Sabrina Carpenter is returning to 30 Rock — this time as a Saturday Night Live host.

NBC announced Thursday (Sept. 18) that the pop star is set to make her hosting debut on the live show’s Oct. 18 episode, serving as her own musical guest. The installment will arrive in the third week of the upcoming season 51, which officially begins with a kickoff episode airing Oct. 4.

The first episode of the upcoming season will feature Bad Bunny returning as host. Benito will also be joined that night by Doja Cat in her musical guest debut.

The following week, Amy Poehler is locked in to host while Role Model is on the docket to perform. The showcase will also be the rising pop singer’s first time serving as musical guest on the show.

Carpenter has been steadily building up to pulling double duty on the show for more than a year. She made her debut on the show in May 2024, performing “Espresso.” Months later, she took part in SNL‘s 50th anniversary celebrations, singing “Homeward Bound” with Paul Simon for SNL50: The Anniversary Special and appearing in a viral “Domingo” sketch alongside Pedro Pascal. Her latest appearance will follow the release of album Man’s Best Friend this past August, with Carpenter debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the LP’s first week.

Bad Bunny, on the other hand, has hosted SNL previously, leading a memorable episode in October 2023. He made his musical guest debut two years before that in February 2021, and in May 2025, he returned to 30 Rock to perform on a Scarlett Johansson-hosted episode.

Kid Cudi is setting the record straight regarding claims rapper Consequence made that the Ohio native sabotaged a potential Drake and Ye (formerly Kanye West) album in the works.

Cudi hopped on Instagram on Thursday (Sept. 18) to clear the air while vehemently denying he had anything to do with a Drake-Ye album falling through or that he played a role in West’s 2016 hospitalization.

“The other day rapper Consequence made some allegations that were extremely false. The things he said were pretty f—king disturbing,” he began in the video posted to his Stories. “Let me be clear: I had nothing to do with Kanye not doing that collab album with Drake. And I damn sure had nothing to do with him being hospitalized and going to the psych ward.”

Cudi continued: “Kanye gon’ do whatever Kanye wanna do. What I look like being like, ‘Yo, I don’t want you to do this album.’ And him being like, ‘OK.’ Yeah, right, in what universe?”

Kid Cudi said he sent a cease-and-desist letter to Consequence’s team and threatened to up his litigation to hurt his pockets.

“We sent a cease-and-desist, told him to take it down and retract his statement … I need to get a retracted statement tomorrow,” he added. “Saying that is extremely false and if not, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer, period. I’ma hit you in them pockets. That little bit of change you got gonna be mine. Keep f—ing with me, s—t is not a game.”

Consequence eventually deleted the post and tweet subliminally aiming at Cudi: “And the reason we didn’t get this Game Changing project… Is because a Kid… Needed to see Ghosts smh.”

However, Cons appears to be doubling down on his stance as he took to IG, reposting Cudi’s video and mocking him. “Shortly I’ll kick off the ‘Apology’ Tour on X This will be as G.O.O.D. as it gets Receipts don’t Lie and neither do I,” he captioned his post.

Ye and Drake were reportedly working on a collaborative album in 2017, which was rumored to be titled Calabasas Is the New Abu Dhabi as billboards popped up in Los Angeles. The project didn’t come to fruition, and the two clashed in 2018 while Drake feuded with Pusha T.

When Sphere opened in 2023 on the Las Vegas Strip, it was unlike anything built before it. It’s 366 feet tall by 516 feet wide — the world’s largest spherical structure — and is covered in a 160,000 square foot curved LED screen. To show visuals inside its dome, the images must be captured in a 16K resolution — four times the common resolution for digital cinematography, and to project sound, the venue uses cutting edge technology that can laser point hi-definition audio at every seat in its 20,000 capacity house.

According to Josephine Vaccarello, head of booking for MSG Entertainment and Sphere, that’s why picking the right band to open it up was paramount. They selected U2, an act she says “has always pushed the boundaries” with their live set. Since then, the venue has hosted a number of residencies, including Dead & Co, Anyma, Backstreet Boys, Kenny Chesney, Phish and more — all of which Vaccarello and Carolyn Blackwood, head of Sphere Studios, who leads the visuals and immersive content for the venue, say “come with their own set of challenges.”

To understand how a Sphere residency goes from the moment of booking to opening night, Blackwood and Vaccarello did an interview backstage at the Vegas venue for the inaugural episode of Billboard’s new music business podcast On the Record With Kristin Robinson.

Below are edited excerpts from the On the Record interview, which can be watched in full here.

How do the visuals work at Sphere for an artist like Dead & Company, given they’re known for ad libbing during their sets. How do you fine tune a visual to sync up with that?

Blackwood: They’re probably one of the most interesting groups we’ve worked with… Some other shows tend to be more baked, but [the Dead] change their playlist every night. They’ve created a digital library of visuals they use and tools they use so that they can play around with the visuals in real time as they jam.

How many shows does it typically take to break even and then start bringing a profit on these shows?

Vaccarello: I don’t know that there’s a finite number, but I think that 12 is in the right spot.

How do you handle booking for an artist like Backstreet Boys, who did a run of shows this summer, but are now coming back for two additional legs of their residency in the coming months, do you reserve those spots in advance for them?

