Love is in the air — defying gravity, one could say — on the set of Wicked. According to multiple reports, Ariana Grande is dating her 31-year-old costar Ethan Slater following her recently reported split from husband Dalton Gomez.
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Slater, who starred on Broadway as the titular character in the SpongeBob SquarePants musical, is also reportedly split from his wife, singer Lilly Jay, with whom he celebrated his four-year wedding anniversary in November 2022. Both TMZand Peoplereport that he and Grande started dating after both of their previous relationships were over; the “Thank U, Next” singer reportedly called it quits with Gomez in January, though they have yet to announce their split.
Billboard has reached out to reps for Grande and Slater for comment.
Grande plays Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba (aka, the Wicked Witch of the West) in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming pair of live-action films based on the Broadway show Wicked, which itself was inspired by the best-selling novel of the same title by Gregory Maguire. Slater is playing Boq, a munchkin boy who, ironically, harbors a crush on Glinda. He was spotted with Grande and others in a photo posted on Instagram in March by Michelle Yeoh, another Wicked costar.
Ethan Slater attends the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards at NYU Skirball Center on May 1, 2022 in New York City.
The reported romance comes just days after reports surfaced that Grande and Gomez, who married in 2021, were separating. One day prior, the pop star was spotted at Wimbledon with Andrew Garfield, Tom Hiddleston and fellow Wicked star Jonathan Bailey, her left hand visibly missing her wedding ring.
The pop star is reportedly on good terms with her soon-to-be ex-husband.
Since forming in 2015, Dead & Company has been one of the most consistent touring entities, mounting 10 separate tours in less than eight years. The last of those, its 2023 summer outing, wrapped on Sunday (July 16) and set an entirely new standard for the band, just as it is hanging up the mantle. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Dead & Company Summer Tour 2023 grossed a new high of $114.7 million and sold 845,000 tickets across 28 shows.
The supergroup’s previous best was $53.7 million, earned during its Fall Tour 2021.
Dead & Company established a relatively unfussy format to its tours, much like its approach to setlists and song structure. The band sticks to the U.S. and Canada and plays in brief sprints of anywhere from 10 to 30 shows at a time. Even the name of each tour is plainly stated – Dead & Company 2015 Tour, Dead & Company Summer Tour 2017, Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018 and so on.
Carrying on the legacy of the Grateful Dead, revenue and attendance have been steady as well. Average grosses have mostly stuck between $1 million to $2 million per show, and nightly attendance between 10,000 and 20,000. Routings have seamlessly woven arenas and amphitheaters, with a sprinkling of stadiums in select markets.
That all changed with Dead & Co.’s most recent dates. The announcement of the band’s final tour gave some extra momentum, as farewells are known to do. More than half of this year’s shows were played in stadiums, leveling up in Philadelphia, San Francisco and more.
Dead & Company’s final three shows at San Francisco’s Oracle Park (July 14-16) grossed $24.4 million, becoming the highest grossing engagement of the band’s tenure. A three-show stint at Boulder’s Folsom Field (July 1-3) sold 131,000 tickets, marking its best-selling report ever. Eight-figure grosses continue with double-header stadium stops in Chicago ($11.7 million), Boston ($11.6 million) and New York ($11.1 million).
Across all 28 shows, Dead & Company averaged $4.1 million and 30,200 tickets. Those figures are up by 69% and 46%, respectively, from last summer's tour, easily setting new peaks for the band. Billboard has reported on manypost-pandemictours that have set new personal highs for a variety of artists. But even amidst the excitement of a farewell, there’s an extra level of skill in doing so after touring every single year (with the obvious exception of 2020) since 2015.
This may feel familiar for Grateful Dead members Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann. The band was one of the biggest touring acts of all time, also a group of habit in terms of routing and revenues. While its touring career launched in 1965 -- decades before the advent of Billboard Boxscore -- its early ‘90s tours delivered remarkably consistent results, routinely selling between 20,000-25,000 tickets per show. For every year between 1991 and 1995, the Grateful Dead was among the top 10 on Boxscore’s year-end Top Tours ranking, coming in at No. 1 on the inaugural ‘91 list and again in ‘93.
But upon its return in June 2015 (four months before Dead & Company’s first tour), Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead sold more than 360,000 tickets in just five shows, experiencing the full glory of a comeback and a goodbye, all at once.
