Illinois native Alexandra Kay first broke through as an independent artist writing songs about her shattered heart, but on her new album, for the first time she’s writing from the perspective of a healed heart.

In 2023, Kay self-released her debut album, All I’ve Ever Known. Containing songs that chronicled a period Kay calls “a pretty traumatic time in my life” following the painful wake of her divorce, the album’s music propelled Kay to No. 12 on Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart in 2023.

“I was able to just put myself very authentically in everyone’s face without any shield, just as real and raw as I could ever be. I just wanted to make sure that I led with that this project,” Kay says.

That grit, hustle and honesty have fueled her ascendant trajectory on her sophomore album Second Wind, out Oct. 24. She’s writing from a joyous, thriving space, both personally and professionally. The album marks her first release after signing with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville in February and takes inspiration from her relationship with current boyfriend, musician and Kay’s longtime bandmember Rocko Beall.

“It was a very conscious decision to describe what it felt like opening my heart again to someone else,” says Kay. “I was very much living that, so I was like, ‘Let me just start writing love songs,’ which I had never done. You don’t just flip a switch and automatically you’re trusting and open to love again. I wanted to take people through that process.”

The album is a confluence of country, pop and shades of hip-hop. Songs such as “Feminine Energy,” with its nod to Christina Aguilera’s 1999 hit “What a Girl Wants,” revel in flirty, starry-eyed romance. Other tracks, such as “What He Does,” delve into a lover’s sweet, emotionally restoring gestures, while questioning why it was so hard for an ex to do the same.

She calls another song on the album, “Right Now,” her “Alexandra Wallen” moment. “It’s like with the 808s and stuff,” she says, referring to the sound Morgan Wallen has made famous that incorporates hip-hop elements. “Before when we were writing for the project, I would’ve been like ‘This doesn’t fit. But I thought the album was done, so we wrote it and the label was like ‘Yeah, this definitely needs to go on the album.’”

She adds, “I think that’s why people always overwrite their albums because the good stuff really starts to happen when you’re not itching and scratching for it. You’re just going, ‘Okay, let’s write something we think will be fun and cool.’”

Kay may be releasing just her second album, but she’s been honing her musical talents for nearly two decades, first writing songs at age 15. Her early career involved voice-over work, musical theater and commercials. She initially released hip-hop and R&B music before transitioning into country music in 2022, thanks to her viral “Coffee Covers” Facebook videos that featured Kay singing ‘90s country songs while concocting coffee recipes.

She’s taking songs from her new album on the road by headlining her Second Wind: The Tour through November, and next year will join Old Dominion for shows in Australia and New Zealand. She’s also doubling down on her “Coffee Girl” branding, having opened her own coffee shop in her home state in June.

Kay, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for October, opens up about her forthcoming new album, touring with Jelly Roll, opening The Coffee Girl and more.

How did the song “Feminine Energy” come about?

We were at a writing retreat in upstate New York and I was like, “I want to write a song about how he makes me a girly girl.” I just feel safe around him. I was in the session writing “Feminine Energy” and Rocko came upstairs and ended up helping us write the rest of the song.

I had said this as soon as Rocko and I got together, I realized it was a very different relationship than the relationship I was previously in. Everybody around me saw a change in me. I was just softened. In my past relationship, I was the person that was always prepared to handle things if things went south. That’ll toughen you as a woman, just being in a relationship where you’re just waiting for the other shoe to fall. It’s exhausting.

When Rocko and I first got together, I remember my shoe was untied while I was walking through the airport. He bent down and tied my shoe, and it was something that just stuck in the back of my head. With my ex, I would’ve walked around with my shoes untied all day.

You opened shows for labelmate Jelly Roll last year. What did you learn from touring with him?

He just moves in a different way than a lot of people do. He’s got a hustle about him that is so gritty to his core, and he’s just willing to do anything he’s got to do to make stuff happen. And he’s a preacher at heart. He’s always dropping crazy knowledge, and he’s become a great friend. He remembers being the underdog, and I have very much felt like that in my career, especially accomplishing so many things as an independent artist. I didn’t get the accolades or opportunities I probably should have gotten based on the numbers I was putting up because I wasn’t signed. Jelly was like, “We’re going to take this independent girl and put her in arenas.” He changed my life.

Your song “Straight for the Heart” is going to radio next month. What has it been like gearing up to send a song to country radio?

Another thing that Jelly did for me was he let me go into all of the radio rooms, which was very generous, on his tour. He would have all these radio people come in and was like, “Go meet everybody at radio.” I’m coming into radio tours having already met many of these people and that’s huge. All I’ve Ever Known, that was very much a concept record, just me writing where I was at. Now, I think I have a lot more songs that, universally, people are liking.

