A few nights before Christmas, things were not silent all through the house after all. In the run-up to the holiday, Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield gave fans a special bonus under their tree: a recitation of the popular Christmas story “A Visit From St. Nicholas.”

The singer put down the guitar and read from the poem written by literature professor Clement Clarke Moore for his six children that was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in Troy, N.Y. in 1823 and which has since become a Christmas classic. The story of the holiday is often referred to by the poem’s most famous first line: “‘Twas the night before Christmas.”

Hetfield’s version debuted on Friday (Dec. 19) on the band’s Maximum Metallia SiriusXM channel and then migrated to the band’s Instagram page, where it was accompanied by a cartoon image of a crackling fire. The group members’ stockings were, of course, hung with care, one for drummer Lars Ulrich, another for Hetfield, as well as ones for bassist Robert Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett. While presents and bows surrounded the fire, in a fittingly Metallica touch, the mantle was also hung with an ominous fanged skull.

“Gather ‘Round… It’s Story Time with Papa Het,” read the caption. In a soothing voice miles away from his typical warrior’s howl, Hetfield recited the story with warmth and wonder, though he gave the lines about “the children were nestled all snug in their beds/ While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads,” a slightly ominous tinge.

His voice took on a familiar gravel when he read off the list of Santa’s reindeer, giving a certain menace to the “dash away all!” line, then chuckling along at the sight of St. Nick laughing and shaking “like a bowl full of jelly.” Hetfield delivered the legendary final line, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” with such lusty abandon that one commenter said, “if you turn this into a song, that would be epic.”

Listen to James Hetfield read “A Visit From St. Nicholas” below.

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David Guetta brought his Monolith Experience show to the Sunburn Festival 2025 in Mumbai on Saturday night (Dec. 20), and during the fest appearance, the veteran producer brought out Bollywood mainstay and rising global pop star Nora Fatehi. Together, Guetta and Fatehi previewed “Fire,” an upcoming collaboration that will also feature Ciara in its studio version.

On stage in front of thousands of fans, Guetta combined his animated persona and penchant for oversized drops with Fatehi’s beguiling vocals as the two stars stood side by side. “Fire” was tucked in between Guetta’s smashes such as “Titanium” and “Without You” in the festival set, which culminated in fireworks.

“Teasing our new global collab ‘Fire’ exclusively to India at Sunburn with David Guetta was epic!” Fatehi says in a statement to Billboard. “This marks the first time anyone gets to hear our track, and the response has been phenomenal!”

Fatehi adds, “We are so excited to shoot the music video in India in February, and launch the song next year!”

Guetta and Ciara are the latest stars who Fatehi has joined for global singles, after collaborating with Jason Derulo and Shenseea on separate tracks in 2025. Fatehi is one of the flagship artists on 5 Junction Records, a joint venture label under WMG that launched this year as a pipeline for South Asian stars to reach North American audiences.

“Watching Nora, David and Ciara come together on one track is exactly why 5 Junction exists,” says Anjula Acharia, 5 Junction Records founder. “It’s a true collision of cultures and sounds — Middle Eastern vibes, European electronic energy, and American pop and R&B — melding into something that feels global, modern and borderless. 

“This record doesn’t belong to one place or one audience,” Acharia continues of “Fire,” “it belongs to the world.” 

Don’t Be Dumb — of course A$AP Rocky will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live when the show returns for its first episode of 2026 on Jan. 17. NBC’s long-running sketch comedy show made the announcement during the Dec. 20 episode, which Ariana Grande hosted and for which icon Cher served as musical guest.

Rocky’s performance will come one day after his highly anticipated fourth studio album — whose cover art was designed by celebrated director Tim Burton — arrives, so fans can expect the rapper to show off some new music on the episode set to be hosted by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard. The musician has also been showing off his acting chops as of late, most recently starring in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest alongside Oscar winner Denzel Washington.

This won’t be the Grammy-nominated rapper’s first appearance on SNL. Rocky made his debut during a May 2018 sketch in the episode hosted by Donald Glover. In “Friendos” — based off of the group Migos — Glover portrayed Quavo, while Chris Redd was Offset and Kenan Thompson was Takeoff, with the rap trio at a therapist’s office working out their differences. Rocky’s cameo appearance comes as the three men exit the session, and he greets them in the waiting room.

A day ahead of the final episode of 2025, SNL star Bowen Yang confirmed that he was leaving the comedy show after first joining as a writer in 2018, and eventually being promoted the following year, making him the first Asian American cast member in the show’s history. The Dec. 20 episode was his last one, and it ended with a sketch that doubled as an emotional farewell.

Saturday Night Live returns Jan. 17 at 11:30 p.m. on NBC, and streaming the next day on Peacock.

Bad Bunny‘s eighth and final show of the Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour in Mexico delivered an unexpected and memorable closing on Sunday (Dec. 21): J Balvin appeared as a surprise guest, marking the end of any past differences between the Puerto Rican and Colombian superstars, and resulting in an emotional reunion.

