Anna caught up with Billboard’s Rania Aniftos & Jazzy on the red carpet at the Billboard Women in Music 2025.
Young Scooter died Friday night (March 28) on the rapper’s 39th birthday, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and details from Atlanta Police.
Atlanta Police Lt. Andrew Smith led a news conference late Friday night to share details about what reportedly led to the death of Young Scooter (real name: Kenneth Edward Bailey). According to Smith, police responded to a call about a dispute with a weapon at a home and then set up a perimeter outside the house after a man shut the door on officers. Two men fled from the rear of the house, Smith said, with one returning to the home and the other jumping two fences as he was fleeing.
According to the AJC story, Young Scooter was the man who jumped the fences, and Smith said, “When officers located him on the other side of the fence, he appeared to have suffered an injury to his leg.”
Atlanta Police say the man was taken to Grady Marcus Trauma Center and died there.
During the news conference, Smith denied widespread reports spreading on social media that Scooter had been fatally shot by Atlanta PD officers. “Just to be very clear, the injury that was sustained was not via the officers on scene. It was when the male was fleeing.”
Young Scooter’s peers mourned the late rapper on social media, with Playboi Carti sharing the news on Instagram Stories with the caption “SMFH.” Quavo took to X with broken-heart and prayer-hands emojis, writing, “ion understand,” alongside a video of Scooter performing. The late rapper’s Instagram Stories shared dozens of posts wishing him a happy birthday throughout Friday.
While Scooter was born in South Carolina, his family moved to Atlanta when he was just 9 years old, and his music career has been based in the rap mecca ever since. He broke out locally with the song “Colombia” in 2012 before joining forces with hip-hop heavyweights Future, Juicy J and Young Thug for “DI$Function” in 2014. He hit the Billboard charts as a featured artist on Young Thug’s “Guwop,” also featuring Quavo & Offset of Migos, in 2016 (peaking at No. 45 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart) and on Future & Juice WRLD’s “Jet Lag” in 2018 (his only Billboard Hot 100 appearance, peaking at No. 72).
Billboard has reached out to the Atlanta Police and a rep for Young Scooter for further information.
Find Quavo’s X post about Scooter below:
ion understand.
pic.twitter.com/zAEvcIK3Vm
— QuavoYRN (@QuavoStuntin) March 29, 2025
Demi Lovato is a Little Monster!
The 32-year-old singer took to TikTok on Thursday (March 27) to share a video, in which she lip syncs along to Lady Gaga’s “How Bad Do U Want Me,” off her recently released album, Mayhem. “That girl in your head ain’t real/ How bad do you want me, for real?” Gaga sings on the track, as Lovato sings along dressed in a silky, silver turtleneck top with her hair in a sleek ponytail.
“Mayhem on repeat,” they wrote in the caption.
Mayhem, released earlier this month, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated March 22. It’s the seventh leader for Gaga, and her seventh studio album. She previously led the Billboard 200 with Chromatica (2020), the soundtrack to A Star Is Born (with Bradley Cooper, 2018), Joanne (2016), Cheek to Cheek (with Tony Bennett), ARTPOP (2013) and Born This Way (2011). In total, MAYHEM is Gaga’s 11th top 10-charting effort, stretching back to her debut project, The Fame, which reached No. 2 in 2010, after bowing on the list in 2008.
Gaga’s also heading out on her summer-fall 2025 Mayhem Ball tour in support of the album. Gaga’s first North American and European tour since her 2022 Chromatica Ball tour will open in the U.S. with a double-down in Las Vegas on July 16 and 18, two shows in Seattle, three nights at Madison Square Garden in New York and two-night runs in Miami, Toronto and Chicago. She will then play a run of arena dates across Europe from Sept. 29 through Nov. 20. See the full list of dates here.
