It took time, but Leslie Grace has found her own sound and is back with her first original album in more than a decade, Amor, Quién Eres?, a 14-track bilingual project that showcases her artistic and personal evolution.

Released on today (May 1) under Sony Music Latin, the set — which includes singles like “Ayayay” and “Inmerecido” — blends her Latin pop foundation with bachata textures and R&B influences for tracks like “El Plan,” “Miedo” and “Tú Supiste?,” the latter featuring the duo Martox.

The release coincides with Grace’s multiple acting projects. Alongside her music career, she has built a presence on screen since her 2021 debut as Nina Rosario on In the Heights — the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning Broadway musical, directed by Jon M. Chu.

“It’s been a beautiful journey since then to go back to the basics on my music. Music is the foundation and came first, obviously, but when acting became a thing with In the Heights, and I started to get into that craft a bit more, integrating that into my art, that part of my career became a new way for me to learn how I wanted my collaboration within music to feel,” Grace tells Billboard Español. “It was almost like an initiation for me in stepping up and maturing in the way that I was approaching my music because I started so young, so I never really had a chance to create — it was [mostly] versions of other songs.”

Grace started in music as a child with a Christian album. In 2012, she rose to fame with a bilingual version of The Shirelles’ classic “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” titled “Will U Still Love Me Tomorrow” and set to a bachata rhythm. The song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart and No. 3 on Hot Latin Songs. The following year, she released her self-titled album, produced by Sergio George, which peaked at No. 3 on the Top Latin Albums chart and earned a Latin Grammy nomination for best tropical album. She was only 17 years old.

“I’m super proud of and I’m blessed that everyone enjoyed [that music] in their time. But in terms of the creative process of how I experienced creating as an artist, I never really took the time or had the chance to cultivate what that process felt like for me, what my preferred process was and learning that through being inspired by working with people like Lynn and John and taking things from those film experiences to bring to my process,” she reflects now, at 31.

Since her successful 2013 LP, Grace has released an EP (Lloviendo Estrellas in 2015) and a series of singles (most recently “Como la Primera Vez” with Boza in 2022), but she hadn’t recorded a full album again until now. This time, supported by a diverse team of producers, she sought inspiration from her own experiences: “A lot of good moments, not so fun moments, but mainly, mainly love — love experiences, relationships,” she shares. “And sometimes I would go back in my old journals and find little verses and things that I could expand on, and then they would turn into songs.”

Every song on Amor, Quién Eres? includes a visual component, with individual music videos that, together, will form an “immersive short film,” according to a press release, combining her talents as both a singer and actress. This past March, the artist had prominent roles in two films featured at the SXSW festival: Stages, a Live Nation project directed by Ryan Booth that follows two mid-career musicians who must start over and tour independently; and Campeón Gabacho by Jonás Cuarón, about a young migrant crossing the Rio Grande in search of a better life in the United States.

When asked what she learned about herself during the process of creating her new album, Grace replies, “I discovered that — a lot of times I thought that I didn’t have clarity and really I just needed to exercise the muscle of expressing more of what I knew that I wanted to others and exercise the muscle of just feeling confident enough in my ideas to share and be able to collaborate with the people around me.”

Listen to Amor, Quién Eres? below.

The Tragically Hip, Loverboy songwriters Mike Reno and Paul Dean, Feist and Roch Voisine are headed to The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF). All platinum-plus selling and award-winning artists, they will all become 2026 inductees.

They will receive this prestigious honour at an induction ceremony presented by Amazon Music that will take place at Massey Hall in Toronto on September 26. The evening will feature performances and tributes from Canadian and global artists paying tribute to their songbooks. Performers and guests will be announced soon.

The event will also be livestreamed globally on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch for the second time, and streamed across Canada on Prime Video.

The Tragically Hip have sold over 14 million albums worldwide and won 17 Juno Awards, including the Humanitarian Award at the 50th Juno Awards. They were honoured with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2002, and in 2022, recognized again for their humanitarian efforts supporting social and environmental justice.

In a statement, the band express gratitude for the honour but regret that the late Gord Downie can’t be there to celebrate with them.

“We’re excited to be entering the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and joining previous inductees, as well as this year’s, whose songs we greatly admire,” they say. “It is humbling to be in their company; although it is bittersweet that our bandmate, lyricist and dear friend, Gord Downie, will not be standing with us.”

