Category: Music

Sean “Diddy” Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when the music mogul returned to jail after winning acquittals on potential life-in-prison charges, providing what his lawyer says might have been the best thing he could do for Black incarcerated men in America.

“They all said: ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government,’” attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a weekend interview days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.

Combs, 55, remains jailed after his Wednesday (July 2) conviction on prostitution-related charges and could still face several years in prison at an upcoming sentencing after being credited for 10 months already served.

After federal agents raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024, the lawyer said he told Combs to expect arrest on sex trafficking charges.

“I said: ‘Maybe it’s your fate in life to be the guy who wins,’” he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. “They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart.”

Blunt trial strategy works

The verdict came after a veteran team of eight defense lawyers led by Agnifilo executed a trial strategy that resonated with jurors. Combs passed lawyers notes during effective cross examinations of nearly three dozen witnesses over two months, including Combs’ ex-employees.

The lawyers told jurors Combs was a jealous domestic abuser with a drug problem who participated in the swinger lifestyle through threesomes involving Combs, his girlfriends and another man.

“You may think to yourself, wow, he is a really bad boyfriend,” Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May opening statement. But that, she said, “is simply not sex trafficking.”

Agnifilo said the blunt talk was a “no brainer.”

“The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn’t think it was something it wasn’t,” he said.

Combs and his lawyers seemed deflated Tuesday when jurors said they were deadlocked on the racketeering count but reached a verdict on sex trafficking and lesser prostitution-related charges. A judge ordered them back to deliberate Wednesday.

“No one knows what to think,” Agnifilo said. Then he slept on it.

Morning surprise awakes lawyer

“I wake up at three in the morning and I text Teny and say: ”We have to get a bail application together,” he recalled. “It’s going to be a good verdict for us but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let’s try to get him out.”

He said he “kind of whipped everybody into feeling better” after concluding jurors would have convicted him of racketeering if they had convicted him of sex trafficking because trafficking was an alleged component of racketeering.

Agnifilo met with Combs before court and Combs entered the courtroom rejuvenated. Smiling, the onetime Catholic schoolboy prayed with family. In less than an hour, the jury matched Agnifilo’s prediction.

The seemingly chastened Combs mouthed “thank you” to jurors and smiled as family and supporters applauded. After he was escorted from the room, spectators cheered the defense team, a few chanting: “Dream Team! Dream Team!” Several lawyers, including Geragos, cried.

“This was a major victory for the defense and a major loss for the prosecution,” said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer who worked with Agnifilo as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey over two decades ago. He credited “a dream team of defense lawyers” against prosecutors who almost always win.

Agnifilo showcased what would become his trial strategy — belittling the charges and mocking the investigation that led to them — last September in arguing unsuccessfully for bail. The case against Combs was what happens when the “federal government comes into our bedrooms,” he said.

Lawyers gently questioned most witnesses

During an eight-week trial, Combs’ lawyers picked apart the prosecution case with mostly gentle but firm cross-examinations. Combs never testified and his lawyers called no witnesses.

Sarah Krissoff, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, said Combs’ defense team “had a narrative from the beginning and they did all of it without putting on any witnesses. That’s masterful.”

Ironically, Agnifilo expanded the use of racketeering laws as a federal prosecutor on an organized crime task force in New Jersey two decades ago, using them often to indict street gangs in violence-torn cities.

“I knew the weak points in the statute,” he said. “The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are.”

He said prosecutors had “dozens of fail points.”

“They didn’t have a conspiracy, they just didn’t,” he said. “They basically had Combs’ personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants.”

Some personal assistants, even after viewing videos of Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, had glowing things to say about Combs on cross examination.

Once freed, Combs likely to re-enter domestic abusers program

For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed as he works on personal demons, likely re-entering a program for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest.

“He’s doing OK,” said Agnifilo, who speaks with him four or five times daily.

He said Combs genuinely desires improvement and “realizes he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on.”

“He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there’s no amount of fame and no amount of fortune that can erase them,” he said. “You can’t cover them up.”

