Rufus Wainwright is the latest singer to change the lyrics of “O Canada.”

At Wednesday’s (Oct. 29) Game 5 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Montreal-raised singer-songwriter performed a bilingual version of the Canadian national anthem at Dodger Stadium.

Instead of the anthem’s usual line, “true patriot love in all of us command,” Wainwright sang: “true patriot love that only us command.”

The change has been interpreted as a protest of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made threats of annexation of Canada as the “51st state.”

It’s the same lyrical change that fellow Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk made during the height of tariff tension in February, while performing at the final 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kreviazuk subsequently shared a now-deleted Instagram post, confirming that the lyric change was intentional and that she wrote the words on her hand to remember them.

“I truly believe that we must stand up, use our voices and try to protect ourselves,” she wrote at the time. “We should express our outrage in the face of any abuses of power. I was raised in part by music that was inspired by brave voices committed to peaceful conflict resolution.”

This isn’t the first time a Canadian artist has taken a jab at Trump’s comments. Country singer Dallas Smith is currently on a 51-date cross-country tour, an intentional nod to the 51st state comments, making intimate stops all across Canada.

Two days before Wainwright’s performance, Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based singer JP Saxe performed the Canadian national anthem at Dodger Stadium during Game 3. He swapped out the “Our home and native land” line for “Our home on native land.”

Saxe went viral on social media in August for starting an important conversation about touring as an artist, after cancelling his tour due to low ticket sales.

He followed in the footsteps of acclaimed singer-songwriter Jully Black, who made the one-word lyric change in 2023, while performing “O Canada” at the NBA All-Star Game. Black went on to be honoured by the Assembly of First Nations.

Wainwright and Saxe join the growing list of Canadian artists who have performed the national anthem at this year’s World Series, including Alessia Cara (Game 2) and Deborah Cox (Game 4).

Following yesterday’s 6-1 win, the Jays are one game away from winning the World Series, which returns to Toronto for Game 6 tomorrow night (October 31) and Game 7 (if necessary) on Saturday (Nov. 1).

Read more here. — HTS

Toronto’s Budweiser Stage to Become RBC Amphitheatre

Say hello to RBC Amphitheatre.

Live Nation Canada and RBC have announced a multi-year partnership to expand the Toronto waterfront venue — starting with the replacement of its former name, Budweiser Stage, effective immediately.

RBC Amphitheatre is set to be transformed and expanded into a year-round venue by 2030.

The concert venue, on the site of the old Ontario Place Forum, opened in the mid-1990s under its initial name, Molson Amphitheatre, and was renamed Budweiser Stage in 2017. Its new name is a callback to its origins.

“It is a nod to the past, but it’s also forward looking,” says Wayne Zronik, president of business operations at Live Nation Canada, in an interview with Billboard Canada. “We’ve all been down there for shows. It’s been around for 30 years, and it’s one of the best in the world. It’s so amazing and so to preserve that, yet to also have it be available in this very unique year-round configuration for generations to come is very exciting for us.”

Embarking on renovations, the event space will expand its indoor and outdoor capabilities. By becoming a full-year venue, RBC Amphitheatre will include an expanded capacity in the summer and approximately 9,000 seats in the winter, featuring seated and an open-air lawn section from May to October.

Zronik says the winterization will include an “operable panel system” that will enclose the pavilion in a temperature-controlled environment starting in the fall months.

The event space is expected to close for renovations in fall 2027 and reopen in spring 2029, with full-year capabilities complete by summer 2030.

Inspired by fan feedback, the venue will feature a pedestrian bridge that improves access and eases crowd flow. Live Nation also promises upgraded amenities like expanded food and beverage options, hospitality areas and a new lookout deck with elevator access to the lawn. The city skyline views will remain central to the venue’s identity.

With the proposed changes and transformation, RBC Amphitheatre is set to significantly increase its show count, hosting over 1.5 million fans annually.

Venue upgrades will include multiple tiers of VIP experiences (as is the current trend with venues), as well as infrastructure to support modernized concert production and backstage amenities for some of the biggest artists in the world. Toronto has become one of the biggest global touring markets, which has inspired Live Nation’s expanded presence in venues, including the new Rogers Stadium that opened this summer.

“I think we have to continue to invest in cultural infrastructure so that we can accommodate these shows,” says Zronik. “The Amphitheatre is 30 years old; by the time this is done, it would have been 35. You have to revitalize these things.”

