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Taylor's Escape Room album will still be released on Aug. 22.

Teyana Taylor revealed on Wednesday (Aug. 6) that she’ll be undergoing emergency surgery after a noncancerous growth was discovered on her vocal cords. The rapper-actress shared the health update to her Instagram Story, but promised that while she’ll need to cancel some upcoming appearances, like an upcoming podcast with Michelle Obama, her Escape Room album rollout is going to continue with the project scheduled to arrive on Aug. 22. Related Teyana Taylor Transforms Into a Sexy Robot for ‘Long Time’ Debut Performance With Taraji P. Henson at 2025 BET Awards Paloma Mami Returns Full Force with New Album & Management: 'I Was In A Box For A Long Time' Offset Says He Knew About Cardi B's 'Outside' Before Its Release: 'Everything Be a Timing Thing' “I’ve been quietly dealing with some vocal challenges for a while now. And after a lot of back and forth with my doctors, I’ve been told I need vocal surgery immediately,” she wrote. “They found a noncancerous growth on one of my cords that’s been messing with my voice and causing real discomfort. Thankfully, we caught it & it’s treatable—but it does mean I need to pause and give myself time to fully heal.” The 34-year-old continued: “That honestly breaks my heart. I don’t take lightly what it means to show up for y’all. I’ve poured so much of myself into this next chapter—especially the Escape Room, which is still dropping August 22! So no worries there. It’s the most personal body of work I’ve ever created. and the timing… it’s not lost on me. Just as I was getting ready to finally share this with you, life handed me my own unexpected ‘escape room’—one I didn’t ask for, but one I now have to find my way out of with patience, rest, and faith.” Even amid the health battle, Taylor says she put her “whole heart into this music, this film, this rollout. And when I return, it’ll be with even more fire, more purpose, and the best version of me. Thank you for rocking with me through it all.” Escape Room is set to boast 22 tracks, including her previously released “Bed of Roses” and “Long Time” singles and skits from Issa Rae and Lala Anthony. The project serves as Spike Tee’s first LP since 2020’s The Album, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and No. 6 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. 2025 is shaping up to be another busy campaign for the Harlem native, who is starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn, due out later this year.

Ahead of the sequel, Billboard spoke with the women of Pink Slip — Lindsay Lohan, Christina Vidal & Haley Hudson — as well as key producers behind the reunion.

One of the most beloved bands of the early 2000s wasn’t even a real band. When the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis-starring Freaky Friday remake premiered in 2003, moviegoers were introduced to the teen garage band Pink Slip, led by Lohan’s Anna and her two besties Maddie (Christina Vidal) and Peg (Haley Hudson). Their song “Take Me Away” — originally released by Australian alt-punk band Lash in 2001 — was introduced in the film during a garage rehearsal, before Pink Slip takes the House of Blues stage for their big Wango Tango audition and Lohan and Curtis’ body-swap switch-back. Related Lindsay Lohan Explains Why Singing Again for ‘Freakier Friday’ Was ‘Nerve-Racking’ Now, Pink Slip and “Take Me Away” are back in Freakier Friday, Disney’s 23-years-in-the-making sequel that hits theaters on Friday. This time around, Lohan’s Anna is still pals with Maddie and Peg, but she’s left Pink Slip behind to focus on her life as a mom to Harper (Julia Butters) and music manager to gen Z pop superstar Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). But the band finds its way back together in the film, starting with Anna’s karaoke-fueled bachelorette party and concluding, once again, on a big Los Angeles stage, this time upgrading to The Wiltern for the musical grande finale. Ahead of the sequel’s release, Billboard caught up with the three women behind Pink Slip — Lohan, Vidal and Hudson — as well as film producer Kristin Burr (credited with reuniting all five of the original Pink Slip bandmates for Freakier Friday) and music producer Suzy Shinn (who channeled her previous work with pop/rock heavyweights like Weezer, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Katy Perry into a revamped recording of “Take Me Away” and three different versions of brand-new song “Baby,” a centerpiece of the movie’s new mother-daughter storyline between Lohan and Butters). Below, find Billboard‘s oral history of the epic Pink Slip reunion for Freakier Friday. –Additional reporting by Lyndsey Havens

This year's class will be honored at a gala induction ceremony on Oct. 22 in Las Vegas.

