Kehlani is looking forward to Bad Bunny’s 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in San Francisco Bay Area in February, but she’s hoping he doesn’t cater an ounce to the strictly English-speaking audience for the big game.

The “Folded” singer joined the Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream on Tuesday (Dec. 9), where Kehlani revealed that they’re “manifesting” a Spanish Super Bowl from Benito, as they don’t think he should perform “a single word” in English.

“He’s about to do the Super Bowl and probably not in English at all, in a time where that’s basically criminalized,” she said. “And that’s incredible. I don’t think he should say a single word in English at all.”

Host Druski — who is the cover star of the latest issue of Billboard –was caught off guard and thought that what Kehlani was hoping to see from Bad Bunny was facts regarding the Puerto Rican star’s Super Bowl performance, but the singer explained that it’s just something they’re “manifesting” at the moment.

“How we gon’ understand?” Druski asked.

Kehlani fired back: “We don’t have to!” The singer admitted she doesn’t understand all of Bad Bunny’s lyrics, but still vibes to plenty of his discography.

Kehlani also gave Benito his flowers for continuing to put on for his Puerto Rican culture and doing a residency back home to stimulate the U.S. territory’s economy.

“I think his commitment to uplifting his culture has been so serious,” she said. “Refusing to tour here, only touring in Puerto Rico to change the economy back home, was something super exemplary and I love that about him.”

Bad Bunny touches the Super Bowl LX stage at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

Watch the full Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream below.

Laura Segura has been appointed the next executive director of She Is The Music (SITM), a global nonprofit co-founded by Alicia Keys, Jody Gerson, Ann Mincieli and Sam Kirby Yoh that champions gender equality and works to increase the number of women across the music industry.

She will succeed Michelle Yablans, who is stepping down at the end of the month after a successful six-year run, and will lead SITM’s strategic vision, global programs, partnerships and expansion. Segura will oversee initiatives such as all-women songwriting camps, a global creator database, mentorship cohorts, research and advocacy, and partnerships with labels, publishers, DSPs and educational institutions. Her responsibilities include strengthening industry relationships, guiding international growth, managing operations, and driving fundraising efforts.

“I’m so proud to welcome Laura into this role,” said Keys. “She has spent her career lifting people up, building support systems that work, and making sure no one is left behind — and that spirit is at the heart of She Is The Music. Laura understands the challenges women face in this industry and brings the strength, clarity, and compassion needed to create real, lasting change. I know she will help us push our mission even further, opening more doors, elevating more voices, and building a future where women are fully seen, heard, and supported.”

Segura joins She Is The Music after an impactful tenure as executive director of MusiCares, where she spearheaded record-breaking relief efforts, including $35.7 million in pandemic aid and an additional $16 million during the Los Angeles-area fires. Under her leadership, MusiCares expanded its operating budget, modernized systems and introduced programs such as Humans of Hip Hop and the Wellness in Music initiative.

Appointed ED of MusiCares in 2020, Segura previously served as vice president of membership and industry relations at the Recording Academy, where she advanced diversity initiatives and reformed membership structures. Her contributions have earned her repeated recognition on Billboard’s Women in Music list and other industry honors. Segura also serves on the Entertainment Community Fund’s Housing Board, continuing her commitment to advocacy and community support.

Keys’ fellow co-founders Gerson, Mincieli and Kirby Yoh added their enthusiasm for Segura’s appointment, calling it a pivotal moment for the organization. “Her commitment to driving meaningful change reflects the mission we set out to champion from day one,” they said. “Laura brings a rare blend of vision, experience, and genuine care for the people who make this industry thrive, and under her leadership, SITM will continue creating opportunities for women across every corner of the music ecosystem.”

Christmas came early on Tuesday (Dec. 9) when Christina Aguilera dropped by the Jennifer Hudson Show, where the host wasted no time spreading good cheer to the “What a Girl Wants” singer. “Whitney Houston said she loved your voice, one of the greatest voices that she knows,” Hudson told Aguilera of the high praise she received from the late R&B/pop superstar who died in 2012 at age 48.

Hudson said she had to second that emotion, and the holiday cheer kept a-rollin’ as Xtina bounced the compliment right back to the Oscar- and Grammy-winning host, who wondered what Aguilera remembered about meeting Houston.

“She was always just always so kind and just down to earth and it’s so wonderful when you get to meet an icon of yours,” Aguilera said of Houston, who she studied and was fascinated with growing up. Aguilera recalled bumping into Houston once backstage at a European MTV awards show where the “I Will Always Love You” singer came right up to her and said, “‘how you doin’ girl?’ She was always just chill and just real and good energy.”

When Aguilera casually mentioned that time she sang Whitney’s “Run to You” at a 2001 BET Awards tribute to Houston — a moment Hudson said she remembered with crystal clarity — she praised her mentor’s generosity and kindness. “She made my life with her complimentary moment of her receiving her award… just positive energy [and] extending her hand to younger generations of singers who she knows we all idolized [her],” Aguilera said.

