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Houston rapper Sauce Walka is mourning the loss of his close friend and artist, Sayso P, who was tragically killed in a shooting in Memphis on March 22nd.
The two were attacked outside the Westin Hotel in Memphis when three gunmen reportedly jumped out of a vehicle and opened fire. Sauce Walka was shot in the leg but survived, while Sayso P did not make it.
Less than a week after the shooting, Sauce Walka took to social media to express his grief and reflect on the heartbreaking loss. In an emotional post, he shared his regret that Sayso P didn’t listen to his advice that night. “Words or tears can’t explain the loss I feel! Splatt, I wish your fat ahh listened to me and stayed in the room,” he wrote. He recounted how he and others had warned Sayso to wait for security before stepping outside, but his friend was eager to go.
Sauce Walka also reflected on their journey together, emphasizing how he had tried to help Sayso transition to a better life. “It’s been four years since @tsf1punch_10100 brought u to the familia… we been mashing and splashing together P,” he wrote, highlighting their bond and the success they built as a team. He made it clear that Sayso died as a “rich young boss,” proud of what they had accomplished.
However, his tribute also carried a powerful message about violence in the hip-hop community. “I hope one day we all STOP TAKING LIVES from our communities and actually start to enjoy and build better futures,” he wrote. Despite his acceptance of the realities of street life, Sauce Walka’s words served as a sobering reminder of the cost of ongoing violence.
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This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Let’s Get Free, the highly celebrated debut album of Hip-Hop duo dead prez. Consisting of Stic (Khnum Ibomu) and M-1 (Mutulu Olugbala), dead prez burst onto the scene with politically conscious music that thoroughly engaged Hip-Hop fans in a parallei to the rap artists whose focus on luxury and materialism contributed to the rise of “the Bling Era.”
The album, fueled by the electric single “Hip-Hop,” would touch upon multiple issues affecting Black and Brown communities globally, with lyrics that still carry resonance and relevancy years later.
On Friday (March 28), dead prez will be the focal point of a special edition of BRIC Studios’ Stoop Share series at their venue in Brooklyn, New York. “Music, Message and Movement: Liner Notes for Liberation” is the theme of the evening co-produced by the group along with Jill Newman Productions, which will begin with a community conversation with dead prez on the legacy of Let’s Get Free and their perspective on revolutionary message music, followed by a special ticketed concert performance. Ahead of the highly anticipated evening, HipHopWired had a chance to talk about the impact of their debut album with dead prez as well as their views on the pressing need for art that will inspire the people in these times.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
HipHopWired: The impact of Let’s Get Free, it’s undeniable, and everything within it still rings true, 25 years later. With this anniversary, how have fans and others who’ve listened to the album and your music entirely shared how it’s impacted their lives?
M-1: Man, I gotta say…one great thing that that I hear with this piece of art that myself and Stic along with the help of a community of people from Tallahassee to Brooklyn, elders and ancestors. One great thing that I hear people say was that it changed the way that they view their health. I mean, amongst a lot of things that people can attach themselves to, probably one of the most is that we’ve been able to raise the general conversation around staying on this earth a little longer. So I gotta say, I’m pretty proud of just hearing that from time to time.
“It wasn’t for no other reason that we did our record than to have an impact, to have somebody say this matters, and this has helped in some kind of meaningful, actionable way.”—stic
Stic: Yeah, man, you know the term impact is something that I’ve been really enamored with. I was building with my girl the other day about her mom. She does a lot of work in Kenya around advocating for blind youth and education, right? But the thing I want to point out about impact is sometimes, we in society, we do things for the recognition of things. We do things for glory of things, the fame, the “I did this first,” “We did it better”—you see that sentiment. But when your focus is impact, you’re centered on things that might not necessarily get recognized in a public way. You might not get no Grammy. You might not get no whatever, nobody knows your name and all your gossip. But if you focus on impact, it’s those little moments that matter the most to somebody that’s actually doing the work for that purpose.
Like the old saying, where they say, “Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for his life.” That right? There is impact, right? The difference is, you’re actually trying to have something that has a lasting effect, so, bigger than dead prez. I just want to say that even it being a conversation around impact, means that we hit our target. Because it wasn’t for no other reason that we did our record than to have an impact, to have somebody say this matters, and this has helped in some kind of meaningful, actionable way like [M-1] said. Or if it was just a person’s perspective on a struggle that if they found more meaning in it, or if it was another artist that said, “Yo, I could speak to certain issues too. I ain’t gotta just be shucking and jiving out here.” You know what I mean? And in whatever ways that music like ours can really impact, I don’t mean like getting a Grammy for it, but in the everyday person’s life..to us, that is success.
HHW: Seeing the events of the last year unfolding within Hip-Hop culture, with some of the public having more of an appetite for what’s substantial—how optimistic are you that such a shift like that can spur more artists and more demand from the public to engage with art that matters to them like that within Hip-Hop?
