On Tuesday night (Oct. 10), Swizz Beatz and Timbaland received the Rock The Bells Cultural Influence Award at the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta. 

The hip-hop luminaries were on hand to accept the award for their cultural contributions to hip-hop and boundless creativity. “I always dreamed I’d be on stage accepting an award about hip-hop. Doing music back in Virginia, I never thought I’d make it, but I’m here,” began Timbaland. “Me and my brother created something special, and it ain’t over. Black-owned, Verzuz, me and Swizz Beatz. I’m glad to share this with my brother.”

Swizz doubled down on Timbo’s sentiments and agreed that Verzuz was far from finished, noting that they had more tricks under their sleeves. “Like Tim said, we own Verzuz again. We got quiet for a minute, but we’re gonna come back strong and show you what it is. That wasn’t just something for the pandemic; that’s something for the world,” said Swizz. 

Verzuz curated many prominent battles over the last three years, including square-offs between Brandy and Monica, Jeezy and Gucci Mane, The LOX and Dipset and more. 

In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, Swizz Beatz teased that Verzuz was undergoing a restructuring process. “What we’re doing right now is taking the first half of the year to reorganize,” he said last March. “It became so big that we had to restructure how we were doing things, how we’re moving, how we want to relaunch. We feel that it’s so unique that when we come with what we’re getting ready to come with, people will understand me and Tim’s decision on how to move as entrepreneurs and as creatives. And hopefully, it will be a blueprint for people on how to do things.”

Pop superstar Kylie Minogue says she made a “conscious decision to go for it” in terms of promoting her new album Tension – and indeed she has. Since mid-May, she’s been hard at work across the globe to tell the tale of Tension.

“The entire team’s been working really hard,” she tells the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to her full interview, below). “I feel so grateful for this moment and so excited for the music and what is unfolding — people’s experience with the music and how they’re making it their own and really welcoming it into their lives, that how could I not give extra? I mean it’s kind of my default anyways.”

All that hard work paid off too. Tension debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, scored her biggest sales week in the U.S. in early 20 years, and opened at No. 1 in the U.K. and in Australia.

Now that she’s broken the Tension, next up for Minogue is the launch of her residency at the Voltaire Belle de Nuit at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, which begins on Nov. 3. The intimate club, which will hold only 1,000 guests at each show, promises to offer a unique experience with Minogue, which the Voltaire advertises as “more than just a residency.”

Minogue says her performance within the club will feature a “selection of songs from throughout the years” and that the show, and its setlist, could evolve over time, since she has 20 shows currently scheduled “over a number of months,” on through next May.

Guests attending an evening at the Voltaire during Minogue’s residency will see their evening start around 9:30 p.m., while Minogue will take the stage a little after 11. “It’s late night,” she says. Will her Voltaire performance differ from a traditional touring show from Minogue? “It will be different to a normal concert,” she says. “My show’s normally two [hours], two [hours] and 15 [minutes long] … so it’s gonna be more snug [than a regular show]. I think it’s gonna feel, because we’re so close [she and the audience] … to be revealed. I mean, I haven’t done this kind of show before. But I think being that close and that intimate in that environment, I think it’s gonna feel kind of more than what it might appear on paper.”

Will her Voltaire residency preclude Minogue from going out on the road with her own tour? No! Does she have a desire to head back out for her own traveling show? Yes!

“I see [the Voltaire engagement] as a very specific show and experience, enhanced by and limited by its surrounds. It is a performance within the Voltaire club. And, to be this involved at the inception of this club — which will hopefully be there for many, many years with lots of different artists performing there — I do feel especially attached to it because I’ve known about it since its inception and I’m part of the opening. But, my tour? That would be different again. And a very different sensation for me and for the audience. So yeah, I would love to go on tour again, absolutely.”

Also in our chat with Minogue, the pop princess reveals how she “would love to be back in the studio” working on new music after the inspiring time she had making the Tension album. “I feel like we’ve just kind of tapped into something that I’d love to explore more.”