Building signage of the previous venue name will remain visible as the space transforms in the months leading up to the 2026 season, when the RBC Amphitheatre name will replace it. The venue currently has four shows announced for next year’s lineup, including Canadian rapper bbno$, American musician MGK, country star Bailey Zimmerman and Australian boy band 5 Seconds of Summer.

Read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh, Richard Trapunski

Independent Music Industry Groups Ask for Public’s Help to Renew Canadian Music Funding

Independent music organizations are asking the public for help as the deadline looms for Canadian music funding.

A $16 million annual boost was announced in 2024 as a temporary top-up to the Canada Music Fund — which supports both FACTOR and Musicaction, two of the country’s biggest and most important music grants.

The update promised $32 million over two years to enhance the careers of Canadian artists, while strengthening the competitiveness and stability of the Canadian music sector.

With the deadline for the funds approval looming by March 31, 2026, independent groups including the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), SaskMusic, Music NL and more have requested the public’s assistance in reaching out to local MPs to ensure the funds are renewed.

If not, they warn, the investment, which impacts Canadian-owned music companies and artists, could be slashed by up to 50%.

Earlier this month, the federal government announced that the 2026 budget will be discussed on Nov. 4 — months earlier than its initial March deadline.

The news comes at a pivotal time for the Canadian music industry.

According to CIMA, contributions from private radio broadcasting to FACTOR have significantly decreased from $16 million in the early 2020s to approximately $2 million this year. In 2024, the funding body was the victim of a $9.8 million cybertheft.

Meanwhile, funds from Bill C-11 (Online Streaming Act), a part of which was intended to allot 5% of revenue from major foreign-owned digital streaming platforms, have been paused after major streamers like Spotify, Amazon and Apple took the government to court.

“Whether you are a large Canadian company, a new music start up, an established artist or fledgling musician, everyone in our sector benefits from the investments made by FACTOR and Musicaction,” shares Andrew Cash, CIMA president and CEO, in a statement.

Cash urges the public to contribute by emailing Stephen Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“Now more than ever before we need to be strengthening the fabric of Canadian-made culture,” he said.

With only a week to go, the organizations are encouraging the public to speak up by emailing representatives.

Read more here. — HTS

Former Hot Boys member Turk is being sued by a concert promoter over online threats that supposedly threatened to derail a Cash Money Records reunion tour this summer.

The $12 million breach of contract and defamation lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Wednesday (Oct. 29), is the latest in a bitter legal salvo between Turk (Tab Virgil Jr.) and promoter Dope Shows over the Cash Money Millionaires 30th Anniversary Tour. Named in honor of a Cash Money Records supergroup from the ’90s, the ongoing reunion tour features Cash Money figures like Birdman, Juvenile and former Hot Boy B.G.

Turk originally signed onto the tour as well, but was kicked off the roster before his first performance this summer. The rapper subsequently sued Dope Shows for $340,000 in Florida last month, alleging he was removed from the tour because the promoter wasn’t selling enough tickets and ran out of money to pay him.

Now, Dope Shows is countering in its own lawsuit that money had nothing to do with Turk’s removal. Rather, the promoter says it had to boot Turk because he had been physically threatening B.G. on social media — leading venues to voice concerns about potential violence and risking disruptive intervention from B.G.’s probation officer.

Dope Shows alleges that in response, Turk began posting defamatory content on Instagram, spreading his false narrative that the promoter was struggling financially. Dope Shows claims Turk’s Florida case is a “sham lawsuit” that merely serves to amplify those falsehoods.  

“Desperate to revive his flagging rap career, Turk is attempting to sabotage the tour through childish and petulant antics that he hopes will regain the public’s attention,” writes Dope Shows’ lawyer, Jeffrey Movit. “Turk’s publicity stunts are an abject failure, as they have done nothing to advance his career. Rather, through his malicious and misguided actions, Turk has created nothing more than massive legal liability for himself in this lawsuit”.

Dope Shows alleges that Turk owes $5 million for breach of contract and $7 million for defamation. According to the lawsuit, Turk’s conduct has deterred fans from attending the reunion tour and led other artists to doubt the promoter’s abilities.

