Halle Bailey and DDG are formally introducing their son to the world, as well as the Italian coast. On Saturday (July 3), the couple shared their first photos of baby Halo’s face on Instagram, posing with the six-month-old in glamorous vacation shots in Europe.

In the snaps, the Little Mermaid star looks stunning in a glamorous bejeweled gown, the “Moonwalking In Calabasas” rapper wearing a matching shirt. The family stands on a dock that looks out onto miles of deep blue ocean, the smiling parents proudly holding up their baby boy.

“halo’s first time in italy 🤍🌊” Bailey captioned the post.

In the comments, Halle’s famous sister and bandmate Chloe Bailey wrote, “auntie’s baby!!! 😍😍😍”

The post marks fans’ first proper time seeing Halo’s face since the “In Your Hands” singer and DDG welcomed their first child together late last year. Halle announced his birth six days into January, sharing a photo of his tiny hand on Instagram and writing, “Even though we’re a few days into the new year, the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me, was bring me my son.”

In May, the vocalist shared a video of her son’s birth as well as clips of her first few weeks of motherhood in honor of her first Mother’s Day as a parent. In the reel, she holds her newborn while lying in her hospital bed, presumably just moments after welcoming her son, while another shot shows her boyfriend cradling the tiny baby boy.

“my first mother’s day,” she captioned the post. “the greatest love i’ve ever known.”

The star has also been open about the more complicated parts of becoming a mom. In April, she got candid about experiencing what she called “severe” postpartum depression after giving birth, revealing in a Snapchat video, “it’s hard for me to be separated from my baby for more than 30 minutes at a time before I start to kind of freak out.”

“When I look at him, I cry because of how special he is,” she’d added. “The only thing that’s been hard for me is feeling normal in my own body. I feel like a completely different person. When I look in the mirror, I just feel like I’m in a whole new body. Like, I don’t know who I am.”

When Florida Georgia Line decided to go in solo directions, Brian Kelley arguably had the tougher route, simply because of his established role in the duo.

Tyler Hubbard has one of the most identifiable voices in the genre, and he understandably took the lead on all of the pair’s singles, plus most of the album cuts. Those trademark FGL harmonies relied heavily on Kelley’s input, but he found himself in much the same position as Kristian Bush in Sugarland — a familiar face that country fans heard all the time, but rarely by himself.

So when Kelley turned to producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Kane Brown) for assistance with his second solo album, Tennessee Truth, he was fired up by Huff’s appreciation of his tone.

“From the first meeting, he gave me so much confidence,” Kelley reflects. “He was a fan of my voice, and he was excited to go to work, and when Dan Huff says he’s got it, you’re like, ‘Hell, yeah.’ ”

And Huff really did get it.

“Because he was not the lead singer in the band, I think he really wants to stamp his personality, let people know he can sing,” agrees Huff. “And I always have enjoyed his voice. He’s got a beautiful, kind of almost-Alan Jackson tenor.”

Kelley is set up for success in his latest single, “Acres,” an upbeat release that most certainly stamps his persona. It piles up brands and activities related to one of his favorite getaways — including Mossy Oak clothing and a Chevrolet K5 Blazer — and frames those images with a melody that hammers the sweet spot in his voice. At the end of most lines in the chorus, the next-to-last syllable — “a-cres,” “Bla-zer,” “Ga-tor,” “take her” — repeatedly lands on the same note, one that creates tension within the key signature even as it highlights one of the best sections of his range.

“I think we got it in the groove key for me where it’s easy, in a sense of a vocal,” he says. “But it’s also pushing and it’s got character, and I’m able to utilize my voice to the fullest.”

Kelley wrote “Acres” at his Middle Tennessee home with Adam Sanders (“Ain’t Worth the Whiskey,” “Hell of a Night”) and Will Weatherly (“Good As You,” “Thinking ’Bout You”) on June 15, 2023. 

“I remember just sort of strumming on guitar, the fast chord progression of the intro,” notes Sanders. “I thought that I was just kind of playing around, and Will was like, ‘Hey, that’s really cool, don’t stop’ — and in true Will Weatherly fashion, he just whipped the track out.”

Kelley picked the title “Acres” out of a list on his phone, and he tied it to a piece of land his in-laws own in Georgia. 

“We go there once or twice, sometimes three times a year,” Kelley says. “It’s a place where you can fish, you can hunt, you can chill. We’ve written songs out there, we’ve ridden around; we’ll do night rides, looking for all sorts of stuff. It’s kind of a little bit of a safari vibe, you know, and, man, it’s become a really special place since we got married.”

