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Everybody wants a Dyson Supersonic these days, thanks to the hair dryer’s sleek looks, high performance features and the ability to dry your hair with quicker efficiency and less heat damage. Everyone from Lady Gaga to Selena Gomez, meantime, have either personally used the Dyson hair dryer or been styled with it for a big event.
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But at $429, the Dyson dryer doesn’t come cheap and it almost never goes on sale. That’s why we’re big fans of this NEXPURE hair dryer that we found at Walmart, which delivers a decent Dyson dupe for under $30.
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LIMITED-TIME DEAL
NEXPURE 1800W Professional Ionic Blow Dryer
$29.99
$119.99
75% off
That’s right, Walmart has the bestselling NEXPURE Professional Ionic Blow Dryer on sale for just $29.99 right now — a whopping 75% off its regular price. The offer is part of Walmart’s Beauty Event, which sees big discounts on makeup, skincare and haircare across Walmart.com.
The NEXPURE hair dryer deal is one of the best things to buy during Walmart’s Beauty Event. The lightweight device offers a similar colorway as Dyson’s iron and fuschia Supersonic model, with the same T-shaped look and feel. What we like: unlike the more rigid Supersonic hair dryer, this Walmart pick folds down for easy travel and storage. A built-in ring lets you easily hang the NEXPURE from a hook or knob.
NEXPURE says its blow dryer uses far-infrared heat to help dry your hair quickly, while ion and bio-ceremic technology prevents frizz and helps keep your strands soft and smooth. As with the Dyson, this alternative has intelligent temperature control technology to prevent overheating. The blow dryer features three heat settings (hot, warm and cool) and two fan speeds. A “cool shot” button in the middle (just like on the Dyson version) helps to lock your hairstyle in place.
This Walmart deal gets you the lightweight hair dryer, a smoothing nozzle and a diffuser attachment all for just $29. Everything comes in a box for easy gifting or storage.
This is one of the best Dyson dupes online and one of the most affordable Dyson alternatives too. But don’t just take our word for it: the NEXPURE Ionic Blow Dryer boasts a 4.1-star review (out of five) from more than 3,000 verified shoppers online. See full details here.
THE ORIGINAL
Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer, Iron/Fuchsia
And if you’d still rather spring for the real thing, Amazon has the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer in the iron and fuchsia colorway available in stock for $429.99 here.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Morgan Wallen once again finds some help in Post Malone, Addison Rae comes back strong and Lana Del Rey’s country tour continues. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Morgan Wallen feat. Post Malone, “I Ain’t Coming Back”
The follow-up to “I Had Some Help,” last year’s summer-dominating team-up between Morgan Wallen and Post Malone, was always going to generate a ton of attention from casual country fans and Nashville diehards, and “I Ain’t Coming Back” functions like a strong big-budget sequel, with Wallen playing anti-hero and Post shrugging, “Go throw your pebbles / I’ll be somewhere gettin’ stoned.”
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Addison Rae, “Headphones On”
A song like “Headphones On” goes a long way towards dismissing the notion that Addison Rae’s pop artistry is superficial in the slightest; the former social media star’s latest single not only synthesizes ‘90s rhythmic pop with passion and scholarship, but she tucks revealing admissions — “Wish my mom and dad could have been in love,” “I compare my life to the new it girl” — in between sumptuous refrains.
Lana Del Rey, “Bluebird”
Regardless of how closely Lana Del Rey’s upcoming country-leaning album follows Nashville touchstones, songs like “Bluebird,” a breathtaking anthem about escape under uncertain circumstances, nods to the power of Del Rey’s songwriting — particularly when her sprawling hooks get squeezed into more traditional structures, as she repeats “Find a way to fly” to the titular subject and herself.
Davido, 5ive
A press release for Davido’s latest full-length describes 5ive as a “culturally fluid album,” and indeed, the Afrobeats titan has never sounded so expansive: pop, R&B, rock, reggaeton and dancehall are all represented on these 17 tracks, although Davido’s effervescent personality serves as the project’s center.
