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Just two months on from the departure of longtime drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander, Primus are back in the saddle ahead of impending auditions for a new percussionist. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The band’s first show since Alexander’s final appearance in August, the performance took place as part of the band’s New Year’s Eve celebration shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA, on Monday (Dec. 30). Opening with sets from bassist and vocalist Les Claypool‘s other bands Holy Mackerel and Frog Brigade, the main event was a six-song performance from Primus with Bryan ‘Brain’ Mantia on drums. Mantia had previously served as the drummer of Primus in 1989, before being replaced by Alexander, who would play with the band until 1996. Following Alexander’s initial departure, Mantia returned to the kit until Primus’ split in 2000. Alexander would remain the band’s drummer for the majority of their career following a 2003 reunion, save for another absence between 2010 and 2013. Primus announced on Oct. 29 that Alexander had resigned suddenly on Oct. 17 via email “effective immediately”, citing a “loss of passion for playing”—a reason that Claypool and guitarist Larry LaLonde admitted “came as a complete shock.” “On the heels of a wonderful spring & summer of touring and some fabulous plans ahead, it has been a bit bewildering for us that Herb would so abruptly opt out,” Claypool and LaLonde said. “After several attempts to communicate with Herb, his only response was another email stating that he has ‘lost his passion for playing.’ As disappointing as that is, we respect his choice and it’s forced us to make some tough decisions.” In the wake of Alexander’s passing, Primus announced they would be “taking submissions from all points in the universe for the position of Primus drummer/percussionist”. They added: “Flashy chops are wonderful, but groove, pocket, and the ability to listen, react, and contribute to the musical conversation is a must.” The band took to social media again in late December to warn applicants of scammers who had begun contacting hopeful applicants ahead of in-person auditions taking place. “It is our duty here in the Primus camp to at least give a ‘heads up’ as it were, to those who may be duped by these sad individuals who are obviously struggling with their own insecurities and shriveled genitalia,” the band wrote. Currently, Primus are scheduled to be joined by Tool‘s Danny Carey for festival dates in the Dominican Republic in March, with a joint tour alongside Puscifer and A Perfect Circle set to launch in April. Source link

Charli XCX had a landmark 2024, and she’s looking back on the best moments of her year on social media. “So many highs in 2024 and i cba to post them all but here’s some of my fav memories and fav people. love you all so much and thank you for everything. sorry i’m a lot sometimes xx,” she captioned her Instagram photo set posted on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31), in which she shares memories from the rollout of her pop culture-dominating album Brat, selfies with her famous friends, live performances and much more. Check out her post here. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Charli XCX dropped Brat back in June, and peaked at No. 3 Billboard 200 albums chart. It also led the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart for a whopping 29 weeks. “I didn’t want any metaphors — like, at all,” Charli told Billboard of the project for her July cover story. “I wanted this record to feel like I was having a conversation with the listener in a true way. I could say that to you in the back of a cab on the way to a club. Like tonight? I want to dance with A. G.” She added, “With Brat, it was really interesting to just do things for the fan base and make that feel exclusive — but then once you’re in the club, it’s actually very inclusive. Actually, everyone can join the club. It’s just that everybody joins at slightly different times in slightly different ways — whether that be on my private Instagram posts, or the 400-person Boiler Room, or a random cinema screening of a new music video in L.A., or a text message from me.” In the fall, Charli wrapped up her Sweat tour with Troye Sivan. Over the course of 22 shows, the run earned $28 million and 297,000 tickets sold, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.  Source link

