Ariana Grande made a rare statement about her late ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, during a live episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast on Friday (Dec. 5). The singer credited Miller — who died of an accidental overdose in 2018 at age 26 — for helping her to zoom in on her signature R&B-influenced pop sound.

As seen in a TikTok from the event, while chatting at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., Grande, 32, said Miller encouraged her to mix R&B and pop and “do the brave thing” by taking a chance on her sound. “Yeah, I’ve never said that… it was a great influence and I’m very thanks for that.”

The moderator noted that the first single to spawn from their collaboration was the No. 9 Billboard Hot 100 hit “The Way” from her 2013 debut album, Yours Truly, which earned both singers their first-ever top-ten hit.

“That’s also a part of why I was so eager to ask him [Miller] to be a part of it,” Grande said. “Not only because he was perfect for the song, but I also felt like I had him to thank for finding my sound.” The couple dated from 2016-2018 and also collaborated on his 2016 single “My Favorite Part” and that year’s remix of her song “Into You.”

The pair made their relationship official in 2016, three years after the release of “The Way,” and broke up in April 2018, six months before Miller died of an accidental overdose of alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl. In 2023, on the 10th anniversary of the couple’s first collaboration, Grande reported a clip from the song and paid tribute to Miller in a sweet Instagram message, “the way (feat. mac miller)’ was released 10 YEARS AGO today !! 💘 can’t believe it’s been a whole DECADE (and more) in this road together 🫶 how are u guys celebrating today?”

In addition, to celebrate the 10th anniversary reissue of Billboard 200 chart-topper Yours Truly in 2023, she inserted a subtle tribute to Miller at the end of the YouTube video for the remaster of “The Way,” with a screen that fades to black with the words “Feat. Mac Miller” hanging around in white. In a TikTok Q&A celebrating the album’s anniversary, Grande revealed that the playful video for “The Way” featuring the singer, her dancers and Miller bopping around amid balloons on a bare soundstage, was made independently. “We had no budget, didn’t even tell the label we were gonna do it, made it ourselves,” she said of the clip in which the couple playfully hug and kiss as Grande mouths along to Miller’s verses.

Grande had a lot to celebrate on Monday (Dec. 8), when she scored her second Golden Globe nomination for her work in the Wicked series of movies, for the just-released Wicked: For Good. Grande was honored for her role as Glinda in the Wizard of Oz-inspired movie musical, notching a second straight best supporting actress nod, something she called “definitely just as exciting,” adding “You don’t expect something like this, let alone to happen twice for the same role,” and that the second one feels “kind of blindsiding.”

KATSEYE hit the bullseye on TikTok in 2025.

The short-form video platform today (Dec. 9) shares its year-in review, with KATSEYE crowned as TikTok’s Global Artist of the Year.

After debuting in 2024, the girl group “has become one of the biggest bands in the world,” says a rep for TikTok, during which time they captured over 30 billion views and 12 million creations using their music on the app.

All that viral activity has been converted into mainstream recognition, including two nominations for the Grammy Awards, including best new artist. Also, two KATSEYE singles impacted the Billboard Hot 100 this year, led by “Gabriela,” which peaked at No. 31.

Consisting of members Megan, Yoonchae, Sophia, Manon, Lara and Daniela, KATSEYE has already been saluted by the streaming giant, with the 2025 TikTok Award for breakthrough artist of the year.

KATSEYE tops a global podium that’s completed by Alan Arrieta and ENHYPEN, respectively, while the likes of Bad Bunny, Stray Kids, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga appear in the TikTok year-end top 10.

Also catching fire on TikTok this year was “Pretty Little Baby,” by the late U.S. singer Connie Francis. “Pretty Little Baby” is named as top global song of the year, and the top song in the United States, after the global TikTok community used the tune over 28.4 million as the soundtrack for videos featuring family, pets, and more.

As it did the rounds in the first half of the year, “Pretty Little Baby” averaged 600,000 daily creates on TikTok, including posts from the likes of Kim Kardashian and North West and Kylie Jenner.

