Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon is the latest musician to voice his support for those protesting against ICE in Minneapolis and across the United States.

At the NMPA & Billboard Songwriter Awards on Wednesday (Jan. 28), the two-time Grammy winner accepted his artist-songwriter of the year honor with a rousing speech hailing the importance of using one’s voice to push their community forward.

“I just wanna make a note that this also represents another kind of observer, one with hard hands,” Vernon mused. “One that’s in the streets of Minneapolis and many, many cities in this country right now. An observer, with a capital O, with hard hands, is somebody that stands on the corner of their community and blows the whistle and makes a noise. That’s their purpose … and they are using their voice. So, I am incredibly humbled to be an Observer and to stand in the service of humanality.”

The largest songwriter-focused event hosted during Grammy weeks, the NPMA x Billboard Songwriter Awards hosted scores of A-list guests from across the music industry at the Avalon Hollywood. Known for his immersive, genre-bending catalog, which includes a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit thanks to his featured turn on Taylor Swift’s “Exile” (No. 6), Vernon’s latest honor comes on the heels of his Sable, Fable LP. Released last April, the set topped both Americana/Folk Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums, peaking at No. 11 on the all-genre Billboard 200. At Sunday’s Grammy ceremony (Feb. 1), Sable, Fable will compete in the best alternative music album category, while lead single “Everything Is Peaceful Love” squares off in best alternative music performance.

Never one to shy away from politics — he performed at a hometown rally in Wisconsin for Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign — Vernon’s acceptance speech comes just a month after he teamed up with Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner for “Sold Out,” an anti-gun violence song.

Wednesday also found Grammy-winning rock guitarist Tom Morello announcing a benefit concert of solidarity and resistance for Friday (Jan. 30) at First Avenue in Minneapolis. All proceeds will benefit the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two American citizens recently killed by ICE agents. The same day, Lizzo shared a passionate video on social media addressing the “injustice” of those ICE shootings.

Later that night, Lady Gaga (at a Mayhem Ball tour stop in Tokyo) and Pusha T (on the Billboard Power 100 red carpet) both spoke out against ICE. Mother Monster told her audience that her “heart is aching thinking about the people … who are being mercilessly targeted by ICE,” while Pusha plainly said, “Jan. 28, 2026, f—k ICE. Gotta keep it 100. Got to.”

Watch Bon Iver’s full acceptance speech below.

When an artist says “everything happened very organically,” there’s usually more behind that phrase. But in the case of Alleh and Yorghaki, their success story truly was organic. It began as a casual encounter between two acquaintances who connected through music, both from the same city — Valencia, Venezuela — and who attended the same school, albeit in different years.

“I met Yorghaki in Valencia one night, just casually. He was leaving a party, and I was arriving,” Alleh tells Billboard. “We ran into each other on the street. ‘Hey, let’s make music.’ Yorghaki was the only person I knew who was a producer and made good music, music I was already listening to. I wanted someone to record me and understand me, even down to how to do the vocals.”

“Even though there was an age difference, we understood each other. Expressing ourselves felt like we were family, like a friend I had known my whole life,” adds Yorghaki. “Twelve hours from when we met to when we made music! And then the first song we released came out about eight months later. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was in February 2024.”

Yorghaki started playing guitar inspired by pop bands and artists like John Mayer and Phil Collins. “My dad always listened to a lot of Soda Stereo and a lot of Arabic music,” he says, adding that by the time he was 17, it was no longer just a hobby for him. “My friend Gus (Gustavo Ortega, a talented producer, songwriter, and vocalist) taught me how to make music, and it became a way to express what I was feeling. And since I never sang and never dared to sing, I would always turn to my best friends, who were super talented and incredible performers and songwriters.”

In Alleh’s case, he had an interest and talent for rapping from a very early age. “I always knew I didn’t want to do something normal, and as a kid, I kind of rapped a lot. Then quarantine [due to the COVID pandemic] happened, and I talked to a friend and said, ‘Look, let’s make music.’” He never imagined that just a few years later, with that same sweet-yet-raspy voice, calm and full of sensitivity, he would be nominated for the 2025 Latin Grammy for best new artist.

One of his first songs was “Déjà vu,” followed by “Ultravioleta,” which started gaining traction on TikTok. “At least for me, with my account that had zero followers, I suddenly started seeing people giving 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 12,000, 15,000 likes,” says Alleh. He also recalls that the first artist who supported them by uploading a video on the platform was Beto Montenegro from Rawayana.

The song was written by Alleh, Yorghaki and the Venezuelan producer Manuel Lara, who is also from Valencia, and it was co-produced by Yorghaki and Lara. “Manuel listened to it and said, ‘OK, this could be a merenguetón.’ It’s a song we had tucked away in the vault. We told him, ‘Take it, see if you can bring it to life.’ He sent it back to us the next day, and it was ‘Capaz.’ It was crazy,” Alleh says excitedly. “The three of us went into the studio to throw around melodies, finish writing that part of the song, and it came out: ‘Aventurándome por tu piel.’ In fact, we have videos of how it all came together.”

