Early Motown songwriter Janie Bradford Hobbs, who helped pen hits including “Money (That’s What I Want)” and “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” has died following an extended illness at a Los Angeles hospital, her family said Saturday (Aug. 22). She was 87.

Bradford Hobbs was born in Charleston, Missouri, and later moved to Detroit.

She was introduced in the late 1950s to Motown founder Berry Gordy by neighbor and singer Jackie Wilson. She joined Motown as a receptionist in 1958 and like many of the company’s employees took part in the creative process that helped make Motown a music industry powerhouse.

She and Gordy co-wrote “Money (That’s What I Want).” The song was recorded in 1959 by Barrett Strong and became an early hit. It was covered by The Beatles and also became one of that group’s hits.

“Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” first was recorded by The Temptations and later became a hit for Marvin Gaye. Bradford Hobbs also wrote songs for Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas and others.

“Janie was there with me from the very beginning, before there was even a Motown, and she will always hold a very special place in my heart and in the Motown family,” Gordy said in a statement.

“Janie was one of a special group I have always thought of as the original Motown family — the unsung heroes who believed in the dream before anyone knew what Motown would become,” Gordy continued. “She was one of the people who helped make Motown what it became.”

Bradford Hobbs later became head of Writer Relations for Jobete, Motown’s publishing company. After leaving Motown, she founded the annual Heroes and Legends Awards. The event spanned about 30 years, honoring music icons and awarding scholarships, according to her family.

She is survived by her husband, Wardean Hobbs; daughter, Nicole Hobbs; son, Lance Finney; and two grandsons. Funeral services have not been completed.

The Game says he didn’t diss anybody on his new project.

The West Coast rapper just dropped The Documentary III, his 11th solo album, and fans feel like he took shots at fellow Compton MC Kendrick Lamar multiple times. He even has Drake featured on a hook. However, The Game denies these claims — although he seemingly mentions Lamar and alludes to Dot’s beef with Drake multiple times on the project.

Instagram page @obzervetv reposted a rant from user @tyleravilez in which he criticizes Game for “dissing” Kendrick because they’re both from the same city and that he should be taking on more of an “elder” role at this point in his career. “As an L.A. native, we’re supposed to be sticking together, we’re supposed to be showing that we are a unit, and that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all us, and yet you dissin’ one of our own,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense, bro. Wrap it up.”

He added: “At this point in time, you’re supposed to be an elder. You are supposed to helping the youth. Giving people opportunity, so they can get in the rap game and flourish.”

The Game then hopped in @obzervetv‘s comments and said he didn’t diss Kendrick at all. “Ain’t diss nobody on that song loud fa nuthin ahhhh [ninja emoji],” he wrote in a comment that has been pinned.

For what it’s worth, on the song “Geezus,” The Game raps, “I say Drake the homie, y’all say it’s treason/ I can’t believe it/ Want me to pick sides while y’all d–kride/ When you’re from the west side you ain’t gotta pick sides…/ I draw led, erase you n—as/ Put that on God, it’s me against all odds/ I’ll pop the steering column on the GNX and wait for n—as.” Then, on “No Brakes” featuring Drake, he mentions picking sides again when he raps, “Me, Drake and a Draco, we the Three Amigos/ N—a said pick a side, then I’m picking homicide,” in reference to the Toronto rapper and Kendrick’s battle in 2024. On “LA Monster,” he alludes to Lamar’s “Boogeyman” moniker and again mentions GNX, the title of Lamar’s 2024-released best rap album Grammy winner. “I ain’t got no problem with the boogeyman/ And he ain’t got a problem with me/ ‘Cause I’ma LA Monster,” he raps and later spits, “I might drive the Rose today/ The GNX scare the hoes away/ ‘Cause I’ma LA Monster.”

