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Olivia Rodrigo and co-writer Daniel Nigro are the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Songwriters of the Year. It is the second award in the top category for Rodrigo, who first received the honor in 2022.
Chappell Roan, who has a fast-climbing hit with “Good Luck, Babe!,” which she co-wrote with Nigro and Justin Tranter, was scheduled to present Nigro with his award on Wednesday (May 8) at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles celebrating this year’s ASCAP Pop Music Award winners.
Rodrigo and Nigro have shared two Grammy nods for song of the year (for “Driver’s License” and “Vampire”) and one for best rock song (for “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”). In less than three and a half years, Rodrigo has amassed 17 top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including three songs – “Driver’s License,” “Good 4 U” and “Vampire” – that entered the chart at No. 1.
“Calm Down,” performed by Rema and featuring Selena Gomez, wins ASCAP Pop Song of the Year. Co-written by Rema, Gomez, Michael “LONDON” Hunter, Amanda “Kiddo AI” Ibanez and Andre Vibez, the song reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and rode the chart for 57 weeks. “Calm Down” is published by Hook Like Behavior, Kobalt Music Publishing, Livelihood Music Company, SMG Tunes, Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music.
Publisher of the Year goes to Universal Music Publishing Group for songs including “Calm Down,” “Cuff It” (Beyoncé), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa), “Barbie World” (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua), “Lavender Haze” (Taylor Swift), “Paint the Town Red” (Doja Cat), “Star Walkin’ (League of Legends Worlds Anthem)” (Lil Nas X) and “Sure Thing” (Miguel).
Other 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters include Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff (their holiday evergreen “All I Want for Christmas Is You”), Noah Kahan (“Dial Drunk”), St. Vincent (“Cruel Summer”), Meghan Trainor (“Made You Look”) and Leon Thomas (“Snooze”).
As previously announced, Charli XCX received the ASCAP Global Impact Award. Charli is gearing up for the release of her sixth solo album, BRAT on June 7 and a North American tour with Troye Sivan, who was set to present her with the award.
The ASCAP Pop Music Awards honor the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most-performed pop songs of 2023. The winners are determined by data on terrestrial and satellite radio and for programmed and on-demand audio streams, all provided by Luminate Data LLC.
More information on the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award winners is available here.
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For the first time in 50 years, Beatles fans will get to go inside the making of band’s final album. Let It Be, the 1970 documentary helmed by Michael Lindsay- Hogg, arrives on Disney+ on Wednesday (May 8).
The documentary, restored by The Beatles: Get Back director Peter Jackson’s production company, shares rare footage of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr from the recording studio to the Apple Corps’ rooftop in London where the Fab Five wrote and recorded Let It Be and performed live for the last time as group.
“Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970,” Lindsay-Hogg recalled, according to Disney. “One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film.”
“But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs? And then you get to the roof, and you see their excitement, camaraderie, and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter [Jackson] was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” said Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the Get Back story.”
Read on for ways to join Disney+ and stream Let It Be.
How to Stream Let It Be on Disney+
Let It Be is a Disney+ Original streaming exclusively for subscribers. If you’re not a Disney+ subscriber, here’s a short rundown of how much it costs, and how to land a free subscription.
Disney+ plans start at $7.99/month for the Basic subscription and $11.99/month for Disney+ Premium (ad-free streaming).
Looking for a Disney+ deal? You have a few options, the easiest being a bundle plan, which saves you up to 37% off. Subscribe to the Disney+ Basic Duo plan with Hulu for $9.99/month, or the Trio plan with Hulu and ESPN+ for $14.99/month.
Disney+ no longer offers free trials, but you can go through a third party such as Verizon to get a free subscription. Currently, Verizon customers can score a free six-month subscription to Disney+ with select Unlimited phone plans.
Disney+ offers a huge collection of exclusive TV series, movies, documentaries, concert specials and sports. Let It Be leads a trio of music documentaries arriving on Disney+ this month including Queen Rock Montreal premiering on May 15, and The Beach Boys documentary on May 24.
Watch the trailer for Let It Be below.
It’s Wednesday, May 8th, and Drake & Kendrick Lamar’s beef is getting intense. On Tuesday morning, Drake’s security guard was shot at the rapper’s Toronto residence and his London OVO store was vandalized with the phrase “they not like us,” referencing Kendrick’s diss to Drake. On top of that, it looks like both rappers’ diss tracks are making their way to the Hot 100 next week. We give you All Access to 21 Savage’s American Dream Tour. Beyoncé posted an IG Reel showing that she was actually at Coachella a couple weeks back — how could we miss that? Meghan Trainor debuted a new music video for her new single “To the Moon,” from her upcoming album ‘Timeless.’ It looks like Rauw Alejandro covered up one of his tattoos that he got with now ex Rosalía. Craig David stopped by and explained ‘How It Went Down’ for his iconic single “7 Days” and more!