GIVĒON, whose latest single “Twenties” reached No. 6 on Hot R&B Songs, celebrated another momentous milestone last night (March 27): the five-year anniversary of his debut EP Take Time. Released on March 27, 2020, the eight-track project features the seven-time Grammy nominee’s two breakthrough singles, “Like I Want You” and “Heartbreak Anniversary.” Both are now RIAA-certified at 3x and 6x platinum, respectively,
Celebrating with GIVĒON inside the Los Angeles club Living Room were members of his Epic Records team, headed by chairwoman/CEO Sylvia Rhone, president Ezekiel Lewis and general manager Rick Sackheim. Also spotted at the intimate gathering were Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Jimmy Jam, fellow R&B singer Amerie and actress/producer Lena Waithe.
Nominated for best R&B album at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Take Time was followed by GIVĒON’s top 10 R&B album When It’s All Said and Done in October 2020 and his guest turn on Justin Bieber’s 2021 multiplatinum smash “Peaches.” Now the singer-songwriter is at work on his sophomore set, which will include current hit “Twenties.” The Long Beach, Calif. native has also scored a second top 10 this year with his feature on Teddy Swims’ Hot R&B Songs No. 4 hit “Are You Even Real.”
A couple of days prior to his Take Time celebration, Billboard caught up with GIVĒON during a phone interview. Here are a few soundbites from that conversation.
Who he was as an artist five years ago: When I wrote the songs for Take Time, I was only 23-24. But I was also very confident in myself, especially for someone who hadn’t released a body of work on a major label. That’s because I knew this EP was my life’s work at the time. It took 24 years to make because it was all of my life experiences wrapped up into one unique project.
Who he is as an artist now: I feel a lot more aware when it comes to my process and what I need to do to grow at all times. I never want to become stagnant with my creative process I’ll also say I’m more polished, more professional; I just understand things more. And I’m a lot more decisive: I don’t really waste too much time when I’m creating. I just get right down to it, saying, “This is exactly what it is that I want to say.”
What he’s been doing between albums: I get that question a lot [laughs]. I always tell people that I’ve just been absorbing bodies of work that inspire me. Not just music but multiple mediums like paintings films, life itself. Because there’s a lot of inspiration that comes from life and all of my music is autobiographical. So I don’t have a choice but to experience life and then write it out while working on my craft.
Tapping into the aching and yearning that music: I grew up in a house with all boys, so there wasn’t a lot of expressing emotions. So this [music] has always been an outlet to express my emotions. Sometimes the story I’m telling comes off more on the somber or melancholy side because it’s something I’m not comfortable in freely telling people. But I’m a lot more than just that emotion [laughs]. My biggest goal is always to just be believable and honest.
The inspiration behind “Twenties”: I love to just keep it vague so people can leave it up to their own interpretation and apply it to whatever it specifically means in their life. But I will say it’s just trying to capture that feeling of wasting time on something. It could be a person, it could be a place, it could be an idea or a career. For me, it was a specific person in a relationship. But, yeah, I was just trying to capture the emotion of feeling like you spent time on something or somewhere that you can’t get back.
Hints about his sophomore album: Just that I’m excited for people to hear it. With my first album, I was just making music and having fun. Now I’m still having. But I’m also like, “Oh, I have a responsibility with this music because I see how it touches and helps people.”
K-pop companies SM Entertainment and HYBE were among the best-performing music stocks of the week as most stocks were dragged down by continued uncertainty about U.S. tariff policy and new data on higher-than-expected inflation.
SM Entertainment, home to NCT Dream and RIIZE, was the week’s best performer after gaining 6.7% to 107,000 KRW ($72.91). That brought the company’s year-to-date gain to 47.4% — the best of any music stock.
HYBE, which counts BTS and its solo members’ projects among its vast roster, improved 3.7% to 240,500 KRW ($163.87). On Thursday (March 27), HYBE announced that BTS songs such as “Dynamite” and “Butter” will be featured on Lullaby Renditions of BTS, out April 4 on Rockabye Baby! Music. HYBE shares are up 19.7% year to date, the fifth-best among music stocks.