Finally, on the track titled “The Pen,” he brings Kendrick up again, but this time, he acknowledges the speculation that he’s been throwing shots and says that he hasn’t been. “Like Dr. Dre on the beat/ Yeah, I’m back with that sound/ They say I’m beefing with Kendrick/ How the f— do that sound?” The Game raps, ” ‘Cause I’m feeling like 50 when he made ‘Back Down’/ They say 50 made me, tell him make me again/ I kick myself out the group and make them hate me again.”

According to fellow West coast rapper Stat Quo, this all stems from The Game bringing out Drake to Compton to film the music video for their 2015 song “100.” But Stat alleges The Game didn’t take issue with Kendrick working with his old label boss-turned-rival 50 Cent when he made an appearance on Power, so there shouldn’t be any animosity between the two Compton rappers.

Go stream The Documentary III and hear for yourself.

Not sure if you peeped, but it looks like Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign may be pivoting to Christian rap.

He recently sat down with The Shade Room and was asked why he’s changing the content of his rap music after going viral earlier this week when a clip of his new music surfaced. “Sometimes in life…I feel like…you gotta listen to that voice that’s talking to you,” he explained. “I feel like everybody is spiritual, everybody know who God is, right? And they pray a couple times, but you gotta actually do something for God. I mean, you’ve got to actually put in a little pain for God. I’m not a person that gotta learn the hard way, feel me? I just know when it’s time to get right.”

However, he doesn’t feel like he’s making gospel music exactly. “When people used to asked me if I was a drill artist, it was hard for to answer it,” he said after being asked if he sees himself as a gospel artist now. “So, as far as me being a gospel artist, this is the first time somebody asked me that question, I don’t feel like I’m a gospel artist and I really don’t feel like I’m doing gospel music, I just name it gospel music because I know what that means. But I feel like it’s just music from my heart. I got all types of beats on it. So, I don’t know what’s a real gospel beat, but the album got different styles of music where I’m praising God.”

Adding, “I don’t want to put it in a category. I’m just Fivi and I’m just trying to praise God through my music and not worship the devil through my music, push a positive image and change, you know, hopefully I get a blessing from God.”

He also said that he would like to eventually collaborate with gospel acts Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin in the future.

Fivio flirted with Christian rap on Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) 2021 Donda album on the song “Off the Grid” where he delivered one of the project’s standout verses.

You can watch the interview below.

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed that he is once again fighting cancer. In an interview with El Salvadorian station YSKL, the 63-year-old musician discussed his philosophy for keeping a positive, hopeful attitude after revealing in 2013 that he was battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he said returned in 2015 and yet again recently.

“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” Campbell said of his diagnosis. “In the winter of 2023, I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening. And I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive … I did that in January of ’25 .… Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. So the cancer has returned, and I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”

Campbell said he plans to try another transplant within the next few years with a different donor to see if that will stick, but in the meantime, he is going to keep performing with the “Rock of Ages” band as well as his side project, the Last in Line, and racing rally cars, a lifelong obsession. “I love cars and I love driving,” he said. “And as a child, I thought, ‘If I don’t play guitar for a living, I’m gonna be a race-car driver.’ So I’m very, very, very fortunate and blessed that I get to do both.”

The key, Campbell told the station, is to keep “moving forward” and stay busy. “And I do think that that’s what helped me, even when I was at a really low ebb with cancer treatment. The fact that I could still continue to work, that gives me something to live for, something that you enjoy, that you’re passionate about, that you can wake up in the morning and look forward to,” he explained. “I think that deflects, that takes away from focusing too much on cancer.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and is highly treatable and often curable by using chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.

Campbell, who logged time in Ronnie James Dio’s band, Dio, as well as Whitesnake and the British new wave metal band Sweet Savage, joined Def Leppard in 1992 following the death of founding guitarist Steve Clark.

He observed that some people who get a diagnosis focus just on the cancer and nothing else, while he has been determined to keep living his life “as much as possible. In fact, even more so. After getting a cancer diagnosis, it amplifies that desire to tick all the boxes, to do the things you wanna do. But I also consider myself very fortunate because I caught my cancer early. So, it’s always been more about managing my cancer.”

