Author: Rap Hooks

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Year after year, the Squishmallows holiday-themed advent calendars first, go viral, and then, sell out. And while a number of the brand’s 2025 seasonal collectibles are already out of stock, its coveted 24-Day Micromallows Holiday Advent Calendars is not only still available (in very limited quantities, that is), but also, on sale at Amazon.

Squishmallows Original 24-Day Micromallows Holiday Advent Calendar

$90 $127.99 30% off

Buy Now On Amazon

Save $37.99.

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The countdown calendar includes 24 plush holiday favorites — Nick Santa Claus, Manny Snowman and more — in 2.5-inch micro versions, otherwise known as Micromallows.

Tonymoly x Squishmallows Advent Calendar 2025

$21.25 $25 15% off

Buy now on amazon

Enjoy hand cream, lip gloss, sheet masks and more.

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For the collectors in your life that double as beauty enthusiasts, Squishmallows collaborated with K-beauty brand Tonymoly on a seven-day skincare calendar that marries Tonymoly’s fan-favorite formulas with Cam the Cat, Malcolm The Mushroom and other beloved characters. It’s also 15 percent off on Amazon, while supplies last.

iJoy Squishmallows Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones

$24.99 $27.99 11% off

Buy now on amazon

Wireless, foldable and available in two colorways.

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iJoy Squishmallows Bluetooth Earbuds With Charging Case

$27.99

Buy now on amazon

Decorated with characters like Cam the Cat, Patty the Cow and Carl the Cheeseburger.

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Squishmallows Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

$17.99

Buy now on amazon

Splash-proof.

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Now, for the collector that doubles as a music fan, electronic brand iJoy teamed up with Squishmallows on a wireless Bluetooth speaker, Bluetooth earbuds (with charging case) and Bluetooth over-ear wireless headphones, all retailing for under $30.

Squishmallows Original Nick the Santa Claus in Red Hawaiian Shirt

$19.99

Buy now on amazon

The large plush measures 14 inches.

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Another 2025 favorite includes the Official Holiday Plush, Nick the Santa Claus in Red Hawaiian Shirt ($19.99). While it’s completely sold out on the company’s website, the 14-inch Santa stuffed toy is still in stock on Amazon.

Tonymoly x Squishmallows Head to Toe Holiday Mask Set

$13 $15 13% off

Buy now on amazon

Brightening, hydrating, moisturizing, rejuvenating and soothing.

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Squishmallows Original Micromallows Plush Birthday Countdown 7-Pack

$14.12 $15.99 12% off

Buy Now On Amazon

Get seven 2.5-inch micro plushes.

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To wrap things up, a couple more discounted finds include the Squishmallows Original Micromallows Plush Birthday Countdown 7-Pack ($12.49 $15.99), and the Tonymoly x Squishmallows Head to Toe Holiday Mask Set ($13 $15).

The K-beauty brand’s holiday mask kit has five limited-edition targeted treatments featuring characters Benny, Cam, Sunny, Wendy and Malcolm. Each face, body and eye mask has a different benefit. Products include a hydrating coconut eye mask, a brightening vitamin C sheet mask, a calming mushroom sheet mask, a nourishing shea butter foot mask and a soothing calendula and chamomile sheet mask.

For more last-minute holiday present inspiration, check out Billboard‘s assortment of holiday gift guides here.

Globe-trotting house and techno festival Time Warp made its way back to New York last month for a Nov. 21-22 edition at Brooklyn Storehouse. Among a bill featuring stars like Sven Väth, The Blessed Madonna, Mike Servito, Sara Landry and Nico Moreno was bonafide New York house legend Dennis Ferrer, who, after decades in the scene, made his debut at the festival.

“Finally popped my Time Warp cherry and it was beyond impressive!” Ferrer tells Billboard. “The production, the energy, but most of all, the crowd that was dancing rather than filming. One of the highlights of 2025 for sure!”

Now, Ferrer is sharing his 90-minute Time Warp USA 2025 set exclusively with Billboard. Listening to it, it’s obvious why everyone on the floor kept their phones in pocket. While originally scheduled to play b2b with fellow house hero Kerri Chandler, Ferrer did the show solo after Chandler had to drop out, playing an hour and a half of joyful, scintillating, groovy house music.

Highlights from the set include As I Am’s slinky 2014 Defected Records release “Saving Grace,” Riva Starr’s bumping 2025 single “Unique” and Ian Pooley’s 2002 classic “Fly Shuffle.” Listen to the entire set exclusively below.