Originally released in 1962, the song got extra juice with a remix by German electronic music duo Lizot, and the original version was made available for the first time in French (as “La Seul Qui T’aime”), German (“Alle Jungen Leute”), Italian (“Baby”), Japanese (“Kawaī Beibi”), Spanish (“Linda Muchachita”) and Swedish (“Sjunger På Svenska”), joining a previously-release version in the Japanese language.

Francis joined TikTok in June, and died the following month, July 17, at the age of 87.

Other TikTok title holders this year include Taylor Swift (global most-saved artist), sombr (global most-saved track for “back to friends”), Tate McRae (global most saved album for So Close To What), Doechii (music trend of the year) and EJAE (songwriter of the year).

Despite intense competition from YouTube and Meta, TikTok remains a powerful and influential force in music and entertainment. By 2024, a third of U.S. adults used TikTok, while almost six in 10 teens (57%) say they use the platform daily and 16% say they’re on it “almost constantly,” according to Pew Research. People use TikTok mostly for pop culture and entertainment but also viral music and dances, humor and comedy, personal stories, fashion advice, product recommendations, politics and, for 5% of U.S. adults, news.

TikTok Year in Music for 2025:

Top 20 Songs Globally
Pretty Little Baby – Connie Francis
Hold My Hand – Jess Glynne
Rock That Body – Black Eyed Peas
Azul – J Balvin
Dame Un Grrr – Fantomel x Kate Linn
APT. – ROSÉ & Bruno Mars
Te Quería Ver – Alemán & Neton Vega
Stecu Stecu – Faris Adam
Anxiety – Doechii
Sailor Song – Gigi Perez
Shake It To The Max (FLY) (Remix) – MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillenbeng, Shenseea
ocean eyes – Billie Eilish
No One Noticed – The Marias
back to friends – sombr
Sparks – Coldplay
That’s So True – Gracie Abrams
Let Down – Radiohead
Suave – El Alfa
My Darling – Chella
We Hug Now – Sydney Rose

Top 10 Songs in US
Pretty Little Baby – Connie Francis
Hold My Hand – Jess Glynne
WHIM WHAMMIE – PLUTO & YKNIECE
Rock That Body – Black Eyed Peas
Doot Doot (6 7) – Skrilla
We Hug Now – Sydney Rose
No One Noticed – The Marias
Bunna Summa – BunnaB
Anxiety – Doechii
Love Me Not – Ravyn Lenae

Top 10 Artists Globally
KATSEYE
Alan Arrieta
ENHYPEN
Bad Bunny
Stray Kids
Taylor Swift
Lady Gaga
Fuerza Regida
Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande

Global Most-Saved Artist (using the Add to Music App feature on TikTok)
Taylor Swift

Global Most-Saved Track (using the Add to Music App feature on TikTok)
back to friends – sombr

Global Most Saved Album (using the Add to Music App feature on TikTok)
So Close To What – Tate McRae

Music Trend of the Year
Anxiety – Doechii

Songwriter of the Year
EJAE

MusicInfra, the rights collection platform founded by an ex-Hipgnosis executive and backed by Raine Group and Peter Thiel’s Snö Ventures, announced on Tuesday (Dec. 9) that interactive gaming music company Reactional Music has joined its growing list of clients. 

Founded by classical composer Jesper Nordin, Reactional Music makes an interactive music engine that allows video game developers to create personalized, interactive soundtracks in their games from a library that now includes 6 million songs licensed from music publishers and record labels, including Ninja Tune and Primary Wave partner Game My Play. Using the technology, Reactional users can create playlists of songs or sounds, swap out tracks and download their music all without leaving the game.

Providing customizable, interactive soundtracks for the $200 billion global gaming industry presents a significant new revenue stream for music, if properly monetized. Recreational is partnering with MusicInfra’s rights management tools to ensure music used on its platform is accurately and speedily tracked and that rightsholders are compensated, representatives from both companies said in a statement.

“Reactional is opening up entirely new creative and commercial possibilities for music, but these can only be realized if the infrastructure works for everyone — platforms, rightsholders, and creators,” said Björn Lindvall, CEO and co-founder of MusicInfra. ”We’re building the essential plumbing that allows both new, and already existing, sectors of the music industry to flourish.”

