Categoría: Billboard

At this point, Sabrina Carpenter is one of pop music’s biggest A-listers in the 2020s. After a breakout year in 2024 that delivered both her first No. 1 album (Short n’ Sweet) and No. 1 song (“Please Please Please”), she just leveled up again thanks to her new album, Man’s Best Friend. The new project doesn’t just debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, it also posts some major numbers on the charts. Let’s dive in. Billboard 200 Breakdown Man’s Best Friend debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (chart dated Sept. 13) with 366,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, according to Luminate. That’s not only her biggest week ever, it’s also the third-largest of the year, behind only Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (493,000 in May) and The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow (490,000 in February). The album earns Carpenter her second No. 1, following Short n’ Sweet in September 2024 — that album debuted with 362,000 units. Here’s a look at her full Billboard 200 track record so far: Title, Peak Date, Peak Position Eyes Wide Open, May 2, 2015, No. 43 Evolution, Nov. 5, 2016, No. 28 Singular: Act I, Nov. 24, 2018, No. 103 Singular: Act II, Aug. 3, 2019, No. 138 Emails I Can’t Send, July 30, 2022, No. 23 Fruitcake, Dec. 21, 2024, No. 10 Short n’ Sweet, Sept. 7, 2024, No. 1 Man’s Best Friend, Sept. 13, 2025, No. 1 Vinyl was a huge contributor to Man’s Best Friend’s big first week. The album sold 160,000 copies in vinyl alone — boosted by 13 different vinyl variants, including two signed by Carpenter. That makes it the ninth-biggest vinyl sales week since Luminate starting tracking sales in 1991. Top 10 Biggest Vinyl Sales Weeks in Modern Era (1991-Present) Vinyl Number, Artist, Title, Chart Week 859,000, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, May 4, 2024 693,000, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Nov. 11, 2023 575,000, Taylor Swift, Midnights, Nov. 5, 2022 258,000, Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), July 22, 2023 191,000, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, Dec. 14, 2024 182,000, Harry Styles, Harry’s House, June 4, 2022 164,000, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, Dec. 21, 2024 161,000, Taylor Swift, Lover, Live From Paris, Jan. 25, 2025 160,000, Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend, Sept. 13, 2025 149,000, Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo, Sept. 28, 2024 Billboard Hot 100 Recap Carpenter’s big chart week isn’t limited to just sales — the album’s tracks also took over the Billboard Hot 100, too. All 12 songs from Man’s Best Friend land on the latest chart, led by new single “Tears” at No. 3. “Manchild,” which debuted at No. 1 in June, also rebounds to No. 4. Here’s the full rundown: No. 3, “Tears” No. 4, “Manchild” (up from No. 7; peaked at No. 1) No. 12, “Nobody’s Son” No. 15, “My Man on Willpower” No. 17, “When Did You Get So Hot?” No. 20, “Sugar Talking” No. 24, “Go Go Juice” No. 27, “House Tour” No. 30, “Never Getting Laid” No. 31, “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” No. 33, “Goodbye” No. 39, “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry” Thanks to these debuts, Carpenter’s career totals now stand at: 5 top 10s (“Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” “Taste,” “Manchild,” “Tears”) 12 top 20s 25 top 40s 31 total entries Carpenter also joins Taylor Swift, SZA and Olivia Rodrigo this week as the only women in history to chart at least 12 songs in the Hot 100’s top 40 simultaneously. This article was originally published on Billboard’s Substack channel. Subscribe to the free daily newsletter for exclusive insights about the Billboard charts by clicking here. Source link

A few months ago, when speaking to Billboard for a cover story about her friend Gracie Abrams, Audrey Hobert pulled open her Notes app and read aloud the lyrics to one of the first songs the two ever wrote together: a parody version of Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” “Hey now, shake your ass off/ Get some fuel now, propane/ Hey now, dance your ass off/ Break it down now, slow mane/ All that glitters is gold/ Even sexy ogres, they get old,” she sang to the tune of the signature Shrek soundtrack hit. After reciting the chorus, she immediately covered her face as the cringe of her college-aged self’s antics washed over her. The childhood besties wrote the song roughly four years ago in Abrams’ basement as a joke. Now, the pop world is taking both singer-songwriters very seriously. In 2024, Abrams’ album The Secret of Us made Hobert a chart-topping co-writer, thanks to the runaway success of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “That’s So True,” which the pair crafted while drunk one night on the roof of Electric Lady Studios in New York City. This year, Hobert has leveraged that whirlwind entrance to the music industry into her own solo career, formally introducing herself in May with lead single “Sue Me” — an uber catchy dance-pop song about hooking up with