On the main stage, they exchanged apologies and compliments, and performed “La Canción” and other hits together.

“And now, brother, we are two men standing tall, representing Latinos wherever we go, and I wish you the best, may God bless you,” Balvin said to Bunny in front of the 66,000 people who packed the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City, according to figures from Ocesa.

“Thank you for those words. You know the feeling is mutual, I respect you a lot, I love you a lot, and likewise, if at any point I failed in something, I already apologized a long time ago,” Bad Bunny humbly responded in videos captured by fans. “People don’t know, but we had a conversation several weeks ago, but we were waiting for the perfect moment to share the stage, and I’m glad it happened here in Mexico. Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico!”

After a long, warm hug, Balvin continued his praise for Bunny. “I feel supremely proud of Benito Martínez Ocasio for what he’s doing, for what he represents, because he’s taking Latinos all over the world, because I know he is a healer, a hard worker who we always knew would become one of the biggest stars in music,” added the Colombian singer, who wore a jacket in the colors of the Mexican flag (green, white, and red) with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe embroidered on the back. “The past is the past, we have matured, both you and I.”

In addition to “La Canción,” the reggaeton super duo performed “Qué Pretendes,” both included in the album Oasis, which Bad Bunny and J Balvin recorded in 2019, followed by their 2017 hit “Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola” and “I Like It,” which they recorded with Cardi B.

This marked the first time these two music titans performed together on stage since a falling out that began in 2022 with a dispute involving Puerto Rican star Residente on social media after Balvin called for a boycott of the Latin Grammys, claiming that reggaeton and other related genres were not being properly recognized by the Latin Recording Academy. The Colombian artist recently spoke about the issue in an interview with Spanish content creator Ibai Llanos.

Oasis debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Top Latin Rhythm Albums charts in July 2019, and led both rankings for eight weeks.

The reconciliation was celebrated both inside and outside the Mexican stadium. On social media, users made both artists’ names trend and unleashed a flurry of messages and memes to celebrate the reunion. “What kind of miracle is this! J Balvin and Bad Bunny,” user Jaseri Sánchez wrote on X.

The Medellín-born artist was the second special guest on Benito’s final night in Mexico City. Earlier, the Puerto Rican invited corridos tumbados star Natanael Cano to perform “Soy el Diablo Remix” from the alternate stage known as “La Casita”. During the show, Bad Bunny also slipped again on the roof of “La Casita”, just as he did on the first night (Dec. 10), although the incident was minor, and the audience kept singing for him.

With special guests such as Feid, Grupo Frontera, Julieta Venegas and the aforementioned Natanael Cano, Bad Bunny brought together just more than 520,000 people in total during the eight sold-out shows at the GNP Seguros Stadium on Dec. 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 21, according to Ocesa, reaffirming his place as a global star.

Bad Bunny ranks as the third artist with the most concerts held in the legendary capital stadium, formerly known as Foro Sol, behind Colombian superstar Shakira, who holds the record with 12 dates, and Mexican Grupo Firme with nine concerts.

The Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour began on Nov. 21 in the Dominican Republic and also made a stop in Costa Rica. In 2026, it will continue in Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil before moving on to Asia and Europe.

People have tried bribing their way into The Bluebird Cafe. For an independent venue tucked away in a Nashville strip mall, The Bluebird has folks trying to get in at all hours of the day just to get a peak at the storied space that has been instrumental in the careers of giants like Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and many more.

“I would be counting money on a Sunday morning and people would be banging on the door having to get in,” says Bluebird Cafe COO and GM Erika Wollam Nichols. “When I wouldn’t let them in, they came around the back and started waiving $20 bills at me and I’m like, ‘No!’”

The enthusiasm would seem outsized for an 86-capacity club five miles outside of downtown Nashville that hasn’t seen much renovation beyond sound system upgrades and regularly changing the carpet. But – like many independent venues that have survived the turbulent live music industry for more than four decades – its allure is in the lore.

Before any stars graced the stage, The Bluebird Cafe was a 100-seat restaurant opened by Amy Kurland in a former drugstore turned poolhall in 1982. According to Wollam Nichols (who worked as a waitress at the cafe during her years at university), Kurland’s “goal was to make good food, but she also loved music.” Kurland’s father was an established violinist who created a group of string players for hire in Nashville and helped instill in Amy a love and appreciation for hardworking musicians.

The Bluebird’s small stage helped local artists be seen and, on the cafe’s first anniversary, the first musician who regularly appeared there secured a deal with Mercury Records. Originally, the artists were amplified by speakers until an acoustic set was booked and changed the course of the venue.

“Amy noticed that it just worked in the room – that acoustic music, everybody listened,” Wollam Nichols says. “And it was like, ‘wait a minute, something is going on here with this.’ The size of the room, the fact that people are sitting and listening and the way that the songwriters were really needing to be heard – that all factored into it. It was an organic recognition.”

