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Benson Boone knows that not everyone is going to have beautiful things to say about him, but he’d at least like his haters to have constructive criticism to offer.
In a recent TikTok, the singer-songwriter vented about people who leave hate comments without backing them up. “If you hate me or my music at least have a good reason for it,” he wrote in text layered over a video of him sitting in a dark room, looking down at the camera.

“I just read a comment that said ‘idek why I hate Benson Boone but it feels right,’” he continued. “Like WHAT!!? how am I supposed to improve after reading that? At least say something valid like ‘he low key just flips everywhere can he [do] anything else?’ or even ‘I just don’t like his songs even though I’m basing my opinion off the only one that I’ve heard over and over’ (super valid)”

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To Boone’s point, he’s objectively best known — if not for his tendency to perform backflips on stage, like at the 2025 Grammys — for his Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Beautiful Things.” At the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards in March, the Washington-born star won song of the year for the smash.

One fan in the comments posited that the song’s popularity might have given Boone a case of overexposure. “i feel like sometimes when a radio overplays a song a LOT like beautiful things for example it can ruin the song and therefore the artist by proxy, without it having to do anything w you directly,” they wrote, to which the musician replied, “Honestly this is so true!!”

The post comes as the young star is preparing to release his next studio album, American Heart, in June. In a March cover story interview with Rolling Stone, Boone opened up about starting this next chapter following the success of “Beautiful Things,” sharing, “I think this year has taught me a lot of things, especially that it is incredibly easy to get carried away with my ego.”

“After ‘Beautiful Things,’ I was like, ‘Dude, I can do anything.’ And I can’t,’” he continued. “It’s good to talk about, ‘Hey, you know, I’m not the king of the world. I’m not somebody that everybody in the world knows. I’m still an up-and-coming artist.’ ”

See Boone’s TikTok below.

Tech N9ne shared on Bunnie XO‘s latest podcast episode that he had an inappropriate relationship with one of his middle school teachers when he was going on 13 years old.
The artist born Aaron Yates stopped by the Dumb Blonde podcast Monday (April 21) to talk about his legendary independent career and also took a moment to discuss his childhood. In particular, he focused on a relationship he had with a teacher — whom he did not name — that he said changed his life forever.

“It all started when I showed her a picture of my father as a cop,” the rapper said around the 35-minute mark. “After class, whenever everybody’s leaving out, I would be in there and she would say, ‘Aaron is soo cute’ … She was beautiful, and I was like, ‘Oh, thank you!’ But she used to do it every day, like, ‘Aaron is sooo cute.’”

He said things started to escalate from there, and he used to skip lunch to go and visit his teacher in her classroom.

“I was in love, until she got married,” Tech N9ne said, adding that they got caught kissing by a student walking by the classroom. He got called up to “courtroom class” as a result, which was code for “Ms. Glen’s room” upstairs, where students would get sent following bad behavior.

“Ms. Glen, she was a Black lady, she didn’t want no f—k s—t,” Tech recalled with a laugh. “She said, ‘Aaron, there’s a student in here … that says they walked by Ms. So-and-So’s room and saw both of you kissing … I said, ‘Huh? Why would I be kissing a grown-up?’ I was smart.”

He continued to deny the kiss, and both the seventh grade teacher and Tech got called to the office, where she also denied the allegations.

“I remember her pleading her case and being real serious,” Tech said, “and nothing happened … ’cause I didn’t tell.”

But the rapper did confirm to Bunnie, who is married to country music star Jelly Roll, that he was also having sex with her outside of school.

“She got married in my eighth grade year, and after that we didn’t talk anymore,” Tech concluded, before moving into a conversation about his love of horror films.

Watch Tech talk about his relationship around the 28-minute mark in the video, and find the full episode on Spotify.

Hailing from both Japan and Chicago, Issei Uno Fifth is more than just another name in hip-hop and R&B—he’s a force of raw talent and authenticity. Bursting onto the scene in 2021, he quickly grabbed attention by winning a TikTok Spotlight music competition. But it was his breakout moment with Outta Time (feat. JP THE WAVY), a collaboration with Rodeo that landed in a commercial, that truly turned heads.