Stic: All our chips are in that basket. We’re invested in that being the case, not waiting on it or hoping, but actually putting in the work to be the change we want to see. I mean, it’s more potential than ever. The playing field has been leveled in terms of creative ability to speak direct to each other, right? So I think on that note, the weapons, so to speak, are in our hands now, the people got the weapons. Now it’s about learning how to use the weapon for our best interest. Because Hip-Hop is everywhere. You can’t look at your shadow without seeing somebody’s album, you know what I’m saying? [laughs]
But it’s like…when will we use the technology and the craftsmanship to speak to issues in a way, again, that’s impactful, but also is forward. Not just nostalgic or trying to do what we used to do and say what we used to say for nostalgia’s sake, but continually making it relevant in a contemporary way to push culture forward. Ultimately, we just want to be free and well and and safe and secure in our lives. That’s what people want all around the planet and the small role that art can play in that is huge because it’s from where our inspiration comes and goes, You know what? It’s not all about the artists. Like Public Enemy said, “It takes a nation of millions,” but the artists play a key role, because we articulate what that future could look like.
M-1: I want to add on to what Stic said, and talk about the beckoning of what it means to have an art that is full of change…like they say “repression breeds resistance.”. And you know that seemed like it would be the case, especially in the political climate of today. Where it’s not even right-leaning, extremism kind of runs government, especially from a Republican standpoint in control of the House and Congress. The theory of the minded people who would be leadership in this country, that’s as repressive as it gets. I think the blowback, I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to it, because it was the kind of thing that like Stic said, this is the basket that we’ve definitely put our eggs in and the way we want our cards to be played.
However, I gotta say, when it comes down to message music or revolutionary music even with certain genres, you’ll find people who say, “Oh, reggae music, these artists need to be supported more. You know they don’t get what they deserve.” Or you even might hear that about Afrobeat. The thing is that I don’t hear it as much about, what I’m urging people to support is message music. It’s in that where you’re going to find truth being told, what’s not usually told, and the sacrifice being made of artists who might not be able to see some of the same stages.
Because we do take a stance against Israel bombing Palestine and killing 400 babies a night. You know what I’m saying? I’m kind of against that, and that might not get me on the same stage. And so, there is a special support that’s needed and necessary, and it’s time for that. It’s a crazy time to be living, knowing that as much as it’s needed, as much as you know they—the proverbial they—are doing to rip everything they can away from those legs, making sure that it doesn’t exist with any power to stand or say anything or any truths could and would be taken away or read or ingested in any way. So anyway, I just got to say on the converse of that, that’s kind of what we’re living in right now. So we need change today, at this very moment.
HHW: With the event that’s happening at BRIC Studios that you guys are putting on with Jill Newman productions being held in Brooklyn… M-1: Home! That’s the crib.
HHW: Brooklyn has changed dramatically on so many levels. With that said, can this be, or will it be something that will be a continual series in the next step of artivism?Stic: Right on! I like that term. We have a new audio book that we’re going to be releasing soon, dead prez: Music, Message, Movement: Liner Notes For Liberation. it’s a beautiful piece of collaboration work between myself and M-1 where we’re framing what art and activism is, what that looks like from our point of view, our inspirations, the history of it, the present of it, the future of it. Some of the talk that we’re going to be doing at the BRIC, we’re going to tap into that. And then we’ve also been working—for a couple years now —we’ve been working on a new dead prez album with our team, and so we’re looking to get that finalized and out in the world. Many more things, including workshops and like we’re doing in BRIC around the same “music, message, movement” theme this year for our 25th anniversary.
M-1: I gotta tell you—I can tell Stic too, because he didn’t know—so I woke up this morning to a phone call from from my brother, Fela Kuti’s son, Seun Kuti. Seun hits me this morning. He’s like, “My brother. I hear you are celebrating the greatest liberation album of Africa. Let’s Get Free. 25 years in Brooklyn.” I’m like, “Yooo Seun!” I haven’t spoken to him in a minute, we good. You know, the wives are friends. It’s good. “Where you at?” He says, “My brother, I am in New York, and I will be there for your show.” I hope I got his accent right. [laughs]
It just made me say, “It’s going to be a good night at BRIC. It’s going to be definitely home for a lot of people who are like-minded around what Let’s Get Free has meant. Like you said, it’s gonna be precluded by a conversation that will be moderated by Umi and between us that will discuss some of the new things we have in our new book. But I just look forward to family kind of finding each other again in Brooklyn, and again, the heart of it has changed, but we, the heartbeat is still the same. And we’re going to be there to make it do what it do. So it’s going to be a good time.
Pablo Alborán begins a new chapter in his career with the release of “Clickbait,” the first single of his upcoming album, due out in November via Warner Music Spain. The upcoming seventh studio album follows La Cuarta Hoja (2022), but it won’t be his only new music on stage this year: The Malaga-born singer-songwriter is gearing up for his acting debut in a Netflix series, while mapping out an extensive tour set to span Latin America, the United States and Spain.