Several music managers are among the National Conference of Personal Managers’ Class of 2025 inductees into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame. The class will be honored at a red-carpet reception and gala induction ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Related Aucoin, Manager Who Discovered Kiss, Dies At 66 ‘We Didn’t Have a Clue’: How Lollapalooza Went From Pipe Dream to Reality (Book Excerpt) Tom Waits Leads Fight Against Ticket Scalpers Here’s a complete list of this year’s inductees, with music managers listed first: Bill Aucoin (posthumous): A pioneering rock manager best known for launching KISS and guiding the career of Billy Idol. Aucoin died in 2010 at age 66. Tony Conway: The CEO of Nashville’s Conway Entertainment Group manages top country artists Alabama, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Travis and Exile. Stuart Ross: The Los Angeles-based music manager and festival producer has managed such artists as Tom Waits and Puddles Pity Party and is the past producer of Coachella, Lollapalooza and Stagecoach. Burt Stein: A partner at Gold Mountain Entertainment in Nashville, he represents Ronnie Milsap, The Band of Heathens and other top country and Americana acts. Howard Klein, Michael Rotenberg, and Erwin Stoff: The three are co-founders of 3 Arts Entertainment, a Beverly Hills–based talent management and production powerhouse. Over nearly 35 years, they have guided the careers of such stars as Jessica Alba, James Downey, Francis Lawrence, Matt LeBlanc, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Green, Mindy Kaling and Matt Reeves. The trio also produced acclaimed projects such as The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, King of the Hill, 13 Hours, The Matrix and Late Night. Joe Stabile: The longtime personal manager of the late comedian and humanitarian Jerry Lewis died in 2004. Related Why Are So Many Artists Changing Management This Year? “The 2025 inductees reflect the extraordinary influence, ethics, and legacy of personal management that the Hall of Fame exists to honor,” Clinton Ford Billups Jr., national president of the National Conference of Personal Managers (NCOPM), said in a statement. Established in 2015, the Personal Managers Hall of Fame has inducted more than 50 industry legends, including Sid Bernstein, Bernie Brillstein, Brian Epstein, Danny Goldberg, Ken Kragen, Doc McGhee, Patricia McQueeney, Dolores Robinson, Jack Rollins and David Spero. Inductees are selected by the national board of officers of NCOPM, the nation’s oldest trade association dedicated to advancing the profession of personal management. Nominations are accepted annually from professionals across the personal management industry. Reserved tickets for the Oct. 22 event are available online at the Personal Managers Hall of Fame’s official website. Tickets are $175, which includes both the reception (6 p.m. -7 p.m.) and the ceremony (7 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.)

The band joined the pop star during her headlining set to sing "Let's Groove" and "September."

One of the most memorable moments of this year’s Lollapalooza — Earth, Wind & Fire joining Sabrina Carpenter as a surprise guest — came together in less than 24 hours, according to member Philip Bailey. Related Sabrina Carpenter Lights Up Lollapalooza Headlining Set With Surprise Earth, Wind & Fire Collab Sabrina Carpenter ‘Arrests’ TWICE Members at Lollapalooza Headlining Set: ‘Are You Guys Single?’ Sabrina Carpenter Reveals Full ‘Man’s Best Friend’ Tracklist With Help From a Furry Friend In a post-festival interview with Vulture published Tuesday (Aug. 5), the frontman revealed that his band only had a day’s notice before their big moment on stage, with Carpenter’s team reaching out to the 1970s/80s icons with an invitation, flying them into Chicago on a private plane and hosting them for rehearsals all within a 24-hour time period. “We had to really turn this thing around,” Bailey told the publication. “We hopped a plane at seven in the morning, went in, and had the rehearsal,” he continued. “It was very quick and kind of sketchy. I was almost concerned about it. But by that evening, they had dialed everything in, and [Carpenter] did her homework on what verses she was going to take. We went out there and floated on all that energy.” “She’s very cordial, very kind, and very approachable,” Bailey noted of the Gen Z singer, whose work he hadn’t previously heard aside from smash hit “Espresso.” “Her energy and our energy were very compatible and complementary to one another. How she puts her show together, in terms of how it accelerates and builds, was fantastic.” The interview comes three days after Earth, Wind & Fire took the stage with Carpenter, who closed out the entire 2025 festival by headlining the last of its four days on Sunday (Aug. 3). The other headliners included Tyler, the Creator, Rufus du Sol and Olivia Rodrigo, while Doechii, Gracie Abrams, KATSEYE and dozens of other artists also performed over the weekend. During Carpenter’s set, it came as a total surprise to her crowd when — in the middle of her usual setlist of tracks from Billboard 200-topping album Short n’ Sweet — Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Let’s Groove” started playing over the speakers. “We can just let loose, right? We can just groove,” the Girl Meets World alum said moments before the soul singers walked out on stage. “I thought, ‘Why not bring out my friends from Chicago?’ Give it up for Earth, Wind & Fire!'” The musicians went on to perform “Let’s Groove” and “September” together. Summarizing the whole experience, Bailey added to Vulture, “We were honored to be asked and very appreciative to her and to her fans for embracing these moments we were able to share.” Carpenter is now gearing up to release her seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, on Aug. 29, following a whirlwind year of breakout success thanks to Short n’ Sweet. So far, fans have only gotten to hear one of the songs on the LP — “Manchild,” which dropped in June and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but the vocalist did recently unveil the full tracklist.

A complete rundown of the most important events across the music business.

