Anyone who was introduced to Darren Criss through his role on Glee was in for a special treat Sunday night (Oct. 18) at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where the Emmy- and Tony-winning actor reunited with co-star Chris Colfer to perform together for the first time in more than a decade.

Criss joined Glee during season 2 in 2010 to play Blaine Anderson, the lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers and love interest (and eventual first boyfriend) for Colfer’s Kurt Hummel. On Sunday, when Criss made his debut at the iconic venue with two back-to-back performances, Colfer was among an impressive lineup of surprise guests who hit the stage.

But before Colfer arrived, Criss teased the crowd by attempting to sing one of Kurt and Blaine’s most memorable duets all by himself: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” from the season 2 episode “A Very Glee Christmas,” which peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2010. “I’m gonna do my best to sing both parts,” he told the audience, launching into the impossible solo duet. A few lines in, though, the crowd started cheering when they saw Colfer emerge.

“Hey, Darren!” Colfer casually said, to which Criss responded: “It’s been awhile!” In fact, the pair hadn’t performed together in more than a decade, given Glee wrapped its seven-season run back in 2015.

“Do you know the words to this?” Criss prompted Colfer, who assured him: “I do.”

Watch the sweet reunion below:

In addition to the Colfer surprise, other surprise guests included Alan Cumming for ABBA’s “Does Your Mother Know”; Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo for “Lost Boys Life,” an original song Criss wrote and recorded with his late brother, Chuck Criss, for their band Computer Games; Sarah Hyland for “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors; as well as her Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson for Adele’s “Someone Like You.”

Even before Criss was on Glee, he made a name for himself as a University of Michigan student by co-creating A Very Potter Musical, a Harry Potter-themed musical that went viral online. On Sunday night, he performed “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from the show joined by an ensemble of acclaimed stage performers, including Glee’s Alex Newell (Shucked, Once on This Island), Jak Malone (Operation Mincemeat), Natasha Hodgson (Operation Mincemeat) and Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen, Little Shop of Horrors).

He returned to the Glee world one last time for Sunday’s shows by performing with a local youth choir for Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” two songs he famously covered on the Fox musical comedy, as the grand finale.

Since his time on Glee, Criss has gone on to win an Emmy and Golden Globe for his role in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as well as a Tony for Maybe Happy Ending.

Romain Vivien‘s remit as global head of music at Believe has expanded, the company announced Monday (Oct. 19). Vivien will continue overseeing Believe’s global recorded music activities while now directly leading the company’s three major regions: EMEA, Americas and APAC. He will also drive strategic partnerships.

The news follows last week’s announcements that Believe hired Adriana Sein as president of Americas at Believe and upped Viktoria Siniavskaia to president of EMEA, a newly established region that encompasses Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Also reporting to Vivien will be Sylvain Delange, who will continue serving as president of APAC.

Vivien’s promotion is being positioned as part of Believe’s five-year strategic plan “From Access to Success” — an effort to change the company “into a full-service, technology-empowered One Global Artist Development Company focused on artist success,” according to a press release. He will be supported by Bahamonde Bourgain, president of Believe artist services and label & artist solutions, and Brian Miller, chief business officer at TuneCore.

Vivien, who previously served as CEO of Believe France, was named global head of music and president for Europe in 2024. During his nearly 30 years of experience in the industry, he has held positions at Virgin and EMI. He currently serves as vp of the indie trade body UPFI and a board member at labels association SPPF. He was named to Billboard‘s Power 100, Indie Power Players and Global Power Players lists this year.

“Our mission remains unchanged: to transform Believe into a full-service global artist development company obsessed with artist success,” said Vivien in a statement. “By evolving our regional organization around three major geographic pillars, we are creating clearer accountability, accelerating decision-making closer to local markets, and fostering stronger execution across our global footprint. Adriana, Viktoria and Sylvain are fantastic and unique leaders with very strong proven track records, and I have no doubt they will be instrumental in driving even greater success in their region in the years to come.”