After Sphere opened with fanfare in September of 2023, there was a lot of talk, in the electronic music world at least, about which electronic artist would be the first to play Las Vegas’ new space ship of a venue. Presumably many would’ve jumped at the chance. Las Vegas is a dance music nexus, with billboards along Interstate 15 into the city bearing the faces of new and longtime resident artists at Marquee, Hakkasan, XS and other nightclubs on the Strip. But ultimately it was a new face that made the cut, with Sphere announcing in July that Italian-American techno and melodic techno producer Anyma — who hadn’t previously had a residency in the city — would be The One. With the news, talk shifted as people outside of dance music familiarized themselves with the artist, a sizable name within the genre, but still a relative unknown to the gen pop. Who was he, and what would he do, people asked? Meanwhile, talk inside the dance world was that this show was going to be, in colloquial terms, totally bananas. Certainly the bar was set mighty high after well-received residencies from Sphere’s previous artists U2, Phish, the Eagles and Dead & Company. But those are bands, and this would be a DJ. Still, interest for Anyma was abundantly and statistically clear: tickets for the eight-night residency sold out the same day they went on sale in July, with Anyma reporting selling 100,000 tickets for these shows and more dates subsequently added, bringing the total number of shows to eight and the total number of tickets sold to 130,000. Officially and grandly titled Afterlife Presents Anyma: The End of Genesys, the figurative curtain for the residency lifted Dec. 27, when the shows began amid one of the busiest times of year in Las Vegas, bringing ravers to Sphere for the very first time. Two days later, on Dec. 29, attendees sporting ravey attire and the de facto Afterlife uniform of black leather everything and sunglasses inside milled around the venue between sets from openers Cassian b2b Kevin de Vries and Charlotte de Witte. (Anyma’s support acts are different for every night of the residency, with the Dec. 28 opener Amelie Lens becoming the venue’s first ever officially billed female artist.) Anyma came onstage promptly at 11 p.m., appearing on top of a riser placed on the floor of the venue from which glowing cords emanated. The two other risers on each side of him each contained a cello and the robot arms that played the instrument throughout the show, emphasizing the machine vs. human quality of both the overall Anyma aesthetic and the show we were all about to see. It was, in fact, bananas. Starting with a robot breaking through a wall of glass in tandem with the music, the performance ultimately turned several standard dance music conventions on their head. Many large-scale shows, for example, take place in seated venues like Madison Square Garden, Kia Forum and Red Rocks, but Sphere is arguably the only one where attendees in the seated areas (Sphere also has standing room on the floor) have a vested interest in staying butt-to-chair, given that the seats are programmed to shake and rumble with the bass. (Or in the case of live acts, the drums.) Certainly many people were on their feet raving in place, but by and large this was a sit down show, making the experience at times feel more akin to a futuristic movie theater than a nightclub or any standard large-scale dance performance. In ways, Anyma and the Dec. 29 special guest artists — Delilah Montagu and Ellie Goulding — were secondary to the visuals. You might not have even noticed they were there in person, given the focus demanded by the screen and everything happening on it. Born Matteo Milleri, Anyma has long been been half of the duo Tale of Us, with the pair cultivating a signature visual aesthetic via their own output and releases on their influential label Afterlife and its affiliated event series. This sort of transhumanist aesthetic and human meets machine ideology is so well-suited for Sphere that one can’t help but assume it’s a not insignifcant part of the reason Anyma secured these shows. Any act playing the venue needs to have a well-established and world-building visual identity (which is part of the reason Sphere functions so well for legacy acts like the Dead, who have a huge visual history to pull from.) But Sphere’s mind-bending technical capabilities are providing Anyma and his team the opportunity to both show off and expand their epic, trippy, frequently dark and often beautiful cyborg narrative. And expand they did. These are five of the best parts of the performance. The Visuals, Obviously Image Credit: Courtesy of Anyma Where to even start. Sphere is ultimately all about an artist’s visual presentation, and previous residents have discussed feeling almost upstaged by the venue, or at least feeling a necessity to level up musically in order to compete with what’s happening on the screens. But while Anyma’s musical performance was stellar (more on that in a bit), the star of the show was obviously the visuals, with the performance starting with the female cyborg character who’d appear throughout the show breaking through a wall of glass, which elicited cheers and created a moment of collective lift off. This robot then eventually flew to space (with her free fall creating a moment of exiting physical dizziness and disorientation) before being catapulted through realms including but not limited to a verdant garden (where the show’s other main character, a human man, made his first appearance), a lush cityscape that devolved into a fiery inferno, an arid desert and many other realms during the four-act show. Meanwhile other visual segments were more conceptual, with the screens at one point populated entirely by blinking eyeballs. There was a sort of poetry in the presentation, with the human ingenuity and science and engineering powering Sphere

