While the rest of us are winding down, putting the feet up, and gaining weight, for Dom Dolla, Christmas is a time for smashing records.

Last Saturday, Dec. 20, Dom made history by performing to 40,000-plus at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium. Presented by Untitled Group, Laneway Presents and TEG Live, the landmark event was his largest-ever headline performance and marked the first time a homegrown DJ had played to a stadium in Australia.

A year earlier, in December 2024, Dom (real name Dominic Matheson) set a new mark for a national tour by an Aussie DJ, as his four-date trek, also produced by Untitled Group, shifted over 170,000 tickets.

“Watching Dom grow from the beginning of his journey to delivering a stadium show of this scale – and doing so in his home country as the first electronic artist to headline a stadium in Australia – has been incredibly inspiring,” comments Nicholas Greco, co-founder and managing partner at Melbourne-based Untitled Group.

Dom was supported by international acts KETTAMA and Fcukers (DJ set), and rising domestic act Anna Lunoe.

“Seeing an electronic artist connect with tens of thousands of people in that environment shows just how incredible he is,” Greco adds, “and it’s exciting to look ahead to what’s next as he closes out 2025 and brings that momentum into 2026 at home with his fans.”

For his groundbreaking efforts, Dom was presented backstage with a trophy for “making Australian music history.”

The crowds that gathered at Allianz Stadium were treated to unreleased music, never-before-heard remixes, and a mix of ‘90s rave classics and Dom’s own productions, all pushed to the limits with new visuals, lights and lasers.

Also on the night, Dom brought out British singer and songwriter Clementine Douglas to perform “Miracle Maker,” and told of how his heart broke on the news of the Bondi Beach tragedy. “Look after yourselves Sydney. I love you guys,” he remarked. “I’ll see you again real soon.”

Audiences on both coasts will get a chance to see Dolla before the summer is done. He’ll lead Beyond The Valley’s (BTV) coveted New Year’s Eve countdown slot, and headline performances at Wildlands in Brisbane and Perth, all produced by Untitled Group.

BTV will cap another massive year for Dom, during which he completed residences in Ibiza and Las Vegas; sold-out multiple dates at Madison Square Garden; rocked the house at some of the world’s best-known festivals; and realized a dream with “No Room For a Saint”, his contribution to F1: The Movie.

Just last month, the EDM star made a whirlwind trip to Sydney for the 2025 ARIA Awards, where he collected best dance/electronic release (with “Dreamin” featuring DAYA), his third consecutive win in that category, and global impact recipient award, becoming the first-ever recipient.

There’s more music coming soon. “Right now,” he recently told Billboard, “I’m just writing as much music as I can. An album might not be right around the corner, but I can promise there’ll be a lot more music next year. I’m really excited about what’s been cooking.”

Jerry Kasenetz, who with his production partner Jeff Katz was the hottest producer of bubblegum music in the late 1960s, died Dec. 6 in a hospital in Tampa, Florida. He was 82. The reported cause of death was complications from a fall at his home.

Between 1967-68, Kasenetz and Katz produced six million-selling singles, including five that reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100: The Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul” (No. 2); Ohio Express’ “Yummy Yummy Yummy” (No. 4); and 1910 Fruitgum Co.’s “Simon Says” (No. 4), “1,2,3 Red Light” (No. 5) and “Indian Giver” (No. 5). Their million-seller that missed the top five was Ohio Express’ “Chewy Chewy” (No. 15).

In 1968, they even had a top 30 hit on the Hot 100 as artists. Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestra Circus reached No. 25 in December 1968 with “Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run).” The song, written by Joey Levine and Artie Resnick, featured members from the groups they had produced.

“Little Bit o’ Soul,” which was a catchy pop-rock song, but not really bubblegum, was released on Laurie Records. Kasenetz-Katz had most of their successes on Neil Bogart’s Buddah Records: Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co. and their own hit. They sometimes used the nameplate Super K Productions.

In 1969, Crazy Elephant (on Bell Records) took “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin,” another Kasenetz-Katz production, to No. 12 on the Hot 100.

Bubblegum reached its peak of popularity at the same time that hard rock, at the opposite end of the musical spectrum, became a major force. The best-selling single of 1969 was The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar,” which was not a Kasenetz-Katz production, but was in their wheelhouse. (Jeff Barry produced that smash, which he co-wrote with Andy Kim.)

Nearly a decade removed from their run of hits, Kasenetz-Katz produced one more big hit: Ram Jam’s rock-leaning rendition of “Black Betty,” a song recorded by Lead Belly in 1939, which hit No. 18 in September 1977.

Jerrold H. Kasenetz was born May 5, 1943, in Brooklyn, the eldest of five children. He met the Brooklyn-born Katz when both were undergraduates at the University of Arizona. They promoted a campus concert by the Dave Clark Five.

Kasenetz and Katz’s first production was for R&B singer Christine Cooper. “S.O.S. Hearts in Distress” bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 101 in February 1966.