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Despite his growing success, Issei’s journey wasn’t always smooth. He spent his formative years in Chicago before moving back to Japan, where he faced resistance from his own family about pursuing music. But with sheer determination, he transformed his passion into reality. On February 19, he dropped his first full-length album, Dear Mama, a deeply personal project that serves as both a love letter to his mother and a bold declaration of his place in the industry.

Billboard Japan sat down with him to talk about his inspiration, the struggles behind his artistry, and why he’s all about staying true to himself.

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Congrats on your debut album! I heard that it’s an oath to your mom. What inspired you to make something so personal?

I spent my teenage years in Chicago, but when I moved back to Japan at the end of 2023, that’s when I really committed to music. At first, my parents were completely against it. My entire family, extended relatives included, all work in healthcare. It was like an unspoken rule that I’d follow the same path.

So when you told them about your dream, how did they react?

I was 17, sitting at the dinner table, and just blurted out, “I’m quitting school. I’m gonna make a living off music.” (laughs) My parents froze. The room went completely silent—like they couldn’t even process what I had just said.

For three years, they fought me on it. They couldn’t understand why I would throw away stability to chase something so uncertain. But over time, they saw how serious I was—I wasn’t just dreaming, I was putting in the work. And eventually, they came around. Now, they’re fully on board.

So when it came time to create my first album, I wanted it to be a statement—not just to my mom, but to the world. This is my way of saying, “My journey as an artist starts here.”

So nobody in your family expected you to become an artist.

Not at all. The first time I ever even mentioned making music was when I wrote my first song, “Could do better,” at 17. That was the moment I first challenged the unspoken rule in my family—everyone was expected to follow a “normal” path, especially in healthcare.

At that dinner table, when I told them my decision, they were stunned. For the next three years, they refused to accept it. But I was relentless—I kept making music, kept proving that this wasn’t just a phase. Eventually, they saw that I wasn’t giving up, and now they fully support me.

So when I was making this album, I asked myself: “What do I want to say with my first full-length project?” And the answer was clear—I wanted to make an oath to my mother, a declaration that this is the beginning of my career.

I see. So that’s what led to the oath. What was life like for you as a small child?

As a kid, I was always searching for the right answer—like everything had to be perfect. My parents never said it outright, but there was this pressure to live up to a certain standard.

This album is the embodiment of my resolve to be myself. Music gave me the freedom I never had growing up, and that’s why this message is so important to me. Seeing how listeners connect with my music—that reassures me that I made the right choice.

And that’s exactly what this album represents.

Looking at the different songs on the album, you’re not just singing about different kinds of love, but also about your growth, struggles, and resolve as an artist.  Did your values or way of thinking change at all through the creation process? 

Yeah, definitely. Before, I used to think that love only exists when it’s acknowledged by someone else—like, if nobody sees it, then it’s not real. But through the process of making this album, I realized love isn’t something that needs validation. Even if no one’s there to receive it, you can still put love into the world. That shift in perspective was a huge step forward for me, both as a person and as an artist.

One of the songs on the album, “CHA CHA AI feat. LEX, JP THE WAVY (Prod. A.G.O)” is already streaming. When did you come up with the phrase “CHA CHA AI”? 

When I was working on this song, I started noticing that a lot of people were suddenly trying to get close to me—and not all of them had good intentions. It made me think about the difference between real love and fake love. At first, I considered calling the song something like “Fake Love” or “Plastic Love,” but those phrases felt too predictable, too expected. They didn’t really match my creative instincts. While I was listening to the melody over and over, the phrase “cha cha” popped into my head. In Japanese, “cha cha” is a playful term that means teasing or joking. Pairing it with “ai” (love) gave it a unique twist—it kept the song’s message about questioning love, but in a way that felt lighthearted and fun instead of overly serious. It was the perfect balance.

It’s perfectly balanced. I heard you did the art for “CHA CHA AI” yourself?

Yeah! Since the theme was “love,” I wanted to create something personal and hands-on, something that felt truly mine. But at the same time, I didn’t want to go the typical route—I wanted to do something that other artists wouldn’t think of doing. One day, I was at a team member’s house, and out of nowhere, they handed me a box with twelve different colors of clay and said, “Make something.” So I just went for it—no sketches, no overthinking—just pure creativity in the moment. That’s how the artwork came to life, completely spontaneous and unfiltered.