Hudson wasn’t there to just talk old times, though. She also pressed Aguilera — who hasn’t released an album of new material since her second Spanish language LP, 2022’s Aguilera — on whether she has any unreleased music in the vault. “Yes, there’s some… there are things along the way, but probably will always remain in a vault,” Aguilera said.

The good news is that Aguilera said there “is new music” in the works, though admittedly she does “take a minute” to make sure she’s being thoughtful about what she releases. “I’m not like someone that’s just like, ‘Oh let me just keep pumping it out,’” said the singer who dropped 2018’s Liberation LP after an six-year gap following 2012’s Lotus.

“Integrity matters to me. I’m a message girl and I really like to absorb what’s happening in the world, things that are really moving me and affecting people to really put thought into it,” Aguilera said, promising that her untitled next album will be a “really personal project” that will tie-in with an equally personal documentary she’s been filming for the past few years.

In the meantime, fans can check out her new Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris holiday special, which will screen in theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 14 and 21.

Watch Aguilera talk Whitney Houston and unreleased music below.

Taylor Swift’s attorneys are seeking to end an “absurd” lawsuit over claims she stole lyrics from a self-published Florida poet, saying the accuser’s “baseless” claims must be rejected “once and for all.”

Kimberly Marasco claims the star lifted material from her poems for more than a dozen songs, spanning Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department. One such case was tossed out of court in September, but another case remains pending.

In a scathing motion on Thursday, Swift’s lawyers asked the judge to permanently dismiss that second lawsuit – saying Marasco had “no conceivable case” against the superstar, and that she had already been told that by the same judge.

“This is plaintiff’s second frivolous and harassing lawsuit against artist,” writes Swift’s longtime attorney Douglas Baldridge. “Plaintiff’s claims are, as in her last lawsuit, absurd and legally baseless.”

Swift’s lawyers told the judge that Marasco is trying to claim ownership of “basic themes” and “ubiquitous metaphors,” as well as an assortment of words seemingly “plucked from random spots” in the disputed works.

“Plaintiff has wasted the time and resources of artist, the other defendants, and this court for long enough,” Swift’s lawyers write. “Plaintiff’s frivolous and harassing claims should be dismissed once and for all.”

Marasco first sued Taylor’s company in 2024, claiming the superstar had stolen material for lyrics to songs like “The Man,” “My Tears Ricochet,” “Illicit Affairs” and many others. But that case was dismissed in September, when Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Marasco didn’t own any rights to the “common” phrases she claimed Swift had copied.

“Plaintiff’s poems amount at most to ideas, metaphors, contexts, and themes — none of which is a proper subject of copyright protection,” the judge wrote at the time.

Though that ruling dismissed a case Marasco filed against the star’s Taylor Swift Productions, the accuser filed a separate case in February against Swift herself over largely the same allegations.

In seeking to dismiss that case on Thursday, Swift’s lawyers echoed Judge Cannon’s ruling. Marasco is seeking to monopolize basic concepts “found throughout the world in countless works of art,” they wrote, including something as simple as a “female worker navigating a patriarchal corporate system.”

“Plaintiff alleges that artist unlawfully used plaintiff’s ideas about time, a false or betrayed love, a woman being “gaslighted,” guilt, abandonment, and the concept of using a chair in a dance routine,” Taylor’s attorneys write.

On Monday, Marasco quickly filed a response in court, arguing it was too early to dismiss her case. She claimed that she had, in fact, cited “multiple instances of verbatim phrasing” pulled directly from her poems. But when she actually included those examples in the court filing, they were not actually verbatim.

In one comparison, the poem says: “You caged me and told me I’m crazy”; Taylor lyrics from “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” instead say: “You caged me and then you called me crazy.” In another comparison cited by Marasco, her poem says: “I’m running behind, you it’s his word against mine”; in Taylor’s line from “The Man,” she instead says: “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I were a man.”

In many ways, the story of Joyce Manor’s alt-rock radio breakthrough is typical: Local band builds a devoted following, wins over the big regional station, and swarms the airwaves with the super-catchy lead single to its new album. The main difference with the pop-punk group is its timing: It’s taken the band nearly 15 years to finally score its first radio hit, with the jangly meta-downer “All My Friends Are So Depressed.”

That’s hardly to say the Torrance, Calif., trio was toiling in obscurity for the prior decade and a half. Joyce Manor became a punk and emo scene favorite and Tumblr sensation following its 2011 self-titled debut, and it has since expanded its reach to include famous fans like blink-182’s Mark Hoppus (who joined the band to sing “Heart Tattoo” at its 2024 Hollywood Palladium show celebrating the 10th anniversary of its defining album Never Hungover Again) and star comedian John Mulaney (who had the band perform on his Netflix talk show Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney last year).