As part of our continuing efforts to serve the music industry and its creators, Billboard Pro now features a music industry events calendar for readers. The calendar will act as music’s most complete summary major national and international industry events, from conferences to festivals to networking mixers and more. Just as Billboard is music’s must-read source for news, charts and analysis, now it also is the go-to for business happenings. Related Dates Announced for SXSW London Debut Soulja Boy Released From Jail After Prosecutors Decline to Bring Gun Charges SiriusXM Kicks Off Multi-Channel Artist Residency Initiative With Maroon 5 and Bailey Zimmerman August 2025 Aug. 6 – HYBE Q2 earnings call Aug. 6 – Sonos Q3 earnings call Aug. 7 – Live Nation Q2 earnings call Aug. 7 – Sony Q1 earnings call Aug. 7 – Warner Music Group Q3 earnings call Aug. 8-10 – Baja Beach Fest (Rosarito Beach, Mexico) Aug. 8-10 – Outside Lands (San Francisco) Aug. 12 – Tencent Music Entertainment earnings call Aug. 14-16 – Park City Song Summit (Park City, Utah) Aug. 21-24 – Las Vegas Songwriters Festival (Las Vegas) Aug. 21-24 – Reading & Leeds Festival (Reading and Leeds, England) Aug. 28 – Caribbean Music Awards (New York) Aug. 30-31 – Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival (Seattle) September 2025 Sept. 7 – MTV Video Music Awards (Elmont, N.Y.) Sept. 9-11 – VenuesNow Conference (Las Vegas) Sept. 9-13 – AMERICANAFEST (Nashville) Sept. 10 – Americana Honors and Awards Show (Nashville) Sept. 10 – Trapital Summit (Los Angeles) Sept. 11-14 – Bourbon & Beyond festival (Louisville, Ky.) Sept. 13-14 – Four Chord Music Festival (Washington, Pa.) Sept. 14 – Emmy Awards (Los Angeles) Sept. 16-20 – IBMA World of Bluegrass (Chattanooga, Tenn.) Sept. 18 – Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) Gala (Beverly Hills, Calif.) Sept. 19-20 – iHeartRadio Music Festival (Las Vegas) Sept. 19-20 – Riot Fest (Chicago) Sept. 23 – Nashville Songwriter Awards (Nashville) Sept. 25-26 – Volumes: The Music Business Student Summit (virtual) Sept. 26 – Beatport Connect (Los Angeles) Sept. 26-28 – All Things Go Festival (New York & Columbia, Md.) Sept. 26-28 – Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey, Calif.) Sept. 26-28 – Ohana Festival (Dana Point, Calif.) Sept. 27 – Global Citizen Festival (New York) October 2025 Oct. 3 – Living Legends Foundation Awards Show & Dinner (Atlanta) Oct. 3-5 – Austin City Limits Music Festival weekend 1 (Austin) Oct. 3-5 – Field & Stream Music Fest (Winnsboro, S.C.) Oct. 3-5 – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (San Francisco) Oct. 5-7 – IEBA 2025 (Nashville) Oct. 6 – Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala (Nashville) Oct. 7 – GMA Dove Awards (Nashville) Oct. 7-10 – IMPF Global Music Summit & Songwriting Camp (Palma, Mallorca, Spain) Oct. 8 – Unplugged & Uncorked gala (New York) Oct. 8-11 – Confluence music conference and festival (Charlotte, N.C.) Oct. 10-12 – Austin City Limits Music Festival weekend 2 (Austin) Oct. 11 – The Carousel Ball (Denver) Oct. 14-16 – WSA Film Music Days (Ghent, Belgium) Oct. 14-17 – Mondo.NYC (New York) Oct. 15 – World Soundtrack Awards (Ghent, Belgium) Oct. 17-18 – III Points festival (Miami) Oct. 20-24 – Billboard Latin Music Week (Miami) Oct. 22 – Personal Managers Hall of Fame (Las Vegas) Oct. 22-23 – NAB Show New York (New York) Oct. 22-26 – Amsterdam Dance Event (Amsterdam) Oct. 23 – Billboard Latin Music Awards (Miami) Oct. 25 – iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina (Miami) Oct. 25-26 – ComplexCon (Las Vegas) Oct. 25-26 – ONE Musicfest (Atlanta) November 2025 Nov. 1 – Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia (Belém, Brazil) Nov. 3 – Billboard Live Music Summit (West Hollywood, Calif.) Nov. 4-6 – Music Tectonics (Santa Monica, Calif.) Nov. 9-11 – jump.global Annual Summit (Los Angeles) Nov. 11 – Save the Music’s Hometown to Hometown Event (Nashville) Nov. 13 – Latin Grammy Awards (Las Vegas) Nov. 14-16 – Corona Capital festival (Mexico City) December 2025 Dec. 10 – LIVE Awards (London) January 2026 Jan. 11 – Golden Globes (Beverly Hills, Calif.) Jan. 20-24 – The NAMM Show (Anaheim, Calif.) Jan. 21-25 – Folk Alliance International Conference (New Orleans) February 2026 Feb. 1 – Grammy Awards (Los Angeles) Feb. 28 – PGA Awards March 2026 March 12-18 – SXSW (Austin) March 18-20 – Country Radio Seminar (Nashville) March 22-25 – MUSEXPO (Burbank, Calif.) March 25-29 – Treefort Music Fest (Boise, Idaho) April 2026 April 10-12 – Coachella weekend 1 (Indio, Calif.) April 15 – Music Sustainability Summit (Los Angeles) April 17-19 – Coachella weekend 2 (Indio, Calif.) April 24-26 – Stagecoach (Indio, Calif.) June 2026 June 11-14 – Bonnaroo (Manchester, Tenn.) Want your event listed? For more information contact joe.maimone@billboard.com.

