Artists like Pablo Alborán, Rosana, Omar Montes, Yami Safdie, and Nil Moliner stole the spotlight on Monday night (Dec. 15) at Billboard No. 1s Spain, the first-ever collaborative event between Grupo Starlite and Billboard.
Held at IFEMA Madrid as part of the Starlite Madrid concert series, the show drew over 5,000 attendees and featured performances from more than a dozen stars from Spain and the Americas. The lineup included big names like Rozalén, India Martínez, and Vanesa Martín, along with the legendary Cuban jazz musician Chucho Valdés, U.S. pianist Arthur Hanlon and Lebanese-born violinist Ara Malikian.
“This is the first time our Billboard No. 1s event has taken place outside the U.S., and the first time we’re celebrating Spanish-language music,” said Leila Cobo, Billboard’s VP of Latin/Spanish content. “It’s an honor to be here in Madrid with Starlite and Sandra García-Sanjuán,” founder and CEO of Starlite.
Hosted by the singer Ana Guerra, the night kicked off with Pablo Alborán delivering a heartfelt performance of “Mis 36” and teaming up with Mexican singer-songwriter Carla Morrison to perform their collaboration “Si Te Quedas.” Next up, Argentina’s Yami Safdie hit the stage armed with just her guitar to sing her latest hits, “En Otra Vida” and “Querida Yo.” Each artist on the lineup performed two or three songs.
Ana Mena shared that it’d been a year since she last sang live in Madrid and fired up the crowd with “Lárgate,” “Quiero Decirte” and “Música Ligera.” Vanesa Martín poured her soul into “Tenemos Universo de Sobra” and “Cómo Le Digo,” while India Martínez wowed the audience with “90 Minutos,” “Olvidé Respirar” and “Si Ella Supiera,” a favorite sing-along of the night. The legendary Chucho Valdés played the Cuban classic “Lágrimas Negras.”
Spanish star Melendi took the stage to receive the “Premio Imparable” award, and after fans begged him to sing, he delivered a short a cappella performance of Ismael Serrano’s “Canción de amor propio.”
Some of the evening’s standout moments included Rosana hyping up the crowd by stepping off the stage and weaving through the audience as she performed “Si Tú No Estás Aquí” and “El Talismán,” before returning to the stage to wrap up her set with Ana Guerra in “A Fuego Lento.” Omar Montes had everyone dancing sevillanas with “La Sevillana” and “El Pantalón.” Arthur Hanlon stunned the crowd with powerful renditions of Mecano’s “Hijo de la Luna” and Paco de Lucía’s “Entre Aguas,” backed by an orchestra. The night closed on a high note with Nil Moliner, who brought tons of energy and had the crowd dancing to “Tu Cuerpo en Braille” and “Libertad.”
Check out some of the best photos from the event below.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 19:25:592025-12-16 19:25:59Billboard No. 1s Spain Lights Up Starlite Madrid With Ana Mena, Pablo Alborán & More: Here Are the Best Photos
This weekend, the biggest electronic music show in Los Angeles didn’t happen in a nightclub or even an arena, but at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
Under traffic lights and atop asphalt that typically carries crosstown traffic, 13,000 people gathered for a Dec. 13 set by Brazilian producer Mochakk. The show marked the third time the iconic intersection was closed to drivers and used for a dance party, coming at the end of a year in which the use of such nontraditional venues became a phenomenon in live dance events.
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“There’s not an artist in dance music worth their stones that isn’t saying, ‘How can I do it differently? How can we create a look that’s not been done, or use a space that hasn’t been used?” says Wasserman’s Cody Chapman, who booked such unconventional shows for artists including Fisher, Swedish House Mafia and Zeds Dead in 2025.
In October, Swedish House Mafia played a bullfighting ring in Mexico and also became the first electronic act ever to play New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is typically reserved for tennis matches. Michael Bibi‘s Solid Grooves label held a show on the loading dock of a former Sears distribution center in downtown L.A., a site Dom Dolla, Jamie Jones and Sammy Virji have also played. Zeds Dead dropped tracks at a nearby deli, while Mochakk rocked the Venice Beach skatepark. In March, Fisher played a block party in front of San Jose City Hall, not far from where Fred again.. and Skrillex drew 25,000 people to the San Francisco Civic Center in 2024 — the same year Diplo did a set on a New York City subway car.