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Talking with Billboard Español, Alborán reflects on the past few months, describing them as one of the most emotionally intense periods of his life — a time that completely shifted his perspective and led him to rethink many things, including his music.
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“It’s been a year full of emotions, without a clear path,” he says. “But that’s exactly why I gave myself permission to explore, experiment with sounds, and, most importantly, have fun.”
The first glimpse of this new chapter is “Clickbait.” Released on Wednesday (March 26), it stands as one of the most striking songs of his career, not only for its bold, electronic-infused production but also for its powerful message.
“I’ve never spoken so openly about fame, envy, prejudice, and the obsession with likes,” Alborán explains. “It’s my way of venting, of releasing all the anger this world of fake news and sensationalism —where everything revolves around negativity — provokes in me. I wanted a song that could serve as both a shield and a sword for anyone who needs it.”
The track also experiments with new sonic elements, something that, according to Alborán, even surprised his mother. “It’s a different language — a mix of Spanish and English, saturated sounds, and references to what we consume on social media,” he says. “The first time my mom heard it, she was in shock — but by the third listen, she already knew the hook.”
The music video for the song, directed by La Carbonera Studio and filmed in Madrid, reinforces its critique of the image-obsessed world. In the video, Alborán walks in front of a mirror while a group of dancers tries to stop him from looking at himself: “Each character represents a figure in the industry: a paparazzo, an executive, a lawyer, an influencer,” he explains. “It’s a metaphor for everything that surrounds fame.”
Choosing “Clickbait” as the lead single for his upcoming album was not an easy decision. Beyond its bold sound and direct message, Alborán had to confront his own fears and the uncertainty of how it would be received. “I asked myself many times: ‘Am I ready to defend this? How will people react?’ But I went back to my first instinct. When I revisit the moment I wrote the song and remember why I did it, I know it has a purpose,” he says. “I’m not doing anything just for the sake of it.”
More than just a collection of songs, his upcoming album — whose title he has yet to reveal — is a window into how he sees the world. Through his music, he invites listeners into his bubble to experience his unfiltered vision, free of labels or prejudice. “It’s a very diverse album,” he says. “I talk about love from a different perspective, about my roots, family, and the people who care for us. And sonically, I’ve allowed myself complete freedom.”
The album features a wide spectrum of sounds ranging from country to flamenco bulerías, and even a special collaboration with renowned guitarist Vicente Amigo, further cementing Alborán’s connection to his Andalusian roots. This identity was formally recognized on February 28, when he was awarded the Medalla de las Artes by the Junta de Andalucía, honoring his contributions to Spanish music and his career achievements.
Far from being confined to a single genre, Alborán has embraced fearless experimentation. “The songs are in charge. If one called for a Dobro (a resonator guitar) and a country rhythm, I added it. If another needed a bulería, I gave it that too. I don’t want to be boxed in,” he says. “I think all artists feel the pressure of expectations, but I’ve learned to let go of that.”
In this process of musical exploration, one of his key collaborators has been Albert Hype, a producer known for his work with artists like Bad Bunny and Kali Uchis. “When we sat down in the studio for the first time, the first thing he said was, ‘Give me a ballad,’” Alborán recalls. “I thought, ‘Really?’ But when I saw what he did with it, I knew I could trust him.”
Their chemistry led to collaborations on several tracks for the album. “Once I saw that Albert understood my essence, I let him go wild,” Alborán says with a laugh. “At the end of the day, my voice is what defines me. It doesn’t matter if the song has touches of reggaetón, flamenco, or experimental pop — it will always sound like me.”
For this album, Alborán also collaborated with producer Julio Reyes Copello, with whom he has worked in the past. “Julio has produced two incredible songs. He’s someone I always connect with perfectly,” says the artist. “His sensitivity for taking a song to another level is unmatched.”
Alborán has made his mark on Billboard charts, with multiple entries on Hot Latin Songs, Top Latin Albums, and Latin Pop Airplay. His album Terral (2014) debuted at No. 1 on Latin Pop Albums and No. 2 on Top Latin Albums, while his collaboration “Dónde Está el Amor” with Jesse & Joy reached No. 16 on Hot Latin Songs and No. 8 on Latin Pop Airplay.
Music isn’t Alborán’s only focus in 2025. He will also make his acting debut in the Spanish Netflix series Respira, playing an emergency plastic surgeon in its second season, though the premiere date has yet to be announced.
“Acting has always intrigued me, but I had never taken the leap. When I was offered the role, my family couldn’t believe it. ‘Are you sure?’ they asked. I was asking myself the same thing,” he admits with a laugh.
To prepare, he spent months studying and even attended real surgeries to better understand the role. “It was intense, but it also helped me a lot on a personal level,” he shares. “I had just gone through a very difficult situation with a family member’s health, and being surrounded by doctors allowed me to see things from a different perspective. It all came together to bring more authenticity to the character.”
