Taylor Swift is practicing for her future cool aunt era. A day after celebrating her 36th birthday on Saturday (Dec. 13), Swift was in her usual spot on Sunday (Dec. 14) in the family skybox watching fiancé Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Los Angeles Chargers in what was a do-or-die game for the three-time Super Bowl winner and his on-the-bubble team.

And while the Chiefs struggled in the tough 16-13 loss at home in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and the team was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, Swift was busy making nice with her future nieces. TikTok videos from the singer’s latest visit to Arrowhead Stadium showed Taylor hoisting one of Kylie and Jason Kelce’s daughters onto her hip as Kylie held one of the couple’s other four children; Kylie and former NFL star Jason share four daughters: Wyatt Elizabeth, 6, Elliotte Ray, 4, Bennett Llewellyn, 2 and Finnley Anne, 8 months.

Though the result was not great for the home team, Swift had plenty to celebrate at the game, which took place just two days after the first two episodes of her six-part The End of an Era docuseries debuted on Disney+, pulling back the curtain on the career-spanning global tour. In the first episodes, we learn that the combination of the pandemic lockdown and her (ultimately successful) fight to regain control of her masters inspired Swift to dream up the sprawling tour at a time when live music was shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions.

It was the second week in a row that Swift has played supportive fianceé, coming seven days after she and longtime BFF Selena Gomez and writer/actress Lena Dunham watched the Dec. 7 Chiefs game, which the team lost 20-10 to the Texans.

New episodes of The End of an Era will roll out on Fridays, with episodes three and four due to drop on Friday (Dec. 19), followed by the final two on Dec. 26. Swift and Kelce got engaged this summer and at press time had not yet announced plans for their wedding.

(Editor’s Note: Billboard interviewed Rob Reiner in September about making Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead Sunday, Dec. 14, at their Brentwood home in Los Angeles).

Oasis’s Noel and Liam Gallagher aren’t this year’s only long-anticipated musical reconciliation.

As Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opens, it’s revealed that Spinal Tap bandmates Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) have been estranged for 15 years. While not actual blood brothers like the Gallaghers, the two musicians grew up together in England and had been pals since they were five.

The fortuitous timing is, of course, completely coincidental, Spinal Tap II director Rob Reiner notes, but he still gets a kick out of “life imitating art imitating life,” he says over a Zoom interview, sporting a Spinal Tap baseball cap and t-shirt. “In Oasis’ case, they’re real brothers, but with Spinal Tap, the two guys were best friends since they were little and break apart and come back together.”  The movie opens in theaters nationwide Friday (Sept. 12).

In the sequel to 1984’s This is Spinal Tap — the revered mockumentary about a British heavy metal band touring America as their fortunes are fading — Tufnel and St. Hubbins, along with bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), are forced to reunite because, as it is revealed after the death of original manager Ian Faith, the band is contractually obligated to play one more show.

“The emotional ballast of the movie is the relationship between the two guys. Now, many years later, they’re older. The same issues are happening, but it’s deeper because they’ve known each other longer,” says Reiner, who recreates his role as documentarian Marty DiBergi. “[The sequel] couldn’t be just a straight satire; it had to have some kind of emotional underpinnings. And it’s not easy because satire and emotion, they don’t like to be with each other.”

The original film wasn’t a box office success, grossing only $5.98 million — but over the decades, thanks to home video and word of mouth, it has become a cherished cult classic among musicians, comedians and music fans. At first, it did have a few detractors among rockers who felt it cut a little too close to home, Reiner says.

“Initially, you had people like Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and, God rest his soul, Ozzy Osbourne, they were not so happy with it because they thought we were making fun of their music and all that,” Reiner says, noting that many of the incidents in the film “we took from the real world of rock and roll: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers getting lost backstage; Van Halen demanding backstage there be no [brown] M&Ms.”

Despite — or perhaps because of– the film’s iconic status, the quartet never truly considered making a follow-up. “I mean, people approached us all the time to do a sequel, and we always felt like we did it, you know,” Reiner says. “We don’t want to do it again. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh god, we’ve got to do a sequel.’ Nobody ever talked about it that way.”

Then in 2016, Shearer filed a lawsuit against Vivendi and its StudioCanal division, which the other three later joined, alleging they had made less than $200 each on the mockumentary due to “Hollywood accounting.” The quartet asked for damages — but more importantly, to reclaim the rights to Spinal Tap. The case settled in a California federal court in 2020, allowing the filmmakers to move forward should they wish.