Tommy Richman feat. Sexyy Red, “Actin Up With Sexyy Red”
Tommy Richman and Sexyy Red have each enjoyed their share of viral moments that impact the pop charts, and with this new version of Richman’s single “Actin Up,” they inject the existing mixture of sensual crooning and steel drums with some of Sexyy’s boisterous energy, turning Richman’s brooding posture into more of a party atmosphere.
Wiz Khalifa, Kush + Orange Juice 2
Fifteen years ago, Wiz Khalifa’s Kush + Orange Juice represented a breakthrough mixtape for a quick-witted MC just months away from topping the Hot 100; now, Kush + Orange Juice 2 serves as a particularly inspired check-in from a beloved veteran, with Gunna, Juicy J and Ty Dolla $ign among the guests stopping by to pay homage.
Xavi & Netón Vega, “Hija de Papi”
Following the Xavi-assisted collaboration “Cuando Me Ocupes,” which was featured on Netón Vega’s debut album Mi Vida Mi Muerte earlier this year, “Hija de Papi” continues to build out the chemistry between two of the fastest-rising stars in modern Mexican music, with harmonies leading into quick spoken-word exchanges over extended instrumental breaks.
Editor’s Pick: Isabel Larosa, Raven
Annapolis singer-songwriter Isabel Larosa has been a buzzed-about name in online pop discourse for months now, and debut album Raven makes good on the promise of her early singles: with a breathy vocal delivery as a signature and a knack for choosing propulsive, alternative-leaning production, Larosa stands out in a crowded field, and should be moving upward from here.
During the 2019 Billboard Women in Music gathering, Spanish superstar Rosalía gave an honest speech. She recounted her experience of going to the studio to find that the sound engineer and the producer were both men; when she studied music in college, the musicians were all men. The reality for women in the music industry has changed somewhat in recent years, but it’s still not enough.
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“I will never stop ’til I find and see the same number of women as men in the studio,” said the winner of 11 Latin Grammys and two Grammy awards, to the awe of her listeners.
What Rosalía said years ago confirms the recent report of USC Annenberg, published last January, about Inclusion in the Recording Studio, which reveals the inequity in women’s representation in music. She Runs The Boards, by the platform Platoon, is one global initiative seeking to transform that situation through immersive musical laboratories. The program came to Mexico for the first time this year in collaboration with the American Society of Composers, Artists and Editors (ASCAP).
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She Runs the Boards Mexico took place from March 20 to 22, after a successful first experience in Miami in late 2024. The global musical program, created by women for women, aims to challenge the lack of racial and gender diversity in the global music industry.
“One of the reasons we wanted to do She Runs The Boards was because we saw a very low percentage of women, engineers, producers and composers, in the music industry in general, so starting an initiative like this was a way to try to increase that percentage,” said Grace Hsiu, Senior Strategy Editor for Artists in Platoon and co-founder of the program.
“It’s very unusual for any type of studio session to be totally female, so being able to do this and bringing it to Mexico City is a big win for us,” Hsiu adds.
She Runs The Boards Mexico included the participation of performers Lena Burke, Lucky and Valentina Perdido, in addition to the composers Mónica Vélez, Agua Tinta, Amanda Coronel, Covi Quintana, Luisa Almaguer, Marcela de la Garza and Shu Cantoral; the producers GRTSCH and RLPK; and audio engineers Karen Valdivieso, Lizzy Landau and Mariana Aguilar.
Over three days, this group of creatives and technicians, mostly Mexican, joined forces at Casa de Copas, a recording studio in the old Sony Studios complex in Mexico City, the headquarters for this song camp.
Divided in three groups that changed every day, these women, of different ages, nationalities, roles, careers and musical genres, brought together their ideas, talent and passion to create a diverse array of songs, from ballad pop to merengue, dark-alternative pop and Mexican regional music.
“Music isn’t just sound, it’s the collective heartbeat of the people who make it,” says Luis Castro, Creative Director of US Latin & International Affairs for ASCAP. “True artistic expression flourishes when minds connect, spirits align and voices join together in a team.”
The laboratory brought together Mónica Vélez, a recognized figure in the Hispanic music industry; experienced pianist Lena Burke; Luchy DR, a singer with great vocal versatility; Luisa Almaguer, representative of the trans community and a rising alternative musician in Mexico; talented young people like GRTSCH and RPLK, all to create songs, composed by Amanda Coronel and Marcela de la Garza, recognized in the Mexican regional music scene, and mixed by young engineers Michelle Anzo and Karen Valdivieso.