Lindsay Lohan, Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson from Freakier Friday share their experience of reuniting as Pink Slip for the Freaky Friday sequel, the emotional connection Lindsay had with “Baby” and wanting to go on tour! Are you excited for Freakier Friday? Let us know in the comments! Lindsay Lohan: To do a movie and […]

Lindsay Lohan, Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson from Freakier Friday share their experience of reuniting as Pink Slip for the Freaky Friday sequel, the emotional connection Lindsay had with “Baby” and wanting to go on tour! Are you excited for Freakier Friday? Let us know in the comments! Lindsay Lohan: To do a movie and to be in a band … Christina Vidal: Because we got to, like, actually rehearse the way a band would, like, I remember we went to this place in North Hollywood that was, like, this big studio where bands would rehearse, and I always walked by there. For me, it was cool to like, “Oh, I’m now going to be, like, one of the bands rehearsing.” So we got to, like, feel what it would be like to really be in a band. And that was cool for me, because I’ve never done that before. Lindsay Lohan: This time it came a little bit easier because it was like a reunion for us first, and then it was like, “OK, let’s do it.” Like it felt like it was just like it was yesterday, like it felt very comfortable. Haley Hudson: It did, yeah. Christina Vidal: It’s sort of, I was gonna say, like, it’s almost like no time passed. When we first saw each other was just kind of like, “Oh man, I feel like we just did this,” but it was definitely not just, but like that. I think there’s a natural chemistry, too, with us. Like performing and just, like, being friends, we always got along on set. We always, like, you know, so it was just, like, like she said, it was just already there. And when I went into the studio to record the song, I didn’t realize how much that song was in me. Like, I just immediately, like, remembered everything, and it just took me back. Keep watching for more!

Bailey Zimmerman's new album Different Night Same Rodeo features collaborations with Luke Combs, The Kid LAROI and Diplo.