Once the lawsuit was resolved, Reiner, Guest, McKean and Shearer gathered at Shearer’s house in Santa Monica, once again broaching the idea of a sequel. “The first meeting we had we talked about, ‘Do we really want to do this, [given] the high bar that we were dealing with?’” Reiner says.

The film’s mythical status had only grown in the intervening decades: it’s now in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry — and Tufnel’s now-classic “These go to 11” quote, as he shows DiBergi his amplifier, is even in the Oxford English Dictionary to reference anything that goes to an extreme. At the real Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England (not the 18” replica in the first movie), a display wall with quotes from philosophers, scientists and poets about the ancient, prehistoric site includes Tufnel’s lyric, “No one knows who they were or what they were doing,” from the band’s masterpiece, “Stonehenge.”  “This fictional thing that we created — we have definitely invaded the real world,” Reiner says.  

Around their third meeting, the quartet landed on the basic theme of a forced reunion and decided to incorporate a plot point spurred on by another real-life event: Kate Bush’s 1985 song, “Running Up That Hill,” soaring to the top of the Spotify charts, and Bush earning her first No. 1 album on a Billboard chart after being used on Netflix’s Stranger Things: “We said, ‘Wait! What if some big musician is screwing around at sound check and sings one of [Spinal Tap’s] songs. Someone captures it on an iPhone, throws it on TikTok and it goes viral?’”

Enter Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who appear as the superstars singing Spinal Tap’s classic “Big Bottom” at a soundcheck. Reiner had met the pair at Jeff Bezos’ annual Campfire retreat and had mentioned the possibility of a sequel. He then called them when it became a reality, and they were immediately in.  

Like with the first film, after basic ideas for the scenes were agreed upon, the dialog for second film was entirely improvised. Similarly, the quartet brought back the “Grimsby Method” to work out primary plot points: While creating the first movie, Shearer was dating a woman who worked at ABC News, and he brought home a small stack of promotional cards with then WABC news reporter Roger Grimsby’s face on them that had a blank back. “We had a big bulletin board where we put ideas for scenes and if we came up with something, we thought, ‘Does this warrant a Grimsby? Should we sacrifice a Grimsby to put the idea down since we have a limited amount?” Reiner recalls.  Though Grimsby died in 1995, McKean found his picture on the internet, and came up with similar cards while they workshopped the ideas for the sequel.

Other than a significant callback to Stonehenge, “The charge was to create a film that worked on its own,” Reiner says. “If you’ve seen the first one, there are little references that you might pick up, but if you haven’t, it works on its own.”

The sequel also continues Spinal Tap’s horrible track record with drummers, all of whom have either spontaneously combusted or died in unfortunate incidents, such as a “bizarre gardening accident,” with the most recent drummer succumbing to a lethal sneeze.

To find a new drummer, Spinal Tap held real tryouts — there are fake auditions for comedic effect shown in the movie — ultimately choosing Valerie Franco, a professional drummer who has played with Hayley Kiyoko, Halsey and Kylie Minogue, among others.

“We had a place at SIR [rehearsal studio] in Los Angeles and Valerie kicked ass,” Reiner says. “We thought, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’ And then we thought, ‘Well, why not? Let’s have a female drummer.’ She had never acted before, and she just took to it right away. “

The film features a number of cameos from rock royalty, including Paul McCartney and Elton John.

McCartney’s scene is based on a real visit that happened years ago when the members of Spinal Tap and the Beatle were both rehearsing for tours in the same facility in Burbank. McCartney dropped by and suggested they play a song together (Reiner thinks it was an acoustic version of “Start Me Up”). That scene takes a different turn in the film, “but came out of a real place that Paul McCartney stopped by to say hello.”

After improvising scenes with McCartney, Reiner declares, “He’s really funny. He’s glib. He was great. When [Dibergi] interviewed him, he didn’t know what I was going to ask him. We just started talking to see what comes out of it. Same with Elton.”

Similarly, John adlibbed his lines as he comes into the studio, and joins the band on “Flower People” and later on “Stonehenge.”

Both songs with John appear on Interscope’s The End Continues — a new album from Spinal Tap, also out Sept. 12 — which includes nine new songs, including “Rockin’ in the Urn” and “The Devil’s Not Just Getting Old,” as well as four remakes with John, McCartney and Brooks and Yearwood.

