If it seems like your favorite K-pop star is everywhere all the time when they have a new album or tour to promote, there’s a good reason for that. In a new chat with The Hollywood Reporter ENHYPEN member Jake broke down the rigors of the K-pop fame machine, telling the magazine that “you can’t really expect to have a normal life,” when you’re thrust into the genre’s hype cycle.

“Other K-pop artists or other K-pop seniors that have been doing this for longer than me. They know what I’ve gone through,” he said of the grueling scheduled of rehearsals, recording and promotion. “They all went through the same thing. I feel like it’s important to share what you’re feeling because if you want to ask advice for anything related to your life or my life as a K-pop artist, there’s no one that can relate to it other than the same people that are doing it. I don’t really know a lot of people, to be honest.”

Jake, 23, who slid into a producer role on the septet’s recent album, The Sin : Vanish, said stepping behind the boards “sparked something inside me that I didn’t really know that I had,” because, if he’s being honest, sometimes being a K-pop idol is “very repetitive. We wake up, we have a very tight and set schedule down to the minute. We have to wake up at this hour, this minute. We end our schedule at this [time]. I used to enjoy that.”

And while he likes that kind of regimented schedule and said he’s just naturally “wired that way,” sometimes without him realizing it the non-stop schedule can get “very tiring.” Switching things up and trying his hand at production, though, has helped Jake escape that exhausting cycle, if only for a little while. Jake said that taking the helm on the new LP’s opening narration track, “The Beginning,” and the song “Sleep Tight” was one of his personal goals for the year.

“It’s the first time I really worked on the track. I would usually just work on the melodies or the topline on a song, but it’s the first time that I really just started working on it from scratch,” he said. “It was a very new experience. I found out that I might be better at the producing of the track. A very close producer that I always worked with, he told me that I might be better at doing the track instead of the top melody. It just all came along together very smoothly, which is kind of surprising because it’s the first time for me to really work on a song on an album. I was very lucky and very surprised.”

Learning a new skill is key to staying relevant in what Jake confirmed is the rapidly evolving K-pop universe, one that is quick to react to trends and changes as the industry cranks out a steady stream of new acts, each striving to carve a unique lane to break through to global audiences. “I feel like the fact about K-pop that every K-pop artist knows but does’t want to talk about is that [the] K-pop industry is very competitive, right?,” Jake said. “We all say we don’t want it to be, or we want everyone to do their own thing… Every K-pop artist is different.”

Jake said the ever-changing, “fast-paced” series of concepts his fellow K-pop bands roll out in search of a leg up on the competition keeps the genre as up-to-date as any other. “You have to be on top of everything,” the singer said. “We would be lying if we said we didn’t feel any pressure. We are very confident in our abilities to always put out something different or a different concept. I feel like we’re confident in that way… We all try to be the first to do something and be the first to do something different, and I think we definitely did that for this album.”

Don’t get him wrong, though, Jake loves what he does and wouldn’t change it for anything. “We enjoy performing in front of our fans, and I think that’s what motivates us during the hard times, which is before we come back, before we put out an album, the few months or the half a year that we have to put in doing the music videos, recordings, making the album, that’s the hard bit,” he explained. “Just the thought of putting this album out and singing this song in front of our fans is what helps us get through the few months.”

ENHYPEN recently released the trailer for ENHYPEN [WALK THE LINE SUMMER EDITION] IN CINEMAS, a tour documentary for the film that will hit movie theaters for a limited engagement on March 5 and 7.

The Bad Bunny Bowl is in the books. Now, only one question remains: Who should headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2027?

As always, the internet is already rife with speculation about which major artist could take the baton at the next Big Game, which is slated for Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. One name that inevitably comes up every year is Taylor Swift, who definitely has the star power and catalog of hits to dominate the stage for 10 minutes — though she said in 2025 that she probably won’t take the gig for as long as fiancé Travis Kelce is playing in the NFL.

“Can you imagine that he’s out there every single week, like, putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high pressure, high intensity sport, and I’m like, ‘I wonder what my choreo should be?’” she joked to Jimmy Fallon in October.

