California’s most comprehensive ticketing bill to date, AB 1720, failed to make its way out of the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday (Aug. 13). The bill, originally introduced by state assembly member Matt Haney in February, would have made it illegal to resell a concert, theater, comedy or other live entertainment ticket (sports were not included) at a price higher than face value (the cost of the ticket plus fees from the primary ticketing source) plus 10% for shows taking place in California.

“AB 1720 would have helped remove the incentives that fuel predatory ticket resale while still allowing someone who can’t attend a show to resell their ticket and recover their costs,” Haney said in a statement provided to Billboard. “I’m disappointed the bill did not advance, but this outcome doesn’t change the reality that fans, artists, and venues are losing out while middlemen extract more and more profit.”

Haney continued: “It’s not surprising that a bill designed to put power back in the hands of fans, artists, and venues faced opposition from an industry that profits from speculation and artificial scarcity.”

The California bill faced aggressive lobbying efforts from secondary ticketing companies like StubHub, which spent $3.4 million opposing the legislation, according to publicly available records. (The Hollywood Reporter was first to report on the lobbying sum.)

“Started in California 26 years ago, StubHub exists to give fans access to live events on their own terms through a secure, verified marketplace — including fans who couldn’t get tickets during the original on-sale, or who want the option of grabbing a great deal as prices shift closer to the event,” a StubHub spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard. “We believe that more choice, flexibility, and access put fans first and help everyone get into the events they love.”

The bill was backed by the nationwide National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), the local NIVA CA chapter and musician advocacy group Music Artists Coalition.

Since AB 1720’s introduction in February, the language of the bill was stripped back to only include a resale ticketing cap for independent venues with a capacity of 3,000 or fewer. With those amendments, the bill would no longer have impacted larger arena and stadium shows that fans have felt priced out of in recent years.

“Anyone who has tried to buy tickets to a concert, comedy show or live event knows the frustration. Tickets go on sale and, within moments, professional brokers and bots buy up large blocks of inventory, only to relist them at two, three, sometimes ten times the original price,” Haney’s statement continued. “By the time real fans reach the front of the line, affordable tickets are already gone. And none of that markup supports the people who actually create live events. It doesn’t go to artists, independent venues, touring crews, workers, or the staff who make these experiences possible. Those profits go to middlemen whose business model depends on scarcity and speculation.”

Haney continued, “This isn’t a fringe idea, and it isn’t partisan. From Kid Rock to Noah Kahan, artists across genres have called for solutions to runaway ticket resale practices. Independent venues have spoken out. Fans have demanded change. Several states and countries have already adopted resale caps because they recognize the urgency of this issue.”

“I’m going to keep working with the coalition of fans, artists, and venues who recognize the urgency of this issue and continue pushing for solutions that put tickets back in the hands of the people they were intended for,” he added.

Ticket resale cap bills have been popping up all over the country. In May, Vermont governor Phil Scott signed a resale cap bill into law, making it the second state in the country to pass such legislation after Maine. Most recently, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey introduced An Act Relative to Closing the Great Divide between Ticket Prices and Affordability, or The Great Divide Act, named after Noah Kahan’s Billboard 200 No. 1 album The Great Divide. The proposed bill would cap resale prices of concert tickets at 110% of the original ticket’s face value. It would also limit the service fees and charges that can be imposed by secondary ticketing platforms on tickets for both sporting and non-sporting events to no more than 10% of the total price.

KATSEYE are just about to unleash their new album Wild on Friday, but first, the global girl group dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday (Aug. 12) to make their late-night performance debut — and Billboard was inside Studio 6B for their latest visit.

We were also in the building when KATSEYE visited Fallon for their first sit-down back in February, but this time, they took the stage for the television performance debut of their latest single “Animal,” the Ed Sheeran-co-written hit that debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200. “The spirit of Ed is alive in ‘Animal,’” Lara said during Wednesday’s chat.