They started at the chorus, plugging in brand names, with nearly every phrase heading toward the end-of-the-line, melodic sweet spot on the way to the hook: “Put her in the middle of some acres.” The setup line was a bit of a challenge, though Sanders solved the puzzle during a break when he got the line, “My baby loves it when I take her,” along with a staccato melody.

“When I found that it worked at the end of the chorus, in the middle of the chorus and the end of the verse, and placed all three in the same places with the same melody, it somehow became the glue that glues everything together,” says Sanders. “Once we got that, it was kind of like it just wrote itself.”

With that solved, they started working on the verses, where they instinctively altered the sound. The melody shifted to a curvy landscape, and they left more space between the lines.

“Selfishly, as a singer, you have to have some time to breathe,” Kelley says.

For the listener, it provided enough variance from the rapid-fire chorus to keep it interesting, though still feeling like it naturally connected to the chorus.

“If you’re part of a song where [the verse] isn’t different enough, just trust me when I say you don’t want to listen,” says Weatherly. “You don’t want to hear the chorus a million times over if the verse sounds like the same melody.”

They created more variation at the bridge, where a building melody naturally leads the listener back to one more run through the chorus. The bridge also allows a subtle reference to “something rolled in a pay-per.”

“That just had to be in there somewhere,” Weatherly says. “That’s too aggressive for the verses and the chorus, but you can kind of tuck that into the bridge and maybe people won’t notice. And if they do, then they’re kind of like, ‘Light one up for us.’ ”

Sanders sang lead for Weatherly’s demo, built around acoustic guitar and programmed drums. It provided a great template when Huff cut instrumental tracks with Kelley at Nashville’s Sound Stage. They speeded the tempo up a few clicks, and Evan Hutching’s punchy drums, Ilya Toshinskiy’s ringing acoustic guitar and some electric guitar chunking provided layers of rhythm underneath the verses’ leisurely melody. At the chorus, the electric guitars morphed into heavier block chords to avoid clashing with Kelley.

“When you get in the chorus, it’s such a rapid-fire lyric,” says Huff. “We probably tried some little jangle parts and stuff like that, but ultimately, you do not want to be drawn away from the vocal at that point.”

A song about outdoors life needed some distinctly country flavor, so during overdubs, Huff brought in fiddler Jenee Fleenor and put her in the middle of “Acres,” playing a simple solo with appropriate sonic flavor. “I thought it was badass,” Weatherly says of Huff’s production. 

Kelley’s wife, Brittney, thought so, too, believing it showcased her spouse better than any other solo track he has recorded to date. “When I come in on that first verse,” says Kelley, “she goes, ‘Man, that’s my husband. Heck, I’m going to turn that thing up.’ ”

He made “Acres” the opening track on Tennessee Truth, which Big Machine released on May 10, and it earned immediate positive feedback. The label sent it to country radio via PlayMPE one month later, and Kelley is optimistic that it will help to further set him apart.

“Hopefully,” he says, “fans will start being able to identify with BK.” 

Lucky Daye sat down with Billboard News and executive director of R&B/hip-hop Gail Mitchell to talk about his latest album Algorithm. “My mind-set was I kinda wanted to talk to myself as if God was talking to me,” the New Orleans singer said when asked what his approach was for this project. “So, I was just using that to write letters to myself the whole album, trying to get to know myself.” Adding, “Who am I? What’s my algorithm? The things I don’t like, the things I do like.”

Lucky — who has written for the likes of Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and Victoria Monét — also gave his definition of R&B. “I’m talking about what I’ve been through and I’m being vulnerable, it’s sounds like R&B in my mind.” He continued by adding, “I honestly think that R&B is everything… it’s the literal foundation of most music.”

Released on June 28, Algorithm is the third studio album from Lucky and his song “That’s You” produced by D’Mile and Bruno Mars is currently sitting at No. 2 on the Adult R&B Airplay Chart.

He’s set to hit the road with The Algorithm Tour featuring special guest Fana Hues. The first stop is in San Francisco on July 11 at The Warfield and the last stop is in LA on Aug. 28 at the Greek Theatre. He plays Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Aug. 7 and will play his hometown of New Orleans on Aug. 17 at The Filmore.

You can find tickets here and be sure to check out the full interview above.

Sabrina Carpenter scores her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart as “Espresso” bubbles up to the survey’s top spot.

The song, released on Island Records and promoted to radio by Republic, rules the July 13-dated chart with a 3% gain in plays June 28-July 4. (The list ranks songs by weekly plays on over 150 mainstream top 40 radio stations monitored by Mediabase, with data provided to Billboard by Luminate.)

Carpenter first led Pop Airplay with “Feather” for a week in April – and becomes the first artist with at least two No. 1s on the tally in 2024. Last year, one artist notched two new chart-toppers at the format: Taylor Swift, with “Karma” and “Cruel Summer.” (Carpenter opened on the South American run of Swift’s The Eras Tour in August-November 2023 and rejoined the tour this February-March for dates in Australia and Singapore.)