K-pop fared well during a down week for most stocks and markets in general. YG Entertainment, home of BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, rose 3.3% to 63,500 KRW ($43.27) while JYP Entertainment was unchanged at 61,300 KRW ($41.77).
Outside of South Korea, music stocks reflected the challenging economic conditions and uncertainties that have hurt stocks in recent weeks. The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) declined 2.9% to 2,459.98, marking its fourth decline in the last six weeks. With just eight of its 20 stocks finishing the week in the black, the BGMI fell into correction territory as its value has declined 10.7% since the week ended Feb. 14. The first six weeks of 2025 were good enough to overcome the recent slump, however, and the BGMI is up 15.8% year to date and has gained 40.4% over the last 52 weeks.
Stocks took another hit on Friday (March 28) after the core personal consumption expenditures price index, a measure closely watched by the U.S. Federal Reserve, increased 0.4% in February. That put the 12-month inflation rate at 2.8%. Both figures were above experts’ expectations. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite finished the week down 2.6%, increasing its year-to-date decline to 11.7%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.5%. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 increased 0.1%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3.2%. China’s SSE Composite Index dropped 0.4%.
The BGMI was pulled down by Spotify’s 6.5% decline and a 4.2% drop by German concert promoter CTS Eventim. Warner Music Group, one of the index’s largest companies, dropped 2.7% to $31.56.
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) gained 2.7% to $14.38 after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on TME shares to buy from hold. Universal Music Group rose 2.0% to 25.99 euros ($28.12) after Wells Fargo upped the rating on the company’s shares to overweight from equal weight and increased the price target to 33 euros ($35.70) from 28 euros ($30.29).
Music streaming company LiveOne had the week’s biggest decline at 14.1%. The company announced on Wednesday (March 26) that subscribers and ad-supported users surpassed 1.4 million.
Radio company iHeartMedia fell 6.8%, putting its year-to-date loss at 23.0%. Satellite broadcaster SiriusXM dropped 3.1% to $22.75, though it’s still up 1.7% in 2025.
The Breakfast Club co-hosts Jess Hilarious and Loren LoRosa addressed their recent drama in the best way possible — by joking about it.
Earlier today, they posted a parody music video of Monica & Brandy‘s hit song “The Boy is Mine” and called it, “The Job is Mine.” And while they can’t sing as good as Brandy and Monica, the song is pretty funny and immediately quiets all the noise surrounding them from this past week.
Everything unfolded after Jess Hilarious — who was away on maternity leave — took to Instagram and ranted about her sub LoRosa doing a segment that Jess originally came up with and admitted to feeling like her job was on the line. “I fought for that segment. That’s my segment,” she said. “If Loren is doing it now, it should be hers. But nobody told me anything. I was just coming to work every day, completely out of the loop. We supposed to be a team.”
She then continued by saying her co-hosts Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy didn’t stick up for her online as some fans criticized her and preferred LoRosa’s approach to the role over hers. “But not one person comes to my defense at all, ever, with this online sh—t. I feel played with, so I’m gonna play with gas. I’ve been quiet a lot.”
Jess Hilarious replaced Angela Yee, who left the legendary morning show in 2022 after 12 years to host her own nationally syndicated show in Way Up with Angela Yee.
Billboard Women in Music 2025 takes place Saturday, March 29, and Billboard’s staff is breaking down each of the honorees’ successes that earned them their awards, from JENNIE receiving the Global Force Award to Doechii being named Woman of the Year, to Gracie Abrams being honored as Songwriter of the Year, and more!
Who are you most excited to see at Women in Music? Let us know in the comments!
Gail Mitchell:
Doechii is our Woman of the Year.
Lyndsey Havens:
Everybody just wants to be like JENNIE. She embodies a hitmaker. It’s not just one. There’s a lot there.
