Justin Bieber showed Odeal nothing but love and respect when the Nigerian-British star visited L.A. last week for his sold-out show at The Roxy.

Both artists were seen casually hanging out in the video from Odeal’s The Shows That Saved Me tour vlog series posted Friday (Oct. 24) on YouTube, where Odeal even played JB an unreleased song that the pop star riffed off of. “Y’all don’t understand how much inspiration you just brought in here. I really look up to you and admire you, bro,” Bieber told the “Soh-Soh” singer.

Bieber attended Odeal’s concert on Oct. 14, where he couldn’t stop reiterating the “chills” the performance gave him during the four-minute clip. “That was perfect. It couldn’t have gone better, bro,” the Swag superstar told him backstage at The Roxy. “Your swag is undeniably just the swaggiest, most swaggiest man alive, bro.”

JB co-signed Odeal earlier this year when he played his “Blame U” hit from Odeal’s 2024 EP Lustropolis on numerous Instagram Stories and posts. “I’m super grateful he was tapping in. I was aware he was working on his album, and I’m glad that that song was with him during that time,” Odeal told Billboard in September during his African Rookie of the Year interview.

The Shows That Saved Me continues on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the House of Blues in Chicago, Ill. and next Sunday, Nov. 2 at the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Catch Bieber’s cameos in Odeal’s latest LA vlog below.

Hailey Bieber is setting the record straight regarding a rumor she’s heard about herself and Justin Bieber — and she says there’s “no world” in which it would be true.

While guesting on the In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele podcast posted Friday (Oct. 24), the Rhode founder didn’t have to think too far back when asked to name the craziest piece of gossip she’s heard about her marriage. “There’s so many,” she began, racking her brain.

“There was one I thought was funny, because it was so stupid and so ridiculous,” she continued. “It was like, ‘Hailey is doing management for her husband,’ like, I’m taking over to be his manager.”

But would the skincare mogul ever consider taking charge of her husband’s career? “There is no world in which that would ever …,” Hailey said emphatically. “Like, that’s my husband. What do we think is going on here? I thought that one was so funny, because it was so ridiculous and far-fetched.”

Hailey went on to say that she also read false headlines claiming she was pregnant about a “hundred” times before she actually did get pregnant, with the model and Justin welcoming son Jack Blues in August 2024. Elsewhere on the podcast, she opened up about whether she and the singer want to have more kids in the future.

“I know I want more than one, but I’m not in a rush,” she told Thiele. “It’s so fun. I love being a mom.”

As for another false claim Hailey’s heard about herself — that she’s secretly transgender — the businesswoman said she doesn’t take it personally. “When people are trying to be mean, they’re like, ‘She looks trans,’” Hailey said. “And I’m like, ‘Why do you think that’s a diss?’ Some of the most beautiful women in the world — and men in the world — are trans, so I just don’t take that offensively at all.”

Watch Hailey’s full interview with Thiele below.

Taylor Swift is breaking multiple Billboard chart records in Canada.

As with many of the artist’s recent releases, Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has been a blockbuster success since its release on Oct. 3.

According to new data from Universal Music Canada, Luminate and Billboard Canada chart performance, in its first week of charting, Showgirl was the biggest album debut in the country for Swift in the modern streaming era — or for any artist.

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, her 15th No. 1 on the chart. With this milestone, Swift is now tied with Canadian icon Celine Dion for the most No. 1 albums of all time in the country and is the only non-Canadian artist to reach that mark.

Swift’s last album, 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department, stayed at No. 1 for 12 weeks. Showgirl’s win continues Swift’s streak of 14 consecutive studio albums debuting at No. 1, beginning with 2008’s Fearless and including the four “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings: Red, 1989, Fearless and Speak Now.

Showgirl has now cemented Swift as the sole artist with all top 5 of the highest album debuts in Canada in the streaming era (since streams began contributing to Billboard chart performance in the early 2010s).

On last week’s Billboard Canadian Hot 100, the week of Oct. 18, the top 12 entries were all of the album’s 12 tracks. The album’s lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” hit No. 1 and has become the most-streamed song in a single day and a single week in Canadian history. 

The Life of a Showgirl reportedly amassed over 1.5 billion global streams, securing the largest debut of 2025.

This isn’t the first time Swift has broken records in Canada — last year’s The Tortured Poets Department and her Post Malone-featuring single “Fortnight” earned similar chart records. At this point, Swift is competing with herself.

Read more here.

Samantha O’Connor Joins MRG Live as Senior Talent Buyer, Will Continue to Lead RAPSEASON

Samantha O’Connor has been appointed as MRG Live’s senior talent buyer.

The music industry executive will continue to lead RAPSEASON, Canada’s biggest hip-hop concert and culture promoter.