A year ago, it seemed like Bailey Zimmerman had the batch of songs that would make up his sophomore album — the follow-up to his 2023 debut Religiously. The Album., which spawned a trio of No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits: “Fall in Love,” “Rock and a Hard Place” and “Religiously.” But as he was trying to balance writing sessions for the new album and a hectic touring schedule — last year, he not only headlined his own high-energy Religiously. The Tour., but opened stadium shows for the likes of Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown and Luke Bryan — Zimmerman says that though he was getting great feedback on the songs from those in his inner circle, something didn’t feel quite right. “We put up the tour and it sold out, and my team was like, ‘You need to put out another record,'” he recalls to Billboard. “But I was like, ‘I’m not really feeling this album. The songs are good, but it doesn’t feel personal to me.’ If I put it out, it’s out there and I can’t take it back. That’s when I pulled the whole plug on it.” So Zimmerman recalibrated, writing more songs and digging deeper, lyrically and musically, ultimately contributing seven of the 18 songs that appear on his new album, Different Night, Same Rodeo, out on Atlantic Records/Warner Music Nashville on Friday (Aug. 8). But he also called upon many of Nashville’s premier songwriters to craft songs, such as the jangly, fiddle-laced ode of self-sabotage “Comin’ in Cold,” the driving “Backup Plan” and the sterling album closer “Happy Ever After Me.” “I’m blessed because of songwriters,” he says. “Old-school days, everybody was so, ‘I don’t cut outside songs.’ That ain’t me. When I first started writing for my first album, I wasn’t touring, I was only writing songs. When I started touring, it does get hectic and wild. I [told writers] ‘I’ll give you some ideas and things I want to talk about, and you go write songs. If you write a song I feel like I could have written myself or I connect to it, I’ll cut that song.’ They’ll send me a verse-chorus, and I’ll start messing with it on the bus.” Among those songs Zimmerman co-wrote is the country-rock leaning “Chevy Silverado,” which Zimmerman says he had been working on intermittently for about three years. “When I was 16, my Chevy Silverado was everything to me,” he recalls. “I was always driving that thing, going to parties, hanging out with girls. At first the lyric was about a red Chevy Silverado, then I changed it to white. I realized, ‘Wait, this is a song about my life’ — and I started changing all the lyrics [to more closely fit his story].” He eventually brought in co-writers Tucker Beathard, Ilsey Juber, Gavin Lucas and Heath Warren to help shape the song. “This is my story, from meeting girls to hanging out and getting my heart broken,” he continues. “Now, I still have the Chevy Silverado — but none of those girls, none of those loves. The surface meaning is that your Chevy will never leave you, but the girls will.” The new album is scattered with collaborations, following “All the Way,” his smash teamup with BigXthaPlug that reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year. On his current hit single from the album, Zimmerman joins forces with Luke Combs on the steely-eyed ode to ambition and grit “Backup Plan,” which has reached the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart. “Luke was one of those [collabroators] I was chasing,” he says. When Zimmerman played at Combs’s October benefit concert Concert For Carolina, which aided those in North Carolina impacted by massive flooding, the two artists found time to hang out prior to the show. “It was a real connection — I was like, ‘I really like this guy,'” Zimmerman recalls. “It felt like he was treating me like he would treat anybody else. He gave me his number that night, and I was like, ‘Should I text him? Should I be the crazy girl on the first date and text after the first date? Or should I let it chill?’ It was about 10 days later I finally texted him, and we ended up doing ‘Backup Plan’ together.” Bailey Zimmerman, “Different Night Same Rodeo” Courtesy Photo Illinois native Zimmerman, whose career launched after he first put up truck videos on TikTok, then transitioned to releasing videos of himself performing his own songs, has earned nominations from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, and earned two top 10 hits on the Hot 100, the aforementioned “All The Way” and the unaccompanied “Rock and a Hard Place.” Where his debut album fashioned a moody, 2000s rock-oriented brand of country, his new album leans into shades of R&B, as well as brighter banjo- and fiddle-fueled country tracks such as “New To Country” and even feather-light touches of church piano sounds on the Diplo collab “Ashes.” “I’ve been such a fan of his music,” Zimmerman says of Diplo. “One day, he just showed up at my house, and I was like, ‘I wanna show you some songs.’ It was so random. ‘They said Diplo’s on his way over.’ The song felt so fun and hype. Though it talks about, like, this girl has this guy she’s not really into and she keeps coming back to me. It kinda insinuates cheating a little bit, but I didn’t think of it like that, I just thought, ‘It’s so fun.’ It kind of talks about some deep stuff, but it’s meant to be light-hearted.” The Kid LAROI collab “Lost” came after the two musicians spent the night on the town in Nashville after LAROI had played a private show in Music City. “He’s like, ‘I want to have dinner with Bailey,'” Zimmerman recalls. “I’ve listened to his songs since like 2016 and had just started. We got to dinner and I was nervous — so [we] got there and he was the nicest guy ever. We get along [about] everything, and all of just what we believe in and life and our careers — it was like the Spiderman thing where I was pointing at myself. We had a wild night in Nashville, went out to Morgan’s [Wallen’s Nashville bar] — I took him to Loser’s, and the next morning he pushed his flight back because he wanted to have breakfast. On the way there, he was like, ‘Last night, you played me a song. Can you play that again?’ and I had played him ‘Lost.’ He kept asking to hear it, so I asked him to get on the song.” Though he’s recently rolled out the collabs with BigXThaPlug, Combs and Diplo, Zimmerman says he’s judicious when it comes to collaborating. “My main thing about collaborations is I really want to be friends, and it’s not just this forced industry thing,” he says. Some of Zimmerman’s songs, such as “Religiously” and the new album’s “Holy Smokes,” dabble in spiritual references — but he also delves deeper into emotionally raw moments of doubt and struggle, such as on “Hell or High Water.” Zimmerman says the new project follows a personal time marked by worry, and reliance on unhealthy vices, but he’s seen a personal spiritual renewal in his own life. “God saved me from drinking and smoking all the time and all these little things that kept getting in my way,” Zimmerman says. “The uncertainty and me worrying… I’ve worried about this album, this tour. I’ve been so nervous about everything, but when I pray about it, it’s gone. [My faith] has just grown stronger over the past few years.” As both country music and Christian music have skyrocketed over the past year, Zimmerman says releasing his own album of faith-inspired music or a Contemporary Christian music collab wouldn’t be out of the question. “I’ve had people ask me if I would do a Christian album, but God’s calling me to do what I’m doing right now and there’s a reason for it,” he offers. “100% ,I’d do a Christian collab. I’ve thought about doing a Christian album — but my version of it, where it’s Christian-country. I’ve actually been talking to [Contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter] Brandon Lake about doing that, and I’m such a big fan of his. “I think it’s the new age of Christian faith, because there’s been so many people not doing it for the right reasons,” he adds. “I had this lady in catering one time. I had a sweatshirt on that said, ‘Just Here to Give God Glory.’ I said something like, ‘This chicken looks good as s—t’ This lady went, ‘If you’re going to be a billboard, then maybe you should probably be a little better with your mouth. I’m like, ‘Oh, so because I’m not perfect, I can’t spread the word of God?’ That’s the worst advice I’ve heard in my life. The old-school way of learning about God and being a Christian is so outdated. No, you don’t have to take your hat off to talk to God or show up in your Sunday best. I’m so passionate about it.” But currently, he says his country songs of love, loss, growth and his small-town upbringing are right where he feels he needs to be, and he’s excited to be playing his new music, and revealing his journey thus far, to fans on his current New to Country Tour each night. “This music is crazy and I’ve worked so hard on it,” Zimmerman says. “I’m so glad I stuck to my guns on [the album]. I’m so proud of it. It’s tight.”

