Right underneath the 2022 Coachella headliners’ names, artists such as Anitta, Karol G, Grupo Firme and Banda MS appear in the second line of the lineup. They’re followed by Nicki Nicole, Natanael Cano, Ed Maverick, Alaina Castillo, Nathy Peluso, among others, who are announced in a smaller fonts

This year, an unprecedented number of Latin acts are set to perform at this year’s Coachella, which is set to make its grand return in April after a two-year hiatus due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Notably, for the first time ever, two regional Mexican acts (Grupo Firme and Banda MS) will perform at the Indio, Calif.-based event. This coincides with the genre’s global growth, which Billboard has reported on. Over the summer, Firme performed seven consecutive nights at the Staples Center — the only artist who has done more nights there in one calendar year is Adele, with eight. Banda MS, who was on the 2020 Coachella roster, is also an undeniable touring titan and a chart-topping act.

Having more Latin artists at the fore of this year’s Coachella coincides with the popularity of Spanish-language music, which has catapulted to mainstream success. According to MRC Data’s newly released year-end report, Latin music consumption in the U.S. continued its outsized growth trajectory, with a 21.1% increase in total album consumption in 2021 (more than any other core music genre). Additionally, total album consumption of Latin music stood at 48.2 million, up from 39.8 million in 2020, making Latin the fifth most-consumed music genre in the U.S.

So whether you’re a reggaeton fan or a banda stan — or maybe a little of both — check out a list of the Latin acts set to take the stage at Coachella:

Alaina Castillo

Anitta

Banda MS

Chicano Batman

Cuco

Ed Maverick

Grupo Firme

Jessie Reyez

Karol G

Natanael Cano

Nathy Peluso

Nicki Nicole

Omar Apollo

Pabllo Vittar

Princess Nokia

The Marías

The Martinez Brothers

YAY!

Presale for Weekend 2 starts Friday 1/14 at 10am PT. Weekend 1 is sold out. Register now at https://t.co/qujCsdCWkp pic.twitter.com/cEp5iNJY9M

— Coachella (@coachella) January 13, 2022

After 20 years at Warner Music, most recently as Warner Latina’s managing director, Gabriela “Gaby” Martínez is leaving the company, Billboard has learned. Martínez’s last day in Warner’s Miami offices will be Jan. 31.

She has not announced future plans.

In a Jan. 14 memo obtained by Billboard announcing Martínez’s departure to staff, Warner Music Latin America president Alejandro Duque wrote: “[Gaby] has taken a holistic approach to artist development, helping our talent craft their music and collaborate with their peers, while designing constantly innovative marketing campaigns, and forging pioneering brand partnerships. She’s a trailblazer, a world-class leader, and an all-around incredible person who earned the respect and trust of so many of our artists and all of you.”

Martínez, who is Mexican, was second in command at Warner’s Latin operation and the most senior woman in its executive ranks. In fact, with the exception of Maria Fernandez in Sony and Elsa Yep at Universal, who are both CFOs, she was the highest-ranking woman in a Latin major.

Perfectly fluent in English and Spanish, Martínez had label expertise but had also worked in production and as on-air talent in television and radio — including a stint with MTV — which gave her a unique understanding of the market.

Throughout her tenure in Warner Music Latin, which began in 2001 when then-president Iñigo Zbala brought her in as VP of marketing, Martínez interacted closely with the entire company’s roster across the continent, including Maná, Laura Pausini, Alejandro Sanz (when he was a Warner artist) and Jesse & Joy. Martínez rose to become SVP of marketing, general manager and finally, managing director. Her recent accomplishments include steering the career of J Quiles, a singer and songwriter who went from writing major hits for others to helming global smashes in the last couple of years.

“I feel so proud of being part of a team all across Latin America that always pulled together and that the level of conviction that we had with our artists made us fight until the last consequences,” Martínez told Billboard. “Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes not, but we gave it our all.”

Broadly respected at all industry levels, Martínez was a regular on Billboard’s Women In Music and Latin Power Players lists, and was recently named a Leading Latin Lady by the Latin Recording Academy.

Martínez’s departure comes almost a year after Zabala announced he was stepping down as president of Warner Music Latin America. Zabala was succeeded last year by Duque, who took over the role in October.