an ex — before dropping her boisterous debut album Who’s the Clown? in August. Today, she joins our Zoom call from the same kitchen table where she’d sat for our last interview, but this time, she’s the focal point of the story. Coming straight from another meeting, she signs on a few minutes late with her hair scraped into a sweaty ponytail, breathlessly devouring slices of apple — a visual representation of just how go, go, go her life has become lately. Since debuting on Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart last month, “Sue Me” has reached a No. 26 high, and the 26-year-old California native is now running back and forth — quite literally — to keep up with her blossoming music career. It all started when Abrams nudged her friend to sign a publishing deal with Universal Music Group in December 2023 so that she would be “set up properly” for whatever royalties The Secret of Us accrued. Shortly after, Hobert started working as a session songwriter, an entirely different path from the one she’d originally charted after graduating NYU with a degree in songwriting and briefly working on Nickelodeon sitcom The Really Loud House. But after years of experiencing imposter syndrome — be it while working at a restaurant or as a CBS production assistant — she had finally found her calling. “When I started going out to sessions as a songwriter, I just did not have one nervous bone in my body,” she reflects. Ariel Fisher Even so, something was missing from her experiences penning lyrics for people she barely knew. “It wasn’t even a feeling of needing to prove myself,” she continues. “I just knew I loved to write songs because of my experience with Gracie — so I started writing at home by myself.” From self-imposed solitude came future Who’s the Clown? songs “Chateau,” “I Like to Touch People” and “Wet Hair,” through which Hobert realized that she had something to say with her music — and that she was the one who needed to say it. After nervously calling UMG and getting its blessing to embark on her own project, she reached out to producer Ricky Gourmet, whom she’d met while working the session circuit. By the time she teamed up with manager Sophie Lev and signed with RCA (one of several labels that came knocking on her door) in quick succession last fall, Who’s the Clown? was pretty much fully realized — as was Hobert’s vision for herself a performer. “When I sat down with her, her message was: ‘I just want to make the young girl who’s too scared to go to school feel seen,’ ” says Lev, recalling their first meeting a year ago. “She knows exactly who she is. She’s one of one.” Ariel Fisher “Sue Me” was one of the first songs Hobert and Gourmet made together, springing from a conversation in the producer’s kitchen about how the former had slept with her ex-boyfriend the weekend prior. Off the cuff, she said the phrase that would become the song’s hook (“Sue me, I wanna be wanted”) and realized it perfectly fit the melody of the track they’d just been working on. Other lyrics inspired by the song’s subject including “In my bones I know it’s platonic, but f–king your ex is iconic” soon spilled out — and while Hobert notes he is yet to reach out, she says there “was never a world in which I wasn’t going to be entirely brash and bold in expressing myself.” As the full track came together, Hobert knew it needed to be her debut single — even if it was “the kind of pop song that people could potentially think is bad or stupid. It’s good because it’s bad,” she continues with a laugh. “There are a lot of choruses of really, really successful songs that repeat one line. And my taste in music is hit songs.” To promote the song, Hobert launched a DIY TikTok teaser campaign that saw her setting up her phone camera in her bedroom and interpretive dancing to the track with unabashed awkwardness, giving herself three takes at most to ensure that her videos always felt genuine. Through the clips, Hobert attracted the attention of thousands of followers — many of whom recognized her from her work with Abrams — who were fiending for the full version “Sue Me” by the time of its May 9 official release. As it steadily gained traction, Lev rallied the troops at RCA to throw more resources behind promoting the track on social platforms — and while its online following developed, it showed signs of growing an even