You can find the figures on Amazon, Target and Funko's website.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Funko is preparing for the Wicked sequel with the release of their Wicked: For Good vinyl figures. The full collection can be shopped on Funko’s website, while select pieces can be found via Amazon and Target. If you or someone you know is a lover of the franchise or a Funko collector, these new figurines are a must-have. All of the figures, beyond the Cowardly Lion, Glinda in her wedding dress and the Tin Man, can be pre-ordered right now on Amazon with a release date of Dec. 9, just a few weeks after Wicked: For Good is set to premiere (Nov. 21). The collection includes a slew of familiar figures, both new and old, all retailing for $14.99. The full collection includes Scarecrow, two Glinda figures, two Elphaba figures, Dorothy Gale, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. In honor of the sequel’s upcoming release, we’re taking you through the collection piece by piece, helping you build up your shopping cart one Funko figure at a time. Funko Pop! Movies: 'Wicked: For Good' Scarecrow $14.99 Buy Now On Amazon A vinyl figure of the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. He’s made of straw, has no brainm and is available for preorder now on Amazon for just $14.99. The tiny vinyl figure of the Scarecrow is dressed in an emerald green suit, complete with gloves and tan boots. What looks to be a brown hat adorns this 3.75-inch figure’s head, while the lovable character is posed with one hand outstretched, inviting collectors into the wonderful world of Oz. Funko Pop! Movies: 'Wicked: For Good' Glinda in Blue Gown $14.99 Buy Now On Amazon A vinyl figure of Glinda from The Wizard of Oz and Wicked in a blue gown. While she may not be floating in on a bubble, this Glinda doll is pretty ethereal. The vinyl figure is dressed in a pink and blue gown with white accents to match Ariana Grande’s costume in Wicked: For Good. The good witch figure also carries her special wand and wears a tiara atop her sculpted blonde hair. The figure is posed elegantly with her wand lifted, ready to cast spells and “toss toss” her hair. An alternative figure of Glinda in her movie-accurate wedding gown was also created for the collection; however, it isn’t available for preorder just yet. Funko Pop! Movies: 'Wicked: For Good' Elphaba $14.99 Buy Now On Amazon A vinyl figure of Elphaba from The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Funko’s Elphaba doll is also dressed in movie-accurate attire, down to her bright green skin, lengthy braids and freckles. The Wicked Witch of the West features a pointed black hat atop her head, the brim curved so we can see her face. For our observant readers, this Elphaba figure also has the Grimmerie clutched close to her chest. If this matte vinyl version isn’t your thing, the themed figure also comes in a glittery finish on Amazon. Funko Pop! Movies: 'Wicked: For Good' Dorothy Gale $14.99 Buy Now On Amazon A vinyl figure of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz. Finally, we’ve got Dorthy Gale dressed in her iconic blue and white gingham dress and silver (not ruby) slippers, a wicker basket slung over her arm. The figure’s brown tresses are braided and fixed into white bows. This figure is extremely nostalgic, reminding us that there truly is no place like home.

The Chilean artist talks creating Códigos de Muñeka and becoming the first female artist on Double P Management's roster.

After scoring a record deal with Sony Music Latin in 2018, entering the Billboard charts for the first time in 2020 and a Latin Grammy nomination for best new artist in 2021, Paloma Mami has no plans of slowing down in 2025. Earlier this year, the New York-born Chilean artist signed with George Prajin’s Double P Management, becoming the first female artist and the first non-Mexican act to join the roster that also includes Peso Pluma, Tito Double P, Gabito Ballesteros, and Santa Fe Klan. “I hadn’t had a manager for many years, and I had something specific I was looking for,” Paloma Mami tells Billboard. “I needed a lot of strength and masculine energy because I have all the feminine energy. My team has always been my mom and my sister, but we needed that focus and the ability to reach the goal directly.” Paloma, whose real name is Paloma Rocío Castillo Astorga, met Prajin and his team in Los Angeles and instantly felt a connection — one that promised stability. “It was hard to be consistent with my fans, with my music, with my record label; there were always gaps. So now I have a whole team, and we’re really strong. I’m excited to have that consistency and be able to focus solely on my music,” she notes. George Prajin & Paloma Mami John Rodriguez Now, with a new management in tow, the former Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise has also released her sophomore studio album CÓDiGOS DE MUÑEKA with 11 polished tracks that best represents who she is as an artist and person today. “It was born from a lot of inspiration. I felt like on this album I wanted to show many sides of me and be more versatile with my music,” she says of the set’s concept. “Dolls can do everything: they have different jobs, many talents, and styles. For me, the doll is ultra-feminine, ultra-empowered, with a lot of attitude, and I wanted that to be the message of the album. With each song, I wanted to show a different side of me, based on what I felt while I was creating it.” CÓDIGOS—which includes collaborations with Rauw Alejandro, DannyLux, and Pablo Chill-E, among others—debuted at No. 12 on the Top Latin Pop Albums chart in July. “There was a lot of intention that it was going to be a very free album, and it was going to show a fun side of me that I felt I’d lost for a while,” she expresses. “Sometimes when you’re creating, you think a lot about what people want to hear, and I was in a box for a long time. With this album, I was able to truly create from my heart and my feelings—it was my intuition that the songs were telling me. People are connecting with it because it has that part of me.”