For Agnifilo, a final surprise awaited him after Combs’ bail was rejected when a man collapsed into violent seizures at the elevators outside the courtroom.

“I’m like: ‘What the hell?’” recalled the lawyer schooled in treating seizures.

Agnifilo straddled him, pulling him onto his side and using a foot to prevent him from rolling backward while a law partner, Jacob Kaplan, put a backpack under the man’s head and Agnifilo’s daughter took his pulse.

“We made sure he didn’t choke on vomit. It was crazy. I was worried about him,” he said.

The man was eventually taken away conscious by rescue workers, leaving Agnifilo to ponder a tumultuous day.

“It was like I was getting punked by God,” he said.

Lana Del Rey‘s gone from singing “Diet Pepsi” in her car to on her stage at Wembley Stadium — inviting opener Addison Rae back out to perform alongside her at her July 3-4 London concerts.

Lana took verse one of Addison’s single — with its lyrics about her ripped blue jeans, cherry red lips and body that’s “a work of art you’d die to see,” all of which wouldn’t sound out of place in the earlier years of LDR’s own discography — and Addison joined in on the “untouched, XO, young lust, let’s go” pre-chorus, with the two vocalists coming together on the hook: “When we drive in your car, I’m your baby/ Losing all my innocence in the backseat/ Say you love, say you love, say you love me/ Losing all my innocence in the backsеat.”

“Sooo good!!” Lana herself commented on a video of their duet that had been posted by a fan on Instagram after the London gigs.

The pair also sang Lana’s new ditty “57.5,” an earworm she’d debuted at Stagecoach that walks the line between owning her brand of fame and finding the humor in just how many millions of fellow melancholic music lovers must be out there — with a nod for country fans to catch. (Watch a clip of their London performance, as captured by the same Wembley concertgoer on Instagram here.)

“I still talk to Jesus, yes/ But I still call up psychics when I need advice/ I still fly commercial/ You need an autograph? S—, I don’t mind/ If you want the secret to success, I suggest showing up in a Ross dress,” Lana sang, referencing the time she told red carpet correspondents she bought her Grammys dress at the mall, before both artists launched into the campy, catchy chorus: “I got 57.5 million listeners on Spotify/ Roger Miller made ’em laugh/ I guess some folks still like to cry/ I ain’t got a man, but maybe one of them is a fan of mine/ In that 57.5 million listeners on Spotify.”

“@honeymoon I will never forget this,” Addison wrote on Instagram, recapping her momentous weekend sharing the stage with Lana. “Thank you so much to the most beautiful divine woman, heart, soul, mind… Lana. I am the happiest and luckiest girl on earth. Being next to you is spiritual.” Ladybug, infinity and bouquet emojis were used in Lana’s honor.

“Thank you @honeymoon. You are forever,” she added in another post from London, topping off this comment with a swan emoji.

Before announcing Addison as an opening act or heading overseas for tour, Lana uploaded an Instagram Story that captured the sweet reaction she’d had upon vibing to “Diet Pepsi” while driving her car, hand over her mouth and eyes tearing up.

“Diet Pepsi” was released as the first single from Addison’s eponymous debut album, Addison, and was the influencer-turned-pop newcomer’s first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, in fall 2024.

By the time of Addison the album’s release last month, the set saw a No. 4 launch on the Billboard 200.

Addison Rae was among a trio of opening acts announced just ahead of Lana Del Rey’s U.K. and Ireland stadium run, a short stint of five shows. While the “Headphones On” singer got the gig with Lana in London, London Grammar performed in Cardiff and BANKS joined the tour in Glasgow, Liverpool and Dublin.

It’s a wrap for Lana’s tour, leaving fans to now await the unveiling of her 10th studio album, formerly known as Lasso and The Right Person Will Stay at different points of time. Its original release date was delayed to an as-yet-unknown date, and the project’s current working title has not been publicly confirmed, but fans have so far heard the songs “Henry, Come On” and “Bluebird,” both available on streaming services — as well as live renditions of “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Quiet in the South” and the aforementioned “57.5,” all assumed album tracks.