The love really comes through in “CHA CHA AI.” You collaborated on this song with LEX and JP THE WAVY. What led to that collaboration?

JP THE WAVY had gotten involved in on an event by Takashi Murakami by making the theme song. He reached out to LEX and I and we put on a show. It all started when the three of us came together. Then right after that, JP THE WAVY invited us to a writing camp, and the three of us were all together again. That’s when I felt, intuitively, that the three of us should work on my next song. I thought, “If all three of us work on a song together, we’ll create something wonderful.”

You worked with an illustrious group of producers on the album. How did you feel when you found out they would be producing it?

Honestly, I was just grateful to have the opportunity to work with such incredible producers. Before we even started working on Dear Mama, I flew to South Korea to meet with all of them in person. We didn’t just talk about music—we hung out, got to know each other, and made sure we really vibed on a personal level. They’re all amazing people, and from the moment we connected, I knew I wanted to start creating with them right away. When I shared my vision for the album and the kind of songs I wanted to make, they sent back tracks that were beyond perfect—they captured exactly what I had in mind, sometimes even before I put it into words. The whole production process was surprisingly smooth, and it felt like each of us brought something unique to the table. In the end, all these different talents and influences came together to create something even deeper than I had imagined.

Now, I’d like to ask you a little bit about yourself. I gather that you’ve listened to all kinds of music since you were very young, and music has always been close to you. What led you to start making music yourself?

During the pandemic, I got stuck in Japan and couldn’t go back to the U.S. For about three months, I was completely cooped up at home, unable to do much of anything. I had so much time on my hands, and at some point, I just thought, “Okay, I’ll write a song.” That moment led to me writing my first track ever—”Could do better.” Looking back, that was the turning point.

Since “Could do better,” you’ve written a lot of hip-hop tracks. What do you see as hip-hop’s appeal?

For me, hip-hop is all about freedom—there’s no single right answer, no strict formula. You can say anything, be completely raw and honest, and that’s what makes it so powerful. Before I got into hip-hop, I mostly listened to highly polished pop music—everything was clean, structured, and carefully crafted. But when I moved to Chicago and really experienced hip-hop for the first time, it shook me. I remember thinking, “Wait… you can actually say stuff like that in a song?” It left a huge impact on me—seeing how artists could expose their emotions, struggles, and thoughts without holding back. That kind of realness was something I had never experienced before in music, and it made me want to create hip-hop myself.

You’ve experienced both Japan and the U.S. What differences do you find in the Japanese and overseas hip-hop scenes?

In Chicago, hip-hop is more than just music—it’s survival. People are hustling like their lives depend on it, doing whatever it takes to make a living. Sometimes, that even means turning to the streets. There’s this intense, unshakable mindset of “I have to do this. This is my way to survive.” Being around that energy made me respect the grind, but it also made me reflect. I thought, “I’m influenced by this world, but I don’t need to take it to that extreme.”

As for Japan’s hip-hop scene, I’ve only been back for about a year, so I’m still discovering things. But one major difference I’ve noticed is the fine line between imitation and inspiration. Some artists here are still figuring out how to make hip-hop their own, rather than just replicating what’s happening overseas.

For me, it’s about inspiration—taking the essence of hip-hop and making something that’s truly mine. I think it’s crucial to find that balance between respecting the culture and staying true to your own vision.

Be yourself, and don’t be afraid to take action. I used to overthink everything before making a move. I’d get caught up in doubts, second-guessing myself, and that fear would slow me down. But looking back, I realize—I should’ve just trusted myself from the start.

The world is massive, and somewhere out there, there’s a place where you’ll be accepted exactly as you are. You don’t need to fit into someone else’s expectations—just focus on being the real you.

I want to create music that feels like a safe space for people who are struggling to find where they belong. If you’ve ever felt lost, just know—I see you, I hear you, and I’m right here with you.

So let’s move forward together. I got you. Let’s do this together.

–This interview by Azusa Takahashi first appeared on Billboard Japan

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty

Lil Uzi Vert was rushed to a local hospital in New York City on Monday, April 21. The Philadelphia rapper was seen getting loaded into a waiting ambulance.

TMZ reports that paramedics were summoned to a hotel on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in response to a “sick person.”