Of course, when KATSEYE first visited the late-night show earlier this year, it was as a six-piece group; but since that first appearance, two members — Manon in February and Sophia just last week — have taken hiatuses from group activities to focus on their mental health. The remaining quartet (Lara, Daniela, Yoonchae and Megan) expressed their love for their groupmates when Fallon asked about the absent members, with Lara adding that they were grateful to their EYEKONS fanbase who “continue to support us” amid the shifting lineup.

Even before their interview and performance, KATSEYE popped up during Fallon’s monologue to fill in for various members of the Tonight Show crew: Yoonchae took Black Thought’s spot with house band The Roots; Megan was in announcer Steve Higgins’ place at his podium; Lara stepped in for cameraman Hank; and lastly Daniela took Jimmy’s place at center stage to close out the bit.

Also on Wednesday’s show: Matthew McConaughey is the night’s other guest, and he even pops out do a bluegrass cover of Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” the massive 17-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash, with Fallon joining in on harmonies and struming a washboard.

Tune in to catch KATSEYE on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT tonight on NBC and streaming next day on Peacock.

Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Taste” music video was already cinematic and jaw-dropping, and apparently, its storyline even extends to its props, with one of its most memorable ones having a Sabrina-inspired name.

Jenna Ortega, who starred opposite of Carpenter in the bloody, campy 2024 video, recently revealed a behind-the-scenes detail about the chainsaw she wielded near the end of the video. According to the actress, the prop had a name that referenced Carpenter, although she couldn’t quite recall the exact name.

“I think the chainsaw had some crazy name and reference to Sabrina as well. It was called like the Espresso 3000 or something,” Ortega told Esquire.

The name would be a fitting nod to Carpenter’s hit “Espresso,” which kicked off the pop star’s blockbuster Short n’ Sweet era in the spring of 2024. The chainsaw itself gets interesting screen time in the “Taste” video, which sees Ortega and Carpenter repeatedly trying to kill each other in increasingly elaborate fashion. Ortega said the chainsaw sequence was her favorite part to film, calling it “really camp and fun” and noting that the pair had “nice little outfits” for the scene.

Despite how elaborate the finished video looks, Ortega said there wasn’t actually much time to prepare for the shoot. She revealed that she found out she would be involved only days beforehand and said much of the action wasn’t choreographed in advance.

“Nothing about that music video was choreographed,” Ortega said. “Like we were just running around. We had no time to prep or really talk about it.”

“Taste,” released as the third single from Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, became one of the album’s biggest hits, reaching No. 2 on the Hot 100 and spending multiple weeks in the chart’s top 10. Meanwhile, the accompanying video helped establish the song’s darkly comic visual identity, with Carpenter and Ortega battling through a series of increasingly gruesome encounters.

Watch the full interview with Ortega below.

The soulful pop ballad that remains the signature hit for musician/actress Vanessa Williams could have ended up sounding completely different.

The singer recently shared that she was actually the third artist that was offered “Save the Best for Last,” the romantic ballad that would go on to become her highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit.

Williams revealed this fact during her appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me podcast, explaining that the song had first been sent to fellow musician Bette Midler, who ultimately declined, before it was offered to powerhouse Barbra Streisand.

“They gave it to Bette Midler, who passed,” Williams said. “They gave it to Streisand, and she passed. And I was, like, third one up.”

Williams eventually selected the song for her second studio album, The Comfort Zone, released in 1991. “Save the Best for Last” was the album’s third single, quickly becoming a staple song in Williams’ music career and earning two Grammy nominations, including for record of the year. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, giving Williams her first — and, to date, only — chart-topper. It also became one of the biggest hits of 1992, a year that included such smashes like Sir Mix-a-Lot‘s “Baby Got Back” and Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You,” finishing at No. 4 on the year-end Hot 100.

Williams also told Ferguson about another major pop hit she wished had come her way: Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby,” which topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in 1991. Williams said she would have loved to record that song, but it was never brought to her because of an apparent oversight.

Of course, Williams’ music career goes beyond “Save the Best for Last.” She scored additional Hot 100 hits with songs including “The Comfort Zone,” “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas, “The Sweetest Days” and “Love Is,” while simultaneously building a major acting career with roles in Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty and films including Shaft.

Watch the full episode with Williams and Ferguson below.