But who knows? The Eras Tour might change her mind, or maybe either of the world’s biggest K-pop groups — BTS and BLACKPINK — will get the gig, with both of them scheduled to make huge comebacks with new albums in 2026. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, with their widely loved, chart-topping discographies are also favorites, while either Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus or Harry Styles could bring some pop energy to the league. Perhaps Lil Wayne will get the chance to headline the mid-game spectacle after feeling snubbed a year ago when Kendrick Lamar won it over him, or Drake could finally have his opportunity to hit back at Dot’s 2025 halftime disses with a show of his own.

And then there’s always the possibility that Jay-Z himself will do the honors. The rap icon’s Roc Nation has overseen the booking of the halftime performer since 2019, and though he hasn’t released an album in nearly a decade, there’s always a chance he’ll use the Super Bowl stage to launch his long-awaited, highly anticipated return to dropping music and performing.

It’ll be many months before we know for sure who’s headlining Super Bowl LXI, but right now, Billboard wants to know who you’d pick. Vote for which artist you think should perform at halftime next year in the poll below.

The 68th annual Grammy Awards were presented just nine days ago, so how can we already be thinking ahead to next year’s awards? Well, even though many execs who flew out to L.A. for the Grammys haven’t even filed their expense reports yet, we’re nearly halfway through the eligibility year for the 69th annual Grammy Awards – Aug. 31, 2025 through Aug. 30, 2026.

Last year at this point, four of the eight albums that were later nominated for album of the year had been released – Leon Thomas’ MUTT, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA, Kendrick Lamar’s GNX and the eventual winner, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos. A fifth eventual nominee, Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM, was just weeks away from its March 7 release. The other three nominated albums were both released during the summer: Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out and Justin Bieber’s Swag (both released on July 11) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend (on Aug. 29, just one day before the close of the eligibility year).

The 2026 Grammy telecast is already shaping up be a momentous one in Grammy history. The show will air on ABC and stream on Disney+ and Hulu, marking the first time the show hasn’t aired on CBS since the second live telecast in 1972 (which, like the first, aired on ABC). And the show will have a new host for the first time since Trevor Noah first stepped into the role in 2021.

Here are early front-runners for album of the year and record of the year at the 69th annual Grammy Awards. They are listed in alphabetical order, as they will be on the Grammy nominations list this fall. (Last year, nominations were announced on Nov. 7.) They are followed by shortlists of other possibilities, also listed in alphabetical order.

Album of the Year

Best bets

Brandi Carlile, Returning to Myself: This would be Carlile’s third solo studio album in a row to be nominated in this category, following By the Way, I Forgive You and In These Silent Days. Carlile produced this album, her eighth solo studio set, alongside Andrew Watt, Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. Billboard 200 peak: No. 7.

Olivia Dean, The Art of Loving: This is the second studio album by the British singer who won best new artist on Feb. 1. Dean produced it alongside various producers including Julian Bunetta, Matt Hales, Leon Michels and John Ryan. Billboard 200 peak: No. 3.

Lana Del Rey, Stove: Release date TBD. This would be Del Rey’s third album to be nominated in this category, following Norman F—king Rockwell! and Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson and Luke Laird produced the album, which is Del Rey’s 10th studio set.

Noah Kahan, The Great Divide: Release date: April 24. This would be Kahan’s first nomination in this category. He was up for best new artist at the 2024 ceremony. Gabe Simon and Aaron Dessner produced the album. If both this and Carlile’s album are nominated, Dessner could have two nominations in this category.

Bruno Mars, The Romantic: Release date: Feb. 27. This would be Mars’ third album to be nominated in this category, following his 2010 debut, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, and his 2016 album 24K Magic, which won. (An Evening With Silk Sonic, his album with Anderson .Paak, very likely would have received a nod in 2023 had the pair not “gracefully, humbly… sexually” declined to submit it for consideration.) Mars and D’Mile produced the album, which is Mars’ fourth solo studio set.

