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Reba McEntire is back in the saddle as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards, returning to the top job for a record 17th time.
The veteran country artist will lead the 2024 edition of the ACM Awards, set for Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
No other artist has been asked to host the annual celebration of country music more often than McEntire, and few can beat her collection of 16 ACM Award wins and nine nominations for the prestigious ACM entertainer of the year, including a win back in 1994.
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McEntire, who stars as a mentor on NBC’s The Voice, is also the ACM Award record-holder with most nominations for female artist of the year.
“I am tickled to pieces to get to host the ACM Awards for the 17th time,” says McEntire, who will also perform on the night. “What an honor to have been part of the past, present and now the future of the Academy of Country Music with Amazon Prime Video. I can’t wait to get to Texas and see everybody May 16.”
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As previously reported, Luke Combs leads the nominations for the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards with eight nods, including entertainer of the year, male artist of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and single of the year.
Megan Moroney and Morgan Wallen are close behind with six nods each.
Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson received five nominations each, followed by Jelly Roll and Jordan Davis with four nods each and Kelsea Ballerini and Zach Bryan with three nods each.
“There is simply no one better to continue to elevate this show in our new global streaming era with Amazon Prime Video,” says ACM CEO Damon Whiteside of McEntire’s return as host. “With exciting new music coming, extensive television presence and a worldwide fanbase, Reba’s back and better than ever.”
McEntire “is an icon,” adds Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “She is one of the most influential artists in the music industry and we are thrilled to welcome her back as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards.”
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Dick Clark Productions (DCP) announced nominations for the forthcoming ceremony on The Bobby Bones Show on Tuesday (April 9).
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is produced by Dick Clark Productions. Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Barry Adelman serves as executive producer for DCP. John Saade serves as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
The ACM Awards, which bills itself as “country music’s party of the year,” will stream live exclusively for a global audience on Prime Video. The full rebroadcast will be available directly following the stream on Prime Video and also the next day for free on Amazon Freevee and the Amazon Music app.
Primary Wave Music strikes a deal to acquire Neil Finn’s music publishing catalog and writer’s share of public performance for his work with Crowded House, the legendary Kiwi artist’s folk-rock favorites.
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Songs included in the deal are the classics “Better Be Home Soon,” “Weather With You” and “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” a Billboard chart leader.
Through the partnership, announced this week, Primary Wave Music will also represent Finn’s solo material.
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“I look forward to seeing Primary Wave’s plan for the ongoing care of my songs. I am confident they see the body of my work as music that matters,” says Finn in a statement. “This deal has been a good while in the making and feels right.”
The New Zealand-born and based artist is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary songwriters in the game, and is a member of the ARIA Hall of Fame.
“We are thrilled to welcome Neil Finn to Primary Wave,” adds Primary Wave’s David Weitzman. “Not only is he a master songwriter, he is the songwriters’ favorite songwriter. We look forward to working closely with Neil and his great team at Shelter Management on the next stages of his storied career.”
The alliance is announced ahead of Crowded House’s eighth studio album Gravity Stairs, set for release May 31 through a new recording deal with BMG.
Finn co-founded Split Enz, an important alternative rock outfit that landed hit after hit in Australia and New Zealand, prior to their dissolution in 1984.
From its embers, Finn formed Crowded House. A U.S. breakthrough happened in April 1987 when “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” recorded by the classic lineup of Finn (singer, songwriter, guitar), Nick Seymour (bass) and the late drummer Paul Hester, peaked at No. 2 back.
The song made a mighty comeback last year. Thanks to a sync to an episode of the rebooted detective classic Magnum P.I., “Don’t Dream It’s Over” powered to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart.
Crowded House was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2016, in recognition of a glorious career during which they’ve sold more than 10 million albums, collected 13 ARIA Awards, and five ARIA No. 1 albums.
Their 2010 hits compilation Recurring Dream also topped the Official U.K. Albums Chart and is one of four Crowded House album to crack the top 10 in that territory.
Gravity Stairs is the followup to Dreamers Are Waiting, which peaked at No. 2 in Australia, No. 6 on the Official U.K. Chart, and won best adult contemporary album at the 2021 ARIA Awards.
Founded in 2006, Primary Wave Music is one of the world’s leading independent publishers, representing music from the likes of Bob Marley, Prince, Stevie Nicks, James Brown, The Doors, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston and many others.