These so-called pop-up shows are complicated to produce and generally don’t make much money. So why play a loading dock when you could just play a club?
“The content you get from these seemingly impossible plays is extraordinary,” says Chapman, “and the global effect you get from putting an impossible-seeming event on social media is huge.It’s the most valuable thing you can do in live.”
Dom Dolla at the loading dock at L.A.’s historic Sears Building.
Courtesy of Framework
In a genre connected and fueled by DMs, tags, engagements, follower counts and virality, generating this kind of flashy social content for artists to share with fans (and for fans to share with each other) is, for many artists, worth investing in. But value exists off TikTok too, with Chapman calling both the hype around these shows and the way they let artists do something special for their fans “priceless.”
While DJs in Europe have long been known to play castles and mountaintops, pop-ups have only become a phenomenon in the U.S. over the last few years as dance music has become more ingrained in U.S. culture. “So as artists [in the U.S.] see all these extraordinary venues in Europe and the rest of the world… it was inevitable that artists, agents and managers started looking at left of center spaces across America and trying to figure out how to unlock those too,” says Chapman. (Paris-based livestream producer Cercle has long been a leader in producing livestreamed DJ sets at locations like the Eiffel Tower and a Bolivian salt flat at dawn, occasions that no doubt helped fuel the desire for epic locations among artists.)
But while dance music blew up in the States roughly 15 years ago, pop-ups are a more recent trend simply because, as Chapman says, “there is a lot more red tape here.”
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“These shows have been more successful in 2025 because in previous years, they wouldn’t let us do things in certain places,” says Kobi Danan, co-founder of L.A. dance event producer Framework, the company behind the Hollywood Boulevard and Sears building shows, among other events in L.A. and beyond. “For the Hollywood Boulevard shows, we got ‘nos’ from the city for at least three years. It took many years to build trust.”
Danan says that for Frameworks‘ three Hollywood and Vine shows, the company has worked with HOAs, given free tickets to locals and even made up for lost revenue experienced by businesses on the Boulevard. Still, some cities remain wary. Framework had to cancel a 2024 set by Solomun at an abandoned power plant in Oxnard, Calif., after officials declined to issue the permit over concerns about egress in case of emergency. As such, Framework staff were forced to build a fake power plant at L.A.’s Exposition Park as an alternative.
“It had Tesla coils and fire geysers and all kinds of craziness,” says Danan. “I’m talking 60-foot-tall chimneys and everything. It was outside of the budget.”
“It’s tragically difficult at times,” Chapman says of putting on these pop-up shows, recalling the time the organizers of one show realized the street they were building on was at a slight angle, forcing them to rebuild the entire production in 12 hours. “I think promoters are often the unsung heroes. They’re the ones dealing with local litigators and councils and turning spaces that shouldn’t be used for parties into safe, usable environments.” (To that end, Los Angeles event promoter Stranger Than has also produced DJ events at locations including the beach, L.A. City Hall and a former supermarket.)
Fisher’s San Jose Block Party on March 29, 2025.
Courtesy of Wasserman
The challenge isn’t just renting enough porta-potties or traffic barricades but changing the perception of a genre that’s in some cases still shaking off a reputation for being seedy, illegal and dangerous due to dance music’s underground history.
San Francisco, a city with a rich dance music history, has been particularly amenable to pop-ups, allowing the aforementioned Civic Center show in 2024, opening its Pier 80 to Goldenvoice’s annual dance festival Portola in 2022 and hosting a pair of upcoming New Year’s Eve shows by Swedish House Mafia and Skrillex together with Four Tet at the Pier’s 200,000-square foot warehouse, which used to house shipping components. (These shows are also being produced by Goldenvoice.) San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, even announced the first-ever performance at the city’s Moscone Center, a 992,000-square-foot downtown convention center, on his official TikTok.
“We’ve talked about music, arts, culture driving our comeback. Well, it continues,” Mayor Lurie says in the clip about the Dec. 19 set with Australian dance star Fisher. “This show is going to bring people to downtown at a time where Moscone is usually quiet at the end of the year. Our restaurants, our bars, our business are going to benefit.”
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“I’ll give a shout-out to Mayor Lurie,” says Chapman, who booked the Fisher show, “because he is a big supporter of entertainment in the city and does not seem to see dance music as a red flag.” In terms of a pop-up’s ability to bolster the local economy, Danan also notes that amid Hollywood Boulevard shows, “every hotel in a three-mile radius is sold out, and every restaurant reservation is completely booked. It’s a win/win for everybody.”