Turk’s attorney, Paul Aloise, denied all of Dope Shows’ claims in a statement to Billboard on Friday (Oct. 31). Aloise says the new lawsuit is a “desperate attempt” by the promoter to “try and shift the blame away from their own unethical business practices and promotional failures.”

“While the complaint defames my client and says that he was attempting to sabotage the tour to try and revive his flagging rap career, the complaint conveniently leaves out the fact that on August 3, 2025, Turk, released his own album, JOSEPH, on iTunes, which peaked at #5 on the iTunes Hip-Hop Chart,” added Aloise. “Thus, my client has no intentions of trying to sabotage a tour he wants to be on, let alone to help his rap career.”

Kayla Nicole’s costume for this year’s Halloween is bound to turn some heads. On Friday (Oct. 31), the podcaster unveiled her spooky-season tribute to Toni Braxton — specifically the R&B icon’s 2000 music video for “He Was’t Man Enough.”

In a clip posted to Instagram, Nicole — who dated Travis Kelce on and off from 2017 to 2022 — rocks a purple bikini topped by a revealing dress made of sparkly silver netting. Splicing in footage from Braxton’s visual, the presenter re-creates the sensual choreography performed by the “Un-Break My Heart” singer in the project.

“She’s an icon. She’s a legend,” Nicole wrote in the caption. “She’s @tonibraxton circa 2000. #Halloween25.”

The video is sure to get people talking: The song of choice — which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 — finds Braxton teasing an ex-boyfriend’s new partner, singing, “Who do you think I am?/ Don’t you know that he was my man?/ But I chose to let him go/ So why do you act like I still care about him?”

The lyrics Nicole sings along to in the video she posted are especially eyebrow-raising, considering the fact that Kelce will soon be married to Taylor Swift after getting engaged to the pop star this past August. “Do you know I dumped your husband, girlfriend?/ I’m not thinking ’bout him/ But you married him,” the fitness entrepreneur mouths along to Braxton’s voice.

“Do you know I made him leave?/ Do you know he begged to stay with me?/ He wasn’t man enough for me.”

Nicole is no stranger to making big statements with her Halloween costumes. Last year, she revealed that she once dressed up as the woman an ex had “dumped” her for on the holiday, after which the fans connected the dots back to Teyana Taylor, who married Iman Shumpert after the NBA star dated Nicole. Shortly afterward, Taylor appeared to react to the revelation by making a post on Instagram set to Swift’s hit “Shake It Off,” writing, “I know 2025 gone hate to see a Taylor coming!!”

Nicole also enjoys honoring her favorite musicians in general on Halloween, dressing up as Ciara in 2024.

Spanish superstar Rosalía returned this week to Mexico City, where she attended a listening session for her new album LUX on Wednesday night (Oct. 29) with a lucky group of fans. Her visit turned into an entire culinary experience featuring popular Mexican dishes and a night of partying alongside her friends, the members of Mexican band Latin Mafia.

Rosalía shared the trip with her millions of followers on TikTok Live, showing her and her friends riding in a limousine through the streets of Mexico’s capital before arriving at a branch of a famous pozole restaurant chain. There, she tasted the popular dish for the first time — a broth made with corn kernels, chicken or pork, chili and topped with lettuce. She also enjoyed some enfrijoladas, tortillas dipped in bean sauce and filled with shredded chicken.

“First time eating pozole, guys,” Rosalía says in a video that has gone viral in Mexico since Thursday. “It’s tricky — it’s spicy,” she adds, pulling the classic faces one makes when eating spicy food. Videos of diners who were surprised to see the singer at one of the restaurant chain’s locations have also gone viral.

The “Motomami” singer’s night out in Mexico also included a stop at a Mexican cantina, where she and Latin Mafia enjoyed some drinks and watched drag performances with numbers dedicated to Juan Gabriel and Jenni Rivera.

The Spanish superstar also received a special gift: a necklace with a pendant of the iconic Virgin of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint of Mexico and Latin America, which was given to her by one of the members of the pop trio. The night was sealed with a tattoo that Rosalía herself gave to Milton de la Rosa, one of the singers of Latin Mafia, featuring the title of her new album, LUX.

The artist was in Mexico as part of the worldwide listening parties for LUX, her highly anticipated fourth studio album, to be released on Nov. 7. According to her, the LP is “inspired by holy women from around the world.” The first single, “Berghain,” a cutting-edge track featuring Björk and Yves Tumor, was released on Oct. 27. Watch it below:

A few years into the debate about AI’s potential economic impact on music, the jury is still out.  

