Author: Rap Hooks

The Weeknd freaked out some of his longtime fans last year when he told Variety magazine that after 16 years inhabiting his stage persona, the man born Abel Tesfaye was ready to move on to his next era and retire the character.

Well, after explaining at the time that “it never ends until you end it,” now he’s doubling-down on not ending it. Tesfaye, 36, who has been releasing music as The Weeknd since 2011, told a crowd in Stockholm last month that he’d had a change of heart. “I’ll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear. I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels. I said, Imma be here forever with you, I’ll never disappear,” he said, according to fan video of the statement.

Now, in a new interview with GQ Hong Kong, Tesfaye has clarified those comments and explained his strike-that-reverse-it stance. “Disappearing simply means finally taking some time to focus all my energy on one project instead of juggling multiple things,” he told the magazine. “This past five years for me has been creating four concept albums, countless music videos, a TV show, a feature film, and I’m still out here on a massive world tour spanning years. I think disappearing for a little while is well earned.”

And, if that wasn’t clear enough, he added, “I’m not stepping away from anything. I’m just hibernating. I’m not going anywhere. My fans know I’ve shed my skin multiple times throughout my career. I was telling one story from 2020 until now, and that story has reached its conclusion. But that’s only the 2020 story.”

Given his list of accomplishments over the past decade, Abel was asked what he might pursue after the Weeknd is actually “fully retired.”

“I can’t even put into words the amount of inspiration I’ve felt over the last year. I can’t contain it. At one point I thought, ‘What if I just stopped?’ But then I realized what a waste all of that inspiration would be,” he said. “I can’t let that happen. I had a glimpse of what retirement looks like, and it isn’t for me. It’s a real privilege to do what I do. There’s nothing else like this job. The gratitude I’ve felt over the last year has been overwhelming. I’m going to keep doing this for as long as I possibly can. The Weeknd isn’t going anywhere.”

The singer completed a sold-out two-night run of gigs in Lisbon, Portugal two weeks ago and is gearing up to take the ongoing After Hours til Dawn tour to Asia with a pair of shows at Belluna Dome in Tokorozawa, Japan on Saturday (Sept. 19) and Sunday (Sept. 20). That will be followed by stops in Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong, before wrapping up the nearly four-year global tour on Nov. 4-5 at TM Stadium National in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

There’s seemingly no end to MNEK’s drive or creative reserves; over the past decade, the London singer, songwriter and producer’s fingerprints have been everywhere in modern pop and R&B, even when his name hasn’t. The 31-year-old’s dedicated ‘Written By’ playlist on Spotify paints the picture of a studio auteur who has built a career around extreme multifacetedness: He’s penned tracks for cultural behemoths Beyoncé (“Hold Up”) and BTS (“Paradise”), as well as U.K. No. 1 hits for Dua Lipa (“IDGAF”) and Little Mix (“Sweet Melody”).  

Known for his abrasive-yet-glossy futurism equally as much as his ear for house-pop heaters, there have been co-writes with Madonna and a wealth of British dance supernovas (Becky Hill, Joel Corry). More recently, he helped revitalize close collaborator Zara Larsson’s career with his work on the singer’s celestial slow-burn mega-hit “Midnight Sun” and her verse on the remix of PinkPantheress’ “Stateside,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 in March.

MNEK was just 14 when a set of vibrant, self-produced MySpace demos landed him his first publishing deal in 2009. Since then, he’s rarely been far from the centre of the pop cosmos; with his sophomore LP, Bulldozer!!, released this September, he turns that decade-plus of experience back on himself. The follow-up to 2018’s Language, the album takes in the invincible highs and lonely comedowns of partying, body image, the Wild West of dating apps and his conflicted relationship with the U.S. It’s a portrait of a life lived both inside and adjacent to the industry, sticking proudly to a dancefloor-based mood with decadent tropical flourishes and skittering tempo switch-ups.

“I feel like there is no limit to where my music could go,” MNEK tells Billboard U.K., speaking over a video call from his home studio. “I can only worry about what my music makes me feel, and what the emotion I want people to feel is when they hear my music, whether that be happy and euphoric or sassy and confident.”