Given the title Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, could there be another sequel, especially since the film ends on a cliffhanger? “Who knows? We never know,” Reiner says, admitting he has a “love/hate relationship” with the characters.

But he does know that he wants fans to see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues in movie theaters for “the shared experience, to laugh with others. If you’ve seen the first one, I want them to feel nostalgic and to feel for the emotional part of it, which is the relationship with the guys,” he says. “We’re living in a rough time right now and [I’m for] anything that can make people have a good time and get some good laughs in.”

In 2025, no Filipino band has defined the sound of the era quite like Cup Of Joe. Their ascent from a tight-knit group of high school classmates in Baguio City to becoming the Philippines’ number one band feels like the kind of career arc reserved for fiction. Yet here they are: the year’s most streamed local act who sold out the Araneta Coliseum not just once, but five times — and creators of a phenomenon called “Multo,” which dominated the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 for 27 straight weeks and continues to rule the Billboard Philippines Top Philippine Songs chart for 35 weeks and counting. And at the inaugural Filipino Music Awards last October, the group sealed their place in modern OPM history, taking home song of the year for “Multo” and album of the year for Silakbo.

For a band that started in classrooms and lunch breaks, the scale of their success still feels surreal.

“Sobrang (very) unexpected,” vocalist Gian Bernardino says when asked how it feels to hold records that even legacy acts would envy. “Kasi if we talk about how we began, it’s a very, very one-in-a-million chance na mangyari sa amin ‘yun, kasi nga (that this would happen to us, because) we started the band for fun and we didn’t really expect or envision us na makakapag-achieve ng ganitong klaseng (to achieve this kind of) milestone.”

Fellow vocalist Rapha Ridao nods, recalling the band’s earliest days with the same clarity he brings to his lyrics. “Yeah, tapos andaming nagtatanong din na, ‘Anong sikreto? Bakit naabot sa ganito ‘yung banda?’ Wala naman talagang secret, eh — hard work and dedication talaga. Tapos dahil sa hard work naming lahat, sabay-sabay kami nag-evolve, gumaling sa craft namin. Tapos tinuloy-tuloy lang namin ‘yung kung anong gusto naming gawin. [We’re] very thankful na ngayon, nagkakaroon kami ng maraming chances to showcase what we have to everybody.”

(“A lot of people asked us, ‘What’s your secret? How did the band reach that level?’ There’s really no secret — just hard work and dedication. And because of it, we evolved together and improved in our craft. We just kept going in doing what we loved. We’re very thankful that we now have many chances to showcase what we have to everybody.”)

Carving a Scene in the North

The band’s roots are inseparable from the city that shaped them. Baguio’s creative pulse — its mix of quiet, cold air and a deep tradition of visual and musical artistry — forms the backdrop to Cup of Joe’s identity. While Manila long held the reputation as the country’s musical capital, the band’s rise has turned long-held assumptions on their head.

Lead guitarist Gab Fernandez has seen the ripple effects firsthand. “Parang naging effect niya — ‘di lang sa amin, pati rin sa mga ibang bands at sa mga ibang artists sa Baguio na dati hindi masyadong nabibigyan ng spotlight or ng audience… unti-unti ring nag-evolve ‘yung music scene sa Baguio — mas nagiging rich, mas maraming nadi-discover na mga artists na matagal nang nakatago doon sa Baguio.”

(“Its effect wasn’t just for us, but also for other Baguio artists that didn’t have the spotlight or much of an audience. The music scene in Baguio has evolved gradually — it has become richer, and more of them are being discovered, especially the ones that have been obscure for a long time.”)

Rhythm guitarist CJ Fernandez adds that Baguio’s artistic atmosphere has become a magnet for musicians from elsewhere. “Medyo ironic siya, kasi dati dito (Manila) ‘yung center ng lahat,” he explains. “Pero ngayon, ‘yung ibang artists na nandito, [sa] Baguio na ngayon dumadayo, kasi medyo matunog ‘yung name ni Kuya Shad (in-demand Baguio-based producer Shadiel Chan). Parang gusto rin nilang i-explore. May mga [Manila-based] artist friends din kami na panay nagtatanong na, ‘Ano bang meron sa Baguio?’ Natural na talaga sa lugar ‘yung artistry.”