Amid Billboard’s festivities for Hip-Hop/R&B Week 2025, stars and industry tastemakers gathered for an intimate event dubbed Billboard Future of Music & Money: Presented by UBS and Feeture to celebrate visionary executives and artists reshaping the conversation around financial literacy and creating new pathways for creators. Explore See latest videos, charts and news On Friday, September 5, the invite-only cocktail reception and award ceremony was hosted at Cattail Lounge NYC and heard DJ Goldie Harris curate a set of throwback and current hip-hop and R&B staples. Horderves, cocktails and laughs filled the dimly-lit venue before evening honorees Leon Thomas, Ty Dolla $ign and more took to the stage for the award presentation. Inside the Lower East Side venue, Billboard shared a toast in honor of Leon Thomas for his groundbreaking year, which saw him command the spotlight with his hit, “MUTT,” peaking at the No. 12 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. “Tonight, we’re not just celebrating an incredible artist — we’re celebrating a true visionary,” said Wale Ogunleye, UBS Head of Sports and Entertainment, during the award ceremony. “Being a visionary is not only about creating timeless music. It’s about building a legacy, knowing where you want to go and having the courage to forge your own path. At UBS, we have the privilege of standing beside amazing artists, helping them turn their vision and creative talents into lasting financial success for themselves, their families, their communities and generations to come,” continued Ogunleye before R&B hitmaker and recipient of the Creative Visionary Award Presented by UBS, Thomas took the spotlight to thank Ogunleye and share some words with the crowd. “It’s really hard sometimes being early on a trend or early on a sound because there’s really nothing kinda to reference it to in the marketplace and I really thank everybody for being fearless enough to trust my vision,” he told the audience. Among the additional honorees included Ty Dolla $ign, who received the Collab Impact Award by Jareiq Josef Kabara, Feeture CEO, as well as Shawn Barron, who received the Executive Impact Award by Jareiq Josef Kabara, Feeture CEO. Source link

When the nominations for the 59th annual CMA Awards were announced on Monday (Sept. 8), Zach Top’s Cold Beer & Country Music became the first debut album in a decade to receive a nod for album of the year. The last debut release to be nominated was Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, which went on to win the award. The other nominees in the category this year are Megan Moroney’s second studio album, Am I Okay?; Morgan Wallen’s fourth, I’m the Problem; Lainey Wilson’s fifth, Whirlwind; and Post Malone’s sixth (but first in the country genre), F-1 Trillion. We’ll learn who wins the award on Wednesday Nov. 19 when the CMA Awards are presented at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. We’re looking back at every debut studio album to receive a CMA nomination for album of the year. Three of these albums won the award – Jack Greene’s There Goes My Everything, Kentucky HeadHunters’ Pickin’ on Nashville and Traveller. One artist manages to make this list twice. Wynonna Judd was nominated both with her first solo studio album, Wynonna, and, seven years earlier, with her first studio album as half of The Judds, Why Not Me. We also show the producers of each of these albums. Scott Hendricks and Keith Stegall, who co-produced Alan Jackson’s debut album, Here in the Real World, are each listed with a second album. Hendricks also co-produced Brooks & Dunn’s Brand New Man. Stegall also co-produced Randy Travis’ Storms of Life. Here’s every debut studio album to receive a CMA nomination for album of the year. Zach Top, Cold Beer & Country Music (2025) Producer: Carson Chamberlain Label: Leo33 Top Country Albums Peak: No. 4 Notes: Top is also nominated in four other categories – male vocalist of the year, new artist of the year and single and song of the year for “I Never Lie.” Chris Stapleton, Traveller (2015) Image Credit: John Shearer/WireImage Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton Label: Mercury Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (29 weeks) Notes: This won album of the year, with Stapleton winning as both artist and co-producer. He also won male vocalist of the year and new artist of the year. Kacey Musgraves, Same Trailer Different Park (2013) Producers: Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves Label: Mercury Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (2 weeks) Notes: Musgraves received eight nominations that year. She won new artist of the year and was also nominated for female vocalist of the year, album of the year (as both artist and co-producer), single of the year (as both artist and co-producer) for “Merry Go ’Round” and two nods for song of the year for “Merry Go ’Round” and “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which she co-wrote for Miranda Lambert. Gretchen Wilson, Here for the Party (2004) Producers: Joe Scaife, Mark Wright, John Rich (associate producer) Label: Epic Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (9 weeks) Notes: Wilson won the horizon award (the predecessor award to new artist of the year). She was also nominated for single, song and music video of the year for “Redneck Woman.” Brad Paisley, Who Needs Pictures (2000) Image Credit: Robert Knight Archive/Redferns Producer: Frank Rogers Label: Arista Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 13 Notes: Paisley received six nominations. He won the horizon award, and was also nominated for male vocalist of the year and single, song and music video of the year for “He Didn’t Have to Be.” Deana Carter, Did I Shave My Legs for This? (1997) Producers: Chris Farren, Jimmy Bowen, John Guess Label: Capitol Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 2 (10 weeks) Notes: Carter received five nods. She won single of the year for “Strawberry Wine,” which was also nominated for music video of the year. She was also nominated for female vocalist of the year and the horizon award. Brooks & Dunn, Brand New Man (1992) Producers: Don Cook, Scott Hendricks Label: Arista Top Country Albums Peak: No. 3 (1 week) Notes: Kix and Ronnie won vocal duo of the year for the first time, and were also nominated for the horizon award. Wynonna Judd, Wynonna (1992) Image Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images Producers: Tony Brown, Paul Kennerley Label: Curb MCA Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (3 weeks) Notes: This was Wy’s solo studio debut album following six studio albums as half of The Judds. She was also nominated for female vocalist of the year. Kentucky HeadHunters, Pickin’ on Nashville (1990) Producer: The Kentucky Headhunters Label: Mercury Top Country Albums Peak: No. 2 (7 weeks) Notes: This was the first debut album in 23 years to win album of the year. The band won as both artist and producer. They also won vocal group of the year, and were nominated for the horizon award and music video of the year for “Dumas Walker.” Alan Jackson, Here in the Real World (1990) Producers: Scott Hendricks, Keith Stegall Label: Arista Top Country Albums Peak: No. 4 Notes: Jackson was also nominated for the horizon award, as well as single and song of the year for the title track. Randy Travis, Storms of Life (1986) Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images Producers: Kyle Lehning, Keith Stegall Label: Warner Bros. Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (eight weeks) Notes: Travis won the horizon award. He was also nominated for male vocalist of the year and single of the year for “On the Other Hand.” The Judds, Why Not Me (1985) Producer: Brent Maher Label: RCA Victor Top Country Albums Peak: No. 1 (3 weeks) Notes: Naomi and Wynonna won single of the year for the title track, as well as vocal group of the year. John Conlee, Rose Colored Glasses (1979) Producer: Bud Logan Label: ABC Top Country Albums Peak: No. 11 Notes: Conlee was also nominated for male vocalist of the year. Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius, I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You (1977) Producer: Bob Ferguson Label: RCA Nashville Top Country Albums Peak: No. 7 Notes: Brown had released many prior studio albums,

“I am busy, but the good kind of busy. I feel good and happy and this is a wild adventure,” Debbie Gibson tells Billboard. On Sept. 9, the entertainer — chart-topping singer-songwriter, stage and screen actress and now book author — releases her memoir, Eternally Electric (subtitled The Message in My Music), its name an ode to her second album, 1989’s Electric Youth. The set ruled the Billboard 200 for five weeks and spun off her second Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “Lost in Your Eyes.” In June 1988, “Foolish Beat” had become Gibson’s first Hot 100 leader — making her the youngest act to write, produce and perform a No. 1 on the chart. She still holds the mark among women artists. Gibson continued to rack up chart hits through the years, woven into a personal and career journey that has also encompassed Broadway and television roles, as well as mental and physical health challenges. In 2021, she released her first proper album in 20 years, The Body Remembers, which hit Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart. She followed in 2022 with her first seasonal collection, Winterlicious, which decorated the top 20 on Top Holiday Albums. Days before the release of the new book, Gibson served up her newest musical creation, premiering the video for The Body Remembers triumphant track “Legendary.” As throughout her career, it finds her showing off a range of talents, from boxing to adding an Elton John-esque piano run to the song’s intro. “It was so interesting picking what I was going to write about, what I was going to leave out,” Gibson says of Eternally Electric, published by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Shuster. “I tried to give each era of my life equal time, because I’ve had a lot of varied experiences. “So, my mom and I had pitched a book, like, twice before this, always a memoir, but it was at times in my life where I really hadn’t been through enough to write anything profound. I see why those deals didn’t happen back then,” Gibson muses. “But it felt like right now … this is my true second act,” she continues. “It’s been for about five, six years. It really has been this rebuilding time and this reconnecting time with my audience. It just felt like a really fun perspective to be in the middle of it, and for the party to be going — not to be like, ‘I’m going to sit back now in old age and reflect on the good old days.’ These are the good old days that I’m living right now.” Gibson pauses. “By the way, I say a line like that and I’m like, ‘Where was that in the book?!’, ” she asks with mock anger, though seemingly strategizing on the fly, another hallmark of her endurance. “The paperback,” she says. “I can add things …” Gibson wrote Eternally Electric guided by Richard Buskin, longtime author, podcaster and all-around pop-culture devotee (whose résumé includes bylines in Billboard; Gibson’s, too). What did he bring to the process? “Writing three-and-a-half-minute songs is very different than writing over 90,000 words about your life and knowing how to structure it,” Gibson says. “I always do really well with the right collaborator and the right sounding board, and he just really knows the structure. “The whole idea was very much for it to be my voice. I mean, every word’s mine, but he would point out when I repeated a word or when maybe I was sitting someplace too long and it wasn’t moving along,” she continues. “It’s a weird thing when you’re writing about your life to realize how much material there is. Very often it was like, ‘I want to get this anecdote in,’ but it was just isolated and just didn’t have the right inroad and the right out.” Gibson met with prospective pen pals, including many women. “I was like, well, I have the female perspective, so it’s kind of cool to have a male energy, as well,” she says of choosing Buskin. “Beyond that, what I got from him is — as I was [once] called in Billboard: indefatigable — he was a true partner and he did not want to stop until we felt like we had it as great and layered and tight as we could get it.” Debbie Gibson poses for a portrait in her home in 1988. Joe McNally/Getty Images Then It Was Her, Out of the Blue Gibson first reached Billboard’s charts in the issue dated Jan. 31, 1987, with “Only in My Dreams.” By September, the song had climbed to No. 4 on the Hot 100, becoming the first of four top 10s from her debut album, Out of the Blue, which went on to hit No. 7 on the Billboard 200 in February 1988. Though 16 years old at the time of her chart arrival, the Merrick, Long Island, N.Y.-raised Gibson was already a seasoned vet in the spotlight thanks to numerous stage roles growing up, including in the children’s chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Her musical roots trace to kindergarten, when she showed-and-told an original song, “Make Sure You Know,” a classroom how-to deeper than its lyrics (“Make sure you know your classroom, make sure you know your seat … I’ll help you find your teacher, or you’ll have to wait in the street!”) In the book, Gibson writes, “It was like, Better know your way around, kid, or we’re kicking you to the curb! My mind was always going to the worst-case scenario …” Looking back to her professional musical career’s launch, and trajectory, Gibson says, “I mean, it really is astounding that my records got on the radio, the charts, that I don’t have a #MeToo story, that I’ve landed in a very sane, happy, healthy place, and I’m creatively thriving. I’m not a statistic. That’s pretty amazing.” Shaping her along the way? Her mother, Diane, who became Gibson’s

(This story contains mild spoilers) Oasis’s Noel and Liam Gallagher aren’t this year’s only long-anticipated musical reconciliation. As Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opens, it’s revealed that Spinal Tap bandmates Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) have been estranged for 15 years. While not actual blood brothers like the Gallaghers, the two musicians grew up together in England and had been pals since they were five. The fortuitous timing is, of course, completely coincidental, Spinal Tap II director Rob Reiner notes, but he still gets a kick out of “life imitating art imitating life,” he says over a Zoom interview, sporting a Spinal Tap baseball cap and t-shirt. “In Oasis’ case, they’re real brothers, but with Spinal Tap, the two guys were best friends since they were little and break apart and come back together.”  The movie opens in theaters nationwide Friday (Sept. 12). Explore See latest videos, charts and news In the sequel to 1984’s This is Spinal Tap — the revered mockumentary about a British heavy metal band touring America as their fortunes are fading — Tufnel and St. Hubbins, along with bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), are forced to reunite because, as it is revealed after the death of original manager Ian Faith, the band is contractually obligated to play one more show. “The emotional ballast of the movie is the relationship between the two guys. Now, many years later, they’re older. The same issues are happening, but it’s deeper because they’ve known each other longer,” says Reiner, who recreates his role as documentarian Marty DiBergi. “[The sequel] couldn’t be just a straight satire; it had to have some kind of emotional underpinnings. And it’s not easy because satire and emotion, they don’t like to be with each other.” The original film wasn’t a box office success, grossing only $5.98 million — but over the decades, thanks to home video and word of mouth, it has become a cherished cult classic among musicians, comedians and music fans. At first, it did have a few detractors among rockers who felt it cut