Music

Not very many years come along where we’d be talking about a presumptive winner for the album of the year Grammy 10 months from the date that award is given out. Neither do times come along very often where we would necessarily be considering someone a likely shoo-in for a major award when that person

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has upped Michele Ballantyne to President. She will also continue to serve as chief operating officer, running daily operations and managing the 56-employee team. Ballantyne serves on the executive leadership team alongside Chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier. During her time with the company, Ballantyne has mobilized the RIAA

Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar’s “Like That,” in which Lamar directly responds to Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter,” has landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is featured on Future and Metro Boomin’s new collaborative album, “We Don’t Trust You,” also the No. 1 album on the

Anyone who was hoping to pay to hear the “Vultures” album played back in an arena in the near future may be out of luck. The next round of “listening sessions” with Kanye West, aka Ye, and Ty Dolla Sign for the album project has been called off, as the arenas that were scheduled to

Billie Eilish has long been combatting the music industry’s overconsumption habits by highlighting its sustainability wins and fails. In a recent interview centered around her environmental activism for Billboard, Eilish called out the “wasteful” ways the “biggest artists in the world” sell an overwhelming amount of vinyl variants, usually to secure their No. 1 entry

With hits like Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Kelis’ “Milkshake,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” and dozens of others, Pharrell Williams and longtime collaborator Chad Hugo rode to multiplatinum success as the songwriting/production duo the Neptunes. While Pharrell has become a superstar in his own right over the last two decades, with solo hits like “Happy”

Co-headlining tours are a dime a dozen (give or take hundreds of dollars in tacked-on fees). But actual collaboration on the road is another thing, with most bands too protective of their brands to hand over very much of their nightly set times to truly share someone else’s vision. In a joint road show, we

Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” arrived on Friday to critical acclaim, ushering listeners into her new era. But some fans who received their physical copies were confused that tracks included on the digital release were missing, with four omitted from the CD and five from the LP. Throughout the weekend, fans have been complaining online that their

Oliver Anthony, the Appalachian singer who had the biggest out-of-nowhere viral hit in years in 2023, announced Friday that he will be issuing his debut album, “Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind,” on Easter Sunday. The collection was produced by the biggest name in the production of roots-oriented music, Dave Cobb, famous for his work

In the weeks since Beyonce announced her “Cowboy Carter” album, there’s been an enormous amount of commentary over the singer’s move into country music, and the long-overlooked contributions of Black artists to the genre since its very beginning. There’s also been more-humorous comments about the album’s title — which comes from Beyonce’s married surname and

Doja Cat is signaling the beginning of a new era — or, more definitively, the second era of her fourth album “Scarlet” that released in September. The singer and rapper took to Instagram to announce that a new song “Masc” will release on April 5, sharing a brief snippet of the song. In January, she

Beyoncé’s new album “Cowboy Carter” arrives after what the Texas-born singer says was a five-year journey she embarked on after feeling rejected by the country music world. On her eighth solo LP — a “Beyoncé album” not a country album, she insists — the artist freely pushes the boundaries of country music and utilizes the

Beyoncé once again brought the internet to a standstill with the release of her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter” last night, but she explains that she initially had different plans for the 27-track project. The singer revealed that she intended for “Cowboy Carter” to come before “Renaissance” — the first in a trilogy of albums that

Mike Post has written the music for more classic TV series than anyone else: “The Rockford Files,” “Hill Street Blues,” “The Greatest American Hero,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “The A-Team,” “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order” and many others over the past 50 years. But for his new album, “Message from the Mountains & Echoes of

Being asked to collaborate on a Beyonce album is the equivalent of knighthood, and the morning after “Cowboy Carter” dropped to near-universal hosannahs, featured artists Miley Cyrus and Post Malone shared their gratitude at the rare honor. Cyrus, who duets with Beyonce on the song “II Most Wanted,” wrote on social media: “I’ve loved Beyonce

What does “going country” mean to Beyoncé — musically speaking? That’s a mystery that really had to wait until this week to be solved. We’d already picked up a good idea of what country means to her culturally, in her few public statements in advance of “Act II: Cowboy Carter,” amplified in the one trillion