Duque has not announced any other management changes inside the company, nor has he announced a replacement for Martínez.

You can read his full memo to staff below:

I want to share some important news with you. After a remarkable two decades with the Warner Music family, Gaby Martinez has decided to step away from the company. Her last day with us will be on January 31st.

Gaby has been at the heart and soul of this team since 1990, when she started as a label manager in our Mexico office, before returning in 2001 to our regional office, serving most recently as Warner Latina’s Managing Director. She’s been instrumental in the careers of superstar acts such as Alejandro Sanz, Maná, Luis Miguel, Justin Quiles and Jesse & Joy. She’s taken a holistic approach to artist development, helping our talent craft their music and collaborate with their peers, while designing constantly innovative marketing campaigns, and forging pioneering brand partnerships. She’s a trailblazer, a world-class leader, and an all-around incredible person who earned the respect and trust of so many of our artists and all of you.

Our peers have taken notice of Gaby’s brilliance as well, as she was regularly named a Billboard Latin Power Player, landed a Women in Music honor, and was named a Leading Lady honoree by The Latin Recording Academy. Her contributions to our company, and to the wider music industry, have been invaluable and we will miss her greatly. We will be announcing her successor soon.

For now, please join me in thanking Gaby for everything she has done for our artists and for our company. We wish her well for the future and know she’ll always stay in touch.

Love can leave you cold, especially when it leads to heartbreak. That’s the simple message in the video for Shawn Mendes‘ emotional single “It’ll Be Okay.” The kind of blue ballad released in the wake of the singer’s high-profile November breakup with Camila Cabello after two-plus years of dating finally got a visual treatment on Thursday (Jan. 13), more than a month after Mendes dropped the song.

And like the track’s clear-eyed chronicle of lost love — on which Mendes sings, “If you tell me you’re leaving, I’ll make it easy/ It’ll be okay/ If we can’t stop the bleeding/ We don’t have to fix it/ We don’t have to stay/ I will love you either way/ Ooh-ooh, it’ll be oh, be okay” — the Jay Martin-directed clip keeps things uncomplicated.

In fact it consists entirely of Mendes slow-walking his way through his hometown of Toronto at night in the midst of a snowy night crooning the lyrics with not a single other person around to hear his laments. “Oh, if the future we’ve dreamed of is fading to black/ I will love you either way,” he sings as the song’s piano coda wells up and he slows to a crawl in a dimly lit alleyway.

The song marks Mendes’ first solo music release since his fourth studio album Wonder, which came out in Dec. 2020, and topped the Billboard 200. He’ll be taking Wonder all around the world during his 2022 tour, which kicks off its European leg in spring before heading Stateside next summer with openers Dermot Kennedy and Tate McRae.

Watch the “It’ll Be Okay” video below.

After a two-year hiatus, The Chainsmokers are gearing up for their fourth album, and they want you to know that they’re sorry about it.

In a satirical video released Thursday (Jan. 13), The Chainsmokers’ label head hires a pair of actors to replace the duo because they’re taking too long to make a new album, a scheme that is believed will work “because who really knows what they look like.”

This video then documents these fake Chainsmokers’ process of trying to make new music, which includes smoking $100 bills, ingesting psychedelic mushrooms, and rollerskating around their mansion while ripping a giant bong before succumbing to the pressures of fame and quitting the project. At the end of the video, the fake Chainsmokers are then replaced with the real thing, with the duo’s Drew Taggart and Alex Pall getting a call from the label telling them that The Chainsmokers are back.

This clip comes ahead of the duo’s forthcoming single “High,” which is their first new music since 2019. This track, which is expected to drop any day, will serve as the debut single from the group’s fourth LP. (The song comes on the heels of an unlikely Chainsmokers remix of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which was released earlier this month.)

The duo’s 2017 LP Memories…Do Not Open is currently in its 248th week on Top Dance/Electronic Albums. Their 2016 Collage EP is also in the midst of a 270-week run on this chart, where it’s currently sitting at No. 2. The release date for The Chainsmokers’ new album has not yet been announced.

Watch the announcement video below:

Jay Wheeler’s year is off to a great start after being named Apple Music’s first Up Next Artist of 2022, making his late-night television debut, and releasing a new EP — all in the same week.