Filming has also served as an escape for him. “When the industry overwhelms me, acting feels like a breath of fresh air. I step into another character and disconnect. It’s my way of finding balance,” he says.
He is also preparing for his most ambitious tour to date, set to kick off in February 2026. “This tour is very special to me,” says Alborán. “Not only because it will be global, but because this album allows me to experiment on stage. I’ll be taking audiences through all the stages of my life, from my roots in Málaga to the present.”
His return to the United States and Latin America will be especially emotional following the experience of his last tour during a personally challenging time, as a close family member faced a health issue. “That tour saved my life,” he says about La Cuarta Hoja in 2023. “I went on stage carrying the hardest situation I’ve ever faced at home, and the audience, without knowing it, gave me incredible support. I’ll never forget it.”
On May 16, The Weeknd will bring his album Hurry Up Tomorrow, which topped the Billboard 200, to the big screen as a suspense thriller. Tomorrow has precedents in many yesterdays: Artists have been making movies out of albums, partly to boost their sales, for decades. March 19 marked the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Who’s Tommy. But The Who wasn’t first — and it certainly wasn’t the last.
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Anything You Want
“Arlo Guthrie is about to become The Thing to talk and write about,” trumpeted an ad in the Aug. 23, 1968, Billboard for the just-released Alice’s Restaurant movie based on his 1967 album of the same name. Soon, Guthrie’s name was littering the pages of Billboard, and a piece in the Oct. 18 issue said the film “sparked sales for the Reprise album … racking up $1 million sales.” A month later, the Nov. 15 issue showed the set at a new chart peak of No. 17 on the Billboard 200, two years after its release.
See It, Feel It, Buy It
Six years after The Who released Tommy, the British rockers followed it with a 1975 film starring Roger Daltrey as the titular pinball wizard. The Ken Russell movie was divisive: The March 29, 1975, Billboard ran two reviews. One praised it as a “gripping fantasmagoria,” while another panned it as a “travesty of worn-out symbolism and general tackiness.” The same issue also reported on “the record war between the original rock opera and the movie soundtrack,” which were on MCA and Polydor, respectively. Buyers bought in, pushing the soundtrack to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, above the original album’s No. 4 peak.
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Band From the ‘Club’
When the Bee Gees’ 1978 jukebox musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band hit theaters, expectations were as high as Lucy in the sky. The July 29, 1978, Billboard reported that the soundtrack of Beatles covers was “taxing virtually every record presser, jacket printing facility and freight company contracted to get the initial order of four million units in the hands of consumers.” A report from an advance screening told a different story: “A movie where the audience laughs at all the wrong moments is in trouble, no matter what its advertising budget.” It was a boon for The Beatles, at least: “Sales of Capitol’s Beatles catalog are surging,” according to the Aug. 26 issue.
Hitting a ‘Wall’
Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Billboard’s No. 1 album of 1980, famously inspired an animated film of the same name. Unfortunately, critics wanted to run like hell. “The $10 million movie adaptation of Pink Floyd’s international double-album bestseller was demolished” at a London premiere, reported the Aug. 7, 1982, issue. Despite an end-credits promise of a forthcoming soundtrack, one never appeared. “We intended to make a soundtrack album,” David Gilmour told the Sept. 18 Billboard. “But we just didn’t have enough new music to reasonably justify putting one out.”
This story originally appeared in the March 22, 2025 issue of Billboard.
SoundExchange has partnered with Music Nation Copyrights Management, a leading music rights organization in the United Arab Emirates, as part of new efforts to ensure fair compensation for sound recording owners, producers and artists when their music is publicly performed across the UAE’s music industry.
This collaboration, announced Wednesday (March 26), will enable Music Nation to leverage SoundExchange’s technology and data in order to collect and distribute neighboring rights royalties in the UAE. The UAE’s first comprehensive rights management system will streamline the collection of performance, mechanical and neighboring rights royalties, providing a single solution for music rightsholders, the companies said in a joint announcement.
Music Nation plays a key role in the UAE’s evolving copyright landscape by licensing the rights of authors, publishers, performers and sound recording owners. With partnerships like those with BMI and SoundExchange, Music Nation is advancing the country’s efforts to protect musical copyrights through a comprehensive licensing and royalty distribution infrastructure.
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The partnership builds on Music Nation’s existing collaboration with BMI, the U.S. performing rights organization, further ensuring that local and international artists, songwriters, publishers, and record labels are compensated for the use of their work in the UAE. The timing aligns with the region’s rapid music industry growth, as IFPI recently reported a 22.8% increase in recorded music revenue in MENA in 2024, marking it as the fastest-growing music market globally.
Rasha Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairwoman of Music Nation, expressed excitement about the partnership, saying “by comprehensively and accurately collecting and distributing neighboring rights royalties, Music Nation will help ensure the continued growth of the region’s vibrant music ecosystem.”