a little too close to home, Reiner says. “Initially, you had people like Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and, God rest his soul, Ozzy Osbourne, they were not so happy with it because they thought we were making fun of their music and all that,” Reiner says, noting that many of the incidents in the film “we took from the real world of rock and roll: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers getting lost backstage; Van Halen demanding backstage there be no [brown] M&Ms.” Despite — or perhaps because of– the film’s iconic status, the quartet never truly considered making a follow-up. “I mean, people approached us all the time to do a sequel, and we always felt like we did it, you know,” Reiner says. “We don’t want to do it again. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh god, we’ve got to do a sequel.’ Nobody ever talked about it that way.” Then in 2016, Shearer filed a lawsuit against Vivendi and its StudioCanal division, which the other three later joined, alleging they had made less than $200 each on the mockumentary due to “Hollywood accounting.” The quartet asked for damages — but more importantly, to reclaim the rights to Spinal Tap. The case settled in a California federal court in 2020, allowing the filmmakers to move forward should they wish. Once the lawsuit was resolved, Reiner, Guest, McKean and Shearer gathered at Shearer’s house in Santa Monica, once again broaching the idea of a sequel. “The first meeting we had we talked about, ‘Do we really want to do this, [given] the high bar that we were dealing with?’” Reiner says. The film’s mythical status had only grown in the intervening decades: it’s now in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry — and Tufnel’s now-classic “These go to 11” quote, as he shows DiBergi his amplifier, is even in the Oxford English Dictionary to reference anything that goes to an extreme. At the real Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England (not the 18” replica in the first movie), a display wall with quotes from philosophers, scientists and poets about the ancient, prehistoric site includes Tufnel’s lyric, “No one knows who they were or what they were doing,” from the band’s masterpiece, “Stonehenge.”  “This fictional thing that we created — we have definitely invaded the real world,” Reiner says.   Around their third meeting, the quartet landed on the basic theme of a forced reunion and decided to incorporate a plot point spurred on by another real-life event: Kate Bush’s 1985 song, “Running Up That Hill,” soaring to the top of the Spotify charts, and Bush earning her first No. 1 album on a Billboard chart after being used on Netflix’s Stranger Things: “We said, ‘Wait! What if some big musician is screwing around at sound check and sings one of [Spinal Tap’s] songs. Someone captures it on an iPhone, throws it on TikTok and it goes viral?’” Enter Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who appear as the superstars singing Spinal Tap’s classic “Big Bottom” at a soundcheck. Reiner had met the pair at Jeff Bezos’ annual Campfire retreat and had mentioned the possibility of a sequel. He then called them when it became a reality, and they were immediately in.   Like with the first film, after basic ideas for the scenes were agreed upon, the dialog for second film was entirely improvised. Similarly, the quartet brought back the “Grimsby Method” to work out primary plot points: While creating the first movie, Shearer was dating a woman who worked at ABC News, and he brought home a small stack of promotional cards with then WABC news reporter Roger Grimsby’s face on them that had a blank back. “We had a big bulletin board where we put ideas for scenes and if we came up with something, we thought, ‘Does this warrant a Grimsby? Should we sacrifice a Grimsby to put the idea down

Next year, Don Was will celebrate his 14th anniversary as president of storied label Blue Note Records. Right now, however, he’s celebrating the impending release of the first album under his own name, Groove in the Face of Adversity. The project arrives Oct. 10 via Detroit-based Mack Avenue Records. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Groove in the Face of Adversity finds Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble deftly ricocheting from blues, soul and funk to jazz and country on the six-track set, some of which was recorded live. The six cuts include the up-tempo proclamation and new single “Midnight Marauders” (listen here), a 10-minute take on Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time,” the social consciousness vibe of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions’ “This Is My Country,” the free-flowing “Nubian Lady,” a 21st century reinterpretation of funk band Cameo’s “Insane” and an original from Was’ own catalog, “You Asked, I Came” from 1994’s Backbeat soundtrack. In addition to saxophonist Dave McMurray and Oscar-winning keyboardist Luis Resto (Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”) — both of whom are longtime Was collaborators — the tight-knit ensemble’s other