
Leon Thomas announces Mutts Don't Heel tour

Leon Thomas is making one thing clear: Mutts Don't Heel. It's a message he hopes to share during his upcoming world tour, which he recently announced will visit cities in the U.S. and abroad.
The North American leg will launch Oct. 30 in Dallas before making stops in major cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Brooklyn and LA. The international trek will then follow, kicking off March 5 and coming to an end on April 3. Rising R&B star Ambré will join as the supporting act.
Tickets for the Mutts Don't Heel tour, which supports Thomas' Heel album, will be available starting with an artist presale Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time. A Spotify presale will commence Thursday at 10 a.m. local time, and the general sale will start Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
Heel is the deluxe version of Thomas' sophomore album, Mutt.
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Taylor Swift fans celebrate catalog deal with a buying/streaming/downloading spree

On May 30, Taylor Swift fans began celebrating the news that their queen had finally gained control of her masters by streaming, downloading and buying her music like crazy.
As Billboard reports, Taylor's entire catalog, including her first six albums on Big Machine, experienced more than a 72% increase in activity following the 11:30 a.m. ET announcement of the news. And on May 31, consumption of her music increased even more.
According to Billboard, Taylor's album downloads alone increased by more than 3,520% in those two days, while physical album sales increased by 153%.
As for streaming, Taylor's catalog streams increased by nearly 36% over those two days; even her radio airplay experienced a slight uptick.
As previously reported, Taylor announced via a letter on her website that she was able to buy back the rights to her first six albums from their most recent owner, Shamrock Capital, in what was reportedly a nine-figure deal. Shamrock purchased Taylor's masters from Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings in 2020; Braun had purchased them in 2019 as part of his acquisition of Taylor's former record label, Big Machine.
Taylor wrote that she now owns all her videos, concert films, album art, photography, unreleased songs — or, as she put it, "The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life's work."
Taylor's campaign to rerecord her first six albums was her way of rendering the originals less valuable, thus punishing their owners. But now that all the music is in her possession, she can financially benefit from both the originals and the rerecorded versions on a much greater scale than she could before.
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'Forbes' puts Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez on its 2025 list of America's Richest Self-Made Women

Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Selena Gomez are among 16 richest female celebrities on this year's edition of Forbes' annual ranking of America's Richest Self-Made Women.
Rihanna, Madonna and Beyoncé are also on the list, which is based on assets like stakes in public companies and experts' opinions of the worth of private companies. All the women on the list have to have substantially made their own fortunes in the U.S. and/or be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
The youngest newcomer to the overall list of 100 women is Selena, who at 32 is worth an estimated $700 million. Most of that comes from her stake in her cosmetics line, Rare Beauty. She's tied for #48 on the overall list.
Taylor is #21 on the list, with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, thanks to her music and her Eras Tour. Beyoncé, tied for #45, is worth an estimated $780 million, thanks to her music and touring revenues.
Madonna is #42 on the list with $850 million, also due to music and touring, while Rihanna ranks #35 with $1 billion, thanks to her Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty brands.
Other singers on the list include:
#64: Celine Dion, $570 million, mostly from Las Vegas residencies
#71: Barbra Streisand, $510 million, from music, film and real estate
#78: Dolly Parton, $450 million, thanks to her music and investments
#97: Katy Perry, $360 million, including the $225 million she made in 2023 by selling her catalog
Number 1 on the list is Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply, a wholesale roofing, siding and windows distributor. She's worth $22.3 billion.
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Music notes: Taylor Swift, Teddy Swims and more

