Alex Warren caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly at the Spotify Best New Artist Party 2026.
Ty Dolla $ign caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly at the Spotify Best New Artist Party 2026.
A backing vocalist on Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s chart-topping Furious 7 soundtrack hit “See You Again” is suing Warner Music Group (WMG) and NBCUniversal, alleging he was “cheated out of royalty payments and downstream compensation” for years.
Jake Broido claims in a Thursday (Jan. 29) federal court lawsuit that he provided the so-called gang vocals on “See You Again,” which scored Paul Walker’s famous final scene in 2015’s Furious 7 and reigned atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks. But he alleges WMG and NBCUniversal misclassified his contributions on the song’s registration paperwork, ultimately depriving him of royalties and licensing fees.
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“It is, of course, not surprising that Broido’s efforts to get paid have been, for a decade, obfuscated and obstructed by Warner,” reads the complaint. “That is the long history of the music industry; to make executives rich at the expense of artists.”
Broido alleges he was working as an administrative staffer at WMG in early 2015 when Puth approached him asking if he could sing gang vocals, a recording technique where voices are layered to sound like crowd noise. Broido, who had been studying gang vocals for years, says he happily went into the studio with Puth and sang what would ultimately become part of “See You Again.”
Session vocalists like Broido are supposed to collect royalties through the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. But Broido’s name didn’t make it onto the “See You Again” AFM Fund registration paperwork; instead, the files merely listed “three A&R staffers” as background singers.
Broido alleges that WMG, whose subsidiary Atlantic Records released the Furious 7 soundtrack, deliberately doctored the AFM Fund paperwork because it hadn’t secured a critical work-for-hire agreement from him. According to the lawsuit, WMG wanted to hide this “embarrassing failure” from its studio partners at NBCUniversal.
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The result, alleges Broido, is that he wasn’t paid crucial royalties that should have been distributed to him by the AFM Fund. He says WMG also misclassified “See You Again” as “non-theatrical” on the registration paperwork, which deprived him of the chance to participate in lucrative licensing negotiations.
“Warner Music made misleading statements, partial royalty payments and assurances to Broido that it was pursuing an investigation, including that it would ‘look into this’ and that it would ‘follow up,’ only for Warner Music to ultimately ‘ghost’ Broido,” reads the complaint. “In reality, Warner Music’s assurances were merely a scheme to conceal facts from Broido in an attempt to ‘wait out the clock.’”
Broido is now suing WMG and NBCUniversal for breach of contract, fraud and conspiracy. The lawsuit also levels breach of fiduciary duty claims against the AFM Fund, alleging it was “asleep at the switch” and made “absurd and negligent decisions that allowed Warner Music and NBCUniversal to cheat Broido.”
The background singer is seeking unspecified financial damages through the litigation, as well as a declaration that he is a co-owner of the “See You Again” copyrights.
Reps for WMG, NBCUniversal and the AFM Fund did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday. Khalifa and Puth are not facing any legal claims in the case.
The electronic offerings at Coachella 2025 just expanded with the Thursday (Jan. 29) announcement of the lineups at the festival’s Do Lab stage.
This stage traditionally features different lineups across both weekends. This year, weekend one will see artists including Tinashe, Anfisa Letyago, Baby J, Jigitz, Poolside, Roddy Lima, Onmon, Jazzy and Andy C. On weekend two, the Do Lab will host artists including Seth Troxler, A-Trak and Dave 1 plays as The Brothers Maklovitch, Tourist, Sbtrkt, Sarz, Mary Droppinz playing b2b with Level Up and many more. (See both complete lineups below.)
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The Do Lab stage has been a fixture at Coachella for more than 20 years, with each year typically presenting a few surprise guests, who over the years have included DJ Snake and Billie Eilish. Meanwhile, the Do Lab’s own festival, Lightning in a Bottle, will take place in Southern California over memorial day weekend with a lineup featuring Mau P, Sara Landry, Zeds Dead, Empire of the Sun and more.
Coachella 2026 happens April 10-12 and 17-19, 2026 with an electronic lineup featuring Anyma, Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize playing as Nine Inch Noize, PinkPantheress, Solomun, Disclosure, Rezz, Mochakk, Duke Dumont, Kaskade, Major Lazer, Subtronics and more.
Other electronic acts were added to the bill earlier this week, when Coachella’s Quasar Stage announced a weekend one lineup featuring Pawsa, David Guetta and Fatboy Slim and Armin van Buuren b2b Adam Beyer, DJ Snake and Sara Landry over weekend two.
Do Lab Coachella Lineup 2026
Courtesy of Infamous PR
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
During a recent school talent show, first-grader Juju decided to perform a rap classic, and little man handled it like a pro. As the crowd cheered him on, he went off top and started rapping the lyrics to 2Pac’s “Dear Mama,” and he remembered every bar of the song’s first verse while taking control of the crowd like a true MC.