Additionally, Carpenter is the first artist signed to Island to collect two Pop Airplay No. 1s in the same year since 2005, when Mariah Carey reigned with “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off.”

As previously reported, “Espresso” has topped both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Meanwhile, Carpenter scores the Pop Airplay chart’s Greatest Gainer for a second week as “Please Please Please” leaps 24-18 (up 72%) in its second week on the list. The song (notably, edited for radio) became her first No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated June 29.

“Espresso” and “Please Please Please” introduce Carpenter’s album Short n’ Sweet, due Aug. 23. She’s set to begin her 29-date Short n’ Sweet Tour Sept. 23 in Columbus, Ohio.

All charts dated July 13 will update Tuesday, July 9, on Billboard.com.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

This week, Zach Bryan continues his prolific streak, Lana Del Rey and Quavo get “Tough” and Morgan Wallen takes a muted new step. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Zach Bryan, The Great American Bar Scene 

Zach Bryan has released a new full-length in each of the last three years, somehow managing to unveil extended alt-country opuses in between nonstop tour dates and expand his aesthetic in the process — after scoring his first Hot 100 chart-topper last year with the Kacey Musgraves duet “I Remember Everything,” for instance, new album The Great American Bar Scene boasts collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer, among others. Yet Bryan’s tireless work ethic and growing popularity is not yielding diminishing returns: The Great American Bar Scene is defined by the same rustic, open-hearted songwriting that has made Bryan a star, and songs like “Mechanical Bull,” “28” and “The Way Back” are among the strongest in his quickly swelling discography.

Lana Del Rey & Quavo, “Tough” 

Lana Del Rey has become a beloved pop heroine without paying too much attention to crossover pop singles — she’s only entered the top 10 of the Hot 100 twice in her career, once with a remix and another time thanks to a featured spot on a Taylor Swift song. Yet “Tough,” her new team-up with Quavo, finds a sweet spot in between dreamy alt-pop and sizzling trap, with each artist sticking to their respective approaches before Del Rey starts rapping and the Migos star begins crooning. “Tough” shape-shifts, but never in an unnatural way; don’t be surprised if this unexpected collaboration becomes a late-summer hit.

Morgan Wallen, “Lies Lies Lies” 

As Morgan Wallen enjoys the type of superstardom that winds up becoming decade-defining — and spends another week atop the Hot 100 chart, with his Post Malone team-up “I Had Some Help” — the country giant has released “Lies Lies Lies” as something of a palette cleanser, with the wistful, low-key track a far cry from his latest chart-conquering anthem. Originally recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 2023 and released as part of a digital series in March, “Lies Lies Lies” arrives on streaming services as a humbled admission of continued longing, with Wallen trying to convince himself that he’s moved on from a relationship before crying, “I’m still a fool for you.”

Childish Gambino, “Lithonia” 

Donald Glover’s Childish Gambino project crowned the Hot 100 and scooped up multiple major Grammys with the provocative 2018 anthem “This Is America” — and instead of doubling down on mainstream music fame, Glover released an offbeat pandemic project (3.15.20), revisited and renamed it a few years later (Atavista), and retreated into rewarding film and TV projects. Now, he’s prepping what has been teased as the final Childish Gambino album, Bando Stone & The New World, and “Lithonia” marks an intriguing first taste: a fuzzed-out power ballad featuring some open-chested singing and soul harmonies, the track sounds designed for the arena crowds that Glover can still command whenever he wants.

Eminem feat. Big Sean & BabyTron, “Tobey” 

The first two tracks that Eminem has released from his upcoming album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) showcase two of the qualities that have made him an enduring superstar: while “Houdini” was all quotable crassness and pop hooks, “Tobey” is ear-melting rap theatrics, with Em’s technical skill taking center stage in the back half of the track. Before that, Big Sean and BabyTron crash in to deliver their own double-time rhymes, operating over a minimalist beat that allows all three MCs to turn their bars into the song’s priority.

Editor’s Pick: Kesha, “Joyride” 

The release of Kesha’s “Joyride” on Independence Day was purposeful: the new single represented the pop star’s first song as an independent artist, following a years-long legal battle with Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald and the fulfillment of her initial label contract. With that in mind, “Joyride” is both an exhalation following unhappy circumstances and a smart back-to-basics move, in which Kesha can wrap her arms around a sly, hard-charging party track and reintroduce herself. “Joyride” bounces along with carnival-esque production and wacky sound effects, but Kesha matches its exuberance, altering her voice to punctuate every punchline and having a blast on the giddy hook.