Addison has her debut headlining tour to look forward to, with dates across select cities in Europe, North America and Australia spanning August through November.

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem rules the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated July 12) for a seventh consecutive, and total, week. The set earned 173,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending July 3 — down a scant 3% compared to the previous week. The album opened at No. 1 on the May 31 chart.

With 173,000 units earned, Problem lands the largest total for an album in its seventh week on the chart since Adele’s 25 earned 194,000 in its seventh week nearly a decade ago (on the Jan. 23, 2016-dated chart).

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Lorde’s Virgin debuts at No. 2, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack surges 8-3, KATSEYE’s BEAUTIFUL CHAOS bows at No. 4, Playboi Carti’s chart-topping MUSIC vaults 28-8 after its vinyl release and Russ’ W!LD starts at No. 10.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new July 12, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 8. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of I’m the Problem’s 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 3, SEA units comprise 164,000 (down 3%, equaling 215 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a seventh week), album sales comprise 7,500 (up 2% — it falls 7-11 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,500 (up 6%).

Lorde achieves her fourth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as her latest studio project, Virgin, debuts at No. 2. All four of her top 10s have also debuted inside the top five (as Virgin follows Solar Power, with a No. 5 debut and peak, 2021; Melodrama, No. 1, 2017, and Pure Heroine, No. 3, 2013). Virgin bows with 71,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 42,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 37.07 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it debuts at No. 6 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Virgin’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across eight vinyl variants (including two signed editions), a standard CD and a digital download. All versions contained the same tracklist. Lorde’s vinyl sales added up to 31,000 — her best week ever on vinyl.

The album was announced on April 30 and preceded by the Billboard Hot 100-charting track “What Was That,” which debuted and peaked at No. 36 on the May 10-dated chart (her highest charting song since 2017’s “Green Light” hit No. 19). Lorde’s Ultrasound Tour of North America and Europe launches on Sept. 17 in Austin, Texas.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack surges 8-3 on the Billboard 200 in its second week on the chart — earning 62,000 equivalent album units (up 97%). Of that sum, SEA units comprise 56,000 (up 108%, equaling 77.42 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it jumps 10-2 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 4,500 (up 31%, it’s pushed down 18-22 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,500 (up 24%).

The set’s haul of 77.42 million streams for its songs is the largest streaming week for a soundtrack in  nearly two years, since the Barbie soundtrack claimed 79.32 million on the Aug. 19, 2023-dated chart (its third week on the chart).

With KPop Demon Hunters’ 8-3 climb on the Billboard 200, it becomes the highest-charting soundtrack of 2025, and the highest-charting soundtrack to an animated film since Encanto spent nine weeks at No. 1 in 2022. (Previously among soundtracks in 2025, Wicked reached a No. 4 high in January, after debuting and peaking at No. 2 in December 2024.)

KPop Demon Hunters premiered on June 20 on Netflix alongside its soundtrack. In the tracking week ending June 29, KPop Demon Hunters jumped 6-2 in its second week on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies in United States chart.

KATSEYE claims its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 with the No. 4 debut of its second project, BEAUTIFUL CHAOS. The pop group’s five-song set opens with 44,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 30,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 14,000 (equaling 21.36 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it bows at No. 47 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across nine CD variants and four vinyl variants (one signed), all with the same audio but with packaging variations. All contained collectible paper ephemera, some randomized. It was also issued as a standard digital download album for purchase.

BEAUTIFUL CHAOS was announced on May 7 and the album’s release was preceded by a pair of charting entries on the Hot 100: “Gnarly” (No. 90) and “Gabriela” (No. 94).

Karol G’s Tropicoqueta falls 3-5 on the Billboard 200 in its second week (40,000 equivalent album units earned; down 29%), Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is pushed down 5-6 (nearly 40,000; up 7%) and SZA’s former No. 1 SOS descends 4-7 (39,000; down 17%). Playboi Carti’s former leader MUSIC jumps 28-8 with 35,000 (up 83%), following its release on vinyl (pressed on two variants). The album sold 16,500 copies in the tracking week (up 12,593%), largely from vinyl purchases.

Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet slides 6-9 on the Billboard 200 with 33,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).

Russ closes out the top 10 with the No. 10 debut of his latest album, W!LD, entering at No. 10 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned. The set marks his fourth top 10-charted effort. Of the new album’s 32,000 units, album sales comprise 25,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.15 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

W!LD was announced on March 18 and preceded by the radio-promoted track “Crazy,” which has reached the top 30 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart. The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across three vinyl variants, three CD variants and three cassette variants (some signed), as well as a standard digital download. All contained the same tracklist, and all of the physical editions were exclusively sold via Russ’ official webstore. There was also an expanded edition of the download album, sold via the webstore, that includes narration from the artist.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan said they wouldn’t perform at a Fourth of July festival in Philadelphia in support of a strike by nearly 10,000 city workers.

LL Cool J had been scheduled to appear at the Wawa Welcome America Festival on Friday, along with Sullivan and other performers.

In a video posted on social media, he said that “there’s absolutely no way that I can perform, cross a picket line and pick up money when I know that people are out there fighting for a living wage.”

“I hope, I hope, I hope that, you know, the mayor and the city can make a deal. I hope it works out,” the rapper said.

LL Cool J also said that he never wants to disappoint his fans and that he planned to be in Philadelphia in case an agreement is reached.

The festival came as the strike moved into a fourth day Friday. Trash has been piling up in some areas, and more than 30 Medical Examiner’s Office staffers have been ordered back to work because of a growing backlog of bodies in storage.

Sullivan, a Philadelphia native and Grammy award-winning artist, said in a post on Instagram on Friday that she would stand with the striking workers “until the city and the union find a way to bring fair living wages to our working class. I love my city and I believe in you,” she wrote. “Hopefully we will get to celebrate when things are better.”

The latest talks between the city and leaders of District Council 33 — the largest of four major unions representing city workers — ended late Wednesday. Both sides have said they were willing to continue negotiations. The union represents many of the city’s blue-collar workers, from trash collectors to clerks to security guards. Police and firefighters are not on strike.

The city has offered a three-year contract with annual raises of about 3%, which the union said amounts to little more than $1,000 after taxes for members making $46,000 a year on average.

Mayor Cherelle Parker has said the city has “put its best offer on the table.” She stressed that the effective 13% pay hike over her four-year term — including last year’s 5% bump — along with a fifth step on the pay scale would be the best contract the union has seen in decades.

Parker responded to LL Cool J’s statement, saying that she spoke with him on Thursday.

“I respect his decision, and understand his desire to see the city unified,” the mayor said. “He is always welcome in Philadelphia.”

The union also responded, saying LL Cool J’s support for municipal workers “highlights his commitment to social justice and community well-being.”

“His support not only brings attention to our efforts but also inspires others to recognize and advocate for the rights and respect of all workers,” the union said. “It’s heartening to see public figures using their influence to champion causes that matter to everyday people.”

On Thursday, Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas-Street approved the city’s request to have the medical examiner’s office staffers return to work because bodies have been piling up there in storage, posing a health and safety risk. Those workers include death and forensic investigators, forensic technicians and clerks.

The order came a day after the judge ordered some emergency service dispatchers and essential water department employees back to work.

Mounting trash piles in some parts of the city were also still causing grief for residents and officials, who have strongly urged residents to follow the collection guidelines imposed when the strike began Tuesday. They also urged residents to report problems at the trash collection sites, and noted trash is being cleared as fast as possible and the city is working to open more sites.

Pop-punk is having a moment, and two of the most popular bands from the genre’s early 2000s peak teamed up for a celebration at Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ).

Avril Lavigne headlined the gargantuan main stage on the historic Plains of Abraham in Quebec City on Friday night (July 4) for more than 80,000 fans, which also coincided with the final date of her Greatest Hits Tour with fellow Canadians Simple Plan.