The Puerto Rican singer-songwriter is the latest addition to Apple Music’s monthly program that’s geared toward identifying, showcasing, and elevating rising talent. He joins the list that once profiled Bad Bunny, Natanael Cano, and other Latin stars.

As part of the campaign, Wheeler, who landed on DJ Nelson’s radar in 2018 with his song “Por Tu Culpa,” counts with an Up Next film, where he opens up about being a victim of bullying, believing in himself, and his supportive loved ones. He also sat down with host Sandra Peña for an interview to discuss his upcoming projects, which includes his English-language album.

“I knew that eventually, I was going to do English music,” he said, explaining that he’s been inspired by artists such as Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, and Boyz II Men. “I wanted to learn their culture, beats, colors, and what it was to work with their producers, and it was just that. It was very different, but I loved it. I took pronunciation classes because it’s not the same talking as singing. It was the hardest thing in the world. It took me one year to do my first song in English.”

On his new EP, De Mi Para Ti, Wheelers shares his two English songs (“Take My Life” and “Can’t Figure U Out”) as a preview of his upcoming all-English language album dubbed Good Music for Bad Days.

“It’s crazy that I have an English album,” he noted. “For me, that’s an achievement. I’m not expecting to go big. This is a personal project for me that I love, and if people like it, good. If not, I’m sorry, but that’s my baby.”

Hailing from Guayamo, Puerto Rico, the artist born Jose Angel Lopez Martinez has positioned himself as one of the new romantic voices in reggaeton. His fans even gave him the nickname “La Voz Favorita” because of his melodic tone and heartfelt lyrics. His love for music derived from watching musicals, as well as his mother, father, and grandmother, who all sang in church. Wheeler earned his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart with “Viendo al Techo” in April 2021 and was nominated at the Latin Grammys with “La Curiosidad.”

As part of the Up Next program, Wheeler made his late-night TV debut with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night (Jan. 12). “This is a dream come true,” he wrote on Instagram. “Thanks to all of you, we’re slowly achieving incredible things. I love you.”

Keanu Reeves has been a movie icon for nearly four decades. But even with Wizard of Whoa! gets star-struck sometimes. On Wednesday night (Jan. 12) The Matrix Resurrections star sat down for The Late Show‘s 15-question “Colbert Questionert,” which, Stephen Colbert noted, was actually inspired by a thoughtful answer the actor gave the host several years ago.

Along the way, Reeves also revealed the time he asked a rock icon to write a note to his friend and picked the dark, goth rock song that he could listen to forever.

Things started off in the most Keanu way possible, with Reeves thinking too hard about the question: “What is the best sandwich?” “The best sandwich you mean, like, for me?” he wondered, before finally landing on the sweet and savory combo of toast with crunchy peanut butter with honey.

Eventually, though, Reeves got to the most important question: has he ever asked for someone’s autograph? The answer was yes, but it was for a friend. Keanu, who spent nearly a decade in the 1990s touring and recording with his on-and-off band Dogstar, said he once asked punk godfather Lou Reed for his John Hancock, noting that the notoriously prickly rocker was totally “cool about it.”

“It was like a little piece of paper and blue ink… yeah it was good,” Reeves said. “It just said, ‘Lou Reed.’” When Colbert noted that it would have been really disappointing if it hadn’t read Lou Reed, Reeves joked that it could have said, “all my best” or “happy holidays.”

He also added that he asked late comedian George Carlin for an auto and that, in similarly terse fashion, the funny man who made a career of dissecting the power of four-letter words wrote simply, “Dear Keanu: F–k you.”

Shaking his head in mock anguish, Reeves didn’t have to think very long about what song he would pick if he could only listen to one for the rest of this life. “I’m going to take Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart,’” he said of the legendary glum post-punk song released in 1980 just a month after singer Ian Curtis’ suicide.

Along the way, we also learned that the self-described pack rat can’t think of anything he’d throw out, that spiders are his most-feared animal and that he prefers apples over oranges. As for the question that started it all, “What do you think happens when we die?,” last time Reeves said “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” And he stuck with that answer.

Watch Reeves answer the “Questionert” below.