Cody Johnson talks about his journey from small-town Texas to breaking attendance records at Houston Rodeo and making his main stage debut at Stagecoach 2026.

Billboard News caught up with wrestlers and fans at WrestleMania 42. We asked what they thought was the best wrestling entrance theme of all time. From interviews with John Cena to talking with Liv Morgan about her new music video for “Trouble,” keep watching to see everything you missed.

Carl Lamarre:

We’re on the ground at WrestleMania 42 asking wrestlers and fans what they think is the best wrestling entrance theme of all time. From interviews to ISHOWSPEED to the Hall of Fame to finally meeting the elusive rapper wrestler John Cena, we did it big, now tap in.

Ricky Saints: The best wrestling theme of all time is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, “Glass Shatters.” You hear it and you’re ready to go.

Nia Jax: You already know “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, 100% this is probably hands down the best.

Jacob Fatu: I used to just be in the kitchen just breaking glass like that and walking out. Mom: “Jacob,” “Hold on, mom.” It’s legendary, come on, man. 

Carl Lamarre: You, ISHOWSPEED. Talk about that dynamic and what it’s going to be on Saturday, going against Logan Paul, Austin Theory, ISHOWSPEED.

LA Knight: I show fist in his face, and that’s what it’s gonna be.

Carl Lamrre: Let me ask you this because a lot of us have been trying to figure out, like Speed’s in the ring ability. We’ve seen a little bit with Randy Orton the whole evolve thing. What have you been able to see so far?

Austin Theory: I see a guy that, you know, he jumps over cars, so you put him in a wrestling ring, he can do a lot of cool things, especially with the top rope. I can tell you know, when he gets slammed, it hurts. He’s like, what’s up with this? Why is it so hard? But he’s very talented, and he’s very hard working, and he’s somebody that he wants to understand it. And I think going into Wrestlemania, he does have that pressure on his shoulder, no pun intended for me, but he has that pressure of feeling like, “wow, this is my first match at WrestleMania, and I’m 21 here we go. I’m not just in a random little match. This is as big as it gets. We’re taking on the USOS an LA Knight. Also LA Knight’s an idiot because he only knows one word, but um, yeah.

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Billboard Women in Music 2026 Hitmaker Award recipient Tate McRae opens up about her artistic journey, songwriting process and the raw vulnerability that drives her music. From her roots in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to the global stage, Tate shares what it means to create songs that resonate deeply with listeners. She shares the inspiration behind her hit songs “Greedy,” “Tit For Tat” and “Sports Car, ” the power of manifestation and how her lyrics shape her reality, collaborating with Julia Michaels, Ryan Tedder and Amy Allen and more!

Tate McRae: I want people to listen to my music and feel like the best, most elevated version of themselves. That’s what I approach in songwriting. I’m either honing in on my deepest vulnerabilities and insecurities or I’m dreaming as big as I can.

This award means a lot to me. Obviously, my true initial passion for all of this was writing, writing short stories or poetry, and starting it in my bedroom. Creating a career like this from back in my bedroom in Calgary, Alberta, is pretty crazy to me. Thinking about how much I’ve done means the world to me because I’m such a performer and dancer, it’s always nice to be recognized for the creation part of it, ’cause that’s all of it to me.

For me, a hit song is when all the puzzle pieces come together when the song feels like the full story has been told, there’s nothing left to say, and no fine-tuning is needed. You can feel that in your chest, and the listener can feel that in their chest. The exact message comes across perfectly. That, to me, feels like a hit song.

You just have to think with the most extreme and open mind when you’re writing. I say put it all out on the table when you’re in the room. You don’t have to release it or put it out there, but I think it’s all about exhausting your emotions. That’s the most beautiful thing about songwriting is going to the farthest depth of what one person can think.

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Billboard Women in Music 2026 Innovator honoree Laufey shares why collaboration and innovation are central to her artistry. She explains how performing with artists from different genres, like Benson Boone, Hozier and KATSEYE, gives her the chance to hear her voice in a new light and show that she can’t be boxed into one style. She also reflects on her journey starting from posting videos from her bedroom, answering emails from labels herself, and building a team while remaining independent through her first three albums.

Laufey:

I definitely was a little bit at first. I think the first concert I played, I was like, “Whoa. Who do I think I am to be playing here?” But then it became quite natural after that, and I got over the impostor syndrome of it pretty, pretty fast. And, you know, especially when I’m in the middle of the room, it’s like a theater in every direction. I get to be surrounded by the fans, and they get to experience, like, kind of every side of me. And I’ve kind of felt like that experience actually really lended itself to my music and my world because it’s a whole lot more immersive. But I still love playing theaters, and I will for the rest of my life. So I think it’s good to have both, ‘cause both give me opportunities to show different sides of myself. There were a couple of ways, I think, you know, knowing when to make things big and knowing when to make things small is really important. When you have a big number with dancers and a big orchestration—or with strings and the band and big visuals—you know, you want to make those as fantastical as possible. And we drew a lot of inspiration from opera, from ballet, from musical theater, to make those moments feel really big. And then, in contrast, the moments that are small, you make them feel really, really intimate, and they feel so small because you’ve just offered up something so big. And those moments, I think, taking the time to speak directly to the audience, you know, explain what songs are about, how you came to that lyric or something like that, or even just talking about the day, kind of humanizing the experience of coming. Arenas are quite big and can feel very vast and daunting—not only for the artist but also for the audience.