Michael Huppe, president and CEO of SoundExchange, added: “Our in-depth administration expertise, proven record on rate settings, and premiere distribution processes for international creators will provide capabilities to propel the emerging UAE market. SoundExchange is proud to partner with Music Nation on this exciting project, and to help the Emirati creator community realize the true power and value of their music.”
Charli XCX has been slowly building up her acting resumé over the past decade with a series of voice roles in the Angry Birds Movie and UglyDolls and spots on TV shows including Gossip Girl and I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry. But as she prepares to really dive into her actress era with a […]
When country singer-songwriter Chely Wright decided to come out of the closet in 2010, she knew that her life was never going to be the same. She’d made a name for herself in mainstream music circles with songs like “Single White Female” and “It Was,” built a strong fanbase in the country scene and saw an opportunity to break new ground.
“I thought I was uniquely positioned, because I am still that Grand Ole Opry-loving, patriotic, Midwestern girl who loves country music who is also a person of faith. I thought if I did this right, I could come out ‘well,’” she tells Billboard.
In retrospect, Wright was correct; her life did change, just not in the way that she expected. Fifteen years later, Wright has reinvented herself as a leader in corporate America, advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion. In her latest venture, the former country star is taking on the position of senior vice president, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and new market growth at facilities management organization ISS. She describes the role as getting a company of 320,000+ employees to ask itself one central question: “How do we use our power, position and resources for good?”
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That pivot came naturally, Wright says — after coming out, she began working her “side hustle” of speaking to organizations about the importance of DE&I. As the opportunities for work in the space grew while her touring career got put on hold thanks to COVID-19, Wright saw an opportunity to make the most of her position. “Who is luckier than me that I was able to not only continue working, but to feel such a great sense of pride and purpose and mission in what I do?” she ponders.
Below, Wright talks to Billboard about her evolution from country stages to the C-suite, why DEI work is vital despite a pushback from the current presidential administration, and what advice she would give to young country stars looking to come out today:
Let’s talk about your new role — your previous role at Unispace saw you overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, while your new role sees you heading up “corporate social responsibility.” Can you explain the difference between those two ideas?
In my last role, I was the chief diversity officer — my role at ISS is head of CSR and new market growth. On the Venn diagram of life, DEI, ESG (environmental, social and governance) and CSR have a lot of overlap. The way I look at it, CSR is asking myself and getting organizations to ask themselves the question, “How do we use our power, position and resources for good?”
That is actually harder to ascertain and actually takes more time and effort to know and understand than organizations might think. There is an entire process of really engaging with your teams, engaging with communities, engaging with your clients and putting your heads together about “hey, what do we collectively care about, and how are we uniquely positioned to get out there and drive impact?”
I think what we’ve learned post-COVID — and honestly, we’re in a world that has been significantly changed by COVID and it looks like we’re never going back — is that employees care more than ever about who their employers are, and what they’re doing to positively impact their environments and their communities.
There’s a lot of conversation happening around the concept of DEI, with the current administration actively campaigning against these policies both in the federal government and at individual companies. What is your reaction to that push to eliminate DEI efforts in the workforce?
A couple of years ago, in my last role, we felt this coming. When you look at the marketing campaign around being “anti-woke” and “anti-DEI,” it is not surprising to me that this is all happening. What I think is important is that we talk about what is happening right now, and what is not happening. If people are scared and nervous, that in and of itself is harm. It’s the whole point of bullying — you scare people, and that causes unease. In its worst-case scenario, it can set on some very negative, violent behaviors from others.
So, what I don’t want to say is, “Oh it’s all posturing and noise, and it’s not real.” No, it is real. I would say that some of it is posturing. Some of it is noise, and pandering to a base that they made promises to. And I would argue that a lot of it, based on what I’m hearing from our clients, is performance for an administration.
I’m gonna use a restaurant analogy — there’s front of house, and there’s back of house. I think the front of house, right now, is positioning themselves to make certain pieces of the administration happy, kissing the ring, scrubbing their websites of certain language. Do I think it’s right? No. Would I do it personally? No. But I understand what is happening there — no one wants to receive the ire of a very powerful person or an administration that feels like it may be punitive or retaliatory. But in the back of house, organizations that didn’t want to really do DEI or CSR or ESG work to begin with are using this as an offramp.
For those who are really committed to this idea, everyone I’ve talked to is still very interested in ensuring that their people and their communities where they work understand that they’re in it to win it. Because there is a business sense to DEI: the metrics are off the charts on how much more profitable a business is that has a supplier diversity program. It lowers attrition and elevates client retention, and if you have these initiatives in your company, it makes people want to go work for them and stay with them. It elevates that pride and purpose.
You mentioned the anti-DEI “marketing campaign” — part of that is spreading misinformation about what diversity, equity and inclusion programs actively do. A lot of people think that this is about unqualified candidates getting jobs, simply because that’s what they’ve been told.