Concluding with a message that “life is for the living,” Campbell, who was forced to miss some 2024 and 2025 shows due to health issues, said he just encourages everyone to keep an eye on their health. “And if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis to overcome the fear,” he said. “Fear is inevitable when you’re first told those words. But once you get over that, you gotta realize just how to manage it and how to deal with it as best as possible, and just don’t give in.”

Def Leppard are slated to play the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. on Oct. 15, followed by dates in Mexico and Central and South America in October and November.

For the past decade, DMA’S have lived the dream. The Australian alternative rock band has amassed an enviable fanbase in the United Kingdom, their spiritual home. They’ve landed spots on the biggest stages. Awards have come their way, including an ARIA for best group in 2023.

One thing, however, is strangely missing. A No. 1.

The trio has got ever-so-close, on multiple occasions. Their most recent album, 2023’s How Many Dreams, opened and peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, and No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Its predecessor, 2020’s The Glow, also peaked at No. 2 in Australia, and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.

With their self-titled fifth album, a fresh start. DMA’S arrived Friday, Aug. 21, the product of recording sessions at the band’s own studio, and released through Wonderlick and Sony Music, their first through a major label machine.

Bandmates Johnny Took (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Matt Mason (lead guitar) and Tommy O’Dell (lead vocals) recorded the collection in their studio in Sydney’s Glebe, a space that was established by rock’n’roll legend Col Joye, and hosted sessions with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees. The DMA’S found the studio on Facebook Marketplace, buying it from Australian Music Prize winners Hermitude.

The LP was largely self-produced, with contributions from Lach Bostock of Mansionair, Norwegian duo Jimi Somewhere and two-times Grammy Award nominee Styalz Fuego.

“We did try with a producer overseas and it didn’t work out,” Mason tells Billboard over a Zoom. “We tried a few things out. It didn’t work. It solidified what were thinking, should we do it ourselves? F— it, let’s just go home. We’ve got our own studio now. We produce music for other bands. It’s album five. We know what we want, you know? Let’s just do it ourselves.”

DMA’S is the sound of a band that knows what they want. It’s an album with big songs, style and swagger, born from Britpop, raised in Australia. The trio boast an impressive following in both countries, but no Britpop frontman had the lungs of O’Dell, who shows off his natural talents on the singles “My Baby’s Place,” “Heatin Park” and “Killing Time,” and across the new album’s 11 tracks. 

The sessions were “basically free because it’s our studio,” Mason says. “You’re the one creating the deadlines, you can go on forever. It did take a long time because it’s just up to you. At least we can say that we love it. It’s my favorite album that we’ve done.”

Recording the album took roughly a year to complete. “It did take quite a bit longer than usual. Just because we had the luxury of just spending as long as we can,” Mason admits. “You have this unlimited sort of potential to just experiment as long as you can and to have that luxury was like something that we haven’t done before. Some records I can look back on and say, f—, I wish I could’ve switched in an extra day or two for that. Yeah. But this album was completely happy with every single segment of it.”

Some of the songs geminated at the beginning of their career. “My Baby’s Place” and “One & Only” borrow from recordings which the band members retrieved from a rusty old PC.

Since the release of Hill’s End, which this year celebrates its 10^th anniversary, DMA’S have amassed over 535 million streams. Breakthroughs, they can come from the least-expected avenues. In Australia, it was the band’s 2016 cover of Cher’s ‘90s dance hit “Believe” that got the ball rolling. Their version came out on top of triple j’s inaugural Hottest 100 “Live A Version” countdown in 2023.