Rosalía, LUX: Last year, the Recording Academy invited members of the Latin Recording Academy to join its ranks and nearly 1,000 took them up on the offer. Their votes helped Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos win album of the year and Buena Vista Social Club win best musical theater album. Given that, it’s hard to imagine them not renewing their Recording Academy memberships. Rosalía’s album has gotten rapturous reviews. The Spanish singer would become the first female artist to land an album of the year nod with a Spanish-language album. In 2020, Rosalía became the first artist who records in Spanish to land a best new artist nod. Rosalía produced the album, her fourth studio set, alongside various producers, including Pharrell Williams and Nija Charles. Billboard 200 peak: No. 4.

Harry Styles, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally: Release Date: March 6. This would be Styles’s second studio album in a row to be nominated, following Harry’s House, which won. Kid Harpoon, who was one of the producers of that album, also produced this set, which is Styles’ fourth solo studio album.

Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl: This would be Swift’s eighth nomination in this category, which is more than anyone else in Grammy history for strictly solo albums. That needs a little explanation: Frank Sinatra received eight nominations, but one was for a collab with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Paul McCartney had nine nominations and George Harrison had eight, but those total combine Beatles and post-Beatles albums. Swift produced the album, her 12th studio set, with Max Martin and Shellback. Swift’s last four regular studio albums – Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department – were nominated in this category. If Showgirl also makes it, she’ll become just the second artist in Grammy history (following Kendrick Lamar) to be nominated with five consecutive studio albums. Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (12 weeks).

Other possibilities

Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top; Cardi B, Am I the Drama?, J. Cole, The Fall-Off; Geese, Getting Killed; Ella Langley, Dandelion (April 10), RAYE, This Music May Contain Hope (March 27); Tame Impala, Deadbeat; Lola Young, I’m Only F—ing Myself

Record of the Year

Best bets

Olivia Dean, “Man I Need”: This would be Dean’s first nomination in this category. She performed an abridged version of the stylish song in the best new artist medley on this year’s Grammys. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 2.

Noah Kahan, “The Great Divide”: This would be Kahan’s first nomination in this category. The song was featured in an extended MasterCard ad on this year’s Grammy telecast. Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” which was featured in a similar ad on the 2025 Grammy telecast, landed a record of the year nod this year. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 6.

Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas”: This would be Langley’s first nomination in this category, and the first for a core country artist performing a country record since Lady Antebellum won for “Need You Now” in 2011. Taylor Swift already had one foot out the door on her transition to pop when “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was nominated at the 2013 ceremony. Maren Morris’ collab with Zedd and Grey on “The Middle,” nominated at the 2019 ceremony, was marketed as a pop record. Lil Nas X’s collab with Billy Ray Cyrus on “Old Town Road,” a nominee at the 2020 ceremony, was a hip-hop/country fusion. Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em,” a nominee at the 2025 ceremony, was a country foray by a pop superstar. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (one week so far).

Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”: This would be Mars’ eighth nomination in this category as an artist. In addition, he was nominated at the 2011 ceremony as a producer of Cee Lo Green’s “F—k You.” Only Beyoncé has had more nominations in this category as an artist (nine). Mars performed “I Just Might” on this year’s Grammys. He has performed just-released songs that went on to be record and/or song of the year nominees the following year four times – “Grenade,” “Locked Out of Heaven,” “That’s What I Like” and the Silk Sonic smash “Leave the Door Open.” Just as Grammy voters love Mars, so too do Grammy telecast producers, who keep giving him priceless promotional opportunities. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (two weeks so far).

RAYE, “Where Is My Husband!”: This would be RAYE’s first nomination in this category. RAYE has received four Grammy nods, including one for best new artist at the 2025 ceremony. This irresistible record is a hoot. Deep trivia: More than six decades ago, there was a record of the year nominee about wives, Jack Jones’ suave “Wives and Lovers.” Unfortunately, the song is marred by a chauvinistic lyric that hasn’t aged well. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 13.

Rosalia featuring Yahritza y Su Esencia, “La Perla”: This would be Rosalia’s first nomination in this category. This would be the second Spanish-language song in as many years to be nominated in this category, following Bad Bunny’s “DtMF.” Hot 100 peak so far: No. 82.