Added Denis Ladegaillerie, founder & CEO of Believe: “Over the past two decades, Romain has been instrumental in shaping our global music vision and growing Believe into a leading force in digital music and artist development. As Believe enters its next phase of growth, I am immensely proud that we can rely on leaders like him, Viktoria and Sylvain who have grown with us, take on even greater responsibilities or whose continued leadership and commitment is unwavering, alongside exceptional new talent like Adriana, bringing fresh perspectives to our teams. This strengthened regional organization brings us closer to our local artists, songwriters, labels and publishers around the world, while uniting us more closely than ever as one global organization.”

Kim Petras is speaking up after noticing the recent negativity aimed at Hunter Schafer.

In a Monday (Oct. 19) post shortly after it was revealed in the Euphoria star’s Elle cover story that she’d recently gotten gender-affirming bottom surgery, Petras wrote on X that she’d seen “some really weird a– sh– on here about beautiful Hunter [Schafer] talking about getting vaginoplasty.”

“Just wanna say it’s so brave of her to speak on this and it’s exposing so many of the gross ways in which trans women get fetishized,” the German pop star, who is a trans woman, continued. “The idea of someone aligning their body with how they feel on the inside and people saying YOU ARE WORTH LESS TO US NOW is what I wrote a song called brutalist about …”

“Brutalist” appears on Petras’ most recent album, Detour, which dropped in May. “My dad’s an architect, he used to show me it/ When he would drive me to the psychiatry/ Again and again, didn’t come back a man,” she sings on the track.

The post comes on. the heels of the Cuckoo actress telling Elle that she’d undergone the procedure in December, which she called “amazing.”

“I love it so much,” Schafer shared. “For a long time I’ve embraced the gender-expansive part of myself, and I really wanted to try to make that previous body work, because I thought there was something really cool and bada– about it.”

Ultimately, the Hollywood star — who identified as trans long before she shot to fame in 2019 playing Jules in Euphoria, acting opposite Zendaya — decided that vaginoplasty was the best option for her. When she was a teenager, Schafer joined as a plaintiff in the ACLU’s lawsuit against North Carolina’s anti-trans “bathroom bill.”

Similarly, Petras spent her teenage years advocating for trans rights, garnering national attention in her home country. She’s also said that she faced prejudice for seeking bottom surgery as well.

“I have people saying I ruined my body and I ruined my life,” Petras — who in 2023 made history as the first openly transgender artist to win a Grammy — told Fader earlier this year. “It saved my life and then there’s people who are like, ‘This saved your life, but you ruined everything.’”

Though it’s become a hot-button issue clouded by misinformation in recent years, studies show that bottom surgery is an effective way of relieving gender dysphoria and the mental health struggles that oftentimes accompany gender dysphoria. “People who regret gender-affirming medical treatment decisions are rare and most often report the reason for their regret being lack of support from those around them,” Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, told Billboard in 2022.

“Genital reconstruction surgery is typically reserved for adults,” he also said at the time, dispelling some of the misconceptions around the procedures. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play.”

See Petras’ post below.

LL Cool J has finally explained himself.

The rap legend and actor stopped by 7PM in Brooklyn With Carmelo Anthony, and toward the end of the interview, he was asked by co-host Kazeem Famuyide about the infamous hand gesture he made toward Booker T during an appearance on WWE’s Smackdown back in the early 2000s.

“They didn’t have to tell me. I already knew,” he said after Melo asked him if the WWE staff told him to create his own signature move. “I’m the ‘Ax Man.’ It’s like an executioner that licks his ax before he chops your head off and all that. I was bananas. I was there five minutes, look at that. I just went with the vibe. I’m vibin’.”

He then added that specific move is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of things he has in his repertoire. “I’m just nuts, man. Ya man is nuts. I do what I wanna do. I’ll own it,” LL continued. “I’m crazy, I do all of it on purpose, but I got better sh– than that in the cut. This is just the start, this ain’t nothin’. I’m wondering where the good stuff is at. That ain’t nothing, I’m way past that.”

