Shaboozey photographed September 12, 2024 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn. RRL leather jacket, Huey Lewis denim jacket, Wales Bonner pants.
Eric Ryan Anderson
How do you think my life has been these past few months?” Shaboozey asks with a wry smile.
The 29-year-old multihyphenate artist — one of 2024’s biggest breakout acts — has twisted my question and flipped it back on me, his measured poker face masking the tornado of emotions he’s feeling. There’s no hiding that he’s tired; we’re speaking the day after September’s MTV Video Music Awards, where he snagged two nods (including best new artist), and its star-studded afterparty, where he mingled with the likes of Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter. Some hours later, he went to Brooklyn for his Billboard cover shoot, soundtracked by Zach Bryan and Chris Stapleton. Now we’re grabbing lunch in a hotel restaurant, where Shaboozey has finally settled down with a half-dozen Prince Edward Island oysters and some fries.
The VMAs were just the latest marquee moment in a year full of the kind of highlights most artists dream of achieving over their entire careers. A year in which his appearances on Beyoncé’s culture-shifting Cowboy Carter (on “Spaghettii” and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin’ ”) were just the beginning of his string of feats. A year when Shaboozey went from a supporting stint on a Jessie Murph tour to his own headlining North American tour. A year when his own “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” notched a historic 12 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. And a year that could still get even bigger if “A Bar Song” gets likely-looking Grammy nominations for record and song of the year; or if the album it’s on, the Billboard chart-topping Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, gets album of the year and best country album nods; or if Shaboozey himself contends for best new artist.
Read the full Billboard cover story here.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson Vintage t-shirt, Wales Bonner pants.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson Gucci sweater, Helmut Lang archive top, Levi’s jeans, Birkenstock shoes.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson Vintage t-shirt, Huey Lewis denim jacket, Wales Bonner pants and shoes.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson Hanes tank, New Bedstuy pants, 424 shoes, Bo Joe, David Yurman and Calli Co. Silver jewelry.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson Givenchy sweater, Helmut Lang archive top, Object From Nothing jeans, Birkenstock shoes, Cartier, Sydney Evan, and Spinelli Kilcollin jewelry.
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Image Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson RRL leather jacket, Huey Lewis denim jacket, Wales Bonner pants and shoes.
Styling by Anastasia Walker. Grooming by Laura Costa using Milk Makeup at Exclusive Artists.