The 29-year-old, born Symere Bysil Woods, was wheeled on a stretcher through the hotel lobby and placed into a waiting ambulance. Reportedly, they were accompanied by their girlfriend, City Girls rapper JT. Security did their best to shield them from cameras.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty

Lil Uzi Vert was rushed to a local hospital in New York City on Monday, April 21. The Philadelphia rapper was seen getting loaded into a waiting ambulance.

TMZ reports that paramedics were summoned to a hotel on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in response to a “sick person.”

The 29-year-old, born Symere Bysil Woods, was wheeled on a stretcher through the hotel lobby and placed into a waiting ambulance. Reportedly, they were accompanied by their girlfriend, City Girls rapper JT. Security did their best to shield them from cameras.

The inaugural MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN ceremony, the largest music awards in the country, is set to take place in May in Kyoto. Embodying the theme of “Connecting the world, illuminating the future of music,” the new international music awards is hosted by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA), an association jointly established by five major organizations in the Japanese music industry.

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This year’s MAJ will recognize works and artists in more than 60 categories, including the six major awards for Song of the Year, Artist of the Year and more, which have gained significant attention and recognition from Feb. 5, 2024 to Jan. 26, 2025. The entries for each category were announced in March and the nominees for each category last week.

The fourth installment of Billboard Japan’s series exploring the trends and characteristics of MAJ will focus on the Best Vocaloid Culture Song entries that recognizes the Vocaloid song with the most outstanding musical creativity and artistry. Music created using Vocaloid software has developed in a unique way in Japan and we’ll assess how it’s currently being listened to around the world by breaking down various data of the category’s entries. In this article, songs using voice synthesizer software other than Yamaha’s Vocaloid products, such as CeVIO and Synthesizer V, will also be collectively referred to as “Vocaloid.”

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Trends Differ in Japan and Other Countries

Billboard Japan

We first calculated the share of each virtual singer software (voicebank) used for each song entered in the Best Vocaloid Culture Song category, based on the number of global streams excluding Japan. The graph shows Hatsune Miku is featured in more than half the Vocaloid songs being listened to overseas. The share of songs using Miku’s voice in Japan is 34%, so she’s more popular outside the country.

During the tallying period, the top 3 Vocaloid tracks being listened to outside of Japan all featured Hatsune Miku. Furthermore, six of the top 10 songs use her virtual voice. On the other hand, only three tracks featuring Miku made it into the top 10 in Japan, falling short of the five featuring Kasane Teto.

Billboard Japan

The above shows the percentage of the kinds of voicebank being used for each song entered in the category (when multiple kinds were used, such as in a duet, both were counted). The voicebank used the most was Hatsune Miku, accounting for 37% of all songs. Additionally, since the release of Kasane Teto for Synthesizer V AI in April 2023, the number of songs using her virtual voice has increased, making it the second most used after Miku’s. The top 5 were followed by Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, IA, Kaai Yuki, and KAFU all tied at No. 6, and Zundamon and Adachi Rei tied at No. 11.

Vocaloid Music is Being Listened to Globally

Billboard Japan

59% of the streaming shares of the entries in the Best Vocaloid Culture Song category came from outside Japan. 25% of the streams of the entries in the Song of the Year (SOTY) category, which honors outstanding songs from both Japan and abroad, came from overseas, so this indicates Vocaloid is a genre that is particularly popular in other countries among Japanese songs.

Billboard Japan

The graph above shows the streaming shares for all entries in the Best Vocaloid Culture Song category during the tallying period, broken down by country/region excluding Japan. The top four countries—the United States, South Korea, Indonesia, and Taiwan— are the same as the Top Global Hits from Japan category that recognizes domestic songs that have become global hits. Compared to that award, the ratio of Southeast Asian countries is slightly lower, and that of South American countries is slightly higher. Also, while the share of entries ranked No. 11 and below in Top Global Hits from Japan was 32%, the same share for Best Vocaloid Culture Song was 42%, suggesting that Vocaloid music is being listened to in more countries/regions than the predominant Japanese songs being listened to outside of the country.