For what it’s worth, he did address the gesture in 2023 after someone on X asked him what it meant. “It means I’ll lick the blood off my blade after I chop your head off,” he tweeted. “Who wants it? Haha.”

LL was on Smackdown in 2002 to promote his film Rollerball.

You can watch the full conversation below.

The “Salsa Revival: Bridging Generations” panel, held during the first day of Billboard Latin Music Week, brought together two generations of salsa artists: Tito Nieves and Luis Figueroa. The conversation took place Monday (Oct. 19) at the Faena Theater in Miami Beach and was moderated by Bryant Pino of AARP.

Nieves, who has racked up numerous hits over the course of five decades — including “Fabricando Fantasías,” “De Mí Enamórate” and “El Amor Más Bonito” — shared the panel with Figueroa, who was born in Philadelphia but grew up listening to salsa at home and represents the genre’s new generation.

“Young people inspire me. I already have my legacy, but they’re coming up strong, and I want to support the younger generation,” said the Puerto Rican icon, who recalled that he and Marc Anthony used to visit the 60 clubs that existed in New York to bring the movement to audiences — a movement that would eventually spread around the world.

On that point, Figueroa said, “Unfortunately, we don’t have that today. That’s how they built their audience back then. We have platforms now, but it isn’t as personal as having places where you can sing for people and feel their feedback. Another important thing we shouldn’t lose sight of is that the numbers we see on social media or streaming platforms don’t necessarily mean tickets sold.”

Discussing salsa’s place in today’s music scene, both artists agreed that while reggaetón offered a different option for dance music, salsa will not disappear. The genre will continue to preserve the emotional honesty of its lyrics, which have traditionally focused on love.

When asked whether salsa feels the same in English as it does in Spanish, Nieves recalled that he began recording in English in the 1980s after his U.S.-born son asked him what his songs meant.

“Salsa is international. It can be made in any language; the rhythm itself conveys emotion,” he said. Figueroa added that he had a similar experience as a child, asking his mother to explain the lyrics while the music made him dance. He became such a devoted fan that, beginning in his teens, he attended concerts and kept photos he had taken with the genre’s biggest stars.

Finally, Nieves encouraged young salsa singers to pursue their dreams, even as radio and other traditional avenues for exposure have diminished. He urged them to work hard, but above all, to enjoy what they do. “I still perform two-and-a-half-hour shows, and I enjoy them from beginning to end,” he said. “That’s the key.”

Figueroa, who is now also an inspiration for the next generation of salsa artists, advised young performers to stay disciplined in order to protect their voices — and to remain aware of the realities of today’s music business. “They’ve spent 30 years doing what they love,” he said of the genre’s icons. “Now it’s our turn to fight to keep it going.”

Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment says a music rights holder should face financial penalties for continuing to assert “tangled and conflicting” copyright claims over the Renaissance track “Alien Superstar.”

Parkwood, Beyoncé’s label and management company, asked a judge on Thursday (Oct. 15) to permanently dismiss legal claims over the intro to “Alien Superstar,” which peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022. The intro is a sample of John Holiday’s 1998 track “Moonraker”: “Please do not be alarmed, remain calm/ Do not attempt to leave the dancefloor/ The DJ booth is conducting a troubleshoot of the entire system.”

It’s undisputed that Parkwood cleared the sample from Holiday himself, giving the artist $10,000 and a 0.5% share of the “Alien Superstar” royalties. But for more than a year, music catalog owner Shuji Hirose has been alleging in lawsuits that he’s actually the owner of “Moonraker” and therefore should have been a part of the licensing process.

The lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality in June, but Hirose refiled two months later. Parkwood now argues that Hirose has changed his story, and that the switch-up is grounds to both end the case for good and impose monetary sanctions on Hirose and his attorney, DaShawn Hayes.

According to Parkwood, Hirose’s original lawsuit stated that Holiday had sold him only half of the “Moonraker” publishing back in 1998. Parkwood says this was fatal to Hirose’s claims, since the law would have allowed a partial copyright owner like Holiday to license out the composition even without his co-owner’s participation. However, the new iteration of the lawsuit now says Hirose bought 100% of the copyright from Holiday.