That freedom feels pertinent this time around. Language fell considerably short of commercial expectations, missing the Billboard 200 entirely and also failing to make a dent in the U.K. top 40. MNEK responded to the news with a series of since-deleted social media posts, saying that he was “a bit gutted, kinda f–ked it” and reflecting on the difficulty of making the leap to solo artist. Speaking today, he says releasing Bulldozer!! “feels emotionally lighter” in part because there’s less stress attached to where the songs might land.

“And there’s no game playing on this album,” he says. “I feel like it’s an album that only I can make, which I’m really proud of.”

Below, he talks more about his sophomore album, and about which artists on the U.K. pop scene he currently finds inspiring.

Eight years is a long time between albums. What changed internally for you to be ready to release another body of solo work?

I think enough time has passed. This was about me just rebuilding my confidence after the last album, and a lot of that was through just continuing to make music in the process, whether it be my own music or exec-producing other projects. I was doing FLO’s first album [2024’s Access All Areas] and Midnight Sun for Zara [Larsson], and those had my attention for a hot minute while I was just figuring out what I wanted to do next.

You mention wanting to rebuild your confidence with this album. What experiences did you need to live first? 

I just needed a bit of an ego death. I also needed time to just not be working. At that point, I’d been working for the entirety of my teens and then the first half of my 20s, and I think I was a bit burnt out, but I didn’t know how to verbalize it. That was a real watershed moment where I was like,”‘Oh, I actually need to separate myself from this work, or even give the person outside of this a chance to breathe.”

There’s been a lot of just growing that has come with age. I was 23 when Language came out, and even younger when I was writing it. So I think with this new album, I’m definitely coming at things with a more rounded sense of self.

What did recovering from burnout look like in practice?

It meant changing the way I worked, and having a sense of consistency and routine with the people I was working with and also just within myself. I had to start giving myself some structure and things to look forward to in the day, and then I focused on travelling and seeing a bit more of the world without the guise of work. This new album does have songs that talk about relationships, but so much of it is me talking to myself and trying to hype myself up or push through whatever adversity I’m going through in the lyrics.

The title Bulldozer!! screams force, momentum, taking up space. When did you realize that was the energy you wanted to roll with for the album?

It’s funny, because when I was writing the songs, all of them threw up themes of self-exploration — not wanting to be put in a box, wanting to exceed expectations, taking up space, etc. Those are all the keywords that were coming up during the writing process, and when the word “bulldozer” came to my desk, it brought a visceral reaction out of me, it almost made me feel uncomfortable.

Is there any significance in having the exclamation marks in the song titles?

Yeah, for sure. This is my second album, so there’s two exclamation marks, and overall I feel like there’s a sense of me wanting to be heard within the music — so it’s just exclaiming everything twice as much as the last time!

On “California” you ask, “why does the dream have to be so American?” How has your relationship with America changed over the years, and why does it still appeal to you to work and thrive out there?

That’s a good question. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with LA in particular because that’s been the main mecca of music for me. I’ve been going there for the past 15 years, and it’s only in the past few years where I’ve developed a love for it enough to live there. “California” is a song that I got sent by Ragz Originale, and it’s an idea that he’d started, and I just resonated with the feeling of it so much because it was what I was going through. I was kind of in between London and LA, and just thinking, “Oh, do I want to move here full time?” 

It just made me think that there’s a ceiling a lot of Black creatives find when it comes to being in the U.K., in that there’s only so far they can go until they are forced to go to somewhere where the scope is bigger. I guess this song speaks to that from a selfish point of view, but I think there’s a lot of people that will relate to that feeling: “OK, I’m outgrowing the system. I want to be larger than life, but then the system wants me to be small — so I need to go somewhere else and see what is there for me.”

Do you think British artists still feel they need to “make it” in America to be seen as successful, or is that starting to change?