Kristin Robinson:
This year’s Women in Music, we have some top-tier honorees.
Melinda Newman:
Gracie Abrams is our Songwriter of the Year.
Kristin Robinson:
One of my favorite things about Gracie Abrams is that her fan base loves her so much, as much as they love her songs. And I think that’s, like, a magical X-factor quality that we don’t see very often.
Melinda Newman:
Gracie Abrams is writing from a point of truth. She’s not afraid to be vulnerable, and it’s made her very popular with her fans because they can relate to everything she’s talking about.
Kristin Robinson:
Gracie Abrams has grown so fast. One prime example of that is that she is headlining Lollapalooza this year.
Melinda Newman:
Gracie has also learned from the best. She spent a lot of time on the road with Taylor Swift, and you can tell she took in a lot of what makes Taylor Swift so special with her fans, but she’s put it through her own lens, and so that’s what makes her so popular these days.
Kristin Robinson:
GloRilla is this year’s Powerhouse. One of my favorite things about GloRilla is how much she reps her hometown of Memphis, Tenn. And everyone back home loves her. They adore her.
Keep watching for more!
Lil Durk’s incarceration hasn’t stopped his music output. The Chicago rapper released his Deep Thoughts album from behind bars on Friday (March 28).
With Durk behind bars inside MDC Los Angeles, his management team picked up the slack to piece together his 20-track Deep Thoughts album with his blessing. The project features assists from Future, Lil Baby, Hunxho and Jhené Aiko.
It’s Durk’s first album since 2023’s Almost Healed. The 32-year-old continued to gain momentum heading into the project as the RIAA announced on Thursday (March 27) that Durk earned another 53 certifications.
“With 53 new RIAA certifications, @lildurk has cemented himself with the most Hip-Hop certifications in 2025 and secured a place among the top 50 artists of all time with 52.5 million units,” the RIAA wrote to X.
Durk’s team gave fans a look into his creative process with the release of a Deep Thoughts mini documentary, which showcased the rapper’s journey crafting the process as well as the communication with his team from behind bars.
“It’s gonna be more than just is a song good or great? You gotta be like, ‘Boy, the album is nominated for a Grammy.’ We gotta start thinking in that box and get out the little box of thinking,” Durk says to open the doc. “This s–t deeper than that. This s–t really Deep Thoughts.”
Lil Durk was arrested in October 2024 on federal murder-for-hire charges. Prosecutors allege Durk’s involvement in a 2022 shooting targeting rapper Quando Rondo, which ended up killing another individual. He faces trial in October 2025.
Stream Deep Thoughts below.
Time to enjoy some Brighter Days Ahead. Ariana Grande unveiled the highly anticipated deluxe edition of her Billboard 200 chart-topping album, Eternal Sunshine, on Friday (March 28).
The extended edition of the original 13-song project features six new tracks, including “Twilight Zone,” “Warm,” “Dandelion,” “Past Life,” “Hampstead” and “Intro (End of the World) Extended,” a longer version of the emotional opening track on the original LP.
To celebrate the new arrival, Grande revived her role as Peaches from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-inspired “We Can’t Be Friends” music video for the Christian Breslaue-directed Brighter Days short film.
Eternal Sunshine originally dropped almost exactly a year ago, in March 2024, and subsequently spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The project also spawned two No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: lead single “Yes, And?” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).” The album’s standard release was then followed by a “Slightly Deluxe” version of the album, with four additional tracks: “Yes, And?” with Mariah Carey, “Supernatural” with Troye Sivan, an acoustic recording of “Imperfect for You” and an a capella version of “True Story.”
Since the album’s release, it’s been a busy year for Grande, who successfully forayed into the film world when she took on the role of Glinda the Good Witch in Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Wicked. Grande was also nominated for best supporting actress at the 2025 Oscars.