Bubblegum fell out of favor in the 1970s, though it influenced such pop smashes as Edison Lighthouse’s “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” and The Grass Roots’ “Sooner or Later.” Talking Heads performed “1-2-3 Red Light” at some of their early shows; a live version can be found on the bootleg Gimme Heads.

In a 2008 interview with Billboard, industry legend Doug Morris remembered that Kasenetz and Katz played a key role in his own beginnings in the business. “I remember how I actually learned the business and decided to go into my own business: I bought a record, signed two guys-Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz – Kasenetz and Katz. And I think I paid $800 – no, $500 and 8%, and it was Laurie 3308.” [Editor’s note: That was the label number of The Music Explosion’s “Little Bit o’ Soul.”]

Morris, who was 28 at the time, basically learned the business while tracking “Little Bit o’ Soul” as it rose to No. 2 on the Hot 100. He called distributors, retailers and radio stations to learn whatever he could about why that record was taking off.

“At which point, with my hands shaking, I went up to the bosses and told them,” Morris remembered. “And they obviously put the mechanism to work, how to get records played in those days. And the record I believe went to No. 1 [Editor’s Note: Almost.] and from that one experience, I understood the record industry, how it works. To this day, nothing has changed.”

Kasenetz and Katz were never nominated for a Grammy, nor are they in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. But they found their niche and delivered hit after hit.

Kasenetz is survived by brothers Iver and Bruce, sons Darren and Brett and two grandchildren. Katz is still living at 82.

Amber Rose became a staunch Donald Trump supporter in 2024, which found her speaking at the Republican National Convention ahead of last year’s presidential election, and she commended Nicki Minaj for being outspoken about her political beliefs when appearing in conversation with Erika Kirk at AmericaFest over the weekend.

TMZ caught up with Rose on Monday as Amber raved about Minaj’s AmericaFest appearance and defended her from the backlash for supporting Trump.

“I think she did a great job, an amazing job,” Rose said of her friend. “We live in a free country. She has a right to her own political opinion just like everyone else does.”

Amber Rose also pushed back against claims that Nicki’s support for Trump could be damaging to the Barbz in the LGBTQ+ community.

“She didn’t say anything wrong,” Rose stated. “She didn’t say anything about the LGBTQ+ community at all. Why do people think anyone over there is homophobic? I’m not homophobic, my assistant has been with me for 11 years; he’s Black and gay. I have a bunch of trans friend — so does Nicki.”

She continued: “I don’t know why people twist our words or think because we endorse Trump that we just hate gay people and trans people. That’s just not true.”

Rose and Minaj’s friendship goes back to the 2000s, and the pair remain close. Minaj made a surprise appearance at AmericaFest over the weekend, which found her raving about President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and the job the administration has done since getting back into office.

“Dear young men, you have amazing role models like our handsome, dashing president and you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our vice president,” Minaj said.

In addition to the AmericaFest interview with Erika Kirk, Minaj has been more outspoken politically in recent months, as she voiced her opposition of the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria, which led to her speaking at a United Nations event in November.

Watch Rose’s interview about Nicki’s comments below.

The Kid LAROI is officially putting to bed any “misconceptions” regarding “Stay,” his smash 2021 duet with Justin Bieber.

“I wrote every single lyric on that song apart from Justin’s verse,” he said during his The Road to Before I Forget Twitch stream on Tuesday. “Justin wrote every lyric of his verse. There’s been some, like, misinterpretation somewhere along the line that the song was pitched to us. People think Charlie [Puth] wrote the song and gave it to us. That didn’t happen. I wrote every single lyric of that punch-in style.”

“Stay” ruled the summer of 2021, reaching No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200. In addition to its five wins at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, including top streaming song and top collaboration, LAROI and Bieber’s runaway hit became the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its 40 weeks on the chart in the top 10.

In a 2022 SiriusXM interview, Puth, who co-produced “Stay,” explained how he constructed the chords for the smash. Some online commentators interpreted the “See You Again” singer’s explanation to mean that he wrote the entire song without input from LAROI or Bieber.

“I definitely did get bummed when I started seeing people say I didn’t write [‘Stay’] because I was so proud of that,” LAROI reflected on-stream. “I was 17 years old. And I’m still so proud of that. … That’s an accomplishment and something to be proud of. … Like, ‘Damn, people think that this song was just given to me?’ That’s so crazy. Shout-out to everyone who worked on that song. There was a lot of work that went into [it]; not trying to make it sound like it was just me. Equally, everyone contributed, but every single lyric on that was me.”

On Jan. 6, LAROI is set to drop his sophomore LP, Before I Forget. The new record is the follow-up to 2023’s The First Time, which reached No. 24 on the Billboard 200. LAROI has already shared a pair of songs from the forthcoming record, including lead single “A Cold Play,” which many fans speculate is about his former girlfriend, Grammy-nominated pop star Tate McRae.

In 2026, Puth will perform the national anthem at Super Bowl LX (Feb. 8), and Bieber will headline Coachella for the first time.

Check out some clips from The Kid LAROI’s The Road to Before I Forget Twitch stream below.