But pop-up shows aren’t cheap, with Chapman reporting that they can cost 10 times more than the price of playing a traditional venue. As such, opportunities must be weighed carefully, particularly as these shows can leave a lot of fans unable to get tickets. “You have artists that can sell 20, 30 or 40,000 tickets somewhere, but you find this extraordinary site that can only scale to 4,000. Is it worth doing, when you know the demand is so much higher than what you can fulfill?”
This dilemma is weighed against the opportunity to create a show that might be a life moment for those who were there (“one of the best nights of my life, no joke!” one Reddit user reported of the Skrillex and Fred again.. Civic Center set) and which can build the legacies of artists who just want to do something different and cool.
“Anyone who’s looking at revenue as an immediate end game is missing the point on generating real revenue,” says Chapman. “We’re trying to build careers and lifelong artists, and the short-term buck is worth so much less than the possibility that they could be doing this forever.”
One solution to the supply/demand issue has been for artists to do a super-small underplay for fans right before another larger show, like Zeds Dead, whose set at Katz’s Deli in May happened hours before their performance at L.A. club Exchange, or LP Giobbi, who preceded a Nov. 2024 set at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre with a morning set at a Venice Beach coffee shop.
Zeds Dead at Katz’s Deli in Los Angeles.
Courtesy of Wasserman
Some artists have found other ways to provide unique opportunities to fans who may have been unable to score tickets to a pop-up event. Last month, two days before his Hollywood Blvd. show (which was subsequently canceled due to rain and rescheduled for December), Mochakk spent a day inside a custom-designed ice cream truck, handing out popsicles. “Lemon or berry?” the artist patiently and enthusiastically asked each of the roughly 1,000 fans who had lined up around the block to meet him.
“We approach these moments as impact points,” Mochakk’s manager Dave DeValera says of the ice cream truck, a concept the team has also used in New York. “We probably have four to six a year, and we’re usually lining them up with a large-scale show. It’s about creating visibility, fan engagement and true fan connection. These events just get a more grassroots conversation going on the ground, rather than just being a digital conversation.”
DeValera reports that after the New York ice cream truck event, ticket sales for an upcoming Mochakk party jumped from 3,000 to 8,500. “It was just generated from the energy of being in the city,” DeValera says, “and the amount of organic press pickup [around the ice cream truck event] was unusual for an electronic artist.”
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With both intangible and statistical benefits, it follows that many DJs want to do these shows, which Chapman admits is “becoming a little bit tiring as an agent… Doing it in a way that feels authentic for a particular artist has become all the more important.” He says this is why it made sense for Mochakk, a lifelong skateboarder, to play the Venice skatepark, an event that drew thousands.
As the trend presses into 2026, it’s also evolving. Chapman foresees some of the left-of-center builds used for one-off shows becoming regularly used spaces, as San Francisco’s Pier 80 warehouse in L.A.’s Sears building is.
“We’re starting to see a lot more of these things being done once and having a blueprint, so you can do 10 more and they can become series,” he says.
While touring this way would, says Chapman, “be impossible” given that every site is different, he does see an opportunity for shorter touring legs that follow “one creative idea and deliver shows of similarity.” He’s currently working on plans for such a tour that he hopes to have to market by September 2026.
While the trend isn’t yet big enough to eradicate the need for traditional venues, certainly there are such venues in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and beyond that would’ve loved to host a show by any of the aforementioned artists who ended up playing in unconventional spaces in those cities instead.
To that, Chapman says he’d “challenge anyone with a traditional venue to “step up their game and figure out how they can offer more flexibility in the room” so that artists can create their own worlds within them.
“Because in electronic music specifically,” he continues, “I don’t think the one size fits all model is what people are looking for.”
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 19:25:582025-12-16 19:25:58In 2025, Swedish House Mafia, Mochakk & More Big DJs Played Delis, Bullfighting Rings & City Halls. But Why?
Gracie Abrams is shining a light on all of the headline-making tragedies that have occurred over the past few days — and calling out President Donald Trump for his insensitivity in the face of them.
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Sharing a photo of a candle flame on her Instagram Story on Tuesday (Dec. 16), the singer began by writing, “I am beyond heartbroken for the victims at Bondi. Devastated for their families during the holiday, a time meant for gathering and for light. I feel sick inside for the victims and for the community at Brown. Students on their campus. What are we talking about?”