“’I’ll never do New York. America is not ready,’” Tekksupport founder Rob Toma recalled Time Warp founder Steffen Charles telling him when Toma first suggested doing an NYC edition. While it took a few years of conversations, Toma finally convinced Charles and his team to launch in the U.S., with Time Warp’s New York debut happening in 2014.

As with every previous edition, Time Warp USA 2025 was produced in partnership with Teksupport. Other editions of Time Warp happen in cities around the world including Miami, Madrid and São Paulo.

Selena Gomez got extra candid with her followers recently, addressing blunt comments about both her speaking voice and her upper lip.

In a clip from a recent Instagram livestream that’s been circulating on X, the Rare Beauty founder responded to one follower’s question about the way her voice sounds. “I’ve gotten this question a few times, the voice thing,” she began.

“Sometimes things happen,” she continued, cutting herself off from giving a more detailed explanation. “I get weird. My throat kind of swells inside sometimes. That’s all.”

Also in the video, Gomez tells fans: “I’m glad y’all are being real with me on the live, I appreciate it, for real.”

That wasn’t the only personal question the singer/actress answered recently, though. In a video posted to her Story, a chuckling Gomez said, “Someone made me laugh, because they asked me, ‘How do you, like, shave your mustache?’”

“I totally get it,” she added. “I actually have melasma, you guys … It’s from the sun. You all have to obviously wear sunscreen and be careful … but it’s actually not [a mustache]. It’s my melasma. I take care of and treat it, but yeah, it’s there. That’s me.”

According to Cleveland Clinic, melasma is a common skin disorder that typically affects a person’s “cheeks, nose, chin, above the upper lip and the forehead,” leaving discoloration that can lighten and darken depending on the season. The main causes are sun exposure and hormonal fluctuations.

Gomez is known for getting real with her fans, with the star opening up about everything from her struggles with lupus to mental health and SIBO. The latter — also known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth — is the result of an increase in bacteria in the small intestine that causes digestive issues.

The star’s frankness with fans this week comes as she’s closing out an exciting year. In addition to marrying producer Benny Blanco in September, she reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with her joint album with her now-husband, I Said I Love You First. Earlier this month, she scored her fourth Golden Globe nomination in a row for her performance in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

“Thank you to the @goldenglobes for our recognition after 5 seasons!” she reacted to the news at the time. “I’m deeply grateful and forever honored.”

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Passionate about music? Here’s your chance to learn from some of the best in the business with MasterClass, the online learning site that features on-demand video classes from some of the biggest celebrities and thought leaders in the world.

Even better: MasterClass is offering a 50% off holiday deal when you sign up for any of its plan. That means users can get the Premium Plan, which lets six users share a subscription for just $10/month (normally $20/month). If you need a last-minute gift, all gifting subscriptions are also included in the limited time discount.

As a point of comparison: you can also get the standard plan for only $5/month (normally $10/month), which makes this the cheapest MasterClass price online.

What Musicians Are on MasterClass?

Music lovers can take classes taught by Mariah Carey, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Herbie Hancock, Reba McEntire, Alicia Keys, Nas, Questlove, Metallica, Timbaland, Yo-Yo Ma, Ringo Starr and other singers, songwriters, musicians and producers.

And it’s not just music, MasterClass features top-rated courses in science, tech, sports, gaming, wellness, business and leadership, design, style, photography, cooking, writing, acting and other genres.

The service features more than 200 video lessons taught by celebrities, political figures, fashion designers and other figures including Serena Williams, Steph Curry, Simone Biles, Tony Hawk, RuPaul, Issa Rae, Shonda Rhimes, Kevin Hart, Martha Stewart, Amy Poehler, Tan France, Mindy Weiss, Wolfgang Puck, Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg, Naomi Campbell, Kris Jenner, Richard Branson, Gordon Ramsey, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, celebrity stylist Karla Welch and other professionals in entertainment, tech, fashion, sports, gaming, wellness, writing, etc.

How Much Does MasterClass Cost?

The platform starts at $120 a year (which works out to $10/month for a single subscription). The subscription gives you unlimited access to all classes, including new courses launched monthly.

The Premium Plan costs $240 a year (which works out to $20/month) but you can share this plan with six users in total. That brings the price down to just $3.33/month per user. While the site sometimes offers promotions for Black Friday and the holidays, this is the best MasterClass deal we’re seeing online right now.