It never hurts when your boyfriend’s mom thinks you’re really good at your job. In Taylor Swift‘s case that means getting a five-star review from Donna Kelce for her record-shattering new double-album, The Tortured Poets Department. Mama Kelce spoke to People magazine this week at a QVC event in Las Vegas, where boyfriend Travis Kelce’s […]
Concord and Blackstone are in a bidding war to acquire the equity of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF). On Wednesday (April 24), Concord bid $1.25 per share for HSF’s share capital, beating Blackstone’s offer of $1.24 per share (1.00 GBP), or $1.5 billion, announced on Sunday (April 21). In response to Concord’s latest offer, Blackstone said on Thursday (April 25) that it was “considering its options.”
Concord had opened with a bid of 0.93 pounds ($1.14) per share, equal to $1.4 billion, on April 18.
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Some investors are betting the bidding will go well above the current offers. On Tuesday, shares of HSF rose as high as 1.03 pounds ($1.28) respectively, 3.2% above Blackstone’s offer, and closed at 1.01 GBP ($1.26), 1.6% above its bid. Nearly 78 million shares traded hands that day — about 11 times the average daily trading volume over the previous three months. Even before Concord’s second bid of 1.00 pounds ($1.25) per share was announced on Wednesday, shares of HSF peaked at 1.016 pounds ($1.27) and closed at 1.014 pounds ($1.26).
Investors who want to capitalize on an eventual acquisition will buy HSF shares up to — but not equal to — their expected deal price. If investors thought the deal would happen at $1.30, they could bid up to $1.29 per share and make a small yet quick profit. Shareholders will vote on an acquisition offer at HSF’s June 10 shareholder meeting.
The same dynamic was recently seen after Believe became the subject of takeover talks. When a consortium of investors announced a bid of 15.00 euros ($16.04) per share, investors immediately bid the share price up to 14.22 euros ($15.23) but suspected it wasn’t wasn’t the final offer. Even before Warner Music Group (WMG) announced it was interested in acquiring Believe for at least 17.00 euros ($18.18) per share, shares were trading around 15.25 euros ($16.31), nearly 2% above Believe’s offer.
Concord could have two advantages that would allow it to bid higher than Blackstone: its source of funding and its ability to administer HSF’s portfolio. “If all else is equal,” Stifel analysts wrote in a Monday (April 22) note to investors, Concord can outbid Blackstone because it has a lower cost of capital — Michigan Retirement Systems, a state pension fund — and a superior ability to “extract revenue from an under-managed portfolio.”
But Blackstone has a trump card: Hipgnosis Song Management, which is majority owned by Blackstone, has an investor advisory agreement with HSF gives it a call option to acquire HSF’s portfolio if the advisory agreement is terminated. Stifel analysts believe the call option could act as “a deterrent” to prevent further price escalation — although it didn’t prevent Concord from bidding a second time. HSM appears determined to employ the call option. In a April 22 statement, HSM said it was “confident that the [Songs Fund] has no legal grounds to terminate our relationship without being subject to HSM’s contractual rights contained in the [investment advisory agreement, or IAA].”
Investors run the risk that the bidding process for HSF won’t transpire as they anticipated. In the case of Believe, WMG never made a formal offer and eventually dropped out of consideration — which could leave investors who bought Believe shares as high as 16.58 euros ($17.73) in the red if the acquisition proceeds at the original 15-euros per share offer.
Miss Cleocatra is a one top cat with class and style but, it turns out, she doesn’t have nine lives.
The feline got ousted during episode 8 of The Masked Singer’s 11th season, which aired Wednesday, April 24.
The theme was “Girl Group Night,” and the celebrity contestants – and judges – got into the swing of things. Gumball sang “Wide Open Spaces” by the Chicks, Seal performed “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips, the Beets hit “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters, and Miss Cleocatra performed “Free Your Mind” by En Vogue.
The two contestants with the lowest scored entered a smackdown, Miss Cleocatra and Seal. Each performed their own rendition of “Waterfalls” by TLC, after which only one could stay. Cleocatra had to go.
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Under the Pharaoh-styled Cleocatra helmet was Jenifer Lewis, the veteran singer and star of Black-ish. Ken Jeong guessed right.
She’s graced the Broadway, the big screen, and small. Why do The Masked Singer? Lewis used her stint on Fox’s quirky singing competition to get back into the saddle after a shocking injury from a fall in the Serengeti back in November 2022.
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Last month, Lewis told all in a sit-down interview with Robin Roberts that aired on Good Morning America, sharing the grim details of a 10-feel fall from her hotel balcony, which left her unable to move and thinking she might die.