Rihanna surprised fans with an impromptu visit to a New York City karaoke bar. On Saturday (Dec. 28), the 36-year-old singer and entrepreneur made an unexpected stop at Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album, Anti. In fan-captured footage from the event, RiRi can be heard telling the excited crowd that she only had about five minutes to spare, joking that her “battery” was “about to burn out.” The Grammy-winning superstar, also a mother of two, added a dose of star power to the evening while playfully teasing fans who have been eagerly awaiting new music, nearly nine years after the release of Anti. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Following the performance, Rihanna’s Navy flooded social media with reactions to the karaoke surprise. “Imagine going to [karaoke] night and you get a free Rihanna performance,” one fan wrote on X. Another added, “Awee she’s having fun.” Someone else gushed, “Her voice reminds me of Whitney Houston.” But not all responses were so positive. “Chii 😭 the mic was bleeding,” one commenter quipped on X. Another person wrote, “Help this is horrible 😭😭.” A third user critiqued, “I didn’t know singing a simple note was this hard.” And yet another questioned, “Is this really Rihanna? My cat can sing better.” Some disgruntled fans took to social media to call out the Fenty Beauty founder for performing at a karaoke bar instead of focusing on new music. “So she wanna f— around with karaoke instead of getting her ass in the booth. wtf Rihanna 😒,” one person wrote on X. Another added, “Karaoke to your own 2016 hits with nothing new released?!!?” alongside a Simpsons meme that read “Pathetic.” Earlier this year, Rihanna — who shares two young children with boyfriend A$AP Rocky — teased that her upcoming music will be worth the wait. “I already got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of,” she told ET in April. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good.” In March, Rihanna performed live for the first time in eight years when she took the stage for a pre-wedding celebration for the son of Asia’s richest man. Source link

Brenda Lee reaches another landmark as the legend notches her first chart-topper on Billboard’s Top Country Albums survey (dated Jan. 4, 2025). Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings ascends a spot to No. 1 following a 40% burst to 53,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. Dec. 20-26, according to Luminate. Lee, who is 80 years young and a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2002), earns her first Top Country Albums No. 1 among six top 10s. The release is also her first leader on any Billboard album survey. The set features 18 songs, including Lee’s 1958 multigenerational title-smash, which led the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks last holiday season, and such Yuletide favorites as “Blue Christmas,” “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” and “White Christmas.” The LP, which first hit the Top Country Albums top 10 in 2019, follows Lee’s prior top 10s: Brenda, (No. 7 peak, 1973); The Brenda Lee Story (No. 6, 1973); New Sunrise (No. 3, 1974); …The Winning Hand, with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton (No. 4, 1983); and The Best of Brenda Lee: 20th Century Masters, The Christmas Collection (No. 6, 2019). On the all-genre Billboard 200, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: The Decca Christmas Recordings jingles 19-15, surpassing its prior No. 17 high – and marking a new best rank for Lee over her 61-plus-year span of appearing on the chart. She previously hit the top 40 with Too Many Rivers (No. 36, 1965) and Let Me Sing (No. 39, 1964). Shaboozey Scores Sole Longest No. 1 Run This Decade Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” logs a 28th week at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, becoming the sole longest-leading hit of the 2020s. The track, co-written by the Virginian (born Collins Obinna Chibueze), first hit the summit in May and now passes Gabby Barrett’s debut smash “I Hope,” which governed for 27 frames beginning in July 2020. Only two songs have led longer since Hot Country Songs became an all-encompassing genre ranking in 1958. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant To Be” ruled for a record 50 weeks starting in December 2017, surpassing Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” (34 weeks, beginning February 2017). All four songs became hits at both country and pop radio formats, further fortifying their chart performances. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spent a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 between July and November. Shaboozey’s multiformat monster totaled 59.9 million airplay audience impressions, 16 million official streams and 5,000 sold in the U.S. Dec. 20-26. Source link

Shakira closes off 2024 regaining the throne on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart with “Soltera,” marking her 24th No. 1 on the tally. With this feat, the Colombian global star extends her record for the most No. 1 hits among women, dating to the chart’s 1994 inception. Karol G is the closest female contender, amassing 18 No. 1s. The latter’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” spent 23 weeks at No. 1 on the Latin Airplay chart before “Soltera” topped on the chart dated Jan. 4, 2025. Overall, Shak ties with Maluma for the sixth-most rulers, both following J Balvin (36); Ozuna (34); Enrique Iglesias (32); Daddy Yankee (28); and Bad Bunny (25). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Shakira earned her first No. 1 hit on the Latin Airplay chart with “Ciega, Sordamuda” in 1998, and scored three other back-to-back hits without a billed collaborator: “Tú” (1998), “Suerte [Whenever, Wherever]” (2001), and “Que Me Quedes Tú” (2002). In 2005, she topped the chart with “La Tortura” in collaboration with Alejandro Sanz. The sensual tune is still crowned the longest-leading No. 1 on the chart, where it spent 25 weeks. Other No. 1 hits that Shak has earned on the chart—which is the week’s most popular songs ranked by Latin radio airplay audience impressions—include “Hips Don’t Lie”; “Loba”; “La Bicleta” with Carlos Vives; the Maluma-assisted “Chantaje”; the unapologetic “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” helmed by Bizarrap; and the female anthem “TQG” with Karol G, to name a few. What’s your favorite Shakira No. 1 hit on the Latin Airplay chart? Vote here! Source link

