Music Industry Moves: Grupo Frontera Signs to Noah Assad’s Habibi Management Firm, Joining Karol G

Earlier this month, Drake posted a black-and-white video to his Instagram Reels, set to the contemplative strains of Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again.” But instead of a heartfelt salute to Paul Walker, Drake repurposed the ballad to pay tribute to something else: gambling. As Charlie Puth croons and piano keys twinkle in memory of Vin Diesel’s fallen bestie, we see clips from the past year of Drake risking millions of dollars on virtual roulette, anxiously ripping a hookah at his kitchen counter as he stares intently at his computer screen and roleplays his own private Uncut Gems.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “The Pianist” and “King Kong” star Adrien Brody spoke at the Red Sea Film Festival Friday about a wide variety of creative pursuits, including making music from popcorn in the 1990s. “I liked the sound of the kernels of popcorn hitting the aluminium lid of the pan and so I set my microphone up and recorded it and then I sampled it and put on some reverb,” he told the audience in Saudi Arabia. “It went pok-a-pok-a-pok.” Something of a prodigy, he was cast as a lead in a TV movie “Home at Last” when he was only 15 and later became the youngest actor to win the best male lead Oscar.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias and music rights platform Influence Media Partners have announced a new major partnership deal spanning his professional career along with name, image, and likeness rights to expand future licensing opportunities. Bloomberg reports that the deal, which is the first NIL deal for Influence Media, was for nine figures; reps declined comment on the financials. “My songs hold immense significance for both my fans and me.

MGM+ has acquired Oscar winner Alex Gibney’s two-part documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, an immersive journey into the work of one of greatest singer-songwriters in the history of the recording industry.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Selena Gomez had TikTok users engaged the most over the past year, according to a report released by the social video-sharing platform. Gomez, who has almost 60 million followers, was crowned TikTok’s most popular artist in the United States.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Berlin’s European Film Market has unveiled a new finance forum in collaboration with conference producer Winston Baker and the inaugural edition of AfroBerlin, focusing on the African film industry, among its new initiatives in its forthcoming edition, which runs Feb. 15-21. Winston Baker’s Entertainment Finance Forum Berlin, taking place Feb.

Jaden Thompson The Creative Coalition has partnered with AARP to launch the Entertainment Industry Commission on Caregiving to spotlight and empower the 48 million Americans who serve as family caregivers. The Creative Coalition is a nonprofit known for galvanizing the arts and entertainment industry to address social welfare issues.

Ali Louis Bourzgui will reprise his acclaimed performance as the title character in The Who’s Tommy when the musical moves from Chicago to Broadway this spring.

High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens has reportedly tied the knot with her basketball player fiancé Cole Tucker. The American actress, 34, is said to have got married in a special beach ceremony, after the pair only got engaged in February, according to US Weekly. Vanessa and Cole, 27, who originally met on Zoom, were reportedly exchanging their vows in Tulum in Mexico on Saturday, 2 December.

Darius Rucker. “You have to pinch yourself when you hear something like that — it just blows your mind. I’m just a kid from South Carolina.” Between Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1994 debut album, “Cracked Rear View” (21 times platinum), and his inescapable 2013 single, “Wagon Wheel” (11 times platinum), Rucker has provided the sound for two massive musical phenomena.

Gracie Abrams have released a new collaborative single in the form of ‘Everywhere, Everything’. Listen to the track below. The song was originally released on Kahan’s 2022 album ‘Stick Season’, and for this new duet version, Kahan takes the first verse, while Abrams sings the second.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Following in the footsteps of U.S. guilds, French TV crew members are poised to go on strike amid a battle with producers over minimum wages. Labor union CGT-SPIAC has sought a 20% increase on basic salaries for crew members working in production and post-production of TV shows, documentaries and unscripted content in France.

Anitta, Rauw Alejandro, and Becky G.Becky G and Sebastian Lleget reunite for the first time since his cheating accusationsLaura Pausini and Rauw Alejandro might record a new version of ‘Se Fué’Anitta was born Larissa de Macedo Machado and is a ubiquitous force in music. At only 29, she’s a true global artist, with her record “Versions of Me” released in three languages. Forbes reports that she wrote her hit song “Envolver” in less than a day.

Karol G is officially an actress. The Colombian superstar was featured on the first trailer for “Griselda,” the new Netflix series led by Sofia Vergara, trailing the rise and fall of Griselda Blanco, one of the most notorious drug lords in history. Sofia Vergara parties with Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber, and more at F1 Vegas Grand PrixSofia Vergara steps out in all-denim look with the perfect pair of leather bootsThe series trailer teases out some of the stories that will be explored over the course of the six-episode season, showing a Sofia Vergara taking on a role that’s completely different to her Hollywood career.

Thania Garcia Riggs Morales, the A&R executive known for his tenures at Atlantic Records and Eminem’s Shady Records, has been tapped as Def Jam‘s new executive VP of A&R. The move was announced Tuesday by CEO Tunji Balogun, to whom Morales will directly report.

EXCLUSIVE: Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris (Westworld), Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick), Miles J. Harvey (American Vandal) and Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island) have joined Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge, Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, and Gabrielle Union (The Inspection) in director Dito Montiel’s crime comedy movie Riff Raff, which has begun filming in New Jersey.

K-pop group NewJeans made their American awards show debut last night at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. This year's show was aired on Billboard's social media channels rather than traditional broadcast networks and featured pre-recorded acceptance speeches and performances.

Showtime Sports has given a greenlight to The World According to Football, a five-part documentary series narrated and executive produced by Trevor Noah, from Gotham Chopra’s Religion of Sports, Day Zero Productions and Mainstay Entertainment. The series’ first episode will premiere December 1 at 8 PM on Showtime, with episodes debuting weekly for five weeks. The entire series will be available for streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers on the day of premiere.

2024 Grammy nominations were announced.But even as top contenders SZA, Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo were already getting fitted for gowns, something was amiss.The fact that the nominees for music’s top prize were being announced before anyone got to chow and cocktail down for Friendsgiving — let alone Thanksgiving — made it feel way too early in the awards season.I mean, Mariah Carey didn’t even have enough time to properly defrost.Add to that the fact that the 2023 Country Music Awards took place just two days before the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced — and you knew that something just ain’t right with music award shows.That trend continued on Sunday night, when the Billboard Music Awards took the pre-Thanksgiving weekend spot long occupied by the American Music Awards — and turned it into one big turkey. (To make matters even weirder, both the BBMAs and the AMAs are owned by the same parent company.)Indeed, while the BBMAs were previously aired on NBC — these awards were relegated to a damn Billboard website.

Noah Hawley‘s FX series Alien will be heading back into production early next year in Bangkok, Thailand, the Fargo creator told Deadline at the season 5 premiere in LA last night.