South America Leads Miku’s Popularity while East Asia Shows Diversity

Billboard Japan

From here, we’ll explore trends by country/region. The chart above shows the shares of voicebanks by country for the entries in the category. Because DECO*27’s “Rabbit Hole” (Hatsune Miku) and Satsuki’s “Mesmerizer” (Hatsune Miku & Kasane Teto) dominate the top 2 spots in many countries/regions, Miku accounts for over half the total streams in almost all countries/regions, and in particular, the shares in Latin American countries such as Mexico, Chile, and Brazil exceed 60%. Songs emphasizing rhythm and feel of the lyrics are more likely to gain popularity in these countries, such as MARETU’s “Binomi” (Hatsune Miku) and Nunununununununu’s “Mimukauwa Nice Try” (Hatsune Miku).

Meanwhile, Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia have relatively lower percentage of Miku tracks. Songs using other voicebanks, such as Kanaria’s “KING” (GUMI), Sasuke Haraguchi’s “Hito Mania” (Kasane Teto), and Iyowa’s “Kyukurarin” (KAFU) are popular in these countries as well. In particular, South Korea has over 20% of songs using voicebanks other than Miku, GUMI, and Teto. Due to its cultural proximity to Japan, other East Asian countries have relatively mature markets for Vocaloid music, which is probably why the preferences for songs using different virtual voices diversified faster than in other regions.

But countries in North and Central/South America aren’t simply following in the footsteps of Asia’s Vocaloid music scene. The popularity of Hatsune Miku’s character and differences in national characteristics, such as “melody-oriented” or “rhythm-oriented” preferences, are contributing to the differences in how Vocaloid music is being received.

Vocaloid music is steadily spreading across countries and languages. Because the genre isn’t bound by a specific musical style, MAJ’s Best Vocaloid Culture Song category serves as a significant metric. The nominees for this award this year are Sasuke Haraguchi’s “Igaku,” Yoshida Yasei’s “Override,” Kurousa P’s “Senbonzakura,” Hiiragi Magnetite’s “Tetoris,” and Satsuki’s “Mesmerizer.” The winner will be announced at the award ceremony in May, and we look forward to seeing how the award develops in the coming years.

This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A breakdown of the many lawyers working on the Sean “Diddy” Combs litigation; a motion by Lil Durk to dismiss his federal murder-for-hire charges; an updated version of Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group focused on the Super Bowl; and much more.

THE BIG STORY: The Diddy Debacle’s Many, Many Lawyers

To lead off Billboard’s annual Top Music Lawyers list, I dove deep into the many attorneys involved in the litigation against Sean “Diddy” Combs over his alleged sexual abuse.

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Spread across a complex criminal case and dozens of civil lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions, the Combs litigation unsurprisingly involves a slew of high-powered lawyers, ranging from veteran defense attorneys to experienced sex-crimes prosecutors to a prolific plaintiff’s lawyer who says he represents more than 100 victims. And that’s not even mentioning the BigLaw attorneys hired to defend top industry players who have been dragged — they say wrongly — into the messy litigation.

For the whole story, which covers more than 20 lawyers in all, go read my full article here. And make sure not to miss the actual Top Lawyers list after that, detailing the top music industry attorneys who are making deals, guiding clients and watching out for AI.

Other top stories this week…

IF THE SONG DOESN’T FIT – Lil Durk asked a federal judge to dismiss murder-for-hire charges, claiming prosecutors are citing song lyrics as evidence even though he wrote them more than six months before the alleged crime. Prosecutors had claimed last year that the Chicago drill star rapped about ordering his “OTF” crew to murder rival Quando Rondo, but his lawyers said that claim was “demonstrably false” and that the feds used such evidence to mislead a grand jury: “Unless the government is prosecuting Banks on a theory of extra-sensory prescience, the lyrics could not have soundly informed the grand jury’s finding of probable cause,” Durks lawyers wrote.

DRAKE v. UMG UPDATE – Drake filed an amended complaint in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” focusing heavily on the Super Bowl halftime show that took place after the original case was filed. Drake’s lawyers say the decision to censor the word “pedophile” during the broadcast had actually helped his case: “Kendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word ‘pedophile’… was omitted from the lyrics — that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile’,” the star’s lawyers wrote.