We’re in a world where monoculture is dying, and it’s become a thing where you can really be fruitful in your niche as opposed to being concerned with widespread acclaim. It’s undeniable that there are fruits that come with being successful in America: It’s a larger place, it’s more lucrative, and there’s a bigger scope of people. I think the worst thing you can do is just limit yourself and say, “No, I won’t go there.” It should be more about seeing what you’re capable of.

Are there any U.K. acts smashing it globally right now that you find really inspiring?

I love PinkPantheress, she’s great. The FLO ladies, of course. I love how they’ve been able to thrive globally. RAYE is a superstar. I think it’s to each their own, in what actually makes a song successful enough to be globally accepted? Because there’s so many songs – like “Stateside” – that you hear and you’re like, “That’s really British, how is that going to be understood by an American?” But it then becomes a hit just as big as most American songs.

In the album’s press materials, you mention how audiences turning up for you, especially in the U.S., gave you confidence in what you’d made with Language. With everything you’ve done since, what feels validating to you now?

Well, it’s an interesting one, right? Because I think that it’s obviously really nice selling a lot of records and earning certifications, awards and industry love; like, all that stuff is great, but it actually can feel really hollow without [support from] the actual people.

I’ve had songs that are No. 1 hits but the measure of success for me is when my friends or people that I respect, or that I don’t even talk to every day, find it in their heart to text me and be like, “That song is really good.” The intentionality is what I always adhere to. It’s a huge deal.

I feel that way about music now. With “Midnight Sun” from Zara, for instance, that was a song that had been out for a year and has not been nearly as successful as it is right now. But I was getting texts from all types of people being like, “That ‘Midnight Sun’ song is amazing,” in a way that I’ve never received from other songs before. And that’s when I feel like, “Oh OK, this music talks to people. People really like this. It’s not just been force-fed to them.” It’s been so moving to see.

You’ve previously talked about how seeing people show up to your headline gigs, especially in the U.S., gave you confidence in what you made with Language. With everything you’ve done since, where does your sense of validation come from now?

Well, it’s an interesting one, right? It’s obviously really nice selling a lot of records, and earning certifications, awards, industry love and number one singles is great, but it can feel really hollow without the actual people. I’ve worked on No. 1 hits, but the measure of success for me is when my friends or people that I respect find it in their heart to text me and be like, “That song is really good.”

Like, even when I was saying that quote about people coming out to see me perform, it was about the idea of someone leaving the house and paying money to come and see me sing – that’s amazing! You think it’s really small, but it’s a huge deal. There’s only 24 hours in a day, and someone wants to spend a couple of them with you. 

With “Midnight Sun” from Zara, for instance, that was a song that had been out for a year and has not been nearly as successful as it is right now. But I was getting texts from all types of people being like, “That ‘Midnight Sun’ song is amazing,” in a way that I’ve never received from other songs before, and that’s when I feel like, ‘Oh OK, this music talks to people. People really like this. It’s not just been force-fed to them.’ It’s been so moving to see.

With Language, you were very self‑aware, even humorous, about its modest commercial response. How did that experience shape how you approach releasing music now?

Yeah, it put me off making music for myself because it’s extremely vulnerable and scary when you [pauses]… It’s almost like being told “no” or being rejected when something doesn’t go well. But my perspective on it has changed. It’s about paying attention to those who are listening, as opposed to those who aren’t – that’s what I really care about.

I want to feed the people who are waiting to hear this album and everyone else will follow. I feel like people who are fans of me are very smart, and that’s a nice feeling. When we get into the wild west of pop music we’re now having to deal with all types of levels of candour, intellect and taste!

Do you think the album has aged better than its initial reception suggested?

I still get messages from people who say they listen to Language, which is a nice feeling. It was very of its time, but I feel like my references are very broad. But I’m glad people still enjoy that record.

I don’t want to wait another eight years until I release another album after [Bulldozer!!]. I want to keep writing and producing produce for the people I work with but I want there to be more of an equilibrium; a steadier pace of releasing music and focusing on the relationship with my fanbase that I’m building right now.