AI could be great for the music business, enabling new products and creating new revenue streams for artists and songwriters. Universal Music Group (UMG) has said as much. “We believe the commercial opportunity is potentially very significant,” chief digital officer Michael Nash said during the company’s earnings call on Thursday (Oct. 30), a day after it announced a licensing deal with AI music generator Udio. “These new products and services could constitute an important source of incremental additional new future revenue for artists and songwriters.” 

Then again, AI could erode record labels and music publishers’ businesses by flooding the internet with inexpensively made music that takes some — not all — of their market share. Record labels have already lost market share to independent artists in recent years, and AI could be either a continuation or acceleration of existing trends.   

Two years ago, analysts at Barclays Research were dismissive of AI-generated music’s threat to the established music business. The general population might have access to music-making tools, but, Barclays reasoned, the quality of the music was poor, and songs created by faceless software housed on computer servers couldn’t create the human connection that listeners desire. Record labels and music publishers could be hurt if social platforms pushed AI music, but the money-saving tactic could run into legal roadblocks, they said. For all the initial hoopla about AI’s ability to upset the status quo, too many questions at the time remained unanswered.

Today, though, Barclays is singing a different tune, and advancements in AI platforms have answered some of their earlier questions. Now, the analysts are more convinced of AI music’s potential to erode record labels’ market share and weaken their financial standing. The quality of music has “improved significantly,” they wrote in a Tuesday (Oct. 28) report titled “AI in Music: Danger Zone,” adding that it’s “hard to differentiate between human music and AI music.” Fans still crave connections with human artists, they wrote, but as opposed to their earlier take, they conceded that AI music represents a threat to the music establishment.  

In the Barclays analysts’ view, AI is a mixed bag of gains (such as AI-enabled superfan tiers) and losses (lower royalties from social media platforms’ adoption of cheap AI music). Overall, though, they believe the damage that AI can create will outweigh its benefits. Their bottom line: In an average scenario, UMG takes a 1% hit to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and Warner Music Group’s EBITDA drops 4%. A worst-case scenario calls for deeper losses. A best-case scenario sees AI providing a boost.

Not everybody is in the Barclays camp, however. Despite advancements in the quality of music produced by AI platforms, analysts at J.P. Morgan are sticking with their opinion from 2023 that AI will not have “a meaningful impact on industry revenues.” Analysts wrote in a note to UMG investors on Monday (Oct. 27) that AI risks have been “negated” and “controlled” by the company’s efforts in recent years to get streaming platforms to prioritize and reward professional artists over mass-produced, low-quality recordings.   

Like Barclays, J.P. Morgan believes market erosion is a genuine threat to UMG’s market share. But J.P. Morgan analysts see much more upside in AI. (Notably, J.P. Morgan’s analysis was less thorough; unlike Barclays, it didn’t put a dollar value on AI’s potential impact.) They note that UMG will benefit from AI artists’ need for publishers and record labels (which jibes with Billboard’s assessment of Hallwood Media’s impact on Xania Monet’s on-demand streams). AI can also generate revenue streams from new licensing opportunities and make listening to music more enjoyable, they write.  

The major labels and publishers haven’t signed or created AI artists yet, but if they do, J.P. Morgan believes they will benefit from economics that are superior to their deals with human artists and songwriters. It’s not a stretch: To capture some of the market share that has shifted to independent artists, UMG has invested heavily in artist services by building up Virgin Music Group and attempting to acquire Downtown Music Holdings (the European Commission will announce its decision on the proposed merger in February 2026). If AI artists are to compete in the marketplace, they will need the same services that are available to human artists, such as promotion, distribution, copyright administration and public relations.

One thing is certain: Because AI music is in its infancy, trying to figure out its long-term trajectory is difficult. When the music industry began navigating the shift from physical to digital in the late ‘90s, few people could have guessed that the marketplace of 2025 would be dominated by subscription royalties and that download revenue would be almost nonexistent. When Napster launched in 1999, nearly a decade before the iPhone debuted, imagining the influence of an app like TikTok would have been nearly impossible. Music companies got to this point by enforcing the value of their intellectual property through a few decades of licensing agreements and lawsuits.

In the near term, expect more deals like UMG’s partnership with Udio. Over the long term, expect to be surprised.