Harry Styles, “Aperture”: This would be Styles’ second nomination in this category, following “As It Was” at the 2023 ceremony. A key line in the song is “we belong together,” which was the title of a Mariah Carey smash that was nominated in this category at the 2006 ceremony. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (one week so far).

Taylor Swift, “The Fate of Ophelia”: This would be Swift’s seventh nod in this category – a category she has yet to win. (Though her record four album of the year wins probably help ease the sting.) Hot 100 peak so far: No. 1 (10 weeks).

Other possibilities

Brandi Carlile, “Church & State”; Sabrina Carpenter, “Tears”; Lana Del Rey, “White Feather-Hawk Tail Deer Hunter”; Sienna Spiro, “Die on This Hill”; Tame Impala, “Dracula”

Indie music publisher and neighboring rights company Peermusic has made its second senior leadership change of the year, promoting Jody Farber to chief financial officer. The move was announced Tuesday by executive chair Ralph Peer II and CEO Mary Megan Peer. Farber, who joined the company in 2024 as senior vice president of finance and strategy, will be based in New York and report directly to Mary Megan Peer.

Her appointment follows last month’s promotion of Paul Smelt to the newly created role of COO, overseeing the day‑to‑day administration of publishing and neighboring rights divisions across Peermusic’s global offices. 

As CFO, Farber will lead all financial operations, including global treasury, budgeting, accounting, reporting, deal analysis and long-term strategic planning. She will work closely with Peermusic’s worldwide leadership team to support the company’s ongoing growth.

Farber succeeds longtime finance chief Bill Gorjance, who is stepping down after two decades in the role. During his tenure, Gorjance helped triple the company’s revenues, expand its footprint into Korea and China, strengthen its neighboring rights business and modernize financial and administrative systems. He will continue his involvement with Peermusic part‑time as international vice president of the company’s classical division.

Before joining Peermusic, Farber spent 25 years in finance roles across the music, entertainment and nonprofit sectors, holding senior posts at Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment South Africa, World Wrestling Entertainment and the South African nonprofit loveLife Trust. She has also served on boards and finance committees for several South African music rights organizations.

In a joint statement, the Peers praised Gorjance’s contributions and expressed confidence in Farber’s leadership. 

“[Gorjance’s] contributions go well beyond the financial and his wisdom has left an indelible mark on our company and writers,” they said. “As CFO, we are confident that Jody will ensure that peermusic’s profitable growth continues. In the two years she has been at peermusic, she has become an integral part of our global finance team. We know that she will bring continued commitment to financial integrity and operational excellence as we build successful partnerships with our songwriters and artists.”

Gorjance called his tenure “a dream job” and said he was “happy to hand a debt-free balance sheet over to Jody,” while Farber said she was honored to carry forward his legacy.

“I look forward to leveraging my industry experience and finance expertise while collaborating with our global finance teams,” she said. “Together we aim to serve our clients and business partners, ensuring the ongoing financial strength and success of our organization and our creative community.”

Founded in 1928, Peermusic operates 39 offices in 33 countries and is the world’s largest independent music publishing and neighboring rights company.

The heat is kissing 90 degrees on a mid-October Friday in Austin, where Bobby Epstein is giving a Jurassic Park-style media tour through the perpetually under construction Circuit of the Americas (COTA) racing grounds.

Standing at the head of a moving shuttle bus like a safari guide, the circuit’s chairman points to piles of dirt. As he tells us in his easygoing drawl, a carousel and Ferris wheel will soon stand here; the skeletons of future roller coasters tower over the horizon behind him.

On the property’s great lawn, we pass two massive music stages and rows of vendors selling everything from LEGO race cars to cowboy hats. (About 6,000 of the latter, to be precise, are stocked for the weekend.) There’s a lucha libre wrestling ring, miniature golf and go-karts, and in one section showing off cutting-edge technology, a tent housing a life-size model of a six-propeller flying taxicab hailed as the “future” of air travel.

When I remark that it feels like we’re at the World’s Fair, a delighted grin flashes across Epstein’s face. “That’s exactly what we’re after,” he says.