Taylor Swift just posted perhaps the most important letter of her life, celebrating the fact that she's now finally in control of her master recordings -- but her fans are still looking for Easter eggs. In Taylor's message about how she's bought back her music, she wrote, "All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through," and fans noticed she used 12 letter "i's" in the word "this." That of course, must mean that her 12th album is on the way, right? Fans also point to the fact that in March, when she posted about her friend Selena Gomez's album, she wrote, "I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO MUCH. OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDD," using 12 "d's" in the word "God."
Teddy Swims has announced that he's become the "Chief Love Officer" for Kay Jewelers. As he explains on Instagram, in his role, he'll be "curating a few lines [of jewelry] for certain holidays and stuff, like Mother's Day and Father's Day and any holiday, really, and, y'know, any time you just wanna spoil your baby."
James Blunt's #1 global smash "You're Beautiful" was released May 30, 2005 -- 20 years ago Friday. He took to social platform X to celebrate the milestone, posting a video of himself in his house and writing, "20 years ago today, I released a song that bought me this house. Whoever thought a song about being high as a kite on drugs, stalking someone else’s girlfriend, would resonate quite so much? Thank you. You guys are beautiful."
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Watch trailer for Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful' film, influenced by ... Harrison Ford?

You can get another glimpse of Miley Cyrus' upcoming "cinematic experience" Something Beautiful right now: The official trailer has just dropped.
We see Miley in the trailer all in black with a veil, and then walking into a film studio, singing on the studio backlot, and performing onstage in a green bikini top and matching green feathered chaps. The footage is intercut with the words "a striking visual album, fueled by fantasy" and soundtracked by one of Miley's new songs, "Easy Lover."
The film hits theaters June 12; tickets are now on sale at MileyCyrusSomethingBeautiful.com. Ahead of the theatrical release, the movie will have its world premiere June 6 at Tribeca Festival in New York City.
On Wednesday, Miley posted a TikTok showing her rehearsing the moves you see her perform in the trailer.
Miley co-directed the film, and apparently it was going to be a lot more elaborate — until she talked to Harrison Ford about it one day. Appearing on The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1, Miley explained that when she was chatting with the legendary actor, she started telling him about the project, and showed him a PDF of her concepts.
"So I show him my idea ... which is performing in all the forests and at the pyramids and all these things," she told Zane. "He goes, 'You really want to go and set up in a forest and do what?' He's like, 'You going to bring a crew?' He's like, 'Looks expensive.'"
"And I came back ... and I was like, 'Guys, we're not performing in the forest anymore. Harrison Ford made a lot of sense.'"
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Beyoncé kicks off Cowboy Carter Tour joined by daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi

The Cowboy Carter Tour has begun.
Beyoncé kicked off her highly anticipated tour to support her eighth studio album at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium on Monday night.
The 35-time Grammy-winning artist was joined by two of her three children -- daughters Blue Ivy Carter and Rumi Carter -- at her first show, which ran for nearly three hours and included 39 songs.
Blue Ivy, 13, took the stage for "America Has a Problem," dancing front and center while the crowd cheered.
Later in the show, Rumi, 7, made her concert debut alongside her mom and sister, appearing onstage during "Protector."
Beyoncé closed out her first show by soaring above the crowd in a car while performing "16 Carriages" and then sang "Amen," the last song on her Cowboy Carter album.
Throughout this spring and summer, the Cowboy Carter Tour will take Beyoncé across the country and across the Atlantic.
Beyoncé released her Cowboy Carter album on March 29, 2024. In February, the 27-track project took home album of the year at the Grammys, a rare award that had eluded Beyoncé prior to this year.
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Kendrick Lamar and SZA's 'Luther' leads 'Billboard''s Pop Airplay chart