Twenty years on from the company’s founding, Patrick Curley and Jeff Waye discuss how they’ve kept the business thriving amid a rapidly changing industry.

In 2005, the music industry was in the midst of a major transition. Sales of CDs were plummeting, labels were conducting layoffs, the iPod Nano was new to the shelves and streaming services were still years away. Enter Third Side Music: an independent publisher and synch house co-founded by attorney Patrick Curley and indie record executive Jeff Waye. Waye, who was then working at Ninja Tune Records, found that even though the record business was faltering, “the one thing that kept working was publishing,” he recalls now. “I would open our mail and get a quarter-million dollar synch check. The publishing side seemed so much steadier.” Related Top Execs on the Opportunities & Challenges for Independent Music Publishers Soulja Boy Released From Jail After Prosecutors Decline to Bring Gun Charges SiriusXM Kicks Off Multi-Channel Artist Residency Initiative With Maroon 5 and Bailey Zimmerman The idea was simple: create a “proactive, services-forward publishing company, modeled after our favorite indie labels,” says Waye, who now acts as TSM’s COO. Deals would be focused on revenue streams that were proven to work, like synchronization licensing for film/TV and advertisements, and were fairer than many of their competitors. For many years, Third Side deals just offered administrative deals, but it came with a high-touch approach. “We talk internally about a staff-to-copyright ratio,” says Waye. “I don’t want to sign anyone and that’s the last they hear from us. Plenty of companies can beat us throwing money at artists, but we caution that you can take a big check, [but] you get lost in massive corporate machinery.” Twenty years in, the industry is a remarkably different place. Institutional money has been buying up catalogs, COVID-19 and Hollywood strikes have sent shockwaves through the synch business, streaming has dominated, vinyl has had a resurgence — and Third Side Music is still going strong. Today, its roster includes a who’s who of the indie world including BADBADNOTGOOD, Blonde Redhead, Sofi Tukker, Courtney Barnett, Goth Babe, Gregory Alan Isakov, Kurt Vile, Hermanos Guiterrez, Searows, Pharoah Sanders, Sky Ferreira, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Waxahatchee. And despite ongoing challenges in the film market, Curley assures that their synch game is still going strong (“This is one of our best years ever,” he says). “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of institutional money, legacy majors, hedge funds investing in music copyrights and publishing, but we are still genuinely independent,” Curley, president and CEO, adds. “It’s literally me and Waye who started this with our own money. We’re a standalone company, and really proud of how it’s grown.” Related Why It’s Time for Indie Publishers to Get Angry (Guest Column) One of the first things I thought about when I heard about your 20th anniversary is where the music business was in 2005. It was not necessarily a great place to be. Can you paint a picture of the founding of this company and why you wanted to start it at that moment? Jeff Waye: The music industry has always been [challenging], so you’re just navigating various levels of it. I had been running Ninja Tune Records, setting up all the North American operations. Curley was our attorney and had a small publishing business called Plateau. Record sales had completely fallen off a cliff. Spotify didn’t exist yet. The first whispers of digital were you can buy a song for $1 on Apple and illegally download everything else. But the one thing that kept working was publishing — I would open our mail and get a quarter-million-dollar check. The publishing side seemed so steady. I had looked at publishers for years as being quite passive to all the work we were doing on labels. [I thought], “I’m sending you all this mechanical revenue, but what are you doing?” So I thought there was real space to create a proactive, services-forward publishing company, modeled after our favorite indie labels. Patrick Curley: It was also early in the synch game. A lot of bigger publishers weren’t really servicing synch as they do now in the late ‘90s, early 2000s. Many artists looked at synch licensing as being a sellout in the ‘90s. We came from the electronic music world, where that wasn’t as much a consideration. When we started, we already had a great list of synch clients. The prior business I had that merged into TSM was basically a synch agency. When I started that, it was literally an original idea: represent bands and catalogs to get them synch licenses. It’s pretty basic: do B2B marketing for music aimed at [music supervisors] and production companies. The beauty is there’s no warehousing, no physical manufacturing, no hard expenses — just staff, contacts and some travel. We took the record side, which was very capital-intensive, and flipped it into something light to operate. Your roster feels very cool and taste-driven. I imagine early on, given what you’ve said about the perception of synch being like “selling out,” that some bands were skeptical about signing to a synch-heavy publisher. Did you encounter that? Curley: Every single artist has to consent to every synch we do. We found that even skeptical ones would still do some film and TV or documentaries, even if they do not want to do ads. We always had conversations with managers and artists about their comfort level. Waye: The landscape changed so much. You can die on the hill of not doing synch all you wanted, but when record sales dried up in the 2000s and it got harder to make a living, things started to change… When we first started, you’d pitch seasonally to three networks and some advertising. Then, as everything went digital, suddenly we’re pitching to 100 things a week from Amazon, Apple, HBO, and what was getting made got significantly cooler too. There were so many iconic TV series that