Cardi B is in a New York state of mind. The Bronx native revealed on X over the weekend that she’s done with her Atlanta residence, and appears ready to unload the estate and settle down once again in the Big Apple. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “My casa….. I don’t want it nomore tho,” she wrote in response to an X account complimenting her Georgia home with a photo of the castle-like mansion featuring a beautiful backyard pool. Cardi then explained that she doesn’t enjoy living in Atlanta — where her estranged husband Offset is from — and prefers to be back in New York full time. “I don’t like living in Atlanta ….i actually don’t like living nowhere else but NY,” she responded to a fan on X who asked why she no longer wanted the lavish home. Cardi and Offset reportedly purchased the five-bedroom home in 2019 for more than $5 million. She also owns property in New Jersey and the Dominican Republic. The “Bodak Yellow” rapper filed for divorce from Offset for a second time over the summer. They have three kids together. Though the Grammy-winning artist may no longer want the mansion, another musician may be interested. A blog reposted the photo of Cardi’s tweet of the Atlanta home, and it eventually landed on Rick Ross’ radar, who inquired about the mansion’s cost. “Asking price??” he wrote in the comments section. Billboard has reached out to Cardi B and Rick Ross’ reps for comment. The MMG mogul has quite the real estate portfolio himself, including the 109-room Fayetteville, Ga., estate that previously belonged to boxing legend Evander Holyfield. Rozay also bought Meek Mill’s Atlanta residence for $4.2 million in 2023 after the property sat on the real estate market for more than two years. Meek’s former crib boasts a swimming pool, tennis court, movie theater and more to go along with the eight bedrooms and nine baths. Source link

Elvis Presley’s The Classic Christmas Album leads Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart for the first time, rising two places to No. 1 on the Jan. 4, 2025-dated survey. In the week ending Dec. 26, the set earned 40,000 equivalent album units, a jump of 59%, according to Luminate. The Classic Christmas Album was released in 2012 and features 17 holiday-themed hits from Presley’s catalog, including “Blue Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane).” The collection, which previously reached a No. 2 best on Top Rock Albums over the 2020 holiday season, is Presley’s second No. 1 on the chart, which began in 2006, after Elvis Presley Forever led for a week in 2015. That album accompanied a “forever” postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service that year. Concurrently, The Classic Christmas Album jumps 9-4 on Top Country Albums and 46-23 on the all-genre Billboard 200. It’s a new peak on both charts, usurping its prior Nos. 5 and 26 highs, respectively. “Blue Christmas” was the album’s top performer in streaming last week. It ranks at No. 2 on Rock Steaming Songs with 27.1 million official U.S. streams (up 61%). “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” also appears on the tally, at No. 11 (8.1 million, up 43%). “Blue Christmas” was the set’s top radio track, with 9 million in audience (up 33%). On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, “Blue Christmas” rises to No. 21, a year after it reached a No. 18 best. The late Presley ties for the longest span of appearing on the chart – stretching across its entire existence, as he placed at No. 4 on the inaugural ranking (dated Aug. 4) with “Hard Headed Woman” and at No. 34 with “Don’t Ask Me Why” (both with the Jordanaires). Also with a 66-year and five-month span of hitting the Hot 100 from its first to its latest week, and likewise due to resurgent holiday hits: fellow late legends Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and Dean Martin. Source link