The two acts recently released the collaborative track “Young and Dumb,” which reflects on their 2002 heights from the perspective of their current selves. They played the nostalgic tune for the crowd at FEQ, inviting a group of fans up on stage — ranging from young children to diehards who have been following them for over 20 years — and gave them all special signed Avril Lavigne skateboards.

Since it was their final show together, though, Lavigne invited Simple Plan to stay up on stage a little longer. They decided to pay tribute to another of the biggest pop-punk bands of the era, which she said influenced both acts’ careers: blink-182. Together, they played a cover of one of their most enduring hits, “All The Small Things,” while the crowd all sang along.

Lavigne has been teaming up for covers lately, reuniting with her ex-husband Deryck Whibley for a performance of Sum 41’s “In Too Deep” at a recent Warped Tour performance.

While the mall-set teen angst and big emotions of the early ’00s pop-punk boom felt life-or-death dramatic to teens of the era, Lavigne has started to lean into the campy appeal of the music.

Some fans (many now in their late 30s or early 40s, like Lavigne herself) came decked out in her signature “Complicated” era black eyeliner and necktie combo. Lavigne donned a sequined green guitar for performances of songs like “My Happy Ending.” She raised a toast to teenagers, adults and “adults that still act like teenagers” for “Here’s to Never Growing Up” and led the crowd in sing-alongs of songs like “Sk8er Boi.” She shouted out her hometown of Napanee, Ontario.

She may not be as animated onstage as she once was, but her deep catalogue of hits easily kept the crowd engaged. Occasionally, during songs like “What the Hell,” she took a moment to flex her vocal chops, reminding us that beneath the zeitgeist-defining pop hits, she has always had an incredible voice.

In their earlier set, Simple Plan brought the energy. The band hails from Montreal, and they used the rare opportunity playing for Quebecois fans to do the majority of their stage banter in French. They also invited up rising Quebec singer Claudia Bouvette for their bilingual version of “Jet Lag” (originally a duet with Marie-Mai).

Lead singer Pierre Bouvier donned a shirt that said “I’m Just a Kid” with “Kid” crossed out and replaced with “Adult.” They leaned into the fun aspect of their hook-heavy tunes, even breaking out their What’s New Scooby-Doo? theme song while people in Scooby Doo costumes danced around them. They played some of their own crowd-pleasing covers too, putting their spin on Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” At one point, Bouvier switched places with drummer Chuck Comeau as he dove into the audience to crowd-surf.

It felt like 2002 all over again.

This article was originally published on Billboard Canada.

Kesha is a free artist at last — period.

After years of working toward this moment, the singer-songwriter has dropped her first-ever independent LP, . (Period), featuring 11 fun-fueled pop tracks. Led by singles “Joyride,” “Yippee-Ki-Yay,” “Delusional,” “The One” and “Boy Crazy,” the project marks her first full-length release under her own Kesha Records.

Leading up to the album’s release on Friday (July 4), Kesha has been open about how emotional and empowering the process of assuming control over her own artistry has been. Prior to . (Period), she was under contract to Kemosabe Records, despite her yearslong legal battle with label owner Dr. Luke, whom she accused of drugging her and raping her at a 2005 party in 2014. The producer has always vehemently denied the allegations, and the two parties reached a settlement in 2023.

In March 2024, Kesha was finally released from her deal with Kemosabe. With her first album since, the artist says she feels like she’s experiencing a “homecoming,” as she told Billboard in a recent interview.

“I really do feel like it’s been a homecoming in a lot of ways — not only legally, to the rights of my voice, but to letting go of that internalized shame, of letting all that go and coming home to my own body, my joy, myself,” Kesha said. “And part of that has been healing my relationship with the records that I’ve put out that were difficult to make — that were perceived in a way that wasn’t the way I intended, that were tied to events that I don’t stand for.”

. (Period) marks Kesha’s sixth studio album, and her first since 2023’s Gag Order. She’s scored four top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 over the course of her career, including No. 1 hits Animal (2010) and Rainbow (2017).

Stream Kesha’s . (Period) below.