“It’s really evenly paced,” says frontman Barry Johnson of the band’s growth from basement breakout to something fairly close to rock stardom. “We’ve never had that Turnstile moment where you blink, and it’s like, ‘Wait a minute. They’re like, the biggest band on Earth?…’ Things that aren’t tied to an album push, typically, have kept people aware of us. But it has been really incremental.”

Instead, Joyce Manor has built a sustainable career the old-fashioned way: “Just in playing good shows and putting out good records,” as Ravenhouse’s Drew McKinley, the band’s longtime co-manager along with Juan Luis Carrera, puts it. “There’s a certain level of consistency.”

That reliability became a particular boon to the trio — comprising Johnson, guitarist Chase Knobbe and bassist Matt Ebert — during the pandemic, when the longtime road warriors were forced to take a live break, and fans got a chance to miss their dependability. “Joyce Manor came out of COVID twice as big as they went in,” says Carrera. “So many things popped out of that, whether it’s selling out a Palladium [show or] John Mulaney [booking them].”

Now, the band can add a top 25 hit on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart to its list of recent achievements, thanks to “Depressed.” The song also marks the group’s first time working with Brett Gurewitz as producer; Gurewitz was an early inspiration to the band as guitarist for Los Angeles punk greats Bad Religion, and he’s a co-founder (and in-house producer) for Epitaph Records, the label home for Joyce Manor since 2014.

“I secretly wanted to [produce them] for a long time,” admits Gurewitz, who feared that volunteering his services would be viewed by the band as an offer they couldn’t refuse. (The band says they assumed he simply didn’t have time: “Dude, you’re a dad — you have multiple labels, you have a publishing company — you’re busy!’” Johnson recalls thinking.)

But such an opportunity arose when Johnson was frustrated in the studio translating the vision he had for “Depressed” — whose mix of gentle despair and country-fried Americana he considers his spin on Lana Del Rey, despite admitting he’s not actually being that familiar with her work. He then consulted Gurewitz for his take. As Gurewitz recalls telling Johnson, “I was thinking it would have like this sort of ‘80s Smiths vibe.” Johnson replied, “Well, why don’t you record it the way you would do it?”

Gurewitz’s simpler take on the song, with cleaner guitars, was to the group’s liking and led him to produce the entirety of the band’s forthcoming seventh album, I Used To Go to This Bar (due Jan. 30, 2026), perhaps the most direct and radio-ready Joyce Manor album to date, with more fully fleshed-out songs than fans expect from the band’s famously lean releases. “It’s short and sweet, like all Joyce Manor records,” Gurewitz says, “but I managed to get them to add some choruses.”

“Depressed” caught the attention of legendary L.A. alt-rock station KROQ, which had been scoping the band since its level-up 2023 gig at Long Beach Arena. While the band’s 2010s pop-punk sound was an awkward fit for the station in the decade of Twenty One Pilots and Imagine Dragons, it tapped into something more timeless with the Smiths- and Cure-reminiscent track.

Bassist Matt Ebert calls it “so incredibly thrilling” and guitarist Chase Knobbe says it’s a trip to hear his song on the station responsible for “a lot of [my] early musical memories.” On the other hand, Johnson’s reflexive response is anxiety: “I feel like they’re going to stop the song,” he says. “They’re [going to go], ‘Hey, sorry about that… We didn’t mean to play that. It was not any good, and we’ll never do it again.’ ”

KROQ has yet to express such regrets — and with one of the nation’s premiere alt-rock stations leading the way, the format has (slowly, of course) started to embrace “Depressed.” The song holds at its No. 22 high on the Alternative Airplay chart dated Dec. 13, its 11th week on the listing.

With a new album that McKinley calls “definitely a level up for them” and a live presence that’s constantly hitting new benchmarks (“Every L.A. show we’ve ever done has been our biggest L.A. show,” says Johnson), the doors are open for Joyce Manor to continue its ascent. In 2023, the band played amphitheaters and pavilions as openers on a summer tour with Weezer, and its managers say they could someday be headlining such venues themselves.

“That’s the trajectory,” says McKinley. “There’s a new level of maturity as a band in Barry’s songwriting, and a new confidence — playing shows with Weezer, and being on those bigger stages, is definitely setting the pathway forward for that.” Carrera adds: “They feel really comfortable on those stages now. They’re going to be replacing those bands at that level [one day], and bringing somebody up with them.”

Johnson is open to (if somewhat trepidatious about) that prospect — but true to his band’s approach, if he gets to that apex someday, he certainly doesn’t want to get there all at once. “Gradually, we’re like, ‘Oh, we’re kind of high up here now, aren’t we?’ I didn’t rocket up there, you know? So I would like to keep that pace.”

A version of this story appears in the Dec. 13, 2025, issue of Billboard.