As one of crunk music’s high-energy pioneers, no one could have foreseen that Lil Jon would use that rambunctious genre as a jumping-off point to teach Peloton classes, compete in weightlifting competitions, make three meditation albums, or appear on an NBC game show about IDing music.

Lil Jon is the latest guest to appear on Celebrity Name That Tune, which airs on Monday night (Oct. 6) at 8:00 PM ET. He’ll face off against Chord Overstreet, and Lil Jon’s appearance serves as the latest unexpected twist in the rapper’s career. He’s emerged as one of hip-hop’s most talented renaissance men, from performing on the Super Bowl stage to touring Australia with Mariah Carey and Pitbull. Lil Jon tells Billboard he’ll do just about anything to keep his spirit happy these days.

“When I turned 50, I started looking at my life and reevaluating things in my life,” Jon says over Zoom, “and I just chose mental health and my physical health over everything else, and that’s super important, as well as family. We only got one life to live, and especially if you’ve worked a long career like I have and accomplished so many things, why not have fun? It’s time to do what makes you happy and put yourself first.”

Lil Jon talks with Billboard below about his time on Celebrity Name That Tune, shares his thoughts on Bad Bunny ahead of his Super Bowl Halftime Show, and discusses his new remix meditation album dropping Oct. 29.

When did you realize you had such a deep knowledge of being able to name that tune?

I have a DJ ear, then, being a musician and a producer, I have a musical ear. It’s easy to do it on the couch, but it’s harder to do it in person! But even listening to the radio, I could tell what song was coming in, I could tell before too much of it played. I love Name That Tune, I loved being a part of the show and doing the show. It worked out; it was so much fun. It was a lot of people in there too! I was surprised it was such a big studio audience, and they had a lot of energy. It was a really competitive show. It was fun.

What were some ways you locked in to help you against Chord Overstreet?

I was being silly a lot, and I was kinda just breaking the ice by laughing and interacting with the crowd. That helps me to relax, just being at home on the stage. Then it’s just listening, really listening intently and catching it as soon as I can.

Speaking of which, you’re going on tour in Australia with Mariah Carey & Pitbull. How did that opportunity come about, and what are you most excited for?

Man, me and Pit go back 20-plus years. We were just on tour together; he took me to Europe. We had a great time and spent a lot of time together just laughing and talking music. So whenever we get together, it’s amazing; it’s like we picked up where we left off like it was 20 years ago. The same energy, the same kind of relationship and respect and admiration for each other. So whenever I can go, hang out, and wild out with my homie? That’s amazing.

Then, you know, the last time I did [an Australian] tour, I did it with Usher. That was the first time Usher called me and said, “Hey, I want you to be my music director.” So from that tour, he was like, “Hey, I’m doing this Vegas residency. I want you to be my music director for my Vegas residency.” And the Vegas residency led to Super Bowl! So Australia started some good things for me last time I went on tour.

This time I got my own set, and, you know, I haven’t seen Mariah live! So looking forward to Mariah live!

I feel like there’s a very divisive conversation about Pitbull’s GOAT status. What’s your take on it?

People that are [hating on Pitbull] have not been to a show because when you go to a Pitbull show, the energy of the crowd and energy as soon as he sets foot on stage to when he goes off the stage is high energy. Every Pitbull song he performs is uptempo! There’s no slow songs. He’s jumping the entire show. I hadn’t seen his show in a while, and he’s tightened it up a lot. So when we went on tour in Europe, I was like: This is the best show out there, period. It’s him interacting, giving his motivational quotes; it’s just high energy. There are no boring parts of the show whatsoever. I rate him up there as one of the best tours and shows you can see.

How has the reception been to your meditation albums? I heard your next one is gonna be a bunch of remixes?

The reception has been amazing to both albums. So many people were like, “Wow, thank you! I’ve never meditated before or tried before, but your albums helped me meditate.” I even had school teachers say they played it for their schools to help kids go down for nap time. This third album is called Remixed Meditation, and basically, my attorney had the idea of, “Why don’t you take your own songs, remix those, and turn them into meditation?”