Now, the Grateful Dead’s latest era ends, as its John Mayer-fronted lineup played its final shows to similarly spectacular results. After 10 tours, plus three editions of the destination event Playing in the Sand, Dead & Company has earned $455.9 million and sold 4.1 million tickets from 212 concerts.
Everybody needs a friend like will.i.am. The rapper is gearing up to drop a song titled “Mind Your Business” with Britney Spears, the making of which the Black Eyed Peas founder opened up about in a new interview.
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“I’ve been a fan, a friend and a supporter of Britney throughout the years,” he gushed Thursday (July 20) on CBS Mornings. “A supporter as far as a person who goes out and listens to her music, a supporter as far as somebody that’s there to help champion her through her times when she was fighting for her liberation. She is an amazing person.”
“Mind Your Business” was first announced Monday (July 17), when will.i.am posted a seconds-long snippet of the track to social media featuring Spears’ iconic tagline “It’s Britney, b—-.” Though the single was originally expected on Tuesday (July 18), will.i.am later shared on Instagram that it was now slated for Friday (July 21), writing that Spears is “one of the most fearless, strongest, kindest, purest people I’ve met in my life…I always loved working with you and I always will.”
The collaboration marks his second song with the “Toxic” singer, with the pair first coming together in 2012 for “Scream & Shout.” And though a lot has changed between then and now — most notably the termination of Spears’ 13-year conservatorship — the “Let’s Get It Started” musician says the pop star’s love for music is still the same.
“Music is therapy for lots of people,” he told CBS Mornings. “Dancing is therapy for lots of people. It helps you with anything that you’re going through. I see that every time I see her dance on her Instagram. I light up, because I see how much she loves music.”
“To collaborate with her now and then, when you’re in the studio, when you’re making music, that’s the only thing that matters,” will.i.am added. “I see the same light, the same joy, the same love and passion.”
It’s not hard to guess at the message behind “Mind Your Business,” given how vocal Spears has been about the crushing consequences fame has had on her mental health — something she’s expected to talk about in her highly anticipated upcoming memoir, The Woman In Me. Will.i.am touched on how her experiences inspired the new track, empathizing with the lack of privacy that comes hand in hand with stardom.
“When you’re in the spotlight, a lot of times you just want to live your life,” he said, before revealing one of the song’s lyrics: “Hands up in the cookie jar/ They watching me, they watching y’all.”
“That has to do with privacy and everyone else, every individual out there who feels that they are not living a private life in social media,” the musician added. “There’s a thin line, and everyone deserves their own version of privacy.”
Watch will.i.am talk about “Mind Your Business” with CBS Mornings above.
Tekashi 6ix9ine has been pulled from his performance at the 2023 Premios Juventud, Billboard has learned. The Mexican-American rapper was set to make the televised debut of “Pa’ Ti,” his collaboration with Dominican newcomer Yailin La Más Viral, on Thursday night (July 20).
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“We are aware that many fans are looking forward to the highly anticipated performance of 6ix9ine and Yailin ‘La Más Viral’’ at this year’s Premios Juventud in Puerto Rico,” Univision said in a statement shared with Billboard Thursday morning. “After carefully assessing concerns that have been raised, and working closely with local authorities, the Puerto Rico Convention District Authority, the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety and Univision concluded that the artist 6ix9ine will not be part of the event. This decision is based on the safety recommendations issued by competent entities, and with the firm commitment of always prioritizing the safety and well-being of all those who are involved in and attend the show.”
Univision has not confirmed if Yailin will perform alone. (She is also nominated for best dembow collaboration, for the “Soy Mamá Remix” with La Insuperable and Farina.) Billboard has reached out Yailin for comment about her planned performance.
A rep for 6ix9ine tells Billboard in a statement that the artist is disappointed by the decision, but tried to ease safety concerns by offering up additional security, which was allegedly rejected. “We truly feel incredibly sad about the decision taken as we have left fans around the world and the people of PR without the performance they have been waiting for,” the rep says. “It’s a shame that they have been carried away by baseless threats after an investigation done by the police department. We hired a specialized company to reinforce our security; it was even proposed to reinforce security at the Coliseum with the Puerto Rican Police to make performance possible, but this was denied by the Puerto Rico Coliseum Directive.”
Billboard has reached out to Univision and the venue for comment about 6ix9ine’s offer to provide more security.