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” has made its way to the top of another Billboard chart, this time the Pop Airplay chart dated May 3. It's the first rap song to lead the chart since Doja Cat's "Agora Hills" in March 2024, marking K. Dot's first time at #1 as a lead artist on the list and SZA's third. They also both previously topped the chart as featured artists, thanks to K. Dot's appearance on Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” and Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood," and SZA's contribution to "Kiss Me More" by Doja Cat.
The Pop Airplay chart is the latest chart conquered by "Luther," which has spent nine consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 and previously secured the #1 position on Rap Airplay, Adult R&B Airplay, Radio Songs, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay.
It now joins 10 other songs that have dominated the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Adult R&B Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Pop Airplay charts, some of which include Pharrell Williams' "Happy"; "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige; Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together"; and Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee" and "I'll Make Love to You."
The latest accomplishment for "Luther" comes as Kendrick and SZA travel the world as part of their Grand National Tour, which kicked off on Saturday. In a reflection post on opening night, SZA wrote, "IM LATE AF BUT NIGHT 1 MINNEAPOLIS WAS AN EXPERIENCE. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME ! I'm so GRATEFUL FOR MY LIFE!"
SZA has also been handling business for her Not Beauty lip collection while on the road. During her stop in Houston, she hosted a pop-up at NRG Stadium, where she signed autographs, took pictures and interacted with her fans.
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Doechii's 'DENIAL IS A RIVER' visual originally had a very different ending

A new episode of Vevo's Footnotes series, which gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of current videos, focuses on Doechii's '90s sitcom-themed visual for "DENIAL IS A RIVER," revealing that the clip originally had a very different ending.
In pop-up notes, directors Carlos Acosta and James Mackel provide commentary on the action, explaining that the clip was heavily inspired by both Family Matters and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and the entire thing -- including building the set and shooting the clip -- took just three days. It was also filmed on the same soundstage as Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
At the end of the clip, an explosion goes off in the set of the fake sitcom, and Doechii is left standing in the smoke, breathing heavily. The directors reveal, "We had an alternate ending where Doechii passes out and EMTs rush on stage to revive her, but during the last hour of shooting, the entire power at the stage shut off."
"We still filmed it ... but we actually went with the cleaner ending in the video."
Meanwhile, Doechii has a busy summer of festival performances coming up, starting June 28 at the U.K.'s prestigious Glastonbury Festival.
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
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Beyoncé to bring Cowboy Carter tour to Vegas

Beyoncé, her cowgirl hat and her illustrious white horse are taking their talents to Vegas.
Bey announced March 17 she's adding a Las Vegas stop to her Cowboy Carter tour, with a performance slated for July 25 at Allegiant Stadium.
The news comes after Beyoncé's initial tour announcement back in February, when she revealed she'll be making stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Jersey and her hometown of Houston, to name a few. As of now, there are a total of 31 stops, including the newly added Vegas show.
Bey's on her way to another sold-out trek, as the Cowboy Carter tour is currently 94% sold out across all shows. Her last global run, the Renaissance World Tour, broke all sorts of records and helped the singer earn her highest-grossing tour ever after raking in more than a half a billion dollars.
The Cowboy Carter tour kicks off on April 28 with a series of five performances in Los Angeles. The tour will end with the Vegas show on July 25.
Tickets are available on Beyonce's website: Beyoncé.com.
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Doechii to be honored as Woman of the Year at 'Billboard''s Women in Music event

Doechii has been added to the list of honorees at Billboard's Women in Music event for 2025. She'll be honored as the publication's Woman of the Year, awarded to women who have made "significant contributions to the business" and are inspiring "generations of women to take on increasing responsibilities within the field." She's set to receive the award two years after she received Billboard's Rising Star award at the event.
The upcoming honor makes Doechii the third woman to progress from Rising Star to Woman of the Year, following Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. She's also the second rap artist to win and the second artist from Florida to receive the award.
“After receiving the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2023, Doechii has quickly gained recognition in the music industry for her bold creativity and impressive talent,” Hannah Karp, editorial director of Billboard, said in a statement. “With her genre-blending sound, Doechii is redefining what it means to be a trailblazer in the music industry. We are honored to celebrate Doechii and cheer on her continued success!”
Hosted by Laverne Cox, the Women in Music event will take place March 29 at the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, CA. It will also honor Erykah Badu, Muni Long, Tyla, GloRilla and more. The ceremony will air live at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on VIZIO WatchFree+.
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