During the selection process, Luis Castro from ASCAP says, they sought out participants who had “something in common” creatively speaking. Then they aimed to pair experienced participants with authors that were beginning their careers.
“What’s the best way to start if not with women?” says Guillermo “Pinky” Mordan, Head of Latin at Platoon. “I had a really nice experience because I saw how the groups formed and the respect that they have for each other as colleagues and women. Seeing them flow was something that made me proud.”
Mónica Vélez, one of the most respected Mexican composers in the Hispanic scene and winner of two Latin Grammys, affirms women’s advancement, in music and elsewhere, is unstoppable.
“When an idea is necessary, many minds begin to repeat it around the world. No one can stop us from moving forward, because there are a lot of us having different ideas and getting them off the ground indifferent spaces and skies,” Vélez says.
The Mexican songwriter Mónica de la Garza says that over the years, she has watched women taking up more and more space in the music industry, above all in audio engineering and production.
“Finding each other as songwriters, supported by other women in the process of creation, production and musical recording, is something that makes me proud and inspires me,” de la Garza says.
The Puerto Rican Valentina Perdido, who participated as a performer and composer, expresses that it was “an honor to work with so many talented women.” “I’m still a small artist in New York, and coming to this big city and getting in the studio with all these women has been one of the most incredible experiences.”
“Pinky” Mordan emphasizes that there are clear examples of how women are leading in the music business today, with figures in the United States like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyonce. In Latin America, the Colombian women Karol G and Shakira stand out, the latter with world records from her Grammy-winning 2024 album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, which marked her triumphant return to music after seven years. “But we also want these generations of women to direct men’s projects, for them to be the ones showing the way,” he adds.
“For us it’s not just about coming to Mexico and doing this song camp once,” says Grace Hsiu. “We really live this every day, and we defend it because it’s important for women to have this opportunity. It’s important for women to realize they can be engineers. They don’t have to just be in front of the consoles, they can also be behind the consoles,” she concludes.
The multi-award and GRAMMY® winning label Platoon was acquired by Apple in 2018. The boutique artist services company identifies groundbreaking talent from around the world, while providing invaluable and innovative tools and services to build their careers and reach new fans. Platoon landed its first success shortly after their inception when they signed the then-unknown Billie Eilish, laying the groundwork for her ascent to global stardom, alongside other household names such as Mr Eazi and Victoria Monét. Current signings include Saint Harison, RZA, Khaid, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and more.
Singer-songwriter Vincent Mason has caught fans’ attention in a major way thanks to his vulnerable, emotive takes on love and heartbreak, such as his somber, acoustic-guitar driven 2024 hit “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” which has earned 98.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams through April 10, according to Luminate. The song, on which Mason is a co-writer, was recently named publisher pick of the year at the recent AIMP Nashville Awards.
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Signed with Interscope/UMG Nashville/Music Soup, Mason recently made his first push to country radio with “Wish You Well,” a rare outside cut for the singer-songwriter. “Wish You Well” was written by Blake Pendergrass, Jessie Jo Dillon, Chris LaCorte and Geoff Warburton.
“I’ve never recorded an outside song before, just because there was always one line that didn’t feel like me. There’s a lot more stuff I’ve written that I think we’ll send to radio, but this just turned out so good and I loved it from first listen,” Mason tells Billboard. “It lands on the hook great and I loved the back half of the melody, when it goes into the [lyrics] ‘My heart hit rock bottom shelf, we didn’t last like a last call bell.’ When that melody went into that b-section, I was hooked on the song.”
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Over the past year, Mason has swiftly amassed milestones, issuing the six-song EP Can’t Just Be Me, opening shows for Riley Green and collaborating with Gavin Adcock on the song “Almost Gone.” In September, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut, and has been playing to packed venues on his sold-out Hell Is a Dance Floor Tour.