The decision to remove 6ix9ine from the set came after law enforcement in Puerto Rico advised him to not travel to the U.S. territory for the awards show due to alleged threats he has received. Some have speculated that the safety concerns are tied with the recent controversy the rapper has with Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA.
Despite 6ix9ine being pulled from the performance, the rapper still traveled toLa Isla del Encantoand posted videos on social media of himself arriving in his private jet and at his hotel. “I’m in Puerto Rico, the rumors are not true,” he posted on his Instagram Stories on Wednesday (July 19). He also shared videos in an Instagram post, showing him deplaning from a private jet with Yailín.
Prior to her relationship with Tekashi, Yailín was married to Anuel, with whom she has a baby girl. The two separated earlier this year and have been having an ongoing online feud that Tekashi joined earlier this summer, attacking Anuel on his Instagram posts.
Taylor Lautner and his wife Tay Lautner are sharing all the details of what it was like working with Taylor Swift on the “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” music video.
On the latest episode of The Squeeze podcast, hosted by the Lautners, Tay said the secrecy surrounding the superstar’s latest video was “literally bigger than any secret I’ll ever have.”
Earlier this month, Swift debuted the first music video from her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) album at the first Eras Tour stop in Kansas City, Missouri. The Twilight actor, Joey King and Presley Cash, who all starred in the video, also joined the singer onstage to celebrate the video’s premiere.
After the concert, they all took to social media at the time to share their excitement about the video, with Swift also writing on Instagram, “Joey and Presley had been in the video for “Mean” when they were 9 and 13 and they are back and so ridiculously bad ass!! Taytay is INCREDIBLE in this (didn’t have a stunt double!) and shout out to @taylautner for being so awesome to hang with on set. The Tale of 3 Taylors.”
Now, the Abduction actor is giving his thoughts on the whole experience, as well as sharing his appreciation for the Grammy-winning singer, who they call “blonde girl Tay” to differentiate from his wife, “girl Tay” since they all have the same name.
“We’ve known how freaking awesome the video is for a while now, so it was just stoked for everybody to see it and just see the genius of blonde girl Taylor because she is truly unbelievable. She can do it all,” Taylor said of Swift on the podcast. “Honestly, the most impressive thing about her is that she is such a genius and she does do it all but you would never think so just talking to her. She’s the most humble person I’ve ever encountered.”
Tay seconded the actor’s comments, adding that Swift is such a “collaborative” person.
Later in the episode, the couple discussed their friendship with Swift and what it was like for Taylor to introduce his wife to the singer, given that she is also his ex-girlfriend. Swift and Taylor dated back in 2009, and it is rumored that her hit song “Back to December” is about their breakup.
“It was great,” Taylor quipped. “I know on paper it sounds like a tough situation, but I not once was ever worried about it.”
The actor added that he and his wife are secure in their relationship and that Tay is also the “coolest, chillest person ever” as well as being a “die-hard fan of that person.”
He also said “blonde girl Tay” is the “sweetest human being on Earth” so it ended up being “kind of just a perfect situation.”
Amid the ongoing debate and controversy surrounding Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” the mayor of the “small town” the music video was filmed in has spoken out.
Mayor Chaz Molder of Columbia, Tenn., said that he respects Aldean’s “freedom of his own lyrics,” but also hopes the next music video filmed in his town will “seek a more positive message,” according to local news station FOX 17.
“Like many small towns across America, Columbia, Tennessee is focused on bringing people together,” he told the station. “I hadn’t listened to the song prior to today, but I’ve now seen the video.”
On Tuesday (July 18), the country singer responded to recent claims that “Try That in a Small Town” is pro-gun, pro-violence and a “modern lynching song.” The song challenges those who “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop” to, as the title suggests, try those actions in a small town and “see how far ya make it down the road.” The song’s video features footage of an American flag burning, protesters having confrontations with police, looters breaking a display case and thieves robbing a convenience store.
“In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to a comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” Jason wrote in his statement. “These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage- and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”
CMT has since pulled the video from its rotation after running it for three days, Billboard confirmed, while Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, came to his defense. On the other hand, stars like Sheryl Crow and Margo Price have spoken out against Jason Aldean’s choice to perform and release the song.
Travis Scott is bringing something sweet to fans, as he took to Instagram on Wednesday (July 19) to tease a new collaboration with The Weeknd and Bad Bunny.