members are drummer Jeff Canaday, trombonist Vincent Chandler, vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, trumpeter John Douglas, guitarist Wayne Gerard, and percussionist Mahindi Masai. Of his handpicked Detroit bandmates, Was says, “We have a great time playing together. In times of confusion and chaos, just spreading a little joy and comfort to people is a noble undertaking.” The nine-piece soul jazz group begins that noble undertaking with the first leg of an extensive tour headlining tour this fall. Kicking off in Traverse City, Michigan on Oct. 8, the trek thus far includes stops in Evanston, Illinois (Oct. 10), Detroit (Oct. 11) and Louisville, Kentucky (Oct. 15). Additional dates will be announced in the near future. Alongside songs from Groove in the Face of Adversity, the Pan-Detroit Ensemble will deliver a full performance of The Grateful Dead’s Blues for Allah, in tribute to the album’s 50th anniversary. Groove in the Face of Adversity also doubles as a homecoming 35 years in the making for the Grammy-winning producer-songwriter-musician and Detroit native born Don Fagenson. Was’ childhood love of music evolved into a commercial career in the ‘80s as the bassist and co-founder — with friend David Weiss (David Was) — of the eclectic, multi-genre band Was (Not Was), best known for the 1987 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Walk the Dinosaur.” From there, Was pivoted to producing projects for (among others) Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones; his six Grammy wins include one for producer of the year in 1994. He’s also an Emmy Award winner for music direction (The Beatles: The Night That Changed America). Now Was is donning his artist hat once more with Groove in the Face of Adversity. He dives into the inspiration behind his solo effort — and what he learned about himself from it — with Billboard below. Why your first solo album now? It sounds ridiculous, but I just didn’t get around to it [laughs]. I was hearing the sound of this band in my head for probably 35 years. I made a few attempts to achieve it, came close a few times, but there was so much other stuff to do that I never really pursued it. A couple of things changed that. Number one was doing the Wolf Bros tour with [Grateful Dead guitarist] Bobby Weir and [former Primus drummer] Jay Lane in 2018. It reminded me of a beautiful aspect of playing live that doesn’t exist in the studio: instant connection with the audience. The feedback you get from them becomes a cyclical motion that can blow the roof off the place. It really whetted my appetite. Also, [jazz trumpeter] Terence Blanchard offered me one night to perform in a jazz series that he was curating for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He called me about two years in advance. Then six months before, I realized I didn’t have a band or any songs for the show. I was in the studio with Willie Nelson one day and I’m thinking I can never be what he is. Then it clicked — but he can’t be me. He didn’t grow up in Detroit in the ’60s. He didn’t have George Clinton and Parliament playing a sock hop at his junior high school. He didn’t go downtown to see The Stooges or the MC5 play.  I started thinking about putting this band [Pan-Detroit Ensemble] together for Terence’s show; about the sound I was hearing in my head that reflected growing up in Detroit. I said to myself, “Just go back to Detroit, get in a room with a bunch of musicians who grew up listening to the same radio stations as you and playing with the same people.” Sure enough, we had a rehearsal — and man, it clicked immediately. I knew this band had something that was greater than the sum of its parts, and it came from this common Detroit musical language. It was too good to put to rest after the one gig. So we did a couple of tours around it; now we’ve been out playing for about a year and a half. In complementing the band, singer Steffanie Christi’an’s voice is a unique instrument unto itself. She’s unafraid to tackle any kind of music. She’s a real Detroit singer to me because during the time in which we all grew up, the city was an industrial center. People came from all over the world to work in the factories, and they brought their cultures with them: a real jambalaya of influences. After a couple generations, they started to merge. So you can have rock and roll bands that also have elements of polka and Irish music. That’s a very Detroit thing. The fact that Stephanie can transcend any kind of genre makes her incredibly appealing. She’s quite a soulful, distinctive singer who doesn’t sound like anybody else. That’s a real goal of this band; our philosophy and