“The conditions in Gaza are beyond the pale,” she continued, referencing the devastation survivors of the two-year Israel-Hamas war are currently enduring. “Earthshattering pain. The tarps the Palestinian people are living under are being whipped by the wind and the rain through the mud. Total desecration.”
Two mass shootings took place within 24 hours over the weekend, with a gunman killing at least 15 people Sunday (Dec. 14) on Bondi Beach in Australia during a Hanukkah celebration. On the other side of the world, a shooter opened fire on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I., taking the lives of two people and injuring nine others.
Also on Sunday, Rob Reiner and his wife, producer Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home with apparent stab wounds, shortly after which local police arrested the couple’s 32-year-old son, Nick, on homicide charges. But despite the violence happening in the country he leads, the president took the weekend’s events as an opportunity to insult the When Harry Met Sally filmmaker.
“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
The disrespectful post incensed countless people, including Abrams. “Within 24 hours of the most unimaginable tragedy a family can endure, we see the President yet again reveal the most poisonous and vile narcissism maybe in the history of humanity,” she wrote of the twice-impeached politician’s words. “Indefensible.”
“It is getting harder to find the words to describe the pain in the world,” the musician added. “I am lighting a candle for everybody who is hurting.”
Abrams isn’t the only artist in disbelief over Trump’s message. Jack White also slammed the president’s “vile, horrible insult to a beautiful artist who gave the world so much” in a post on Instagram, adding, “To use someone’s tragic death to promote your own vanity and fascist authoritarian agenda is a corrupt and narcissistic sin.”
Billie Eilish — who reshared White’s post on her Story — had words as well for the mass shootings that happened over the weekend. “my heart goes out to all of the victims & their loved ones,” she posted. “raise your voice, work for change, & vote out anyone who’s not willing to reform gun policy.”
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 19:15:242025-12-16 19:15:24Gracie Abrams Slams Donald Trump’s ‘Poisonous & Vile Narcissism’ Amid Mass Shootings, Rob Reiner Death
Just three years after co-headlining the West Coast-themed Super Bowl LVI halftime show, The Doggfather is headed back to the gridiron for Netflix’s NFL Christmas Gameday Live.
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Snoop Dogg will headline the halftime show during the Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings game on Dec. 25, streaming live on Netflix from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET. Announced by the streaming giant on Tuesday (Dec. 16), Snoop’s performance — dubbed “Snoop’s Holiday Halftime Party” — promises special guests, as well as renditions of Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers like 2004’s Pharrell-assisted “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”
“NFL, Netflix and your uncle Snoop on Christmas Day? We’re servin’ up music, love and good vibes for the whole world to enjoy,” Snoop teased in a statement. “That’s the kind of holiday magic Santa can’t fit in a bag.”
To celebrate the announcement, Netflix shared a festive teaser on its official social media pages, narrated by funk pioneer George Clinton. “‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the crib, the stockings hung proper, the vibe feeling big,” the icon declares. “As the snow kept on falling, the beat kept calling, from Minneapolis to L.A., where the champs come to play…”
“We’re about to light up this Christmas in a real way,” Snoop quips at the end of the clip before pulling out a tray of trademark blue cookies and plugging one of his best-selling cookbooks. “How’s that for a halftime snack?”
Snoop Dogg’s halftime takeover comes one year after Beyoncé played Netflix’s inaugural Christmas Day extravaganza. Queen Bey, who earned the highest-grossing solo tour of 2025, treated her hometown of Houston to the first live performance of tracks from her three-time Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter LP. In between delivering hits like “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé honored both rodeo culture and the history of the black cowboy while inviting special guests Post Malone, Shaboozey, Brittney Spencer, Tanner Adell, Reyna Roberts and Tiera Kennedy. Earlier this year, the show, affectionately nicknamed “Beyoncé Bowl,” won 35-time Grammy victor her very first Emmy Award: outstanding costumes for a variety, nonfiction, or reality programming.
The Christmas Day doubleheader kicks off with the Dallas Cowboys facing off against the Washington Commanders at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the Lions vs. Vikings game at 4:30 p.m. ET. Both games and Snoop Dogg’s halftime show will stream live on Netflix.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 19:15:242025-12-16 19:15:24Merry Snoopmas! Snoop Dogg to Perform at Lions-Vikings NFL Christmas Gameday Live on Netflix
Romeistas and Roycenaticas rejoice! Romeo Santos and Prince Royce have announced the North American leg of their joint Mejor Tarde Que Nunca tour, set to kick off spring 2026.