LEGAL R.I.P. – Music attorney Joel Katz, for decades one of the industry’s most powerful figures, died last week at the age of 80. A longtime practice group chair at the firm Greenberg Traurig, Katz represented a who’s who of top music executives over his career, as well as major artists (Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw) and industry groups (Recording Academy and Country Music Association). After Recording Academy head Deb Dugan accused Katz of sexual harassment in 2020 — an allegation he denied — he joined Barnes & Thornburg in 2021, where he spent the rest of his career. Go read Melinda Newman’s full obituary here, featuring reactions from around the industry.

DIDDY TRIAL DELAY DENIED – Judge Arun Subramanian denied a request by Diddy to delay his sex trafficking and racketeering trial by two months, ruling that the move was made too close to trial. The star’s lawyers had argued they didn’t have enough time to prepare for trial after prosecutors added new charges earlier this month. But the judge ruled that the new indictment largely overlapped with earlier charging papers, telling Diddy’s lawyers he found it “unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.”

SMOKING GUN OR ‘UNRELIABLE’? – Elsewhere in Diddy-world, his lawyers asked the judge to exclude the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura from the trial, arguing it would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.” They claim the clip was edited by CNN and then the original was destroyed, leaving only an “inaccurate, unreliable video” to play for jurors: “The manipulation of the videos was specifically designed to inflame the passions of CNN’s viewing audience, and that is what the government is hoping to leverage in this case.”

DISASTER DEPOSITION – Megan Thee Stallion asked a federal judge to hold Tory Lanez in contempt of court over “disruptive” and “inflammatory” behavior during a recent deposition in a civil lawsuit. Lanez — currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan — made a “mockery of the proceedings” by harassing a female lawyer and demanding definitions of basic terms. The motion came in a defamation case Megan filed against gossip blogger Milagro Gramz, who she claims has waged a “coordinated campaign” with Lanez to “defame and delegitimize” the superstar rapper in the wake of the shooting and trial.

DANCE DANCE LITIGATION – A TikTok user named Kelley Heyer, who says she created last summer’s viral “Apple dance” to a Charli XCX song, is suing Roblox over allegations that the company violated copyright law by selling her dance moves as an “emote.” Heyer claims that other games paid her for a license, but that Roblox used her moves without a deal. The lawsuit is the latest in a long line of cases filed over viral dance moves that are used in video games.

Billboard’s Producer Spotlight series highlights creatives currently charting on Billboard’s producer rankings. Whether they are new to the industry or have been churning out hit after hit, the intention is to showcase where they are now, and their work that’s having a chart impact.

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Michael Uzowuru and J. White Did It are seasoned hitmakers on Billboard’s producer charts. The pair share the top spot on Billboard’s latest R&B Producers ranking (dated April 26, 2025) thanks to their work on SZA and Kendrick Lamar’s “30 for 30.” Uzowuru spends a 10th total week at No. 1, while J. White Did It (real name: Anthony Jermaine White) spends a 13th week on top.

“30 for 30” ranks at No. 2 on the Hot R&B Songs chart, after spending six weeks at No. 1, via 29 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 2% week-over-week) and 9.3 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. The song also ranks at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, after hitting No. 10 to become Uzowuru’s first top 10 as a producer and J. White Did It’s fourth. It was released in January on the Lana deluxe reissue of SZA’s 2022 album SOS.

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Uzowuru began producing in the early 2010s with west coast rappers Vince Staples, Earl Sweatshirt and Domo Genesis. Since then, he’s worked with Frank Ocean (Blonde), Childish Gambino (Bando Stone & The New World), Rosalía (Motomami), Kevin Abstract (American Boyfriend), Beyoncé (The Lion King: The Gift) and Halsey (The Great Impersonator), among others.