You got your start making coffee videos on TikTok back in 2020. In June, you opened up a coffee shop, The Coffee Girl, in Illinois. What was that process like?

I ended up going back to the owners of a specific café, where I used to live in a loft apartment above the shop. I went to the owners and told them I wanted to open a coffee shop in my hometown, and I said, “I want your blessing because I don’t want to open anything that is in competition with your shop.” And they said, “We are talking about wanting to retire. Would you consider buying this place?” I was blown away. So, I gave them exactly what they wanted for it, and they are happily retired and still come to the shop all the time.

Does entrepreneurship run in the family?

My dad has run businesses since he was 21 years old when he opened his first dry cleaners. He ended up having five of them. He’s a smart businessman and I think we’re going to be an incredible team as we continue to open new locations.

Where do you want to open your next location?

We hope to open one in Nashville.

What is your favorite order at the shop?

We rebranded some of the items that were there and did some more extravagant coffees and foods. I always got the turkey bacon melt with chips. So, we call that the AK on the menu now. We have a Greek salad and I’m part Greek, so we called it Yaya’s Greek Salad, because that’s what I call my grandmother.

What is the first concert you ever saw?

I think it was the Backstreet Boys.

Most recent song you listened to?

 “Exes” by Tate McRae. She’s such an icon.

What artists do you think are underrated right now?

Emily Ann Roberts. Her voice is insane. And Laci Kaye Booth and Mae Estes, but I have a feeling all of those girls are right on the cusp.

Music executive Ángel Del Villar is asking a judge to let him stay out of prison while he appeals his felony convictions for doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.

With a four-year prison sentence set to start on Dec. 1, attorneys for Del Villar argue that his appeal could very well overturn his March convictions – and that he should remain a free man until a higher court rules on his case.

“Del Villar has demonstrated since this case began that he is not a flight risk,” his lawyers wrote in a Wednesday court filing. “He poses no danger to the community. And he intends to present substantial questions on appeal that, if resolved in his favor, are likely to result in reversal or a new trial on all counts.”

Del Villar, who built his Del Records into a top record label for regional Mexican music, was convicted in March of violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by repeatedly arranging concerts with Jesus Pérez Alvear, a Guadalajara-based promoter with cartel ties. In August, he was sentenced to 48 months in prison on those convictions.

In addition to seeking to halt the imposition of that sentence, Wednesday’s filing serves as a preview of how Del Villar’s attorneys plan to mount his appeal of the underlying convictions.

They say they have a particularly strong argument on how the judge instructed jurors that they could convict Del Villar by finding that he willfully blinded himself to Pérez’s shady connections. They say prosecutors couldn’t prove he took concrete actions to avoid such knowledge, but that the judge gave the jurors that option anyway.

“The government pointed to no evidence — and the record contains none —  from which a jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Del Villar took ‘deliberate actions’ or made ‘active efforts,’ his lawyers wrote, later adding that the judge’s instruction “went to the heart and most hotly contested aspect of the case.”

If that argument is successful, Del Villar’s lawyers say, it will “produce a new trial on all counts of conviction,” since each count required proof of such knowledge.

Del Records, founded by Del Villar in 2008, was home to música mexicana supergroup Eslabon Armado, whose global hit, “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma, became one of the biggest songs of 2023, as well as Lenin Ramirez and other chart-topping artists.

But in June 2022, federal prosecutors unveiled charges against Del Villar, 41, CFO Luca Scalisi, 56, and Del Records itself under the Kingpin Act. The 1999 statute allows the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on foreign individuals involved in the illegal drug trade, and then to ban U.S. residents from doing business with them.

Pérez was added to the sanctions list in 2018 after the feds said he had helped cartels “exploit the Mexican music industry to launder drug proceeds and glorify their criminal activities.” Del Villar and Scalisi nonetheless allegedly used Pérez to arrange four Mexican concerts for an undisclosed Del Records artist and accepted nearly $200,000 from him, all while aware that he had been sanctioned.

At a March trial, superstar Gerardo Ortiz took the stand to testify against Del Villar, saying he had seen Pérez Alvear at the Del Records offices and had himself performed at one of the promoter’s concerts. Del Villar’s defense attorneys argued back that he had been “manipulated” into working with Pérez Alvear by a “trusted” former employee. But the jury didn’t buy it, finding him guilty on 10 counts of violating the Kingpin law, as well as one conspiracy charge.

Charlie Puth has a lot of “Changes” on the horizon.