Yes, the characterization is this concern that, for example, a black woman is going to get a job over a qualified white man — as if he is somehow, inherently, above her. That’s not what this work is, and anyone who is a practitioner of good DEI work knows that. Take supplier diversity, for instance. Supplier diversity was started in the automotive industry back in the late ’60s, and what it proved is that this work makes the vendor base more competitive and more innovative. There is a lot of myth-busting up front of hearing, “We want qualified vendors,” and saying back to them, “I don’t want anything but qualified vendors — but all of our vendors in our base look pretty straight and white, to me.”
We want qualified veterans to be part of our vendor base. We want qualified Black and Brown people. We want qualified women. It has become a minefield out there, but the principles of DEI are not going anywhere. We might be talking about them a little bit differently for a minute, but not for long.
You made a fascinating transfer from your music career to your corporate career around 2020 — what inspired that change? What skills transitioned well from one career to the next?
In 2010, I knew I wanted to come out of the closet, be informed and educated and use all of my public capital to challenge some of those myths about queer people. After I came out, I was getting invited to talk to corporations and higher ed and faith communities about my experience, and it snowballed from there. So that began my side hustle; I continued touring to smaller audiences — because when I came out I lost some of my fanbase — and spent 70% of my time making records and touring. 30% of my time was spent doing this culture work, and I loved it.
When COVID hit — and I had to cancel my tour just like every other touring musician in the world — that happened to coincide with my clients coming out of the woodwork asking about doing virtual events. With the murders of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor, with mental health declining because everyone was at home, my side hustle just skyrocketed, and eventually lead to my role at Unispace.
When you’re a country singer, and you get to Nashville and you somehow make it where you’re making records and you decide to come out of the closet, one doesn’t do that without knowing that your life is going to change. I didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like, but I knew that I was nimble and I knew that I was a good business thinker. I was always mindful and aware, when I got to Nashville and I saw how damn good everybody was, that I would not be outworked, and I would not be out-strategized.
I knew the value of engaging with fans and giving them what they want, and knowing that they are my customer. I knew in 2010 that I could do another side hustle full time if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to. And then ten years later, the universe tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey guess what? It’s time to make a big pivot.”
You certainly left behind an important legacy in the country scene: Today, there are more queer artists working in the Nashville scene than ever before. If you could give any advice to an LGBTQ artist looking to “make it” in the industry, what would you tell them?
I love seeing all of these country artists who have come out, it just delights me and thrills me every time someone comes out. I love that I could be a drop of water in what would become a wave. But let’s make no mistake; I still don’t recommend to anyone that they run down Music Row and say they’re gay. My counsel for anyone, whether they’re a country music artist, or going into finance, or whatever, is: Do not come out until you feel safe and able. And that process is different for everyone.
I would even go back to the advice that Loretta Lynn gave me about being a woman in the industry: I asked her once about what I could do in a man’s industry to change things. She said, “You can’t change the game unless you’re on the field.” So Loretta, right? What I took from that is that you have to do everything that you can to keep yourself on the field — take care of you first. If you’ve got aspirations to be a country singer, and you’re in a place that might not be safe, share your authentic self with safe people in your life and protect those relationships.
I’m not saying that people should force themselves into the closet: I’m saying you can still get yourself uninvited to the party if you’re not very careful about when you share your truth. The last thing I would ever want to do is to minimize the reality of what coming out is like, and to say, “Oh, just come out! It’s great out here!” I received death threats, I lost fans, a lot happened when I came out. It is a personal decision, so don’t do it until you feel safe and able. If you need support, you call me on the phone. Everyone in Nashville has still got my number — just give me a ring.
After erasing her past, Ariana Grande is looking well into her future in a new teaser for her Brighter Days Ahead short film.
In the snippet posted on Instagram Wednesday (March 26) — just two days before the film and the accompanying Eternal Sunshine deluxe album are set to arrive — Grande returns to the Brighter Days memory-wiping clinic first seen in her 2024 “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” music video. In the original visual, the Grammy winner plays a heartbroken character named Peaches who has all traces of her ex wiped from her hippocampus, an homage to Michel Gondry’s 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
But in the short film, it seems that Peaches will revisit the clinic when she’s much older, with the teaser showing a wide shot of Grande sitting in a wheelchair as she waits for her name to be called. “Is there a Peaches here?” says an offscreen voice, robotically distorted in some places. “Peaches?”
The teaser’s cover art on Grande’s grid is a close-up photo of her hands clutching a peach-shaped purse. But while her fingers and the backs of her palms are clearly hers — distinguishable by her fading tattoos — her skin is withered and wrinkly, as if the 31-year-old star were actually about 80 years old.
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Grande has been leaving a breadcrumb trail of teasers ever since she first announced the Brighter Days Ahead short film March 12, just two days after she revealed that the Eternal Sunshine deluxe — which will feature six new tracks — was also on its way. Both the film and extended album will arrive Friday (March 28).
