Martina McBride has become the latest artist to pull out of Freedom 250 Presents: The Great American State Fair, a 16-day festival in Washington, D.C., running June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. 

The event was announced Wednesday by Freedom 250, which, according to Newsweek, the Interior Department declared to be the official branding of all 250th anniversary celebrations. 

“I was presented with the opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” the four-time CMA Award-winning female vocalist of the year wrote on her Instagram on Thursday afternoon (May 28). “I asked lots of questions and was assured this was a nonpartisan event that was meant to celebrate ALL 50 states. In my mind I thought this was a great way to celebrate the states and also bring people together in the way that only music can. … Yesterday things started changing and what we were told is, in fact, not what is happening.” 

McBride’s Instagram statement continued: “I’ve spent my entire career singing about real people with real issues. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn’t have one. It greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I’m abandoning the meaning behind those songs. I assure you, that is not the case.”

Other acts who have pulled out of the free event since Thursday are Morris Day & The Time, Young MC and Milli Vanilli. Artists still on the bill include Vanilla Ice, The Commodores, Flo Rida and Bret Michaels. 

In addition to music, The Great American State Fair will feature salutes to the military and themed days, including Military & Veterans Appreciation Day and Faith Values and Inspiration Day, as well as MAHA Monday, a day focused on Make America Healthy Again, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s key initiative. 

Representatives for McBride and for Freedom 250 did not immediate respond to a request for comment. 

In a new episode of the Second Thought With Suzy Weiss podcast, music impresario Scooter Braun discussed his famous public feud with Taylor Swift and how the fallout from the situation turned him into, as he says on the show, “a villain.”

The situation began in 2019, when Braun bought Swift’s then-six-album catalog for upward of $300 million as part of his acquisition of the Big Machine Label Group, an action that Swift said at the time “stripped me of my life’s work.”

Speaking on the podcast, Braun said that amid the fallout from the ordeal, he went from being “loved and appreciated for over a decade to literally a villain the next night.”

He also shared some perhaps surprising information about his relationship (or lack thereof) with Swift, continuing that while “I don’t want to go into that, I will say something that will really sum it up that I don’t know if I’ve ever really said: I don’t know Taylor Swift. I think I’ve met her in my life three times. I have never had a substantial conversation with her in my life. I, one time, got invited to a private party by her. She told me she had the utmost respect for me. I told her I had the utmost respect for her. You don’t spend $300 million buying a label that she’s on unless you’re excited at the opportunity to work with her. I will never truly understand that situation, to this day. I wish her nothing but the best.”

Continuing, Braun said that the situation was a big lesson and that he learned “a tremendous amount from it. I chose to grow from it. I’m grateful for it at this point in my life. But I think there’s this big misconception that, like, we knew each other and we had this feud and, like, I managed her for years. And people are usually shocked to find out that I legitimately don’t know her and didn’t have many interactions with her and never really knew her.”

“And like I said,” he continued, “I think I met her three times in my life, and I think I spoke to her really once for like more than two minutes. But it was a very nice conversation. And beyond that, nothing ever. And then the three years prior to us buying Big Machine, she and I had no contact. I think it was two years. The party was like two years earlier or three years earlier, and then never had any contact through the whole thing. So I’m just as confused that this is part of my life as you are. But I choose to learn and grow from it.” Watch the full interview below.

After Braun’s acquisition of her albums, Swift famously went about re-recording them, making the “Taylor’s Version” editions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989. In May 2025, she announced that she was able to buy back the masters to her first six albums, purchasing them from Shamrock Capital nearly five years after the firm first bought them from Braun. 

PETA has publicly called out Lizzo for her new partnership with Chili’s, which finds the star promoting the restaurant chain’s baby back ribs despite previously being vegan.

Sharing a video that stitches together Lizzo’s new commercial for Chili’s with graphic footage of pigs suffering from abuse and mistreatment by handlers in the meat industry, PETA wrote Wednesday on Instagram, “PIGS WANT THEIR RIBS BACK.”

“It’s about damn time you found a conscience, @lizzobeeating,” the animal rights nonprofit continued in the caption. “The truth hurts, right? Here’s the truth behind your @chilis jingle: using the flesh and bones of an animal who was violently killed as an ‘instrument’ is beyond grotesque. What happened to you?”

Billboard has reached out to Lizzo’s rep for comment.

The severe message comes shortly after the singer’s Chili’s campaign launched, featuring Lizzo performing an updated version of the “Baby Back Ribs” jingle alongside a giant rib prop while playing a rib flute. In an interview with Billboard about the partnership, the Grammy winner — who was vegan for a few years before announcing in 2024 that she’d begun eating meat again — said, “I think that I’m very sensitive about the way I deliver personal news to the world.”

“When I announced that I was no longer vegan, and that I was consuming animal protein, I was so nervous that I would hurt people’s feelings or let people down,” she continued at the time. “But it was important for me to say that back then, because of things like this now, where, you know, it would have been super jarring for me to be a vegan in 2021, and then 2026, I’m eating a big old rib and playing a rib flute. So what I said back then to make sure that I cleared the air, and that any decisions I make now, you know where I’m coming from.”

Noting that she’d be a food influencer if she weren’t a musician, Lizzo also explained that the Chili’s team-up shows off her “fun, love-to-eat foodie side” rather than her “health advocacy side.”