(“It’s ironic, because Manila used to be the center of everything, but now a lot of Manila-based artists head to Baguio because Shadiel Chan has made a name for himself, so they want to explore creating music there. A lot of them ask, ‘What makes Baguio special?” Artistry is really just natural to the place.”)

And while the local gig infrastructure remains limited — “‘Yun ‘yung medyo (that’s the slight) constraint,” CJ admits — the city’s biggest strength lies in what it evokes in those who create there. Whenever the band returns home, something clicks.

Gab says it best: “Feeling ko nakakatulong ‘yun, kasi lalo na pag magkasama kaming lima doon, parang bumabalik ‘yung feeling na parang kami ‘yung mga high school students na gusto lang talagang magsulat ng songs na gusto naming isulat. Walang pressure — pure and sincere songwriting lang.”

(“I feel that all five of us being together in Baguio fuels our creativity, as it somehow brings back the feeling of being high school students again who just want to write the songs that we wanted to write. There’s no pressure — just pure and sincere songwriting.”)

From “Tingin” to “Multo”

Before “Multo” took over the nation, there was “Tingin”— the collaboration with singer Janine Teñoso that became a breakthrough hit that hinted at Cup Of Joe’s potential. But inside the band, there was no pressure to chase or replicate success.

“Every time na nababalitaan namin na nag-chart ‘yung song namin (we get news that our song is on the charts), we’re like, ‘Wow! Congrats [to us]!’” Gian says, emphasizing that they never approached writing with chart performance in mind. “Lagi lang talaga kami nasu-surprise (we’re all just sincerely surprised). It’s in that way that we maintain our authenticity.”

Rapha describes “Tingin” as a turning point — not for fame, but for clarity. “It gave us the idea that our songs could reach that much [of an] audience or make that much impact on people. Dahil sa ‘Tingin,’ nag-click [sa amin] na kaya pala ng music namin ‘yung ganito (it clicked in us that our music is capable of achieving such things). I guess nagtanggal siya ng limit namin (it took away our personal limits of what we hoped to achieve).”

Then came Silakbo, and within it, “Multo,” a song that transcended the band’s own expectations. Its longevity across charts is unmatched in 2025, and its emotional grasp only widened the band’s listening community.

The Album as Art, The Band as a Unit

In a landscape dominated by streaming algorithms, Cup Of Joe chose to build their identity around a full-length album — a deliberate statement in an age of singles and curated playlists.

“Para sa akin (For me), there’s something really deep and personal with making an album. Lalo na sa process — ‘yung lima kami sa studio, tapos nag-overnight (especially in the process, where all five of us are in the studio doing all-nighters),” Rapha explains. “Seeing ‘yung lahat ng effort and emotion na nilalagay namin sa lahat ng songs, may ibang feeling, eh. Mahirap siya, pero nung natapos, may satisfaction (seeing all the effort and emotion we put in all the songs gives a unique feeling. It’s difficult, but satisfying in the end).”

Keyboardist Xen Gareza expands on the significance of the format: “You can tell so much more [about] an artist through their album compared sa paisa-isang song lang (to single releases).” He then likens albums to feature-length movies, as opposed to YouTube shorts that aren’t as rewarding, adding, “May something talaga about sa length ng isang [piece of] entertainment or art (there’s something about the length of a piece of entertainment or art).”

Thematically anchored in the five stages of grief, Silakbo is a collection of songs that works as a narrative designed to be experienced from start to finish. “It’s a narrative of feelings na tinatago natin (that we keep hidden),” continues Rapha. “And ang hope namin (our hope) is by the end of listening to it, mas na-understand mo [ang] sarili mo, ang pinagdadaanan mo, and hopefully, may magawa ka in order to put yourself in a better space (you will understand yourself more and what you are going through, and do something to put yourself in a better place).”

What Comes Next

With five sold-out Araneta Coliseum shows in 2025 and a runaway hit that refuses to be let go of by its audience, Cup Of Joe seem destined for even broader horizons. After having just toured both North America and the Middle East before closing out the year, the band is preparing for a big nationwide trek in 2026. “Our next step would be to [get] in touch with our international fans,” says Gian at the time of this interview, which preceded both tours. “We’ll start from there.”

Rapha adds, “Gusto namin mag-reach out sa (We want to reach out to our) international fans while being there for ‘yung mga fans namin (our fans) here sa Philippines, kasi sila rin ‘yung rason kung bakit kami nakaabot dito (because they’re the reason we got this far).”