Their most recent release is La Fórmula, a five-song EP that arrived as a surprise for their fans this past December 24. Alleh says his dream collaboration would be with Bad Bunny or Karol G.

The partnership between Alleh and Yorghaki has elevated both of their careers, both together and individually. At the 2025 Latin Grammys, in addition to Alleh’s nomination for Best New Artist, they competed together in the category of Best Urban Performance/Urban Fusion for “Capaz (Merenguetón).” At the 2026 Premio Lo Nuestro, they are competing for the album of the year trophy with La Ciudad, while competing separately in the category of male breakthrough artist of the year. Additionally, Yorghaki is featured in the Collaboration of the Year – Pop/Urban category for “Samaná,” alongside his fellow Venezuelan artists Mau y Ricky and Danny Ocean.

Learn more about Billboard‘s first Latin Artist on the Rise of the year, in this case, a duo-like combination due to the success they’ve achieved with their first joint project. (Both were also included together on Billboard’s list of 26 Latin Artists to Watch in 2026).

Name: Alleh Mezher and Yorghaki Yacoub

Age: 23 and 27

Recommended Song: “EN TU MIRADAaaaa”

Major Accomplishment: “I think what I’m most proud of and can say I experienced was performing shows in my city, in Valencia. In the arena you’d always walk past and see, and then having the opportunity to fill it yourself,” says Alleh. Yorghaki also speaks about creating music that connects with people: “In the city, it’s like this experiment of healing, discovering this person, getting to know someone, and the stumbles that come with it. It’s very beautiful because people connect very deeply with projects that are more well thought out, because they’re about the feeling, not about us.”

What’s Next: “I think La Ciudad is music that I enjoy making; I don’t want to tell you that I’m going to stick to just one style. I don’t know, I like to explore… and do so many things. So, what I would really focus on is making music that fulfills me above all else and expressing it as beautifully as possible. Something will come!” says Alleh.

“I think from the beginning, the idea was to make an album as friends. And to be able to say that if it did really well, it would help our careers, and if it didn’t do as well, it would still contribute to our growth as artists. And the best thing happened. It was amazing, incredible, people loved it, and they thought we were a duo. In the end, we are two great friends who came together to make this,” adds Yorghaki. “I mean, we can’t stop working together because we’re such good friends, you know? Alleh has his vision of how he wants to be as an artist, and I have mine, and that’s the beauty of it. I think we gave people different versions of ourselves. The version where we’re together, the version where we’re separate, and the version where we’re not.”

Like so many others, Lizzo is feeling emotional about the violence happening amid ICE’s immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, where the star lived while first starting her music career.

In a Wednesday (Jan. 28) video posted to her social media profiles, the artist addressed the political turmoil unfolding in the city she once called home before offering ways her followers could help, if they have the means. “I know it can feel helpless watching all of this unfold on our phones, but after talking to local organizers on the ground in Minneapolis, here’s a couple ways you can help,” she began.

Lizzo went on to share a GoFundMe for Jayla Ramirez, a person who wrote on the fundraising site that their father had been detained by ICE in Minneapolis and is in need of $20,000 for bail and $10,000 for lawyer fees. The Grammy winner also shouted out Smitten Kitten, a Minneapolis sex shop that has become a haven for mutual aid and resources for people in need, and Glam Doll Donuts, which Lizzo said is located across the street from the spot where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 24, as places in need of support.

“I am fully aware of the financial recession that we’re going through in this country,” Lizzo noted. “When I make videos like this, I am never ever asking my fans or anyone who is in a less fortunate financial situation than me to donate to a GoFundMe. I make videos like these, because I don’t have the phone number of every rich and famous person or influencer who can help in my phone.”

“My heart goes out to Minneapolis,” she added, getting choked up. “In the years that I lived there, whether it was Philando Castile, whether it was Jamar Clark, whether it was George Floyd, this seems to happen — the injustice happens there. And what I’ve also seen is the community rise up every single time. If I find more ways to help, I will be sharing them.”

Throughout January, ICE has been stationed in Minneapolis for an ongoing immigration enforcement operation that has sparked nationwide outrage and countless local protests. Pretti is just one of two civilians who have been fatally shot by ICE officers in the first month of the year, with agent Jonathan Ross killing Renee Good on Jan. 7. The Donald Trump administration has maintained that both were instances of officers acting in self-defense, but many believe that videos captured by eyewitnesses suggest otherwise in both cases.

Shortly after posting her video about Minneapolis, Lizzo shared another emotional update about another heartbreaking development in a different city. Los Angeles activist Shirley Raines — who built a following on TikTok with videos in which she distributed food, clothing and other essentials to unhoused people on Skid Row — died at the age of 58. The news was announced Wednesday by her charity, Beauty 2 The Streetz, which didn’t give a cause of death.