Also on the new edition of the Pop Shop Podcast, we’ve got chart news how *NSYNC returns to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 20 years and makes a splashy entrance on Billboard’s airplay charts with “Better Place,” Pop Shop hosts Katie and Keith discuss their recent concert trips to see P!nk and Jessie Ware, respectively, and a chart stat of the week about Madonna’s debut on the Hot 100, 40 years ago this month.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)  

Banjo player and guitarist Buck Trent, a two-time CMA instrumental group of the year winner and a prominent member of the cast of the variety show Hee Haw, died on Monday (Oct. 9) at age 85.

Trent was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Feb. 17, 1938, and moved to Nashville in 1959. In 1962, he joined Porter Wagoner’s Wagonmasters, performing with the group for approximately a decade.

Trent’s star rose through his work as a member of the cast of the variety show Hee Haw from 1974 to 1982. Those performances were regularly punctuated by Trent shouting what became his signature phrase, “Oh yeah!” In 2018, Trent was part of a “Kornfield Friends” reunion tour which also featured his fellow Hee Haw alums Jana Jae, Lulu Roman and Misty Rowe.

During his career, Trent also made appearances on The Marty Stuart Show and The Porter Wagoner Show, among others.

In 1975, Trent and fellow country music entertainer and banjoist Roy Clark earned a Billboard Top Country Albums hit with their collaborative project A Pair of Fives (Banjos, That Is), peaking at No. 9. Three other Trent titles impacted the tally: 1968’s Give Me Five (No. 40), 1976’s Bionic Banjo (No. 43) 1978’s Banjo Bandits with Clark (No. 45).

In 1975 and 1976, Trent and Clark won consecutive CMA Awards for instrumental group of the year. Also in 1976, Trent joined Clark and The Oak Ridge Boys for a concert tour behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union. Two years later, Trent and Clark released the project Banjo Bandits, which would earn a Grammy nomination for best country instrumental performance.

In addition to his own recordings, Trent contributed guitar and/or banjo on enduring recordings by Roy Acuff, Wagoner, Clark, Stuart and Dolly Parton, including Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene.” His contributions to music also proved innovative, as the creator of the electric banjo.

In the 1980s, after traveling to Branson, Trent began performing and would become a longtime performer in the town. In 2004, Trent also appeared as a Branson performer in the movie Gordy. Later, in 2012, Trent played on two songs for Marty Stuart’s album Nashville Volume 1: Tear the Woodpile Down.

Trent was previously named as one of this year’s American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame honorees; the celebration is slated for Oct. 12-14 in Oklahoma City.

Trent’s wife, Jean Trent, said in a statement, “It is with great sorrow and a broken heart to say my husband, my love, Buck Trent, went to be with Jesus this morning. I lost my best friend, and the world lost a Master Musician and Country Music Legend. Oh Yeah!”

Jim Halsey, longtime manager for Country Music Hall of Fame group The Oak Ridge Boys and the late Clark, described Trent as “one of my very favorite people in the world.” He added in a statement, “I worked with him for years as a partner with the Roy Clark Show. Buck Trent is one of the greatest banjo players ever. We will all miss him. Thank you, Buck Trent, for being in all our lives.”

Roman added in a statement, “Buck was like a brother to me after all of these years. We’ve shared tons of laughs and some tears along the way, but we never left each other’s side. We had a bond like no other. I’ll miss the man, but cherish the memories from our 50+ year friendship. My heart breaks for his precious wife, Jean, his family, friends, and fans. There will never be another like Buck Trent. Oh Yea!” 

The Oak Ridge Boys member Joe Bonsall added, “We lost a dear long-time friend today in Buck Trent. Buck toured the Soviet Union with us and Roy Clark in 1976 and we have been close ever since. Buck was one of the greatest banjo players of all time and a very funny man. We will miss Buck!”