Soon after that, The Bluebird moved to hosting simply acoustic shows – two shows a night, seven nights a week. By 1984, the venue began holding auditions for songwriters to perform on Sundays for the Writers’ Night and, a few months later, songwriters Don Schlitz (“The Gambler”) and Tom Schuyler (“16th Avenue”) decided the best way to make people listen would be to plant the writers themselves in the middle of the room surrounded by the audience. Wollam Nichols explains, “You wouldn’t be able to talk quite as easily if everybody is sitting at your elbow.” And the now legendary In The Round sessions began.

The In The Round format leaves nowhere to hide in the 2,100-sq. ft. space – for both the artists and the audience. “It is a room that is really built for very obvious feedback,” Wollam Nichols says. Everyone must be locked into the performance (audience chatter will be shushed). The songwriters must be compelling.

“I see people come into this room and have no idea what to expect, what’s happening. They’re confused. They are a little bit unnerved,” Wollam Nichols says. “They’ve booked a couple of seats. Maybe they are seated at a table with people they don’t know. The writers are sitting beside them. I’ve seen Vince Gill hand his guitar to somebody sitting next to him. They’ll put a drink on somebody’s table.

“Then the music starts, and they start to become drawn into that experience, and they walk out changed. People will say, ‘I’ve never heard music like this ever before. This is the greatest experience I’ve ever had at a show in my life.’ And that’s always really gratifying.”

That experience is expertly curated by The Bluebird staff that started hosting auditions back in 1984 to ensure only songwriters who could hold a crowd sat in the middle of the room. Auditions are held four times a year on a Sunday morning with roughly 60 songwriters who come to see a panel of judges including Bluebird staff, label folks, publishers, professional songwriters and theater people.

Songwriters have one minute to impress the panel.

“The structure of it was something that Amy created because she felt like after a minute of a song, if you didn’t like it, you would change the radio station. So, you need to get people’s attention within the first verse/chorus of a song,” Wollam Nichols explains. “It’s not the most perfect system, but it’s decent.”

The songwriters are evaluated: one to five on song, one to five on performance, and a notes section for additional thoughts. It takes about a month for the evaluations to be compiled and completed, and six to eight writers usually pass. Those writers become eligible to play on Sunday nights for the six-writer set and once they perform well at four of those nights (this usually takes two years), they can be booked for the 6pm In The Round sessions. Artists including Kenny Chesney, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Dierks Bentley successfully passed their auditions.

The only other way onto the In The Round stage is by invitation. If an artist is invited to perform at the late show four times by the songwriters who have passed, that counts as four auditions. Taylor Swift made it onto the In The Round stage by invitation in 2004 and, as a young songwriter, “held her own” on a stage with three grown men, Wollam Nichols says.

The Bluebird has a reputation for welcoming talent early in their careers. Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Janis Ian, The Indigo Girls and many more have showcased their talent at The Bluebird.

When Garth Brooks played The Bluebird in 1987, he had been passed on by every Nashville label. “A record executive, Lynn Schults (from Capitol Records), who had passed on him heard him play a set at the Bluebird – saw the impact he had on the room and took him into the kitchen and said, ‘I think we missed something,’” Wollam Nichols tells Billboard.

“Garth is top notch,” Wollam Nichols says. “He really is the best friend you can have in an industry. He never forgets. He honors what he’s been gifted.”

Vince Gill feels similarly. ““To this day, if I run into Vince, the last thing he always says to me is ‘let me know if you need me.’ That’s incredible loyalty that people have and it’s a loyalty that we don’t take for granted,” she adds.

Four years after Kurland transferred ownership of The Bluebird to the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2008, the venue’s popularity skyrocketed with the hit ABC drama Nashville starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. Show creators made a replica of The Bluebird – going as far as taking the headshots off the wall of the original, scanning them and placing them in the same spots on the show version – and fans from across the globe made the original a tourist destination.

“We would have 300 people in the parking lot trying to get in. They wouldn’t leave,” says Wollam Nichols, who took over as GM when NSAI became stewards of the venue. “Then they would yell at us because ‘we weren’t managing things properly.’ And it’s like, ‘you’re the one standing in the middle of the road. I don’t know what you want me to do because you won’t leave and we can’t let you in because we are full.’”

The notoriety gave The Bluebird the ability to not only constantly fill seats, but also sell a lot more merch to keep the small venue – which remains a for-profit business run by a non-profit entity – afloat. Ticket sales go straight to the performers’ pockets, so the venue makes money from food and beverage, limited sponsorships and merchandise.

With seats often filled with mostly tourists, some songwriters felt the Bluebird had sold out. But Wollam Nichols argues that the ethos of the venue hasn’t changed. The Bluebird was created for songwriters to have their voices heard and now those songs are being heard by people from all walks of life.

“The intimacy that [The Bluebird] experience creates opens people up and they become maybe a little more friendly, a little more thoughtful,” Wollam Nichols says. “I have seen grown six-foot-three men in tears walking out of that room and that’s always best.”