The Grammy winner is currently gearing up to release her new album, Bitch, on June 5. And despite the backlash from PETA, Lizzo is having fun with her baby back ribs era, posting a TikTok of herself showing off a plate of the Chili’s dish on Thursday (May 28).

See the video below.

With his new album Pueblo Salvaje I, Manuel Carrasco completes the universe he opened a year ago with Pueblo Salvaje II, an album that marked a period of exploration and depth for the Andalusian artist. “I showed the trunk and the crown first, and now I’m showing the roots,” Carrasco says. “This way, we close the circle.”

Released under Universal Music Spain on Thursday (May 28) at 6 p.m. ET — midnight in the European country — the 11-track album moves between pop and flamenco roots, featuring lyrics about identity, memory and personal reconstruction. The set opens with “Polaroids,” a statement of principles where flamenco once again takes center stage in Carrasco’s sonic realm.

It also includes “A La Sombra De La Higuera,” built around acoustic guitars, clapping rhythms and arrangements closer to his roots, alongside previously released singles “Oh Si Pudiera” and “Cambiar,” as well as collaborations with Juanes and Kany García.

Just hours before its release, Carrasco presented the album at the Lutheran Church of Castellana in Madrid — a space chosen deliberately — where Billboard Español had the chance to speak with him. “This is supposed to be a sacred place, and for me, the album is sacred,” he said. “It’s an album that embraces you.”

If Pueblo Salvaje II showcased a more visceral and emotionally raw side of Carrasco, this new volume finds the artist in a more intimate and reflective place.

Among the album’s standout moments are collaborations with Juanes and Kany García, two artists who also strengthen the bridge Carrasco is building toward Latin America in this new phase of his career. With Juanes, Carrasco recorded “Gente Corriente,” a song built around guitars and a sensitivity closely tied to Latin folk, where both artists sing about everyday wounds, contradictions and the need to keep moving forward.

The Colombian rocker joined the project just days before the album’s completion. “He didn’t even think twice,” Carrasco shares, adding that Juanes “has elevated [the song] even further. He’s someone deeply rooted, who carries Colombia strongly with him.”

“Making music with Manuel is always a privilege,” the Colombian rocker said in a statement to Billboard. “I admire his poetry and the honesty he brings to his music. It’s an honor to accompany him on this new journey.”

Meanwhile, García collaborated on “Respétame,” a ballad marked by the dialogue between their voices, speaking about emotional boundaries within a relationship. According to Carrasco, they had wanted to work together for some time, and he finally reached out to the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter directly: “Look, Kany, let’s stop beating around the bush,” he recalls telling her. “This song is ready; if you like it, let’s do it.”

The album’s release comes just weeks ahead of Carrasco’s four-night residency at Estadio La Cartuja in Seville. Scheduled for June 13, 14, 19 and 20, the residency — titled Salvaje Desde La Raíz — will feature music from different stages of his career, with distinct setlists, visuals and stage designs each night. In total, Carrasco expects to gather around 250,000 people in Seville, a city where he already holds the attendance record for a concert by a Spanish artist at La Cartuja.

While he insists that “the numbers aren’t what’s important,” he acknowledges the anticipation surrounding the series of shows. “People are expecting something big, and something big is what we’re preparing,” he said. “I’ve had a long career, and I know it’s not easy to stay relevant over time. I’m living my best years, and it’s incredible that this is happening.”

Following the residency and a final show in Madrid on June 27, the artist plans to travel to Latin America for a tour that will include stops in Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru, among other countries, before wrapping up in the United States in early 2027. Details and dates will be announced later.

Following a synch in Fox’s Doc, Sienna Spiro’s “Die on This Hill” takes the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for April 2026.

Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of April 2026.

“Die on This Hill” was heard in the April 14 episode of Doc, which was the finale of the series’ second season (a third is on the way). The track earned 34.8 million chart-eligible streams and sold 2,000 downloads in the United States in April 2026, according to Luminate.

Spiro’s first song to reach the weekly Billboard Hot 100 (she now boasts three entries), “Die on This Hill” debuted at No. 100 in January and has reached a peak so far of No. 19 in February. It appears at No. 70 on the most recent survey.

The April 2026 Top TV Songs chart features representation from seven shows in all, with Marshals the month’s most-represented series. It’s a strong start on the tally for CBS’ Yellowstone spinoff, which premiered on March 1.

Riley Green’s “Worst Way” leads the trio of Marshals tunes at No. 4 (8.4 million streams, 5,000 downloads), followed by Hozier’s “Work Song” (No. 5; 10.8 million streams, 1,000 downloads) and Adam Sanders’ “His to Mine” (No. 10; 444,000 streams, 2,000 downloads).

See the full chart, also featuring music from High Potential, Shrinking, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Boys and Beef, below.

Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)
1. “Die on This Hill,” Sienna Spiro, Doc (FOX)
2. “APT.,” ROSE & Bruno Mars, High Potential (ABC)
3. “I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves, Shrinking (Apple TV+)
4. “My Way,” Riley Green, Marshals (CBS)
5. “Work Song,” Hozier, Marshals (CBS)
6. “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” Cage the Elephant, Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV+)
7. “Never Tear Us Apart,” INXS, The Boys (Prime Video)
8. “Clarity,” Zedd feat. Foxes, Beef (Netflix)
9. “Tubthumping,” Chumbawamba, The Boys (Prime Video)
10. “His to Mine,” Adam Sanders, Marshals (CBS)