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Produced by Cárdenas Marketing Network (CMN), the two bachata powerhouses will visit 25 dates across North America kicking off April 1 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and wrapping May 24 in Canada’s Toyota Arena. Romeo and Royce will also visit fans in key cities including Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Marking their first collaborative trek, Mejor Tarde Que Nunca is in support of their joint all-bachata album Better Late Than Never, which debuted at Nos. 1 and 2 on Tropical Albums and Top Latin Albums, respectively, earlier this month.
“Obviously, yes, we are considering a tour, God willing, and a worldwide one so people can enjoy both of our repertoires,” Romeo previously told Billboard in their joint cover story. “And when it happens, God willing, we don’t want it to feel like a show where he goes onstage, sings his setlist, then I sing mine. No. We want it to be an experience where, whether you’re a fan of Royce and me or just a fan of him or just of me, it’s a musical journey through both of our repertoires.”
Presale tickets begin as early as 10 a.m. local time on Dec. 18, and go on sale at 10 a.m. local time on Dec. 19 for the general public. For more information, click here.
April 1, 2026 – Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum
April 2, 2026 – Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
April 4, 2026 – Reading, PA @ Santander Arena
April 5, 2026 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
April 9, 2026 – Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum
April 11, 2026 – Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
April 17, 2026 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
April 18, 2026 – Hartford, CT @ PeoplesBank Arena
April 22, 2026 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
April 25, 2026 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
April 26, 2026 – Tampa, FL @ Benchmark International Arena
April 29, 2026 – Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
April 30, 2026 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
May 2, 2026 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
May 7, 2026 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
May 9, 2026 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 19:04:322025-12-16 19:04:32Romeo Santos & Prince Royce Unveil 2026 Mejor Tarde Que Nunca Tour Dates
Once again and as always, the dance albums released in 2025 served as a reminder of the genre’s vastness.
But while on the surface bass might not have much to do with house which might not have much to do with techno which might not have much in common with trance or the many other varieties of sound that exist under the umbrella, together they form the sonic tapestry of the global scene and function as the raw material that drives this world forward.
And while it remains a singles-driven genre to be sure, in dance music albums function as statement pieces, full-length works demonstrating an artist’s intent and identity — which also provide them with the material to form their live shows. (And serve as buffets for other artists to eat from when it comes to their own sets.)
In 2025, dance albums pushed further out in every aforementioned genre direction and more, further realizing the glorious multitudes contained in the humble “dance” descriptor and giving fans a way to bring their favorite artists into the fold while well outside the confines of the club. We got UKG and fresh takes on techno, nostalgic dubstep, future-facing bass and a lot of music that functioned as template examples of classic sounds, but still somehow sounded fresh.
The albums from many of these year-defining artists are below, along with some of the more under-the-radar releases that resonated, as part of our staff’s picks for the 50 best albums that 2025 had to offer.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 18:56:292025-12-16 18:56:29The 25 Best Dance Albums of 2025: Staff Picks
The Jonas Brothers already confirmed that they are returning to Camp Rock earlier this summer. Since then, Nick, Joe and Kevin have been teasing the 15-years-in-the-making Camp Rock 3 movie off and on, so the only real question is this: will Mitchie Torres be packing up her duffel bag to join them?
Though Demi Lovato — who played shy aspiring singing star Torres in the 2008 Disney Channel movie musical original and its 2010 sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam — is on board as a co-executive producer alongside the JoBros, so far only the siblings are confirmed to star in the movie. The Jonas’ will reprise their roles as the Gray brothers in the movie that began filming in Vancouver in September.
Don’t give up hope, though, since director Veronica Rodriguez told EW this week that, “You can’t really talk about Camp Rock or have a Camp Rock movie without referencing her. We love Mitchie.” That was as much as Rodriguez was willing to spill on the musical revival set to premiere on Disney+ and the Disney Channel next summer.
Mitchie was notably absent in the first teaser that dropped a few weeks ago. The clip opens with halcyon, soft-focus scenes of serene summer camp vistas, including the lake and the dining hall backed by soundbites from the first two films featuring Lovato’s voice and her duet with Joe’s Shane, “Wouldn’t Change a Thing,” as the shadows of the brothers cross the screen and the camera zooms in on Mitchie’s song notebook.