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Billboard Women in Music 2026 Breakthrough honoree Zara Larsson opens up about her Midnight Sun lifestyle. Zara reflects on her journey as an artist since being signed at 14 years old, remixing “Stateside” with PinkPantheress (and how it blew up), Alysa Liu’s skating to “Stateside” at the Olympics, her advice to her younger self, viral moments and more.

Zara Larsson:

I’m living and breathing the Midnight Sun era, which is how I feel and how I want to look right now. I just embody it, and then people can join. It feels so fun to be honored as the Breakthrough of the Year by Billboard Women in Music, ’cause I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I feel like this year has really been an incredible year for me personally and in my career. To see that that’s being recognized from outside of my little bubble of where I work is so amazing. Moments for me, for the last year, have definitely been my collaboration with PinkPantheress for “Stateside.” And then, of course, Midnight Sun. Releasing that, seeing how people were reacting to it. It’s interesting because, you know, Billboard is also the charts, how people are, how much they’re buying and streaming and all of that. Midnight Sun, for me, has been just as successful as my previous releases before, but the biggest difference for me is that I feel like it’s everything around the song that people are, like, engaging with, like coming to my shows, you know? I finally am playing so much live, so seeing, like, real people coming to my shows in the venues and they dress up, or they make videos to my songs. I feel like people are engaging a lot more with my music, and that’s so fulfilling to me, because through all of this, I just really wanna connect with people. It’s been so incredible to see how it’s all coming together and I get to see people come into my world that I’ve built over the past year.

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Billboard Women in Music 2026 Impact Award recipient Kehlani takes us deep into her creative process and emotional journey behind her hit “Folded” and her self-titled album. From bedroom-recording sessions to navigating the complexities of the music industry, Kehlani opens up about her passion for R&B, the challenges of staying true to her artistry and the impact her music has had on fans and the genre itself. She also talks about collaborating with iconic artists such as Ludacris, Lil Wayne and Clipse, the unexpected success of “Folded” and more!

Kehlani: There are some people who are like, “I can’t wait for y’all to stop listening to this toxic song. Like, this song is so toxic.” And other people are like, “Oh, girl, it’s a sex song. Like, she just wanted to get cracked.” And then there’s other songs that’s like, “OK, so they had you messed up and you’re just gonna take them back and you just folded the clothes like that?” I’m like, “Oh, wow, let’s talk about it some more.”

This album was two more albums before this. I think I was on tour and every single break I had in between all the tours, I was living in an apartment at the time, and my engineer would come over and I was recording in my bedroom. So for months, in between these touring months, every time we had a break, I was just in my room with my engineer writing completely alone to beat packs. And there’s all this kind of darker, emotional … I was, like, processing a lot of things that were happening that I was being completely silent about, dealing with all this external chaos, but I was muted. I was going through so much that I wasn’t speaking, and the only thing I was able to do was really write in my room. Then I went to Hawaii to see my cousins and my friends, surf a little bit and write. We made one song, and I was like, “It is not time for this weird-ass album. Get your head in the game, girl. Like, it’s not time for this right now. You wanna go alternative so bad, and it’s just not that. I know what time it is.”

We admitted, OK, it’s time for my self-titled. Like, if there was ever a time, it’s right now. I just went on a really big tour. There was all this chaos that I was at the center of. I just came out of it and went on kind of this redemption tour of, like, “Let me see who really is still here with me through all the chaos.” And I was like, “OK. All right, let’s do it.”

I started making that album. That album was also not true to me at the time. I think it was a part of me, but I think I was shooting for it in this, like, “It’s my self-titled, I’ve gotta go big. I’ve gotta pull out all my stops.” Then we made “Folded.” So can you come pick up your clothes? I had them folded.

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Christian and Gospel music are having a moment in an evolving industry. Lecrae, four-time Grammy-winning Christian artist and founder of Reach Records, joins Billboard On The Record to break down the genre’s rapid growth, how it’s attracting younger generations and the nuances of combining faith with business. From building his own independent label to staying tapped in with rising artists, Lecrae shares his journey creating a career outside the traditional system, why speaking out matters and what makes Christian music a uniquely powerful and complex space.

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Kristin Robinson: Christian and gospel music is going through a serious boom. According to Luminate’s latest report, Christian gospel has risen by 25% from 2024 to 2025, making it the second-fastest growing genre in America behind rock. New superstars like Forrest Frank, Brandon Lake, and others are making faith-based songs cool for a TikTok generation, and the mainstream music business is starting to cash in. My guest today to break down Christian music’s rise is Lecrae, a Christian artist and rapper who’s witnessed the genre’s evolution throughout his two decades of releasing hit songs. I’m going to ask him today how did the Christian gospel business got this big and what makes this space distinct from about every other genre in music. All right. Lecrae, welcome to On The Record. Thanks for being here.

Lecrae: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

I’m happy to get you here in LA  you’re usually in Atlanta, right?

Lecrae: That’s right. Yeah.

Okay. But we’re both from Texas.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we got the same roots. I love that. So thank you so much for coming. I really wanted on this season of the show to get into some genres that we haven’t really covered yet. And one of the genres we haven’t covered yet — if you could even call it a genre — is Christian music. So I’ll start there. I mean, Christian music is kind of really a subject matter rather than a genre.

There you go. Look at you.

Can you break down all the different sub-types within Christian and gospel?

So it’s the only genre that is based off of subject matter — or content. I think it’s over 51% of the content referencing Christian subject matter, then it’s Christian music.

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KATSEYE talks about performing their new song “Pinky Up” at Coachella 2026 weekend 1, how they feel about the choreography compared to some of the other songs and performing “Golden” from Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ with the girls with HUNTR/X.