Read more on all the nominees here. — Kerry Doole

Breakout Canadian Artist TALK Signs With Big Loud Rock, Releases First Single in Three Years

Big Loud Rock — the alternative and rock imprint of heavyweight U.S. country label Big Loud Records — has added a rising Canadian act to its roster.

The Nashville-based label announced the signing of TALK today (May 1). It coincides with the release of his first single in three years, “Time Machine,” out now.

Known for crafting cinematic alternative and pop-rock anthems, the vocal powerhouse, born Nicholas Durocher, captured listeners with his debut single, “Run Away To Mars,” inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar.

Released in 2021, the heartfelt ballad resonated with listeners during the pandemic, and went viral on TikTok and across streaming services. The song peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, and made major waves across the border, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart and receiving a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Two years later, TALK shared his debut album, Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees. It went gold in his home country, was longlisted for 2024’s Polaris Music Prize and led to his first-ever Juno win for breakthrough artist of the year. Since then, he has performed alongside artists like Shania Twain and Luke Combs, while landing major synch placements in Grey’s Anatomy and CBS’s Tracker.

Now, he’s stepping into a new era with the U.S. label imprint, as he gears up for his sophomore record, which he worked on at Sandy Pandya’s Toronto-based music company, ArtHaus, which handles his management.

“Big Loud Rock quickly emerged as the most exciting partner to work with on my second album,” he says. “Their belief in pure artistry, drive, and heart above all else has renewed my belief in this unpredictable industry. I’m more than proud to call them my home.”

TALK joins fellow label signees including HARDY, Blame My Youth, Dexter and the Moonrocks, Girl Tones, , Mercury, Zoe Ko and more.

“We’re excited to welcome TALK into the Big Loud Rock family,” shares Big Loud partner and Big Loud Rock president Joey Moi (a Canadian living in Nashville). “His powerhouse vocals and eccentric creative concepts really blew us away. He brings such a fresh, infectious energy to the alternative rock space that we couldn’t help but immerse ourselves in it.”

Moi and his team aren’t wasting any time showcasing TALK’s talents to the world, with the new single “Time Machine” out today. The song is co-produced by Moi, Tofer Brown, TALK and Connor Riddell.

Listen and read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh

CMRRA Marks 50th Anniversary by Distributing $94 Million in Royalties to Publishers and Songwriters in 2025

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) is marking 50 years with some good news. The agency has revealed that it distributed $94 million in royalties to publishers and self-published songwriters in 2025.

While it’s a notable figure, it’s an overall 2% decrease in distributions from 2024, which saw the agency distributing $96 million. Still, 2025’s numbers are a 19% increase from 2023’s figures at $78 million.

This year, much of the CMRAA’s growth is credited to its 477 new client affiliations, which include music publishers, self-published songwriters and administrators. Of that number, 137 were allotted for international collections – a royalty segment the agency didn’t start collecting until 2021. It’s a 33% increase in client affiliations from last year.

Meanwhile, broadcast mechanical distributions — royalty payments that are issued when a musical composition is reused for broadcast on radio or TV — increased by 119%.

It’s a change from the major drivers for last year’s distribution numbers, which were fuelled by a growth in streaming and TikTok.

The numbers come hot on the heels of the CMRRA’s 50th anniversary. In 2025, the agency reported that it renewed licensing deals with major streaming platforms and collaborated with partners including the Juno Awards, Honey Jam and the Indigenous Music Summit.

Looking ahead, the agency shares it will remain focused on supporting music publishers and self‑published songwriters, as the rise of AI and modern technology continues to dominate the Canadian music industry. Ensuring that partners “respect copyright and value songs as creative works,” the agency will continue evolving its licensing framework to be “grounded in consent, transparency and fair value for creators.”

“As we build on our 50‑year legacy, CMRRA is focused on the future, investing in technology, data intelligence, and scalable services that support music publishers and self‑published songwriters,” says the agency’s president, Paul Shaver. “The industry is evolving rapidly, and CMRRA is committed to leading that change by delivering smarter tools, building stronger relationships and creating sustainable opportunities for our clients well into the future.”

Read more here. — H.T.S.

Yellowcard and Good Charlotte, two mainstays of the 2000s pop-punk scene, team up for the latest No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, as “Bedroom Posters” rises a spot to rule the May 9-dated list.