“Music, friendship, memories,” says Nick (Connect 3’s lead singer and Mitchie’s love interest in the original) as he and his brothers stare out at the lake. “We’re back… exactly where we’re supposed to be!,” says Joe, with Kevin adding some comic relief with the joke, “Still no birdhouse!” Camp Rock 3 will also feature performances from newbies Malachi Barton (Fletch), Liamani Segura (Sage), Lumi Pollack (Rosie), Hudson Stone (Desi) and Casey Trotter (Cliff). While the JoBros will reprise their roles as members of fictional boy band Connect 3, Maria Canals-Barrera will be back as Connie Torres, Mitchie’s mother.
Rodriguez would not confirm or deny theories about Lovato’s possible cameo, but she teased that “Camp Rock 3 is a continuation of the story we know and love,” with the new movie picking up 15 years after the action in the sequel, when Connect 3 are bigger than ever. “That is the question,” Rodriguez told EW with a smile. “I can’t spoil anything. What I will say is that people should be excited to see some OG characters. You should feel all of those nostalgic vibes. We tried to put in as many things as we can into this movie, some iconic set pieces, the Jonas Brothers as Connect 3, and even Connie [Maria Canals-Barrera], Mitchie’s mom, has a bigger role in this movie. So Mitchie is very much a character in this movie, in this world, and we should feel her, for sure, because she’s iconic and beloved and is a part of the Camp Rock legacy.”
Lovato joined the JoBros at the MetLife Stadium stop of their 20th anniversary tour in August, where they performed the Camp Rock favorites “Wouldn’t Change a Thing” and “This Is Me.”
Rodriguez clarified that Lovato had signed on as an executive producer before she joined the project that wrapped filming on Nov. 1, so she was not privy to any early discussions about Lovato returning to star alongside Joe. “But it was really amazing to have her as an executive producer, and she was involved with the script,” Rodriguez said. “She was just really ensuring that this movie gives our audience all the Camp Rock amazingness that she was part of back in Camp Rock 1 and 2. And so she was a fantastic partner in making this as good as it can be.”
According to a description of the threequel, it kicks off when Connect 3 lose their opening act for a major reunion tour, prompting the brothers to return to the camp in search of a new star as the campers compete for a spot on the tour. Rodriguez promised that the JoBros are in the film a “good amount,” and that it will also introduce a new generation of Camp Rockers, referring to newbies Segura, Barton, Pollack, Stone and Trotter as having a “bit of a Breakfast Club vibe,” while tagging Segura as “our new Mitchie.”
Rodriguez also teased that the movie will feature new music from the JoBros as Connect 3, with rock songs, but also ventures into unexpected genres including Americana pop country, a Bruno Mars-style pop tune, girl power rock and uptempo dance songs.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 18:46:142025-12-16 18:46:14‘Camp Rock 3’ Director Dodges Demi Lovato Cameo Question, But Promises ‘We Love Mitchie’
Rob Reiner’s shocking death on Sunday (Dec. 14) has triggered a wave of appreciations for his work, both as an actor and a film director. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned enough is that he, more than most film directors, made excellent use of music. Four of his first five films as a director had soundtracks that made the Billboard 200 album chart. One went double-platinum and won a Grammy; another went gold and sent its title song back into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Reiner received a Grammy nomination for the All in the Family soundtrack (best comedy recording, 1972), an Oscar nomination for best picture (A Few Good Men, 1992) and seven Primetime Emmy nods – five for All in the Family (outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series) and two for the HBO Max show Albert Brooks: Defending My Life – outstanding documentary or nonfiction special and outstanding directing for a documentary/nonfiction program.
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Reiner directed three actors to Oscar nominations – Kathy Bates in Misery (who won). Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men and James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi.
It’s too bad Reiner didn’t receive the Kennedy Center Honors. His long and varied career justified the honor. President Trump said earlier this year that he reviewed a list of about 50 candidates, most of which he rejected because they were too “woke.” If the decision had been made purely on the basis of who was the most deserving (imagine that!), Reiner might well have gotten it.
Here’s a list of Rob Reiner’s film and TV soundtracks that made the Billboard 200.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 18:41:252025-12-16 18:41:25Rob Reiner’s Film & TV Soundtracks That Made the Billboard 200: Full List
THE BIG STORY: Trademarks are important. They’re what protect consumers from confusing knockoffs in a messy marketplace by making clear the genuine source of a product. Imagine trying to buy something online if you had no idea whether it was really from the brand you wanted.