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The video, of course, has gone viral, racking up nearly 14 million views on TikTok and thousands of likes, with many of the comments saying that the late rapper would be proud and commending his poise during what must’ve been a high-pressure situation for the youngster.
Little Juju felt the love and posted a video thanking all of his new fans and took the time to shout out his favorite wrestler while doing the Hardy Boyz dance. “Hi, my name is Julian,” he began. “Thank you guys for all the love and support and I’m the little guy that did the talent show and I did that because I really love 2Pac and thank you guys for all of that. You guys are superstars too. Just believe me, OK? And shout out to Jeff Hardy too. Thank you guys for all of that support.”
“Dear Mama” isn’t the only classic rap song he knows. Juju’s parents recently posted a video on TikTok from two years ago of him performing Eminem‘s “Lose Yourself” complete with rap hands and everything. “Thinking back Juju has always been Hip Hops Baby! Throwback 2 years ago!,” the caption read.
We might have a future star on our hands, hopefully we’ll be blogging about his blossoming rap career one day.
We might be more than five years removed from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s raunchy Billboard Hot 100-topping smash “WAP,” but Cardi is keeping its saucy spirit alive in new Saturday Night Live promos.
Cardi B returns to the SNL stage this weekend as musical guest, joining first-time host Alexander Skarsgård for Saturday’s brand-new episode. In new promos, castmember Chloe Fineman deploys an uncharacteristically raspy voice when she tells the duo, “I’m so excited!”
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“What’s going on with your voice there, Chloe?” Skarsgård asks, to which she replies: “I’ve been doing extremely Dry January. No liquor, no soda, no juice, no water,” she says, introducing her extreme version of the “Dry January” challenge that many partake in to abstain from alcohol to start a new year.
“No water?” Skarsgård asks. “Yeah! You guys should try going extremely dry.”
“No thank you,” Cardi says politely, adding with a suggestive roll of her tongue: “I like to stay nice and wet.”
“I, too, opt for wetness,” Skarsgård (dryly) adds.
Elsewhere in the promos, Fineman asks Cardi whether her stage name stands for “cartilage and bone” (prompting both the host and musical guest to call for the police) and Skarsgård doing the intros entirely in his native language of Swedish.
Watch below:
Cardi B is making her second appearance as SNL musical guest, after first hitting the stage in April 2018 to promote her debut album Invasion of Privacy. Now, she’s promoting her most recent album, September’s Am I the Drama?, as well as the accompanying Little Miss Drama Tour, which launches next month in Palm Desert, California, on Feb. 11.
Skarsgård will make his SNL hosting debut this weekend to promote The Moment, the Charli xcx-inspired and -starring mockumentary in which he plays the director of the concert film within the film. The Moment just debuted at Sundance Film Festival and arrives in theaters on Friday via A24.
Tyler, The Creator is set to perform at the 2026 Grammy Awards, adding to the representation for hip-hop on Music’s Biggest Night. Clipse and Pharrell Williams were previously announced as performers on the show.
Williams produced and is featured on Clipse’s album of the year nominee Let God Sort Em Out. Ms. Lauryn Hill, a member of hip-hop royalty who had the first hip-hop album to win album of the year (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999) will also perform on the show in tribute to two artists who died last year, Roberta Flack and D’Angelo.
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Tyler, 34, has six nominations this year –album of the year, best rap album and best album cover for his Billboard 200-topping CHROMAKOPIA; best alternative music album for DON’T TAP THE GLASS, also a Billboard 200-topping album; best rap performance for “Darling, I” (featuring Teezo Touchdown); and best rap song for “Sticky” (featuring GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne).
Simultaneous nominations in rap and alternative categories are a sign of Tyler’s range, but they’re not unprecedented. In 1999, Beastie Boys’ Billboard 200-topping Hello Nasty won best alternative music performance, while a track from the album, “Intergalactic,” won best rap performance by a duo or group.
Other previously announced performers, in addition to those already named, are Addison Rae, Alex Warren, Andrew Watt, Brandy Clark, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan, Justin Bieber, KATSEYE, Lady Gaga, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Lukas Nelson, Olivia Dean, Post Malone, Reba McEntire, ROSÉ, Sabrina Carpenter, Slash, sombr and The Marías.
The 68th annual Grammy Awards will air live on Sunday Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. Trevor Noah is set to host the show for the sixth consecutive – and final – year. The comedian will be the first person to host six consecutive Grammy telecasts since crooner Andy Williams hosted the first seven live telecasts from 1971-77.
The 2026 Grammy Awards will be produced by Fulwell Entertainment for the Recording Academy. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor, Jesse Collins and Noah are executive producers.
At least one more performer announcement is expected in the coming days.