After recovering from her injuries, Lewis was able to appear in NBC’s Night Court revival and Jennifer Lopez’s musical movie This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.
The Masked Singer enabled her to get back to what she loves. “Listen guys, I took a long break,” she told the audience after the big reveal. “And when they called I said I haven’t been on stage singing for a long time. So I said c’mon, let’s go. And it was fun, I had a blast.”
Addressing viewers at home, Lewis remarked, “do me a favor, you’re so young and you’re so beautiful. Take care of yourselves. And be loving to one another, you hear me. That’s what I want for you.”
Lewis’ unmasking as Miss Cleocatra follows one week after The Masked Singer‘s “Queen Night” episode, which saw the unmasking of Ugly Sweater, aka Charlie Wilson, and Starfish, The Office‘s Kate Flannery.
Past season 11 contestants whose identities have been revealed include Kevin Hart (Book); restauranteur Joe Bastianich (Spaghetti & Meatballs); TV personalities Savannah Chrisley (Afghan Hound), Billy Bush (Sir Lion) and Colton Underwood (Lovebird); NFL hall of famer DeMarcus Ware (Koala); and singer Sisqó (Lizard).
Watch Miss Cleocatra’s performance and unmasking below.
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Taylor Swift sets a new career mark in the U.K., as The Tortured Poets Department mounts a massive lead in the national chart race. In just three tracking days, Tortured Poets (via EMI) notches a U.K. career best opening week for Swift with more than 220,000 combined units, according to a rare sales flash published by the Official Charts Company.That’s well ahead of Swift’s previous first-week best, for Midnights, which accumulated 204,000 combined units in a seven-day stretch following its release in 2022.Tortured Poets has a long way to go if it is to compete with the U.K.’s all-time fastest sellers.
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The record holder is Adele’s 2015 effort 25, with 800,000 first-week units; ahead of Oasis’s 1997 release Be Here Now, with 696,000 units (collected in just three sales days); and Ed Sheeran’s album from 2017 ÷ with 670,000 units, respectively. As previously reported, Swift should sweep to a U.K. chart double. Tortured Poets is already the U.K.’s fastest-selling album of 2024 so far, and Swift should lock up the top three spots on the national singles chart, with “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, “The Tortured Poets Department,” and “So Long, London,” respectively. “Fortnight” should become TayTay’s fourth U.K. No. 1, after “Look What You Made Me Do” (from 2017), “cardigan” (2020) and “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)” (2023).
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And, with Tortured Poets, Swift should score a 12th U.K. No. 1 album, equaling Madonna at the top of the leaderboard of solo female artists. She’s also the first and only artist this century to rack up 10 U.K. No. 1 albums.
Swift’s 11th studio album has already set a slew of records, including a new, global streaming mark on Spotify, blasting away with more than 300 million streams in a single day, and shifting 700,000 copies on vinyl in its first week on sale in the United States.All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, April 26.
The 2024 Latin American Music Awards are taking place this Thursday, April 25, live from Las Vegas via Univision. Before all the glitz and glam, Billboard was backstage at rehearsals catching up with some of the night’s nominees and performers.
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Under the theme “We Speak Música,” the awards ceremony will broadcast its first-ever bilingual edition co-hosted by Thalia, Becky G, Alejandra Espinoza, and Carlos Ponce. This year’s top nominees are Feid and Peso Pluma with 12 nods each. Meanwhile, Banda MS, Ricardo Montaner, and Yandel will be honored with special tributes and awards.
The Latin AMAs will air live at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 25, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas via Univision, UNIMÁS, Galavisión and ViX.
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Below, check out some of the best highlights during rehearsals:
New Albums Galore
Backstage at rehearsals, a handful of artists revealed that they will be releasing new albums this year. Danny Ocean, for example, opened up about his forthcoming Reflexa, which he described as a very personal process where he reflected on his life and the future of his career. Farruko, on the other hand, explained he will be premiering a song with Ky-Mani Marley at the 2024 Latin AMAs, marking the first single of his next studio album dropping soon.
Meanwhile, Wisin is set to drop his own project dubbed Mr. W this week, where he reeled in colleagues such as Don Omar, Yandel, Pedro Capo, Mora, and Jowell y Randy. “Doing music for me is not a job, it’s pleasure,” he tells Billboard. “I enjoy going to the studio and being able to collaborate. I enjoy breaking barriers in music. I think that’s what my album is all about.”