Growing up in Roswell, Georgia, Mason gleaned his work ethic from his father, an interior designer who owns his own firm, and his mother, a pediatric dentist. “They were always hardworking, and that’s kind of what they brought us up on,” Mason reflects. “But we weren’t necessarily held to a whole bunch of rules as long as we were working hard and had a passion.”
For Mason, that passion has always centered around two things: sports and music.
“I was always walking around the halls, singing. My teachers tried to sign me up for choir a few times, but I would just play football and basketball instead. My parents weren’t into country music, but I found it on my own. I started hearing it in middle school and high school because some of the kids were into it,” Mason says, citing songs such as Jon Pardi’s “Head Over Boots,” Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids,” and Thomas Rhett’s ‘T-Shirt.” “I thought, ‘Oh, country songs are catchy and happy,’ and then I heard, on the rock side, John Mayer doing this heartbroken, deep singer-songwriter stuff.”
Before relocating to Nashville, he briefly attended the University of Mississippi, an experience that further broadened his palette of musical influences to artists such as Koe Wetzel, Flatland Cavalry and Zach Bryan.
“I felt like there was this middle ground of country sonics and the heartbroken singer-songwriter aspect,” he says. “I found that lane and felt like I could take a stab at it.”
This year, Mason will open shows for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour, and has been in the studio, writing and recording new music.
Mason, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for April, opened up about adapting to life as a touring singer-songwriter, his must-haves on the road, and the songwriting legend he couldn’t wait to write with.
Have you felt any pressure to follow up on that success of “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” and if so, how are you handling that?
If I’m being honest, I feel like the PR answer would be to say “No.” But I do feel the pressure, for sure. I just don’t want to have one song [hit] and that be it. I feel good about the songs we’ve put out after “Hell is a Dance Floor,” but I write a bunch of songs and I want our set to get better. A year into this record deal, I just want to keep making music I’m proud of.
You just released “Wish You Well.” Are there plans for an album this year?
Yes, at some point this year, hopefully. I don’t think we have a hard release day, but we just cut a handful of [songs] last week. I think we’re just going to kind of keep cutting songs and trying to get ’em ready.
Has the singer-songwriter life been different than what you anticipated?
I think it’s wild that it feels normal to me now, because for the last year, everything was so new, and now I feel like I found a little bit of a rhythm. So, I think it’s just kind of “Hang tight and try to make the best songs you can.” I’m enjoying having a grip on what’s happening lately. It doesn’t feel like everything’s just flying a thousand miles an hour. It does feel like it’s kind of slowed down in a way, even though we’re traveling all the time and doing just as much. I feel like I’ve found a way to be comfortable.
Who are the “bucket list” writers you wanted to collaborate with?
I remember Luke Laird was one. He wrote four of the first five country songs I ever loved, like “American Kids,” “Head Over Boots,” and “Drink in My Hand.” Every time I liked a song and looked at the credits, it seemed like Luke Laird was on there and all those Eric Church songs like “Over When It’s Over.” That was a name I asked about specifically. I wanted to write with Jessie Jo Dillon after I found out she was on there–all the writers on “Wish You Well,” I wanted to write with. But I remember Luke was probably the biggest legend where I was like, “I really want to write with Luke.”
To this point, you have been known for some sadder songs, such as “Heart Like This.” Will we see happier songs on a new project?
We do have some happier songs on there, not always just heartbroken, and sad all the time. [Sadder songs] are what sparked my interest and that’s just what I learned how to write. I kind of felt like I had to learn how to write happier songs when I was first writing those heartbreak songs. I remember being like, “Can we go deeper or get really detailed with this?” I felt like it’s a little bit harder to do that with the upbeat, happier songs. I wanted to pile up different sides of life, because you also want to hear the love side of it, or the fun side of it. So, I’m trying to make it a bit more [of a] complete scope of my life I guess. Even on the heartbreak side, there’s some more upbeat heartbreak songs, too.
You will be opening for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour this year. What are you most looking forward to about that tour?
It feels like every artist that I’ve talked to — more than one — just always say that Jordan’s [touring] camp is the best. So we’re excited to get out there and be a part of that. Then on the musical front, I always just try to learn from anyone that’s had success that long. He’s had hit after hit, and has moved with the way things are going, but has never abandoned what he’s doing.