In another recent teaser, the only trace of Grande was in an adorable throwback photo of herself as a child tucked inside a pocket watch, which a man’s hands held open on a wooden table. The black-and-white clip also featured a Casablanca-esque wide shot of a man in a trench coat walking down an eerie street as an unseen violin plays a crackling melody.
This week, the Victorious alum also debuted part of one of the songs on the Eternal Sunshine deluxe. Fans who called her Brighter Days hotline (934-33-ERASE) could hear her singing over a starry mid-tempo beat, “Was I just a nightmare? Different dimensions, stuck in the Twilight Zone.”
The snippet likely belongs to a new song called “Twilight Zone,” the title of which Grande revealed along with the rest of the tracklist March 17. Other song titles include “Intro (End of the World) Extended,” “Warm,” “Dandelion,” “Past Life” and “Hampstead.”
See Grande’s new Brighter Days Ahead teaser below.
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The Atlantic picked up what some might consider the scoop of the year after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly shared war plans on the unsecured Signal messaging app. Included in the chat was The Atlantic‘s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, and the publication published the full text chat after top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration testified in front of Congress that the information within was not classified.
As seen in The Atlantic, Goldberg was included in a Signal group chat that included Hegseth and U.S. national security advisor to President Trump, Mike Waltz. Waltz unintentionally added Goldberg to the discussion of plans to attack Yemen’s Houthis group, and the text chain included names, details, and expected results of the attack. Goldberg made his media rounds after breaking the story, but previously did not include some of the more sensitive details of the Signal chat.
However, testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated that the plans discussed in the chat were not classified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday (March 25). CIA Director John Ratcliffe added in separate testimony that the chat details were not classified, and President Trump stood by that claim. Hegseth also denied that the discussion was about war plans.
With that testimony on record, the publication saw fit to publish the entire chat to allow the public to make their own determination of the facts and to push back against the attacks from Trump officials that The Atlantic is lying about what the chat is.
“The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared,” Goldberg and fellow journalist Shane Harris wrote.
The White House is attempting to downplay and discredit Goldberg’s assessment of the war plans, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attacking the publication’s decision to frame the chat “attack plans” instead of “war plans,” as initially reported and framed that as a retraction.
“The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans.’ This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” Leavitt wrote on X.
On X, many are reacting to The Atlantic calling the Trump administration and its de facto war council’s bluff by publishing the full Signal chat. Check out those reactions below.
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Photo: Getty
A few blocks from Provenza, in Medellín, is the studio where some of the biggest hits of Ovy on the Drums have been made. In a modest apartment, located on a sixth floor and guarded by a ferocious sand-colored stuffed dog named Cairo, we are welcomed by the man who became a frequent musical companion of artists like Blessd, Beéle and Karol G. On one wrist he has tattooed the T, Q and G, a reference to his greatest feat: having been able to get Shakira and her friend Karol G, a.k.a. “La Bichota,” the two Latin women with the greatest impact on music in recent years, both on a song.
“I have it tattooed here, because it’s the first song produced by Ovy on the Drums that is No. 1 in the world,” notes Daniel Echavarría (his real name). “For one to be a producer on that collaboration, it’s a dream come true.”
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Currently, “TQG” has more than 1.2 billion streams on Spotify and 1.3 billion views on YouTube, after debuting at No. 1 on multiple Billboard charts, including Hot Latin Songs, Latin Pop Airplay, Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, it started at No. 7 and spent 20 weeks on the chart.
While the interview is going on, we are located in a secondary studio — smaller than the main one, but with all the necessary tools so that the emerging artists he works with can record there. He mentions up-and-comers like Tury and Young Fatty, and other not-so-emerging artists like Kris R, as probable guests for the W Sound — the artist sessions series he launched last year with Westcol, one of the most impactful influencers in Colombia, who also has worldwide reach.
Creator of the “Tusa” sound, Ovy has an eye for rising artists in the urban genre. A little over five years ago, he discovered a kid who was making waves named Beéle, who had just signed with Hear This Music, then Bad Bunny’s label. Together they made “Inolvidable,” which he acknowledges as the most special of the songs they’ve created since they’ve known each other. It became one of the biggest hits of 2020, remembered for its emotional piano, and showing the two stars were ready for new challenges.
However, it was impossible to imagine all that was to come. Not only for Beéle, who is now one of the most important Colombian artists, but also for Ovy, the neighborhood man who learned to produce by playing with Fruity Loops in his room. The logo of this music production program is also tattooed on his arm, according to a Billboard article.
Ovy is now the producer of many of the biggest hits for Karol G, Blessd and plenty other urban Latin music stars. He won a Latin Grammy for Karol’s album Mañana Será Bonito, whose success took him to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Latin Producers chart for 25 weeks. And a few days ago, he was ranked as the Latin producer with the most listeners on Spotify: almost 29 million followers on this music platform, ahead of Bizarrap, Tainy, Rvssian and DJ Nelson.