So the same time we recorded Total Meditation, we recorded this one, but I didn’t want this one to come out first because I wanted people to take me seriously. I didn’t want people to be like, “Ah, this guy’s a joke.” So now that I’ve been in the space for a while, we can release this project, and it’s basically like we take “Yeah!” and “Turn Down For What,” and all the music is reproduced and redone. So just imagine: “Yeah!” is no longer this hype song. It’s more laid back, and I’m like, “Say yeah, to life!” Like, “Get Low” is like, “Get low and ground.” So it’s a really cool project, and I think it’s probably gonna do well on TikTok, because people are gonna be making jokes of it.

Are you worried at all that people might see that as a gimmick?

Nah, I’m cool now —because I had two projects and the interactive workbook too, where you can kinda write down what you’re trying to manifest. So a book, two meditation albums, I did a retreat. I showed I’m serious in this space — but now we can have a little fun. And it also shows that meditation can be fun! It doesn’t have to be so stiff and serious.

As 2025 comes to a close, curious what your album of the year pick is so far and why?

The thing that got the most talk was Kendrick, really. The hype around music is not like it used to be. I saw debates about, “There’s no song of the summer.” When “Turn Down for What” came out, that was one of the songs of the year, not just the summer, and there hasn’t really been something that’s crossed all the different lanes. It’s just that songs are big in their particular area, and it just hasn’t been everywhere like it used to be.

I think also, people are streaming and not listening to the radio. Back in the day, you’d listen to the radio, and that’s how you’d know what the song of the summer was because everyone was bumping it in their car on the radio! The radio dictated a lot of what was hot, and radio isn’t where it used to be because there are other ways of listening to music. Coming off Super Bowl, all you heard was Kendrick, Kendrick, Kendrick, so I think he’s had the most hype this year.

As someone who popped out at the Super Bowl Halftime Show last year, do you have any advice for Bad Bunny?

I don’t even think he needs any advice. He’s such a seasoned performer and artist. I don’t think he looks at things in a regular way; he’s very deliberate in the way he does things and the way he puts his shows together. I think he’s probably gonna put on the best show he’s ever done in his entire life, and I think he’s also probably gonna open his audience up where he’s gonna bring in people who weren’t necessarily Bad Bunny fans of that nature. I think he’s gonna win some people over with his show. Of course, he’s gonna bring some special guests out, so I think it’s just gonna be a great show.

I saw you were in a weightlifting competition? What was that experience like?

I got in shape initially to look good for the Super Bowl, on that stage. The competition I did was Venice Muscle Beach, and [my trainer] had gotten into it the year before, and he told me, “If we got you right, you could win this.” So we started training after Super Bowl, and for me, I just had a daughter in November. So it’s not just about me, it’s about being here for her. Health was already a lifestyle change, but more so now it’s a goal for me because I wanna be here for her first day of school. I wanna be here for her high school graduation. I wanna walk her down the aisle.

So the only way I can do that is to take care of myself and my health. I also wanna be a role model to other people who try to make excuses that they can’t get healthy or work out. I did all of this while performing every weekend, jumping on planes, hard to find good food in certain cities, in the studio — I’m doing all this other stuff where I was able to transform my body and transform it enough where I could enter a bodybuilding competition and come in third. And I’m the first entertainer ever to enter in that competition. I think I’m the first entertainer to do bodybuilding, period. It’s pretty awesome; a lot of people had already come to me and said I inspired them to get their health in order. I try to share knowledge as much as I can.

After generating an estimated $500 million for Puerto Rico during his record-setting residency there this summer, Bad Bunny is Super Bowl-bound. How much could his Feb. 8, 2026 halftime show performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. be worth to him? 

Using Luminate data, Billboard estimates that over the past five years, solo acts who headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show saw an average increase of 110% in the net revenue generated from streams and downloads of their songs in the week following the big show compared to the week prior. For Bad Bunny, that could work out to Super Bowl weekly net of nearly $1.7 million, based on the estimate that his catalog has generated almost $788,500 on an average weekly basis so far this year from U.S. on-demand audio and visual streams and digital downloads. 

Previous Super Bowl halftime artists — Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd — also saw a 60% boost in catalog earnings in the second week following the Super Bowl, compared to the week prior to the game.  

News of Bad Bunny’s upcoming show has stirred controversy, as right-leaning pundits criticize the artist’s decision not to perform in the United States on his upcoming tour due to his stated concerns that immigration officers might target his audiences. This week, an official in President Donald Trump’s administration warned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be present at the Super Bowl.  