And if there’s pressure to surpass their No. 1 hit? Gab shrugs off the notion. “Wala namang ganoong [goal] talaga (it’s really not our goal),” he insists. “Siguro nag-top lang [‘yung ‘Multo’] para maging (perhaps ‘Multo’ topped the charts to serve as a) platform for the new fans to get to know us. We have so much [more] to offer them. Basta kami, tuloy-tuloy lang kami (We’ll just keep making music).”

“Tuloy ‘yung pagsulat, ‘yung pagkanta, kasi ‘yun talaga ang na-e-enjoy namin,” closes Rapha. “And just hope na ma-appreciate din ng fans ‘yung mga ginagawa namin, kasi kami, super proud kami sa lahat ng ginagawa namin.”

(“We’ll keep writing and singing, because that’s what we enjoy the most. And just hope that the fans appreciate what we create, because we’re super proud of all of it.”)

“Hablamos Mañana,” the latest release from Becky G, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Dec. 12) on Billboard, choosing the singer’s fresh arrival as their favorite new drop.

“Hablamos Mañana” officially got a proper studio release in a week that saw new music streaming in from 21 Savage, OneRepublic, Whitney Whitney, Fred Again… and more. Becky G swooped in with the lead on Sunday, bringing in 30% of the vote.

What’s the story behind “Hablamos Mañana”? Becky G fans might find it to be a familiar tune —  as they’ve probably heard a live rendition of the song, which found its way to the stage long before Becky actually recorded it. The star gave it the studio treatment (with production by Di Genius) — and an accompanying visualizer — as a year-end thank you to fans.

A video released with “Hablamos Mañana” features behind-the-scenes clips from Becky’s jam-packed 2025.

“This past year I had some much needed fun, discoveries were made, & new dreams were dreamt!” she wrote in a post on Instagram on its release day. “Dormi poco and the kitty naps I did have were either 30,000 feet up in the clouds or on the floor of the recording booth. Gracias, Beasters, por todo el apoyo!!! 2026 is almost here!!! Can’t wait to share more momentitos con ustedes.”

“After years of waiting, Hablamos Mañana is finally yours,” Becky said.

Her song is a reminder to show affection and live in the moment: “Bésame, hablamos mañana/ Vamos a mi habitación/ Y hablamos, pero en mi cama/ De otra conversación,” sings Becky, whose last full-length studio release was 2024’s Encuentros, which made its way to the top 10 of the Top Regional Mexican Albums chart.

Among the new releases trailing behind “Hablamos Mañana” are 21 Savage’s What Happened to the Streets? (with 19% of the vote), OneRepublic’s “Give Me Something” (with 16% of the vote) and Whitney Whitney’s “Isabelle” and (with 5% of the vote).

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

Taylor Swift is being showered with well-wishes on her 36th birthday.

In honor of the pop superstar’s birthday on Saturday (Dec. 13), her Eras Tour backup dancers and friends Kameron Saunders and Jan Ravnik shared heartfelt tributes on social media.

“To my girl… my boss lady!” Saunders captioned an Instagram photo of him rehearsing with Swift. “It’s been three years now that we’ve gotten to have this moment. And each year my love for you grows deeper and deeper.”

He continued, “You are such an astounding human being!! I’m honored to be in your orbit. The laughs. The love. The affirming. The care. The generosity. I just—thank you! Here’s to a lifetime of more of these moments together. Happy Birthday, gorgeous! #SheProtectsTheFamily”

Ravnik, who recently competed on Dancing with the Stars, shared an Instagram gallery post featuring highlights from Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY @taylorswift,” Ravnik wrote. “I’m endlessly grateful for you and for the 3 years we’ve shared together. You’re one of a kind!”

Swift’s blockbuster Eras Tour ran from March 2023 through December 2024, spanning 149 shows across five continents. The tour became the highest-grossing of all time, earning over $2 billion and selling more than 10 million tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore.

The singer-songwriter is also celebrating the continued success of her The Life of a Showgirl album, which topped the Billboard 200 for the ninth week, along with the release of her six-part Disney+ docuseries The End of an Era, which premiered its first two episodes on Friday (Dec. 12). Check out Billboard’s list of “6 Things We Learned” from the docuseries’ opening episodes here.