Your membership unlocks access to the streamer’s mobile and TV apps, high-definition videos, and class workouts that you can download and watch on a smartphone, computer and other devices such as Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku devices. MasterClass also provides Audio Mode for certain courses, so that members can download classes and watch them offline from the plane and other modes of transportation.

From beginners to novices, MasterClass courses are designed to suit all skill levels. Every class includes around 20 videos that are approximately ten minutes each, and a detailed workbook. The course instructor will walk students through the curriculum, which comes with a step-by-step instructions, but also encourages students to explore their own creativity by going “beyond the session content.”

For more music-related product recommendations, read our roundup of the best Masterclass music courses to take, best portable recording booths and instruments to grab on sale.

Rapper Kay Flock was sentenced Tuesday (Dec. 16) to 30 years in prison for a series of shootings in his Bronx neighborhood, derailing a music career that was just taking off before his 2021 arrest.

The 22-year-old rapper, whose real name is Kevin Perez, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, who criticized Perez for sending the wrong message to his young peers by glorifying violence during a less-than-18-month stretch from 2020 to 2021 that prosecutors said left dozens of people on Bronx streets shot at, injured or killed.

“You taunted, you celebrated and you helped create a cycle of violence,” Liman said, noting that Perez bragged on social media that he was exonerated on the top count and wrote “KILL ALL RATS” on Instagram after a trial in which gang members testified against him.

The judge called Perez a “man of promise” but said a lengthy prison sentence was necessary for four separate shootings that injured multiple people while he led a gang known as “Sev Side/DOA.” Perez was convicted in March of charges including racketeering conspiracy and attempted murder.

Perez insisted that he had changed, saying: “What I was at 18 is not what I am today.”

Saying everyone deserves a second chance, he added: “I was just a kid. Didn’t really know better.”

But Liman criticized him for not expressing any concern for his victims. “To date, you’ve shown no real remorse for your conduct,” the judge said.

Perez was named Billboard‘s R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month in November 2021, following the release of his first album, The D.O.A. Tape. It put him on the map as a newcomer in New York’s drill rap scene, which features performers who wield weapons and lyrics containing slang about violence. The music includes threats and taunts, a fact Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick R. Moroney noted as he asked Liman to impose a 50-year prison sentence, the same sentence recommended by the court’s Probation Department officer.

“He was very good at celebrating his violence and getting under the skin of his rivals,” the prosecutor said.

In their sentencing brief, prosecutors wrote that Perez signed with a music label and used violence to further his career.

“The music that had glorified gang violence made the defendant famous and now rich,” they wrote, accusing Perez of encouraging violence through private messages.

Defense attorney Michael Ashley, who asked the judge to levy the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, said his client grew up in one of the nation’s most dangerous neighborhoods and fell under the influence of an older man who encouraged gang activity.

The judge said he took into consideration that the crimes occurred while Perez’s brain was “still evolving and maturing” and that six of his friends died from gun violence before he turned 18.

“The life of the street, it seems to me, is all you’ve ever known,” Liman said.

Of the dozens of songs that were written for 2025 films, just 15 are still in contention to win the Academy Award for best original song.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released its shortlist of 15 songs on Tuesday (Dec. 16). It includes one of the year’s biggest global hits, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, and two songs each from two films – Sinners (“I Lied to You” and “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)”) and Wicked: For Good (The Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home”).

The list includes five stars who have topped the Billboard Hot 100 as artists – Miley Cyrus, Mark Ronson, Billy Idol, Ed Sheeran and EJAE from HUNTR/X. Cyrus and Ronson are among the writers of “Dream as One” from Avatar: Fire and Ash. Idol is among the writers of “Dying to Live” from Billy Idol Should Be Dead. Sheeran co-wrote “Drive” from F1: The Movie. EJAE co-wrote “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters.

Diane Warren secured her usual position on the shortlist with “Dear Me” from the aptly titled documentary about her career, Diane Warren: Relentless. This keeps her hopes alive of becoming the first songwriter in Oscar history to land nine consecutive nominations in that category. She is currently tied with the late Sammy Cahn with eight consecutive nominations each.

Members of the music branch culled this shortlist of 15 songs from a master list of 65 eligible songs. They will vote again to determine the five nominees, which will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22. The full membership of the Academy will vote to determine the winner, which will be announced when the 98th Oscars are presented at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Sunday, March 15.

But why wait? We’re asking our readers to weigh in: Which of these 15 shortlisted songs would you most like to see win the Oscar?