O’Connor previously led the brand in her last role as talent buyer at INK Entertainment. In her new role at MRG, she will continue to grow the RAPSEASON brand and promote shows across the country.

Founded in 2015, RAPSEASON has presented concerts with a-list artists including Future, Central Cee, Cardi B, Post Malone, Summer Walker and Daniel Caesar, to name just a small sample. Now, RAPSEASON moves from INK to MRG, one of the country’s largest independent concert and live event companies.

“With the support and resources of MRG Live, I’m excited to continue growing the RAPSEASON brand, not only in Toronto, but nationally and internationally,” says O’Connor. “This next chapter offers an incredible opportunity to expand our reach, connect with new audiences, and spotlight the talent that drives the culture forward.”

Under O’Connor’s leadership, RAPSEASON is set to be introduced to new markets across its network throughout Canada. Currently, The MRG Group owns and operates 14 properties in Canada, including Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Adelaide Hall, Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre and The Revelry in Kelowna, British Columbia, and produces over 1,000 live shows annually through MRG Live. RAPSEASON branded content will also be integrated with the company’s media publication, Beatroute.

“Samantha O’Connor has proven a great astuteness in securing top-tier, identifying emerging talent and continuing to build the RAPSEASON brand,” shares Matt Gibbons, president of The MRG Group. “We are looking forward to both her and the brand’s further growth as they both integrate into our global network, our resources and our overall strategic approach.”

Read more here.

Ms. Lauryn Hill Embarking On Intimate Cross-Canada Tour

Ms. Lauryn Hill is making her return to Canada.

Independent, female-led promoter F7 Live announced the news, sharing the details of Hill’s tour, which kicks off this fall. The legendary American R&B singer and Fugees member is set to perform eight cross-country shows in intimate venues as part of her Artist In Residence tour.

The tour kicks off in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Nov. 19 at Burton Cummings Theatre, with further stops in Vancouver, Hamilton, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa.

This marks Hill’s return to Canada since 2023, when she performed at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour. The rest of the North American shows came to a quiet ending after Hill cited vocal issues.

Since then, Hill has performed various pop-up shows, joining son YG Marley at this year’s Coachella, turning it into a Fugees reunion with Wyclef Jean. In July, she performed with Drake during day one of his three-day stint at the U.K. Wireless Music Festival. They debuted a mashup of “Ex Factor” and “Nice For What,” the former of which is sampled on Drake’s 2018 Scorpion track.

These shows will be at more intimate concert hall and theatre venues, including the iconic Massey Hall in Toronto.

Read more here.

Ariana Grande isn’t going to let haters stop her from being her true, authentic self. While speaking to Evan Ross Katz on his Shut Up Evan podcast posted Friday (Oct. 24), the pop star opened up about how much she dislikes the current culture’s aversion to genuine excitement, which often gets written off as “cringe” or “trying too hard.”

“[Earnestness] scares people so much, and I think that’s really sad,” Grande began. “The whole ‘cringe,’ whatever, is just so unfair. Maybe it’s because of, like, PTSD or whatever, but I love so much. I’m so grateful to feel so much.”

“We should be able to be happy and it not be corny or cringe … being passionate about something, loving people,” she continued. “That’s the best. Why do you want me to be sitting here numb? Been there.”

Grande also cited last year’s Wicked press tour — which spawned viral moments such as the “holding space” meme — as a time where hers and costar Cynthia Erivo’s emotional reactions to things were especially mistaken for inauthenticity. “There are so many clips that you would understand if you were there,” she told Katz. “I loved that experience. We had a really beautiful time.”

Speaking of the Wicked press tour, which seemingly lasted for months with countless headline-making interviews, premieres and fan events, Grande said that the promotional cycle for Wicked: For Good has been more low-key for a variety of reasons — the main one being that the R.E.M. Beauty founder is busy filming 2026’s Focker In-Law alongside Skyler Gisondo, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro.

“With this second one, we’ve been filming,” she explained. “I’m wrapping Fockers on Halloween and flying straight into Brazil, we’re starting the [Wicked] press tour three days later. It’s not necessarily a strategy as much as it’s logistically been a little difficult.”

“But there’s also, there’s a little element of we wanted to make it different this time,” she added. “The first time was so special and so unique that we wanted to make it more about the fans this time.”

The main way Grande says she and the rest of the Wicked team are planning on reaching fans this time around is through a concert special premiering in early November on NBC.

The interview comes with just one month left until Wicked: For Good arrives in theaters and ties a bow on the epic Wicked saga that kicked off last year. The first film in the duology broke box office records by becoming the highest grossing adaptation of a Broadway musical, while the soundtrack debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Grande spoke about getting advice from Madonna and Beyoncé early on in her career, as well as why she thought she’d never release another album after 2020’s Positions.

Watch Grande’s full conversation with Katz above.