Bad headlines are usually good news for an artist’s streaming numbers, which means Bunny’s catalog could get a bigger boost than these other recent headliners.  

Below is a breakdown for how much the Super Bowl boost was worth for Lamar, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd, who headlined the Super Bowl halftime shows from 2021 to 2025. (Estimates for the artists who headlined the 2022 halftime show — Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Lamar — are not included because, while their numbers did rise, their performance as a group resulted in significantly lower individual numbers.) 

Kendrick Lamar

Lamar’s performance, which followed his headline-making rap battle with Drake, drove his catalog revenue up 93% to more than $2.5 million in net revenue for his label and publishing companies in the week of the game, according to Billboard estimates using Luminate data. Lamar’s songs netted about $2.2 million in the second week following the game, as video streams of his songs — many likely clicked by viewers of Super Bowl halftime show footage — remained particularly high.

Usher

Usher, who released his 2024 album Coming Home just two days before his Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, saw his catalog’s revenue jump 211% to $841,000 in the week following the game and generated $462,000 the week after. 

Rihanna

The potency of Rihanna’s hits sent her catalog’s revenue up 150% to $1.24 million in the week following the Super Bowl, up from about $500,000 the week prior. 

The Weeknd

The first artist to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show during the pandemic, The Weeknd’s catalog grossed $1.02 million from U.S. on-demand streams and downloads in the week of the big game, up 70% from the prior week’s roughly $600,000.

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Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, is out and everyone’s buzzing about it, and ShopBillboard is in the mood to celebrate with a fun little Swift-inspired drink.

While perusing Amazon, we stumbled across The Eras Pour, an unofficial Swift-themed cocktail book. The Eras Tour-inspired tome is currently 20% off, priced at $21.72, $13.99 for the Kindle version, and comes with more than 60 cocktail recipes, including 20 non-alcoholic options, all inspired by Swift’s lore. The book was authored by Swiftie and cocktail book author Alison Grey, and boasts 4.8 stars out of five on Amazon.

The book contains a few classic recipes revamped along with riffs on some of Swift’s favorite cocktails, a la her St. Germain-spiked French Blonde. You’ve got plenty of drinks to choose from, named after a host of Swift-isms, allowing fans to drink through each era of the star’s career. Some of our favorites include the Never Say Never, a gin-based blackberry drink; Mojito 22, a riff on a classic tropical mojito; and James Dean Daydream, described as a “cherry-spiked martini.”

‘The Eras Pour: The Unofficial, Ultimate Taylor Swift Cocktail Book’

$21.72 $26.99 20% off

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A Taylor Swift-inspired cocktail book.

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Each drink is whimsically photographed and styled against an eye-catching themed background. Every drink is meant to reflect a specific era of Swift’s ever-evolving career, from bonafide country star to pop showgirl sensation. If you’re looking to celebrate Swift’s new album, why not add this book to your cart? It gives Swifties a great excuse to channel their inner mixologist while bumping new tracks such as “Honey” and “Ruin the Friendship.” The book is also a nice gift, one we can see even non-Swifties getting some usage out of, much more creative than any old gift card. If you’re looking to surprise the die-hard Swift fan in your life, this might just do the trick.

The Life of a Showgirl was released Oct. 3 through Republic Records. The album was created during Swift’s life on the road, going from show to show during her Eras Tour. The 12th studio album features 12 tracks, including “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Father Figure,” “Honey,” “Wi$h Li$t” and “Ruin the Friendship,” among others. Sabrina Carpenter is featured on the track “The Life of a Showgirl.” Swift announced her new album during an appearance on fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights.

Taylor Swift won’t forever hold her peace after marrying Travis Kelce — she’s always going to speak now through her music.

In an interview with BBC Radio 2’s The Scott Mills Breakfast Show posted Monday (Oct. 6), the pop star addressed whether she’ll stop releasing albums after she and the tight end tie the knot. “That’s a shockingly offensive thing to say,” Swift began after host Scott Mills noted how some fans had been “panicking” over the idea that The Life of a Showgirl might be her last-ever LP.

“That’s not why people get married, so they can quit their job,” she continued, laughing. “Oh, I know, they love to panic sometimes. But I love the person that I am with because he loves what I do, and he loves how much I am fulfilled by making art and making music.”