What are some of your must-haves on the road?
We bring an Xbox everywhere we go to pass the time, and I definitely need some kind of energy drink, preferably Celsius. That’s what keeps me rolling. Other than a guitar, but those are the main two things we always try to bring. We just switched to the bus, so I think we’re going to save one of the bays on the bus to set up a little TV for football season, and chairs and cornhole. There’s talk of a little fire pit that we might bring. So we’re going to bring a little tailgate set up. I think.
What is your favorite sports team?
My mom’s whole family went to West Virginia, so I typically root for them; that’s the family school. I always like to see Ole Miss do well, even though I was only there for a minute. And then, the Falcons and the Braves.
Is there an artist whose career arc that you admire?
I think Eric Church is kind of my answer for that. I do think he’s one of the best songwriters ever, especially best country songwriters ever. I want to do it my own way, but I think he did such a good job of making songs that he loved. And then the hit songs are so unique that they don’t sound like anybody else’s hit song. And artists like John Mayer, they put out this whole discography of stuff they love and people still show up, so that’s what I want to build.
What song or album are you currently obsessed with?
Kansas Anymore by Role Model. I think the songwriting is so dialed in and the sonics are really cool. There’s a lot of stuff that feels really Tom Petty, which is cool. I’ve been wearing that album out a ton.
Is there a TV show or podcast you are into?
I always listen to Theo Von’s podcast [This Past Weekend]. Anytime he has someone on, I usually tune in.
Doechii‘s “Anxiety” music video is like a dream come true — but not a good one. The video, which arrived Friday (April 18), starts out totally normal, with Doechii working on music on her bed — a visual callback to the setting of her old Coven Music Sessions, from which “Anxiety” originated in 2019. But […]
Luke Bryan has heard the jokes before. So when Jennifer Hudson asked him about their mutual friend and fellow country singer Blake Shelton on her syndicated talk show on Friday (April 18), American Idol judge Bryan had to first issue her a stern warning.
“I could recommend you not be his buddy,” Bryan said after Hudson gushed about her pal and former judge on The Voice. “I could steer you in other directions,” Bryan added, before giving up the bit and saying he was just kidding.
“Is it true that sometimes people get y’all mixed up,” she asked. “It is very true really,” Bryan began saying as Hudson threw up two handsome side-by-side images of the men on the screen behind her, noting that the confusion might be coming about because both country stars are “so lovable.”
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“Well, I like that, but I’m a little mad at how Blake’s eyes look so purty right there… I gotta get me some blue eye… things,” Bryan laughed before telling a story about a time he and his 14-year-old son Tate stopped to get some snacks for the boat before going on a fishing trip. “So Tate’s over there buying his Sweet Tarts and all that stuff and the guy behind the counter is like, ‘You’re Blake Shelton.’ And I said, ‘really?’ And he said, ‘I know it, you’re Blake, you’re Blake.’ And he goes, ‘Are you Blake?’”
Bryan said he assured the man he wasn’t the “Purple Irises” singer, then asked what made him think he was. “He goes, ‘well, you’re just Blake Shelton’s doppelganger.’ And he kept going on and there were several people in the line and my son’s sitting there watching this go down,” Bryan said. “And he goes, “‘Well, there’s no way you’re Blake, because Blake wouldn’t be here shopping at this gas station.’”
So, Bryan gathered up his purchases and got ready to leave as the man looked at him and added, “‘Could you imagine having Blake Shelton’s money?’ You know, I didn’t want to go into it that I have more money than Blake…” Bryan also said that people in the little town where he lives and goes fishing know he’s around there a lot and that they probably let the cashier know afterwards that he’d misidentified the singer.
“But my son just had a blast with it,” Bryan said. “Because your children are always watching how you handle the good part of fame, and some of the other stuff of fame. So a couple days later we were at a restaurant and this guy walks up and he looks at Tate and he goes, ‘Well how old are you little buddy?’ And Tate’s like, ’12.’ And the guy walks off and I’m like, ‘Tate, why did you tell the guy you’re 12? You’re 14.’ And he goes, ‘that guy don’t need to know everything about me.’”
Watch Bryan on the Jennifer Hudson Show below.