But it’s also really hard to sue over the use of a trademark in a movie or a song – and that’s important too. The First Amendment allows artists to express themselves freely, without fear of being dragged into court because they mentioned a brand name. Just ask Mattel how it went when they sued Aqua over their 1997 megahit “Barbie Girl.”
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That legal dynamic was on full display this week in Los Angeles federal court, when Lady Gaga scored a key victory in a trademark infringement lawsuit over her chart-topping Mayhem album, filed by a surf company that sells a brand of Mayhem surfboards. To find out what happened, go read the full story.
You’re reading The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, subscribe here.
Other top stories this week…
RIGHTS ROW – Dionne Warwick is facing a new lawsuit claiming she’s turned her back on a rights management company that repped her for years on tricky matters, including the deal for the famed sample of her song “Walk on By” in Doja Cat‘s chart-topping hit “Paint the Town Red.”
LIZZO LITIGATION – Lizzo’s ex-backup dancers urged an appeals court to reject the star’s free speech arguments and let their sexual harassment lawsuit go to trial. But Lizzo herself also spoke out on the case, pointing out that the dancers had quietly dropped their incendiary “fat shaming” claim last month: “It never happened. Now the truth is finally out.”
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UNDISCLOSED DEAL – A new lawsuit revealed for the first time that Capitol Christian Music Group (Capitol CMG) came close to buying Christian hip-hop label Reach Records this past summer, but allegedly backed out at the last minute over concerns about the price.
ASSAULT CHARGES – R&B singer Trey Songz was arrested in Manhattan on criminal charges over two separate alleged violent incidents within a one-week span, including punching a man in the face at a Times Square nightclub and destroying property at a hookah bar.
AI-ERA LIBEL LAW – Ray J doubled down on his claim that Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner have engaged in RICO violations, a statement that got him sued for defamation. In a new filing, he says their family business empire is “a criminal enterprise akin to the mob” – and that ChatGPT assured him that was a valid thing to say.
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? A trial kicked off in London over whether Jimi Hendrix’s bandmates are entitled to royalties from the rock legend’s catalog, pitting Hendrix’s estate and Sony Music against the heirs of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
COVER FLAP – Rod Wave was hit with a copyright lawsuit claiming he stole the photo featured on the cover of his 2024 album Last Lap from a Florida photographer who snapped it at a concert.
FAKE MERCH FIGHT – A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the estate of MF Doom seeking to hold Temu liable for selling counterfeit versions of the late hip-hop legend’s merchandise.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 18:20:312025-12-16 18:20:31Lady Gaga ‘Mayhem’ Ruling, Dionne Warwick Lawsuit, Lizzo Appeal & More Top Music Law News
Few adults get to experience the most fantastic life they imagined in their youth, and those who do often discover that the victory comes with hidden costs. That’s understandable. It’s lonely at the top, but the culture doesn’t focus much on that part of the deal. So it’s tough to see the dark side of success until it’s attained.
It’s what makes Carly Pearce’s “Dream Come True” special. It strips the glitter off of stardom and puts a spotlight on the sacrifices required to attain it. And while it’s written from Pearce’s career perspective, it’s not like touring as a country singer is the only glamour profession.
“It’s kind of a universal thought,” she says, “for anybody who’s ever chased any kind of dream.”
Songwriter Lauren Hungate (“Holy Smokes”) first presented the “Dream Come True” idea to Pearce during a February 2023 writing appointment that yielded the 2024 release “my place.” The goal was to look behind the on-stage spectacle for a glimpse at what entertainers give up for their vocation. It was not a typical songwriter-room pitch, since the topic didn’t hold much commercial promise.
“I knew it was probably a sad song about this job, so it would probably never be a single,” Hungate remembers. “It would be like a last track on someone’s record.”
While they didn’t write it that day, the idea resonated with Pearce, who showed some interest in tackling it down the line. More than a year later – on Aug. 20, 2024 – they had an appointment with songwriters Emily Weisband (“Can’t Break Up Now,” “Looking For You”) and Tofer Brown (“Night Shift,” “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”) at Brown’s Nashville office.
Pearce announced that she needed to write something with potential as a single, but the conversation took an unexpected turn.