In reality, we’re at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, where hundreds of thousands of fans will soon pack in to catch flashes of race cars zipping through the course’s famously sharp corners and deceptively steep hills during one of the racing organization’s tentpole events. But for over a decade, COTA has been working to transform this annual affair — the biggest of about nine races held here each year since it opened in 2012 — into more than just a sporting event.

The COTALand theme park they’re in the midst of building is just COTA’s latest push to make motor sport a way of life in the United States, a market F1 in particular had long struggled to crack before it finally erupted in mainstream popularity at the end of the 2010s.

Now, the amount of U.S. Grands Prix has shot up from just one to three of the 24 total in-season F1 stops, with annual races introduced in Miami in 2022 and Las Vegas in 2023; this past November, Beyoncé and Jay-Z made appearances on the track in Sin City, and mgk, T-Pain and Zedd headlined a festival-like run of outdoor shows surrounding the race. What once was a niche sport predominantly associated with European car enthusiasts has exploded into an America-size media and entertainment spectacle. And — if the Academy Award-nominated, Brad Pitt-led F1: The Movie’s $189.5 million in domestic box-office revenue in 2025, and its star-packed soundtrack, which hit No. 13 on the Billboard 200, are any indication — it’s only getting bigger.

But while the rest of America might only just be catching up to speed, COTA has been in this race for years — and it’s been a key player in helping F1 achieve its own long-term goal of crossing over as a competitive force in the music business.

“They were far ahead of everyone,” F1 chief communications and corporate relations officer Liam Parker says of COTA. “Every time you go to COTA, the talk is around not only the racing but what’s the big act everyone is going to see that evening.”

Tonight, that artist is Kygo, set to perform after the evening’s weekend–opening sprint. After playing Grands Prix in Bahrain, Mexico City and Miami over the years (with more to be announced later), the Norwegian DJ has become an F1 devotee — but the chance to advertise himself to the sport’s diverse, rapidly expanding fan base at each race is more than enough reason on its own to keep coming back.

“If you play a music festival, a lot of people have already heard about you or your music,” Kygo tells Billboard in his trailer Friday night, just minutes before taking the Super Stage. “But if you go play at F1, that might be 80,000 people who don’t even know who you are.”

“Some other [venues] were doing it, but I think what [COTA] has done is help wake up the rest of the racing world within Formula 1 to realize: This has an impact,” Parker adds. “This makes you global.”

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Ask any spectator milling about in Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren team gear beneath the unforgiving Texas sun this weekend how they became interested in F1, and it’s a good bet that three words will come up: Drive To Survive.

With seven seasons since its 2019 debut and an eighth on the way, the Netflix docuseries has introduced a horde of new American fans to the league’s once-insular world of high-class, high-stakes and high-octane drama, with cameras following top international drivers like Lando Norris (who, two months after racing in Austin, was crowned the 2025 F1 world champion), Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on every stop of each year’s racing season. Viewers attend the Grand Prix in Texas hoping to see their favorites in action — and get hooked on the overall culture of race day that can only be fully experienced in person, not just because the cars roar past at truly dizzying speeds (like, so fast your eyes can barely even clock them) but also because of all the live music and entertainment opportunities between the stops and starts on the track.

After Kygo in Austin last October, that involved sets from country icon Garth Brooks following Saturday’s qualifying round and Americana band Turnpike Troubadours after Sunday’s main event, each attended by thousands of ticketholders who chose to stay and listen long after all the drivers had retired to their garages.

But what many Drive To Survive bandwagoners may not realize is that COTA, the site of the U.S. Grand Prix since the year it opened, had been preparing for this surge in demand well before the show premiered in 2019.

“I honestly believe we were right at the front end of that,” COTA senior vp of music and entertainment Glynn Wedgewood says over Zoom a few weeks after the U.S. Grand Prix. “We just fully went for it in 2016 and haven’t looked back.”

The turning point he’s referencing was swift — Taylor Swift, to be exact. After testing out adding live music to COTA’s F1 race weekend with an Elton John performance that was dampened by Hurricane Patricia rainfall in 2015, Wedgewood says that COTA took a gamble on inviting the pop star, fresh off her 1989 world tour, to headline its first-ever festival-style lineup the following year, which also featured Usher and The Roots.