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Christian rapper nobigdyl. has teamed up with Project Pat for his latest track, “Never Going Back,” which premiered exclusively on Hip-Hop Wired.
The collaboration marks a significant moment in nobigdyl.’s evolving musical journey, showcasing his versatility and willingness to bridge different musical worlds. nobigdyl., real name Dylan Phillips, has been steadily building a name in the Christian Hip-Hop scene. Originally from Cali, but raised in Tennessee, he started making noise as part of the indie tribe. collective, rolling with artists like WHATUPRG and Mogli the Iceburg.
His style is far from your typical Christian rap, it’s got trap energy, smooth jazz samples, and real-life bars that hit home whether you’re in the church or the streets. The Christian Rapper really started leveling up after dropping his debut project Canopy in 2017, followed by SOLAR in 2018, which landed him on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers. Oh, and if you need a co-sign, one of his tracks even landed on Barack Obama’s summer playlist, no big deal.
With “Never Going Back,” nobigdyl. it isn’t just making music, he’s making statements. Teaming up with a legend like Project Pat shows he’s playing in a whole new league now.
Check out nobigdyl’s Hip-Hop Wired exclusive performance to “Never Going Back” below:
Most of the time, Jelly Roll has a happy wife, happy life. But when he does this one thing, Bunnie XO definitely isn’t having it.
While guesting on The Jennifer Hudson Show Friday (April 18) alongside American Idol judge Luke Bryan, the “Son of a Sinner” singer revealed that a certain bad habit of his drives his spouse crazy. “I feel bad for her,” Jelly began.
“I have this problem I do where I leave a trail of clothes from the front door to the shower,” he continued, laughing, as people in Hudson’s audience groaned. “Everybody’s like, ‘We hate you.’ I just heard women shake their fists at me. I know — I’ve been trying to break this habit, y’all! It annoys her to no end.”
The revelation is far from the first time Jelly and Bunnie have been open about the ins and outs of their relationship. The musician and podcaster are currently trying to expand their family through IVF treatments — a challenging process on which Bunnie in particular has been keeping fans updated — and in March, the Dumb Blonde podcast shared something about her husband that’s been driving her wild in a good way: his chest hair.
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For the “Drunk on You” crooner’s part, he says wife Caroline Boyer can’t stand when he snores — much less when he leaves dirty spoons lying directly on tables in their home. Bryan — who’s a judge alongside Carrie Underwood and Lionel Richie on this season of Idol, meanwhile Jelly is the show’s first-ever judge in residence — also joined the “Need a Favor” musician in confessing to Hudson their most embarrassing onstage moments.
“I pooped myself one time,” Jelly said frankly. “I did, I’m sorry. I was coughing, and it was all there … I’m so sorry, I just watched this crowd go from loving me to just completely out. I overshared again.”
For the record, Jelly isn’t the only star who’s done so. Joe Jonas has also shared that he once put a little more trust than he should have in what he thought was just gas passing through during a concert — and on Hudson’s talk show, Bryan joked, “My problem is I didn’t really get embarrassed by it when I did it,” sending Jelly into fits of laughter.
Watch Jelly and Bryan open up to Jennifer Hudson below:
This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2005 Week continues here with a look at the unusual (and decades-spanning) path “Everytime We Touch” took to becoming a college basketball marching band jock jam.
What’s the connection between ‘80s Scottish folk singer-songwriter Maggie Reilly and Duke University athletics? Cascada’s 2005 Eurodance smash hit, “Everytime We Touch.”
20 years ago, German dance music group Cascada – then comprised of frontwoman Natalie Horler and producer-composers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou – found international success with “Everytime We Touch,” an advance single from their 2006 debut album of the same name.
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Before “Everytime,” Cascada scored European hits with “Bad Boy” and “Miracle,” the latter of which earned them a deal with American dance label Robbins Entertainment. After the U.S. release of “Miracle” failed to move the needle, the trio launched “Everytime We Touch” in August 2005. With American airwaves still dominated by sleek R&B/hip-hop fusions, pop-rock crowd-pleasers and Caribbean-flavored riddims, Robbins understood that breaking a Eurodance act in the U.S. would take some time. In fact, just two months before they released “Everytime,” Robbins earned a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit with Belgian dance group DHT’s cover of Roxette’s “Listen to Your Heart,” which they dropped back in 2003.