The star-studded team up is seemingly titled “Lollipop,” as the rapper shared the cover art featuring a single red lollipop and captioned the post with three lollipop emojis. “Flame Abe Benito,” Scott wrote, adding that the song will be available on Thursday night (July 20).
The “Pick Up the Phone” rapper is currently gearing up to launch Utopia, his first studio album in nearly five years, on July 28. The project serves as the follow-up to Astroworld, Scott’s third studio album, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 and spawned several Billboard Hot 100 hits such as “Sicko Mode” (No. 1), “Stargazing” (No. 8), and “Carousel” (No. 24).
Last week, the star announced a livestream event celebrating the album launch, which will take place on release day at Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
After reports that Egyptian government officials canceled the event due to The Egyptian Syndicate of Musical Professions allegedly having concerns about ensuring “the safety and protection of the audience,” Live Nation assured that the livestream event is still set to go as planned. “There have been no changes to Travis Scott’s show in Egypt; any reports to the contrary are false. We can’t wait to celebrate Utopia with you in Egypt,” the company shared in a statement to Billboard.
The 2023 Premios Juventud is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary on Thursday (July 20, live from the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Additionally, Shakira and Camila Cabello will receive the special “Agent of Change” award, joining past honorees including Jesse & Joy, Maluma, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Kany Garcia, Jenni Rivera Foundation, Ricky Martin, Becky G, Pitbull, Juanpa Zurita, and Wisin y Yandel.
Co-hosted by Angela Aguilar, Marcus Ornellas, Alejandra Espinoza, and Dayanara Torres, Premios Juventud will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 20, with the “Noche de Estrellas” red carpet special, followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. ET. Both will air simultaneously on Univision and ViX.
Prior to the show, Billboard hung out at the rehearsals backstage, and got some highlights. Check them out below:
PJs Returns to Puerto Rico
Chiquis & Snow Tha Product
On its 20th anniversary, Premios Juventud returns to Puerto Rico for a second consecutive year—2022 was the first year the awards ceremony ever left Miami. “Last year was great and we could identify the quality of service and resources,” Jose Morales, SVP of Talent & Consumer Engagement at Univision Communications Inc., said during a press conference of El Choli. “The team at this venue treated us at a high altitude that we had to return, also because of the diversity of scenarios that Puerto Rico offers.”
Angela Aguilar Debuts as Host
Angela Aguilar, a four-time nominee at the 2023 Premios Juventud, will not only perform a new song from her upcoming album but she will also be a host, marking her TV host debut. “I’ve had the opportunity to come as a singer but this is a new facet,” the Mexican singer said backstage, ahead of showing her admiration to her co-hosts. “More than advice, I learned from their examples. They’re confidence, elegance, enjoyment, and how they handle themselves with so much class.”
A Reggaeton Throwback
Alexis y Fido & Chesca
Most of the night’s performances are top secret but during rehearsals, a wave of reggaeton veterans stopped by to give interviews. Among some of the confirmed performers are Jowell y Randy, Angel y Khriz, R.K.M y Ken-Y, and Alexis y Fido—all which are emblematic duos. Other iconic urban acts include Wisin, Chencho Corleone, Zion y Lennox, and De La Ghetto, to name a few. “We can’t share much but the opening act is going to be super Puerto Rican,” Morales noted.
CNCO’s Last Rodeo
Backstage, the media got a first look at some of the 2023 performances, including a glimpse of CNCO’s show. A bittersweet moment, this will mark CNCO’s last Premios Juventud show as a group. In 2022, it was at this very stage that the Latin boy band announced they were disbanding after seven years. “We always thought that if we split, it had to be natural, and that’s how it happened,” Zabdiel De Jesus told Billboard. “We’ve lived many things together, and grew together in this industry, and we’re ready to try new things to expand our careers. We’re very excited.” CNCO is nominated for three awards at the 2023 awards including favorite group or duo of the year, pop track of the year with “La Equivocada,” and best pop album for XOXO.
20 Years of “The Reason”
Hoobastank & Jonathan Moly
On other nostalgic news, Hoobastank is also set to take center stage at the 2023 Premios Juventud. During rehearsals, the California-based band did interviews with Venezuelan tropical-pop star Jonathan Moly to talk about their joint performance. Both Moly and group will surprise viewers with a new salsa-fusion of the timeless single “The Reason,” which like Premios Juventud, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
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