Swift is known for backing the right horses, and F1 turned out to be one of them. That October, she played her first and only show of 2016 at the U.S. Grand Prix for a crowd of 80,000 fans, helping COTA set a then-record for overall weekend attendance (270,000, which would skyrocket to 440,000 by 2022) and paving the way for the event (and ultimately, F1 as a whole) to rebrand as a premier concert outlet.

“To just go, like, ‘We’re doing the biggest pop star in the world’ — nobody [in F1] was doing that,” Wedgewood recalls.

Ten years later, it seems like everyone’s doing that. It’s now common for A-list artists to perform on multiact Grand Prix bills, with the sport’s numerous host cities all over the world following COTA’s lead. And in the decade since Swift performed, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran and more have each headlined an F1 weekend in Austin.

Like Kygo, many artists are also now F1 fans themselves; as Wedgewood notes, he doesn’t have to field nearly as many questions from prospective performers before booking. (“What is this? We’re playing around cars?” he recalls people asking in the past with a laugh.) But previously, a big way COTA enticed musicians was by investing in a main stage that appealed to performers as much as it did fans, constructing its now-signature Super Stage in 2015 between turns 11 and 12 on the track — not far from its 14,000-capacity open-air Germania Insurance Amphitheater, which was built in 2013 — so that audiences could watch shows while standing exactly where their favorite drivers had raced just hours prior.

“When an artist and their crew walk in and get on that stage and look out, it’s like, ‘Oh, we get this. This was built for this,’ ” says Wedgewood, who is the talent buyer for both the Super Stage and amphitheater for F1 weekends. (Live Nation handles the majority of other bookings for the amphitheater.) “It’s not just trying to shoehorn an act into a venue that doesn’t make any sense. It makes sense because it was built that way before we even started doing it.”

Whether it’s the novelty of the Austin venue or the massive exposure an F1 gig now guarantees, more stars than ever want a slot at the U.S. Grand Prix. But Wedgewood says a key element of his job is curating a lineup that appeals to the broad, undefined music tastes of racing fans. (To wit: F1 The Album was about as eclectic as soundtracks come, featuring Sheeran, Rosé, Chris Stapleton, Peggy Gou, Burna Boy and Doja Cat among many others.)

“A large part of what we do [is] having something for everyone there,” Wedgewood says. “Like, the contrast between Kygo with the crazy loud, visually stunning dance show, or someone like Garth Brooks, who’s a legacy, legend, [one of the] biggest-selling country artist of all time — that is 100% intentional.”

Ultimately, the biggest payoff from COTA’s pioneering efforts in the space might just be that, as the highest–attended event on its calendar, the U.S. Grand Prix is also the circuit’s best opportunity each year to advertise itself to the public as a music venue, with dozens more concerts and festivals programmed annually beyond those attached to races. In the coming months, mgk and Wiz Khalifa, Jack Johnson, Toto, Subtronics and Five Finger Death Punch will all perform as part of COTA’s extensive run of amphitheater shows following the F1 weekend.

“We’re just constantly busy every year,” Wedgewood says. “It’s just this beast that keeps going … [The U.S. Grand Prix] is, without a doubt, the biggest event, but it’s just a part of what we do.”

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On Sunday morning, COTA’s paddock is buzzing with team staff, engineers, media personnel and even what appears to be a few Netflix cameramen, all milling about, the pre-race energy palpable.

Flashes bombard Mercedes team principal and F1 royalty Toto Wolff as he makes his entrance for the day. Alexandra Saint Mleux, the fiancée of Monégasque driver Charles Leclerc, stands by the Ferrari garage holding the leash to the couple’s beloved blonde dachshund, Leo, over whom VIP pass-wielding fans gasp and squeal like he’s an A-list celebrity. Later, Hamilton parts the sea on his kick scooter, speedily escaping from the hectic press area.

And whereas 2000s pop hits had blared over the speakers on Friday and Saturday, today the playlist has changed to match the stakes: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (who headlined the 2024 U.S. Grand Prix) greets everyone as they arrive.

