Miami-Dade County’s midnight curfew will be lifted next week, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Monday, marking the imminent end of a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 that has … Click to Continue »
Two South Florida men have pleaded guilty to murdering a plumber who was called to a Miami Lakes home in a robbery set-up and later got shot during a struggle … Click to Continue »
After spring break crowds overwhelmed Miami Beach last month, the city is preparing for another tourist wave during Memorial Day Weekend by considering a series of events and, if the … Click to Continue »
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings will require all passengers and crew to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when U.S. cruises restart, becoming the first of the three largest cruise companies to mandate … Click to Continue »
Former President Donald Trump on Monday urged a judge to throw out a congressional subpoena for his financial records, calling it unconstitutional and unenforceable. The former president asked a federal … Click to Continue »
Following the announcement that HYBE would purchase Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, BTS, Justin Bieber, J Balvin and more artists from the companies’ rosters are welcoming each other with open arms.
The South Korean entertainment company, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, said Friday that it was buying Ithaca Holdings, bringing together both companies’ broad range of services, including management, label services and publishing, to create an impressive roster of marquee K-pop groups and U.S. pop superstars. The move ultimately is meant to help the Korean company establish a strong U.S. presence in music and entertainment while also heightening its profile for American financial investors. The deal is expected to close in May.
In a new promotional video from HYBE and Ithaca Holdings released on Monday (April 5), BTS, Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato and Seventeen congratulate Braun and HYBE founder and CEO Bang Si-Hyuk on their new deal. BTS’ RM expressed excitement over “so many artists that we cherish and love” joining their family. BTS’ Suga and J-Hope discussed their appreciation for the “endless opportunities” and said they hope to “grow and share positive influence with all the artists” and to give their fans around the world “a fresh experience and be a source of new joy.”
“It feels like the world is getting more connected and even smaller,” RM noted. SEVENTEEN’s Seungkwan echoed that later on in the nine-and-a-half-minute clip, when he said, “I believe joining forces of these two companies shows that we can become one with music beyond language, country and culture.”
J Balvin sent his love back to BTS, saying, “This is going to be on another level. Such amazing vibes.”
As part of HYBE’s $1.05 billion deal to buy Ithaca Holdings, Braun is paying more than $40 million in equity to artists and staff members out of his stake. A total of 39 people will receive shares about $161 million , based on the current exchange rate, while Braun gets 462,380 shares ($86.2 million). Of his artists, the company filing states Grande and Bieber will each receive 53,557 shares, or almost $11 million apiece; Balvin will get 21,423 shares ($4.1 million); and Lovato will receive 5,355 shares ($1.06 million).
“The prospects of working together with these amazing teams and stepping further into the global music scene is very exciting,” Bieber said in the video. “I’m thrilled at the potential this alliance holds. Kudos to the teams. … Let’s make history together.”
Artists absent from the video include TOMORROW X TOGETHER from the HYBE side; Ariana Grande, Quavo, Tori Kelly, Dan + Shay and Carly Rae Jepsen from Braun’s roster; and any of the artists under Big Machine Label Group, which was acquired by Braun’s Ithaca Holdings along with Taylor Swift’s master recordings, including Florida Georgia Line, Carly Pearce, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Sheryl Crow, Thomas Rhett and Tim McGraw.
Watch HYBE and Ithaca Holdings’ latest welcome announcement below.
Patrick Carney wasn’t nervous before his first live drumming gig in more than a year, just honored.
A lifelong Indians fan and one half of The Black Keys, the Grammy Award-winning rock duo from Akron, Ohio, Carney filled in Monday (April 5) at Cleveland’s home opener for drummer John Adams, who is recovering from heart surgery.
Adams missed his first home opener since 1973, ending a run that has featured him sitting high in the left-field bleachers and pounding a steady beat whenever the Indians are hitting.
Carney was thrilled to be able to sit in for Adams.
“I’m stoked to be here for John,” Carney said about two hours before the Indians hosted the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. “It’s the best seat in the house and I wish John could be here, obviously. When I heard he wasn’t healthy enough to make it, I thought it was good way to pay some respect to him and show him some love.”
Before he could begin banging away, Carney was bestowed drumming duties by Adams during a video presentation in the first inning.
Carney said he attended his first Indians game in Cleveland when he was “5 or 6” and that one of his close friends who accompanied him to that game decades ago was attending the opener.
Like so many musical acts, Black Keys haven’t on a stage since just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down normal life.
“This is my first show since last January,” Carney said. “Crazy. This is gonna be fun.”
Carney said he’s looking forward to concerts resuming and that Black Keys and he and Dan Auerbach could have an announcement next week on their upcoming plans.
Kelly Clarkson started her career with cover songs on American Idol and continues to produce viral Kellyoke covers each day on her Kelly Clarkson Show. But we learned on Monday’s (April 5) episode of The Voice that there’s one song she’s afraid to tackle: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito.”
As a coach on The Voice, Clarkson enlisted Fonsi to be an advisor and help out her singers in the current battle rounds, and she used their time hanging out backstage to make a confession to the Puerto Rican singer.
“I just realized something,” she told Fonsi. “You have the one song in history I’m afraid to cover: ‘Despacito.’”
Fonsi echoed what we were all thinking, responding, “Oh, come on, you have to cover it now!”
