NEWS
Silk Sonic
John Esparza*This week made music fanatics nostalgic about their favorite punk acts performing under one festival bill and look forward to legendary hip-hop acts coming together on one stage.
The When We Were Young Festival lineup gave the Vans Warped Tour a run for its money when it announced that Paramore and My Chemical Romance were headlining the now two-day festival with a ton of incredible acts that gave everyone a blast from the past.
Those excited for the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show were even more amped when Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar starred in the official preview video, which revealed their individual, then collective journey to the stadium.
And Maluma and Taylor Swift become the new faces of some major fashion and music campaigns.
Take a look at Billboard’s weekly roundup and the “awards” we’re giving to this week’s headlines.
Sweetest Music News: John Mayer designs a Bob Saget memorial sweatshirt, Cardi B offers to pay for funerals of Bronx fire victims
Mayer commemorated his dear friend and actor Bob Saget, who died earlier in January, by designing a sweatshirt honoring Saget and Scleroderma Research Foundation, which the comedian had supported much throughout his life after the Full House star’s sister died from the disease.
Meanwhile, Cardi gave back to her Bronx community by offering to pay the funeral and burial expenses of the 17 New Yorkers who died in an apartment fire on Jan. 9. “I cannot begin to imagine the pain and anguish that the families of the victims are experiencing, but I hope that not having to worry about the costs associated with burying their loved ones will help as they move forward and heal,” she said in a statement to Billboard.
Read about Mayer’s philanthropic efforts here and Cardi B’s efforts here.
Sportiest Music News: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem star in Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show preview
The Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Avengers (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem) assembled in a new preview video titled “The Call,” which premiered on Thursday (Jan. 20). The video follows each superstar heeding the call to take center stage at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13 for the Big Game. Watch the full video here.
Wildest Music News: When We Were Young festival announces nostalgic lineup and adds one more day
The When We Were Young festival gave everyone a serious case of nostalgia on Tuesday (Jan. 18) when it announced that practically every 2000s emo-pop and punk-rock act would be going to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds for the originally scheduled one-day event on Oct. 22. Paramore and My Chemical Romance are headlining, with Avril Lavigne, the All-American Rejects, Boys Like Girls, 3OH!3, Jimmy Eat World, Wolf Alice and many more performing. On Friday (Jan. 21), When We Were Young added a second day to the festival, featuring the same lineup of artists, due to overwhelming demand. Learn more here and here, and listen to Billboard‘s 130-track playlist to get you amped here.
Most Live Music News: Silk Sonic announces Las Vegas residency
“An Evening With Silk Sonic” is headed to Vegas! Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak are packing their bags and going to Sin City for Silk Sonic’s 13-show run at Dolby Live in Park MGM, which is slated to start on Feb. 25. Learn more here.
Most Fashionable Music News: Maluma becomes new face of Versace Man in 2022 campaign
The Colombian singer-songwriter is the face of Versace Man this year, which marks his first collaboration with the luxury fashion house. “I loved the way he played with the camera and the fact that he was as much at ease in front of the camera as he is in front of a stadium full of people singing his songs!” Donatella Versace said in a statement Wednesday (Jan. 19) of Maluma, who modeled alongside his dog Buda. See his 2022 campaign photos here.
Most Impressive Music News: Taylor Swift become first-ever Record Store Day global ambassador
Record Store Day announced on Thursday (Jan. 20) that Swift is its first global ambassador and will help out with its upcoming 15th anniversary, which is set for April 23. An as-yet-announced Swift title will be included in this year’s RSD releases. “It’s been a true joy for me to watch vinyl sales grow in the past few years and we, the artists, have the fans to thank for this pleasant surprise,” Swift, who’s played an instrumental role in vinyl sales’ recent uptick, wrote in a statement. Read more here.
Suki Waterhouse has spoken candidly about how she found herself crying constantly after the birth of her daughter.
The singer and actress reflected on her experience as a mother more than two years after she and her partner, actor Robert Pattinson, welcomed their baby girl in March 2024.
During an interview with The Standard published on Thursday, Suki explained that motherhood has completely shifted her outlook on life.
"I think it's made me marvel at our humanness. It's so funny, even just your kid getting a fever, watching a little body recover from that, it's brought me down to what it is to be alive and I really love that," she said. "It feels very survivalist and medieval in a way, especially birth, birth is medieval."
The Daisy Jones & The Six actress, 34, shared that she was caught off guard by just how exposed and emotional she felt after giving birth to her daughter.
"I'm almost two and a half years in now, but when she was first born, I remember thinking that I can't believe everybody does this and I can't believe how vulnerable I feel," she told the publication. "I was crying all the time."
Suki continued, "It makes me cry now thinking about it. It was just... shocking."
The Notting Hill singer also admitted that she has never considered herself someone who cries easily, making those emotions all the more surprising.
"It's so f**king weird! I'm not a cryer! I'm so not an emotional person, I'm such a Capricorn. But being a mum just fed me up in such a sweet way," she stated. "It just absolutely broke open my heart, and I'm just madly in love and, despite my crying right now, I enjoy it so much and I'm so taken by my daughter and so in love with doing it with my partner and I just feel the preciousness of it very much."
Suki and Twilight actor Robert, 40, have been in a relationship since 2018 and announced they were expecting their first child together toward the end of 2023.
The pair have largely kept their romance away from the spotlight and have yet to publicly share the name of their daughter.