Los Avengers Are Back
In their comeback era, Los Avengers will be performing at the 2024 Latin AMAs. Four of the reggaetón collective’s members—Justin Quiles, Sech, Dalex, and Dimelo Flow—were at rehearsals talking about their new album, The Academy: Segunda Mision, and their highly-anticipated night.
“We transported 2019 to 2024, a bit more advanced with new music,” Quiles says to Billboard. “The same group. Good energy, good music. Everytime we get together, it’s organic.” Sech, who’s been taking a break from music and social media, could not contain his excitement. “I was working on myself. Life goes by very fast. I was organizing myself but we came to have an incredible time with the boys,” he notes.
AB Quintanilla’s Sweet Initiative
AB Quintanilla, who will form part of Banda MS’ tribute performance, used his platform to talk about a heartfelt initiative he has going on with his latest single, “El Rey de la Kumbia,” which he worked on over a year ago with the late artist, Lefty SM. “The beautiful thing about this song is that the record label and myself agreed that any financials made from the song, the publishing, anything whatsoever, would go to his wife and kids. So, it’s good giving back,” he expresses.
AB Quintanilla
Courtesy of Univision
Yandel Talks Feid Bromance
Yandel was present at the Latin AMAs, where he’s set to receive a special award for being one of the pioneers of the reggaetón movement on Thursday night (April 25). At rehearsals, he talked about his freshly-released joint EP with Feid, MANIFESTING 20-05. “It called my attention because I never expected it,” he notes. “I always wanted to collaborate with him because I like his talent, how he sings, his energy, how he is as a person. When I met him, I became more of a fan. [The album] was a proposal I made to him after ‘Yandel 150.’ For me, it’s a special project that I’m enjoying because I’m attracting [a] new generation [of fans].”
Becky G’s Co-Hosting Era
Becky G is ready to co-host the award ceremony’s first-ever bilingual broadcast alongside Thalia, Alejandra Espinoza, and Carlos Ponce. “It’s my first time coming to one of these awards shows and not feeling ashamed of being a Pocha, speaking in Spanglish,” the Mexican-American singer exclusively tells Billboard. “I know there are many generations that also identify with their Latin roots and want to participate in celebrating our culture but maybe don’t always feel welcomed to do so, so our hope is to extend a big hug to all the multi-generational families that are going to be watching this show.” Backstage, she also reflected on “Shower,” which was released 10 years ago and has opened so much doors for her since. Watch the full interview below:
Newcomers Oscar Ortiz and Edgardo Nuñez combine efforts for their first No. 1 on any Billboard chart as “First Love” ascends 3-1 on the April 27-dated Regional Mexican Airplay ranking. The song was released Dec. 23 via BadSin Records, the music management company co-owned by Ortiz and his brothers Kevin and Gerardo, both frequent Billboard charts visitors.
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“I feel grateful and honored that Edgardo Nuñez believed in my composition and I cannot say ‘thank you’ enough to my fans for supporting me in this dream,” 21-year-old Ortiz tells Billboard.
“First Love” accrued 7.95 million audience impressions in the U.S. toward the April 27 Billboard ranking (April 12-18 tracking week), according to Luminate; that’s a 16% gain from the week prior. The song ejects Banda MS’ “Tu Perfume” from the penthouse, which falls to No. 2 with a 6% dip, to 7.1 million impressions.
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Notably, “First Love” becomes just the fifth song by two co-billed soloists to lead Regional Mexican Airplay this decade. Here’s the list of those equal-billed collabs since 2020:
Title, Artist, Peak Date, Weeks at No. 1“Dime Cómo Quieres,” Christian Nodal & Angela Aguilar, Jan. 30, 2021, five“Duele,” Alejandro Fernéndez & Christian Nodal, April 24, 2021, one“Tus Desprecios,” Pepe Aguilar & El Fantasma, Sept. 25, 2021, one“Si Ya Hiciste El Mal,” Luis R Conriquez & Jessi Uribe, Nov. 19, 2022, one“Según Quién,” Maluma & Carin León, Dec. 16, 2023, one“La Intención,” Christian Nodal & Peso Pluma, March 30, two“First Love,” Oscar Ortiz & Edgardo Nuñez, April 27, 2024,
“First Love” caught immediate viral attention through TikTok, where Ortiz was named #Rompiendo Artist of the month in March by TikTok. To date, the song has sparked nearly 600,000 videos. Streams, however, experience a 4% dip during the tracking week, to 3.5 million official U.S. clicks.
As “First Love” rises to No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay, it takes BadSin to its second champ in 2024 and 13th overall. Earlier in this year, the indie label topped the ranking through Ortiz’s brother Gerardo Ortiz’s “Ahí No Era,” for one week in charge in February.