When families think of CoComelon, they might instantly imagine an upbeat kids’ song like “The Wheels on the Bus” — which has 9 billion-plus views and counting on YouTube. But for the preschool brand’s latest release, they’re slowing things down — way down — to help families with bedtime.

CoComelon’s new 30-track Nursery Rhyme Lullabies album takes some of the most recognizable kids’ songs (yes, even “Wheels on the Bus”) and turns them into sleepy-time anthems — and Billboard Family is exclusively premiering a “peaceful” new spin on “The Farmer in the Dell” below.

Josh Embury, director of music at Moonbug Entertainment, tells Billboard Family that “Farmer” was one of the “more interesting challenges” of the project, “Because it is naturally such a playful, upbeat song. We wanted to soften it without taking away the melody and repetition that make it so recognizable. It also became one of my favorite transformations. There is something really special about hearing a song associated with movement and play take on this peaceful, comforting quality.”

Hear the new version below:

After all the familiar tunes CoComelon has tackled over the years, Embury said he and the team felt this was an organic next step. “Nursery rhymes are often some of the first songs children hear and some of the first songs parents remember sharing with them,” Embury tells Billboard Family. “Because those melodies are already so familiar, it felt natural to reimagine them for a quieter part of the day. We slowed the tempos and used gentle acoustic instrumentation and warm arrangements to create music that feels calming without losing what children already love about the songs.”

The team also recognized that “bedtime is not always an instant transition from a busy day to sleep, especially with young children,” and they’re hoping the new project helps quiet down an often-chaotic night. “We would love for these songs to become a comforting part of families’ nighttime routines and help them share a quiet moment of connection at the end of the day.”

The project comes at an exciting time for CoComelon too: September marks the 20th anniversary of the CoComelon YouTube channel.

“It is both really exciting and a little crazy to think that CoComelon has been around for 20 years and a song like ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is still appearing on the Billboard charts,” Embury says of their blockbuster signature hit. “It speaks to how timeless these songs are and how each new generation of families can make them their own. Looking ahead, there are so many places we want to take the sound of CoComelon, and this album feels like the tip of the iceberg for what is possible.”

Other big things on the horizon: CoComelon: The Movie, hitting theaters on Feb. 27, with voice-acting work from R&B superstar SZA and original music from pop hitmaker Justin Tranter.

Taylor Swift has shared the family suite with a lot of fellow celebs since she began attending Kansas City Chiefs games to watch her boyfriend, then fiancé and now husband Travis Kelce. But until this week, she’s never sat next to an objectively bigger star than Tom Cruise. When the two were spotted laughing and yucking it up at the Chiefs’ 2026 season kick-off game earlier this week and the world was dying to know what these two mega A-listers were chatting about.

Well, Cruise, 64, stopped by The Tonight Show on Thursday (Sept. 17) to promote his new film, Digger, and, naturally, host Jimmy Fallon had to ask what the unlikely pals were discussing during the Chiefs’ 31-10 dismantling of the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. “When the biggest movie star in the world is sitting next to the biggest artist in the world, what do you talk about?” Fallon wondered.

“She was schooling me on football,” a smiling Cruise responded. “For real?” Fallon said. “For real,” Cruise confirmed. “She was bringing the football. First of all, she’s a genius. I’ve been following her since she was a kid,” said Cruise of Swift, 36. “Everybody there, all their friends, they’re a beautiful couple and magical in their own right. Everybody there in that booth. I hadn’t been to a football game since pre-COVID, where I was working and everything. So to get to hang out there and have that moment, it was a lot of fun … she knows her stuff.”

Cruise, who was among the hundreds of celebrity guests at Swift and Kelce’s wedding in July at Madison Square Garden in New York, said the singer admitted she knew “nothing” about football before meeting Kelce, with Cruise relating a story about Taylor asking Travis what it was like playing against older brother retired NFL great Jason Kelce and tackling each other; both men play on the offensive side of the ball, so they would not have had a chance to tackle each other on the field.