When the lights go out and the sound of 20 engines thundering to life cuts through the crowd’s silent anticipation, all eyes in the grandstands will fix on the race for 56 laps. Most of the rest of the weekend, however, will be busy with not just the big headline shows, but all the other ways F1 is integrating music and brand partnerships.

“Events you saw five years ago, [the promoters] just thought this was all about racing,” Parker recalls. “You turn up, you watch a race, you go home. Now, seeing what others have done — particularly in the U.S. — elevating and bringing music and festivals and environments into their world, it’s core to the overall weekend.”

Like COTA, F1 has been cultivating a wider cultural presence for years, though Parker concedes that even his fellow higher-ups, including CEO Stefano Domenicali (one of Billboard’s 2026 Sports Power Players), weren’t fully prepared for the speed with which Drive To Survive — which debuted a year before the coronavirus pandemic, when Parker posits people stuck at home were more inclined to tune in — helped them grow. Tapping into the American market through entertainment–focused crossover was key, but made difficult by the fact that, to this day, none of the drivers on the grid are from the United States. Parker remembers one of F1’s first ventures into music: “F1 Tracks,” a series of themed playlists curated by artists such as Mumford & Sons, Feeder and more that launched in 2019.

From there, the company booked increasingly well-known artists to sing different countries’ national anthems or to simply appear at races to boost the races’ profile. This year in Austin, it debuted a new “Grid Gigs” series featuring performers who would open races with miniconcerts performed on the actual track, starting with Texas singer–songwriter Drake Milligan.

“From a pure business point of view … you want to keep people there as long as possible to enjoy the event,” Parker says. When F1 offers music programming, fans “spend longer at the event. They obviously come away from it with a bigger recognition of how good the event was, so they come back again. But at the same time, it’s the cultural area as well. You’ve got celebrities in attendance, there’s huge media coverage of that event and broadcast coverage — you’re appealing to a brand-new and different audience.”

At the 2025 U.S. Grand Prix, artists from Shaboozey to Adele to Kane Brown were all on that attendance sheet. And at one point, legions of reporters gathered for a news conference in COTA’s media center, where Domenicali, Apple senior vp of services Eddy Cue and Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang announced the newest development in their entertainment strategy: building on the success of Apple Studios’ F1: The Movie and its Billboard-charting soundtrack, the tech company will serve as the exclusive broadcast partner for F1 races for the next five years, in a deal Variety has valued at $750 million. The deal may eventually tap into the possibilities offered by Apple Music, but Parker tells me later that in its first year, the focus will mostly be on delivering the highest quality race coverage possible.

F1’s crossover with entertainment has also allowed drivers to grow their personal brands and establish themselves as multifaceted public figures beyond the sport. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson shares videos of himself playing guitar and recording in the studio on social media. He tells Billboard in the paddock that he’s still wrapping his head around the possibilities, but to have music “aligned with my career, my world in racing, is something very important to me.”

Williams Racing’s Alex Albon has seen firsthand how the sport has changed since his rookie year, particularly stateside. “I remember coming into Austin in 2019 and [COTA] already had the stage over on the other side of the track,” he says, noting that while the drivers are always too busy to catch the post-race concerts, they’re enjoyable for his fiancée (pro golfer Lily Muni He) and other family traveling with the drivers.

“I remember thinking, like, ‘Oh, what’s this about? I’ve never seen such a huge music stage situated beside the circuit,’ ” he continues. “It just feels like every year it gets bigger. The whole thing is a show.”

With Verstappen cruising past the checkered flag with an eight-second lead over Norris, securing one more win for Red Bull, another Grand Prix is in the books. For the drivers and teams, it’s already on to the next one in Mexico City, even as the audience here heads over to the amphitheater to watch the Turnpike Troubadours set — or try out the Circuit Breaker, the first of COTALand’s roller coasters to open to the public.

As for F1, it’s on to the next big advancement in music and entertainment, whatever that might be. “Ten years ago, we were a different sport,” Parker says, noting the uptick in female viewers and fans under age 35 in recent years. “We can’t, and we shouldn’t, and we won’t keep going down the same old route, doing the same old things.”

This story appears in the Feb. 7, 2026, issue of Billboard.