All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

No, the title isn’t clickbait: You can now buy verified Labubus at Walmart.

Thanks to Walmart’s partnership with online marketplace StockX, the Labubus they have in stock are certified real, and they’re going fast. The trending plushie can be purchased within blind boxes, leaving your purchase up to chance, or solo on Walmart’s website. Created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, these little monsters made their first appearance back in 2015.

The figure’s viral moment didn’t happen until way later in April of 2024 when K-Pop star Lisa from the world-renouned girl group BLACKPINK was seen sporting the fluffy figure attached to her Louis Vuitton bag. Since Lisa’s introduction, we’ve seen stars like Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Rosé, David Beckham, Lizzo, Madonna, BTS, Cher and Lady Gaga toting their Labubus with pride, sometimes multiples at once, affixed to bags, keys and even made into birthday cakes.

Usually, you’ll be getting a plushie figure with colorful faux-fur and vinyl appendages. The Labubu is affixed to a keyring, so you’ll be able to accessorize your bags to your heart’s content. We’ve also found alternative Labubu styles, including phone charms and displayable figures sans the fluff. Pricing on these Labubu’s oftentimes depends on the demand and series they fall under. To break it down even further, a “series” is a theme that the blind box is based on. Sweet treats like macarons are one of the themes, reflected in the Labubu’s coloring, while the “Big Into Energy” series is themed based on emotions and feelings like happiness, hope, luck and love, among others.

If you didn’t know, blind boxes are a global phenomenon that centers around cute figures and collectibles. These figures are packaged in a box, usually with images on it depicting all the figures you’re able to get from a specific series. You won’t know what you’ll get until you pop open the box. Upon purchasing your blind box, you’ll usually also have the opportunity to get a secret figure not found on the side of the box. The chances of pulling a secret are rare but not impossible. In fact, I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes. It’s pretty magical.

The blind box world is borderline addicting, like a more fun and less detrimental version of gambling. It’s all about the heart-pounding thrill of not knowing what you’ll get out of a select few items. Labubus weren’t the first blind box items to go mega viral. You’ve also got Sonny Angel, cherub-like figures invented by Toru Soeya, along with little green figures called Smiski, also created by Soeya. Peach Riot, Calico Critters, CryBaby, Smoko, Hirono and Lulu the Piggy are just a few other hit blind box series you can find on the market right now.

Pop Mart also launched their The Monsters-Cheers! Series, which is a blind box that features a double-walled glass inside. You have the option to pull six different colorful cups featuring a Labubu motif, along with one secret. The innovation is one we haven’t seen from the blind box world until now.

Before Tyler Nance released his debut song “Bad News” last fall and eclipsed it this year with his current Billboard Hot Country Songs debut entry “Keeps Me Sane,” he worked as a welder and grew up tending cattle on his family’s farm near Lamar, Missouri, a map dot town northwest of Springfield.

“I thought that was what I’d be doing for the rest of my life,” he tells Billboard.

But the success of his music has put Nance on a different trajectory. “Keeps Me Sane,” released via Santa Anna Label Group, has earned 17.9 million official U.S. on-demand streams since it released in July, according to Luminate, while the song’s success propelled Nance to his current No. 32 position on the Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. “Keeps Me Sane” earned six million streams within two weeks of its release, and made it onto Spotify’s Viral 50-Global rankings, while Nance’s monthly Spotify listeners have ballooned to over 2 million.

Nance wrote the song this past summer, working with co-writers Brent McCollough and Donnie Napier. “Keeps Me Sane” blends nature imagery of maple leaves and rushing waters, while capturing a sense of the search for relief against heartbreak and anxiety.

“I was sitting in my living room one night and grabbed my guitar and started mumbling out words and wrote the first verse,” Nance recalls. “I had a [writing session] the next day, took it in and they loved it. It was like the song was meant to be, in a way. It’s really seemed to have helped people who deal with anxiety and stress.”

Nance wrote poetry as a child, but spent most of his time working the family farm, a childhood he says, “taught me a lot about respect and hard work.” Nance learned pipe welding from his uncle, who built fencing for corrals. After high school, Nance moved to Kentucky, living in a camper while working as a welder. During a visit to Missouri, he picked up an acoustic guitar he’d purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic and began learning songs by Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers.

“I learned some basic chords and kept writing to those chord patterns. I didn’t take it too seriously, it was just my outlet,” he explains. “Then I shared some music on social media and it started gaining traction.”