In the studio, he shows me an old microphone that he uses to record the new talents who come to his house. He also tells me that it’s the same one he used for Unstoppable, Karol G’s first album, which we now remember for songs like “Ahora Me Llama,” which featured Bad Bunny on its remix — — a detail that is now probably inspiring many of them to pursue similar success stories.
Below, Ovy talks with Billboard about his legacy and some of his upcoming projects.
You just released an EP with Puerto Rican and Chilean artists, you are working on the W Sound sessions. What else can you share about your 2025 plans?
Cassette, the EP that a few days ago had its second volume, is a very nice project that my team and I saw a lot of potential in. Last year, we did the first version of the project — which was with Myke Towers — and there, we brought together artists like La Joaqui from Argentina, Saiko from Spain, also Ryan Castro, Blessd.
I wanted to bring the cassette to the present day, because I feel that there are 15-or-16-year-olds who do not know this format, so that they know the history and adapt it to the present time. That’s the nicest thing we have done. For the second EP, I left a lot out, but I am grateful to the talents of Chile, and artists like Jory Boy, Dalmata and Darell, because without them I wouldn’t have had that flow.
What about the W Sound? It’s easy to predict a great future for that, even though it’s just starting out, both because of your impact and that of Westcol. Who would you dream of inviting to the series?
It’s a genius project, together with Westcol, and we have the No. 23 song in the world [with the session with Beéle in the Top 50 on Spotify]. In addition, we already have four W Sounds on the street. One wants very big artists to be in the W Sound, but we also dream of new talents, and we bet on growth.
And what is happening with session number three, which has not yet appeared and is highly demanded by fans?
Right now we are working on music, projects like Ovy on the Drums, Micro TDH, Bad Milk [a promising artist of Big Ligas featured in the Estéreo Picnic 2025 lineup], the W Sound … Apart from that, I am also at a stage where I think not only in music, but in separate projects, where we are making investments and getting into other fields of which I will tell you later.
It is possible that what your followers know the least about this side of the business is the 360 marketing area you develop or the work you do with content creators. How has this part of Big Ligas been working?
With Big Ligas we always have that part — with my partner Kristo [Cristian Salazar], who has a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge of how a song works — about how the timing works when a new song comes out, or the fact that it is not always necessary to use influencers, but that other types of strategies may be necessary.
When Beéle had released “Loco,” his first big hit, you immediately called him to do “Inolvidable.” How does that vision thing work, of being able to realize early on that an artist is going to be very big?
I’ve been a fan of Beéle since I met him, and although I didn’t know when, I always knew he was going to be great as an artist. We have a lot of songs — but for me the big song is “Inolvidable.” It’s like epic, a [huge moment] for him, for me, for Big Ligas. And now we have “Mi Refe”, “La Plena,” just blessings.
There has always been talk of the greatness of reggaetón paisa, but at one time there were more producers than artists — and with the arrival of Blessd or Ryan Castro, Medellín has returned to the top. What do you think could be the reason?
Before, there were these great exponents, such as J Balvin, Karol G, Maluma, [Sebastián] Yatra and those I can’t remember… But the way I see it is that many artists have an easier way to show themselves through social media and reach more and more people. That is the case with Ryan Castro and Blessd.
For example, I met Blessd through social media. He was rapping, and in the videos he uploaded he asked to tag me, and after appearing a bunch of times in one of his videos I saw him and said, “That’s cool.” He came to my house, then we did songs like “Medallo,” which was No. 1 on Billboard [Latin Airplay]. And a lot more: “Soltera,” “Mírame.” Now it’s not only Ryan Castro and Blessd, but there is also a Kris R — and behind him there is a Tury, a Young Fatty, artists who are here today breaking out on the street.
You mentioned “Mírame,” which has had a lot of versions, and has been sent to Mexican music producers, Argentine cumbia producers — and many of these songs also feature Ovy on the Drums. How has all this happened?
I feel that when a song starts to be successful and other countries adapt it to their musical roots, it has already reached the next level. It’s good that a song of yours is charting on Billboard and in more spaces, but I feel that success comes thanks to those versions as well. That’s a blessing. It’s a nice thing to have producers work on what you produce. Sometimes I’ve even heard better versions, where I say, “Why didn’t I do it like that?”
You have just become the Latin producer with the most listeners in the world on Spotify. What does that mean in terms of opening doors and facing new challenges?
I feel very happy, because I know it has cost me, I have worked for it. It wasn’t that I arrived and released a song that became No. 1 worldwide the next day. It was a step-by-step process, starting with 305 listeners and [growing] over the years; it has been almost seven years of hard work to get to where I am now. I am also very grateful to my team, to the artists who have participated in this process. In addition, the songs that I have charting on my Spotify are with Beéle, Karol G, Blessd, with my colleagues, with my brothers.
So I’m celebrating — because today it’s Ovy on the Drums, but tomorrow it’s another producer. This is an up-and-down [field], moments like that are short — but when you are there, you can only have happiness, gratitude and desire to move forward.
This story was originally published on Billboard Colombia.