As “Everytime” slowly gained traction across dance music clubs and radio stations, the song debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 86 for the week dated Dec. 17, 2005. Curiously, America was the first country to embrace “Everytime” despite its Eurodance foundation being at complete odds with top 40’s dominant sounds at the time. To this day, Horler is still shocked at that initial reception.
“I know that ‘Everytime We Touch’ was quite out there for that time, especially in the States. Dance music just was not played on the radio much back then and generally wasn’t accepted as commercial music,” she tells Billboard. “Travelling to New York for the first time and getting into a cab — I think it was Z100 or KTU – and [hearing the song play] was quite an insane experience.”
By March 2006, the song reached its Hot 100 peak of No. 10, still Cascada’s best showing on Billboard’s marquee singles chart. According to Luminate, in the 20 years since its release, the song has sold over 2.9 million digital downloads and logged over 603 million official on-demand U.S. streams. Many of those streams likely came from Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium during the NCAA men’s basketball season, where “Everytime We Touch” has emerged as a go-to anthem to galvanize the Cameron Crazies.
As “Touch” was making its way up the American charts, Duke marching band director Jeff Au was settling into his new job after previous band directing stints at Elizabeth City State University and Towson University. He got to Duke in June 2005, and for the last 20 years, his philosophy has remained “get suggestions from students, see what works for a band, write [an arrangement] and go from there.”
As with any good college tradition, the origins behind Duke’s adoption of the hi-NRG dance staple are a bit hazy — but the story goes that a group of students (or maybe just Greg Caiola, then a sophomore and the band’s secretary) suggested adding “Everytime” to the band’s repertoire during an officer meeting. Au tells Billboard that the first time he heard the song was when the students played it in that very meeting.
“I thought it could work; it wasn’t going to be something we did a big halftime production to, because it’s not that intricate,” he says of his initial reaction to the song. “But a catchy song, combined with the students’ love for it, is a sure way to sell me on something.”
Making good on his promise to incorporate students’ suggestions and nourishing the top 40 proclivities he teased with the prior year’s interpretation of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Au quickly wrote an “Everytime” arrangement. Though “pretty spot on with the original,” Au’s version adds harmonies to the primary melody line and an ultimately unused woodwind section. He says it only took “three or four games” for the song to cement itself as a staple, and legend has it, that’s about how long it took for the accompanying student-crafted pseudo-choreography – dramatic slow claps during the verses and manic fist pumps during the chorus — to spread across the Cameron Crazies.
Several theories attempt to explain why “Everytime” stuck at Duke. Musically, the slow build of the song’s verses paired with its explosive choruses makes for the perfect soundtrack to the adrenaline-infused excitement that engulfs Cameron Indoor Stadium just before tip-off. What’s helped the song’s longevity at the school is that it isn’t tied to a specific moment, but rather a constant sensation that sometimes morphs from pre-game buzz to post-game victory. That feeling is borderline euphoric – the very phenomenon that inspired Maggie Reilly’s “Everytime We Touch,” the foremother of Cascada’s generational dance hit.
In 1992, Reilly ruled the European charts with her original “Touch,” the second single from Echoes, her debut solo album following several successful Mike Oldfield collaborations, including 1983’s “Moonlight Shadow.” Cascada’s version isn’t a straight cover, but it does lift Reilly’s entire chorus, which was inspired by the literal static shock she felt after hugging her boyfriend in an elevator at New York’s Mayflower Hotel — their first meeting in a long while.
“When somebody comes up with something new to add to [your song], it’s always quite exciting to hear,” reflects Reilly. “When I heard [Cascada’s version], it was very refreshing – and the video looked great as well. Within a very short period of time, I was told that it was doing amazingly in America for them, which was obviously exciting. It was like having a baby!”
With her legal team’s permission, Yanou and Manian, who both prefer to keep a low profile and are no longer a part of Cascada, interpolated Reilly’s chorus and wrote entirely new verses and production arrangements. Cascada’s rendition replaces Reilly’s yearning with decidedly more bombast, but the ecstatic feeling of connecting with a lover – whether on an elevator, dancefloor or basketball court – remains at the center.
