Billboard‘s current cover star Mau P swung by the Billboard House @ SXSW on Sunday (March 15) to talk about music and more ahead of his headlining set at Austin’s The Concourse Project. (This show was originally scheduled to happen as part of Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW 2026 at Moody Amphitheater, but was moved due to severe weather.)

Speaking with Billboard senior music correspondent Katie Bain, the Dutch producer reflected on his earliest inspirations, sharing that he grew up listening to “a lot of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell, and my dad would always play jazz in the car that I had no interest in at the time, but it always stuck in my head.”

The artist in fact grew up in a highly musical household where his mom was a singer and his dad was a session musician, music teacher and conductor, with the first floor of the family home occupied by a music studio.

“I could always just go downstairs and play whatever instrument was available,” Mau said. “To me it was just like, ‘If I don’t know what to do later in life, I can always fall back on whatever my parents were doing. Music was almost like the last resort, if I didn’t think of anything else to do that was not music.” (He also revealed that before music, he considered becoming both a designer and a camera jib operator.)

Of course, music has worked out very well for Mau P, who’s skyrocketed to headlining status over the last four years with a signature sound that’s at once darkly groovy, sexy and playful. He arrived to this style after years cutting his teeth in the mainstage EDM world under the name Maurice West.

“When I transitioned into Mau P, it felt like my whole background of doing Maurice West was being put to use for a different kind of direction,” he said. “I had this knowledge of really big sounds that were made for really big stages, and the only goal was to get everybody jumping up and down. My thought was, ‘How do I package that into a sound that’s sexier and also approachable for the clubs and not just for the big stage and the big speakers, but also just for your earbuds.”

Landing on this sound has also made for Mau to play both massive festival stages and trendsetting parties. “It’s a very thin line between me being able to play CircoLoco, but also me being able to play an hour at Coachella in a headline slot and still make it entertaining for people,” he said of his viral show at the festival last April, “and not just in a way that it’s fireworks and flames, but where I’m mixing for a very long time. I wanted to show people that I’m actually taking my time DJing and doing this craft.”

Between all the shows, Mau is making time to work on the debut album he announced in January. Finding the vibe for this collection has found him back in the studio making songs “that you can play on a piano and you can sing it, and it still holds up nice,” he said. “I’m not trying to follow what’s popping right now. I’m just trying to take it back to the core, so it’s not going to be dependent on like, ‘I mixed those drums really well and that has the fattest bass ever.’”

“Like, you know me, it will have the fattest bass ever,” he continued. “But it still has to be timeless.”

At Sunday’s (March 15) 2026 Oscars, Barbra Streisand took the stage to pay loving tribute to her The Way We Were co-star Robert Redford, who died in September at age 89.

Streisand gave a speech honoring Redford as “an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever.” She wrapped up her fond words by singing a snippet of “The Way We Were,” her three-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 theme song for the 1973 romantic drama, which also won the Oscar for best original song at the 1974 ceremony.

Below, read Streisand’s full tribute to Redford:

After I read the first script for The Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role of Hubbell, and that was Robert Redford. But he turned it down because he said the character had no backbone. He doesn’t stand for anything. And he was right. So many drafts later, Bob finally agreed to do it. He was a brilliant, subtle actor, and we had a wonderful time playing off each other, because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do or say. And I’m thrilled that The Way We Were is now considered a classic love story, but it’s also about a dark time in our history, the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, when people were informing on each other and subject to loyalty oaths.

Now, Bob had real backbone, on and off the screen. He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment and encouraged new voices at his Sundance Institute, some of whom are up for Oscars tonight, which is so great. He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me. He called me Babs, and I’d say, “Bob, come on, do I look like a Babs?” I’m not a Babs, you know? But the way he said it made me laugh. And many years later, we were chatting on the phone about the usual — politics, art, [Italian painter and sculptor] Modigliani, our favorite — and as we were hanging up, he said, “Babs, I love you dearly, and I always will.” And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with, “I love you too.” And I signed it: “Babs.”

Sinners took the Oscars audience into its arms Sunday night (March 15) as star Miles Caton and “I Lied to You” cowriter Raphael Saadiq delivered a rousing performance of the tune from the film, which is nominated for 16 awards — the most in Academy Award history — including best original song.

The lively performance was reminiscent of the scene from the movie during which Caton’s character, Sammie, performs the same song, with attendees of the juke joint — which was replicated on the Oscars stage — dancing in a marriage of culture and celebration. It was a star-studded affair that featured not only the actor, but also his costars Li Jun Li (Grace) and Jayme Lawson (Pearline) dancing along to the music, though Michael B. Jordan was not on stage. Many musicians also joined in on the performance, including Shaboozey, Brittany Howard, Alice Smith, Bobby Rush, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Buddy Guy. Also dancing on stage was celebrated ballet dancer Misty Copeland.

Ahead of the show, the academy teased that the “I Lied to You” performance would be a celebration of the critically acclaimed film’s “singular visual style.”

The movie — directed by Ryan Coogler — is also nominated for best picture, original score (Ludwig Goransson), best actor (Jordan, who played two roles) and supporting actor (Delroy Lindo), best supporting actress (Wunmi Mosaku), best director (Coogler) and more.

Conan O’Brien played host for the second year in a row at the Academy Awards. This year’s ceremony was once again held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, and aired live on ABC and streamed on Hulu.

Watch the performance of “I Lied to You” above.

During the Oscars on Sunday (March 15), best animated feature film of the year was one of the first awards of the evening — and it went to the smash hit KPop Demon Hunters.

It was the first nomination and win for the team of Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong.

“For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry it took so long to see us in a movie like this,” said Kang as the cameras panned to the singing voices of HUNTR/X (Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami and EJAE) tearing up in the audience.

“Movies have the power to connect us…across borders,” added Appelhans, before Wong thanked their partners for their endless support.

KPop Demon Hunters also appears in the category for achievement in music written for motion pictures (original song) with “Golden” (music and lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park).

The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit is performed by Nuna, Rei Ami and EJAE in the film — and will also be performed by the trio during the ceremony this evening.

Last week, it was announced that the singing voices of HUNTR/X were named Billboard’s Women of the Year ahead of the annual event in April. Other 2026 honorees include fellow Oscar-nominee Teyana Taylor, Tate McRae, Ella Langley, Kehlani, Laufey, Mariah the Scientist, Thalia and Zara Larsson.

Billboard Women In Music will be hosted by Keke Palmer and the show will stream live on Billboard.com and Billboard‘s YouTube channel.