“I am devastated,” a tearful Lizzo said in Instagram Stories, calling Raines an “incredible woman” and noting how the two women often collaborated on charitable efforts. “When the public was turning its back on me, she never did. She was like, ‘Stay encouraged.’ She would always send me messages of love, and she would never ever ask for anything in return.”

“People like her are rare,” Lizzo added. “Her work is not over. She overserved the underserved … I’m so sad that you’re gone.”

Watch Lizzo’s TikTok on how to help people in Minneapolis and support Jayla Ramirez below.

Just hours after Bruce Springsteen dropped his lacerating anti-ICE anthem “Streets of Minneapolis” on Wednesday (Jan. 28) veteran British protest singer Billy Bragg weighed in with his own ripped-from-the-headlines song reacting to the killing of two American citizens by Trump administration immigration agents in Minnesota.

In a note accompanying the bare-bones “City of Heroes,” which Bragg said he wrote on Tuesday (Jan. 27) and released less than 24 hours later, the singer explained, “The murder of Alex Pretti was horrifically shocking, all the more so as we are still reeling from the images of the murder of Renee Good. That these crimes can be committed in broad daylight, on camera and yet no one is held accountable only adds to the injustice.”

He said he wrote the song in tribute to the bravery of the people of Minneapolis, “knowing that these trigger happy ICE thugs operate with seeming impunity in their midst, are still willing to put themselves in harms way to defend their community. Their resistance is an inspiration to us all.”

The acoustic “City of Heroes” opens with a reference to Friedrich Gustav Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran German pastor who initially sympathized with some Nazi ideas, but was later sent to a concentration camp after speaking out against the Nazi regime. After the war ended, he penned a poem entitled “First They Came,” which in the decades since has become a rallying cry for speaking up in the face of oppression thanks to such iconic lines as “Then they came for the Jews/ And I did not speak out/ Because I was not a Jew.”

“The ghost of Martin Niemöller/ Haunts the halls of history/ When they came for the communists/ He said ‘It’s nothing to do with me,’” Bragg sings over furiously strummed acoustic guitar. “What excuses would you tell yourself/ If this ever happened to you?/ Well I live in a city of heroes/ I know what I would do.”

Bragg then unfolds a litany of examples of how Minnesota residents are standing up, speaking out and exercising their constitutionally guaranteed free speech rights amid the often draconian actions of the thousands of masked, armed immigration agents that have flooded Minneapolis. “When they came for the immigrants/ I got in their face/ When they came for the refugees/ I got in their face,” Bragg sings. “When they came for the five-year-olds/ I got in their face/ When they came to my neighborhood/ I just got in their face.”

Like Springsteen’s quick turn-around track, Bragg’s pointed protest song touches on the horrifying scenes on the ground in Minneapolis, which have included ICE agents taking a five-year-old child into custody and quickly sending him and his father to a mass detention center in Texas, as well as the highly publicized killings of two American citizens: 37-year-old mother of three Renée Good and 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.

Bragg describes how the immigration agents have deployed pepper spray and tear gas against unarmed protesters who fought back by filming their actions and warning others with whistles, as well as the scenes of agents dragging people from their cars and removing families from their homes, including an elderly U.S. citizen who was dragged from his home by masked, armed agents without a warrant in his underwear in frigid temperatures only to be released hours later amid claims that the senior citizen refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d during the botched raid.

“I will bear witness to terror/ I will bear witness to tyranny,” Bragg sings. “I will bear witness to murder/ I will bear witness to fascism.”

Following nationwide pushback after the killing of ICU nurse Pretti during the so-called Operation Metro Surge, including from some Republican legislators, President Trump got on the phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey earlier this week in a reported attempt to tamp down the blowback. But a day later, after pulling controversial, pugnacious Border Patrol official Greg Bovino from Minneapolis and replacing him with border czar Tom Homan, Trump amped up the rhetoric again, accusing Frey on Wednesday of “playing with fire” for insisting that local police should refrain from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Bragg joins a growing list of artists who are speaking out against ICE and Trump’s aggressive immigration tactics, a roster that includes Billie Eilish and Finneas, Dave Matthews, Moby, Olivia Rodrigo, the Chicks and, during a show in Tokyo on Thursday (Jan. 29) Lady Gaga, who paused her Mayhem Ball show to send a message of support.

“In a couple of days, I’m gonna be heading home, and my heart is aching thinking about the people, the children, the families, all over America, who are being mercilessly targeted by ICE,” Gaga told the crowd. “I’m thinking about all of their pain and how their lives are being destroyed right in front of us… We need to get back to a place of safety and peace and accountability. Good people shouldn’t have to fight so hard and risk their lives for well-being and respect, and I hope our leaders are listening. I hope you’re listening to us asking you to change your course of action swiftly and have mercy on everyone in our country.”

Listen to Bragg’s “City of Heroes” below.

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