“I ended up crying in the room and just saying, like, ‘I’m really having a hard time,’” Pearce recalls. “We just decided to all kind of share about the price of dreams. It felt more like therapy.”
Hungate’s “Dream Come True” title bubbled up again in that context, and everyone in the room was up for tackling it. The work went quickly.
“It was very effortless,” Brown says. “It was almost like the song was there. We just had to figure out how to bottle it up.”
Brown fashioned a gentle acoustic foundation, and Weisband created a halting melody for the opening lines of the chorus: “Nobody loves you for you/ Nobody calls you if you lose your shine.” The chorus needed just four lines to summarize the challenges of stardom. They would elaborate on specific struggles in the verses, and it wasn’t hard to find them.
“I think I had already kind of subconsciously started writing this type of song,” Pearce says, “and so I knew what parts were really important to me.”
In the opening stanza, they included her four-bedroom home with unused rooms, and the out-of-town concert booking that deprived her of attending her best friend’s wedding. Verse two referenced the gold records and celebratory plaques that all remind her of the heartaches that inspired her songs. And the final verse documented her mother’s illness (she suffers from COPD) and the inner turmoil Pearce feels at not being present when she could be useful. Every line is an accurate description of her world.
“Carly’s very strong, and she’s a hard nut to crack,” Hungate says. “To get Carly to be vulnerable, she has to feel really safe. And honestly, if you listen to the song, you can kind of see us progressively getting her more and more vulnerable with each verse.”
They were also careful, though, to include a short acknowledgement in a pre-chorus of the privilege it is to have a job so many people envy. “It’s a tricky thing to talk about,” Pearce notes, “because I never wanted people to feel like I’m not grateful.”
When she addressed her mom’s condition in the last verse, the conflict was so stark that they declined to visit the chorus a third time. Instead, “Dream Come True” quietly reiterates the title once more before ending in silence. “We easily could have gone into a big old dramatic chorus, but I think that last phrase and that last verse kind of shows that that’s where she still is,” Brown offers. “It’s not like, ‘and then all my dreams came true.’ Life doesn’t have a pretty bow all the time.”
Brown produced a spare demo with a piano solo after the second chorus. Pearce kept writing more material for her next album, but as the songs piled up, “Dream Come True” remained a priority. She recorded it on April 15 at Gold Pacific Studio – formerly Addiction – in Nashville’s Berry Hill section. The band treated it with enormous sensitivity, locking in on the approach in their third take and playing the song in its entirety each they attempted it, finally nailing it on the seventh pass.
“They were emotionally connected to it,” says producer Ben West (Ella Langley, Stephen Wilson Jr.). “Nobody was on their phone on that one.”
Drummer Aaron Sterling used brushes and a muted mallet to make the rhythm firm but understated, pianist Dave Cohen dropped a rich low note on occasion to effect quiet drama, and acoustic guitarist Bryan Sutton played with a fair amount of finger noise, which engineer Dave Clauss left exposed. “We’re always trying to lean into those little imperfections,” West says, “because those are the features rather than the liabilities in the recording.”
Fiddler Jenee Fleenor was so overcome by the final verse about Pearce’s ailing mom that she had to leave the room. But when she returned, her role was significant. West had her play the solo, redoing the piano melody from the demo on fiddle. West doubled the length of that section, and Fleenor overdubbed harmony parts to create a string quartet effect.
“The strings are the fastest track to your emotional strings,” Clauss suggests, “and it definitely works on this one.”
When Pearce tackled the final vocal at Clauss’ studio, Santa’s Workshop, she sang “Dream Come True” last, knowing she would be emotionally spent when she finished. Her touring schedule made her tonal texture even more appropriate for the song’s difficult message. “She’s going through, like, vocal drama,” Clauss says. “She was gigging so much, and it added so much to it, because it just translated the pain, the way her vocal was breaking up.”
It connected so well that when Big Machine started playing new music for radio programmers, several chains asked specifically for “Dream Come True” as a single. The label released it to country radio via PlayMPE on Nov. 12. As much as the song crystallized the challenges in her chosen career, it also reminded Pearce that the sacrifices had a purpose. “Dream Come True” helped her reconnect with that intent.
“The truth always wins,” she says, “and this is an example.”
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-12-16 18:15:372025-12-16 18:15:37Carly Pearce Pulls Back the Curtain With Her Vulnerable Single ‘Dream Come True’: ‘It Felt More Like Therapy’