Stream Ariana Grande’s Brighter Days Ahead edition of Eternal Sunshine below.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive is takin’ care of business again with “60 Years Ago,” the Canadian stalwart’s first new material in more than 25 years. And there’s more where that came from.
The sentimental single, releasing formally on Friday, March 28, was first written by Randy Bachman and his son Tal during their pandemic YouTube show Bachman & Bachman Friday Night Train Wreck and is part of a father-son album that has not yet been released. But after hearing that a highway section in Randy Bachman’s native Winnipeg was to be renamed the Bachman-Turner Overpass – with the dedication on April 18, the day before BTO plays there – inspired the Bachmans to revise the song and make the song public.
“I thought, ‘I’ll go and get “60 Years Ago,” and I’ll give it back to Winnipeg as a thank-you,’” Randy Bachman tells Billboard via Zoom from his current home in Victoria, B.C.. “There was no great plan for this song, y’know. But maybe they’ll play it on Winnipeg radio, and if you live in Winnipeg maybe you’ll want to download it and drive around singing ’60 years ago, so damn cold, so much snow’ and that kind of stuff. And I have a million BTO fans, followers on Instagram and my web site, so maybe some of them will download it.
“I have a lot of people asking me, always, ‘Is there anything new? Is there anything new?’ So now… yes, there is.”
With its remembrances of the Winnipeg music scene of the mid-’60s, Bachman further torqued up “60 Years Ago” with some appropriate guests – childhood friend and fellow Winnipegian Neil Young, whose guitar solo can be heard at the end, and BTO co-founder Fred Turner who, despite spates of bad health, contributed vocals to the song. Both men are name-checked in the lyrics, along with Bachman’s Guess Who partner Burton Cummings and, as Bachman notes, Winnipeg’s frigid climate.
“I sent it to Neil Young and said, ‘Here’s a song about us and Winnipeg,’” Bachman says. “And he said, ‘I love this. I’ll scream something and play my solo at the end of the track.’ So we did that.” Turner’s part took a bit more doing, however.
“Fred Turner has suffered a lot in the last three years, from Covid, from his own illness. He lost his wife, that was depressing. He lost his voice,” Bachman explains. “When I sent him [the song] I said, ‘Just put this on your computer… put on headphones and sing to it. I just want your voice, Fred.’ He said, ‘I haven’t sang in two and a half years, but I gave it a shot. But I lost my voice in the second verse.’ But because of digital (technology) now you can get a little, tiny sound and make it big, so we managed to get a great vocal on him throughout the song.
“This wasn’t planned to be a single targeting the charts or anything like that. If we have success with this, it’ll be stunning. But people who hear it are saying to me, ‘You’ve done a great thing here. It sounds like BTO in 1976,’ which is great. The new [Rolling] Stones album doesn’t sound like the Stones, right? But this sounds like BTO.”
“60 Years Ago” comes as BTO prepares to hit the road for an extensive Canadian tour that kicks off an extensive, 22-date tour of Canada, followed by summer dates in the U.S., both on its own and with the Marshall Tucker Band, Jefferson Starship and the Outlaws. Bachman is also preparing a BTO live album from 1976 shows at the Budokan in Tokyo for release, and he’s hoping that Takin’ Care of Business, a documentary about finding his stolen Gretsch 6120 guitar while in the midst of a serious cancer battle a couple of years back will see wider release after running on the film festival circuit.
Bachman says more new BTO songs may be in the offing as well, including one called “Rock ‘n’ Roll is the Only Way Out.”
“Rock ‘n’ roll is the only way out of rap and all this crazy pop stuff that’s going on,” Bachman says, “and all this weird country stuff…everybody’s trying to get on the country bandwagon because they still sell CDs.” He’s also collaborating with Turner on other new songs.