The song, from Yellowcard’s 2025 album Better Days and featuring Good Charlotte, marks Yellowcard’s second total and consecutive No. 1 on the list, following the three-week reign of “Better Days” last August-September. The act led the chart 22 years after it first reached Alternative Airplay, then setting a record for the longest wait between an initial appearance and reaching No. 1.

That record stood until now, as “Bedroom Posters” is Good Charlotte’s first leader on any Billboard airplay ranking. The rockers first hit Alternative Airplay in September 2000 with “Little Things” –– making it an unprecedented 25 years, seven months and one week between an act’s first appearance on the tally and its first No. 1. (Yellowcard still holds the mark for the longest wait among artists first hitting No. 1 as a lead act.)

Good Charlotte cracked the top 10 once prior to “Bedroom Posters” with “The Anthem” in 2003. The band’s highest-charting airplay appearance overall before “Bedroom Posters” was “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous,” a No. 6 hit on Pop Airplay in 2003.

Concurrently, “Bedroom Posters” lifts to No. 20 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2 million audience impressions in the week ending April 30, a gain of 7%, according to Luminate. It’s Good Charlotte’s highest-charting song there, having exceeded the No. 34 peak of “Rejects” in 2025.

“Bedroom Posters” premiered sans Good Charlotte on Better Days before the collaborative version arrived Jan. 16. Better Days was released on Oct. 10, 2025 and has earned 31,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Billboard charts dated May 9 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, May 5.

Maverick City Music has won a court order halting a competing Christian music project launched by its estranged co-founder — at least for now.   

A New York judge granted Maverick City’s request for a preliminary injunction on Wednesday (April 29) against Tony Brown, who sold his shares of the Grammy-winning worship collective to current CEO Norman Gyamfi for $5 million in 2023. A bitter legal battle is now waging over the terms of that buy-out deal, with Maverick City’s Gyamfi alleging Brown violated a non-compete provision by launching another Christian music group called God Aura after his departure.

Brown alleges the non-compete is void, along with the rest of his buy-out agreement, because Maverick City has underpaid him by roughly $2 million. Judge Nancy M. Bannon ruled Wednesday that whether the contract holds up remains an open question that will depend on the evidence — and that until a fulsome decision is reached, Brown cannot release any new music.

Among other things, the injunction requires Brown to pull God Aura’s December 2025 album Wonderful Child down from streaming services. The lawsuit now moves into the discovery phase, meaning Maverick City and Brown will exchange evidence with each other.

A lawyer for Maverick City, Steven Cooper of Reed Smith, said in a Friday (May 1) statement to Billboard that his clients “are very pleased that the court shut down Anthony Brown’s improper competitive activities.”

“Mr. Brown tried repeatedly to avoid this hearing, and ultimately his attempts failed, and his bad acts were exposed,” added Cooper. “Mr. Gyamfi and his companies will continue to aggressively pursue those who violate contracts and engage in wrongdoing against them.”

Attorneys for Brown declined to comment on the injunction.

Brown co-founded Maverick City in 2018 alongside Jonathan Jay. The Atlanta-based music collective has won five Grammy Awards and topped Billboard‘s Christian and gospel charts with members and collaborators including Chandler Moore, Naomi Raine and Brandon Lake.

Gyamfi joined Maverick City as a part-owner and executive around 2021 and helped grow Maverick City’s Christian music empire. He eventually bought out Brown, but Brown alleges Gyamfi failed to complete the promised payments based on unsubstantiated sexual harassment complaints against him.

Brown initially sued Maverick City in Georgia, but the dispute was kicked to New York in February due to a forum selection clause in the buyout deal. In that decision, an Atlanta judge rejected Brown’s claim that he was coerced into signing the contract due to threats from Louis Burrell, a music industry veteran and the brother of MC Hammer.

Meanwhile, Maverick City is also dealing with separate litigation tied to Moore’s abrupt departure from the group last month. Moore is alleging that Gyamfi stole his royalties, but the group denies this and says Moore failed to fulfill his contract before exiting.

Just like in the Brown lawsuit, Maverick City tried to get an injunction to stop Moore from pursuing a solo career while the dispute plays out. But the group was unsuccessful in that attempt, and Moore is now releasing music on his own.