Founded in 2023 by Lindvall, previously Hipgnosis Songs’ COO and a Morgan Stanley banker, MusicInfra is aiming to develop a global clearinghouse for music rights with technology that speeds up record-keeping between digital platforms and rightsholders to improve and increase royalty revenue collection.

Based in New York with staff in Europe and Latin America, MusicInfra is backed by MiddleGame Ventures, Raine, Peter Thiel’s venture fund Snö Ventures and UTA Ventures, and it counts Berlin-based music company BMG among its clients. In September, the company announced it hired longtime Spotify executive Jules Parker to be its chief business officer to work alongside ex-YouTube head of publishing partner engineering Greg Quillard and former Meta, Google and Gracenote executives.

Reactional Music CEO Matt Connors said in a statement that MusicInfra’s rights management platform will help Reactional bring popular music to “gaming’s billions of players — removing the friction, expense, and technical barriers that have kept two of the world’s largest entertainment industries apart for too long.”

Bill Hauritz, the impresario who launched the Woodford Folk Festival, one of Australia’s largest and longest-running camping fests, and a treasure in the live events calendar, has died at 71.

The festival began life as the Maleny Folk Festival in 1987, an end-of-year gathering on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. As word spread of its unique vibe, the festival outgrew its site and the party was relocated to the 500-acre cultural parkland, Woodfordia.

Today, the six-day fest rings in the new year with about 120,000 guests and 2,000 artists, and is said to be Australia’s biggest annual gathering of its kind. During the event, the fest becomes the 67th largest town in the country. Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke was a regular Woodford VIP, and gave his final recorded interview at the 2018 edition.

Much like the Montreux Jazz Festival, the beloved Queensland folk festival’s bill isn’t confined to the genre attached to its name. Over time, the likes of Courtney Barnett, Hiatus Kaiyote, The Saints, Archie Roach, Tim Finn and Kate Miller-Heidke have played to its crowds, which typically range from infants in prams through to octogenarians.

With Hauritz at the helm, a years-long tree-planting exercise at the Woodfordia site, a so-called working bee, evolved into The Planting, a gathering that was part-outdoor camping festival, part-learning and skill-developing in the arts, environmental sciences and practical skill.

Hauritz’s “vision extended far beyond event-making,” reads a statement from the festival. “It was rooted in environmental stewardship, respect for Indigenous culture, intergenerational knowledge-sharing, and the protection and celebration of intangible cultural heritage, and a deep faith in humanity.”

That vision included the creation of Woodfordia’s 500-Year Plan, a blueprint that imagines a future shaped by care for country, community and creativity.

In 2023, UNESCO presented Woodfordia with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Award at the Jeonju International Awards for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Hauritz was feted on many occasions during his lifetime. In 2005, he received the Order of Australia (AM), for “service to the community, particularly through the establishment of the Woodford Folk Festival and leadership roles in organisations that provide a forum for the promotion of cross-cultural and artistic awareness”. Separately, he was honoured as a Smithsonian Fellow, acknowledging his outstanding contribution to the cultural fabric of Australia and beyond, and, in 2011, Hauritz collected the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award.

Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke leads tributes for the visionary festival operator. “Bob Hawke once told me I would never meet a better Australian than Bill Hauritz. That wasn’t just his conclusion. It was the conclusion of anyone who has spent a moment with Bill.”

In the Woodford Folk Festival, he continued, Hauritz “didn’t simply create a home for entertainment. He created an example of how people could live with less conflict and more care. “Australian artists lose a lot with his passing. But the arts in Australia is forever enriched by his life.”

Hauritz retired in 2022 when the directorship was handed to co-founder and managing director Amanda Jackes.

“A living village where music, ceremony, story and shared experience passed hand to hand, heart to heart, in the rhythms of everyday life. He taught us how to build something beautiful that lasts, not just in memory, but in the land and in each other,” Jackes remarked.

“The greatest compliment Bill ever received, and the one he wore with a smile, was that he was a pathological optimist. He lived up to that each and every day. His presence is woven into everything we do.”

The impresario is survived by his wife Ingrid, sons Tom and Jack, daughter-in-law Mel, and grandchildren Elke and Stellan.