“I get goosebumps every game, because I run our in-game experience for our men’s basketball program,” says Duke director of sports marketing Meagan Arce, “As the clock is ticking down and we get closer to me hitting the lights in Cameron, we play a [highlight reel] of past seasons, our fans and our students with ‘Everytime We Touch’ [in the background] and it’s one of my favorite moments of the game day experience. The song makes such a huge impact.”
Horler became aware of the song’s popularity at Duke “a few years ago” after getting tagged in videos on Twitter. Her manager explained to her Duke’s stature in the States, but she wouldn’t get a chance to connect with the school until 2020. For that year’s graduation, the university organized a virtual ensemble rendition of the song led by Horler and featuring members of the graduating class. “I had a lot of fun doing this during lockdown because, obviously, we weren’t very busy,” she reflects. “I thought they did such a great job. It was funny but also endearing. To use my song for that was pretty special.”
Now squarely a part of Duke tradition and lore – upperclassmen routinely pass the “Everytime” torch onto incoming freshmen – Cascada’s megahit has also become a foundational building block for any reputable nightclub playlist. In 2023, Billboard‘s staff honored it as one of the 500 Best Pop Songs of All Time (No. 211), and this week also named it the No. 8 Best Song of 2005. The song’s success – and that of follow-up Hot 100 hits, “What Hurts the Most” (No. 52) and “Evacuate the Dancefloor” (No. 25) — has allowed Cascada to embark on a fruitful career. The group’s first three LPs each reached the top 10 of Dance Albums, while Horler has successfully toured and played shows for the past two decades both with Cascada and as a soloist.
“I think music comes around again, and when you listen to ‘Everytime We Touch,’ you can actually [hear] those elements [like the synthesizer] coming out in modern music now,” says Horler. “It does not feel like 20 years — I’m still performing this song to this day!”
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Nintendo / Nintendo Switch 2
Mark your calendars, U.S. Nintendo fans, you can now officially preorder your Switch 2 on April 24.
Nintendo announced the new preorder date for U.S. customers and revealed that the price for the Switch will also remain at $449.99 for the base console and $499.99 for the Mario Kart World bundle.
Prices for both physical and digital versions of Mario Kart World ($79.99) and Donkey Kong Bananza ($69.99) will remain unchanged.
However, there is some bad news: the price of Nintendo Switch 2 accessories is going up. The Switch 2 Joy-Con, Switch 2 Pro Controller, and Switch 2 Camera are seeing price bumps.
The Joy-Con 2, originally priced at $89.99, will now be priced at $94.99. The Pro Controller increased from $79.99 to $84.99, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera rose from $49.99 to $54.99.
Gamers who usually use video games as an escape from politics are now seeing how politics can invade their space.
All of these moves by Nintendo are a direct result of Donald Trump’s abuse of tariffs. Originally, preorders for the Switch 2 were supposed to begin on April 9, but were delayed after Orange Mussolini announced his tariffs, which would affect everyone, including an island inhabited by penguins and seals.
In response to his boneheaded actions, Nintendo said it was delaying Switch 2 preorders in the U.S. “to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” but also stated that the June 5 release date remains unchanged.
How We Got Here
On April 8, Nintendo also delayed preorders for the Switch 2 in Canada “in order to align with the timing of preorders to be determined in the US.”
After watching the global economy tank and the U.S. stock market nosedive for a few days, Trump issued a 90-day pause on some of the tariffs, but kept the 145 percent tariff on China in place.
Then, news broke that the Trump administration had announced exemptions for smartphones, computers, and chips. Unfortunately, gaming consoles were not on the list, but then Trump said that “no one is getting off the hook.”
In anticipation of Trump’s tariffs, Nintendo began stockpiling the Switch 2 in the United States and shifted most of its non-Chinese production there.
The Switch 2’s announcement has been a clusterf***, with some issues being on Nintendo’s part, but mainly due to the company trying to navigate Trump’s erratic behavior with the tariffs.
Let’s hope this date stands firm, and people won’t have to choose between putting food on the table or getting a Switch 2 at this point.