“That’s the coolest thing about Travis: He’s so passionate about what he does, that me being passionate about what I do connects us,” Swift added. “There’s no point in time where he’s going to be like, ‘I’m really upset that you’re still making music.’”

The interview comes just three days after the 14-time Grammy winner dropped her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. A little more than a month prior, Swift and Kelce announced their engagement with a post on Instagram, writing at the time, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” 

Swift now has a wedding to plan, though she told BBC that rolling out Showgirl has her focus for now. She does, however, already have an idea of who might perform at the reception: Ed Sheeran.

“It would be hard to keep him from it, I think,” she told U.K.’s Hits Radio Breakfast Show on Friday (Oct. 3). “It’s like, Ed, if there’s a stage, you know that you’ll be on it. He knows what people want, and he wants to give people what they want. That’s the fun thing about our friendship is we both love performing, we love writing and we love singing.” 

Watch Swift’s full interview with The Scott Mills Breakfast Show below.

One of the hottest contests in the 68th annual Grammy Awards is in a category that rarely rates headlines – best traditional pop vocal album. Tony Bennett was such a heavy favorite in the category (14 wins from 17 nominations) that there was little suspense in this category.

But since Bennett died in 2023, the category has become competitive. This year’s top contenders include Laufey, who won two years ago for Bewitched; Lady Gaga, who shared two awards in the category with Bennett for their duet albums; Barbra Streisand, who has yet to win in the category despite 13 nods; and Elton John & Brandi Carlile, who, among them, have won 16 Grammys.

Laufey is entered with A Matter of Time, her follow-up to Bewitched; Gaga with Harlequin, which includes alternate takes of songs from her film Joker: Folie à Deux, a box-office disappointment; Streisand with The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2, on which the legendary star teams with other singers (including Laufey); John & Carlile with their collab Who Believes in Angels?

All four seem certain to be nominated, which just leaves one open slot. The album that probably has the best chance to fill it is Seth MacFarlane’s Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements. McFarlane has been nominated three times in this category. Sinatra won in this category in 1996 with Duets II. (What’s more, Bennett and Willie Nelson both won with albums that paid tribute to the GOAT of traditional pop singers.)

No holiday album has ever won in this category, though many have been nominated. Three holiday albums have a reasonably good shot at a nod this year: Jennifer Hudson’s The Gift of Love, Dan + Shay’s It’s Officially Christmas: The Double Album and Lea Salonga’s Sounding Joy – The Holiday Album.

Bennett’s daughter Antonia Bennett is in the mix with Expressions, as are two film actors who take their music seriously – John C. Reilly (in his Mister Romantic persona with What’s Not to Love) and Jeff Goldblum (with Still Blooming, a collab with the Mildren Snitzer Orchestra).

Other contenders include Christina Aguilera’s The 25th Anniversary of Christina Aguilera Spotify Anniversaries Live, Stephen Bishop’s Think, Belinda Carlisle’s Once Upon a Time in California, and Livington Taylor, BBC Concert Orchestra & Bill Elliott’s Symphonic Steps. Taylor’s older brother James Taylor won in this category in 2021 with American Standard.

Ben Folds has two albums on the entry list, which may mean his support will be divided between Ben Folds Live With the National Symphony Orchestra and Sleigher.

This category used to focus on new recordings of the Great American Songbook, but in recent years it has broadened to include compatible music from all eras. From the 68th Rules and Guidelines handbook: “This category recognizes excellence in albums consisting of a type and style of song and/or performance that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music. … Contemporary pop songs performed in a traditional pop style – the term ‘traditional’ being a reference, equally, to the style of the composition, vocal styling and the instrumental arrangement, without regard to the age of the material.”

If you’re wondering how a superlative singer like Streisand has managed to go 0-13 in this category, she lost six times to Bennett (including for collabs with k.d. lang and Gaga), twice to Michael Bublé, twice to Willie Nelson and once each to Natalie Cole (for Unforgettable With Love, her tribute to her father, Nat “King” Cole), Joni Mitchell (for Both Sides Now) and Elvis Costello & the Imposters (for Look Now).

Gaga is also likely to be nominated for album of the year and best pop vocal album for MAYHEM. She won in the latter category in 2011 with The Fame Monster. She has yet to win album of the year.