Vaccarello: It’s exactly that. Honestly, dealing with the calendar here is unlike other buildings where you come in and pop in an act for a few days here or there — it’s really Tetris because you don’t know what the [success] will be like until the show starts…. And we’re a building that runs 365 days a year. We don’t have dark days, so we have experiences on the same day as concerts. We will do two experiences in the morning and then flip the house over and do a concert that night.

Do you have any software or tools that help you predict how many nights someone could sell out?

Vaccarello: There’s a lot of data we can use to figure this out — how many tickets they’ve sold, what their touring history is, all that, but what they would do on tour and then what they could do in Sphere is different. Sphere has its own oomph to it. It changes what maybe would normally happen on tour.

How do you plan to use generative AI at Sphere? Are there any tools on the horizon that you’re excited to play around with?

Blackwood: 100%. We just had a meeting about this last week. We’re very interested in the whole idea behind audio reactive content for the screen, using gen AI to help us develop tools where sound creates visuals… The idea of being able to create an entire show and program that way is something we’re working on.

Billboard unveiled the full lineup for the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Week, returning to The Fillmore Miami Beach from Oct. 20 to 24. 

Joining the star-studded roster of the event recognized as the most influential week in Latin music are Alejo, Aitana, Baltazar Lora, Bebeshito, Chaparro Chuacheneguer, Christian Alicea, Carlos Arroyo, Danny Ocean, Dimelo King, Gerardo Fernandez, Golden, Ivy Queen, Isabel Castro, Jheral, Juanito El Millonzuki, Karime Pindter, King Savagge, La Segura, Lenny Tavárez, Luck Ra, Lupita Infante, Machael, Yan Madmusick, Yon Madmusick, Mario Ruiz, Matt Louis, Michelle Maciel, Olga Tañón, Paola Ruiz, Rawayana, Santos Bravos, Silvestre Dangond, Silvia Zepeda, Soledad, Suzette Quintanilla, Tokischa, Yailin and Zizzy. 

The announcement was made during a press conference hosted at The Fillmore Miami Beach on Thursday (Sept. 18), where Leila Cobo, chief content officer of Billboard Latin/Español; Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner; and talents Bebeshito, Guaynaa and Paola Ruiz were in attendance. 

“We are super excited, we are 36 years old,” Cobo said at the invite-only conference. “We have been part of the history, and the future, of Latin music. Latin music is bigger than ever, it’s more global than ever. Around the world, it’s the genre that has grown the fastest. We are thrilled to be back with our biggest Latin Music Week ever — 32 panels, more than 100 guests, including the artists, executives and content creators most relevant. The Fillmore is not just a beautiful theater, but history has been made here. Every artist of note has performed here.”

Meiner added: “The heart of Latin music right here [in Miami Beach]. In my humble opinion, it’s the greatest city of the nation, and we couldn’t be more proud to welcome you here at Billboard Latin Music Week. Miami Beach is growing in its reputation, nationally and internationally, as literally the place to be for residencies, events, and businesses. Billboard Latin Music Week is a part of it, but it’s a partnership, and we would not be the Miami Beach we are today if it wasn’t for Latin Music Week. I appreciate the title of honorary Latino. … I’m looking forward to another incredible week of Latin Music Week, and it’s an honor to be here.”

The newly added talent join the previously announced acts, including Alofoke, Anuel AA, Carín León, DY, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Ela Taubert, Goyo, Grupo 5, Guaynaa, Humberto “Humby” Viana, Julio Reyes Copello, Kali Uchis, Kapo, Laura Pausini, Leo Royas of Escuela de Nada, Luis R. Conriquez, Molusco, Myke Towers, Netón Vega, Óscar Maydon, Ozuna, Pablo Alborán, Silvana Estrada, Venesti, Xavi and Yami Safdie. 

“It’s a super nice thing for me to be part of the tropical and cumbia panel,” Cuban artist and former Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise Bebeshito expressed. “In this panel, I’ll talk about the urban genre called repartido, created in the neighborhoods of Cuba. This genre has a sandunga, and I want other countries to understand and get to know it at Latin Music Week.”

Guaynaa expressed: “Thanks to Leila for always having the consideration and space. I’m very happy to be here. Billboard has brought together entrepreneurs, artists, and record labels, and it’s important for consumers who want to learn about the industry. On the cumbia and tropical panel, I’ll have the pleasure of being with Bebeshito, Olga Tañon, Grupo 5 and Luck Ra, and you’ll see many interesting points of view.”

Meanwhile, content creator Paola Ruiz said of her LMW participation: “We’ll have a panel of content creators, where we’ll talk about the wonder of listening to our Latin music around the world. We look forward to seeing you at the panel, so you can see the magic creators create when showcasing our music and how far we’ve come on streaming platforms. Together, we’re making sure Latin music remains No. 1.”

Spanning 30 years, Latin Music Week is the single most important and largest gathering of Latin artists and industry executives in the world. This year’s event will once again host panels, marquee conversations, roundtables, networking and activations, in addition to its celebrated Billboard En Vivo showcases. Latin Music Week also coincides with the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to air Thursday, Oct. 23, on Telemundo and Peacock.

Billboard Latin Music Week sponsors include HYBE, Netflix, New York State Lottery, State Farm® and Walmart. The full programming schedule and ticket sales are available at BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com. For $50 off, use code MIABEACH25, for a limited time. Discount does not apply to Insider + Award Show ticket types.