“They don’t, don’t know how hard I had to fight for this,” sings Beyoncé on “Ameriican Requiem,” the harmony-laden opener on her eighth album “Cowboy Carter.” Anyone keyed into the promotional cycle leading up to its release knows this well. A few weeks back, Beyoncé revealed that she came up with the concept for the

Beyoncé called in many artists to feature on her new album “Cowboy Carter,” spanning country icons like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson to up-and-comers including Tanner Adell and Shaboozey. But she also made it a family affair, enlisting her daughter Rumi Carter to appear on one of the record’s songs. At the start of “Protector,”

It looks like Dolly Parton hinted correctly. After the country icon said that she believed that Beyoncé would sample or interpolate her 1973 classic “Jolene” for her new album, Bey has done just that, including a cover of the song with altered lyrics and song structure on her highly anticipated new album “Cowboy Carter.” Parton

Lil Yachty has officially launched Concrete Rekordz, a new record label joint venture with Quality Control Music and HYBE. The joint venture is said to expand the growth and success of Quality Control Music, which HYBE America acquired a year ago. “Yachty has always had a profound vision since the day we met and to

New details about Beyoncé’s incoming “Cowboy Carter,” out tonight (March 29), have emerged following yesterday’s tracklist reveal. The follow-up to Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” features Post Malone on the song “Levii’s Jeans,” while Miley Cyrus lends her vocals for “II Most Wanted.” In addition, Dolly Parton appears in an interlude, as does Willie Nelson and Linda Martell,

Beyoncé could bow out of music today, and she’ll have released enough music to explore for decades to come. But that’s not a worry — with the release tonight of “Cowboy Carter,” she’s onto the second act of a three-part project. She’s been a pop and R&B powerhouse since the 1990s, first as a member

Universal Music Group and Spotify — the world’s largest music company and the world’s largest paid music-subscription service — have unveiled an expansion of their “strategic relationship” in an announcement that has very few details but is likely the opening of a new maneuver in UMG’s ongoing battle with TikTok. UMG and the China-based platform, which

Just 48 hours after a show in San Diego and less than 24 hours before he is set to perform at San Francisco’s Chase Center, Bruce Springsteen logged some serious (private) air miles for a surprise performance at country superstar Zach Bryan‘s concert at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Wednesday night. Bryan, wearing a Springsteen shirt,

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 4 of “The Masked Singer,” “TV Theme Night,” which aired March 27 on Fox. “” host Billy Bush won’t get an extra shot at “The Masked Singer.” The entertainment newsmagazine anchor and one-time morning drive radio host was the next celebrity

Most of the really essential rituals of American life — religious observances; Halloween and New Year’s Eve; opening day in baseball — are cyclical, endlessly repeatable experiences, independent from individuals or cults of personality. But to that list, a lot of us would add the ritual, stretching past 50 years now, of Bruce Springsteen in

Camila Cabello has officially entered her new era with the release of the single “I Luv It” featuring Playboi Carti along with an accompanying music video. The former Fifth Harmony member has been teasing the single for weeks, uploading snippets of the track onto social media. The track, executive produced by El Guincho (Rosalia, Bjork)

As with his long music career, Yoshiki’s eventual foray into fashion seemed inevitable. “I’m the oldest son, and, usually, the son takes over the family business,” Yoshiki, Variety’s International Achievement in Music honoree, says about the expectations for him to take over his parents’ kimono shop. “I was always surrounded by those flashy kimonos. I

A collection of letters, photos and more from the late Tony Bennett will go up for sale via Julien’s Auctions on April 18. The trove of items includes rarities addressed to Bennett from stars like Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Madonna, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Quincy Jones and Barbra Streisand, among others. The priciest item

With her new album “Act 2: Cowboy Carter” arriving tomorrow at midnight, Beyoncé has revealed the tracklist for the album ahead of the March 29 release date. In recent Beyoncé fashion, the singer took to Instagram to announce the tracklist. Notable inclusions are “Jolene,” which Dolly Parton previously mentioned may appear on the second installment