Twelve tracks from the deluxe edition of SZA’s SOS album explode onto Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, led by a No. 1 entrance for “30 for 30,” a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar. The influx, on the chart dated Jan. 4, 2025, comes after the long-awaited release of the SOS deluxe (dubbed SOS Deluxe: Lana on digital and streaming platforms) on Dec. 20. For its coronation, “30 for 30” registered 17.5 million official U.S. streams, airplay audience of 385,000 and 2,000 digital song downloads in the tracking week of Dec. 20-26, according to Luminate. With “30 for 30,” SZA adds her seventh No. 1 on the Hot R&B Songs chart and breaks a tie with Rihanna for the most leaders by a woman on the chart since it launched in October 2012. Here’s a review of SZA’s chart-topping collection: Song Title, Artist (if other than SZA), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1 “The Weekend,” one, Jan. 3, 2018 “I Hate U,” one, Dec. 18, 2021 “Kill Bill,” 30, Dec. 24, 2022 “Snooze,” 32, July 29, 2023 “Slime You Out,” Drake featuring SZA, two, Sept. 30, 2023 “Saturn,” five, March 9, 2024 “30 for 30,” with Kendrick Lamar, one, Jan. 4, 2025 The new champ, notably, gives frequent collaborators, future joint-tour headliners and former Top Dawg labelmates SZA and Lamar their first Hot R&B Songs No. 1 together. The pair’s previous best on a shared track was a No. 2 finish for the Black Panther soundtrack single “All the Stars” in 2018. Lamar, meanwhile, lands his second No. 1 on Hot R&B Songs, following “Die Hard,” with Blxst and Amanda Reifer. The track, from the superstar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album, ruled for one week in 2022. Elsewhere, “30 for 30” premieres at No. 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart – where another SZA/Lamar collaboration, “Luther,” is No. 1 for a third week – and at No. 45 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. The disparity between the positions traces to holiday streaming’s apex triggering an avalanche on the Hot 100, with 35 of the 44 titles above “30 for 30” some type of seasonal fare. As aforementioned, “30 for 30” leads a parade of a dozen new SZA titles onto Hot R&B Songs, upping the singer-songwriter to 57 career hits on the chart. Here’s the full account of this week’s debuts: No. 1, “30 for 30,” with Kendrick Lamar No. 3, “Drive” No. 4, “Diamond Boy (DTM)” No. 5, “What Do I Do” No. 7, “No More Hiding” No. 8, “Crybaby” No. 9, “Kitchen” No. 10, “Another Life” No. 11, “Love Me 4 Me” No. 12, “Chill Baby” No. 13, “My Turn” No. 15, “Get Behind Me (Interlude)” Source link

Beyoncé‘s mom, Tina Knowles, has had a busy week flying her matriarch flag. First, on Friday, she took to social media to defend Bey’s eye-popping Christmas Day NFL halftime show during the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. When some commenters took issue with the 12-minute set highlighting songs from Bey’s hit Cowboy Carter country-influenced album, Knowles wrote, “It is mind-boggling to me that you would take your precious Christmas day and watch a performance of someone you hate and you don’t think has talent so that you can talk ish about it later.” Then, on the Run-Through With Vogue podcast Knowles, 70, talked about a recent social media hiccup in which it appeared she liked a post about allegations that her son-in-law Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs sexually assaulted an unnamed 13-year-old girl in 2000; Jay-Z has denied the allegations. “I’m a protector of my kids and I just feel like that’s my job,” Knowles said on the New Year’s Eve episode of the pod (social media talk begins around 21:30 mark). “And, you know, my kids are always like, ‘Mama, just ignore that.’ But it gets to the point where I’m just like, ‘I’m sorry. This is enough. It’s enough.’ You know? Because imagine being a mother and somebody’s lying on your kid. It’s hard to watch.” That said, Knowles explained that just because she appeared to like a negative post about Jay doesn’t mean she did it on purpose. “It’s so funny because you know how many times I’ve liked something that was negative about my own children?” Knowles said. “Because if I’m busy and I’m going through the thing, I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s Beyoncé with so and so.’ I like that. And then the fans come back and say, ‘Miss Tina, please erase that because you’re liking some negative post.’ I mean, that’s what happens to 70-year-olds on social media. It’s true.” Earlier this month, many fans were surprised when it seemed as if Knowles liked a post about the rape allegations against Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) that are part of a civil suit against the two rappers; Combs is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering and is the subject in more than 10 civil suits related to allegations of sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment and other charges. Combs has also vehemently denied the allegations and Jay-Z has called the suit a “blackmail attempt.” After Knowles initially liked the post, just days later, the like was gone and she informed followers that she had been “hacked,” adding, “As you all know I do not play about my family. So if you see something uncharacteristic of me. Just know that it is not me !” Knowles did not take on the allegations against Jay, but she did share some sage advice the rapper has given her about social media etiquette. “I know that it doesn’t understand what I’m saying, and it’s got crazy stuff,” she said of her Insta comments, many of which feature captions that are created using voice-to-text and some of which are misinterpreted due to her Southern accent. “And my son-in-law, Jay will say, ‘Listen, if you’re gonna read somebody, at least spell your words right. Don’t misspell your words, Ma. You can’t do that. Take your time and go over and spellcheck your stuff!’” While she appreciates the tip, Knowles admitted, “I don’t have time for that.” The chat also found Knowles talking about fashion and shopping, describing how as a Texas native she’s always appreciated cowboy fashion. “I’ve always worn boots and cowboy hats,” she said, noting that some people used to make comments in not “such a great way” when she showed up in L.A. in her Cowboy Carter finest. She also reminded any lingering haters that costumes she designed for Destiny’s Child back in the day hinted at the family’s Texas roots, with “a lot of fringe and cowboy hats and cowboy boots.” Source link