In August 2024, he released his first song “Bad News,” which now has over 4 million streams on Spotify. He followed with two EPs (I’m Not Him and Wasted Chances), including songs such as “Sorrows of a Sorry Soul” and vulnerable “I’m Not Him” and “Whiskey Me or the Pain.” But “Keeps Me Sane” reaches a new level.

“I keep saying, ‘It’s insane,’” he says with a laugh.

The Wasserman-booked Nance has opened shows for Bayker Blankenship and Kidd G, and will open for Justin Moore this month. He’s also working on his upcoming full-length project.

Nance, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for September, discussed his upcoming album, his influences, his signature mustache and more.

You have a full album in the works. How is that shaping up?

Hopefully, I will be putting it out next year. A lot of the songs are kind of about my life and my roots, growing up in the Midwest and that story of where I came from.

Can we expect any collabs?

As of now, no. I have one song on there that has a female [vocal] part and I am looking at getting someone on that. There are a couple of other songs that I have artists in mind that I would love to have on those.

Which artists are on your bucket list to collaborate with?

Tyler Childers and Sam Barber. Tyler, his music has influenced me. Sam is also from Missouri, and he’s a proficient writer and has a great voice.

Who were some of your other influences growing up?

I listened to a lot of bluegrass stuff, a lot of Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Everly Brothers, anything before the 2000s is what influenced me.

Who was the first concert you went to?

I saw a Zach Bryan concert in Kansas City, when he first started touring. His music has gotten me through a lot and taught me a lot, too, with guitar.

What is your favorite Zach Bryan song to cover?

“Godspeed.” One of my good friends passed away when she was 17 and they played that song at her funeral. That was one of the first songs I ever learned.

When you do get time to yourself, what do you like to do for fun?

I love to see new things and new places. I’m also a foodie, I guess. I like history. I would love to see Devils Tower in Wyoming, or the Statue of Liberty or Yosemite.

Do you have a favorite Nashville restaurant?

A lot of the burger places, like Jack Brown’s [Beer and Burger Joint] is amazing. I love beef, of course, since I came out the womb.

What podcasts or books are you into?

I like the Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Bad Friends podcasts. I read a lot of history stuff and listen to audiobooks, just nerdy stuff.

You are also known for your handlebar mustache. What made you want to grow it out?

I was a senior in high school when I started growing the mustache. I watched the [1993] movie Tombstone with Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott. I loved [Kilmer’s character] Doc Holliday. That wasn’t the only reason [for growing his mustache], but it’s my way to stick out so people would know who I was when I was out on the road.

What’s your favorite mustache product to use?

I use mustache wax called Fisticuffs. If I’m in a bind, I’ll use an Elmer’s Gluestick. You have to have one or the other, or it makes eating lunch or dinner not fun… a mouthful of mustache.

Two months before the anticipated sequel Wicked: For Good hits theaters on Nov. 21, director Jon M. Chu is giving a preview of two new songs from composer Stephen Schwartz illustrating the tale of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande).

“They’re questioning, ‘What is home? And what happens when you are fighting for a home that you realize doesn’t even want you there, or was never meant for you? Do you defend it? Do you fight for it? Does anyone else think of home the same as you?’” Chu told EW about the follow-up to the top-grossing film based on a Broadway musical ever. “Those questions are very interesting and relevant to Elphaba’s journey.”

Chu said one of those questions for Glinda the Good is what is her definition of home? “Glinda is the one that has to ultimately pop her own bubble,” Chu said. “She has to leave her privilege to actually see other people’s struggles and fight for justice and equality.”

Chu warned fans of the original that grossed more than $750 million internationally not to look for “contemporary commentary” in Schwartz’s new compositions, describing them as doing what all good “timeless” tales do: “They ask us elemental questions of being human, not just the great parts — the celebratory, joyful parts of being human — but the scary, dark parts that test us. Everybody thinks it’s about this time, and yet it’s about all time. We are a little bit good and we all are a little bit wicked, and how do we navigate that?”

While the original landed best actress and best actress in a supporting role nods for Erivo and Grande, respectively, as well as best original score, Chu said the new songs are not a mere bid to go after more Oscar love, but emotionally key to the second film’s story. “Even after we recorded them, even after we put them in the movie, we kicked the tires on them to make sure that we had to put them in this movie,” he said of the unnamed tracks. “Otherwise, it wasn’t worth it.”

With “home” being such a key factor in the entire extended Oz universe, Chu revealed that the songs amplify that idea with both witches searching for their way home. “Both of these songs are about how to do that, and it’s questions that I’ve always wanted to hear from them in the stage show, but never got to,” he said. “We get to take our time and explore those questions.”