Michael Uzowuru’s Production History on the Hot 100SZA with Kendrick Lamar, “30 for 30,” No. 10, 2025 (J. White Did It)SZA, “Scorsese Baby Daddy,” No. 41, 2025 (Tyler Johnson, Tyler Page, Owen Stout)SZA, “Notice Me,” No. 44, 2022 (Teo Halm, Carter Lang, thankgod4cody)SZA feat. Travis Scott, “Open Arms,” No. 54, 2022 (Teo Halm, Rob Bisel)SZA, “Diamond Boy (DTM),” No. 60, 2025 (Carter Lang, Declan Miers, The Antydote, Solomonophonic)SZA,” Another Life,” No. 63, 2025 (Rob Bisel, Sir Dylan)Childish Gambino, “Lithonia,” No. 69, 2024 (Childish Gambino, Ludwig Göransson, Max Martin)SZA, “Crybaby,” No. 70, 2025 (Carter Lang, thankgod4cody, Declan Miers)Halsey, “Lucky,” No. 88, 2024 (RAHM, Sir Dylan)Frank Ocean, “Nights,” No. 98, 2016 (Frank Ocean, Vegyn, Buddy Ross)

As for J. White, the producer/songwriter first broke through in 2017 thanks to his work with Cardi B. He produced three tracks from her debut album, Invasion of Privacy, including its Hot 100 No. 1s “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” and “I Like It.” He subsequently produced a third No. 1, via Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, in 2020, and later, tracks with 21 Savage, Doechii, Flo Milli and Latto.

J. White Did It’s Production History on the Hot 100Cardi B, “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” No. 1, three weeks, 2017 (Laquan Green)Megan Thee Stallion feat. Beyoncé, “Savage,” No. 1, one week, 2020Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin, “I Like It,” No. 1, one week, 2018 (Craig Kallman, Tainy, Invincible)SZA with Kendrick Lamar, “30 for 30,” No. 10, 2025 (Michael Uzowuru)Cardi B, “Money,” No. 13, 2018Doechii ft. Kodak Black, “What It Is (Block Boy),” No. 29, 2023Polo G, “Bad Man (Smooth Criminal),” No. 49, 2021Cardi B, “Money Bag,” No. 58, 2018 (Laquan Green)Iggy Azalea, “Sally Walker,” No. 62, 2019

Billboard launched the Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts, as well as genre-specific rankings for country, rock & alternative, R&B/hip-hop, R&B, rap, Latin, Christian, gospel and dance/electronic, in June 2019, while alternative and hard rock joined in 2020, along with seasonal holiday rankings in 2022. The charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Billboard Hot 100. The genre-based songwriter and producer charts follow the same methodology based on corresponding “Hot”-named genre charts. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).

The full Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts and full genre rankings can be found on Billboard’s charts page.

It’s the Wilson Phillips song the world didn’t know it needed.
Tight, three-part harmonies, infectious hooks and a light, positive air that makes it easier to hold on for one more day — that’s Runaway June’s “New Kind of Emotion,” a slow-boiling track soaked in fresh nostalgia.

Wilson Phillips was “my favorite when I was little,” Runaway June founder Jennifer Wayne says, “because my mom used to listen to them.”

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Wayne is the only original member left in Runaway June. Current lead vocalist Stevie Woodward and fiddler-vocalist Natalie Stovall found their roles in the trio’s live show through several tours, but it wasn’t until they developed “New Kind of Emotion” with songwriter Paul Sikes (“Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” “Make Me Want To”) on July 19, 2023, that they felt like they’d found their collective voice in the writing room.

A Woodward family gathering started the creative chain. Some of the guests started making music, and one of her cousin’s friends slid into a chord progression with a descending element. Woodward freestyled a melody, and she liked it so much that she recorded it on her phone for later use.

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“The song and the melody felt like it was a very summery, nostalgic song,” Woodward remembers. “My thought was, ‘Well, what if it was a song about driving down the Pacific Coast Highway?’ I saw a convertible with the roof off, and I thought of the song ‘Wild Horses’ by The Rolling Stones, one of my favorite bands.”

But no co-writers responded to that descending progression until she pitched it to her bandmates. “It wasn’t meant for those people,” she says. “It was meant to be a Runaway June song.”

But it continued to evolve. The PCH and the “Wild Horses” reference disappeared as they evaluated its foundation. “One of us was like, ‘Well, gosh, it kind of just feels like a love song,’ ” Wayne recalls. “And one person said, ‘Yeah, like a new kind of emotion.’ And then I think I said, ‘You set it in motion,’ and then we just rolled with it.”

They wrote the chorus first, catching a sunshiny vibe with a subtle spike of melancholy. That came from the chord structure, which features two major-seventh chords back-to-back. They use four notes each, rather than the standard three, to create their sound, and one is only a half-step from the root. It introduces a tinge of dissonance, adding biting complexity.