With fans counting down the days until The Fall-Off‘s arrival, J. Cole revealed a second cover art for disc 2 of what we now know is a double-album on Thursday (Jan. 29).
Cole took to Instagram to post the cover, which features a recent photo of the Dreamville rapper looking down in a denim zip-up hoodie jacket. The Fall-Off arrives Feb. 6 and is currently available for pre-order on Cole’s website, with the two-disc CD going for $26.26.
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The North Carolina native appeared to reference bowing out of a potential feud with Kendrick Lamar and the backlash from it re-energizing him creatively, which led to a second disc for The Fall-Off and the aforementioned album cover.
“2 years ago, after the events that still feed the algorithm to this day, I became incredibly re-inspired, and the album slowly blossomed into a double disc as the concept expanded. I felt there should be an additional cover that represented that,” Cole wrote. “Something just as strong as the first, with my face on it, so when I look back in 20 years, I can see an image of who I was at the time I released the project I worked on for so long.”
For those unaware, J. Cole initially dissed Kendrick on “7 Minute Drill” but ended up scrubbing the Might Delete Later mixtape cut from streaming services and later apologized to Lamar onstage at his Dreamville Festival in 2024.
J. Cole also provided some context on the original cover for The Fall-Off, which happens to be his first make-shift studio setup, where he’d dig through samples and wrote his very first song in the chair seen in the disposable photo he took at 15 years old.
“My first beats were made in that spot surrounded by my mother’s CD collection that I would comb through looking for samples,” he wrote. “The first song I ever made came to life in that very chair you see in the picture. I sat for hours, in a zone I had never experienced before, until I was done writing a track that I titled ‘The Storm.’”
Cole surprised fans with a four-pack of freestyles hosted by DJ Clue, which was packaged into the Birthday Blizzard ’26 EP as Cole celebrated his 41st birthday on Wednesday.
He set the stage for The Fall-Off with his “Disc 2 Track 2” single, which saw him rap his life’s story in reverse. Cole’s last album, The Off-Season, arrived in May 2021 and went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 282,000 total album-equivalent units earned.
When Teyana Taylor was just 15, Beyoncé booked her to choreograph her 2006 “Ring the Alarm” music video, resulting in a friendship through which the One Battle After Another star says she’s gotten invaluable advice.
In an interview with People published Wednesday (Jan. 28), Taylor revealed the words of wisdom Bey once gave her that she’s carried with her throughout her career. “I definitely came in the business at a time where I went into everything with my heart, and I didn’t understand certain things, and I would go to her, and she’s just like, ‘Don’t take it personal,’” the Golden Globe winner told the publication.
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“I didn’t know that certain things would be isolating where you would feel like, ‘Oh sh–, in order for it to be done the way I see it in my head, I’m going to have to do this sh– myself,’” Taylor continued.
She also said that the Destiny’s Child alum told her to always “invest in yourself,” and that “the majority of your money [is] going toward everybody you had to pay to bring your vision to life.”
“Every single check ain’t going to hit your pocket, and that’s only if you truly believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is investing in yourself — and she taught me that,” Taylor added, noting that Bey’s “gracious and humble” attitude “instilled in me: If the Beyoncé is this way and she’s so grounded and she’s so this, this is the way I need to be.”
The interview comes just a few days ahead of the 2026 Grammys on Saturday (Feb. 1), where Taylor is up for best R&B album for Escape Room. The year prior, Beyoncé upped her record Grammy count to 35, taking home album of the year for Cowboy Carter, among a few other awards.
In 2024, Taylor and Victoria Monét paid tribute to Bey at the BET Awards, recreating her iconic 2004 live performance with Usher at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot. Bey gave the two women props by reposting the performance on Instagram Stories, after which Taylor commented, “& DATS ON QUEEN BEYYYYYYYYYYYY” and “I’m GAGGGGINGGGGGGGI!!!!”
BMG Rights Management, a division of German media giant Bertelsmann, is in talks to acquire Concord, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
While Bloomberg’s report notes that a sale could be valued as high as $7 billion, sources close to the matter tell Billboard that the current offer price is $4.8 billion — a figure close to the sale price that Concord investors had previously sought when they explored a sale back in 2022.
Currently, sources tell Billboard that the two companies are in active talks but still negotiating the equity and stock components of the deal. Any deal of this magnitude would likely require approval by antitrust regulators in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, where Concord holds some of its rights.
When reached for comment, a Concord spokesperson said, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Bertlesmann did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment. This story will be updated if they do.
If a deal were to go through, the two companies would together create one of the biggest music companies in the world and could be classified as a new major music company, alongside Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
Bob Valentine, CEO of Concord, is expected to lead BMG if a deal is reached, according to Bloomberg. Thomas Coesfeld, who has held the position of CEO at BMG since 2023, will take over leadership of Bertlesmann in January 2027.