“She said, ‘You know, he’s so patient,’” laughed Cruise, who attended one of Swift’s Eras Tour show in London in 2024. “I said, ‘I’m sure he was.’ I think everybody would be very patient [with her] … [Now] she knows … she’s just bringing it. Cruise said he and Swift also talk about music and movies and he praised her “great sense of humor.”

And, not for nothing, box office colossus Cruise dubbed Swift a “brilliant writer also, by the way. Brilliant musician and director. Very skilled.”

Watch Cruise talk Swift on The Tonight Show below.

Gibson Custom is honoring the late Argentine legend Gustavo Cerati with a meticulously crafted recreation of the iconic guitar that became inseparable from the Latin rock star’s artistic identity.

Announced exclusively by Billboard Español on Friday (Sept. 18), the Gibson Custom Gustavo Cerati ES-335 is limited to just 60 guitars worldwide. The ultra-limited instrument is available only through Gibson Garage Miami, both in store and by phone, beginning Friday.

Inspired by Cerati’s original 1965 ES-335, the instrument accompanied him through some of the defining moments of his career, including Soda Stereo’s landmark 1996 MTV Unplugged performance, the band’s 1997 El Último Concierto farewell tour and its 2007 Me Verás Volver reunion tour. It later became Cerati’s primary guitar during the Bocanada (1999) era and reappeared during his Live Earth performance alongside Shakira in 2007

The Murphy Lab-aged instrument features a “60s Cherry finish, factory double pickguards, Grover kidney button tuning keys, and a B7 Bigsby,” according to the press release. It also comes with a custom hardshell case, leather back pad and Certificate of Authenticity. “This rare offering presents collectors, musicians, and fans with a unique opportunity to acquire one of the most culturally significant Gibson Custom instruments ever produced,” states the press release.

According to the statement, Cerati purchased the original Gibson ES-335 TD in the mid-1990s at Rudy’s Music in New York. The guitar had already been customized with a second pickguard, leather back pad and Bigsby vibrato.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1959, Cerati rose to international prominence as the frontman, guitarist and creative force behind Soda Stereo, the pioneering band that helped define rock en español across the 1980s and ’90s. As a solo artist, he pushed further into electronic, experimental and alternative rock with albums including Bocanada and Ahí Vamos (2007).

More than a decade after his death in 2014, Cerati’s influence continues to reverberate across Latin music and beyond. Earlier this year, Billboard named Soda Stereo the No. 1 Latin Rock Band of All Time. Soda is currently on their ECOS tour, where surviving members Charly Alberti and Zeta Bosio are performing live alongside a lifelike digital avatar of their late frontman.

Gibson’s tribute marks the first time the guitar maker has formally celebrated the musician’s legacy with an artist instrument.

Collectors and fans can purchase the guitar by calling Gibson Garage Miami at (305) 709-2686 or visiting the store at 2660 NW 3rd Avenue in Miami’s Wynwood Art District. See photos below:

When Freya Skye first performed “Bad Taste” at her debut headlining show in New York in December 2025, she wasn’t sure the song would ever leave the scene of the stage.

The then-unreleased track was stripped back to just Skye and her guitarist, Donnie. “I remember being terrified,” Skye tells Billboard. “It was my first ever headline show I’d ever done, and I was in New York … It was quite exposed and vulnerable.”

Then came the moment that changed her mind. “By the last chorus, [the crowd] was singing the words and I was like, ‘Well this is great. I feel way less alone by the end,’” she recalls. “If I was ever on the fence of releasing it, which honestly I was before I had performed it, it was in that moment I was like, ‘Oh, well, this has to be a thing. This has to come out.’”

Nearly a year later, “Bad Taste” is officially here. Skye released the playful pop anthem on Wednesday, with its cinematic music video arriving the next day (Sept. 17). The song also gets a physical release on 7-inch vinyl Friday as Skye prepares to return to the road for the next leg of her Stars Align Tour this weekend.

But the song’s journey from an acoustic debut to an official release didn’t just happen overnight.

When Skye’s Stardust EP was released without “Bad Taste” on its track list back in February, her fans made their disappointment known. “I saw my fans’ reaction, how they were like, ‘Oh, we’re so excited, but where’s “Bad Taste”?’” she says. “I knew it was something that they really, really wanted to have to be able to listen to.”