Chu also shared some key story lines of the sequel, revealing that the two witches are reunited sooner than in the Wicked musical, with Erivo and Grande sharing more scenes together after he realized “‘It’s the girls, stupid!’ So, when one’s going through something, there’s something that they’ve learned from the other that affects them, or the fact the other person is not there is part of what can’t get them to their goal. It’s always about them.”

Part 2 is expected to feature some of the fan favorites from the original 2003 Broadway musical, including “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” and the tear-jerking Elphaba-Glinda duet “For Good.” Erivo teased the new songs in a December interview, saying that she worked with Schwartz on crafting an original Elphaba track. “I don’t know if you’re ready for it,” she said. “I mean, I love the song and I remember when we filmed it, the cast and crew were crying. I don’t know if that’s just because they were emotional that day or that’s what the song does.”

In the sequel, Glinda is no longer a student and has started working for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), who employs a large staff “and a lot of infrastructure” to promote her goodness, with help from a team that includes Pfannee (SNL‘s Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James).

While the misunderstood Elphaba defied gravity at the end of the first film, Chu said that, “if you think she flew in the first movie, she flies” this time for real, but with consequences for the witch who fights for animal rights. “She’s now surrendered to who she is. Is it a blossoming? Absolutely,” Chu said. “But she did not realize how lonely it would be to become who you are meant to be.”

Or as Chu told EW last November, “If Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences.”

Goldblum’s Wizard appeared near the end of the original, but he will be a main character in part two, in which he builds his iconic yellow brick road and launches a smear campaign against Elphaba. “He thinks people need a good story. He really believes that it’s for the good of Oz, and his story keeps getting bigger and bigger because it’s what provokes people,” said Chu, or the Wizard who really believes he’s serving the greater good.

The question everyone wants the answer to, though, is what is up with Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), the hero stuck in the middle of the movie’s two main characters? Though Elphaba catches his eye, and heart, he chooses Glinda. “It’s more than just love. It’s about how you see the world,” he said of the difficult decision that ends up leading to a classic love triangle. “In Wicked, Elphaba breaks his brain when she calls him out in the forest. He has not stopped thinking about it, so much so that it may be driving him a little bit nuts. Yet, he feels so powerless for the first time in his life. He can’t just dance right through it.”

Wicked: For Good will hit theaters on Nov. 21.

  

Shaboozey is expanding American Dogwood, his joint venture label with EMPIRE, to sign artists.

His first signee is Kevin Powers, who, like Shaboozey, blends a number of styles, including hip-hop and pop. “Move On,” a collaboration between Powers and Shaboozey, comes out on Sept. 19.

Powers has a solid track record. His 2020 tune, “Walked In,” went viral, gaining more than 22 million streams on Spotify. That was followed by “How You Been,” which has more than 14.5 million streams.

“American Dogwood is a tribute to where we come from, and to the artists, storytellers, and creators who make this life remarkable,” Shaboozey said in a statement. “Our mission is to nurture the next generation of voices and to give them a place to grow, connect, and create. This is the beginning of a new chapter — one I hope always feels like home.”

 “I couldn’t be more excited to join the American Dogwood family,” added Powers. “My first release, “Move On” featuring Shaboozey, is about what happens when a relationship ends — how some people can let go, while others hold on longer than they should. It’s a story I think a lot of people will connect with, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to begin this journey than sharing it with Shaboozey by my side.” 

Powers, who was raised in Raleigh, N.C., moved to Nashville as a songwriter and co-wrote “Amen,” the emotional Shaboozey and Jelly Roll duet featured on the expanded edition of Shaboozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going album. The song reached No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart earlier this year. In 2025, Powers also signed with Sony Music Publishing and inked a management deal with Range Media Partners, which also manages Shaboozey.

Shaboozey will run the label with his managers, Jared Cotter and Abas Pauti, with EMPIRE providing global infrastructure and support.

Up next for Shaboozey is the 12-date Great America Road Show tour, which kicks off Sept. 22 in Indianapolis and includes stops in Detroit, New Orleans and Houston before concluding in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 16. Powers will serve as the opening act.

The label expansion is the latest move by Shaboozey, whose “Good News” sits atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for the tally dated Sept. 13. “Good News” follows the massive success of the eight-times platinum “A Bar Song (Tipsy), which holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a solo act at 19 non-consecutive weeks.