“I have practiced so hard, because I love singing in Spanish as well, or just in different languages,” Clarkson said. “And it’s, like, the biggest song of all time. You’re kind of like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna leave that alone,’” she laughed.
She’s right about “Despacito” being a massive song: The song’s bilingual remix, featuring Justin Bieber, spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, tying the then-record (Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day”) for longest stay at the top. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, has since spent 19 weeks at the Hot 100 pinnacle.
Below, watch Clarkson admit her fear of “Despacito” to Fonsi, and then see her trying to recall the Spanish word for fire. (OK, maybe we can see why she’s intimidated by “Despacito” then.)
Karol G scores her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart as KG0516 arrives atop the April 10-dated survey. With 24,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 1, the set earns the biggest week by a female act in nearly four years.
“My first goal and personal challenge was to really listen to the album without stopping,” Karol G tells Billboard. “It had to be me who liked it the most to the point of becoming a fan. After achieving that, my greatest wish was to work it in a commercial way that it would connect with all the people who listened to it. I did not take it for granted but I did dream it, so the fact that I debuted No. 1 on Top Latin Albums, wow! It fills me with satisfaction, joy and motivation. I still have this album on repeat, but this makes me want to continue creating more music because I am connected with my art, with my music and I feel that people are enjoying that personal connection.”
Biggest Week for a Latin Album by a Woman Since 2017: Of KG0516’s starting sum of 24,000 equivalent album units, album sales comprise 4,000 and the bulk of the remainder comprise SEA units (equaling 27.4 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs). The set boasts the biggest week, by units, for a Latin album by a woman since Shakira’s El Dorado started at No. 2 with 29,000 units in its first week (chart dated June 17, 2017).
KG0516 was released March 26 on Universal Music Latino/UMLE. The 16-track set is a follow-up to two runner-up efforts: Unstoppable, Karol G’s album debut (Nov. 2017; 4,000 equivalent album units in its first week) and Ocean (May 2019; 12,000 units).
“As the name of the album is a flight number and everything in it revolves around that trip, my challenge was to find a direction for each song,” Karol G says. “Each one should take you to a different destination, be it love, heartbreak, or celebration, including the sounds, the mix, the fusion of the genres. In reality it was full of challenges, but I had the time and disposition, since we were in quarantine, to work on it calmly, to work with love and be able to find that perfect balance between each song.”
Second Female Solo Act To Debut At No. 1 in 2021: Karol G becomes the second female solo act to debut at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums in 2021, as Selena Gomez also started atop the tally with Revelación, her first Spanish-language project (March 27-dated survey). Prior to both artists, Jenni Rivera’s Paloma Negra Desde Monterrey bowed atop the list dated Nov. 19, 2016. In between Rivera and Gomez, a a collaborative set by two women launched at No. 1: Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzmán’s Versus on July 22, 2017.
Three songs from KG0516 debut on Hot Latin Songs: “El Makinon,” with Mariah Angelic, at No. 9 , “El Barco,” at No. 19 and “200 Copas” at No. 44. With the three arrivals she places a total of five songs on the chart as “Location” surges 10-6 and “Bichota” lifts 8-7.
Karol G expands her winning streak as “Location,” with Anuel AA and J Balvin, ascends 2-1 on Latin Airplay. The song climbs with a 38% burst in audience impressions, to 13 million, earned in the week ending April 4. She ties Jennifer Lopez for the third-most No. 1 by a female act, both with 10 leaders. Ahead of them? Shakira with 15 No. 1s and Gloria Estefan with 11. J Balvin meanwhile, extends his second-most No. 1 overall wins with 29, while Anuel AA ups his career count to nine.
“It’s a difficult task to decide which is my favorite song because every day I like a different one,” Karol G continues. “I love the whole album so three months ago I had a favorite, then two months later I had another favorite, today I’m enjoying another one…Being able to bring in all the collaborators to ‘Leyendas’ was a true satisfaction. The song was born out of the same collaboration that has existed among artists which has made the genre evolve, so I had the idea of choosing some of my favorite classics, bringing those artists from those classics, each one singing in the other’s song. Having had the positive response of all to carry out this idea, without egos, without problems, was pure joy.”
KG0516 concurrently debuts at No. 1 on Latin Rhythm Albums and at No. 20 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart; her highest charting title on both lists.
Supporters and family of the rapper DMX chanted his name and offered up prayers Monday (April 5) outside the New York hospital where he remained on life support.
The 50-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Friday, following a heart attack.
The crowd outside White Plains Hospital called “DMX! DMX!” and when urged to by the main speaker, crossed their arms in the shape of an X. A woman’s sobs reverberated as those in the audience heard a recording of the rapper, whose birth name is Earl Simmons.
Simmons’ longtime lawyer, Murray Richman, said Sunday that the rapper was admitted to the intensive care unit but he was not sure what caused the heart attack.
DMX made his rap debut in 1998, and has released seven albums in a career that has included three Grammy nominations. He also acted in several movies.
But substance abuse has been a struggle for him over the years, including in 2019 when he canceled shows to go to a rehabilitation facility.
Nevertheless, he retained his standing among fans. An online face-off last year with fellow rapper Snoop Dogg as part of the Verzuz series brought more than 500,000 viewers.