The reaction from fans pushed the song forward, especially after they had heard multiple live and acoustic iterations. Skye was ready to give them the definitive recorded version — but getting there was more complicated than she had initially anticipated.

“I had a really hard time establishing how the studio version should sound,” she says. “Sometimes some things sound great live, but there’s an energy and an electricity in it that you can’t replicate on a recorded version.”

Eventually, she asked her team to take the live arrangement into the studio. Instead of recording individual lines over and over, Skye sang the song from top to bottom. She even brought the physicality of her live shows into the recording booth, jumping around and ad-libbing as she sang.

“I think something that’s so important to the song is the energy and the life that’s in it,” she explains. “I think the energy over a ‘perfection’ or ‘on paper’ vocal [makes it] uninteresting.”

The result draws a through line between the song’s original live incarnation and its studio counterpart, while still giving listeners something new.

“Even on the last leg of the Stars Align Tour, ‘Bad Taste’ was my favorite,” she says.

The live ambiance also feeds directly into what Skye hopes listeners will take away from the song. “Bad Taste” is admittedly a bit of a departure from the more serious songwriting that exists in much of her discography, allowing her to lean into sarcasm, humor and self-awareness.

“‘Bad Taste’ is the first time I was a bit less serious,” she says. “What meets the eye is just like a playful, kind of sarcastic tone that I’ve never gone into before.”

At its core, Skye says, the song is about being willing to laugh at herself. “I love talking about other people in my songs too. I’ve done that for a long time, like picking at people who suck,” she says. “But sometimes I suck too. And I have to acknowledge that.”

Finding the right balance was important to her: She didn’t want the song to become overly self-deprecating or lose its humor by taking the joke too far. In the end, she’s proud of where the song landed, and the response from fans has only reinforced the way she feels.

And as if the gift of the song wasn’t enough, “Bad Taste” is getting an equally playful music video.

Skye says music videos have been a fairly challenging part of finding her artistic identity, but the new video gave her an opportunity to embrace something she has loved since she was young: telling stories.

“I love something that takes you on a journey and gives you a story that you can add up with the song and be like, ‘Oh, OK, I see the whole thing now,’” she says.

The “Bad Taste” video, she explains, is intended to feel more like a “mini movie,” filled with characters, continuity and small details that reward multiple watchings. It’s also a direction she hopes to carry in the future of her music videos.

One of her favorite scenes to film involved a food fight at the end of the video. Shot in Lancaster, California, in the middle of the desert, Skye throws a milkshake at a car before a group of people from the nearby diner rushes out and joins in, hurling food at the vehicle.

“It was so hot, but I’m in these heels and I have a milkshake and I throw it at his car,” she says. “And then you have everyone in the diner rush out. They’re all throwing food at the car.”

While “Bad Taste” might feel like a new beginning to fans who have been waiting for its official release, Skye sees it a little differently. The song isn’t part of her forthcoming album. Instead, she considers it a final punctuation mark on the Stardust era.

“When I performed ‘Bad Taste’ at my acoustic shows with the other Stardust songs and discussing where ‘Bad Taste’ fits in the picture, I couldn’t see blending it into the next chapter,” she says.

For Skye, moving forward means embracing a fresh start. So instead of serving a taste (no pun intended) of what’s coming next, Skye says “Bad Taste” is “more like a goodbye to the [Stars Align] chapter.”

That part of the story may be closing, but Skye isn’t leaving the era’s songs behind. She’ll continue performing them as she expands the Stars Align Tour into Latin America and Asia in 2027, bringing her live show to Mexico City, Bogotá, Santiago, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei, ahead of the arrival of her return as Nova in Disney’s ZOMBIES 5 next summer.

“Hopefully [‘Bad Taste’] can get people excited for the next shift,” Skye says. “I think that’s going to be more — not drastic, but I do think it will feel more elevated than anything before.”

Watch the full “Bad Taste” music video below.