In the U.K., a 2016 appearance on the now-defunct Sky Sports show Soccer AM, where they performed “Delete,” was an early goal. Mason remembers the experience for several reasons. “People liked the song. But the comments on YouTube, people were like, ‘why are their shoes so dirty?’” It was the first of several appearances. The bandmates are soccer tragics, a love affair that has spawned a merch collaboration with Sydney FC, featuring a jersey, jacket, scarf and wall flag.

Conversation shifts to that elusive No. 1. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a part of it,” Mason tells Billboard, referring to their new major label route. Each of the band’s previous studio albums were released through I Oh You, part of the Mushroom Group. All crashed the ARIA top 10.

When the band’s contract came up, “we were kind of looking around, you know, what’s going to be our next move? I was thinking, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find another family or another team that feels like that. Sometimes you just think like that would be impossible to find. A group of people who would be so accommodating and, you know, we’ve found it,” he says. “We’ve just made the right decision.”

The U.K. beckons, where the band has already made five return trips this year. There, DMA’S played 10 Hills End anniversary shows in February, with multiple dates sold out, including two at the O2 Brixton Academy. From September, DMA’S will play regional parts of Australia, performing sets at triple j’s One Night Stand in Griffith, Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong the following month, and will end the year at Spilt Milk in Canberra, the Gold Coast, Geelong and Perth.

“I feel like this has been a busy year for us,” Mason considers. “There are a few places we really want to go back to. Italy, we have a decent fan base there and we just love it. Japan would be great. The United States, yep. I’d love to. Maybe next year.” Regular, long-haul travel “is f—ed,” he says with a laugh, “but there’s a beauty to be able to travel to the other side of the world and have that appreciation.”

Stream DMA’S below.

Weezer’s Blue, Green, Red, White, Teal, and Black eras are in the rearview. We’ve now reached Gold.

At midnight, Rivers Cuomo and Co. turned over a new leaf — gold leaf — with the release of their 20^th studio album. The process behind the new, self-titled collection, the so-called Gold Album, was a blast from the past, an LP made the old fashion way.

Following a well-received 30^th anniversary tour, the four band members got down to business in a rehearsal space in Orange County, Calif. Those sessions marked the first time Cuomo and Weezer’s drummer Pat Wilson had fleshed out the framework of a song since their first album, released back in 1994.

Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (FKA Kenny Beats) came on board to produce the new body of work. Ahlund contributed a “more mathematical, stringent approach,” reps say, while Blume set about to make the “most violent Weezer album ever.”

The fruits of their OC labor, 10-tracks including the lead singles “Shine Again” and “We Might As Well Be Strangers” featuring Wednesday, the latter track performed live Wednesday night (Aug. 19) when the rockers stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“We hung out in a living room, actually, for months. All four of us. And just threw ideas out. It was really fun,” Wilson told Fallon of the new project.

“What you hear on the record is something that could only be created by humans coming together and being vulnerable and creating something together,” Cuomo added. “It just can’t be created by AI or a somebody on their own working on a computer or something.”

The band will support the new Gold Album with Weezer: The Gathering tour, getting underway in September with multiple stops across North America.

“The gathering has something to do with summoning sorcerers from all corners of the world to come into this,” Cuomo explained to Fallon. “And I think this tour is something like that. We’re summoning all the different kinds of Weezer fans from around the world to come rock out with us.”

Stream The Gold Album below.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.

Last week, we featured Phoebe Bridgers, Katseye, Ayra Starr, Troye Sivan and more.

This week, Sam Smith shares their new album, Hazel Eyes; Stella Lefty releases her highly-anticipated debut set; and Weezer drops its 20th (!) full-length… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Sam Smith, Hazel Eyes

On “Constant Companion” — one of 12 tracks on Smith’s fifth album — the English singer-songwriter chooses to spotlight their impressive range, singing in their deeper, lower register to start and slowly softening into a more familiar tone that allows their voice to soar. Accompanied by gentle percussion and choral harmonies throughout, delicate keys and an acoustic guitar kick in later and help carry the song. But it’s in the last minute, after the addition of winding strings, that it reaches its peak as Smith bellows with renewed intention: “’cause you, you are my constant companion.” — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Stella Lefty, Long Way Home