On Thursday (Oct. 16), the pop singer/songwriter announced his fourth studio album, Whatever’s Clever!, due March 6 via Atlantic Records, alongside a music video for lead single “Changes” — and he lets fans in on some big personal news in the ’80s-inspired visual. Around the 2:30 mark in the Charlotte Rutherford-directed clip, Puth’s wife, Brooke Sansone, makes a cameo and they both place their hands on her belly to signal that they’re about to become a family of three. As a press release about the video says, “Charlie reflects on ‘Changes’ both personal and professional with a sweet cameo from his real-life wife Brooke Sansone.”

Puth started dating his longtime family friend Sansone in 2022 and they were married in September 2024. This will be the first child for both.

Whatever’s Clever! will be Puth’s fourth album and a follow-up to 2022’s Charlie, which spun off the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles “Light Switch” and “Left and Right” (with BTS’ Jung Kook).

After playing a series of sold-out shows at New York’s Blue Note jazz club last month, Puth is set to kick off eight concerts at Blue Note Los Angeles on Thursday night. For fans who can’t be in the intimate room, they can livestream his first performance at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT (RSVP here). For the NYC gigs, he welcomed Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Anthony Ramos as special guests.

Watch the “Changes” music video below, and find his and Brooke’s family announcement around the 2:35 mark.

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If HUNTR/X and the Saja Boys have gone triple Platinum in your child’s bedroom, it’s likely they’re going to go crazy over this new Yoto offering.

The parent-owned and operated children’s audio tech company just dropped a KPop Demon Hunters official soundtrack card, giving your kids the freedom to listen to top tracks such as “How It’s Done,” “Golden,” “Soda Pop” and “Your Idol” without a screen. The product is available to shop now on Yoto’s website. All you need is the newly launched soundtrack card, retailing for $14.99, and one of Yoto’s audio players to tune into the hit film’s full soundtrack.

The soundtrack card is 37 minutes long, spanning the Netflix original’s full soundtrack from start to finish. Kids can dance or sing along with the power to press play all on their own, no ads or screentime included, fixing their full focus on the music.

The Yoto Player is sort of like a boombox, made for tiny hands and ears ages 3 to 12+. It comes in two sizes, Yoto Player (3rd Generation) for $109.99, and the more compact Yoto Mini for $79.99. While there are some differences in the sizes, the biggest thing to note is that the 3rd Generation produces acoustically engineered stereo sound, while the mini produces mono sound, meaning a single-channel audio format. Stereo uses two channels to create a room-filling kind of sound, giving your audio a more dynamic feel. If you or your child are a stickler for good audio, go for the 3rd Gen Yoto Player.

In general, both are perfect for listening to music, audiobooks and so much more. The 3rd Gen is best for listening around the home, while the mini is best for listening on the go. The 3rd Gen is equipped with more features than its tiny companion, including a nightlight, clock and a room thermistor. The battery life on the bigger Yoto is also larger, lasting up to 24 hours on a single charge, while the mini will last up to 14 hours. Both products can be hooked up to wired headphones. You can also choose the color of your Yoto device on the website.

The beauty of this product is giving your children independence to press play all on their own, while limiting the amount of screen time they consume in a day. It keeps your child occupied with an interactive physical card element that can also be a sort of collection if you gather enough.

VIBE is joining forces with Rolling Stone, Billboard can exclusively announce on Thursday (Oct. 16).

VIBE will bolster Rolling Stone‘s hip-hop coverage and allow the brand to go deeper in the genre. VIBE will also print special collector’s editions of the magazine and launch a new interview series that spotlights in-depth conversations with the most important figures, ranging from musicians to superstar athletes and fashion icons.

“We are thrilled to announce that VIBE is joining forces with Rolling Stone,” said Julian Holguin, CEO of Rolling Stone. “This historic team-up will enable Rolling Stone to level up the publication’s hip-hop and R&B coverage, allowing RS to dive deeper into the culture. As part of this move, Rolling Stone will invest in VIBE across video, podcasts, long-form journalism, social media and experiential opportunities – all areas where Rolling Stone is a market leader. VIBE will continue to power cultural conversations and reestablish itself as a driving force for commentary and reporting. Our goal is to continue the mission VIBE was founded on while leveraging Rolling Stone to amplify its presence across all platforms.”

Datwon Thomas, VIBE’s longtime editor-in-chief, is being brought in as Strategic Advisor to help with the transition. “Coming back to VIBE in this role is deeply meaningful to me and I am proud to remain connected to such an iconic brand that has been such a big part of my life,” he says. “The opportunity to help guide VIBE into the next phase of its growth and continued legacy is an honor.”

VIBE and Rolling Stone are actively looking to fill positions, including a new head of the VIBE brand, a video/podcast host and an events producer.

Both Rolling Stone and VIBE are part of Penske Media Corporation, which is also Billboard‘s parent company.