people if we have the means,” Codiciado says. “God gave [to] us to give back. The more I have, the more I help.”

And as his influence grows, Codiciado wants to effect broader change, too. “I want to change minds. I can’t change everyone, but [artists] do have the influence to make big changes, just like a politician,” he says. “Our audience is very large, and revolutionarily speaking, that’s what I aspire to be.”

This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.

Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.

The House Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to the Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, requesting an examination of “concerns” and “emerging issues” related to performing rights organizations (PROs).

In the letter, signed by the committee’s chairmen Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Darrell Issa as well as member Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, two particular areas of concern are addressed: the “proliferation” of new PROs and the lack of transparency about the distribution of general licensing revenue.

The letter, obtained by Billboard, notes the latter issue is of particular importance to independent artists and smaller publishers. “It is difficult to assess how efficiently PROs are distributing general licensing revenue based on publicly available data,” the letter reads. “For example, it is difficult to determine how accurately lesser known and independent artists as well as smaller publishers are being compensated compared to widely popular artists and major publishers.”

Concerns around transparency at the PROs are not new. The National Music Publishers’ Association, the trade organization representing music publishers, has spoken publicly about it, as have a number of individual songwriters and publishers over the years. These concerns grew last year after BMI, one of the largest PROs in the country, switched its business model from non-profit to for-profit and was acquired by private equity firm New Mountain Capital.

At the end of BMI’s fiscal year 2022, Billboard reported that “for the first time ever, it hardly contains any financial information.”

“I believe that you have a fundamental right to know what it costs you to use a particular collection society now I will tell you that ASCAP gives you a pretty close look at what it costs not exactly, but they give you a pretty close ballpark,” said NMPA CEO and president David Israelite at an Association of Independent Music Publishers’ Meeting in February. “BMI at the end of the last fiscal year we didn’t get that information.”

The letter states that it “request[s] that the Office examine how the various PROs currently gather information from live music venues, music services, and other general licensees about public performance; the level of information currently provided by PROs to the public; whether any gaps or discrepancies occur in royalty distribution; what technological and business practices exist or could be developed to improve the current system; the extent to which the current distribution practices are the result of existing legal and regulatory constraints; and potential recommendations for policymakers.”

The “proliferation” of PROs is a newer concern. Around the world, most countries typically have one PRO for local writers and publishers to join. In the U.S., it works differently. For over a hundred years, ASCAP and BMI have been the primary choices for a songwriter or publisher looking to collect performance royalties in the United States, but there is also the option to go with SESAC instead, a smaller but still important player in the U.S. PRO landscape, which has been around for almost as long.

Since its founding in 2013, Global Music Rights (GMR), a for-profit PRO founded by industry veteran Irving Azoff, has become a heavyweight in the space as well. GMR business model is to focus on a smaller roster of only the top tier of songwriters and then charging a premium to the bars, venues, shops and theaters that wanted to play them. Because their roster includes major artists including Bruce Springsteen, Billie Eilish, Drake, and more, the GMR blanket license became immediately important for licensees to have, no matter the cost.

In 2017, a fifth U.S.-based PRO emerged. AllTrack was founded by media investor and former SESAC-board member Hayden Bower and is designed to focus on indie creators with a tech-forward approach. This year, AllTrack became the fourth U.S. PRO to be accepted by the International Confederation of Socities of Authors and Composers (CISAC), along with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.

“Licensees [like bars, restaurants and small businesses] have reported receiving demands for royalties from new entities claiming to represent songwriters… Licensees are concerned that the proliferation of PROs represents an ever-present danger of infringement allegations and potential litigation risk from new and unknown sources,” the letter states.

“We request that the USCO examine the increased costs and burdens imposed on licensees for paying an ever-increasing number of PROs, factors that may be contributing to the proliferation of new PROs, and recommendations on how to improve clarity and certainty for licensees,” it continues.

Perlmutter and the Copyright Office cannot make any specific changes to the way PROs work today, but often letters like this are sent in hopes that it will draw attention to particular issues or become the predicate for a hearing or draft bill.

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Teddy Swims can still remember being 12 years old when he got his first pair of Timberland boots. While the outerwear brand’s Yellow Boot has continued to top style charts for fashion-forward utility wear, for the 31-year-old singer, the shoes were simply a sturdy pair of work boots that helped him score some extra cash as a kid.

“My stepdad at the time was like, ‘Well, if you’re going to get some money, I’ll give you $10 an hour, you’re going to work 10 hours every day, and then you can go spend your own money,’” Swims recalls in an interview with Billboard. “He bought me a pair of boots, and I was out there rolling sod on a football field.”

In a full-circle moment, “The Door” singer now joins Timberland’s Iconic campaign, which launched Thursday (Sept. 12) and continues celebrating the classic Yellow Boot while spotlighting a mix of original and authentic creatives, including Naomi Campbell, Slawn and Kai-Isaiah Jamal.

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Made from premium leather, Timberland’s boots will help carry your feet in comfort throughout the day using a rubber sole and waterproof material. The lace-up design makes it easy to adjust to your preferences while the anti-fatigue insole can easily be removed to customize the shoes to your liking.

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You can still find Swims wearing a pair of Yellow Boots, which he finds look best with a “pair of daisy dukes” (otherwise known as jean shorts).

Levi’s Men’s 405 Standard Fit Shorts

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Combine classics in a pair of bestselling Levi’s denim shorts that come with a soft cotton mix material that has a hint of shoppers. Some Amazon shoppers love the style so much that they’ve been “wearing this style for years” — and as an added bonus, the shorts are 60% off.

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2024 has been an ultra-successful year for the R&B singer, who scored his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his soulful single “Lose Control,” which has managed to remain on the chart for 56 weeks. The artist keeps winning, being labeled by Timberland as “Iconic,” which he says is “all I ever wanted to be.”

How does one know they’re an icon? Besides being the face of a major campaign, Swims believes you have to reach Halloween costume status.

“I have a dear friend of mine that I went to middle school with and he said the definition of Iconic is when somebody can dress as you for Halloween and you could be noticeable,” he says. “For my entire life then on, I was like, ‘How can I be somebody that somebody could dress as for Halloween?’ They’ll know, ‘Oh, sh–, that’s Teddy Swims!’”

And according to the artist, it finally happened to him a few years ago when his tour manager’s little cousin dressed as him for Halloween.

“I was like, ‘I’m officially an icon, I did it,’” he adds.

And if you’re wondering how you can pull off a recognizable Teddy Swims costume, he says you simply need a fake beard, fake tattoos and jokes, “Maybe tuck a pillow under your shirt, get a little gut going.”

Keep reading to shop some of our costume picks.

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Complete your Swims costume by decorating your face, arms and legs with temporary tattoos. This pack comes with 36 sheets featuring a range of symbols and pictures you can apply. Each tattoo is waterproof, non-toxic and hypoallergenic and just need to be applied to clean skin for the best results.

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For more product recommendations, check out ShopBillboard‘s roundups of the best platform boots, musician cookbooks and music posters.