“Those major-seventh chords give you that kind of throwback feel, but also in an uptempo way that makes you just kind of want to roll the windows down at the same time,” Sikes says.

Runaway June explored harmonies as the members shaped the melody, pointedly emphasizing the trio’s signature. “The three-part is the lead voice,” Stovall says. “That’s what this band is. It’s three-part harmony, and obviously Stevie sings the lead lines. But we want to make sure that the harmonies are really supporting everything.”

The major-sevenths, by stuffing four notes into the chords, offered greater harmonic options, and Sikes was determined to take advantage of them, encouraging Wayne to incorporate the dissonant notes into her high harmonies. Initially, she found herself edging those notes up a half-step to the more conventional root, but as Sikes coached her through it, Wayne increasingly caught the beauty in the part.

“It rubs a little bit,” she says. “My brain couldn’t wrap around singing it, but once you learn it and you sing it together, you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s actually really cool.’ ”

Once they’d crafted two verses at a lower, sultry pitch, they developed another, unexpected hook. “This is what a love song feels like” popped up, and they instinctively repeated the phrase hypnotically after the second chorus.

“When you think about relationships, a lot of times they come out of nowhere,” Woodward says. “So that part, while it does come out of nowhere, it’s fitting for the message.”

“It’s not your typical bridge,” Sikes adds, “because we’re not bringing up any new information. We’re not reinventing the wheel. You might consider it a refrain, more than anything, where it’s kind of a ‘row, row, row your boat’ round-robin [of] that hook.”

They created another moment with a four-note passage in the intro that became a key instrumental riff. It operated similarly to the major-seventh chords, holding at a final note that didn’t quite resolve. It introduced more rewarding tension, similar to the fresh uncertainty of a new relationship.

“I’m always trying to find some sort of fiddle riff that is another hook in addition to the lyrical hooks,” Stovall says.

Sikes built the bulk of a demo that day, converting that riff to a programmed steel guitar in some parts of the performance. He also programmed drums, which were eventually replaced, though the members of Runaway June discovered to their surprise that they preferred the mesmeric artificial percussion, which mirrored the narcotic pleasure of new love.

They developed a game plan for the song during preproduction with their producer, Sugarland’s Kristian Bush, before recording it at Nashville’s Sound Stage in March 2024. The studio band easily grasped the goals.

“The song is a little bit about that weird floatiness you get when you meet somebody for the first time and you connect with them and you’re like, ‘Wow, why do I feel lighter?’ ” Bush explains. “Until you have that feeling, you don’t really connect to a lot of those kinds of songs.”

Woodward played one of the acoustic guitars on the track, drummer Travis McNabb captured the controlled nature of the programmed percussion and Stovall turned in her fiddle riff — though it was blended with Benji Shanks’ electric guitar and a shape-shifted Brandon Bush keyboard part.

“We use an ambient pedal a lot called the Microcosm,” Kristian Bush says. “It inserts weird, uncontrollable versions of your note, so the keyboard might be a Wurlitzer or a [Fender] Rhodes or something really normal. Once you run this thing, you kind of spin knobs until it does something wacky and pray that it goes to the good side.”

A day later, he booked Runaway June into the Starstruck Studios and had the members record their vocals simultaneously for the first time. Watching through the glass in their separate vocal booths, they could breathe as one and follow each other as they would in concert. It’s part of the reason their harmonies sound as tight as a Wilson Phillips performance.

“That’s exactly what I was going for,” Kristian says.

The track went to digital service providers in October, and programmers responded enthusiastically as Runaway June toured. That played a part when the trio asked Quartz Hill to release “New Kind of Emotion” to radio instead of a previously planned ballad. It shipped to country stations through PlayMPE on March 24.

It also tested well informally with people outside the music business; it’s the first time that all of Runaway June’s family members were in harmony on a particular song.

“It’s a good sign,” Stovall says, “when your parents tell you that they were dancing to it in the living room.”

Pope Francis passed away on Monday, April 21, and musicians such as J Balvin and Andrea Bocelli have taken to social media to pay tribute to the pope. What was your favorite memory of Pope Francis? Let us know in the comments below. Narrator:That’s J Balvin taking a selfie with the late, great Pope Francis […]