After breaking out this year with her debut chart hit “Boston” (which interpolates Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”), fast-rising country-pop artist Stella Lefty shares her first full-length, Long Way Home. Lefty, 24, co-wrote all 14 tracks on the album, which follows her May EP and is produced by Joe Reeves. As Melinda Newman writes in the album’s Tracks Ranked, “Reeves’ low-key production perfectly complements Lefty’s sweet, unadorned vocals, creating what feels like an uncomplicated, authentic effort and a solid introduction to a formidable, developing talent.” — L.H.

Weezer, Weezer (Gold Album)

What else could Weezer possibly name its 20th album except for Weezer? So they did just that — then added (Gold Album) for good measure. It’s a bold title for a fittingly bold album, full of power-pop-rock anthems led by Rivers Cuomo’s distinguishable vocals. Co-produced by Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (formerly known as Kenny Beats), the latter set out to make “the most violent Weezer album ever,” according to a release. Turns out, they did just that.  — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Jorja Smith, What Are The Odds

The third album from British singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is injected with energy and beats primed for the dance floor, as previewed by previously-released singles “What’s Done Is Done” and “I Lied, You Lied.” Meanwhile, single “Alive” with Wizkid showed that Smith can still it slow it down when she wants. And while the album mostly leans into those more booming tracks — some of which feel a world away from the more intimate R&B of her 2018 debut Lost & Found — songs like “Pretend” and album closer “When It Gets Like That” let Smith’s stellar vocals take the lead. — L.H.

Brandon Flowers, Thrasher

For his first solo effort in 11 years, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers turned to his dad’s record collection for inspiration — and found himself creating an album full of country-western-inspired tunes. Across Thrasher, which is Flowers’ third solo project, he turns inward not only for the sonics but for the song’s lyrical content as well — and perhaps that’s where the album’s title and boxer-inspired artwork come from. Think less of a production punch, and more of a mental one — which can sometimes hit even harder. — L.H.

Brennan Wedl, Brennan Wedl

With signees including Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman, ANTI- Records has emerged as the marquee destination for alt-country artists — and that roster now includes Brennan Wedl, who supported Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman’s joint spring tour and captures rootsy magic on her self-titled label debut. With a voice that immediately conjures Lucinda Williams, Wedl lyrically channels both Lenderman’s hyperspecificity (“Let’s get on the Jumbotron at MSG / And shake it like an Etch A Sketch,” on “Let’s Be Models”) and Waxahatchee’s poetic concision (“I can be your low-grade fever / Keep you hot and bothered,” on “I Wanna Be Your TV”) across the set’s 13 gems, which blend punk, garage-rock and country for what Wedl calls “grungetry.” Produced by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her longtime producer Brad Cook, Brennan Wedl is another essential entry in the subgenre that has become indie-rock’s dominant style this decade. — ERIC RENNER BROWN

Bliss out, ENHYPEN is back with six fresh tunes.

At the stroke of midnight, the K-pop heavyweights dropped THE SIN : BLISS, the group’s eighth mini album and the second installment in the ongoing THE SIN series.

THE SIN : BLISS is ENHYPEN’s first release since HEESEUNG announced that he would go his own way and pursue a solo career. Now a six-piece of Jake, Jay, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-ki, the band recently completed the Latin American and United States legs of their BLOOD SAGA trek, their largest world tour to date.

ENHYPEN’s busy year has taken the group to Brazil, where they performed on late-night television program The Noite com Danilo Gentili; and Mexico City for a 2026 FIFA World Cup celebration event at Campo Marte. Along the way, the group took part in San Diego Comic-Con 2026, where they introduced global audiences to “DARK MOON,” HYBE’s original story inspired by ENHYPEN’s narrative universe. The lads also gave blood — and their profiles — to the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign in celebration of World Blood Donor Day on June 14. 