you wouldn’t say no to — of course, you’d want to do Mad Men or something that was part of the cultural narrative. I think people’s opinions changed then. One example was that Feist had a career, but landing in that early Apple ad launched her into the mainstream. That instance changed a lot of artists’ opinions about what synch could do for your career. At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s our job to be arbitrators of taste. We facilitate the opportunity, and artists can say yes to whatever degree they want. If they want to make money, we can make it. If they don’t, they can say no. Related As Music Becomes More ‘Glocal,’ Songwriters Need to Rethink How They Do Business How many employees and offices do you have? Waye: Around 35 employees. We have a back office in Montreal — an incredible cosmopolitan city, but being north of the border lets us run a worldwide business while keeping costs lean. If I was employing 35 people in L.A., the costs would be prohibitive. We have front-end staff and synch staff, some people in Mexico City on royalties for Latin American collections, and staff in New York. So, basically, New York, L.A., and Montreal are our three main offices. Post-Hollywood strikes and COVID-19, what have the changes been in the synch market? Curley: For us, I think it’s been a really good year for synch so far, but even with COVID, we never actually lost everything — growth in synch just got quashed. We had three or four years of middling, modest synch growth while our other revenue streams grew dramatically, but this year we’ve got really good numbers, so I’m hoping we’re getting the rebound. Are you doing all admin deals? Curley: Typically admin deals. We’ve been working mainly off admin deals for many years — exclusive rights for a certain period and territory. Recently, there have been opportunities for partial catalog purchases. We want to continue being in partnership with people. What we’re trying to do is help people develop income streams of their catalogs. If it’s a legacy catalog, often they’ve been with companies that haven’t been paying attention, haven’t fixed registrations, or haven’t been pitching effectively. Waye: I always looked at admin deals as dating somebody. Do you want to get into a 20-year deal until you’ve spent a couple cycles making sure everything works? We’re now on fourth, fifth contract cycles with some artists. I’d rather people work with us because they want to, not because they’re locked in a contract. With so many reversions happening, is that a boon for companies like Third Side? Waye: We’ve been in discussions about partial purchases with some artists because there’s not really financing available for artists of moderate size. We’re positioning ourselves to offer partial catalog purchases. We’ve found that if you’re an artist who is not walking in with a catalog worth $25 to 50 million, buyers are not even talking to you. Our approach is we want to finance reasonable-sized deals on an as-needed basis. But I only want to do things that are mutually beneficial. I refuse to treat music like real estate. Related NMPA Says Spotify Bundling Change Cost Writers & Publishers $230M in First Year Spotify announced that they are bundling their premium accounts in the U.S., which ultimately means that publishers and songwriters are being paid hundreds of millions less this year than what they thought they would be. Have you felt a significant impact? Curley: For sure we felt impact. It’s hard to know to what extent, but it’s a vicious play by Spotify, especially when you see founders cashing out billions in stock options. I 100% support the NMPA’s approach to revoke this. It’s completely unacceptable what Spotify is doing to songwriters. Since then, Spotify has made direct deals with two majors to improve their remuneration on the publishing side post-bundling. Do these direct deals pit major publishers against indies? Curley: I’m very concerned about indies’ place. I don’t want to comment on third-party deals, but the situation needs to be resolved. Spotify needs to back off on bundling. Is it a good time to be an indie publisher? Waye: I think it’s better. I like that we’re on the inside but can operate on the outside. While everyone else talks about music like real estate at board tables, we can talk about music as music and make good money for musicians we respect. There’s so much opportunity for wider ranges of catalog that never existed before. If you told me 10 years ago you could get amazing Ghanaian music and Apple Music would do an episode specifically about 1985 Ghana — that stuff didn’t exist. That’s what attracted me to this business. And I’m super thankful organizations exist to fight the big battles so we can keep our heads down and do good creative work with artists we represent. Related Music Publishing Markets Around the Globe Worth Over $11 Billion, Says First-Ever ICMP Report Curley: I think we started at a good time because now it would be really difficult to start without significant financing. We were able to learn on the job for the first few years. We started with $150,000 in 2005 and have grown every year since. Music publishing was a sleepy backwater back then. Now there’s massive money trying to acquire catalogs. Publishing revenues are growing substantially. Where do you hope TSM is in 20 years? Curley: We’d like to keep the institution going beyond Waye and me because we’re in our 50s. We think it’s a unique cultural institution. There are few independent publishers left, so we are going to have to think about how we do that. How do we secure the foundation to pass this on to the next generation? Waye: I have no other transferable life skills, so I’m just gonna ride this out [laughs]. If I can have a heart attack on the dance floor of a Sofi Tukker concert 30 years from now at age 85, that’s totally fine. That’s the death I want. All I’ve ever wanted was enough money to buy records and work in music.

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