“When we were doing [’60 Years Ago’] I said, ‘Have you got any songs, Fred? People are asking for new BTO,’” Bachman recalls. “And he says, ‘Yeah, here’s a couple of old songs. You want to do something new with ’em?’ All he’s got are little cassette tapes, but with AI I can lift off his vocal and get them reformatted and rewrite them and do this and that. I just get a BPM, tick-tick-tick and match his vocal to it. I play guitar. My son Tal plays guitar, drums, bass, flutes, everything. Then we’ll send it back to Fred and get him to sing once it’s a good demo and we’ve got the new groove and new feel. So I am working on new BTO stuff, which is amazing.”
Bachman is also looking forward to a return to the Guess Who now that he and Cummings have successfully wrested control of the trademarks and copyrights from former bandmates Jim Kale and Gary Peterson, who operated the band with other musicians – which Bachman calls “the clones” – until last July. The guitarist says he and Cummings – who have toured together since Bachman’s 1970 departure, including under the Guess Who moniker during the early 2000s – plan to be on the road together during 2026 playing the band’s material along with BTO and Cummings’ solo hits.
“We’re gonna really have an incredible show, about two hours,” Bachman says. “It’ll be a celebration of the Guess Who. The fans have been wanting it. We’ve already got offers for gigs – really big gigs, really good money. We’re just dealing with them all and working out who’s gonna be in the band – but definitely me and Burton. It’s like Joe Perry and Steven Tyler; you get a rhythm section, and as long as you have those two, you still get Aerosmith. With me and Burton, it’s still the Guess Who.”
BTO’s upcoming tour dates include:
Canada 2025 Tour Dates
April 1 – Save On Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, BC
April 3 – Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford, BC
April 4 – South Okanagan Event Centre, Penticton, BC
April 6 – Western Financial Place, Cranbrook, BC
April 8 – CN Centre, Prince George, BC
April 9 – Bonnetts Energy Centre, Grand Prairie, AB
April 11 – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino, Calgary, AB
April 12 – Event Centre at Grey Eagle Casino, Calgary, AB
April 13 – VisitLethbridge.com Arena, Lethbridge, AB
April 15 – Brandt Centre, Regina, SK
April 17 – Westoba Place at Keystone Centre, Brandon, MB
April 19 – Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MB
April 24 – The Aud (Kitchener Memorial Auditorium), Kitchener, ON
April 26 – Great Canadian Resort Toronto, Toronto, ON
April 28 – Meridian Centre, St. Catharines, ON
April 29 – Peterborough Memorial Centre, Peterborough, ON
May 1 – Canada Life Place, London, ON
May 2 – The Arena at TD Place, Ottawa, ON
May 4 – Sudbury Arena, Sudbury, ON
May 5 – Place Bell, Laval, QC
May 7 – TD Station, Saint John, NB
May 8 – Scotiabank Centre, Halifax, NS
US Tour Dates with The Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship
July 18 – Harrah’s Stir Cove, Council Bluffs, IA
July 19 – Treasure Island Casino, Welch, MN
July 20 – Scheels Arena, Fargo, ND
July 22 – Kresge Auditorium, Interlochen, MI
July 24 – Neuroscience Group Field, Appleton, WI
July 25 – The Mill Terre Haute, Terre Haute, IN
July 26 – Rose Music Center, Huber Heights, OH
Aug. 1 – Lucky Star Casino, El Reno, OK#
# Outlaws replacing Jefferson Starship as special guest
US Tour Dates – BTO only
July 28 – Bloomington Center For The Performing Art, Bloomington, IL
July 29 – The Village Green at the Charles Zettek Municipal Complex, Elk Grove Village, IL
July 31 – MU Health Care Capital Region Amphitheater, Jefferson City, MO
Aug. 15 – Peppermill Casino, Wendover, NV
Aug. 16 – Vilar PAC, Beaver Creek, CO
Aug. 18 – Western Idaho Fair, Boise, ID
Aug. 21 – Pala Casino, Pala, CA
Aug. 22 – We-Ko-Pa Casino, Ft. McDowell, AZ