Tetris Kelly:
Beyoncé’s stealthy surprise trip, Meghan Trainor’s out of this world video and Rauw Alejandro says bye to his ex. The Kendrick and Drake beef takes a wild turn. We take you inside 21 Savage’s show and Craig David breaks down one of his biggest hits. This Hump Day is packed with news, and it’s starting with a shocking update. The Kendrick and Drake beef is getting intense and now it’s beyond just diss tracks. Let’s break it down. After the back and forth diss tracks, a security guard working at Drake’s Toronto residence was shot early Tuesday morning. According to the Toronto Star, the security guard was transported to the hospital where he underwent surgery. No suspects have been named, but law enforcement says security footage captured a suspect’s car leaving the property. It’s not clear if Drake was at home at the time of the shooting and law enforcement have not said whether they think the shooting is linked to Drake and Kendrick’s feud. What does seem to be related to the feud is the vandalizing of Drake’s London OVO store. Someone spraypainted the front window with “they not like us,” possibly a reference to Kendrick’s song. While the rap beef has seemingly spurred some negative actions, it looks like some of their diss tracks could be heading for chart success. Four of the diss tracks have already appeared on the Hot 100 and three more — “Not Like Us,” “FAMILY MATTERS” and “meet the grahams” — which are all widely available
Keep watching to learn more!
Marc Anthony adds a 15th top 10 to his Billboard Tropical Albums chart career as Muevense, his 11th studio album, starts at No. 4 on the ranking dated May 11. The 10-track set, released April 24 via Sony Music Latin, enters with 3,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 2, according to Luminate.
Sales and streaming activity contribute to Muevense’s first week sum: albums sales comprise 1,500 units, while 1,500 units derive from streams, equaling 2.2 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Track-equivalent album units comprise a negligible sum of the album’s first week.
On the Tropical Latin Albums chart units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
May is a month for celebration for Marc Anthony, who in addition to banking his 15th top 10 on Tropical Albums, launched his new Sirius XM channel, Muevense Radio, on May 1. Running for a limited time, through May 31, the channel features a best-of-playlist, plus music from his influences and favorite artists, and stories surrounding the breadth of his over three-decade tenure.
Muevense arrives on Tropical Albums two years and two months after Marc’s previous album Pa’lla Voy reached No. 3 in March 2022. Plus, the new album extends his span of 15 top 10s to 31 years, dating to his first week in the top 10 on Feb. 17, 1993, when Otra Nota debuted and peaked at No. 2.
Further, Muevense joins two other Marc Anthony albums on Tropical Albums: 3.0 and Sigo Siendo Yo. While the latter claims its 280th week on the tally, 3.0 banks its 509th week and extends its record for the set with the most weeks overall since Tropical Albums began in 1985.
Beyond its Tropical Albums arrival, Muevense, encompassing eight salsa tracks, one bachata, and one regional Mexican ballad with Pepe Aguilar, also opens at No. 50 on Top Latin Albums.
The set was preceded by three songs. “Ale Ale” flies 16-3 on Tropical Airplay with a robust 227% gain in audience impressions, to 4 million, earned in the U.S. during the same tracking week. The song likewise opens at No. 22 on Latin Airplay as the Hot Shot debut of the week. The song was premiered live at the Latin American Music Awards on April 25.
Back on Tropical Airplay, with the new visit to the upper tier, Marc collects his 57th top 10 entry, and extends second-most record among all acts behind Victor Manuelle who continues to lead with 65 top 10 career hits. The bachata “Punta Cana,” meanwhile, dips 4-6 due to a 34% dip in audience, to 2 million.
Lastly, over on Regional Mexican Airplay, thanks to his co-billed “Ojala Te Duela,” with Pepe Aguilar, the Puerto Rican scored his first entry ever on a regional Mexican chart in Nov. 2023.
Cardi B is defending herself after forgetting the name of Sensen Lii, the Chinese fashion designer who created the rapper’s jaw-dropping, black tulle look at the 2024 Met Gala on Monday night (May 6).
On the red carpet, when asked by Emma Chamberlain for Vogue who the creator of the look was, Cardi hesitated and forgot his name in the moment, noting instead: “They’re Asian and everything.”
Cardi then received online backlash for her comments, slammed by critics for being racially insensitive. Vogue‘s former managing director Gilbert Cheah also called out the “Bodak Yellow” rapper in a comment section on Instagram, writing, “For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardi B, the designer of her gown is Sensen Lii who’s Chinese. The gown took two months to make. I personally think it’s boring and not even on theme but she chose it and should have at least remembered his name and not just that he’s ‘Asian’ [eye roll emoji].”
In response, Cardi took to Instagram to defend herself, explaining that she “had a lot of things on” her mind and was “very scared” since she was being rushed to the front of the line at the Met Gala. “I kind of forgot how to pronounce the designer’s name because his name is a little bit complicated… my mind was just racing,” she recalled.
Cardi said she wasn’t trying to “be offensive,” adding, “I feel like the designer and my stylist worked really hard for this theme, so for you to be kind of shady because she feel offended or whatever, it just proves why you’re the former director. You’re trying to offend me but you’re actually offending the people behind-the-scenes.”
Watch her full explanation via TMZ here.
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