Unlike Oscar Ortiz, whose first and only Billboard entry arrived through “First Love,” Nuñez has placed four other tracks on the charts, including “El Humo De Gallo,” with Banda Los Sebastianes de Saul Plata, which debuts at No. 34 on Regional Mexican Airplay on the current list.
Beyond its Regional Mexican Airplay coronation, ‘First Love” climbs 9-5 on the overall Latin Airplay chart, for its new peak, with an 18% gain in overall impressions, to 8.32 million.
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Victoria Beckham is expanding her fashion résumé. The former Spice Girl released her first collection with Mango on Tuesday (April 23), and it’s already selling out.
From formal wear to business wear to casual chic, the Victoria Beckham x Mango collection channels the “essence” of Beckham’s fashion brand and reflects the “modern woman’s eclectic identity,” according to the brand’s website.
The capsule collection features dresses, skirts, tops, pants, blazers, shirts, shoes and other wardrobe staples to welcome in the cooler weather, priced from $80 to $500 and available in sizes XS-L (2-10).
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The collaboration between Beckham and Mango commemorates the Spanish fashion brand’s 40th anniversary and marks the latest in a series of collaborations with other “brands, artists and talents,” according to a press release.
Beckham, who celebrated her 50th birthday with a star-studded bash in London and an impromptu Spice Girls reunion, shared photos from the Victoria Beckham x Mango launch party on Instagram on Tuesday (April 24) wearing a suit from the collection.
“Such an amazing night celebrating #VictoriaBeckhamxMango! I’m wearing the tailored white suit from the new collection. Kisses @mango xx,” she captioned the photos.
Fans are snatching up pieces from the collection, but it’s not gone just yet. Some of the items that are out of stock, or almost sold out, include the Triple Chain Belt ($140), the Godets dress ($300), the flared suit pants ($190) and the draped halter bodysuit and polo neck sweater.
Shop the collection below.
Mango
Victoria Beckham x Mango Flared Suit Pants
Mango
Victoria Beckham x Mango Godets Dress with Decorative Stitching
Mango
Victoria Beckham x Mango Polo-neck Crochet Sweater
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Vicotoria Beckham x Mango Satin Handbag
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Victoria Beckham x Mango Draped Halter Bodysuit
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Victoria Beckham x Mango Silk Blend Button-Down Shirt
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Victoria Beckham x Mango Leather Sandal
As Machine Gun Kelly says in a new episode of Hot Ones Versus: “You have got to be out of your motherf—ing mind” if you think he wants any smoke from the Swifties.
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MGK goes head-to-head with his friend and fellow musician Trippie Redd in the new episode, which turns the traditional Hot Ones interview show into a competition by making celebs eat increasingly hot wings every time they refuse to answer their rival’s spicy questions.
In one question, Redd brings up MGK’s offer to pay Travis Kelce $1 million if he’ll leave the Kansas City Chiefs to come play for his hometown Cleveland Browns football team. “Burn that bridge by saying three mean things about Taylor Swift,” the rapper dares Kelly, invoking the name of Kelce’s pop-superstar girlfriend.
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“Ladies and gentlemen, you have got to be out of your motherf—ing mind if you think I want any smoke with that fanbase,” MGK says with a knowing smile. “Also, Taylor is a saint and very nice to me, and Travis is my bro.”
“Kiss her feet while you’re at it,” Redd teases his buddy, who responds: “She’s very, very nice!”
Kelly (real name: Colson Baker) has known Kelce since their high school days as crosstown sports rivals growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to dodging the Swift question, MGK also answered his critics who thought the $1 million offer to Kelce was low. “I said I would give him $1 million spending money on top of whatever the NFL [gives him]. I’m not the f—ing NFL, so I obviously don’t have to pay him $30 million or $40 million, whatever. I said I’ll give you a bonus.”
As Kelly eats his hot wings as punishment for skipping the question, he shows off his Swift knowledge, singing to himself, “Trouble, trouble, trouble,” from her 2012 Red single “I Knew You Were Trouble,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In addition to their Ohio connection, Kelly also performed at Travis’ inaugural Kelce Jam festival in Bonner Springs, Kansas, last April. Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz and Diplo will headline the 2024 event on May 18. And in February, after Kelce won the Super Bowl with the Chiefs, he and Swift took a photo with Kelly and his partner Megan Fox at a post-game party.
Watch the full Hot Ones Versus episode below:
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