Up next, BLOOD SAGA tour dates in the United Kingdom and Europe from February through March 2027, including stops in Italy, France, The Netherlands and Germany.

Prior to the release of THE SIN : BLISS, the group landed nine titles on the Billboard 200, including six top 10 appearances — MANIFESTO : DAY 1 (No. 6 in 2022), DARK BLOOD (No. 4, 2023), ORANGE BLOOD (No. 4, 2023), ROMANCE : UNTOLD (No. 2, 2024), DESIRE : UNLEASH (No. 3, 2025), and THE SIN : VANISH (No. 2, 2026).

Stream THE SIN : BLISS and check out the BLOOD SAGA 2027 world tour dates and venues below.

Feb. 24 — Milan, IT – Unipol Dome
Feb. 27 — Paris, FR – La Défense Arena
March 2 — Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
March 5 — Berlin, DE – Uber Arena
March 9 — London, UK – The O2

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is going to give the sober life a try.

The Louisiana rapper took to his Instagram Stories and shared that he flushed the rest of the drugs he had down the toilet and is going to try to be sober for six consecutive months. “I wanted to get high last night I just flushed the sh– down the toilet,” he said. “I’m trying to see if I really can make it to 6 months.” He also posted an IG Story hinting at a new album. “Hope yall ready for my album,” he told his followers. “This when we separate this and that.”

Back in 2023, he told Bootleg Kev that he had checked himself into a rehab facility during an interview. “I went to rehab for a weekend recently,” he admitted. “I still get an image that I do a lot of drugs, so I kinda get that thrown in my face like, ‘This is taking over his mind or something.”

NBA, who now lives in South Korea, recently sat down with Funny Marco and hinted at retirement and revealed that he has no interest in moving back to the United States anytime soon. “I’ll go on tour one more time throughout my whole life and that’s it,” he said before saying that he has “one or two” albums left in him.

And when it comes to his plans of maybe coming back to the States he told Funny Marco, “Never in life,” before explaining how he was able to muster up the power to call South Korea his home. “I used to always feel like I never have the opportunity to get away or leave, so it’s like I don’t have no problem being away,” he continued. “It’s nothing there for me at all. Probably the most important thing is my kids. They there, but that’s what they got planes for.”

The title of his next album is All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Ariana Grande has once again blasted the Trump administration for using her music in social media clips promoting the president.

Team Trump posted a video to TikTok on Thursday (Aug. 20) soundtracked by Grande’s 2024 Eternal Sunshine hit “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”

The clip finds Trump walking toward the podium at a speaking engagement and is captioned with lyrics from Grande’s Billboard Hot 100-topping smash, “Me and my truth we sit in silence,” followed by a statement about women’s sports. “Men can’t have babies and should never compete in women’s sports,” the post continues.

Team Trump added in the caption: “This shouldn’t be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga.”

Grande quickly got wind of Team Trump’s post and slammed the administration for using her work in the comment section. “Never use my music again. Also, your truth is false,” she responded.

Arianators also flocked to the comment section to alert the singer. “Does Ariana know he’s using her song AGAIN,” one fan wrote.

This isn’t the first time Grande has spoken out against the Trump administration for using the pop star’s music to promote its content. She previously condemned Trump’s deployment of ICE after the agency posted a clip soundtracked by 2024’s “Bye” in June.

“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F— ICE,” she commented.

Plenty of Ari’s pop star peers have criticized Trump’s deployment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter.

The 33-year-old has been a staunch supporter of the anti-ICE movement, as she sported an “ICE Out” pin at the 2026 Golden Globes.

On the music side, Grande returned with her petal album in July, which topped the Billboard 200 — her seventh LP at the summit — with 295,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States. Grande is currently in the midst of a 10-show run at London’s O2 Arena on the Eternal Sunshine Tour.

Find the Team Trump TikTok video below.