It’s not quite “Wonder Twins activate!,” but in the rock world it’s pretty close. The Foo Fighters are gearing up for their first run of shows with a new drummer, so naturally they need to get some rehearsal time under their belts first after more than a year off the road. Explore See latest videos, charts and news In an Instagram post late last week, the band posted a pic of six pairs of feet in a circle with the caption “Foo Fighters Assemble!!!,” with a note to fans to make sure they’re subscribed to the Foos’ newsletter for “info you won’t want to miss.” Over the next few days they proved that they’re back at it with some pics from their Studio 606 rehearsal/recording space in which singer/guitarist Dave Grohl is seen from behind playing a white electric guitar, with bassist Nate Mendel and guitarist Pat Smear in the background. In another snap, guitarist Chris Shiflett rips on a red guitar. The images pointedly did not showcase the band’s new timekeeper, former Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin, who came on board in July following the dismissal of well-traveled session/live drummer Josh Freese, who joined the band in May 2023 following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The Foos released their 11th album, But Here We Are, in 2023, marking their first new LP since Hawkins’ death. They also celebrated the band’s 30th anniversary in July via the new track “Today’s Song,” which features the turbulent chorus, “Two sides to a river/ Too troubled to cross/ It might take you under/ Today’s song/ We’ll drown in the middle/ Which side are you on/ One way or another/ Today’s song.” The band has been off the road since Sept. 2024 and are gearing up to be back on stage with upcoming shows in Indonesia on Oct. 2, Singapore (Oct. 4), Japan (Oct. 7, 8, 10) and Mexico City (Nov. 14).    Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Rosalía has teamed up with Calvin Klein to launch a “new era” for the brand, Billboard has learned. The Spanish superstar takes center stage in Calvin Klein’s Fall 2025 underwear campaign, which launched Tuesday (Sept. 9). Showcasing her distinctive allure fused with bold sensuality, the singer, songwriter and producer “introduces a new era of modern innovation in underwear,” according to a press release, spotlighting the new Icon Cotton Modal line that features a “stitch-free” waistband and “bonded hook and eye closures for a smoother silhouette and enhanced breathability,” according to an official description of the collection. “Calvin Klein underwear has been a staple in my wardrobe for years,” the Spanish star said in a statement. “I love the brand and it’s an honor to be in the campaign – it feels like a full circle moment.” Rosalía is also featured in the brand’s Heritage Cotton styles as well as in the Perfectly Fit bra and bikini. The “Despechá” singer’s campaign launches with a video, premiering exclusively on Billboard, that features Rosalía posing in the new Calvin Klein line, showcasing her flair for performance and storytelling. Rosalía for Calvin Klein Carlijn Jacobs for Calvin Klein The Icon Cotton Stretch styles were first launched for men last Spring, featuring a campaign fronted by Rosalía’s fellow hitmaker, Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny. Fall 2025 women’s underwear is now available on CalvinKlein.com. Earlier this year, it was announced that Rosalía will join the cast of HBO’s hit series Euphoria for its third season, set to premiere in 2026. “Euphoria has been my favorite series over the last few years and I couldn’t be happier and more grateful to be acting alongside all of these incredibly talented people that I admire so much,” she wrote then about her role. Rosalía for Calvin Klein Carlijn Jacobs for Calvin Klein Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Lady Gaga contains multitudes. After taking home the artist of the year award at Sunday’s 2025 MTV VMAs and then sprinting to Madison Square Garden for a Mayhem Ball date that turned into stunning VMA performances of “Abracadabra”” and her latest single, “The Dead Dance,” Gaga popped into The Late Show on Monday night (Sept. 8) to transmogrify one of her Mayhem tracks. Seated at a piano, Gaga completely re-imagined “Vanish Into You” into a spare, chilling ballad as her accompanists plucked out thrumming notes on their guitar and bass and she gripped the mic, eyes close, pouring her soul into the track’s love-drenched lyrics. “High on a hill you call/ Two lovers regret their time/ Once in a blue moon I forget you/ And once in your life you’ll be mine,” she sang over the spare backing, which completely stripped away the original song’s thumping beat and chilled disco bounce. The song written by Gaga along with producer Andrew Watt, Henry Walter and her fiancé, Michael Polansky — and produced by Gaga with Watt and Cirkut — is a plea to be recognized by her lover, with Gaga asking, “Do you see me/ Do you see me now?/ I’ve been waiting for you crying out/ Do you see me?/Do you see me now?” As the tempo picked up and she finally laid her hands on the piano, Gaga’s voice rose to a crescendo, picking up an added, gritty urgency as she wailed, “In the summertime, we were happy just to be alive/ Can I… I vanish into you?” Gaga’s Mayhem Ball tour will continue on Wednesday night (Sept. 10) with the first of three show at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Watch Gaga perform “Vanish Into You” on The Late Show below.    Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link