“These new allegations cannot be squared with Mr. Hirose’s prior sworn statements,” wrote Parkwood’s attorneys in Thursday’s court papers. “It is axiomatic that knowingly or recklessly filing false allegations or meritless claims is bad faith, and warrants terminating and monetary sanctions.”

“Even generously assuming that Mr. Hirose and Mr. Hayes somehow did not know that the Hirose II complaint was frivolous, sanctions are still appropriate,” added Parkwood’s lawyers, a team from the elite firm Latham & Watkins. “In light of Mr. Hirose and Mr. Hayes’ admissions that Mr. Holiday retains co-ownership and licensing rights in ‘Moonraker,’ Plaintiffs’ claims — premised on directly contrary allegations — are objectively baseless.”

Hayes did not return a request for comment regarding Parkwood’s arguments on Monday (Oct. 19). He’ll likely respond to the motions in writing before a hearing scheduled for February.

The lawsuit levels copyright infringement claims against Parkwood, as well as against Sony Music, Warner Chappell Music and Beyoncé herself. Hirose is also suing Holiday for breach of contract.

Kany García delighted attendees at Billboard Latin Music Week on Monday (Oct. 19) when, accompanied by her guitar, she shared the stories behind her songs during a “Superstar Q&A,” performing snippets of hits like “Hoy Ya Me Voy,” “Te Lo Agradezco” and “A La Niña Que Fui.”

During the conversation, moderated by Billboard‘s co-chief content officer of Leila Cobo and held at the Faena Theater in Miami Beach, the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter shared how “Te Lo Agradezco,” her successful 2023 collaboration with Carín León, came to life. The track made its way onto Billboard‘s Regional Mexican Airplay and Hot Latin Songs charts.

“I started following Carín on Instagram, and I loved his work. I kept liking and commenting, saying things like, ‘Wow, so beautiful.’ And I kept thinking, ‘When will he notice me?’ And suddenly, he did and wrote to me: ‘I didn’t know you followed me. When can we meet?’”

The meeting took place shortly after in Las Vegas, where they crossed paths during Latin Grammy week, and García came prepared with the song almost fully written, eager to show it to him. “I had everything except the line ‘Te lo agradezco,’” she recalled. “I invited him to a suite my label had in Las Vegas to talk music… It was 9 a.m., I was getting my makeup done and I still didn’t have that phrase. While they were doing my makeup, the line ‘te lo agradezco’ came to me, and I jumped up, as we say in Puerto Rico: ‘¡Puñeta!’“

When they met, León told her he had a song he wrote with Camilo that he wanted to show her, and García said she had one too. “He said, ‘You go first.’ I sat down, played my song on the guitar, and he was stunned. I told him, ‘Now show me your song.’ And he said, ‘No, not anymore.’ I never found out what it was,” she shared, making the audience laugh.

García, who graced the cover of Billboard Español in August in the midst of her ambitious arena tour Puerta Abierta, has built her career on deeply emotional songwriting and her ability to transform intimate experiences into songs that resonate within Latin pop and contemporary music.

She also spoke about “A La Niña Que Fui,” one of the most heartfelt tracks from her latest album, Puerta Abierta, dedicated to herself as a child and which has become a sort of anthem during her current tour. When Cobo asked if writing it had made her cry, as it does for many listeners, the singer admitted she is “bad at crying.”

However, she shared that the first letter she received from a fan about the track was from a Venezuelan woman accompanying her husband to chemotherapy for advanced cancer, and how the song helped her cope with the difficult situation. “That’s when I couldn’t hold back,” García confessed. “This song has become my license [to cry].”

Running Oct. 19-22, Billboard Latin Music Week coincides with the 2026 Billboard Latin Music Awards, which will air on Thursday (Oct. 22) live from the James L. Knight Center in Miami via Telemundo and Peacock.

Watch a fragment of Kany García’s panel below.